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Russell Mills: Material and metaphor
Russell Mills was the original punk illustrator. Now he makes images of delicate abstraction.
Weathered surfaces and subtle textural effects, allusions to cycles of natural decay, sensitivity of touch and a self-evident display of the material properties of collaged or constructed elements – these are among the most characteristic features of the work of Russell Mills. Among his formative influences, Mills cites the proto-conceptual art of Marcel Duchamp and the Dada and Surrealist collages of Kurt Schwitters and Max Ernst. He also acknowledges direct debts to contemporary artists such as Anselm Kiefer and Antoni Tàpies, two masters at manipulating unconventional materials, and would therefore seem to have an honourable pedigree for a painter working at the tail-end of the century of Modernism. What remains problematic about Mills is that his reliance on such strategies, as well as his idealistic faith in the unique artwork as an agent of intimate communication with the viewer on a one-to-one basis, has occurred largely in the context of illustration, a field often dismissed as tainted by the external demands of commerce.
The view still prevails that both design and illustration, by their very nature, are destined to be no more than adjuncts to the more creative statements within the fiction, poetry or music to which they refer. Conversely, it tends to be seen as a failure for an illustrator or typographer to have too much of a signature style, since it suggests an inability to submerge artistic pretensions into the more pressing need to call attention to the product being sold and to its own particular qualities. Mills has defiantly refused to subscribe to these views, and so thoroughly overcame initial resistance to his unconventional approach a decade or so ago that he has created in his wake a whole school of illustration that bears a closer resemblance to traditions of belle peinture than to the hard sell of the contemporary marketplace. This may not be such a good thing. As Mills himself acknowledges, others have tended to skim off the seductive surface of his designs – with their richly coloured layers beautifully photographed in sharp focus – without bothering to conceive of the images, as he does, as metaphorical carriers of meaning.
Heir to Dada
There is a certain perversity about what Mills does that makes him temperamentally a legitimate heir to his Dadaist heroes. Like Schwitters in his Merz collages, Mills has wrestled a poetry and beauty from the most unpromising circumstances and humble source material. Moreover, he has disregarded hierarchies of importance by steadfastly refusing to recognise any distinction between his ‘private’ and his ‘commercial’ work. It is not only that Mills avails himself of the same processes for both kinds of work, nor that, in his independent paintings as in his illustrations, he remains reliant on literature or music for inspiration. Rejecting the purist mentality that guides both ivory-tower artists and proudly commercial designers, Mills has demonstrated a readiness to make use of a completed painting as the basis for an illustration (sometimes at the client’s request), and conversely has exhibited a picture initially conceived for a commercial commission as an independent work. There is a kind of contrariness, too, in devoting so much attention to qualities of surface and to the integration of images in the form of three-dimensional elements, knowing that the end-product will be experienced almost exclusively in the form of a flat, printed image. In Mills’ view, however, these physical particularities, which might be misconstrued as a concern with illusionism, help to endow the illustration with a mysterious depth. Far from ignoring the circumstances in which the image will be seen, Mills views the photography of his artwork as a critical part of the process, given the ways in which the hand-made surface can be altered through the lens of the camera. He has formed a genuinely collaborative partnership with the photographer David Buckland, with whom he has also designed stage sets and costumes.
There would appear to be an enormous gulf between the illustrations prompted by the early songs of Brian Eno, which brought Mills his first audience in the 1980s, and the much more abstract and elusive designs for book covers and record sleeves for which he is so much in demand today. Although he no longer wishes to work in an explicit figurative style, which he believes restricts the possibilities for individual interpretation, Mills is still attracted by the idea of building a great deal of diversity into his work. He cites the example of Duchamp, who, in grappling with particular problems, devised artefacts so diverse in their outward appearance that they could have been made by different people, yet were clearly all products of a specific mind at work.
Working against his grain
Mills remains to some extent enslaved to his taste and to particular ways of working that suit him, yet there is no doubt that at intervals he has consciously changed direction by reacting against his own habits. The Eno illustrations, for instance, were the product of a series of problems that he set himself as a student at the Royal College of Art in the mid-1970s. In particular, he sought to extend the terms of Dada and Surrealist collage through reference to the disjunctions in this group of contemporary pop songs. Having mastered methods of extremely precise delineation and explicit imagery from ready-made elements, Mills became bored and made a conscious decision to make a change; he was prompted, too, by flippant remarks that his dependence on collage must stem from an inability to draw. Mills embarked on another extended project, inspired this time by his rereading of the shorter pieces of Samuel Beckett, which led him to produce about 80 straightforward drawings of the human head and figure in graphite or white chalk. These came to the attention of the art director of Pan, Gary Day-Ellison, who commissioned from him a series of covers for new paperback editions of Beckett’s longer prose works. Characteristically, rather than adapting the approach of his existing drawings, Mills presented his designs in the form of three-dimensional assemblages, which remain among his most graphically arresting images.
Mills thinks it unlikely that he will ever return to the methods of the Eno illustrations, except perhaps in a fit of pique against those who have continued to mine this eccentric vein of figurative collage, because he thinks a much richer experience is offered through a metaphorical suggestiveness bordering on abstraction. He continues, however, to work from a literal base, feeling an almost moral imperative to key his image into the context of his source rather than merely provide a pleasing design. This need, more than any career consideration, would seem to explain his readiness to continue working as an illustrator and not as a painter pure and simple. In providing a book cover design, Mills rejects the idea of illustrating a particular character or incident, preferring to abstract the essence of its themes, just as he concentrates on conveying the dreamlike mood of Eno’s later ambient music or David Sylvian’s subdued pop records when creating designs for them.
In working out a conceptual relationship to the accompanying text, the critical intelligence that Mills applies to book illustrations singles him out as one of the most thoughtful designers in his field. The question remains, of course, about the extent to which his intended audience will be prepared to decipher or decode what at first sight appears to be nothing more than an abstract pattern meant to please the eye. Given that cover designs are often perceived simply as a way of presenting basic information – the name of the author, the title and perhaps a clue to the imagery within – do we now approach such images with sufficient intellectual expectation to allow us to appreciate them? Would we realise, even after reading Zoo Station (let alone beforehand), that the configuration on the cover resembles an abstract map of Berlin bisected by the Wall? (The strings linking the two sides are a visual metaphor for common bonds that were still at work when the city was physically and politically divided.)
For Mills’ illustrations to work consistently, we have to learn to scrutinise them with the same intensity that we would give to a painting in an art gallery. In the fast turnover of the marketplace, this may still be expecting too much, but in illustrating authors such as Beckett, Milan Kundera and Josef Skvorecky, Mills at least has the advantage of knowing that his books will be in the hands of attentive readers. His ambition for illustration, which some no doubt see as misguided, is both honourably traditional and paradoxically radical: to use it not just as decoration but as an agent of interpretation and enlightenment.
Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory, a compact disc and book documenting an installation in Tokyo by Russell Mills and David Sylvian, is published by Virgin Records.
First published in Eye no. 5 vol. 2, 1991
Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions, back issues and single copies of the latest issue. You can also browse visual samples of recent issues at Eye before You Buy. |
If somebody would have told me five years ago that by 2012 it would be commonplace for countries to launch cyberattacks against each other, I would not have believed it. If somebody would have told me that a Western government would be using cybersabotage to attack the nuclear program of another government, I would have thought that's a Hollywood movie plot. Yet, that's exactly what's happening, for real.
Cyberattacks have several advantages over traditional espionage or sabotage. Cyber attacks are effective, cheap and deniable. This is why governments like them. In fact, if Obama administration officials would not have leaked the confirmation that the U.S. government (together with the Israelis) was behind Stuxnet, we probably would have never known for sure.
In that sense, it's a bit surprising that the U.S. government seems to have taken the credit and the blame for Stuxnet. Why did they do it? The most obvious answer seems to be that it's an election year and the voters like to see the president as taking on adversaries like Iran. But we don't really know.
The downside for owning up to cyberattacks is that other governments can now feel free to do the same. And the United States has the most to lose from attacks like these. No other country has so much of its economy linked to the online world.
Other governments are already on the move. The game is on, and I don't think there's anything we could do to stop it any more. International espionage has already gone digital. Any future real-world crisis will have cyberelements in play as well. So will any future war. The cyberarms race has now officially started. And nobody seems to know where it will take us.
By launching Stuxnet, American officials opened Pandora's box. They will most likely end up regretting this decision.
This column was originally published in the Room for Debate section ofThe New York Times. Be sure to read the two other opinions from Ralph Langner and James Lewis. |
To finish Aladdin's Window—i.e. to attempt to complete something begun by a great genius, but left imperfect. The genius of the lamp built a palace with twenty-four windows, all but one being set in frames of precious stones; the last was left for the sultan to finish; but after exhausting his treasures, the sultan was obliged to abandon the task as hopeless.
Tait's second part of Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel is an Aladdin's Window.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 |
Banning, resort city (1990 pop. 20,570), Riverside co., S Calif., in a fruit-growing area between Mt. San Jacinto and Mt. San Gorgonio; inc. 1913. Consumer goods and electrical equipment are manufactured. An annual stagecoach day festival is held, and the city has a stagecoach museum. Nearby are San Bernardino National Forest, a state park, and a Univ. of Southern California art complex.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Banning from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Political Geography |
Forrest City, city (1990 pop. 13,364), seat of St. Francis co., E central Ark., at the foot of Crowley's Ridge; inc. 1871. It is a rail and trade center in an agricultural (cotton, rice, vegetables, peaches) area. There is also diversified manufacturing.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Forrest City from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Political Geography |
Herbert A. SimonHerbert Alexander Simon
social scientist and economist
Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
polymath who won several awards, including the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics, for his theory on decision making and his groundbreaking research and work on artificial intelligence. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1986 and was inducted into the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1994, one of only 14 foreign scientists to be so honored.Died: Pittsburgh, Pa., 2/9/2001
Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Herbert A Simon from Fact Monster: |
It takes decades for new materials to travel from discovery to store shelves. Lithium ion batteries, now ubiquitous in laptops and portable electronics, were first proposed in the mid-1970s, but took more than 20 years to reach their commercial potential. The federal government's Materials Genome Initiative wants to cut the time it takes for advanced materials to go from concept to market. If all goes according to plan, the U.S. innovation sector could be churning out new materials in less than 10 years' time.
Why care so much about how we make stuff? The American economy, in many ways, is built on an increasingly intricate foundation of etched silicon. Just as earlier centuries depended on ever more clever permutations of iron and steel, today's information economy relies on sophisticated silicon wafers. Advanced materials, argues the Materials Genome Initiative, are the fundamental building blocks of tomorrow's economy, no less important to growth and development than an organism's DNA.
The government initiative is designed to double the speed that new materials are discovered, developed, and commercially manufactured, igniting what the Initiative envisions as a "Renaissance of American Manufacturing." Fine words, but how? In part, the concept calls for replacing some scientific intuition and trial and error experimentation with virtual experiments conducted on powerful computers, as well as infrastructure to share engineering data and models. "The materials community must embrace open innovation," the report states. It also describes a plan to streamline today's unwieldy, seven-stage commercialization process. Even integrating today's best engineering tools could shorten the materials development cycle to only two or three years, figures The National Academies of Sciences .
The Obama Administration is proposing spending $100 million to make developing these advanced materials "faster, less expensive, and more predictable," and has launched an Advanced Manufacturing Partnership effort with the private sector. With China rapidly closing the funding gap for science research and development--Chinese government support for R&D rose to $3 billion in 2011 , seven times the level in 1998--the U.S. will need more than its reputation to stay on top.
[Image: Flickr user JSmith_Photo ] |
I swear, if one more person emails me a link to that high school kid who built a wooden bike, I am going to lose my mind.
For the lucky ones among you who haven’t yet received this email chain, an online woodworking newsletter has an article about Marco Facciola, a 16-year-old kid who built a bike — even the chain — out of wood.
Here he and his bike are:
And here’s the detail of the drivetrain.
Sure, I can understand why some people would be impressed by a project like this, but I have more exacting standards. So, Marco, here are a few questions I have for you.
- Where are the derailleurs? I suppose if you’re lazy, single speed was an option, but I think that if I had a bike like that, I’d want to at least set it up as 3 x 8 (though I think we can all agree that a nine speed cassette would be required if you want an A+ in the project). Or maybe — if you’re feeling like just phoning it in — make a nice wooden 14-speed internal-geared hub. Diagram included for your convenience.
- Isn’t that bike too heavy? Looking at that bike, I would estimate it weighs at least 30 pounds. It’s going to climb like a pig.
- No suspension? I expect a wooden bike is going to have some measure of vertical compliance built in, but if you want to do ledge drops, you’re going to want to build your next wooden bike with wooden suspension. Perhaps you might want to look into some sort of wooden leaf-spring system. Or something.
- 26" wheels? Dude, all the best wooden plate wheels are being built as 29-ers now. Get modern.
- Is your pedal system acceptable? I suppose some casual riders are OK with a wooden platform system, but next time you might want to build some wooden Speedplays. I’m thinking a nice mahogany-color.
- No kickstand? What’s a modern bike without a kickstand?
Stuff I Have Built Bicycles Out Of
I’m sure some of you are thinking, "Well, Fatty, if you’re going to lecture this kid on how he should have made a better wooden bike, you’d better have done something equally impressive.
As it happens, I have.
Here is an abbreviated list of the materials from which I have built bicycles.
- Money. I once built a bicycle using nothing but US currency. Curiously, that bike still cost less than half as much as the Arantix.
- Pasta. I was surprised at how easy it was to build a bike using nothing but dry pasta. By wetting the pasta a little bit, it would flex, adhere to itself, and then reharden. Unfortunately, I found the ride quality of the bike problematic. Dry pasta provides a stiff, brittle ride, which is to say, it felt exactly like a GT.
- Tinker Toys. This was almost too easy. Took like twenty minutes. And the cool thing was, when I got to a water crossing I took the bike apart and made a bridge out of it.
- Granite: This was the most beautiful bike I ever made, but it climbed terribly. The nice thing is, when I decided to abandon it, I just leaned it against the side of the mountain and walked away. I’m pretty sure it’s still there.
- Bubble Wrap: I built this bike in answer to the question, "What if a bike protected you when you fall?" The bike was also remarkably light. The biggest problem with this bike, in fact, was that if I turned my back for even a minute, riding buddies would start impulsively popping the bubbles, and then I’d have to walk home.
- Kryptonite: The only time I ever beat Kenny on a ride, I was riding my Kryptonite bike. You do the math.
- Duct tape: Taking the statement "You can fix anything with duct tape" to its logical extreme, I figured I could also build anything with duct tape. And it turns out you can. As an interesting side effect, I was constantly being pulled over by other less-fortunate cyclists who needed a piece of my bike to fix their bikes. I never stopped using this bike per se; it just got assimilated into a multitude of other bikes.
I’m certain you’re grateful for my guidance in this matter, Marco. You’re welcome.
PS: Just to be ultra-clear, I’m joking. I’m amazed by Marco’s wooden bike. |
Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee
Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee
October 17, 2002
Questions to the Committee
Should adult safety studies precede the initiation of pediatric oncology clinical studies?
Should demonstration of activity in any adult tumor precede pediatric oncology clinical studies?
Should activity in similar or related tumors in adults precede pediatric oncology clinical studies?
On what basis can pediatric oncology clinical studies proceed studies if no activity is shown in adult studies?
What would the ideal situation be?
Potential development plans for new cancer therapies could include combined adult and pediatric studies, separate but simultaneous adult and pediatric studies with continuous information sharing, sequential adult and pediatric studies with information sharing, or completely independent programs.
What are the potential advantages and drawbacks of coordinating adult and pediatric early clinical development?
What should the FDA adopt as a general recommendation regarding the timing of the initiation of pediatric oncology clinical studies in a drug development program? |
New & Forthcoming
Directions & Parking
Shipping & Returns
History of the Zodiac (New)
by Powell, Robert
Publisher: Sophia Academic Press
Book ID: 9781597311526, 1597311529
The zodiac was first clearly defined by the Babylonians some 2500 years ago, but until recently the basis of this original definition remained unknown. This zodiac of the Babylonians, known as the sidereal zodiac because it is specified in direct relation to the stars (Latin sideris, 'starry'), was used for centuries throughout the ancient world, all the way to India, and must be distinguished from the tropical zodiac in widespread use by astrologers in the West today, which was introduced only in the middle of the second century A.D. by the Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. Such was Ptolemy's influence, however, that the tropical zodiac gained prominence and, except for its survival (in a variant form) in India, knowledge of the sidereal zodiac was lost.
In this thrilling study of the history of the zodiac, first submitted in 2004 as his Ph.D. thesis, Robert Powell rescues the the sidereal zodiac from the dusts of time, tracing it back to the Babylonians in the sixth/fifth centuries B.C. The implications of this discovery -- among them the restitution of the sideral zodiac to its rightful place at the heart of astrology -- are immense, they key point being that the signs of the sidereal zodiac, each thirty degrees long, coincide closely with the twelve astronomical constellations of the same name, whereas the signs of the tropical zodiac, since they are defined in relation to the vernal point, now have no direct relationship to the corresponding zodiacal constellations, owing to the precession of the equinoxes.
This revolutionary history of the zodiac includes chapters on the Egyptian decans and the Hindu nakshatras, showing how these sidereal divisions, which originated in Egypt and India, are related to the original Babylonian zodiac. It also sheds light on the controversy surrounding the 'zodiac question' (tropical vs. sidereal), illuminating the history of the tropical zodiac-showing that originally it was not a zodiac at all, but a calendar for describing the course of the seasons! This book, the fruit of thirty years of research, is intended not only for scholars but for general readers as well, and offers the clearest and most comprehensive study of the history of the zodiac yet published.
The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity
Just as she's done in her previous books, Cynthia Bourgeault asks us to take a look at an idea from traditional Christianity--this time the formula of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--as though we're looking at it for the first time. And as usual, she reveals it to be something we hadn't expected at all.
She finds in the idea of the Holy Trinity a striking vision of the nature of reality. What she claims, in a nutshell, is that embedded within this theological formula that Christians recite mo...
