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“To be or not to be?” Studying feasibilities!
TechXact business development center, financial analysts, engineering teams and experts work hand in hand to provide the ultimate feasibility studies, market research & studies and professional business planning for a successful commercial data center business venture.
TechXact conducts thorough market studies and research, which include examining of the past, facts of the present and projections of the future demand and trends, as well as competitive presence, all achieved through its expanded knowledge-base, industry know-how, actual interviews, interaction with regulators and industry pioneers.
Based on the market research commercialized data centers might not always be feasible and if they are their commercialization method and type must be carefully analyzed and chosen. Whether to plan a Co-location, Managed Hosting, DC Real Estate and Operation business and/or a combination of either models is a viability worth studying and carefully analyzing.
Based on the commercial type of a data center, market realities and existing limitations of site, governing laws, supply chain or budget selection of a specific Tier Level can be either an anker for sustainable strategic success or entrapment for permanent failure. TechXact analyst, by factoring all the available parameters, can identify the optimum Tier for a successful data center venture.
Land, Space, Infrastructure and Costing
TechXact incorporates its feasibility studies with the careful analysis of available land, targeted space, required infrastructure and associated costing to help complete the feasibility by comparing market attractions vs the fulfillment requirements and budgetary costing to mandate the probable viability of the specific data center business.
Every business starts with an idea. No matter what that idea is, a practical feasibility study and methodologically well thought out business plan is what helps turn that idea into a reality. TechXact experts guide you through the steps of developing and fine-tuning your business venture. Your business idea, product or ambitions will be crossed with in-depth feasibility audit and then matured to achievable and fundable business plan that will define the missions and goals of the organization together with the accompanying strategies and objectives. It is a step-by-step outline of projected sales and the resources needed in order to achieve them. It includes projected financial performance and expected financial returns.
TechXact Business Plan helps in structuring the financial side of business and focus on development efforts. TechXact business planning helps to develop a realistic vision for the business.
TechXact’s expertise in all aspects of effective business planning provides great opportunities for objective business success. The business planning team will deliver type of business plan that will organize and direct corporate financial and technical efforts and motivate and render venture capitals, investors, partners and affiliates with clear, practical and phased guidelines and projections to reach company objectives. Perhaps the crucial questions you will face after expressing interest in starting a new business or capitalizing on an opportunity in your existing business will be:"Should we get into or expand this business?" “What would be the tangible returns if we did?” "Is the market ready for this?" "Do we have the resources necessary to reach our benchmarks?" " How do we fund this venture?"
Answering these questions and more involve preliminary assessment of all factors involved considerations, including but not limited to the market demand evaluation, product/idea evaluation, human resource evaluation, financial evaluation as well as governing industry regulations.
Too many entrepreneurs strike out on a business venture so convinced of its merits that they fail to thoroughly evaluate its potentials vs their limitations. TechXact Feasibility Study provides a checklist for the business enterprise or for organizations contemplating going into a business or capitalizing on an existing potential. Clarifying pros vs. cons, revenue generation potentials, expenditure and cost projections, projected business value, Net Present Value and PE ratio, market demand niche focus sectors and technical feasibility reports are amongst the many deliverables in the conducted studies. TechXact feasibility study involves gathering, analyzing and evaluating all relevant information that factors in to the business. |
Life and Religion
|Tattoo: The story of people and body art through photography|
|ĎInkedí exhibit shows body art and our attachment|
|Published Wednesday, July 13, 2016 2:28 am|
Tattoos tell a story.
|Dutchess Lattimore of VH1’s “Black Ink Crew” and owner of Pretty-N-Ink Tattoo shop.|
While “Inked” is no longer on display at The Gallery South End, the stories told by those who were mentored by Mark Pendergrass and others involved in Creating Exposure through the Arts (a non-profit that empowers the next generation through artistic expression) continue to circulate throughout Charlotte.
“About five or six years ago, I was teaching a mentoring program at the YMCA, and Creating Exposure through the Arts was kind of in its incubating stage—it wasn’t quite 501 c3,” Pendergrass, Creating Exposure’s founder said. “One of the students had a tattoo, and that’s what really brought up the idea.”
Said Hakiym Roach, whose work was featured in the exhibit: “I was maybe 13-14, and my mom signed me up for a photojournalism glass at the YMCA. I met Mark then, and I’ve been shooting since. It’s awesome. It’s a great outlet. It’s a great hobby. I’m 22 now [and] in college. I’m an EMT in paramedic school, and I still have time to go out, take some photos and everything.”
Said Troy Montgomery: “[Creating Exposure] taught me how to actually interact with different people in different environments.”
From professional basketball players and football players with Charlotte ties like Anthony Morrow of the Oklahoma City Thunder and former Panthers defensive back Captain Munnerlyn to tattoo artist Dutchess Lattimore, the common thread tattoos reveal is that humans have more in common than they might think.
“It would have to be the one with Captain Munnerlyn,” Roach said of his favorite shot. “It was a really good experience with him and [Panthers linebacker] Thomas Davis and a few of the other Panthers. Everyone was around — it was a good energy. Good vibe. Also being a fan, fun time too. It was awesome.”
Although there are varying theories about body markings, some which have been equated to religion, the project illustrated that tattoos are quite common.
“One of the things that I noticed over the years as we did these [shoots], some of the people who are in the exhibit probably had one, maybe two tattoos five years ago, they’ve come back with more,” Pendergrass said. “We realized that it was a phenomenon, and that even though we are in the Bible Belt, it was like the norm for people to have a tattoo.”
Some tattoos are a conversation piece, while others memorialize a lost loved one, special accomplishment or moment in time. Regardless of language or heritage, tattoos have a way of connecting people.
“We had a diverse group of people—ethnicity, age, backgrounds, purpose, reasons, a lot of memorials,” Pendergrass said. “As much as people say that we are in the Bible Belt, it’s something that around the world people have tattoos. They have spiritual reasons. There are so many different reasons—we realized that tattoos are just the norm.”
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Image via WikipediaAnd the winner for the most original idea to slash budget deficits goes to Senator Martin Harty who when requested for more funding for community mental health programs and for the homeless replied as per transcription below:
Barrington Republican Martin Harty told Sharon Omand, a Strafford resident who manages a community mental health program, that “the world is too populated” and there are “too many defective people,” according to an e-mail account of the conversation by Omand. [...]
Harty confirmed to the Monitor that he made the comments to Omand. [...]
Omand says Harty then stated, “I wish we had a Siberia so we could ship them all off to freeze to death and die and clean up the population.” Omand said Harty appeared to be serious. After Omand responded that his idea sounded like what Adolf Hitler did in World War II, Omand said Harty responded, “Hitler did something right, and I agree with (it).”
Suggesting that the mentally ill be sent to Siberia is eerily reminiscent of actual policies enacted by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Stalin sent countless dissidents, Poles, Chechens, and other groups he despised to work camps in the freezing barren wasteland of Siberia, where millions lost their lives.
Harty has not apologized for making his comments. |
Specific Therapeutic Massage and Light Touch Techniques can be combined to facilitate client's goals for the session. Kathryn currently does not have openings for Therapeutic Massage. Please contact Kathryn to be added to her wait list.
Myofascial Therapy (Myo) melts adhesions and restrictions that occur in the fascia (skin that surrounds the muscles and muscle fibers). When a muscle is contracted or elongated for a prolonged period of time due to our activities (such as computer work), the fascia gets ‘stuck’ in that shape. An example is being stiff when getting out of bed or after sitting for a long time. If we perform the same activities every day or have bad posture, over time, the fascia can build up adhesions. This can decrease our ability to move and increase pain with movement. Myofascial Therapy is a slow technique that allows the client's body to adapt, unwind, release & relax at its own rate. Once the fascia is restored to normal length, the muscle tissue can re-establish its natural tone and flexibility. Myo can be used in conjunction with other deep tissue modalities and is a gentle way to warm muscles for Neuromuscular Therapy.
Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) uses a specific sequence of massage techniques applied throughout the length of the muscle and where it attaches to the bone. These attachment sites have many nerves that sense the length and tension of the muscle. By working these attachment sites, NMT helps the brain and body to communicate. NMT also releases trigger points, which are small painful segments within the muscle that are constantly contracted and can refer pain to other parts of the body. By effecting nerve sites and trigger points within the muscle, NMT relaxes the muscle and returns it to its natural length and tonicity.
Swedish Relaxation Massage applies gentle, soothing strokes from head to toe which relaxes and rejuvenates the body. This is the most common form of massage and what most people think of when they here the word “massage.” It is often viewed as a pampering self-indulgence (which it is). However, there are many health benefits that make Swedish Massage therapeutic in nature. Research has proven that massage can increase circulation throughout the body and decrease stress signals, promoting a calm sense of well-being.
Pregnancy & Postpartum Massage is a nurturing touch designed to help alleviate stress and bring balance to the body. Pregnancy massage can increase circulation for both mother and baby, and decrease muscle strain from the growing demands on the mother's body. It can also help alleviate physical and emotional stress of the new demands in the mother’s life. |
Who gets a cheque anymore?
Unless you are receiving a birthday gift from your 90-year-old grandmother, many modern-day consumers rarely utilize cheques. It’s all about direct deposits, PayPal transfers, or even bitcoin.
This is why you should cut people some slack if they don’t know how to properly cash a cheque. For some, it’s a generational thing. For others, it’s because they have never received this piece of paper.
Think of this way: When was the last time you used a deposit slip at a bank? Yeah, we thought so!
Here are five things to know if you have never cashed a cheque before:
1. Always Sign the Cheque in the Back
When you want to access the cash almost immediately, then you need to do something called “endorse.”
To endorse a cheque, you simply sign the cheque on the top of the back under the part where it states “recipient’s signature.” Without signing it, you might not receive the cash as quickly as you want.
A quick signature and you get your money right away.
2. Cash a Cheque a Financial Institution
If you maintain a bank account anywhere – surprisingly, five to 10 percent of Canadians don’t – then you would be better suited to cash a cheque at your financial institution. Once you head to the teller, or your ATM, you can cash the cheque without having to pay any fees, which is common if you don’t use a bank or credit union, something that eats away at your earnings.
3. No Bank Account? Use Branch on Cheque
Again, a considerable number of Canadian consumers do not have a bank account, typically immigrants, young people, or the perpetually unemployed.
So, if you do not maintain one, then that is OK.
Take a look on the cheque and find out where the cheque originated from. Does the sender use TD Bank? Royal Bank of Canada? Bank of Montreal?
Once you find out, then head over to that branch and cash the cheque.
It makes a whole lot easier.
4. You Might Need Identification
When you cash a cheque not at your financial institution, then you might need to provide identification, like an Ontario Photo ID card, a driver’s license, or passport (not a health card). This is standard protocol.
As long as your identification contains your name, your address, and your photo, then you’re good to go.
5. Fees or No Fees – It Depends
Should you use a bank – yours or the sender’s – then you will not pay any fees, unless it is an NSF (non-sufficient funds). However, if you’re using a payday loan store, a cheque cashing service, a supermarket, or any other unconventional financial service, then you will pay a fee.
The amount of the fee does vary place to place – some governments have instituted limits and regulations.
Whatever the case might be, you need to be prepared that a portion of the funds will be eaten away.
Let’s face it: A lot of today’s generation of consumers rarely deposit cheques. And, if they do, then they’re using mobile depositing (snapping a picture and sending it through a mobile application). For the most part, young people are using direct deposit to receive money, either from their employer or from the government.
Should you have the unfortunate circumstance of getting a cheque, and you’re unaware as to how to cash it in, then you are now properly prepared to handle the menial task, whether you have a bank account or you need to use a cheque cashing service.
Be warned: You may need to travel to a brick-and-mortar branch and stand in line. A wild concept, we know! |
A healthy work environment is one that considers all aspects of employees’ well-being. This includes physical, mental and yes, financial wellness.
If that last one is a surprise to you, check the pulse of your employees. Many of them want guidance through tough financial situations. Are giving them they support they need?
Holistic financial wellness for employees goes beyond offering them a 401(K). A recent study showed a gap between programs employers think they should offer and what employees think should be available to them
For example, student loan debt is a well-known financial hurdle. The average borrower graduates college with $37,000 in debt. It can prevent younger employees from buying homes or achieving other financial milestones. Survey results show 46 percent of employees want their companies to help them pay off or finance student loan debt. 18 percent of bosses agreed.
You may have heard the financial mantra that you need an emergency fund that covers three to six months of living expenses. Unfortunately, according to a Bankrate survey, 23 percent of Americans have no emergency savings. In fact, 22 percent have only saved enough to cover fewer than three months.
It follows, then, that 44 percent of workers want their companies to offer them help to create that emergency fund. Only 22 percent of employers agree they should offer such help. With an emergency fund part of an overall budget plan, 36 percent of employees would also like assistance to maintain their budget.
Let’s Talk About Money
They are more examples of this divide, but you get the idea. Employees are looking to you, as an employer of choice, to throw them a financial life raft. We recommend using employee communications throughout the year to give workers support. Here are a few ways to get you started:
- Use pay increases to as a time for a financial wellness conversation. Communications can encourage employees to tuck that extra money into their emergency fund. Create an infographic that shows even small increases can have big impacts. Show them how even a three percent raise on a $50,000 salary offers them an extra $1,500 per year. Total rewards statements help employees see the whole picture of their compensation. They will understand and appreciate the employee value proposition and you as an employer.
- Create a savings account guide. This is a communication that lays out all the ways employees can save money. They’re no longer limited to stowing their money at their local bank. Online savings and money market accounts offer better interest rates. Or, your 401(K) provider may also offer a savings vehicle with a good rate of return. Show the pros and cons of different account providers. Teach employees where they can learn more about savings options.
- Use communications to show employees where they’re leaving money on the table. Does your company match 401(K) contributions? Explain to workers how that’s essentially “free” money. Send year-end reminders to workers enrolled in flexible savings accounts so they remember to a use funds before expiration. Create a handy checklist of eligible expenses.
Awareness is the First Step
Open enrollment is another logical time to support workers to make wise financial choices. Encourage employees to choose plans that get them the care they need at a price they can afford. For example, HDHPs can be a vehicle for financial wellness for employees. These plans take a smaller chunk out of paychecks. In your communications, illustrate that difference. Employees can funnel the money they save from making smart benefits decisions towards student loan or other personal debt.
Workers might not know money in health savings accounts, which go hand-in-hand with HDHPs, grows tax-free. That money is theirs forever; it travels with them when they change jobs. And when employees are 55 years old, they can sock away an extra $1,000 annually. Create targeted, forward-thinking communications for baby boomers. When they retire, they can use their HSA to pay for covered medical expenses. Tell them that saving now can stop headaches in the future.
Encourage smart financial decisions in year-round communications. Your employee intranet is a smart place to house on-demand financial education. You can poll your workforce on the financial worries that keep them up at night (anonymously, of course!) Then, create and post short, educational videos, infographics, and fact sheets on those topics. Develop a mix to appeal to various learning and communications preferences. If time or resources are tight, you can link to educational videos and podcasts from outlets like You Need a Budget.
Personal financial stress affects all areas of life, including work performance. Help your workforce shine at home and at work. Use communications to show you look out for employees’ physical, mental and financial wellness. |
Sliding Window / August 7, 2018 / Marc Girard
The sliding window air conditioners are mainly used in the small apartments. These consume much less electricity as compared to the other units. These are the best options for achieving cooling in a small area having one or two rooms. You have a freedom on installing individual units in each rooms thus providing opportunity to individuals occupying that room to adjust temperature as per their preferences.
To install sliding window locks you need the following tools: Sliding windows can be lifted to varying degrees within their track. If you are using the venting position it is a good idea to fit something in the track to stop the window from being lifted. Small blocks of wood or plastic or just a screw can be used. If fitted correctly this can make the window a lot more secure especially when locking the window in the open position.
If you want to make your home look more decorative then you can experiment with the kind of doors and windows you use in it. Different styles and designs have been introduced for them which give you the option to easily decide and choose from different designs door. These days sliding doors are quite popular and are preferred by many home owners. |
Wakati's solar-powered, standalone solution
Fruits and vegetables growing on the field are constantly exposed to high temperatures. When fruits and vegetables are cut off from the plant, they start to dehydrate, the internal cell structure starts to decay and the cells, containing acids and enzymes, spill their contents, digesting the crops inside out and causing them to rot.
The Wakati keeps the cell structure of recently harvest fruits and vegetables intact by preventing dehydration through the creation of a saturated humidity inside the tent.
With the Wakati, ethylene production is eliminated which is the ripening hormone of fruits and vegetables. At high temperatures, harvested crops produce high levels of ethylene, especially when they are bruised, which accelerates the rotting process of the produce. |
Explore a wood near you
From wildlife to waterfalls, woodlands are wonderful places to visit.Find a wood
It's a time of change, of migration and arrival and frantic activity. Some animals leave for the winter while others prepare for the cold weather to come. Stunning fungal sculptures emerge and trees put on a dazzling display of colour.
Autumn is a spectacular season as our trees transform from lush greens into stunning displays of red, gold and brown. Embrace the crisp air and celebrate with our top ideas.
This is the best time of year to get outdoors. There's nothing better than wrapping up warm and heading out to see the leaves changing colour, from gorgeous golds to russet reds. Mist hangs over fields and parks in the morning, there are often spectacular sunsets and the stars seem brighter at night.
As the days shorten and temperatures drop our woodlands show signs of the new season. Walk along wooded paths, crunch on fallen leaves and smell fruits ripening in hedgerows. Visit our top woods for amazing autumn colour.
Want something closer to home? Find a wood near you.
Recording your seasonal sightings with Nature’s Calendar will help scientists observe how the changing climate is affecting the UK’s wildlife. Can you take a note of the first signs of autumn, from ripe berries to leaves changing colour?
Read our blog and watch our film
Autumn is an enchanting time to be out in the woods so get out and get muddy together. Visit Nature Detectives for lots of exciting ideas to tempt kids – and grown-ups - from bat spotting to twilight treks.
Celebrate the season with us at one of our events. Light up at a lantern-making workshop, discover magical mushrooms on a fungal foray, pull on your wellies for a woodland wander or get crafty with crispy leaves. |
While all developmental milestones of a child are crucial and important. The language development particularly needs more attention. In this development not only is the speech development but, the basic understanding of the language is acquired too.
Things such as expressing one’s feelings and mood are honed at this stage. Similarly acquainting with new words or words of daily use also happens in this phase. Thus, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that not only learning but, the execution of the learnings takes place in this phase simultaneously.
Parents particularly play an important role in the language development. The child is constantly learning and receive what he/she hears, at all times. A child’s understanding of how to use the language comes from observing how the parent uses it. Thus, it is important that the parents engage in more and more conversation with the child.
Below we list 5 simple things that to do that will support the language development of the child efficiently:
Talk, read, and tell stories:
By talking we mean, engaging in both verbal and non-verbal communication. At this time, it is important to note that the child is observing everything. Right from what word brings that twitch around the corners of your mouth to at what word should the eyes widen. Everything is registered. Also, during language development things such as understanding what happens when or what to say when are learned. So, keep asking your child questions as you engage in various activities with them. For instance, if you are taking the child for a bath ask them question such as, “can you feel the warm water on your belly?” or tell them the activity that us succeed after this such as, “once we finish taking a bath, we are going to put on clean and fresh clothes, and go to the park for a walk.”
Engaging in a conversation like so will help the child understand how the conversation is linked.
It’s never too early to commence reading. Reading helps the children connect with words physically. Take them to the library, familiarize them with textual communication and the silence of the library. The future success of reading in a child necessarily commences in the primitive years.
Similarly, storytelling also helps the child comprehend how to connect the dots and polishes their expression of feelings and moods.
Another brilliant way to hone your child’s language development is by taking them to visit different places. Start with something as basic as zoo or parks then gradually take them to different countries via every possible mode of commutation. This is important, as first-hand experiences more vivid in their memory that the knowledge that any book or internet can give them.
Let them take the lead in communication:
Sometimes it is necessary to pretend or fake unawareness. Let the child take the lead in communication. This will boost their morale and will give them the confidence to use words on their own and be sure of it.
He/ She will be getting that a lot from the world eventually. The best way to address a child’s articulation and speech patterns is by repeating their sentences with the correct articulation. Appreciate their efforts and compliment them if they get the articulation right.
Keep the use of television and computers minimal:
Even if they are educational programs, keep the use of any electronic communication at bay. The electronics create hindrances in the natural development of the senses. Language development invariably depends on how well the senses are development.
Apart from this what the child eat or the activities he/she engages also has a huge impact on the language development. |
Want a really fun DIY that’s easy to do? This project is a great way to color your yarn, giving it a handmade touch. With this simple technique for hand dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid, you can make your own yarn in so many fun and different colors. It’s a great project for beginners and for kids. Find the tutorial at Naztazia. |
Where inspiration meets action
We believe young people around the globe are an incredible source of innovation.
The Young Enough Ambition is an organization that grants funds to young Brazilians. Our ambition is to help the Brazilian youth develop their own sustainable initiatives, by providing them with a long-term support, funding, access to a world-class network, and 3 free days of personalized workshops.
How ? By supporting our Grantees change the world, one project at a time.
Discover our Grantees
Young Enough Ambition has selected 3 initiatives among more than a dozen present to integrate its first ever « Grantees program », after a competitive process.
Grantees receive financial support, administrative help, mentoring from local successful figures, and access to networking opportunities through our different partnerships.
Our fully committed team
We are a group of young people, lucky enough to have acquired the tools to develop this organization at a young age. Now, we want to help our peers develop their projects, and we are motivated like never to do so.
That’s why we have launched Young Enough Ambition. And that’s why we have hosted a dozen of incredible initiatives during the Social Business Challenge in October in São Paulo which resulted in the selection of 3 Grantees.
Feel free to get in touch with us to learn more ! |
Reducing costs in higher education by adopting scheduling software
The following business case describes a GMAT tutoring school based in Singapore, China, and India. The Singapore branch employs 3 full-time administrators and more than 12 teachers and has managed 15,000 bookings over the last year with 10to8. Their clients include many graduates applying for US/UK business schools, with thousands of students coming through their doors annually.
The management team identified a number of challenges with their existing arrangements, particularly around appointment management, related to the large numbers of part-time staff, working irregular hours, and the transitory nature of the students, who would often only be clients for a matter of weeks before the GMAT exam. They, therefore, identified these issues:
1. Managing a shared calendar
With many part-time staff, each working irregular hours, and each with different degrees of involvement and access to the system, managing a shared calendar was a big challenge. It was vital to only allow staff with appropriate permissions to have the ability to modify and book appointments. It was also important that, while enforcing access controls, staff should have easy access to their appointments. Each member of staff would also need to keep their irregular hours up-to-date within the system, so that appropriate time slots could be booked by clients and administrators.
2. Projecting a professional image
Given that their clients are applying for top-level business schools in the US and UK, and given the prestige and costs involved, the management team believed it was vital to project a professional corporate image. This would help them generate new business, retain students and encourage referrals by students to similarly minded friends.
3. Actionable Reporting
Given the number of staff and bookings, the management team wanted clear reports and other tools for monitoring the health and performance of the business. Common questions would be to identify the retention rates of customers, the rate of new customer acquisition, and the hours worked by each member of staff to arrange payroll and taxes.
4. Eliminate no-shows
Given the limited number of rooms, and the cost of staff, maintaining a high rate of occupancy and utilization was vital for the business, and while money was often recouped from no-shows, it was not certain. The management team needed a system to maintain a high level of attendance, through the use of emails and SMS that were appropriate, professional and helpful for their clients.
Impact of 10to8
Each teacher is able to manage their own working hours, either on a weekly repeating or irregular basis, depending on their requirements. Many teachers are part-time and manage a calendar with another provider (such as Google Calendar or Apple iCloud). 10to8 allowed them to synchronize the two calendars so that the school can book them at times that are appropriate, without the school seeing all the details of the teachers’ appointments with other employers. This significantly reduced the overheads on the teachers to keep the school informed of their available hours, and improved staff morale.
Reduction in no-shows
The automatic SMS and email notifications of bookings from the calendar resulted in an immediate and permanent reduction in no-shows, without any additional administrative overhead.
Reduction in admin
Thanks to the 360-view of the shared, cloud-based calendar and comprehensive audit logs of all actions by staff and customers, it became possible to see every change, booking, and a message about a booking in a single place. This reduced the administrative overhead of keeping emails, calendars and other systems in sync with each other, and reduced errors in scheduling and other tasks.
The 10to8 data export tools allowed the school to calculate no-show rates across students, services and even individual teachers. It also allowed them to take appointments data and feed this into other HR management systems in order to calculate payroll.
Brandin and professionalism
10to8 offered them the possibility of branding all client-facing parts of the product. This included online booking pages, automatic SMS and email reminders as well as confirmation messages. These were customised to include the branding of the school, message content and tone, reflecting the image that the school wanted to project.
