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TRANSLITERATION OUT OF GREEK This is an additional consideration for translators, due to the uniqueness of the Greek alphabet. We consider transliteration from a Greek source text into English under two headings: transliteration of ancient and modern Greek words and names, and transliteration of foreign words and names. The last might seem a superfluous category, but it is often the case that a Greek text will contain a foreign name in Greek characters, which then has to be put into the appropriate form in the English text. This may be complicated further if the name is not English to begin with. For words and names transcribed from Ancient Greek, there is a well-observed set of conventions*. For transcriptions from Modern Greek, there is less consistency. * No convention of course is observed 100%. You should always be prepared for exceptions. (i) names may become conventionalised outside of these equivalences, or owners of names may have their own preferred transliterations. For example the Greek writer Καίη Τσιτσέλη uses the Latin form of her name Kay Cicellis. Manos Hatzidakis (composer) but G. Hadzidakis (linguist). (ii) The same Greek name or word may conventionally have two different transliterations: Socrates (ancient Greek philosopher) but Sokratous ("Socrates" St, home of the Athens stock exchange). Alcibiades (classical figure) but Alkiviadis (modern name). (iii) Occasionally the English which derives from Ancient Greek is not what one might expect from this table because for instance it is a modification rather than a close transliteration. This often happens at the ends of words: Rhodes for Ρόδος, Aeschylus for Αισχύλος; gynaecology for γυναικολογία. (iv) Foreign names that were given katharevousa forms in Greek should be given their original names in Latin spelling, if the referent is the same: Byron went into Greek as Βύρων. As the name of the poet, it has to be rendered as Byron, but as the name of a suburb of Athens, it is Viron. Cf also Νεύτων, Newton.
When one works with any subject one needs to depend greatly on one’s memory. Memory holds things fast. Only memory can retain what is lasting- all superfluous details melting away when one no longer has the subject before him. As the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it, “own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” This comes from a man who memorized in detail his own novels to prevent their discovery by the communist authorities during his exile in Siberia. He learned how to retain that which was most important to him- his own creative acts. Memory identifies that which leaves its mark upon us- a movement, a gesture, an insight. “Painting is the intermediate somewhere between a thought and a thing.” ( Sydney Smith) I think this quite profound. Does not memory in a sense occupy this place where the artist in the creative act vacillates between what is observed and the thoughts and emotions provoked by the thing itself? This week I painted some falls in a deep ravine. The light of the sun entered the ravine in a dramatic fashion creating a direct shaft of light that traveled quickly across the end of the ravine where the falls were located. It was a beautiful and dramatic vision of the falls. But this view was ever changing, constantly in flux. I had to choose the moment I wished to paint as well as retain in my memory that moment that most affected me- constantly attempting to capture what it was that created the drama within myself as well as in reality. Henri states, “the most vital things in the look of a face or of a landscape endure only for a moment. Work should be done from memory. The memory is of that vital movement. During that moment there is a correlation of the factors of that look. This correlation does not continue…The special order has to be retained in memory… Memory must hold it.” ( Henri, The Art Spirit, p.27) The flux of life itself makes it difficult to hold something fixed in the memory. All things change from moment to moment. But one of the greatest assets of memory is that by becoming conscious of that which is retained, we come to know ourselves more intimately and come to understand what our real connections are to the world. What we carry with us is an insight into our own geography. Painting itself is a confluence where memory and experience converge. From these two forms of human activity emerges the image, that which will remain beyond our own personal investment. One informs the other-the multitude of memories that we have effect the present, shaping and ‘coloring’ our present experience. I like to say memory and experience together create ‘significances’. As a painter this is what I hope my images present- the materialization of that which affects me deeply on more levels than I am conscious of and in a sense would find it difficult to explain. These ‘significances’ symbolically identify the nature of my being and my capacity to retain what is most important. Through memory, experiences manifest these ‘significances’. And this is the ‘ exceptional’ moment to be held on to. Reverie and dreams connect us with our memory and the storehouse of these ‘significances’, allowing our experiences to have greater depth and tie us emotionally to the present moment. The late poet, Robert Creeley states in his poem Caves, “…Memory is the cave one finally lives in, crawls on hands and knees to get into.” ( Robert Creeley, On Earth, Last Poems and an Essay, p.30)
Buddha's hand is a fragrant citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections. The origin of Buddha's hand plant is traced back to Northeastern India or China.The Buddha's hand fruit has a thick peel and only a small amount of acidic flesh and is juiceless and sometimes seedless.Buddha's hand fruit is very fragrant and is used predominantly in China and Japan for perfuming rooms and personal items such as clothing. The fruit may be given as a religious offering in Buddhist temples. According to tradition, Buddha prefers the "fingers" of the fruit to be in a position where they resemble a closed rather than open hand, as closed hands symbolize to Buddha the act of prayer.The peel of the fruit can be candied into succade. In Western cooking, it is often used for its zest. The inner white pith is not bitter as is usually the case with citrus, so the fingers may be cut off and then longitudinally sliced-peel, pith, and all-and used in salads or scattered over cooked foods such as fish.Buddha's hand resembles lemon primarily, and orange secondarily (but don't expect sweetness). The pith does not have the inedible sourness of its peel-which, if eaten, would be like eating a lemon rind-but it is juiceless and seedless. The pith is identical to the whites of an orange peel, described as "velvety smooth" with a "delicate flavor" and "tropical overtones."Nutritional Value in Buddha's Hand - 1 teaspoon of the rind contains: no fat no cholesterol no sodium no sugar no protein 3 kcal 13% RDI of vitamin C 1% RDI of calcium 1g carbohydrage (negligible) 1g of fiber (3% RDI) Health Benefits of Buddha's handModern pharmacological actionsBuddha's hand: Fruit for Good Luck, Happiness and Long Life1. Alcohol extract of Buddah's hand fruit can significantly inhibit intestinal smooth muscle;2. Alcohol extract of hand of Buddha fruit can dilate the coronary blood vessels and increase coronary blood flow. When in high concentration, it inhibits myocardial contractility, slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and protects experimental myocardial ischemia; 3. Buddhas hand citrus relieves asthma and eliminates phlegm to some degree;4. The fructus citri sarcodactylis polysaccharide contained in Buddha hands fruit plays an important role in supporting immune function. That being said, it promotes the phagocytic function of peritoneal macrophage, and tremendously fights against the cyclophosphamide-induced immune dysfunction.Buddhas hand fruit in herbal remediesAs a common Chinese herb, it is viewed as acrid, bitter, and sour in taste and warm in properties. It covers 3 meridians of liver, spleen, and lung. Its most important functions are stretching liver to smooth Qi and harmonizing stomach to relieve the pain. Main Buddhas hand citron uses and indications are liver-stomach Qi depression, fullness in chest and rib cage, fullness or distension or pain in the stomach, reduced appetite and vomiting, and so on. Recommended hand Buddha dosage is from 3 to 6 grams in decoction.1. Cough by vital energy and phlegm stagnation. According to Min Nan Min Jian Cao Yao (Folk Herbal Medicine In Minnan), Buddha hand decoration in the dose of 2 to 3 Qian is a good formula for phlegm-Qi induced cough.2. Tympanites and swell. According to Lingnan Cai Yao Lu (Records of Gathering Medicinal Herbs of Lingnan), the combination of Buddha hand citrus and (Hominis Urinae Sedimentum) can cure tympanites and swell.3. Leukorrhea. According to Folk Herbal Medicine In Minnan, the hand of Buddha coupling with small intestine of pig works for diseases of gynecology.4. Hepatitis A. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine Dictionary, Buddha citron combining with Bai Jiang Cao (Patrina) treats infantile infectious hepatitis A.This herb is rich in nutrients, such as carbohydrates, crude fiber, ash, limettin, and so on. Hence, it is mostly used for medicinal purposes and made into tea and essential oil. What's more, it is often used for dietary therapy too.The Japanese and Chinese use the Buddha's Hand for perfuming rooms and their clothes. It has the smell of violets and osmanthus. The whole fruit is sometimes used as a centerpiece. It can also be used in many recipes. It can be used in the place wherever lemon zest is used. The grated rind can also be used in different foods to add a lemony taste to them. The rind cut into strips can also be used to make homemade marmalade or candied. It can also be used in casseroles, soufflés and soup compotes.The Buddha's Hand is high in vitamin C. It is used as a general tonic and stimulate. There are no other known nutrients in the fruit. Moths can be repelled with the leaves of the fruit. In order to buy a ripe fruit, look for one that is firm with a sweet fragrance and is blemish free. The fruit will last up to two weeks at room temperature and refrigerated it will last longer.In China the fruit is often carried in the hand or simply placed on a table in the home to bring those who live their good luck, happiness and long life. Article provided by Women Fitness http://www.womenfitness.net
Top Answers To Tuscarora State Forest Travel Questions Alistair answered:Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has a page on Tuscarora State Forest that includes a link to a public use map: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/tuscarora/index.htm. You need to zoom in fairly well to get the detail (it's a PDF), but it does have some really granular topographical info, including an overlay of the forest's approximately 200 miles of trails. There are 23 miles of its namesake Tuscarora Trail that pass through the forest, as well as an interesting-looking ten-mile loop trail between Big Spring State Park and the Eby Cemetery. Hope this helps!
Albany School District Bond (2009) The Albany school district is also placing a bond measure on the April 7th election. You can read about that here: Albany School District Referendum (2009). Passed, with 539 "yes" votes and 257 "no" votes. Wording of referendum Be it resolved by the School Board of the School District of Albany, Green and Rock Counties, Wisconsin, that there shall be issued, pursuant to Chapter 67, Wisconsin Statutes, General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000 for the purpose of paying the cost of essential school building and safety improvements including energy efficient roof replacements and heating/cooling system upgrades - Albany School District website - Referenda information from the district (dead link) - Albany voters face two school referendums (dead link), Janesville Gazette, April 2, 2009
AUGUSTA, Maine — Four companies submitted proposals Wednesday to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection on how to reuse 27,000 tons of fiber materials that have been stored in Warren for 14 years. The DEP will carefully review the bids and is under no obligation to make a decision within a certain time frame, said Jessamine Logan, the department’s director of communications. But, she said, she expects a decision in the near future. The University of Maine, S.J. Clisham of Winterport, Farley & Sons Landscaping of Rockport and Triumvirate Environmental Inc. of Somerville, Mass., submitted proposals. The proposals are not public documents until the department has made a decision, Logan said. The DEP has been working on ways to get rid of the material since it was dumped at the former rifle range property off Route 90 in the late 1990s. Last month, Gov. Paul LePage applauded the department’s effort in a news release, saying that the agency was offering “an opportunity to use what was once considered waste and turn it into an alternative fuel, thus reducing impacts to our environment and creating new, innovative jobs.” Douglas Gardner with the school of forest resources at the University of Maine said that the university’s proposal is to conduct a feasibility study on whether the waste fiber can be used as material for road construction. The material does create a conundrum, Gardner said, because it consists of two types of plastic, so recyclers don’t want it. The cost to dispose of it at a landfill, which the state does not want to do, would be in excess of $1.2 million, he said. Also, the cost to shred the material is projected at $90 per ton, with another $30-$40 per ton for transportation, the university official said. He expects a decision by the state in the next two to three weeks. Steve Clisham of the Winterport company said his firm’s proposal is to process the material and transport it. One option is for it to be taken to Dragon Products cement plant in Thomaston, where it could be used as an alternative source of fuel, he said. Mike Farrell of Triumvirate said he did not want to comment on his company’s proposal, but did state that processing and transporting the material for Dragon Products was not an option the firm was pursuing. Tom Farley of Farley & Sons said he also wanted to wait for the state to make a decision before discussing his company’s proposal. The 70-acre site in Warren had been the home of the former R.D. Outfitters rifle range. When the owner of that facility brought in the material during the late 1990s, he said it was to be used as berms to stop bullets from going off the property. But opponents questioned whether he was simply using the property as an unlicensed dump to make money by accepting material from the former Gates Formed Fibre of Auburn. The DEP estimated that the owner — Steamship Navigation, whose principals were Randy and Cathy Dunican — received $1 million to have the fiber wastes dumped on their property. The DEP ultimately went to court to take control of the site after Steamship said it had no money to complete the berm project, which would have consisted of covering the fiber with dirt. The DEP received $410,000 from the former owner in the court action to assist in the cleanup. The material is considered hazardous because it is highly flammable and difficult to put out if ignited. The town of Warren has been working for the past 14 years to get the material covered or removed. The town has declined for more than the past decade to foreclose on the property even though the owner has not paid property taxes. Town officials have been fearful of taking over the property and being liable for any damages caused by the wastes on site. Earlier this month, the neighboring town of Thomaston expressed concerns about what the DEP was planning to do with the wastes, particularly if it was going to be transported into town for Dragon.
Category Archive: Technology Last week, I read Witold Rybczynski‘s Taming the Tiger: The Struggle to Control Technology. Rybczynski is an architect, but he’s also a gifted writer and a student of the history of ideas. In other books, he’s written about the origins of the weekend (Waiting for the Weekend), the idea of “home” (Home), building his own house (The Most Beautiful House in the World), and the history of the screwdriver and the screw (One Good Turn, in response to a request to write about the most important tool invented in the last millennium). I bought Taming the Tiger because it was by Rybczynski, not because I was particularly interested in the topic. The book turned out to be more enjoyable than I expected, however. Rybczynski examines, evaluates, and questions the arguments of those who believe that technology is a threat to society (e.g., Jacques Ellul). He begins the book by surveying the history of opposition to technology, noting along the way that the Luddites were not so much opposed to the machines themselves as they were to the way the machines were being used. He writes, “‘Man versus machine’ was a convenient explanation, not least because the machine was politically easier to blame than the entire social system” (p. 39). In a later chapter, Rybczynski reviews several attempts to abandon technology (Kampuchea in the ’70s, Burma, Madagascar in the early 1800s, the American Plains Indians in the late 1800s). He also explores four individuals’ attitudes toward technology: Henry David Thoreau (who, incidentally, rejected technology and then relied on factory products to build his house on Walden Pond), William Morris (who tried to get back to history, and ended up with a movement that produced hand-crafted products only rich people could afford), Walter Gropius (whose Bauhaus movement tried to make art suitable for a machine age, but ended up with sterile ugliness due to a failure to understand technology), and Wally Byam (who invented the Airstream trailer). Unlike many of the European thinkers (and the Bauhaus guys in particular), Byam didn’t use technology “to fashion a new way of life,” but rather “to redefine an old one,” which suggests that there is more than one way to use technology. Technology opens a door, Rybczynski says, but we don’t necessarily have to walk through it. While we likely can’t simply get rid of the technology, we don’t have to use it in destructive ways or even in the ways it was intended. “The historical record does not support the dour theory of technological inevitability” (165). Some inventions never get used (think of the reluctance of many armies to use chemical weapons). Some get abandoned even though they work fairly well (think of the Zeppelin). The big issue is how we control the technology. Technology is controlled in three ways, two of which I have already described: the actual design of the device, which is always an attempt to reduce its unpredictability and the choice of whether or not, or when, to use the machine (p. 195). What’s the third way? It’s to use the technology in a manner that’s different from the original intention. People can and do control and shape technology. They decide how they’re going to use it. It is a mistake to look at a Mexican or an Indian bus and say, “Look, they are using our technology,” or, seeing differences in application, to conclude that it is not being used in the “right” way. This attitude betrays the arrogance and short-sightedness of the originator, who fails to understand that although a technology may at one time have been ours, the process of using it, and controlling it, has now made it theirs…. The most important lesson that can be learned from seeing the different emphases that different civilizations attach to technology is that this process is determined as much by the nature of the tool-user as by the nature of the tool (pp. 210-211). In the end, says Rybczynski, we need to realize that “our technology is a symptom of our culture, not vice versa….[T]echnology is a human activity” (pp. 222-223). It reflects our culture, our interests, our character, our goals. We sometimes like to think that it’s our technology which forces us to act in certain ways (technological determinism) or shapes our culture in ways we don’t like. We look with nostalgia at the way things were in the past before all the modern technology came along and we bemoan the way that technology has shaped us and made us “modernists” (which appears to be the underlying thrust of much of David Wells’s No Place for Truth, critiqued ably by Peter Leithart). But is technology really our problem? Or is blaming technology really a convenient excuse to avoid taking responsibility? As Rybczynski says, “[T]he struggle to control technology has all along been a struggle to control ourselves” (p. 227).
I was checking my Twitter updates on my iPhone and was shocked and surpirsed to see people tweeting about earthquakes. Immediately, I checked all the news websites and found no reference for any earthquake. Really, this has again proven that Twitter is now the most efficient and fastest way to get the real-time information. It’s almost next to impossible to beat Twitter. Anyways, it is now confirmed that earthquake hit Indian Ocean and also near Japan. - An earthquake hits Indian Ocean with 7.6 magnitude - Quake with 6.4-magnitude hits near Japan 12 minutes later - Tsunami alert for India, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh I hope there are no Tsunami’s this time. Amen! FYI: You can check the earthquake anytime on this website: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/ Popularity: 1% [?]
Advanced interdisciplinary introduction to applied parallel computing on modern supercomputers. Numerical topics include dense and sparse linear algebra, N-body problems, multigrid, fast-multipole, wavelets and Fourier transforms. Geometrical topics include partitioning and mesh generation. Other topics include application-oriented architecture, understanding parallel programming paradigms, MPI, data parallel systems, graphics processors, virtualization, caches and vector processors with hands-on emphasis on understanding the realities and myths of what is possible on the world's fastest machines. One emphasis for this course will be VHLLs or very high level languages for parallel computing.A fresh approach to technical computing: Julia programming language. High performance and parallelism from high-level code. Homework: 45% (roughly 3 assignments) Project: 55% (roughly half semester) You will need to hand in a proposal and final report, and prepare a 5 minute in-class presentation. All reports will be made public and archived unless privacy is specifically requested.
Law's Virtues: Fostering Autonomy and Solidarity in American Society Can the law promote moral values even in pluralistic societies such as the United States? In a new book, Law's Virtues: Fostering Autonomy and Solidarity in American Society, legal scholar and moral theologian Cathleen Kaveny (Notre Dame) argues that it can. In conversation with thinkers as diverse as Thomas Aquinas, Pope John Paul II, and Joseph Raz, she argues that the law rightly promotes the values of autonomy and solidarity. At the same time, she cautions that wise lawmakers will not enact mandates that are too far out of step with the lived moral values of the actual community. At this lunchtime seminar, Professor Kaveny presented her book and discussed the relevance of her argument for American politics and society across a range of critical issues.
Answer: Hormones. That’s true, but not the whole predicament. Middle school has issues. The problem is often folded into a larger, if illusory, “problem” of the U.S. public school system (Read Diane Ravitch’s heroic refutation of the bleat that public schools are failing). This is a mistake. The trouble with middle school cuts across school sector. My 12-year old attends a private school. His school doesn’t have to teach to the test or the Common Core, or manage classrooms of 30 children (not that large class size necessarily correlates to bad academic outcomes: classrooms in the revered Singapore system are large, but students perform well on the cross-national tests that grievously orchestrate the educational cosmos). Even so, the prevailing middle school pedagogies aren’t great. They are either too soft or too hard. The choice in my area seems to be between a strategy of putting the middle school brain on ice—consigning it to a holding cell for a few socially tumultuous years—or bombarding it ruthlessly with math, forcing it to wrestle with ever more advanced algebra for ever more hours. Intuitively, neither seems right. My concern is the diminishing jouissance attached to the life of the mind as children progress through school. Imagine a funnel, and at the wide mouth of the funnel are all three year olds. They start with boundless, natural curiosity. It takes a lot to make a three-year old mordant, or intellectually jejune. They go through elementary school and get socialized, which is a good thing. As the curiosity gets corralled, however, it diminishes. Bits of it wander away and get lost, or are a casualty of order. Inordinately freewheeling curiosity becomes incompatible with school. It’s not supposed to be this way, but, in some cases, it is. Curiosity must have limits, or the classroom is chaos. At middle school the funnel narrows more. The pruning of joy is more ruthless. The soul of school becomes more bureaucratized. Days to vacation are counted. “School” verges closer to “work.” If the student is lucky, the funnel reaches perhaps its narrowest point in middle school, but then becomes an hour glass. Once the student gets to college, graduate school, or high school, their life of the mind flourishes, or revives. But for some, and perhaps many, students, the funnel just gets narrower as they progress. The renaissance of joyous learning doesn’t occur. They attend colleges that are more concerned about providing “lazy river” amusements and a sushi chef than intellectual nourishment. So what’s wrong with middle school? The school day starts too early, for one thing. Middle school disrupts circadian rhythms. I have to wrest my child out of bed at 7 to make a class that begins at 8, promptly. This wasn’t a problem in elementary or preschool. Adolescents need sleep. While toddlers are up at 6 am, their parents sitting bleary-eyed on the floor with Thomas trains to amuse them because preschool doesn’t start until 9, the middle schooler, who needs to sleep later, is pried out of bed before his time. Everything is backwards. Preschool should start at 7:30, and end in time for a long afternoon nap; Middle school should start at 9, and go later. Middle schoolers have restless physical energy. Instead of providing ample opportunities to expend that energy, they squeeze themselves into desks and sit for an hour straight. As for content, my son’s middle school, and it’s not the only one, is devoted philosophically to notebook fascism. They’re obsessed with study skills. In my day, study skills were for remedial students, but there’s a pervasive belief today—supported by one body of research—that the one thing you can teach in middle school is how to be organized, study, and take notes. It’s Staples’ dream come true—a pedagogy based on office supplies. The homework. Ah, the homework. It’s the worst of all worlds: time-consuming but too often pointless and unengaging. I’m not generically against homework, as some parents and scholars are. But homework that involves memorization, especially of material that in the technological age is so easily discovered as needed, makes me bristle that the school has hijacked the few hours of weeknight leisure to assign this stuff. I’m usually the first to lambast Google. But, this is the pedagogical-shattering advantage of the technological age: the ready access to facts. Students memorized capitals in the past because they weren’t going to have instantaneous access to that information any other way. A variant of the “piled higher and deeper” but pointless homework is the school that assigns loads of homework simply as psychological certification for parents that it is a tough place—more like Southeast Asia. This amounts to hardness for the sake of hardness, for the sake of convincing parents that they’re at a good public school. Speaking of writing. There isn’t any. Or at least not nearly enough. Again, this seems to cut across public and private school systems. I’ve looked at other middle schools but they don’t seem appreciably different. While eclectic philosophies abound at the elementary level, and different curricular specialties abound at the high school level, everyone seems to be in agreement that there’s not much to do about middle school, really, except get through it. There is another theory, that sports are destroying high school. This is a theory that I might have endorsed as a 20-something childless person who knew nothing but thought she knew something about kids, and a theory that I cannot endorse as a 40-something parent, who knows little, but slightly more. Because the one quasi-educational system that I do believe in for my son, at least at the middle school level, is his sport--swimming. He swims outside of school for a nationally-recognized team, and his team has precisely the philosophy that I wish middle school did. His sports “school” asks much of him. Somehow, it manages to take the minute tedium of mastering small details to strive toward perfection as something that is well worth doing, and doing repeatedly. They manage to enchant the hours of practice--the athletic equivalent of “study skills”—or at least imbue them with a purpose and mission that the kids embrace. Why doesn’t the same thing happen with school assignments? His school school is queasy on competition, and excellence. His sports school inculcates graciousness and an understanding among swimmers that while you’re most likely not going to be the fastest, you try. Trying matters, deeply. Rather than being the consolation prize (“oh well, you tried!”), it is the prize, and it is the competition, both. When kids succeed, coaches don’t make a huge thing of it; when they fail, they don’t make a huge thing of it. They model dignity in the face of both success and defeat, and they integrate failure—now a much-beloved object of educational theory—as the likely outcome. The team instills a sense of community that is grounded not in rhetoric about everyone being tolerant and “working together,” but in a bunch of 12-year olds actually doing that rather than talking about it, even though swimming is mostly an individual sport. Far from destroying the school, this sport has out-achieved it. It quickens the passion for detail, values, devotion, and aspirational zeal that the American middle school has not.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article |This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2014)| |This article possibly contains original research. (November 2014)| Triskaidekaphobia (from Greek tris meaning "3", kai meaning "and", deka meaning "10" and phobos meaning "fear" or "morbid fear") is fear of the number 13 and avoidance to use it; it is a superstition and related to the specific fear of the 13th person at the Last Supper being Judas, who was said to have stabbed Jesus Christ in the back (metaphorically). It is also a reason for the fear of Friday the 13th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia (from Παρασκευή Paraskevi, Greek for Friday) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (after Frigg, the Norse goddess after whom Friday is named in English). There is a myth that the earliest reference to thirteen being unlucky or evil is from the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (circa 1780 BCE), where the thirteenth law is omitted. In fact, the original Code of Hammurabi has no numeration. The translation by L.W. King (1910), edited by Richard Hooker, omitted one article: If the seller have gone to (his) fate (i. e., have died), the purchaser shall recover damages in said case fivefold from the estate of the seller. Other translations of the Code of Hammurabi, for example the translation by Robert Francis Harper, include the 13th article. Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table. However, the Bible itself says nothing about the order at which the Apostles sat. Also, the number 13 is not uniformly bad in the Judeo-Christian tradition. For example, the attributes of God (also called the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy) are enumerated in the Torah (Exodus 34:6–7). Some modern Christian churches also use 13 attributes of God in sermons. Triskaidekaphobia may have also affected the Vikings: It is believed that Loki was the 13th god in the Norse pantheon—more specifically, Loki was believed to have engineered the murder of Balder and was the 13th guest to arrive at the funeral. This is perhaps related to the superstition that if 13 people gather, one of them will die in the following year. However, the oldest source of this myth, Lokasenna, has far more than 13 guests (17 of the guests are mentioned by name) so this example should not be taken too seriously. Another Norse tradition involves the myth of Norna-Gest: When the uninvited norns showed up at his birthday celebration (thus increasing the number of guests from ten to thirteen), they cursed the infant by magically binding his lifespan to that of a mystic candle they presented to him. Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13:00 CST and experienced an oxygen tank explosion on April 13 at 21:07:53 CST. It later returned safely to earth on April 17. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle. Princess Diana's death happened at the 13th pillar of the Pont de l'Alma tunnel. On Friday, October 13, 1307, the arrest of the Knights Templar was ordered by Philip IV of France. While the number 13 was considered unlucky, Friday the 13th was not considered unlucky at the time. The idea that their arrest was related to Friday the 13th was coined early in the 21st century and popularized by the book The DaVinci Code. In 1881 an influential group of New Yorkers led by US Civil War veteran Captain William Fowler came together to put an end to this and other superstitions. They formed a dinner cabaret club, which they called the Thirteen Club. At the first meeting, on Friday, January 13, 1881, at 8:13 p.m., thirteen people sat down to dine in Room 13 of the venue. The guests walked under a ladder to enter the room and were seated among piles of spilled salt. Many Thirteen Clubs sprang up all over North America for the next 40 years. Their activities were regularly reported in leading newspapers, and their numbers included five future US presidents, from Chester A. Arthur to Theodore Roosevelt. Thirteen Clubs had various imitators, but they all gradually faded from interest. The number 13 also has a biblical significance. As the children of Israel approached the promised land after being led out of Egyptian bondage one of the first cities the Israelites had to conquer was Jericho. God instructed the Israel army to march around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days and then march around the walls seven times on the seventh day for a total of 13 trips around the city. After obeying all that God had commanded the circular walls fell down flat outwardly and the city was destroyed. These events are recorded in the 6th book of the bible or Joshua 6:3-4. Vehicle registration plates in the Republic of Ireland are such that the first two digits represent the year of registration of the vehicle (i.e., 11 is a 2011 registered car, 12 is 2012, and so on). In 2012, there were concerns among members of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) that the prospect of having "13" registered vehicles might discourage motorists from buying new cars due to superstition surrounding the number thirteen, and that car sales and the motor industry (which was already ailing) would suffer as a result. The government, in consultation with SIMI, introduced a system whereby 2013 registered vehicles would have their registration plates age identifier string modified to read "131" for vehicles registered in the first six months of 2013 and "132" for those registered in the latter six months of the year. The main reason for this however, is to increase the number of car sales in the latter months of the year. Even though 70% of new cars are bought during the first four months of the year, some consumers believe that it doesn't accurately reflect the real age of a new car, since cars bought in January will most likely have been manufactured the previous year, while those bought later in the year will be actually made in the same year. This system continued after 2013, with vehicles registered in the first half of 2014 labelled "141" rather than "14". In some regions 13 is considered a lucky number. For example, 13 is lucky in Italy except in some contexts, such as sitting at the dinner table. Colgate University was started by 13 men with $13 and 13 prayers, so 13 is considered a lucky number. Friday the 13th is the luckiest day at Colgate. |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triskaidekaphobia.|
The flight characteristics of a helicopter make it suitable for a variety of interesting missions. One such job is the repair of live high voltage lines. The voltage on these lines is typically between one hundred thousand to one million volts. A typical configuration uses a platform mounted to the helicopter’s skids with a wire attached to the helicopter’s airframe. The lineman sits on the edge of the platform as the pilot hovers the helicopter next to the line that needs repair. In some cases, the pilot must maneuver the lineman within several inches of the power line. Because this is considered an external load operation, the platform can be jettisoned. However, the lineman’s harness is attached to the helicopter. The helicopter and the high voltage wire have different electrical potentials, so to equalize them a metal wand is brought close to the wire. When the wand is close enough the voltage jumps across causing an arc. Once the wand makes contact with the wire, a clamp is connected to the platform with a 5 or 6 foot cable that is attached to the helicopter insuring the voltage potential remains equal. The wand is then removed and the repairs can begin. In the event of an emergency the clamp will break away from the power line. The helicopter now has a high electrical potential and the pilot must be careful to not let the helicopter get to close to an object (a tree, for example) that will allow the voltage a path to ground. This will significantly increase the current flow through the helicopter causing high heat and serious damage to equipment and personnel. Several accidents have happened from engine failures or the rotor system coming in contact with part of the power line infrastructure. One such accident happen in August of 2013 and according to the NTSB the helicopter was conducting an electrical power line construction operation with a lineman standing outside on the skid. The wire was temporarily suspended by a hoist and the lineman was inserting a fiber shoe to attach the wire to the arm of the tower. While the helicopter was hovering next to the wire at about 200 feet above ground level the hoist slipped and the wire fell onto the top of the helicopter’s skid. Control was briefly lost and four of the helicopter’s main rotor blades impacted the tower resulting in substantial damage to the main rotor blades. The pilot quickly regained control and made an emergency landing in tall corn about 200 feet from the accident location. Fortunately, the pilot did an excellent job and no one was injured. Even when everything goes right, high voltage power lines create a very strong electromagnetic field. This field produces an induced current that anyone close to the line will feel along their skin. As such, the pilot and lineman wear a special suit with a metal weave that allows the current to flow around the skin. Even with the suit, the sensation has been described as a feeling of pins and needles.