The Principles of New Thought: Tracing Spiritual Truth from the Source to the Soul
DeVorss & Company
The roots of New Thought can be traced back to the early 1800's, and like any spiritual movement, the interpretation and application of basic principles tend to evolve with society in a changing world. From our vantage point in the 21st century, we can see that despite the diverse path New Thought has taken, its core beliefs continue to be a source of comfort for individuals seeking spiritual strength and encouragement.
What are these basic principles and why do they provide a long-lasting s...
The Afflicted Mirror: A Study of Ordeals and the Making of Compacts
Three Hands Press
Measuring the connectivity between the visible and invisible, by using physicality as a signifier, brings another aspect to the fore. There appears to be good reason to believe there is a ratio in physical difference when it comes to observing how the metaphysical manifests partial presences. Exponential distortions correspond to how we retain a level of contact with the Other. When these abnormalities become exaggerated they prompt greater emotive responses, such as fear. By expressing an Ot...
Orin Orisa: Songs for Selected Heads. New Revised and Revised Edition, with CD.
Yoruba Theological Archministry
New, expanded edition, and now includes a CD of chants.
This is the first comprehensive translation and review of close to 600 Yoruba songs that have been used in Cuba, by Africans and their descendents, for over two hundred years, and in the U.S. since 1960, to praise and invoke some 25 orisa/deities. The classical character of the music, songs, and historic/elemental archetypes is discussed fully.
This edition includes a 38-page b&w and 12-page color photo insert containing many rare a...
Salomonic Magical Arts: Being two Swedish Books of the Black Art (The Red Book and The Black Book)
Three Hands Press
Water, I exhort you olansgält. Lucifer, I exhort you with all your company, that you will bring my belongings back again. May the thief never come to peace, neither at night nor at day, sleeping or awake, riding or on foot or by any means, until he returns what he has stolen...
From A Spell To Catch Thieves
Amid the great genres of European magical books are the Scandinavian Svartkonstböcker or ‘Books of Black Arts’, the privately-kept practical man... |
Rule the Rail is a game - simulator for model train fans where they can make their own layout and choose the trains to run accross that layout.
The user can plan the tracks situation, switches, gates, the whole layout, set buildings, industrial plants, lights, persons, cars, set the terrain characteristics, platforms, elevations, . Free download of Rule the Rail! 1 5, size 16.77 Mb.
ArcRail is a simulation game with the purpose of driving a train engine from a start station to a terminal station, where the player must observe all the directives, follow the signals indications during the trips and control the train, without getting any point penalty, neither get involved in an accident.
Score depends on how the . Free download of ArcRail 3.0.1, size 2.83 Mb.
JB BAHN is a program for the simulation of train systems. It's predecessor was made for streetcar nets only, but today you can built Railway lines, too.
If you are interested in Model Railroading, but you don't have a Layout, then BAHN can help. Even of you do have a Layout, it is often useful to model changes before you make . Free download of JB BAHN 3.86.1, size 12.54 Mb.
You can let a train ride on all of the more than 100 track modules. This is convenient to check, if all pieces of the railroad are correctly connected.
Different assistants simplify the start with Raily by using different start dialogues for choosing modules etc.
Flex tracks can now be entered by using length, radius and angle or can be . Free download of RAILY 126.96.36.199, size 13.31 Mb.
NFZ Editor is a program for creating and editing vehicle graphics of 1:1 scale (*.nfz files) and 2:1 (Zoom2, *.fzz) for BAHN 3.83 and newer.
- 24/32-bit color palette
- Vehicle size changing possible in any time, not only when creating. Sizes change with step in 1 pixel (length - 2 pixels)
- More . Freeware download of NFZ Editor Beta2 3.0 beta, size 67.35 Mb.
Civilstrips is an AutoCAD application for geometric design of roads. It can be used by designers as well as contractors during construction phase, starting from joined survey up to submission of final as built drawings.Civilstrips is designed in such a way that a person who have minimum knowledge of AutoCAD can easily operate it. Civilstrips has a . Freeware download of CivilStrips 188.8.131.52, size 0 b.
AnyRail makes it easy to create an accurate track plan for your model Railway layout. If you're used to Windows, you can create your first usable model railroad design in minutes! AnyRail maximizes the chance that your tracks will actually fit when you build your precious layout for real. It comes pre-loaded with a wide range of sectional and . Freeware download of AnyRail 3 1, size 0 b.
TTDX Editor is a program that lets you modify Transport Tycoon Deluxe saved games and scenarios.
It is an easy to use program and you can use it for free. You can alter player information, certain terrain elements, cities, industries, stations, vehicles and more! . Freeware download of TTDX Editor 1.10.0017, size 3.44 Mb.
SigScribe4 is a software package specifically designed by MODRATEC to enable the model Railway enthusiast to create a Signal Diagram and interlocking table for almost any layout.
Even those with little knowledge of this process are guided towards an increased knowledge of signalling principles and a successful design. . Freeware download of SigScribe4 1.2.5b20, size 14.78 Mb.
This fully updated version of the AMEC Product Selector has been expanded to include details on all new products and now includes Original T-A®, GEN2 T-A® and GEN3SYS®, making it an innovative and indispensable tool for all AMEC users
In use, it recommends the first choice holder and insert combination for a specific . Freeware download of Allied Maxcut Product Selector 4 8, size 6.28 Mb.
Those wishing to become a Train Driver in the UK are required to pass a series of psychometric tests, one of these is the Group-Bourdon dot-cancellation test - the infamous dot test! This tests your ability to accurately concentrate on a repetitive task. The test requires you to cross out groups containing four dots, while ignoring groups . Freeware download of Group-Bourdon Tool 2.0, size 100.96 Mb.
Have you ever accidentally bought two of the same piece of rolling stock, forgetting that you already had that number? Have you ever wondered how much your collection is really worth and if its value is covered should something happen? Are you tired of maintaining multiple lists of your rolling stock for operations, collection valuation, etc? . Free download of Yard Boss 3.0.5, size 39.17 Mb.
Create your Own Model Railway is one piece of the Create your Own collection of applications. This collection is created with the intention of empower its users allowing them to do things by themselves for which they usually needed third-party assistance. It gives them independence and can save them a lot of dollars, that’s for sure. In . Free download of Create your own Model Railway 1 3, size 0 b.
Railway Go is a fun puzzle game. You should build track by moving and turning Puzzle Blocks. Building the track is a puzzle because the game field is made of blocks with rails, traffic lights, tunnels, and coal. You must pick up all the workers. . Freeware download of Railway Go 1.0, size 2.34 Mb.
SafeCap Platform provides you with a comprehensive development environment designed for creating Railway modelling techniques, while maintaining security requirements.
The main purpose of the application is to help you enhance Railway capacity by creating efficient design patterns that take into consideration track layout, driving rules, . Freeware download of SafeCap Platform 0.2 PreAlpha, size 0 b.
Java BiDiB Client was specially developed as a small and open source Java library that can provide an accessible and easy-to-use interface to the BiDiB protocol.
BiDiB, which is also known as BiDirectional Bus, is the standard bus for computer based model Railway control.
. Freeware download of Java BiDiB Client 1.1 Beta, size 0 b.
Java SRCP was designed as an accessible and handy Java library that is able to provide an easy-to-use interface to control a model Railway via the SRCP-protocol.
Now you can use this Open Source library to further improve your development process.
. Freeware download of Java SRCP 1.1, size 0 b.
Digitrax DCC for Model Railroaders was created as an educational piece of software that can help you learn more about the Digitrax Digital Command Control.
Digitrax DCC for Model Railroaders is built with the help of the Java programming language and can teach you how to operate model railways and locomotives.
. Free download of Digitrax DCC for Model Railroaders 1.0.0010, size 0 b.
TimeTrain is a handy and reliable utility designed to simulate train travels and to generate diagrams that include criteria suc as acceleration, velocity, etc.
This program is intended to be applied in the analysis of travel times of Railway lines, without considering the interaction with other lines and considering only one train on the . Free download of TimeTrain 184.108.40.206, size 0 b.
Radyss is a reliable solution designed to analyze and calculate the dynamic effect in Railway traffic.
Depending on the type of structural problem in analysis, the results of the program, in view of its operating assumptions, are final results or are approximate results appropriate to the preliminary design and validation phase.
Railway Web Results
Designed for railway and transport enthusiasts whether your interest be railway journeys, model railways or the romantic age of steam trains.
Ride on three different sizes of railway, plus at East Wheal Rose Cornish Mine enjoy a great family day out.
Hills Miniature Railway is of 7.35 inch gauge and located in the garden centre at Knutsford, Cheshire, UK.
Builds and repairs light railway equipment from 15 inch to 36 inch gauge. US.
Known as Yorkshire's Friendly Line, the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway has picnic areas, buffet cars, café, and a gift and book shop (open daily). Steam trains run every Sunday throughout...
Wiltshire's only standard-gauge heritage steam railway. Situated near Swindon.
A preserved former Great Western Railway branchline, connecting the national rail network with the market town of Wallingford, South Oxfordshire, UK. Steam trains run on selected weekends. |
Here’s a report on a working draft of a Kabul-Washington deal on the U.S. Afghan mission after 2014:
Taken as a whole, the document describes a basic U.S.-Afghan exchange. Afghanistan would allow Washington to operate military bases to train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaeda after the current mission ends in 2014. For that foothold in this volatile mountain region wedged between Pakistan and Iran, the United States would agree to sustain and equip Afghanistan’s large security force, which the government in Kabul currently cannot afford. The deal, according to the text, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2015 and “shall remain in force until the end of 2024 and beyond.” It could be terminated by either Washington or Kabul with two years advance written notice.
Many, on the right, in the center, and especially on the left will call this a new form of imperialism. I don’t think so, although it certainly is empire-like.
I suppose many will quote George Washington’s Farewell Address against it too. Understandable, but when such quotation gets particularly dogmatic about the “no entangling alliances” maxim, it misreads what Washington and (his “co-author”) Hamilton were broadly for.
My initial opinion is that this agreement will be better than nearly-full abandonment, which is pretty much the only other option ever since Obama said in 2009 we’d be leaving in a few years. Such abandonment would likely put the Taliban or other Islamists back in control of all or much of the nation, with fatal consequences to every Afghan who has stood with us there. No, we should not invite a massive influx of asylum immigrants from Afghanistan. Nor should we just let those people be slaughtered if we are not willing to take them in. Nations are moral actors, and God will judge us if we simply leave them to perish.
With the words “2024 and beyond,” all those Afghans who are keeping their heads low now for fear of a Taliban return have reason to recalculate.
But as no-one’s been discussing Afghanistan in the media for a long time, like many I haven’t been putting much thought into the issue or doing much reading on it. The previous two paragraphs contain more of a gut opinion than a judgment.
So what do you think? |
Updated 1 years ago
Finding out what motivates staff is more of an art than a science. So many people believe that money is the proper incentive for all workers, but that just is not always the case.
I have seen so many employees who are simply not motivated by money. They just do not value it enough to alter their behavior. Time off, on the other hand, may hold greater value for some – especially Gen Y staff. Bottom line is incentives have to be structured so they relate to the things your staff values.
One manager had been looking for an incentive to motivate one of his employees. He had tried everything to no avail and had become very frustrated. Finally out of desperation, he got her a $500 gift certificate to an upscale women’s apparel shop. This worked and actually ended up being a whole lot less expensive than the other incentives he had tried, but it was successful because he was able to customize the incentive to this staff member’s wants.
On the other end of the spectrum from incentives and rewards is loss aversion. The theory here is that the hurt associated with a loss is much more motivating than the satisfaction of a gain. To use myself as an example, I have been to Las Vegas many times, but I never gamble because the idea of losing money is so much more repugnant to me than a financial windfall is appealing.
Using teachers in Chicago, three researchers did a neat experiment to test this theory and how it might relate to performance. Participants were randomly selected and divided into two groups. Both groups were given a set of performance goals for the year, and their success would be measured at the end of the year.
The first group was immediately given a $4,000 incentive and told that they would have to pay back a portion for every goal that was unmet at the end of the year. For the second group, they set up a bonus system that would pay each teacher up to $8,000 for meeting their goals. In the first case, the reward was given up front, but with the second group, the incentive – though not paid until the end of the year – could potentially be double that of the first group.
Results showed that grades were as much as 10 percent higher among students whose teachers were members of the first group – the loss group – than they were for students whose teachers were in the second group. In this example, applying the loss aversion theory really seemed to work.
So if loss aversion is so successful, why is it not used more in business? I think this is due to a couple of reasons. First, many managers and owners are just not familiar with this behavioral theory, and second, many employers feel uncomfortable about taking money away from their employees. A more palatable alternative might be to take the money back from future incentives.
While many employees relate to a monetary incentive, many just do not. To be successful, an incentive program needs to be tailored to the individual employee, and there are many potential ways to motivate – including loss aversion. You just have to find what works for your staff.
Now go out and make sure that you have the right incentives in place to excite and motivate your staff.
You can do this.
|Other small business advice columns from Dr. Osteryoung are here. Note: Articles older than 30 days require registration (it's quick and free).|
Jerry Osteryoung is a consultant to businesses - he has directly assisted over 3,000 firms. He is the Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship (Emeritus) and Professor of Finance (Emeritus) at Florida State University. He was the founding Executive Director of The Jim Moran Institute and served in that position from 1995 through 2008. His newest book co-authored with Tim O'Brien, "If You Have Employees, You Really Need This Book," is an Amazon.com bestseller. He can be reached by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org. |
Here are a few facts about GERD:
- One-third of the population suffers from symptoms of GERD.
- 18 to 20 million people experience daily heartburn.
- Untreated GERD can lead to a number of problems, including esophageal cancer.
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) affects work and sleep: 63 percent of people say it impacts work performance and 34 percent say they sleep in chairs.
- Incidence of esophageal cancer has increased 600 percent since 1975. |
When Matt was little, his parents read to him daily from illustrated children's books. He developed a love of stories and art. By age 8 he was writing his own epics, complete with drawings of the characters and action. Never mind that at that stage his people's arms and hands looked like flippers on a seal. He was hooked!
Mom and Dad read and praised every story, even the ones that were difficult to follow. They encouraged Matt's drawings with comments like "That's a great-looking spaceship!" and "Ooh, that bad guy really looks nasty! I'm glad he's not after me!" Matt continued to write – and especially to draw.
As the years went by, his drawing skills improved dramatically. Mom and Dad saw that his interest remained strong, and they supported it in any way they could. They bought drawing pads, special pencils and erasers, and instruction books. They faithfully attended every student art show and enthusiastically expressed their admiration for Matt's work. They planned family vacations to include scenic spots where he could sit for hours at a time and begin a new picture. (One day in Yellowstone National Park, Mom even held an umbrella over his head and sketch pad through two hours of light rain!)
By the time he got to high school, Matt was taking every art class available. When he worked on a picture, classmates would look over his shoulder and say things like "Did you really draw that?" and "You ought to frame that one!" Gradually, the dream of working and serving God in the field of art took root in his mind and heart.
Today Matt is in college, majoring in art. The future shape of his dream isn't clear yet, but he's hard at work, developing the skills and interests God gave him. Mom and Dad are still cheering him on, providing financial support, telling him how proud they are of the young man he's become, and helping him to discover and explore new possibilities.
Is your teen, like Matt, on the track to a meaningful future? Are you, like Matt's parents, finding out what a joy it can be to help a young person make the most of how God has wired him or her?
Since you've read this far, I believe you share my passion to help teens dream big, fulfilling, God-honoring dreams. But how, exactly, do we do that?
If you're thinking that raising a teenager is tough enough without having to turn yourself into a full-time guidance counselor, you're right. I know you're busy. You've already got more to-dos on your list than you're ready to handle. You want to provide the help your teen needs, but you're wondering where you'll find the time and energy to take on what sounds like another big responsibility.
Believe me, I've been there. My wife and I raised four highly active teens while directing multiple sports camps, leading Bible studies, and doing all the other parental running around that's required by modern life. Yet helping our teens to dream never felt like a chore. It was fun, exciting and a natural part of coaching them through adolescence.
That can be your experience, too.
I'll show you how to provide a home atmosphere that supports dreams and builds a teen with the confidence that some dreams can come true. |
- Places to Explore
- Travel Tips
- Fodor's Choice
- French Phrases
- German Phrases
Château de Nyon
Château de Nyon Review
Dominating Nyon's hilltop over the waterfront is the Château de Nyon, a magnificent 12th-century multispire fortress with a terrace that takes in sweeping views of the lake and Mont Blanc. Its spacious rooms hold the collection of the Musée Historique, which traces the history of the castle inhabitants from residence by the Dukes of Savoy (1293–1536) through occupation by the Bernese (1536–1798) to reclamation by the canton following the Vaud revolution. The upper floors held prisoners until 1979, while the city council and courts met in chambers here until 1999. Exhibits throughout highlight the city's position as a renowned porcelain center. Modern-day conversions include a marriage salon and a caveau des vignerons (wine cellar) featuring wines of local growers.
Fodor's Trip Planning Ideas
- Fodor's 100 Hotel Awards: Check out the winners of 2013
- Weekend Getaways: Fodor's Recommends the Best Weekend Escapes in the US
- Great American Vacation: Find Your Next U.S. Trip with Fodor's
- 80 Degrees: Fodor's Helps You Find Your Best Beach Vacation Spots
- Best of Europe: Fodor's Picks the Best Places to Visit in Europe
Just back less than a week ago from my 8 day/night solo trip to Bern.
Stayed in a 333 year-old building apartment (VRBO) a half block from Bern's famous Muenster and half a block from Clock Tower.
Had sun, Read more
There is no way our trip would have been so enjoyable without the suggestions from the fodor community so a BIGGGGG thank you!