This helped the school generate more business, increase customer loyalty, and maintain prices that reflected their professional appearance. |
Last week Jin Ho Verdonschot & Frances Singleton-Clift went to the Royal Courts of Justice to meet with Lord Justice Briggs and discuss the changing face of ODR in the British legal system. As I am sure many of you are aware, Lord Briggs is in charge of the implementation of Richard Susskind’s recommendations in his eponymous report on ODR within the UK legal system. Lord Briggs has long been an advocate of the need for change within our modern legal systems. They are confusing, arduous proceedings, often incurring costs vastly at odds with the sums of money being argued over. In fact, citizens with every reason to resport to court will oftentimes avoid legal proceedings altogether as the potential debt and hassle are so offputting. This is not how things should be. ODR provides a tangible way in which the courts can revolutionise access to justice. It reduces costs, complexity, and levels the playing field for all involved and for this reason is at the heart of the changes we will be seeing in the British legal system. Lord Briggs will shortly be sharing his initial plans to make good on this change (a remarkable achievement given his full time judging schedule and the small number of helpers putting these recommendations together). Inevitably, the proof is always in the pudding, but the changes going on right now have, unusually, the support of both the UK government and the judiciary. Given the fascinating talk we shared last week, we have every reason to believe this will be a success and act as a catalyst for many other countries to follow suit. |
Lecture 2 : A history of Hermetic Qabalah and the Tree of Life – Magic in the Western Mystery Tradition
The Tree of Life is the foundation glyph of the Western Mystery Tradition, a magical lineage stemming back to ancient Egypt, through the portals of Greek and Roman mysteries, enriched by Jewish mysticism and Alchemy, and brought into the modern era through the living rituals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
A tool for self-discovery, exploring deep philosophical, theosophical, and multi-dimensional understanding, the Tree of Life has practical applications in Tarot, Astrology, Ritual Magic, Meditation, and more.
From its origins in mystical Judaism, the Tree has merged with the Hermetic Path and the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus.
Students will learn the structure and history of the Tree, the correct terminology, and corresponding planets, colors and more.
Purchase includes 2 hour audio class and supplementary PDF visual aid. |
Former AG Alberto Gonzales discusses DREAM Act
HOUSTON It's called the DREAM Act; DREAM stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, and its basic idea is to provide schooling and legal residency to undocumented children in exchange for public service. A lot of high profile power brokers have opinions on it, and that includes former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who was in Houston Friday talking to students about the importance of education. Gonzales knows what an education can do. The son of a father with a second-grade education and a mother who didn't finish middle school, he rose to attorney general of the United States. He now shares that story on behalf of Texas Tech University. And in a press conference Friday at Lamar High School, we asked him what he thinks of the DREAM Act. "It's under constant renovation and alteration, and I don't know what it is ultimately going to look like," Gonzales said. He does admit to a belief, though, that every child is owed a chance at a good education. "If people are here, brought here by their parents, I think we have, as a nation, we should educate them," Gonzales said. Opponents of the act suggest that educating illegal immigrants would be too costly and lessen opportunities for citizens. Those who support it say the cost benefit of having a more educated workforce, along with mandatory public service of some kind, including the military, is too big to ignore. Gonzales, though, says the DREAM Act should not come before immigration reform, something he thinks should be a top priority in Washington. "A good immigration policy is going to be one that's consistent with our economic needs, by providing more visas for skilled and unskilled workers, for example," he said. "I also think comprehensive immigration reform should be consistent with our national security needs." After the press conference the former attorney general met with Eyewitness News and clarified his position. He wanted to be sure we didn't report he supports the DREAM Act, despite his thoughts on education and immigration reform. "I think a good first step is to have border security, quite honestly," Gonzales said, "but I don't think that in this, the makeup of the Congress being closely divided, you can simply pass border security." The DREAM Act has failed to pass multiple votes in Congress. But just two weeks ago, President Barack Obama called on lawmakers to try again.
More TOP STORIES News |
Set flush against a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea is Casa Brutale, a home concept that’ll literally have you living life on the edge. The project was created by OPA (Open Platform for Architecture), and its sleek, modern design conceals nearly the entire unit within rock. As a result, there’s relatively little impact to the surrounding environment.
Few areas of Casa Brutale are visible from the outside, two of which are its surface swimming pool and a set of steps. A short descent brings you into the main living space, which has an enormous glass facade and provides unforgettable views throughout the entire residence–even from bed. To avoid detracting from the natural beauty of the scenic environment, decor is minimal and features cool concrete surfaces offset by gorgeous aged wood.
In addition to the architecture’s complementing integration in the earth, nature plays a big role within the home. Both the front glazing and the home’s roof serve as sources of natural light. This skylight actually doubles as the glass-bottomed pool, allowing swimmers to gaze below. It also produces a unique effect if you’re within the space. The sun passes through the billowing body of water, and the liquid diffuses the light, reflecting brilliant patterns onto Casa Brutale’s floors and walls. You can’t help but feel that you’re under the sea. |
I stumbled upon a quick video on YouTube on how to use the CSS3 grayscale filter when hovering on an image.
The results can be seen via this Codepen CSS3 Grayscale Filter
Click on the CSS tab in the Codepen example above to see how this filter effect can be implemented in your CSS.
“Method of applying filter effects (like blur, grayscale, brightness, contrast and hue) to elements, previously only possible by using SVG.” – Can I Use
“It’s worth noting that right now, CSS Filter Effects are an unoffical specification – however, the editors of the spec include representatives from Adobe, Apple and Opera, and we have already got implementations in Chrome, Safari and iOS 6.” – CSS3 Filters |
Advanced MicroAnalytical offers a host of services for the analysis of the environmental impact created via by-products from power generators and industrial burners. We realize that in areas adjacent to these generating plants there are always people who are sensitized to potential environmental issues that could be caused by plant operations. Advanced MicroAnalytical provides testing options for individuals and companies within these communities to best determine the nature and extent of any issues.
In support of these impact investigations, we offer particle identification to differentiate various soot and ash materials from other environmental dust particles. Size, morphology and chemical composition of the particles can be documented with a combination of light and electron microscopy to identify and source these emissions. We also conduct particle size distribution analysis of various burner residue types, high-volume filter analysis to assess the long-term impact at a specific site, mass fraction analysis of mixtures for quantitative analysis as well as examination of coal ash and other anthropogenic materials in soil, just to name a few.
- Industrial Burner Residue: Particulate Micro Analysis to positively identify soot associated with industrial burner residues and differentiate from home heating sources or other black materials
- Particle Size Analysis (PSA) by Direct Examination: Examine the size of residues to check migration patterns as well as examine the filter and scrubber efficiency
- High-Volume Filter Analysis: Testing high-volume filters to determine quantitative loading of different materials at a specific site for insight into deposition patterns and timeline
- Stack Residue Material Analysis: Analysis of solid residues to determine source of build-up in a stack, filter or scrubber
- Coal Ash Analysis of Soil (Plus Lead Sourcing): Analysis of anthropogenic materials in soil for environmental monitoring and sourcing purposes. Analyzing lead (Pb) allows for differentiation of paint, ash or other industrial sources of the metal
At Advanced MicroAnalytical, we strive to provide an end-to-end solution for clients looking for analysis on their projects. We provide data interpretation throughout the sampling an analysis process, and follow through to the final conclusion. Our goal is to be your trusted, independent resource that provides you with a simple and user-friendly experience from initial contact to final reporting. Residents and community members in the areas around an industrial burner can find specific knowledge about how likely they are to be impacted by residues from the burner. Operators and environmental monitoring officials can gain valuable insight into the exact properties of problematic emissions. Contact us so we can begin providing support and solutions to your community. |
Using fish skin to heal burns can be cheaper and less painful than bandages, a scientist has said.
Tilapia skin is increasingly being used on burns due to it being rich in moisture and a type of collagen that is similar to the protein found in human skin. This is thought to interact with a patient’s immune system to speed up healing.
More than 300 patients worldwide have had the unusual therapy, which shows up as a fishy pattern even after it has been sterilized and the scales removed.
Although many patients can be reluctant to have fish skin wrapped around their burns, a growing number of children are actually arriving at hospitals requesting the ‘bandage’.
‘The major concerns were whether the skins would subsequently come off, if the fish odour would remain,’ Dr. Rocha told The Times.
‘With the passage of time and the success of the research, the patients already arrive at the hospital wanting the treatment with the skin of the tilapia.
‘In relation to children the skin ends up being kind of playful, like: “Gaining a skin and looking like a superhero”.’
Once sterilized, tilapia skin undergoes radiation therapy to kill any lingering viruses. It can then be stored for up to two years if refrigerated, before simply being cut to size and placed over a burn instead of a bandage. The skin is then removed after around one week, with no need for daily dressing changes.
Tilapia skin has been shown to be more resistant than the previously used pig skin, which enables it to withstand stretching. Wounds may also close faster, with patients reporting less pain, when treated with fish skin over the traditional silver sulfadiazine, according to unpublished research presented at conferences.
The idea reportedly first came from the Brazilian cosmetic surgeon Dr. Marcelo Borges after he read about the use of tilapia skin to make bags, belts and shoes.
The fish skin is now taken as a by-product of the food industry, with farmers being happy to provide it for free due to the ‘medical and humanitarian impact’, according to Carlos Roberto Koscky Paier, a biotechnology technician at the Federal University of Ceara.
He was speaking at the World Innovation Summit for Health in Doha last month.
The unusual approach has previously been used in vaginal-reconstruction surgery, as well as by vets at UC Davis Veterinary Hospital after a series of pets got burned in a camp fire earlier this month. |
Coaching for a MOOC
What is the future of nuclear energy in France? You can find out soon in a MOOC created by the French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN) and the National Institut of Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN). Constructed around talks from 15 speakers, the online course will cover economic, environmental and industrial issues surrounding nuclear energy. Of course, Agent Majeur provides MOOC coaching.
To cover such a vast subject as clearly as possible, the SFEN and INSTN asked Agent Majeur to accompany their speakers. For the 8 days of production, our two coaches worked together to improve the content and structure of each segment. In terms of content, their goal was to help make the modules more accessible and lively for learners: students, public and professionals. In terms of structure, our team helped the experts to gain in confidence in front of the camera and improve their gaze, body language and rhythm.
As a citizen or consumer, you are no doubt asking yourself many questions about nuclear power. How much does it cost to build a nuclear park? How is the waste dealt with? What impact will it have on France’s economy? How can the security of nuclear installations be monitored? You will find all the answers to these questions by registering between now and 16th March on the FunMOOC website. |
In addition to the residential Protection Island, Nanaimo’s harbour boasts a second island, Newcastle Island, which is a gorgeous marine provincial park. Newcastle Island is quite a bit bigger than Protection Island and it offers 22 km of trails suitable for walking, hiking, and/or biking through the rainforest and along the coastline. A walk-in campsite is also on site, as are several group campsites that are well used by school, scouts, and other such groups. Docks and mooring buoys serve boaters. The Q’uluc’tun Bistro serves burgers, ice cream , etc. during the summer season. Kids enjoy giant chess and a playground, as well as numerous beaches including a couple sandy ones.
Newcastle Island has a rich and fascinating history. For thousands of years, it was a significant spot for the Snuneymuxw First Nation who valued it for food gathering (clams, oysters, crabs, fish, berries, etc.) and as a sacred place for spiritual training. There were two villages on the island and even today it is possible to see their shell middens. The Snuneymuxw had many names for different parts of the island, according to their features, and they continue to have many traditional stories about the island. In the 1800s, colonialists arrived in the area. The island was used for a while as a smallpox quarantine location. Then in 1849 coal was discovered by the Hudson’s Bay Company (with information from a local Snuneymuxw man later named Coal Tyee) and in 1852 the first of two coal mines opened. Coal was mined from the Newcastle Mine between 1853–56 and from the Fitzwilliam Mine from 1872–82. A sandstone quarry operated from 1869 to 1932, and the pulp-stone industry profited from Newcastle’s sandstone from 1923 to 1932. From the early 1900s to 1941, a number of herring and salmon salteries operated on the island, and, from 1918, the Nanaimo Shipyards Ltd. offered shipbuilding and repair. All of the latter was taken from the Japanese-Canadian owners in 1941. In In 1931 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought Newcastle Island and turned it into a successful resort for visitors brought in by boat from Vancouver. The main attractions were the pavilion with its spring dance floor and soda fountain, as well as the beach and picnic areas. The pavilion is still in use today, and is a prime spot for local wedding receptions. The resort was compelled to close during World War II because the ships were needed for battle. The City of Nanaimo purchased the island in 1955 and sold it for $1 to the province in 1959 under condition that it become a provincial park – which it is to this day. Remnants of all this history can be seen as you walk around Newcastle Island.
To get to Newcastle Island from Nanaimo, there is a dedicated foot passenger ferry service that leaves from Nanaimo’s Maffeo Sutton Park. That ferry service will drop visitors off at the Dinghy Dock Pub on Protection Island after their visit on Newcastle. For information and schedule, see Newcastle Island’s website. Visitors to Protection Island can walk to Newcastle Island at very low tides – a wonderful adventure! |
What is your favorite social media?
There are a lot of social media platforms on the Internet. Becoming Famous has never been easier. You can be a Youtube star, Tumblr queen, Twitter king, and you can Instagram your way to fame. Social media lets us become popular, and lets us be who we want. But all those likes, don’t always like us.
Likes are how most people tell who is better than who. Likes tell us who has more people watching for their posts. Followers mean popular and better, Right? Wrong. Likes don’t always like us. Followers don’t always like us, and some followers follow to hate.
Why do they follow us then?
Social media is great for keeping up with family and friends, but people that do not like you can follow you too. People that do not like you follow you or like your photos to be nice to you. They do it to be mean. People can be rude, and they can use anything they find to belittle you. They feel brave behind a computer screen. They are cyberbullies.
Social media has taken over our lives in the sense that if someone doesn’t have Instagram, they are crazy. We Snapchat our friends and family rather than talk to them or even text them. We post something for our friends, but our enemies see it instead.
People will post things to anger others and start fights. They think that more followers mean more people like them. Their social accounts are their lives. We were not meant to be like this. We are more than our Instagram likes and Tumblr followers. More people are starting to think their worth is tied into how many followers they have online. We are more than likes, reblogs, retweets, and screenshots.
Cyberbullies are real, and they are not shy. They are people that have nothing better to do than talk trash about you on the Internet. People are far braver behind a phone screen or a computer screen, and that means they get mean. Likes do not always like you. |
Study transport and logistics
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The logistics and warehousing industries involves the storage and distribution of goods and products between suppliers and customers. Gain valuable supply chain skills including receiving and dispatching goods, picking and processing orders, stocktaking, and managing transportation. Or learn how to transport your passengers or cargo safely between destinations and set yourself on the road to a career as a freight or bus driver.
View transport and logistics courses |
Ammar Abdulhamid, the Executive Director of the pro-democracy Tharwa Foundation, was much more critical of the Obama Administration’s policy (as well as that of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently visited Syria). “Nothing can be gained from engaging tyrants,” he said. Abdulhamid noted that the regime that Western governments are attempting to engage does not speak for the Syrian people, saying “the true leaders of Syria are in prison.”
“Peace and stability cannot happen at the expense of our freedom,” Abdulhamid insisted. He’s right of course. I fear that the Obama Administration is determined to learn this lesson the hard way. |
How do you make this kind of impact in a crowd?
When Richard Burton, (RIP) was a young actor and was cast in the role of spear carrier in crowd scenes, his presence was so compelling that he stole the limelight from the actor playing the king.
When you meet people for the first time, how do you make sure they take notice of you, trust you, want to know you and recommend you to their friends?
There are all sorts of techniques that help people change their self-beliefs in order to become more confident.
People don’t see your beliefs.
They don’t know what you’re thinking.
They’re not aware of your emotions.
The only thing they notice is your BEHAVIOUR
For thousands of years, actors have been making us believe in them by displaying the BEHAVIOUR of the kind of person they want to portray.
What happens in their personal lives doesn’t affect their performance.
They are often insecure as individuals but still deliver great, believable performances.
They often do it eight times a week for hundreds of weeks with great consistency.
They can portray characters that are totally unlike themselves with enormous conviction.
How does this help an ordinary person who wishes to create an impact?
Easy! We can copy what the best actors do.
Five Easy Steps on How to Make an Impact
- Define the role you want to play, e.g. charismatic leader, honest salesperson, trustworthy consultant, creative designer, useful team player
- Define the qualities a person in this role displays, e.g. charm, authority, consideration, tact, etc.
- Take each quality and work out what you need DO with your body to show those qualities, e.g to display consideration you may need to show that you are actively listening. What does a person who is actively listening DO? They make eye contact, lean forward and nod.
Repeat this process for each quality until you know exactly how to DO what a person in your chosen role would DO.
- Practice. Practice until you become your behaviour, until its stops being an act and becomes authentically you. (Physical actions trigger emotions and create beliefs)
- Be the best version of yourself that you want to be – consistently.
Do – Be – Have
When you DO the things you need to do to BE the person you want to be, the things you want to HAVE will follow.
Burton played 136 performances of Hamlet over 18 weeks. The production grossed $1,250,000. It was the highest-grossing and almost certainly the most profitable presentation of the play in the USA, if not the world.
He was born the 12th child in a family of 13 children in a mining village in Wales. His mother died when he was 2 years old.
This post is inspired by a training session with Mark Doyle of The Method |
The story of Kreative Kidz
Debbie Gohrt (Owner / Director)
Debbie's love for children and having two children of her own, decided to enhance her degree in Psychology with an education in Early Childhood Education. After completing her education Debbie opened a daycare (2001). It was a great way to focus on her children while making an income. Debbie felt just playing was not enough for her children. Debbie focused on education and started designing a program that children could follow with ease, have fun doing it and learning important skills which would have the child grow in a positive way.
When Debbie gave birth to her third child, she saw this as an opportunity to fine tune her education program. At the same time Debbie decided to no longer consider her daycare as a daycare and converted the mentality to an Academy setting. Focusing on creativity & imagination the name was changed to Preschool Academy Kreative Kidz. All of Debbie's children are out of daycare, and now her focus has moved on to children with special needs. Our program helps children with Autism integrate with neuro-typical children. |
Más sobre Apramp
APRAMP centres its efforts on combatting the trafficking of women from a human rights and gender-based approach.
APRAMP’s goal is that individuals who suffer sexual exploitation and human trafficking recover their freedom and dignity, asserting their rights, and that they achieve the necessary autonomy to begin a life outside of the control and abuse of their exploiters.
President – Founder
“When I started working with prostituted women in Spain 30 years ago, I couldn’t imagine how cruel reality was going to become. I didn’t know then that the work of APRAMP in the 21st century would be focused on identifying and rescuing enslaved women and girls from the other side of the world.” |
After Science Editor John Timmer’s visit to China late last year to see what GE is doing in the East, we next swung our attention to the Western Hemisphere. GE is a huge company—one of the largest in the world, in fact—and its size means it has the ability to invest time and money into research. While John got to see what GE does with clean water and energy in China, I got the chance to poke my nose into the ways GE is trying to make machines smarter.
This isn’t a Skynet scenario—we’re not talking about actually building sentient robots to take over the world. Instead, there were three main areas where we got a chance to focus out lens: automated manufacturing, sensor-enabled machining, and big data and analytics. Under the guidance of GE’s Dr. Matthew Beaumont, who manages the research center’s composite manufacturing lab, we talked to the individual scientists and researchers who are driving these technologies forward.
For automated manufacturing, I spoke with research engineer Mathias Messmer, who showed me GE’s automated fiber placement robot. Consisting of a large fixed-position robotic arm and a sophisticated customized tool head, this machine took carbon fiber filaments and laid them out onto a form to produce finished shapes. Carbon fiber manufacturing is a complex subject—one we’ll be looking at in detail in a feature report—but many types of carbon fiber composites have to be built by hand, and this robot automates what would otherwise be a very manual process.
Sensor-enabled machining was covered by Hiroyuki Tanaka, who showed off a laser-equipped scanning robot. For any given manufacturing process, there’s always going to be some variance—parts that aren’t exactly created to spec. Robots are very good at following fixed patterns, but they're not so great at accounting for variances, so Hiro showed us how GE is working on equipping manufacturing robots with the ability to sense the exact dimensions of the parts they’re working with and adjust themselves accordingly.
Then we talked about big data and analytics with Christopher Madsen. "Big data" is the subject of an explainer we’re going to publish in a day or so, but in this context it refers to GE’s ability to find golden nuggets of information in the enormous amount of data generated by a running factory—parsing through trillions of data points to assemble trends that would be invisible to the human eye. By looking at the entire picture represented by a massive data canvas, GE can find and fix problems in how things are built. At a global scale, even a tiny process improvement can mean tremendous savings.
But things weren’t all business over in Munich. It was my first time in Germany, so I kept a running journal of the things I saw and experienced while over there. Throughout this week as we publish stories inspired by the trip and by the work GE is doing, we’ll also be running some excerpts from my thoughts about traveling overseas and working in Deutschland for a week (spoiler: everyone speaks better English than I do). |
Depression in the elderly is often written about but occasionally forgotten by many. It’s considered a sign of getting older, but the facts are that depression strikes people of all ages.
For Alzheimer’s patients and their families, three types of Alzheimer’s treatments offer some hope of slowing down the disease. There is one vitamin that might surprise you
Researchers say understanding sex difference may help them understand who is at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease…
Understanding the stages of Alzheimer’s disease makes you better prepared to deal with it. Early treatment is also key in managing the illness.
Lewy Body Dementia Lewy Body Dementia remains difficult to diagnose. Therefore, it is vital to have your senior loved one see a doctor whenever something |
Mardi Gras Carnival Art / February 22, 2019 / Chris Burris
In Sweden the celebration is called Fettisdagen. A retirement celebration for Lee C. Teng (ASD) will be held Thursday Feb. 24. Family Gras: the family friendly celebration takes place the last weekend in February in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie. Why limit your celebration to one day? You can get Cajun specials all month long at this Palatine bar and restaurant including traditional-style gumbo fried catifish and the Bayou Pasta Bowl with alligator shrimp and crawfish. Mardi gras is a popular carnival celebrated around the world particularly in Europe and America with great enthusiasm. It is basically a food eating carnival involving food with higher fat contents. This carnival is also commonly known as the "fat Tuesday" due to the fatty contents of the food served during the event.
He served as recording producer for the popular Holiday Angels Working Undercover Christmas charity CD project from 2003-2007. As settlers from Europe travelled to the new world by the thousands traditions and customs came with them and became ingrained in the culture and history of a new country. One custom in particular flourished in the southern reaches of the burgeoning country Mardi Gras. As far back as the early 18th century Catholic European settlers were celebrating the same holidays that they had observed in their native countries. In 1699 a French explorer arrived at the Mississippi River not far from where present day New Orleans exists.
The celebration of the last day before Lent dates back to at least the Middle Ages when men of noble lineage or accomplishment were knighted and formal banquets took place to honor the occasion. Mardi Gras which means Fat Tuesday in French as an alternate name for Shrove Tuesday was established in New Orleans while the city was under French control and was maintained as a major festival even when the territory was relinquished into Spanish hands as well as after the Louisiana Purchase was signed and the state of Louisiana officially joined the Union. |
Nitrile (also known as Buna-N) closed cell sponge rubber is an excellent gasket material for sealing applications that require oil and UV resistance. With a high resistance to vegetable oil, animal oil, and mineral oil, Buna-N also performs well as a gasket or sealing material in petroleum-based applications. Also, Nitrile rubber gasket material is able to maintain its properties in commercial or industrial applications where temperatures range from -40°F to +250°F. Atlantic Gasket Corporation located in Philadelphia is a leading custom gasket and seal manufacturer, offering a wide variety of sponge materials, including three grades of Nitrile (Buna-N) closed cell sponge rubber: soft density C41NBR, medium density C42NBR and firm density C43NBR. These three grades are a pure Nitrile - not a blend, which offers enhanced oil resistance.
|Example Gasket Application||Properties|
|Fuel (gasoline and diesel)||Style C41NBR, C42NBR and C43NBR closed cell Nitrile sponge is a pure Nitrile and is an excellent gasket material for sealing petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline, diesel and other aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons.|
|Non-fuel||Nitrile closed cell sponge works exceptionally well as a gasket material in applications that will be exposed to animal oil, vegetable oil, mineral oil and lubricating oil.|
Generally, Nitrile closed cell sponge rubber is the ideal gasket material for sealing petroleum-based products in applications that require a conformable gasket material. Our Nitrile closed cell sponge rubber gasket material meets various specifications, including:
To maintain a leading custom gasket and seal manufacturer position, Atlantic Gasket offers Buna-N closed cell sponge rubber as thin as 1/16" thick and as thick as 1-1/2" in sheets 40" wide x 68" long. Better yet, allow us to use our eighty plus years of die-cutting experience to produce a die-cut or waterjet cut part to your exact specifications. Not sure of the best material for your application? No problem. Please contact Atlantic Gasket and one of our experienced sales engineers will be glad to assist you in determining the right material for your gasket or sealing application. |
Traveling with the family is always stressful, but when you have kids with ASD, it can reach a new level of stress. However, with the correct organization, all the family members can have the best trip ever! Helping children with autism to adjust to the new environment and places can make a huge difference in their trips, and all the members have to make an effort while traveling.
Many parents with children within the spectrum can feel scared of venture beyond their cities, towns, and neighborhoods, because of the difficulty in managing the tough behaviors that the little ones can show in public, they also struggle with the shame of the stares, meaning comments and judges by people outside. But truly, traveling with them is not that complicated and can become an amazing experience.
Take these tips!
The best destination
When picking the place to go in the family vacation, it would be important to take into consideration what your child likes and how the new place can impact his or her behavior. According to Rebecca Landa, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, a trip to the beach or to the mountains are the best choices to go with children within the spectrum.
Those places can offer flexible schedules and adjusting activities, and they are very vast to accommodate different groups of people, without making the trip stressful for the child and the rest of the family. Children with autism tend to react in unexpected ways to new stimulations, for that reason these relaxed destinations can work better for them, besides try to find the activities that your son or daughter will enjoy; for example, games in the water, whatever in the beach or a lake, can make them feel very relaxed and open to other activities with the family.
Prepare arrangements ahead of time
After setting the destination, the next step will be calling airlines, hotels, and restaurants. With the calling, you will know what kind of procedure they follow when children with special needs are visiting, and with that, you can make all the correct preparations to visit those places.