Why doesn’t landscape architecture in Southern California get the same attention as architecture? That’s one of the questions that will be answered at Friday’s Landscapes for Living conference at SCI-Arc. The event, organized by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, will focus on Post War Landscape designs in the region, which have largely stayed under the radar. For instance, who has heard of Ralph Cornell, who designed legendary landscapes like the Torrey Pines preserve near San Diego, Beverly Gardens in Beverly Hills and the Civic Center Mall and Music Center plaza in Downtown LA ? Other subjects will include Ruth Shelhorn, the only female architect to work on the original plans for Disneyland, and designer of the park’s entrance and Main Street; Bridges and Troller, who designed Century City; Lawrence Halprin, better known for his parks in the Pacific Northwest but also active in California; and of course the legendary (but under appreciated) Garret Eckbo. I don’t know what y’all are doing on May 6 to 8, but if landscape design tickles your pickle then you might want to hightail it down to the Lone Star State. The Cultural Landscape Foundation has partnered with Preservation Dallas and Historic Fort Worth to bring us Landscapes For Living: Post War Years In Texas, a symposium on modern landscape architecture in Texas at the Dallas Museum of Fine Art. Read More
What Whoopi Goldberg wants, Whoopi Goldberg gets, including Tyler Perry—after an epic wait, that is. Interviewed on Keeping it Reel, Tyler discusses how he finally came to write, produce and direct a big-screen version of Ntozake Shange‘s iconic 1975 stage play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. “It haunted me. It kept coming to me. About five, six years ago, somebody at William Morris asked me if I was interested in doing it, I said no,” the Hollywood powerhouse—whose films to date have grossed more than $400 million worldwide—tells host Tim Gordon. “Then Whoopi Goldberg called me about four years ago and asked me if I wanted to do it on Broadway, and I said no. And I’m still not payin’ attention. They’re sayin’ For Colored Girls, and I didn’t know anything about it. “And then somebody else called—these are all random people over a course of five or six years—so I finally said, ‘OK. Let me see what’s here,'” Tyler continues. “And I quit four times. I committed to it, started writing and walked away from it four times. Because it was such a fight, such a struggle. But once I really began to understand what it was and what it meant to so many people, I surrendered to it.” Retitled simply For Colored Girls, the film opens Nov. 5 and features an all-star cast, including Whoopi, Janet Jackson, Kerry Washington, Macy Gray and Phylicia Rashad. Tyler also discusses the importance of his audience in bringing the project to fruition. “They have stood with me from day one. Had they not been there, there would be no For Colored Girls. Because, if you noticed, there was a black hole—no pun intended—with black film. There’s just nothing going on,” he says. “My audience has been incredibly loyal. And they’re still with me today. I just finished a tour and I saw things I couldn’t believe. “Arenas packed to the rafters. It was unbelieveable. And they’re still with me.” Click here to hear Tyler Perry’s full interview. Click here to check out the For Colored Girls trailer.
Good morning and welcome to my weekly weather report on the immediate past, present and future of weather in the Bayou City. The greater Houston region needs rain. Despite some wet days to start off 2013, through this weekend the city is nonetheless running a slight deficit for the year, and this follows a dry second half of 2012. During the last week the region got some modest relief, and we’ll need more weeks like that if we want to head into summer ready for the heat and often much drier weather. Here’s the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, which includes data through last Tuesday morning, showing us where we’re at. If you click to enlarge the image you can see that the entirety of Harris County is abnormally dry, and the northwestern corner is in a moderate drought. Some areas to the immediate northwest of the Houston metro area remain in a severe drought despite some decent rains this winter. Now let’s take a look at the rain we’ve had since that report was made — rainfall totals during the last five days. That map looks like this: As you can see, the region got between 0.25 and 3 inches of rain last week. Critically, some of the dry areas to the northwest of Houston got 2 to 3 inches of rain, which could help pull them out of a severe drought. Another key metric in measuring our drought is lake levels. Since the great drought of 2011 Lake Houston has been within a couple of feet of its full pool, but Lake Conroe has remained stubbornly below its full level. However, as we can see below, the lake is much better off this year (darker blue line) than it was in 2012 (lighter blue line). A full pool is 201 feet. The bottom line is that a relatively wet spring would really help our region of Texas heading into summer. Whether we’ll get that is a big question, and some of the early indications are that we’ll be drier than normal this spring. I’ll dig a little deeper into this question in next week’s report. Anyway, let’s do the numbers for last week. |Date||High T||Low T||Average||Departure||Rainfall| So far this month every day has had an above normal temperature. This week’s weather will continue to be wet and unsettled for a couple of days before cooler conditions set in. Light showers have moved into the area this morning, and there’s a chance they could redevelop later this afternoon, say forecasters with the Houston/Galveston office of the National Weather Service. A system in the upper levels of the atmosphere will generate another good chance of showers late tonight into Tuesday morning. Rain chances during this time will be highest over the eastern half of the metro area. This passing storm system is forecast to pull cooler air to the north of Houston into the region, bringing highs for the rest of the week into the 60s, and lows in the low- to mid-40s. At that point sunny skies should reign through the weekend. A frontal system will move through late on Friday or Saturday, bringing the region its coldest weather since late January, with lows in the upper 30s possible on Sunday morning. One model brings light precipitation along with the frontal passage, and it might be just cold enough in areas like Walker County to generate a wintry mix. However most other models show a dry front so I would rate the chances of such precipitation as quite low. Next Sunday looks like a gorgeous day at this point with highs around 65 and lots of sunshine. After next weekend, the long-range GFS model brings another strong front through on Tuesday, Feb. 19. This model shows a slight freeze for northern areas, although some other models are not so cold. Also, unlike the first 10 days of February, highs in the 70s look to be the exception for the next week or two, rather than the norm. I think the takeaway from this is that people who feel spring is coming on too soon will have a couple of more fronts during the next 10 days to enjoy what passes for “winter” here on the Gulf Coast. My rating scale for this week’s weather goes from 0 to 10, the number of people injured in a tornado that struck the University of Southern Mississippi on Sunday. My number: 8.8. Finally, if you want several daily updates on weather, please “like” my SciGuy Facebook page. It’s the best place for multiple daily updates on our weather, delivered right to your news feed. As always, thank you to the fine professionals at the National Weather Service for the information and data that make this weekly blog entry possible. Also, bear in mind there’s always uncertainty in weather forecasting, particularly the timing and intensity of precipitation.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three Cleveland representatives have been given a seat at the table to help select the team that will design and build the new five-lane Inner Belt Bridge. The Ohio Department of Transportation recently announced that the city will help evaluate the qualifications and technical proposals of teams interested in building the $450 million span. ODOT previously said only its officials would choose the design/build team to maintain security so that competing companies would not take ideas from one another. But the Cleveland Planning Commission voted unanimously in November to demand a bigger role for the city. The vote was not binding, but commission members voiced concerns over the process. They said a top-notch designer is needed for such a major project that will define Cleveland's skyline. A design/build contract requires about 30 percent of the design to be completed when ground is broken and the remainder proceeding as the bridge is built. When ODOT completed its final bid and project documents in mid-December, it had added the city to the ODOT group that will evaluate proposals and choose three design/build teams in March. Those teams will present detailed bids, and the contract will be awarded in September. The bridge is scheduled to open in June 2014. Bob Brown, director of city planning, said in a prepared statement that Cleveland officials are pleased that the city will be represented in the process. Representatives from Cleveland's planning, engineering/traffic and sustainability departments will join the ODOT group. ODOT is still considering whether the proposals by the top three finalists for the bridge project could be made public before the contract is awarded. By that point, the competitors will have finished technical refinements and cost estimates and would not be allowed to make further changes, eliminating the possibility that they could copy from one another. Once the contract is awarded, the winning design/build team will be required to meet with city and community groups to present proposals for aesthetic details of the bridge, including color and lighting and whether surfaces will be textured or have other treatments. When the new span opens in 2014, it will carry eastbound and westbound traffic until 2017, the year the current deteriorating Inner Belt Bridge is replaced. At that point, the bridge built first will carry only westbound traffic and the other, eastbound traffic.
A Quote by George Pope Morris on nations and songs A song for our banner! The watchword recall Which gave the Republic her station: "United we stand, divided we fall!" It made and preserves us a nation! The union of lakes, the union of lands, The union of States none can sever, The union of hearts, the union of hands, And the flag of our Union forever! Source: The Flag of our Union. Contributed by: Zaady
Over the past decade, countries around the world have experienced more and more natural disasters. From the the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan to the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the need for effective search and rescue tools has never been higher. According to the Unites State Coast Guard the most important elements of any disaster management search and rescue operation are lives saved and time elapsed – unfortunately these factors typically work against each other. The technological abilities of today’s rapidly developing smartphones are improving the way both victims and responders are engaging in search and rescue missions. For example, Google recently launched a person-finder app, which allows users to search for missing people in disaster hit regions. The features and functionality of the Guardly app can also be used in natural disaster situations to help reduce the time it takes responders to locate and reach victims. For example, by leveraging the app’s LocationAssure technology, rescuers will be able to pinpoint victim’s exact locations and reach them faster. This will not only decrease search and rescue times, but also save lives. The recent 9.0 earthquake in Japan left friends and family members from around the globe worried about loved ones. It took over 48 hours for two Canadian teens trapped in the quake zone to reach their families. The Guardly app allows individuals in such dangerous situations to instantly connect to their loved ones from anywhere in the world through voice, sms, email, and web communication. The Guardly app can also help victims of other types of natural disasters, such as fires and floods, communicate with disaster recovery specialists by sharing photos to ensure responders are aware of potential geographic obstacles and dangers. To learn more about how Guardly can help in disaster situations, visit the Guardly product overview page to find out more about the app. The Guardly app will be available in April 2011 through the Apple App Store, and on Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone platforms within the next few months. Stay safe! - Guardly Launches Free Mobile Emergency Phone Service to Students at 67 Universities and Colleges Across Canada - Earthquake Causes Cellular Network Congestion - Guardly featured on CBC Evening News - Guardly Watches Your Back, From The Mean Streets Of Toronto - Mobile Safety Applications for Campuses: Build vs. Buy Analysis - Active Shooter Training with Toronto Police and OCAD University - Management of Active Shooter Events Aided by Technology - Smartphones are Key to the Future of Security - Announcing Guardly Learning Hub - Crime in the United States: New FBI Report Released Today - Guardly Enterprise E911 Solution Improves Active Shooter Response using Indoor Positioning Systems - Active Shooter Incidents Drastically Increase from 2000 – 2013 Shows FBI Study - Next-Generation Tech Helping Police Fight Crime - Car Fire Mistaken For Active Shooter at Shopping Mall – Real-World Situational Analysis - Guardly Adds Former Salesforce.com Executive Larry Russell to Advisory Board Guardly in 2 Minutes… - Active Shooter - Buzz & Press - Campus Safety - Community & Partners - Conferences & Events - Contests & Promotions - Corporate Security - Domestic Violence - Guardly Features - Home Safety - Indoor Positioning - Industry Trends - Inside Guardly - Mass Notification - Mobile Safety - Press Releases - Public Safety - Public Safety & Security Updates - Real-Time News Feed - Retail & Shopping Mall Safety - Retail Security - Senior Safety - Use Cases - Workplace Safety
Climate science (a)versePete222 on HotCopper gets his 'information' about climate science from 80 year old rhymes when he's not gazing out his window. Here on the Science and Medicine forum, Pete quotes a young homesick Dorothea Mackellar to 'prove' all the physics, chemistry, biology, meteorology, climatology and related science of the past couple of centuries is fundamentally wrong. A window on climateAnd to support his contention, Pete222 offers irrefutable proof of windows: Best Science Post - Gold Star AwardCanberra is so cool... (So what's a bit of exaggeration between friends?) Despite the fact that this December hasn't been the hottest December on record in Canberra, so far it's 1.4 degrees Celsius above the long term average maximum. (If you doubt that HotCopperites think the world revolves around Canberra - just visit the HotCopper politics forum :D) HotCopper's message to climate scientistsThe message is that climate scientists should quit their field measurements, mathematics, physics, laboratories, computers, satellites, sensors and all the scientific knowledge accumulated over the centuries to date. All they need to do is look out Pete's window or sit in the shade in Birdman's backyard and read sentimental rhymes from long ago.
As scientists learn how to use new and powerful tools to identify what is broken, or mutated, within individual cases of cancer, they are increasingly finding that cancers previously classified as being totally different (based on the organ in which the cancer started) have some major molecular similarities. This is important not just in understanding the basic biology of cancers, but in choosing new treatments based not just on where the cancer started, but also base on what’s broken. Finding these mutations in each individual cancer can also help doctors give much more accurate prognosis information. This week, 2 more studies made headlines in analyzing genetic changes in endometrial cancer and in acute myeloid leukemia. In endometrial cancer, researchers saw that some types were genetically similar to some types of ovarian, breast, or colon cancers. They were able to use genetic changes to create 4 categories of endometrial cancer, and based on these categories help determine which cases of endometrial cancer were more or less likely to respond to traditional chemotherapy approaches. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), new genetics studies were able to show the presence of at least one potential driver mutation causing the disease in nearly all cases. Finding these sorts of driver mutations is critical, because blocking those particular mutations in each person’s individual cancer with new drugs is a way of personalizing their therapy and increasing the odds of a good outcome. Finding these mutations can also help doctors give a more accurate prognosis to each patient, and better guide patients on whether or not they might benefit from going on to bone marrow transplant. We are in an exciting time of innovation in cancer. These early examples show us that we are on our way to a time in which we will use these genetic techniques to better understand each individual patient’s cancer to be smarter about prognosis and treatment.
By Staff Writer Brendan Pringle. To the average, technology-obsessed teenager, this seems like an OMG scenerio. So why should a family ditch the theme parks and car trips, and head over to a dude ranch instead? Simply put, it makes for the perfect family vacation. And it’s green. As Gene Kilgore of RanchWeb.com explains, dude ranches are one of the few “all-inclusive vacations available.” Vacationers don’t have to worry about experiencing the stress of “Carmageddon” as they bounce from destination to destination. Upon arrival, the only traffic they’ll encounter is that of cattle herds. Ranches prepare all the food and supply all the entertainment. That alone is enough to make Mom and Dad smile. But dude ranches are not just for families or couples. Many people travel solo for the peace and tranquility, as well as to meet other visitors with similar interests. Some business groups even travel to dude ranches for team-building purposes. Dude ranches provide the “original” eco-tourism experience—a chance for people to break away from the binds of today’s media dependent world and reconnect with nature. As Kilgore states, “ the nature of the [dude ranch] vacation is green.” After all, what could be greener than living off the fat of the land? In fact, the dude ranch has been one of the pioneers of green living in America. As Colleen Hodson of the Dude Ranches Association states, “many ranches grow their own food . . . and feed their cattle with this food as well.” Garbage pickup is scarce in remote locations, so many ranches use leftovers to feed the animals, and also depend heavily on composting and recycling. In addition, as Kilgore says, “green is something evolving in ranch communities.” For example, many farms serve organic food. “Suppliers are now providing more organic food to the ranchers.” Hodson adds that ranches are also “starting to use energy-efficient water heaters,” and have updated other practices to make their property even greener. For the White Stallion Ranch in Southern Arizona, this has meant changing over 30-40% of energy usage to solar (a savings of over $20,000 per year). Meanwhile, for the Rocking Z Ranch in Montana, it meant developing its own biodegradable fuel. Owners Zack and Patty Wirth use 100% Straight Waste Vegetable Oil (SWVO) “to power an irrigation pump offsetting more than 4000 gallons of diesel fuel per year.” Zack likewise employs solar power to irrigate the hay and grazing land. While the thought of getting one’s hands dirty on a ranch may horrify some people, it’s important to note that there are ranches for every comfort level. Generally speaking, there are three broad categories. First, there’s the “traditional dude ranch,” where, as Hodson says, “horseback riding makes up a large part of the experience.” Many traditional dude ranches offer a wide range of outdoor activities, like hiking, fishing, hunting, and making s’mores at the campfire. Kids have the chance to learn life skills and enjoy the freedom that only a ranch can offer. And, of course, ranches typically offer riding lessons for those that are uneasy about hopping on a horse. Copious leisure time allows for reading, watching sunsets, or simply relaxing by the fire. Then, there’s the working ranch. A working ranch has all the elements of a traditional dude ranch, but provides “an even greater hands-on experience for guests.” Itineraries depend on what needs to be accomplished throughout the course of the day (i.e. roping/branding cattle, etc). And finally, there’s the resort ranch. According to Hodson, resort ranches are “a little more upscale,” and may include activities like guided fishing trips, rafting excursions, and nature hikes. Whether you grow pale at the sight of mud or simply want a more luxurious experience, a resort ranch is probably the best option. Dude ranches have a long history of bringing “the great outdoors” to city slickers, but one key pioneer allegedly started it all– Howard Eaton. Eaton purchased a ranch in the Dakota Badlands during the 1880s and boasted about the experience to his friends back east. One such letter ended up in the newspaper, and caught the eye of none other than President Teddy Roosevelt. Befriending the Eaton family, Roosevelt quickly tried his own hand in the Badlands and purchased some land nearby. The Eatons quickly found themselves hosting more and more Eastern guests who were intrigued by stories of life on the ranch. Railway expansion increased dude ranch popularity with the turn of the century. By the 1920s, cattle farmers started using it as a way to supplement their income. And thus the cowboy lifestyle lives on. In the diverse world of dude ranches, there is surely a ranch for everyone. Ranch sites are located in some of the “most pristine wilderness areas in America,” with breathtaking scenes and a refreshing sense of tranquility, far from the chaos and congestion of big city destinations. This year, ditch Wally World and saddle up for the experience of a lifetime. In other words, be a dude. As you plan your dude ranch retreat, be sure to check out these helpful resources:
You are a diverse audience. Some of you manage catalog circulation. Some of you manage e-mail campaigns. Some of you manage the craft known as web analytics, or work in the parallel world of business intelligence, using SAS to analyze customer behavior. Some of you manage online marketing programs. Some of you manage paid and natural search. Some of you are executives at direct-to-consumer and multichannel organizations. All of you attend meetings, where you are required to present findings, hoping to influence decision makers. If you are an Analyst or Manager, you might get one opportunity each year to present to Sr. Management. If you are a Director, you might get one opportunity each week to present to Sr. Management. If you are a Vice President or CEO, you might hear eight presentations per day! Today, I sat in a meeting where an Analyst was presenting to a diverse audience, including an Executive. The Analyst was four months into his job, and dearly wanted to impress the audience. So much so, that he frequently took the discussion off-topic. He brought up numerous issues that had little to do with the stated agenda. The Executive, a consensus-builder (in my opinion), allowed him to divert the audience to other topics. We didn't cover every item on the agenda. We did cover a half-dozen topics not on the agenda. The meeting went eight minutes longer than scheduled. I've been the Analyst who has one shot a year to impress somebody. I've been the Executive who had to keep the room focused on the stated topic. I've failed at both roles. Both roles are absolutely critical. A crisp, concise, confident presentation from an Analyst-level individual, one that directly benefits the Executive, pays big dividends. Conversely, the Analyst is forming an opinion of the Executive based on this one interaction. The Executive has a responsibility to run an efficient, actionable meeting. If you count the number of meetings you've been in where both sides performed well, you'll know how hard it is to have a great meeting. What examples can you share where you've seen great presentations from Analyst-level staff? Are there Executives who are particularly good at leading meetings? In your opinion, what makes for a good meeting, and what presentation style works best?
As citizen leaders, Michigan school board members face complex and demanding challenges. They are charged with making the difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions in the best interest of the kids they serve. Today's tough economic times make those decisions even more difficult. Schools across Michigan are in the midst of a financial crisis. Faced with fewer resources and greater requirements, school boards often are forced to close schools, privatize services and reduce staff. These decisions are never easy, but the fiscal responsibility with which school boards are charged often leaves no alternative. When these emotionally charged decisions are made some members of the public can find it difficult to deal with. The democratic process allows us as community members to elect those we deem most fit to lead. Yet school board members are often subject to arbitrary recalls when they make decisions that not everyone likes, or as a way to advance a particular political agenda. Recall elections then become the vehicle to pressure board members to vote a certain way on a controversial issue. These actions undermine the democratic process and make boards fearful to make the right decisions. In general, recall elections are designed to remove elected officials from office for illegal or unethical behavior. If voters don't agree with decisions made by a local school board member, they should use their voice during a regular election and elect another candidate. Recall elections are costly, divide the community and make the issue about politics, not education. Community members would be better served to focus their efforts, not on recalling school boards for unfavorable decisions, but contacting legislators and demanding they adequately fund public schools. Local school trustees often tackle a thankless job devoid of any glory. They volunteer long hours above and beyond their "day job" to advocate on behalf of the students in our state. Finding talented, innovative, strong and dedicated people to run for school boards is increasingly difficult. Unnecessary recall efforts only make it more difficult. In today's challenging education environment, school boards need the support of their community and peers more than ever. Too often we are quick to criticize school board members without knowing all the details that went into a decision. Communities must allow school board members to do the job for which they were elected, without the fear of arbitrary and unnecessary recall. Communities must let school board members lead so students can achieve. Gov. Granholm proclaimed January as School Board Recognition Month and the Michigan Association of School Boards proudly honors and salutes the 4,200 Michigan school board members for their outstanding service as education advocates and thank them for their unending commitment to enhancing and improving education for our students. Kathy Hayes is the executive director of the Michigan Association of School Boards.
Enough with Default Allow in Web Applications! The title of this blog post is also the title of a research paper we are currently working on. Although the paper is still in draft form, we've decided to circulate it widely (download here) because we believe a public exposure in this early stage would benefit it significantly. Also, as you will see from the paper, for the proposed concept to succeed it must have support from many diverse groups of users. What do we want to achieve? Let's look at the summary: The default allow deployment model, which is commonly used to implement and deploy web applications, is the cause of numerous security problems. We propose a method of modelling web applications in a platform-agnostic way to adopt a default deny model instead, removing several classes of vulnerability altogether and significantly reducing the attack surface of many others. Our approach is best adopted during development, but can be nearly as efficient as an afterthought, or when used at deployment time. Our main problem is with these three things: - HTTP (in a wider sense, taken to mean all specifications needed to develop and deploy web applications) has grown to be quite complex, but although applications generally use a very small subset they are still expected to support every single feature. - Many applications are treated as simple collections of files (if it's on the filesystem it's part of application), and this is creating all sorts of issues. - Applications do not specify their external interfaces. This is really a consequence of the above two problems. Applications cannot specify external interfaces because they are all implicit. The bottom line is that we have a chance to create a beautifully positioned protection layer (between web servers and applications), which would not only increase security overall, but turn applications into verifiable components with external contracts that can be enforced. We propose a use of a platform-independent format to document what applications are willing to accept from the outside world, with the following use cases envisioned: - Creation of full application models, which reduce application attack surface. Such models can be created by application developers (which is preferred) or by application users (which, we expect, could happen with very popular and/or open source applications). - Creation of partial application models for use in virtual patching. - Automated creation of application models through traffic analysis. In addition to the paper itself, we are planning to release an open source profiling tool (which I will announce next week) to help with the third use case and automate the creation of positive security models (also known as the learning feature of web application firewalls). Update (4 Aug 2008): Changed links to point to the final version (reviewed, spell-checked and branded) of the paper. The follow up post is here.