Here is the link to our blog which is slow but sure!
http://talesoftwoglobetrotters.blogspot.com/ Read more
·Austria Forum, Belgium Forum, Czech Republic Forum, France Forum, Germany Forum, Italy Forum, Luxembourg Forum, Netherlands Forum, Switzerland Forum
Hi everyone! Read more
· News & Features
Switzerland may be best known for its frosty summits, but the tiny-yet-diverse country opens up in summertime... Read more
Starting in the sun-splashed coast of the French Riviera, a road trip is one of the most stunning and... Read more
The Swiss city of Basel is getting ready to host to the who's who of the art world yet again, with the... Read more |
Riddle me this: What is worse for a stock than when the company reports earnings that wildly miss estimates? Answer: when the two worst words in the English language get used in conjunction with the company -- "financial scandal." These words were uttered too frequently by business-news talking heads in the late '90s and early 2000s. You remember the names: Cendant, Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and Tyco International (NYSE: TYC ) .
But which of these things is not like the other? Note how there's only one surviving ticker symbol. So why did Tyco survive and the others fold?
Investors tend to lump Tyco in with all those other names, when in fact, the scandal was tiny in comparison. Former CEO Dennis Kozlowski was basically convicted of being piggish via unjust enrichment, to the tune of several hundred million dollars. While that'll buy someone a lot of $15,000 dog umbrella stands, Tyco as a business was totally viable. Meanwhile, the aforementioned companies essentially fabricated earnings on a wide basis. Billions upon billions of dollars simply didn't exist. They all went bankrupt, destroying thousands of pensions, jobs, and lives along the way.
Because the stink has been off the company for many years, it's high time investors resurrected Tyco in their consciousness, if they haven't already. It's easy to write off a company forever after it has been hit with a scandal, but in this case, why treat dandruff with decapitation? Like most every other business, Tyco has been struggling in this economy, but a close look at its assets and financials yields a company in solid shape for the future.
The most recognizable name in the Tyco portfolio is probably the home security company ADT. Beyond that, Tyco is loaded with assets with industrial themes, including electrical and metal products, flow-control products, safety products, and fire protection services. It sells to the entire world. One of my favorite mutual fund companies, Dodge & Cox, owns 5% of the shares. I'm disappointed that insider ownership is practically non-existent, but the company has been profitable over the trailing 12 months to the tune of $1.1 billion, with free cash flow in the neighborhood of $2 billion. It carries $4.5 billion in total debt, but easily met its debt service.
When it comes to conglomerates, I'm not wild about using traditional metrics to come up with a valuation. Tyco has made so many acquisitions and dispositions that organic growth is not a great way to value it.
Fortunately, I chose a method in an earlier article about Liberty Starz (Nasdaq: LSTZA ) and Liberty Interactive (Nasdaq: LINTA ) . These tracking stocks, and Liberty Interactive in particular, are composed of acquisitions made by the parent holding company. As noted in that article, on a price-to-free cash flow basis, Tyco is similarly valued to Liberty Starz and another of my favorite conglomerates, Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK ) . In fact, it probably most resembles Leucadia. While this metric doesn't necessarily offer an absolute valuation, it tells us that Tyco is being valued relatively closely to its peers, so at least on that basis it's not overvalued.
There are other ways to play Tyco. Those interested in the health-care side of Tyco should note that the company spun off Covidien (NYSE: COV ) in 2007. That company is worth checking out, because its earnings and cash flow are strong, and its five-year PEG ratio of 0.84 is under its industry average. I'm not as wild about the other spinoff from 2007, Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL ) . While cash flow is good and earnings are recovering, it isn't as attractive to me as a health-care play.
The bottom line is that one shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater when a big scandal hits a company. Tyco took its time, but it did the right things to emerge from the nightmare pretty much as it had been before -- a functioning company with real assets that is worth a look.
For more Foolish articles: |
Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
In some ways, the stock market is a necessity: a measure of how business is doing; a source of funds for companies to spark new growth; an outlet for any patient, diligent investor to consistently set money aside and see his or her modest savings morph into a fortune over time.
In other ways, the stock market is a depraved madhouse: a place where an errant trade can lose trillions of dollars in seconds; an opportunity for a few insiders to dupe millions of investors in a scam; a massive casino offering average people unbelievable returns if they merely have the guts to speculate a little bit.
As I see it, these perspectives are two sides of the same coin: Both are true without contradiction. The S&P 500 Index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC ) , perhaps the most representative gauge of corporate America's economic health, fell 8 points, or 0.5% Wednesday, to end at 1,746, ending a streak that saw the S&P close at all-time highs for four consecutive days.
I think a cautious observation of Wall Street's pros and cons is an appropriate introduction to an article like this, which notes stocks in some of America's most esteemed companies that lose much of their value in a single day. Take Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR ) , for example, a $10 billion, 30-year-old semiconductor company that made investors more than $500 million last year. Shares plummeted 13.5% as net income dropped 24% and Altera forecast weak sales in the fourth quarter. The unpredictable nature of quarter-to-quarter results is a major reason famed value investor Warren Buffett requires a "margin of safety" in every investment he makes.
Not even $54 billion machinery giant Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT ) is immune from the stinging swings of the market. Caterpillar stock fell 6.1% after reporting a steep 44% slump in earnings from the same period last year. Caterpillar's success at this point is inextricably linked to the health of the mining industry; as precious-metals prices decline and the demand for coal ebbs, miners are ordering less equipment.
Lastly, F5 Networks' (NASDAQ: FFIV ) stock performance today epitomizes the troubling irrationality in the market that can scare away individual investors. F5 Networks, which makes application technology, shed 4.8% today ahead of its quarterly earnings report. Whatever fears drove the sell-off soon proved to be more superstitions than facts, as F5 shares surged in after-hours trading as the company beat earnings and revenue expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter.
Turn Wall Street's insanity into profit
Just because Wall Street can be a madhouse sometimes, that doesn't mean you as an investor have to partake in the insanity. Use Wall Street's frequent bouts of irrationality to your advantage, and eagerly seize upon these opportunities when you see them arise. As every savvy investor knows, Buffett didn't make billions by betting on half-baked stocks. He isolated his best few ideas, bet big, and rode them to riches, hardly ever selling. You deserve the same. That's why our CEO, legendary investor Tom Gardner, has permitted us to reveal The Motley Fool's 3 Stocks to Own Forever. These picks are free today! Just click here now to uncover the three companies we love. |
Joel Peterson, Contributor
I write about leadership and business and where the two intersect
On Valentine’s Day, U.S. Airways and American Airlines announced they’d take the plunge. Whether a marriage of convenience or one of love, time will tell — for them, and for all the others caught up in the consolidation trend sweeping the US airline industry. In less than five years, 8 major US carriers have become 4:
Delta + Northwest = Delta (DL CEO)
Southwest + AirTran = Southwest (SWA CEO)
United + Continental = United (Continental CEO)
American + US Airways = American (US Airways CEO)
The recent spasm in airline merger activity has its root in overcapacity — too darn many planes for too few fliers. For airline decision makers, when it comes to the bottom line, it’s hard to argue with empty seats.
But is the merger of American and U.S. Airways into “the world’s largest airline” a match made in heaven? Or will it go off the rails, like the notorious 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad? In that case, Penn Central declared bankruptcy a little more than two years after the merger, an outcome that was all but ensured by the long-held rivalry between the two railroads, preventing them from ever effectively joining forces.
Every banker, management team and investor hopes that, from these mergers, one plus one will equal three. (And passengers hope that, with half the carriers, their bags will be half as likely to get lost.)
The high hopes are pinned on the newly bulked-up airlines’ ability to take on high fuel prices, yawning debt, bloated fleets, questionable deregulation, and rising labor costs. Joining forces is supposed to mean more efficiencies, market access, and price leverage. With these gains, firms expect to offer better service to customers and returns to investors.
But it’s one thing to merge fleets and terminal facilities; it’s another for tens of thousands of employees to feel great about their new company.
The clash of corporate cultures has become a cliché to explain why mergers like Penn Central and AOL-Time Warner really only happened on paper. Likewise, when Sears merged with Kmart, or Chrysler with Mercedes Benz, it didn’t take long to see that oil simply wouldn’t mix with water. Not only did the synergies fail to materialize, but separate management strategies and work habits simply never came together.
Misalignment has many faces: style, atmosphere, values, priorities, budgets, and objectives, to name a few. But above all, when two companies refuse to mix, it’s a failure of leadership. In a merger, whoever leads the charge has to win the trust of both sides — no matter which side he or she came from.
The new company has to have a clear set of priorities to decide where to spend its scarce money, time, and employee energy. The leader who can complete a merger must help his team focus on what it has to give up to get where it needs to go.
And though the history of mergers contains many sorry tales, happy endings are also possible.
Take DaVita, the $7B renal care provider that recently acquired HealthCare Partners in a $4.4B transaction, and where I was speaking last week in Phoenix. DaVita is run by Kent Thiry, one of the best business leaders I’ve met. Kent is joining forces with Robert Margolis, pioneering founder of HealthCare Partners. This is a partnership of two exceptional leaders, as well as their quality systems, networks and teams of caregivers.
Kent told me that they would not have done the merger unless they were convinced that the two companies were aligned from the ground up. Indeed, during the merger talks he quietly invited HCP’s top management to DaVita’s annual leadership retreat “so they could spend an anonymous three days and nights kicking our spiritual tires in an uncontrolled way.”
What I saw in Phoenix last week was promising: members from both organizations were laser-focused in their leadership meeting, and breakout groups tackled challenges that the new organization will face. Kent himself was sitting in the back taking notes, chatting with people from both organizations, listening and building trust.
US Airways CEO Doug Parker and American CEO Tom Horton now take on the challenges of merging more than schedules, planes, and facilities. They’d do well to study Kent Thiry’s committed approach to getting three out of one plus one. |
« September 22, 2012 |
| September 28, 2012 »
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Reading List: Turing & Burroughs
- Rucker, Rudy.
Turing & Burroughs.
Los Gatos, CA: Transreal Books, 2012.
The enigmatic death of
has long haunted those
who inquire into the life of this pioneer of computer
science. Forensic tests established cyanide poisoning
as the cause of his death, and the inquest ruled it
suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple. But the
partially-eaten apple was never tested for cyanide, and
Turing's mother, among other people close to him, believed the death an
accident, due to ingestion of cyanide fumes from an
experiment in gold plating he was known to be conducting.
Still others pointed out that Turing, from his wartime
knew all the deepest secrets
of Britain's wartime work in cryptanalysis, and having been
shamefully persecuted by the government for his
homosexuality, might have been considered a security risk and
targeted to be silenced by dark forces of the state.
This is the point of departure for this delightful
alternative history romp set in the middle of the 1950s. In the novel,
Turing is presumed to have gotten much further with his work
than history records. So far,
in fact, that when agents from Her Majesty's spook shop
botch an assassination attempt and kill his lover instead,
he is able to swap faces with him and flee the country
to the anything-goes international zone of Tangier.
There, he pursues his biological research, hoping to create
a perfect undifferentiated tissue which can transform itself
into any structure or form. He makes the acquaintance of
William S. Burroughs,
who found in Tangier's
demimonde a refuge from the scandal of the death of his wife
in Mexico and his drug addiction. Turing eventually succeeds,
creating a lifeform dubbed the “skug”, and
merges with it, becoming a skugger. He
quickly discovers that his endosymbiont has not only
dramatically increased his intelligence, but also made him
a shape-shifter—given the slightest bit of DNA, a
skugger can perfectly imitate its source.
And not just that…. As Turing discovers when he
recruits Burroughs to skugdom, skuggers are able to enskug
others by transferring a fragment of skug tissue
to them; they can conjugate, exchanging
(memories and acquired characteristics); and they are telepathic among
one another, albeit with limited range. Burroughs, whose explorations
of pharmaceutical enlightenment had been in part motivated by a search
for telepathy (which he called TP), found he rather liked being a
skugger and viewed it as the next step in his personal journey.
But Turing's escape from Britain failed to completely
cover his tracks, and indiscretions in Tangier brought
him back into the crosshairs of the silencers.
Shape-shifting into another identity, he boards a tramp
steamer to America, where he embarks upon a series of
adventures, eventually joined by Burroughs and
on the road
from Florida to Los Alamos,
New Mexico, Burroughs's childhood stomping grounds,
co-inventor of the hydrogen bomb and,
like Turing, fascinated with how simple computational
systems such as
can mimic the gnarly
processes of biology, has been enlisted to put an end to
the “skugger menace”—perhaps a greater
threat than the international communist conspiracy.
Using his skugger wiles, Turing infiltrates Los Alamos
and makes contact, both physically and intellectually,
with Ulam, and learns the details of the planned assault on
the skugs and vows to do something about it—but
what? His human part pulls him one way and his skug
The 1950s are often thought of as a sterile decade,
characterised by conformity and paranoia. And yet,
if you look beneath the surface, the seeds of everything
that happened in the sixties were sown in those years.
They may have initially fallen upon barren ground, but like the
skug, they were preternaturally fertile and, once
germinated, spread at a prodigious rate.
In the fifties, the consensus culture bifurcated into
straights and beats, the latter of which Burroughs and Ginsberg
were harbingers and rôle models for the emerging dissident
subculture. The straights must have viewed the beats as
alien—almost possessed: why else would they reject
the bounty of the most prosperous society in human
history which had, just a decade before, definitively
defeated evil incarnate? And certainly the beats must
have seen the grey uniformity surrounding them as also
a kind of possession, negating the human potential in
favour of a cookie-cutter existence, where mindless
consumption tried to numb the anomie of a barren suburban
life. This mutual distrust and paranoia was to fuel
such dystopian visions as
Invasion of the Body
with each subculture seeing the other as pod people.
In this novel, Rucker immerses the reader in the beat
milieu, with the added twist that here they really are
pod people, and loving it. No doubt the beats considered
themselves superior to the straights. But what if they
actually were? How would the straights react,
and how would a shape-shifting, telepathic, field-upgradable
Among the many treats awaiting the reader is the author's
meticulous use of British idioms when describing Turing's
thoughts and Burroughs's idiosyncratic grammar in the
letters in his hand which appear here.
This novel engages the reader to such an extent that it's
easy to overlook the extensive research that went into
making it authentic, not just superficially, but in depth.
Readers interested in what goes into a book like this
will find the author's
background notes (PDF)
fascinating—they are almost as long as the novel.
I wouldn't, however, read them before finishing
the book, as spoilers lurk therein.
A Kindle edition is available either from Amazon
or directly from the publisher,
where an EPUB edition is also available (with other formats forthcoming).
I don't do “process” in book reviews, but here
at Fourmilog we're all about sources and methods. The
above review was written and edited entirely on an iPad
with Apple's Pages application. I found this a
wonderful way to occupy the time during an
airline and train journey. Yes, the iPad on-screen
keyboard can be irritating, yet even so I find
researching and writing makes the time pass ever more quickly
than just reading. |
LONDON – A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly defacing a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on display at London's Westminster Abbey, police said.
Fathers 4 Justice, a protest group that campaigns on behalf of fathers denied contact with their children, said the arrested man was a member. It said he had written "Help" with paint on the picture in the abbey's Chapter House.
Police said a 41-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and taken to a London police station.
The abbey said the painting by Ralph Heimans was vandalized at lunchtime on Thursday. It has been removed from public view until it can be restored.
The portrait by Australia-born artist Heimans was commissioned to mark last year's anniversary of the queen's 60 years on the throne. It was on display until March in Australia's National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
Last week, the monarch attended a ceremony in the abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation there in June 1953. |
History of Franchising: Franchising in the Modern Age
A proven business model that has stood the test of time
Franchising really began to blossom in the post-war 1950s and 1960s. Franchisors of convenience goods and services seemed to be popping up on every corner. McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, laundry services, dry cleaners, hotels, and rental car franchises flooded the marketplace.
One of the early franchise behemoths, McDonald's, opened 1,000 units in just 10 years. Midas Muffler reached 400 locations, Holiday Inn grew to 1,000 locations, and Budget Rental Car topped 500, all during the same period.
But growing pains were becoming evident, and by the end of the 1960s trouble was brewing. Many franchisors had begun focusing more on the sale of franchises than on supporting and operating successful franchise systems. Others made misrepresentations in how they recruited prospective franchisees. There were other problems as well.
These misrepresentations led some states, like California, to enact laws governing the disclosure of information to potential franchisees. These states required the franchisor to deliver to a potential franchisee a disclosure document providing information on the opportunity. But it took until the summer of 1979 for the Federal Trade Commission to issue the Franchise Rule, which established minimum disclosure requirements throughout the country.
After a period of cooling and oversaturation, franchising began to make a comeback of sorts during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This growth has continued, with some ebb and flow, steadily through today. According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers: franchise businesses are responsible for 40 percent of all retail sales in the U.S; there are more than 750,000 franchise businesses that generate almost $1 trillion in annual sales; and franchises employ more than 18 million people in the U.S. directly, and over 25 million indirectly.
As it has always done, the franchising model continues to evolve and adapt. For example, over the last decade, multi-unit franchising has emerged to play a significant role. No longer content to operate a single standalone franchise unit, many savvy and aggressive franchisees have opened up several units, and some, even several different brands.
The franchising model works because it provides a formula for operating a successful business by delivering a uniform product and service to customers. It provides franchisors with the capital they need, creates distribution channels, and gives consumers a recognized standard of what to expect and a higher perceived value. Done right, it's a model that benefits business owners, operators, and customers alike.
As the French might say, "Vive La Franche!"
U.S. Franchise Facts
- An estimated 6,000 franchise companies operate in the U.S.
- 75 industries use franchising to distribute goods and services to consumers.
- Nearly 50% of all retail sales come through franchising.
- One in 12 businesses is a franchise.
- Average initial investment level for nearly 8 out of 10 franchises, excluding real estate, is less than $250,000.
- Nearly 86% of all franchises opened in 60 industries during the past 5 years are still under the same ownership.
- Over 300 franchises are sold every week. Or… every 8 minutes of a typical week a new franchised business is started.
- 750,000 franchised businesses in the U.S. generate almost $1 trillion in sales each year.
