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Enemy of the Day
Today's target of the all-you-can-scream set is a saint of a man: the archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. (Cardinale subito!)
Simply put, if Diarmuid Martin is not doctrinally sound, then I'm the queen of Sheba. And if I'm the queen of Sheba, then you best bring me gifts.
In an address, Diarmuid -- who spent three decades in the Curia and diplomatic corps before being sent back to Dublin to clean up the damage caused by the people who harrumphed on a Magisterium which, apparently, they didn't apply to themselves (except for purposes of manipulating the little people) -- reminded everyone of the line between thinking faith and actually living it.
He's so good... But of course, the insecure and fearful members of the Exacting, Negative Rule-Book Club -- who've taken to comparing bishops who don't fit their narrow gustibus to second-graders today -- are livid, praying to saints as if good Diarmuid were the Antichrist who wanted to steal the faith from little children, even though the paranoid faith they preach is precisely "not the Christian relationship with God."
Regarding popular attitudes toward Christian faith, Archbishop Martin continued: "Too often that faith based on love and forgiveness has been distorted into an exacting, negative rule-book."
"I am amazed," the archbishop repeated, "at the insecurity that surround the faith of so many." He added: "A relationship which engenders insecurity, anxiety, and fear is not the Christian relationship of faith in God."
Rather than a faith based on authority, Archbishop Martin argued for a faith based on active involvement. He said: "A Church with participatory structures will be more effective in this task than an authoritarian one." Mature Christians should bring their faith to bear on the secular world, the archbishop said. "If creation is the Lord's," he said, "how can we not share the wealth of the world equitably, how could we squander the resources of creation, how could we maltreat or abuse or exploit any other person?"
As they'll know that we are Christians by are love, so they'll know that they are Catholics by their anger....
What's so wrong in talking about the ineffectiveness of ecclesiastical structures, people? The structures are not divinely inspired, and if they get in the way of the mission, then why not think about new ways? Obviously, the structure in Dublin had fatal flaws. And it was this arrogance of hypocritical judgmentalism -- not secularism, not liberalism, but clericalism and an obsession with power (sound familiar?) -- which enabled the sad state of the Irish church that Diarmuid was sent to purge and renew.
Apparently, the adherents of the tried-and-failed school will not go down without a fight, one that screams Viking Funeral.
I'm amazed at the theatre of the absurd value of all this -- that the people who rail at structures most are demonizing a bishop who has the temerity to question the same topic.... If Martin's critics had their way, Quintero would enjoy supervisory power over the archbishop of Los Angeles. Stop the hypocrisy, people.
Gratefully, through his example of Christian gentleness, kindness, transparency and humility, Diarmuid has started to fulfill the mission for which he was sent. But yet again, some bitter folk can't let go of a gilded, failed and dreadfully unbalanced model of the church, for the sole reason that everything looked nice.
Pity, pity, pity. |
Have you ever found yourself wishing for the “good ole’ days” when a button press on a desk phone could dial a specific contact? There are a couple aspects of “legacy” buttons that hard to improve on:
- There is no need to determine context: pressing the button always dials the contact
- They have a physical location, and things don’t (usually) get on top of them
- One press does the job
There are a couple downsides to buttons like: there are never enough, it can be hard to find the desired contact in rows and rows of buttons…and more I’m sure, but today we will give the steps to bring back 1 Click (or 1 button press) shortcuts for dialing or IM'ing common contacts or phone numbers.
The overview of what we are going to do is: Create a simple Windows desktop shortcut that points to TEL: or SIP: url to start a conversation with a specific contact with one shortcut keypress.
First, right click anywhere on your desktop and then click New | Shortcut.
Type in SIP: or TEL: followed by the contact you want to initiate a conversation with.
- SIP: Will start a conversation with a SIP URI
- TEL: Will dial a telephone number
NOTE: Unfortunately to start a voice call with a SIP URI you will need to click “Call”.
Next you can give your shortcut a Name/Description. I suggest prefixing it with the Keyboard hotkey shortcut you are planning to use. (this will be configured in a later step)
Now you have a shortcut. Click on it will start a conversation with this contact. SIP: will start an IM and TEL: will start a voice call.
Now we can further enhance our shortcut by adding a Shortcut Key and unique Icon.
Now you have a shortcut that will start and IM or initiate a Voice call using the assigned Shortcut key any where in Windows. Of course you can drag this shortcut onto the taskbar so it is visible and any other tricks you can think of that Windows shortcuts can do.
Another Way to make 1 Key Shortcuts:
Lync HotKey Contact Dialer App on TechNet: Click Here
(Note: One benefit of the Hotkey Contact Dialer is that you can have true 1 button to start a voice call)
More Lync User QuickTips: http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/LyncUserTip |
DCH discusses H1N1
Lansing, MI – State health officials say H1N1 flu vaccinations are hard to find because the supply sent by the Center for Disease Control is much smaller than was promised.
The state House Health Policy Committee held a hearing about the H1N1 virus Tuesday. Doctor Greg Holzman testified with representatives from the Department of Community Health. He says manufacturing of the vaccine is going slower than anticipated, "It's put us in an awkward situation because we really thought we were going to be a lot further along right now. Like I said, we were continuously told by mid-October around 45 million doses and we're not anywhere close to that.
Dr. Holzman says vaccines will continue to come into the state throughout the flu-season. The health officials say people should check the state Department of Community Health website for vaccination availability in each county. |
Stop me if you've heard this story before. Community survey results about a school district were not favorable to the administration, so the superintendent, and school board president, questioned the validity of the survey, and refused to both recognize, and release, the results.
If you said QCSD, circa 2006, you hit the bulls-eye. As has been repeatedly documented, the administration withheld the responses of parents, graduates, and teachers for 16 months, because they were so embarrassing to the district.
But QCSD has no monopoly on survey embarrassment. The latest red faces are located a few miles south of here, in the 110,000-resident Central Bucks School District. The odd thing about this one is that those red faces should be on both sides of the matter.
Of course, there are a few differences between Central Bucks and Quakertown. CB is one of the highest-performing districts in the state, invariably ranked among the top 10 by independent evaluators. QCSD has historically been the lowest-performing district among the eight in this area, and is consistently found to be one of the worst in the extended Philadelphia area by independent publications.
But despite this education gap, the two administrations share a common trait - both despise surveys, especially those that they can not control. And especially, especially, those that show community dissatisfaction. CB is jealously protecting a good reputation. QCSD is frantically trying to create the illusion of a good reputation.
CB is in the midst of a dispute with a parent group called Central Bucks Engage, which is angry about proposed scheduling changes in the middle schools. But regardless of who is "right", if, indeed, there is a "right" here, the underlying issue has been increasingly obscured by Engage, which raised the stakes by posting an on-line survey that focused not on the middle school matter, but on residents' opinions of the quality of CB education, and the direction of the district as a whole.
Engage did attempt to create survey questions that were not biased toward either the viewpoint of the administration, or the protesters. They knew that there would be eyebrows raised, because the marketing research company performing the survey was owned by an Engage member. So they partnered with The Intelligencer, and received an important bonus: the newspaper promised to publish the results, while CB refused to disseminate the findings on the district's on-line messenger system.
The Intel ran the disclosure "Editor's note: The Intelligencer agreed to publicize the survey and its results after editors reviewed the survey questions and were satisfied they were presented in a way that allowed for all points of view to be expressed."
But this attempt at fairness overlooked perhaps the most important factor in any interpersonal relationship: human nature. People invariable do what is best for themselves, and rarely go far out of their way to carry on someone else's crusade. No matter how "fair" and "balanced" the questions, the folks involved in the dispute are the ones likely to make an effort to answer the survey, and those not touched by middle school scheduling are far less likely to log on. Especially in mid-summer.
So, it was rather predictable that the survey results were positive about the quality of CB education, but negative about the direction of the district. The Engage folks were the ones likely to answer the survey, to make their point. Most unaffected residents really didn't care - if, in fact, they were even aware of it. Only 509 people responded.
As promised, The Intel reported the findings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being excellent, about 79 percent gave the district a rating of 8 or higher. About 73 percent of all respondents said they think they quality of education at Central Bucks has stayed the same or improved in the last five years. Almost the same number said they think the quality of education in Central Bucks will stay the same or "fall off" in the next five years. About 47 percent of respondents said they have little or no confidence in the school board and 42 percent said they have little or no confidence in the current superintendent. By comparison, only about 24 percent of respondents said they had a lot of confidence in the school board and 27 percent said they have a lot of confidence in the current superintendent. About 54 percent of respondents said they did not think the school board does a good job of representing the community, and about 57 percent said they did not think district leadership is open to ideas presented by the community.
Engage considered these results to be favorable to them. But upon further review, it ain't necessarily so. The only truly overwhelming numbers are the 79 percent who feel that the CB education is near excellent, and the 73 percent who feel that it has been that way for the past five years. Clearly the community has been happy for a long time. Point for the administration.
But the questions involving the performance of the superintendent and school board, and the community's confidence in them, were the ones that Engage hoped to use to rally public support. Yet in a survey that was created specifically for Engage, the group's "preferred answers" (negative opinion of leadership) received only about half of the vote. Compare that to QCSD's 2006 survey, when about 90 percent of respondents opposed Integrated Math. This is hardly a triumph for Engage, and, in fact, shows that there was considerable support for the CB board and superintendent. Another point for the admins.
But even when handed this apparent win, the CB leaders snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Instead of pointing out that the results were not at all what Engage was hoping for, they foolishly opted to challenge the validity of the survey. School Board President Paul Faulkner harrumphed that it had been conducted by a company owned and operated by an Engage member, and that only 509 people had responded. Point for Engage, if only because they were still in the game.
This prompted the company owner, Doug Keith, to write a guest opinion piece in The Intel a few days later, basically saying the survey results are statistically sound, and the number, and percentage, of respondents is greater than what is necessary even to predict a nationwide presidential election, let alone understand a smaller population such as CB residents. He added that the school district is basically putting their heads in the sand if they think the survey results are not valid. Point for Engage.
So, after several escalations, and a lot of publicity, the only conclusion to be drawn from this mini-episode is that both sides mishandled the entire situation, and neither won. Engage didn't get the result they wanted, and the directors and superintendent misread those results, and trashed a survey that could be read as positive for them.
And, in the end, do we know any more about the middle school scheduling? You remember - the issue that prompted this whole mess in the first place.
The past two elections in QCSD have seen the end of the old guard's stranglehold on the school board. The new board voted overwhelmingly last December to conduct another round of surveys to determine the community's feelings about our educational process. But those surveys have been delayed by certain directors who, apparently, would prefer that our 36,000 or so residents not have any input. Next week - who has been fighting the surveys, and why. |
During a recent summer teacher enhancement project field trip to Twin Creeks Mine owned by Newmont Gold Company, just northeast of Winnemucca, Nevada, the idea for this space struck me. It came from a comment made to the group of teachers after one of the best Microsoft Powerpoint presentations I'd ever seen before. Upon completion of the program, the maintenance shop foreman proudly announced "We are not grease monkeys anymore."
What was even more striking was the juxtaposition of my memories of being a mechanic, my Grandfather's trade, and what I was seeing around this machine shop. The fond smells, sights, and sounds of grease, oil, parts awaiting replacement, motor exhaust, and the stingy sounds of steel working on steel were still present.
There were, however, new sights I never encountered before, especially in a mechanic's garage -- computers, monitors, screens of all types, oscilloscope-looking devices being carried by people of both genders covered in grease. One device, in particular, caught everyone's attention; a hand-held Ultra Sound tool that found cracks in steel often times smaller than human hairs. One mechanic commented that by using this "tool", hundreds of thousands of dollars in shop repairs could be saved each year due to replacing worn materials before they reach failure. And those ore hauling trucks? $160,000 for a new motor. I was surprized to find that everyone involved in the gold mining operation was concerned with saving money. The more saved on costs of operation, the more chances there are to receive a sizeable year-end bonus. Surely, these were sights that I never witnessed in my grandfathers garage some 40 years before.
A blast from a horn much like that of a fog horn, signals a new arrival to the shop. In drives a massive 240-ton ore truck, some 2 stories high. A door opens. Down steps a Native American woman just completing a 12 hour shift. Her final task of the day was to bring in "her truck", a 2 million dollar piece of equipment, for scheduled maintanence.
Even the face of mining is changing. The blackend faces of deep shaft miners are being augmented with recent engineering graduates who are responsible for many personnel and the ultimate success, or failure, of part of the mining process.
Surprised, I was glad to know the steortypes I brought to Twin Creeks Mine were being replaced with more accurate perceptions of how mining is changing largely due to the technology now available to all forms of industry. It was a great experience to see first hand how technology has changed the way mining takes place in Nevada.
I beleive the same idea can be applied to what the EJSE is trying to accomplish with it's work in promoting electronic publishing within the science education community, be that from universities or public schools across the globe. We could be, as some still do, authoring by hand or at the keyboard of the old Olivetti 1000, sending hard copy into editors for review, awaiting publication in a membership or for fee print journal. Those options will always exist and perhaps go of the way of vinyl long-play records, or lp's. CD's on the other hand, have done quite well. Clearly, audio technology has made static free listening a reality.
Recently, when asked of a large publishing executive how much of $1.00 (for easy math, the cost of an elementary science method's text) an author's ideas are worth, they replied "$.95 goes to my company, primarily for advertising, and $.05 goes to the author." 5 cents for ideas, 95 cents to advertise those ideas. We hope at the EJSE that we can continue to offer to our community 100 cents worth of quality ideas for the cost of a few watts of electricty. Perhaps, as the maintanance forman said earlier in this space holds just as true for electronic authors and publishers as it does for him...
Have a great rest of the summer from those of us at the... |
Phnom Penh Prison S-21, Tuol Sleng
Continuing with our Cambodian experience, it is almost impossible to avoid learning more about the atrocities that took place in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. At the same time that the first Star Wars movie was released, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the UK, and North and South Vietnam joined to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Cambodia experienced a horrific period which saw between 1.4 and 2.2 million, or 25% of the population murdered by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime.
The consequences of this period of time are inescapable and there are many much better placed websites to learn more about the Khmer Rouge, however the book ‘First they killed my father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers’ by Loung Ung is the real life account of a young girl who experienced the murderous regime first hand.
What follows are our thoughts and experience of S-21 prison, an infamous institution where between 17,000 and 20,000 people were incarcerated and tortured before being murdered in the nearby Killing Fields between 1969 and 1975.
The Phnom Penh Prison & Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Arriving at the prison, we were instantly shocked by its location and close proximity to Cambodian suburbia. It’s hard to imagine the horror of what occurred here, within feet of nearby residential streets. But then the location makes sense when you realise that the prison originally was a school.
Cambodia doesn’t hold back from explaining the horrors of its recent history. There is no sanitisation of what occurred here, no dumbing it down. As we walked through the prison, we entered each room silently, unable to skip a room. We had to look in all of them, after what occurred here it seemed wrong not to.
As we entered the first building, we entered the first door on the ground floor. A small room, it was bare and decrepit save for a rusty old bed frame, a bucket and some tools lying aimlessly on the floor. We glanced to our left, and quickly realised what occurred here. On the wall to the left hangs a photo of the room when it was first liberated. The room in the photo looked as it does now, save for the body lying half on the bed and half on the floor.
The day the prison was liberated, there were 7 survivors out of the 17,000 – 20,000 that entered the prison. Sadly for the occupant in this room, the liberators arrived only hours too late for the poor soul.
Glancing back from the image to the room, we could see the bed frame was the original frame from the photo. The bucket, first assumed to be a toilet, is quickly revealed to be a vessel to carry bodily fluids and organs from the room as they were removed during torture. The ‘tools’ lying on the floor the main weapons to achieve the goals of the Khmer Rouge.
As we wandered to its neighbouring room, a growing sense of unease came over us. We felt hot and nauseous, and entering the second room was much like entering the first. A solitary rusty bed frame, a bucket and some tools. Again the image on the wall to our left revealed the state of the room upon liberation, the same story as the previous room. And so on to the next room and the next. After going through the ground floor rooms, we went up to the first floor to the next set of rooms. And up again to the next floor, and this was only building one.
The first rooms we visited were torture rooms, the second floor was more of a holding cell for the ‘guilty’, with guilty meaning anyone the regime didn’t trust: educated people, intellectuals, members of the previous government and police force. The Khmer Rouge wanted to eradicate intellectuals, turn the population into an agrarian society and control the poor and uneducated.
The conditions these people were subject to were horrendous. Chained and manacled to the floor in long rows, inmates would lie there all day and night, unless they were asked to stand for whatever reason the guards deemed.
We knew what happened in Cambodia was horrific, but to walk through a building which played host to these atrocities barely 40 years previously disgusted us. But yet we had to see the rest of the prison.
The second building was much of the same, the larger rooms showed us the faces of the victims. The Khmer Rouge, much like the Nazis, had been meticulous in documenting their killing. Every person that entered the prison was photographed and documented, and here they were, staring back at us. Hundreds of photos lined up in rows, many of them children. All with different expressions; some were fearful, some confused, some unaware of what was taking place, and those who were resigned to what was about to happen. Horrifying to see, but as we mentioned earlier, there is no sanitising the story of what happened here. The faces of the guards of the prison were also revealed to us, very young individuals given the brutal task of torturing and murdering fellow countrymen.
We stayed at S-21 for a couple of hours, looking at and reading every last morsel of information on offer. And then we left, back into suburbia of Phnom Penh. Back to our friendly tuk tuk driver who muttered ‘not a nice place yes?’ before taking us away from S-21. It was a harrowing experience, but also an unavoidable one on a journey through Cambodia. |
Jim Stanford sets aside our shared scepticism about the WEF competitiveness rankings to make two points in his column in today's Globe and Mail:
Nine of the 15 countries ahead of us on the WEF list collect higher taxes than Canada. Indeed, the Scandinavian welfare states cleaned up this year: Finland was second in competitiveness, Sweden was third, Denmark fourth, and Norway and Iceland also placed ahead of Canada.
Governments in these countries rake in 50 per cent or more of their respective GDP.
This is a point that deserves to be made more often (see, for example, here). There's no reason to think that we have to choose between social programs and economic growth.
But he misses a crucial element of the Nordic model:
You'd never know from this weak effort that Canada's corporations received bigger tax breaks since 1999 than any other stakeholder: The average effective corporate income tax rate fell to 25 per cent from 35 in that time (eating up $20-billion of the total tax cuts our governments delivered).This utter lack of correlation between taxes and competitiveness, however, did not stop Canadian business commentators from ascribing our weak performance to (what else?) high taxes, and demanding still more cuts. The National Post's coverage was prototypical: The headline decried high taxes, and the article carried on the good fight -- never even mentioning that Finland, Sweden, and Denmark took three of the four top spots.
You might be led to believe from this that corporate tax rates in the Nordic countries were higher than in Canada. This would be a wrong conclusion to draw. Here are the 2006 corporate tax rates for the 4 Nordic countries and Canada (2000 rates in parentheses):
Canada: 36.1 (44.6)
Denmark: 28.0 (32.0)
Finland: 26.0 (29.0)
Norway: 28.0 (28.0)
Sweden: 28.0 (28.0)
Notwithstanding the round of cuts in the past few years, Canada's corporate tax rates are still higher than in the Nordic countries. |
Problem: When searching for a list of Communities that might have a certain term within the title or description, in the search results none or only a subset of Communities are returned that contain that term within the title.
Solution: This is working as designed. The community search is designed to find exact matches for the community name or to utilize wildcard search characters to find search terms contained within the community names. Note: The reason some communities might be returned in the search results with a partial term when no wildcards is used, is because that search term may have been added as a tag associated with the community and search will pick up tags that match the search terms. The most reliable method to find communities based on names however is to look for the exact name of the community OR to use wildcards in your search terms.
With the following community names created: comtest1, comtest2 and comtest3
-If the term "test" is used to search for communities, 0 communities will be returned in the search results, unless the specific term "test" was added as a tag for the community.
-If the term "comtest2" is used to search for communities, 1 community will be returned in the results.
-If the wildcard term "*test*" is used then all 3 communities will be returned in the search results. |
The Smashing Pumpkins Biography
This Alternative-Rock band was formed in 1988 in Chicago, Illinois USA, by guitarist + singer & songwriter Billy Corgan, the rest of the band originally comprised James Iha on guitar, D'Arcy Wretzky on bass and Jimmy Chamberlin on drums.
After their first live appearance as opening act for Jane's Addiction, The Smashing Pumpkins, made its recording debut in early 1990 with the release of "I Am One"; this single preceded their first full-lenght album, "Gish", which was issued in May of 1991 and was supported by a national tour with The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam. The record scraped the bottom of The Billboard Top 200 chart and generated the Modern Rock top 30 single, "Rhinoceros".
One year later the band contributed a song for "Singles" original motion picture soundtrack, "Drown" hit #24 on The Modern Rock chart.
The group's next album, the breakthrough "Siamese Dream", was issued in the summer of 1993, it climbed into the top 10 of The Billboard 200, selling over 4 million copies and spawning no less than three Modern Rock top 10 hits: "Today", "Cherub Rock" and "Disarm" plus album's fourth single, the Active Rock top 30 hit, "Rocket". The first three singles also charted in the U.K. where the album debuted in the top 5.
Just a year later, Corgan and company released "Pisces Iscariot", a collection of B-sides, live songs and covers, including Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" which shot to #3 on The Modern Rock Tracks and pushed the LP into the top 5 of the U.S. Top 200 Albums chart.
In late 1995 The Smashing Pumpkins issued a bold double-CD entitled "Mellon
Collie And The Infinite Sadness", the set contained 28 songs and
quickly soared to #1 on The Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, it was certified
platinum nine times over on the strength of numerous hit singles, firstly,
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" hit #2 on The Modern Rock chart
and #22 on The Billboard Hot 100, "1979" rose to #1 spots on
both Billboard's Modern and Mainstream Rock charts and grabbed a #12 spot
The Billboard Hot 100, "Thirty-Three" also hit #2 on The Modern
Rock Tracks. The album, which was was equally successful in Europe and
Australia, sported three more singles, "Zero" "Muzzle"
and "Tonight, Tonight", that made it to the top 10 on the U.S.
Alt-Rock radio chart with the latter becoming the group's first U.K. top
The group won Best Hard Rock Performance for "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards.
In 1996 the band sacked their drummer Jimmy Chamberlin after his continuing drug abuse, his replacement was ex-Filter Matt Walker. Around this time the group recorded a new tune, "Eye", which was used on the soundtrack of the film "Lost Highway"; the single crashed into the top 10 of The Modern Rock chart.
In the summer of 1997, "The End Is The Beginning Is The End",
one of the two Pumpkins' songs from "Batman & Robin" soundtrack,
peaked at #4 on The Modern Rock chart and earned them yet another Grammy
trophy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Before the year's end the band started to work on the new album, but Walker left during the recording sessions.
At the start of 1998 Iha found time to release his solo debut album to
"Adore" was finally released in June, going straight to #2 on both the U.S. and Canadian Albums charts but the record failed to match its predecessor's sales; it yielded two Modern Rock top 3 hits: "Ava Adore" and "Perfect".
Wretzky quit The Smashing Pumpkins shortly before the band hit the studio for the follow-up to "Adore" and was replaced by ex-Hole bass player Melissa Auf Der Maur, around the same time Chamberlin returned to the fold. "MACHINA/The Machines Of God" appeared in February 2000 hitting #3 on The Billboard Top 200 Albums chart; the first single, "The Everlasting Gaze", peaked at #4 on The Modern Rock Tracks and "Stand Inside Your Love" rocketed to #2 on the same chart.
When Billy Corgan decided to disband
the Pumkpins, he wanted to release a final album of studio outtakes, but
Virgin Records refused, citing that it was too soon after releasing the
previous album. He and his bandmates then opted to release via Web a 25-track
set titled "Machina II: The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music";
the fans could download for free the entire collection.
After the show at Chicago's Metro on December 2, 2000, Corgan announced that The Smashing Pumpkins would be no longer.
After a seven-year hiatus, for the short-lived group Zwan and his surprisingly sunny 2005 solo album, Corgan has revived The Smashing Pumpkins; joining original members Billy Corgan on vocals + guitar and Jimmy Chamberlin on drums, were guitarist Jeff Shroeder, bassist Ginger Reyes and keyborad player Lisa Harrington. "Zeitgeist" was released in July 2007 and its first single, "Tarantula", went straight into the top 3 of The Hot Modern Rock chart and hit #6 on The Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks whilst the album itself peaked at #2 in U.S. and #1 in Canada. The second single, "That's The Way (My Love Is)", reached the #23 position on The Hot Modern Rock chart.
In November 2008 the band relesed a non-album single titled "G.L.O.W.",
featured in the latest installment of Guitar Hero.
Four months later Chamberlin left The Smashing Pumpkins, leaving Billy Corgan as the only original member in the band's line-up.
"A Song For A Son", was the first single that that became part of a 44-track musical project called "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope", a sort of a mega-album of songs released digitally and occasionally compiled into physical releases as limited edition EPs. |
Dentin is the technical name for your teeth -- well, the substance that makes up your teeth, rather. Dentin is almost bone-like and it makes up most of the structure of your teeth. Dentin is made from cells called odontoblasts and is found under the enamel of the crown and under the cementum in the root.
Dentin is yellow in appearance; it's the tooth's enamel that gives teeth their bright white finish. Since enamel is relatively translucent, if not properly cared for by regular brushing, regular flossing and regular dental visits -- your teeth can dull and become yellow as enamel starts to wear off. At that point, only the yellowish dentin is left.
"Dentin consists of microscopic channels, called dentinal tubules, which radiate outward through the dentin from the pulp to the exterior cementum or enamel border." This is all very technical for the biology of dentin, which is a very detailed and complicated process that occurs in the tiniest square footage -- our individual teeth!
The highly specialized connective tissue of dentin makes up most of the structure of your teeth. If the inside (pulp chamber) gets infected and is removed by your dentist, dentin will become brittle and can fracture far more easily than normal. This is why, after a root canal, you are generally fitted with a cap or a dental crown.
Facts of Dentin
Dentin is semi-reparable. It has reparative capabilities because the odontoblasts that create dentin remain viable after the teeth erupt. When excessive wear, cavities or other irritants start to degrade the dentin, reparative secondary dentin is laid down.
As helpful as this is, the enamel that covers dentin is NOT reparable, so again, your biyearly trip to the dentist is mandatory, as is daily brushing and flossing.
When you get dental cavities, you get them in dentin. Generally, if you get an infection, you get that in the pulp of the tooth. But enamel can wear away by chewing ice or other irritants, thereby making dentin more susceptible to dental cavities and tooth loss. |
Почеп. Церковь Тихвинской иконы Божией Матери.
Дата постройки: 1825.
Адрес: Калужская область, Жуковский район, урочище Почеп.
Kaluga Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga. It was created in 1944 out of four other oblasts: Moskva Oblast, Orel Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, and Tula Oblast. It is located at the historical region of the former Kaluga Governorate. |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 7, 2016
For information contact:
Lindsey B. Counsell, Exec. Dir.,
Three Bays Preservation, Inc.
Three Bays Preservation Inc. Hosts Coffee Hour on Aquaculture Program
(Osterville, Mass.) – Stop by for coffee at Three Bays Preservation every Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. through August to learn about the environmental non-profit’s innovative aquaculture program along the Marstons Mills River inside Warren’s Cove. Three Bays is located at 864 Main Street in Osterville.
“Aquaculture is critical to healthy freshwater and marine environments since oysters naturally filter water, removing toxic nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus from the ecosystem,” said Lindsey B. Counsell, executive director of Three Bays. A healthy oyster population helps in preventing harmful algal blooms that threaten wildlife living in and around the water. “We have found that people are very curious about our aquaculture program and how it can benefit water quality, so we’re continuing Coffee Tuesday again this year,” Counsell added.
Nationwide, oysters have been used for years to mitigate water quality problems in impaired environments including Chesapeake Bay, Long Island and Boston Harbor. Here on Cape Cod, dozens of oyster beds used to clean water as well as growing a commercial food product are thriving on Cape Cod shorelines. Three Bays has been growing oysters since 2008 when it teamed with the Barnstable Shellfish Department and purchased 60,000 oyster seeds in Warren’s Cove. Every year, Three Bays has added additional oysters to its program.
Three Bays Preservation, Inc., is dedicated to restoring and protecting West, North and Cotuit Bays, and the coves, ponds, rivers and streams that form our watershed and ecosystems. Since 1996, Three Bays Preservation has continued stewardship efforts through applied science, educational programs, and ecosystem based management practices. To learn more, visit Three Bays Preservation, Inc., online at www.3bays.org
# # # |
This creature was designed for a short film that I wrote two years ago. His race is Quelonian, a reptile species that has evolved with the course of time. They live on an aquatic planet, where the cities are floating on water. Looking for alternative resources, the Quelonians created the Spatial Scout Program (SSP) and here is where our character comes in. He is a space scout. I have always wanted to make characters that fit into some story; it's easier and more fun this way.
The first step was to draw as many sketches as I could: sides of the figure, proportions, face details etc. I am not a professional concept artist, but I always try to draw the best that I can so that I have a better understanding of what I'm going to create in 3D (Fig.01).
Fig. 01 - Click to Enlarge
I also did some test color in Photoshop (Fig.02).
Fig. 02 - Click to Enlarge
In this Making Of I am going to explain the texturing process in more detail, since I made a retextured version of Sanlik using textures from the 3DTotal Textures collection.
I collected some references of animals like amphibians, reptiles and birds, which helped me a lot to understand how the skin should look and how to adapt the details on a humanoid body (Fig.03).
Fig. 03 - Click to Enlarge
Modeling and Sculpting
Having all the references set up and all the sketches, I started with a very basic base mesh done in 3ds Max and then imported it into ZBrush to start the sculpting process. At the beginning, I focused on the gesture of the character, paying attention to all the proportions and the silhouette.
Anatomy is very important even for non-human characters as this always gives a more realistic feeling (Fig.04).
Fig. 04 - Click to Enlarge
When I'd finished with the gesture, I analyzed the figure to see if all the scales looked nice (Fig.05).
Fig. 05 - Click to Enlarge |
Bridgeport Port Jefferson Ferry
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York Ferry Company Upgrades Vessel – Improves Air Quality for Customers
Emission Reduction Project helps reduce diesel emissions
The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company (BPJ), a locally owned and operated ferry company, recently replaced the engines and generators on the M/V Park City with state-of-the-art engines that meet EPA’s most stringent existing emission limits. This project has resulted in a 40 – 55% reduction in diesel emissions and has also achieved substantial fuel consumption savings. By reducing both diesel emissions and fuel consumption, BPJ is making a significant contribution towards improved air quality in and around local marinas and in the Long Island Sound in general.
This project replaced the main and auxiliary engines on the Park City with brand new EPA certified Tier 2 engines. The new electronically controlled main engines burn approximately 14% less fuel than the old engines, while the new generator engines consume 10% less. Lower costs due to fuel savings will allow the company to increase the frequency of service offered during the upcoming peak summer season and beyond. Additionally, the M/V Park City has achieved slightly higher cruising speeds further enhancing the company’s commitment to on time performance.
The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company made a significant investment in the Park City by providing 58% of the funding necessary to purchase and install the engines with the balance provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as part of a program designed to achieve air quality emission reductions in EPA’s New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island air quality nonattainment area.
Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Company founded in 1883, is one of the oldest and largest privately owned ferry companies in the United States. BPJ is a subsidiary of McAllister Towing and Transportation, Co. Inc. BPJ carries approximately 500,000 cars and 1,000,000 passengers across Long Island Sound annually. BPJ designed and built its existing fleet of ferries as well as performed the Park City engine upgrades. BPJ believes in providing its customers with the safest and most reliable transportation possible. With their newly repowered ferry, they are helping to keep that practice going.
Information regarding ferry service for vehicles and passengers between Bridgeport CT and Port Jefferson NY and on line vehicle reservations may be found at http://www.88844ferry.com or call (888) 44-FERRY. |
Cochrane for Clinicians
Putting Evidence into Practice
Pharmacologic Cardioversion for Atrial Fibrillation and Flutter
FREE PREVIEW. AAFP members and paid subscribers: Log in to get free access. All others: Purchase online access.
FREE PREVIEW. Purchase online access to read the full version of this article.
Am Fam Physician. 2005 Dec 1;72(11):2217-2219.
A 70-year-old man comes to the clinic for routine follow-up of hypertension and is found to have new atrial fibrillation of unknown duration.
Should antiarrhythmic medications be used to restore sinus rhythm for patients with atrial fibrillation?
There is no evidence that rhythm control in older patients with atrial fibrillation is more effective than rate control for improving patient-oriented outcomes.1
Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of mortality and stroke. Furthermore, diminished atrial filling of the ventricles and irregular ventricular contraction can reduce cardiac output, leading to palpitations, dyspnea, and dizziness. Whereas rate-control strategies for managing atrial fibrillation advocate medically slowing ventricular response to the fibrillating atrium and using anticoagulation to reduce stroke risk, rhythm-control strategies involve medical or electrical conversion to sinus rhythm to improve hemodynamics and symptoms and, theoretically, reduce stroke risk.