(Photo by Robert Johnson) Folks try their hand at arch-building in Leonardo’s Workshop. These efforts often ended with a resounding crash. The are lots of oddball gadgets that you can crank and flap at the Witte Museum’s exhibit “The Genius of Leonardo: Machines in Motion.” But the most impressive thing I gleaned during a Labor Day visit was a factoid in the continuously running movie about Leonardo da Vinci’s life. In the 10-minute flick, some Leo expert is heard praising his ability to think outside the box. Amazing! Especially since Leo died in 1519, which is some 50 years before the box was even invented by the famous French intellectual and scholar, Vicomte Claude DuBacques. Think about that. Leo was such a genius, he recognized the necessity for man to transcend the physical and metaphysical limitations of an item that hadn’t even been invented yet. Comedian/math instructor Tom Lehrer’s comment about Mozart, “It’s people like that who make you realize how little you’ve accomplished,” certainly applies to Mr. da Vinci as well. And he even invented that whole code thing, too. Plus, the actor playing the young da Vinci in the movie was boy-band hot. This suggests that had Leo come along now, he could have been the next Justin Timberlake — if he could have found a way to concentrate on singing while simultaneously calculating the mathematical formulas necessary for pop-chart success. Anyway, if your self-esteem can handle it (for me, it was a close call), the Leo exhibit at the Witte is worth catching. You’d best hurry, since it goes away after Sunday. (Photo by Robert Johnson) Look out, mister! Fortunately, the man looking at Leo’s drawings was not injured by this barrage of catapult fire. Unlike some traveling exhibits, “The Genius of Leonardo” is relentlessly kid-friendly. If you were bummed out that your youngsters weren’t allowed to fondle the plasticized cadavers at “Our Bodies: The Universe Within,” you’ll have no such worries here. Most of the widgets created from Leo’s drawings couldn’t be broken if you tried. And there’s Leonardo’s Workshop, where kids can build bridges and arches, play with paper flying things and use a catapult to fire ping-pong balls at a painting of a castle (which had a certain Monty Python-esque quality). Since writing is easier when you make lists instead of attempt to construct coherent paragraphs (a point I’ve proven beyound a shadow of a doubt by this point), here are some other miscellaneous observations: • For a guy who invented the term “Renaissance Man,” Leo sure dreamed up a lot of novel ways to kill people — early versions of cannons, machine guns and a war-wagon thingy that looks like a spacecraft but which is the ancestor of the modern tank. • A video presentation about his famous drawing, “The Vitruvian Man” (more commonly known as “Penis Dude”) makes the following statement: “Like nature and the universe, the proportions and measurements of the human body are perfect and correct.” Leo might have had to rethink the whole perfection thing had he ever gone to Schlitterbahn on a holiday weekend. • And though Vitruvian Man may have been considered perfect in his day, he does have some little love handles. His sixpack, however, suggests that Leo may well have seen the “Core Secrets” infomercial, which back then was performed live by a traveling theater troupe. • As famous as Vitruvian Man is, he would had been even more famous had this not been a rare instance of Leo’s impeccable timing failing him. He drew it in 1492, the year another Italian got all the press. • If the Mona Lisa is said to represent artistic perfection, why isn’t she hotter? Just wondering. • Also, I wonder if the unwashed 16th-century masses ever snickered at terms like “worm screw.” I wouldn’t, of course. • Imagine the confusion that would wrack modern society if we were all named according to the da Vinci Code — first name/hometown. Although I think Leonardo da Von Ormy has a certain ring to it. (Photo by Robert Johnson/hand model, J.T. Washam-Morgan) Take the glory of Leo home with you in the form of an action figure! • The most exciting stuff I found was in the gift shop. For a mere $10.50, you can have your very own Leonardo action figure! The plastic Leo comes equipped with an easel and some interchangeable paintings, including the Mona Lisa, of course. Made by fine Italian craftsmen? Nope. Made in China. • The other gift-shop item that caught my eye was an art kit that purports to inspire you to draw like Leo. It had a tiny image of Vitruvian Man on the front. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that a key, uh, element of one of Leo’s most famous creations had been airbrushed out. Which element? Well, let’s just say the “Penis Man” label no longer fits. That had to hurt.
|Michael Laver of New York University has written a truly geek-tastic computer program in NetLogo that invites you to experiment with the 2012 US presidential election campaign, using the agent-based model of party competition set out in his new book cowritten with Ernest Sergenti, Party Competition: An Agent Based Model. Experiment with the sliders to see how they affect the result. For those who want to get technical, roll up your sleeves and reprogram the model, or use NetLogo’s built-in “Behavior Space “ feature to have 1000 reruns of the presidential election under subtly different conditions. Fun stuff! |Download the code for this model here: Presidential Election Model from Michael Laver (this is a zipped .nlogo file)| Presidential Election Model WHAT IS IT? The election has two phases. First, there is a primary contest between the four Republican challengers still standing on 1 February 2012. Second, the winner of the Republican primary fights a general election against Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama. CANDIDATES in each election compete with each other by setting out the policy positions they hope will appeal to as many voters as possible. Different VOTERS have preferences for different policy positions and are divided into three distinct groups: Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Voting in the primary is confined to Republicans plus a proportion of the Independents that can be set by the user. Obviously, all three groups of voters may vote in the general election. A successful Republican challenger must first set policy positions that win the primary, then must set policy positions that win the general election. The winning candidate at the end of the general election is the one with the most popular votes – there is no electoral college to contend with. HOW IT WORKS Key policy positions in the election, both for voters and for candidates, are described using two dimensions of ideology. The horizontal dimension describes economic policy positions on a left-right scale; the vertical dimension liberal vs conservative positions on “social” issues such as abortion and gay rights. VOTERS in each group (Democrats, Republicans, Independent) tend to have distinctive distributions of opinion on these important matters. Each group of voters is characterized by: its size relative to the other two groups; the policy preferences if its average member; the diversity of opinion within the group. These key population parameters all have default values that you see in the “Population Designer” panel on the interface when you fire up the program. You can change any of these using the sliders to design a voting population you find more realistic or interesting. Indeed one thing you should definitely explore is the effect of different assumptions about, to take just one example, how left- or right-wing are the views of typical Republican voters on economic policy. You can set the proportion of Independents voting in the Republican primary using the “indeps-in-primary” slider on the interface. This is something else to play with. CANDIDATES, as we have seen, compete with each other by offering policies to potential supporters – so we expect their policy positions to change over the course of the election. The default starting policy position of each candidate can be seen on the interface, but you can change these using the sliders to any setting you find realistic and/or interesting. This is something else you should definitely play with. CANDIDATES use one of two decision rules to choose which policy position to offer voters. Some candidates never change policy position no matter how few votes this attracts; their main objective is to state their case. They are using what the model calls a Sticker rule. Other candidates continuously adapt their policy positions in search of more votes; their main objective is to win the election, whatever policy will help them do this. They are using what the model calls a Hunter rule. The decision rule used by each candidate also has a default setting, but you can also change this on the interface to play with the effect of different candidates different decision rules. (For example you might decide that the incumbent President is “stuck” with his record in office and cannot change position at all, in the eyes of voters, during an election campaign. VOTER ALIENATION. Many people do not vote. There are many reasons for this, but the model lumps all of these together under the heading “voter alienation”. The electorate is divided into some who are so “alienated” they do not vote, and others who do indeed vote. Electors become alienated if there is no candidate with a policy position “close enough” to them in the election – where “close enough” is a parameter set using the “voter-alienation” slider on the interface. This has a default value, but you can slide it to any value you find interesting or realistic, and once more are encouraged to play with this. Alienated voters are colored brown on the interface; the shading of other areas reflects the density of voters with ideal policies in the area in question; white-hot areas have the most voters. HOW TO USE IT SETUP sets up candidates, supporters and system parameters as specified above. GO starts the simulation using current parameters. It first runs a 100-day primary, waits a couple seconds for you to look at the result of the primary and get over the excitement, then kills off the losing primary candidates and runs a general election. WHAT TO PLAY WITH Experiment with the sliders to see how they affect the result as described above, or use NetLogo’s built-in “Behavior Space “ feature to have 1000 reruns of the presidential election under subtly different conditions. RUNNING THE MODEL Download the model here: Presidential Election Model from Michael Laver (this is a zipped .nlogo file) As with all the models in the Laver-Sergenti book, this model is programmed in Netogo. To run it you will need to download and install the excellent NetLogo agent-based modeling environment. This is free for personal use from: You can run the model with defaults simply by hitting “setup” and then “go” but the point is obviously to play with the effects of the various parameters set by sliders in the interface. There is a brief description of everything, mostly repeating what is set out above, on the “information” tab. The model’s code, should you want to play with this, is on the “procedures
According to a poll of 500 female executives conducted by Ipsos Reid and comissioned on behalf of Randstad Canada, the country’s Canadian leader for staffing, recruitment and HR Services, the Canadian industries with the best opportunities for female executives remain within the “traditional” fields. According to the survey results, over half of female managers and executives polled believe that the healthcare and education sectors provide the best opportunities for women to move into managerial/executive positions in the next three to five years. Six in 10 (58%) think the healthcare sector provided the most room for growth, topping the list, while slightly over half (52%) forsee the education sector providing the best opportunities. Other fields that were mentioned as providing ample room for advancement were the not-for-profit sector (35%), financial services (32%), hospitality (29%), professional services (23%), the public sector (22%), information technology (11%), engineering and construction (6%), oil and gas (3%), and transportation and logistics (2%). Rounding out the list as the industry least likely to provide advancement opportunities was the manufacturing sector (1%). Molly Huber, Vice President, Western Region, Randstad Technologies, says she is not surprised by the list of industries that present the greatest opportunities for women to advance into the executive ranks over the next three to five years. “Women have traditionally led in fields like education but their dominance in fields such as business, finance and professional services comes as no surprise. Even in fields they do not currently dominate, it is undeniable that women are making significant strides in what are typically considered male-driven job markets,” she adds. But Huber says many organizations, from all industries, still need to work harder to improve gender diversity at the executive level. “Companies need to do more to advance female talent by providing leadership training, mentoring and coaching, and creating opportunities for women with leadership potential to progress from more junior roles,” she says. “The remarkable female speakers who attended our Women in leadership luncheon, like Dr. Wendy Cukier, Vice President Research and Innovation and Tova White, Vice President, Human Resources, Coca Cola Canada, prove it is possible for women to not just to be a part of the workforce, but to lead it as well,” says Huber. “Some of these women have paved the way for other women to aspire to top-tier positions in the workforce.” Women are having a seismic impact on our economy, creating jobs and driving innovation, says Huber. “It’s important for women to mentor and share ideas with each other, and also offer insight into overcoming business challenges; this is the recipe for success.” For further information contact: Dayana Fraser 416.962.9578 x2317 Marie-Noelle Morency 514.350.5309 x233
Today, the third annual Teaching and Learning Celebration started today in New York. Working with educational consultant Melinda Pongrey, I helped produce a couple of live on-line radio talk shows for LD Live of conference speakers. The below interveiw with Deborah Meier was pre-recorded on Wednesday and is now available as a podcast. During the two day conference, there will be live reports from the event that can be heard on the LD Live blog. Deborah W. Meier, a presenter at the 2008 Teaching and Learning Celebration March 7 in New York City, talks with Melinda Pongrey about how she views education and what is needed for students today. Deborah is currently on the faculty of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, as senior scholar and adjunct professor as well as Board member and director of New Ventures at Mission Hill, director and advisor to Forum for Democracy and Education, and on the Board of The Coalition of Essential Schools. Meier has spent more than four decades working in public education as a teacher, writer and public advocate. She began her teaching career as a kindergarten and headstart teacher in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City schools. She was the founder and teacher-director of a network of highly successful public elementary schools in East Harlem. In 1985 she founded Central Park East Secondary School, a New York City public high school in which more than 90% of the entering students went on to college, mostly to 4-year schools. During this period she founded a local Coalition center, which networked approximately fifty small Coalition-style K-12 schools in the city. Deborah Meier Bio Deborah also writes a “point-counter-point” blog for Educational Week called Bridging Differences with Diane Ravitch.
But will the green wave outlast the bandwagon phase? People in Central and Upstate New York have a growing stake in making sure it does. Academics, entrepreneurs and elected officials believe green technology holds promise for stoking our economy. They think it could replace the brain drain with a brain gain of young college graduates and skilled technicians in our region. Oh, and while we're at the business of creating jobs and building more sustainable communities, we could help save the planet. A lot of communities are trying to hop on the green bandwagon. Central New York has a big head start. A study by the Battelle Memorial Institute identified 419 companies in Central New York in the green sector, which spans a wide range of industries including environmental engineering, green building materials manufacturing, air monitoring and treatment, renewable energy, water filtration and others. More than 10,000 people in Central and Upstate New York already work in green jobs, which tend to pay better than the average wage. What will seal the deal for green industries looking for a home, according to Battelle, is a regional culture that values sustainability. And that's where the material on this blog comes in. Green Central New York, to be published in print every other month and continously online, is an effort to involve and engage the larger community in the green groundswell. It is being underwritten in its start-up phase by key members of the community. Here, you'll find all the green news in the daily Post-Standard, plus the Green Finder blog published by staff writer Tim Knauss, multimedia feeds, green links and much more. Send along your comments, story ideas and questions as together we explore Green Central New York. Marie Morelli / firstname.lastname@example.org
Although Google is a company, it is not unlike a person. Ever since its legendary ethical compass check — “don’t be evil” — began circulating in the popular imagination, Google-watchers have often judged Google: is it evil or not evil? Is this Google product, action, or strategy evil or not evil? More subtly, it’s possible to argue that Google is like a person because it’s easy to see that it has better or worse natures. At its best, Google provides unparalleled advances in computing and information retrieval to each and every one of us. At its worst, it’s a greedy, unfair bully. At its best, Google provides an unbiased methodology for all of us to sort through various types of information, helping citizens shine light in dark corners and indirectly, to speak truth to power. At its worst, Google is in itself the power, mobilizes bias to serve its own ends, and invades privacy in the manner of a surveillance operation that can see you but won’t let you see what it can see about you (notwithstanding efforts to be more transparent about all that). That Google has these multiple natures is a hopeful sign, as it would be for a person. When people don’t have a good side, you don’t try to encourage them to do better — you just avoid them (or when they do evil, you lock them away with no parole). It’s not so different for companies. As the year winds down, it will be fashionable to come up with long checklists of things companies did well, did right, did wrong. To simplify my year-end scorecard, I’ll be looking at three faces of Google: the most evil one; the most mainstream, productive, Silicon-Valleyish one; and the remarkably good one. Judge Not the Individual To this, I’ll add a twist; what may seem like a totally unrelated observation. Good and evil, successful and unsuccessful: all too often we individualize these matters. After all, how else to give advice to… individuals… (or companies treated like individuals)… so that they can “improve,” “get rich,” etc.? But like trying to understand the earth’s trajectory without reference to its orbit around the sun, our individualized advice can miss the awe and wonder of… wait for it… systems. Yep, this post wasn’t inspired by Paul Buchheit’s post of today, “Four reasons Google is still Awesome,” though it’s a great read and timely that it’s up there today. It was inspired by a bit of daydreaming from last week, trying to make sense of the behavior of young crabs on the beach in Costa Rica. When you look at the crabs as a whole, they all appear to be going somewhere, and eventually they get there. Look at the behavior of an individual crab, though, and they don’t seem very smart. They often wander in the “wrong” direction, or zigzag, winding up back where they started. The overall pull of the instincts of all the little crabs together gets them somewhere better, without too many of them wandering off and dying alone, but taken individually, many of the little critters stumble around like they don’t know what they’re doing. As individuals, they’re often dysfunctional. As a system, it works for most of the individuals (and powerfully for the system itself). Fortunately, in recent years, techie types have taken to this insight that has been known to some economists, and many sociologists and natural scientists, for centuries; they’ve been sharing and embracing the insights of books like The Wisdom of Crowds, Wikinomics, etc. (As explored in depth by Brian Barry and Russell Hardin in Rational Man, Irrational Society?, certain formal game theorists and public-choice economists have tried to show the opposite — that crowds suck and cannot produce rational outcomes, such as preference ordering that confers true legitimacy in elections.) Google’s Systems Thinkers Google, as a company, taps into systems. It may seem painfully obvious to state this, but indeed it provides a powerful yardstick for measuring what the company is capable of. In tapping into systems that are much more powerful when tapped as opposed to untapped, Google can be a powerful, mainstream Silicon Valley player; it can become evil by crossing some line where it is appropriating to much of the benefit of “our” systems for its own ends; and it can do surprising amounts of good, essentially subsidizing public purposes with its wisdom and technologies. There’s no question that Google’s founders and many of its product developers are sophisticated “system” thinkers through and through. It starts with PageRank being developed to capture the authority structures within a large peer-review system based on a public, shared platform (the Web). All of those interrelationships, captured and filtered. Individual hubs and authorities matter, but it would be incoherent to mention them in the absence of the network itself, to the interdependence implied by links pointing to other links, implicitly being (as the Googlers said at the time) “votes” for those they link to. (Even the word “link” implies that we are all interlinked, and that while we may have property within that system, the system itself belongs to all of us in some way.) Google is also famous for its advances in “massively parallel computing.” By linking together a bunch of inexpensive Linux servers, Google’s innovators paved the way towards faster growth for itself, using less capital. Ultimately this type of thinking provided a much better search experience for more users, while also making Google more profitable. Google Search was faster than other search engines, and its index generally larger and fresher. By 2004, it was game, set, match, for any competitor trying to keep up without blowing about a billion dollars in a futile attempt just to keep pace. Google’s innovators also like to design self-learning systems; predictive systems that get better with a large amount of data. These include many elements of the matching technologies in the Google Display Network (aka AdSense); smart pricing in the same network; invalid (fraudulent) click filtering in the advertising program; smart keyword research tools; and various settings within AdWords. The entire organic search algorithm of course relies on massive numbers of “signals” indicative of user satisfaction, relevance, etc., and in itself constitutes a massive social and information system with relatively clear end goals. The title of Ian Ayres’ book Super Crunchers is slightly misleading as an encapsulation of all this data crunching; I prefer John Battelle’s term “the database of intentions,” as it highlights the fact that Google’s systems adjust and help advertisers tap into real intents behind real people & customers. The evolution of this seemingly “self-refining” system design continues on many fronts. Take the Display Network. Many advertisers take the following strategy. First, they let Google’s predictive, automated matching technology scan a massive database of participating publisher pages and guess at where to put their ads. Later, they assess the results of the effort, and refine, using something called managed placements. By re-bidding and unselecting poorly-performing publishers and increasing bids on good-performing “managed placements” in the content network, advertisers and publishers get better connected, and profitability for both should be enhanced. Google is in effect providing an information conduit back and forth between advertisers and publishers on a large scale. They add much more value to their role than traditional advertising brokers, rep firms, and display networks. Google Search in general has gotten better over the years in large part due to the great signals Google gathers, though arguably not as “better” as we would have predicted in 1999. Google’s algorithm has creaked under the constant strain of the efforts of spammers, but the spammers haven’t been able to best Google. Arguably here Google is using workarounds (more characteristic of its underpowered competitors) such as more human oversight on the most popular queries, and shifting to blended search results that rely less heavily on the more easily-spammable open Web. But I digress. Google: Three Faces, One Company Now to the three faces of Google, if you’re looking for a handy way to “judge” Google. Google as Mainstream Silicon Valley Power As always, Seth Godin offers a nice bit of critical distance in this post about so-called cliches: “You can’t be offbeat in all ways, because then we won’t understand you and we’ll reject you. Some of the elements you use should be perfectly aligned with what we’re used to. The others… Not a little off. A lot off.” We used to notice unique things at Google like the “I Feel Lucky” button, the crazy IPO auction, 20% time, and the amazing cafeterias. And rightly so: these things set the brand apart. What shouldn’t be missed is that the source of Google’s power was in part its status as a magnet for the best of an already elite talent pool in Silicon Valley, in a wide range of areas: code, management, strategy, venture capital, legal, innovation, business development, and more. The more of this talent went to Google, the less of it was available to run Microsoft, Yahoo, and other competitors, including startups. As a mainstream Silicon Valley powerhouse, its team as a whole knew how to leverage scale, and it understood the power of the crowd: its users, the data, auction formats, etc. – to extract maximum value in a business and user loyalty sense. Google became breathtakingly profitable and huge, in the most conventional senses. It files impressive, conventional annual and quarterly reports that anyone on Wall Street can’t help but admire. This is mainly what Google is. It was able to get that way in part because of the talent it brought on board, and in part, due to an extended honeymoon period with the force that really matters: the “user”. Hundreds of millions of them, to be exact. Until recently, what those users admired about Google was the fact that Google was on our side. Where some players would appropriate or spam our public, shared realm for nefarious ends, Google would defend us against that by taking a more balanced approach. It’s important to recognize that this sensitivity made Google a successful, private company and a relatively non-evil company at a larger scale than many imagined was possible. An impressive feat in itself even if Google never did anything notably public-minded in a non-business sense. Google as Evil Appropriator of Too Much of the ‘Public’ Realm The problem is, Google does many of the things that it claims it is protecting us all from. When a large natural resources company like an oil company or gold mining company exploits too much of a resource in a country without paying sufficient royalties and while taking undue risks with our health or creating excessive environmental externalities, many of us speak up and say that the company is out of balance and is profiteering at the expense of fairness to the public. We might also find that if the company was vertically integrated and started muscling into other industries using its influence or power, at some point it might be just too large or too monopolistic to be fair to would-be new entrants. Economic theories of perfect competition may be pie-in-the-sky, but we do draw the line somewhere. Google’s policies and practices often claim to be tilted towards public service; they also enforce sanctions against spammers, scrapers, producers of “non-original” content, etc. Albeit with the permission of website owners based on Web standards which allow anyone to opt out of having their site indexed, Google’s empire is fundamentally built on its ability to serve ads up against other people’s content. Google is the world’s biggest “scraper” company. That goes for Google Search, Google News, YouTube, and so on. Google isn’t alone in this. But has it lost the ability to recognize where a “better for the user” version of someone else’s content is actually a wrapper, layer, or product that simply lines Google’s pockets, instead of giving a fighting chance to a legitimate publisher or aggregator that now finds itself in the harrowing position of competing with all-knowing arbiter Google? With Google Books, and Google’s project to scan old books, Google is providing a “public service”. Did we ask for it? Why Google? Google Checkout is a PayPal (and other payment processing systems) competitor. By using Google Checkout, advertisers in practice experience an improvement in visibility and even conversion rates because Google allows them to show an icon next to their ads. In quite a few areas, it appears that Google invents its own definition of “fair,” and looks askance at “scrapers and spammers” trying to make a living, while appropriating (organizing and making universally accessible?) the world’s content to show ads against. The situation would probably be even worse if users weren’t so ferociously loyal to Google competitors that Google has tried to muscle in on. Knol was a dreadful failure, and users still think of Wikipedia as “the” user-created resource. Users will have to maintain that type of loyalty to a lot of other Google competitors (who did not realize that Google would show up one day and compete with them, after years of highlighting their content as best of breed), because Google has the ability to hurt ecosystem players by making them relatively invisible, or downgrading them to one of a series of contenders in a vertical, and adding Google’s own layer or wrapper as a superior, more “trusted” approach to that same vertical. This is particularly evident in Google’s potential to eradicate (while seeming to “highlight”) vertical review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. Google as Benevolent Subsidizer of Cool, Good Things Like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, Google often lets its best nature slip out, so it’s tough to hate on them no matter how ferocious they may seem on the surface. The world would be a better place if Google could keep doing “best nature” types of things while backing off its more warlike moves to “own” networks and resources that really don’t belong to Google exclusively. In many of Google’s products there are a ton of cool tools that Google will never monetize. They’re just there, and you can use them and enjoy them. Like those goofy calculators and unit/currency converters that you can type right into Google Search, if you wish. Make your own list, but one I keep coming back to is Google Public Data Explorer. Using this app, I can pull up a line graph to see quickly that Canada’s fertility rate declined from 3.81 (3.81!) in 1960 to 1.60 in 2008, while Costa Rica’s declined from 7.31 in 1960 (7.31!) to 1.96 in 2008. (Juxtapose that against the tour guide’s bullet point that Costa Rica is “80% Catholic”.) I like it when Google applies the things Google’s good at, to data and problem-solving that simply help make the world to be a better-functioning, more transparent, safer, and healthier place… without undue privacy invasions or profiteering. I don’t for a second believe that “Google is at a crossroads,” because most of what Google is, is captured by Face #1: it is now and will continue to be, a mainstream Silicon Valley powerhouse that has built a profitable enterprise out of its skill in leveraging powerful networks and crowds, an enterprise made possible by both its incredible talent and a loyal user base. We can only hope that in 2011 Google will keep working on subsidizing a few more of the things that make life good for all, while looking in the mirror from time to time and pulling back from initiatives that cross the line from powerful company to ugly profiteer. Will it do so? Paul Buchheit’s words offer hope, because they describe how Google has always been: “Systems (or individuals) that don’t welcome negative feedback are doomed. Cultures that don’t laugh at themselves are cults.” Google has generally accepted honest feedback from within and without, and word has it some Googlers retain a wicked sense of humor.
http://tuvok.wimp.com/videos43ll/5f0ee5046182567fb4ff7a516231e506_minute.flvSo you know those time lapse sequences on the ever-so-amazing Planet Earth and the new LIFE series? This video, from the new LIFE series on BBC, shows how they make those epic time lapses. I’m still in awe every time I watch this video. The amount of room for error is huge here, yet they nail it perfectly. Ninety-five layers deep in what looked to be After Effects most certainly was difficult to work with. The rigging that the crew used is also very cool. You can see in the video that they are shooting Nikon and using a large gliding dolly combined with an arm/crane to help with the fluid movement. They used a similar motion control setup when shooting the autumn mountain landscape, Japanese cherry blossoms in bloom and a sand storm in the Sahara (see them all here) the more well known of Planet Earth’s time lapses. Video sourced from Wimp
China suspected as source of counterfeit drugs that are holding back fight against malaria in Africa The life-saving medicine arrives on cargo trucks and in suitcases, crossing borders to be put on sale in pharmacies, shops and hospitals. There is just one problem: it isn't life-saving at all. To look at the packaging, you would never know. It is usually a dead ringer for the real thing. Only on closer inspection will you find a watermark missing or notice the crumbling edges of a tablet that to well-trained inspectors can be the telltale signs of fakery. Even health professionals are routinely fooled. "I have taken them myself," said Dr Mechtlida Luhaga, who has been both doctor and patient in Africa's long battle against malaria. "I took Alu and nothing happened. I had another blood test to recheck and still had the same parasites. The drugs were fake."[view whole blog post ]
For those who are unused to the place of Tradition in the understanding and interpretation of the Christian faith, it is easy to assume that Tradition is simply an additional set of texts to be read alongside and in addition to Scripture. There are certainly texts which belong to Tradition (indeed the Church would consider the texts of Scripture itself to be part of Tradition). The teachings of the Apostles were “handed down” to us – which is the simple meaning of the word paradosis, Greek for “tradition.” I recall Stanley Hauerwas at Duke using the example of brick-laying to illustrate the nature of tradition. It is a skill that can be taught up to a certain point – but finally can only be mastered by working with a master brick mason. It is a skill that is “handed down.” In point of fact, most human learning has something of this element. You go to high school and college – perhaps even graduate school. However, once you find yourself in the world of work, having to apply things that have been learned, tradition becomes essential. Theory and practice are separate experiences. My father received training as an aircraft mechanic during the Second World War. He became an auto mechanic after the war. The training was somewhat transferrable. His father was also a mechanic – but one who had no training. He learned by experience and the tradition that is the practice of being a mechanic. Both were very intelligent men and quite skilled in their field. But they knew things that were never taught in school. We learn to cook in the same manner – a recipe never being sufficient of itself. Such examples could be almost endlessly multiplied. It is essential to human life and always has been. The Christian life is no different – for it is not a set of ideas to be memorized – but a life to be lived. For this reason, Christ had disciples. For this reason the Church had a catechumenate that often lasted for three years. We learn the Christian life by doing it. We learn to pray by praying and praying along with those who know how to pray. We read Scripture with those who have read it before us and from them we learn how it is that a Christian reads Scripture. Those who have not been trained in such a manner are like children building a house with bricks. They may have the proper ingredients – but the result is likely to be a house that falls down. Modernity has an assumption that those who live in the present always know more than those who have gone before us. Thus we always expect our children to be able to program a digital clock when an adult cannot. I have taught four children how to drive. It is a tradition. Over the years I hope to have taught them how to live the Christian life. It is a tradition. To learn from a tradition requires a humility and a recognition that not everything worth knowing can be expressed in words. It requires that we accept that a disciple is not greater than his master. The child is not greater than the adult. As the bumper sticker says: “If you can read this – thank a teacher.”