- In 2000, the median gross annual income, before taxes, of franchisees was in the $75,000 to $124,000 range, with over 30% of franchisees earning over $150,000 per year. |
California and southern Oregon, 68,300 mi2 (176,900 km2)
Land-surface form.--This province covers the southernmost portion of the Cascade Mountains, the northern Coast Range, the Klamath Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. Most of the area is covered with steeply sloping to precipitous mountains crossed by many valleys with steep gradients. The long west slope of the Sierra Nevada rises gradually from 2,000 ft (600 m) to more than 14,000 ft (4,300 m); the east slope drops abruptly to the floor of the Great Basin, about 4,000 ft (1,200 m). Much of this region has been glaciated.
Lateral moraines of Green Creek, 10 mi south of Bridgeport, California. View is westward up the east front of the Sierra Nevada. (Photo: John S. Shelton.)
Climate.--Temperatures average 35 to 52F (2 to 11C), but fall with rising elevation. The base of the west slope receives only about 10 to 15 in (250 to 380 mm) of rainfall per year and has a long, unbroken dry summer season. At higher elevations, the dry summer season shortens and precipitation rises to as much as 70 in (1,790 mm), with a larger portion falling as snow. Prevailing west winds influence climatic conditions for the whole region. East slopes are much drier than west slopes (see Appendix 2, climate diagram for Tahoe, California). Winter precipitation makes up 80 to 85 percent of the total; at high elevations, it is mostly snow. The greatest total precipitation reported is on slopes between 3,000 and 7,000 ft (900 and 2,100 m), which support the luxuriant mixed conifer forests of the montane zone. The subalpine zone coincides with the altitude of greatest snowfall, where precipitation is 40 to 50 in (1,020 to 1,280 mm) per year.
Vegetation.--Vegetation zones are exceptionally well marked. The lower slopes and foothills, from about 1,500 to 4,000 ft (460 to 1,200 m), are covered by coniferous and shrub associations. On higher slopes, digger pine and blue oak dominate, forming typical open or woodland stands. Most of the low hills are covered by close-growing evergreen scrub, or chaparral, in which buckbrush and manzanita predominate. Several oaks are common associates.
The montane zone lies between about 2,000 and 6,000 ft (600 and 1,800 m) in the Cascades, 4,000 and 7,000 ft (1,200 and 2,100 m) in the Central Sierras, and 5,000 and 8,000 ft (1,500 and 2,400 m) or more in the south. The most important trees are ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, Douglas-fir, sugar pine, white fir, red fir, and incense cedar; but several other conifers are also present. The giant sequoia (big tree) is one of the most spectacular species, but it grows only in a few groves on the western slope. Dense chaparral communities of manzanita, buckbrush, and buckthorn may appear after fire, sometimes persisting for years. Within the Sierran rain shadow, on the dry eastern slopes, Jeffrey pine replaces ponderosa pine. At lower elevations, pine forests are replaced by sagebrush-pinyon forest, part of the Intermountain Desert Province.
The subalpine zone begins at from 6,500 ft to 9,500 ft (1,980 m to 2,900 m), depending on latitude and exposure, and extends upslope about 1,000 ft (300 m). Mountain hemlock, California red fir, lodgepole pine, western white pine, and whitebark pine are important. Conditions are severe, and timberline varies from about 7,000 ft (2,100 m) in the north to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in the south. Lodgepole pine is said to have climax characteristics near the upper limits of this zone.
The alpine zone covers the treeless areas above timberline.
Soils.--Ultisols are extensive on mountain slopes where air is humid; dry Alfisols predominate at lower elevations. Entisols occupy the narrow floodplains and alluvial fans of the valleys.
Characteristic open oak woodland of the Sierran foothills, Sequoia National Forest, California.
Fauna.--Common large mammals include mule deer, mountain lion, coyote, and black bear. Smaller mammals include golden-mantled squirrel, bushytail wood rat, flying squirrel, red fox, fisher, yellow-haired porcupine, long-eared chipmunk, and Trowbridge's shrew.
Common birds are mountain quail, Cassin's finch, Hammond's flycatcher, Lincoln's sparrow, Audubon's warbler, pine siskin, Oregon junco, blue goose, Williamson's sapsucker, and mountain chickadee. Birds of prey include the western screech-owl, Cooper's hawk, northern pygmy-owl, and great gray owl.
The California mountain kingsnake also lives here.
The bark beetles Ips emarginatus and I. integer infest ponderosa and lodgepole pine. |
|The Mountain-Prairie Region|
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
134 Union Boulevard
Lakewood, Colorado 80228
March 8, 2004
Prairie Pothole Region to Receive $21 Million for Habitat Acquisition
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service will provide $21 million, which represents 50% of this year’s Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, to the waterfowl production area program within the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture to support wetland and grassland acquisition in the Prairie Pothole Region – a mosaic of prairie wetlands from Montana through North and South Dakota into Minnesota and Iowa.
The Prairie Pothole Joint Venture (PPJV) is guided by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a partnership of individuals, organizations, and agencies representing Canada, the United States, and Mexico whose goal is to conserve wetlands and increase waterfowl and wetland bird populations.
The PPJV provides on-the-ground protection, restoration, and enhancement of high priority wetland and grassland habitat in the prairie pothole region.
The prairie pothole region is the most important waterfowl producing region on the continent, generating more than half of North America’s ducks. Of the 800 migratory bird species in North America, more than 300 rely on this region – 177 species for breeding and nesting habitat and another 130 for feeding and resting during spring and fall migrations.
Over the last century, much of the prairie pothole region has been converted to intensively cultivated cropland and heavily grazed or hayed grasslands. This loss of habitat has caused steeper, more consistent and more widespread declines in grassland birds over the past 25 years than any other North American bird group.
“We are at a critical juncture for migratory bird conservation in the prairie pothole region and this money made available through the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund will allow us to fund easements and purchase key tracts of land while they are still available,” said Ralph Morgenweck, the Service’s Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region. “The Service remains a committed partner in the joint venture and we are confident that this additional funding will accelerate protection of these important landscapes.”
"I hope that this is the first year of a long-term commitment of funding at this level provided by the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund for the prairie landscape. The Prairie Pothole Joint Venture's approach to habitat conservation has been so successful that, at this time, there are far more willing sellers than money available,” said Jeff Nelson, Director of Ducks Unlimited's Great Plains Region.
“It’s good science, it’s good policy, it’s good for the ducks, pheasants and other wildlife. Pheasants Forever applauds this decision,” said Joe Duggan, Vice President of Corporate Relations and Marketing for Pheasants Forever.
“The Prairie Pothole Joint Venture has an admirable track record of working through partnerships to protect landscapes important to both wildlife and the economies of the prairies,” said Morgenweck. “This year’s funding will provide the opportunity to acquire these increasingly rare tracts of prairie habitats benefiting a wide variety of native plants, migratory birds, and other prairie-related species.”
The Migratory Bird Conservation Fund is subsidized through the sale of the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp – more commonly know as the Duck Stamp. Proceeds are used to purchase wetlands and associated upland habitats for inclusion in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System. Since the program’s inception, Duck Stamp sales have raised more than half-a-billion dollars to conserve more than 5 million acres of crucial habitat throughout the United States and its territories.
The PPJV’s numerous habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement projects have been completed using money provided through partner contributions, the North American Wetland’s Conservation Act, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.
The PPJV membership includes South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Iowa Department of Natural Resources; North Dakota Game and Fish Department; Natural Resources Conservation Service; North Dakota Natural Resources Trust; Delta Waterfowl Foundation; Wildlife Management Institute; National Audubon Society; Ducks Unlimited, Inc.; Bureau of Land Management; The Nature Conservancy; Pheasants Forever; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Note to editors: The following PPJV partners are available for media interviews:
· Jeff Nelson, Director of the Great Plains Region 701-355-3511
Iowa Department of Natural Resources:
· Richard Bishop, Chief of the Wildlife Division 515-281-6156
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:
· Tim Bremicker, Director of the Wildlife Section 651-297-4960
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks:
· Tom Hinz, Montana Wetlands Legacy Coordinator 406-994-7889
North Dakota Game and Fish Department
· Ken Sambor, North American Waterfowl Management Plan Coordinator 701-328-6326
· Mike Johnson, waterfowl biologist 701-328-6319
South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks
· George Vandel, Technical Services Assistant Director for the Division of Wildlife 605-773-3387
· Tim Olson, Senior Wetlands Biologist 605-773-3387
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For more information about the Fish and Wildlife Service, please visit our web site at http://www.fws.gov
Email Us: MountainPrairie@fws.gov
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I welcome you all on behalf of the Cree Nation to this mining conference. It is evident from the variety of speakers that we have on the agenda that many Aboriginal Peoples are searching for opportunities in mining. We have many lessons to learn from the experiences that we already have. There is a generation of Aboriginal youth and there are many Aboriginal citizens of working age across Canada who want involvement in whatever type of development is occurring or could potentially occur on their traditional lands.
The people of the land look for opportunity to start or to promote their existing businesses and they also will provide a good labour force for development projects of all kinds.
From the beginning, mining has been center-stage in the relations between the original inhabitants of America and the Europeans who came to this side of the world -- starting with Christopher Columbus. The Spanish Bandit (otherwise known as “explorerâ€) Cortés told Moctezuma that Spaniards suffered from “a disease of the heart for which gold was the only cure.†Somewhat later, echoing these words the Inca leader (Grand Chief) Atahuallpa (pronounced: Atahoo-alpa), asked the Bandit Pizarro somewhat sarcastically: “Do you eat gold†and the reply came that yes indeed he did.
In Pre-European times, Aboriginal Peoples in Canada had no interest in gold and even for the Incas and Aztecs, it was not the basis of their monetary system but was used to decorate their important buildings.
At the time, the quest for gold must have appeared to Aboriginal People as evil lunacy, because gold had little significance in their economies and ways of life but nevertheless, many Aboriginal people were slaughtered because of the Spanish taste for gold. Indeed whole aboriginal civilizations were lost on account of gold.
While gold decimated civilizations on this side of the Atlantic, it enriched Spain and indeed the whole of Europe. The Spanish spent their gold on buildings and sunk it into Armadas while the Dutch put it into their banks.
This same extractive mentality of “take the minerals whatever the local consequences†still continues today in some companies and in some countries where gems and minerals are taken with little regard for the local peoples or their lands. The fact that extraction costs are extremely low in some parts of the world depresses world commodity prices and it often promotes the violation of human rights through pay-offs to warlords and dictators. However generally speaking, modern states and increasingly, third world countries regulate mining to reduce environmental damages so that it benefits their national economies, even if in many cases the locals are still often marginalized.
While the debate on who should benefit from mining has become a provincial preoccupation in Canada, it is increasingly also becoming a regional and local concern as well. In parts of Canada even local private property owners are organizing against mining developments to defend what they believe their rights should be.
We also see this on the part of First Nations who enforce their rights over proposed developments on their traditional territories to the extent that they are able to do so. The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Council’s (Big Lake Trout Council) efforts against the Platinex platinum exploration on their lake and the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation’s efforts against the Frontenac Ventures uranium development at Sharbot Lake Ontario are but two cases among others that could be cited.
The Crees also saw mining and forestry development coming to our lands in the 1950’s and in the 1970’s they stood up for their rights against unregulated hydroelectric development. We hold to the principle that development can only proceed with Cree consent and in fact Hydro Quebec and others have begun to respect this principle in recent times. The mechanisms and Cree rights in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in regard to consultation and the review of proposed projects are aimed to protect the environment, to minimize negative social impacts and to bring maximal benefit to the Crees and Cree communities. Cree consent for developments is required.
The Cree People want involvement in mining development as it is one of the important economic potentials that we have in the Territory and it is one of the keys to opening up participation in development for future generations of Crees. But, we cannot accept development at any environmental or social cost. Local people must understand proposed projects and they must see them as being in their own interest before they can accept them. This means that projects must provide a balance of benefits that are seen as offsetting damages but more than that, are seen by local communities as consistent with and respectful of their values. We are determined to ensure that our community interests are addressed in all development proposals.
Even if the proponent and scientists believe that the foreseen environmental impacts are acceptable, local communities must understand these impacts and must also believe this also before they can accept any project. Moreover, they must know that a proposed project will provide opportunities for the community and that the promoter will take a responsible approach to future known and unpredicted damages and will implement the necessary restorative measures.
We First Nations look to increased involvement in development and in regional governance to provide for our growing populations. Each year thousands of new First Nation job entrants come out of school looking for employment. Too often, they do not find opportunities for work, so It is essential for us to work with developers to organize training programs that qualify our people for available jobs. Moreover, the standards for training should empower our citizens to qualify for full-time employment positions within and outside of our communities.
As leaders and parents we also have a responsibility to ensure that our schools outfit new graduates with the skills and educations that they require to gain opportunities in the communities, in development of the Territory or in higher education.
Added to these challenges, we are now in a world-scale economic downturn and it will take time to recover from this. Governments are beginning to take a new role as they spend on projects and initiatives designed to reignite economic growth. We can use the next few years to plan and to train our people for projects that are coming up and will eventually be developed. We need to position ourselves to be able to maximize the benefits to our people of future mining development. What this requires is creating an environment where the rules are clear and the relationship with developers is clear in welcoming of developers.
We should also look for projects that we can support jointly with the mining industry such as roads or other infrastructures that will facilitate future developments of all types. In our region there are two potentially important roads: the access road to Whapmagoostui and the Brisay-Mistissini road that could be beneficial as they would structure long-term development. Moreover, port infrastructure is needed for our communities as it would eventually provide access from the road network in Quebec to northern ocean shipping routes.
If we look to other parts of Canada, there are places where mining infrastructure has brought long-term economic diversification and prosperity. This conference will allow others to voice their interests and points of view. It is now up to us First Nations and up to all proponents of development projects to adopt a new vision of cooperation so they can work together to resolve problems and to overcome the challenges that are before us. I am committed to this as are the members of the Cree Mineral Exploration Board, the Cree Chiefs and the leaders of Cree business ventures. It is evident that many in this room share this view also.
Finally, I must note that gold is in fact eaten. The market price for edible gold-leaf is $1,250 per ounce, much higher than the current market price of gold. Perhaps we could promote this market in Spain.
Meegwetch! Thank you! Merci!
Grand Chief Matthew Mukash |
The Different Modes of Language Spread
A root error of Bouckaert et al. is regarding language expansion as a singular process. Actually, it can operate in two complete different modes: sometimes a language spreads with a group people, and sometimes it does so among different groups of people. To put it in most schematic terms, language movement occurs when a speaker moves from place A to neighboring place B, but it can also happen when a resident of A imparts his or her language to a resident of B. One process is basically demographic, the other conversional. In geohistorical terms, both forms of language expansion have been ubiquitous. They are generally meshed together in a complex manner, but sometimes one or the other process dominates. As they differ so fundamentally, it they could be realistically modeled in the same manner.
The clearest case of demographic expansion occurs when a single human group arrives on an uninhabited landmass and settles it. As the population expands in numbers and spreads geographically, its language will gradually differentiate into dialects and eventually into separate languages, as sub-populations pushing into new areas become socially separate and their forms of speech drift apart. Such linguistic differentiation could be arrested and reversed by state formation or the emergence of over-arching religious or other cultural institutions, but over the long span of the human past, divergence is usually the rule.
The settlement of Madagascar some 1,500 years ago is a prime example of such virgin-land expansion. Linguistic evidence confirms that the original Austronesian-speaking settlers arrived from Borneo in the Malay Archipelago. As their descendents spread over the mini-continent, their original language differentiated into dialects, some of which are regarded by linguistic splitters as separate languages (the Ethnologue lists ten). Later streams of migrants from the African mainland enhanced the island’s genetic diversity while introducing new linguistic elements, but the newcomers always adopted the language of the original settlers. As a result, all the indigenous forms of speech on Madagascar are very closely related, and are usually classified as variants of the single Malagasy macro-language.
Examples of the opposite process of conversional language expansion are common in today’s world. The process occurs whenever parents neglect to pass on their own mother tongue to their children, in favor of the language of one of their neighboring groups. Hundreds of languages have become endangered in over past generation alone by such changes in behavior. Most disappearing American Indian languages in the United States, for example, are in danger not because their populations are dying out or because their lands are being overrun by English speakers, but rather because decisions are made by parents to raise their children as English speakers.
Such processes of language abandonment and replacement are by no means limited to the modern world. A prime ancient example comes from the Philippine archipelago. Almost all Philippine languages belong to one branch of the Austronesian family, which is almost limited to the Philippines (see the map posted here). Such a pattern would seemingly indicate that the Philippines, like Madagascar, had been initially populated by a single group of settlers whose descendants subsequently spread over the archipelago as their language differentiated. But the actual demographic history of the Philippines was completely different. The original Austronesian settlers came to a land that had already been occupied by tens of thousands of years. Its indigenous* inhabitants were collectively called “Negritos” by Spanish authorities, a word meaning “small, dark-skinned people.” Their languages were undoubtedly unrelated to Austronesian, but we cannot say much beyond that. Although the Philippine indigenes have survived to this day, they abandoned their original tongues many centuries ago in favor of the Austronesian speech of the newcomers.
The social interactions between the Austronesian migrants and the indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines are poorly understood, but the key dynamics are evident. The newcomers were an agriculture people with much more highly developed technologies and forms of political integration than those held by the native foragers. The Austronesian migrants demographically overwhelmed most parts of the archipelago in short order, spreading their language(s) and well as their genes. Yet the indigenes held on in a number of rugged areas, particularly those characterized by heavy, year-round rainfall, such as the Sierra Madre Mountains of eastern Luzon** (in the winter dry season, the Sierra Madre catches rain from trade winds forced up-slope). From such redoubts, however, the indigenous foragers interacted extensively with their Austronesian neighbors, exchanging rain-forest products for agricultural and manufactured goods. Eventually, the languages of their trading partners fully “diffused” across their societies and then began to evolve in their own directions. Today, the several surviving “Negrito languages” are much more closely related to the languages of their neighbors than they are to each other. Strikingly similar processes have occurred elsewhere in the world. The most notable case is that of the “Pygmies” of central Africa, another group of diminutive, rainforest hunter-gatherers who long ago abandoned their own languages in favor of the tongues of their more numerous and powerful neighbors, in this case, languages in the Bantu sub-family of Niger-Congo.