The two studies2,3 evaluated in this Cochrane review1 showed that in patients older than 60 years, use of a number of different medications (alone or combined) for pharmacologic cardioversion of atrial fibrillation—including amiodarone (Cordarone), quinidine, sotalol (Betapace), disopyramide (Norpace), and flecainide (Tambocor)—did not improve mortality rates or stroke rates compared with rate control using calcium channel blockers, beta blockers, or digoxin, alone or in combination. Moreover, 50 percent of strokes in patients receiving antiarrhythmics occurred while they were in sinus rhythm, and long-term maintenance of sinus rhythm was achieved in only 56 to 62 percent of patients. Thus, cardioversion of a fibrillating atrium to reduce stroke risk and eliminate the need for warfarin (Coumadin) therapy does not seem to be a reliable solution; long-term maintenance of sinus rhythm is difficult, and those who have successful cardioversion appear to need long-term anticoagulation.
Although concern has been raised that the use of antiarrhythmic medications for atrial fibrillation will increase the risk of malignant dysrhythmias, these were uncommon with rate-control and rhythm-control strategies in the two studies2,3 reviewed. Results of one of the studies2 suggested there may be an increased mortality risk with rhythm control in patients without heart failure, but the numbers of patients with heart failure were low, and definitive data on management of atrial fibrillation in the setting of heart failure are lacking. The same study2 also showed that older patients and those with coronary artery disease may be at higher risk of death with rhythm control compared with rate control.
This review1 provides further evidence in support of recent guidelines on the management of atrial fibrillation. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association note that there is a paucity of evidence indicating restoration and maintenance of sinus rhythm is more beneficial than rate control, and that the data available suggest no definite advantage of one approach over the other.4 The American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians go further, recommending rate control with chronic anticoagulation as the best strategy for most patients with atrial fibrillation.5 Both guidelines,4,5 however, state that rhythm control may be appropriate in certain situations, depending on specific patient characteristics such as the desire for symptom control or improvement in exercise tolerance.
Background. Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac dysrhythmia. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There are two approaches to the management of atrial fibrillation: controlling the ventricular rate or converting to sinus rhythm in the expectation that this would abolish its adverse effects.
Objectives. To assess the effects of pharmacologic cardioversion of atrial fibrillation in adults on the annual risk of stroke, peripheral embolism, and mortality.
Search Strategy. The authors1 searched the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 3, 2002), MEDLINE (2000 to 2002), EMBASE (1998 to 2002), CINAHL (1982 to 2002), and Web of Science (1981 to 2002). They hand searched the following journals (all 1997 to 2002): Circulation, Heart, European Heart Journal, andJournal of the American College of Cardiology, and selected abstracts published on the Web site of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (2001, 2002).
Selection Criteria. Randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials of pharmacologic cardioversion versus rate control in adults (older than 18 years) with acute, paroxysmal, or sustained atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter, of any duration and of any etiology.
Data Collection and Analysis. One reviewer applied the inclusion criteria and extracted the data. Trial quality was assessed and the data were entered into RevMan.
Primary Results. The authors identified two completed studies: AFFIRM2 (n = 4,060) and PIAF3 (n = 252). The authors found no difference in mortality between rhythm control and rate control (relative risk = 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.31). Both studies showed significantly higher rates of hospitalization and adverse events in the rhythm-control group and no difference in quality of life between the two treatment groups. In AFFIRM, there was a similar incidence of ischemic stroke, bleeding, and systemic embolism in the two groups. Certain malignant dysrhythmias were significantly more likely to occur in the rhythm-control group. There were similar scores of cognitive assessment. In PIAF, cardioverted patients enjoyed an improved exercise tolerance, but there was no overall benefit in terms of symptom control or quality of life.
Reviewers’ Conclusions. The authors conclude that there is no evidence that pharmacologic cardioversion of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm is superior to rate control. Rhythm control is associated with more adverse effects and increased hospitalization, and it does not reduce the risk of stroke. This conclusion cannot be generalized to all persons with atrial fibrillation. Most of the patients included in these studies were older than 60 years and had significant cardiovascular risk factors.
These summaries have been derived from Cochrane reviews published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in the Cochrane Library. Their content has, as far as possible, been checked with the authors of the originalreviews, but the summaries should not be regarded as an official product of the Cochrane Collaboration; minorediting changes have been made to the text (http://www.cochrane.org).
An important limitation of this review1 is that the two studies2,3 evaluated focused mainly on patients older than 60 years without heart failure or ventricular dysfunction. Thus, it sheds little light on the management of atrial fibrillation in younger populations or in patients with heart failure.
For the routine management of atrial fibrillation, this review1 supports using rate control with anticoagulation primarily. If rhythm control is attempted, continued use of anticoagulation appears necessary to maintain a reduced risk of stroke.
REFERENCESshow all references
1. Cordina J, Mead G. Pharmacological cardioversion for atrial fibrillation and flutter. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005;(2):CD003713....
2. Wyse DG, Waldo AL, DiMarco JP, Domanski MJ, Rosenberg Y, Schron EB, et al., Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management (AFFIRM) Investigators. A comparison of rate control and rhythm control in patients with atrial fibrillation. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:1825–33.
3. Hohnloser SH, Kuck KH, Lilienthal J. Rhythm or rate control in atrial fibrillation—Pharmacological Intervention in Atrial Fibrillation (PIAF): a randomised trial. Lancet. 2000;356:1789–94.
4. Fuster V, Ryden LE, Asinger RW, Cannom DS, Crijns HJ, Frye RL, et al. ACC/AHA/ESC guidelines for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation: executive summary. A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and the European Society of Cardiology Committee for Practice Guidelines and Policy Conferences (Committee to Develop Guidelines for the Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation): developed in collaboration with the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001;38:1231–66.
5. Snow V, Weiss KB, LeFevre M, McNamara R, Bass E, Green LA, et al. Management of newly detected atrial fibrillation: a clinical practice guideline from the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. ;139:1009–17.
The Cochrane Abstract is a summary of a review from the Cochrane Library. It is accompanied by an interpretation that will help clinicians put evidence into practice. William E. Cayley, Jr., M.D., M.Div., presents a clinical scenario and question based on the Cochrane Abstract, followed by an evidence-based answer and a full critique of the review.
Copyright © 2005 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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What does LAR mean?
- A species of gibbon (Hylobates lar), found in Burma. Called also the common or white-handed gibbon. |
Abbott stirs pot with coal seam gas comments
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has stirred debate within Opposition ranks, saying a future Coalition government would support coal seam gas extraction "under the right circumstances".
Speaking in Tamworth, where the issue has caused considerable controversy, Mr Abbott has told ABC Radio open-cut mining causes far more environmental damage.
But opponents of CSG, including colourful Queensland MP Bob Katter, say Mr Abbott does not know what he is talking about.
Mr Abbott has moved to allay some of the fears about the industry.
"There's a big difference between coal seam gas extraction and open-cut mining," he said.
"Open-cut mining is a devastating thing. Coal seam gas extraction, by contrast, involves relatively little disturbance of the surface, a relatively modest area for the plant itself, some roads and fences.
"One of the reasons why a lot of the farmers are quite happy to see the extraction is because as part of the process they get their roads upgraded."
Mr Abbott said, however, that coal seam gas extraction sites should only be approved "under the right circumstances".
"I think there are very legitimate concerns about the impact on the water table," he said.
"This is our nation's bread basket, this is a priceless asset for future generations, and we have to be incredibly careful not to compromise because our children and grandchildren and their children and grandchildren won't thank us if we do," he said.
Mr Abbott made the comments in the New England electorate of independent MP Tony Windsor.
"There's a number of factors that I don't think Tony Abbott seems to understand," Mr Windsor said.
"When coal mining activity takes place, the coal mines generally buy the land that they mine and they're quite entitled to mine that land.
"Coal seam gas companies don't actually purchase the land. They can come onto the land, they can put wells down and extract the gas without recognition of the existing land use on top of that land."
That process has frustrated some farming communities and prompted protests about their rights.
In an interview on commercial radio last year, Mr Abbott backed farmers' rights over CSG explorers coming onto their land.
Mr Windsor has other concerns.
"The mixing of various groundwater aquifers, the impact in the Murray-Darling system - a lot of that work hasn't been done," he said.
"So I'd be a little bit concerned that a leader of one of the major parties would be prompting the issue without going into what the real issue is, and that's the scientific verification."
Mr Katter says drilling holes through aquifers is "extremely hazardous".
"I regret to say the Leader of the Opposition, I strongly applaud him in other areas, but in this particular area I think he should butt out because he doesn't know what he's talking about."
Drew Hutton from the Lock the Gate Alliance also says Mr Abbott's comments are misguided.
"The wells themselves are only a small part of it, if you include the amount of tree clearing that will be necessary for the thousands of kilometres of pipeline which are going to be built," he said.
"Then, you're talking about rates of land clearing we haven't seen in this land for a decade."
While some other Coalition MPs and senators have been campaigning against the expansion of the industry, Rick Wilkinson from the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association says more people are recognising the benefits of the industry.
"I think there's growing support as we build the knowledge of coal seam gas, how the companies interact and support regions, creating employment and economic growth, and I think that's starting to be acknowledged."
In a statement, the Australian Coal Association says less than 0.5 per cent of New South Wales is used for mining and that land is restored.
The federal environment and resources ministers were not available for comment.
How coal seam gas is mined
Lay of the land
The Great Artesian Basin is made up many different aquifers - layers of rock and silt that are saturated with water. Between the aquifers are layers of less permeable rock and clay. The coal seams lie deep underground, below most of the aquifers we use for drinking water and irrigation. Coal seam gas is trapped in pores inside the coal, held in place by large volumes of water. |
posted on Feb, 28 2010 @ 06:28 PM
I have had a very big problem with this issue for a very long time.. I have observed the people of God being fleeced out of their hard earned cash
week in and week out for years.. But is tithing in the modern sense biblical?
During the time the scriptures were wrote, tithing itself was indeed a required law where at various times of year during the feasts, the tithe would
be taken from the people of Israel and put into the storehouse.. But what was the tithes purpose? And what WAS the tithe? Well, the tithe was not
money for a start! It was food... The Lord said “there shall be FOOD in MY house.”
During the various feasts when the tithe was to be presented, the people had to go to Jerusalem to do that. So instead of carrying a whole lot of food
about with them that would spoil on the journey to Jerusalem, they would sell what they had and carry money which they would then in turn buy the food
when they got there and present that before the Lord... No money was ever used as the tithe itself... The reason for the tithe was twofold.. One was
that this was part of the Levitical inheritance.. The Levites had no land inheritance so would take part of the tithe to live.. It was also for the
POOR... It was meant as a means for the poor to be fed in the house of God.... It was meant for anyone in need.... Hence why it says in Malachi 3:
“Will a man rob God?Yet you have robbed Me!But you say,‘In what way have we robbed You?’In tithes and offerings.9You are cursed with a curse,For
you have robbed Me,Even this whole nation.10Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,That there may be food in My house,
Taking from Gods poor people is the same as taking from God..... Poor people with nothing....
However, the same passage is used to fleece the congregation so that the various pastors can have nice cars.... The tithe then is not going to the
right people... The poor..... How can they justify this is beyond me... But God repays!... I see a big fire in those peoples future....
Examples of what the “modern Tithe” buys;
Jets, several opulent homes, first class lifestyles etc.... Do your own search on the wealth and holding of the top pastors and evangelists and you
will see that the God business seems to be recession proof... One pastor; the self proclaimed “prophetess” Juanita Bynam” even owns a gold
plated Rolls Royce! A few on the list of shame that fleeces the people include;
Creflo Dollar (aptly named)
T D Jakes (oh yes he does!)
Hillsong (revolving door christianity.. Even Darlene left!)
Kenneth Copeland (all about the money)
Peter Poppoff (still waiting for my magical mystery manna)
The list goes on... They twist scripture to one of prosperity where if you have no material stuff or are ill, then you haven't got God.. They even
try to sell something that you could never put a price on.... Salvation... They turn you from the Word to their own word which they sell to you and
treat it as the inspired word... These guys are crooks! Dont give your money to them... These guys try to sell Gods grace to make them richer
Its witchcraft..... Buying grace.... Grace is free and cannot be bought or earned.. |
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Originally posted by Aim64C
Honestly, though, they can just send the thing up there and put it on a 'holding' pattern (the orbit everyone knows about) and then wait for a satellite within the array to come due for service - take a jog over to it, then resume the holding pattern until it is necessary to re-enter and resupply. So, it doesn't even have to be a 'secret' satellite it ventured off to.
Originally posted by TimBrummer
It didn't actually disappear for two weeks, it make a big orbital angle change that's why it took the sky watchers so long to find it again. And it makes these changes aerodynamically using it's wings instead of with rocket motors like every other satellite does. The X-37 wings allow it to make major orbit changes using much less fuel than a normal satellite, it does this with a small re-entry burn to get down into the upper atmosphere, makes a hypersonic aerodynamic turn of up to 90 degrees, then does another small burn to boost back into orbit. That capability would allow it to be over any spot on earth in a short amount of time. It probably could do a half dozen major orbit changes like this before running out of fuel. On another thread they said it might have a laser weapon, and that is entirely possible. Why else would you make an expensive craft that could be over any spot on earth in 30 to 60 minutes unless it's to attack a target? Now you guys just need to figure out what runs the laser, the solar panel looks too small. Remember you heard it here first!!
Next, look at the landing gear of the real x-37.
Originally posted by Violater1
No secret her, but you can see a warning sign on one of the photos of the craft and it states,"Ammonia Vent."
Guess what that is for.
Robonaut 2 robot is very close to humans from the structure, with a human torso, head and arms, is a joint NASA and General Motors design, planning to complete the International Space Station to help astronauts work and maintenance tasks sporadic. |
Scientific Publications by FDA Staff
Ann N Y Acad Sci 1994 Apr 15;712:146-54
C-reactive proteins, limunectin, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, and coagulin. Molecules with lectin and agglutinin activities from Limulus polyphemus.
Liu TY, Minetti CA, Fortes-Dias CL, Liu T, Lin L, Lin Y
In 1964, Levin and Bang discovered that gram-negative bacterial endotoxin could rapidly induce gelation of Limulus amebocyte lysate. This observation has led to the development of the most sensitive and specific method for the detection of bacterial endotoxin in pharmaceuticals and drugs intended for human use. Over 10 years ago, Bang injected endotoxin into young horseshoe crabs and observed a time and dose-dependent coagulation of the whole hemolymph. Limunectin, LEBP-PI, and Limulus CRP are found together with coagulin as part of the hemolymph clot at the time of endotoxin-induced exocytosis of amebocytes. In this manner, these molecules with agglutinin/lectin activities could work in concert to assist in the recognition and eventual removal of invading microorganisms from the circulating system. Although the mechanism of endotoxin-induced clot formation is to a large extent understood, the mechanism of clot dissolution and removal in the Limulus hemolymph remains to be clarified.
|Category: Journal Article|
|PubMed ID: #8192328||DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1994.tb33569.x|
|Includes FDA Authors from Scientific Area(s): Biologics|
|Entry Created: 2012-12-24| |
The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild has become a driving force in the ongoing effort to protect coin collectors and museums in which coins are stored from being forced to give up these items to foreign governments under the premise the coins are the cultural patrimony of the claimant nation. — Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News April 26, 2010
The ACCG newsletter, a heretofore randomly issued communication, will become a scheduled quarterly event.
John Hooker, author of Celtic Improvisations: An Art Historical Analysis of Coriosolite Coins, has agreed to serve as Editor of the ACCG online Newsletter. Improvisations, using the development of their art as a major theme, was the culmination of an exhaustive ten-year study of the coins of an Armorican tribe issued at about the time of Caesar's invasion of Gaul. He was invited to contribute the entry on Celtic coinage for John T. Koch's five volume Celtic Culture -- A Historic Encyclopedia . Hooker conceived the idea of the Celtic Coin Index Online, coordinating with Oxford and assisting his wife, Carin Perron (1957-2003) to bring the idea to fruition. He is a prolific writer and very frequent contributor to online discussion groups. He has written two philosophical treatises as part of an ongoing series about Cultural Property for ACCG that are published on this web site (see "Hooker Papers" in the navigation bar to left).
The need for consistent communication with ACCG members and supporters has long been recognized, as previous newsletters have been generated mainly as time would permit. In addition to articles about current events within the ACCG, the newsletter will include links to other online resources of interest to guild membership. The newsletter will now be scheduled quarterly and will be sent to all members who have registered an email address with the guild. The first issue under John Hooker's editorship will appear on September 1, 2009.
Type the code shown
Copyright © 2004-2010 Ancient Coin Collectors Guild. All Right Reserved. |
Office 97 Tips
ToolTips are those little bits of text that pop up when you point the mouse at a button or menu item inside many Windows 95 programs. They take the worry out of remembering all of Access 97's arcane controls. Now you can attach these helpful items to fields, buttons, or other items on your forms:
|Home, Links, Awards, Help, Map, Poll, Newsgroups, Online Chat, Mailing List, Search|
|Tips & Tricks||Guides||Bugs & Fixes||Themes||Reviews||Site Contents||ActiveIE|
1998-1999 The Active Network. All rights reserved. |
Aida Ashenafi’s critically acclaimed film Guzo
(The Journey) will become the first Ethiopian
movie to be shown on Ethiopian Airlines. It is the
same company that provided a sponsorship grant of
It will be one of the venues for the 90-minute
documentary with English subtitles to have its high
profile debut. It was screened in New York City on
August 8, 2009, at the Hellen Mills Theatre and
previously played at the Listener Auditorium at
George Washington University on May 23 and 24, 2009,
in Washington DC.
Directed by a filmmaker trained in the United
States, Aida’s film fascinatingly explores the
disparity of lives in urban and rural Ethiopia. It
was not surprising when it won first place at the
2009 Addis International Film Festival.
The documentary is un-scripted using
non-professional actors. It depicts the hardship of
rural life, taking two young middle class urbanites
from Addis Abeba and having them spend a month in
rural households in the countryside. The result is a
funny and daunting contrast between the “comforts,”
of city life in Addis and the challenges of rural
living only a short distance away.
“It is the Ethiopian version of sticking Paris
Hilton in an Iowa farm,” Samson Mulugeta, a
Johannesburg-based journalist, wrote about the film.
Aida wants her film to show that one can be poor and
at the same time live graciously and dignified.
Yet the documentary has lost money in Ethiopia.
Guzo cost 45,000 Br to produce and lost money
each of the eight times it played at the Ambassador
To Taferi Wessen, one of the founders of the now
defunct Ethiopian Film Corporation, the struggles
local filmmakers go through in Addis hinders serious
filmmakers from getting a chance to have their
productions seen. They simply crowd out what little
venue is available for films to be shown.
“When Aida made her movie she had to show it every
other Thursday because there are not enough
theatres,” Taferi said. “It is very difficult to
find a place to show.”
A private venue at Endna Mall declined to show it in
the Multiplex Theatre, after managers claimed that
it was not the kind of film that attracts an
audience. Later on, they were proven right.
“It has been received fabulously, it just did not
have much attendance,” Aida admitted. The show at
the 1,500-seat Ambassador theatre averaged
attendance of 200 to 300 per viewing. Many who
entered the Theatre were reportedly disturbed by the
screening; some walked out, while others demanded
refund of tickets.
“We actually had to stand in front of the audience
before the movie and announce that it is a
documentary,” Aida told Fortune.
In the United States documentary films like Guzo
will not be on as many screens as high budget
movies but at least they are shown consistently
which gives them a fighting chance to gain
popularity, Taferi commented.
Aida hopes the film will do well in the festival
circuit but she doubts the film will reach a mass
audience. Another way documentaries or low budget
movies have been successful in the US is through
video rentals. Here they have a second chance to
become popular through word of mouth.
However, people here are more reluctant to purchase
or rent DVDs of Ethiopian films preferring to go to
the theatre. When there are not enough quality
theatres or people do not have enough money to go
see a movie it makes it more challenging to have a
film shown, according to Aida. When people do get to
see her documentary she has found the responses to
be overwhelmingly positive.
“If people made it through the first 20 minutes,
they were hooked,” she said.
This is despite the tendency for many Ethiopian
moviegoers unfamiliarity with documentaries and
their tendency to just pick a random movie to go to
when they feel like going out.
For veterans like Taferi, the film industry in
Ethiopia has a long way to go.
Aida’s film was shot on 35mm as opposed to most
Ethiopian films, which are shot on video. This
difference in quality is something that Taferi says
Ethiopian films must do if they want to be taken
“The film industry in Ethiopia is no industry to
speak of,” Taferi said. “Most of the films, shot on
video, look amateur. In addition, the lighting,
sound, make-up and scripts are not professional. . .
I believe there is a great future for Ethiopian
films but it needs to be taken more seriously.”
Henok Ayele, director of the local hit film
Yewondoch Guday, observed Most of the film
makers get experience from working not from
To make the film, Aida brought in a cinematographer
from Los Angeles, because she has had difficulty
finding the skilled workforce to produce quality
filmmaking in Ethiopia. She, Taferi and Henok point
to the lack of movie education facilities to develop
talent as a challenge to the film industry in
“At the Addis Abeba University, they only give two
classes on film production and formats but not on
more advanced stuff,” Henok said. “We need more
knowledgeable and skilled people. We need more and
better film schools.”
Aida remembers during her college years they used to
spend time watching and critiquing movies.
“They do not do that in Ethiopia,” Aida said. “Here
people are trained to be camera people which really
[is not the most vital skill required in
Taferi says Ethiopia has a long way to go before it
can ever hope to produce a film with the
international appeal of the popular Indian films.
“Indian cinematographers are skilled professionals,”
Taferi said. “They have been working for 60 to 70
years developing skilled filmmakers and funding
their film industry . . . most of our films are
third rate versions of soap operas.”
Henok disagrees. He says it is not hard to find good
talent here. Though 90pct of the cast were new
actors, he still feels that a good producer can find
quality actors and filmmakers in Addis. The rather
glaring problem to him comes as a result of many
producers simply picking from the same pool of
actors and fail to really search for new talent that
exists in Addis.
His own film, Yewondoch Guday, suffers from
shortcomings such as entire sentences in the film
that were unable to be heard because of the muffled
Despite issues with quality, he feels that a good
story can still attract mass audiences.
It could be a good story that attracted people to
his movie reports on SHEGER FM claim is the sequel
is the most popular movie currently showing in
Addis. A recent trip to the Edna Mall, one of the
three theatres the movie has been playing at since
March, seems to bear that out. Seeing the crowd
almost six months after the movie opened it is easy
to believe anecdotal reports of shoving matches for
Endale Dante is one of these viewers who told
Fortune he saw the movie three times.
“The Yewondoch Guday films are successful
because they speak to people across class and age,
children and adults,” Henok said.
However, he admits that there must be improvement to
the film industry here to assist in the crossover.
Ethiopian films need subtitles; there are not
sufficient numbers of distribution agencies; and it
is difficult financially to obtain the camera and
format (program) qualities necessary for Hollywood
standard films, according to Henok.
Currently, filmmakers in Addis are working with DV
format, though some companies which can afford it
have HD and HDV.
“Almost no one has the money for Hollywood standard
camera and films,” he said.
Yet, Ethiopia was blessed with another critically
acclaimed movie this year. Last March, Haile
Gerima’s Teza won best film at the 21st Festival of
Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou (FESPACO),
affectionately known as the African Oscar. It won
Special Jury and Best Screenplay awards at the
Venice Film Festival. In the best screenplay
category, Slumdog Millionaire placed second.
also won a Goldan Tanit for best film at the
Carthage film festival and has won awards in 13
other film festivals. However, Slumdog won Best Film
at the American Oscars and became highly successful,
while very few people outside of Ethiopia have heard
It has yet to open in the US, despite the fact that
the director lives and teaches there.
Perhaps it is in response to this that Halie Gerima
is developing an institution to support African
films in Addis. He and four other people, including
his sister Selome have formed Gebbette Entertainment
Information Technology Plc, and are in the process
of constructing a new film production centre. The
four-storey building will house four cinema halls, a
convention centre, and support services for film
production with the goal of attracting Ethiopian and
other African filmmakers to create films which focus
While this investment is a positive first step it
will take financial investment in order to bring
more professionalism to Ethiopian film.
“The government needs to give stronger support,”
Henok agrees here. He wants to see the government
assist the process by developing a film policy and
helping with licensing and copyrights since many
people simply copy films when they go to video.
Taferi argues that the government should give tax
breaks for serious films. Currently the
entertainment tax is about 15pc.
“There is not enough capital to encourage serious
films,” Taferi told Fortune. “People don’t
seem to realize that film can be a lucrative
business but it is very difficult to raise the 100
million Br you need to produce international
standard films . . . currently, most investors are
He may be referring to people like Aida. Smoking a
cigarette on her porch Aida looked pensive. She
talked hopefully about potential filmmaking in
“If we were in the US right now, we would be talking
about what a great shooting environment this is,” |
|Flickr Photo by Heatkernel
With stunning views from land and water, you will definitely need your camera when you visit Whitehall. Just outside the Adirondacks on the New York / Vermont border, this the little town’s location allowed it to become the ‘birthplace of the US Navy.’
Formerly known as Skenesborough, Whitehall takes advantage of its location by giving visitors a tremendous visual experience. If you are in the mood for a boat cruise, jump aboard one of the ships that launch from Whitehall and offers tours around Lake Champlain. You’ll enjoy the soft breeze off the lake and the majestic views the landscape has to offer, while learning a little bit about the region.
Looking for a more active experience? Take a trip up to The Skene Manor, affectionately known as ‘Whitehall’s Castle on the Mountain.’ This symbol of turn-of-the-century wealth overlooks the harbor and offers additional views of the region that can be missed at lower elevations. |
The first museum in Edirne was opened with the name "Archeology Museum" in 1925 upon the order of Atatürk in Dar - ül Kurr'a Madrasa, which has been constructed together with Selimiye Mosque between 1569 - 1575 in the courtyard of Selimiye Mosque and which is a work of Mimar Sinan.
Since Edirne has been the capital of the Ottoman State for 91 years, the palace has impacted the folk art and enriched it in terms of ethnography and therefore, a second museum has been needed. A second museum bearing the name "Ethnography Museum" has been opened in the Madrasa in the courtyard of Selimiye Mosque, called as Dar - ül Tedris on November 25th, 1936. Ministry of National Education and General Directorate of Foundations have made monetary contributions to this museum and some valuable goods have been presented by Ankara and İstanbul Museums.
In recent years, the works entering the museum by excavation and donation have increased, hence the number of visitors has increased. As a result, a modern museum has been needed and a modern museum has been opened in 1971 under the name (Archeology and Ethnography Museum".
The museum in Dar - ül Tedris Madrasa is continuing its service as "Turkish - Islamic Works Museum".
ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY MUSEUM
Ethnography Section: at the entrance, on the left side, there is a collection consisting of silver works with sultan's signature and other house tools, donated by a person from Edirne and just beside it, the Gördes - type carpet prayer rug laid on the niche of Selimiye Mosque and Şarköy kilims belonging to XIXth century are located. Again in the first of the three showcases in the same line, the coins belonging to the Ottoman sultans' periods, in the second showcase the treasures found during the base excavations, and in the third showcase the coins caught at the customs doors while being illegally transferred to other countries and brought to the museum are exhibited.
One of the most important parts of the hall is the part reflecting the ritual circumcision and bride rooms. The ritual circumcision bed is prepared by putting 22 bindallı side by side and a valuable bed set worked on satin belonging to the XVIIIth century is laid on them.
The "Edirnekari" large board door belonging to the end of XVIIth century, which is on the wall of the ritual circumcision and bride room, is one the most beautiful samples of its period.
In the showcases in the middle of the inner hall, the style cover used in the palace, spoons made of the covers of sea turtles, long - spouted ewers, water pipe sets made of crystal and the clothes of XIXth century men and women are exhibited. The sitting room in the same hall and the money drawers, writing drawers and chests made with Edirnekari technique are interesting.
Before passing to the hand works section, in the showcases on the left and right sides, embroidered handkerchiefs having different motifs, the blanket, which was used by Atatürk during his visit to Edirne and the map he used during the Balkan War are exhibited.
In the hand works part, there is a village kitchen, carpet, kilim and rush mat weaving looms, tools used in shoe manufacture, agricultural tools and instruments used in farming and a phaeton are located.
Archeology Section: At the entrance, on the right side, the photograph panel showing the first tumulus excavations made in the region between the years 1936 - 1939 upon the order of Atatürk is located and on the left side, a map showing the archaic residence locations of Thrace.
The stone works exhibited along the wall are in three groups:
2- architectural parts
The showcase, in which women busts made of cooked soil is interesting in terms of showing the hair styles of women from the Archaic Period until today. Works belonging to various periods, which were caught while being sent abroad, are exhibited in the contraband works showcase.
In the showcase belonging to Thrace cult documents, cavalry stells depicting the Thracean cavalry, who were very skillful in war art and horsemanship and who were deified after their death, are exhibited.
Along the wall, sculptures of Roman period are placed.
In four fossil showcases, fossil parts belonging to various animals that have been obtained in the sand - gravel mines and coal mines in the region and that are dated to periods starting from one million year before today and going back to 30 - 35 million years are exhibited.
Among the prehistoric works belonging to Odrisia, which is the first city residence of Odrisses, which is a big Trak clan, at 5 km northwestern of Edirne, stone axes, handmade, rough - dough notch - ornamented earthenware pot parts, hand mill are exhibited in the horizontal showcase in the middle of the hall.
The grave gifts obtained in the Hacılar Dolmen, Arpalık Dolmen and Taşlıca Bayır Tumulus excavations are exhibited in the showcases called with their names. In the middle, in one of the two horizontal showcases, the Thracean coins belonging to Hellenistic kings are exhibited while in the other showcase the coins belonging to the rulers period are located. In the two vertical showcases, Roman and Byzantine coins are exhibited in chronological order.
In the museum garden, Ionian, Aiol, Korinth, Byzantine column heads and various architectural parts are exhibited. Besides these, the altar having an Eros relief on it, which belongs to the Roman period and the dolmens and menhirs brought from Lalapaşa Hacılar Village are interesting works.
TURKISH - ISLAMIC WORKS MUSEUM
The works are exhibited in the room numbered 14 in Dar - ül Tedris Madrasa in the courtyard of Selimiye Mosque.
Room of Wrestlers:
The photographs of the champion wrestlers of Kırkpınar wrestling championships, and Kırkpınar masters are exhibited. Furthermore, a wrestler and Kırkpınar master are depicted on mannequins. Dervish Lodge Goods Room: IT is one of the most important rooms of the museum. It is the room where the goods gathered after closing the dervish lodges are exhibited. There are hand - written calligraphy samples on the walls, 2 door wings of IInd Beyazıd Mosque made with kündekari technique, the hand writing presented by Selim IInd to Selimiye Mosque and various goods are exhibited here.
Hand woven wool socks collected from different regions of the country are exhibited. Ornament and Plate Room: Plates made with silk on satin, scale collections appliqued on cloth, Ottoman writing ornamented towels in niches, embroidered handkerchiefs and covers are in this room.
Gun Room I - II:
Ottoman lighter - rifles belonging to the end of XVII - XVIII century, armors, helmets, cavalry swords, battle - axes, shields, mittens, arbolets, arrows, daggers and Janissary clothes on mannequins are exhibited.
Balkan War Room:
The bloody flag used during the Balkan War, bread made of broom seed and the pictures of Müdafii Şükrü Pasha are exhibited.
Encaustic tile and ceramic Room:
Çanakkale ceramics and earthenware jugs belonging to the end of XVIIIth century and the beginning of XIXth century, early - Ottoman ceramics, Ottoman wall encaustic tiles belonging to XVth, XVIth and XVIIth centuries are exhibited in this room.
In - Palace Room:
XVII century wall tiles belonging to Edirne Palace that have been obtained during the excavation made in the palace in 1973 are exhibited.
Edirne Guest Room:
Crystal mirror and console, armchairs and picture frames made of silk worm cocoons on the walls are exhibited.
Kitchen Tools Room:
Kitchen tools used in Edirne Palace are exhibited.
Measurement tools Room:
Hand scales, height woods relating to astronomy, sand clock, okka and yard measures are exhibited.
Wood Works Room I - II:
Wooden works made with Edirnekari technique are exhibited.
the inscriptions of Edirne Mosques, khans, baths, fountains and kiosks that have been destroyed after XVth century and the ceiling middles of Edirne houses constructed at the end of XIXth century are exhibited.
The inner courtyard has disappeared now. The collection of Janissary grave stones that have not been damaged during Vaka - i Hayriye event and that could survive until today has a special importance.
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Average Southcentral Alaskans confused by a gorgeously warm week of June-like weather to begin the month of September aren't alone. The professionals can't figure out the region's weather either.
National Weather Service meteorologist John Papineau, a man with a doctorate in weather, last month went to considerable length trying to find a pattern to define the main months of the snow-free season in the Anchorage area and came away with the conclusion that there is no pattern.
"...There is considerable variability from one year to the next," he wrote in a six-page report (PDF) posted on the weather service's website.
Some summers are cold and wet -- to summarize Papineau's findings -- and some summer are warm and dry. And it doesn't take much of a shift in temperature to define them.
"Note that a warm summer is only two to three degrees above the long-term average of 56.6 degrees Fahrenheit," he reports, while a "cold" summer drops two to three degrees below the average.