There have been many rehearsal programs in airports and parks to teach the personnel how to treat and behave with children within the spectrum since many families are now taking the challenge of traveling with them. These practices are making easier for all the people involved to act according to the different situations that can present with those incredible children.
Safety first, and proper identification for your kid can make the difference with danger. Children with ASD tend to wander by themselves, separating of the group and losing while the family is a little distracted, and it can be worse if the child is nonverbal. You can find a necklace or a medical bracelet with the contact information, if someone finds him or her wander or in the middle of a crisis, they can call you right away.
Some children will feel uncomfortable with jewelry, if that is the case, find tags that can be attached to shoelaces or backpacks, also it would be good to make him wear shirts or a ribbon that can be identified as a child with autism. They can attract attention quite easily for that reason, workers and other visitants can contact you when they are lost.
Pack loveys and distractions
When packing try to check the daily routine of your child, that way you will know exactly what item bring, that can help you to calm down. Tablets, cell phones, DVD players, music, books, and stuffed toys can make them feel like if they were at home. If you forget them, you will face a hard challenge and the trip can be easily forgotten.
Role play scenarios
All the family can try to practice different scenarios that can show up in their trip, this will give your child a starting base to feel at ease in the vacation. Another way can be word/picture scenarios, showing the kid the different places that you will be visiting as a family, can help them to get used to them, and making them familiar. Try not to tell the child about the trip too ahead of time, because it can disrupt his behavior and affect his sleeping time, thanks to the anxiety.
Plan activities according to the child
You know your child better than everybody, for that reason the activities should be set according to their hours, “what time do they get tired and need a rest during the day? How many hours should we spend in the amusement park?” Those are the questions that you need to answer before the trip, planning activities for relaxation can be helpful like swimming, that way they can go to bed without any stress for the day. Try to keep the bedtime hours, never skipped them.
With these tips, your vacation can be a successful trip, just adjust them for your child necessities, because his or her happiness with the rest of the family has to be important. The family trips are there for you to have more time and to enjoy activities together. Here at Autism Soccer, we just want the best for your child and the rest of your loved ones; visit us and check all the programs that we offer.
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13,600 sq. ft., 11-unit multi family housing project: This project is a response to the conflict in Southern California between the socioeconomic demands for more housing and community demands that the massing of the new higher density projects not overwhelm existing neighborhoods. As a building in a park, with 23 percent more open space than is required by the local zoning code, it achieves indoor/outdoor living typically only achieved in single family housing. The increased open space is achieved by rethinking how the building can be positioned on the site, by re-thinking where open space can occur in/on a building, and by rethinking how we respond to stepping setbacks required by zoning codes. The stepping setbacks, which are encouraged to break up building massing and to maintain natural light to neighbors, typically result in a larger base footprint that takes away from usable open area around buildings. Rather than the pyramid configuration encouraged by the zoning code, the entire project footprint pushes within the third floor setback for all levels. This massing eliminates the stepped pyramid elevations seen in most new construction in Glendale and provides an additional six feet of open space on all sides of the building. Rather than a narrow side yard, the wider open space is used for barbecue and picnic areas as well as a parkway for residents. The street is sparsely landscaped, so the front yard has been designed as a park for the enjoyment of the neighborhood as well as residents. With the pyramid effect removed, a pattern of angled portals and incisions is incorporated to the façade to give depth to the elevations and to create a rhythmic backdrop for the landscape in the foreground. A narrow courtyard incision is also made in the front of the building to allow for a more intimate common open space. This courtyard is also intended to feel like an extension of the parkway that terminates across the street. The extension of the landscape further into the building footprint creates more depth for the park and the building massing. Where incisions are made into the building, a material shift occurs from cooler cement board tones to a warmer vertical grain cedar siding. The material shift reinforces the idea of incisions and reinforces the graphic rhythm of the building. A green roof has soil depths for trees above the subterranean parking and the driveway.
Brian Wickersham (Principal-in-Charge), Sabina Lira (PM), Louie Bofill, Aris Keshishian, Manori Sumanasinghe
Civil Engineer - Techna Land Co. Ltd., Structural Engineer - Kazarian Engineering Services, Inc., M/P - Airplus Engineering Consultants, Inc. Electrical Engineer - Abrari and Associates, Inc., Irrigation Consultant - Minkay Services
2017 AIA San Fernando Valley Design Awards - Citation |
1 Ahr, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), 2010, Nelles, Heimersheim, Red-wine from Germany
Let me begin with a confession: I like all wines from Nelles and I also confess that I like almost all Spätburgunder from the Ahrtal – a small valley in Germany named by the river Ahr – which springs up German lower mountain area called Eifel. This is very much in the west of Germany bordering with Luxemburg and Belgium. The river runs into East and flows into the most “German” river Rhein. Due to it’s geologic but also geographic premises this valley is German’s largest complete red-wine area! This doesn’t mean that most of German red-wine comes from the valley. Not at all! But it is a fascinating piece of Germany: pretty much in the north, between Koblenz and Cologne, the water graved a deep valley with tough steeps on each side. Soil of such steeps is solely schist which is in certain regards similar to Mosel.
But the Ahr valley is much closer, much smaller and in particular much narrow. While winter it can become cold and there is even snow sometimes and certainly sometimes pretty deep temperature. Already during spring but certainly while summer and autumns the very stony soil can contain the warmness and even heat of the sun very long. If you sit on a sunny side of such precipitous steeps you can easily take a sunbath. During night the coldness of the rivers climbs up along the hills and everything cools down during night tremendously. In my point – and of course many experts might complain about this statement – this valley delivers the best German red-wine which has a lot of individual characters. Some of the most famous vineries of Germany are form there as Adeneuer, Deutzerhof, Jean Stodden, Meyer Näkel and last but not least Nelles. All of them are similar in regard of the origin, but in certain regards very different in regard to their product – all of them make top wines although every wine has really its own character. The vinery Nelles comes from Heimersheim, which is the last village of the valley before Ahr ends into the Rhein. This said, there are of course differences even within this valley in respect of soil, sun and other aspect of the location of the vinery. And, every winemakers has different priorities in regard to what happens in the cellar.
The Nelles family is –understandable – very proud that they have documents which shall proof a first notice of their vinery already in 1479 which indeed is remarkable long ago. Of course historical tradition of winemaking can be an important reference (independently of the country of origin: https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/rosso-batic-reserva-1999/), I wouldn’t give so much about it as it always depends to the actual living winemaker, but it’s a marketing thing! Let’s assume there is probably winemaking in Ahr valley for so much longer time than we would ever be able to account.
The main person behind Nelles is Thomas Nelles, but his son Philip overtakes more and more responsibility. He created a new Spätburgunder called “1 Ahr”. This is not the most top wine of them but very close below that what we call in Germany “Grosses Gewächs” – Grand Cru. Grapes of this wine were growing in vineyards which are qualified for “Grosse Gewächs” wines. As a statement of emancipation but at the same time expression of respect to his father he formed this excellent and characterful wine.
I still like to say that this wine is a typical “Ahr” Spätburgunder although is a bit more smoother and softer. Generally this is so prototypal Ahr: rich of character, quaffable in a positive meaning, enlarged by excellent work in the cellar and as all the wines of Nelles in general this once cares a lot of different wooden or oaky tastings. The wine is really powerful – not only by alcohol (14% !) – but also by its balance and cool finesse which comes from the soil. The wine is really fresh, fruitiness of cassis, cherries and cranberries. But there is also pepper and even some elements of chili connected with some sweet memories of bitter chocolate pralines. Barrique is very present as just mentioned and of course this is rather in purpose as their barrels are used many times. For some moments this wine could be compared rather with some American Pinot Noir but as much it is richly complex it still keeps its Northern character.
The color of the wine is a transparent ruby red; the aromas of wine are catchable by a first nose. Perhaps the only dilemma is that the wine has a grade of alcohol on a level of 14% as you don’t taste it. The lights fruity sweetness of the last drop of a wine bottle hides this very well.
Food wise I would say this is one of the only red-wines I would consider for selected – red meat – Asian meals but of course also for any style of marinated beef as the famous “Sauerbraten”.
Last but not least I like to say: this is a great and beautiful label!
If you need more information just visit the webpage of Nelles: http://www.weingut-nelles.de/. |
21 September 2016
By Laura Monaco Torelli
Welcome back to the Trainer’s Ring.
Fall is here! This is my favorite time of the year. Gone are the days of hot, humid Chicago weather toward brisk temperatures and beautiful colors.
My keen eyes have been watching dog dynamics all summer. At times, I observed dogs wearing various styles of muzzles. Some were good choices, and some quite questionable. Whether each muzzle had a proper fit, or was limiting the ability to thermoregulate, my trainer eye was keeping a close watch.
A colleague of mine, Veterinary Behaviorist Dr. Kelly Ballantyne once said, “Basket muzzles are like air bags in a car. They are extra insurance for our safety in case we need them. But, we don’t test the airbags by driving into a tree.” She attributes hearing this brilliant metaphor from Veterinary Behaviorist, Dr. Laurie Bergman.
How often do we see dog handlers using a muzzle as a protective measure rather than a proactive measure? Unfortunately, we observe this much too often.
Here is the good news. There are many excellent resources at our fingertips to better educate others’ about the proper and humane use of muzzles. Dogs that wear muzzles unfortunately have been given labels.
In her online Living & Learning with Animals course, Dr. Susan Friedman writes: “Constructs are a particular kind of label that goes beyond simple description of observed behaviors into the realm of hypothetical (many would say pseudo) explanations for why an animal behaves as it does. We say a dog bites because it is dominant, or a bird plucks its feathers because it is anxious, or an elephant fails to offer it’s foot when cued because it is unmotivated. However a concept can’t cause behavior. Constructs have a place in theory building, and conveniently summarize patterns of behaviors with a single word, but they lack the specific information we need for the objective analysis of behavior – our goal.”
Let’s take a look at these useful resources that advocate for the relationship between the handler and the dogs in our care. All the while making it our goal to remove the labels and improve our observation skills to accurately describe (operationalize) behavior.
Trainer Debbie Jacobs’ website, Fearfuldogs.com, http://fearfuldogs.com provides excellent resources that cover an array of topics to better understand canine companions that have this label (fearful). It is Debbie’s proactive approach, books, and her prolific Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/fearfuldogs/) that help to dispel unnecessary myths.
Chirag Patel provides an excellent video tutorial about the successive approximations needed when teaching this behavior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FABgZTFvHo
Dr. Patricia McConnell provides wonderful tips via her blog. http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/conditioning-a-dog-to-a-muzzle
The Muzzle Up Project (https://muzzleupproject.com) is another added valuable resource to have at our referral fingertips.
So many reputable resources, so easy to share with dog handlers and caregivers!
Canine Husbandry Care: Allergy Injection Behavior
Fall is also the season for allergies to pop up. Nothing can be more stressful than telling a dog owner they need to administer injections on a regular basis. This may be the case when the injection procedure is an aversive situation for them and their dog.
Here is my latest video with a brilliant dog named Deenie. She is also under the care of veterinary behaviorist, Dr. Kelly Ballantyne.
We hope this video inspires you to help reduce the stress for all involved!
Continuing Education Information
Additional resources will be added in each subsequent newsletter. Here are a few upcoming events to mark on your calendars.
Training Conferences and Seminars
• Denmark (October 28-30)
2) APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers)
• October 12-15 (Las Vegas, Nevada)
5) Pet Professional Guild Force-Free Summit
• November 7-11 (Tampa, Florida)
• Portland, Oregon (January 27-29)
2) ORCA (The Organization for Reinforcement Contingencies with Animals)
• February 25-26, 2017 (University of North Texas)
Laura Monaco Torelli |
D-L Alvarez's first solo museum exhibition presents a haunting meditation on the violent end of innocence. Alvarez, an Oakland-based artist, focuses on the uncanny moments when social and domestic deviance collide. In Alvarez's drawing series, The Closet (2006–07), we see an abstracted image of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978), repelling the attacks of a masked psychopath while trapped in a closet. The character's expression of horror is echoed by the drawings' highly fractured compositions, which appear to be the result of some kind of electronic interference or degraded technology. The Closet is shown with Something to Cry About (I and II) (2007), patchwork bodysuits made of children's clothing arranged over wooden armatures. The ominous draping is both vulnerable and sinister, evoking the footed pajamas of cartoon-addled kids as well as the grisly outfits and other mementoes that the notorious murderer Ed Gein fashioned out of corpses' skins. With these two projects Alvarez explores the aesthetic guises that sometimes mask unspeakable horrors. His drawings and sculptures conjure the psychic breaks that both constitute and disrupt identity. |
Florey Neuroscience Institute on the campus of the Austin Hospital is part of the largest brain research group in Australia.
This three level office and research facility conducts basic and clinical research into developing ways to prevent, treat and potentially cure brain disorders.
Scientists use this facility to perform world-leading clinical neuroscience research and technological development. Other neuroscience research groups work in conjunction with experienced MRI development scientists to apply new techniques to clinical areas such as epilepsy, stroke, brain trauma and mental health.
Every detail was intended to encourage the productive exchange of ideas between researchers from different disciplines.
On each floor of the four-storey building, the potential for effective workflow has been optimised with expansive open-plan office and laboratories which maximises space and workability. The internal fit-out of the offices, meeting rooms and public spaces create a strong sense of visual continuity and connectivity.
Basso Project Management provided Furniture, Fittings and Equipment Procurement Services.
“Every element was selected to comply with the highest environmental standards as well as meeting functional, aesthetic, ergonomic, legislative and cost requirements as part of the design program. We’re very proud to have played a key role in this state-of-the-art research facility.” Elia Basso, Director, Basso Project Management
- University of Melbourne
- Florey Neuroscience Institute
- Mental Health Research Institute
- Furniture, Fittings and Equipment Procurement Services
- Multiple stakeholders
- General Occupational Health and Safety
- Academic Occupational Health and Safety
- Medical Occupational Health and Safety |
by Carol Spearman, Becketwood Member
Most of us heard about the recent report that breakfast cereals and other food products contain glyphosate, including Quaker Oats. Many people consume oat products; physicians and dietitians recommend them as a good choice for breakfast, particularly for those with diabetes and heart issues. The American Heart Association certifies that Quaker Oats meets the criteria for a heart-healthy food. For over 140 years the Quaker Oats Company has claimed it has unlocked the power of oats to help people get the perfect start to each day. They must now be trembling a bit about all of their claims, as in recent tests they were identified as having one of the highest levels of glyphosate in their products.
This August a judgment of $289.2 million was announced, awarded to a former groundskeeper who was required to spray Monsanto’s Roundup® on school grounds. The major ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate, which the World Health Organization declared as a probable carcinogen. The court found evidence to connect Roundup to the plaintiff’s cancer and there are many more cases waiting to go to court. Roundup is now present in a multitude of common conventionally grown foods. The Executive and Legal Director of the Alliance for Natural Health USA said after a study of breakfast cereals, “We expected that trace amounts would show up in foods containing large amounts of corn and soy. However, we were unprepared for just how invasive this poison has been to our entire food chain.”
In addition to the spraying of crops, 26 million pounds of Roundup is sprayed on school grounds, public playgrounds and gardens each year. Our children are exposed to glyphosate internally and externally.
Increasingly, glyphosate is also sprayed just before harvest on wheat, barley, oats and beans. Glyphosate kills the crop, drying it out so that it can be harvested sooner than if the plant were allowed to die naturally. Now, in addition to the genetically modified crops like corn and soy that contain glyphosate that is passing through our crops and animals, we are getting the product in additional ways.
Do you wonder how we could have allowed this to happen in the United States? There has never been a lot of media coverage about the dangers involved in genetically modified crops and in the processes and chemicals used in large-scale food production in our country.
My personal interest in this lack of media coverage began several years ago. While in England, a friend gave me a book telling me I should read it. I dutifully did and found myself steeped in a non-fiction story that read like a thriller. The book was Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey Smith. The intriguing story was about the first research grant to create a model for testing genetically modified foods, to verify that they were safe to eat. This grant went to the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, under the leadership of distinguished scientist Dr. Arpad Pusztai. His team, including his wife Susan Bardocz, had been working for two years on the project when their results alarmed them. I thought the drama that happened when Dr. Pusztai tried to warn the public about his findings was a story that the world needed to know. I made contact with Jeffrey Smith and suggested that he write a popular movie, like Blood Diamonds (this film alerted people to human devastation caused by the diamond trade), that would expose what happened to these competent researchers who had begun their research with great hopes for genetic modification. Alas, Jeffrey was busy on a documentary.
After some soul-searching, I determined to write the script myself. I had taken some film-writing courses in Britain and I had an idea for staging the drama. I’d write a film about a book club of older women who read Jeffrey's book and decide to take action, a kind of cross between “The Golden Girls” and “Charlie’s Angels.” I finished a draft and sent it to Jeffrey and asked him about contacting Arpad. Jeffrey encouraged me and the next thing I knew I was on email with Dr. Pusztai, who was more than happy to meet the next time I was in Scotland to review the script.
What happened next was an adventure taking us from Scotland to Hungary to meet Dr. Pusztai and his wife Susan, and to add their personal touch to the screenplay. Perhaps you are wondering why you haven’t heard of Dr. Pusztai’s research. After he tried to make his research known, he was discredited, terminated from a position he held for 34 years, and silenced by a gag order. Later, scientists from around the world supported him. During this drama, there were only seven articles written in the United States about the struggle to make his research public.
Where is the script now? It has been dormant for several years but will be read by a team of Becketwood members on October 6. Plan to attend Angels of Deception to hear the true story of Arpad Pusztai, told through fictional characters.
Research studies in Canada have shown that the chemicals used in modifying corn and soy are passing through the afterbirth in the placenta, something that was never supposed to happen. Studies in France have shown serious results of giving GMO feed to rats that miscarry, have deformed offspring and become infertile. These studies have been suppressed.
If you wish to take some action on this issue you could write letters to companies like Quaker Oats and General Mills about their need to stop selling products with glyphosate. You can post notices on Facebook about the issue and applaud companies that are producing GMO free products. Also let politicians know about the need to convert our corporate farming from GMO corn and soy to sustainable agriculture, and to stop spraying crops with glyphosate at harvest.
The chemicals that are being used in our environment are impacting the health of our children and grandchildren. We could change this if enough people knew about the heavy price we are paying for believing our products and our food are safe. In the meantime, stop buying Roundup and find another product to start your perfect day, perhaps an organic one! |
Project, script, storytelling and recording of content in virtual reality in 5 modules of English courses for adults, by giving 150 classes for a total of more than 1.760 hours of recording and editing in 360º.
Magic Leap One
The Magic Leap One is more than just an AR headset. With a powerful set of cameras and sensors, this device is capable of real-time mapping of the environment around you and projecting a virtual world over the real world like no other. Ideal for solutions that cannot isolate the user from the physical space […] |
A plan to help people and pets in a disaster
Let’s hope we’ve seen the last of the likes of Hurricane Katrina. But if another Category 4 storm should hit the Louisiana and Mississippi region, a team from Best Friends stands ready, raring and certified to go and help out with the search and rescue of abandoned animals.
Best Friends prepared for next emergency
Best Friends lawyer Russ Mead secured three Memos of Understanding --- a kind of permission slip to gain entrance into counties and cities to assist during emergencies --- with Jefferson and Livingston parishes in Louisiana and several municipalities in southern Mississippi in the event of a natural disaster.
Last year, members from Best Friends traveled to and from devastated Katrina sites for ten months to aid in animal rescue operations. The game plan for future episodes calls for search, rescue, secure and leave.
The scaled-down involvement is possible partially because of the harsh realities experienced during the hurricane. It became clear --- sometimes deadly clear --- people would not evacuate without their pets. Just in time for this year’s hurricane season, Louisiana passed the Pet Evacuation Bill.
Louisiana Pet Evacuation Bill
"The passage of the bill helps our cause," said Russ. "But we still need plans of action to make sure the animals remain safe if another hurricane comes through."
The state, under the umbrella of the Federal Emergency Management Team, also has plans in place should the worst-case scenario occur. The blueprints call for animals and people to be moved to four large staging areas inside Jefferson Parish before going to an undisclosed number of far away shelters. When a mandatory evacuation order is issued, buses would be required to transport people and their animal companions to these areas.
But some areas still reeling from the aftermath of Katrina have decided to make their own arrangements. In Jefferson Parish for instance, the residents can feel secure in knowing their animal companions have safe haven in a building to be used solely as an animal shelter during a disaster.
"The building is a huge concrete warehouse structure that didn’t suffer any damage in last year’s episode," said Russ. "It should provide more than adequate shelter as needed."
Offering help to people and animals
If the need arises, Best Friends employees would arrive on the scene to travel by foot, car or boat to locate abandoned animals and bring them to the safety of the shelter. A few members may stay in the area to help for awhile, but the time frame would be weeks instead of months.
A different kind of MOU was reached with Livingston Parish. Senator Fontenot, a resident of the parish, asked Best Friends to draft their animal evacuation plan. As of this writing, Russ is still working out the details.
Rural Livingston comes with its own set of topographical challenges: Just north of Lake Pontchatrain, the area is swampy and floods during even moderate storms. In addition, there’s no animal control shelter or personnel to deal with any potential disasters.
But the area covers a lot of land, including a fairground area suitable for staging large groups of animals. "With no animal shelters or animal control officers, we can make a real impact in this rural area," said Russ.
The third Best Friends MOU covers several municipalities under the Humane Society of Mississippi. Should our presence be needed, Best Friends will help out with search, rescue and placing the animals in existing shelters.
"Let’s hope this is all a hypothetical situation," said Russ. "But if any of these places need us, we’ll be there and we’ll know what to do."
Photo by Best Friends staff |
The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou can provide a number of services to U.S. citizens who find themselves in emergency situations.
We can assist American citizens who find themselves temporarily destitute by contacting family, friends, or business associates to raise private funds and transmit these to Burkina Faso.
We can assist Americans who become physically or mentally ill while traveling by finding medical facilities or arranging emergency travel.
We can assist American parents in cases of international child abduction and custody disputes.
While we cannot get Americans released from jail, when we are informed of the arrest of an American citizen, we will insist on prompt access, provide a list of attorneys, provide information on the local legal system, offer to contact family or friends, visit on a regular basis, protest mistreatment and, if necessary, provide dietary supplements. For additional information, please see our handout An Arrest in Burkina Faso (PDF – 695 KB).
If an American passes away in Burkina Faso, we stand ready to assist the family in whatever way we can. For specific information on the disposition of remains in Burkina Faso, visit the Death of a U.S. Citizen in Burkina Faso page. |
Automating the data science cycle is one of the most current trends in machine learning. This method is typically based on three components: feature engineering and selection, model selection, and lastly, fine tuning the model’s parameters.
As we believe in openness at KNIME, our approach to automating machine learning is open, too. In our talk we will walk you through a workflow for automated machine learning consisting of modular building blocks, which can be adapted and exchanged to your needs. We show how this workflow can be customised by integrating a variety of tools such as H2O, Apache Spark, Deep Learning or R and Python scripts or adjusted for more complex data types. Furthermore, to make this usable for everyone, we sprinkle Guided Analytics into the mix. |
On August 18, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a suite of requirements aimed at reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is over 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is emitted throughout the oil and natural gas development and transportation process. Released on the heels of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, as well as recent discussions surrounding methane emissions from landfills, these proposed rules can be viewed as the next step in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
EPA’s proposal consists of four key items:
- Proposed updates to the agency’s New Source Performance Standards that would set methane and VOC requirements for additional new and modified sources in the oil and gas industry;
- Draft guidelines for reducing VOC emissions from existing oil and gas sources in certain ozone nonattainment areas as well as in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states in the Ozone Transport Region;
- Proposed updates to clarify the agency’s air permitting rules as they apply to the oil and natural gas industry;
- A proposed Federal Implementation Plan to implement minor New Source Review permitting in Indian country.
All told, the EPA’s suite of efforts on methane is part of a larger goal to reduce methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. These rules would extend standards established in 2012, which largely focused on hydraulically fractured natural gas wells, to reduce emissions from hydraulically fractured oil wells as well as natural gas transportation infrastructure. The proposal applies to new and modified sources, and will not require sources covered by the 2012 standard to add any additional pollution controls. EPA’s proposed measures would also require producers and operators to locate leaks and take the appropriate measures to repair them. Importantly, operators of hydraulically fractured oil wells will be required to use green completion technology to capture associated natural gas produced with oil, as opposed to flaring practices. The rules also cover emissions from new and modified pneumatic pumps and compressor stations.
While some energy companies could take issue with the burden of additional regulations, amplified by the struggles of the ongoing low oil price environment, many companies have already taken steps to reduce their methane emissions. Environmental advocates, on the other hand, could contend that limiting the rules to cover only new and modified production sources does not go far enough.
Overall, the EPA’s new proposed rules will reduce methane emissions throughout the entire process, from the well site upstream to the city gate downstream. |
Customer relationship management are strategies that companies employ when dealing with customers. Many limitations with CRM solutions exist and overcoming these challenges has become a point of interest in business.
CRM helps a business acquire customer information, such as purchase habits and marketing strategies. However, limitations can cause a CRM to fail, including company employees who do not commit to a CRM, poor communication of the system to the employees or strict rules that do not allow for flexibility or changing of the CRM when necessary.
Every CRM system has limitations that could include the functionality of a product, the cost to implement it, or whether it fits a particular business model. When selecting a particular CRM, a business must consider how long it will take to configure and setup the CRM, and how complex it is for end users.