The two cases explored above, Madagascar and northeastern Luzon, are best regarded as ends of a spectrum. Most examples of linguistic expansion involve both processes. When one language group expands it usually does so into the territory of a people speaking another language. As communication between natives and newcomers is essential, many individuals acquire a second language. Over time, such a process often leads to the linguistic conversion of the indigenous group—although advancing group are sometimes converted instead, in which case the language frontier retreats. Such encounters are generally accompanied by some conflict, as the native inhabitants typically resent the incursions of the newcomers, who in turn often use force to advance into new lands. To the extent that the indigenes are able to resist the settlers, they will delay the linguistic expansion. The effectiveness of any such resistance in turn depends on the relative numbers of the two groups and on their levels of political and technological development. Any realistic modeling of linguistic spread must take such factors into consideration.
Patterns of physical geographical play an important role here as well, as resistance by native inhabitants is usually more effective in areas of rough or otherwise difficult-to-traverse topography. In some cases, a particular climatic feature can stop language advance; the spreading Bantu-speakers, for example, encountered a firm barrier in the arid and Mediterranean climates of southwestern Africa, which precluded their faming practices and therefore created a refuge for peoples speaking Khoisan languages. Even the geometry of landmasses can play a role. As Anglo-Saxon speech spread across southern England, Celtic speakers were increasingly concentrated in the funnel-shaped peninsula of Cornwall, increasing their population density, shortening their defensive perimeter, and thereby enhancing their ability to resist the spread of English (further north, it was the rugged uplands of eastern Wales that afforded such protection). Yet again, all such features must also be taken into account by any effective attempt to model language spread.
The movement of one language group into the territory of another typically results in complex and variable linguistic interactions. Outcomes again depend heavily on relative numbers and different levels of technological and political development. When a large group of technically advanced people spreads over a landscape occupied by scant numbers of less technically advanced people, the linguistic impact can be minimal. As English advanced across Australia, for example, it picked up place names, animal designations, and words for unique landscape features (such as billabong) from Aboriginal languages, but not much more. But when two groups with more similar levels of development come into contact, much more intensive linguistic interactions typically result. Sometimes the linguistic substrates bequeathed by vanquished populations can be profound at both the grammatical and lexical levels, at other times they are of little significance, and occasionally they seem to be minor at first glance but turn out to be surprisingly important.***
When a language group moves into the lands of a different people, the initial linguistic development is often that of widespread bilingualism. If the newcomers are dominant, as they often are, the subjugated indigenes will find advantage in learning the new language, but even members of the dominant group sometimes acquire the native tongue. Gender relations typically play a crucial role here as well. Men from the more powerful group often take women from the subordinated people, insisting that their native wives learn their language. Such women do so imperfectly, often imposing upon it sounds, words, and grammatical patterns from their native tongue. When they pass down the transformed language of their husbands to their children, a certain degree of linguistic fusion results.
The preceding discussion only hints at the possible complexities involved in the linguistic interactions that occur when one language group pushes into the territory of another. Even so, it deeply challenges the diffusion model of Bouckaert et al. Rather than advancing by steady progression, an expanding language often moves forward in a spatially dispersed manner, as its speakers establish themselves as a dominant social stratum in a foreign land. Many members of the native population will learn the new language, but they will at first continue rearing their own children in their own tongue. After a number of generations of such bilingualism, most parents in the indigenous group may opt to acculturate their infants in their second languages rather than in their mother tongues. As a result, a language could “spread” almost instantaneously over fairly sizable areas. Over broader areas, however, such a process is likely to be patchy, with some areas “converting” much sooner than others.
A prime example of such uneven processes of language change comes from Anatolia. Most of the region was Greek-speaking in the 11th century when the Turkish influx began. By the 13th century most of Anatolia was firmly under Turkish rule, and by the middle of the 15th century Greek political power had vanished everywhere. Throughout this period, Turkish gradually supplanted Greek, but along both the Black Sea coast and that of the Aegean Sea, largely bilingual but primarily Greek-speaking communities persisted until the expulsions of the early 20th century. And as we saw in an earlier post, mixed “Turkish-Greek” forms of speech emerged in some areas.
A second major challenge to the diffusion model emerging from this analysis involves the unpredictability of language change when two (or more) linguistic communities come to occupy the same general territory. Although one might expect that the language of the dominant group would always prevail, that is obviously not the case—if it were, England would have switched to a Romance language after the Norman conquest, and Russia would have ended up with a North Germanic language of its Variangian rulers. Instead, England kept a Germanic tongue, and Russia—a Slavic one.
Interesting examples of the uncertain nature of language change after a successful invasion come from the Danubian grasslands of central and southeastern Europe. From the fourth century to the ninth century CE, this area experienced four major incursions by non-Indo-European-speaking, militarily dominant, pastoral peoples from the steppe zone to the east: those of the Huns, the Eurasian Avars, the Bulgars, and the Magyars. All four groups built empires of a sort, and all subjugated the much more numerous local inhabitants. The Huns and the Avars, however, disappeared within a century or so with little trace, linguistic or otherwise. The Bulgars, on the other hand, built a kingdom so powerful that vestiges of it survive to this day in the form of Bulgaria, but their Turkic tongue vanished long ago, failing to maintain itself in the heavily Slavic environment over which the Bulgars ruled. The Magyars, on the other hand, were able to firmly establish their language, which is spoken today by roughly 15 million people, even though the Magyars themselves were a relatively small group, substantially outnumbered by the peoples that they dominated.
Could one have predicted the fates of the Hunnic, Avar, Bulgar, and Magyar languages merely from the basic facts of their migrations, conquests, and state formations? I rather doubt it, as far too many contingencies were involved over long periods and broad territories. More to the point, could any such processes be successfully modeled as instances of linguistic diffusion? Here the answer must be a definitive “no.” Of course Bouckaert et al. would object here, as they rule out all episodes involving the “rapid” spread of a single language. Yet over the past several thousand years, the rapid spread of single languages has been the stuff of linguistic history over broad segments of the terrestrial globe. If such processes are ignored, nonsense necessarily results.
*The term “indigenous” becomes problematic wherever multiple waves of settlement have impacted a particular place. The term is used here in the relative sense, referring simply to groups that predated other groups with which they are compared.
**Intriguingly, the most rugged area of northern Luzon, the Cordillera Central, did not serve as a refuge for the indigenous hunter-gatherers, as all of its recorded ethno-linguistic groups are descended from the Austronesian migrants. The Cordillera, the site of my own doctoral research, is an usual area in many respects, as it was historically characterized by higher population densities than those found in the adjacent lowlands to the east; dense populations, in turn, necessitated the construction of some of the world’s most elaborate agricultural terraces (see the photo to the left). In all likelihood, such high population density in the mountains resulted from Spanish pressure; residents of northern Luzon who did not want to submit to Spanish rule and forced Christianization fled to the uplands, where they had to build terraces in order to survive. Prior to this influx, small numbers of “Negritos” may have lived in parts of the Cordillera.
***Intriguingly, substrate influences that seem insignificant at first glance can actually turn out to be important. For decades, linguists looked for Celtic influences on English in the wrong places and thus could not find them; even such a recent, authoritative text as Baugh and Cable’s A History of the English Language (1993) states that, “Outside of place-names the influence of Celtic upon the English language is almost negligible” (p. 85). Currently, however, many of the linguistic peculiarities of English are being attributed to the Celts. These include the do-support construction (where do is required in questions and for negation), the diphthongization of long vowels (possibly, the first push that started the chain reaction of the Great Vowel Shift), expressing possession inside noun phrases, using the same -self items for reflexives (“John cut himself”) and intensifiers (“The president himself will visit”), using the same verb forms for both causative structures (“I broke the vase”) and inchoative ones (“The vase broke”), and the it-cleft (“It was a car that he bought”).
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Remains Of Sailors From Civil War -Era Ship Buried At Arlington Cemetery
ARLINGTON, VA - MARCH 08: U.S. Navy ceremonial team members await the beginning of a funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery for two unknown sailors who were killed in 1862 when the Civil War era USS Monitor sank off the coast of North Carolina March 8, 2013 in Arlington, Virgiina. The sailors' remains, recovered when a portion of the ship was raised eleven years ago, were buried with full military honors. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
08 Mar 2013
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Global Information Inc. would like to present a new market research report, "Algae Biofuels Technologies - Global Market and Product Trends 2010-2015" by SBI Energy (aka Specialist In Business Information).
Fueled by high crude oil prices and environmental concerns, corporate participation in the algae biofuels industry jumped a record-breaking 550% from 2005 to 2007. Nevertheless, oil prices have since declined and the recent financial crisis obstructed many industries. According to the new report from Specialists in Business Information, "Currently there seems to be continued interest in algae biofuels, but the industry is also plagued by excessive hype." Substantial development and scaled testing dominates the current market for algae biofuels production technologies. Emerging technologies in algae biofuels production will account for up to a third of the total market by 2015 as demonstration and commercial implementation move ahead.
Algae can be used as a feedstock. The great benefit to this is that algae can be manipulated to produce an array of biofuels, including: biodiesel, renewable diesel, renewable jet fuel, algal oil, aviation biofuel, biogasoline, ethanol, biomethane, butanol, and hyrdrogen. Addtionally, algae biofuels production requires a wide range of technologies: genetically engineered diatoms, cyanobacteria, and green algae; open ponds or photobioreactors for cultivation; refineries, digesters, fermenters for fuel processing; and presses and centrifuges for extraction.
What is the outlook for the algae biofuels production technologies market?
Cultivation technology sales are expected to make up the majority of the total algae biofuels production technologies market. A combination of harvesting, extraction and fuels production facilities will account for the remaining market segments, which will bring the total forecasted market value to be over $1.6 billion in 2015. According to the study, "Starting at an estimated $271 million market size for 2010, this increase is significant and underscores that this is a quickly changing and evolving industry, expected to show and annual growth rate of nearly 43 percent." |
I expect a mass produced barrel will have the chamber and leade cut in one pass with a reamer ground to shape.
The SAAMI specification is for a 2 deg 35 min taper from the chamber mouth into the rifling with no cylindrical throat as commonly seen in rifle chambers.
A chamber without that tapered leade is incomplete and incorrect.
You can accomodate it by seating all the bearing surface down in the case but might see leading or coppering as the bullet slams into the abrupt start of the rifling.
A real accurizing gunsmith will cut the leade and maybe even a throat* separately, either to suit the customer's ammo, or he will recommend ammunition.
*"Throating" a 1911 has come to mean grinding on the other end of the chamber for the purpose of feeding odd bullet shapes. Those old time accurizing gunsmiths would refer to that as "ramping" because they were "throating" the front of the chamber for a good entry into the rifling.
I have a few facts and a lot of opinions.
Last edited by Jim Watson; 01-13-2013 at 11:35.. |
US 4312701 A
A method for defibrating waste paper and dispersing contained asphalt and wax contaminants within the fibers. The waste paper is initially pulped with water and the resulting stock is then contacted with a high pressure stream of steam having a velocity in the range of 1200 to 1600 ft./sec. The mixture of steam and stock is passed through a mixing tube under highly turbulent conditions to defibrate the waste paper and disperse any asphalt, waxes, and other contaminants throughout the separated fibers. The resulting stock can be used in papermaking processes, particularly for the production of paperboard products.
1. A method of defibrating waste paper and dispersing contained contaminants within the dispersed fibers, comprising the steps of contacting an aqueous stock of waste paper having a fibrous solids content of 1% to 5% by weight with steam at a pressure in excess of 20 psig and at a velocity of 1,200 to 1,600 ft./sec. to provide a steam-stock mixture, and flowing the mixture through a mixing tube under highly turbulent conditions to thereby heat the stock, separate the fibers of the stock and disperse any contained contaminants.
2. The method of claim 1, and including the step of flowing the stock into contact with the steam at a velocity of 14 to 22 ft./sec.
3. The method of claim 1, and including the step of sensing the temperature of the mixture downstream of the mixing tube, and adjusting the rate of flow of said steam to provide a substantially uniform temperature for the mixture.
4. A method of defibrating waste paper and dispersing contained contaminants within the dispersed ffibers, comprising the steps of passing steam at a pressure in excess of 20 psig through a nozzle in a housing to obtain a steam velocity in the range of 1,200 to 1,600 ft./sec., directing the steam into a mixing tube spaced axially of said nozzle, introducing an aqueous slurry of waste paper having a fibrous solids content of 1% to 5% by weight into the space in the housing between said nozzle and said mixing tube, and subjecting the mixture of steam and slurry to highly turbulent conditions in said mixing tube to thereby heat the slurry, separate the fibers in the slurry and disperse any contained contaminants throughout the separated fibers.
5. The method of claim 4, and including the step of flowing the slurry into the housing at a velocity of 5 to 10 ft./sec.
6. The method of claim 4, and including the step of maintaining the velocity of the mixture of steam and slurry at the downstream end of said mixing tube in the range of 14 to 22 ft./sec.
7. The method of claim 4, and including the step of adjusting the axial spacing between the nozzle and the mixing tube to establish the velocity of the slurry flowing to said space.
8. The method of claim 5, and including the step of maintaining the pressure of the steam entering said nozzle at a value of 50 to 100 psig.
Waste paper, commonly referred to as secondary fiber, is often used in the manufacture of paper and paperboard products. At present, the paperboard industry is the primary user of the recovered secondary fiber, and is moving toward the use of liner and corrugated media composed of all secondary fiber.
The secondary fiber frequently contains asphaltic materials, as well as waxes, and if the asphalt and waxes are not fully dispersed, they will appear as surface deposits which can result in a build-up on the press rolls of the paper machine and downgrade the finished board.
In a typical secondary fiber pulping system, the waste paper is introduced into a pulper and agitated with water to provide a stock having a solids content in the range of about 1% to 5%. After filtering through centrifuge cleaners and screens, the stock has traditionally been passed through an asphalt dispersion system in which the stock is thickened to a consistency of about 10% to 12% and then fed through a press where additional water is removed to raise the solids content to a range of 30% to 35%. The thickened stock is then introduced a into pre-heater where the stock is agitated and heated to a temperature of 250 to melt the asphalt and waxes. The stock is then blown into a cyclone or blowtank. At this point, water is added from the paperboard machine in order to decrease the solids content to a value of 4% to 5%. From the cyclone the stock is flowed to a stock chest and is pumped to the refiners immediately ahead of the papermaking machine.
In the conventional asphalt dispersion system substantial capital equipment has been required to thicken the stock to a solids content of about 30% to 35%, heat and defibrate the stock, and then return the stock to its approximate original consistency. Not only did the conventional system require substantial capital investment for equipment, but the energy costs were extremely high and considerable floor space was required for the equipment.
A variety of steam contact devices have been used in the past for heating liquids. Basic to all steam contact devices is the introduction of steam into the cold liquid utilizing a number of different device configurations, none of which are capable of heating a fibrous stock defibrating the fibers, and dispersing the contaminants with a single piece of equipment.
The invention is directed to an improved method of defibrating secondary fiber and dispersing any asphalt, waxes, and other contaminants, within the separated fiber. More particularly, the stock of secondary fiber, after pulping and passing through suitable filters, is fed to the inlet of a stock processing unit where it is passed into contact with a stream of high pressure steam having a velocity in the range of 1,200 ft./sec. to 1,600 ft./sec. The mixture of steam and stock is passed through a mixing tube under highly turbulent conditions which not only defibrates the secondary fiber, but also provides a complete dispersion of the asphaltic materials, waxes and other contaminants through the separated fibers.
With the present invention, the secondary fiber is heated, defibrated and the contaminants are dispersed through use of a single piece of equipment.
By use of the invention, a substantial reduction in capital investment is achieved over the conventional secondary fiber treatment processes. Due to the reduction in capital equipment, the maintenance and manpower costs are also substantially reduced.
The system of the invention also reduces energy costs and provides a considerable space saving over conventional systems, in that the space requirements are only about 1/10th of that required for the prior asphalt dispersion systems.
Lower grade waste paper cannot normally be used in the manufacture of paperboard for food containers, due to the offensive odor, bacteria and inadequate dispersion of other contaminants. However, the use of the high pressure steam serves to sterilize the stock and at the same time deodorize the stock, thereby enabling the stock treated by the system of the invention to be used in food board and food containers.
Because of the improved dispersion of waxes, asphalt, and other contaminants, lower grades of waste paper can be used in the manufacture of paperboard and other products, thereby reducing the overall material cost for the papermaking process.
Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.
The drawings illustrate the best mode presently contemplated of carrying out the invention.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a secondary stock system utilizing the method of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the stock processing unit; and
FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2.
FIG. 1 illustrates a secondary stock system incorporating the present invention. The waste paper or secondary fiber is introduced into the pulper 1 and agitated with water to provide secondary stock having a solids content in the range of about 1.0% to 5% by weight. The stock is pumped from the pulper 1 through line 2 by pump 3 to a cyclone, indicated generally by 4, where both light and heavy foreign materials are removed from the stock.
Line 2 includes a conventional consistency regulator 5 which senses the consistency of the pulp passing through line 2 and automatically regulates the amount of water which is being introduced through line 6 to the pulper 1 to provide the desired solids content.
The stock being discharged from the cyclone 4 passes through barrier screen 7 where additional large size contaminants are removed and is then discharged through line 8 to stock chest 9. The stock is pumped through line 10 from stock chest 9 by pump 11 and is introduced to the stock processing unit, indicated generally by 12, where the stock is contacted by a high pressure, high velocity stream of steam which acts to separate the fibers and fully disperse the waxes, asphalt and other contaminants.
The stock is discharged from the processing unit 12 through line 13 to stock chest 14 and then is pumped through line 15 by pump 16 to the refiner 17. A consistency regulator 18, similar to regulator 5, is mounted in line 15 and senses the consistency of the stock and programs the addition of water through line 19, if necessary, to provide the desired stock consistency.
In the event there is a stoppage of the papermaking machine, in which case the stock cannot be discharged from the refiner 17 to the papermaking machine, a by-pass line 20 is connected between line 13 and stock chest 9. A liquid level control 21 in stock chest 14, senses the level of the stock and controls valves 22 and 23 in lines 13 and 20, respectively, to thereby return the stock to the stock chest 9 in the event the liquid level in stock chest 14 reaches a pre-set value.