The summer of 2008 -- wet, rainy, hardly ever warmer than 70 degrees -- might have seemed like the summer from hell for many in Anchorage, while the sun-kissed summer of 2009 felt almost too good to be true, but in reality the average temperatures for the two were only about 2.5 degrees apart.
Of course, as Papineau also notes, a lot of detail can get lost in the average. A sunny, 75 degree day that drops into a 45 degree night beneath clear skies might average out no warmer than a dreary, drizzly days that fluctuates around a steady 60 degrees.
"In general, the presence of clouds during the daytime (summer only) generates cooler temperatures because of the shading affect," he writes. "(But) cloud cover at night tends to produce warmer temperatures because they trap infrared energy emitted by the earth's surface."
In other words, clouds can make the whole average temperature thing pretty misleading. This is one thing worth noting in a lengthy report that is pretty interesting reading even if a little ominous.
Papineau warns that it appears summer weather is getting both more variable and cooler.
He sketches a temperature trend line that shows that 56.6 degree summer average dropping below 56 degrees like it was back in the bad old, cold old mid-1950s. Four of the five years in the last half of that decade were below or just at 56 degrees.
In present times, say from 2000 on, Anchorage has been a warmer, friendlier place, although 2008's average summer temp of 54 degrees is hellacious enough that it almost jumps off Papineau's graph of temps since 1954. The same can be said for the glorious summer of 2004, which ended with a magical 60 degree average. That is a mark that has been hit only one other time since record keeping started in 1954, and that year was 1977, which had an Anchorage summer hard to believe.
Maximum, daytime temperatures in July 1977 averaged -- AVERAGED! -- 70.4 degrees. The year 2008 saw only two days when the maximum temperature reached 70. Two days! 2008 set a record for the summer with the fewest days to hit 70. The summer ended tied with 1973 for the all-time number two worst summer on average. Only 1971 was worse, but only on average.
Consider this: The average maximum for June of 1971 was 58.3 and for July 61.8. The highs for 2008 in those same months? 57.6 and 61.3.
Anyone who thought this summer was bad (official rank: 13th coolest) should have been here then. It was so unseasonsal the bees didn't make honey and the swallows didn't breed. And there was no run of glorious September weather to make up for it.
Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com. |
Tue, Feb 12, 2013
Excludes Engines With FADEC Technology
The FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) for airplanes equipped with Continental Motors, Inc. (CMI), continuous flow, fuel injected engines. The airworthiness concern is related to certain throttle and mixture control levers. Affected engines include all IO-240, IO-360, LTSIO-360, TSIO-360, IO-346, IO-470, GIO-470, TSIO-470, IO-520, GTSIO-520, LIO-520, TSIO-520, IO-550, GIO-550, TSIO-550, and TSIOL-550 continuous flow, fuel injected engines(except FADEC-equipped engines).
The FAA has received reports from the field of throttle and mixture control levers loosening during service, resulting in either a partial or complete loss of throttle and/ or mixture control. The subject throttle and mixture control levers were manufactured from a bronze material. Splines on the mating control shaft are pressed into the bronze control levers during installation by torquing a lock nut. Reinstalling bronze material levers can cause premature wear on the lever splines thereby reducing the amount of engagement with the control shaft. Additional wear during service can lead to complete disengagement of the splines and result in loss of throttle and/ or mixture control.
Bronze material is no longer used to manufacture these levers. CMI now manufactures these levers from stainless steel. The stainless steel levers have machined splines that are more durable to prevent premature wear. Additionally, CMI has issued CMI Critical Service Bulletin CSB08-3B, Revision B, dated February 1, 2013, which requires replacement of all bronze material throttle and mixture levers with the new stainless steel levers at the next 100 hour, or annual, inspection, or when the lever is removed for any reason, whichever occurs first.
The FAA recommends removal of the bronze material throttle and mixture control levers from service in accordance with the guidance in CMI Critical Service Bulletin CSB08-3B.
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As one of his first official duties as the seventh president of historic Tuskegee University Brian Johnson presided over a commencement on Aug. 1. Making the occasion even more auspicious was the summer commencement’s keynote speaker–a giant among HBCU educators: Dorothy Cowser Yancy, president emerita at Shaw and Johnson C. Smith universities, HBCUs in Raleigh, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C., respectively.
Yancy was Johnson’s mentor during his matriculation at Johnson C. Smith, and he later authored the official institutional and presidential history of Yancy’s tenure at the helm of that institution, The Yancy Years: the Age of Infrastructure, Technology and Restoration (2008). “In Dr. Yancy’s first year as president of Johnson C. Smith University (1994), I had the distinct honor of being mentored by her as a student leader and in the 14th year of her presidency (2008), I had the honor of returning and serving my alma mater as associate professor of English and associate vice president for academic affairs. This appointment was particularly meaningful for me because I was able to write her 14-year presidential history, spanning my time as a student to professor to administrator,” Johnson said in a statement.
An Alabama native, Yancy served as the 12th president of Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) and the 14th and 16th president of Shaw University. At Shaw from 2009-2010, she rescued the institution’s finances and recruited one of the largest freshmen classes in the history of the university. She retired September 2010, according to a press release. She returned to Shaw on Sept. 1, 2011, after the campus had been torn apart by a tornado in April. One year later, the devastation had been abated and all buildings were back in use. She also led the university through five program accreditation reviews and the regular SACSCOC reaffirmation.
Yancy saw similar success at JCSU, where she served as president from October 1994 to June 2008. She raised more than $145 million for the university during that period, and was heralded as one of the best fundraisers nationally. Additionally, JCSU’s endowment more than tripled from $14 million to $53 million, and JCSU became the first HBCU to become an IBM “Thinkpad” University, among other honors.
Johnson, who assumed Tuskegee’s helm in June, is also that institution’s youngest president at age 40.
He came to Tuskegee from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., where he was interim vice president for strategic planning and institutional effectiveness and assistant vice provost/assistant vice president for academic affairs. Before joining Austin Peay in 2010, Johnson served as chief of staff in the president’s office at JCSU.
Tuskegee University, founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington, has been hailed as the “intellectual epicenter of African-American culture and academia.”
It graduates more than 75 percent of the African-American veterinarians in the world and is the only HBCU with a fully accredited College of veterinary medicine offering a doctoral degree. Tuskegee is also the largest producer of Black graduates in science, technology, engineering and math fields. |
Re: Omoto-kyo Theology
I'm really a light weight in this area, but it seems to me that
a) for the ritual to have the greatest personal meaning to the individual, the individual must be a full participant
which does not negate
b) the aikido praxis itself operating as a general rite from which all benefit at some level.
a) is better, but maybe b) suffices in the interim? There are styles of aikido (Yoshinkan, Shodokan) which pretty much eshew the Shinto/Omoto paradigm. I personally am not sure how that then is resolved in terms of this discussion. Even some Aikikai teachers focus on Zen, as opposed to Omoto.
I would also suggest that the silence (deafening or not) is the result of this being an extremely difficult area to get one's head around. Someone with Peter's or David's background may find this kind of topic relatively accessable. Personally....well, as I said, I'm a lightweight in this area. Anyhoo....
Last edited by Ron Tisdale : 09-07-2005 at 10:30 AM. |
A Special Report from the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism
With the war on Islamic terrorism being portrayed as a righteous cause in “American Sniper,” the Clint Eastwood film breaking box office records, a book which documents the days when Hollywood was a mouthpiece for communist propaganda might seem out of date. But Allan H. Ryskind’s book, Hollywood Traitors, is a reminder that Hollywood can’t always be counted on to take America’s side in a war, even a World War when the United States faced dictators by the names of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
The Ryskind book, published by Regnery, documents how the much-maligned House Committee on Un-American Activities, known as HUAC, uncovered dramatic communist infiltration of Hollywood and forced the studios to clean house.
Ryskind calls HUAC’s investigation of Hollywood in 1947 and 1950 “one of the most effective, albeit controversial, probes ever carried out by any committee of Congress.” He adds, “HUAC had revealed that Hollywood was packed with Communists and fellow travelers, that the guilds and the unions had been heavily penetrated, and that wartime films, at least, had been saturated with Stalinist propaganda. Red writers were an elite and powerful group in Hollywood—many of them working for major studios.”
He writes that, “HUAC, though bruised by elite opinion, had won the support of the American people and a victory over Hollywood Communists, fellow travelers, and the important liberals who supported them.” Members of Congress involved in HUAC did their jobs, in the face of opposition from “the East coast establishment newspapers” like The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The book reminds us that the Hollywood agents of Stalin had also been “Allies of Hitler,” a threat symbolized on the book cover by a Hollywood director’s chair featuring a Nazi swastika. The Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939-1941 had paved the way for World War II.
As a result of the purging of communists from Hollywood, the so-called “blacklist,” we entered a time, from about 1947 to 1960, when the communists lost control of the major Hollywood unions and “the studios were actually creating anti-Communist pictures,” Ryskind writes. It was a remarkable turnaround.
But while Hollywood did turn anti-communist, at least for a while, the communists scored their own ultimate victory, succeeding in forcing Congress to abolish HUAC. The committee, which had been renamed as the House Internal Security Committee, was the target of what HUAC called the Communist Party’s “Cold War against congressional investigation of subversion.”
For many years, there was a comparable body in the Senate, which went by different names but tackled such matters as “Castro’s Network in the United States,” a 1963 investigation into the “Fair Play for Cuba Committee” that we later learned included JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
To those insisting it was somehow inappropriate to ask Hollywood figures about their “political beliefs,” Ryskind counters that “Few questions could have been more important for a congressional committee to ask than whether American citizens were actually serving as agents of a hostile foreign government.” He said HUAC was engaging in hearings designed to accurately disclose membership in the Communist Party, “a subversive organization controlled by an enemy nation and designed to turn America into a Communist country…”
In its battle against communism, HUAC had subpoena power and was not afraid to use it. HUAC also issued contempt citations against those who refused to testify completely and truthfully. All of the members of the so-called “Hollywood Ten,” who refused to testify about their involvement in the Communist Party, eventually went to prison.
Ryskind cites estimates that over 200 Hollywood Communists were named in this process. His book provides the Communist Party card numbers of the Hollywood Ten as well as the names of other “well-known radicals,” many of them overt Communists, who were active in the movie industry.
Bring Back HUAC?
Today, with dozens of leading conservatives now clamoring for congressional action to “Stop the Fundamental Transformation of America,” the Ryskind book may add to the impetus for Congress to reestablish a HUAC-style panel. The George Soros-funded Center for American Progress (CAP) acted frightened and alarmed in 2010 when Rep. Steve King (R-IA) expressed agreement with my suggestion at that time that re-establishment of such a committee would be a good idea. “I think that is a good process and I would support it,” he said.
The oath of office for members of Congress requires that they support and defend the Constitution of the United States “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” HUAC is a model for how such a problem can be identified and confronted.
Donald I. Sweany, Jr., a research analyst for the House Committee on Un-American Activities and its successor, the House Committee on Internal Security, sees the need for such a committee. He has issued this statement:
“The re-creation of the House Committee on Internal Security will provide the Congress of the United States, Executive Branch agencies and the public with essential and actionable information concerning the dangerous and sovereignty-threatening subversive activities currently plaguing America. This subversion emulates from a host of old and new entities of Marxist/Communist revolutionary organizations and allied militant and radical groups, some of which have foreign connections. A new mandated House Committee on Internal Security is of great importance because it would once again recommend to Congress remedial legislative action to crack down on any un-American forces whose goals are to weaken and destroy the freedoms which America enjoys under the Constitution. In addition, this legislative process will provide public exposure of such subversives.”
Ryskind’s father, Marx Brothers screenwriter Morrie Ryskind, testified before HUAC about communist penetration of Hollywood that he had learned about first-hand through his involvement with the Screen Writers Guild. Morrie Ryskind had attended the Columbia School of Journalism in New York and written for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper World. But he underwent a political transformation, from an anti-war socialist who became disillusioned with FDR to a Republican determined to stop the communist advance. He wrote for conservative publications such as Human Events and National Review, which he helped William F. Buckley Jr. launch.
Morrie Ryskind helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals to counteract the work of the communists and educate the American people about what was at stake. The Ryskind book also notes how the American Legion and various Catholic organizations were focusing attention on Hollywood’s far-left elements and making the public aware of this problem.
The book includes Allan Ryskind’s memories of his Hollywood upbringing, including meeting famous people such as top Communist Party leader Benjamin Gitlow. He spent decades as editor of Human Events, which was President Ronald Reagan’s favorite paper. It also became known for its aggressive reporting on the communist and socialist threats. Reagan so appreciated the weekly paper that he had arranged for copies to be sent to him personally at the White House residence.
Ryskind, who still serves as Human Events editor-at-large, documents the development of Reagan’s anti-communism in Hollywood Traitors. Reagan began his acting career as a liberal who got involved in Communist-front activities, later realizing that the “nice-sounding” groups he was supporting were secretly controlled by members of the Communist Party. He carried this understanding and analysis of the communist threat into his presidency and talked openly about the growing Marxist influence in Congress as he battled with congressional liberals and tried to stop the Soviet advance in Latin America.
In fact, as President, he told journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave in a 1987 interview that “I’ve been a student of the communist movement for a long time, having been a victim of it some years ago in Hollywood.” He said that he regarded some two dozen Marxists in Congress as “a problem we have to face.”
The problem is far worse today. Analyst Trevor Loudon now counts the number of Marxists in Congress at more than 60, a fact that would seem to make it more of a controversy to re-establish HUAC, but even more of a reason to do so. All it would take is more courageous members like Rep. King, backed by the House Leadership. Such a committee would be able to seriously analyze an area that remains off-limits to the House Homeland Security Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, and the Select Committee on Benghazi—subversive infiltration of the highest levels of the U.S. government, including the White House and Congress.
One key to HUAC’s success was finding those in Hollywood, including in the unions, willing to name names and identify the subversives. Reagan testified before HUAC and took a leadership role in defeating communist influence in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), later becoming the union’s president. Labor leader Roy Brewer was another effective anti-communist in Hollywood highlighted in Ryskind’s book.
Although the 506-page book is based on HUAC hearings, Ryskind conducted independent research that adds to his case against the Hollywood traitors. For example, he combed through the historical papers of one major Hollywood-Ten figure, the Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who refused to cooperate with HUAC and expose his comrades. Ryskind reports on an unpublished script Trumbo wrote that treated the invasion of South Korea as a “fight for independence” for the communist north.
Trumbo wrote many excellent film scripts, including Roman Holiday, but was “a hard-core Party member, a fervent supporter of Stalinist Russia and Kim Il-sung’s North Korea, and an apologist for Nazi Germany until Hitler double-crossed Stalin and invaded the Soviet union,” Ryskind notes. “Yet to this day he is regarded as a hero in Hollywood.”
Almost on cue, as Ryskind’s book was being published, it was reported that Hollywood is planning a new film which glorifies Trumbo, starring Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” fame as the screenwriter. The battle over communist influence is slated to return for another act.
Love for Cuban Communism
The book’s chapter, “Hollywood Today,” tries to bring the communism problem up to date by examining Hollywood’s love affair with the longtime Stalinist ruler of Cuba, Fidel Castro. He writes that much of Hollywood “is still lured by the romance of Marxism, and its films are still filled with heavy doses of anti-American propaganda.”
More details are provided in Humberto Fontova’s excellent books, Fidel: Hollywood ‘s Favorite Tyrant and The Longest Romance: The Mainstream Media and Fidel Castro.
I recently asked Fontova why a Stalinist like Castro gets fawning treatment, while the Stalinist North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is ridiculed in the movie The Interview. “My best guess is that it’s a generational thing, nostalgia mostly,” he told this writer. The Castros and Che Guevara, he said, are perceived as “the first hippies” or beatniks.
Indeed, The Longest Romance quotes The New York Times reporter who helped bring Castro to power, Herbert Matthews, as saying, “Castro’s is a revolution of youth.” Fontova adds, “The notion of Castro’s Cuba as a stiflingly Stalinist nation never quite caught on among the enlightened. Instead the island often inspires hazy visions of a vast commune, rock-fest or Occupy encampment, studded with free health care clinics and with [the hippie icon] Wavy Gravy handing out love-beads at the entrance.”
Perhaps the pro-Castro influence in Hollywood is something that a new HUAC might want to tackle.
Another issue worth investigating is how Hollywood has also come under the influence of radical Islam. For example, the 2002 film, “The Sum of All Fears,” which was the movie version of the Tom Clancy book of the same name, replaced the Arab terrorist villains with neo-Nazis so as not to offend the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate. The Fox network responded to complaints about its popular series “24” depicting Muslims in America secretly plotting terrorism by running public service announcements from CAIR portraying American Muslims as moderate and peaceful.
The book, Council on American-Islamic Relations: Its Use of Lawfare and Intimidation, has an entire chapter on how CAIR attempts to silence its critics in radio, television, and the film industry.
There will be those in Congress and the media who will argue against the return of anything resembling the old HUAC, contending that “McCarthyism,” or the anti-communist “witchhunt,” is the greater danger. The truth about McCarthy’s investigations is provided in the M. Stanton Evans book, Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight against America’s Enemies.
It bears repeating that Senator McCarthy never had anything to do with the House committee or its investigation of Hollywood.
This book is a valuable contribution to understanding a dangerous time in American history when America’s elected representatives and the people themselves rallied to the defense of their homeland against these foreign and domestic enemies.
While it is worth noting that the veteran Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood has bypassed the censors at CAIR with “American Sniper,” this kind of film is the exception and not the rule. The film portrays the great sacrifices being made by U.S. military personnel in the Middle East as they combat an enemy that is depicted as savage and barbaric. It is based on the life of Chris Kyle, an Iraq War veteran and Navy SEAL who joined the Armed Forces to defend his country from Islamic terrorism.
Zaid Jilani, a “progressive” writer who left the Center for American Progress after being charged with anti-Semitism, has emerged as one of the film’s most vocal critics. A regular on the Kremlin channel Russia Today (RT) and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Al Jazeera, he insists the film about the “remorseless” sharpshooter has sparked “anti-Muslim bigotry,” and he complains about it becoming “a rallying point for the political right.”
However, he admits that Eastwood’s skill as a filmmaker could result in a “Best Picture” award for “American Sniper” and “Best Actor in a Leading Role” award for Bradley Cooper, who plays Kyle. He just can’t bring himself to admit that the pro-military and anti-terrorist message is also a major factor in its success. The Academy Awards take place on February 22.
Indeed, this is the fear from the modern-day “progressives”—that Hollywood will rediscover the box office appeal of American patriotism.
But according to the annual Reuters/Ipsos Oscars poll, if ordinary Americans voted for the Academy Awards, “American Sniper” would be the Best Picture winner. Those who wonder why we don’t get more pro-military and pro-American movies out of Hollywood should read Ryskind’s new book. |
Jan. 16, 2013—
Syria's air forces seem to be facing one of two fates: either to be destroyed by a US or coalition air armada imposing a no-fly zone on the country, or be inherited by a loose alliance of rebel groups after overthrowing the Bashar al-Assad regime. In the latter case, the victors may then use captured elements of the air force to battle each other for ultimate control of the country.
Either way, the disposition and condition of Syrian defenses—the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) and Syrian Arab Air Defense Force (SAADF)—are of intense interest to the US Air Force, which in one way or another may have to engage them.
Opinions as to the strength and lethality of Syrian air defenses vary widely. While some public interest groups that keep tabs on the Syrian order of battle describe a highly credible and practiced air defense system, others—including some recent high-level Syrian defectors—suggest it is a paper tiger, neglected and ineffective.
Assad's regime has used attack helicopters, strike aircraft, medium bombers, and even Scud tactical ballistic missiles against opposition forces already—often indiscriminately and with heavy loss of civilian life. Although opposition forces have made great gains during the two-year civil war and are, at this writing, within the capital of Damascus, Assad's key asymmetric advantages have been heavy ground weapons— including tanks—and aircraft, chiefly attack helicopters.
The regime has been supplied with weapons and technical assistance from both Iran and Russia. Opposition forces have had the financial backing of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf patrons. France, having recognized the opposition forces as the legitimate authority of Syria, has pledged to provide the rebels with weapons.
Opposition forces have consistently asked NATO and the US to establish a no-fly zone over Syria to prevent Assad from using his air force. Short of that, there has been discussion of establishing "safety" or "exclusion" zones within Syria—but not a nationwide no-fly zone—where noncombatants could be secure from air or ground attack along the border with Turkey.
In early December, the US Senate, by a 92-to-six vote, passed an amendment to the 2013 defense bill directing the Defense Secretary to develop plans for implementing a no-fly zone over Syria. The amendment specified targeting Assad's forces' ability "to use airpower against civilians and opposition groups in Syria'
The move followed many congressional calls for intervention, the most prominent from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has complained the US and its allies have stood by while tens of thousands of Syrians have been killed by the Assad regime.
The White House has countered that the loose coalition of opponents to the Assad regime includes elements of al Qaeda and other Islamists. The Obama Administration doesn't want to provide those groups with weapons or an opportunity to gain power in an influential state. It also wants more time for sanctions and other diplomatic efforts to subdue the crisis, or to wait and see if the rebels achieve victory on their own.
In late November, McCain, speaking in Washington, D.C., said Assad's regime can be ousted "without boots on the ground," in an operation modeled on the 2011 operation in Libya. There, NATO's imposition of a no-fly zone prevented Muammar Qaddafi from using his aircraft to attack opposition forces. NATO then upped the ante by attacking regime ground forces moving toward the opposition forces—effectively, though not officially, serving as the opposition's air force. The strategy led to Qaddafi's ouster in seven months. His regime was replaced by one seemingly appreciative of Western assistance.
In Libya, the US led for the first few weeks, then turned over the preponderance of kinetic attacks to its NATO partners.
Support from the US Air Force, in the form of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as with aerial refueling, continued throughout the conflict.
McCain predicted in November that Syrian air attacks on its own citizens would stop immediately if NATO imposed a no-fly zone on the country and shot down just one aircraft.
Though "they may like" Assad, McCain said, Syrian pilots "are not going to fly into certain death."
McCain also voiced his support for a NATO decision to deploy Patriot missile batteries to Turkey, arguing they could be used to help enforce a no-fly zone over Syria. NATO, however, has maintained that the deployment is for purely defensive purposes, possibly prompted in part by the shootdown of a Turkish RF-4 Phantom by Syrian air defense forces last summer.
Syria Is Not Libya
Nearly two years into the Syrian uprising, opposition forces have taken government air bases and reached the suburbs of Damascus. The Assad regime has bombed suspected rebel-operating areas in the region with its most powerful attack aircraft: Russian-made, swing-wing Su-24 Fencer bombers. It has dropped bombs within the Yarmouk refugee camp—which is home to more than 150,000 Palestinians—reportedly killing dozens of people and broadening the list of groups whose enmity Assad has earned.
Besides bombing, the regime has resorted to attacks on rebel-held areas with Scud tactical ballistic missiles, armed with conventional warheads, and continued attacking rebels with armed helicopters and fixed wing aircraft such as MiG-23s and L-39 Albatross counterinsurgency aircraft, which have been filmed making such attacks.
Despite the similarities between the situation in Libya and that in Syria—an oppressive dictator resorts to wildly disproportionate force to suppress dissent—Libya is no direct analogy for Syria, and imposing a no-fly zone would be substantially more difficult.
With 22.5 million people, Syria is far more densely populated than Libya and has a substantially larger air force and air defense system than Libya had under Qaddafi.
A variety of open sources converge on a figure of about 450 flyable combat aircraft in Syria's inventory, including about a hundred reasonably capable aircraft such as Russian MiG-29 fighters or older aircraft such as MiG-21s, upgraded with more modern avionics. In addition, Syria has in recent years upgraded its air defense systems with modern radars and missiles, including "double digit" surface-to-air missile systems like the SA-22 Pantsir, a mobile SAM capable of engaging low-flying targets and even precision munitions. Between 30 and 50 of the mobile systems were delivered, with more on order.
In addition, Syria has large numbers of SA-2 through SA-6 missile batteries. Though largely fixed-site weapons susceptible to jamming and anti-radiation missile attack, the older SAMs are still considered functional and potentially deadly.
More problematic is the possible activation of Russian S-300, or SA-1 0 Grumble, air defense systems considered analogous to the US Patriot system, with a range in excess of 50 miles and the ability to track and target multiple aircraft simultaneously. Russia has refused to agree to stop supplying Syria with spare parts, technical assistance, and other support for its air defenses, echoing Syria's claim that the opposition forces are "terrorists" and not legitimate challengers for national authority. Russia, however, has conceded that Assad's government may not be able to survive indefinitely.
The SA-22 (NATO code name Greyhound) may be the system Syria used to shoot down the Turkish RF-4 reconnaissance jet that may or may not have entered Syrian airspace near Latakia last June. Syria offered a near-apology for the incident, suggesting its gunners thought the aircraft was Israeli. Though they condemned the attack as unprovoked, neither NATO nor Turkey launched any retaliation. Turkey then requested the Patriots to prevent Syrian offensive use of missiles or aircraft over the border.
Syria Is Not Serbia, Either
Some military observers suggested the RF-4 was testing Syrian air defenses, while others have proposed the aircraft was conducting surveillance, to see if Syrian refugees to Turkish border camps were being pursued by military forces. Thousands of such refugees have fled to Turkey to escape Syrian government attacks.
The Free Syrian Army—the name of the largest armed coalition opposing Assad and formed by dissident military officers in 2011—has claimed the downing of a number of Syrian Air Force jets, using a combination of captured anti-aircraft guns and man-portable, shoulder-fired missiles captured when rebels took control of an air base.
US military leaders have warned that Syria shouldn't be considered a pushover.
At hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in March 2012, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said the US military "can do just about anything we're asked to do" regarding Syria.
He deferred specifics to a closed session, but said, "I'll just say this about [Syria's] air defenses. ... They have approximately five times more sophisticated air defense systems than existed in Libya, covering one-fifth of the terrain. All of their air defenses are arrayed on their western border, which is their population center." He added that Syria has "about 10 times more [air defense capability] than we experienced in Serbia."
In Serbia, NATO aircraft were vexed by mobile SAM systems that hid throughout the conflict, unexpectedly popping up often enough to knock down several aircraft, including an F-117 stealth attack jet.
The last time the US engaged Syria's air defenses was in 1983, in retaliation for Syrian missiles fired from anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon at US reconnaissance jets. In that raid, the US launched attacks on 20 targets and lost two carrier aircraft—an A-6 Intruder and an A-7 Corsair—to Syrian air defense missiles. One pilot died and his bombardier-navigator was captured and held for 30 days before his release was negotiated.
Syrian Air Force defections began last June, when Col. Hassan Merei al-Hamade broke away from a formation of MiG-21s and landed in Jordan, where he requested political asylum. Other SAAF officers began appearing in opposition videos, and the rebels claim more than a dozen attack helicopter pilots have come over to their side since last summer.
In October, a retired Syrian general, Akil Hashem, who supports the opposition and wants Western intervention in Syria, claimed that a single US aircraft carrier and combat jets from a nearby country could establish and maintain a no-fly zone. An analyst told UPI news service that Hashem said the no-fly zone could be established just over opposition strongholds like Aleppo and Idlib, both near the Turkish border. Long-range missiles could keep Syrian fighters at bay, he said.
Another former Syrian Air Force general who has joined the opposition—Maj. Gen. Mohammed Fares, a former cosmonaut—was quoted by Fox News in November as saying air attacks against opposition forces are being carried out by only a third of the regime's pilots because Assad cannot count on the loyalty of the other two-thirds. He also said that while spare parts for the Syrian Air Force are running low, Assad still has hundreds of aircraft available for combat. Fox said it was impossible to verify Fares' comments.
In September 2007, Syria's air defenses suffered a humiliating defeat when Israeli aircraft successfully penetrated Syrian airspace and destroyed what the International Atomic Energy Agency had concluded was a nuclear reactor. Operation Orchard saw Israeli F-15Is (the equivalent of the USAF F-15E) and F- 16Is attack the facility, leveling it. The ability of Israel to get through Syrian air defenses—apparently undetected—led to an internal investigation in Syria, along with Russia, whose SAM systems were protecting the area.
Various aviation experts have suggested that Israel defeated the Syrian air defenses with a cyber attack that misdirected radars and other sensors away from the target. The remains of the reactor—which bore a strong resemblance to those constructed by North Korea—were quickly cleared away and the remaining hole filled in by the Syrian government, which denied there had been any military purpose at the site.
Syria's Air Force is heavy with air-to-air fighters. The most modern are MiG-29s:
Syria has about 80, of which almost 70 are deemed operational. There are also about 30 flyable MiG-25 Foxbats, high-flying interceptors that some analysts suggest could be a threat to patrolling AWACS or tanker aircraft. More than a hundred MiG-21s and a hundred MiG-23s are available, and Syria has been relying on the latter for ground attacks.
In the March 2012 SASC hearing, Dempsey said the US "almost unquestionably" would have to take the lead in any attack on Syria's air defenses and airfields in order to pave the way for a no-fly zone—a campaign that he agreed would probably take "several weeks." Only the US, he said, possesses the "electronic warfare capabilities necessary to do that."
No-Fly Zone Logistics
While senior US military leaders privately express complete confidence that a Syrian no-fly zone could be established in relatively short order, the logistics would be a significant challenge.
Short-range fighters would likely be positioned at Incirlik AB, Turkey, not far from Syria's northern border. More fighters could be positioned at the British garrison of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus. But the presence of combat aircraft at both locations would displace aerial tankers, which would have to be based much farther away, assuming basing privileges are not granted by Jordan or Saudi Arabia.
Basing aircraft in Iraq or Israel is not considered a plausible scenario.
Maintaining a no-fly zone would require tankers and AWACS or E-2C Hawkeye-like aircraft to maintain station off the Syrian coast along with fighters available for a quick intercept of any Syrian aircraft launched.
Senior USAF officials have said any engagement of the Syrian air defense system would require the use of F-22 stealth fighters, given the overlapping radars and numbers of SAMs Syria fields in the western portion of the country.
Besides land-based aircraft, the US could use aircraft carriers to enforce the no-fly zone. A US carrier air wing has only about 30 fixed wing combat aircraft, however, most of which would be F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters, while about four would be EA-6B Prowler or EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft.
Dempsey, at the SASC hearing, urged that any action be undertaken as part of a coalition. That way, Dempsey said, "we increase our capability and capacity, but also we've shown that that produces an enduring outcome."
In Libya, there was a clear demarcation between where regime forces were and where the opposition forces were, making it easier to strike the loyalists from the air. The war in Syria, by contrast, is marked by fluid battle lines within cities, changing by the day, if not the hour. Striking Syrian ground forces from the air, according to one Pentagon analyst, would require "exquisite intelligence" and probably spotters on the ground.
Furthermore, government-backed militias that are not in uniform are also fighting the rebels in Syria, making it extremely hard to distinguish between the warring forces.
Alexander R. Vershbow, NATO's deputy secretary general, told reporters last August that Syria's air defenses are "more formidable" than Libya's but are nothing NATO "couldn't handle." However, he acknowledged that NATO countries, hampered by budget cuts, have been slow in restocking the munitions they expended in Libya. NATO members, he said, "recognize their responsibility" to have enough weaponry on hand for "the next one, whatever it might be." He also confirmed that one of the key lessons learned from Libya was that NATO European partners don't maintain an adequate weapons inventory. America's NATO partners, running low on munitions, had to rely on US stocks for the bulk of the Libyan campaign.
The American public is not enthused about the prospect of intervention in the Syrian conflict. A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted in mid-December found some 73 percent of those polled felt the US "should not get involved" in the Syrian civil war, and nearly half disapproved even of the Obama Administration's recognition of the loose-knit opposition group as the legitimate authority in Syria.
However, the poll also showed that support for intervention ratcheted up sharply—to 62 percent—if the intervention was confined to creating a no-fly zone over the country. About the same percentage would want full US military intervention if Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, and the number rose to 70 percent if Assad's regime lost control of its chemical weapons.
In early December, based on intelligence reports that the Syrian regime was readying chemical weapons for use against the opposition, President Obama issued stern warnings that Assad would be "held accountable" for such an event.
"The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," Obama said, and would represent a trigger for US involvement in the conflict.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter's miniature tour of the
Air Force's nuclear infrastructure kicked off at Minot AFB, N.D., a base
that is home to two legs of the nuclear triad and has seen modest
improvements under the service's push to revamp its nuclear community.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter told B-52 and Minuteman III crews at Minot AFB, N.D., that even though their mission isn't highly visible to the public, the Pentagon will place increased emphasis on its health in the face of increasing aggression from nuclear powers abroad.
While there isn't a looming threat of a nuclear
exchange between global powers, the threat of nuclear attacks is still
high and in different ways that the US must be prepared for, Defense
Secretary Ash Carter said Monday.
Tweets by @AirForceMag |
Many organizations suffer from meeting-itis: poorly-run and inefficient meetings that go on too long, happen too often and include more attendees than need to be there. No one likes long meetings or too many meetings for that matter. Not every meeting needs to be a meeting.
Business blog Harvard Business Review knows a thing or two about unnecessary meetings. While meetings feel productive because everyone’s in the same room talking about the project, they inherently get in the way of actually doing anything. So, HBR suggests, before you call for a meeting, ask these questions:
Have I thought through this situation?