The following article from eWeek provides an update of alliances working for common good of Internet communities. QUOTE: Three years ago, companies that wanted to exchange information on the latest cyber-threats needed to belong to one of several exclusive clubs, such as the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), Microsoft’s Active Protections Program (MAPP) or the Anti-Virus Information Exchange Network (AVIEN). Since then, new information sharing tools and networks have emerged to allow businesses to exchange attack information with other companies. In September 2013, for example, Hewlett-Packard launched a threat-intelligence sharing environment, dubbed Threat Central, which allows its customers to upload threat data and share it with other subscribers. Security and network-management provider AlienVault supports the Open Threat Exchange that allows anyone to upload threat data and post analyses. Security services firm Cyber Squared offers companies a similar environment known as Threat Connect. While each provider has a different goal for their platform, the offerings allow business customers to gain intelligence and share information on threats, usually in machine-readable format that speeds their response to attacks, Jerry Bryant, lead security strategist for the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), told eWEEK. Defenders need to counter attackers’ ability to quickly share information on network weaknesses, he said.
Google has unveiled a service that lets users fill out a profile to improve how they show up in search results. Filling out the profile will help users show up in a new feature at the bottom of a Google search page. Users can add pictures, a bio, and links to things like their Web sites and Facebook accounts. Google says the feature is designed in part to allow people with the same names distinguish themselves. So is confused online identity such a problem? I thought I’d investigate by asking some of the other top Jon Gordons on the Web – those who spell their first names J-O-N like me. I talked to Jon Gordon the author and motivational speaker, and Jon Gordon the acclaimed jazz saxophone player.
Not that anyone has noticed, but the Kyoto Protocol expired on 31 December, with carbon emissions up by 58pc over 1990 levels – instead the 5pc cut the signatories envisaged. All that fuss for worse-than-nothing. Kyoto has not been replaced, because a new era of climate change rationalism is slowly taking root. As Nigel Lawson predicted, the hysteria of the last few years is cooling. There’s no point legislating for change that’s not going to happen. No point taxing the poor out of the sky (or off the roads) if it won’t make the blindest bit of difference to the trajectory of global warming. To be sure, countries responsible for 15pc of emissions have signed an extension of Kyoto. But the main players have drawn a veil over this rather hysterical chapter in the great energy debate. Even David Cameron has gone cold on warming. In 2006, the Prime Minister captured the mood with his husky dog trip to Svalbard and advised people to “vote blue and go green”. Nigel Lawson, ex-editor of The Spectator, told Cameron’s policy chief Oliver Letwin that this mania would pass – and, crucially, that Kyoto would expire without any successor. In his column in this week’s magazine, Martin Vander Weyer reveals a conversation he had with Lord Lawson over Christmas where the ex-Chancellor revealed that he:- …bet Oliver Letwin — now David Cameron’s policy co-ordinator — that the Kyoto Protocol on carbon reduction would reach its expiry date on 31 December 2012 without a substantial successor treaty being signed to enforce binding cutbacks in emissions. ‘There has been no new agreement, let alone a “substantial” one,’ declares Lawson, brandishing an email from Letwin that concludes: ‘Shall I send a cheque to the House of Lords?’ The irony is that the rich countries are anyway modifying their behaviour, as greener shale gas becomes more widely available. As we said in the leading article of the Christmas double issue: While the rich world’s economies grew by 6 per cent over the last seven years, fossil fuel consumption in those countries fell by 4 per cent. This remarkable (and, again, unreported) achievement has nothing to do with green taxes or wind farms. It is down to consumer demand for more efficient cars and factories. So there is no more talk from the government about “leading a new green revolution in Britain.” Instead we have the much more sensible Osborne doctrine, revealed in the 2011 Tory conference. The central tenet is very clear:- “Let’s at the very least resolve that we’re going to cut our carbon emissions no slower but also no faster than our fellow countries in Europe.” Under the Climate Change Act, as it is currently structured, the government is legally bound to cut Britain’s carbon emissions by 34 per cent by the end of this decade. The rest of the EU, on the other hand, has only committed to 20 per cent. So the Climate Change Act needs revision. Kyoto shows that all this pious summitry succeeds in nothing more than raising new taxes (which usually hit the poorest hardest). America shows that new technology and greater efficiency is the best way of dealing with the energy problem. It may pain the environmentalists to admit it, but fracking may yet do more to stem carbon emissions than Kyoto ever did. Tags: Climate change, kyoto, lord lawson, Oliver Letwin
Experiments on animals: science or torture? The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has won a ruling from the Information Commissioner's Office which will force five British universities to reveal details of experiments that have been carried out on primates. The universities had argued tthat this would make them targets for animal rights groups and endanger researchers, but a judgement was made that this will not be the case. It is true, however, that the release of information is likely to be used by anti-vivisectionists to point an accusing finger at the universities in a way that will make many people feel very uncomfortable. The concept of "freedom of information" has dramatically altered the way that public bodies operate. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 defines what information public authorities are compelled to release. When a complaint is made under the Freedom of Information Act against a public authority, the Information Commissioners Office investigates the facts behind the complaint and then issues a decision notice, indictating whether or not the public authority has been judged to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The notice can include legally binding steps for the public authority to follow. Arguments like "releasing the information would be bad for our image" are obviously not legitimate reasons to withhold information, so it's not surprising that the Act often results in decisions that are unpopular with those forced to release information. Experimenting on animals has always been a contentious issue, and there's a wide range of views out there on what should be allowed. Groups like BUAV believe that no animal experiments are ever justified; at the other end of the spectrum, some individuals believe that humans should be allowed to use animals for any purpose that they deem necessary. Most people reject both of these extremes, believing that there may be a place for a limited number of carefully controlled experiments in order to achieve significant medical advances. The relevant UK legislation – the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 – reflects this view, allowing animal experiments only under strict regulation and monitoring. Home office inspectors make unannounced visits to licensed laboratories to ensure that correct procedures are being followed. On the face of it, it would seem that the law supports the middle ground, and you'd hope that those with extreme views on either side would respect this, continuing to push their arguments through democratic means. Unfortunately, the violent, terrorist-like activities of some extremists opposed to all animal experimentation means that rational debate can be impossible, and animal experimentation is an area of science which is under continuing pressure. The Home Office has a unit to deal with the extremists – known as the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU)- and they have had some success recently, but no-one's found an ideal way to deal with situations like this. Giving concessions to extremists is the wrong thing to do – letting bullies win only going encourages others to take violent action. On the other hand, locking up extremists can make them into martyrs, aiding in recruitment of naive newcomers into the movement. So what's the answer? How about this: nip extremist activity in the bud before it gets serious. Monitor everyone all the time – including CCTV,screening emails and mobile phone texts, and occasionally tapping phone lines. Does this approach sound familiar? Puppy production is profitable. Labour wants to regulate it: here's why February 20th, 2015 13:58 Here's how vets offer a better service to their patients than the National Health Service January 23rd, 2015 14:32 Veterinary after-hours care for pets isn't what it used to be: it's much better now December 13th, 2014 19:51 Vets are the best source of information about animals: here's why November 24th, 2014 13:12 The top three treatments for sick pets: guess which one is under threat? November 14th, 2014 16:12
By Graham Salinger Community Markets for Conservation(COMACO), the group behind the It’s Wild local food brand in Zambia that sells everything from organic rice to honey, is expanding its conservation efforts to the western regions of the Luangwa Valley. COMACO was founded thirty years ago and helps farmers in Zambia grow indigenous crops instead of relying on poaching wildlife as their primary source of income. COMACO also works to reduce the practice of chitemene, which involves cutting down and burning trees as a method of producing ash to improve crop yield. The organization focuses on training farmers in conservation methods and establishing markets to sell products through the It’s Wild brand. The It’s Wild brand is sold in major supermarket chains across Zambia, including ShopRite, Checkers, and Spar. COMACO has provided training for more than 40,000 small-scale farming families living across the Luangwa Valley. In 2009 it purchased over 3,000 tons of agricultural commodities from small scale farmers. COMACO works with over 1,329 former hunters in efforts to use agriculture as an alternative to poaching. Looking to build on these successes, COMACO is working with the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to extend its operations to areas in the west that have not been involved in the process. This year, ZAWA has given COMACO data on areas where illegal poaching is still common, allowing COMACO to target its efforts to specific regions. The new plan offers increased incentives for people to give up hunting in favor of farming, “the whole principle of COMACO is to offer communities a choice: a better life with skills, trade and food security through COMACO—or –a continued reliance on natural resource destruction at their own risk….”explained COMACO in announcing plans to strengthen current efforts. According to the new arrangement, if ZAWA reports zero poaching arrests in a community, COMACO will reward the community by purchasing agricultural commodities at twice the price they currently offer. The hope is that by increasing economic incentives to farm, COMACO can continue to draw people away from destructive practices while increasing income and food security in the region. Graham Salinger is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project. - Protecting Wildlife While Improving Food Security, Health, and Livelihoods - Peanut Butter and Progress - Nourishing the Planet TV: It’s All About the Process - Keeping People, and the Wildlife They Live Near, Safe - Innovation of the Week: It’s All About the Process - Community Livelihood Strengthens Food Security at Grass Root Level - The Detroit News Highlights NtP - Translating Efforts from Laboratories to Fields
Home prices have returned to 2002 levels in nominal terms and to 2000 levels when adjusted for inflation. Looking at the historic ratio of home prices to rental prices, home prices are now 9% below the normal market value, the lowest since 1999. And using the measure of home prices to incomes, housing is 18% below its historical level, according to Capital Economics, the lowest such ratio since the Case-Shiller index began measuring prices 22 years ago. Some markets have posted even sharper retreats. Prices in Detroit have fallen to their 1995 levels, according to housing analyst Ivy Zelman, the largest such drop among the 20 cities tracked by the Case-Shiller index, while Cleveland has returned to 1999 prices. But buyers may hold back because there’s no sign that prices won’t keep falling. Rising unemployment could push values down, as could a rising shadow supply of foreclosed, vacant and unlisted homes. Economists have long expressed concern about prices overshooting on the downside, or falling below the point at which they’d return to equilibrium. Mr. Dales estimates another 5-10% decline in prices. Rents, meanwhile, continue to fall, too, which helps balance the scales a bit in favor of those who continue to rent. While the buy-or-rent dynamics vary drastically from market to market, we’re curious if there are any readers who think now’s the time to make the jump from renting to owning.
Under Japan’s national health care system, the reimbursement levels for prescription drugs are set by the government, which uses its purchasing power to negotiate lower prices from drug companies to keep medical services affordable for the public. But drug companies complain that the government misuses its power as the only major buyer, making it uneconomic for them to develop new drugs. The long-running debate went public this year at the government’s deregulation council, which was created by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in January to cut bureaucratic red tape as part of his “Abenomics” economic program. The council, comprising business leaders, lawyers and academics, last week recommended that the government raise its reimbursement levels for new drugs, although it didn’t offer any firm numbers. However, like many of the ideas emerging from the prime minister’s drive to revitalize the economy, the proposal faces a number of high hurdles. This is the year of a biannual review of reimbursement prices in Japan. Any raise will have to be approved by the finance ministry first, before going through further examination by the health ministry and its advisory body — the Central Social Insurance Medical Council. In Japan, an average 13% of medical costs is borne by the patients, while 49% is covered by public health insurance, and 38% by the government. Higher reimbursement costs mean a greater fiscal burden for a government that is already the most indebted in the developed world. The deregulation council supports higher reimbursement prices, noting that it will create incentive for research and development, and improve the competitiveness of the nation’s drug industry. “The declining competitiveness of Japan’s drug industry can be seen from the growing share of overseas drugs in the Japanese market, up to 29% in 2011 from 9% in 1990,” says Eiko Tobita, analyst at the Japan Research Institute. The finance ministry isn’t convinced. It says there’s already a program since 2010 to offer higher-than-normal reinbursement prices for innovative drugs. The ministry points out that the program has been largely used by foreign drug makers, not by Japanese companies, and that there’s no guarantee that more public assistance would increase Japanese research and development. “It doesn’t look like a smart way of spending taxpayers’ money,” a ministry official said. The finance ministry is instead pushing for greater use of generic drugs and lower reimbursement prices for products that are no longer protected by patents, a move resisted by the industry. The fight is likely to go on through the end of the year, when the government decides its budget for the next year. For the latest news and analysis, follow @WSJAsia
The pilots of a Spanair jetliner that crashed in Madrid last month failed to extend the aircraft’s flaps Spanair jetliner that crashed in Madrid last month failed to extend the aircraft’s flaps , and a suspected electrical malfunction kept them from getting a cockpit warning about the danger, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal’s Andy Pasztor. Preliminary data obtained from a pair of so-called black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82, which killed 154 people, indicate that both engines were working properly and there was no fire before impact, these people said. Pasztor writes that the flight-data recorder shows that the plane’s flaps, movable devices at the rear of the wings that provide extra lift needed at takeoff, weren’t extended, according to these people. Usually, that would have triggered a loud horn in the cockpit alerting the pilots that the plane wasn’t properly configured for takeoff. In the last few days, investigators have focused on the theory that some sort of electrical defect or problems with circuit breakers prevented the horn from sounding, these people say. I know we have some pilots out there. Any thoughts on this theory? Photo: European Pressphoto Agency
Renewable energy investment; wind farm opposition; sustainable finance – Quote Bank: June 9-15 A good quote makes all the difference. Here’s the pick of the past week. “Even if we do increase agricultural output by 60%, the world would still have 300m people hungry in 2050” - Jose Graziano da Silva, FAO director-general. Sustainability at the heart of food and agriculture. “Socially responsible investing can create sustainable long-term wealth for all stakeholders. We need to learn to appreciate that doing business better will ultimately make for better business. Responsible investment is no longer a niche: it makes good business sense” - Neville White, senior socially responsible investment analyst at Ecclesiastical. Ecclesiastical report maps historic sustainable investment progress. “It’s not a case of profit at all costs, which can damage the environment. People are looking for socially responsible investments, where they’ve got a feel-good factor about them” - Andrew Steel, CEO of the Treedom Group. New forestry fund is out to benefit people, planet and profit. “Whatever the drivers, the strong and sustained growth of the sector is a major factor that is assisting many countries towards a transition to low-carbon, resource efficient green economy” - Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and UNEP executive director. Record-breaking year for renewable energy investment. “Environmental business delivers value to our clients, return for our shareholders, and helps strengthen the economy. We met our prior goal in about half the time we set for ourselves, so more than doubling our target is ambitious but achievable” - Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America. Bank of America pledges $50 billion worth of sustainable investments. “There is a school of thought that says if we cannot sort out this global climate change risk, then temperatures are going to rise, water is going to become scarcer, there is going to be more flooding and society as we know it on a global basis will change very radically. There needs to be investment on a massive scale in goods and services that are going to help mitigate and adapt to it” – Gordon Morrison, managing director at FTSE. FTSE’s ESG unit can “shed light” on responsible investment. “With the global economy in turmoil, and the plight of many vulnerable parts of society worsening, there is a unique opportunity for sustainable finance institutions to shape the response of governments and influence corporate behaviour in resolving our most pressing global problems” - Nena Stoiljkovic, a vice president at the IFC, and Lionel Barber, FT editor. Inspiring innovation in sustainable finance: FT/IFC Conference. “As a start we hope to see shareholders given a binding vote on executive remuneration. We’re also pushing for mandatory voting disclosure from investors on the way they voted on executive pay packages. This increased transparency would ensure that investors can be held to account over their voting records” - Matthew Butcher, media and communications officer at FairPensions. Pay-packets of top FTSE executives increase by 12%. “People enjoy living in Lincolnshire because we have a great way of life, not because of landscape’s blighted by wind farms. On top of that, there are also issues around the damage caused by roads during the construction and decommissioning of turbines” – Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire county council. Wind farm storm in Lincolnshire as county council says, “Enough is enough”. “The fact that the Scottish government had continued with its policies of promoting renewable energy has provided the industry with confidence” - John Wilson, deputy head of Holyrood’s energy committee. Scotland surges on in renewable energy investment. “There are two main challenges in tourism; the economic and the environmental, and the ‘centre of gravity’… The nature of our industry is that it is sensitive, but it is absolutely resilient” - Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the UN World Tourism Organisation. Sustainable tourism: an essential link in the world’s ‘value chain’. “The winners of this year’s awards should be congratulated as they stand out from a very strong group of financial institutions that are leading the way on making environmental and social considerations a major part of their business” – Martin Dickson, deputy editor of the FT. FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards: the winners. “We have embarked on a once off transition to a sustainable economy. All forms of renewable energy, from solar energy to tidal energy, will contribute to delivering this transition in the UK” - Eddie O’Connor, chief executive of Mainstream Renewable Power. Report forecasts big economic rewards from UK offshore wind investment. “Today’s defeat of WPP’s remuneration report is unsurprising given shareholder comments in the last few months. It is difficult to know whether the WPP board underestimated the level of shareholder anger or simply chose to ignore it” - Louise Rouse, director of engagement at FairPensions. WPP ‘unsurprisingly’ loses vote over Sir Martin Sorrell’s pay. “In a fast changing world, I believe it is important to understand both the forces behind today’s headlines as well as underlying trends that are shaping the new energy landscape that our children and grandchildren will inherit” – Bob Dudley, BP chief executive. Continued exploitation of fossil fuels sees global carbon emissions rise. Register with Blue and Green To leave a comment on this article, fill in your details below to register, alternatively if you are already registered you can login here
Blurred vision is sometimes temporary – but sometimes, there are treatments required to cure the blurred vision. Using these treatments, the problem of blurred vision can be solved and the person can get back to their life, as well as getting back to seeing straight. What are some of the common cures that can help to cure the blurry vision? Removing the Obstruction Causing the Blurred Vision One of the most common causes of blurred vision is an obstruction that can be seen through the eye, or over the lens. Removing this obstruction is often simple and can be completed through the use of a simple in-office procedure. Many times, it can even be done at home if something simple like dust or dander has been lodged in the eye. One of the next common causes of blurry vision is changes in the eyesight that can require the individual to use glasses to correct the vision. Nearsightedness and farsightedness can often cause blurred vision and through a simple pair of prescription lenses, the problem can be fixed. A common cause of blurred vision is cataracts, when the vision becomes clouded because of a blockage on the lens of the eye. Removing this blockage by removing the layer that is causing the vision to become blurred can be completed in a simple procedure, using lasers to decrease the recovery time and the post operative risks associated with the surgery. There are many changes that can be made in the lifestyle, especially through the eating habits that can be an effective way to combat chronic blurry vision without any known cause. Increasing the amount of carrots and nuts in the diet can help to reduce the symptoms, as well as reducing the amount of sugar and caffeine that are consumed.
Dhrupad: Tradition and Performance in Indian Music, Volume 1 Dhrupad is believed to be the oldest style of classical vocal music performed today in North India. This detailed study of the genre is built around issues of tradition and performance. There is an overview of the historical development of the dhrupad tradition and performance styles from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth, followed by analyses of performance techniques, processes and characteristics. The authors examine the relationship between the structures provided by tradition and their realization by the performer to provide a reconsideration of the nature of 'tradition' in dhrupad. Augmented with a transcription of a complete dhrupad performance, this is the first book-length study of an Indian vocal genre to be co-authored by an Indian practitioner and a Western musicologist. What people are saying - Write a review We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Here’s a study that’s fresh off the press. In fact, it was just posted online around one hour ago. How’s that for fast service on my part? The study compared the straight bar deadlift to the hex bar deadlift. Many coaches (including myself) have theorized that the trap bar deadlift allows lifters to: 1. Lift more weight 2. Place less loading on the spine, and 3. Get more knee extensor involvement These findings were all shown to be true in a brand new study by Swinton et al. (2011) titled A Biomechanical Analysis of Straight and Hexagonal Barbell Deadlifts Using Submaximal Loads. Here is the abstract: Swinton, PA, Stewart, A, Agouris, I, Keogh, JWL, and Lloyd, R. A biomechanical analysis of straight and hexagonal barbell deadlifts using submaximal loads. J Strength Cond Res 25(7): 2000-2009, 2011—The purpose of the investigation was to compare the kinematics and kinetics of the deadlift performed with 2 distinct barbells across a range of submaximal loads. Nineteen male powerlifters performed the deadlift with a conventional straight barbell and a hexagonal barbell that allowed the lifter to stand within its frame. Subjects performed trials at maximum speed with loads of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80% of their predetermined 1-repetition maximum (1RM). Inverse dynamics and spatial tracking of the external resistance were used to quantify kinematic and kinetic variables. Subjects were able to lift a heavier 1RM load in the hexagonal barbell deadlift (HBD) than the straight barbell deadlift (SBD) (265 ± 41 kg vs. 245 ± 39 kg, p < 0.05). The design of the hexagonal barbell significantly altered the resistance moment at the joints analyzed (p < 0.05), resulting in lower peak moments at the lumbar spine, hip, and ankle (p < 0.05) and an increased peak moment at the knee (p < 0.05). Maximum peak power values of 4,388 ± 713 and 4,872 ± 636 W were obtained for the SBD and HBD, respectively (p < 0.05). Across the submaximal loads, significantly greater peak force, peak velocity and peak power values were produced during the HBD compared to during the SBD (p < 0.05). The results demonstrate that the choice of barbell used to perform the deadlift has a significant effect on a range of kinematic and kinetic variables. The enhanced mechanical stimulus obtained with the hexagonal barbell suggests that in general the HBD is a more effective exercise than the SBD. It should be mentioned that subjects were allowed to rise up onto their toes at the end of the movement in order to facilitate more acceleration through the exercises. What was very surprising is the amount of peak power that occurred in the submaximal deadlifts. Previous work by Escamilla et al. 2000 showed that elite powerlifters took 4 seconds to complete the concentric portion of the rep, which equated to only .2 m/s of velocity. And since power equals force x velocity, despite the large forces seen in the max deadlift, power output is not very impressive. Here’s an excerpt from the article discussing the peak power output: In the current investigation, peak power for the SBD and HBD reached 4,388 and 4,872 W, respectively, with individual values as high as 6,049 and 6,145W recorded. Studies quantifying power during Olympic weightlifting exercises have reported maximum peak power values similar to those obtained here. Winchester et al. (33) and Cormie et al. (6) reported maximum peak power values of 4,230 and 4,900 W, respectively, for college athletes performing the power clean. One issue I have with using traditional strength exercises for the purpose of power production is the fact that the barbell must be decelerated toward the top of the movement. The researchers mentioned this in their article: Some researchers have asserted that performing traditional resistance exercises with submaximal loads is an ineffective method for developing muscular power (25). This position is based on previous studies reporting extended periods of deceleration and reduced force production to slow the barbell velocity to zero at the end of the movement (8,25) The researchers go on to say: The results from this study show that even with very light loads the majority of the exercise duration can be used to accelerate the load (Table 4). In looking at the table around 60% of the lift was spent accelerating the load with a 10% 1RM load, which climbed up to over 80% for the 80% 1RM loads. For practical advice, the authors stated: If the training objective is to target the lumbar area and maximally recruit the erector spinae muscles then it is recommended that the SBD is performed. Because the HBD more evenly distributes the load between the joints of the body, practitioners may find deadlifts performed with the hexagonal barbell to be an effective alternative to the squat and an appropriate exercise to use in the final stages of low back rehabilitation. In addition, they mentioned that: This is the first study to demonstrate that the deadlift can be combined with submaximal loads to generate large power outputs. The finding suggests it may be advantageous to include the deadlift in structured periodized models aimed at developing muscular power. The results of the study also demonstrate that the HBD can produce significantly greater peak force, peak velocity, and peak power values than the SBD. Strength and conditioning coaches should be aware of the enhanced mechanical stimulus created with the hexagonal barbell when selecting a deadlift exercise. My Take (but you should form your own conclusions): 1. The hex bar deadlift is clearly the safer lift as it reduces the moment on the lumbar spine. 2. That said, it also reduces the moment on the hip joint (while increasing the moment on the knee and ankle joints). 3. As I mentioned in my Topics of the Week article that I linked above, I still prefer the conventional deadlift because I use the full squat as my knee dominant exercise so I want a deadlift variation that complements the full squat and acts more on the hips. 4. Although the peak power levels are very impressive for the submaximal deadlifts (where you rise up onto the toes), you still spend a large percentage of the time decelerating the load which means reduced muscular tension through end range hip extension (though 87% of the 80% 1RM deadilft was indeed spent accelerating, so only the last 13% of end range hip extension is spent decelerating). 5. For this reason elastic bands could be used to increase tension on the hip extensors toward end range hip extension. 6. For this reason I like the jump squat and hang clean (or even the trap bar jump and possibly the deadlift plus shrug/calf raise) as I don’t believe they’d involve any deceleration at the top of the lift (though I confess that I haven’t located studies that address this issue…but nonetheless studies addressing this likely exist). Check out this video from Joe DeFranco…scroll to :42 seconds into the video and you can see an example of trap bar jumps. Whenever I watch a DeFranco video I get all jacked up and want to train!