The processing unit 12 includes an outer housing 24 having an inlet 25 connected to line 10 for the introduction of stock into stock chamber 26. In addition, housing 24 is provided with a steam inlet 27 which is connected by line 28 to a source of steam under pressure, and the steam inlet 27 communicates with a steam chamber 29.
Located between the steam chamber 29 and the stock chamber 26 is a nozzle 30, and a conical plug 31 is spaced from the inner surface of nozzle 30 and defines a tapered annular passage 32 therebetween.
The position of the plug 31 can be adjusted axially to vary the cross-sectional area of the passage 32 and thus vary the amount of steam being delivered through the unit. To provide the adjustment for plug 31, a stem 33 is connected to the plug and extends through a suitable packing 34 in the end of the housing 24. The outer end of the stem is connected to a conventional diaphragm-type pressure actuator 35. A temperature sensor 36 is located downstream of the processing unit 12 and senses the temperature of the stock being discharged from the unit. If the temperature falls beneath a pre-set value, the sensor will operate the actuator 35 to thereby move the stem 33 to the left, as shown in FIG. 2, to increase the cross-sectional area of the passage 32 and increase the amount of steam being delivered to the unit. Conversely, if the temperature of the stock rises above a pre-set limit, the sensor will operate the actuator 35 to decrease the cross-sectional area of passage 32 and reduce the supply of steam.
Mounted within the housing is a mixing tube 37, and the upstream end of the mixing tube is spaced from the discharge of the nozzle 30.
The spacing between the upstream end of the mixing tube 37 and the nozzle 30 can be varied to control the velocity of stock flowing into the mixing tube 37. In this regard, a stud 38 is threadedly connected to the mixing tube 37 and extends outwardly through a slot 39 in housing 24 and is attached to a bar 40 which is mounted for sliding movement on the outer surface of the housing. One end of a yoke 41 is connected to the outer end of the stud 38, while the opposite end of the yoke is threaded and is received within the opening in a lug 42 on the outer surface of housing 24. Lock nuts 43 are engaged with the threaded end portion of the yoke 41 and are located on either side of the lug 42. By loosening the lock nuts 43, the yoke 41 can be moved axially of the housing to correspondingly move the mixing tube 37. This adjustment provides a variation in the spacing between the upstream end of the mixing tube 37 and the nozzle 30 to regulate the velocity of stock entering the unit.
The stock entering the housing 24 through inlet 25 has a consistency in the range of 1% to 5% solids, a temperature in the range of 100 135 entering the housing through the inlet 27 is at a pressure in excess of 20 psig and generally in the range of 50 to 100 psig. At the discharge end of the nozzle 30, the steam has a velocity in the range of 1200 to 1600 ft./sec. and preferably in the range of about 1400 to 1500 ft./sec.
The high pressure steam blasts against and into the stock which is flowing from the stock chamber 26 into the bore of the mixing tube 37, and creates tremendous turbulence within the mixing tube 37. This results in separation of the fibers in the stock, as well as heating the stock, so that the stock being discharged from the mixing tube has a temperature generally in the range of 170 serves to melt any asphalt contained in the stock as well as other wax-type contaminants, and the high turbulence will completely disperse these liquified materials within the fibers. This eliminates the possiblity of the asphalt being concentrated at the surface of the paper sheet subsequently formed in the papermaking process, and minimizes the build-up of asphalt on the press rolls of the paper machine.
The steam will completely condense within the mixing tube 37 and the stock being discharged from the mixing tube will have a consistency decrease in the range of 0.01% to 0.03% solids and will have a velocity of about 14 to 22 ft./sec.
As the system of the invention does not work the fibrous material to the extent that it is worked in conventional processes, the quality and finish of the paper product produced with the treated secondary fiber is believed to be superior to that of secondary fiber treated by conventional processes.
The steam also serves the additional function of sterilizing and deodorizing the secondary fiber. This enables the fiber to be used for applications, such as food product containers, where in many cases secondary fiber has not been usable.
Due to the thorough dispersion of the asphalt, the paper mills can utilize lower, less expensive grades of secondary fiber.
The system of the invention eliminates substantial capital equipment which was necessary in prior systems of secondary fiber treatment. More particularly, the capital expenditure required for the defibrator-asphalt dispersion system of the invention is only about 4% to 14% of that of conventional asphalt dispersion systems. Due to the reduction in amount of capital equipment required, maintenance, power demand and manpower requirements are reduced and great operating savings are achieved.
Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.
Citas de patentes |
Health benefits of meditation and prayer are manyHealth benefits of meditation and prayer are many
By: Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza, McClatchy Newspapers
&bull: Meditation and prayer shift brain activity from the stress-prone right frontal cortex to the calmer left cortex.
• Slowing the breathing rate to 6 breaths per minute synchronizes breathing with cardiovascular rhythms resulting in enhanced cardiac health.
• Physiological benefits of prayer and meditation include anti-aging, deep rest, decreased blood pressure, higher skin resistance, and easier breathing.
• Psychological benefits include increased brain-wave coherence, greater creativity, decreased anxiety and depression, improved learning and memory, and increased happiness and emotional stability.
• The longer an individual practices meditation, the greater the likelihood that there will be a shift toward personal and spiritual growth.
Take action today
1. Find a quiet place to be still.
2. Take deep breaths to help you relax.
3. Meditate or pray.
4. With at clearer mind, journal your thoughts and insights.
5. Make meditation or prayer a part of your daily life.
Looking younger, lowered cholesterol and blood pressure, decreased anxiety and depression, improved memory, increased happiness, more peace ...
What’s not to like about meditating or praying?
Pay the mortgage, get the kids to school, pick them up from practice, go to work, pay the utilities, go to the grocery store, make dinner, clean the house, make budgets, pay taxes ... Life can be crazy. Today, people are busier than ever before; hyper-tension and anxiety disorders are at an all time high; and, there is never enough time. Something needs to change.
“It honestly feels like we only have 20 hour days now,” said Christie Day of Athens, Ga. “Did we lose four hours somewhere?”
Christie is not alone. Not only is “I feel like I never have enough time” one of the most common complaints today, but the first thing that often gets cut out is personal quiet time.
“It seems like I spend most of my life doing things for everyone but myself,” Christie shared. “I do it because I love my family and friends, and always want to be there for them, but it has begun to get to me a little bit. I am not as happy as I used to be and feel like I am losing touch with myself.”
Spending time with friends, paying the bills, and taking care of the family are obviously important, but, like Christie, if people don’t take a few moments to be alone and get quiet, life can become overwhelming. Praying and meditating are two of the most common and effective ways to silence all of the noise in life. They give people a chance to reflect on their day, honor a higher power, or just be alone to slow down.
“A friend of mine recommended that I started to spend 10 minutes every morning and night by myself,” shared Christie. “At first it felt a bit strange, and I wasn’t even sure what do to during those 10 minutes. But she told me that meditation and prayer are personal things and reassured me that I would find my way with them.”
There are many different ways to meditate and prayer, but, most importantly, people need to figure out which is best suited from them. Regardless, there is no wrong way to do it ... the key is creating the time.
“I’ve kind of created my own meditation program,” said Christie. “In the morning, I pray for protection for my family and just try to speak into action what I hope the day brings. Then my evening meditation is based on gratitude. Every night I write down five things for which I am grateful.”
Habits take three weeks to form. So start this week by getting quiet and begin to enjoy all of the benefits of meditation and prayer. |
With the dramatic events in Rome in March, publishers have responded with a slew of new books about Pope Francis this month. USA TODAY's Lindsay Deutsch rounds up titles about the leader to 1.2 billion Catholics around the world:
Francis: Pope of a New World by Andrea Tornielli (Ignatius Press). Biography covers how Francis was elected as the first pope from the Americas - and the first Jesuit pope - in one of the shortest conclaves in history.
Pope Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome by the staff of The Wall Street Journal (Wall Street Journal and Harper; e-book). Compiles Journal reporting about the challenges and opportunities faced by the man charged with leading the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis: The Vicar of Christ, From Saint Peter to Today by the editors of LIFE (LIFE). Features the best photography from coronation day in Rome.
On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family and the Church in the 21st Century by Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Abraham Skorka (Image). Interreligious theological dialogue between Pope Francis (as Cardinal Bergoglio) and Rabbi Abraham Skorka; English translation of 2010 Spanish-language work.
Francis: The Pope From the End of the Earth by Thomas J. Craughwell (Saint Benedict Press). Gift book printed on enamel paper and featuring many photographs.
Pope Francis: Conversations With Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words (Putnam, on sale April 30). Biography based on personal interviews with Francis when he was cardinal; English translation of 2010 Spanish-language book.
Pray for Me: The Life and Spiritual Vision of Pope Francis, First Pope From the Americas by Robert Moynihan (Image, on sale April 30). Leading expert on the papacy (Moynihan is the founding editor of Inside the Vatican magazine) introduces the pope.
On the way: Francis: Man of Prayer (Thomas Nelson; May 14) and The Trial of Pope Benedict (Arsenal Pulp Press; June 18).
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Introducing Pope Francis, in lots of new books |
Hike At A Glance
|Big Santa Anita Canyon: Sturtevant Falls Trail|
|Date Hiked: February 5, 2011|
|Best Season: Autumn Spring Summer Winter|
|Check Trail Conditions: San Gabriel River Ranger District (626) 335-1251|
The day before Super Bowl, we finally took our son Hunter hiking to Sturtevant Falls in the Angeles National Forest. I say “finally” because Jeff and I hiked a portion of this trail last summer for our Winter Creek Trail Loop hike in Big Santa Anita Canyon. We knew Sturtevant Falls was supposed to be very kid-friendly, and we wanted to wait until after a full winter rain season to visit.
Remembering the horrendous crowds at Chantry Flat Recreation Area (“Chantry Flats”) from our previous hike, we foolishly thought early February would still be a bit too early in the year for the masses to be out hiking, and that most people would opt to stay at home on Super Bowl weekend. We were wrong.
Chantry Flats was at least as crowded, if not more so, than last time. We again had to park a full mile away from the trailhead…and unlike last time, we actually saw the rangers giving out tickets to cars illegally parked in clearly marked “No Parking” areas or not displaying a Forest Service Adventure Pass.
If you haven’t read our previous post on Big Santa Anita Canyon, or aren’t familiar with the area, Chantry “Flats” is a highly popular spot in the San Gabriel Mountains, which includes a big public picnic area, a historic pack house, and access to a handful of trails — including the eastern trailhead for the 28.5 mile Gabrieleno Trail (not listed on the Greene Adventures hiking wishlist…yet).
The official trailhead (which is also the start of the Gabrieleno Trail) is 1 mile up from where we parked, and is marked by a gate blocking vehicle access to a paved road that descends into the canyon. The trail is very crowded, and it stays crowded the entire way — Sturtevant Falls is the most popular hike in the area. Note: the mileage we list for this hike includes the extra mileage to and from our vehicle.
The paved section of trail ends at a wooden bridge that spans the creek. Our Beagle pup Holly isn’t too fond of wooden bridges, so we opted to cross the creek by hopping rocks at the base of the nearby cement check damn.
The foot bridge dumps you into the busiest intersection in the canyon. This trail junction marks the site of Roberts Camp (1912 – 1931), one of many trail camps that sprang up in the San Gabriels during Southern California’s “Great Hiking Era” — which took place between the real estate boom of the late 1880s and the great flood of 1938.1
The camp, once a major destination resort in the San Gabriel mountains, was so popular that it housed a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library as well as a post office. The abandoned lodge was destroyed in the big storm of 1938.
For history buffs like me, the hike to Sturtevant Falls is a pure treat. In addition to the sheer beauty of the area, Big Santa Anita Canyon, and the trail from Chantry Flats is packed with with history. The 50-foot waterfall is named after canyon pioneer William M. Sturtevant, who arrived in California from Colorado in the early 1880s.1
Sturtevant was the founding proprietor of nearby Sturtevant’s Camp, which opened in 1892, 1893 or 1898 (depending which account you read). The hike-in camp is still standing, and was until recently still in operation. Its website states the camp is temporarily closed, and news articles indicate it is in danger of being permanently closed. I left a voicemail at the reservation line last week, but haven’t received a return call from anyone.
The trail from Roberts Camp to Sturtevant Falls runs along the creek the entire way, and is very easy to follow. It is quite shady and protected most of the way, although there are a couple spots that open up to the exposed sun. And after winter and spring rains, do be prepared to get your boots a bit wet from the creek crossings.
There is a nice wide flat “beach” at the base of the falls that was crowded, even in early February, with people sitting and enjoying the beautiful 50-foot waterfall and the cool spray it generated. We were able to wander across to the far side of the falls to enjoy our picnic on a little more secluded area of beach. But, I have no doubt that on a warm sunny weekend, the entire beach — and especially the natural pool — gets absolutely packed with hikers.
After taking in the falls, retrace your route to return to the Chantry Flat parking lot. And be sure to stop by the historic pack station to grab a grilled burger or a cold ice cream.
3. STURTEVANT’S CAMP :Application for a New Permit to Keep Open This Oasis in the Mouutain Wilderness.. (1901, March 31). Los Angeles Times (1886-1922),p. B7. Retrieved March 28, 2011, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 – 1987). (Document ID: 326676652). |
DECEMBER 11, 1953
NEW YORK, Thursday—It was a very significant thing that the President, on leaving Bermuda, came directly to talk to the delegates at the General Assembly of the United Nations. It emphasized the fact that the U.N. is the key to our foreign policy and that we do depend on the U.N. as the great force through which we work for peace.
Unfortunately, I had to go to Boston for a meeting on Tuesday morning with the president of Harvard University and my old friend, Mrs. Lewis Thompson, and I had to speak that night in Worcester, so I was not able to be at the U.N. to hear the President's speech.
My first impression on reading about it Wednesday morning was that it was a very fine pronouncement, and I am not surprised that even the Soviets applauded at the end, for it was a real effort to make us all face realities. Of course he was right when he said "It is not enough just to take this weapon (atomic energy) out of the hands of soldiers, it must be put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace."
His proposals seem practical and reasonable. The disarmament commission can now work with some hope of a new approach on the important control of our most dangerous weapon and it may make it possible for the disarmament conference to take up some of the controls over other armaments which it has seemed useless in the past to even consider.
The American Association for the U.N. announced the other day the annual high school contest on the U.N. which they sponsor. This will be held on March 25th, 1954. The competition takes the form of an examination combined with short essay answer-question on the structure and work of the U.N.
Mrs. Dana Converse Bachus has been chairman of the AAUN education committee for a number of years and she explained that the objective of this contest was the same as the objective for which the AAUN works in many other ways, namely "to educate the American people to a better understanding of the work of the U.N."
This contest was begun when the League of Nations was the international organization to which we did not belong but which some of our citizens warmly supported. In recent years the full weight of the organization has been thrown into the work for the U.N. Almost 3,000 high schools used the study material furnished by the association and took advantage of the examination last year.
Scholarships and cash are among the awards, but also trips to Europe and Mexico, and these are offered as an extra incentive to encourage youngsters in careful study of the facts about the U.N. The judges are a very fine group of people and the AAUN, at 345 East 46th Street, New York 17, urges principals and teachers to register early so the study material can be sent them as soon as possible. |
Various Stainless Steel alloy's are available in reasonable quantities, each of which has a unique set of strength, machinability, magnetic and rust resistance among other characteristics.
Strength and machinability are the most important factors in my opinion as they significantly influence cost of manufacture and whether the mechanism will stay together when it goes boom.
All steel that I am aware of has a percentage of iron in its composition. Iron exposed to oxygen forms Iron Oxide otherwise known as rust.
A very minimum of care will prevent rust on SS guns and just a bit more care prevents it on non SS guns.
You will find that many if not all stainless steel guns have pins and springs made of conventional but high grade steel because Stainless is not suited to those functions. |
How exactly does the changing voltage translate to diaphragm excursion?
The "secondary school physics" model of a dynamic driver I always imagined is like this:
The air pressure (and diaphragm?) form a close-enough-to-linear spring. Applying voltage to voice coil induces (almost) linear current and Lorentz force moves the diaphragm to the point where it gets equalized by diaphragm's spring force. From linearity of both forces it easily follows that this point is linear to input voltage.
However, I'm not sure how to fit mass into this picture. I guess it should introduce some treble roll-off and phase shift, but how much of them in real world?
Has anybody seen models used by people who actually build this stuff? How it is possible to make all of this insanity sound even close to good? :) |
‘Routine’ Chest X-rays Prove Otherwise – 6/24/2013
June 24, 2013
By Aimee Phillips, M.S., R.T.(R)(CV)(M)(QM)
Not-So-Routine Chest X-rays Are “Teachable Moments” for Experienced R.T.s
The chest x-ray: it’s often the first clinical competency student radiographers
learn, and it remains one of the most frequently performed diagnostic imaging exams.
Students practice the exam repeatedly under the guidance of a radiographer until they’re declared clinically competent by their instructor. Not long after achieving this clinical milestone, however, students will realize that chest radiographs seem never-ending — they’ll be performing the exam many times on many different patients as part of their clinical education. Embracing this fact makes the learning process much more enjoyable not only for the students, but also for the radiographers and clinical instructors
who work with them.
Armed with a positive attitude and willingness to perform any chest x-ray, students set out to conduct perfect posteroanterior and lateral exams. And then it happens. The imaging department is busy, so an enthusiastic student volunteers
to complete a chest x-ray. “It’s only a routine exam. It won’t take that long,” the student might think. Think again!
What the student anticipates will be a “routine” chest x-ray could be very difficult if the patient is mentally challenged, quadriplegic and in a wheelchair. If the patient is accompanied by a pregnant caregiver, the situation becomes even more challenging because the caregiver can’t provide positioning assistance during the exam. In less routine exam situations like these, the student needs help from an experienced radiographer.