Do I need outside input to make progress
Does moving forward require a real-time conversation?
Does this necessitate a face-to-face meeting?
If you answer “No” to any of these questions, then a different course of action could be taken first. An online chat can help you answer questions quickly, or for more in-depth conversations, scheduling a phone call or video conference can work well.
Every day, we allow our coworkers, who are otherwise very, very nice people, to steal from us. I'm talking about time. Your time. Your time and that of your organization is valuable. Some say time is more valuable than money. Time can't be saved. It can only be spent! We spend it at the exact rate of one minute per minute. We can’t spend more or less no matter how hard we try. We can’t spend more than 5 minutes in five minutes, and we can’t spend less than 5 minutes in five minutes. Our rate of spending is fixed. All we can control is where we choose to invest our time.
Meetings are a useful tool when they’re actually necessary, but if you’re just going to waste an hour talking about things you could easily answer on your own or with an instant message, your productivity comes out at a net loss. |
Morocco is finalising the publication of a new securitisation law that will allow the state and companies to issue sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of bonds, and preparations for a corporate and a sovereign bond are already underway, according to Islamic finance experts.
Sukuk are Islamic financial certificates that represent undivided shares in the ownership of tangible assets. Global sukuk issuance increased by 64 percent last year to reach $138bn, according to Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency.
Only a few African countries such as Sudan and the Gambia have issued sovereign sukuk, according to S&P, but several have started considering the financial instruments, including South Africa, Egypt and Tunisia.
The introduction of sukuk in Morocco will pass through the reform of the country’s securitisation law, which was enacted in 2002 and amended in 2010 to broaden the range of eligible assets and allow institutions other than banks to use securitisation, according to Al-Khawarizmi Group, an independent Islamic finance consultancy that published a study on the potential of sukuk in Morocco in December 2012.
The Moroccan government submitted to the parliament a new a project of amendment of the securitisation law for the introduction of sukuk at the end of last year as part of a broader financial reform aimed at developing the role of securitisation in funding the economy, says Nouaman Al Aissami, head of the credit division at Morocco’s ministry of economy and finance. The law was adopted in January and will come into effect once it is published in country’s official gazette, which is expected to happen in the coming months after some related regulations are finalised.
Morocco became interested in sukuk after a moderate Islamist party won the majority of seats in the 2011 parliamentary elections, according to Fayçal Jamali, co-author of the Al-Khawarizmi Group study. “Also as a result of worsening economic conditions in Europe, which is Morocco’s traditional trading partner, the country wants to diversify its funding instruments and attract Middle Eastern investors,” he argues.
One Moroccan “large corporate” has already planned a $500m sukuk, which has been put on standby until the enactment of the law, according to Mr Jamali. A sovereign sukuk is also in preparation, he says. |
How often do you remember to say the Rosary?
It enables us to focus on the Saints and remember the Trinity.
Each bead represents a prayer and a path to take.
It is God’s love and obedience we must not forsake.
Say the rosary every night for World peace.
The Planet belongs to God; we only hold the lease.
We have vandalised his property without a care.
We don’t really play fair.
Yet God gave us everything including his Son.
He gave us the Title deed when creation was done.
As selfish human beings we spurned his Kingdom of Love.
We said that this simply was not enough.
Please say the Rosary, pray for the world and for one another.
Treat everyone as your sister and brother.
With each bead focus on God and hold that thought.
The true love of God can never be bought.
© Andrew Pell 19/04/08 |
Incidents: Malicious Alteration Detection: How is malicious alteration detected?
Options:Option 1: Ignore detection and wait till consequences reveal attacks.
Option 2: Use antivirus, anti-malware, and similar methods.
Option 3: Examine log files for indicators of changes.
Option 4: Check file and record dates, times, and system information for changes.
Option 5: Detect changes with cryptographic checksums and/or integrity shells.
Option 6: Use redundancy and consistency checking to detect subversions.
Option 7: Use Trusted Platform Modules to detect changes in hardware and software.
Malicious alteration is problematic because of its effect on the internal assumptions of the systems. For example, assumptions that hardware components execute commands properly and operating environment access controls in fact control access are fundamental to protective approaches that depend on them. Under malicious alteration, these assumptions are violated and everything that depends on them is potentially invalid. This is differentiated from supply chain issues in that alteration after acceptance is different from alteration in the supply chain because it may involve an internal subversion or a subversion during execution.
Ignore detection of malicious alteration and
wait till consequences reveal attacks.
Use antivirus, anti-malware, and similar methods. In low surety environments, antivirus, anti-malware, and similar methods may be used to detect widely known subversions. However, this is of little or no use against most internal malicious alteration.
Examine log files for indicators of changes. This tends to be a laborious process with substantial false positives and negatives, specifically because log files are not normally designed to collect or reveal this sort of information. However, on some systems with strong audit capabilities (e.g., file writes from programs, users, at times) there are useful indicators.
Check file and record dates, times, and system information for changes. While malicious actors can relatively easily avoid such detection in many systems, they don't always do so, and in combination with inconsistency detection, such alterations may be very hard to carry out undetected.
Detect changes with cryptographic checksums and/or integrity shells. These methods are very good at detecting changes (malicious or not), but may be subverted in untrustworthy systems and investigation will be required to determine legitimacy of changes unless strong change controls are also in place.
Use redundancy and consistency checking to detect subversions. This involves looking for hard-to-forge sets of independent indicators that should be consistent unless the system has been subverted.
Use Trusted Platform Modules to detect changes in hardware and software. This method is a hardware version of integrity shells, cryptographic checksums, and related methods applied in hardware at system startup. As such they avoid many of the problems with untrusted systems, but are rarely applied at adequate depth to be effective against insider abuse. |
Treats or prevents nausea and vomiting.
Brand Name(s):There may be other brand names for this medicine.
When This Medicine Should Not Be Used:You should not use this medicine if you have ever had an allergic reaction to thiethylperazine or to related drugs such as Compazine®, Mellaril®, Thorazine®, or Trilafon®.
How to Use This Medicine:
- Your doctor will prescribe your exact dose and tell you how often it should be given.
- An IM injection is a shot given in your muscle (upper arm, thigh, buttocks).
- This medicine should be given by a nurse or other caregiver trained to give IV or IM medicine. Sometimes a family member or friend can be taught to give you this medicine.
- You should not use the medicine if it looks cloudy or has turned from clear to colored liquid.
If a dose is missed:
- This medicine needs to be given on a regular schedule. If you miss a dose, call your doctor for instructions.
How to Store and Dispose of This Medicine:
- Store this medicine in its original container. Keep at room temperature, away from heat and light. Do not freeze.
- Keep all medicine out of the reach of children.
Drugs and Foods to Avoid:
Ask your doctor or pharmacist before using any other medicine, including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products.
- Make sure your doctor knows if you are taking other medicines that may make you sleepy such as cold or allergy medicines, sleeping pills, tranquilizers, or narcotic pain killers.
- Avoid drinking alcohol while you are using thiethylperazine.
Warnings While Using This Medicine:
- If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, talk to your doctor before taking this medicine.
- Check with your doctor before using this medicine if you have a bone marrow disorder, liver problems, low or high blood pressure, circulation problems, or a seizure disorder (epilepsy).
- This medicine may make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. Use a sunscreen when outdoors. Avoid sunlamps or tanning beds.
- This medicine may make you very drowsy. Avoid driving a car or using machinery.
- Do not suddenly stop taking this medicine without asking your doctor. You may need to use smaller and smaller doses before stopping completely.
Possible Side Effects While Using This Medicine:
Call your doctor right away if you notice any of these side effects:
- Skin rash, itching, or hives
- Trouble breathing
- Fast or irregular heartbeat
- Unexplained high fever, muscle stiffness
- Uncontrollable movements of the face, neck, or tongue
- Yellowing of eyes or skin
If you notice these less serious side effects, talk with your doctor:
- Dizziness, weakness, or headache
- Dry mouth, nose, and throat
- Constipation, stomach upset
- Muscle or skin discomfort where the shot is given
- Breast swelling, discharge, or tenderness
- Trouble urinating
If you notice other side effects that you think are caused by this medicine, tell your doctor
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088
Last Updated: 3/28/2016
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites.
Truven Health Analytics. All rights reserved. |
10 Questions - by: Mike - Developed on: - completed 39,202 times - 2.18 out of 5 - 72 votes
This is a short, but not so easy test that would surely make you think, rethink, and analyze the questions properly. For this test to be precise and accurate, please refrain from using calculators, pens, papers, and any other resource that could aid you in answering.
Time limit: t < 30 min - by: extern - Developed on: - completed 13,267 times - 2.43 out of 5 - 7 votes
There are five parts to this daily-changing IQ test: vocabulary, spelling, word jumble, geography and psychology. This test is designed more as a learning experience than as a statistically valid IQ test. |
Reviewing Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, I found a surprise. One of the clauses that was not included in the final draft basically calls King George III out for approving of, or at least not disapproving of, slave markets. The clause reads: "[the] Christian king of Great Britain determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact" Imagine how different the history of the Unites States might have been had this sentence not been removed from the Declaration of Independence. In fact, yeah, let's imagine that. And talk about it. - - - - - Now, to be honest, I imagine this did not make it into the final Declaration for the same reason similar language never really flew on a national level for a long time: the South. Virginia was the biggest state at the time, and the south as a whole wasn't exactly a tiny portion of the new United States. I take it most likely that the nation was not in a position to criticize the slave trade and that is why this clause was removed. Just my two cents. Still, rather curious to see what would happen if, by all luck and chance, this language were retained in the final Declaration. |
A Great Health Beverage – Coffee!
Here’s a healthy living tip, which is also a healthy food choice – coffee!
Coffee has a long history of being blamed for many ills. People told me it would stunt my growth, that it has cancer and heart disease risk factors. However, recent research, including from the Mayo Clinic, indicates coffee may not be so bad after all. So, which is it – good or bad?
Health Benefits of Coffee
- Recent research indicates that coffee drinkers, compared to non-drinkers, are less likely to have Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and dementia. They have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems and strokes A leading nutrition researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health says there isn’t solid proof yet but here are definite signs of potential health perks for coffee drinkers. The strongest case is for Type 2 Diabetes. Coffee drinkers who drink between 4-6 cups per day are now on pretty solid ground based on 15 published studies that Type 2 Diabetes is 35% less likely with coffee drinkers.
- In Australia, there were 18 studies of a ½ million coffee drinkers and documented a 7% drop in having Type 2 Diabetes for every additional cup of coffee drunk daily. There were similar risk reductions for decaf drinkers and tea drinkers as well.
- Researchers give credit to the antioxidants in coffee that help prevent tissue damage caused by oxygen free radicals. One thing science does agree on with coffee drinkers is that coffee has a very strong antioxidant capacity. Little known is coffee contains minerals such as magnesium and chromium, which help the body use the hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar.
- Coffee may also counter severe heart disease risk factors – back to diabetes, diabetes makes heart attack and stroke more likely. Hence, coffee drinkers, by reducing Type 2 Diabetes risks by definition have more resistance to heart disease. In the so-called nurses study, women especially showed a 20% lower risk of stroke when they reported drinking 2 or more cups of coffee daily, compared to women who drank less coffee, even if the woman had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 Diabetes.
- Keep in mind, we’re talking about black coffee, the minute you add sugar or cream, all bets are off. Coffee drinkers should be careful to acquire a taste that doesn’t offset the benefits by flavor enhancers.
A healthy living tip for you – start with healthy food choices and include coffee on a daily basis. |
This is part of IEEE Spectrum's SPECIAL REPORT: WINNERS & LOSERS 2009, The Year's Best and Worst of Technology.
Armed and READY
Jonathan Kuniholm wears a prototype of the prosthetic arm created by the DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics project.
It’s October at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., and Jonathan Kuniholm is playing ”air guitar hero,” a variation on Guitar Hero , the Nintendo Wii game that lets you try to keep up with real musicians using a vaguely guitarlike controller. But the engineer is playing without a guitar. More to the point, he’s playing without his right hand, having lost it in Iraq in 2005. Instead he works the controller by contracting the muscles in his forearm, creating electrical impulses that electrodes then feed into the game. After about an hour he beats the high score set by Robert Armiger, a twoâ¿¿armed Johns Hopkins University engineer who modified Guitar Hero to train amputees to use their new prostheses.
Armiger’s research is part of a nationwide effort to create a neurally controlled prosthetic arm. That arm has been the focus of much media attention, but that focus obscures the truly groundbreaking research typical of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 (RP2009) program.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is pouring at least US $71.2 million into the program in the hope that it will let amputees do what most people take for granted: make gestures, test the water in a teacup, turn a key, even peel the shell off an egg. Words like bionic and thought -controlled have been thrown at the project, but they don’t do justice to the sheer ordinariness of its purpose. DARPA isn’t looking for a superstrong ”Six Million Dollar Man” arm; it just wants an arm that moves exactly like a real one does.
Yet even making just a garden-variety arm requires a herculean effort, not only in the field of mechatronics but in neuroscience, electrical engineering, cognitive science, signal processing, battery design, nanotechnology, and even behavioral science. This four-year project is wildly ambitious even by the standards of the Pentagon’s mad-science wing. After the program concludes at the end of 2009, many of the arm’s various technologies will go into FDA clinical trials and then out into the world.
But some of the RP2009 technologies have already begun to filter out. In October, a Canadian hospital announced that it had used part of the control mechanism of the DARPA arm to steer regular, nonrevolutionized prosthetic arms in two patients. Simply borrowing that one technology has made huge improvements in commercially available prosthetic devices.
DARPA’s device is the world’s first truly neurally controlled prosthetic arm. To keep it from being the last, its designers are explicitly creating it with other designers in mind. The program’s engineers want a quasi–open source platform for hardware and software, so that the RP2009 specifications will replace the Babel-like confusion of scattered prosthetic-arm designs with a platform everyone can use to finally push the technology into the 21st century.
The Revolutionizing Prosthetics program has been testing control technologies on volunteers around the country: at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago; at OrthoCare, in Oklahoma City; and at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md. RP2009 team leader Stuart Harshbarger says the investigations will likely extend later this year to the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs hospital, one of the military’s major rehab centers for amputees.
Such centers are reeling under the burden posed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where improvements in body armor have saved the lives but not always the limbs of many soldiers who would have died in earlier wars. The number of such amputees stood at 1214 on 1 August 2008, compared with 4809 deaths and 33 116 injuries, making for a ratio of amputations to deaths that’s roughly twice as high as in any previous war.
Those numbers have turned amputee research from a backwater to a high priority. In 2005, DARPA set up the prosthetic-arm project and put it in the hands of Geoffrey Ling, a neuroscientist trained at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., who is also a colonel in the U.S. Army.
Ling split the program into two distinct parts. The part headed by Dean Kamen’s New Hampshire–based Deka Research and Development Corp. had a 2007 deadline for creating a sophisticated mechanical limb by making the most of existing technologies, using noninvasive control mechanisms.
The complementary four-year program has a 2009 deadline to reinvent prosthetics from the ground up so that they can be biologically controlled. The goal is to restore sensory feedback to amputees so that they can again perceive heat, cold, pressure, and the position of a limb in space. All these faculties must fit inside a package that has the look, weight, strength, dexterity, natural movement, and toughness of an arm [see illustrations, ”Custom Built”].
Ling tapped APL to oversee this nationwide ”Manhattan Project” for prosthetic arms. Over 30 universities and research institutions are collaborating on the project, all of them leaders in their fields. ”I thought it was going to be like herding cats,” says Harshbarger, Ling’s APL counterpart, who directs the 2009 effort. But countering stereotypes of academic competitiveness, these 300â¿¿odd researchers have been working together in lockstep, project first and egos last, to make the endeavor succeed.
Creating an arm that actually interfaces with an amputee requires an encyclopedic understanding of countless disciplines including power management, neural integration, and anatomy. APL built two mechanical prototypes, both of which were marvels of modern engineering. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) developed surgical techniques to reroute existing nerves in amputees so that they interface with the electronics in the prosthetic arm. Chicago-based Sigenics developed implantable electrodes to wirelessly transmit the electrical signals from residual muscles directly to the prosthetic limb. Researchers at the University of New Brunswick, in Canada, developed signal-processing algorithms to decipher the noisy biopotentials from the reinnervated muscle in real time. Researchers at the University of Utah developed brain-penetrating electrodes to tap nerve impulses at their source. Johns Hopkins University has developed what it calls the Virtual Integration Environment, in which an amputee can practice by ”driving” a virtual arm with nerve signals. |
This seems to violate the proscription
to have the Comparator be consistent
with equals() - i.e., two collections
may be unequal (by having different
elements), but compare to the same
value (because they have the same
number of elements).
There is no requirement, either stated (in the Javadoc) or implied, that a
Comparator be consistent with an object's implementation of
Comparator are distinct interfaces with different purposes.
Comparable is used to define a 'natural' order for a class. In that context, it would be a bad idea for
compateTo to be inconsistent. By contrast, a
Comparator is used when you want to use a different order to the natural order of a class.
EDIT: Here's the complete paragraph from the Javadoc for SortedSet.
Note that the ordering maintained by a
sorted set (whether or not an explicit
comparator is provided) must be
consistent with equals if the sorted
set is to correctly implement the Set
interface. (See the Comparable
interface or Comparator interface for
a precise definition of consistent
with equals.) This is so because the
Set interface is defined in terms of
the equals operation, but a sorted
set performs all element comparisons
using its compareTo (or compare)
method, so two elements that are
deemed equal by this method are, from
the standpoint of the sorted set,
equal. The behavior of a sorted set is
well-defined even if its ordering is
inconsistent with equals; it just
fails to obey the general contract of
the Set interface.
I have highlighted the final sentence. The point is that such a SortedSet will work as you would most likely expect, but the behavior of some operations won't exactly match the
Set specification ... because the specification defines their behavior in terms of the
So in fact, there is a stated requirement for consistency (my mistake), but the consequences of ignoring it are not as bad as you might think. Of course, it is up to decide if you should do that. In my estimation, it should be OK, provided that you comment the code thoroughly and make sure that the SortedSet does not 'leak'.
However, it is not clear to me that a Comparator for collections that only looks at an collections "size" is going to work ... from a semantic perspective. I mean, do you really want to say that all collections with (say) 2 elements are equal? This will mean that your set can only ever contain one collection of any given size ... |
STLSoft's 1.10 alpha contains a
platformstl::properties_file class. It can be used to read from a file:
properties_file::value_type value = properties["name"];
or from memory:
"name0=value1\n name1 value1 \n name\\ 2 : value\\ 2 ",
properties_file::value_type value0 = properties["name0"];
properties_file::value_type value1 = properties["name1"];
properties_file::value_type value2 = properties["name 2"];
Looks like the latest 1.10 release has a bunch of comprehensive unit-tests, and that they've upgraded the class to handle all the rules and examples given in the Java documentation.
The only apparent rub is that the
value_type is an instance of
stlsoft::basic_string_view (described in this Dr Dobb's article), which is somewhat similar to
std::string, but doesn't actually own its memory. Presumably they do this to avoid unneccessary allocations, presumably for performance reasons, which is something the STLSoft design holds dear. But it means that you can't just write
std::string value0 = properties["name0"];
You can, however, do this:
std::string value0 = properties["name0"].c_str();
std::cout << properties["name0"];
I'm not sure I agree with this design decision, since how likely is it that reading properties - from file or from memory - is going to need the absolute last cycle. I think they should change it to use
std::string by default, and then use the "string view" if explicitly required.
Other than that, the
properties_file class looks like it does the trick. |
The ongoing drought, combined with above-average heat and high winds, have led to several wildfires in western and central Oklahoma this week, including a fire near Guthrie that killed one person and forced more than 1,000 people from their homes.
In response, Gov. Mary Fallin on Monday declared a state of emergency for all 77 counties, and a burn ban for 36.
In a press release, Fallin says the state Forestry Services recommended the ban as the drought is expected to continue, particularly in western Oklahoma. It’s no coincidence that the latest update of the U.S. Drought Monitor, which shows the areas of the state most severely impacted by drought, closely resembles the burn ban map.
She says the emergency declaration “allows state agencies to acquire resources that can aid in that firefighting effort,” and is a first step toward getting federal aid.
The Associated Press’ Kristi Eaton talked to residents near Guthrie who have been devastated by the fire that ravaged the area on Sunday:
Rachel Hudson, 32, lost her home in the blaze. And around the time the fire arrived, her daughter Mariah was in a car accident. The teenager will need surgery.
“That was all going on at the same time our house was burning down,” Hudson said by telephone as she sought shelter provided by the local American Red Cross. The home where lived with her daughter, her ex-husband and her mother was not insured.
“I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said, starting to cry. “We lost everything.”
The burn ban includes the following counties: Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cimarron, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grady, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Lincoln, Logan, Major, McClain, Noble, Oklahoma, Payne, Pawnee, Roger Mills, Texas, Tillman, Washita, Woods and Woodward. |
It would seem that the iron ore price settlement this year will see a price increase of ~80-90% over 2009 price levels.
In a vociferous response, EUROFER today launched a bitter attack on the iron ore supply sector. A press release issued this morning [see http://www.steelonthenet.com/pdf/Eurofer_11-Mar-10.pdf
], stressed the outrage felt by the European steel industry at the proposed extent of the price increases.
'These increases come whilst the industry is still reeling from the effects of the most serious financial and economic crisis since the 1930s' said EUROFER. 'European Governments should be aware of the implications for the wider economy if these price increases become reality' it email@example.com
Labels: 2010, EUROFER, iron ore, prices |
(First of two parts)
CHRISTMAS can be the most poignant time of the year for many Filipinos working and living abroad.
Banker-turned-microfinancier Joey Bermudez (standing) with his brood in Ontario, Canada.
While they have established themselves in their host countries, becoming successful professionals and gaining acceptance among their foreign peers, most admit that when the Yuletide season comes around, they can’t help but long for the Christmases past spent in the Philippines.
After all, the celebration here is probably the longest in the world, and maybe the most unique. As soon as September rolls in, Christmas carols start playing on the radio and in the malls. Sidewalks start teeming with puto bumbong and bibingka vendors, and their sweet smells just fill the nighttime air.
There will be endless parties and reunions in companies and among families by December 1, and by the 16th most homes will be brightly lit with their festive lanterns (parols) guiding the way of sleepyheads trying to complete the nine-day Simbang Gabi (dawn Masses), then culminating in the Misa de Aguinaldo on Christmas Eve and after, a massive Noche Buena feast.
The celebration officially ends by the first Sunday of January, the feast of the Three Kings. Only then will families take down their Christmas décor and start going to the gym to burn the fat accumulated from all the Yuletide feasting.
My old pal from San Miguel, Chec del Mundo, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
While Filipinos abroad have created their own unique Pinoy Christmas in their new homelands, many of them agree, the Philippines is still the best place to celebrate the holidays. There’s just something magical in the air that lifts our spirits and moves us to give joy to others, in a warm and caring way most unique to our country.
Here, a few friends based overseas share their thoughts about what they miss most about celebrating Christmas in the Philippines:
JOEY BERMUDEZ (Oakville, Ontario, since 2009)
I MISS the Simbang Gabi and the puto bumbong after Mass. I miss the stream of fruitcakes, prune cakes, brownies, pies, cheese, chocolates and all sorts of delicacies that people give each other during the season. I miss the bright lights of Ayala Avenue and the illuminated fountains of Ayala Triangle. I miss our dry roads at Christmas time unlike the wet and snowy roads in Canada.
I miss the big party at home on Christmas Eve where my parents-in-Iaw, our househelp and some guests join us in a sumptuous feast. In Canada we have the usual Noche Buena and opening of Christmas gifts, but it’s just my family that gets together after the Christmas Eve Mass.
Lit. major, now tech solutions provider, Susan "Swannie" Morrow (right), with her husband Jesse Avraham and her late mother, Tessie Vasquez, in Brooklyn, New York.
I do not miss the intolerable traffic in almost all roads any time of the year, the inebriated drivers on the road going home from Christmas parties, the overcrowded shopping malls and Christmas bazaars, the long lines at the cash registers of stores, and the jacked-up price tags in restaurants and department stores.
There is no Christmas like Christmas in the Philippines. About that, there should be no argument.
CHEC DEL MUNDO (Brisbane, Australia, since 2004)
THERE are three things I miss the most about Christmas in Manila.
First is my family and friends and in knowing that you share the same sentiments and joy of the season. Second is the Christmas spirit that you feel as soon as September sets in. Everyone is on Christmas mode leading up to the day of festivities. People shopping in bazaars and in stores, traditional matriarchs shopping in Quiapo in the hunt for dried fruits for their homemade fruitcakes and Chinese ham, and some others making their vows to complete the nine days of Simbang Gabi. Third is the food. I miss most the puto bumbong that you team up with ginger tea, bibingka, queso de bola, and Chinese ham. Well, you can probably have them overseas, but there is so much that go into it that you can’t find here. For example, the smell of Christmas in the air, the traffic, the buzz.
Graphic designer Chet Vergara in Los Angeles since 1987.
SUSAN MORROW (New York since 1995)
CHRISTMAS to me is really not the glitter and gold but the simple joys of Christmas the way I knew it as a child growing up in Manila, like having puto bumbong in slightly burnt banana leaves complete with sugar, Star margarine, and coconut shavings; my grandmother’s hot pancit molo on Christmas Eve; and the excitement of waking at dawn with my mother to join her on her Simbang Gabi vigil. Then on Christmas Day itself, scrambling into my new dress to go to Church to hear Christmas Mass. After which, most unforgettable of all, is lining up in long queues to get my aguinaldo from my lolo and lola, titos and titas! P1 from each one of them!
A semblance of this kind of Christmas was still possible here in New York when my mother was alive and my siblings and our better halves gathered around her. She would spend all week cooking our favorite Filipino dishes—beef caldereta, embotido, pancit bihon, and my only contribution to the feast, mocha chiffon cake. She passed away in January 2011.
CHET VERGARA (Los Angeles since 1987)
OF course, there’s the FOOD. Nothing like puto bumbong straight out of the bumbong. Aling Mameng’s lengua, Estrella’s caramel cake, countless variations of lechon, morcon, pancit Malabon—shall I go on?
Journalist Jojo Dass in Dubai, UAE since 2008.
I miss the impulsive gift-giving and receiving gifts without judgment or suspicion. (OK, I will judge your gift but I really do appreciate it regardless!). Over here, I have stopped giving gifts at work after all the puzzled looks and outright indifference I got distributing gifts one year.
I guess the thing I miss most is the warmth. The genuine expression of caring and sharing the joy of the season no matter what emotional or financial situation one happens to be in. To feel the collective excitement that elicits smiles from family, friends and even strangers. The thought that life can be good, love can be found and everything will be alright.
JOJO DASS (Dubai since 2008)
I MISS the big family gatherings with the big buffet spread—a reunion of sorts with the people you rarely meet during the year, or almost don’t see anymore.
Of course, I miss Makati’s tinseltown, the dawn Mass at UST, puto bumbong and the carolings.
JAMES ONG (Singapore since 2007)
When we were younger, the most exciting part of Christmas was buying everyone gifts. A few days before the Eve, we’d be given a gifts allowance and we would join the mad crowds at Philcite or Harrison Plaza to look for cheap presents. After I moved to Quezon City as an adult and living with fellow bachelors, I counted on others to feed me. Inspired by Gilda Cordero Fernando’s “leftover party,” I would ask close friends (most of them single) to come to the house on the 25th and bring highlights of their Noche Buena.
Lifestyle editor James Perez Ong in Singapore since 2007. (Photo by www.style-anywhere.com)
One time I set up a 20-seater Italian-style dining table al fresco and guests were arriving hour after hour. It was a magical night, everything was makeshift, nothing fancy at all, but for me it captured the essence of Christmas: love, friendship and togetherness. Until now, friends ask me when I plan to do another leftover party. I can’t wait to host the next one. Most of these friends are now married with kids so it should be exciting.
(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was published on Dec. 21, 2012. All photos provided by interviewees.) |
Monday, December 10, 2007
Wikipedia describes dubstep as:
Dubstep's early roots are in the more experimental releases of UK garage producers, seeking to incorporate elements of dub reggae into the South London-based 2-step subgenre. These experiments often ended up on the B-side of a white label or commercial garage release. Like another, more vocal garage hybrid, grime, the genre's feel is often dark; tracks frequently use a minor key and often feature dissonant harmonies such as the diminished chord. Other distinguishing features often found are the use of samples, the fact it is a largely instrumental genre, a propulsive, sparse rhythm, and an almost omnipresent subbass. Some dubstep artists have also incorporated a variety of outside influences, from Basic Channel to classical music to heavy metal.
Ed* I have only been listening to grime and dubstep for a few years but I find the genre to be a lot more creative then hip hop at the moment. This comp is a good primer for someone who's never listened to it before.
Click here for the tracklist
Download the full mix:
Science Faction: Dubstep
Posted by =SDTW= at 8:33 AM |
-- Bringing you updated, timely, fair, and objective chess daily news and information from around the globe --
Nb4 will eventually capture a rook and a pawn for a knight for black.
1. Bf5-g6 ...
Mate threats with N1 ... Nb42 Qa5 b6Traps the queen.
nb4 Qa3 nd3+ kb1 nb4+ wins queen
1. ... Nb4 Discovers attack on the unprotected queen and threatens Na2#. White cannot defend against both threats.If2. Qa3 Nd3+If2. Qb3 Nd3+3. Kb1 Nc5+If2. Qa5 b6White has to give up queen in exchange for knight to prevent mate.
Wow, nobody sees the Nd4 and Ke2 mate! Right?
Wow, nobody sees the Nxd4 and Ke2 mate! Right?
1....Nb4!!If 2. Qb3..Nd3+ 3.K-any. Nxf2+ 4. K-any.Nxh1If 2. Qxd7.Nd3+ 4.K-any Nxf2 4. K-any. Rxd7. 5. any..Nxd1 or Nxh1Harry
1....Nb4! looks the move. Mates orgets WQeg 2.Qxd7 Na2#or 2.cxb4 Qxa4or 2.Qb3 Bc2or 2.Qa5 b6or 2.Qa3 Nd3+0-0-0-0-0-
1. … Nb42. Qxd7 Nxa2#2. cxb4 Qxa42. Qxb4 Bxb42. Qb3 Nd3+3. Kb1 or Kc2 Nc5+ and4. … Nxb32. Qa3 Nd3+ and3. … Bxa3.2. Qa5 b63. Qa3 Nd3+ and4. … Bxa3.
1. ... Nb4 threatening the Queen;if 2. QxQ Na2#if 2. Qb3 Nd3+ 3. Kb1 Nc5+ winning the Queenif 2. Qa3 Nd3+ and BxQ
1. .... Nb4if 2. Qxd7 Nxa2#if 2. Qa5 b63. Qa3 Nd3+4. Kb1 Bxa3 0-1if 2. Qb3 Nd3+3. Kb1 Nc5+4. K/any Nxb30-1aside: Candidates R6: which games will have a result? vote! http://goo.gl/Q0d2I future rounds posted there as well.
1..Nb4 If 2.Qxd7,Nd3+.3.K-any,Nxf2+ 4. K-any,Rxd7 5. any, Nxd1 or Nxh1If.2.Qb3, Nd3+.3.K-any,Nxf2+.4.any, Nxd1 or Nxh1Harry
1....Nb42. Qxd7...Nd3+3. K-any..Nxf2+4. K-any..Rxd75. any....Nxd1 or Nxh1If 2. Qb3...Nd3+3. K-any.Nxf2+4. K-any.Nxh1Harry
1 Nb4 wins
1. ... Nb4! 2. Qxd7 (2. Qb3 Bc2!) Nd3+ etc. 0-1
1... Nb4 2. Qxd7 Nxa2#If instead 2. Qb3 Nd3+ 3. Kb1 Nc5+, or 2. Qa5 b6 3. Qa3 Nd3+, black wins the queen.
...Nb4 if Qxd7 then ...Nxa2++ and if Qa5, then ...b6, Qa3 Nd3+ winning the Queen.
1. ......Nb42. Qxd7 Nd3+3. K any Nf2+4. K any Rxd75. Any Rxd1/h1If2. Qb3 thenNd3+, Nxf2+' Nh1, etcHarry
Since the white king cannot move Black can simply win the queen by threatening a smothered mate:1. ... Nb4!2. Qb32. Qxd7 Nxa2#2. Qxb4 Bxb43. cxb4 Qc6+ winning one piece back.2. ... Nd3+3. Kb1 Nc5+4. Ka1 Nxb3+ +-
Nb4 wins!Some problem with comment getting published earlier :(
Илиян Караджов: 1 ... Nd4??2 Q:d4
Post a Comment |
Caudal pneumaticity paper in Huffington Post –and– get your PLOS Collection USB drives
October 31, 2013
First, there’s a nice write-up of one of our papers (Wedel and Taylor 2013b on pneumaticity in sauropod tails) in the Huffington Post today. It’s the work of PLOS blogger Brad Balukjian, a former student of Matt’s from Berkeley days. The introduction added by the PLOS blogs manager is one of those where you keep wanting to interrupt, “Well, actually it’s not quite like that …” but the post itself, once it kicks in, is good. Go read it.