Explanation of Names Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire 1888 adult 7.5-14 mm (males smaller than females); larva up to 32 mm Adult: elytra bright metallic green; pronotum golden-green; ventral surface lighter yellowish-green (with fine hairs in males, lacking in females); body narrow and elongate; head flat; eyes kidney-shaped, black; dorsal surface of abdomen metallic purplish-red, visible when wings are spread generally larger and brighter green than native NA spp. Larva: body white to cream-colored, dorso-ventrally flattened; head brown, mostly retracted into prothorax; abdomen 10-segmented with pair of brown pincer-like appendages on last segment; segments 5-8 widen posteriorly, giving the abdomen a serrated appearance when viewed from above native to E. Asia, accidentally introduced to N. Amer., established around the Great Lakes (see distribution map ) and has spread as far as CO, AR, and GA. adults in spring and summer; larvae in summer and fall hosts: Fraxinus spp.; larvae feed on inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the flow of water and nutrients, and killing infested trees within 1-4 years; adults feed on ash leaves one generation per year; overwinters as larva in outer sapwood/bark; pupate in April-May; adults emerge in late spring through D-shaped exit holes and lay eggs on host tree; larvae chew through outer bark and bore S-shaped tunnels in inner bark until late fall, then stop feeding Accidentally introduced with imported packaging/crating wood, probably in the late 1990s; first reported in se. MI and sw. ON in 2002. A highly destructive pest and a major economic & environmental threat to urban and forested areas of eastern NA Wasp (Cerceris fumipennis ) preys on this species and is used to detect the presence of EAB (more here
Programs by Campus College of Arts and Sciences Departmental E-mail: india [at] indiana [dot] edu Departmental URL: www.indiana.edu/~isp Modern India has more than a billion citizens, nearly 16 percent of the world’s population. India today is a reflection of millennia of interaction and exchange across a wide spectrum of cultures and civilizations. Critical contemporary intellectual, political, and social issues—including security, social equality, economic and political development, and the role of historical relationships—are all being debated in India, and how these issues are addressed is of vital interest to the world community. The India Studies Program at Indiana University provides for the interdisciplinary study and critical analysis of the Indian subcontinent and its peoples from ancient times to the present. The primary focus of the India Studies Program is on modern India. Yet in order to understand present-day India, it is important to have basic knowledge of the great periods in its history that have shaped modern India. This approach requires a sophisticated understanding of the country’s highly developed arts, music, literature, drama, philosophy, religions, and social and political structures. In addition to providing an overall, comprehensive education about Indian civilizations, the program allows for more specialized work in (a) literary and performance studies, (b) philosophical and religious studies, and (c) social, political, and historical studies. The India Studies Program also offers beginning- and intermediate-level courses in several Indian languages. All students in the program are encouraged to take language classes, as well as to consider study abroad in India. Ph.D. Minor in India Studies Requirements: 12 credit hours, including the core, plus advanced work in one of the three disciplinary groups of the program (excluding language courses). Specific courses as well as language requirements (if any) should be chosen in consultation with the director of India Studies. Ordinarily, only 3 credits from the student’s major program may be counted toward the Ph.D. minor. Students in the Ph.D. minor in India Studies are encouraged to take advantage of programs in India Studies and South Asian Studies at participating institutions in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). Excellent work in the social sciences is available through the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: |Title:||Without leisure … ‘it wouldn’t be much of a life’: The meaning of leisure for people with mental health problems living in the community| |Publisher:||College of Occupational Therapists| |Citation:||The British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 69 (5)209-16| |Abstract:||Previous research has explored the occupational engagement of people with mental health problems. This study set out to establish the meaning and value of leisure for people with enduring mental health problems living in the community. Using a mainly qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants randomly selected from clients referred to a local assertive outreach service in South-East England. Initially, the data were analysed for content, phrases, language and words used; subsequently, emerging themes were identified which were confirmed by a second occupational therapist. Three themes are reported here: why certain occupations were considered to be leisure, the feelings expressed during leisure and the value of leisure. Although the participants had some difficulty in articulating their views, leisure was differentiated from other occupations, with the time available to complete a task in the absence of pressure being the distinguishing feature. Overall, the participants had positive views about leisure, which was valued in terms of meeting their individual and unique needs. The implications for occupational therapy are explored. In determining the meaning and value of leisure for people with mental health problems, more emphasis should be given to their actions and less to their skill in verbalising emotion.| |Appears in Collections:||Community Health and Public Health| Dept of Clinical Sciences Research Papers Items in BURA are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Chinatown is one of the last affordable working class and immigrant communities in Manhattan. And Chinatown is the center of Chinese culture and history in this city. But in the past decade, residents’ living conditions have deteriorated, and the neighborhood is undergoing rapid gentrification: - Rents have skyrocketed - Families are forced into overcrowded apartments or shelters - Landlords are harassing and evicting long-time residents - Small businesses are closing due to rising rents, and many jobs have been lost - Community programs and services are being cut - Long-time residents are being harassed by the police Meanwhile, the City is giving developers incentives to demolish buildings and build luxury condos and hotels. We must act NOW to protect our families, our homes, our community, and our culture. Zoning is a tool used by city planners to control, promote, and/ or deter development. It affects housing, businesses, factories, and everything else that makes up a neighborhood. It determines what can be built, how high it can be built, and for what purpose. Our current zoning encourages real estate speculation, luxury development, and rising rents, which leads to mass displacement, as we have seen in other neighborhoods such as Harlem and Williamsburg. CAAAV’s Principles for Rezoning Chinatown and the Lower East Side: CAAAV is advocating for a rezoning plan that: - Protects tenants living in rent regulated housing through anti-harassment regulations - Restricts development on NYCHA land and requires 100% affordability for any construction on public land - Protects small businesses by restricting development of chain stores and large businesses - Promotes affordable housing development for low income families - Provides height limits and restrictions on size of buildings to preserve character of neighborhood and protect residents tenement housing - Includes Chinatown residents and small business owners in the planning process Support our campaign to create a zoning plan that protects low-income residents and small businesses, and say with us, a Chinatown for residents is a Chinatown for all! To learn more about how to get engaged in the Rezoning Campaign contact Anj Chaudhry at email@example.com.
Wells on Education Paul Wells has taken a break from Paul Martin bashing (unfortunately) and dead Jazz musician eulogies (thankfully) to focus on his latest obsession: post-secondary education. His argument is that rising tuition is not the disaster everyone makes it out to be so long as bursaries are available to help lower income students. And I agree completely. It's in society's interest to make sure as many young adults as possible attend University. But the rich will go regardless of tuition fees because University is such a worthwhile investment for the individual. So if Vincent Lecavalier decides he wants to attend University next year during the NHL lock-out, he'll go regardless of the tuition rates the Quebec government imposes on their Universities. However, for a kid who spent his High School days working part-time at La Belle Province selling hot dogs to help his single mom pay the bills, the price for a semester at McGill will have a monumental impact on his ability to attend. What I'd like to see would be for the federal government to get their fingers into post-secondary education. Why not put a national plan like this in place: 1) The federal government gives special "tuition loans" to every single low income Canadian (it would take some time defining this) attending University. These would cover 100% of their tuition fees. 2) These loans would need to be repaid only 10 years after graduation. At this time, any students living in Canada would see their loan absolved. In effect, the government would be paying the tuition fees for all low income Canadians. The loan system would ensure that our brightest students stay in the country upon graduation, helping to fight the brain drain. The provincial governments would not have to pay any money into this plan but their province would lose the program if they cut back University funding bellow a certain level. Would this plan be financially feasible? Well, I don't know the exact numbers but let's say for arguments sake that there are 1 million students enrolled in post-secondary education in Canada. There's a wide range in tuition across the country but let's say the government agrees to make the loans for 4,000$ a year. By making it a fixed amount, it encourages Universities to keep the cost of tuition down (since, if you charge four grand a year in tuition, students get in free, whereas 6 grand a year in tuition means they're on the hook for 2,000$...which is quite a bit more than zero). Therefore, the feds would be on the hook for 4 billion a year. Eek! But, remember, that's if they pay for everyone. If they only cover the poorer students, say, the bottom half, it works out to 2 billion a year. Which is still a lot of money but it's far less than the pharmacare program and considering this would be a historic legacy program, I think it would be well worth the investment. Studies have shown that every dollar invested in education pays back 7 to 10 dollars in the long run and countries who have offered free tuition have seen incredible economic results. I know post-secondary education isn't as sexy or politically popular as health care but a program like this would be one of the best things the Canadian government could institute. It would be bold and would demonstrate vision. And that is why it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
1933 Goudey Indian Gum No. 61 Sam Houston The groundbreaking 1933 Goudey baseball card set had a sister non-sports set featuring Indian Chiefs. If you look on the back of a '33 Goudey card you'll see an ad at the bottom "Made by the originators of INDIAN GUM". Well, these cards were the inserts in those Indian Gum packs. There are 216 cards in the set, but the set was issued in a gigantic number of different series so there are 432 cards in the master set when you account for all the variations. The cards are even more colorful than the baseball series, and if you find the '33 baseball cards to be too pricey, you can find copies of the Indian set really cheap instead. While the early cards in the set focused on Indian Chiefs, somewhere along the line it devolved into a Wild West theme and cards were produced of distinctly non-Indian subjects such as General Custer, Billy the Kid and The Pony Express. Sam Houston was at least an adopted member of the Cherokee Tribe and fought for Indian rights while in the US senate. There is absolutely nothing I can say about Sam Houston that isn't better said on the back of this card. This adventurous daring pioneer when a mere boy left home and joined the Cherokee Indian tribe. At the age of 21 he was fighting the Creeks in Alabama receiving wounds from which he never fully recovered. In 1836 with 783 men, he surprised the Chief, Santa Anna, and in fifteen minutes killed and captured all of the 1300 Indians including Santa Anna himself. Always the good Indians' friend, while a Texas Senator at Washington, he arrayed himself in full Indian costume and pleaded the cause of the Redman. They just don't write card backs like that anymore. Things I learned from this card: - Sam Houston was a member of the Cherokee tribe. - Sam fought people from Alabama, which is perfectly reasonable for anyone from Tennessee. - General Santa Anna was an Indian Chief of the Mexico tribe. Wait.. what?? - Sam was a member of the Washington Senators, and helped engineer their move to Texas by wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform. - Sam is a great fan of Redman, which means he probably also loves the movie How High. Makes you wonder how ridiculous all these blog posts will be 80 years from now.
'Old Bill' set to break motorcycle auction record An auction in Duxford in October will see the world renowned Brough Superior 'Old Bill' motorcycle go under the hammer. Auction organiser H&H say it's "arguably the most important motorcycle ever to come to market". Expected to fetch upwards of £250,000, the bike has featured in every book ever written about Brough motorcycles. George Beale of H&H said: "If I could bring any motorcycle in the world to auction, it would probably be this one – the combination of significance and provenance is simply unrivalled in my view." 'Spit & Polish', as it was originally called, was built in 1922 for eponymous company founder George Brough, and he used it to get his first win at Brooklands, where it became the first side valve bike to lap the track at over 100mph. It had a 1,000cc V-twin engine. Unfortunately, the bike put Brough in hospital on the same day as it broke the Brooklands record, when the front tyre burst. After that, Brough re-built the bike, changing the forks and swapping out the V-twin engine for a prototype JAP unit. He renamed it Old Bill, after a cartoon character, and went on to win more than 50 races on it during 1922 and 1923. However, the bike eventually put Brough in hospital again, when he fell of just prior to the finish line of a race at Clipstone, Nottinghamshire. After that, Old Bill was retired as a racer, converted to a road bike and sold. Its next accident was especially unfortunate...a cast iron bath fell through a ceiling onto it while it was in storage during World War II. It was bought by Brough enthusiast Titch Allen in the late '50s, who with the help of George Brough restored it to its original specification. Allen kept it for three decades before passing it to his son, Roger. Sadly, Roger Allen was killed in a motorcycle accident during a 1992 Isle of Man TT race, and, after his entire collection of bikes was passed to his wife, Old Bill was put on display at the Nottingham Industrial Museum. It's been there ever since. It will be displayed at the International Classic Motorcycle Show in Stafford between now and the sale. Auction organiser H&H has estimated it at £270,000, based on the fact that a Brough Superior SS100 currently holds the world record for a motorcycle auction sale, at £280,000. However, Old Bill could feasibly fetch far in excess of that. George Beale said: "Clearly, the value has been difficult to estimate but, based on our success with the SS100 in 2010, there is no telling what it could make on the day. "It is an absolute privilege to be handling the sale of such an automotive icon and we very much look forward to being able to show it to the world's serious collectors from the Stafford show onwards."
|Q1. What types of decisions must Chad Thomas make daily for his company’s operations to run effectively? Over the long run? Tactical decisions or short term decisions have short term impact and consequence to the organization: 1) Layout of the manufacturing process and equipment configurations- the importance of the relayout is to reduce the setup time 2) Resource allocation-daily raw materials allocation and replenishment 3) Management of resource- manpower allocation and staff allocated for each process. 4) Job scheduling ? production scheduling on how much to produce 5) Shipment scheduling ? planning and organizing the number of shipments to end customer 6) Inventories management Strategic decisions or long term decisions have long term impact and consequence to the organization: 1) Develop forecasting methodology and techniques to understand the demands 2) If making the “Make” or “Buy” decision, it is important as the decision will impact on the relayout of the equipment, production 3) Reorganization of people- required to retrain people and check on their capabilities to perform the work (Cross training and flexible workforce are critical components in the organization to meet the complexity of the products) 4) “Outsourcing” or “Buy” decision- when volume is increasing at a constant rate, outsource non core activities to others. Q2. How did the sales and marketing affect operations when they began to sell standard pieces to retail outlets? Firstly, there is a need to focus on the company competitive dimensions before embarking on the decisions. In this aspect, the Competitive capabilities are the Cost, Quality, Time, and Flexibility dimensions that a process or value chain actually processes and is ... |Please login to view the full paper Franchise Vs. Business Opportunity To the untrained eye, franchise and business opportunity investments look pretty much the same. Both invite you to purchase a package of goods and services and business concepts. Both offer you the chance to capitalize on a business idea that has already proved to be successful. Both provide some training, handholding and access to a valuable marketplace. In reality, though, there are huge differences between the two concepts. While these fundamental distinctions sometimes appear subtle, detecting and understanding them can help you protect yourself when you take the plunge into your new business. If there's one telltale difference between a franchise and a business opportunity, it's the role of a trademark. The licensing of trademark rights is a hallmark of franchising: Every franchisee of a McDonald's, Subway or Holiday Inn is operating under a trademark license. The consistent image portrayed by these and other franchise systems symbolizes their strength in the marketplace, and is the direct result of a trademark license. If a program grants you the right to operate under a trademark owned by the seller, you're most likely looking at a franchise rather than a business opportunity. Please login to view full paper
I have a char buff which contains "1234 ABCD 5678". I can't remember what function I used before to parse the string into individual variables. It was something like this: forgotenFunction(var1, var2, var3, buff, "%d %s %d") It gave me this: var1 = "1234" var2 = "ABCD" var3 = "5678" var1 and var3 are going to be an int array and var2 is a string. i remember something regarding parsing by using the space as an identifier? Any ideas? I will appreciate it. Thanks in advance Smile
Britinia insola oceani cui quondam Olbiian nomen erat, is eight hundred thousand paces in length, two hundred thousand in breadth, and in circumference five thousand seventy and eight times forty. There are in it eight score cities, and five languages, viz. the Saxon language, and the British language, and the Cruithnian language, and Gaelic, and Latin. Anno xlmo. ante nativitatem Christi, i e. forty years before the birth of Christ, came Galus into the island of Britain; he lost his ships and his army on his first expedition, and he lost Labienus the tribune, but at length he took the hostages of the island of Britain. Cluids Ceissir, the fourth king after Juil, came into the island of Britain even to the island of Orc. Ab incarnatione Domini clvi. Marcus Antonus with his brother, i. e. Lucidus Aurelius Commodus, devastated the island of Britain. Ab incarnatione Domini clxxxix. Severus Afer Tripolitanus came into the island of Britain. Leipis was the name of the city in Africa where he was born; he was the seventeenth king after Juil: p.171it was for him was made the Saxon ditch; he died at Caer Abrog. He had two sons, Basianus and Geta. It was he (the former) that succeeded to the kingdom by the name of Anton. Ab incarnatione Domini cclxxxiii. Dioclistan, the thirty-third king after Juil, and Maximin, came into the island of Britain. It was in their time that Carausius held the sovereignty of Britain seven years, until Alectus killed him, and held the sovereignty himself for three years, until Asclipidotus killed him, and became king himself for ten years. Dioclistan, in the east of the world, was persecuting the Christians, and Maiscimen in the west. It was in that persecution over the world that Saint Albainand Aron, and Juil, chiefs of the city Leigionum at that time,died. Constanst, king of Britain, was the father of Constantine, son of Eiline (Helena), the concubine of Constantin. Etrobus wrote that it was in the island of Britain that Constantin took sovereignty at first; for his father had exercised dominion over France and Spain in the life-time of Dioclistan. Ab incarnatione ccclxvi. Gradianus was the fortieth king from Juil. It was in his time that a certain Maxim took the sovereignty of Britain. Ab incarnatione Domini ccccxciv. Arcatus was sovereign of the world son of Toetas Theodosius, the forty-third king after Augustus. Pilacius Pelagius a Briton, adopted heresy, and destroyed the Christians. Ab incarnatione D. (ccccv.) Forty-four years [gap: text unintelligible] two years before Eolair Alaric, King of the Gaeth Goths, Gradian the champion is made king of the Britons; and then Constantine, afterwards [gap: text unintelligible] until Constantinus Comes killed him at the command of Honorius. Constans, his son, came from being a monk, and took the kingdom. Now Rome was destroyed afterwards in the thousandth one hundredth and lxiv.th year from its foundation. That was the end of the Roman dominion over the island of Britain, after cccclxx. years from the time when Juil took the island of Britain. The Romans extinguished it as to its military power, and there were left in it no warriors nor men of learning, and the Romans carried them off, and would not suffer them to return. It was then that the Gaedhels and the Cruithnians, two border tribes, took captives and spoil. There went ambassadors from the Britons with presents along with them, to the Romans, to seek relief; and there came to them a valiant army across the island, who attacked the Cruithnians and p.175Gaedhels; and they returned to their home then. Immediately the enemy came, and mowed down the Britons like a ripe corn field. The ambassadors were sent again, and a legion came to the assistance of the Britons, and fought against the enemies of the Britons, and the ditch which the second Severus made was repaired by them; it was of stones this time, i. e. seven feet broad and twelve high from sea to sea; of sods they found it, and they fortified it so that they might not be required to come again to assist them; and they departed. When the Gaedhels and the Cruithnians heard this they came upon them (i.e. upon the Britons) as wolves upon sheep. Ab incarnatione cccc.xxii. Theothas junior post Honorium the forty-fourth king after Augustus.
Development of a light scatter sensor technology for on-line monitoring of milk coagulation and whey separation Fagan, C. C., Leedy, M., Castillo, M., Payne, F. A., O'Donnell, C. P. and O'Callaghan, D. J. (2007) Development of a light scatter sensor technology for on-line monitoring of milk coagulation and whey separation. Journal of Food Engineering, 83 (1). pp. 61-67. ISSN 0260-8774 Full text not archived in this repository. To link to this article DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2006.12.014 The objective of this study was to investigate a novel light backscatter sensor, with a large field of view relative to curd size, for continuous on-line monitoring of coagulation and syneresis to improve curd moisture content control. A three-level, central composite design was employed to study the effects of temperature, cutting time, and CaCl2 addition on cheese making parameters. The sensor signal was recorded and analyzed. The light backscatter ratio followed a sigmoid increase during coagulation and decreased asymptotically after gel cutting. Curd yield and curd moisture content were predicted from the time to the maximum slope of the first derivative of the light backscatter ratio during coagulation and the decrease in the sensor response during syneresis. Whey fat was affected by coagulation kinetics and cutting time, suggesting curd rheological properties at cutting are dominant factors determining fat losses. The proposed technology shows potential for on-line monitoring of coagulation and syneresis. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..
Ickes had overruled Chicago Mayor (and political rival) Ed Kelly’s 1937 plan for two east-west downtown streetcar subways for a revival of the Dearborn-Milwaukee plan, which dated back to the 1920s. Ickes solved the problem of what to connect this second subway with by routing it to the west in the median of the Congress expressway. You can trace the origins of that highway back to the 1909 Burnham Plan, but more as a boulevard, since there were no cars then capable of driving highway speeds. Kelly had wanted many of the west side “Ls” to be converted into New York-style elevated highways with buses running on them, except for the Garfield line, which would have been saved. Instead, the opposite happened. Garfield was transformed into the Congress line and the other “Ls” were kept. The Illinois Commerce Commission ordered CRT to obtain 1000 new modern steel subway-L cars in 1939 by any means necessary, but the bankrupt private operator had no funds to do much more than to make a full-scale car mockup. As a backup plan, Ickes had the subways engineered so they could have been operated by bus. The newest L cars were the 4000-series, the last of which was built in the early 1920s by defunct Cincinnati Car Company. Where to get new inspiration from? New York’s BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) had a new three-section articulated car under development- commonly called the “Bluebird” but officially “Compartment Cars,” the first PCC rapid transit cars. Top speed was only 42mph but with rapid acceleration. BMT expected to use them as fast locals that could keep up with older, slower cars used in express service. Chicago was certainly impressed, showing Bluebirds as they would look running in the subways once finished. Newsreel footage of the Bluebird prototype made it into the promotional film “Streamlining Chicago” (http://vimeo.com/30568829) and the Bluebirds were the obvious inspiration for the first 5000-series L/subway cars here, built in 1947-48. (Not to be confused with the current 5000-series cars with AC propulsion and transverse seats.) But like the 5000s, New York’s Bluebirds had a somewhat disappointing career. BMT had ordered 50 Bluebirds from Clark Equipment Company, supplier of PCC parts, but the City of New York took over the BMT in 1940 and immediately tried to cancel the contract. (BMT had intended to use them on many elevated lines that the city decided to tear down anyway.) Clark had completed five sets and NY had to take these. This meant only six sets in all, if you include the prototype that never had couplers installed. The Bluebirds, as oddball equipment, lived out their service lives on the BMT Canarsie Line and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, before being scrapped in 1956. Chicago’s four experimental 5000s had a somewhat similar fate, being relegated to occasional use before finally being assigned to the Skokie Swift in the mid-1960s. Chicago did not open the Dearborn-Milwaukee subway until 1951, and then only after receiving the initial order of 6000s, which were very much more successful cars than the Bluebirds or the 5000s ever were. Categories: Chicago Area
In part five of the Stylized Character Creation series, you'll begin creating high resolution textures for the character. Shaun will start by applying base textures to the model in Maya and rendering a shading test to check for errors, as well as the overall composition and color of the textures. He'll then move into Photoshop and guide you through the process of creating high resolution maps for the shirt, sweater, jeans and skin using a combination of photos and hand painting techniques. Finally we'll apply the maps in Maya to complete the texturing phase of the character. Note: click the 'Monitor' icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD. Editor Note* Video #1 Contains No Audio! Editor Note* Video #7 Contains No Audio! Editor Note* Video #9 Contains No Audio!
I bought myself an acoustic guitar for an early birthday present. In an odd coincidence, I just found out that a couple of my oldest friends just started playing within the last few months as well. It must be part of a ⅓-life crisis or something. Anyway, I’m afraid that if I store it in a hard-shell case, it’ll become a pain to get out and put back up. So I decided to make a little stand to keep the guitar conveniently at hand. This DIY guitar stand is nothing special, but I thought I’d blog it in case someone else wants to copy my design. Like my toolbox, it’s made entirely out of wood scraps and used hardware. I basically made a large version of a picture frame stand. I used a jigsaw to cut out the feet and glued them to the back pieces. Once the glue dried, I tied the pieces together with some thin-head screws. I used an old hinge to lock the two pieces together and cut a spare paint paddle to serve as the locking mechanism. This way, the stand will collapse and lay flat if I need to put it up or travel with it. If there’s a benefit to being married to a woman who has plastic bins filled with fabric tucked away everywhere, it’s that I was able to cut some black velvet to pad the areas of the stand that will touch the guitar. Here’s how it turned out. If no one’s coming over to our tiny house, I’m just going to leave this thing in the den. I figure the only way I’ll get good at it is by playing when I’m watching TV anyway, so I might as well just leave it there. UPDATE: While the velvet looked great, it didn’t grip the guitar as tightly as I’d like. I had to set it exactly upright or else gravity would slowly pull the neck to one side. I went out to the garage and opened my old bicycle toolbox for the first time in a few years. I did a stint as a bike mechanic back in my college days. I used to wrap strips of tire tube rubber around my mountain bike frame to protect the paint job from the chain during stressful riding. I cut some new strips out of an old tube and used carpet tacks to adhere them to the guitar stand where the velvet had been. Now when I set the guitar in the stand, it’s secure and the finish is protected. My brother-in-law recently started playing classical. He bought a used guitar from a friend and asked me to make him a stand for Christmas. I applied the lessons learned above and decided that the best way to ensure a stand would fit any guitar was to build one that has three basic points of contact. This is how it came out. You just set the bottom of the guitar onto the two rubber pads and lean the neck back into the cradle. It’s not collapsable like the one above, but it’s more attractive and grips the guitar a little more cleanly. More here.
Lovers of language, Valentine’s can be your day too. A day to praise words, not to bury them. A day to sound our barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. Maybe we could take one day, this day of love, to celebrate the words we love. Here are some of mine: OK, America’s greatest, most democratic, and most useful word, born of a humble joke in a Boston newspaper some 174 years ago. jazz, America’s next greatest word, born almost exactly a century ago on the baseball fields of California, and within a few years adopted as the name of America’s greatest invention in music. unalienable, the currently unfashionable spelling of the declaration of our rights and our independence. loafe, not of bread but a verb expressing our barbaric poet’s modus operandi: “I loafe and invite my soul.” blurb, Gelett Burgess’s great contribution to self-promotion. doozy, it’s a, for more than a century. scofflaw, the best word ever invented for a contest; intended to shame those who drank alcohol during Prohibition. you guys, the whole population nowadays. sylvanshine, the most beautiful word not to make it into the dictionary, designating trees that glow brightly in reflected light at night in the summertime. groovy, what some of us thought we were lucky enough to be for a few brief years in the 60s. cool, forever cool, while hot blows hot and cold. like, erasing the difference between thought and speech: “She was like, ‘I like it.’” couch potato, a great pun now lost under the cushions, but once recognized as a translation of “boob tuber.” That’s my list. What’s yours?Return to Top
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1836-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. external link Learn more Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL Newspaper Page Text HELEN MORTON WILL BE EXAMINED TODAY-INSANE? NOON EDITION . BOY HELD AFTER GIRL DIES IN LAKE TELLS OF LOVE AFFAIR Entered as Second-Class Matter Aprfl:vi914, at the Postoffice at Chicago, EL, Under the Act of March 3, 1879. THE DAY BOOK An Adless Newspaper, Daily Except Sunday N. D. Cochran, gggJ3g Tel. Monroe 353. Editor and Publisher. HgUl By Maif, Except-in 500 South Peoria SL 398 ChicagOjaVears, VOL.3, NO. 236 Chicago, Monday, July 6, 1914 HENRY FORD DESCRIBES MS OF HIS NEW CANCER HOSPITAL It Is to Be the Greatest Hospital of Its Kind in the World Ford Wants-the People to Help Him Pick a Name for This Unique Institution. (FORD'S CANCER HOSPITAL, -In the following article, the first ha ever wrote for a newspaper, Henry Ford, the manufacturer who pays a mini imum wage of $5 a day, tells what he proposes to do at the so-called cancer hospital he will soon establish in Detroit and which he expects to make the greatest in the world. He has already acquired buildings and grounds at an expense of $500,000. In this article Ford makes clear that this is not to be a hospital like other hospitals. That's why he asks our readers to help him give the institution a name. He has written this article, descriptive of his. plans; so as to assist you in thinking up an appropriate name. Editor.) BY HENRY FORD ' (Copyright, 1914, by .the Newspaper Enterprise Association.) I would like to ask all the people to help us name the new institution we- will establish in Detroit. We have taken over twenty acres of ground, and three large buildings' which were designed for a hospital. Our jplana
Story: Mar 03, 2015 Ceramics designers learned skills and gained confidence at C... Events: Jan 19, 2015 @ Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland in Cleveland, OH CIA Freshman Mail Art at MOCA Story: Feb 18, 2015 CIA students create appealing designs for co-working space CIA Exhibition: Feb 13, 2015 69th Annual Student Independent Exhibition Social: about 2 hours ago via Facebook CIA 1991 grad, and our 2015 commencement speaker Brian Michael Bendis dishes on Spider-Man and The Avengers in this article from The Plain Dealer. Story: Jan 09, 2015 Time-lapse video shows completion of major construction on n... Events: Feb 24, 2015 CIA Financial Aid Nights Story: Nov 03, 2014 CIA video shows off new Uptown Residence Hall Art & Design History III: 1945-Present Course No. ACD 203 Credits: 3.0 Faculty David Hart | Erica Levin | Gary D. Sampson | Indra Lacis | Rita Goodman Prerequisite(s) Art & Design History II: 18th Century-1945 | Art & Design History I: Ancient-18th Century Examines influential artists and related concepts of art and design from around WWII through the first decade of the new millennium. Discussions focus especially on critical distinctions and meanings of modern, postmodern, and contemporary art, design, and visual culture. Prerequisites ACD 103 and 104. Offered fall. Forbes Magazine named our neighborhood one of the prettiest. Originally a Detroit native, Cleveland has become Thea’s new home after receiving a Bachelors of Art fro...more While at CIA, you'll learn from the masters through our rigorous, world-class curriculum and connect with working professionals to begin your career.