Experienced radiographers will recognize these situations as teachable moments. They can guide the student by demonstrating the best use of positioning sponges, immobilization techniques, creative imaging cassette placement and unique x-ray tube angulations. A combined effort between the radiographer, student and patient is essential to complete a quality diagnostic exam.
Just as students do, experienced radiographers often think we can do anything, but we forget that no exam is “routine.” As imaging professionals, we need to support each other so that we can provide every patient and his or her caregiver with a positive imaging experience. Each patient is unique, and some will present more imaging challenges than others. Embrace each session with a patient as a new opportunity to provide compassionate care and a quality exam.
Aimee Phillips, M.S., R.T.(R)(CV)(M)(QM)
, is the continuous improvement specialist at Marietta Hospital in Marietta, Ohio. She has been an ASRT member since 1998 and belongs to the Education, Quality Management and Radiography chapters
For more radiologic technologist career tips
, visit the ASRT JobBank
Related ASRT Career Articles: |
For years, radiology leaders have exhorted radiologists to get out of the reading room and communicate with clinicians. More recently, the message has extended to include patients, evidenced by the American College of Radiology’s Face of Radiology campaign to educate patients about the role of radiologists in the healthcare process. Some have lobbied for direct communication of radiology results to patients. Yet, for many patients, radiologists remain invisible, anonymous and silent.
A new model attempts to address the problem. Chicago-based radiology services provider MetisMD aims to meet patients’ communication needs by providing online access to U.S. radiologists for patients willing to pay for a radiology second opinion.
Patients can securely upload their medical imaging exams directly from the website, receive a second opinion report in 24-48 hours, as well as discuss and review the findings with a board-certified radiologist, according to a MetisMD release.
Radiologists have a PR problem, Gregory Goldstein, MD, president and CEO of MetisMD, told Health Imaging . “They aren’t used to talking to patients.” As patients become more involved in their healthcare, some have questions about their imaging studies. Most radiologists aren’t used to these requests. It’s typical for radiologists to refer patients back to the ordering physician, who may not have the time or knowledge to review complex advanced imaging studies with the patient.
MetisMD aims to supplement physicians with its PatientConnect program, which costs $250 for an MRI, CT or mammogram and $150 for ultrasounds or x-rays. The fee includes a 15-minute phone consultation with the radiologist to discuss the findings and a one-year subscription to CloudConnect, a secure image vault where patients can store, manage and share their exams. MetisMD requests patients who use its services share the report with physicians, said Goldstein.
“Radiologists need to speak to patients—it’s time to step away from the computer screens and start interacting directly with patients. It’s essential for people to understand the central role radiologists play in healthcare—and how our interpretations are a critical piece of the diagnostic puzzle,” said Goldstein. |
Just sharing a quick time lapse video from this evening taking in the rolling clouds and beautiful sun...
With the San Diego-like temperatures this past week (clear, sunny, mid 70's), the vines made a quick leap from bud break to a first showing of the clusters. The forecast for this week doesn't look like there will be much of a change, so we're probably going to see some significant growth this week.
What are the next tasks?
We'll begin the process of "suckering" this week to remove the shoots that have emerged from the trunk. This allows the vine to focus on putting energy into the shoots on the fruiting wire for this seasons production.
Next, we will do some shoot thinning to remove shoots that are too close to each other. The grape clusters need appropriate air drainage, so it is important that each shoot (bearing 2 clusters) has its own space. It is much easier to perform this task at this point in the season when you can use your fingers. As the shoots mature and harden off, pruning shears are required for removal, and the task becomes more difficult.
We will continue to post photos and updates as the 2013 season progresses, so be sure to check back to see where we are in the vineyard and cellar.
Just in time for the derby season.... "And They're Off!"
Yesterday (April 30th) marked the beginning of the growing season at Heart & Hands - bud break. While in some of the vineyard the buds continue to swell, a majority of the lower block is showing some green. Last year's bud break was much earlier, exposing us to frost risk. This year we can breathe a little easier knowing that we're only a few days away from the "last frost" date.
We're looking forward to a great 2013!
One of the first signs of season for the vine is the movement of sap. Stored in the trunk throughout the winter, the pruning cuts stimulate those juices moving upward. The vine wounds naturally heal themselves (but draw plenty of activity from the insect community) and the sap eventually begins to move toward the buds. Historically speaking, the sap from a grapevine has been used to treat everything from skin and eye diseases, to snake bites, or used as shampoo.
Despite the cooler spring temperatures (it was 25 today with a wind chill of 14), the vines seem to be on their own schedule with this sap movement. With the forecast later this week showcasing some temperatures a little more in line with this time of year (50's). Purely speculative, the vines may just be on a lunar schedule and shrug off these cooler temps to push through winter in order to get on with their job for the season.
We can hope that this is a sign of good weather to come over the next few weeks.
Many people ask me what we end up doing in the winter (usually assuming that we have absolutely nothing to do). While things are comparatively slower during our "off-season", there are still plenty of things to work on.
From a winemaking aspect, there are usually a few tanks of Riesling that are fermenting into the new year. Once those have completed, we cold stabilize the wines and begin blending trials. The blending trial evaluation can take weeks to complete with all the different variables (i.e. 8 different tanks of Riesling from 3 different sites to make 5 unique Rieslings can take a fair bit of time). While the 2012 Pinot's are resting in the barrels, we still have the 2011 Single Vineyard Pinot's to prep for bottling, along with the 2011 Barrel Reserve. Additionally, we still have all the post-fermentation chemistry to catch up on (yes, there is the science aspect to winemaking too).
The vineyard needs an annual pruning, which usually takes a few weeks. This is followed by tying the young trunks to the stakes to keep the vines upright. Finally, once things begin to warm up, we can tie the canes to the fruiting wire for the season.
What does the winery dog do when it's this cold out. Well, her Swiss roots really come out with snow on the ground. Check out the latest vineyard snow romp from our pooch:
The conditions for bloom to ensure a proper fruit set were not ideal, but what can you expect in the Finger Lakes. Nevertheless, we woke up Sunday morning (6/10) to fruit set on the clusters. It's too early to tell if there is any unevenness in the berry set, but in the next week we'll have a better idea if some of this wetter weather impacted bloom.
The past week, we've been focusing on shoot thinning and positioning. I'll post some pictures of before/after here shortly (when I have some additional time).
On May 29th we received quite a scare. A "microburst" of 90 mph wind ran through our area and took down a number of trees along with severe rain and hail (read the NOAA report here). Fortunately, we dodged both the extreme winds and hail and only received a touch of the rain.
May 30th delivered a different surprise - bloom in the vineyard. The fragrance is remarkable and makes the vineyard work much more pleasant. And while it's wonderful to work out there, this time for a wine grower can be pretty nerve wracking. Weather like rain, hail, wind, and cool temperatures can impact the delicate flowers and cause uneven fruit set despite the close proximity of the stamen to the ovaries (vitis-vinifera are able to self-pollinate). Multiple daily checks from the different weather services are normal protocol now.
And while all the great weather technology is available, we are still reminded that mother nature is in control.
Some replacement vines have arrived. Occasionally, a vine is struck by the tractor or just doesn't seem to perform like the surrounding vines and needs to be replaced. These vines are marked in the Fall and are ordered from the nursery. Once we are in the clear of any additional frosts for the season, we have the vines shipped out from the nursery. Next, we break them out of their packaging and let them rest in the barrel room to keep them cool and out of the sun. The roots need to be watered multiple times a day in this state. Once we are ready to plant, we'll place the vines into buckets of water to allow them to have one last opportunity of a good drink before they go into the ground. The matching clones are chosen for the rows we are working with and, with a shovel, we remove the old vine and replace it with the new. Lastly, we give the vines a little shot of water so it will be able to have a good start on firing up the shoots for the season.
We were met with some pretty cool temperatures (29 degrees) last weekend and after a couple of warmer days, we were able to assess the damage. It looks like the frost was minimal at best. Maybe one bud per three vines.
In fact, a number of the buds that were damaged were at lower heights on the trunks - potentially saving us some addition time with the later process of "suckering" the vines. Also, we haven't begun "shoot thinning" yet, so we should be able to work around many of the toasted buds in the fruit zone that probably would have come off anyway.
In speaking with other growers, it looks like the highest damage numbers might be around 30%. With those percentages, I'm really glad we dodged a bullet this time around and I'm hopeful the warmer temperatures will persist. Thank you Cayuga Lake. |
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine on Wednesday reports that states with stricter gun control laws have the fewest gun-related deaths, including both suicides and murders. The study is based off of data collected from all 50 states from 2007 to 2010. During the four years, the U.S. saw a total of 121,000 gun-related deaths.
The states were ranked in order of gun control strictness. States that scored above a nine, which is considered strong, had a lower rate of gun-related deaths compared to states with scores below two, which had weak gun control laws.
"In conclusion, we found an association between the legislative strength of a state's firearm laws-as measured by a higher number of laws-and a lower rate of firearm fatalities," said Dr. Eric Fleegler of Boston Children's Hospital and colleagues in a JAMA press statement.
Hawaii, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts were among those states that had the most laws and the fewest deaths. States with the fewest laws and the most deaths included Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Previous research on the effectiveness of stronger gun control laws has had mixed results and is a "very challenging" area of study, according to Dr. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center For Gun Policy.
Respond to this |
Things of Middle-earth
Type: Books & Scrolls
Other Names: The Downfall of Númenor
Description:A book written by Elendil:
Of the deeds of Ar-Pharazôn, of his glory and his folly, more is told in the tale of the Downfall of Númenor, which Elendil wrote, and which was preserved in Gondor.
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 3, The Line of Elros, Kings of Númenor
The statement that Elendil was the author of the Akallabêth is made only here.
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 3, The Line of Elros, Kings of Númenor: Notes, Note 16
Contributors: Elena Tiriel 18Jun04 |
April 19, 2011
By Derek Scissors, Ph.D.
Many commentators claim that the private sector dominates the Chinese economy. They see this as portending solutions to problems in America's business and political relationship with the PRC.
Unfortunately, the private sector hardly dominates the Chinese economy. If anything does, it's the state (again).
There have been important changes in the state sector. It has shrunk and operates very differently than it did just 15 years ago.
During the 1990s, state assets were sold off, sometimes replaced by genuinely private firms.
But this met serious political opposition. In response, during the 2000s, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were instead converted into shareholding entities, many of which sold stock in Shanghai, Hong Kong or elsewhere.
These shareholding firms took on some characteristics of true commercial businesses.
Those seeing a dominant private sector often mix up such shareholding firms with private firms. Neither specifying shareholders nor selling stock necessarily alters the fact of state control. The large majority of firms listed on domestic stock markets are state-owned.
In fact, restructuring was specifically crafted to change SOEs while steering far clear of privatization. This goal was driven home earlier this year by Wu Bangguo, second in the Communist Party hierarchy, who scorned privatization as almost as unacceptable as another party holding office.
Using official Chinese data, the state share of investment in 2010 was 38%, suggesting to some that the private share was 62%.
False. What the PRC calls the private sector, plus wholly foreign-owned firms, generated only 24% of investment. The remainder is attributable to mixed ownership.
The vast majority of these mixed firms are designated as "limited liability corporations." The term implies privatization, but the subcategories — "wholly state-owned" and "non-wholly state-owned" — indicate that the incorporation has not automatically ended state ownership.
SOEs enjoy some amazing advantages over truly private firms. In 2006, China's Cabinet identified sectors where the state must lead, a powerful guarantee.
Included were power, telecom and aviation. And in practice, the state dominates many other sectors, including banking, railways and media.
There are other perks as well. SOEs have immediate call on land, while some private firms cannot buy at any price. SOEs receive state bank loans with no borrowing costs (and possibly voluntary repayment). Party cadres routinely shuttle between government posts and SOEs, ensuring top-level political access.
As it turns out, the largest firms receiving these benefits — e.g., Sinopec and Bank of China — are limited liability corporations.
These are far better classified as state-owned than as private.
Profit data reported by SOEs are unreliable, but the money seems to be rolling in. China National Petroleum and China Mobile together claim 2009 profits greater than those of the top 500 private firms combined.
The Heritage Foundation's China Global Investment Tracker follows large Chinese investments in outside bonds. From 2005 to 2010, state entities made almost 95% of all those investments.
SOEs were pruned back before, and it could happen again. But it wouldn't be easy, because SOEs can now strongly oppose such a move.
Some have become gigantic. Top banks, telecoms and oil companies rank among the world's largest. They provide the government with much of its revenue, and generate massive employment — the explicit state share of urban employment is well over half. They are also run by high-level party cadres (or their children).
No wonder the foreign share of investment in China has plummeted.
In most sectors, the Chinese market is only what's left after the SOEs take the bulk. Subsidies for SOEs are far larger barriers to American goods than the notorious currency peg.
The policy challenge facing Washington is that China's overinvestment and underconsumption help cause bilateral imbalances. The PRC touts rebalancing in the new five-year plan, just as it has done since 2004.
But matters have only worsened, and for a reason: rebalancing would undermine SOEs.
The PRC overinvests to ensure that SOEs remain dominant, despite their inefficiency. To pay for that overinvestment, consumption is taxed through controlled interest rates and by suppressing competition.
To rebalance, Beijing will have to curb SOEs. That would be in America's interests and in the interests of foreign investors.
But it would be stridently opposed among China's ruling elite. For now, private-sector dominance of China's economy is a fiction.
Derek Scissors is a research fellow in the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center.
First appeared in Investor's Business Daily
American Leadership Initiative of the Leadership for America Campaign
Derek Scissors, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow
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Gardening Q&A on Coleus, Mosquitoes and More
Master gardener Paul James discusses coleus, akebia, mosquitoes, trees in pots, cleome and more.
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Master gardener Paul James answers questions on a variety of summer gardening topics.
Q: I love to grow sun-loving coleus. Where can I find seeds for some?
A: Sun-loving coleus types are cultivars, and according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, a cultivar must retain its distinguishing characteristics from one generation to the next. The only way to do that is to propagate the plants from cuttings to maintain their genetic purity and thereby retain their amazing leaf patterns.
It's easy to grow your own coleus from cuttings. Just take a section of the stem tip with at least three leaf nodes, strip off most of the lower leaves, stick the stem in a container filled with water and set it indoors in a sunny spot. In just a few weeks, it'll take root and be ready for planting.
Q: Why do you recommend akebia when it's known to be an invasive vine?
A: The truth is akebia can be invasive, particularly in the Pacific Northwest and on the East Coast, but in Oklahoma where I garden, it's rather well-behaved. That's the way it is with a number of plants. In some parts of the country, they may perform beautifully, while in other areas they may be anything from weedy to downright invasive.
If you're not sure whether or not a plant is invasive, do your research on how the plant grows in your area. Ask fellow gardeners or your local agricultural extension agent about their recommendations for the plant and for possible alternative plants.
Q: Why don't you focus more on native plants?
A: I grow a lot of native plants, including trees, shrubs and perennials, but I mix things up in my garden by also using non-natives. One of the problems I have with the "nothing if not native" movement is that it assumes the growing conditions in every neighborhood are indeed native. But very often, that's not the case. In new housing developments, for example, the native topsoil has often been removed and replaced with topsoil that's from somewhere else. And that results in a condition that's manmade, not native. As a result, many native plants have a tough time adapting to those conditions. Still, I urge gardeners to grow native plants whenever and wherever possible, largely because they're so well adapted to the climate in a given area.
Q: Double-digging is not the way to garden. It's too much work. What are your thoughts on the subject?
A: While I'd be the first to admit that double-digging requires a lot of effort, I disagree with your assessment that it's not the way to garden. After all, thousands of people, including myself, have been double-digging for decades, and the results are impressive. Moreover, it's a one-time-only process. After the initial digging, the soil can be left undisturbed virtually forever, provided the site is routinely topped with compost.
Q: How long does it take mosquito larvae to develop into adults?
A: It takes as few as four days for some species of mosquito larvae to develop into adults. The larvae can develop in a mere thimble full of water, which is why it's so important to routinely patrol your yard after a rain and dump anything that holds water, including wheelbarrows and pot saucers. Don't forget things like clogged gutters, holes in trees and even plastic wading pools.
But keep in mind that if the water is flowing, there's no need to worry. Mosquito larvae need still water to develop.
Q: Are there any natural alternatives to the insect repellents that contain DEET?
A: Do you have a problem with slathering N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide all over your body? That's good, because in high concentrations, DEET, as it's more commonly known, may be hazardous. That's why it's best to apply the stuff to your clothing, rather than your skin.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the most effective alternative to DEET is the oil from lemon eucalyptus, but even those formulations shouldn't be used on children under three years old. Other alternative products contain varying amounts of citronella, cedar, peppermint, lemongrass, clove oil and geraniol, which is extracted from geraniums.
Q: How hot should compost get?
A: Properly maintained, a compost pile of the proper size, which is at least three feet square at the base and three feet high, should reach an internal temperature of between 125 and 140 degrees F. In some cases, the pile may heat up to 160 degrees, which is hot enough to destroy weed seeds.
The best way to verify the temperature is with a special compost thermometer that features a long probe. Stab it into the center of the pile, wait a few seconds and note the temperature.
If it's not at least 120 degrees, then chances are you need to turn the pile to incorporate more oxygen into it or add moisture to facilitate the breakdown of organic matter. If you notice a sudden drop in temperature, that's nature's way of telling you the process of decomposition is complete, and the compost is ready to use.
Q: Can you grow cleome in USDA Zone 5?
A: Yes, you can grow cleome pretty much anywhere as an annual. It's worth growing for sure, not only because most varieties are quite beautiful in full flower, but also because the flowers are bee magnets.
Q: How long can you leave trees in containers?
A: That depends on the size of the container and the type of tree you're growing in it, but generally speaking, trees should be repotted about every three to five years, either just before bud break in late winter or early spring or in the fall. During the growing season, they should be watered often and fed every few weeks with a slow-release, organic fertilizer ideally one that contains beneficial mycorrhizal fungi.
Master gardener Paul James answers gardeners' questions about pampas grass, seeding lawns, types of garlic, agave and more.
Paul James answers questions on easy houseplants, hose repair, overwintering bonsai, cleaning birdhouses and more.