Brad also has a guest-post on Discover magazine’s Crux blog: How Brachiosaurus (and Brethren) Became So Gigantic. He gives an overview of the sauropod gigantism collection as a whole. Well worth a read to get your bearings on the issue of sauropod gigantism in general, and the new collection in particular.
PLOS’s own community blog EveryONE also has its own brief introduction to the collection.
And PLOS and PeerJ editor Andy Farke, recently in these pages because of his sensational juvenile Parasaurolophus paper, contributes his own overview of the collection, How Big? How Tall? And…How Did It Happen?
Finally, if you’re at SVP, go and pick up your free copy of the collection. Matt was somehow under the impression that the PLOS USB drives with the sauropod gigantism collection would be distributed with the conference packet when people registered. In fact, people have to go by the PLOS table in the exhibitor area (booth 4 in the San Diego ballroom) to pick them up. There are plenty of them, but apparently a lot of people don’t know that they can get them.
- Wedel, Mathew J., and Michael P. Taylor. 2013. Caudal pneumaticity and pneumatic hiatuses in the sauropod dinosaurs Giraffatitan and Apatosaurus. PLOS ONE 8(10):e78213. 14 pages. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078213 [PDF] |
This Saturday 22nd is World Rhino Day. For many of us Rhino lovers around the world this is a time when we try and shine the spotlight on these incredible animals. Despite rhinos having roamed our earth for 14 million years, in this present day there’s a very real threat that the last five remaining species may become extinct.
Alarmingly, well-equipped, sophisticated organized crime syndicates have killed more than 800 African rhinos in the past three years - just for their horns. The horns now hold a greater street value than gold and it has become the new cocaine, the white powder of choice for the social elite in some overseas countries. It’s thought that the horns can cure cancer, are powerful aphrodisiacs and can treat a number of ailments, but the horns are made out of keratin. They have no medicinal powers at all and would have the same effect if we ground up our fingernails and swallowed them.
The numbers of rhinos being poached each year isn’t sustainable. Just last week the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Sumatran Rhinoceros as one of the 100 most threatened species across the world that would disappear from our world altogether if nothing was done to protect them.
At Taronga, we are serious about wildlife conservation and are working hard to help rhinoceros through our Zoos’ programs and also in the wild. Did you know that we are a proud founding member of the International Rhinoceros Foundation? Through the IRF we help fund monitoring and anti-poaching patrols in Zimbabwe as well as providing veterinary treatment and rescue at-risk rhinos, moving them to safer grounds. Due to these intensive efforts, the Zimbabwe population of Black Rhinos is now the fourth largest African population!
Our vets, pathologists and reproductive biologists are also working closely with the staff of Indonesia’s Way Kambas Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, in fact, earlier this year, our vet Dr. Benn Bryant from Taronga Western Plains Zoo was on hand for the birth of Ratu the Sumatran Rhinoceros’ male calf, a very precious addition to the Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhinoceros population. It’s thought that as few as 200 of these animals may remain in the wild, so this birth was cause for exultation.
Combined with our efforts in the field, our rhinoceros breeding program at Taronga Western Plains Zoo is world-renowned. We’ve welcomed 11 Black Rhinoceros calves into the world since we established the herd in 1994 when a population of these animals were transferred from Zimbabwe to Dubbo. In case numbers in the wild collapse, we’ve also got Black Rhinoceros genes cyro-preserved in our Frozen Zoo in our laboratory at Taronga Western Plains Zoo and in 2008 we achieved a world first by successfully artificially fertilising a Black Rhinoceros egg.
So, although much of the news for world rhino populations is doom and gloom, there’s some hope to celebrate.
Many people may think there ‘s nothing they can do for Rhinos when we live in Australia but iIt’s as easy as being aware what you buy when you’re overseas or if you have a few spare dollars, a donation to the International Rhino Foundation this World Rhino Day wouldn’t go astray. They do amazing work and many of the members of the poaching patrols literally put their lives on the line to protect some truly amazing animals that the world would be the poorer without.
Director, Taronga Conservation Society Australia
IRF Board Member |
Q & A - the differences between explanatory and response variables
can anyone tell me the differences between the two variables?
A response variable measures an outcome of a result of a study
A explanatory variable is a variable that we think explains or causes changes in the response variable. So it would be the reason we see the change.
So an example would be a study comparing if students taking a online course and a inclass course learned the same amount. The response variable would be the final scores that students recieve, and the explanatory variable would be if the student took the course online or in class.
Pg.92 of our textbook goes into detial about this question and these two kinds of variables. |
Whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed the SXSW audience in a rare public Interview today and gave some policy suggestions about how the government can better protect our 4th Amendment rights. The good news is that congress is already considering many of the proposals he mentioned.
First and foremost, Snowden says intelligence agencies need to adopt a “law enforcement” model of defense. In other words, they need to cease the bulk collection of Internet and phone data and, instead, only go after suspects with a warrant. A contingent of congress members, including U.S. Senators Rand Paul and Ron Wyden, have proposed exactly that.
However, Snowden saw a bigger problem with congress, who he accused of “cheerleading for the NSA instead of holding them accountable.” For instance, when Director of the NSA, James Clapper, admittedly gave false answers to Congress about the bulk collection of data, some members of the Intelligence Committee rushed to his defense.
“We need a watchdog that watches congress,” he said.
The closest thing being proposed by both congress and President Barack Obama is a so-called “public advocate”. The proposed role would litigate against the NSA when agents go to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, to ask for permission to spy on Americans.
The important issue, especially to the tech industry, is the ability to disclose the number of users affected by NSA spying. Hopefully, then, we can know whether the government is, indeed, spying on us all or if it’s been more selective in its investigations. Google’s most recent Transparency Report was able to disclose a bit more data from which organization was requesting information on its users, but we still don’t know all the ways in which intelligence agencies are collecting data.
Concludes Snowden, “If we’re not informed, we can’t consent to these policies”. |
The patents wars are getting even more intense! Turns out, this week Apple has filed another lawsuit in the U.S. against copy-cat Samsung. Their latest complaint is related to the autocorrection of spelling and the way the unlocking a device from its touchscreen works.
This patent lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, and Apple believes that Samsung is infringing upon its own patented inventions. Shocker, isn’t it? After all, Samsung is original and hasn’t been copying Apple since 2007. The company is seeking a preliminary injunction against Samsung. Four different patents are cited by Apple in the case. The patents are named through expert declarations filed by Apple as part of the suit. AppleInsider reveals that the following patents are:
- U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172 - “Method, System, and Graphical User Interface for Providing Word Recommendations”
- U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647 - “System and Method for Performing an Action on a Structure in Computer-Generated Data”
- U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721 - “Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image”
- U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604 - “Universal Interface for Retrieval of Information in a Computer System”
In Apple’s latest filing, it is not known what the products are since the complaint has not been made public. Lawsuits between Samsung and Apple have been going on since last April and continue to grow. |
TEK: An Email-Based Web Browser
Note (Aug 2010): After years of sustained usage, including 7500
searches from 450 locations, we need to shut down the TEK server due
to decreased traffic in recent months. It remains possible to set up
the server at a new location using the code available on SourceForge. If you
are an organization that would benefit from using TEK, or you would
like to adopt the service as your own, please get in touch with us to see how we
can make it work for you. Thanks! |
TEK empowers low-connectivity communities by providing a full Internet
experience using email as the transport mechanism.
Compared to direct Web access, email can be much cheaper, more
reliable and more convenient in developing areas. The TEK Client (TEK
stands for "Time Equals Knowledge") operates as a proxy on the user's
machine, enabling users to browse downloaded pages using a standard
Web browser. New searches are automatically encoded as emails and
sent to the TEK Server, which queries the Web and returns the contents
of resulting pages via email.
The TEK Client (available for download) provides:
The TEK Server (previously running at MIT) features:
- Automatic web search using an ordinary email account.
- Caching, indexing, and searching of downloaded web pages.
- Basic user management for community installations.
- A user-friendly HTML interface designed by professionals at Scirus.
- A customized version of Firefox for viewing pages cached by TEK.
- An interface with Google (or Scirus) for search results.
- Simplification and compression of pages to reduce bandwidth requirements.
- Conversion of PDF and PS files to HTML.
- An internal database of pages sent to each client to avoid wasting bandwidth on duplicated results (optional).
TEK is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL license. |
- OHEL see’s importance in both Lopez and Markey Bills and suggests a possible compromise.
- OHEL is not in agreement with some of the positions taken by certain organizations who oppose “the window” provision.
- While OHEL suggests a one year amnesty, we believe a one year window should be instituted thereafter.
- OHEL suggests a one year amnesty from civil claims with required risk assessment, treatment and some form of probation and monitoring. Certainly no amnesty from any criminal proceedings.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
David Mandel: Enabler of Sex Offenders on the Markey Bill
Brooklyn, NY - CEO Of Ohel: Compromise On Markey Bill Should Offer 1 Year Amnesty Plan For Perpetrators
Vos Iz Neias? - April 30, 2009
Brooklyn, NY - There is legislation pending to extend the statute of limitations on reporting and prosecuting child molesters. There is general agreement this change in the law would be good. Victims of child molestation even older adolescents are often not ready to disclose or confront their offenders until years later.
A second piece of legislation to open “a window” of one year permitting victims, even those molested decades ago, to file civil lawsuits against molesters has drawn strong support and equal strong opposition.
As is often the case with legislation drafted in local, state or Federal government victim advocates will favor while institutional systems may oppose.
Victim advocates are favoring the Markey Bill, which includes this window. The Catholic Church and some groups representing yeshiva institutions favor the Lopez Bill, which extends the Statute but has no window.
It is noted that Assemblyman Dov Hikind supports both bills. How could that be as they are different? He explains he would like to work on a compromise position.
Several victims who have spoken publicly of their ordeals along with a victim advocacy group have been prominent in pushing for the passage of the window. This advocacy is important and well intentioned. But to express it in a way that if you’re not in support of the window you’re not supporting victims of sexual abuse is misguided as it undermines our communities’ ability to have an open honest discussion about child abuse.
THE KEY POINTS
The passage of such a window provision in California is often cited as a case in point by both sides, those in favor and opposed. In that instance several years ago the legislation led to the disclosure and reporting of several hundred pedophiles in California. This was important and no doubt led to untold hundreds (and thousands) of potential victims not being molested. It also led to hundreds of lawsuits most notably against the Catholic Church which eventually cost them hundreds of millions in settlements.
It is this issue of potential of lawsuits that is pitting institutions against victim advocates. On all other issues there is general agreement.
In a now infamous phrase former President George Bush said to the world concerning Al Qaeda that “you’re either with us or against us”. He came to appreciate it was more complicated than drawing a line in the sand. People can at times be supporting of a position but when asked to give their “all or nothing” many defer. It is not a good way to negotiate.
For this reason Assemblyman Dov Hikind is correct in stating he is seeking a compromise.
The following suggestions are offered that may be incorporated and serve the best interests of all.
1. Victims of child molestation have consistently stated they want the perpetrator to be accountable, to take responsibility and acknowledge his actions.
Victims wanted the world to know it was the perpetrators fault not theirs.
Victims have expressed this as an important aspect of enabling them to move on with their lives. They generally don’t speak of revenge but of goodness and responsibility.
Open a one-year window for perpetrators to disclose their acts that were committed and that exceed the criminal statute of limitations. Provide them amnesty from future civil suits. This is similar to amnesty offered with illegal guns and delinquent taxes.
The gain here is to identify as yet unknown perpetrators and place them under watchful eye with required risk assessment, treatment, some form of probation and monitoring.
The penalty for those perpetrators who do not come forward may be subject to (potential) future civil claims, stated another way, a window.
2. Institutions (Church, Day schools, yeshivas) are understandably concerned they will be inundated with lawsuits. The Catholic Church’s exposure in California and Boston forced them to sell property and likely close some schools.
Schools may be sued for acts committed by their staff that they may have been completely unaware of. That of course is not a consolation to the victim who may understandably seek recourse. Nevertheless the schools financial liability may be great.
A school losing even one lawsuit requiring them to pay any sum in the millions that exceeds their liability insurance may bankrupt them. How can a school protect itself in an insurance claim from 25 years ago or more when insurance coverage may have been wholly different? How does that serve the best interests of their student body, parents and community? In the end who wins and loses?
How then to mitigate these lawsuits to be reasonable?
A. Cap the lawsuits, for example, not to exceed a $500,000 payout
B. Cap the percentage contingency by attorneys to 10pct.
There is a tendency by attorneys to throw out a huge number in a lawsuit in the tens or hundreds of millions. This is what is creating a backlash against the window provision. This may be part of an overall strategy at Tort reform.
3. Insurance companies have generally stayed on the sidelines by not wanting to be involved in any aspect. They need to be brought in even as unwilling partners.
A. Many victims avoid treatment fearing they will get a diagnosis on their insurance that will “label” them and further their stigmatization.
This is true of Offenders as well, hence they avoid seeking treatment.
B. Insurance companies have in the main refused to provide coverage for treatment of sexual abuse. This is similar to the Insurance industry a decade ago choosing to significantly raise liability premiums for physicians thus effectively reducing the number of OB/GYN, Anesthesiologists and other specialties.
Victim advocates should lobby the Insurance industry to provide coverage thus broadening the entry of professionals into this complex field of work.
C. The lack of Insurance coverage prevents many victims from obtaining good treatment.
Aside from the forty million uninsured Americans, countless with insurance have only limited mental health coverage.
Treatment for a small number of victims of sexual abuse often requires the services of clinical professionals with specialized training and may last one or several years.
Evaluation and treatment of pedophiles also requires highly specialized work and generally lasts two-three years.
Inadequate insurance coverage is a serious obstacle to adequately supervising child molesters who want help and thereby protect the public.
Advocates for Infertility treatment successfully lobbied two years ago to require the Insurance industry to include payment for fertility treatment. These often cost $10,000- $20,000 per course of treatment. It is common for many couples to go thru multiple treatment cycles over several years.
Victim advocates should place this in their sights. This is a critical issue.
4. Through our work at OHEL with victims over many decades and in consultations with community groups throughout the country the issue of a victims fund arises.
There does exist compensation funds in many local governments for crime victims. This should be expanded to include victims of sexual abuse. Such compensation would further encourage victims who come forward and offer concrete validation for their pain and suffering.
Two victims now in their forties have repeatedly stated to me this is their primary interest. They as many others will not speak out because of their personal shame and privacy.
A victim Fund needs to be established especially for those lacking insurance as well as others who cannot or do not want these diagnostic categories listed in their insurance history.
With an air of compromise and deliberations it is possible some institutional groups would consider establishing such a fund and to initiate a process of reconciliation between victims and institutions.
Our work at OHEL has brought us into contact with significant numbers of victim survivors of sexual abuse as well as perpetrators. This is one of the most complex areas of work in the field of mental health.
In the last ten years, OHEL has conducted numerous seminars in communities throughout the country on prevention and response to sexual abuse. Invariably, at every such gathering at least one individual would privately disclose their experience as a victim some ten, twenty, even thirty years earlier or more. It is fair to say that sexual abuse ranks very high on the list of secrets and memories not forgotten.
Many victims have said that by listening to tapes by prominent Rabbonim and community leaders speaking out on this issue and by attending such seminars they have been empowered.
There are few issues in life that are black and white even though we would like them to be. Much more are shades of grey.
These suggestions could move our system another step to protect our children, provide victims with renewed strength and support and put perpetrators on notice that with every passing day we will shut them down. |
For years, traders at Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG, Barclays, RBS and other banks colluded with colleagues responsible for setting the benchmark and their counterparts at other firms to rig the price of money, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg and interviews with two dozen current and former traders, lawyers and regulators. UBS traders went as far as offering bribes to brokers to persuade others to make favorable submissions on their behalf, regulatory filings show.
Members of the close-knit group of traders knew each other from working at the same firms or going on trips organized by interdealer brokers, which line up buyers and sellers of securities, to French ski resort Chamonix and the Monaco Grand Prix. The manipulation flourished for years, even after bank supervisors were made aware of the system’s flaws.
“We will never know the amounts of money involved, but it has to be the biggest financial fraud of all time,” says Adrian Blundell-Wignall, a special adviser to the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. “Libor is the basis for calculating practically every derivative known to man.”
It’s the biggest financial fraud of all time, yet the general public finds it it too boring? complex? to really give it the attention it deserves. So let’s put this story on our reading lists today.
Update: Heidi’s newest column is about how nobody cares about Libor:
…there is literally no one in the United States who has ever pounded a dinner table in outrage over government complacency, yelling, “But if we’re so tough on financial crime, why haven’t we thrown those obscure Asian bureaucrats of a foreign bank into the slammer for fixing a London-based interest rate?!”
No. What US consumers wanted was the prosecution of American banks, for American crimes. Insider trading. Mortgage fraud. Foreclosure abuses. Unjust, overdone compensation for executives and managers who failed to uphold ethical business standards. |
It is a sad day in American jurisprudence when a soldier of conscience is court-martialed not for lying but for telling the truth, not for breaking a covenant with the military but for upholding the rule of law in wartime.
The court-martial of Army 1st Lt. Ehren K. Watada is set for Monday at Fort Lewis near Seattle. The 28-year-old soldier from Hawaii is the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. He is charged with "missing movement" and "conduct unbecoming of an officer," including "use of contemptuous words for the president." He was out of uniform on leave over a year ago when he delivered a moving address to a Veterans for Peace convention. He questioned the legality of the war in Iraq, and he denounced the mendacity of the Bush administration. Although he is not a conscientious objector (he offered to serve in Afghanistan), Lieutenant Watada believes no soldier should give a life, or take a life, for a lie.
[. . .]
Lieutenant Watada reminds us that the U.S. Army Field Manual states: "Treaties relating to the law of war have a force equal to that of laws enacted by Congress. Their provisions must be observed by both military and civilian personnel with the same strict regard for both the letter and spirit of the law which is required with respect to the Constitution and statutes."
Nevertheless, in a pretrial hearing Jan. 16, Judge Head denied all defense motions to present hard evidence of ongoing war crimes in Iraq. Judge Head also upheld a pivotal government motion "to prevent the defense from presenting any evidence on the illegality of the war." Judge Head ruled that Lieutenant Watada's case is a political issue beyond the jurisdiction of the court. Judge Head is wrong, and his ruling denies American soldiers protection of the very laws for which they sacrifice their lives. Lieutenant Watada is not taking political positions in his trial. The United States may be overextended; the invasion may create blowback; unilateral actions may alienate allies; war debts may boomerang on the economy; anarchy in Iraq may be hopeless. These are political questions, to be sure. But they are not part of Lieutenant Watada's defense.
Lieutenant Watada is being persecuted because he is challenging the legality, not the political wisdom, of the war. The commander in chief is the final arbiter in foreign policy, but only so long as policies are in accordance with the law. Law trumps politics, not the other way around. The "political question doctrine," as attorneys call it, is nothing more than judicial abdication.
Believing that the outcome of the hearing Monday is all but pre-determined, Lieutenant Watada's attorneys are prepared for appeals. Eventually, the Supreme Court may be called upon to reject the Machiavellian doctrine that "in war, the laws are silent."
The above is from Paul Rockwell's "Truth has consequences for soldier of conscience" (Baltimore Sun). There's an event in Hawaii Saturday, Joan notes "Watada court-martial case up for discussion Saturday" (The Honolulu Advertiser):
A panel discussion on the court-martial case of Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada is being sponsored by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i at the Manoa Room of the JCCH Building in Mo'ili'ili Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The discussion is free and open to the public.
There are demonstrations and vigils scheduled on the day before and day of the Fort Lewis court-martial. Information on those can be found at Courage to Resist. Tying the topics of Watada, the passing of Molly Ivins and the need to get active together,
Betty Medsger's "Molly Ivins Tribute: Reflections on the Washington Peace March" (Berkeley Daily Planet):
At the rally in Washington, two voices, those of Robert Watada of Honolulu and Jane Fonda, were especially eloquent. Watada, the father of First Lt. Ehren K. Watada--who is being court-martialed for his refusal to deploy to Iraq again because he thinks the war is illegal because it violates Army regulations that wars must be waged in accordance with the United Nations Charter -- said his son "seeks to give others a voice." He encouraged other troops to follow his son’s example and resist service. Fonda said she had feared that lies told about her 30 years ago when she opposed the Vietnam war would distract from the cause if she spoke out against the war in Iraq. Finally, she said, she felt compelled to speak. "Silence is no longer an option," she said.
The plaintive voice of a veteran who recently returned from Iraq also was eloquent. "I thought I was going to serve my country, to protect my country," he said. "Instead, I went there for causes that have proved fraudulent."
Since that war, the internet has empowered our communication. It has greatly increased our ability to engage in political action easily--give money to candidates and causes, organize voter drives and participate in polls. All of that is valuable work, but we are invisible as we do it. Perhaps that matters. Perhaps it is time for more people to be visible witnesses so all generations and the rest of the world can see what we stand for--and what we stand against--at this crucial time in history.
Let's do it in the smart and feisty spirit of Molly, whose wise words have amused, moved and inspired us for so many years.
The e-mail address for this site is email@example.com. |
AN ASTROPHYSICIST WITH the Science Gallery in Dublin is the only Irish man on a shortlist of 1,000 people hoping to become the first humans to live on Mars.
Private space exploration company Mars One hopes to land a colony of four astronauts on the red planet by 2025.
The only catch? The astronauts chosen for the mission can never return to Earth.
Over 200,000 people applied to begin life again on Mars – this number was whittled down to 1,058 last week.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, Dr Joseph Roche said applying for the project was an easy decision to make:
I grew up in Kildare on a small farm and spent my nights looking at the stars. I went to Trinity College in Dublin and studied science, took a stint in the States working for NASA and came back to Trinity to do my PhD in astrophysics. The idea of going to Mars is something I would have dreamed about all these years – it’s just a no-brainer for me.
The Mars One project was founded and financed by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who hopes to fund the mission by turning it into a reality TV show.
Dr Roche’s story was first broken last Saturday on Newstalk by Jonathan McCrea.
He says we should take the project seriously:
It does sound like a crazy idea, but any new idea in this area is going to seem ridiculous at first. We don’t have the capabilities to bring people to a planet and then launch from the planet, to get them back. Mars One is going to cut the cost of the return trip, and that’s why it’s a feasible mission. They’re pairing up with [aerospace company] Lockheed Martin, who have a track record with landing things on Mars.
If Dr Roche does become one of the four astronauts to land on Mars, his return is “not even open to debate”. It’s also likely that his life expectancy would be dramatically reduced from exposure to radiation and “conditions no human has ever experienced before”.
However, he says that this isn’t an issue for him:
The way I look at it, even if I have a shorter life on Mars, every day that I live there I’d be taking a leap forward in terms of the scientific endeavours of humankind. And for me that’s a dream come true.
Most people are concerned with what his family thinks of the mission, but he says are very supportive of everything he does:
My poor parents found out at a public talk [on space exploration]…One of the first questions from the audience asked me was “What would your parents think?” and I said “Well here’s my mum and dad, they can answer that one for you.” |
Black Friday means red ticket deals for shoppers
By Robin Scott
The traditional day each year for once in a lifetime deals on merchandise, including everything from toys to electronics, is the Friday following Thanksgiving and dubbed “Black Friday,” the official opening day of the Christmas shopping season. The present day meaning of Black Friday has been around since the 1960’s and infers that merchants go from being in the “red” to in the “black.”
This year’s Black Friday occurs on November 27th. Retailers will be placing their advertisements in newspapers on Wednesday, November 25th. Many stores from Wal-Mart to Macy’s to Home Depot have special inserts in the newspapers just for the sales promised on Black Friday. Sneak peeks of store advertisements are available online on such sites as www.black-friday.net, www.bfads.net, and www.theblackfriday.com. Many retailers will open their doors to the public as early as 5:00 a.m. on Black Friday, but several open as early as midnight. Stores generally close for several hours in preparation of the anticipated throng of Christmas shoppers.
Black Friday truly does provide shoppers with fantastic deals on merchandise that only last for a few hours, or until supplies of items run out. This year’s list of special deals include an Xbox 360 Arcade System w/Carrying Case + 3 Games, a Garmin Nuvi 255 GPS System and laptops. Locally, Bealls, Gebo’s and Big R are all offering Black Friday deals to entice customers to come shop.
The best way to obtain the deals offered on Black Friday is to get to the store early. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to get great deals at every store on a shopper’s list because they go quickly. Some shoppers team up for Black Friday; several members in a shopping group are assigned to a specific store or two and buy for the entire group.
The pressure to shop on Black Friday is great, as the deals are only offered during specific hours on that day. Deciding to get into the Christmas shopping spirit on the first day of holiday shopping is very personal to each shopper. Some feel that the benefits gained aren’t worth the traffic, crowds and waiting, while others look forward to Black Friday as an adventure that must not be missed. Financial advisors suggest that when getting out to shop on Black Friday, set limits such as amount spent on each person, total amount spent in any particular store, or total amount to be charged to any particular credit or charge card account. The fun of shopping will be enhanced when the worry over its expense is minimized.
If Black Friday doesn’t satisfy shopping cravings, then Cyber Monday may be the next great opportunity. Cyber Monday is the Monday immediately following Black Friday and is the official online kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Retailers promise low prices and promotions available only on Cyber Monday and only online. Cyber Monday is sponsored by the National Retail Federation’s shop.org division, in which online retailers offer great deals. |
|Check the latest updates about the Dataverse project at our new Data Science site. We'll keep this site up during our transition.
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The Harvard Dataverse Network is free* and open to all researchers worldwide to share, cite, reuse and archive research data.
- ADD YOUR COMMENTS to the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Draft #Altmetrics White Paper: t.co/UVcAF29ugi #opendata
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- Discovering data - new models proposed for effective data sharing in epidemiology via @wellcometrust t.co/8YySjtT5ey |
The party made their way back to the broken path and followed it towards the looming giant barrow mound. Ancient standing stones encircled the mound and skulls and bones littered the area.
Sue: What kind of bones?
DM: Human, mainly. Although you can make out a few demi-human bones as well.
Kay: I want to look through the bones.
Closer to the central mound, a large stone door lay on the ground. The door was cracked in two and long grass had grown around the split stone.
A foul stench of miasma hit their nostrils as they entered the mound and descended the short stairway into blackness.
Kay: I have two torch-bearers.
Sea Axe: Stop messing around in those bones and have your men light up this place.
They stood in a 60×60 foot chamber. Four huge stone columns supported the walls inside the mound. The columns surrounded an open black hole in the ground. Above the hole was a rusty tripod with a block and tackle for lifting and lowering between the two floors.
Baz: Finn, drop a torch down there.
Kay: No. He doesn’t have that many.
Sue: What kind of torch-bearer is this guy?
Tess: We’ll grab it when we get down there.
The darkness below fluttered back as a torch dropped 35 feet from the vaulted ceiling. Looking down from the ceiling, the party could make out rubble, bones and faded frescoes on the walls of the lower chamber.
Sue: What do the frescoes look like?
DM: You can’t really make them out from above.
Sea Axe: I’ll go first.
The dwarf grabbed the rope attached to the tripod and began lowering himself. The rope snapped. The dwarf slammed into the floor below, near the torch. The falling rope coiled erratically around the moaning dwarf as his ten foot pole clattered on the stone surface, echoing in the silent chamber.
Sue: Ugh. I only have two hit points now.
Baz: Hey, you down there. I brought two 50 foot coils.
Baz secured his rope around one of the central pillars.
Once the party had descended, they raised torches and examined the frescoes more closely. Lining the wall were images of burial processions entering the barrow mounds.
Finn: There’s something here.
Scrawled on the stone wall was a message. Remember: Up then Down.
The girls all wrote this down. |
Feminism | Posted by Vittoria F on 05/9/2011
The Catholic Church and Education
I live in a catholic country (Italy), in a small town and I go to a catholic and very conservative school.
I am not very religious and, most importantly, I am a feminist. This means I don’t agree with my religion teacher (who is a priest) most of the time, but at least he’s prepared to listen. Religion doesn’t interfere with our academic education, but we do get educated in a Catholic environment: Latin choir, masses, prayers in the morning, that sort of thing. I usually look forward to compulsory religion lessons on Tuesdays, not because I’m particularly passionate about the subject, but for the chance of interesting discussions, where I can express my own feminist views on certain subjects we talk about: abortion, birth control, homosexuality, divorce etc.
So yesterday I was sitting in religion class, learning about John Paul II’s life, when one of my peers suddenly asked: “Why can’t women be popes or priests?” The usual explanation followed – “Jesus’ example”, “The twelve apostles were male” (to which I object anyway seeing as it was 2,000 years ago…) when the teacher added something unexpected: “…also, men are more suited to be priests than women. Even though we would like to think the opposite, men and women are different, not only physically but also in character. Women, for example, are more delicate, sensitive and…” “…weaker.”, one of my peers added. Further on in the conversation came a clearly anti-feminist statement: “The feminist movement in the ‘60s was wrong: a woman is not more free because she can do whatever a man can. We do have different functions in life.”
The conclusions a listener reaches are the following:
1) If you’re saying a woman is weaker in character, the obvious assumption is that you think men are stronger and more suited for leadership (this consequence wasn’t too clear to some people in the discussion, who just kept repeating they weren’t being sexist).
2) Also, women shouldn’t try doing things men do, but just stick to their functions (read: childbirth) – note how women “try” to do things men do, they don’t do them naturally or because they really want to, but just to prove something.
3) The feminist movement was in the ‘60s, and then it ended there.
When he said these things, my first reaction was an urge to leave the room on the spot, thus ruining my reputation for having the highest respect for all my teachers. Somehow, I managed to get to reaction number two: feeling shocked and appalled the conversation was actually taking place in this day and age.
And to counter the third point, my only answer is: read the FBomb. Feminism still exists.
What’s more, my teacher denied he was taking an anti-feminist position. He told us the Church highly values women and that they have an important role in the Bible. He even gave us an example to prove his point: the woman who spent a year’s salary on scented oil, washed Jesus’ feet with it and dried them with her hair. According to him this wasn’t an example of subservience. Hm.
The worst part, though, was when one of my peers said: “Imagine if Jesus had been a woman: nobody would have listened to him. Women can’t be priests: they’re not convincing or commanding enough.” (Funny how most of the teachers in my school are women…).
What really depressed me was that these archaic beliefs were stated by a 15-year-old boy and a young adult. They’re just being passed on from one generation to the next.
Is the Catholic Church contributing to this? Yes. Even if my teacher doesn’t represent the whole Church, it still is. Why? Patriarchy. If beliefs such as these exist after 2,000 years, when Jesus didn’t choose female apostles because nobody would have listened to them, they will keep on existing, as long as patriarchy does. And it will end only when we stop holding on to wrong traditions.
Read other posts about: Catholic Church, Catholic school, Catholicism, education, Feminism, feminism and education, feminist history, feminist movement, feminist myths, gender stereotypes, Italian feminism, Italy, patriarchy, religion, religion and feminism, religious patriarchy, the Church, third wave feminism, traditional gender roles, women in the Bible
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Save Money and Energy with a Dishwasher
Can you save money and energy with a dishwasher? Washing dishes has always been one of the least favourite jobs around the house! In fact, here at TGF we know of people who have put a dishwasher at the top of their ‘must have’ white goods appliance list over and above a clothes washing machine! The problem is that some us have been wondering if we are going against our green principles by using a machine to wash our dishes.
The good news is that far from contributing to the global warming problem, dishwashers are in fact good for the environment. Just stick to some simple guidelines and you will be doing your bit towards saving the planet.
Firstly, how do you choose the right dishwasher for your needs? Have a look at these dishwasher reviews to help you decide. For instance, a compact countertop model may be just what you want if you are renting a property and want to take the appliance with you when you move on. It could be that you have limited space in your kitchen but have a gap that would fit a slimline dishwasher perfectly; alternatively you may be looking to replace a dishwasher after many years of service.
What are the eco-friendly benefits of using a dishwasher over hand washing you may wonder? Dishwashers manufactured since 1994 use less water than if you were hand washing an identical set of dirty dishes because the water is recycled throughout the wash. Nowadays newer cold fill appliances means that only the amount of water needed is heated, using less energy and reducing our carbon footprint.
Back to those guidelines that I mentioned above and there are just two simple rules to abide by to make using a dishwasher a more economic practice than hand washing. Number one is to NOT rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher and number two is to only run the dishwasher when it is full and not half empty. There are plenty more hints and tips about how to save energy and money that will convince you that using a dishwasher is better than hand washing. Check out the cost of managing a dishwasher and calculate exactly how much time, money, water and energy can be saved.
The good news for those of us who hate doing the dishes is that dishwashers are the environmentally friendly way forward! |
A noted German Muslim scholar has raised a storm of anger by questioning whether such a person as the Prophet Muhammad ever existed. Muhammad Sven Kaiisch, chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Muenster whose duties include training teachers for Muslim high schools in Germany, created a furor by stating his research has led him to believe that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have mythical origins. Police are worried his remarks might lead to attempts on his life. In addition, the Central Council of Muslims has said it will cease cooperating with his center. According to a spokesperson for the group, if Muhammad doesn’t exist it means the Qur’an is a false document and one might then propose closing down the religion.