An outsourced CRM solution allows a company to quickly implement a system, but it may not work for larger companies with the in-house skills and time to develop a CRM solution. Off-the-shelf CRM solutions integrate into an existing business, but the system may not have all of the functionality a business requires. Custom CRM software can be tailored to specific company needs, but is often the most expensive CRM. |
By: Charlotte Smith
In a time when it seems there is so much destruction and dismay going on in America, The Lennon Lacy Foundation, a foundation that began a short time ago following the tragic death of Lennon Lacy is making a positive statement and substantial difference in our community. His family and community are a shining example of how to turn a senseless act into an honorable legacy. This Saturday the Lennon Lacy Foundation organized a Clean-Up Day in Bladenboro to help bring awareness about Lennon Lacy and the positive way in which he lived his life according to Mr. Julius Gillespie, one of the event organizers.
Lacy was a 17 year old young man who played high school football, kept his grades up to par and was found mysteriously hanging form a swing set in his home town of Bladenboro. Ms. Claudia Lacy, Lennon’s mother said, “This is his community and this was what his life was all about. Unity, it takes a whole village. We are coming together, and once it was asked, these people who saw him on a daily basis and knew him, came out here to support him because this is what he was all about”.
Gillespie said, “We know there is not closure for his mother, but we will continue to make a positive difference. Collectively we can do all things, it’s not about a white or black thing, it’s about a us thing.”
Pastor Taylor, with the First Baptist Church, is also out assisting in the clean-up said, “This is a tremendous example. Back in November when we had the rally there was a lot of speculations about the police, but Chief Hunt and the other officers being out here today is a signal of the community coming together. The police are getting out and engaging the community and they need to be commended, along with Claudia, Peter, and Brother Gillespie, organizing this event shows that the community can make a positive impact.”
Chief Hunt with the Bladenboro Police Department added, “We are glad to be out with our citizens. We are all a family and we all work together.
Ms. Lacy wanted to make sure to extend thanks to the NCDOT. She said, “I also want to thank NC DOT. I thank them so much because they helped us a lot. The DOT from Whiteville, Bladenboro and Lumberton were on point. They gave us trash bags, vests and have really helped us.” She also noted they are working with the NC DOT to Adopt a Highway in her son’s name.
According Gillespie, The Lennon Lacy Foundation has several different components to try and raise awareness and make a positive influence in Lennon’s honor. One component is the “Justice 4 Lennon” foundation. They have scholarships, events each month, (like the Clean-Up Day held today), and they are starting a Youth Obesity Program to raise awareness about the issue.
The Lennon Lacy Foundation is taking the right steps to make a difference and create a lasting positive legacy for Lennon, a Bladen County teenager that will not be forgotten. To find out more you may visit The Lennon Lacy Foundation Facebook page or the Justice 4 Lennon Facebook Page.Share: |
File synchronisation in enterprise IT environments is almost always bad.
It's bad because: It doesn't work on machines accessed by multiple users. It's hopeless in VDI and other non-persistent environments. It has terrible performance when switching to a new machine. It's poor security practice to keep critical corporate data on local devices like laptops, and may even end up in breaches of data protection law. It quickly fills up devices with low-to-mid size hard drives. It ties data to the devices themselves, instead of the people using them (devices don't have accountability, people do). The special folders used in most sync clients are often unrecognised by legacy applications, meaning that they still rely on local file servers to save their legacy app data. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
The issues above led us to create Cloud Drive Mapper, and they're the reasons it's become so popular. They're also the reasons that Dropbox created 'Dropbox Infinite', Google created 'Google File Stream' and Microsoft created 'OneDrive Files on Demand'. Dropbox, G-Suite and Office 365's "selective sync" offerings.
On the surface of it, selective sync helps organisations overcome a number of the issues raised above. And it actually does, for a while.
When you first adopt selective sync (e.g. OneDrive Files on Demand) in your organisation you feel like you've cured a major headache. But what you've actually done is just postponed it. Your users don't think like you. They do what they want to do. And if syncing files is convenient for them, then they'll sync files. And over-time they will sync more and more data to their devices. It is a 'tragedy of the commons'-like problem. They'll sync the files because it's convenient for each individual user, but that convenience comes at a heavy cost to the organisation as a whole.
The more data they sync, the more you'll see the issues raised above creeping back in. Selective sync, is better than full sync, but it is still not a viable long-term solution for securely managing or accessing your files in the cloud. It is a slow-burning crisis that will creep up on you and cause major problems in the future.
The only permanent and sustainable solution to effectively and securely manage cloud file storage is via direct access, not sync. And the best solution for that is Cloud Drive Mapper. Check it out for yourself, sign up to a free trial today. |
The Breast Center at Sunrise Hospita l has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR).
By awarding facilities the status of a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, the ACR recognizes breast imaging centers that have earned accreditation in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, and breast ultrasound (including ultrasound-guided breast biopsy).
Peer-review evaluations, conducted in each breast imaging modality by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field, have determined that this facility has achieved high practice standards in image quality, personnel qualifications, facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs.
The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 36,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
The Breast Center at Sunrise Hospital is also accredited by the ACR for its Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Services.
To schedule an appointment at the Breast Center, call (855) 445-2246!
The following articles highlight some of the conditions that excessive weight can promote, as well as steps you can take to maintain a healthy weight. You’ll also learn more about the importance of heart health and breastfeeding when you explore these resources.
Are you at a healthy weight? The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute offers readers a chance to calculate their body mass index , or BMI.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discusses the factors that can contribute to obesity .
Gastric banding is an FDA-approved surgical method for weight loss. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration explains what you can expect when undergoing a gastric banding procedure.
Obesity can severely impact your heart health. The American Heart Association gives readers some helpful eating suggestions to lower weight.
Did you know that excessive weight can contribute to stroke? The National Stroke Association explains the connection between obesity and stroke .
Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center offers comprehensive healthcare for those in the greater Las Vegas region. Our facility provides services for urgent care and cardiovascular care, as well as an iTriage Symptom Checker option for patients. Call us at (702) 233-5300 or visit our website for more information.
Bariatric surgery has allowed thousands of individuals to reclaim their health with its successful weight loss results. Not only can this procedure promote significant weight loss, but it can also reduce the risk of several obesity-related diseases. Though highly effective, bariatric surgery is not a choice to be taken lightly. It requires the careful consideration of each person who undergoes it. If you are thinking about bariatric surgery, ask yourself these questions before moving forward with a decision.
Am I prepared for a permanent change to my eating lifestyle?
Bariatric surgery is a procedure that drastically reduces stomach size to decrease the amount of food a person can eat. The effect is considerable and lasting. Those who undergo this weight loss method must be prepared to permanently adjust their eating habits, including how much and what they eat. Before getting bariatric surgery, discuss with a healthcare provider what changes to your diet you can expect after the procedure.
Am I ready to experience the initial side effects of bariatric surgery?
Many people who undergo bariatric surgery go on to have lives free from complications and discomfort. However, as with any other surgical procedure, bariatric surgery comes with some risk. Individuals who undergo this weight loss procedure may experience any number of side effects, including stomach pain, indigestion, nausea, and vomiting. In rare circumstances, the band used to minimize stomach size may move or leak, requiring additional surgeries. If you have any concerns regarding what complications may arise from your surgery, be sure to discuss them with a doctor.
Have I tried all other safe weight loss options?
Because bariatric surgery is an invasive procedure, most medical professionals recommend that individuals first exhaust all other weight loss options. Establishing healthy eating habits and incorporating regular exercise into your daily routine can have a great impact on your ability to lose weight. Only when these options fail, and you suffer from excessive weight, should you consider bariatric surgery.
Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center can help individuals suffering from obesity to gain greater wellbeing with bariatric surgery. Our surgical procedures are safe and effective, and they can give you the weight loss results you need to achieve a healthy weight. To find out more about our surgical weight loss services, call (702) 233-5300 or visit our website. |
Head traumas are serious and unpredictable injuries. Getting emergency care as soon as possible after a trauma occurs is paramount. Delays in treatment could allow serious injuries to become worse. Fortunately, most people with head traumas recover within months of their injuries, but it is possible for residual effects to persist for years. Here is a look at some of the lasting impacts of head trauma.
Headaches are common after head traumas. In most instances, headaches persist for a few days after the initial injury. It may be possible to control these symptoms with pain medications.
If your headache becomes more intense after a head trauma, return to the emergency room to ensure that no complications have developed.
Many people experience nausea after a head injury occurs. The nausea may be accompanied by dizziness and vomiting. As with headaches, nausea usually clears up within a few days after the injury has occurred.
Nausea can be a symptom of a serious head trauma, even if the injury itself seemed minor. If nausea begins several days after a head trauma, seek emergency care. In some cases, symptoms can take time to develop when a head injury occurs.
Short-term memory loss
Short-term memory loss is one of the most frustrating complications experienced by people with head traumas. As stated in the video, but about two-thirds of people will recover from short-term memory loss within the first three of months after their injuries.
Of the remaining group, another two-thirds will recover their memories within the next three months. The small, remaining group of people may have short-term memory loss for years to come. It is difficult to predict who will suffer from memory loss for the longest.
If you experience head trauma, get emergency care in Las Vegas at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center. In addition to providing urgent care when you need it, our emergency department is backed by the team at our Nevada Neurosciences Institute to ensure you receive the highest caliber of care possible for a head trauma. To learn more, call (702) 233-5300.
Heat stroke is a medical emergency that requires urgent care. By knowing the symptoms, you can take action quickly if you or someone else is experiencing the signs. Without treatment, heat stroke can lead to long-term complications and loss of life, so don’t delay seeking emergency care if you notice these symptoms.
Hot, red skin
People with heat stroke typically have skin that feels hot to the touch and may look red. It usually is not sweaty but rather feels dry or only moderately damp. This is because of the extreme levels of dehydration experienced during heat stroke.
The feeling of the skin is often a telltale sign that someone is experiencing heat stroke rather than heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion causes cool, clammy skin.
Loss of consciousness
Loss of consciousness is a serious symptom that occurs with heat stroke. If someone loses consciousness, after calling 911, attempt to move him or her to a cooler place, if possible.
It can also be helpful to cool a person down using cool cloths or a cool bath. You should always avoid giving anything to drink to a person who may be suffering from heat stroke, but it’s crucial in the case of loss of consciousness. Even if the person wakes up, do not allow him or her to drink anything.
Strong, fast pulse
During heat stroke, blood pressure drops due to dehydration. In response, the heart beats faster and stronger in an attempt to compensate for the low blood pressure. This is particularly dangerous for people with pre-existing heart conditions.
This is another way in which heat stroke differs from heat exhaustion. The heart rate is fast but the pulse is weak with heat exhaustion.
When temperatures spike, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center provides emergency care in Las Vegas around the clock for you and your family. To learn more about our emergency services or to request a physician referral , dial (702) 233-5300. |
Image source: Flickr CC user Steven Depolo
Contrary to what most teen comedies would have you believe, school lockers were not created solely for the popular jocks to hang the school nerd by his underwear. (Seriously, how many more times are we going to have to watch that cliché gag?) In fact, they were actually invented so students had a place to put their heavy, important textbooks in between classes instead of lugging them across campus.
But lockers are more than just glorified bookshelves – they’re a student’s own little personal space within a huge school. They’re also receptacles for love letters and secret admirers, a place to pause and catch up with friends between classes, and an empty canvas to fill with mementos from throughout the year.
While some lockers go unloved the entire year (and have to be cleaned by a HAZMAT team because the student forgot they had left their lunch in there for a month), other students take their tiny home-away-from-home very seriously, taking the time to decorate it and add their own personal spin to its blank, metal walls. Whether it’s covering their lockers with photos of their best friends or posters of their favorite bands, lockers not only give insight into that particular student, but act as a time capsule – letting people see what was in or cool at the time. Capturing the inside of some of these unique locker spaces would not only make a great yearbook spread, but it’s a great way to preserve and remember what teenagers were really into during your four years in high school.
Assign several students on the yearbook committee to oversee the locker story spread. Brainstorm how many lockers you think would be the perfect number to feature and figure out a way to pick the best, most creative lockers for the yearbook. You can host a school locker decorating contest where students can submit photos of their lockers to the yearbook team or you can separate the spread by class, highlighting the top freshmen locker, sophomore locker, and so on. Discuss with other yearbook staffers the best way to go about highlighting the student’s lockers during one of your meetings before taking submissions.
It’s also important to make sure your spread covers a variety of personalities at your school. You don’t want every photo to only show lockers with One Direction posters. Seek out spaces that really give insight into that student’s creative side and show their interests beyond the walls of the school. There is so much you can learn about a person by how they choose to decorate their space. Letting students think outside the box (or in this case, their lockers) can help them unleash a whole other creative side you might not know they had.
Here are some ideas for different categories that can help you determine who to feature and how to display them in the yearbook:
– Biggest Fan: For those One Direction lovers! Or for any other student who’s devoted their small space to a particular band, actor, or celebrity.
– Most Artistic: Some students may be displaying their own doodles, photography, or other pieces of creative expression. Save a space in the book for these artsy students!
– Most Colorful: This one’s reserved for the boldest and brightest!
– Most Organized: Does someone have a locker that looks like it came straight out of a CB2 catalogue? This category is for them!
Do you think highlighting lockers is a fun idea for the yearbook? Do you have ideas for other great categories? Share your ideas in the comment box below! |
Tim Haynie just gave the presentation below on how machine learning is changing and indeed expanding the role of aerial imagery in humanitarian and environmental applications. Tim’s excellent presentation provides a very clear introduction and overview of what machine learning is and how it is being applied to support an expanded range of humanitarian and environmental efforts. We highly recommend watching! Tim is founder and CEO of Spectrabotics in Colorado Springs, CO, a data aggregation, analysis and disseminate service. Tim spent 20+ years analyzing spectral and sensor data before building a company focused on the transformative power of integrated data. He has degrees in Economics and Space Systems Operations and spent many years conducting information operations and data collection missions for humanitarian and stability operations around the world.
We and our service providers may collect this information using “cookies,” which are small text files that the Site saves on your computer using your web browser and accesses when you return, or similar technologies. You can read more and adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side. |
AppLocker advances the app control features and functionality of Software Restriction Policies. AppLocker contains new capabilities and extensions that allow you to create rules to allow or deny apps from running based on unique identities of files and to specify which users or groups can run those apps.
AppLocker helps you control which apps and files users can run. These include executable files, scripts, Windows Installer files, dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), packaged apps (aka: Microsoft Store apps), and packaged app installers.
AppLocker policies can only be configured on and applied to computers that are running on the supported versions and editions of the Windows operating system. You can configure AppLocker policies on any edition of Windows 10, but you can only manage (enforce) AppLocker on devices running Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education.
Clearing the AppLocker policy on a computer returns all AppLocker settings to not configured (default) and deletes all existing rules.
This tutorial will show you how to clear (reset) AppLocker policy to return all AppLocker settings to default and delete all existing rules in Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education. |
Your PC and mobile devices are critical to your job. Every day you rely on them to perform tasks, connect with people, and access resources. Maintaining your computer and keeping it running smoothly can even be closely tied to job performance.
At work, your computer and devices are part of a larger network. Keeping them running means you have to work closely with your IT department. Doing so can save you time, save your company money, and help enhance network security. This article offers tips and best practices for working with your IT department to help keep your computer and devices up to date and functioning properly. |
Please note that this case study was first published on blogs.ucl.ac.uk/eicah in August 2014. The case study was last checked by the project team on 20 August 2014.
For citation advice, visit ‘Using the website’.
When on 26 August 1788, Warren Hastings (1732-1818), Governor General of Bengal from 1773-85, completed the purchase of Daylesford, a freehold estate encompassing a manor and over six hundred acres of land, he had been on trial for professional misconduct since February of the same year. The manor was derelict and the grounds unkempt – even so, Hastings paid £11,434, a not insignificant amount, considering his fortune was only £75,000, the majority of which he stood to lose, were he to be found guilty of the twenty-two charges brought against him in Parliament. But since it had long been Hastings’ dream to buy back the house, which had been his family’s seat from the reign of Henry II until 1715, when his great-grandfather was forced to sell; he was willing to take the risk. Although he would have to wait until 1795 before his name was cleared, he set out to improve the property according to the reigning, eighteenth-century tenets of enlightened landownership. Over the next seven years, Hastings spent the staggering sum of £60,000 in order to turn Daylesford into a haven for himself and his beloved wife Marian.[i]
Hastings’ Daylesford journals record in great detail his enjoyment over his new role as gentleman farmer and his experiments in agriculture, horticulture, and animal husbandry; in 1787, he travelled as far as Scotland to learn the secrets of progressive tenant management.[ii] Over the course of time, Hastings added to the property so that when Daylesford was sold in 1873, it comprised over a thousand acres. The advertisement of the sale shows that in addition to the mansion, it included the village and church of Daylesford, several farms, stabling, a well-timbered park, lakes, pleasure gardens, and ‘an orangery heated with hot water pipes,’ the latter building suggesting that Hastings and his German-born spouse missed the gardens of Bengal.[iii] His correspondence furthermore shows that he wrote to his agents in India to send him lychee, cinnamon, and custard apple seeds, as well as Arab horses and shawl goats, so that he could recreate the exotic Arcadia the couple missed in England.[iv]
The jewel in the Daylesford crown, however, was the house, designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell and constructed at the exorbitant cost of £25,000. [v] Before Sezincote and the Brighton Pavilion, it boasted a ‘Mughal-style’ dome whose interior Hastings had painted to evoke the skies over Bengal. Among the first collectors of Mughal drawings and art objects, he and his wife filled Daylesford with Indian treasures – ivories, silks, silver filigree ornaments, fly flaps set with rubies and emeralds, an agate jewel casket with single-stone diamond spring to lock, Persian weaponry, and chain mail. These ‘Oriental’ antiques vied with Indian-inspired, Western art, such as the fireplace frescos by Thomas Banks, the scenes of William Hodges and the portraits of Johan Zoffany which, along with Hastings’ extensive library on Indian subjects (the former Governor-General had commissioned the first translations of the Bhagavad-Gita and The Hedaya), intimated that Daylesford was the home of a true connoisseur, who knew and loved India better his detractors, Edmund Burke and Philip Francis.
At least three inventories of Daylesford are in existence. The first dates from 1799 and was probably made out by Marian Hastings; the second hails from 1837, the year of Marian’s death and was authored by her son Sir Charles Imhoff and his fellow executors; the last was compiled in 1853, when the contents of the house were sold.[vi] Allowing for change and loss, they all depict the rooms, furniture, and ornament fairly consistently. However, the final document is the most interesting to study, since The Catalogue of the Valuable Contents of Daylesford House, Worcestershire, The Seat of the Right Honorable Warren Hastings, 22nd August 1853 singles out wares as specifically ‘Indian’, and takes pains to describe Daylesford’s famous ivory furniture as, for example, ‘solid ivory superbly carved and richly gilt, the elbows finished off with tiger heads’, ‘six chairs of elbow chairs of equal magnificence’, and ‘a solid ivory table, silver laced’ (see figure 1).
A comparison between the inventories shows that, apart from a few insignificant pieces, the Hastings’ entire collection of precious ivory was sold on 22 August 1853. It is difficult to know what the couple would have made of its dispersal, given that they treasured it greatly – both as personal gifts of the Mani Begum, widow of Mir Jaffir, and as mementos of the high esteem in which they believed they were held by the nobility of Bengal. On 14 November 1785 Warren wrote to his wife, who had by then returned to England, that ‘The begum sent me more than one message expressive of her disappointment in my passing the city, as she had prepared an elegant display of your couches and chairs…They are since arrived, with a letter to you, recommended most earnestly to my care’ (see figure 1).[vii] After he joined Marian in London, the couple presented an ivory bed of equal exquisiteness to Queen Charlotte, which papers such as The Lady described in glowing terms: ‘A state bed of rich and very curious workmanship was carried to the Queen’s Palace as a present from Lady [sic] Hastings, brought from India, which exceeds anything in grandeur seen in this country’.[viii]
From The Lady, the bed made it into the pages The Rolliad, a satirical mock epic authored by members of Charles James Fox’s Whig Liberals’ group, garnering an infamous reputation:
O, that for you, in Oriental state,
At ease reclin’d to watch the long debate,
Beneath the gallery’s pillar’d height were spread
(With the QUEEN’s leave) your WARREN’s ivory bed!
Above in colors warm with mimic life,
The German husband of your WARREN’s wife,
His rival’s deed should blazon; and display,
In his blest rule the glories of your sway.[ix]
These lines represented an explicit slight on Marian Hastings, who was criticized for her supposed ‘oriental’ love of luxury and ostentation and for being a divorcée, and thus, having a (German) husband still living. The insinuation was inherently damaging. Fanny Burney recorded in her diary that several influential courtiers feared that the former Governoress of Bengal might taint Queen Charlotte by association, and only the friendship with Her Majesty and Mrs. Juliana Schwellenberg, Keeper of the Robes, both of whom she knew since the 1760s, protected her from being denied access to the royal presence.[x] Given the viciousness of these attacks, it is not surprising that Marian and Warren Hastings eventually retired from public life, concentrating their social sphere almost entirely upon Daylesford, where they welcomed a number of select friends, Marian’s one surviving son Charles and his wife Charlotte, and a succession of nieces and nephews from Germany.[xi]
Although Marian Hastings returned from India as a woman of means – her fortune amounted to over £100,000 – the couple’s expenditures and propensity to speculate on the financial market took their toll, and they were forced to live modestly among the splendiferous scene they had created for themselves at Daylesford.[xii] Warren Hastings died in 1818, but his wife survived him by almost twenty years, long enough to campaign for a bust of her husband to be placed in the west aisle of the north transept at Westminster Abbey. On occasion, Marian Hastings would take guests to her ‘Picture Room’ and point out a particularly dramatic painting by William Hodges, which depicted her on her boat in 1782, close to capsizing near the rocks of Colgong, when she intended to join her husband, who had fallen dangerously ill at Calcutta.[xiii] Interestingly, her husband had commissioned this work as a private exhibition piece,[xiv] and its existence speaks eloquently of the lasting devotion the couple felt for each other.[xv] Safely ensconced at Daylesford, Warren and Marian sought to weather the storm of societal disapproval by transforming their home, with the aid of an assortment of iconic tokens –among them, the ivories and Hodges’ paintings– into a veritable Western ‘Taj Mahal’, a monument both to their extraordinary marriage and Warren’s achievements as the creator of ‘British India’.
The research and text for this case study were primarily authored by Dr Elisabeth Lenckos.
[i] G.R. Gleig, Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, (London: Richard Bentley, 1841) III, 251. On Hastings’ financial status, see P.J. Marshall, ‘The Personal Fortune of Warren Hastings in Retirement’, The Economic History Review, 17 (1964), p. 299.
[ii] British Library MS Add. 39879-39889.
[iii] Plan of the Parish of Daylesford… (London, 1873).
[iv] Gleig, Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, III, p. 243.
[v] Lindsay Boynton, ‘The Furniture of Warren Hastings’, The Burlington Magazine: British Art in the Eighteenth Century 112:809 (August 1970), pp. 508-20.
[vi] British Library MS Add. 41609-10.
[vii] Gleig, Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, III, p. 212.
[viii] Cited after: K.L. Murray, Beloved Marian: The Social History of Mr. and Mrs. Warren Hastings (London: Jarrolds, 1938), 160.
[ix]Joseph Richardson, et al., Criticism on the Rolliad: A Poem. 2 vols. 8th edition (London: J. Ridgway, 1788), pp. 87-89.
[x]Hester Davenport, Faithful Handmaid: Fanny Burney at the Court of George III (London: Sutton Books, 2003), p. 68 and p. 166.
[xi] Warren Hastings kept detailed journals while he lived at Daylesford. They record the visits he received and paid. See British Library, MS Add. 39879-39889.
[xii] P.J. Marshall, ‘The Private Fortune of Marian Hastings’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 37 (1964), pp. 245-53.
[xiii] Sophie von La Roche, Tagebuch einer Reise durch Holland und England (Offenbach am Main, 1788), pp. 536-45.
[xiv] On the painting see Boynton, ‘The Furniture of Warren Hastings’, p. 520.Also Hermione de Almeida, Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), p. 267. De Almeida dates the commissioning of the painting to 1790, but La Roche records seeing it as early as 1786, although not at Daylesford, but at Beaumont Lodge, where the couple resided beforehand.
[xv] On the subject of the couple’s devotion, see: The Letters of Warren Hastings to his Wife, ed. Sydney C. Grier [H.C. Gregg] (London and Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1905). |
Water supply energy management system
Over the past few years, requirements for drinking water supply in Germany have become more and more demanding. While the secure supply of high-quality drinking water for the public was the priority during the past decades, rising energy costs and the energy reform being implemented by the German Federal Government now also require that energy is used efficiently. Water suppliers must therefore rise to the challenge of continuing to prioritise a secure supply of high-quality drinking water while coping with the increasing demand for energy efficiency. Therefore, the operation of drinking water supply systems, such as urban water supply networks or long-distance water pipelines, is an extremely complex task which can no longer be carried out without the use of modern tools. Today, such supply systems use state-of-the-art technology and are controlled via central control stations and partly automated function sequences. The operators must ensure a reliable supply of excellent quality drinking water for consumers at a reasonable price.
Fig. 1 Structure of the assistance system
The joint research project EWave aims to develop an innovative energy management system which will be trialled at Rheinisch-Westfälischen Wasserwerksgesellschaft mbH (RWW), a water supplier which has a typical network structure. The objective is to devise energy-optimised operating plans for plants for water collection, treatment and distribution within the supply system. Moreover, the fluctuating energy supply from suppliers' own power plants must be co-ordinated with the energy supplied by one or more external energy suppliers. The scope for optimisation calculation is restricted by technical and operational aspects. Here too, the quality and security of the supply, in particular, must be guaranteed at all times. Water suppliers' electricity consumption is highest for water treatment and water distribution. Therefore, as far as energy optimisation is concerned, the focus must be on both specifying the running times and switching times of the network pumps and distributing the required production output to the available water plants. As conditions on the electricity market are changing, shorter contract terms with differing rates and diverse pricing packages can be expected. This means that, on the one hand, new opportunities for optimisation open up; on the other hand, operating procedures which have been predominately static so far must become more dynamic. That also means that knowledge and experience accumulated over decades by the operating personnel is partly devalued and must be further developed. The research project EWave intends to close this gap.