A Laptop Against Poverty, a documentary by Chiara Sambuchi Imagine a versatile green laptop for $100 US, that can go online, takes pictures and video, works with solar energy and can even survive being dropped on the floor! Look no further – it exists – the XO 2, conceived, produced and distributed by Nicholas Negraponte and his team at ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD (OLPC), a non-profit organization. If you want one, buy one for a child in a developing country and another for yourself. Prior to becoming founder and chairman of OLPC, Negraponte was the co-founder and former director of MIT's Media Laboratory – a research laboratory that focuses on collaborations between media arts and sciences. The program deftly fulfills their mission statement to be “unconstrained by traditional disciplines, with lab designers, engineers, artists, and scientists working atelier-style together, conducting more than 350 projects that range from neuroengineering, to how children learn, to developing the city car of the future.” One of these fruitful ideas was to develop a low-cost, high-tech and durable laptop computer for children in developing countries. And so the ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD project was born. Negraponte's vision for OLPC is that all 500 million children in today's emerging countries will eventually receive their own laptop to connect to the world, receive further education, and thus create a better future for themselves. The cost for the laptops is kept low so that emerging countries can either finance the purchase themselves, or do so with relatively little foreign assistance. Plus, OLPC was founded as a non-profit organization to focus on the children and their education rather than a profit margin. Berlin based filmmaker Chiara Sambuchi's 45 min documentary takes us on a journey from OLPC headquarters in the US all the way to rural Peru, one of the countries participating in the OLPC project. At OLPC's offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sambuchi meets with Nicholas Negraponte who explains OLPC's vision, mission and philosophy. He strongly believes that education may be the key to eradicating poverty and cultivating better understanding in our world. Negraponte's team demonstrates the technical features of the laptop, discusses the yearlong research that went into designing and developing this computer and its software (all geared towards children). Finally, Sambuchi takes us to the rugged and undeveloped countryside of Peru. Here we meet 11-year old Valeria and her classmates and learn just how excited they are about getting their very own laptop. As soon as the computers arrive– they are off and running – exploring, sharing, learning and improving their computer skills in front of our eyes. Once the children are busy with their laptops - we see that the proof is in the pudding – and how Negraponte's philosophy translates into practice. Sambuchi's documentary is not only a concise introduction to the OLPC project but also an emotional experience as we see the children’s happiness and witness how a gadget many of us take for granted expands their horizon and opens up new worlds. If you like to learn more about OLPC, please visit www.laptop.org and for more information on the documentary A LAPTOP AGAINST POVERTY, please visit www.lavafilm.de
The most unlikely of catalysts for a civil war, a slight, shy New England mother of six named Harriet Beecher Stowe became, in Abraham Lincoln's words, "the little lady who started this big war." Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in what seemed to be a hopelessly divide America. On one side of the Mason-Dixon line, a somber, industrial North grew crowded with immigrants and rich with invention and manufacturing. On the other, the languid South likewise prospered, but its wealth came, not from factories, but from plantations, on which human cruelty and human suffering were the only currency known. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was born in New England, spent much of her life in Cincinnati, Ohio, which was a city-sized microcosm of America–split by the question of slavery. On the Ohio side of the Ohio River, slavery was illegal. Just across the river in Kentucky, however, slavery was legal. The battle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions were fierce, and Harriet, along with the rest of her accomplished siblings, was faced with a living example of what they all had, in theory, learned to deplore: the enslavement of fellow human beings. The publication of Stowe's most famous book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, is considered a major factor in the escalation of the slavery debate during the mid-1800's. The book was based on slave accounts she had read, ex-slaves she had interviewed, and a Kentucky plantation she visited while living in Cincinnati. It was a scathing work of social and moral commentary, and steeled many formerly moderate anti-slavery proponents against the South, turning them into radicals almost overnight. Each work of writing she produced–from her many contributions to abolitionist magazines to her socially conscious short stories to her polemic novels–was an attack against slavery and against those who supported slavery and its economic system. The woman who called the greatest event in her life the abolition of slavery was often just writing to pay the bills, considering her life's calling a business rather than art. When Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe became the most famous woman in America, and one of the most famous Americans in the world. She became, to many, a living symbol of all that the anti-slavery movement stood for. Ironically, Stowe remained, for many years, a moderate, believing the emancipation of slaves should be gradual, and accomplished through religion and education. After the Civil War ended in 1865, with the North victorious and the South in shambles, Stowe and her Beecher siblings remained committed to causes like education for freed slaves, women's suffrage and other controversial social movements. Despite her forward-thinking tendencies, however, Stowe remained quite traditional in the realms of religion and domestic life. Although she was a fervent supporter of women's rights, she always deferred to her husband Professor Calvin Ellis Stowe, and considered herself of lesser rank in the household. She was for many years, as a result of her strict Presbyterian upbringing, intolerant of Catholicism. Only after a number of trips abroad, during which she was exposed to different religions and different systems of morality, did she become more accepting of other religions and, in fact, left the Presybyterian church to become an Episcopalian. For over thirty years, Harriet Beecher Stowe was the most famous literary figure in America and was the mouthpiece for the anti-slavery movement. Her passionate polemics, her religious inquiries, her travelogues, her many short stories and children's books, and her novels, were all instant bestsellers in their time. Now, despite the heavy sentimentalism and the clichéd plots, Harriet Beecher Stowe's books stand up as social documents and evidence that literature can change the course of a nation. Take a Study Break!
McComb, F Wilson, The Story of The M.G. Sports Car, ©1972 F. Wilson Mc Comb, St. Martin's Press, Inc, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010 This is the first edition of what is now known as MG by McComb. This edition tells the story of the company from its beginning to the end of the BMC/BMH years in the late 1960s. Its organized into 8 chapters (corresponding to the sides of the famous octagon) and ends on a positive note assuring readers that MG's future is bright and that Abbigdon will continue to produce wonderful cars as it always has. F W McComb was intimately involved with the factory and is considered an authority on the subject. However, in the second edition, he states that he made a few errors in this edition, and that he considered it unsporting to say how he really felt about the British Motor Holdings/Leyland merger. Another interesting part of the book is the forward written by none other than the daughter of Cecil Kimber. ©Seth Jones 6/9/2011
monitoring civil liberties in the European Union July-September 2009, vol 19 no 3 EU: EU protests: Troublemakers database and travelling violent offenders (undefined) to be recorded and targeted by Tony Bunyan "persons to be barred from certain events, such as European summits or similar venues, international sports or cultural events or other mass gatherings because they are a threat to public order and public security at such events." persons disturbing the public order and/or endangering public security, eg: sports hooligans, violent rioters, sexual offenders, repeated offenders of serious crimes. GERMANY: A network being networked: the Federal Criminal Police Office databases and the surveillance of troublemakers by Eric Töpfer This article looks at the databases held by Germanys Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) and how they are used to store information on alleged troublemakers. UK: Shock and anger at the violent policing tactics used at the G20 Summit: Part 2 by Trevor Hemmings In the aftermath of the violent policing of the G20 summit in London in April 2009 community organisations highlight longstanding problems of police indiscipline while official inquiries develop strategies for future protests. NETHERLANDS: Biometric passport data linked to criminal databases by Johan van Someren (Vrijbit) and Katrin McGauran (Statewatch) The worldwide attack on civil liberties is reflected in the Dutch state, which has become known for its farreaching control mechanisms and corporatist structures. EU: Notes on the high-tec industry of European Border Control: migration control and the arms industry in EU security research policy by Vassilis Tsianos (Preclab, Hamburg) A new political migration paradigm is developing, which - in the name of the "global approach to migration" - is transforming circular migration, border management and development policy into restrictive operational fields of the European geopolitics of "re-bordering. ITALY: The internal and external fronts: security package and returns to Libya by Yasha Maccanico The security package introduced under Law 94/900 turns a number of decrees into law. Exceptional measures allegedly to meet emergencies are targetted at refugees, migrants, Roma and direct refoulments to Libya. EU: Homeland Security comes to Europe by Ben Hayes The legacy of the war on terror is a new way of thinking about security and a cash cow for the defence industry * In addition, the bulletin carries a round-up of new books, reports and publications Statewatch bulletin is available on subscription, just £16.00 a year for individuals and voluntary groups (£22.00 for two years), Institutions and libraies £40.00 pa. Subscription includes: Hard-copy Journal by post (quarterly) and online access to all back issues in pdf format since 1991: see: order details Click here to take out a subscription using your credit card or Switch card using our secure encrypted online ordering through Netbanx: Order back to Statewatch home page
Draft Joint Action on the interception of telecommunications - Discussion paper This document precedes ENFOPOL 98 and suggests that it was originally intended to go ahead with a Joint Action simply enacting the 1995 "Requirements". EUROPEAN UNION, THE COUNCIL 3 July 1998 to: Police Cooperation Working Party No. prev. doc.: OJ C 329, 4.11.1996, p. 1 Subject: Draft Joint Action on the interception of telecommunications - Discussion paper Article 1: Puroose Article 2: Definitions Article 3: Oblination to provide information Article 4: Oblination to assist Article 5 et seq.: Snecial provisions (e.q.. for oPen networks, crvotooraphy, etc.) II. Proposed text Article 1: Purpose This Joint Action lays down the obligations of network operators and service providers in providing information and assistance, pursuant to national legal provisions on the interception of telecommunications. Article 2: Definitions For the purposes of this Joint Action, the following definitions apply: Any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photooptical closed or open systems. Access to the telecommunications traffic passing over a connection and delivery of call associated data to the law enforcement agencies. 3. Law enforcement agencies: Courts and authorities legally empowered under national law to order (decide upon, authorise) and/or carry out the interception of telecommunications. 4. Lawful authorisation: The court order/permission or other official warrant granted under national law to intercept specified telecommunications. 5. Network operator: A network operator is the operator of a public infrastructure for the purpose of telecommunications between defined network termination points. 6. Service provider: A natural or legal person providing a public telecommunications service and/or any kind of encryption. A telecommunications service consists of the transmission and routing of telecommunications. Cryptography is the encryption of telecommunications. 7. Interception order: An order placed on a network operator/service provider for assisting a law enforcement agency (obligation to provide information and assistance). 8. Interception subject: Person or persons identified in the lawful authorisation/order and his/their connection, the telecommunications over which are to be intercepted and monitored. Any fixed or temporary connection capable of transferring information between two or more users of a telecommunications system. The technical capability to interface with a communications facility, such as a communications line or switch, so that law enforcement agencies can acquire and monitor telecommunications and call associated data carried on the facility. 11. Call associated data: Signalling information passing between a target service and the network or another user. Includes signalling information used to establish the call and to control its progress (e.g. call hold, call handover). Call associated data also includes information about the call that is available to the network operator/service provider. 12. Interception interface: The physical location in the network operator's/service provider's telecommunications facilities where access to the intercepted telecommunications or call associated data is provided. The interception interface is not necessarily a single, fixed point. 13. Quality of service: The quality specification of a communications channel, system, virtual channel, computer-communications session, etc. Quality of service may be measured, for example, in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, bit error rate, message throughput rate or call blocking probability. The probability that a system or service will perform in a satisfactory manner for a given period of time when used under specified operating conditions. The ability of subscribers of mobile telecommunications services to place, maintain, and receive calls when they are located outside their designated home serving area. 16. Target service: A service associated with an interception subject/monitored connection and usually specified in a lawful authorisation for interception.
I have 4 observed variables for husbands which represent scores for husbands at the start of marriage and at 3 annual follow ups. I also have 4 parallel variables for wives. I have missing data as some couples left the study, but I want to use all available data. I can easily create latent variable intercepts and slopes for husbands and for wives. But, I want to use these 4 latent variables to predict four outcome categories at year 4 (still participating [reference group], divorced, withdrawn from the study by intent, and dropped from the study for lack of response). Ordinarily, I would conduct a multinomial logistic regression. But I want to do so with the latent variables intercepts/slopes estimated with missing data. I have looked through the manual, but have not seen any examples of doing a multinomial logistic regression with latent variable predictors. Can this be done in one analysis? Do I need to do the growth curve analyses first and save the resulting latent variables for input into the multinomial logistic analysis? bmuthen posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 10:16 pm This cannot be done in version 2, but will be available in version 3 due out this fall. Multinomial logistic regression in Mplus is handled by latent class analysis and in version 2 latent classes cannot be influenced by latent continuous variables. So the answer is yes to the last question.
Research by Prof. Adam Alter on information processing is cited — May 30, 2012 Excerpt from Discover Magazine -- "Another cue that triggers deeper thinking is a feeling of fluency in processing, or an impressionistic sense of how easy or difficult it is to process certain information. If it feels hard, this is a signal to switch to slower thinking. For example, in a study led by Adam Alter, subjects had to answer math problems ... "
City of Morris receives clean bill of financial health MORRIS – The city of Morris received another clean financial audit for 2012, despite turnover in the city's finance department that could have caused a few “bumps in the road,” Derek Flanagan of accounting firm Eide Bailly told the Morris City Council on Tuesday. In his presentation to the council, Flanagan praised Finance Director Deb Raasch who took over for long-time director Gene Krosschell last year – “It's like we never skipped a beat.” For 2012, the city received another “clean” or unmodified audit opinion. “This is what you want and what you've traditionally received,” Flanagan said. The city also received an unmodified opinion on a federal audit, which was triggered because the city spent more than $500,000 in federal funds – about $610,900 in total during 2012 as part of the Pacific Avenue improvement project. Because of the size of the city, Morris is always on the edge of triggering the additional audit. The city regularly receives federal awards, but doesn't generally spend more than $500,000 unless there is a larger project, Flangan said. Flanagan presented a number of financial statistics that reflect the city's strong financial situation. The city's liquidity ratio or ability to pay bills as they come due, was positive. Overall, the city has a ratio of about 5.5. A ratio of one means that the city has exactly one dollar to pay of one dollar of current bills. One financial indicator related to debt is debt per capita, or long-term debt divided by population. Right now, Morris has about $2,222 of debt per resident, down from $2,689 per resident in 2010 and $2,642 in 2011. The average for all cities in Minnesota is $2,386 of debt per resident. Morris' total revenue for $4.1 million, while expenses totaled $3.8 million. One consistent area of concern is the breakdown of revenue sources in the city's general fund. Currently, Morris receives about 63 percent of its revenue from intergovernmental sources, primarily Local Government Aid. While this is a smaller percentage than 2010 and 2011, the actual dollar amount, $2,602,744, is just in the middle. Morris' biggest expense categories are public safety, public works and general government. Since 2008, the city's operating expenses per capita has decreased. In 2008, the city spent about $610 for every resident of the city. In 2012, that number was only $559 per resident. “It's good to see that in a time of uncertainty you tightened your belts and reduced this ratio,” Flanagan said. Council discusses infrastructure request The Morris Cooperative Association’s new agronomy center along Highway 9 just north of Morris needs both water and sewer, and management would like the city to provide the infrastructure. On Tuesday, manager Brian Kruize told the council that the site, just outside the city limits, already has a seed warehouse and six bulk tanks. The Coop will be adding a 6,000 ton dry fertilizer plant, a crop protection warehouse and an office space to the site this spring and summer. The site needs a lot of water to fill trucks for custom application services and city water would provide fire hydrant access for fire protection services, which is why Kruize requested the infrastructure. The council and City Manager Blaine Hill discussed the feasibility of giving the plant access to the requested resources. The first step would involve annexing the property into the city limits. Hill said the plant would not have the right to petition the city for services until their property was in the city. The only current entity outside of the city limits with a water line from Morris is the city of Alberta under a long-standing agreement. After annexation, the company could then approach the council directly to initiate the project, including a feasibility study, or have every adjacent property owner sign a petition requesting resources. After that, it would be a matter of how the project could be funded – by city taxpayers, by affected property owners, or a combination of both. “If the city owns the entire line, who pays for it?” asked Hill. “Are we willing to invest our money in this project to run water and sewer to that one business on hope that something is going to develop in the future?” After some discussion, the council directed Hill and city staff to conduct an informal feasibility study to look at how the project might work and run some estimates on the cost. “I think it's worth looking into,” said council member Jeff Miller. “I'm glad you see that you're going outside [downtown Morris] with all the product that we're going to have so I want to try to work with you.” “If we do a project like that … it’s certainly going to cost the city some money, because it’s an investment in the city,” said Mayor Sheldon Giese. • The council approved several fund transfers including about $194,000 from the general fund to the capital outlay fund for future equipment expenses and money from both the municipal liquor fund and refuse funds into the general fund and capital outlay fund. • The council rescheduled their first meeting in May to Tuesday, May 14 at 9 a.m. at the Morris Area High School auditorium. Following the meeting, the council has planned a tour of city facilities. • The council gave a first reading to a new city ordinance regarding criminal history background checks for potential employees and those interested in obtaining licenses. The city already does these checks, Hill said, but the ordinance is needed to allow the Morris Police Department to use a state system for the background checks. There will be a public hearing on the ordinance on Tuesday, April 23 at 5:15 p.m. at the Morris Senior Center. • The council approved a two year contract with Stevens County for assessing services. Under the contract, assessor Don Gieselman will continue to provide assessment services for the city for approximately $28,150 the first year and $29,300 the second year. Joey Daniewicz, an intern with the Morris Sun Tribune, contributed to this story.
From the Editor I know this is a topic that I have mentioned in the past, but I believe it is important for it to be said again because many might not realize the broad range of seminars and programs that are out there. As last year was coming to a close, I participated in an innovative, interactive session on the use of stone in architecture, and I thought it would be appropriate to share my experiences here. VeronaFiere -- the trade fair company that owns and manages Marmomacc, a leading international stone exhibition that is held annually in Verona, Italy -- collaborated with Mapei, a leading manufacturer of maintenance and installation products, to host a two-day seminar program that allowed architects to earn LU credits towards their accreditation for the American Institute of Architects (AIA). One of the presentations was an on-site visit to a luxury residential high-rise in Manhattan that is targeted for LEED-Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and the recent recipient of the 2008 EPA New York City Green Building Competition Grand Prize. Craig Copeland, AIA, Senior Associate of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the design firm for the building, gave the architects a tour of the Visionaire, as it is called, and explained how the natural stone employed for the exterior base of the structure as well as for the interior lobby is considered environmental friendly and lent itself to the overall green design of the building. “From the beginning, we talked about enhancing a sustainable project with stone,” said Copeland. “The two fundamental reasons why we chose stone were because it has been around a long time and for its beauty.” The architect also explained that the reason Virginia Mist granite, which was used for the exterior base, is considered green is because it is a natural material that was quarried within 500 miles of the project site. The tour presented architects with the opportunity to gain insight into the steps taken during the design process to produce a LEED-certified building as well as observing the final result.  Additionally, it provided a forum for an exchange of ideas between design professionals -- giving them an opportunity to learn from each other. In a time where “Going Green” has become the norm -- as most people have a desire for a healthy lifestyle and want to preserve our environment -- it is important for all sectors involved in design and construction to come together to share their knowledge so that the most efficient buildings can be created. Taking advantage of the numerous educational seminars available -- such as the recent one offered by VeronaFiere -- can only assist in achieving these goals and producing positive results.
Loli Deville is a poet turned rapper, who seeks to be a breath of fresh air, in what some would say is an industry of polluted redundancy. Through storytelling, Deville addresses life's joys and tragedies. She also demonstrates her lyrical versatility in her new mixtape "Beautiful Beast." Deville's music is soulful and thought-provoking. Her aim is to be a positive influence on her peers, as well as other youth. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Loli developed a love for poetry and music and became skilled at writing by using both as a means to express herself. Her influences include Tupac Shakur, Dmx, Marvin Gaye, D’Angelo, Nina Simone, 50cent, Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill. “My musical taste have shaped every track you hear, every artists who has influenced me is who I’m attempting to be as great as every time I create. I’m their heirs to the throne.” Deville produced the song "Besides Yourself" that talks about the issues of domestic violence and abuse against women for NextGen Media program.
Older people have earnt pensions DOES Jude Kirton Darling want pensioners and the ageing population to hang their heads in shame for being a burden on the ever-decreasing number of working taxpayers. Pensioners, who have reached the utopia of retirement with a decent pension, will find the taxman still waiting with his hand out just as he does for the working population. Let’s not forget, these pensioners have paid taxes, national insurance and pension contributions to receive their pension in the first place. JKD signs off as a prospective Labour Candidate of the European Team. We pensioners know exactly the contribution to the country’s wealth politicians make and how much they produce as a contribution. Many of today’s politicians have never had a proper job. Furthermore, if these politicians keep raising the state pension age, pensioners will be rarer than whales. There is another solution – compulsory euthanasia at 65 and the job is sorted. Finally, just a little snippet of information, in return for underwriting the miners’ pension scheme, Baroness Thatcher took millions yearly for the service. Guess what? Successive governments, including Labour, are still taking millions from this fund. And just to even the score, Gordon Brown’s raid on pensions made sure we are not the burden suggested, but we all know who is. Place for The Street LIKE Mick Brown (definitely no relation), I prefer the history channel to the soaps, although I confess to a certain predilection for Coronation Street. Mr Brown is in error implying that Coronation Street is watched only by people with “nothing better to do”. Personally, richly imbued with the delights of Shakespeare (Marlowe, Webster, et al), and the profundity of Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles, I am an unashamed devotee of The Street. Recently, I watched that programme before switching over to the radio to listen to Jack Brymer (educated at South Shields High School) playing Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Life without music would indeed be a mistake; without Mozart it would be absurd, but I remember Elise Tanner and her wayward son Dennis (now back with us), Annie Walker, Ena Sharples, not to mention Norris, with unalloyed and lasting affection. George E Brown A heck of a mess I HAVE been listening to the news and reading in the papers about the lady in Willington who was evicted from the farm where she was running an animal sanctuary. She had 342 animals and run up a £25,000 debt with the mortgage company. I remember it was only a couple of years back that she was in this very paper photographed with a man from Sunderland who had given her his £17,000 retirement money. I am not against sanctuaries as there is lots of cruelty. What I think should happen is that they should go out to work and take in only what they can afford to keep. Many people would like to live on a farm and have others paying for it. The grandson had the computer on, and he said: “Granda, that woman has been sent £38,000 in two days, but now she wants £50,000.” There is another man running a sanctuary down the country, and he has agreed to take every one of the 342 animals so that none has to be put down. Surely, if this woman is as big on religion as she is making out, she should hand over every penny to him. He’s got her out of one heck of a mess.
Browse by Categories - Buy Wholesale from China- A Guide - Tips to Buy Wholesale from China - Things to Consider When Buying from China - How to Ship From Shenzhen, China to the US? - How To Select Promotional Gifts ? - How to Calculate Shipping Cost? - How to Place Orders - Shipping Methods from China - Branding & Logo Imprint - Payment Methods - OEM & ODM Services - Ordering Samples - Promotional Products Industry Stats - sz-wholesale.com supports selected nonprofit organizations and educational institutions with free promotional products. Call us to find out if your organization qualifies for this program. 9 items found in wholesale pet pro Recommend Promotional Products Knowledge Base Articles Buy Wholesale Promotional Armani Suits from China, How to Calculate Sea Freight?International ocean shipping is a practice used to trade goods all over the world. Items are packed into shipping containers and loaded onto a vessel before traveling across the sea to an arrival port. 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“Talking to your kids about money education starts at home – and a child’s financial education should start with someone that cares for them the most at very important intervals in their life. By Gordon Powers April 05, 2008 Do you bend down to pick up those pennies you see on the sidewalk? I certainly do. And roughly three-quarters of adults say that they would too, according to a Gallup poll done last year. But when Nuveen Investments asked a group of teenagers what sum they would bother to pick up, 58% said it would take at least a dollar or more. Talk about a generation gap. Do pennies matter? Not in any real financial sense. But, I’d be disappointed if my kids felt this way — if only because my wife and I taught them otherwise. Not that we were the only ones talking to them, of course. From early on, children receive mixed messages about money. At home they hear one thing, at school and among their peers, another. Make sure yours is the dominant voice. Even if you feel your children are too young to understand completely, you need to start talking to them early. Then, you’ll be teaching them about money while they still care, not during those rebellious teenage years when your IQ suddenly drops like a stone. Here’s a rough timetable to help get you started.” Click the highlighted title above to read the rest of the report by Gordon Powers. In his report Gordon goes into age specific details on how to deal with your kids and money. I don’t agree with his stake on giving your child an allowance, nor the exact ages for each step on the financial ladder, but other than that his ideas are great ones to start off with. I hope you find this report helpful. I’d love to read your comments on this report in my blog. Cheers…..Amanda van der Gulik…..Excited Life Enthusiast!
One router (NOT a modem/router. Be very careful to get a standalone router). Two PCI wifi adapters, preferably with proper wired aerials for desktop positioning. Probably best to avoid USB adapters. If your notebook lacks an Ethernet port (it should have one) then you MUST make sure that one of the desktops has an inbuilt Ethernet port. If not, you WILL need to add a PCI Ethernet card to provide a means of configuring the router. This is essential on first use and whenever you change wireless settings. For obvious reasons, you cannot change wireless settings when a wireless connection is running!