The traditional view is that Muhammad was born in Mecca about AD 570 and died about AD 632. However, according to Kalisch, “I believe neither the existence nor his non-existence can be proven. I, however, lean toward the non-existence.” Unlike, most converts, Kalisch, has never ceased questioning his faith and has spent his life in the area of studying the Muslim religion.
Many scholars of Judaism and Christianity continually raise questions regarding the actual historical reality of aspects of their religion. They argue the core essence of their religion is what is important regardless if each detail is historically valid. |
The sheer number of fires in the region in recent weeks, especially in the past three days, has raised concern that perhaps something is amiss locally. The dreaded word "arson" has been uttered in response to this rash of incidents.
While we believe asking this question is valid, we want to urge area residents not to make assumptions until more information is known about the origin or origins of these fires. The Inter-Mountain has questioned whether foul play could have been a factor in any or all of the blazes that have rocked our region recently.
What we've been told is: Nothing has come to light at this time, and investigations continue. The State Fire Marshal's Office is involved in these investigations, and reports are expected to be forthcoming.
Elkins Fire Department Chief Tom Meader said Tuesday fires often happen in 3's. That's true of so many tragedies. When a celebrity dies, gossip sites speculate on who in Hollywood will be next to meet such a fate. It's grim - but often true - that such self-fulfilling prophesies of doom come to fruition.
The dark clouds of smoke from these recent blazes are symbolic reminders of the weight of grief that has hung heavy over our community. Families have lost lives. Homes have been destroyed. And dreams have been shattered.
On Tuesday, The Inter-Mountain learned the vacant structure that formerly housed Runner Funeral Home was in the process of being secured for use as a homeless shelter. This service could have greatly enriched our city and provided a safe respite for those in need.
For now, those plans literally have gone up in smoke. Given the resilience we've seen in this area, We believe the project will be resurrected. It will rise from the ashes like a phoenix, and so, too, will the spirits of those who have been affected by the aftermath these fires have left in their wake.
Until then, idle speculation about what is causing these fires might do more harm than good. Instead, we encourage everyone to invest time in learning about fire safety and prevention.
As children, we are trained in school to calmly exit when a fire drill sounds. We hope residents will follow that same lesson plan in this situation and calmly wait to learn what is behind this recent string of incidents.
Then, once all facts are known, perhaps a course of action - if any - will be clearly visible and not obscured by the haze from fires that have burned too close to homes and our hearts. |
Aug 21 2012
It is always amazing to see people survive and recover from massive brain trauma. The first medically described case of this is the now famous Phineas Gage(whose fame is probably at least partly due to the fact that his name is so memorable – very Dickensian). Gage was a railroad worker who was injured when he was tamping down explosives with an iron rod. A spark set off the explosives, sending the rod up and through his skull like a bullet. He somehow survived and remained conscious long enough to make it to help. He later was noted to have a significantly changed personality - disinhibited, profane, and restless with an inability to plan and control his behavior. He suffered from seizures following the injury, probably an infection, and died about 12 years later.
Recently we have a similar case from Brazil - Eduardo Leite, a construction worker, was struck by a metal rod which fell from several stories up. The rod pierced his hard hat, went through the top of his skull on the right, and then exited between his eyes. Like Gage, Leite remained conscious, and was able to tell the emergency workers the story of what happened.
Leite went through a five hour surgery to remove the rod, which had to be pulled through in the direction it pierced the skull. According to report Leite is doing well and will likely recover with few deficits.
The image is quite impressive, and it may seem amazing that anyone could survive such an injury to the brain, let alone with few deficits. However, a little knowledge of brain anatomy explains why this is possible.
From the images it appears that the rod went through the right frontal lobe. This is the most redundant part of the brain. Much of the function of the far frontal lobes is bilaterally redundant, meaning that either side (left or right) can function fine by itself. There are some lateralized functions there, like the frontal eye fields which control eye gaze – the right frontal eye fields will move the eyes to the left. But those structures could easily have been spared.
When neurosurgeons have to place an instrument through the brain, they generally do so through the right (non-dominant for most people) frontal lobe. When placing a ventricular shunt, for example, to drain fluid and reduce pressure build up inside the brain, they will place the tube through the right frontal lobe.
Leite’s injury, therefore, could not have been more perfectly placed in order to minimize neurological damage. From that point of view he was lucky – of course it’s not very lucky to have a metal rod fall through your head.
If you look at the Gage image you can see that the injury was more in the midline, and likely damaged both frontal lobes, hence the significant personality change.
Unlike Gage, Leite is also likely to do well long term. He may develop a seizure disorder from the injury, but this can be managed with anti-seizure medication. His recovery can be monitored with CT scans and MRI scans, and any rebleeding or complication can be treated. If he develops an infection that can be cleared up with antibiotics.
Of course, these cases are uncommon. Most people who have a metal rod shoot through their skull and brain either don’t survive or have significant deficits. The unlikely, however, will happen every now and then, given enough opportunity. It seems every few years a case like this crops up in the media, with impressive images of projectiles through the skull and amazing stories of how the victim survived with remarkably few deficits. With almost 7 billion people in the world, even very unlikely events will happen on a regular basis, and thanks to mass media and the internet you are likely to hear about it.
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Nintendo is looking to integrate near-field communications (NFC) technology into figurines that work in tandem with specially designed Wii U games, the company announced at the E3 games conference today.
The company said that the figurines can interact with in-game content, allowing you to develop and improve your individual character.
The first game to support it will be Super Smash Bros for Wii U, but it will also be supported on more games in the future, including Mario Kart 8, Nintendo confirmed.
Data is exchanged between the device and figurine when it’s placed on a Wii U game pad. There’s a two-way data exchange, which means that not only does your individual character appear in games, but in some instances also become a playable character and earns new skills, as will be the case with Super Smash Bros.
While only announced today, if this sort of thing excites you, there’s not too long to wait until the figurines are available – Nintendo said they’ll be arriving “this holiday season”.
The company also confirmed that the Amiibo characters will also be compatible with some 3DS games by using a special piece of hardware in conjunction with the handheld.
Featured Image Credit – Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images |
A group of 35 Icelanders will be arriving in Seattle on Monday, August 27, and will visit Blaine two days later. The group consists mostly of members of an Oddfellow lodge in Reykjavík named Thorkell Mani (the name of an early settler of Iceland in the 10th century).
The leader of the group is Almar Grímsson, who is a past president of the Icelandic National League in Iceland. Almar was also founder of the Snorri Program, which started in 1999. He has traveled to most Icelandic communities in North America and leads many tours aiming at strengthening relations between Iceland and people of Icelandic descent in North America.
Members of this group started touring North America in 2010 when they visited the Icelandic settlements in the midwest, Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba. In 2011 the group visited Ontario and Quebec, and they continue their activities this year by visiting Icelandic settlements on the Pacific coast and in the Rockies. The tour ends in Calgary after 12 days of active visits.
One of the members of the Oddfellow lodge, Karl Jeppesen, will be holding interviews and filming. This is an important initiative since no film documentaries about the Icelandic settlements on the Pacific coast have ever been made before. |
PHOTO: Derrick Jamison and Miranda Chatterton wait for their son Warren Goldsby after a shooting at Reynolds High School in Wood Village, Oregon
Following the shootings at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon near Portland, American Humane Association issued these tips for parents and other caregivers to help children cope with the fear and uncertainty caused by this frightening event:
“Children are especially vulnerable at a time like this,” noted Dr. Robin Ganzert, president & CEO of American Humane Association. “Parents, teachers, and other caregivers need to be especially sensitive to how children are reacting and help them cope with their fears and feelings. The best thing is to talk to children now and in the weeks to come to ensure they receive the attention they need in dealing with this tragedy.”
American Humane Association is the country’s first national humane organization and the only one dedicated to protecting both children and animals. Since 1877, American Humane Association has been at the forefront of virtually every major advance in protecting our most vulnerable from cruelty, abuse and neglect. Today we’re also leading the way in understanding the human-animal bond and its role in therapy, medicine and society. American Humane Association reaches millions of people every day through groundbreaking research, education, training and services that span a wide network of organizations, agencies and businesses. You can help make a difference, too. Visit American Humane Association at www.americanhumane.org today. |
On any given day you’re in a rush, right? Need a very easy and quick meal that you can make from staples found in your pantry? There is no excuse to order pizza out. It is expensive and calorie laden. Here is the answer - pasta salad. Most anything added to pasta will make a good meal. Another good point about pasta is that most people who can boil water can do pasta. So in the time that it will take you to boil water plus another 10 minutes dinner can then be served.
Pasta does not always have to come with a sauce that takes time to make. Just a little oil, seasonings, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry,or beans in any combination will work. You can’t get any easier than that! Be creative! If you don’t trust your creativity check out the recipes on the pasta boxes. I have found most of them very good.
Tuna salad with pasta is a standby in my house. Start with just a tuna salad. I love this and often have it along side a tossed salad and Italian dressing. The Athlete prefers a Panini which is very good with Havarti cheese with dill. Yummy!
Bring the water to boil and then put in pasta. Cook according to directions on the box. Now assemble the tuna. This is what I use:
Tuna Salad with Pasta
- 2 cups of uncooked pasta shells ( or pasta of choice)
- 12 oz. can of Solid White Albacore Tuna- drained
- 1 teaspoon of mustard
- 2 teaspoons of dill relish
- 1/4 cup sliced green olives
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of mayonnaise ( you could need a little more depending on amount of liquid added with pickles and olives)
- 2 cups of pasta shells according to directions. Drain.
Mix drained tuna with the remaining ingredients and stir in the hot pasta. Enjoy right out of the bowl or wait and serve with crisp greens or a side salad. Serves 4
The Teacher Cooks |
The way you use your time is the way you live your life.
Resilience is what keeps you going, no matter what. It’s a powerful key that unlocks untold treasures!
Well, Roy H. Williams once quoted a young rabbi, saying, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
Resilience shines like a precious gem, right at the core of this wisdom. Because, you see, this isn’t about putting your head down and just enduring. No, resilience has a transformative quality. When you learn to dance in life’s storms, they become something different.
Creativity, flexibility, resourcefulness, patience, persistence, and gratitude are individual strengths that enrich your approach to each moment. When you put these skills together, you form a powerful core of
resilience. These core skills are strengths that you can draw on when times get tough. They can help you make helpful and strategic time choices, confront or reframe challenges, and navigate successfully through your day.
Your unique fund of resilient strengths shapes your perspective on individual situations and challenges. And these things, in turn, have a profound affect on how you experience your life as a whole. And a piece of really good news is the fact that resilience can be learned and enhanced, like any skill. The more you build your resilience, the more assured you will feel, no matter what.
Think back to a recent challenging situation. Describe it in detail. Now, visualize yourself moving through it. Activate all of your senses.
What do you see?
What do you smell and hear?
What feelings come up?
Next, visualize how you handled that challenge. Stay with yourself as you deliberately move through it. Then allow yourself to come back to this present moment. Quickly write down and describe how you navigated the challenge.
What skills did you call on to guide you through?
List them, along with the feelings you noticed.
This gives you a snapshot of your particular cluster of resilience tools. Appreciate them, along with your choice to draw on them.
Take a moment, too, to think about new skills that you might add to your resilience list. Remember that resilient strengths, like core muscles, support you all the time, enhancing your capacity to flex and stretch.
Now, don’t those storms look different, when you know you can dance through them? And if you’d like to learn more about how you can expand and deepen your time and efforts … in whatever areas you choose, read on! Here’s a great way to explore avenues to increasing your time skills and heart-based power – whether it’s in your business, or your personal life. I am so pleased to be able to offer my expertise and support as The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”.
You can visit by clicking the link, and when you do you’ll find lots of time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello. There are lots of ways to connect … let’s get started! |
IN THE FALL of 1954, the American television schedule included puppets and comics, average families and aging celebrities, cowboys, detectives, and two dogs with Hollywood histories. Lassie was gentle and pastoral in tone, more domesticated than The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin, which often included "shooting, knifing, punching, war, arrow shooting, Indian attacks, scuffles, gun-butting (but no sword play, strangling, torture, or flogging)," according to the Motion Picture Association of America's analysis. In fact, The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin was considered rough enough that censors in Britain removed certain scenes — especially ones that showed Rinty fighting — and Germany banned the show from playing on religious holidays.
Some of the early episodes were almost comically violent, a matter that the show's aggressive young producer Bert Leonard and Screen Gems squabbled over during production. In one such squabble, Bert conceded several points to the studio: "The actual kill of the mountain lion will be done off scene, and the savageness of the situation will be held down.... We will get enough of it to make it exciting but definitely not gruesome."
The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin was broadcast for the first time on Oct. 15, 1954. The debut episode told the story of how the "Fighting Blue Devils" of the 101st Cavalry came to be stewards of the young Rusty and his dog Rinty — or, as Sergeant O'Hara of the 101st put it, "How we found them two little orphans." Only after I had learned the personal history of Rinty's trainer, Lee Duncan, did I realize how this story recalled his own time as an orphan, and also the orphaned French boy who had lived with Lee's squadron during World War I — the "little chum" who had served as the squadron's mascot until French authorities took him away. It was Lee who had found the puppy he later named Rin Tin Tin on Sept. 15, 1918, in a German encampment, and it was Lee who raised and trained him and his progeny and made them into movie stars a generation ago.
Bert and Lee were confident that Rin Tin Tin would triumph again, but even so, the reception The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin received must have been overwhelming. The show was an instant success by every measure. It had one of the fastest ratings climbs in television history and from its start was ABC's second-highest-rated show overall, trailing only the Walt Disney show. Nine million of the 30 million televisions in the United States were tuned in, several million more than were tuned to Lassie, which had premiered on CBS a month earlier. It was also a critical success. "Crammed with action, gunplay, and chase scenes of pre-musical-cowpoke Westerns," wrote a critic in TV Guide. "It makes fine viewing for kids and nostalgic viewing for grown-ups."
Lee and Rin Tin Tin were once again the center of the nation's attention. How many years had passed since Rinty's great movies of the 1920s and '30s? And yet here they were, as if the dog were a fresh new discovery. The show was broadcasting in 70 other countries besides the United States. Just as in earlier decades, Rin Tin Tin was everywhere. He was a single point connecting people all over the world, from all different cultures and circumstances, all of them watching as the camera angled up to the crest of a hill where a big dog stood at alert, a depthless silhouette against a western sky in a placeless place somewhere in the timeless history of America.
AT CORRIGANVILLE MOVIE Ranch, where the series was shot, the cast and crew worked six days out of seven, racing to shoot two episodes a week. They shot 30 or 40 scenes every day. The schedule was so intense that none of the actors had time to launder their costumes. There was a flood of requests from schools and civic groups, hospitals, rodeos. Everyone wanted a visit from Rinty or from anyone connected to the show. Screen Gems, delighted and also besieged, hired a public relations executive named Wauhillau LaHay to manage the enthusiasm.
LaHay crafted a marvelously fictitious biography for Rin Tin Tin that circulated to the press — one more addition to the many versions of his life that had been concocted over the years. In LaHay's account, Rinty's mother was a German police dog from Buffalo that had been recruited for the Army Expeditionary Forces by Flight Commander William Thaw of the 135th Aero Squadron. According to LaHay's account, Lee somehow found Rinty in the hospital and "kidnapped him"; later the puppy accompanied Lee on his many (fictional) combat flights. Rinty, as LaHay explained, lived in sybaritic luxury. His valet curried him every morning with a butter-soft rubber brush and bathed him every afternoon in a porcelain tub. He lived in a miniature stucco palace with electric lights, plumbing, a sterling silver food trough, a radio that was always tuned to classical music, and a large mailbox, which was bursting with 10,000 fan letters a week.
The part about the fan letters was true.
Lee himself got hundreds of letters from dog owners, for whom he had become a sort of paradigm, the perfect dog owner of the perfect dog. By 1954, more than 40 percent of American households included at least one dog. Mixed breeds were the most common, and the most popular purebreds were beagles, boxers, cocker spaniels, and dachshunds. German shepherds and collies, the two breeds now in prime time, were the fifth and sixth most popular breeds. Just as he had in the 1920s and 1930s with old Rin, and then again in the 1940s with Rin Tin Tin III, Lee stood out as the person who could serve as an intermediary between people and this nation of dogs.
Many people said they remembered Rin Tin Tin from the period when the dog had appeared in air-conditioned movie palaces in the downtowns of the big cities — the old, crumbling city centers, which were now being abandoned for the suburbs. Rin Tin Tin marked the turn of time for the world they knew then, which by 1954 had begun to fade, as the baby boomers arrived in numbers to fill suburban homes.
With the show's success, El Rancho Rin Tin Tin, Lee's modest home in Riverside, Calif., became a destination: a place where you could see, in real life, the miracle dog of television. Lee had always kept old Rin to himself, but now he welcomed visitors to the ranch and encouraged them to play with Rinty. He always brought them to the Memory Room, urging them to sit a while so he could unfurl his stories of the past.
The fact that this dog, Rin Tin Tin IV, wasn't the dog that actually appeared on television didn't make Lee uncomfortable. (Rinty IV had failed the audition and been replaced by better-trained show biz dogs.) If he worried, he wouldn't have welcomed visitors who might point out the disparity. For one thing, the various dogs used on the show looked enough alike, and enough like his Rinty, that it would take close examination to tell them apart. But anyone could figure out that Rinty lived in Riverside while the show was being filmed 60 miles away, making it obvious that the dog at El Rancho Rin Tin Tin couldn't also be on the set. But no one complained.
With the show's success, Lee and his wife Eva finally had some money, and Lee built the house he had been promising Eva since they moved to Riverside. A local architect designed a long structure with an elegant entrance, big jalousie windows, and the first kidney-shaped swimming pool in Riverside. It wasn't ostentatious the way a Hollywood house could be, but by Riverside standards, it was a showplace. Bert also moved into a new house — the big Tudor on Los Feliz, with a swimming pool and a tennis court, just a block from Griffith Park. Bert was only 33 years old, but the success of The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin gave him new stature in Hollywood. He had never lacked for self-confidence, but now he could afford to indulge himself a little. He liked to take meetings in a bathrobe, clenching the fattest cigar he could find between his teeth. He was an avid tennis player and could hold his own on his backyard court, even though he liked to smoke those fat cigars while he played.
RIN TIN TIN was lucky to be reborn in the middle of the biggest baby boom in history. It began in 1946, when veterans came home from the war and got married. Seventy-seven million babies were born in the United States between 1946 and 1964. My family was a typical product of that period: My father was in the service in World War II, where he had served in Army intelligence, and then he returned home to Cleveland, his hometown. In our suburban neighborhood, every house seemed to have at least two or three kids, and new elementary schools popped up like mushrooms. It was like living in a children's village. There were more of us than adults. After dinner, on most nights, all the children on my street came out to play for one last hour before bedtime. We poured out of our houses in our pajamas, and in that shimmery time just after sundown we rode our bikes up and down the sidewalk, caught fireflies, traded baseball cards, lit punks, and ran zigzagging across lawns with sparklers, leaving glittering trails in the fading light. Then we went home and watched TV.
The babies of the boom consumed entertainment rapaciously, gobbling up movies and comic books and toys as well as TV. Almost as soon as The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin was on the air, you could buy a Rin Tin Tin cavalry mess kit, uniform, hat, bugle, gun, and holster, as well as a recording of the 101st Cavalry bugle calls, cavalry belt-and-suspender sets, a Rin Tin Tin–branded pocketknife, a telescope, a walkie-talkie, a beanie, a pennant, a 3-D color viewer with viewer cards, and all sorts of mechanical games. Companies' fortunes were made on licensed Rin Tin Tin products. These toys were "presold to 13,750,000 kids" in a "once in a blue moon" opportunity, according to an ad in Merchandising News magazine.
The effect of all these children, the mass of us, must have been bewildering to our parents, almost like witnessing an invasion of hungry aliens — and intriguing to sociologists and marketers. Children, and especially teenagers, had never been observed and measured and considered as a group before, but now sheer numbers made them a moving force. Beginning with the baby boom, anything manufactured or produced was evaluated for its potential to appeal to all these eager children. Not only did they rescue a once-famous movie dog from obscurity, but they seemed to dictate everything that their families, including their parents, watched and ate and bought. A 1955 issue of TV Guide summed things up with a story titled "Who's Boss of Your TV Set?"
The answer, according to the social scientists, was kids.
From Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, by Susan Orlean. ©2011 by Susan Orlean. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster.
THE WEEK'S AUDIOPHILE PODCASTS: LISTEN SMARTER
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Racial identity defines who I am by physical appearance, but that identity also engenders characteristics of where I have come from, my socio-economic status in a 21st century capitalist economic order, the history and culture of my family, and the language surrounding me. Racial identity is a part of how I and every other student at the College of Wooster discover who we are and how that affects the trajectory of our post-graduate lives.
Being a part of my very liberal generation is an extremely unique and interesting experience. The College of Wooster is a microcosm of this generation, with students drawn from different families, nations and ideologies. Coming to Wooster, many of them navigate between the worlds of white privilege and their own social normalcy.
‘What is beautiful?’ they might think. ‘Should I say my prayers? Should I wear my native clothing? Should I speak like them and adopt their habits?’ These questions force many minorities on campus to live a double, and at times, triple consciousness in order to feel that they can be accepted into the larger student body here at Wooster.
Physical appearance is what makes individuals different from each other, and those physical appearances are what we judge. People of Color (POC) refers to any race that is not white. Usually these groups face discrimination on Wooster’s campus. Despite the old adage that beauty only lies skin deep, many of Wooster’s POC recognize that here, this is not true. People are often judged by the way they appear before they are able to share their experiences and thoughts.
I interviewed three students, two POC and one white student, in preparation for this editorial. The first student I spoke with was a male of Chinese origin, who had never lived in the U.S. before coming to the College. I asked him if he thought his physical characteristics had any effect on his experience and if they impacted the way other students on campus treated him.
He replied: “The reason I would feel marginalized is a culture and somewhat of a physical appearance issue. It’s (the Chinese culture) something I have loved and followed in the past but abandoned over here, but instead the universal goal that people are pursuing are the ones that I was trying to abandon. People do not judge me about that but instead people judge me on current stereotypes. For example, that I only hang out with Chinese students, I do not like to speak and I am a lady-like Asian man.”
Another student I interviewed was an African American woman from Atlanta. There, she lived in a predominately white suburb, so her transition to Wooster was not very difficult. I asked if she ever felt the need to appeal to her friends based on her racial identity.
She answered, “Depending on the issue, I pick and choose who I address with certain issues. If I feel it is something that I could relate with among my African American friends, I will share my concerns and experiences with them. If I feel as if I can’t address certain issues with my African American friends, I address them with the white.” In these instances, she shaped her interactions with her friends based not only on her own racial identity, but those of her friends as well.
People tend to accept the stereotypes about POC while not giving individuals an instance to prove themselves or show what they can possibly contribute to this community outside of these stereotypes.
The last student I interviewed was a white female. I asked her, “Do you feel as if your racial and social status gives you more opportunities towards being accepted on campus?”
She responded: “Indeed. This campus consists of mostly white students and amongst those who participate in Greek life, the majority are white student athletes.” Did she believe that this was an issue of discrimination? “I believe that there are not as many POC in these organizations except for specific groups; however, the majority is athletes and Greek life and they set the bar for social acceptance.”
The students of the College may not intentionally discriminate based on race, but they do not realize the rules of social normalcy they set for others have implications that do not encompass all racial identities, particularly for POC. POC should not have to conform to what the majority of the students on campus have constructed as appropriate because it does not consider the perspectives of POC.
Recently, “Posing Beauty” opened at the Ebert Art Museum. The exhibit examines the physical characteristics of African Americans. This show is essentially a discussion about how racial identity relates to this campus. It demonstrates the various ways in which POC are discriminated against, but also explores perceptions of beauty.
For example, the photograph “Body as a Canvas” depicts how the physical appearance of an African American Barbie is forced to conform to constructs of “white” beauty. The majority would rather see a green eyed, white look-alike Barbie rather than the African American woman with her full lips, thick hair and brown eyes.
Racial identity is an issue that cannot be ignored, but it is also an issue that cannot be forced. It is something the campus community will first have to become conscious of, so they can pursue the path of overcoming its judgments. Racial identity constructs who we are, but the assumptions and stereotypes should not be part of that construction. This is a diverse campus. Reconstruct the social norm. The majority is not the only group of students that contribute to the great foundation of the College of Wooster. Great minds are able to overcome prejudices and use their experiences and knowledge. Race is never an issue unless it is made one. |
A Missouri bank executive who used nearly $400,000 in taxpayer-provided bailout funds to buy himself a luxury condo on Florida’s Gulf Coast pleaded guilty to charges of misleading investigators about the purchase in federal court on Tuesday. The maximum penalty Darryl Layne Woods faces is one year in prison and a fine of $100,000, according to the Justice Department.
Woods ran Mainstreet Bank in Ashland, Missouri, as well as the company that owned Mainstreet. That holding company, Calvert Financial Corporation, received $1 million from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in January 2009. Woods spent $381,487 of that money to buy a luxury condo in Fort Myers, Florida, a few days later.
While the $700 billion financial industry bailout helped Woods buy a house, it hasn’t helped millions of struggling homeowners. TARP was supposed to pass $46 million to homeowners, but three years into the program just 10 percent of those funds had actually reached borrowers. The primary program by which TARP dollars were supposed to aid homeowners – the Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP – hasn’t just failed to reach anywhere near as many struggling borrowers as advertised. It’s also failed to provide sustainable help to the few it has reached. Half of the loans modified under HAMP are back in default.
In addition to the government’s failure to provide any meaningful form of bailout to main street, its efforts at enlisting big banks in a fight to stem the foreclosure crisis have been riddled with problems. A settlement with five of the largest mortgage servicers produced very little direct aid to homeowners, many of whom didn’t even bother cashing the tiny checks mailed to them under the National Mortgage Settlement. Furthermore, banks have continuously violated the terms of the settlement, and consumers around the country continue to face abusive mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices. The government stymied an independent foreclosure review that had found evidence of millions of wrongful foreclosures nationwide, saying the information about industry practices constituted “trade secrets” that couldn’t be revealed.
In Woods’ would-be home of Ft. Myers, the foreclosure rate remains among the highest of any metropolitan area in the country. Florida had the highest foreclosure rate of any state in the first half of 2013, with one in 58 homes in foreclosure. |
As the planet warms from greenhouse pollution, the Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival is beginning earlier and earlier. This year, the single-flowered Yoshino cherries and double-flowered Kwanzan cherries may peak at their earliest yet. The Yoshinos may come to peak bloom even before the current record of 2000, when they peaked on March 17, the Washington Post’s Jason Samenow writes:
The May-like warmth forecast over the next week promises to give the cherry blossoms a big shot of adrenaline, bringing them to peak bloom considerably earlier than normal (which is around April 1). With the big temperature spike ahead, the peak bloom date could come close to the earliest on record of March 17, 2000.
This early bloom is no aberration — it’s part of a long-term trend of earlier blooming. The “normal” is moving with the warming of the earth. The National Park Service’s Robert DeFeo has records of the peak bloom dates of Washington DC’s heralded cherry trees since 1921. As this chart prepared by ThinkProgress Green shows, the average blooming time for the trees has moved about 10 days earlier in the last 90 years:
With carbon pollution growing at an exponential rate, it is reasonable to expect that March is the new April when it comes to our capital’s cherry trees. |
… Gingrich told attendees “” including Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a key figure in the state’s first-in-nation Republican presidential caucuses “” that the EPA should be replaced with a new “Environmental Solutions Agency.”
The replacement agency “would encourage innovation, incentivize success and emphasize sound science and new technology over bureaucracy, regulation, litigation and restrictions on American energy”….
Apparently the disgraced former Speaker is going to run for President. So he has been reaching out to the anti-science Tea Party extremists with wilder and wilder statements and flip flops (see Gingrich: “It’s an act of egotism for humans to think we’re a primary source of climate change”
Gingrich has long been just another pro-pollution conservative eco-fraud pretending to care about the environment while adopting the anti-regulation, pro-technology rhetoric suggested by GOP strategist, Frank Luntz, and popularized by his protege, George Bush (see Bush climate speech follows Luntz playbook: “Technology, technology, blah, blah, blah” and “Eco-fraud Gingrich has always opposed clean energy, climate action“).
It’s laughable he called for creating an “Environmental Solutions Agency.” We already have an Environmental Solutions Agency that develops innovative new technology — it’s called the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which I helped run in the mid-1990s. Gingrich tried to kill it when he became speaker in 1995. But why let facts get in the way of a good speech?
No one really believes that polluters will just clean up all by themselves. People understand that you have to set standards that will protect public health and make sure polluters stick to them. That’s why since its founding, the EPA’s approach of setting standards and holding polluters accountable has prevented:
- 205,000 premature deaths
- 672,000 cases of chronic bronchitis
- 21,000 cases of heart disease
- 843,000 asthma attacks
- 189,000 cardiovascular hospitalizations
- 18 million child respiratory illnesses.
Those deaths weren’t prevented, those illnesses weren’t averted and those kids weren’t saved because the EPA went door to door to polluters and said “Pretty please won’t you clean up.” Lives are saved and health improved when we let the experts at the agency responsible for making sure our air and water are clean and safe set the standards and then hold polluters accountable. That’s how the EPA cut air pollution in the US by 60% since 1970.
Gingrich is anti-science and pro-pollution. He fundamentally wants dirtier air and dirtier water for your children. And he no longer wants to take any action to prevent a ruined climate. That I suppose makes him an ideal candidate for the Big-Oil-funded Tea Party crowd (see “Video proof David Koch, the polluting billionaire, pulls the strings of the Tea Party extremists“).
UPDATE: Here is the audio: |
Over at Macworld, Lex Friedman does an excellent job running down the strange story of a Russian hacker who figured out how to trick iOS such that users could make some in-app purchases for free. Apple should be able to fix the problem, but it’s an interesting example of the classic “man in the middle” attack because, in this case, the man in the middle is the user, rather than some bad guy. follow link
Better Text Formatting in iPhoto
If you're creating a card or book in iPhoto, and you're not happy with the formatting options for the text (such as line spacing or justification), copy the text out to TextEdit, make the changes you want there, and paste it back into iPhoto, which will retain your changes.
Hacker Exploits iOS Flaw for Free In-App Purchases |
For parents seeking to pay for their kids’ college educations, here are three numbers that will make the task much easier: 5, 2, 9.
We’re talking about 529 college saving plans, which are named for the IRS tax code that created them. With a 529, you can save for college tax-free, as long as the money is used for higher-education expenses. Despite this huge tax advantage, 529 plans are still overlooked — only one in four parents saving for college are putting money in a 529, according to a recent survey by lender Sallie Mae.
Why are families missing out on 529s? Well, chalk it up to confusion. Nearly every state has its own plan, and some operate more than one, so shopping around can be daunting. (You can invest in nearly any state’s 529, not just your own.) And much like a 401(k), each 529 presents you with a wide array of investment choices to sort through. Still, you can quickly drill down to the right choice for you — just follow these five steps:
1. Check out your state’s tax breaks. First determine what tax benefits your state offers — most states let you claim a deduction for contributions to a 529. (Go to savingforcollege.com, where you can look up each state’s tax breaks and 529 plans.) If you live in a state with no income tax, or one that doesn’t offer a tax deduction, you’re free to look elsewhere. You can also shop around if you live in one of the six states (including Missouri and Pennsylvania) that allow you to deduct contributions to any state’s 529 plan.
2. Assess your state’s plans. If your state does give you tax breaks, you’re typically better off investing at home, especially if the deductions are generous. But there are exceptions. When the local 529 offers poorly performing funds or charges high costs — say, more than 0.5% — you may do better by going elsewhere. (More on costs below.) And for those investing for young kids, you may be able to start out with your in-state plan and later roll over your money to a better plan elsewhere. Some 14 states allow you to move your funds to an out-of-state 529 without penalty as long as you stay invested for a few years.
3. Keep your costs down. For many years 529s levied higher fees than retail brokerages did for comparable offerings, which took a big bite out of returns. But competition is finally pushing down costs.
To find a low-cost 529, stick with those that are direct-sold — meaning you invest directly with the plan — and avoid plans sold through brokers and advisers, who typically layer on fees. If you sort through the choices, you’ll typically find funds charging less than 0.5% — often index offerings that cost 0.2% or less. (You can find links to the different state plans at collegesavings.org).
4. Opt for an age-based fund. The simplest and best choice for many families is an age-based portfolio, which is similar to a retirement target-date fund: You get instant diversification and the asset mix shifts to become more conservative as your child nears college. (That automatic feature is especially helpful for 529s, since you can generally make only one investment change a year.) But make sure you’re comfortable with the asset mix, since some age-based portfolios are more risky than others — an aggressive fund for a 10-year-old might have 70% in stocks, while a conservative choice might hold less than 30%.
5. Protect your portfolio. When you’re one or two years away from paying that first tuition bill, you may want to shift out of the age-based fund to even safer assets. Just make sure they really are safe.
Many families were hit hard in 2008 by losses in their 529 bond funds, which turned out to hold subprime mortgage securities. Today fixed-income investors face the prospect of rising interest rates, which would push down bond prices. The longer the maturity of the bond funds, the bigger the potential losses.