In the first stage, EWave, the energy management system to be developed, will be used as a strategic planning tool for the plant management. It should be possible to reassess fundamental ideas regarding the plant operation mode, which should also be used to prepare interim operating instructions. In a subsequent stage, EWave is to be used as an operating assistance system (decision support system). Independently of this stage, a semi-automated procedure including the option to subsequently revise the calculation results manually will be developed. In an initial calculation run, an energy-optimised operation is calculated. This energy-optimised operation is passed on to the operator in the form of a suggestion which can either be applied as it is or can be changed very easily. The operator can change the framework conditions according to the specific situation. Once the new framework conditions have been determined, the operation is re‑calculated. It should be possible to transfer the knowledge and experience gained in the context of this research project to drinking water supply plants with a similar structure. Therefore, at the start and throughout the project, workshops for a wide range of water supply companies are to be conducted in order to record the experience individual water suppliers have gained with energy management systems and an energy-efficient plant operation, to pool company-specific requirements and to subsequently include these in a transferable list of requirements. By involving further water suppliers beforehand, early acceptance of the approach should be encouraged, practical requirements should be better reflected in the developments that are planned and the number of potential areas of application for the insights gained during the project should be significantly increased.
Fig. 2: Overview of the EWave cycle: an assistance system for operational optimisation of the overall system and the individual network within the framework conditions of renewable energies
Once the energy management system has been successfully implemented at RWW and the legal requirements have been clarified, the industry partners Siemens, RWW and GreyLogix Aqua GmbH, together with the research institutions providing scientific assistance, intend to develop a joint marketing strategy which will also allow small and medium-sized water suppliers to use the optimization approach which has been developed. |
Are ETFs getting a free ride in cost comparisons with mutual funds?
A reader believes this to be the case. “I think the [cost] comparison is not fair if annual trade fees for ETFs are not included in the equation,” he wrote in a recent e-mail.
Exchange-traded funds cost much less than mutual funds to own, but there are stock-trading commissions to be paid when you buy and sell them. These commissions are rarely factored into cost considerations for ETFs, but they can add up. You might even be better off with a mutual fund instead of an ETF in some cases.
The reader based his case on the TD e-series of low-cost index mutual funds. So let’s compare the TD Canadian Index Fund e-series, with a management expense ratio of 0.32 per cent, against the TD Canadian Index ETF (TTP), with an MER of 0.08 per cent.
On an MER basis alone, TTP outclasses its mutual-fund sibling. But what if you make contributions to your investment account on a monthly basis?
It’s easiest to buy TD’s e-series of index funds if you have an account at online brokerage TD Direct Investing. TD Direct charges zero to buy and sell e-series products, and it charges just about $10 to buy and sell stocks and ETFs. If you bought some TTP shares on a monthly basis, that’s $120 a year or so in total commissions. On a $50,000 account, that’s the equivalent of a fee of 0.24 per cent over a year. Add that to the 0.08-per-cent MER and you have a cost identical to the e-series mutual fund.
Let’s factor in five more trades a year for random extra contributions to your investment account and to rebalance your holdings once or twice a year (rebalancing means selling a bit of your winning investments to buy a bit more of your losers). Those five extra trades ($50 a year) add an additional cost of 0.1 per cent to your ETF annually, for a total cost of 0.42 per cent. We’re now at a point where the TD Canadian Index Fund e-series is cheaper than TTP, even though the latter has a considerably lower MER.
There are at least a couple of competitors to TTP with MERs as low as 0.06 per cent. Also, some online brokers charge in the $5 to $9 range for trades. A few charge nothing to buy, though in some cases they apply commissions when you sell. Still, there’s a lesson here for cost-conscious investors who think ETFs are the one and only choice for cheap index investing. When you factor in trading costs, a mutual fund might be the cheaper choice. |
The last place you go for money to pay debts or an emergency expense should be your registered retirement savings plan. You’re going to need that money to live on after you retire.
But the results of Bank of Montreal’s latest annual RRSP study found that 34 per cent of RRSP-holders had withdrawn money before the age of 71. At the end of the year you turn 71, you have to convert an RRSP into a registered retirement income fund, or RRIF.
There are normal reasons to withdraw money from an RRSP before 71, including early retirement. Also, you can withdraw up to $25,000 from an RRSP to buy a first home. But the BMO numbers clearly show that RRSPs are often being used for emergency purposes or debt repayment.
The good news here is that BMO’s numbers show a 6 per cent year-over-year decrease in the number of people who have taken money from an RRSP. The bad news is that the average amount withdrawn jumped 23 per cent to $25,779. Worse, 59 per cent of those who made withdrawals either don’t know when they will repay the money or do not expect to do so.
Robert Armstrong, vice-president of multi asset solutions at BMO Global Asset Management, linked the rise in RRSP withdrawals to Canadians getting serious about debt repayment. “As interest rates start to slowly increase, they’re understanding now that their monthly payments for various item are starting to tick higher,” he said.
BMO’s survey results found that 20 per cent of people withdrawing money from an RRSP used it for paying off debts. Another 24 per cent used the money for living expenses, and 15 per cent used it for emergencies. Twenty-eight per cent of people withdrawing money from an RRSP used it to buy a home, while 18 per cent used it for early retirement.
Mr. Armstrong’s advice if you need money and don’t have an emergency fund: “I would always like people to touch their TFSA [tax-free savings account] first, before they start touching their RRSP.”
When you pull money out of an RRSP, you lose that contribution room. You can replace what you withdrew, but this money would count against future contribution room. With a TFSA, you can re-contribute money you’ve withdrawn as long as you follow the rules. Also, RRSP withdrawals are taxed, while TFSA withdrawals are not. Finally, you lose out on long-term compounding when you take money out of an RRSP well before you retire.
Mr. Armstrong sees the RRSP withdrawal numbers as evidence that people don’t have the cash resources to cover higher debt costs or emergencies with savings. “I think we’re living in a society that is house-rich and cash poor,” he said. “A lot of people have not saved enough money on the side.” |
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East Bay | North Bay / Marin | Global Justice and Anti-Capitalism | Police State and Prisons | Racial Justice
Demonstrators "Occupy San Quentin" (Part 3)
Hundreds of demonstrators marched to San Quentin Prison where a rally was held in solidarity with a National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners on February 20.
To read about the demonstration, see:
Demonstrators "Occupy San Quentin" for a National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners:
Demonstrators "Occupy San Quentin" (Part 2):
In 1971, inmates at San Quentin were dubbed the 'San Quentin Six' after they were accused of participatiing in an escape attempt that left George Jackson dead.
In 2009, hikers Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal, and Shane Bauer were imprisoned in Iran and accused of espionage after being picked up in a wilderness area near the border. |
Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange sends Department of Health & Human Services laundry list of to-dos to ensure healthcare industry meets new ICD-10 deadline.
Healthcare Social Networks: New Choices For Doctors, Patients
(Click image for larger view and slideshow.)
The Department of Health and Human Services delayed the ICD-10 code implementation until October 2015, but that doesn't mean implementing the new classification system should be far from healthcare IT professionals' minds, according to the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI).
In fact, the healthcare industry should use the additional 12 months as an opportunity to be better prepared for the revised timeframe, says Devin Jopp, Ed.D, president and CEO of the nonprofit association that includes healthcare providers, health plans, vendors, government agencies, consumers, not-for-profits, and standards development organizations. Founded in 1991, WEDI was designated in the 1996 HIPAA legislation as an advisor to HHS. In that capacity, the group submitted an outline of recommendations on how the department could improve its ICD-10 roadmap.
That means even the best-prepared healthcare providers cannot test their ICD-10 systems in real-world situations, and slower facilities have no incentive to move faster to adopt the newer coding solution.
Each delay causes ripple effects -- and expenses -- for healthcare organizations, making it imperative for the government to get ICD-10 right, executives say.
"There is an incredible amount of extra overhead that is carried through a delay. You might have acquired some analysis and testing tools through license. So you might have subscribed to that license for a year, and now, all of a sudden, you have to extend that license period with that vendor, so now you may have additional material costs," say Erik Newlin, co-chair of the ICD-10 Assessment Workgroup at WEDI and director of National Standards Consulting for Government Healthcare Solutions at Xerox, in an email.
"If you had a testing period that was scheduled for external testing that was to be completed by the original 2014 date, now what do you do with those staff? Can you reallocate them to something else? Or do you have to release them because you can’t keep them on your books for eight or nine months? Each possibility comes with its own risk and complications that need to be carefully considered."
Repeat performance? If past performance is an indicator, delaying ICD-10 by a year will make little difference to procrastinators. Many healthcare organizations were slow to move toward ICD-10 last year. When ICD-10 had an October 2014 deadline, many practices expressed optimism about their preparedness, despite an apparent lack of activity, according to multiple studies. In fall 2013, for example, 22% of those polled had not started preparing, but 55% were confident or very confident they would meet the 2014 deadline and 42% were somewhat confident, a Navicure survey found.
Likewise, WEBI discovered an implementation slowdown among its members. About two thirds of health plans started or expected to start internal testing by the end of 2013, down from the three quarters who predicted they'd be in that position in a February survey. Approximately one-fifth of vendors were halfway or less than halfway through testing, a much smaller number than in the prior survey, although only one-fourth had completed the process.
The same situation could happen in 2015, as healthcare organizations once again postpone ICD-10 implementations, leading to errors with billing and patient records. Prompted perhaps by repeated delays, lack of management backing or funding, or vendors' non-compliance, healthcare providers might discover they cannot address ICD-10 when the 2015 deadline arrives.
WEDI hopes to reduce that risk. In its letter, the organization recommended that HHS:
Ensure Medicare and Medicaid readiness
Expedite, support, and expand industry testing
Increase provider education and support
Target outreach to uncovered entities
Support or conduct limited pilots, and
Establish milestones and track readiness
"It's ultimately our responsibility as an industry to out how to do it together," says Jopp. "What we don't want to be is back in the same position where we're in the spring of 2015, and we're back in the external testing stage."
Establishing clear milestones that healthcare executives could check off would help organizations achieve ICD-10 certification, he says. HHS could, perhaps, use the Office of the National Coordinator's (ONC) Regional Extension Centers (RECs) to help providers achieve ICD-10 requirements, he adds.
Practice management software, critical to organizations' daily operations, currently has no ICD-10 accreditation program, and that's something the industry needs, he says. WEDI recently partnered with EHNAC to develop a practice management system accreditation system to meet HIPAA and ICD-10 requirements, among other criteria, he says.
"You always have your left and your right on every issue, but WEDI never positions it on whether we should or should not do ICD-10," Jopp says. "We're committed to making this work, but these are the things we're going to have to do and it's not going to be business as usual to many. There are a lot of moving parts to this we have to consider."
Download Healthcare IT In The Obamacare Era, the InformationWeek Healthcare digital issue on changes driven by regulation. Modern technology created the opportunity to restructure the healthcare industry around accountable care organizations, but ACOs also put new demands on IT.
Alison Diana has written about technology and business for more than 20 years. She was editor, contributors, at Internet Evolution; editor-in-chief of 21st Century IT; and managing editor, sections, at CRN. She has also written for eWeek, Baseline Magazine, Redmond Channel ... View Full Bio
Join us for a roundup of the top stories on InformationWeek.com for the week of December 14, 2014. Be here for the show and for the incredible Friday Afternoon Conversation that runs beside the program. |
March 19, 2009
A U.N. panel will next week recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies, a member of the panel said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on the dollar.
[efoods]Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters Funds Summit in Luxembourg that the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or European currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket.
Persaud, chairman of consultants Intelligence Capital and a former currency chief at JPMorgan, said the recommendation would be one of a number delivered to the United Nations on March 25 by the U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform.
“It is a good moment to move to a shared reserve currency,” he said.
Central banks hold their reserves in a variety of currencies and gold, but the dollar has dominated as the most convincing store of value — though its rate has wavered in recent years as the United States ran up huge twin budget and external deficits. |
Technology giant Hewlett-Packard has made allegations of accounting impropriety at Autonomy, a British firm it bought last August, as it announced an $8.8 billion (£5.5bn) writedown in the value of its $10billion (£6.3bn) acquisition of the company.
It says they were alerted to the alleged impropriety by a whistle-blower inside Autonomy.
The world's biggest manufacturer of personal computers Hewlett Packard is cutting 27 thousand jobs by the end of 2014. That's eight per cent of its global workforce. It's not clear how many jobs will be lost in Britain. The move will save the company more than two billion pounds a year. |
Core Java tutorials.
In Java object typecasting, type cast of 1 object reference is possible to another object reference. Suck type of casting is done with superclass, subclass or class types. Compile time rules or runtime rules are present in Java for casting.
Class relationship is the basic thing at which Object reference is dependent. Any object reference could be assigned to reference variable of type object because the object class is usually the superclass, for each Java class. |
Latest update: July 2nd, 2013
The story of Bnei Yisrael in the land of Mitzrayim is a tale that has become tragically repetitive in the history of our people. It is the story of a land which allows Jews to enter, and devote their talents and energies to building it up land and making it strong, only to have the ungrateful inhabitants turn on them through jealousy and greed.
In reality, the story of Mitzrayim is the story of Spain, the story of Poland, the story of Germany. In each of these lands the Jews came to a backward, depressed land and helped it to rise to world power only to be rewarded for their efforts with cruelty and murder.
The Death Of Yosef
Following the death of the great Yosef, who single-handedly raised Mitzrayim to the rank of the world’s greatest power, all the Mitzriyim mourned the loss of their great leader. But, even as they mourned, a secret meeting was being held in the chambers of the king.
Gathered there were Pharaoh and his advisors and magicians to discuss the implications that might result from the death of Yosef.
“This is a dangerous moment for Mitzrayim,” said the king. “Bnei Yisrael may now decide to return to the land of Canaan, and we will then lose a brilliant and talented people who have made us great.”
“The words of the great Pharaoh are true,” replied the magicians, “but we feel that we have a solution which will keep them here.
“We have heard that right before his death, Yosef made his brothers swear that they would not leave the land of Mitzrayim unless they took his bones with them.
“We suggest, therefore, that a simple plan be implemented. If it please the king, let a great lead coffin be made, weighing 500 measures of gold, and have the body of Yosef placed therein. Then have the coffin placed in the Nile River where it will never be found by Bnei Yisrael.
“Or, if the king prefers, let the body of Yosef be buried in the royal vaults and let there be built statues of ferocious dogs made from gold. With our magic we will give these dogs life so that they will prevent any stranger from approaching the vaults.
“With either of these two plans you can keep Bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim forever.”
Pharaoh listened with approval to the words of his advisors and exclaimed:
“Excellent! Your words please me greatly, and I prefer that the first suggestion be adopted. Let a great coffin be built and place the body of Yosef therein, then have the coffin thrown into the River Nile. I choose this plan rather than the other one because from it we will have a double benefit. The Nile will be blessed with the body of the great man in it and secondly, the brothers of Yosef will never be able to find it.
“My servants, I think that we have found a way to keep these wise people with us forever.”
After the Mitzriyim cast Yosef’s coffin into the Nile, Pharaoh ordered that all the wealth of Yosef he brought to him.
Looking over the vast amounts of gold, silver and diamonds, the king suddenly noticed a magnificent staff made of superb, precious stone. Never had be seen such a beautiful thing in this life.
“Quickly,” he ordered his servants, “take this magnificent staff and place it in my royal treasury and guard it with your lives. Never have I seen anything comparable to it.”
Origin Of The Staff
Pharaoh did not know it, but this was the staff that had been created by the Almighty on the sixth day of creation, toward evening. It had inscribed on it the first letters of the 10 plagues, d’tsach-adash-b’achav, an ironic hint of the blows that were to fall on the land of Mitzrayim for their treatment of the Jews.
This staff had been given by the Holy One, blessed be He, to Adam, who gave it to Chanoch who handed it down to Noah, who passed it on to Abraham, who gave it to Isaac, who gave it to Jacob, who finally turned it over to Yosef.
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THE FACTS ON FATHERLESSNESS
Prepared for the Fatherhood Foundation by Bill Muehlenberg, Australian Family Association – August 2002
Fatherlessness is a growing problem in Australia and the Western world. Whether caused by divorce and broken families, or by deliberate single parenting, more and more children grow up without fathers. Indeed, 85 per cent of single parent families are fatherless families. Father absence has been shown to be a major disadvantage to the well being of children. The following is a summary of the evidence for the importance of fathers and the need for two-parent families.
One expert from Harvard medical school who has studied over 40 years of research on the question of parental absence and children’s well-being said this: “What has been shown over and over again to contribute most to the emotional development of the child is a close, warm, sustained and continuous relationship with both parents.” Or as David Blankenhorn has stated in Fatherless America: “Fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation.”
Bryan Rodgers of the Australian National University has recently re-examined the Australian research. Says Rodgers: “Australian studies with adequate samples have shown parental divorce to be a risk factor for a wide range of social and psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood, including poor academic achievement, low self-esteem, psychological distress, delinquency and recidivism, substance use and abuse, sexual precocity, adult criminal offending, depression, and suicidal behaviour.” He concludes: “There is no scientific justification for disregarding the public health significance of marital dissolution in Australia, especially with respect to mental heath.” Here then is a sampling of the evidence:
Fatherlessness brings poverty
a.. In America, among families with dependent children, only 8.3 per cent of married couples were living below the poverty line, compared to 47.1 percent of female-headed households.
b.. In Australia, a recent study of 500 divorcees with children five to eight years after the separation found that four in five divorced mothers were dependent on social security after their marriages dissolved.
c.. Figures from Monash University’s Centre for Population and Urban Research show that family break-up, rather than unemployment, is the main cause of the rise in poverty levels in Australia.
Fatherlessness lowers educational performance
a.. American children from intact families have a 21 per cent chance of dropping out of high school whereas children from broken families have a 46 per cent chance.
b.. American school children who became father-absent early in life generally scored significantly lower on measures of IQ and achievement tests.
c.. A study of Australian primary school children from three family types (married heterosexual couples, cohabiting heterosexual couples and homosexual couples) found that in every area of educational endeavour (language; mathematics; social studies; sport; class work, sociability and popularity; and attitudes to learning), children from married heterosexual couples performed better than the other two groups. The study concludes with these words: “Married couples seem to offer the best environment for a child ‘s social and educational development”.
Fatherlessness increases crime
a.. A British study found a direct statistical link between single parenthood and virtually every major type of crime, including mugging, violence against strangers, car theft and burglary.
b.. One American study even arrived at this startling conclusion: the proportion of single-parent households in a community predicts its rates of violent crime and burglary, but the community’s poverty level does not. Neither poverty nor race seem to account very much for the crime rate, compared to the proportion of single parent families.
c.. In Australia, a recent book noted the connection between broken families and crime. In a discussion of rising crime rates in Western Australia, the book reported that “family breakdown in the form of divorce and separation is the main cause of the crime wave”.
Fatherlessness increases drug abuse
a.. A UCLA study pointed out that inadequate family structure makes children more susceptible to drug use “as a coping mechanism to relieve depression and anxiety.”
b.. Another US study found that among the homes with strict fathers, only 18 per cent had children used alcohol or drugs at all. In contrast, among mother-dominated homes, 35 per cent had children who used drugs frequently.
c.. A New Zealand study of nearly 1000 children observed over a period of 15 years found that children who have watched their parents separate are more likely to use illegal drugs than those whose parents stay together.
Fatherlessness increase mental health problems
a.. From nations as diverse as Finland and South Africa, a number of studies have reported that anywhere from 50 to 80 per cent of psychiatric patients come from broken homes.
b.. A Canadian study of teenagers discharged from psychiatric hospitals found that only 16 per cent were living with both parents when they were admitted.
c.. A study of nearly 14,000 Dutch adolescents between the ages of 12 to 19 found that, “In general, children from one parent and stepparent families reported lower self-esteem, more symptoms of anxiety and loneliness, more depressed mood and more suicidal thoughts than children from intact families.”
Fatherlessness and family breakdown cost Australia 3.5 billion dollars per year
a.. In Australia it has been estimated that marriage breakdown costs $2.5 billion annually. Each separation is estimated to cost society some $12,000.
b.. Also, Australian industry is reported to lose production of more than $1 billion a year due to problems of family breakdown.
c.. Homelessness is also closely linked with family breakdown. A recent Australian study conducted at two Melbourne universities has found that children whose biological parents stay together are about three times less likely to become homeless than those from other family types.
Fatherlessness increases child abuse
a.. A 1994 study of 52,000 children found that those who are most at risk of being abused are those who are not living with both parents.
b.. A Finnish study of nearly 4,000 ninth-grade girls found that “stepfather-daughter incest was about 15 times as common as father-daughter incest”.
c.. In Australia, former Human Rights Commissioner Mr Brian Burdekin has reported a 500 to 600 per cent increase in sexual abuse of girls in families where the adult male was not the natural father.
Fatherlessness and Family Breakdown are the major social problems of our society
With the rise of fatherlessness Australia and the Western world has also experienced a marked rise in social problems. And the brunt of these problems have been borne by children. We owe it to our children to do better. We urgently need to address the twin problems of fatherlessness and family breakdown. Public policy must begin to address these crucial areas. Until we tackle these problems, our children and our societies will continue to suffer.
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License. |
PORTLAND-- TriMet is about to begin testing an all-electric 40-foot bus on transit routes throughout the district.
The test bus has been provided to TriMet free of charge, by manufacturer Build Your Dreams (BYD) Motors, Inc. If TriMet likes the zero-emissions bus, it will be available for purchase through a new Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant program in the near future.
One big factor in the test runs will be watching how the bus operates on Portland's many hills.
This is a welcomed and exciting opportunity to test an environmentally-friendly bus on TriMet routes, said TriMet Interim Deputy General Manager Bob Nelson. Our region is relying more and more on renewable sources of electricity. As an agency, we are exploring a variety of more fuel-efficient options as the environmental benefits are expected to increase over time.
The bus will run on various routes, adding trips between regular service, Monday through Friday, beginning June 23 and running through the first week of July. The bus will not have a farebox or ticket printer, so passengers will get to ride for free.
BYD touts their all-electric bus as clean, silent and efficient, using the industry s first environmentally-friendly, fire-safe battery chemistry.
More: BYDinfo. on electric bus |
THIS EVENT IS IN THE PAST!
Baking Class: Pate a Choux
Above: Promotional graphic for Alchemy of the Hearth: "Explore the magic of cooking - hands on classes for adults, teens and children" 760-233-2433.
Did you know that the dough used to create magnificent eclairs, profiteroles and creme puffs was called pate a choux? This wonderful pastry dough is very versatile and is used in both sweet and savory applications. Join us as we learn the fine art of Pate a Choux and all it has to offer.
Learn how to make eclairs, creme puffs, profiteroles, cream filled "wedding" swans and savory puffs called gourgeres.
**Bring an apron, closed toed shoes, a cookie sheet with sides and containers to carry your creations home. |
Smutty Fitness: young girls feeling fat
According to a 2012 study completed by the Public Health Agency of Canada only two thirds of young people in Canada with a healthy weight feel that their body is the right size, meaning one out of every three of our healthy Canadian youth believe that they are either too thin or too fat. And at every grade level, except for grade 6, more girls than boys are doing something to lose weight.
In a 2012 report released in the UK, girls as young as five claimed to be worried about their size and body appearance and are at risk of adopting their parents’ body related anxieties.
Why am I telling you this? This weekend a friend of mine, who is also a client, was taking a gondola up Whistler Mountain for a day of skiing and overheard two young girls chatting; she estimated they were under the age of 8. One of the girls asked the other if she had ever eaten at Fat Burger and her friend replied, “No. If you eat burgers you get fat”.
My client, who was appalled that this young girl was speaking this way interrupted and said, “Actually, it is ok to eat a burger once in a while, just not all the time”, and the little girl responded with “No, you get fat if you eat junk food.”
My question is: where do these young girls learn these habits? And at what age do we look at ourselves and say we are fat? Why is it that when a woman in Hollywood does not have a concave stomach that she is considered pregnant and if she is not, which most of the time is the case, we call her fat?
We have allowed the media to create this unrealistic “ideal body” and because of this we constantly judge ourselves and those around us -- our friends, our sisters and worst of all our daughters. We continually tell ourselves that because our thighs rub together when we walk we are not good enough and I know I am not the only one who has stood in front of a mirror and judged myself as I pinched the fat on my body.
Drew Barrymore was on Oprah the other day talking about her new life as a mother and one thing that I really admired was that she is refusing to do what most women in Hollywood do which is starve themselves after having a baby to get their pre-baby body back. She said it took 9 months for her to gain the weight and she is not going to put pressure on herself to lose the weight as it will come off in time. This is what we need to hear more of so those women who are 3 months post partum are not judging themselves because they still cannot zip up their jeans.
As a society, and as women, we need to set an example for those around us, especially the young girls in our homes and in our families. We need to stop allowing Hollywood to tell us how we should look and decide that on our own. We need to learn how to be comfortable in our own skin and love the person who lies beneath it. We need to teach the young girls in our lives to have a healthy body image. We need to teach the young girls that we eat well and exercise to be healthy, not skinny, and that it is ok to have a burger or junk food every once in a while.