Your donation will help improve the lives of children and families in Boulder County. Because of the generous support of donors The Acorn School is able to: - Provide infants, toddlers and preschoolers with access to affordable and high-quality early learning services - Prepare young children to succeed in school and prepare to be an engaged community member that our world needs now more than ever before - Advocate for the importance of early learning in our community by providing trainings to parents, staff, partners, and our community - Increase professional standards within the ECE field - Support the important services of Boulder County Head Start provide to families living in extreme poverty - Play a critical role in helping families work and achieve self-sufficiency
I don’t attach much importance to this ginned-up controversy of the day, but there are a few things I would like to add to this “Anglo-Saxon heritage” debate. No one would seriously dispute that America has a British cultural and political inheritance. Russell Kirk wrote at length on the British culture that Americans inherited and reproduced in our literature, laws, and form of government. The American constitutional tradition draws heavily on the precedents established in Britain during the 17th century, and the origins of some our own political persuasions can be traced to political quarrels between the vying Country and Court factions of 18th century Britain. None of those inheritances and affinities required a close U.S.-U.K. relationship of the sort that has existed for the last seventy years. The U.S.-U.K. relationship was remarkably poor and adversarial for at least the first sixty years following our independence in spite of the significant cultural ties that existed between our countries. Anglophobia remained strong for many more decades after that. Acknowledgment and respect for America’s British cultural inheritance in no way require anyone to indulge in the more recently-minted enthusiasm of Anglophilia in U.S. foreign policy. The silly controversy this week concerns whether one candidate should be viewed as more of an emotional Anglophile than another, since there are no meaningful or practical policy differences between the candidates that touch on the U.S.-U.K. relationship. My response to the contest over who makes a better emotional Anglophile is: “who cares?” Why should it matter who has the stronger personal or emotional attachment to another country? That doesn’t mean that the person will be more capable of maintaining a better relationship with that country’s government. It’s possible that the emotional attachment will get in the way of relating to the other government and understanding the country as it exists in the present. Insofar as American Anglophilia depends on an understanding of Britain that is decades out of date, it will lead to more misunderstandings rather than fewer. At its worst, Anglophilia just becomes an excuse for imposing American priorities on Britain. That is what occurred to me as I was reading Aaron David Miller’s article on Obama and Israel. Miller writes: Unlike Clinton and George W. Bush, Obama isn’t in love with the idea of Israel. As a result, he has a harder time making allowances for Israeli behavior he doesn’t like. Obama relates to the Jewish state not on a values continuum but through a national security and interest filter [bold mine-DL]. If Miller’s interpretation is correct, I fail to see why this is a bad thing. The U.S.-British relationship would benefit from a similar approach. Indeed, during the last British general election and for several years before that the leaders of the coalition’s two parties had made a point of distancing themselves from an understanding of the “special relationship” in which Britain acted as the reliable deputy without ever receiving anything in return for its support. They were calling for a relationship that was still constructive and friendly, but not one-sided or blinded by sentiment. Similarly, Americans can cultivate good relations with Britain without feeling obliged to indulge in all of the rituals of Anglophilia.
For the second time in the last three months, reports of a Russian nuclear attack sub off the coast of the United States is being made by officials to the Washington Free Beacon. TheBlaze reported the Free Beacon’s first account of a Akula vessel loaded with cruise missiles patrolling in the Gulf of Mexico in August. Now, Bill Gertz is reporting that defense officials identified an attack sub 200 miles from the east coast in international waters all while Hurricane Sandy was making landfall. Gertz’s three defense officials close to the topic spoke with him under the condition of anonymity, he wrote, “because of the sensitive nature of anti-submarine warfare efforts.” The reason for the presence of the sub was differed among Gertz’s sources: One defense official said the submarine was believed to have been conducting anti-submarine warfare efforts against U.S. ballistic and cruise missile submarines based at Kings Bay, Georgia. A second official said the submarine did not sail close to Kings Bay and also did not threaten a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group that was conducting exercises in the eastern Atlantic. At the same time, a Russian Auxiliary-General Intelligence ship was reportedly given shelter in a commercial port in Florida during Hurricane Sandy. With this commercial port within “listening distance” to Kings Bay, Gertz has a third U.S. official saying “a Russian AGI and an SSN in the same geographic area as one of the largest U.S. ballistic missile submarine bases—Kings Bay—is reminiscent of Cold War activities of the Soviet navy tracking the movements of our SSBN’s.” Still, the second official said the submarine did not pose a threat. Gertz notes several sources that indicate this submarine is evidence of Russia increasing its patrols: Naval analyst Miles Yu, writing in the newsletter Geostrategy Direct, stated that Russia announced in February it is stepping up submarine patrols in strategic waters around the world in a throwback to the Soviet period. “On June 1 or a bit later we will resume constant patrolling of the world’s oceans by strategic nuclear submarines,” Russian Navy Commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky was quoted as saying Feb. 3. Richard Fisher, a military analyst with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said Russian submarine patrols in the Atlantic have been reduced but remain “regular.” “As was their primary mission during the Cold War, Russian SSNs [nuclear attack submarines] would likely be trying to track U.S. nuclear missile submarines deploying from Kings Bay, Ga., and to monitor U.S. naval deployments from Norfolk, Va.,” Fisher said in an email. Read Gertz’s full article in the Washington Free Beacon for more details here. ABC News reported that officials have said the submarine has turned away from the coast and is now 600 miles away heading toward Europe. (H/T: Business Insider)
When you look at the business people you really admire, they can leave you with mixed emotions: 1. Awe, admiration, inspiration… they are living proof that success is possible. They are badly needed hope that your dream is achievable. This drives you forwards with your own business. 2. Frustration and depression… you compare what you have achieved and benchmark this against someone more successful… the gap seems so large that you start to wonder what is possible. Doubts begin. I read a great post on Quora about what it means to be CEO of a startup. A lot of this I recognised. “Very tough to sleep most nights of the week. Weekends don’t mean anything to you anymore. It’s very difficult to “turn it off”. But at the same time, television, movies and vacations become so boring to you when your company’s future might be sitting in your inbox or in the results of a new A/B test you decide to run. You feel guilty when you’re doing something you like doing outside of the company. You begin to see how valuable creativity is and that you must think differently not only to win, but to see the biggest opportunity. You are creative and when you have an idea it has no filter before it becomes a reality. This feeling is why you can’t do anything else. You start to see that the word “entrepreneur” is a personality. It’s difficult to talk to your friends that are not risking the same things you are because they are content with not pushing themselves or putting it all out there in the public with the likelihood of failure staring at you everyday. You don’t have a problem anymore being honest with people about not cutting it. Quitting is not an option. You’ll hear not to get too low when things are bad and not to get too high when things are good. You’ll become addicted to finding the hardest challenges because there’s a direct relationship between how difficult something is and the euphoria of a feeling when you do the impossible. You learn the most about yourself more than any other vocation as an entrepreneur. You learn what you do when you get punched in the face many many times. You learn what you do when no one is looking and when no one would find out. You learn that you are bad at many things, lucky if you’re good at a handful of things and the only thing you can ever be great at is being yourself which is why you can never compromise it.” I do not believe in overnight successess. People are not born with some innate ability to be a master in a certain business field, pre-programmed from birth to make perfect business decisions. I had a long journey to get to where I am today and I’m still only beginning. For a lot of people I know who are running businesses, things have gone wrong. There were many bad business decisions. What you see today is a moment in time in their lives. A still photograph. But you are missing out on the movie behind it, which includes a lot of horror sub-plots, twists and turns and gut wrenching moments. There are a few things that all these people have in common. You’ve got to DO STUFF. It’s no good talking about stuff. The greatest insult you can give anyone is to say they know some interesting things. Rather than saying they have used this knowledge and have DONE some interesting things. If the best someone could say about me was that I was interesting to talk to I’d be gutted This doesn’t mean they always do the right stuff though. They do lots of wrong things, learn from them, and then try to do something different. My first attempt at a business was making an educational kids cdrom. It took about a year to make, I sold a few but there wasn’t a business in it. Frustrated? Yes a little. I had spent a lot of time on this. Patient? Yes. I proved I could make and ship a good product. I realised I didn’t need to know everything as if I didn’t how how to do stuff I could find it out. I learn on the job. I also learned I could work hard on my own initiative. Learn quick. You need to actively search for information. If you wait for an excellent course or teacher to appear in your local area, within a five minute walk, so everything is nice and easy for you, forget it. You need to do the hard work. Effort has to be put in. Imagine you are starting a business and you get the opportunity to ask a MOGUL in your business area, ONE question. You need to make that one question COUNT. I wouldn’t ask that question today. I’d build my business, learn as much as I could from them by reading their books, webcasts, videos of them on TV talking business, everything I could get my hands on. There’s no point wasting an opportunity like this asking superstars basic questions that you can find out the answer to with some effort. I’d keep this question and use it when it would have the biggest effect on my business, when I was really stuck and had exhausted all other avenues of knowledge. If you only get one shot, make it count. The world’s a big place. One of the biggest thing I’ve learned is that you need to operate on the international stage. If you are the best in one country, that mightn’t mean a lot. As a fairly charismatic horse trainer I know remarked about winning a competition, they only won because they were the best idiot there on the day. Frustration will eat you up and will cause you to think negatively about your startup. It’s one of the biggest dangers to growing your startup. You need to flip this and focus on patience. It will happen, but today you have to be patient and keeping working hard in the trenches. Try and reproduce patience that you use in other aspects of your life. I bought a new horse about five years ago. He didn’t like people, distrusted everyone and did not under any circumstances want to be touched, rubbed or petted by a human. You could not catch him. I worked with him for a day or two in the stable on really basic stuff. After this I let him out in a small paddock, with his halter still on. Hopefully to make it easier to catch him so I could continue his training. You need to be able to handle / catch a horse as at a very basic level if he gets an injury and needs the vet, it’s not good if he won’t come within a mile of you. So that first day in the paddock, it was horrendous weather. Freezing cold, damp, grey skies and totally miserable. I spent over three hours slowly and patiently working on building his confidence in me, to the point where I could clip the rope onto his halter. There were rivers of rain running down my clothes but I didn’t notice. It was me and him, and a whole lot of patience. So think of areas in your life where you are patient, and use that strength in your business. This could be an Irish thing. When I get an idea, I get excited. This happens automatically. I’m not sure if you call it optimism or delusion but there’s a trait in Ireland for people to ‘give it a go’. I think it’s a glass half full thing. You’re not sure if it’ll work out but it sounds like fun so you will always ‘give it a go.’ Grasp the big picture Knowing what you want from your life is a really strong driver to keep you working on what you want to achieve. I used to work in a job I loved in Dublin. The work was exciting and I had made some tremendous friends. I was managing a project and running it exactly as I wanted to – lean and mean but with a lot of fun – thanks to a great manager who let me do my thing. The whole thing was a blinding success. We did the impossible and I got such a kick out of it. But it was taking its toll. My big picture was that I wanted to work on stuff I liked (tick) I didn’t mind hard work (tick) but I wanted some kind of life as well and I wanted to ride my horse. While I was successful in work, I was cancelling holidays, working too many hours, I slept through one whole Christmas from overwork and I hadn’t seen the horse in years. I don’t do New Years Resolutions, but I did in 2012. It was ‘Less Work, More Adventure’. Every time I had to make a decision from then on, I based it on that. Thus doing crazy stuff like Startup Weekends in London, quitting my sensible, enjoyable, permanent job to ride my horse (and make apps, it was about 50% of each) and getting on a plane to San Diego. Figure out your big picture, then make your big decisions based on this. Start an adventure, keep your costs low You don’t have to quit your job though. I did lots of stuff in evenings and weekends. Everything I worked on was an adventure and while none of them made much money at the time, each one was worth the effort I put into it. I knew enough to know I needed to spend as little money as I could. So if stuff didn’t work out, I lost my time, but I didn’t bankrupt myself. You can do a lot by self teaching yourself things. Seriously. Especially in the I.T sector, sometimes all you need is Google. I wasn’t doing the most profitable stuff, but I was doing something more important – I was DOING stuff. Stuff you can’t predict that blows your mind. Building something, whether it’s an app, a painting, writing a book, making a game… elevates you up to whole other level. Making things is stuff you have control over. But once you hit ‘publish’ that dream you built takes on its own life. You have connected yourself to the greater world and anything can happen. Crazy, magic stuff that you could not even imagine. Stuff that goes way beyond earning money. Your dreams start with three words. Never give up. After you’re done with this blog post, I want you to do TWO things: – Have you had challenges in your business? Let me know in the comments below. – Do you know someone who is struggling to start up their own business? Send them a link to this blog.
As e-books grow in popularity, libraries and publishers find themselves increasingly at odds over how best to loan digital copies to library patrons. In a new report from NPR, Lynn Neary details the conflict over pricing and distribution. Publishers, hesitant to provide vast numbers of possible customers with an easily duplicated and quasi-permanent version of their product, have been pricing eBooks to libraries at vastly inflated rates. In addition, many publishers have been effectively leasing their e-books by restricting the amount of time or number of uses allowed per digital copy. Many librarians, however, argue that price inflation and restrictions make loaning e-books untenable, despite growing demand from their patrons. In April, Simon & Schuster began an experimental program with three New York City libraries that would make their entire catalog available to check-out, with the option for the patron to buy the book at any point. Whether this satisfies both sides of the divide remains to be seen.
Columns Section - No Margins. No Limits. No Kidding. Do Pets Need The Same Daily Routine? Most pets to do the same thing day in and day out. A set, boring routine to which they become accustomed. Zoos know that their charges must have diversity in activity as well as in diet. Keepers vary the routine and provide daily stimulation. May 29, 2013 | TheDogPress.com So how does this relate to your household? Well, it's really the same. Your pet can benefit from variety in routine and diet – and where the food is hiding. You may see greater alertness and an increase in a zest for life for your pet and you. Déjà vu? You feel like you and your pet have been pressed into a routine that breeds monotony. You can add excitement to both your day and your pet's. How you wonder? Well, it's easy. How do you play with your pet? If it's a dog they like to play fetch and tug of war. A cat likes to chase and catch things that are like mice. So, use their food as a way to brighten their days. Place water dishes throughout your home. Not necessarily in 'easy to reach places'. Do the same with food. Don't forget where you place things though. It's kind of like a treasure hunt. You can imagine you're training your pet. Go with them and help them find the 'stashes'. You can even do this with their toys. Moving things around will help defeat humdrum, for you and your pet. Eat the same pet food day in and day out? Perhaps your pet is giving you a look that says “My dish is in the same place, and my food is the same as last month. Boring!” You would complain after a while, too, wouldn't you? We’re told pets like a set routine in activity and their meals. But is that natural (or good) for your pets? Don't they desire the challenge and cuisine of the forager or hunter? You're not alone in this national pet challenge to move out of monotony. If you try these suggestions, I’ll bet you and your pet will be invigorated. You may find it a mental stimulus to explore those little hiding places in your home and neighborhood. Expand your circles of exploration. And feed your mind with the National Pet Newspaper! Reprinted courtesy of National Pet Press Copyright © ii NetPlaces Network / TheDogPress.com - All Rights Reserved "Sendto" has been through 8 weeks training and loves his job - click the puppy to send this article to your friends
Screening using questionnaires include Epworth, Berlin etc. There are various tools and sleep kits available to determine if a person is suffering form sleep apnea and other sleep disorders. However the 2 most widely used are the Epworth sleepiness scale and the Berlin scale. Epworth Sleepiness Scale The Epworth Sleepiness Scale or ESS is a self-administered questionnaire to measure a person’s general level of daytime sleepiness. It has become the world standard method for making this assessment. The ESS scale has a set of 8 questions, each depicting common scenarios that take place on a daily basis. People are then asked to rate, on a 4-point scale (0 – 3) and their chances of falling asleep during these activities. It does not ask people how often they doze off in each situation. Rather it questions what the chances are that they would fall asleep whenever they were in each of the 8 situations. However it is important to keep in mind that this scale should not be used for self diagnosis. It is intended to help you identify your level of daytime sleepiness, which might suggest an underlying problem. The final ESS score is the sum of 8 question scores and can ideally be answered in 2 or 3 minutes. The higher the score, the higher the person’s level of daytime sleepiness. There are many other subjective and objective methods for measuring sleepiness, but ESS has several advantages, the most obvious being it being very cheap and simple to use, which can cater to large audiences. The Berlin scale was developed in 1996 in Berlin, Germany and comprises of a set of 10 questions. This questionnaire has become extremely popular owing to its accuracy in predicting the presence of sleep apnea in many people. The Berlin questionnaire focuses on the risk factors like high BP and chronic behaviors like snoring that indicate the presence of a sleeping disorder. It is useful because it helps you identify the problem so that you can then consult a sleep specialist and discuss further treatment options for it.
...from inspirational “been there done that” treps can provide directive insight to turning obstacles into opportunities. Here’s a list of my “Top 10” books for the Gen Y entrepreneur: Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie Serial entrepreneur and Founder of TOMS Shoes, Mycoskie details the story of how he overcame multiple failures, and turned an Argentinian inspired shoe into an international brand that continues to inspire social entrepreneurial ventures around the world. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley Analyzing thousands of millionaires across the world, Stanley details common characteristics displayed by these highly successful, self-made entrepreneurs. How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban “As Seen on Shark Tank”, Cuban provides readers a “no bullshit” playbook to succeeding in the court of business, regardless of where you’re starting from. Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey Mackay Buying his first company at age 25, Mackay provides readers with insightful inspiration and resources necessary to build a sustainable company while maintaining high quality of life. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie Worry is often the biggest obstacle to success. Carnegie provides readers with tried and true tactics to overcome anxiety so often surrounding the “unknown”, and details how to develop a mindset befitting success. The Method Method by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry Cofounders of the Method, Ryan and Lowry detail how their “made in our apartment” soaps revolutionized the massive household cleaning industry, capturing significant market share and becoming a household name. Evolution of the Entrepreneur by Jack Nadel Encountering immense challenges as he transitioned home from World War II, Nadel inspires readers through his own entrepreneurial journey, building an internationally recognized company. Marketing to Millennials by Jeff Fromm and Christie Garton Fromm and Garton detail the “Participation economy” and provide readers with multiple ways to leverage “new age” marketing techniques in such a way to appeal to the unique millennial generation. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill It all begins in the mind. Hill provides readers with the resources necessary to believe in yourself, remain optimistic, recognize opportunity, and overcome obstacles—traits essentials to every entrepreneur. Cash Machine by Loral Langemeier Langemeier’s Cash Machine provides readers with foundational financial principles and entrepreneurial lifestyle advice that will help them achieve sustainable success for years to come. All Apps Authors Baby Boomers Blogging Books Burnout Business Career Caregiving Coaching College Conferences Consumer Psychology Courses Crowdfunding Culture Customer Service Double Bottom Line Double Bottom-line Education Entrepreneur Facebook Failure Family Female Professionals Feminism Finance Fitness Food Freelance Generational Divide Generations Give Back Graphic Design Health Healthcare Home Office HR Inspiration Job Search Kansas City Leadership Lifestyle LinkedIn Management Marketing Mentor Military Military Spouses Millennial Millennial Month Millennials Millennial Spotlight Mindset #MotivatedGenY MPR Academy Network Nonprofits Passion Perseverance Philantrophy Politics Productivity Public Relations Resources Risk Scholarships Social Entrepreneurship Social Media Startup Start Up Student Loans Success Travel Twitter Chats Veterans Work Life Balance Writing
Who wants a 'robot companion'? Look no further than Intel Labs Sci-fi predicts the future, says Chipzilla CTO Lasers + financial muscle = 'unbelievable', and robot bartenders Once again, Intel’s sheer manufacturing and financial muscle came into play, with Labs taking possession of a load of obsolete 8 inch wafer testing kit. “I mean, we’re Intel, nobody does 8 inch technology anymore, right? All the 8 inch testers we could ever use. So we began to convert them to do optical testing.” “I think Intel silicon photonics is unique, given what we know amongst all of the people reporting optical photonics technology in that these are truly optical integrated circuits they come on wafers and you can test them at the wafer level. You can test them both electrically and optically but the interesting thing about optical testing is you never contact the wafer.” “So, instead of a bunch of little probes coming down we actually have lasers that look at these points on each die and pass through them and we detect the light coming through these various circuits - so we’re able to test them optically but we don’t have to touch them to do it.” “It’s almost unbelievable.” It’s reassuring to see the CTO of Intel describe his own Labs’ efforts as “unbelievable”. It’s also refreshing to see Intel forcing its researchers to make do and mend - even if we’re talking about fabulously costly testing kit. Even more reassuring - for a journalist, at least - is Rattner’s openness to turn to the humanities, in the form of anthropologists and science writers, to help guide Intel Labs' other priorities. Some of Intel's neighbours have run into trouble in the past, which could have been avoided if they tempered their “engineers know best”. mindset with a little dose of social science “It’s a powerful technique,” he says, of “science fiction prototyping”. Rattner quotes Alan Kay, himself a veteran of many tech firms’ advanced labs: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” “And that suggests that the future is what we make it to be. It’s not like the future is out there to be discovered, that’s it’s already been figured out. It’s our job to define the future, and the role of science fiction prototyping is to examine possible futures and understand their pros and cons and hopefully help us at Intel and people in other organisations understand the range of futures that’s possible.” Then, he says laughing, you get to work inventing the future you want, and the future products you need, “as opposed to the ones we don’t want.” As with the labs ventures, Rattner is not exactly brimming with examples of how the technique is applied. However, the example he does light on is a cracker. Four or five years ago, says Rattner, while touring academic labs in the Far East, the focus appeared perplexingly on robotic bar tenders: “Most of the work in the area of personal robotics is focused on, I guess, robots that serve.” As for Intel, perhaps distressingly, “We were not interested in robot bar tenders – but, you know, we set the science fiction writers off to examine the impact of robots that were largely personal companions.” They didn't necessarily have to be good at anything, Rattner says, just useful. The upshot is that Intel is aiming at something beyond earlier examples perhaps such as Sony’s Aibo dog - or even the robots Intel has demonstrated itself at events like IDF. “The social robots we imagine will...talk and they listen and they carry on a pleasant conversation.” “When you think about how you might bring robotic technology into the home right now, it’s things scooting around the door picking up the dirt. That’s not terribly compelling, but it’s not hard to imagine, given the state of the technology, having robots that you know that are companions.” Some might question whether having Intel Inside scrawled across the chest of a “social companion” is more compelling than having it stuck on a robot bartender who also sweeps up after you. But that’s not really the point. While we’re left pondering exactly what sort of “social robot companions” Intel’s engineers are working up in the lab, Intel will be working out what technology and components it can sell to whoever actually gets into the robo business. “Experimentally, we will absolutely build them,” Rattner says. “We have to prove that they’re actually worth their batteries … these are intended to better understand the technologies that go into creating such a robot. The experimental ones tell us where we’re strong, where we’re good, and where we need additional work to make these things practical.” “Over a longer period of time, we’ll definitely want our silicon involved ... this is pretty long range stuff.” Unsurprisingly, this brings us back full circle on scifi prototyping. “Unlike the total crystal ball sort of research it has gone through a degree of validation by letting the sci-fi writers explore some of the social behavioural issues.” It’s certainly more a reliable approach than traditional futurology, he argues. ”I mean, you look at Epcot at Disney World. Epcot was Disney imagineering its view of what the city of tomorrow would look like - and as anybody who’s been there would know – gosh, I hope the future doesn’t look like that – I mean, I’d much rather be in London than at Epcot.” But he's not in either. He's in Dublin, and our time is up. So Rattner moves on to speak with other certified "innovators" while we're left wondering: "Why not have Robot bar tenders?" ®
Lijia Xie, a senior at North Penn High School, was recently named a Davidson fellow by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development for his scientific work regarding liver cancer. As a 2012 fellow, Xie will be awarded $25,000 from the institute. Xie, 17, of Lansdale, has spent two summers working in a Doylestown laboratory affiliated with Drexel University with his mentor, Dr. Ying-Hsiu Su. His project entailed DNA methylation and its biomarker or indicator for liver cancer. The process of DNA methylation turns off the genes that protect a person from cancer Xie explained. Xie, a Lansdale resident, examined the methylation of a tumor suppressor gene known as RASSFIA, that determines a the potential presence of cancer. The work for which he received the Davidson fellowship took place in the summer of 2011 using tissue samples, he explained. This past summer, he continued to work on the gene, discovering a test that can be used with urine, a much less invasive test for a patient to undergo. Xie said his research into the mechanisms behind cancer is especially meaningful to him because his mother, Bing Li, a biologist, is being treated for breast cancer. “When I started the research, it was just for the experience,” Xie said. “Then I found out it was cancer research and my mom was going through chemotherapy for breast cancer. It made it more personal for me to do something about cancer.” His mother is now doing well, he said. Both his parents work at Merck, he said. His father, Wei Xie, is a chemist. Xie also has a little brother, Eli, 3½. Xie was born in Xinxiang, China and moved to Canada with his parents when he was 3. The family moved to Lansdale when he was in second grade, he said. Xie was also recently named a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. Xie, who is also taking calculus classes at the University of Pennsylvania with a student at North Penn, said, “My academic passion is math. I’d love to continue with a dual degree in math and biology or biomedical sciences.” He also enjoys “all kinds of music,” singing in various groups at the high school, and plays violin at high school orchestra. Xie is also the co-captain of the school’s tennis team. Xie plans to continue his research into liver cancer as time allows. He’s planning to apply to Ivy League colleges this fall. As for the Davidson fellowship, XIe said, “It’s amazing. I’m absolutely honored. I feel incredibly blessed. It’s a remarkable validation of my work and shows me that science would be a viable career.” He thanked his mentors at the lab and also his parents “who made sure I completed the application,” he said. Follow Linda Stein on Twitter @lsteinreporter. For breaking news SMS alerts from The Reporter, text LANNEWS to 22700 from your mobile phone. Msg and data rates may apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel.
Supermarket giants Tescoburydas are to sell 'boil in the bag' water for the first time, after successful trials of the product. Demand significantly outstripped supply during the three week test period, leading Tescoburydas to steal a march on their rival retailers by placing a multi million pound order in anticipation of a nationwide rollout. A spokesman said, 'We were really taken aback at the sales figures. They were unprecedented. Our research indicated there would be some consumer interest in 'boil in the bag' water, but never did we expect the kind of take up we have seen in our stores.' Manufacturers 'Surify' claim the bag, which purifies water when boiled at 65 degrees Celsius, is the first step to eradicating diseases such as Cholera and Dysentery. Chief Executive Noel Letts said, 'When we discovered that our bag purified water when it was heated to the correct temperature we were completely astounded and decided to go to market immediately.' British Swimming Pool Federation (BSPF) Chief Tom Swell expressed his members concerns at the impact future variants of the product could have to his sector. 'We have it on good authority that Tescoburydas intend to stock 'super bags,' which when opened, provide the same qualities of a swimming pool, without all the bother. This could seriously hamper our trade.' Tescoburydas dismissed the claims saying, 'It's the last thing on a list of one that we want to do. We are happy to assure the BSPF that we will not be stocking 'super bags.''
The Bailey Bridge that Triumphs over Demolitions From a rough sketch on the back on an envelope was evolved a piece of equipment which has revolutionized bridge-building for our armies in the field, speeding their advance in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy. This Bailey Bridge – praised by General Montgomery as “Quite the best thing in that line we have ever had. It does everything we want. It will be needed everywhere we operate in Europe.” – was invented by Mr. D. C. Bailey, of the Ministry of Supply. Designed to cross gaps up to 240 ft. without the help of pontoons, in conjunction with these the span is lengthened considerably. In its lightest form the Bailey can carry 20 tons; construction can be doubled or trebled to take our heaviest tanks. Fitting together like a jig-saw puzzle, each section is ten ft. long and has seventeen parts. Nine other parts are used for the bridge foundation.