Still, 529s offer many low-risk options, such as a high-quality short-term bond fund, which is likely to hold up relatively well if rates rise. (You can look up the fund’s average maturity and credit quality at Morningstar.com.) Many 529s also offer stable value funds, which are backed by an insurance company and hold a steady net asset value — they pay a yield equivalent to a short-term bond fund. And some plans, like Ohio’s CollegeAdvantage 529, let you invest in bank CDs. You can’t get safer than that. |
Law enforcement wants to make sure everyone has a safe Labor Day.
Todd Mineweaser, Youngsville Borough police chief, said his department will be participating in the Impaired Driving National Enforcement Crackdown. The event began Friday, Aug. 17 and runs through Monday, Sept. 3.
With Cornfest in Youngsville, the department has a lot to do this weekend. But closer to Labor Day, Mineweaser said, they will start increasing patrols to target impaired drivers.
"We'll be looking for reasons to stop people from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.," Mineweaser said. "Those are the hours when 80 percent of impaired driving occurs."
At that time, blood alcohol content gets higher. Although the department has participated in the program for a number of years, Mineweaser said DUI is still a big problem and isn't going away.
In fact, he said, officers are seeing more people commit their second and third offenses. Another trend involves increased use of controlled substances among impaired drivers.
To combat what they're dealing with, Mineweaser said, police training has also gotten better.
Many of the drugs causing impairment are legal and the drivers have prescriptions for them. These are often pain medications and come with warnings on them to avoid driving.
"People take them for a while and think it's okay to drive," Mineweaser said, "but their reaction time is slower and their judgment is slower."
Since it doesn't take much to be over the limit, Mineweaser said those who are drinking or taking medication should plan ahead. Cabs, buses and walking all provide alternatives to driving.
"People need to be aware our goal as law enforcement is to keep the highways safe," Mineweaser said. "Our prisons are full and we don't get paid to make more arrests. If people don't like to be arrested, they should think and plan ahead." |
Some words about this program
The aim of this program is not to present the user the "DEFINITIVE" HTML Editor with really everything he/she can wish, but, rather, a very comfortable piece of software where most of the often used HTML tags is at a mouse click.
Using it must not be difficult as all the most used tags are organized and ordered by topic.
Many common tags, i.e. those encapsulating words or short sentences habeen organized so as to allow the user to automatically put the oprening tag at the beginning of the word or short sentence and the closing tag at its end. For instance I want to put "This Sentence" between <H1> e </H1>: I cam proceed this way:
1. I Select This Sentence;
2. then I choose the menu Headers and click the <H1>...</H1> menu item
Some things must be kept into consideration:
1) this program has been written with Borlamd Kylix3® O.E. (Delphi-mode) on a Mandrake 9.0 environment. And the graphic environment where it has been developed is KDE 3.0;
2) this program especially when it calls Konqueror to preview the page but also in the About form, it of course uses Libc: the Libc shipped with Mandrake 9.0: if we are not mistaken the Glibc 2.2.x;
3) already with a major version of Glibc this part of the program may not work. This malfunction is of course not due to coding mistake but - as said - to a different version of Glibc (to this purpose see the newsgroup borland.public.kylix.distros-compatibility and Andreas Hausladen's site http://www.kylix-patch.de.vu/; have a look at http://sourceforge.net/projects/kylixlibs/ too!)
4) the file " filep.htm" MUST never be deleted from the TinyHTMLEfitor directory.
It must be said that for Italian Users an Italian localization (e.g. menus in Italian) is available. This localixation has been made using Lin Localizer http://linlocalize.sourceforge.net/.
Starting form the linux version written with Borlamd Kylix3®, a translation for Windopws has been made using Borlamd Delphi® 6 O.E..
For both the Linux and the Windows versions the SynComponents (see: http://sourceforge.net/projects/synedit/) have been used. Those for Delphi have some features which seem to work better than the same components used in Kylix 3 O.E.. This is tge reason why the Tiny HTML Editor Win version is slightly better, especially when printing the page.
Tiny HTML Editor's latest releases can be downloaded on its SourceForge page here!
N.B.: I want to take advantage from this page to publicly thank The Source Forge staff for having allowed the realisation of this tiny project of mine and for having given assistance to me as well.P.S.: this html page has of course been written with Tiny HTML Editor!!!
The Project Administrator
Thank to all those
people who visited my site since September 6th, 2003 |
Made available by
Touch N' Go Systems, Inc., and the
Law Offices of James B. Gottstein.
You can also go to The Alaska Legal Resource Center or search the entire websitesearch.
(a) When traffic is controlled by an official traffic-control signal displaying colored lights or lighted arrows, only green, red, and yellow may be used, except for a special pedestrian signal carrying a word legend. The lights indicate and apply to drivers of vehicles and pedestrians as follows:
(1) green indication
(A) vehicular traffic facing a circular green signal may proceed through or turn right or left, unless a sign at the location prohibits the turn; vehicular traffic, including vehicles turning right or left, must yield the right-of-way to other vehicles and to pedestrians lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk at the time the signal is exhibited;
(B) vehicular traffic facing a green arrow signal may cautiously enter the intersection to make the movement indicated by the arrow, or other movement permitted by other indications shown at the same time; vehicular traffic must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians within an adjacent crosswalk and to other traffic lawfully using the intersection; display of a green arrow signal indicates that the movement indicated by the arrow is not impeded by oncoming traffic;
(C) unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian-control signal, as provided in 13 AAC 02.015, pedestrians facing a green signal, except when the green signal is a turn arrow, may proceed across the roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk;
(2) steady yellow indication
(A) vehicular traffic facing a steady yellow signal is warned that the movement allowed under (a)(1) of this section is being terminated and that a red indication will be exhibited immediately following the yellow indication;
(B) pedestrians facing a steady circular yellow or yellow arrow signal, unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian-control signal as provided in 13 AAC 02.015, may not start to cross the roadway, as there is insufficient time to cross before a red indication will be exhibited;
(3) steady red indication
(A) vehicular traffic facing a steady circular red signal may not enter the intersection and must stop at a clearly marked stop line or, if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, before entering the intersection; vehicular traffic must remain standing until an indication to proceed is shown, except as provided in (a)(3)(B) of this section;
(B) a driver of a vehicle who has stopped as provided in (a)(3)(A) of this section may, after stopping, cautiously proceed to turn right or left from the lawful lane for the turn, except that no person may turn left onto a two-way street when facing a steady red indication; these movements are not allowed if an official traffic-control device prohibits them or directs the driver's attention to a green arrow signal which controls these movements; vehicular traffic making such a turn must yield the right-of-way to another vehicle or to a pedestrian lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk at the time the signal is exhibited;
(C) vehicular traffic facing a steady red arrow indication may not enter the intersection to make the movement indicated by the arrow and, unless entering the intersection to make a movement permitted by another indication, must stop at a clearly marked stop line or, if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, before entering the intersection, and must remain standing until an indication permitting the movement indicated by the red arrow is shown;
(D) unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian-control signal as provided in 13 AAC 02.015, no pedestrian facing a steady circular red or red arrow signal may enter the roadway.
(b) If an official traffic-control signal is maintained at a place other than an intersection, the provisions of this section are applicable to the signal, except as to those provisions which by their nature have no application. A required stop must be made at a sign or marking on the pavement indicating where the stop must be made or, if none, the stop must be made at the signal.
History: In effect before 7/28/59; am 12/15/61, Register 3; am 8/10/66, Register 22; am 12/31/69, Register 31; am 6/28/79, Register 70
Authority: AS 28.05.011
Note to HTML Version:
The Alaska Administrative Code was automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, but neither Touch N' Go Systems nor the Law Offices of James B. Gottstein can be held responsible for any possible errors. This version of the Alaska Administrative Code is current through June, 2006.
If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Administrative Code be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. Recent editions of the Alaska Administrative Journal may be obtained from the Alaska Lieutenant Governor's Office on the world wide web. If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful. Copyright 2006. Touch N' Go Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 7/05/2006 |
After the worldwide crisis of 1929, numerous brief governments followed one another. The APRA party had the opportunity to cause system reforms by means of political actions, but it was not successful. This was a nationalistic movement, populist and anti-imperialist, headed by Victor Raul Haya de la Torre in 1924. The Socialist Party of Peru, later the Peruvian Communist Party, was created four years later and it was led by Jose C. Mariategui.
Repression was brutal in the early 1930s and tens of thousands of APRA followers (Apristas) were executed or imprisoned. This period was also characterized by a sudden population growth and an increase in urbanization. According to Alberto Flores Galindo, "By the 1940 census, the last that utilized racial categories, mestizos were grouped with whites, and the two constituted more than 53 percent of the population. Mestizos likely outnumbered Indians and were the largest population group."During World War II, Peru was the first South American nation to align with the United States and its allies against Germany and Japan.
In the mid-20th century, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (founder of the APRA), together with José Carlos Mariátegui (leader of the Peruvian Communist Party), were two major forces in Peruvian politics. Ideologically opposed, they both managed to create the first political parties that tackled the social and economic problems of the country. Although Mariátegui died at a young age, Haya de la Torre was twice elected president, but prevented by the military from taking office. During World War II, the country rounded up around 2,000 of its Japanese immigrant population and shipped them to the United States as part of the Japanese-American internment program.
President Bustamante y Rivero hoped to create a more democratic government by limiting the power of the military and the oligarchy. Elected with the cooperation of the APRA, conflict soon arose between the President and Haya de la Torre. Without the support of the APRA party, Bustamante y Rivero found his presidency severely limited. The President disbanded his Aprista cabinet and replaced it with a mostly military one. In 1948, Minister Manuel A. Odria and other right-wing elements of the Cabinet urged Bustamante y Rivero to ban the APRA, but when the President refused, Odría resigned his post.
In a military coup on October 29, Gen. Manuel A. Odria became the new President. Odría's presidency was known as the Ochenio. He came down hard on APRA, momentarily pleasing the oligarchy and all others on the right, but followed a populist course that won him great favor with the poor and lower classes. A thriving economy allowed him to indulge in expensive but crowd-pleasing social policies. At the same time, however, civil rights were severely restricted and corruption was rampant throughout his régime.
It was feared that his dictatorship would run indefinitely, so it came as a surprise when Odría allowed new elections. During this time, Fernando Belaúnde Terry started his political career, and led the slate submitted by the National Front of Democratic Youth. After the National Election Board refused to accept his candidacy, he led a massive protest, and the striking image of Belaúnde walking with the flag was featured by newsmagazine Caretas the following day, in an article entitled "Así Nacen Los Lideres" ("Thus Are Leaders Born"). Belaúnde's 1956 candidacy was ultimately unsuccessful, as the dictatorship-favored right-wing candidacy of Manuel Prado Ugarteche took first place.
Belaúnde ran for president once again in the National Elections of 1962, this time with his own party, Acción Popular (Popular Action). The results were very tight; he ended in second place, following Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (APRA), by less than 14,000 votes. Since none of the candidates managed to get the Constitutionally-established minimum of one third of the vote required to win outright, selection of the President should have fallen to Congress; the long-held antagonistic relationship between the military and APRA prompted Haya de la Torre to make a deal with former dictator Odria, who had come in third, which would have resulted in Odria taking the Presidency in a coalition government.
However, widespread allegations of fraud prompted the Peruvian military to depose Prado and install a military junta, led by Ricardo Perez Godoy. Godoy ran a short transitional government and held new elections in 1963, which were won by Belaúnde by a more comfortable but still narrow five percent margin.
Throughout Latin America in the 1960s, communist movements inspired by the Cuban Revolution sought to win power through guerrilla warfare. The Revolutionary Left Movement (Peru), or MIR, launched an insurrection that had been crushed by 1965, but Peru's internal strife would only accelerate until its climax in the 1990s.
The military has been prominent in Peruvian history. Coups have repeatedly interrupted civilian constitutional government. The most recent period of military rule (1968–1980) began when General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrew elected President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of the Popular Action Party (AP). As part of what has been called the "first phase" of the military government's nationalist program, Velasco undertook an extensive agrarian reform program and nationalized the fish meal industry, some petroleum companies, and several banks and mining firms.
General Francisco Morales Bermúdez replaced Velasco in 1975, citing Velasco's economic mismanagement and deteriorating health. Morales Bermúdez moved the revolution into a more conservative "second phase", tempering the radical measures of the first phase and beginning the task of restoring the country's economy. A Constitutional Assembly was created in 1979, which was led by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre. Morales Bermúdez presided over the return to civilian government in accordance with a new constitution drawn up in 1979.
Peru Luxury Tours
Cusco Hotel Reservation
Machu Picchu Peru |
Long-time Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, stranded in the desert after rebels and a Nato missile strike wrecked his escape convoy last October, apparently wanted to stage a last stand as his enemies closed in, a UN report said.
The dramatic account of the last hours of the life of the man who had ruled the country for four decades, came from an international commission of inquiry set up in March last year soon after an uprising against him began.
The 200-page report for the UN’s Human Rights Council, now holding its spring session, was released by officials of the world body in Geneva in an unedited version, but is due for discussion in the next three weeks.
The commission, led by Canadian jurist Philippe Kirsch, found that in the fighting that rolled back and forth across Libya in 2011, both sides committed war crimes, including murder and torture.
But they said “current conditions” in Libya had to be understood against the background of “the damage caused to the fabric of the society by decades of corruption, serious human rights violations and sustained repression of any opposition.”
The inquiry team said it had not been able to obtain a first-hand account of how he died – some accounts said he was shot in the head by a rebel fighter in an ambulance – and had only “inconsistent accounts from secondary sources.”
For this reason, the team said, it had been “unable to confirm the death of Muammar Qaddafi as an unlawful killing and considers that further investigation is required.”
Running into a rebel ambush, the battered convoy circled onto a coast road and split up. But a vehicle just in front of the green four-wheel-drive vehicle in which Qaddafi was travelling was hit by a Nato missile and blew up.
The explosion set off air bags in Qaddafi’s car and, under fire from rebels, he, his son and defence minister Abubakr Younis took shelter in a nearby house, which was then shelled by the rebels.
Mutassim then took some 20 fighters and went to look for undamaged cars, having persuaded his father to come too. One of Qaddafi’s guards threw a grenade at advancing rebels on the road above but it hit a cement wall above the pipes and fell in front of Qaddafi. The guard tried to pick it up, but it exploded, killing him and Younis.
“Qaddafi was wounded by grenade shrapnel that shredded his flak jacket. He sat on the floor dazed and in shock, bleeding from a wound in the left temple,” the report said. Then one of his group waved a white turban in surrender.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2012. |
March 10, 2010 > Half Pint libraries encourage giving
Half Pint libraries encourage giving
By Miriam G. Mazliach
Photos By courtesy of Rebekah Gannaway
"We want to put books in the hands of kids," says Executive Vice President of Half Price Books, Kathy Doyle Thomas.
It was with that objective in mind, to give donated books to local children, that the Half Pint Libraries program was begun, its name suggested by an employee. Says Thomas, "Our employees and customers love to read and most are avid readers. They had books they didn't know what to do with and asked, "Who do I give them to?"
"As a parent, I try to teach my kids that if people have more than they need, they can share with others. We make it easy to do this," says Thomas, "and local children in Fremont will benefit from this 12th annual Half Pint Library Book Drive."
Two "former hippies," Ken Gjemre and Pat Anderson, founded half Price Books in 1972. "Yes, we did have them in Texas," says Thomas. Their philosophy was, "We make enough so other people deserve a good standard of living. As for books, they should have more than one reader, more than one home."
The message of philanthropy stretches beyond promoting literacy, to include an environmental "green message," long before it was popular - one of reusing and recycling books to others. Founder Anderson had said, "If we can't sell it, we want to give it away. Books should fill our lives, not our land."
Through March 31, customers are encouraged to drop off gently used or new children's books at Half Price Books where the employees will sort through to make sure they are in good condition, before donating to the appropriate local organizations.
Half Price Books, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is the largest family-owned chain of new and used bookstores in the United States with 108 stores in 16 states and still expanding.
The company is partnering with the East Bay Children's Book Project to help distribute the books to various local nonprofit groups and organizations. "We are a volunteer-staffed nonprofit organization and have been in existence for over five years. Our focus is giving books to any professionals or agencies who works with kids in need," says Executive Director and volunteer, Ann Katz.
According to Katz they regularly receive multiple thousands of books themselves each year from Half Price Books, but this is the first time they will be working together to coordinate such a large scale community giveaway.
If you are a registered 501-C3 nonprofit agency and would like to receive some of these books, go online and fill out the form at www.halfpricebooks.com. Bring the completed form to the Book Giveaway/Community event at the F.M. Smith Recreation Center, 1969 Park Blvd. in Oakland on Saturday, April 24, from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Thomas emphasizes that these donated books are not for resale. "We want kids to have the books or community organizations to use them to create or add to their own children's libraries."
In many cases, this might be the first book a child has ever received. Of more importance, reading is a stepping-stone to academic success at school and for the future.
"Unfortunately, when money is tight, buying books can't always be a priority for families struggling to make ends meet," says Thomas. "Half Price Books feels that every child deserves a book of their own and is hosting this drive to benefit local children who may not otherwise have access to books."
Last year's Half Pint Book Drive garnered over 5,000 books which were collected and distributed in the Bay Area, ranging from books for tots through teenagers, storybooks to young adult novels. The hope is to exceed that amount this year.
Drop-off for books through March 31:
Half Pint Libraries Book Drive
Half Price Books
43473 Boscell Rd., Fremont
Book giveaway and Community Event
Half Price Books with East Bay Children's Book Project
F.M. Smith Recreation Center
1969 Park Blvd., Oakland
Saturday, April 24
1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Nonprofit agencies can register to receive books by completing the form found online at www.halfpricebooks.com and bringing it to the event. The community is encouraged to attend the event. |
Originally Posted by dman72
So let's say you have a guy in your league who has both feet inside the baseline..on every serve. You notice this during warmup and when you see the guy playing on adjoining courts.
The guy is a good guy, not a jerk or a cheeser with line calls or anything..maybe he just has no idea that he starts with both feet behind the line, but after his toss both feet slide way over the line.
If he had a really weak serve it wouldn't matter, but his serve has become effective...it only clears that net by about 3 inches so that's another advantage he's gaining..that his flat hard serve with no margin for error probably wouldn't be clearing the net.
Plus, he's developing a serve and volley game and he's gaining half a step on this.
How do you go about addressing this without being a jerk...like bringing it up right before a match (gamey) right after a match (sore loser or winner). The first time I played him I actually took a few serves from his starting position and he didn't even get a racquet on them..trying to make a point. It didn't connect.
The last time I played this guy we split sets, so I'm hoping I win and then I might bring it up.
I am confused........Does he start with both feet inside the line or does he jump in as he serves with both feet ?????? |
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replace text-based tutorials in 5th grade math books and give you better, step-by-step explanations of division equations. Watch each video repeatedly until you understand how to approach division equations problems and how to solve them.
- Tons of video tutorials on division equations make it easy for you to better understand the concept.
- Tons of word problems on division equations give you all the practice you need.
- Tons of printable worksheets on division equations let you practice what you have learned in your 5th grade math class by watching the video tutorials.
How to do better on division equations: TuLyn makes division equations easy for 5th grade math students.
5th Grade: Division Equations Worksheets
Free division equations printable worksheets for 5th grade math students.
5th Grade: Division Equations Word Problems
The area of sherry's flower garden is one-fourth the area of her vegetable garden.The area of the flower garden is 17 square feet. Let X represent the area of the flower ...
The area of sherry\'s flower garden is one-fourth the area of her vegetable garden.The area of the flower garden is 17 square feet. Let X represent the area of the flower ...
division equations homework help word problems for 5th grade math students.
Fifth Grade: Division Equations Practice Questions
x/4 + 8 = 18
if there was 20 people and each bus holded 60 people then how many buses do you need
division equations homework help questions for 5th grade math students.
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In this video, Corey Barker takes you step-by-step through the Perfect Portrait guided edit feature in Photoshop Elements 11. Glamorize an ordinary-looking close-up photograph with just a few clicks in a single panel.
Runtime : 00:03:54 Added : 01/24/2013
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Learn to use Photoshop Elements with tutorials selected by experts at Adobe. Find everything from Getting Started tutorials to new features, tips, and techniques. Use with Photoshop Elements 11.
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: A (usually female) character who thrusts their child onto the stage.
- Straight: Alice, a failed actress, makes her very reluctant daughter Claire perform in pageants.
- Downplayed: Alice wants Claire to succeed because of her own failures, but respects her daughter's freedom.
- Justified: Alice is incredibly screwed up mentally and lives vicariously through her daughter.
- Inverted: Claire desperately wants to perform in pageants...but Alice won't let her.
- Subverted: It seems like Alice is a nice, friendly mother who's just letting Claire perform in pageants for the fun of it...
- Double Subverted: ...but more about her character comes to light and she turns out to be the failed actress archetype.
- Parodied: Alice forces Claire to enter, but gets so involved she eventually kicks her daughter of the stage and draws all the attention to herself.
- Zig Zagged: Alice may have forced her little Claire to the stage, and the woman sure is fierce about her daughter's career... but Claire in fact does enjoy acting, and, while grateful, deep down would like that her mother stops meddling into her professional decisions so much.
- Averted: Alice doesn't force her daughter to do anything.
- Enforced: "So the mom is a failed actress who lives vicariously through her daughter? This thing writes itself!"
- Lampshaded: "Didn't you try out for Generic Sitcom #553"? "Why yes...yes I did."
- Invoked: Alice's husband Bob is reading the newspaper and mentions an article about Diana, the woman who won the role in the sitcom over Alice. Alice sees another article about the pageant and looks at Claire...
- Exploited: Alice's husband Bob takes advantage of her long absences with Claire to have an affair.
- Defied: Alice decides that while she may not like being a failed actress, she has a job to do - and that's to be a good mother.
- Discussed: "Alice, dear, don't you think you're pushing Claire into pageants and talent contests too much? It's like you were the one about to enter..."
- Conversed: "Oh, my, why all those moms of aspiring acting talents are so nasty and overbearing? They don't realize that won't help their kids at all?"
- The forced attention causes Claire to resent Alice.
- The sheer lengths Alice goes to get Claire be famous crosses into child abuse.
- We are shown how unhappy Alice is and how she doesn't know how else to connect with her child.
- Claire hates the attention, but she gets over it and reconciles with Alice.
- Alice realizes what she was doing and decides to support her daughter in a less pushy way.
- Played For Laughs: Alice's motives for this are comically transparent. Claire turns out to be a really bad actor, yet Alice completely fails to notice this and brightly praises her every performance like it was award-winning.
- Played For Drama: Alice abuses her station as Claire's mother to shove her towards the stage against her will, refusing to let her daughter pursue any of her actual interests. This snowballs into Why Did You Make Me Hit You? as she staunchly refuses to let Claire's utter misery ruin her chances at seeing her career take off.
Troper, sit up straight! You've got to look good for the camera! Don't you call me a Stage Mom |
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
“I raised the alarm at work today. The midgets were furious.”
The Midgets are the result of the evolution of the common big toe (circa 3,000,000 B.C.E.). After years of being stepped on, the earliest midgets detached from their hosts and went into the wild. These "toes" were to remain hidden for the next million years. Some went wild 'to the max', and these midgets are now referred to as Feral midgets. Please note that while they're small & annoying like midgets, Ewoks are more closely related to Oompah Loompahs.
edit Unknown facts
Colin "STD" Bryce (STD stands for Shoot them Dwarves) was once the king of the Little people, and famed producer of Midget Sluts on tour 2001.
Midgets, dwarves, or "Little People" as they supposedly like to be called are a very deceptive "race" of folk.
We assume them to be a sorry breed, all short and deformed, but this is a conspiracy as big as things like the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Freemasons or the Club of Rome.
They are in fact a race of the richest people in the world who live underground, usually under hills, and some may even have their fingers in some very powerful and conspiratorial pies.
Who would breed if they knew their offspring would be all short and deformed? No One!
Who would let two deformed people breed in the knowledge their offspring too would suffer their fate? No One!
Yet these folk still walk the earth. Why?
The truth is its not that they are deformed humans, or Homo Sapiens, but another race of humanoids, breeding in the shadows of the fact that sometimes genes do odd things, using Real disability as their disguise.
They have bred, and passed down their knowledge and wealth, generation to generation for thousands of years, living outside of our normal circles and ways, possibly plotting diabolical schemes, or laughing at us.
They have become a watching eye, knowing us unlike we do, watching from outside and learning.This is why they are powerful to those in the seats of power and corruption, those with their fingers always on "the button".
They have become wildly wealthy in there subterranean worlds, a weath unseen by us surface dwellers , selling their knowledge and hording their gold, jewels and precious gems and idols.
And we are taught by those in power that they are like us, just a little "different", but Why? Who would want to hide the truth? Statistics from the "pseudo medical", and totaly conspiratorial www.dwarfism.org , watch how they blame it on genes, watch how they manipulate and use our science against us:
It is a well known fact that midgets truly love their potatoes, here is evidence of a hobbit (very similar to a midget) demanding potatoes.
Estimated Worldwide Dwarf Population: There are many conditions and diseases that can cause short stature. Some of these conditions involve a primary bone disorder - the bones do not grow and develop normally. These conditions are called skeletal dysplasia. Over 500 specific skeletal dysplasias have been identified. Of these, Achondroplasia is the most common, affecting about 80% of all Little People. An individual with Achondroplasia has disproportionate short stature. It occurs in all races and with equal frequency in males and females, and affects about one in every 40,000 children (this was the most conservative estimate available). World Population as of (6/6/2002) = 6,250,000,000 (6,250,000,000 / 40,000) / 0.8 = 195,313 Little People (Worldwide)
More than 195,313 of these "people" existed in 2002, I am forced to wonder how many currently haunt the deeper recesses of our globe?.
What is their agenda , what do they want from us, or more frighteningly, what do they want to become of us?
They are rarely seen on the surface, and when they are they have an air of power and potent mental control, You will see the way that people try not to look at them or ignore them and try to act like its not "different" or "strange" , this is their "olde majik" at play in our minds , trying to make us never see them , like they are invisible so they can get on with their plotting , reconsissace and deviant behavior.
The time is now for war, people, to stand up and storm the underworld.
If not now when? Wen its too late?
We need to shout so loud that they can no longer hide from our critical and prying eyes, from our uncomfortable staring and mocking children, so they can no longer hide from the awful truth!
I bid you good day!
Some contend that midgets (or "midgits", as they are know to the Pastafarians) were created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster in the likeness of a human (despite the fact that midgits predate humans in Pastafarian theology). There is still much debate as to which of the theories, midget evolution or midgit creationism, is correct. The official victor of this dispute is to be determined by the Kansas Board of Education.
edit Midget Tossing
Every so often a festival is held to honour the midgets of the world, in this festival there is the midget tossing event. To have a successful throw you have to put your preferred hand of the midgets tiny penis and testes and your other hand into the eyes or nostrils of it. (You used to be able to hold the mouth until the midgets bit off the people's fingers when they were hungry) then fling your midget as far as you can into a pile of mud or a bin depending on the state laws. The winner is the midget that goes the farthest. "Midget Hunting" can commonly be seen at these festivals as well. This festive game is played by 20-50 midgets run and hide in a certified "midget hunting zone". Then, once again depending on state laws, 5-10 normal sized beings have 20 minutes to go and find the midgets. Whichever human has found the most before time runs out, wins.
edit Midget as a descriptor for people
Many such people find the term "midget" extremely offensive, and prefer the term "little person"
edit Fictional Midgets
- The Midget: The Midget is the bad guy from the cartoon Fire Fighters. His plan is to take over the world using various methods such as armies and inventions.
- Barney Rubble on The Flintstones, him and his retarded laugh. |
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Because the title of this article is "Nerds", the corresponding Wikipedia link is the candy, not the stereotype. Is there any way to correct this? (You'll see what I'm talking about if you click on the Wikipedia link)
I'm pretty sure that was intentional, but you can fix the link yourself if you want to. --M.W. 07:13, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
Someone clear this up for me, I lean toward nerd in the sense that my life revolves around tech, but I am considered a comedian and do excellent in the real world.........WAS GOIN ON?
WoW sucks, so does MS, and Habbo. Nubs.
This article is heavily vandalised. I will proceed to fix it.-capitan obvious.
As a member of the nerd species, I would like to say that we have more predators than the bully. There are also idiots, stupid people, and Numbskulls (which there is apparently no page for here).Please look more into these things when you write them. -you standard Homo ineptipus
Also, not all of us are nocturnal. Only some. -The same one who wrote the last section
Additionally, there's nothing in there whatsoever about the first language of the nerd, which includes (but is not limited to) ASCII, Morse, and Java. -that stupid nerd who is not leaving this page alone
- You sound like a person with ideas. You should consider revising the article yourself as the beauty (and also the curse) of uncyc is that anyone can edit. (talk) 23:50, February 28, 2011 (UTC)
- I'm not very good at rewriting stuff, but fine, I'll try. -that nerd, again |
First, it was the Keynes v. Hayek rap video, and then came the even more vulgar and tasteless Keynes v. Hayek sequel video reducing the two hyperintellectuals to prize fighters. (The accuracy of the representations signaled in its portrayal of Hayek as bald and Keynes with a full head of hair when in real life it was the other way around.) Then came a debate broadcast by the BBC at the London School of Economics, and then another sponsored by Reuters with a Nobel Prize winning economist on the program arguing for the Hayek side. Now comes a new book by Nicholas Wapshott Keynes Hayek, offering an extended account of the fraught relationship between two giants of twentieth century economics who eventually came to a sort of intellectual détente toward the end of Keynes’s life, a decade or more after a few years of really intense, even brutal, but very high level, polemical exchanges between them (and some of their surrogates) in the pages of England’s leading economics journals. Tyler Cowen has just reviewed Wapshott’s book in the National Review (see Marcus Nunes’s blog).
As I observed in September after watching the first Keynes-Hayek debate, we can still learn a lot by going back to Keynes’s and Hayek’s own writings, but all this Keynes versus Hayek hype creates the terribly misleading impression that the truth must lie with only one side or the other, that one side represents truth and enlightenment and the other represents falsehood and darkness, one side represents pure disinterested motives and the other is shilling for sinister forces lurking in the wings seeking to advance their own illegitimate interests, in short that one side can be trusted and the other cannot. All this attention on Keynes and Hayek, two charismatic personalities who have become figureheads or totems for ideological movements that they might not have endorsed at all — and certainly not endorsed unconditionally — encourages an increasingly polarized discussion in which people choose sides based on pre-existing ideological commitments rather than on a reasoned assessment of the arguments and the evidence.
In part, this framing of arguments in ideological terms simply reflects existing trends that have been encouraging an increasingly ideological approach to politics, law, and public policy. For an example of this approach, see Naomi Klein’s recent musings about global warming and the necessity for acknowledging that combating global warming requires the very social transformation that makes right-wingers oppose, on ideological principle, any measure to counter global warming. Those are just the terms of debate that Naomi Klein wants. Thus, both sides have come to see global warming not as a problem to be addressed or mitigated, but as a weapon to be used in the context of a comprehensive ideological struggle. Those who want to address the problem in a pragmatic, non-ideological, way are losing control of the conversation.
The amazing thing about the original Keynes-Hayek debate is not only that both misunderstood the sources of the Great Depression for which they were confidently offering policy advice, but that Ralph Hawtrey and Gustav Cassel had explained what was happening ten years before the downturn started in the summer of 1929. Both Hawtrey and Cassel understood that restoring the gold standard after the demonetization of gold that took place during World War I would have hugely deflationary implications if, when the gold standard was reinstated, the world’s monetary demand for gold would increase back to the pre-World War I level (as a result of restoring gold coinage and the replenishment of the gold reserves held in central bank coffers). That is why both Hawtrey and Cassel called for measures to limit the world’s monetary demand for gold (measures agreed upon in the international monetary conference in Genoa in 1922 of which Hawtrey was the guiding spirit). The measures agreed upon at the Genoa Conference prevented the monetary demand for gold from increasing faster than the stock of gold was increasing so that the world price level in terms of gold was roughly stable from about 1922 through 1928. But in 1928, French demand for gold started to increase rapidly just as the Federal Reserve began tightening monetary policy in a tragically misguided effort to squelch a supposed stock-price bubble on Wall Street, causing an inflow of gold into the US while the French embarked on a frenzied drive to add to their gold holdings, and other countries rejoining the gold standard were increasing their gold holdings as well, though with a less fanatical determination than the French. The Great Depression was therefore entirely the product of monetary causes, a world-wide increase in gold demand causing its value to increase, an increase manifesting itself, under the gold standard, in deflation.
Hayek, along with his mentor Ludwig von Mises, could also claim to have predicted the 1929 downturn, having criticized the Fed in 1927, when the US was in danger of falling into a recession, for reducing interest rates to 3.5%, by historical standards far from a dangerously expansionary rate, as Hawtrey demonstrated in his exhaustive book on the subject A Century of Bank Rate. But it has never been even remotely plausible that a 3.5% discount rate at the Fed for a little over a year was the trigger for the worst economic catastrophe since the Black Death of the 14th century. Nor could Keynes offer a persuasive explanation for why the world suddenly went into a catastrophic downward spiral in late 1929. References to animal spirits and the inherent instability of entrepreneurial expectations are all well and good, but they provide not so much an explanation of the downturn as a way of talking about it or describing it. Beyond that, the Hawtrey-Cassel account of the Great Depression also accounts for the relative severity of the Depression and for the sequence of recovery in different counties, there being an almost exact correlation between the severity of the Depression in a country and the existence and duration of the gold standard in the country. In no country did recovery start until after the gold standard was abandoned, and in no country was there a substantial lag between leaving the gold standard and the start of the recovery.