It may be hard for us to stop judging ourselves, and I understand that, but if we eliminate expressing those negative comments about ourselves around young girls perhaps we can limit the effect that the media will have on them. In turn, they will grow into strong, confident and healthy women who love themselves for who they are and who do not judge themselves or others around them.
Attached -- Drew Barrymore in New York yesterday. |
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I have to assume that when writing her articles Geology Professor Peters has absolutely no vested research support or financial sponsorship from oil/gas/shale/tar-sand or other mining/extraction/manufacturing interests. If she does, they should be made known to his readers.
Her message insists that stinky, smelly old oil is with us and the only way to go into the foreseeable future. To back this up she quotes some misleading statistics about bio-fuels. It is true to say that it does not seem feasible to generate the quantities of these fuels to replace the current imported oil supplies at the moment.
Sadly, one thing the human race is going to have to get used to is that with an ever-growing world population its energy demands, wants, are going to have to be adapted to what is actually available, needs. This is unavoidable if we and our other global eco-components are going to flourish in the foreseeable future. The poor mileages she quotes when using E85, ethanol based Flex Fuel in his Jeep Cherokee have not been my experience with my 1999 Mazda, V6, B300 truck. When using regular gas, my mileage was about 24 mpg. When I started using E85 exclusively, just over two years ago, my average mileage has been just over 20 mpg. I do try to keep my driving speeds at 70 mph or lower.
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He began with a general private music study with Wilhelm Sibler from 1942 until 1945, when he started piano lessons with another Wilhelm(!), Wilhelm Resch, and lasted with him until 1949 at the age of 19. He continued then with music history through 1952, under Eric Doflein. Simultaneously he began composition (in 1950) under several musicians, including Ernst Krenek, Theodor W. Adorno, and Pierre Boulez. This led to his attendance at the Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, where he studied musicology under Walter Gerstenberg, as well as theology and philosophy, while picking up further piano study as well. In 1955 however, the degree he left with was in fact theology, but with a dissertation about Arnold Schoenberg. Soon after, Camilla Riegger became his wife (in 1956), which led to a son and daughter. He became a minister, and taught theology and religion until 1963, when he added philosophy and psychology to his teaching practices. Then in Berlin, starting in 1970, he became a professor of experimental music and music research, with subsequent visits to the U.S. for other opportunities. Since 1976 he’s been teaching composition on and off in Berlin.
Edited by Erkan-Yilmaz on 3 Mar 2011, 16:48
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18 CFR 801.6 - Water supply.
(a) The Susquehanna River Basin is rich in water resources. With proper planning and management, and with adequate public and private investment in treatment, storage, and distribution facilities, the high potential of the basin to provide water of suitable quality for a wide array of public and private purposes into the foreseeable future should be possible.
(b) The Commission may regulate the withdrawal of waters of the basin not regulated by the signatory parties for domestic, municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses if regulation is considered essential to further the aims set forth in the comprehensive plan.
(c) The Commission shall study the basin's water supply needs, the potential surface and ground water resources, and the interrelationships to meet these needs through existing and new facilities and projects. Efficient use and management of existing facilities with emphasis on the full utilization of known technology will be explored in meeting water supply needs for domestic, municipal, agricultural, and industrial water supply before new programs or projects are approved.
Title 18 published on 2014-04-01
no entries appear in the Federal Register after this date. |
Interview With IBM's Inna Kuznetsova on Big Green Linux
Recently Products Editor, James Gray, caught up with IBM's Inna Kuznetsova, Worldwide Director for IBM's Linux strategy. They discuss IBM's Big Green Linux initiative and IBM's own power-saving move to Linux on its own data center.
Linux Journal: Thank you for agreeing to speak with Linux Journal about Big Green Linux, Inna Kusnetsova. Our publication is very interested in green computing, and Big Green Linux is one of the most comprehensive initiatives we've seen in the Linux space to advocate computing that is softer on the planet. Can you please tell us about Big Green Linux?
Inna Kuznetsova: Project Big Green Linux supports the company's Big Green initiative, which was announced in May 2007. As background, the Big Green initiative is a $1 billion per year commitment that's designed to sharply reduce data center energy consumption for IBM and its clients. Big Green Linux is a drive to help IBM's clients to incorporate Linux into their IT as a way to reduce energy requirements through consolidation, load balancing, and more efficient use of resources. To show our clients the way and that we truly believe in the power of Linux and consolidation, we started with our own internal infrastructure consolidation on Linux. which is a large scale project. We also offer robust virtualization capabilities on all IBM platforms as well as energy-saving technologies and services, aimed at evaluating and reducing the energy consumption. We also contributed technologies to Linux that help to reduce how much power CPU consumes.
LJ: Where did the inspiration for Big Green Linux come from? At least some of it comes from what you've done internally do reduce power consumption, as you mentioned above, isn't that right?
Kuznetsova: The IT industry today is accountable for two percent of all anthropogenic pollution, which is comparable to what the aviation industry produces, except it's growing rapidly and is projected to double in four years. Combined with the growing cost of energy, this issue was creating more and more concern for our customers. To address this, IBM launched Project Big Green. While implementing it, we saw a special role played by Linux. By running on all IBM, as well as competitive platforms, Linux offers a fast path to server consolidation. And since Linux is developed by community rather than a commercial vendor, it offers a secure and reliable environment for such projects.
IBM trailblazed the way by starting our own infrastructure consolidation of 3900 servers out of 8200 supporting IBM infrastructure on to about 30 mainframes running Linux. In total floor space, we expect to gain approximately 85% in savings. For example, our current distributed model uses 11,045 square feet. By consolidating the servers of this same space to IBM System z, we will use only 1,643 square feet. In annual energy usage, we expect to gain 80% savings. How much is that? Let me give you an example: In terms of total energy saved, it’s enough to power for a small town for one year. We also have customers like Nationwide insurance who consolidated on Linux and reported considerable savings.
LJ: Can you share more specifics on what you learned from your efforts with your customers?
Kuznetsova: We have some real-world examples, based on our own project implementation and work we did for other customers. Nationwide insurance company, as one example, and Lawson retail chain as another, will be able to achieve reductions in floor space and spending on electricity and cooling by consolidating on Linux. Energy-wise, we expect an 80% reduction as well as 85% reduction in floor space. We learned that it is important to build a clear process of selecting workloads for consolidation and migration.
LJ: A skeptic might say that something like Big Green Linux is just a way to have good PR for LinuxWorld. Can you say that the initiative is something that has continued to grow and develop post-LinuxWorld? If so, why?
Kuznetsova: Well, I would not mind more PR for Big Green Linux in a sense that the press helps to educate customers on the possibilities that they may be missing. I'm happy to say that several of them contacted me right after LinuxWorld with the a request to help them on their own similar projects!
Seriously, it is much more than PR. First, we are continuing with our own consolidation and are on schedule. 4,000 servers have been inventoried, 500 images deployed. We're migrated many applications, such as the support for our internal Employee Charitable Contribution Campaign, and our IBM intranet working on Domino Applications Hosting Environment, financial forecasting, etc. The majority of the consolidation effort is targeted to be completed by end of 2009. Second, we continue to introduce new ways for customers to take advantage of virtualization on Linux and server consolidation. In January we announced the availability of PowerVMLx86 technology on all System p systems, allowing users to run x86 Linux applications on Linux on Power without changes. This allows customers to reduce the work significantly when transitioning from many underutilized x86 servers to a System in Linux environments. In February we announced our new powerful mainframe z10; as well as a special, lowered price for SUSE Linux as a way to encourage our customers to consolidate additional workloads. And there's more to come..
LJ: Does Big Green Linux involve partnerships with other companies?
Kuznetsova: Yes, it does. We participate in the Linux Foundations' Green Linux workgroup. We work closely with our strategic Linux distribution partners, Novell and Red Hat, to provide advance virtualization capabilities on all our server platforms, since the ability to virtualize the environment, run multiple applications simultaneously, fully utilize underlying advantages of various hardware platforms, such as Live Partitions Mobility on System p are key to a successful consolidation. Another area for collaboration is the availability of ISVs applications on Linux on System p and z. Two years ago we launched a program called Chiphopper that provides technical and marketing help for ISVs willing to move their x86 Linux applications to a higher platform and since then have 'graduated' about a thousand of applications.
LJ: How does a large organization like IBM keep an initiative like Big Green Linux moving forward, given its size, vast product line, etc?
Kuznetsova: The most important part of the project was developing a comprehensive project plan and management system, as well as internal business case and the cash flow analysis, based on a detailed labor analysis, migration expense, and specific server costs. We have the technical solution, education plan and operational plan in place. IBM is in a unique position now, being able to leverage what we learning to help customers with similar projects.
In terms of virtualization capabilities and consolidation support on Linux, we see an overwhelming support across the company. IBM Linux is embraced by all hardware and software product lines as a source of growth. Our commitment to reduce energy consumption is another fundamental element of the strategy. Putting these two together just requires an alignment across product groups and a good management system for staying on track, from revenue goals and top management reviews to regular interlocks between development and business strategy, which is a part of my team's mission.
LJ: To what extent does Big Green Linux leverage tools such as virtualization, PowerTop and the tickless kernel?
Kuznetsova: Virtualization is the cornerstone of Big Green, since it is a key for server consolidation, especially on higher platforms, such as System p or mainframes, since that's what drives the most energy savings. While virtualization tools exist on many OSes, there is a Linux specific to it: making sure that IBM customers take a full advantage of Novell and Red Hat virtualization capabilities on System x and in parallel.
LJ: What has been IBM's contribution to the tickless kernel?
Kuznetsova: Last year we contributed the technology for scaling the CPU clock speed and voltage, as well as extending time if keeping an idle CPU in tickless mode, all developed at IBM's Linux Technology Center. This enhancement shows up in kernel version 2.6.21 and later.
LJ: What other technologies and strategies does IBM have for improving power consumption in the data center?
Kuznetsova: Here a few examples from hardware, software and services. Rear Door Heat Exchanger is a five-inch deep cooling door that utilizes chilled water to dissipate heat. Water is much more efficient than air in heat removal - over 50% more. It is now available across most IBM systems. IBM's Active Energy Manager software allows to collect and report energy consumption and system thermal data, turn off inactive cores and restore energy when needed - as well as capping energy spending and operation at reduced energy usage when workload and/or policy allows. It was originally designed from IBM BladeCenter and System x has recently become available across IBM systems including Linux. Energy metrics can be further used by IBM Tivoli applications for correlation with other data, such as workloads to perform analytics and chargeback. And we offer two new types of services to help customers to evalute and reduce energy:server consolidation efficiency study and data center energy efficiency assessment - as well as world-class support for Linux deployments.
LJ: You also have something at IBM called Project Big Green. How do Big Green Linux and Project Big Green interrelate?
Kuznetsova: Project Big Green is the major IBM initiative, with our Big Green Linux representing one key element of the overall project. It is about leveraging Linux to move consolidation forward faster and, at the same time, making sure that Linux users get the full benefits of Project Big Green regardless of which IBM platforms they have.
LJ: What would you say is the most significant element of Project Big Green regarding impact on power consumption?
Kuznetsova: I'd say server consolidation. That becomes possible because of the virtualization capabilities of all IBM platforms, and that will drive the most savings.
LJ: Of course we all love saving money, which is a great motivation to save power. Do you have any indication that your customers see saving power, as thus reducing an organization's environmental footprint, as a moral issue, as well?
Kuznetsova: This obviously varies from company to company, person to person. While some people just look at the bottom line, the number of executives and shareholders striving to establish their companies as good corporate citizens is also growing. Here is one interesting observation. Virtualization and server consolidation approach are not always welcomed by 'line of business', the IT department's internal clients. They are often billed internally and feel a concern about the inability to 'hug their own server'. Being far from IT technology they may not appreciate - or even trust - the fact their application runs on a virtual server. The energy spending reduction often happens to be the argument that wins peoples hearts and makes it easier for them to accept not just the new model, but also the operational changes it drives.
LJ: Thank you so much for joining us for this interview and for your interesting responses, Inna! Good luck with Big Green Linux and all of your efforts at IBM!
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There are actually a lot more than two files generated, but never mind that for now.
The situation is analogous to compiling any user space code. First, a .c file is transformed into object code, in a .o. Next, the .o code is linked together to produce a library or executable.
The situation is no different with Linux, except that the linker links against a custom linker script, and names its file .ko instead. |
Two antelope of different characteristics. Each is a very nice head in its own way.
One is an old buck with seemingly great mass except at the base. It has a raw score of 80. Height is not great but has a lot of character which by the way causes a lot of deductions in final score.
The younger buck has less mass but great height but not much curve so it scores in the 70s.
Notice that by the "twice the height of the ear" that the younger buck meets it but does not really score as well as the older buck. |
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So we need to talk about where our master files are going to be stored when we import them into the Aperture library. So what do I mean by master files? Well, those are the actual pictures that your camera has captured. So when I take this picture, whether it's a RAW or a JPEG, the camera creates the master file. And what Aperture does when I want to work with one of these shots is that it reads that original master file.
Let's say that I want to do some image editing on this file, right here, and I go to Adjustments and I want to make some sort of change, I want to maybe change the color temperature a little bit, cool it off, let's say. So what Aperture just did was it read my original file and then it noted what change I made, and then it generated a new preview. That's what I'm looking at. Those previews are what are shared with the other applications and so forth.
So it's a master file and preview and the preview is based upon the master file plus whatever changes I make to the appearance or the metadata. So, then the decision is where do we store these master files? We already know where the previews, what we're looking at, where they're going to be stored. They're going to be stored in the Aperture library on your computer. The size of those files, of course, are going go be determined by what we selected here under the Previews tab and under this pop-up menu.
So, we know what's going to happen with the previews. We know how big they're going to be. However, the master files can be quite big, especially if you're shooting RAW. So, your poor computer may not be able to handle all of the RAW files you shoot, plus your music, plus your movies, plus everything else. So you may want to separate those master files from your computer, put them on an external hard drive and then have Aperture read those files. That's called the referenced file system, or you may want to just store everything on your local computer in the Aperture library container.
Let me show you the Aperture library container real quick just so-- we'll go to the Finder here. So in your Pictures folder, you have a file. The minute you open Aperture, you have a container here called the Aperture Library. Now within this container are all the work and metadata and everything that you do. If you choose what we call the managed file approach, which is store the masters inside this container, then all the RAW files and JPEGs that your camera captures will go in here too.
Now if you have tons of disk space like right here where we've got 1.24 TB, then you can afford to have all those masters stored here. However, if you're working off a laptop like I am most of the time, my laptop could not store all the RAW files that I shoot. I need to store them somewhere else. So I store them in a separate drive here called Photo Masters. This is where they're stored. Those masters that come off of my camera are stored in this folder here and then they are stored inside of here.
Then I point Aperture to these files and it reads them and then it generates previews. It's seamless while I'm working. In other words, I don't really notice that I'm working off a referenced file or a file that's stored inside the Aperture library. It's fairly seamless to me. So let's go back to Aperture for a second. So how would we set that up and what is the thinking that we need to make that decision? Let's go to our Import dialog box, right here, and here are the files that we had before, all waiting for us.
So I have both the JPEGs and RAW files here. These are fairly big files. So if I wanted to store everything in my Aperture Library on my computer, then here in the Import dialog box, I would choose Store Files In the Aperture Library and everything would be in there. If however I decided that I need to store these master files somewhere else, because my computer doesn't have enough room, then I would go and I would choose another location.
In this case, I'm going to choose the connected hard drive that I have and it's a little LaCie Rugged. Then all of my image masters are stored here. Now the way Aperture works is that it reads the master file, wherever it's stored, either on an external drive or in my Aperture Library, I'm going to go ahead and just cancel this right now. Then when make a change to the file. It actually then remembers the changes that I make and then it generates a new preview.
So it's not changing the master. That's even true if it's a JPEG. If I load this JPEG, no matter where it goes Aperture will not alter this original JPEG. It will always generate a new preview. So you just have to decide where are you going to store your files. On your computer, in that case, you choose In the Aperture Library, or on a separate hard drive, in that case, you would choose which hard drive that would be. I would create a separate folder for those images to go in.
Now, here's the good news. Let's say that you choose that route. Let's say you choose the so- called referenced file approach. You can still do everything that you need to do. I'm going to go ahead and close the Import dialog box for a minute. You can still do everything that you would need to do. For instance, you could change the caption and you can build slideshows. You can do all the stuff without a hard drive with master files connected. The only thing that you wouldn't be able to do is make image edits or export a file that's bigger than the size of your preview.
So you could conceivably leave your master files at home, take your laptop with your Aperture Library, and all of the previews that it generated, and build a book or do your metadata or show a slideshow, all that kind of stuff. So, the referenced file approach is very popular, especially with photographers who are shooting these large RAW files, because they don't have to keep those original files on their computer. They can be stored somewhere else. Again, the way that you set that up is that you go to Import and then you choose in the Aperture library or on a separate drive.
You can change your mind up the road, no matter what you choose, because you still have this option. If you go up here to File, you'll see that you have two options under the File menu, Relocate Master and Consolidate. These options allow you to change your mind. So, for instance, right now this master is located in my Aperture library on my computer. If I decided I wanted to move that master out to an external hard drive, I would use this command, or if I decided that I wanted to bring a master file that was on an external hard drive into my Aperture library, I would use this command.
So, Aperture is very flexible basically. You get to work the way you want, but it is worth thinking about a little bit before you get too far down the road in setting up your Aperture library. Where are those masters going to live, on your computer or on an external drive?
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In this movie, we are going to continue to work with the same image. Now we are going to sharpen this image so that we can send it via email or post it online. We go to the Background layer, right- click or Ctrl-click and choose Convert To Smart Object. Next we want to name that layer, and I'll go ahead and name this 'original'. Next we will navigate to the Filter pulldown menu and select Sharpen, and choose Smart Sharpen. Now you could use any of your sharpening techniques here, I'm just going to choose Smart Sharpen because I have to choose one and because it is a pretty good sharpening technique. I'll turn More Accurate off, and here is what I want to do. Advanced is on, Remove, Lens Blur, Amount, somewhere in the high one hundreds, right. Your Radius, either 0.1 or 0.2, sometimes 0.3, although typically it's best to have a real low radius. And then to dial in the sharpening with the Amount here, and we go ahead and find the sweet spot with the sharpening.
Now keep this in mind. One of the things that I'm going to do when I'm sharpening for the web is over sharpen, I hate to say that. What happens is when you save for web, you actually are throwing away pixels. So your edge definition isn't going to be as strong, your areas of sharpness are not going to be as sharp. So we are just going to barely over sharpen, just a little bit, so that then when we save for web, it kind of subtlest back into this nice, nice view. So I click on the image before and after, it should be subtle sharpening, yet it should feel like it's just a little bit not much. Well I think that looks pretty good, I'll click OK to apply that.
Now the next thing that I need to do, is to change the blend mode of the sharpening there. So I'll double-click on the icon here, which will open up my blending Options, and I'm going to take this to a blend mode of Luminosity. Now that's the same thing as sharpening on a new layer and changing that new layer blend mode to luminosity, so we are just sharpening the luminous values, we are not exaggerating any noise. Like that it looks good, click OK to apply that and then be sure to look at your before and after. Make sure your image is looking better and we will zoom in on this one so that you can see some of the subtle details here.
Here is our before and then after, and zoom in even further just to illustrate, hey I'm sharpening it, there is my before, there is my after, it is subtle yet significant, it's a little bit over sharpened but just barely, just barely. All right, well now as the image is sharp, we need to work on its color and tone. We will do that in the next movie.
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updated 01:35 am EDT, Tue November 2, 2010
Koobface/Boonana threat largely disabled, rare
Intego, a security company that makes Mac products for protecting against malware and other threads, followed up their initial report on the Trojan Horse threat they call "OSX/Koobface.A" and others call "Boonana," and labelled its risks as "minimal," saying that the original threat it might have posed had been largely disabled by community awareness and IRC support.
The company took the unusual step of criticizing its competitors for characterizing the malware as "critical," pointing out that the original trojan was flawed, and that actual Mac infections have been exceedingly rare (Intego does not report or count any Linux or Windows infections in their report; because the trojan is Java-based, the malware works on those platforms as well).
Although Intego admits that some of the conditions that caused them to dismiss the threat could change to present more of a danger, or open opportunities for variant threats to appear, they presently believe that the risk to Mac users is virtually non-existent, as the servers the trojan relies on contacting to spread itself have been identified, isolated (and in most cases were never working properly to start with).
Intego's follow-up reseach on OSX/Koobface.A showed that it did not run properly on Snow Leopard, and that both the presence of a Java alert and the appearance of an installer that asks for a user's administrative password to allegedly view a video that the user is said to appear in kept the odds of users installing the Trojan low. For those who have been infected, SecureMac offers a free removal tool which can be directly downloaded here.
The program also tries to contact various servers, including some IRC servers, all of which have been identified and all but one of which is presently off-line or blacklisted. The company believes that variants of this trojan horse will pose possible future threats, but critics counter that the company (and its competitors in the Mac arena) have a vested interest in fostering fear of security and virus threats against the Mac. |
Author: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Moira Galbraith () JPG file - 100.25 kB - 889 x 600 pixels
Extra information Camera Maker: Nikon Camera Model: E4500 Image Title: Original Time Taken: 2003:06:16 19:36:11 Time Digitized: 2003:06:16 19:36:11 Shutter Speed: 10/11 sec Aperture: f/6.2 ISO Sensitivity: 400 Exposure Compensation: 0 EV Metering Mode: Pattern Flash Fired: No Flash Original Width: 889 pixels Original Height: 600 pixels Orientation: 1: Normal (0 deg) Saturation Setting: 1 Focal Length: 16 mm Focal Length Equivalent in 35mm Film: 77
Disclaimer: Hydrozoa does not exercise any editorial control over the information displayed here. However, if you come across any misidentifications, spelling mistakes or low quality pictures, your comments would be very much appreciated. You can reach us by emailing Peter.Schuchert@ville-ge.ch, we will correct the information or remove the image from the website when necessary or in case of doubt. |
Applying for Medicare can be a tricky business. You can be penalized for enrolling too late ... or even too early. Here’s how to do it right.
First, Medicare age is still 65. It hasn't been raised to 66 or 67, like Social Security.
Most of us will enroll at 65. There are two exceptions to get Medicare before 65. You're eligible if you're on Social Security disability for 24 months. Or you can get special ESRD Medicare (for End Stage Renal Disease) if you need kidney transplant or dialysis.
Another big exception: you can postpone Medicare until after 65 if you have health insurance from current work. Details appear under "Special Enrollment Period" below.
You have three opportunities to enroll in Medicare:
Your Initial Enrollment Period at 65
To enroll at 65, you must file within seven specific months: the month you attain 65, the three months before, and the three months after. Example: if you turn 65 in April, you can file anytime from January 1 to July 31. If you filed in the first three months — January-March in our example — you would have Medicare coverage starting April 1.
But beware. Later filing delays Medicare coverage:
- If you enroll in your birth month — April — your coverage begins one month later, in May.
- If you enroll in month five — May — coverage is delayed for two months, until July.
- And if you enroll in months six or seven — June or July — coverage doesn't start until the third month after enrollment. That could be as late as October in our example.
Any of these could cause a gap in coverage, and you don't want to be uninsured. You must file in the three months before your birth month to get coverage starting in your birth month.
Your Special Enrollment Period, after 65
This applies if you are over 65, but you are covered by an employer's health insurance. Your work insurance must be based on your own work or your spouse's. The work must be current work, and the insurance must be for active employees, not COBRA or retiree insurance.
If you meet those requirements, you can delay Medicare enrollment without penalties for late filing:
- You may enroll at any time while covered by the employer's health plan.
- You may enroll during the eight-month period starting with the month employment ends, or the month your work insurance ends, whichever comes first.
- If you enroll in month one, the month of termination, your Medicare coverage starts the first day of that month
- If you enroll after the month of termination, in months two through eight, your Medicare coverage is delayed until the month after you enroll. This could cause a gap in coverage.
- You must prove your employer coverage with a letter from your employer.
The General Enrollment Period, for late enrollment
The "GEP" is for late enrollees who missed the Initial and Special Enrollment Periods. It's basically an annual "open enrollment" period. Three strict penalties apply for late enrollment: |
Brian McKay, MathWorks
Engineers working on systems requiring high-speed control algorithms face the challenge of verifying those controls. One of the steps in the verification process is to test the controls in real time with hardware in a lab, field, or other test environment. Traditional real-time testing solutions often cannot reach the megahertz range of performance needed to effectively test these high-speed systems.
In this webinar, we show how you can test these high-speed control algorithms in real time. This solution is based on xPC Target Turnkey real-time systems incorporating an FPGA board and code generated by Simulink HDL Coder.
You will learn how you can:
About the Presenter: Brian McKay is a product marketing manager at MathWorks focusing on real-time testing. Prior to coming to MathWorks, Brian developed real-time testing systems for automotive applications, including hydrogen technology, motorsports, and powertrain.
Recorded: 10 May 2011 |
Give Apple some credit: rushing out the first Intel-based Macs six months ahead of schedule was nearly miraculous. What’s especially impressive is that the first two models are the MacBook Pro and iMac. Inch-thin notebooks like the MacBook Pro require much more custom engineering than roomy desktop systems. And although the iMac is a desktop, its slim all-in-one case makes it nearly as difficult to design as a notebook.
As I predicted last year, the x86 Macs aren’t cheaper than PowerPC Macs. On average, Intel processors cost more than PowerPC processors. But the new Macs are much faster and a better value. Four other things about them should interest any computer enthusiast, even those who will never buy a Mac.