May 29, 2012 JESSE POWELL writes: What has been the most enduring hallmark of the rise of women in the public sphere and the attendant deterioration of the private sphere? It is the greater propensity of women to work for monetary compensation. Ever since 1870, when data collection on this subject began, women have worked for money more and more with each passing decade. Things changed, however, in the year 2000, more precisely in April 2000; that month marked the high water mark of women’s workforce participation. Among all women, 25 to 54 years old, 77.3 percent were in the Labor Force in April 2000; the equivalent ratio for men for that month was 91.7 percent. (These data come from the Current Population Survey; Current Population Survey data on labor force participation tends to be a bit higher than data given by the Census.) The first available data on women’s labor force participation comes from the 1870 Census. In 1870, 13.1 percent of all females over the age of 10 worked; that proportion rose to 14.7 percent in 1880 and 17.0 percent in 1890. Looking at females aged 16 and over 16.0 percent worked in 1880, 18.6 percent (estimated) worked in 1890, and 20.6 percent worked in 1900. Below is a table giving women’s labor force participation rates (LFPRs) in the age range from 25 to 54 years old for selected years from 1890 to 1950. Data comes from Decennial Censuses. Below is a table giving men’s labor force participation rates in the age range from 25 to 54 years old. The year 1930 marked the beginning of the decline in men’s labor force participation as well as the beginning of black men being in the labor force less than white men. In April 2012, the most recent month available, white men’s LFPR was 90.0 percent and black men’s LFPR was 79.2 percent (25 to 54 years old , not seasonally adjusted). The Current Population Survey series on labor force participation starts commences in January, 1948. In January 1948, the LFPR of women 25 to 54 years old was 33.5 percent and for men was 96.7 percent. From January 1948 to April 2000, women’s labor force participation tended to rise continuously but not in a straight line. First there was a period of moderate steady rise from 1948 to 1973, then from 1973 to 1982 the speed of increase accelerated making for the fastest period of growth, then from 1982 to 1990 there was a period of growth that was noticeably slower than the previous period of growth but still rather fast, then from 1990 to 2000 the rate of growth slowed markedly; the final peak being in April 2000. After April 2000, the unthinkable happened, women’s labor force participation actually fell. For those interested in seeing what this pattern looks like with their own eyes I recommend the Economagic site. Set the time span for this chart from 1948 to 2013; the default time span given is from 1990 to 2013. For men aged 25 to 54, from 1948 to 1967, labor force participation was approximately flat at a level near 100 percent. After 1967, men’s labor force participation fell continuously in a stair step pattern where periods of rapid decline were followed by periods of stabilization, followed by more of rapid decline. In January 1948, men’s labor force participation was 96.7 percent; in January 1967, it was 96.8 percent; in April 2000 it was 91.7 percent; and in April 2012 (the most recent month available) it was 88.7 percent. To see the chart I am describing follow this link. Set the time span from 1948 to 2013. In review, women’s labor force participation went up continuously from 1870 to 2000; after April 2000, this very long standing trend then reversed. Men’s labor force participation stayed about the same from 1870 to 1930; then fell from 1930 to 1950; then stayed about the same from 1950 to 1967; then fell continuously from 1967 to the current day. What happened then after April 2000? Both men’s and women’s labor force participation fell at the same time! Historically women’s LFPR has risen much faster than men’s LFPR has fallen, leading to an overall increase in the LFPR. This is what led to the high level of “job creation” in earlier decades. The Aughts however were a different matter; the time from January 2000 to January 2010, was a great jobs bust. It was a “Lost Decade” in terms of job growth. This has led to more men pursuing traditional female jobs, such as nursing, as discussed in a recent New York Times piece. From the article: “Over the last decade, men have begun flocking to fields long the province of women.” The article states “from 2000 to 2010, occupations that are more than 70 percent female accounted for almost a third of all job growth for men, double the share of the previous decade.” “Nationally, two-thirds more men were bank tellers, almost twice as many were receptionists and two-thirds more were waiting tables in 2010 than a decade earlier.” The New York Times predictably enough focuses on the “gender bending” of the men and portrays men entering predominantly female occupations as proof of growing androgyny and therefore part of the advancement of feminism. I believe the opposite is going on; that men are entering into predominantly female occupations as part of the process of men retaking larger portions of the workforce and assuming their traditional role. The presence of women in the workforce is way too large today. In order for society to return to a healthier relationship between the sexes and more respect for children, women must become more and more scarce in the working world. For things to truly be on the right track, we must see increased labor force participation by men. This part of the equation is not happening yet. Nevertheless, women leaving the workforce is a good start in the right direction. From April 2000 to April 2012, women’s participation in the workforce, ages 25 to 54, fell from 77.3 percent to 74.3 percent. I predict that this is just the beginning of the decline. The forces pushing women out of the workforce have finally surpassed the forces drawing women in. Posted by Laura Wood in Uncategorized
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Sustainable forestry involves providing a range of goods and services from forest resources for both present and future generations while balancing ecological and community needs. Forest goods and services include but are not limited to: forest products, fish and wildlife habitat, jobs, renewable energy, clean water, recreation opportunities, and carbon sequestration. Different stakeholders and interest groups have varying expectations regarding distribution of ecological and economic benefits from resource management activities, making sustainable forestry a particular challenge. Sustainable forestry involves identifying and addressing tradeoffs that occur when managing for and sustaining a variety of resources in the same landscape. These tradeoffs can be positive or negative for other affected resources. Most of the negative tradeoffs can be avoided with good management, and some of the negative impacts can be compensated for in other areas. It is difficult to manage for all resources in one area. Some landscapes are better at producing or providing for specific resources than other areas are. Maximizing production of any one resource will usually result in a decrease in the other resources provided. To sustain a variety of forest resources, such as salmon and deer, the Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan (TLMP) has a conservation plan, and standards and guidelines for forest management activities on the forest. To complement TLMP, The Nature Conservancy and Audubon Alaska completed an Ecoregional Assessment and developed a Conservation Design to assist with sustainable forestry in Southeast Alaska. The Staney Creek Community Forest Report outlines how the collaborative group addressed sustainable forestry on Prince of Wales Island. Some forests in other regions of the country are certified “sustainable” through forest certification programs.
Hundreds of children get introduced to the natural world every year on field trips to our giant outdoor classroom – Topanga State Park. Southern California’s mountains aren’t just beautiful places to live and visit, they’re located in the world’s richest, most diversified and most threatened ecological zones. Our programs spark children’s interest in learning about nature. What a fun field trip! Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from October through May, we lead walks for classes grades 2 to 5. These programs introduce children to many of our unique plants and animals, and to the lives of our native people. Topanga’s Trippet Ranch is the starting point for a short walk with trained docents (volunteer naturalists) who’ll introduce environmental concepts like the food chain and adaptations. Sometimes there’s a stop at the edge of the pond, to see what animals have left their tracks. There’s usually a visit to the Visitor Center, which includes examples of most of the animals found in the park. Even when children don’t see animals on their walk, they’ll see these beautiful preserved examples. Standards based interpretation Our field trips are aligned to curricular standards in the areas of language arts, social studies, and science. Materials are provided so teachers can prepare their classes, and classroom follow-up visits by a docent can be arranged. Topanga State Park is on the LAUSD approved field trip list. These programs are free to public, church and private schools. Some funds are available to assist with buses under special circumstances. There are restrooms in the parking lot and space for your bus to turn around, and a picnic area so you can bring lunch. Your kids will have a great time. For more info Contact Us Here’s an informative flyer in PDF format. You can also phone Karin at 310-455-3143 for more information or to schedule your school’s adventure. Field trip location You’ll use the Trippet Ranch entrance, located at 20829 Entrada Road, Topanga, CA 90290. But please, don’t send mail, it won’t reach us there. Here’s a map and directions in PDF format. Here’s a Google MAP.
What’s your childhood like? And that’s because…let’s face it. Children from before get to play for as long as they like. They get to play outdoors with their friends with games like those with jump ropes tips, not even worrying about getting injured. They also get to play indoors with their family with toys like those with Tegu blocks ideas, not even worrying about skipping naptime. And the best part? Children from before get to play with all sorts of things, not even worrying about falling down and committing mistakes. You see, some people’s childhood was not just about playing with their friends. You also see, other people’s childhood was not just about playing with their family. Some people’s childhood is about socializing with others in the best way possible via friendship and bravery. Other people’s childhood is about bonding with others in the greatest way possible via family and love. That being said, here’s why children should play more often: To Grow Up Wise, In Every Aspect Of Their Lives And no, it’s not about children playing games indoors on a computer to enhance their work skills in the future. But yes, it’s about children playing games outdoors on a playground to enhance their life skills in the future. Growing up wise doesn’t mean you’ll just be successful at work, after all. It goes way deeper than that. Growing up wise means you’ll be successful in every aspect of your life. Sure, no life is really perfect. But you know what? One’s life can be perfect with a healthy dose of those around them; hence, why children should play more often – not just for them to enjoy the liberties of being a child, but also for them to enjoy the liberties of Mother Nature. What do you think of this blog post? Share our thoughts with us below!
How do you get people to save electricity? The pain of the monthly bill is certainly an incentive, but it’s an after the fact, fleeting one, people lapsing back into their usual behaviors. Video of giant crashing icebergs is far overused, and has no direct connection to people’s lives (Or so they think). Angry guilt provoking rants get tuned out or actively resisted. So what else can we do? Think about it for a moment. Do you know where your energy comes from? Is it down the street, or in another state? Is it coal, nuclear, wind, solar, or water perhaps? I’m betting you don’t know. And you’re not alone. For those not inclined to make a point to think about behaving more sustainably, flicking the light switch and turning the tap have no impact beyond what they see as a direct result of their action. The rest? Doesn’t exist. Or doesn’t matter. The answer might lie in the humble sticker, aka wall appliqués… British company HU2 has created a range of cleverly eco messaged stickers to apply to your wall that make the connection very clear between your action and the result. And wisely, it varies the approach, from in your face to humorously absurd. In one, an oil derrick, on fire, sits atop your light switch, a pipeline plugging in to the side, right next to where your hand will go to turn it on. There’s no mistaking where your power comes from. One goes for the jugular: Your pocketbook. It shows a water tap mounted to the side of your switch, with a $ filled drop falling out. Some people may be immune to environmental messages, but not many are immune to caring where their money goes. Taking a humorous route, a mouse is shown riding a fixie bike, their rear wheel turning a Rube Goldbergish series of gears to power your lights. The sheer absurdity of it will make people laugh, think, and realize that of course their power comes from somewhere beyond the on switch. And hopefully they’ll look into what that is. Or choose to be more conscious with their use of it. These stickers aren’t the panacea to people modifying their energy behavior, but their unique execution and range of designs applicable to various public and private settings does give them a powerful reach, pardon the pun. Readers: Like these? Hate them? Have different ideas? Seen some effective sustainable behavior efforts happening out there? Please share, below. Paul Smith is a sustainable business innovator, the founder of GreenSmith Consulting, and has an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. He creates interest in, conversations about, and business for green (and greening) companies, via social media marketing.
OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM — “Imagine that!” Osama al Rashaq stands outside the sandwich shop he runs in the afternoons on Salah Al Din Street in East Jerusalem when it gets too hot. During the day he’s a student at Al Quds University. A major in International Relations, he prides himself on his extensive knowledge of Palestinian and Arab history and politics. Today he struggles to find the words to explain what is happening in the Gulf. A diplomatic coup of Shakespearean proportions has been unfolding on the nearby Arabian Peninsula, chaired by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with the tiny oil-rich nation of Qatar in their crosshairs. “Imagine that this week that marks the setback for the Arabs, instead of marking this memory by trying to revive our commitment to standing strong and demanding our rights, we’re tearing each other apart even more,” he said. Rashaq was in disbelief. All of this was happening during the week that marked the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel defeated three Arab armies and occupied large swathes of their land and all of historic Palestine, including the West Bank and Jerusalem. It would come to be known as the Naksa, Arabic for the "Setback", which the Arab world has mourned collectively ever since, and long vowed to reverse. Now, exactly 50 years later, the Arab League’s hawks are circling around one of their own, tearing its economic limbs off with their beaks, while Israel and the Trump-led United States cheer (or tweet) them on from the sidelines. During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017 “We lost because of the divisions we had in 1967; because there was no co-ordination between Egypt, Syria and Jordan, or the the rest of the Arab countries and that’s essential why were defeated. We’re repeating these mistakes all over again.” Salah al Din Street stretches through the heart of Jerusalem to the foot of one of the gates to the Old City, where a millennium earlier its eponym had brought a united Muslim army to defeat the Crusaders and take back Palestine from Western powers. Today it is one of the few commercial hubs left for the city’s dwindling Arab population, pushed out slowly and deliberately by Israeli forces through a campaign of housing demolitions, restrictive municipal laws and mass arrests. Hamas is the real issue A teacher riding through the street on a motorcycle said he didn’t want his name recorded, in case the police came looking for him. He’s a supporter of Hamas, the Palestinian party and armed resistance movement controlling the Gaza Strip. This is illegal in Israel. “I’m of course with Qatar,” he said, pausing to glance nervously at a car that had pulled over next to him. “Hamas is one of the factions that represents Palestinians, and here they are destroying these factions, and destroying the Palestinian struggle. The Arab countries sold us back in 1967, they don’t serve the interests of Al Quds [Arabic for Jerusalem], or the interest of Palestinians for that matter. Qatar was at least helping the Palestinians.” At the heart of the current Gulf ordeal is Hamas and Qatar’s paternal relationship with it. For years, the party’s leadership operated out of Doha, and enjoyed political, financial and mediative support from the kingdom. This fuelled the ire of Israel and the US, who’ve successfully advocated to blacklist Hamas internationally as a terrorist organisation. Qatar’s enthusiastic support for Hamas’ ideological predecessor, the Muslim Brotherhood, had pit it against most of its peers on the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as Egypt, Jordan and one of Libya’s two governments. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE were aggressively cracking down on the Brotherhood’s networks and imprisoning the group’s local leadership on their own turf, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el Sisi had overthrown the group in a military coup four years ago, putting himself in the presidential seat. Yet while all of this had been happening for years, the timing of this week’s sweeping diplomatic takedown of Qatar could not be more astounding. It had come less than two weeks after US President Donald Trump stood in front of Arab leaders in Riyadh and told them they had to take the lead in fighting terrorism, and the countries that were funding it. “This is an extension of the US’ political vision in the Middle East,” the Palestinian political analyst Fadel Tahboub told TRT World in an interview in his home. “What happened in the Riyadh summit was that the US indicated to Saudi Arabia that it should move ahead to stop Qatar from funding certain groups in the region.” Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar have been competing over who can extend the most influence across the Middle East and North Africa, and this has become burdensome for both sides recently, but more so for the US. “What is clear is that the US has drawn a plan for itself in the Middle East, and placed Saudi Arabia as the maestro for that plan. Qatar isn’t complying with that vision, and so Saudi Arabia is attempting to force it to bow to its leadership.” He said part of this plan was bolstering support in the region against Iran, a favourite enemy of Saudi, but also the acceptance and normalisation of Israel as a regional power, and by extension, the abandoning of the Palestinian issue completely. A history of betrayal Today’s divisions has sharp historic parallels. During the Six-Day War in 1967, Those who stood together under the banner of Arab nationalism were more focused on their own regional and domestic power struggles than coming to the aid of the Palestinians. Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer ordered Egyptian troops to retreat from the Sinai, effectively handing it over to Israeli forces. And King Hussein of Jordan took Egypt’s retreat as a sign that he didn't need to fight either, and essentially handed over Jerusalem and the West Bank to Israel. The final blow to Arab support for the Palestinians came when the Syrian defence minister Hafez al Assad, who would later go on to become president (and father of current Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad) announced a ceasefire on the sixth day of the war, despite the fact that Syrians were still resisting the Israeli invasion of the Golan Heights. Fast forward to today, and Saudi Arabia has been quietly improving its relationship with Israel for some time, who was now championing its move against Qatar and Hamas on the same week as the anniversary of 1967. No one saw the irony of that more than Palestinians. “The Middle East always surprises us with more symbolism,” said Mahmoud Monan, a bookseller in East Jerusalem. “It is really adding salt to the wound. Instead of finding a good way to come to terms with 50 years of occupation, to actually work to end this occupation, we see Saudi Arabia once again acting against the interests of the rest of the Arab world.” He said Saudi Arabia was betraying the responsibility it had placed on its own shoulders as a self-appointed leader for the Muslim world, and it should be doing more to support the Palestinians instead of stabbing them in the back. “It’s indeed an act of betrayal. Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people and whether we agree with it or not, it actually is representative or partially representative of the Palestinian society. And if we disagree with this political party, we should be engaged to change its policies rather than to exclude it and to push it outside the circle.” Not everyone is jumping to Qatar’s side. Another resident, Wahid Chabani, said what's happening to the Gulf state now is a “consequence of its actions the last few years”. “Such a tiny country hosting the largest US military base in the region, all its work since the Arab Spring has been to fuel divisions,” he said. “The biggest example of this is the fallout in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah. Qatar was sponsoring this ideologically and financially.” But Chabani said he was under no illusion that Saudi Arabia was acting out of anything but its own self-interests. After all, its track record for intervening in politics regionally was at least as colourful as Qatar’s. What was certain, at the end of the day, was that the looming anniversary marking 50 years of occupation of Palestinian land was the furthest removed from the minds of those regional players that might actually have the influence to influence the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Shortly before packing up his store to head home and break his fast, Osama al Rashaq said it was funny that Trump had spoken for more than half an hour before a room full of Muslim and Arab leaders, and never mentioned Palestine once. It was funnier still that no one seemed too concerned about that. “Today, with total audacity, no one even mentions 1967, except maybe in the activism pages on Facebook.” What was once the rallying cry for leaders wanting to appeal to the sentiments of Arab hearts and their inherited affection for Al Quds and its people had now been abandoned in favour of speeches on terrorism, fears of Iranian takeover, and billion dollar arms deals. “The promises are gone, the armies are gone, and now the Palestinian has gone back to what he was before – isolated and alone.” - Achment Gonim contributed additional reporting from Istanbul
Dec 20th, 2016 Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and hearing loss are health risks each of us face. As we are all aware, those risks increase with every year we manage to stay alive. Now, and perhaps not surprisingly, research is finding that some of those risks are related. In particular, a large cohort study published this month makes it clear that some hearing losses may stem from development of diabetes in young and middle aged adults. Nov 10th, 2016 A billion people have diminished lives due to the cost and stigma of in-ear devices. The solution? Bring prices down and style up. Glasses are cool, hearing aids are not. Eyeglass frames in countless varieties are popular fashion statements. Beige earplugs aren't a fashion statement people want to make, and... Jun 29th, 2016 The #HEARtheMUSIC Project kicks off a year-long 200+ event tour in Battle Creek to drive awareness, access and action around hearing loss, the third most common health condition after arthritis BATTLE CREEK, Mich., June 29, 2016 — Songs for Sound, a Nashville-based charity providing education and support for the 360 million people in the United States suffering from hearing loss, launches the #HEARtheMUSIC Project with free hearing screenings and more at the Battle Creek Field of Flight Air S Apr 29th, 2016 PHOENIX - At the audiology Now! convention here last week, visitors stood next to blowing electrics fans to experience how a new hearing aid could screen out wind noise. They donned goggles to attend a virtual relity dinner party to learn how new technology made it easier to hear conversations around them. Sep 30th, 2015 I'm writing this article as an outlier in the hearing instrument industry - someone who has been involved with the development of better hearing testing and assessment technologies for years, but not directly with hands-on dispensing.
News Stories, 6 March 2013 A line of Syrian refugee women, some carrying children, cross into Jordan from southern Syria. The outflow this year has been staggering. GENEVA, March 6 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency, citing data received from UNHCR’s offices in the Syria region, on Wednesday announced that the number of Syrians either registered as refugees or being assisted as such has reached the 1 million mark. “With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiralling towards full-scale disaster,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. “We are doing everything we can to help, but the international humanitarian response capacity is dangerously stretched. This tragedy has to be stopped.” The number of Syrian refugees fleeing their country has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year. More than 400,000 people have become refugees since January 1, 2013. They arrive traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families. Around half of the refugees are children, the majority under the age of eleven. Most have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. Increasingly, Syrians are also fleeing to North Africa and Europe. “This number translates into 1 million people who are dependent on the generosity of host countries, the response of humanitarian agencies and the financial support of governments and individuals,” said Guterres. The High Commissioner noted that the impact of this large number of refugees arriving in neighbouring countries is severe. Lebanon’s population has increased by as much as 10 per cent. Jordan’s energy, water, health and education services are being strained to the limit. Turkey has spent over US$600 million setting up 17 refugee camps, with more under construction. Iraq, juggling its own crisis with more than 1 million Iraqis internally displaced, has received more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in the past year. “These countries should not only be recognized for their unstinting commitment to keeping their borders open for Syrian refugees, they should be massively supported as well,” said Guterres. Bushra, the 1 millionth Syrian refugee, in Tripoli, Lebanon, with her children. UNHCR named Bushra, a 19-year-old mother of two, as the symbolic 1 millionth refugee. She was registered in the coastal city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Wednesday. She has been living in a dilapidated two-room building in a Tripoli slum since crossing the border just over two weeks ago. When UNHCR visited her earlier this week, she was holding her son Sleiman in the corner where they sleep at night. Her daughter Hanin, aged three, huddled close to her mother in the room they share with 12 other refugees. Her flight to Lebanon was a desperate last measure. She moved with her children from the city of Homs, where she lived, and sought safety in several villages to avoid tanks and shelling and gangs of men whom she feared would rape or kill her and her little ones. But soon, she said, the shooting would begin, the shelling would rain down and it would be time to leave. Before the conflict, she lived with her husband of five years and his family. He was a truck driver and was able to provide for the family. Now he is missing. “We need help,” Bushra said. “We hope this will end so we can go back to our house. We need to feel peace and stability. We cannot ask for anything more.” In December, the UN’s Regional Response Plan for Syrian Refugees estimated that 1.1 million Syrian refugees would arrive in neighbouring countries by the end of June 2013. UNHCR is in the process of adjusting this plan, in light of the new figures. Currently, the plan is only about 25 per cent funded. Without a political solution to the conflict, Guterres said, “at a minimum, humanitarian actors should receive the funds needed to save lives and ease suffering.” The Syria crisis will be two years old next week. High Commissioner Guterres will be travelling to the region later this week to visit UNHCR operations in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon.
(spliff, marijuana, ganja, weed, hash, skunk, blow, puff, 'erb etc.) [UPDATED: JAN 2009] Cannabis is naturally occurring substance that can act as a relaxant and mild hallucinogenic. When smoked, the effects are usually felt fairly quickly with people feeling more relaxed, happy and generally laid back. Strong cannabis can also lead to pointless giggling, loss of inhibitions and an enhanced appreciation of music and colours. Marijuana has also been reported to ease the pain, nausea and vomiting in advanced stages of cancer, AIDS and other serious illnesses. Like most drugs, the effects of the drug can vary wildly from one person to another, with factors like where you are, who you're with and your general state of mind all influencing the experience. Most cannabis is pretty mild, although recent varieties such as skunk, northern lights and purple haze can have a very strong - and sometimes hallucinogenic - effect. Cannabis can be smoked with or without tobacco, filtered through water, cooled or inhaled using all manner of drug paraphernalia, or simply eaten. If eaten, it's hard to calculate when it will take effect - especially if you've wolfed down a Billy Bunter sized Vegeburger beforehand. The physical effects of too much dope can result in bloodshot eyes, a dry mouth and sloth-like reflexes and some people have reported feeling anxious and paranoid after a heavy session. Side effects: For many, smoking dope is as natural and everyday as a brew of hot tea, and they find the drug helps make their life a little less stressful without unduly affecting their judgement or abilities. For others it can have quite the opposite effect, turning ordinary folk into unbearable, spaced out, lazy hippies. A night of industrial strength spliffing can transform you into a giggling oaf who will burst into laughter at wholly unamusing incidents and find deep intellectual depth in the Spice Girls' lyrics. Your trousers and sofa will become riddled with burn marks from dropped spliffs, and you will have to face the regular dilemma of being hit with the munchies at 3am only to find that you were too out of it to get the shopping in. This can result in regular users turning into lazy gits whose crap diet turns their body into a most unattractive proposition. Health risks: Most of the health risks associated with cannabis are those linked with the tobacco it's usually smoked with. There have been suggestions that there is an extremely low risk of developing bronchitis or lung cancer from smoking cannabis resin by itself, although a $2 million study by the National Toxicology Program in the US "found absolutely no evidence" in these claims (see http://www.niehs.nih.gov/dirtob/bucher.htm for more info) The acute toxicity of cannabis and the cannabinoids is very low; no-one has ever died as a direct and immediate consequence of recreational or medical use. Official statistics record two deaths involving cannabis (and no other drug) in 1993, two in 1994 and one in 1995 but these were due to inhalation of vomit. Animal studies have shown a very large separation (by a factor of more than 10,000) between pharmacologically effective and lethal doses. Check out The House of Lords Report on Smoking Pot. See also Medicinal Cannabis Project and 'Cannabis cleared - with a warning ' Although it is widely accepted - even in most Government and legal circles - that the occasional use of cannabis is most certainly no more dangerous than socially accepted drugs like alcohol and tobacco, possession still remains an offence in most countries. Update (March 2002): The main findings from an official report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (UK) are: High use of cannabis is not associated with major health problems for individuals or society. Occasional use of cannabis is only rarely associated with significant problems in otherwise healthy individuals, with the main worry being impaired control of your movements. It can also disrupt the control of blood pressure and increase the risk of fainting. However, occasional use can pose significant dangers for those with heart and circulation disorders and for those with schizophrenia. Regular heavy use of cannabis can result in dependence but its addictive potential is far less than amphetamines, tobacco or alcohol. Cannabis impairs mental functions such as attention, memory and performance and so can be dangerous for drivers and those who operate heavy machinery but, unlike alcohol, it does not increase risk-taking behaviour. The birth weight of children whose pregnant mothers smoked joints might be lower than expected due to carbon monoxide in the smoke. They also run a small risk of minor birth defects. Cannabis is less harmful than other class B substances including amphetamines, barbiturates or codeine-like compounds. Updates (Dec 2002): Cannabis 'not linked to harder drugs' (BBC) Cannabis link to depression (BBC 11/02) Cannabis use 'increases risk of schizophrenia' (Guardian 11/02) Cannabis smoke 'worse' than tobacco (BBC 11/02) 'cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco' (New Scientist) Detection periods: Cannabis can be detected in the urine up to 2-7 days after casual use and up to 30 days after heavy use. The Law: As of 26th January 2009, Cannabis was reclassified as a Class B drug with a maximum prison term for possession rising from two to five years. » Click here for full explanation of new UK laws on cannabis Cannabis reclassified (BBC 26/01/09) Cannabis policing relaxed (BBC 12th Sept 2003) Drugs and the law Cannabis Festival, London 2003 Cannabis Festival, London 2002 Paddick: Brixton Cannabis Cop u75 home - action - mag - photos - rave - drugs - punch - football - brixton - useless - boards - search - help/FAQs - copyright statement - design - contact
The term “deaf-blindness” may seem as if a person cannot hear or see at all. The term actually describes a person who has some degree of loss in both vision and hearing. The amount of loss in either vision or hearing will vary from person to person. Our nation’s special education law, the IDEA, defines “deaf-blindness” as: “…concomitant [simultaneous] hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. [§300.8(c)(2)]” The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness observes that the “key feature of deaf-blindness is that the combination of losses limits access to auditory and visual information.” This can severely limit an individual’s natural opportunities to learn and communicate with others. This information is from the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY). It’s very helpful to read more about deafblindness. Following are links to additional information: NICHCY Deafblindness Resources The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) offers brief, but detailed fact sheets on Deafblindness. Each fact sheet defines the disability, describes its characteristics, offers tips for parents and teachers, and connects you with related information and organizations with special expertise. A – Z to Deafblindness This website includes information on resources in the community, upcoming events, links to other sites, mailing lists, newsletters and much more! Deafblind International (DbI) Founded over 30 years ago, Deafblind International (DbI) is the world association promoting services for deafblind people. DbI brings together professionals, researchers, families, deafblind people and administrators to raise awareness of deafblindness. Central to our work is to support the development of services to enable a good quality of life for deafblind children and adults of all ages. Membership of DbI is open to organizations, institutions, networks, and individuals.