So not only did Hawtrey and Cassel predict the Great Depression, specifying in advance the conditions that would, and did, bring it about, they identified the unerring prescription – something provided by no other explanation — for a country to start recovering from the Great Depression. Hayek, on the other hand, along with von Mises, not only advocated precisely the wrong policy, namely, tightening money, in effect increasing the monetary demand for gold, he accepted, if not welcomed, deflation as the necessary price for maintaining the gold standard. (This by the way is what explains the puzzle (raised by Larry White in his paper “Did Hayek and Robbins Deepen the Great Depression?”) of Hayek’s failure to follow his own criterion for a neutral monetary policy, stated explicitly in chapter 4 of Prices and Production: stabilization of nominal expenditure (NGDP). However, a policy of stabilizing nominal expenditure was inconsistent with staying on the gold standard when the value of gold was rising by 5 to 10% a year. Faced with a conflict between maintaining the gold standard and following his own criterion for neutral money, Hayek, along with his friend and colleague Lionel Robbins in his patently Austrian book The Great Depression, both opted for maintaining the gold standard.)
Not only did Hayek make the wrong call about the gold standard, he actually defended the insane French policy of gold accumulation in his lament for the gold standard after Britain wisely disregarded his advice and left the gold standard in 1931. In his paper “The Fate of the Gold Standard” (originally Das Schicksal der Goldwahrung) reprinted in The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek: Good Money, Part 1, Hayek mourned the impending demise of the gold standard after Britain tardily did the right thing. The tone of Hayek’s lament is struck in his opening paragraph (p. 153).
There has been much talk about the breakdown of the gold standard, particularly in Britain where, to the astonishment of every foreign observer, the abandonment of the gold standard was very widely welcomed as a release from an irksome constraint. However, it can scarcely be doubted that the renewed monetary problems of almost the whole world have nothing to do with the tendencies inherent in the gold standard, but on the contrary stem from the persistent and continuous attempts from many sides over a number of years to prevent the gold standard from functioning whenever it began to reveal tendencies which were not desired by the country in question. Hence it was by no means the economically strong countries such as America and France whose measures rendered the gold standard inoperative, as is frequently assumed, but the countries in a relatively weak position, at the head of which was Britain, who eventually paid for their transgression of the “rules of the game” by the breakdown of their gold standard.
So what do we learn from this depressing tale? Hawtrey and Cassel did everything right. They identified the danger to the world economy a decade in advance. They specified exactly the correct policy for avoiding the danger. Their policy was a huge success for about nine years until the Americans and the French between them drove the world economy into the Great Depression, just as Hawtrey and Cassel warned would happen if the monetary demand for gold was not held in check. Within a year and a half, both Hawtrey and Cassel concluded that recovery was no longer possible under the gold standard. And as countries, one by one, abandoned the gold standard, they began to recover just as Hawtrey and Cassel predicted. So one would have thought that Hawtrey and Cassel would have been acclaimed and celebrated far and wide as the most insightful, the most farsighted, the wisest, economists in the world. Yep, that’s what one would have thought. Did it happen? Not a chance. Instead, it was Keynes who was credited with figuring out how to end the Great Depression, even though there was almost nothing in the General Theory about the gold standard and a 30% deflation as the cause of the Great Depression, despite his having vilified Churchill in 1925 for rejoining the gold standard at the prewar parity when that decision was expected to cause a mere 10% deflation.
But amazingly enough, even when economists began looking for alternative ways to Keynesianism of thinking about macroeconomics, Austrian economics still being considered too toxic to handle, almost no one bothered to go back to revisit what Hawtrey and Cassel had said about the Great Depression. So Milton Friedman was considered to have been daring and original for suggesting a monetary explanation for the Great Depression and finding historical and statistical support for that explanation. Yet, on the key elements of the historical explanation, Hawtrey and Cassel either anticipated Friedman, or on the numerous issues on which Friedman did not follow Hawtrey and Cassel — in particular the international gold market as the transmitter of deflation and depression across all countries on the gold standard, the key role of the Bank of France (which Friedman denied in the Monetary History and for years afterwards only to concede the point in the mid to late 1990s), the absence of an explanation for the 1929 downturn, the misplaced emphasis on the contraction of the US money stock and the role of U.S. bank failures as a critical factor in explaining the severity of the Great Depression — Hawtrey and Cassel got it right and Friedman got it wrong.
So what matters in the success in the marketplace of ideas seems to be not just the quality or the truth of a theory, but also (or instead) the publicity machine that can be deployed in support of a theory to generate interest in it and to attract followers who can expect to advance their own careers in the process of developing, testing, or otherwise propagating, the theory. Keynes, Friedman, and eventually Hayek, all had powerful ideologically driven publicity machines working on their behalf. And guess what? It’s the theories that attract the support of a hard core of ideologically motivated followers that tend to outperform those without a cadre of ideological followers.
That’s why it was very interesting, important, and encouraging that Tyler Cowen, in his discussion of the Keynes-Hayek story, felt the need to mention how Scott Sumner has shifted the debate over the past two years away from the tired old Keynes vs. Hayek routine. Of course Tyler, about as well read an economist as there is, slipped up when he said that Scott is reviving the Friedman Monetarist tradition. No, Scott is reviving the Hawtrey-Cassel pre-Monetarist tradition, of which Friedman’s is a decidedly inferior, and obsolete, version. It just goes to show that one person sometimes really can make a difference, even without an ideologically driven publicity machine working on his behalf. Just imagine what Hawtrey and Cassel could have accomplished if they had been bloggers. |
A Sound Way to Turn Heat into Electricity
New Method to Cool Electronics, Harness Waste Heat and Sunlight
June 4, 2007 - University of Utah physicists developed small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity. The technology holds promise for changing waste heat into electricity, harnessing solar energy and cooling computers and radars.
"We are converting waste heat to electricity in an efficient, simple way by using sound," says Orest Symko, a University of Utah physics professor who leads the effort. It is a new source of renewable energy from waste heat."
Five of Symko's doctoral students recently devised methods to improve the efficiency of acoustic heat-engine devices to turn heat into electricity. They will present their findings on Friday, June 8 during the 153rd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center hotel.
Symko plans to test the devices within a year to produce electricity from waste heat at a military radar facility and at the university's hot-water-generating plant.
The research is funded by the U.S. Army, which is interested in "taking care of waste heat from radar, and also producing a portable source of electrical energy which you can use in the battlefield to run electronics" he says.
Symko expects the devices could be used within two years as an alternative to photovoltaic cells for converting sunlight into electricity. The heat engines also could be used to cool laptop and other computers that generate more heat as their electronics grow more complex. And Symko foresees using the devices to generate electricity from heat that now is released from nuclear power plant cooling towers.
How to Get Power from Heat and Sound
Symko's work on converting heat into electricity via sound stems from his ongoing research to develop tiny thermoacoustic refrigerators for cooling electronics.
In 2005, he began a five-year heat-sound-electricity conversion research project named Thermal Acoustic Piezo Energy Conversion (TAPEC). Symko works with collaborators at Washington State University and the University of Mississippi.
The project has received $2 million in funding during the past two years, and Symko hopes it will grow as small heat-sound-electricity devices shrink further so they can be incorporated in micromachines (known as microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS) for use in cooling computers and other electronic devices such as amplifiers.
Using sound to convert heat into electricity has two key steps. Symko and colleagues developed various new heat engines (technically called "thermoacoustic prime movers") to accomplish the first step: convert heat into sound.
Then they convert the sound into electricity using existing technology: "piezoelectric" devices that are squeezed in response to pressure, including sound waves, and change that pressure into electrical current. "Piezo" means pressure or squeezing.
Most of the heat-to-electricity acoustic devices built in Symko's laboratory are housed in cylinder-shaped "resonators" that fit in the palm of your hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a "stack" of material with a large surface area such as metal or plastic plates, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel wool placed between a cold heat exchanger and a hot heat exchanger.
When heat is applied with matches, a blowtorch or a heating element the heat builds to a threshold. Then the hot, moving air produces sound at a single frequency, similar to air blown into a flute.
"You have heat, which is so disorderly and chaotic, and all of a sudden you have sound coming out at one frequency," Symko says.
Then the sound waves squeeze the piezoelectric device, producing an electrical voltage. Symko says it's similar to what happens if you hit a nerve in your elbow, producing a painful electrical nerve impulse.
Longer resonator cylinders produce lower tones, while shorter tubes produce higher-pitched tones.
Devices that convert heat to sound and then to electricity lack moving parts, so such devices will require little maintenance and last a long time. They do not need to be built as precisely as, say, pistons in an engine, which loses efficiency as the pistons wear.
Symko says the devices won't create noise pollution. First, as smaller devices are developed, they will convert heat to ultrasonic frequencies people cannot hear. Second, sound volume goes down as it is converted to electricity. Finally, "it's easy to contain the noise by putting a sound absorber around the device," he says.
Studies Improve Efficiency of Acoustic Conversion of Heat to Electricity
Here are summaries of the studies by Symkos doctoral students:
"It's an extremely small thermoacoustic device one of the smallest built and it opens the way for producing them in an array," Symko says.
NOTE: Physicist Orest Symko's graduate students will present their studies during an Acoustical Society of America technical session from 8 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. MDT Friday, June 8 in Parlor B of the Hilton Salt Lake City Center hotel, 255 S. West Temple.
professor of physics
Office phone: (801) 581-6132|
Email address: email@example.com
|Orest Symko via assistant, Amber Bottari||
Office phone: (801) 585-6959|
Lee J. Siegel
science news specialist, University of Utah Public Relations
Office phone: (801) 581-8993|
Cell phone: (801) 244-5399
Email address: firstname.lastname@example.org |
Consider that there are countless number of files under /src/
cp /src/* /dst/
How many files
cp will successfully process?
That depends greatly on the system and version, on the number and size of the arguments and on the number and size of environment variable names.
Traditionally on Unix, the limit (as reported by
Bearing in mind that
On Linux, it depends on the version. The behaviour there changed recently where it's not longer a fixed space.
Checking on Linux 3.11,
That limit is on the cumulative size of the argument and environment strings and some overhead (I suspect due to alignment consideration on page boundaries). The size of the pointers is not taken into account.
Searching for the limit, I get:
The maximum cumulative size before breaking in that case is:
Now, that does not mean that you can pass 1 million empty arguments. On a 64 bit system, 1 million empty arguments make a pointer list of 8MB, which would be above my stack size of 4MiB.
(you'll noticed it's not a E2BIG error. I'm not sure at which point the process gets killed there though if it's within the
Also note (still on Linux 3.11) that the maximum size of a single argument or environment string is 128kiB, regardless of the size the stack.
That will depend on the value of ARG_MAX which can change between systems. To find out the value for your system run (showing the result on mine as an example):
This has nothing to do with
To answer your main question then,
The way of getting around these errors is to run your command in a loop: |
05 May 2011
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
AND ANCESTRY.COM LAUNCH WORLD MEMORY PROJECT TO CREATE LARGEST ONLINE RESOURCE OF INFORMATION ON VICTIMS OF HOLOCAUST AND NAZI PERSECUTION
Millions of Pages of Museum Archives to Be Indexed and Made Free to All
WASHINGTON, D.C./PROVO, Utah –
May 3, 2011 - The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Ancestry.com today announced the launch of the World Memory Project, http://www.worldmemoryproject.org/, which will recruit the public to help to build the world’s largest online resource for information on Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of non-Jews who were targeted for persecution by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. The project will dramatically expand the number of Museum documents relating to individual victims that can be searched online.
The Museum’s archives contain information on well over 17 million people targeted by Nazi racial and political policies, including Jews, Poles, Roma, Ukrainians, political prisoners, and many others. The Museum assists thousands of people worldwide every year that are searching for information about individuals in its collections. The World Memory Project will greatly expand the accessibility of the Museum’s archival collection and enable millions of people to search for their own answers online…
Read the full press release.
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Precision Production Trades:
CTE Pathways: Connecting High School to College and Career
Career and Technical Education courses help you get started on your pathway to success.
Students prepare to apply technical knowledge and skills to layout, fabricate, erect, install, and repair wooden structures and fixtures using hand and power tools. Students will also apply technical knowledge and skills needed to create custom cabinets, fine furniture, and architectural millwork.
- Common systems of framing.
- Types of construction materials.
- How to estimate needed materials for a project.
- How to read a blueprint.
- The safe use of trade hand tools and machinery.
Class availability may vary at your high school.
-Precision Production Trades:
Cabinetmaking/Millwork - PDF
Student Leadership Organization
SkillsUSA is the student leadership organization for Skilled & Technical Sciences Education. SkillsUSA provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship, and character development. The organization builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes, and communication skills. It emphasizes total quality at work, high ethical standards, superior work skills, lifelong education, and pride in the dignity of work.
Beyond High School
There are a number of options for education and training beyond high school, depending on your career goals.
- Associate degree
- Bachelorís degree
- Professional degree
- On-the-job training
- Military training
- Cabinetmaking/Millwork Teacher
- Carpenter Helper
- Finish Carpenter
- Line Supervisor
Job prospects will be best for highly skilled workers and those with knowledge of computerized machine tool operation.
This is a nontraditional occupation for women. In 2007, 6.5 percent of the people employed in this occupation were women.Utah Wage
For information on salary projections, labor market demand, and training options, log on to www.utahfutures.org. |
eso0649 — Science Release
The Dark Side of Nature: the Crime was Almost Perfect
VLT Uncovers New Way to Form Black Hole
20 December 2006
Nature has again thrown astronomers for a loop. Just when they thought they understood how gamma-ray bursts formed, they have uncovered what appears to be evidence for a new kind of cosmic explosion. These seem to arise when a newly born black hole swallows most of the matter from its doomed parent star.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the Universe, signal the formation of a new black hole and come in two flavours, long and short ones. In recent years, international efforts have shown that long gamma-ray bursts are linked with the explosive deaths of massive stars.
Last year, observations by different teams - including the GRACE and MISTICI collaborations that use ESO's telescopes - of the afterglows of two short gamma-ray bursts provided the first conclusive evidence that this class of objects most likely originates from the collision of compact objects: neutron stars or black holes.
The newly found gamma-ray bursts, however, do not fit the picture. They instead seem to share the properties of both the long and short classes.
"Some unknown process must be at play, about which we have presently no clue," said Massimo Della Valle of the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri in Firenze, Italy, lead author of one of the reports published in this week's issue of the journal Nature. "Either it is a new kind of merger which is able to produce long bursts, or a new kind of stellar explosion in which matter can't escape the black hole."
One of the mysterious events went bang on 14 June 2006, hence its name, GRB 060614. The gamma-ray burst lasted 102 seconds and belongs clearly to the category of long GRBs. As it happened in a relatively close-by galaxy, located only 1.6 billion light-years away in the constellation Indus, astronomers worldwide eagerly pointed their telescopes toward it to capture the supernova, watching and waiting as if for a jack-in-the-box to spring open.
The MISTICI collaboration used ESO's Very Large Telescope to follow the burst for 50 days. "Despite our deep monitoring, no rebrightening due to a supernova was seen," said Gianpiero Tagliaferri from the Observatory of Brera, Italy and member of the team. "If a supernova is present, if should at least be 100 times fainter than any other supernova usually associated with a long burst."
The burst exploded in a dwarf galaxy that shows moderate signs of star formation. Thus young, massive stars are present and, at the end of its life one of them could have uttered this long, agonising cry before vanishing into a black hole. "Why did it do so in a dark way, with no sign of a supernova?" asked Guido Chincarini, from the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, also member of the team. "A possibility is that a massive black hole formed that did not allow any matter to escape. All the material that is usually ejected in a supernova explosion would then fall back and be swallowed."
The same conclusion was previously reached by another team, who monitored both GRB 060614 and another burst, GRB 060505 (5 May 2006) for 5 and 12 weeks, respectively. For this, they used the ESO VLT and the 1.54-m Danish telescope at La Silla.
GRB 060505 was a faint burst with a duration of 4 seconds, and as such also belongs to the category of long bursts .
For GRB 060505, the astronomers could only see the burst in visible light for one night and then it faded away, while for GRB 060614, they could only follow it for four nights after the burst. Thus, if supernovae were associated with these long-bursts, as one would have expected, they must have been about a hundred times fainter than a normal supernova.
"Although both bursts are long, the remarkable conclusion from our monitoring is that there were no supernovae associated with them," said Johan Fynbo from the DARK Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute of the Copenhagen University in Denmark, who led the study. "It is a bit like not hearing the thunder from a nearby storm when one could see a very long lasting flash."
For the May burst, the team has obtained deep images in very good observing conditions allowing the exact localisation of the burst in its host galaxy. The host galaxy turns out to be a small spiral galaxy, and the burst occurred in a compact star-forming region in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy. This is strong evidence that the star that made the GRB was massive .
"For the 5 May event, we have evidence that it was due to a massive star that died without making a supernova," said Fynbo. "We now have to find out what is the fraction of massive stars that die without us noticing, that is, without producing either a gamma-ray burst or a supernova."
"Whatever the solution to the problem is, it is clear that these new results challenge the commonly accepted scenario, in which long bursts are associated with a bright supernova," said Daniele Malesani, from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, and now also at the DARK Cosmology Centre. "Our hope is to be able to find more of these unconventional bursts. The chase is on!".
The dividing line between short and long bursts is at 2 seconds. The difference between the two is not only in the duration: short bursts also consist of higher energy photons than the long ones. One may thus infer that the physical origins of the two are different.
Due to their short lifetimes (few million years), massive stars are only found in star-forming regions.
The two gamma-ray bursts were discovered with the NASA/ASI/PPARC Swift satellite, which is dedicated to the discovery of these powerful explosions.
The work presented here is published in the 21 December 2006 issue of the journal Nature: "No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma-ray bursts", by Johan P. U. Fynbo et al., and "An enigmatic long-lasting gamma-ray burst not accompanied by a bright supernova", by Massimo Della Valle et al. Two other reports about the same events are published in the same issue of Nature.
The Italian-led team - the MISTICI collaboration - is composed of Massimo Della Valle (INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy), Guido Chincarini (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera & Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy), Nino Panagia (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), Gianpiero Tagliaferri, Dino Fugazza, Sergio Campana, Stefano Covino, and Paolo D'Avanzo (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Italy), Daniele Malesani (SISSA/ISAS, Italy and Dark Cosmology Centre, Copenhagen), Vincenzo Testa, L. Angelo Antonelli, Silvia Piranomonte, and Luigi Stella (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy), Vanessa Mangano (INAF/IASF Palermo, Italy), Kevin Hurley (University of California, Berkeley, USA), I. Felix Mirabel (ESO), and Leonardo J. Pellizza (Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio).
The Danish-led team is composed of Johan P. U. Fynbo, Darach Watson, Christina C. Thöne, Tamara M. Davis, Jens Hjorth, José Mará Castro Cerón, Brian L. Jensen, Maximilian D. Stritzinger, and Dong Xu (Dark Cosmology Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Jesper Sollerman (Dark Cosmology Centre and Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Sweden), Uffe G. Jørgensen, Tobias C. Hinse, and Kristian G. Woller (Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen), Joshua S. Bloom, Daniel Kocevski, Daniel Perley (Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, USA), Páll Jakobsson (Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, UK), John F. Graham and Andrew S. Fruchter (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA), David Bersier (Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, UK), Lisa Kewley (University of Hawaii, Institute of Astronomy, USA), Arnaud Cassan and Marta Zub (Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Germany), Suzanne Foley (School of Physics, University College Dublin, Ireland), Javier Gorosabel (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain), Keith D. Horne (SUPA Physics/Astronomy, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK), Sylvio Klose (Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Germany), Jean-Baptiste Marquette (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, France), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA), Paul M. Vreeswijk (ESO and Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile), and Ralph A. M. Wijers (Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
Massimo Della Valle
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri in Firenze
Tel: +39 (0)55 2752230
Cell: +39 339 4320350
Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (INAF)
Tel: +39 39 999 1157
Cell: +39 340 280 3612
Johan P. U. Fynbo
Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute
Tel: +45 3532 5983
Cell: +45 3125 4980
Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute
Tel: +45 3532 5994
About the Release
|Legacy ID:||PR 49/06|
|Name:||Gamma-ray burst, GRB 060505, GRB 060614|
|Facility:||Very Large Telescope| |
This guest post is by Piyush Bhatnagar
[Our post on a startup called Outbox launching its new system of mail delivery in San Francisco received a good deal of interest from readers. This is one reader's response.]
Innovation is the engine of America’s economic growth. Entrepreneurs are coming up with radical new ideas every day, and new startups create new products, services, and business models. Some of these ideas will change the way do things today. So let’s take a look at one such company that is attempting to change the way we think about the mail.
Outbox launched in San Francisco on Feb 26th, 2013. The company was founded in 2011 in Austin with a goal to provide an alternative to the old system of mail delivery. Outbox’s team of “Unpostmen” will collect your mail three times a week, bring it to a warehouse, digitize it and provide you access to it through web or mobile devices. They will also discard your junk mail, which in my opinion is a huge service in its own right.
Outbox will do all this for a small sum of $5 a month, so you will never have to visit your postal mailbox again. They will also deliver you a package, in a fancy Prius, if you request your original mail from an iPad or smartphone within 30 days on its receipt. After 60 days, your physical mail will be discarded and shredded so you wont have to worry about old mail sitting in some warehouse. Outbox uses strong 512-bit encryption, and prevents digitized mail from falling into the hands of someone other than the intended recipient.
The company has already raised $2.2 million from Floodgate Fund and angel investors, including Peter Thiel. However, there are others in this space who are working on making your physical mailbox obsolete.
I can appreciate the process of innovation and respect anyone who tries to create something new. But Outbox does raise a number of questions as well.
Despite their innovative take on “old style” mail, one word sums up the problems with Outbox’s approach, and that’s privacy.
Outbox employees will open every mail or package that I receive, and digitize it. According to Outbox’s FAQ, their operations specialists use their custom built machines to open, lay out, and photograph your physical mail. These files are then optimized and processed digitally, and then delivered to your digital account. They also state that all “Unpostmen” –and anyone at Outbox who interfaces with your mail — go through a stronger background check than U.S. Postal Service workers go through, giving the the best trained and highest rated workforce.
Typical mail may include checks, personal information, private communication, legal documents, and many such things. In traditional system, even though USPS/FEDEX/UPS staff handles your mail, it is sealed by the sender and opened only by you.
Identity theft and mail fraud
In Outbox’s model, someone other than the recipient opens every piece of mail. Outbox states that they have strict policy and technical controls in place, including prohibiting employee’s access to critical documents (except in rare cases.) In addition, Outbox states that it is insured up to $1 million against identity theft.
Despite Outbox’s assurances that it is making sure you and your accounts are safe, there is a distinct possibility of identity theft. Just the fact that the mail needs to be opened physically and maintained in a warehouse for up to 60 days provides a window of opportunity to identity thieves and fraudsters. There are liability issues related to someone else opening mail and a problem of accountability. Who is responsible for a lost mail or documents? That is still not clear.
How will Outbox make money?
Outbox is offering the service for $4.99 per month, with no additional fees for delivery or mail volume. Since they will deliver mail through an app or web, there is potential to add digital ads as a new revenue stream. The costs of running this business are surely prohibitive otherwise.
The costs for sorting and digitizing equipment, the warehouse for storage, hiring “unpostmen” as well as other warehouse staff, the vehicles for mail pickup and delivery will quickly add up. It is quite likely that Outbox will be replacing junk snail-mail with its own digitized avatar.
Is this a problem worth solving?
As a fellow entrepreneur, I highly respect the out-of-the-box thinking of the Outbox team and admire their tenacity in coming up with an innovative alternative to the “old style” mail.
The main question that comes to mind is whether this is a problem that needs a solution. Most service providers, banks, electric companies, phone companies, and so on, allow consumers to choose electronic billing. Electronic payments are commonly used alternatives to sending checks by snail-mail. These practices avoids the snail mail altogether and also ensure that only the senders and recipients get to see the contents and no one else.
If you determine that you need an alternative to USPS, is Outbox worth the risk? I am not comfortable with anyone else opening my mail. Are you?
Piyush Bhatnagar is the Founder and CEO of Authomate Inc., an early-stage security startup. He a seasoned technology executive, entrepreneur and consultant with over 20 years of experience in technology development and management at companies like AT&T and Bank of America.
Mailbox image via Joe Belanger, Shutterstock |
Sending a Snapchat, at this point, is like sending a photo over regular text message. People you don’t want viewing your private pics are still going to see them — even the cops.
For those unfamiliar, Snapchat lets users send photos called Snaps that expire after 30 seconds (once you’ve opened them), so you can share your private or embarrassing photos without leaving them out in the ether indefinitely.
The company “revealed” — I put this in quotations because, to me, this is obvious — that unopened Snaps can and have been handed over to law enforcement as part of criminal investigations (as long as the cops have a warrant). This includes your photos, videos, and the company’s new feature – “Stories.” Stories can be pulled from a server even after they have been opened given that they expire after 24-hours.
How can this be when Snaps are designed to disappear forever?
Snapchat runs all your photos and videos through its servers before delivering them to the recipient. While waiting to be opened and viewed, Snaps sit on that server, accessible by a special tool only chief technology officer Bobby Murphy and Micah Schaffer, who runs Snapchat’s trust and safety department, have access to.
There are over 350 million Snaps that run through the system daily, according to Snapchat, and a dozen requests for Snaps have been fulfilled since May 2013.
It’s apparent that you can’t truly believe your Snaps will remain under lock and key. First off, the people you send your Snaps to can take screenshots of the photos, so they may not disappear at all. Beyond that there are even products made to save this content. Snaphack is one of these, as noted by NBC.
That said, I doubt this kind of news will make even the smallest dent in the app’s usage. People sending pics of criminal activities may think twice, but otherwise Snapchat seems to have one thing really going for it: a strong community. A good number of my peers — mid-twenties young professionals — who use Snapchat say it legitimately keeps them in touch with friends and family.
It’s a form of novel entertainment. None of them trust the service for its “privacy” merits; it’s just another social network that connects people through a funny premise: Send me a picture with your eyelids inverted and I’ll send you one of my double-chin.
And hey, as long as they don’t mind those photos ending up just about anywhere — including the courtroom — then more power to them.
Snapchat is a photo messaging application developed by four Stanford students. Using the app, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how... read more »
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Have You Decided If You Will Vote In Any Of The Upcoming Texas’s Elections
The Primary Runoff Election is right around the corner, which gives us Texans another chance to decide who will help lead state government. Early Voting began Monday and will end on May 23rd. May 27th is the main and last day to vote this time around, which is from 7am to 7pm.
To vote in Texas, you must be registered to vote. Simply pick up a voter registration application, fill it out, and mail it in at least 30 days before the election date. Your application must be received in the Voter Registrar’s office or postmarked at least 30 days before an election for you to be eligible to vote in the election you want to participate in.
All voters who register to vote in Texas must provide a valid Texas driver’s license number or personal identification number issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). If you don’t have such a number, simply provide the last four digits of your social security number. If you don’t have a social security number, you need to state that fact.
We all have rights when it comes to voting and as a registered voter, and Texas has a list of rights for us the voters. November 4th, Texans will elect a new governor for the first time in 14 years. Greg Abbott,Wendy Davis,Kathie Glass and Brandon Parmer are all on the ballot for governor. |
Play written and directed by H-B Woodlawn student tackles tough issues
Dark drama, a black box haunted by a merciless ghost and an unfortunate murder all forced their way into H-B Woodlawn’s production of “Remembering Sarah Jane,” a chilling display of high school theater.
Olivia Myers’s brainchild “Remembering Sarah Jane” is a student written and directed theater production making its debut at H-B Woodlawn Secondary School. The plot captures the life of Jeff, a boy who grew up with an abusive foster father and now, after being placed in a new home, is disturbed by the memories of his sister Sarah Jane’s suicide. In the new town, people’s lives are turned upside down when they become entangled in the flimsy strands of Jeff’s faltering sanity.
Olivia Myers wrote the script. Although at times, the transition from dark drama to light-hearted comedy seemed too quick to give the audience enough time to process the plot or their emotions, the piece was impressive for an emerging writer. And though some scenes seemed forced and contrived, most of Myers’s directorial decisions were well calculated.
Patrick Stearman, playing Jeff, gave a performance that showcased his range as an actor. Stearman exuded intensity with his violent physicality and his vocal tenor, which were both controlled but powerful. He also transitioned flawlessly and plausibly between his current state of mind and that of his younger self. Hope, played by Lydia Fisher-Lasky, added an element of normalcy to the piece. Lasky portrayed a compassionate friend and sister trying to take care of everyone around her especially her mentally challenged brother and her unstable best friend. Her grounded and caring disposition provided a contrast to the overpowering dark nature of the show.
Mick Sloan, playing Hope’s mentally disabled brother, displayed credible innocence and steep emotional fluctuations without being overdramatic. Keeka Grant as Sarah Jane represented an unsettling figment of Jeff’s imagination. Other noteworthy performances included Jack Crawford-Brown as the hilarious Nick, Erin Eby as the eccentric Miriam and Sean Fredericks as the flamboyant Sam. Though the actors stumbled on their lines on numerous occasions, they recovered quickly.
The lighting undoubtedly served as the technical highlight of the show. During the more dramatic scenes, a stark contrast was created between the dim blue light and harsh shadows. And a bright white light bathed those scenes taking place in the more cheerful neighborhood. On several occasions, including the closing, a single pool of light illuminated the actors to create a powerful vignette.
H-B Woodlawn’s original production of “Remembering Sarah Jane” was riveting and emotionally draining. Despite Myers being fairly new at the craft of writing plays, she courageously addressed difficult subject matter providing a tragic depiction of love and loss that will be nearly impossible to forget.
The comments to this entry are closed. |
FARM, NUTRITION, AND BIOENERGY ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - December 14, 2007)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, food safety is very much on the minds of many Americans today, and the reason is as obvious as the newspaper headlines in recent months.
From the Washington Post on November 29th: ``Bad Pet Food May Have Killed Nearly 350.''
From the October 31 New York Times: ``Chinese Chemicals Flow Unchecked to Market.''
From The Associated Press on September 27: ``Hamburgers may be tainted with E. Coli.''
Suddenly, there is a danger that E. coli is present in many typical foods. An E. coli outbreak in spinach last summer killed 3 people and sickened more than 200 others. In recent months, E. coli has lead to the recall of over 20 million pounds of ground meat. We have also had salmonella in peanut butter and snack food and botulism in a chili product. Even unlabeled allergens can routinely lead to the recall of food. These examples, and the sharp decline of consumer confidence in food safety, make clear that Congress must act quickly to deal with the problem.
The FDA Science Board issued an alarming report last month, concluding that the ``FDA does not have the capacity to ensure the safety of food for the nation.''
In his years in both the House and now the Senate, Senator Durbin has been a leader in efforts to improve food safety--from his Safe Food Act to the Human and Pet Food Safety Act. He offered a food safety amendment on the FDA bill last May that we accepted 94 to 0, and it was included in the final bill approved by Congress and signed by the President in September. I commend his working with us to produce an amendment to the farm bill to address the issue now with the new urgency it requires.
Because of the work of Senator Durbin, the farm bill includes a commission to investigate food safety and make recommendations to the President and Congress, including specific legislative proposals and budget estimates. The amendment we have offered builds on the work of the commission. It requires the President to submit a legislative proposal in response to the commission's recommendations, with Congress following up with appropriate action. It also includes a sense-of-the-Senate provision that the Congress must approve more resources for food safety, must work for a comprehensive response on the issue, and that the Federal Government must work cooperatively with foreign governments to improve the safety of imported food.
I agree with Senator Durbin that we need make more effective progress on food safety. Both the European Union and Japan have stronger food safety programs than we do. Most significantly, they have much stronger programs on imported food, combining inspections in the country of origin and the testing of imported foods. We should be able to do at least as well.
Federal food safety agencies need power to identify food safety problems more quickly and respond more effectively, especially to prevent outbreaks in food. Every aspect of the food industry must have an effective plan in place to prevent hazards in the food it grows, prepares, or markets.
A hearing in the HELP Committee earlier this month began this process. I am committed to achieving a comprehensive response to food safety, and I look forward to working with Senator Enzi, Senator Durbin, Senator Harkin, and my other colleagues on the committee to develop that proposal early in the new year. Our amendment to the farm bill will require the President to follow up in 2009 or early 2010 with a further legislative proposal if additional efforts are needed to improve the safety of our food supply.
Every day, parents across the Nation prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for their children. They expect these meals to nourish their children, not sicken them. Action by Congress is essential to avoid the risk that a fruit served for breakfast is contaminated with salmonella or that the meat or cheese added to a lunch sandwich is contaminated with listeria or that fish served for dinner contains antibiotic residues or that the lettuce and other fresh produce in a salad is contaminated with E. coli.
We all must act together, and I am grateful to Senator Durbin and the managers of the farm bill, Senator Harkin and Senator Chambliss, for working with us to make this amendment possible.
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