First, like all Macs, the new machines have the same curb appeal as the iPod. By comparison, the typical Windows PC looks as fashionable as a car battery. Beauty is only skin deep, but supermodels get paid a lot more for flashing their skin than the rest of us do. Other PC vendors should get off their butts and hire some case-modders.
Inside, the initial Intel-based Macs use the Core Duo (Yonah), the first dual-core descendant of the Pentium M. Despite Apple’s minuscule market share, Macs are getting the very latest Intel chips, not bottom-shelf silicon. That means the new Macs will compete strongly with the performance of Windows PCs.
In addition, the new Macs have a next-generation BIOS that supports Intel’s Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). Eventually, all PCs will implement this standard, which was conceived to replace the ancient PC BIOS. It’s ironic that Macs will be the vehicles for popularizing this PC technology. But then, the first blue-bellied iMacs of 1998 were largely responsible for popularizing another industry standard, USB.
More important, the new Macs are the first ones theoretically capable of natively running a Microsoft OS. The potential to support three platforms (including Linux) in one box is compelling—especially if the x86 transition starves Mac users for native software. Unfortunately, Apple isn’t using Intel’s virtualization technology to make multiboot systems more robust, but that could come later.
Although I still think the switch to x86 is a big gamble, so far Apple is taking the right steps. |
Questions about Medication Stacks for Anxiety etc.
I am a major anxiety and depression sufferer with an over active mind brought on by a 6-year series of traumatic events, they began at 12 years old and have turned me 40 years old at age 18. I have recently started taking Saphris to help with my Anxiety and Depression. I suggested it to my doctor after i saw a family member of mine experience improvement having been on the same boat of trauma as i. Before and 2 days after beginning the medication i have been taking 5-HTP, L-Theanine, Ginkjo Biloba, Multi-Vitamin, and a Vitamin B-Complex w/ Vitamin C. I understand the functions of Saphris as to, "balance the natural chemicals in your brain", just like other things do such as Passion Flower (mild MAOI), 5-HTP (Produces Serotonin) and Chamomile (mild anxiolytic). I lack the knowledge on the exact behavior of Atypical Antipsychotics and how they generally balance the chemicals (serotonin? dopamine?). Could the positive role of Saphris be interferred by drugs such as 5-Hydroxy-Tryptophan?
Just did some simple googling. Apparently a "new" drug (seems like the old ones) for bipolar disease. It's so new and so untested the mechanism of action is apparently not clearly known, but it probably acts in part on serotonin, meaning you shouldn't be taking 5htp with it for cautionary reasons, especially since this is a new med and the side effects won't be known for years. 5-HTP is a natural metabolite of tryptophan and produces serotonin in the body in conjunction with co-factors. As for balancing the natural chemicals in your brain, that's not what drugs do. They alter on purpose the natural chemical processes in your brain, as there's no evidence anyone has a chemical imbalance that causes mental illness or if there is exactly what imbalance it is. For example, serotonin inhibitors purposefully interrupt the brain's natural mechanism of discarding used serotonin in favor of newly made serotonin, so this obviously isn't trying to give us a natural balance but an unnatural one since our natural one isn't working so well. Whether this works or not and for how long when it does will be up to question for years to come, but you have to work with what you have and what you know now. As for passionflower, my understanding is it's not an MAO inhibitor. If it has any such action it's quite mild. Many herbs have been labeled MAO inhibitors, but it's just speculation that has for now at least turned out to be wrong; the prime example was St. John's Wort. This is important, because combining MAO inhibitors with any other drug and many foods is dangerous and these consequences haven't been seen in real world use. Passionflower most likely has a main effect on GABA, but who knows? Plants have so many active constituents nobody has yet figured out how any of them work synergistically. Because of this we can usually only theorize.
Thanks for the help! I always like learning something new about my passion which is that SSRIs basically takes the place of old Serotonin. One source told me that it just tricks the receptor into producing more and when you go off the anti-depressant that your forever more depressed due to the trickery. Glad to know that's not completely true. So i have given up on Saphris for wise reasons. The Saphris gave me restless leg/arm syndrome last night, today; clearer thinking while at the same time negative and maybe paranoid, and some random 1-minute spells of agression. Back to SSRIs with me! I feel like i've played this game forever, there must be so much money in psychological medications.
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for the past few months my big toe has been black, but just on the side that is next to the other toes, it has not grown out and there has been no injuries, what could it be? I am getting really worried
Discolored toe nail can be due to two reasons.Firstly, it can be due to a prior injury. Discoloration as a result of prior injury means that there is trapped blood under the nail. This trapped blood can cause blackening of the nail.In order to release it, a hole must be drilled into the nail. This is difficult and dangerous to do without the proper knowledge and equipment. So it is advisable to get it done by a podiatrist.
Secondly, it can be a fungal nail infection. Fungal nail infections are difficult to treat,may recur often and effect toenails more often than fingernails. The risk of getting a fungal infection is increased by closed-in footwear, prolonged moist skin, and minor skin or nail injuries. Diagnosed by fungal KOH cultures of the nails and skin scrapings around the nails. Treatment includes topical anti fungal creams or gel.
In my opinion,pls get it evaluated by a podiatrist and then start with the treatment. Physical examination is necessary for making a diagnosis.
Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.
The Content on this Site is presented in a summary fashion, and is intended to be used for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as medical advice or a diagnosis of any health or fitness problem, condition or disease; or a recommendation for a specific test, doctor, care provider, procedure, treatment plan, product, or course of action. Med Help International, Inc. is not a medical or healthcare provider and your use of this Site does not create a doctor / patient relationship. We disclaim all responsibility for the professional qualifications and licensing of, and services provided by, any physician or other health providers posting on or otherwise referred to on this Site and/or any Third Party Site. Never disregard the medical advice of your physician or health professional, or delay in seeking such advice, because of something you read on this Site. We offer this Site AS IS and without any warranties. By using this Site you agree to the following Terms and Conditions. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your physician or 911 immediately. |
Mill, James biographical name
(born April 6, 1773, Northwater Bridge, Forfarshire, Scot.died June 23, 1836, London, Eng.) Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. After studying at the University of Edinburgh and teaching, he went to London in 1802, where he met Jeremy Bentham and became a major promulgator of Bentham's utilitarianism. He wrote for several journals, including the Edinburgh Review (1808–13), and contributed articles on government and education to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He helped found London University in 1825. After completing his History of British India (3 vol., 1817), he was appointed an official in India House (1819) and later became head of the examiner's office (1830). His criticism of British rule led to changes in the government of India. His Elements of Political Economy (1821) summarized the views of David Ricardo, and his Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1829) associated psychology with utilitarianism, a doctrine continued by his son, John Stuart Mill. Mill is considered the founder of philosophical radicalism.
This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise.
For the full entry on Mill, James, visit Britannica.com.
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And so it is final -- at least for now -- though some crossbow proponents still advocate throwing the door wide open. They are busy greasing legislative hinges. One can only hope their hands don't get too dirty.
The new crossbow rules, approved by the Natural Resources Commission last week, are considerably more liberal than those proposed a month ago. They are a big step forward for a state that has strictly regulated crossbow use.
Those who do not recognize that the glass is now more than half full might do well to take a breath and re-evaluate their priorities.
Public concern has centered largely on whether loosening the rules would impact the deer herd and how it would realign the kill. Would it have a detrimental impact on the archery season for bow hunters?
Those are all important questions to ask and answer. Doing so is what we would expect from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
It is what hunters asked for when they voted for Proposal G in 1996, which gave the authority to the Natural Resources Commission and called for the use of sound science in making wildlife management decisions.
It is not enough to point to Ohio and say it works for them. Ohio has far fewer hunters and far fewer deer. Their example should serve to inform -- nothing more.
Requiring the DNR to evaluate crossbow use is very much in keeping with the ideals of Proposal G. If no harm is done, the door should open easily.
"Do we or don't we hurt the resource?" asked NRC commissioner Frank Wheatlake of Reed City. "Do we or don't we increase recruitment?"
Proponents for "full-inclusion" -- a term meaning any legal hunter can use them any time -- have argued it would help bolster sagging hunter numbers in the state. Critics say that is hogwash. It doesn't bear out in other states.
Wheatlake pressed for the three-year sunset, full-inclusion in zone 3 (southern Michigan), allowing 10- to 12-year-olds to use the crossbow, and a velocity limit equivalent to compound bows.
That limit was sought after commissioners heard of a crossbow on the market made by PSE Archery that was extremely fast and accurate at 100 yards or more.
"If I am a bowhunter, I will make a 30-yard shot with a compound bow," Wheatlake said. "If I let them use a crossbow to kill a deer at 100 yards, I might as well let them use a rifle. There is some truth to what folks are saying, that that crossbow is a killing machine."
Michigan does not classify the crossbow as archery equipment. It is thought of as a gun that shoots arrows.
Local archery equipment dealers say the recent decision should be good for business. Crossbows run from $200 on the low end to $2,000 on the high end.
"I think it will go gangbusters for the first couple of years," said Steve Hayes, the owner of Bob's Gun and Tackle Shop, in Hastings. "We're going to see a lot of people (customers) who were hunting in the firearm season and are not comfortable with a conventional bow. The 350 foot-per-second limit doesn't rule out many bows."
Wheatlake didn't get the younger age he sought. The NRC voted to limit crossbow use to those who are 12 and older. Youth ages 12 to 14 must hunt with an adult.
There has been some confusion about the interpretation of the rules that were passed, so here is a quick look with clarifications. Crossbows can be used:
• By youth 12 and older during any gun season
• During any season in which firearms are allowed for big or small game
• In zone 3 (southern Michigan) during any season, archery included
• During the early archery season in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula only by hunters who are 50 or older
"This is a three-year pilot program that will force the commission to revisit the issue and take other steps," said Dennis Knapp, assistant deputy resource director of the DNR.
Zone 3 was opened to increase hunting opportunities, Knapp said. There are too many deer and a lot of the land is private. Lowering the age from 65 to 50 is explained as a means to accommodate those who begin to drop out of archery at age 50 for one ailing reason or another.
It has been explained, or should we say whispered, that it was a last-minute compromise by the NRC in an effort to control the ground after a legislator threatened to bypass the commission and pass a bill throwing the door completely open.
That, of course, wouldn't meet the demands of Proposal G, but it certainly would make the crossbow industry happy.
E-mail Howard Meyerson: email@example.com |
Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, known to most as MCA, died on Friday at the age of 47. The news was met with an outpouring of grief and respect from fans, writers, and musicians. The group began as Jewish white boys from New York City who rapped about girls and parties. Over the next 30 years the Beastie Boys grew up, made the seminal record "Paul's Boutique" with the Dust Brothers, embraced politics—in particular the movement to free Tibet—and earned a place as one of the most influential acts in hip hop.
In 2009, Yauch announced that he'd been diagnosed with cancer. He played Bonnaroo with the Beastie Boys that year, in what would be his last concert.
Alan Light was a senior editor at Rolling Stone, founding music editor and editor-in-chief of Vibe, and editor-in-chief of Spin magazine. In 2006 he published a book about the Beastie Boys, Skills to Pay the Bills. He talked with us about Yauch's legacy and his transformation from a talented-yet-obnoxious New York City rapper to the conscience of the Beastie Boys.
Mother Jones: Do you have a favorite memory of MCA?
Alan Light: They did only a couple of shows when "Paul's Boutique" came out, and I remember they did a show at the really crappy club in Chelsea called The Building. It was packed and sweaty and people were hanging from the pipes. They did an incredible show. They were still recovering from "Licensed to Ill," trying to figure out life after, and "Paul's Boutique" was so unappreciated. There was a clear purpose they had, even if the world hadn't figured it out. That was the best show I saw them do—though I never saw them do a bad show.
The Bonnaroo show was their last performance, I guess. Which is strange to think about. And how great that was. They canceled Lollapalooza after that and other festivals.
When I used to live downtown in New York, we lived near each other and I remember running into him on the sidewalk sometimes. With all of those guys, obviously, they changed and they evolved in so many ways. But who they really were and what they were about? That didn't change. You'd still see them on the subway, on a bike, or skateboard, on the block. They could just move around freely themselves and still be those guys.
If you look at the way the band evolved and transformed and think about the unbelievably surprising ways they were able to transform from what they started as, nobody really embodied that more than Yauch. In the beginning, he was the most obnoxious, and then he became the conscience of the band and was one of the leading political activists of his musical generation. He changed more than any of them.
MJ: What was that about? Was it because he'd converted to Buddhism?
You never know what's the cause and what's the effect. I think that he went through a very concrete and step by step transformation. He got deep into his snowboarding and that side of his life, which took him to Nepal, which then led him to awareness of the Tibetan cause, which led him to the Buddhist way of thinking. And each of those happened a step at a time. It wasn't a sudden enlightenment; he was very thrown by the "Licensed to Ill" experience and they were trying to find a way to live their lives after that. It wasn't a weird phase, it genuinely was an evolution.
MJ: I've been sort of amazed at how touched so many people are. I feel surprised, even though I knew he had cancer.
AL: You get used to early deaths from rock stars—overdoses or plane crashes, sudden results of this crazy lifestyle. You don't really think of them getting sick like other people do and not making it. It's a different thing to respond to than Tupac or Michael Jackson.
We probably all should have paid more attention to him not going to the Hall of Fame. Obviously in retrospect that was a more significant sign that more was going on than most of us took it for. The last things that were reported were that he was improving, and he was able to finish the record.
MJ: When you think of MCA, as a musician, a rapper, what comes to mind now?
AL: The thing I keep thinking of is "A Year and a Day" on "Paul's Boutique." In the middle of the medley there's that solo that he does with the Isley Brothers sample.
That's where it feels like he started to put out his spiritual thing, where he seeded where he was going. He actually was the best rhymer. He was the music bass line, but also the base of the group.
I always really liked him. He wasn't the biggest talker of the three, but he was always the best interview. It was hard to get [Adam] Horowitz not to do schtick, but in the end the most interesting thing from when you would sit and talk to them came from Yauch. Whenever I wrote about them it would always surprise me it was quotes from him I was leaning on the hardest. |
Why California's Redistricting Amendment Could Help (Some) Dems
As I write in my article today, Democrats are panicked that the Republicans' enormous gubernatorial and state legislative successes will give the GOP the power to draw congressional districts in a way that locks in a GOP House majority for a decade or more. In 2011, Republicans are poised to set the boundaries of 164 congressional districts; Dems will probably draw fewer than 60.
One reason that difference is so large is that California, where Democrats will control the governorship and the state legislature, just passed a ballot measure (Proposition 20) taking congressional redistricting power out of the hands of state legislators and giving it to an independent commission. Most progressives support the ideas behind the measure, but many worry that not being able to draw California's 53 congressional districts will make it even harder for their party to offset any gains the GOP makes in the states where Republicans are drawing the districts.
However, there's some evidence that taking California's redistricting out of the hands of state legislators may actually end up helping Dems overall. The current map in the Golden State is what's called an "incumbent protection" plan. The votes from Tuesday's midterm elections are still being counted in California's 11th district, where Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney holds on to a narrow lead over Republican David Harmer. If McNerney holds on, there will be 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans in California's congressional delegation come January—nearly the same 34-19 balance as January 2008. It's also the same balance that there was in 2002, when California's Dems and GOPers first agreed to the incumbent-protection plan. In fact, over the past four elections—including three that could be fairly described as "wave" elections—no more than one California seat has switched parties in a given year.
But if Dems already control the vast majority of California's congressional seats, what do they have to gain from fair redistricting and more competitive elections? Potentially a lot. Currently, Democratic voters in California are very inefficiently distributed between congressional districts. Most Democratic representatives win by a lot, not a little. California's Republican members of Congress, by contrast, regularly win by smaller margins than their Democratic colleagues. Bottom line: If Dem voters were better distributed, Democrats could easily win more seats.
By my count, only 4 of California's 33 Dems won by less than 20 percent in this, a Republican year (one of those four Dems won by 19 points). But 7 of California's 20 Republicans won by less than 20 percentage points. And while 17 Dems won more than two-thirds (66.6 percent) of the vote in their district, only one of the Republican winners got more than two-thirds of the vote this year. There's a lot of potential for Democratic voters to be better-distributed. Senior California Democrats who are accustomed to winning elections with 65, 70, or even 80 percent of the vote might not like it—and in the past, they've pushed for Sacramento's redistricting plans to protect their power. But spreading the Democratic wealth around would be better for the party—and more competitive elections would be better for everyone. |
What We Still Don't Know About Mass Shootings
Late last week Megan McArdle of the Daily Beast posted an online interview she did with criminologist James Alan Fox, in part taking issue with our mass shootings investigation at Mother Jones. I was glad to see McArdle continue the conversation with Fox; as he and I agreed in a recent exchange, mass shootings deserve continuing inquiry.
Based on data that includes all gun crimes in America involving four or more fatalities, Fox has found that mass shootings are not on the rise. He has also applauded our more narrowly focused investigation, which found a rise in a specific type of mass shooting, and acknowledged its value to studying the problem.
McArdle, however, maintains that our in-depth project is of no value: It is, in her view, "not a database of mass shootings; it's a database of mass shootings that Mother Jones wanted to include in their database."
In fact, we stated explicitly at the outset that our investigation was not all-inclusive, but rather a deep study of a particular kind of mass gun violence. Because no clear definition of "mass shooting" exists, we consulted with federal law enforcement officials and academic experts—including Fox—to develop criteria. Our goal was to dig deeper into the specific phenomenon of seemingly incomprehensible attacks in public places—shopping malls, religious buildings, workplaces, schools—to try to make more sense of these "senseless" tragedies. Thus, we excluded other types of clear-cut cases in which the primary motive involved gang activity, armed robbery, or domestic violence.
Given the complexity of mass gun violence, we suspected that we might encounter a couple of exceptional cases that would require discretion in applying our criteria. We chose to include the Columbine massacre, as well as the Westside Middle School shooting, because they fit the criteria despite that two shooters were involved in each case, an exception we flagged for readers. In other words, we included all school shooting cases from the last 30 years clearly fitting this type of attack, as defined by fatality count, location, and motive. (It bears noting that if we were to have excluded those two cases, it would not have meaningfully altered any of our broader analytical findings.) |
Pines and other conifers in northern Minnesota are dying in slightly larger numbers than usual.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says the trees have been stricken by drought. Eight of the last 11 summer and fall seasons have been very dry in northern Minnesota.
People may notice trees changing colors, said Jana Albers, a forest health specialist for the DNR in Grand Rapids.
"That's the thing with conifers when they die during the growing season," Albers said. "They turn that bright red-orange. And it's very noticeable, versus a hardwood tree just drops all its leaves and you don't notice it."
The good news is that this year's spring and early summer weather has been good for tree growth, Albers said.
The growing season has changed in northern Minnesota, she added. It's now a month longer, but rain totals haven't kept up.
There are also more intense bouts of rain, she said.
"We're not getting those long, many days of soaker rains, just gentle rains where it would be two or three days of rain and then the system would move off," Albers said. "What we're having now is these more intense storms that are coming through. They're very spotty in terms of where they put the rain and also how much they put and the speed with which they put it down. Short bursts of a lot of rain if you're on a hill or something like that, and it doesn't percolate into the soils." |
MediaWatch: December 1997
Table of Contents:
- Executive Summary
- The "Nonpartisan" Kyoto Cheerleaders
- NewsBites: Weather Trumps Washington
- Revolving Door: Turner's Clinton Man
- TV Downplays Clinton Donor Who Lied His Way Into Arlington Cemetary
- Democratic Slurs Not News
- One Overlooked Tornado
- Institutions Ask Why Credibility Down
- Janet Cooke Award: Ted Koppel v. The "Flat Earth Society"
The "Nonpartisan" Kyoto Cheerleaders
The "environmentalist" agenda is easily classified as liberal: regulation reigns at the center of their proposals. At the recent climate conference in Kyoto, Japan, environmental groups proposed the U.S. cut its emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels, a drastic, government-supervised suppression of American energy output.
But news reports drain the ideology out of the debate, casting it as "environmentalists" vs. industry instead of liberals vs. conservatives. In 1990, a MediaWatch study of labeling in three major newspapers from 1987 to 1989 found that in 2,903 news stories featuring ten "green" groups, analysts found only 29 ideological labels, or less than one percent. (Subtract 22 labels in 83 stories for the radical group Earth First, and the total was seven labels in 2,820 stories).
To update that research, MediaWatch analysts used the Nexis news data retrieval system to locate every news story in 1995 and 1996 on ten liberal environmental groups, and compared that to conservative groups in The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post. The story remains the same: in 1,089 news stories, liberal environmental groups were described as liberal in only five stories (or 0.5 percent).
By contrast, the largest "free-market environmentalist" think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute drew eight "conservative" labels in 29 stories (28 percent). In most of the stories in which they weren’t labeled, they were described as "anti-regulatory," "pro-business," or "promoting private solutions over government action." Only the radical-left group Earth First, whose literature may have inspired the Unabomber’s selection of bombing targets, rivaled to CEI’s labeling percentage, with nine "radical" labels in 25 stories (36 percent).
Not only do reporters leave out any description of ideology motivating "green" groups, they fail to describe them as partisan activists in Washington seeking to overrule and overthrow Republicans. Reporters used advocacy labels (such as "activist," "advocate," and "lobbyist") in only 78 of 1,089 stories (7 percent). Among the liberal groups getting the "nonpartisan" treatment:
The Environmental Defense Fund, a very active proponent in the global-warming fight, was never called "liberal" in 121 news stories, and only carried advocacy labels in six articles. The New York Times did call them "mainstream" in a June 25, 1996 story on a intra-liberal debate on dolphin safety. A February 19, 1996 Washington Post story noted 37 "environmental, medical, religious and consumer groups, led by the Environmental Defense Fund urged oil companies not to use a manganese-based gasoline additive."
The Environmental Working Group is a network TV favorite, with its regular studies declaring the nation’s drinking water unsafe. Its Web site touts the group’s Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR) for information on the "anti- environmental lobby," including a campaign by the "radical right" to "defund the left." But EWG inspired no liberal labels in 46 stories, and were only labeled as advocates in seven pieces.
Greenpeace is perhaps the best-known environmental group, due to its radical tactics, like interrupting nuclear tests and hanging banners from smokestacks. But in 178 articles, it never once attracted a liberal label — but The New York Times did include them in the "mainstream" faction on dolphin safety. Reporters tagged Greenpeace with advocacy labels in only 22 stories. A June 23, 1995 USA Today story did call Greenpeace "one of many groups fighting the GOP on several fronts."
The nonpartisan approach is most inaccurate with the League of Conservation Voters, which spent $1.5 million in 1996 on ads, mass mailings, and door-to-door campaigns against GOP candidates. But reporters gave it only one liberal label and ten advocacy labels in 62 stories. The January 27, 1996 Washington Post broke the mold in a story on the LCV helping to elect Sen. Ron Wyden with the headline "Candidate’s Backers Hope to Make Oregon a Liberal Proving Ground."
The National Audubon Society successfully buries its liberal agenda beneath its bird-watching activities, drawing no ideological labels and only three advocacy labels in 64 news stories. A 1994 fund-raising letter scared donors by claiming they could "project with some accuracy the eventual end of the natural world as we know it."
The Web site of the National Wildlife Federation claims "Unless worldwide action is taken, we may be witness to the fastest warming of the climate since the last ice age." But NWF acquired no liberal labels and one advocacy label in 31 stories.
The Natural Resources Defense Council ran ads in 1996 claiming Republicans aimed to "block programs to protect our drinking water from deadly parasites, arsenic, and radioactivity." In 211 news stories, analysts found one liberal label and 14 advocacy labels. That one label was indirect: on April 2, 1995, Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz noted the Sierra Club and the NRDC aired ads "assailing the GOP for attempting to weaken environmental laws. Other liberal groups are joining the fray."
The Sierra Club spent $7.5 million to defeat GOP candidates in 1996, including ads calling Republicans "eco-thugs." Nevertheless, in 325 stories, the Sierra Club collected only three liberal labels (all in the Washington Post) and only 14 advocacy labels. They were also in the New York Times "mainstream" coalition in one story. In five New York Times stories and three Washington Post stories, reporters did underline their affinity for Democrats with terms like "almost always supports Democrats," "sympathetic to Democratic candidates," and "a potent force in Democratic primaries."
The World Resources Institute’s founder, James Gustave Speth, is now the most powerful American official of the U.N. environment program. No labels of any kind were forthcoming in 27 news stories — unless you count The New York Times describing them in two articles as an "independent" monitor.
The Worldwatch Institute releases an annual "State of the World" report that Ted Turner has handed out to his CNN employees. They attracted no liberal labels in 24 stories, and only one advocacy reference. On January 14, 1996, the Washington Post didn’t use a liberal label for a liberal proposal: "Environmental activist Lester Brown calls for a new tax on polluters in the annual environmental almanac released yesterday by the Worldwatch Institute, the think tank he heads."
Balance in environmental journalism requires at least two obvious remedies: liberal groups should be described as liberal more often, and their conservative counterparts ought to be consulted in more than a small fraction of the stories in which liberal groups and their research are promoted. |
Johann Sebastian Bach is recognized as one of the world's supremely great musicians. Known primarily as an organist and then only later recognized as a composer, Bach transformed the conventional structures of preludes and fugues.
J.S. Bach for Bass will open up a whole new world of phrasing for the aspiring bassist. Selections include: Prelude #1 in C Major; Suite #1 in G Major; Suite #2 in D Minor; Suite #3 in C Major; Partita #1 in B Minor; Partita #2 in D; Partita #3 in E Major; Sonata #1 in G Minor; and Sonata #3 in C Major. This book is written in notation and tablature. |
otide i. The preceding relation implies that the off-diagonal elements of R can be expressed as
Therefore, the SR model is a nine-parameter model and includes many models as special cases, e.g., the models of Jukes and Cantor (33), Kimura (34), Tajima and Nei (35), Hasegawa et al. (21), and Tamura and Nei (22). The SR model has been studied by many authors (10–14, 23, 36).
Consider two sequences (designated by 1 and 2) that have evolved from O, their common ancestor, t time units ago (Fig. 1). Under stationarity, time-reversibility means that the substitution process from the common ancestor O to sequences 1 and 2 is equivalent to the substitution process from 1 through O to 2 (or from 2 through O to 1), whose transition probability matrix for 2t time units is given by
Let λk (k=1, 2, 3, 4) be the k-th eigenvalue of the rate matrix R; one of them is zero, say λ4=0. Let zk be the k-th eigenvalue of P. Eq. 1 implies zk=e2tλk. Gu and Li (11) showed that the evolutionary distance defined by the average number of substitutions per site (i.e.,) is given by
where constants ck are determined by the eigenmatrix of P. Eq. 2 is generally valid since all eigenvalues zk are real under the SR model (11, 37). For example, under the Jukes-Cantor model (33), z1=z2=z3=1–4p/3 and c1=c2=c3=1/4 so that Eq. 2 is reduced to d=–(3/4)ln(1–4p/3), where p is the proportion of nucleotide differences between the two sequences.
The SR distance can be estimated from the data matrix J, whose ij-th element (Jij) is the frequency of sites at which the nucleotides in the two sequences are i and j, respectively. By time-reversibility, we have Jij=πiPij. Therefore, the ij-th element of P (for 2t time units) can be estimated by P̂ij=Jij/πi (i,j=1,…, 4), where πi, and Jij are easily obtained from the sequence data. Let matrix P̂ consist of P̂ij. Its eigenvalues ẑk (k =1,…, 3) can be computed by a standard algorithm, and the constants are given by (k=1, 2, 3), where uik and vkj are the elements of the corresponding eigenmatrix U and its inverse matrix V, respectively. For
Eq. 2 can be used to define many additive distances by choosing appropriate constants ck (Table 1), e.g., the number of nucleotide substitutions per site (K), the number of transitional substitutions per site (A), the number of transversional substitutions per site (B), and the number of substitutions from nucleotides i to j (Dij). These distance measures are useful for phylogenetic analysis and molecular clock testing.
The SRV Model. Rate variation among sites can be incorporated into the SR model by assuming rij=aiju, where aij is a constant and u varies according to a gamma distribution
with mean ū=α/β; α is the shape parameter and determines the degree of rate variation. Under this model, the (mean) transition probability matrix P for 2t time units is given by
where I is the identity matrix and the mean rate matrix R̄=ūA where matrix A consists of aij (11). From Eq. 4, one can show that the k-th eigenvalue of P is given by
where λk is the k-th eigenvalue of R. It follows that the evolutionary distance under the SRV model is given by
The constants ck are determined in the same manner as above (Table 1). Note that Eq. 4 reduces to Eq. 1 and Eq. 6 to Eq. 2 as α→∞, i.e., the substitution rate is uniform among sites.
Furthermore, Eq. 6 can be generalized to any distribution f(u) for the rate variation among sites. Let G(s)=(u)du be the moment-generating function of f(u). Gu and Li (11) showed that zk=G(2λkt), k=1, 2, 3, 4. Thus, the general additive distance is given by
where G–1 is the inverse function of the moment-generating function G. For example, consider the invariant+gamma model (26, 40–41): (i) for a given site, the probability of being invariable (i.e., u=0) is θ, whereas the probability of being variable is 1—θ; and (ii) among the sites that are variable, the substitution rate follows a gamma distribution. By applying Eq.
Table 1. The constants ck in the general SR or SRV distance
K is the number of substitutions per site; A is the number of transitional substitutions per site; B is the number of tranversional substitutions per site, and Dij is the number of substitutions from nucleotides i to j per site. The subscripts j≠i ∈ Ts and j≠i ∈ Tv mean that the differences between nucleotides i and j are transitional and transversional, respectively. |
What a treat it was to be a judge for Lee County's finals in the Scripps National Spelling Bee for middle school students.
It's fun to see the participants, at that awkward age, all nervous in front of a big crowd trying their best not to mess up knowing the press was on hand and the event was being broadcast on the Internet and then see them come through to give a good account of themselves.
I'm referring of course to the judges.
The spellers? They were cool as 12-year-old cucumbers knocking down words like circuitous and photosynthesis like so many Dick and Jane nouns.
In this abbreviated, phoneticized world of text messages and chat rooms, it's good to know there are some in the iPhone generation who have taken the time to master the concepts of "i before e except after c," and, "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking."
But I fear for the future. When today's spellers reach that awkward age and become judges, what will the spelling bee be like?
Let's peer 40 years ahead to a time when instant messages have become the standard of written communication and spelling such as was on display Thursday at Three Oaks Middle School is as archaic as a hardback dictionary (wavy picture, harp music, fade to pronouncer).
"Your first word is ‘information.'"
"Can you use it in a sentence?"
"Yes, ‘It is difficult to make a decision without the proper information."'
"Next speller, your word is, ‘before.'"
"What's the language of origin?"
"The next word is, ‘incredulity.'"
"No, I'm sorry, The correct spelling of incredulity is W-T-F.
"Correct. Next contestant spell, ‘hilarious."
"What's the definition?"
As the rounds progress the words come fast and furious.
Cutie _ Q-T.
Pizza _ P-Z-A.
Wonder _ 1-D-R.
Excellent _ X-L-N-T.
People _ P-E-E-P-S.
Yours _ U-R-Z.
Great _ G-R-8.
At last we're left with just two contestants.
"Yes, we could have also accepted that as the answer for ‘deception.'"
"Oh, I'm so sorry. The correct spelling is B-Z. You don't need the E at the end.
"That means you're our winner!"
"Really? I won? GTFOOH! That's GR8!"
__ Connect with Brent Batten at naplesnews.com/staff/brent_batten
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Ask a layman to name an unmanned aerial vehicle, and he will probably cite one of the armed drones used by the Air Force, such as the Predator or Reaper. Naval UAVs used for reconnaissance, such as the ScanEagle and Raven, have stayed mostly out of the public eye.
The Navy finally is developing its own custom unmanned air systems, with the service planning on fielding four new aircraft in the next few years. The coming decade may yield naval UAVs that become just as famous as their Air Force counterparts — that is, if the service has the funding to do it.
Some of these UAVs will incorporate revolutionary and somewhat risky technologies, such as a system that will autonomously take off and land from a moving aircraft carrier.
But money, or the lack thereof, could throw a wrench into the equation, said Phil Finnegan, director of corporate analysis at the Teal Group.
“The Navy has the advantage of buying UAVs later than the other services, so it will be able to learn from their experiences and take advantage of operational and technological advances,” he told National Defense in an email. “However, the difficulty comes in ramping up funding for three major UAV programs at the same time.”
These programs include the land-based MQ-4C Triton surveillance aircraft, the MQ-8 Fire Scout helicopter, and the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS).
Both the Triton and Fire Scout are manufactured by Northrop Grumman. The Navy was scheduled to release in September a request for proposals for UCLASS after months of delays.
With Triton set to move into production, the UCLASS program needing increased funding for development and purchases of the Fire Scout ramping up in coming years, the Navy will have its work cut out for itself, Finnegan said. “That is quite a challenge in an environment in which carrier reductions are being raised.”
Yet with the military’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, the Navy is facing a rising demand for unmanned aerial vehicles, he added. “It will need increased surveillance to protect the fleet from the higher threat level in these areas, and it will be in the forefront of gathering ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] in areas in which the U.S. may not have access to bases.”
The Navy has structured its UAS to partner with complementary piloted aircraft. Triton is paired with the upcoming P-8 Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft that will perform anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. Fire Scout will work alongside SH-60 Seahawk helicopters on the littoral combat ship. UCLASS will operate on the same carrier decks as F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets.
In the past decade, the Navy relied on piloted assets such as P-3 maritime surveillance aircraft or F-18s to help collect intelligence. The aim with manned-unmanned teaming is to free up those planes to do more complex missions while UAVs handle ISR, said Navy Capt. Chris Corgnati, branch head for the unmanned aerial systems requirements and resources in the office of the chief of naval operations.
Naval aviators will pilot both manned aircraft and the corresponding unmanned systems, he said.
“The expertise that you need to operate these things are the same,” Corgnati said. “You have to understand the environment, [and] you’ve got to understand the mission whether you’re flying a P-3 or P-8 or you’re flying a Triton remotely.”
The UCLASS is the only naval UAS with a contract still up for grabs. That aircraft will be able to take off from an aircraft carrier, gather intelligence, attack targets and autonomously come back to the moving vessel — all without disrupting normal operations on the flight deck.
Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman were awarded $15 million contracts in August to conduct preliminary design reviews.
Northrop Grumman may already have a leg up on the competition. In the past year, its X-47B demonstrator aircraft was the first UAV to ever accomplish catapult launches as well as autonomous touch-and-go and arrested landings on a moving aircraft carrier. With contracts for Fire Scout and Triton already in hand, an award for UCLASS would be a major win for the company.
UCLASS’s primary duty will be ISR collection, but it also will be able to strike targets with joint direct attack munitions and the small diameter bomb II, according to requirements documents obtained by the U.S. Naval Institute News.
“It’s really going to make the carrier airwing more effective, more lethal and more survivable,” Corgnati said.
Navy procurement officials want to buy as many vehicles as needed to provide 24/7 coverage at a “tactically significant range,” said Rear Adm. Mathias Winter, the service’s program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons. If USNI’s requirements documents are correct, that means it must be able to complete two 600-nautical mile orbits at a cost of less than $150 million.
Winter said the system could reach initial operational capability as early as 2018. The service requested $146 million in research-and-development funding as part of its fiscal year 2014 budget proposal.
UCLASS has come under fire by those within the Navy who believe its requirements have been scaled back too far, leaving it vulnerable to cancelation. Initial requirements for aerial refueling were dropped, stealth attributes have been cut down, and the payload size has been reduced since the program’s inception.
Dyke Weatherington, director of unmanned warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at the office of the secretary of defense, said those changes were the result of the service weighing its needs against budgetary constraints. “Especially in this fiscal environment, DoD can’t afford to start programs that we can’t finish,” he said.
The UCLASS isn’t the only aircraft that will include novel capabilities. The MQ-4C Triton built by Northrop is planned to be the first naval drone to include a sense-and-avoid system to keep it from colliding with other aircraft, but the Navy in August announced it had halted work on the system, which is built by Exelis.
The Navy is waiting for Northrop Grumman officials to brief it on possible fixes, said Capt. Jim Hoke, Triton program manager. All options, including recompeting the system, are on the table.
“We are not carving out that requirement,” he said. “We just have to make sure it’s the right system, it’s an affordable system and that it’s going to take care of the things that we need it to take care of. So we have not answered those questions yet, which is why we’ve had to take a pause right now.”
Fielding a sense-and-avoid system would have implications not only for the Navy, but also for the other services and the UAV industry as a whole. Such radars will be mandatory before unmanned aircraft are able to fly in airspace where civilian aircraft operate.
Even without a sense-and-avoid system, the combination of Triton and P-8 aircraft will be a step up from the P-3s currently used to conduct maritime surveillance. The Triton will be able to cover 2 million square miles of ocean in a 24-hour mission, Hoke said.
“The way we used to cover a lot of ocean in a P-3 is we would be flying around out there at about 1,000 feet,” he said. “The sensors weren’t that good. A lot of it was searching with your eyeballs, trying to stay alert, trying to stay awake. We won’t have that anymore with the Triton.”
“What Triton will be able to do is get that maritime picture, and then when there are things that the warfare commander, the forward commanders are concerned about, they can send a manned platform out there to get a closer look and to take care of things if they need to,” Hoke continued.
Triton has already been a victim of funding delays. The Navy shifted $25 million from the fiscal year 2014 budget request to the following year, pushing back Triton’s production until 2015.
Meanwhile, the Navy is scheduled in October to conduct the first test flights of the larger version of the Fire Scout helicopter, the MQ-8C. The aircraft has three times the endurance and twice the payload of its smaller brother. The Navy wants to buy 28 MQ-8C aircraft for its special forces.
The smaller MQ-8B will be deployed aboard the LCS 3 USS Fort Worth in November 2013. “We’re tracking to get onboard the LCS 2 or LCS 4 in 2014,” said Capt. Pat Smith, the Navy’s Fire Scout program manager.
That aircraft is also getting a new Telephonics AN/ZPY-4 radar and may soon be adding laser-guided rockets. A Fire Scout outfitted with the advanced precision kill weapons system hit 11 of 12 targets during testing at China Lake, Calif., Smith said. More testing is needed, and officials have not decided on when the weapons would be deployed on a ship.
A wildcard in the mix is the RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Air System manufactured by Insitu. Both the Navy and Marine Corps plan on buying the system, but only the Marine Corps has included funding in its fiscal year 2014 budget.
Although the Navy deferred funding for the program, the service still remains interested in the RQ-21, Corgnati said.
The RQ-21A was designed based on feedback from its predecessor, Insitu’s
ScanEagle, said Ryan Hartman, the company’s senior vice president of programs. Customers wanted the ability to integrate more and bigger payloads than what could fit into the ScanEagle nose and mid-bay compartment.
The RQ-21 is typically delivered with an empty payload bay, which can be used for radar, communications relay, electronics warfare payloads or other systems. The nose turret houses a camera used to collect full-motion video, Hartman said. The Navy’s version will include the automatic identification system, which will give the RQ-21 the ability to locate nearby vessels and report them back to the Navy.
Like the Triton and Fire Scout, the RQ-21 would provide the Navy with ISR, but it has some unique advantages. Unlike Triton, the aircraft can be launched from a ship, and it is less noisy and noticeable than the larger Fire Scout.
Initial operation, testing and evaluation will conclude by the end of this year, and Insitu is preparing for initial operating capability in early 2014, Hartman said.Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman, Navy |
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Joachim Beuckelaer painted The Four Elements in 1569. They were made in Antwerp, probably for a patron in Italy. In the art of the Low Countries during the later 16th and 17th centuries, it became common to symbolise the elements – earth, water, air and fire – by references to the natural world. In Beuckelaer’s paintings, the elements are represented by seductive images of market produce.
A small scene from the life and teachings of Christ is included in each of the pictures, making them among the earliest and most accomplished fusions of New Testament narratives with everyday life. The paintings were made extremely quickly, with bold and broad brushstrokes. Beuckelaer was also a skilled colourist, repeating and echoing colours and patterns in order to guide the viewer’s eye across his compositions. |
When I wrote about the Greece crisis a few weeks ago, I argued that in trying to draw a hard line with the indebted PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain), Europe—and in particular Germany—was threatening the status of the eurozone and running the risk of putting the region’s economy back into recession. Rather than emulating what the United States did back in the early eighteen-forties, when it allowed eight states to default (worsening the depression at the time and setting back the economies of the states for years to come), Germany needed to grit its teeth and bail out its profligate neighbors.
And for a while there, it seemed like this was what was going to happen, at least until Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, recently decided that it was time to start talking tough again, and raised the possibility that Germany might not deliver on the loan package it had promised. It was Merkel’s newfound public ambivalence that initially destabilized the markets and sent Greek bond yields soaring, with ripple effects across all the PIIGS countries. Now, of course, Germany is supposedly back on board—and Greece is committing to even deeper budget cuts (though whether it’ll be able to deliver on these is anyone’s guess). Even so, Merkel’s attempt to demonstrate her fiscal rectitude to German voters has ended up making the cost of the bailout more expensive, not less. And it’s reduced the chances that the bailout will work. The painful thing is that this all happened, really, because there’s a regional election in Germany coming up, and Merkel was trying to win over voters who have no interest in helping the Greeks. All in all, it’s a fairly dismal commentary on Europe that the fate of an entire currency zone is being shaped by the politics of North Rhine-Westphalia.
One could argue, of course, that Merkel’s political dithering didn’t change the underlying dismal fundamentals of the economies of Greece and the other PIIGS. But this lets her off too easily. As we saw in the fall of 2008 when Congress rejected TARP the first time around, sending the stock market down more than a thousand points in a week, the sequence of events can matter enormously to markets. Doing something today is not the same as doing it three weeks from now, particularly if the markets believe that you’re going to do it sooner rather than later. Merkel’s hemming and hawing in effect took a uncertain, shaky situation and turned it into a panic. And since she’s going to have to deliver on the loan package anyway, the political benefits of her tough talk are going to be transitory at best. No gain, all loss—not exactly a textbook strategy. |
Camden County and Bridgeton are two municipalities that will receive additional funding to hire law enforcement officers from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) Office.
The COPS Hiring Program offers grants to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire community policing officers. It provides three years of salary and benefits for the officers hired. Fiscal needs, local crime rates and community policing plans are all taken into consideration in selecting the grant’s recipients.
The Camden County Metro Police Department will receive $2.3 million, which is aimed at hiring 10 new positions and addressing gun violence. Bridgeton will receive funds for three new positions.
Asbury Park, Paterson and Westhampton will also be receiving funding this year.
The COPS Office has awarded more than $14 billion to community policing efforts since 1995. |
By J.M. Egan
According to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, 39 percent of Americans say they are financially “optimistic” beginning 2013, while another 10 percent are "unconcerned." This increased optimism (up from 35 percent and 6 percent respectively), means consumers plan to both save more and spend more in 2013 than they did in 2012.
The American Express survey showed an increase in all intended spending categories for 2013 over 2012 results, with the highest increases being on clothes and accessories, dinners out and entertainment. And while consumers plan to spend more in 2013, 57 percent also still list saving money as their top goal for the year.
In 2012, consumers saved an average $5,906 - or $1,727 shy of their $7,633 goal. For 2013, consumers hope to save an average of $10,893, using pre-planned strategies that include saving from primary income, using 2012 tax refunds and cutting back on luxuries. Affluent individuals are also raising their savings goals to $22,660 in 2013 from $14,445 in 2012.
Even with 51 percent of American consumers feeling optimistic, unconcerned or indulgent about finances going into 2013, the other half still feel frugal, frightened and pessimistic. The top specific financial goal of 2012 - significantly reducing or paying off debt - moved to second on the priority list as finding a job or finding a better job took the top spot for 2013.
Whether you are optimistic or pessimistic about your financial situation as we begin 2013, having financial goals and a plan in place to achieve those goals is important. Contact our office today for a review of your current financial situation and an evaluation of your goals. We can help make sure you have the right balance of saving and spending to keep you feeling confident about your finances this year.
Financial Facts: For The Year - The S&P 500 was positive on a total return basis for nine of 12 months in calendar year 2012, gaining 16 percent for the year. The S&P 500 stock index has been positive on a total return basis in nine of the past 10 calendar years. The one down year that occurred since 2003 was a 37 percent tumble in 2008. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market (source: BTN Research).
NASDAQ Performance — The NASDAQ was up 17.5 percent in 2012 (total return). The NASDAQ Composite is an unmanaged index of securities traded on the NASDAQ system (source: BTN Research).
The Long-Term Average: The S&P 500 stock index has gained an average of 9.8 percent per year (total return) over the past 50 years (i.e., the years 1963-2012). No single calendar year actually gained 9.8 percent in the last half century. The closest that any year came to the 9.8 percent historical average was in 1993 when the stock index gained 10.1 percent for the year (source: BTN Research).
The Markets: Stocks saw only mild gains last week as investors prepare for the release of corporate earnings reports this coming week. The Dow closed up Friday at its highest level since Oct. 18, 2012. For the week, the Dow rose 0.45 percent to close at 13,488.43. The S&P climbed 0.43 percent to finish at 1,472.05 and the NASDAQ gained 0.77 percent to end the week at 3,125.63.
J.M. Egan Wealth Advisors, at 21 Green Village Road in Madison, is a comprehensive financial and wealth planning firm specializing in providing individuals, families, corporate executives and small business owners with personalized service and customized financial strategies. For more information, call 800-919-5010 or email firstname.lastname@example.org. |
A proposal to address flooding issues of the Delaware and Raritan Rivers is gaining support with the addition of Assemblyman John DiMaio as co-sponsor of the bill.
DiMaio represents portions of Hunterdon and Somerset counties that have suffered through flooding in the past. He is joining 16th district Assembly members Donna Simon and Jack Ciattarelli in proposing a task force be formed to study past flooding events of the Delaware and Raritan River and recommend measures to reduce future flooding and damage to properties in the area.
“I have witnessed the substantial damage caused by flooding in this area and am anxious to see what we can learn,” DiMaio said. “Similar studies have been conducted in other areas of the state that have been useful in recommending ways to minimize future damage.”
The proposed task force would consist of state and local officials and members of the public with expertise in natural resources, emergency management, engineering and related fields. Members would serve without compensation.
“The residents and businesses along these waterways will be well-served by a comprehensive assessment and thorough recommendations to address this issue,” DiMaio continued. “I look forward to gaining a better understanding of ways we can protect the natural resources, safeguard the well-being and property of the residents and improve the water management of the Delaware and Raritan River basins.” |
By Shirley K. Turner
Recently, the Federal Reserve offered us a lesson in how to respond to economic crisis. By keeping interest rates low until mid-2013, our otherwise volatile economic future will be predictable in at least that one respect. A future that provides knowledge of what to expect when making investment and job creation decisions is a critical element for getting our economic house in order.
The contrast between the Fed’s actions and recent events in New Jersey’s State House is striking.
The Fed understands that the most important issue facing America today is our economy and the availability of jobs that pay a living wage.
Ask the one in 10 New Jerseyans (two in 10 for blacks and Latinos) who want jobs but can’t find them what government should be doing. Their answer is: fixing the economy. Small business owners would agree. Only the big corporations benefiting from this economic crisis would disagree; they took almost a billion dollars in state tax incentives and promised to create jobs, but failed to deliver.
New Jersey’s economy and jobs have taken a back seat to an exercise in political dogma. Teachers, police officers, firefighters, public servants and the working poor have been demonized and scapegoated.
When we should have been talking about creating and preserving jobs, we weren’t. We were talking about taking away collective bargaining rights for government employees and slashing millions of dollars in government services. Certainly, there is no doubt that state pension and health benefits reform was needed, but did it create any jobs or reduce the tax burden on low- and middle-income earners? In fact, some of the actions taken, such as privatizing New Jersey Network, have destroyed jobs and put more people who want to work onto the unemployment rolls.
My constituents, many of whom are rank-and-file members of public employee unions, are frustrated, angry and afraid. They negotiated for their compensation, just as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies do, by using the value of their labor and abilities to secure the best possible compensation packages for themselves. Government has refused to recognize the validity of that contract by unilaterally stripping their collective bargaining rights while extending a whopping tax break to our wealthiest citizens.
Perhaps some would argue that the unfairness of not sharing the sacrifice might be excused if a millionaires’ tax cut did what it promised to do. We were told that the tax windfall for the super-rich would spur development and job creation. It hasn’t. Allowing for seasonal fluctuations, key economists have characterized the net change in the number of jobs since the millionaires’ windfall as “flat.” That windfall did basically two things: It made the rich richer and everyone else poorer.
And now, as if intentionally trying to further weaken New Jersey’s economy and job market, the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey has announced outrageous toll increases to allow exorbitantly paid tunnel and bridge workers to further prey on the millions of commuters and truckers who must use bridges, tunnels, airports and ports every day to make a living.
The Port Authority’s proposal hikes tolls by 50 percent and more. The high increases for truckers will be passed onto consumers, creating a recipe for disaster that shrinks the job market and destroys the economy for New Jersey by raising prices for consumer goods such as food and clothing.
Our governor expressed surprise about the Port Authority’s actions in a bit of political theater that is fooling no one. If he is serious about fixing our economy and creating jobs, he should reject the proposal and freeze tolls for a period at least equal to that set for interest rates by the Fed. He should force the Port Authority to look internally first, slashing the lavish perks and bloated salaries of executives. He should also prune the deadwood that failed to cut operating costs in anticipation of the easily foreseen shortfall in traffic-based revenue. We know that Port Authority revenues are off due to the recession; these executives should have seen that train when it was way down the tracks and should have responded by scaling back operating costs.
The New York comptroller has already cited the Port Authority’s lack of oversight of service contract renewals as the cause for $22 million in overspending over several years. Taking the comptroller’s recommendations into account would be another opportunity to save millions as opposed to burdening commuters with a hefty tax.
If the Fed can find a way to freeze the cost it charges to obtain money in this time of crisis, then the Port Authority should do the same for its operations.
It’s very difficult not to be cynical and angry. The poor and middle class are making the entire sacrifice. Public employees have been stripped of their ability to collectively bargain for their health-care and pension benefits. Working poor families have been pushed further into poverty. New Jersey has created a greater divide between the privileges of the wealthy and the right of working families of any economic class to earn a livable wage and to spend their retirement years with security and dignity.
Shirley K. Turner, D-Trenton, represents the 15th District in the New Jersey Senate. |
Remember that amazing 400-lb cake baked by New Jersey's own Carlo's Bakery to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field we showed you yesterday?
The photos you see above reveal where the creation ended up -- in a dumpster.
The Cubs later explained, via RedEye Chicago's Mick Swasko, why some of the cake wasn't served and how they felt about where it ended up:
"The Chicago Cubs are disappointed in how our Wrigley Field display cake was disposed by the Field Museum following our successful charity event. The team made a decision not to serve the edible portion after the cake was on display outside Wrigley Field for most of the day. Though the cake was mostly made up of non-edible material, it certainly does not excuse how a celebratory cake artfully created by Buddy Valastro and Carlo’s Bakery was handled." |
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