Master gardener Paul James answers the three most common gardening questions: why are some flowers reluctant to bloom, why... |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2011
Contact: HHS Press Office
Report: Affordable Care Act controls costs for early retiree coverage
State and local governments, private employers receive $535 million in 2010 to
help protect coverage for retired Americans
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released a new report showing that the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) created by the Affordable Care Act is reducing health care costs for early retirees. As of December 31, 2010, more than 5,000 employers had been accepted into ERRP, more than $535 million in health benefit costs have been reimbursed through the program, and those payments have helped benefit more than 4.5 million Americans.
This funding provides financial assistance for health plan sponsors – including state and local governments, for-profit companies, schools and other educational institutions, unions, religious organizations and other non-profits – to help early retirees and their families maintain access to quality, affordable health coverage. The largest share of 2010 reimbursements went to governments, including state and local governments, school districts and other local agencies.
A list of approved plan sponsors, updated on January 27, 2011, is available online at www.HealthCare.gov/law/provisions/retirement.
“The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program is helping to control health care costs and protect coverage for early retirees and their families,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “This program is providing critical financial relief to help states, private employers and other organizations preserve access to affordable health coverage for millions of Americans.”
The percentage of large firms providing workers with retiree health coverage dropped from 66 percent in 1988 to 29 percent in 2009. Many Americans who retire before they are eligible for Medicare without employer-sponsored health coverage see their life savings disappear because of medical bills and exorbitant rates in the individual health insurance market. Health insurance premiums for older Americans are over four times more expensive than those for young adults, and the deductible these enrollees pay is, on average, almost four times that in a typical employer-sponsored insurance plan.
ERRP reimburses participating plan sponsors for a portion of health coverage costs for early retirees and their spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents. In 2010, ERRP-issued reimbursements helped pay the high costs of care for nearly 61,000 people. Sponsors receiving the largest ERRP reimbursements – totaling approximately 58 percent of the funding disbursed in 2010 – reported that program payments will benefit, either directly or indirectly, more than 4.5 million retirees, spouses, dependents, and active workers.
The program allows plan sponsors to either reduce costs of health care for plan participants or the costs to the plan sponsor to help them keep their coverage. For example, approximately 80 percent of plans that received reimbursements are using some or all of those dollars to lower the cost of health care for plan participants. The reimbursements helping to lower plan participant costs account for 97 percent of funds disbursed in 2010.
The report also provides new information about how ERRP-participating plans are working to generate cost savings for people with chronic and high-cost conditions. For example, many sponsors, including a teachers’ retirement plan and a major telecommunications corporation, are providing disease management programs for people with conditions such as coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, asthma, and osteoarthritis. Other programs are helping patients and doctors work together to manage their prescription drug treatments.
Overall, the 2010 report demonstrates that ERRP is already having a meaningful impact on employers and unions as well as millions of early retirees, their families and other plan participants. The program has seen robust participation from all major sectors of the economy, with additional sponsors applying to participate every day.
To read the report, visit www.HealthCare.gov/center/reports/retirement03022011a.pdf.
Note: All HHS news releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Like HHS on Facebook , follow HHS on Twitter @HHSgov , and sign up for HHS Email Updates.
Follow HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Twitter @Sebelius .
Last revised: May 7, 2011 |
Our Story: A Multi-Faceted Resource
The Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature is a multi-faceted resource for those who regard reading great works as anything but work and who wish to interact more vibrantly with a rapidly evolving communication landscape.
Like all the Centers at Hiram, the Lindsay-Crane Center is deeply interdisciplinary and innovative. For instance, recent visiting authors have included scholars on pop culture and cultural history, novelists, poets, editors, and authors of Young Adult fiction. Students can interact with these authors in intimate settings, including classes, lunch discussions, and one-on-one writing consultations.
The Writing Across the Curriculum program, one of the oldest in the nation, trains faculty members in every department to teach college-level writing. No matter their major, students learn about the value of good writing in their discipline.
Writing contests in the major genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry give Hiram students from any department the opportunity to hone their writing and have it read and evaluated by professional writers in their disciplines. The Lindsay-Crane Center also sponsors the Echo regional literary competition for students from six area institutions.
Hiram students affiliated with the Lindsay-Crane Center also learn about multiple outlets for professional development. The Lindsay-Crane Center helps students to identify writing- and literature-related internships both on and off campus and offers guidance in submitting both creative and scholarly work to publications and conferences around the country.
The Emerging Writers Workshop in Creative Nonfiction in the summer has a twofold benefit: High-school students step onto campus to develop their writing talents in a supportive environment, and current Hiram students mentor them.
The Writing House
The Queen Anne style house next door to Bonney Castle is home to Hiram College writers. It includes the Writing Center, two classrooms, a small kitchenette, space for readings and receptions, and faculty offices. The house was built in the 1890s for George and Helen Vincent. Helen ran a boarding house here for students.
In 1937 Helen Vincent sold the house to Ruth and Ward Whitcomb. After Ward’s death, Ruth remarried and she and Stanley Freeman rented the house to John E. Shambach, a retired Professor of Education. Sometime later the house was deeded to the College, and the College continued to rent it to faculty until 6811 Hinsdale was converted into the Writing House in 2008. |
In Manhattan’s Union Square, a 150-year-old equestrian sculpture of George Washington presides over throngs of students, commuters, shoppers, and protesters. Few glance at it, much less scrutinize it. Yet although I’ve passed through Union Square thousands of times, I always pause to view it, and it always makes me smile.
Why? Because Washington reminds me of ideas and values that are crucial to the way I choose to live my life. Time after time, the sight of this sculpture provides me with vital emotional fuel and great pleasure.
Favorite artworks play a very special role in our lives. They provide us with enjoyment and inspiration. They help us to recall important events of the past and to project our course of action in the future. They help us to relax when the time is right and to exert ourselves when appropriate. Art, in short, helps us to live and makes life more enjoyable—which is why we value our favorite works as we do.
Given the vital role of art in our lives, it is worth asking: Are we getting the most from the art we love? Are we extracting all the pleasure we can from these wonderful works? Or are we missing something—perhaps something crucial—that would make them even more meaningful, more powerful, more life-serving? There is usually much more to a work of art than one can glean in a passive viewing, listening, or reading. To get the most out of a work of art, we must approach it with an active mind. In the case of a work of visual art, such as sculpture or painting, we must study its details, ask the right questions, and identify its meaning or theme. Heightened awareness gives rise to heightened enjoyment—and the reward is well worth the effort.
In this essay we will study Henry Kirke Brown’s George Washington at Union Square and another Manhattan sculpture, Anna Hyatt Huntington’s Cid.1 Before we start, take a moment to examine the photographs of these works (on pages 107 and 113) and note your reaction. On a scale of one to ten, do you like or dislike each? Does either of them seem particularly meaningful to you, or evoke a strong emotion? . . .
You might also like
Rand, Ayn. The Romantic Manifesto. New York: New American Library, 1975. Ayn Rand’s presentation of her profoundly original esthetic theory.
Peikoff, Leonard. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Penguin, 1973 (paperback). Chapter 12 is on art.
———. “The Survival Value of Great (Though Philosophically False) Art.” How does a work of art serve a philosophic purpose even when its philosophic content is thoroughly untrue? Dr. Peikoff examines the means by which the four elements of literature—plot, characterization, theme, and style—teach man to use his consciousness. Available through the Ayn Rand Bookstore, www.aynrandbookstore.com.
Sures, Mary Ann. “Metaphysics in Marble.” The Objectivist (bound reprint), Feb.–March 1969, pp. 602–8 and 618–24. A historical survey of how sculpture reflects the philosophical trends of its time.
Durante, Dianne. Forgotten Delights: The Producers. New York: Forgotten Delights, 2003. Describes nineteen sculptures of businessmen, engineers, explorers, and so on, with sections devoted to the work as art and to the person represented. Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide, forthcoming in 2007 from New York University Press, applies the same approach to fifty-four sculptures (including ten from the previous book, substantially revised).
———. “The Human Form in Greek Sculpture.” The Greeks developed an amazing proficiency at depicting the human form. They also showed man as a dignified, confident being, capable of achieving his goals in this world. Concentrating on life-size human sculptures executed from 600 to 100 B.C., this lecture surveys important developments in Greek art and demonstrates how they ultimately reflect intellectual developments in philosophy. Audiotape available through the Ayn Rand Bookstore, www.aynrandbookstore.com.
1 George Washington, 1856, is at Union Square, Broadway and 14th Street. The Cid, 1927, is at the Hispanic Society of America, Broadway at 155th Street. Call 212-926-2234 before visiting to be certain the gates are unlocked.
2 Act IV, scene 4, translated by Brian Hooker.
3 Since the poem is not visible until the viewer descends the stairs and walks behind the sculpture, we can assume it is not essential for an interpretation of the sculpture. The poem reads:
Renown hath flung her argent portals wide
To greet the star-eyed souls of Destiny,
And framed in light heroic majesty
Reveals its sumptuous panoply of pride.
These horsemen of the Scroll of Valor ride
Across the sands of Time’s encrimsoned sea.
What splendid yearning, what high ecstasy
Turned them from commonplace unglorified!
From shadowed hours they gazed upon the sun,
The burning fields of visions dared to tread,
And laurelled courage hath achieved its lot.
Masters, needs we serve ye one by one;
As moving torches are the flaming dead
To light the paths for souls that are forgot.
4 “The Psycho-Epistemology of Art,” The Romantic Manifesto (New York: New American Library, 1975), p. 19.
5 “Art and Cognition,” Romantic Manifesto, p. 45.
6 “Art and Sense of Life,” Romantic Manifesto, p. 38.
7 For more on discerning fundamental premises, see Ayn Rand, “Philosophical Detection,” Philosophy: Who Needs It (Indianapolis and New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1982), pp. 14–27.
8 Riverside Drive at West 93rd Street, Manhattan.
9 Riverside Drive at West 72nd Street, Manhattan.
10 MartÌ is at Central Park South and Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), Manhattan. |
Like in all good fairy tales, the story of THE ONLY ROSES begins in a place far, far away.
That faraway place is Shandong, a coastal province in northern China. Eight years ago, a daughter waved a teary goodbye to her mother as she moved from Shandong to settle thousands of miles across the world in America.
The daughter missed her mother with all of her heart, so she sent her beautiful bouquets of roses. But like all fresh flowers, those roses would start to fade shortly after arriving. They were far from everlasting.
Those wilted flowers inspired the daughter to find something better. Her search led her to the mountain-top farms of Ecuador, where the world’s best and most beautiful roses are grown.
It’s where the daughter discovered the Everlasting Rose.
The daughter couldn’t believe how perfect it was-- a real rose with all the beauty of a fresh-picked flower that lasted a year or more! And it never needed watering or special care.
The daughter began sending Everlasting Roses to her mother in Shandong. And since their beauty did not fade, the mother’s house began to fill with love and flowers-- so much so that colorful petals began to overflow from her windows and get attention from neighbors who all wanted their own.
That daughter knew she should share the Everlasting Rose with the world, and started THE ONLY ROSES which she runs with her family in America-- still far from her mother but only in distance.
That daughter was me, Silvia Lee. I’m still wowed by the beauty of Everlasting Roses and can’t wait to help you share them with those you love most.
With love and roses, |
10 Fun Facts About the Airbus A380
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Ah, the Airbus A380. We can talk all day about whether it’s a beauty or an ungainly giant, but one fact is indisputable: It’s the largest passenger aircraft ever made. If you’ve ever flown on one, you’ll know that if offers an incredibly smooth ride and lots of room; and if you’ve ever seen one take off, you’ll know that it’s an exceptionally quiet airplane. But the end is near for the plane sometimes known as the flying whale.
It’s never been a commercial success, and Airbus decided this year to end production in 2021. Big twin-engine jets like the Boeing 777 and Airbus’ own A350, which can carry almost as many passengers but with far lower costs, effectively killed the big four-engined beast. It’s the same fate that hit the Boeing 747.
- Video: Which First Class Is the Best on the A380?
- The Best Ways to Redeem Miles to Fly on an A380
- A380 First Class Showdown: Emirates vs. Etihad vs. Singapore
It’s expected that about 250 Airbus A380s will have been made by the time production ends, assuming all current orders are filled. But regardless of commercial success, we at TPG have a soft spot for the A380 — it’s the favorite airplane of The Points Guy himself, after all.
Why are we so fond if it? After reading about these 10 facts that make the 380 stand out, you’ll see.
It’s really, really big
The A380 has a maximum takeoff weight of almost 1.3 million pounds — as much as seven Boeing 737-800s, or 30 percent more than the biggest 747 model. It’s the only airplane with a full-length upper deck. It can carry up to 600 gallons of water, feeding the onboard showers as well as the standard bathrooms and galleys. Its maximum fuel capacity is over 85,000 gallons, or about the same as 5,300 Toyota Camrys.
But in one aspect, the 747 has it beat: it’s still the longest passenger airplane in the world, at 250 feet versus 238.
Building it almost proved too much for Airbus
A380s are built in Toulouse, France, but their parts come from all over Europe (and beyond: today’s commercial jets are truly globalized products).
The wings and Rolls-Royce engines are made in the UK, the fuselage in Germany as well as France, the horizontal tail plane in Spain — all of this comes together by ship and truck, and assembled within painstakingly designed and enforced tolerance parameters. Just like Boeing does. So it was a shock to Airbus engineers when they were getting ready to put together the first A380 in 2005 and the pieces didn’t fit. Or rather: the wires designed by the German unit of the company were too short to meet the connectors in the fuselage section built in France. Before joining the parts, they had to redesign the wiring, all 330 miles of it. (You read that right: 330 miles.)
That snafu took months to fix and cost the company billions. In hindsight, it may have been a sign that luck was not with the giant. Or just that large, multinational industrial processes are extremely complicated, especially for a company that had never done anything on that scale before.
Emirates bought almost half of all A380s
When production of the A380 finally did get underway and customers began flying it — starting with Singapore Airlines in 2007 — Airbus was confident that orders would pour in. But that never happened. Only Emirates really loved the big jet, so much so that it has bought 40% of all A380s made. The airline’s boss, Sir Tim Clark, was famously a great proponent of the A380; in 2017, when the program had not been cancelled yet, he told TPG that more airlines should buy it. None did.
It costs half a billion dollars a pop
And what if someone did want to buy an A380? How much money would one have to shell out to take home the biggest aircraft you can buy today?
A new A380 costs almost half a billion dollars. More precisely, according to the list prices published by Airbus, $445.6 million. But airlines almost never pay full price; negotiations for commercial-jet purchases are long and complex, and discounts are always part of large orders. In fact, many airlines don’t even buy their planes, but lease them.
There were going to be cargo and VIP A380s
One of the very few people in the world with enough money to buy an A380 as a private jet almost did. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia —the owner of significant chunks of Citigroup, Twitter and Lyft — signed an order to buy an A380 at the Dubai Air Show in 2007. He later decided not to take it, preferring instead to continue using his 747. To this day, no A380s are used as VIP jets.
There was also going to be a cargo version of the A380, but it never got built after FedEx cancelled its order. The only place where you’ll ever find cargo A380s is Ebay, where desktop-model replicas can get really expensive.
It can have more than 600 seats
No wonder that the A380 should have the biggest seating capacity of any airliner that ever flew.
Seat counts range dramatically among airlines that operate it, ranging from a low of 379 seats on some Singapore configurations to 615 on the high-density layout that Emirates flies on some routes. Those 615 seats are the undisputed world record for most people ever on a passenger airplane. (The record for most people ever on a plane belongs to El Al. During a 1991 rescue operation carrying Ethiopian Jews to Israel, a cargo 747 was crammed with more than 1,000 people.)
It’s the only plane with a shower
If you want to take a shower in flight and you don’t own a very large private jet, your only choice is the A380, flying first class on Emirates or Etihad. And what if you want your personal butler on a plane? Only the A380 offers that, to passengers who have a lot of money (or a savvy strategy to use their points), in the ultra-first class known as The Residence aboard Etihad.
On the other hand, to experience the famous onboard bar on Emirates, you just need a ticket in business or first class.
It can fly for 17 hours, or just one
You will have plenty of time to enjoy that bar on the fourth-longest nonstop flight in the world, Emirates’ Auckland-to-Dubai route, the longest A380 flight currently scheduled. It spends on average about 17 hours in the air.
As for the shortest A380 flight, it’s just one hour from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, also on Emirates. Which of course we had to review, because we really are A380 buffs.
It’s flown with joysticks
What is that thing to the left of TPG senior writer JT Genter — obviously very happy to be sitting in an A380 captain’s seat — that looks like a video game joystick? It is indeed a joystick — the trademark of every Airbus except the early A300 and A310.
Boeings have traditional yokes, but Airbus has dispensed with those since the 1980s, when it introduced the A320, the first airliner using fly-by-wire. That means pilots send their inputs to a computer, which then moves the plane’s control surfaces. On Airbuses, they do so using those joysticks — or sidesticks, as pilots call them.
It has no successors
Sometime in the 2030s, likely, the last revenue flight of an A380 will touch down. What will take its place? In short: nothing. No plane currently being designed matches its size or capabilities.
After 2021, the new holder of the title for largest passenger airplane in the world will be… well, the same as the old one. The Boeing 747 will become again the biggest guy around. But that’s a bit of a fiction: Boeing has not formally closed down the assembly line for the current 747-8 passenger model, but that doesn’t mean that anyone’s actually buying it. The fabled Queen of the Skies is just as dead, commercially, as its would-be European rival. If you consider airplanes that are actually being produced and sold, not just offered in a sales brochure, then the biggest one in the post-A380 era will be the Boeing 777-9. That is a beautiful airplane, but it is made to be practical and efficient, not an opulent flying palace.
Onboard showers and Etihad‘s unique The Residence will die with the A380. Good thing we have an article telling you about the best ways to use your points and miles to cross the oceans in that unique, exceptional machine.
Featured photo by Nicky Kelvin/TPG
Welcome to The Points Guy! |
[ This follows up articles printed here on the economic attack on Iraq. –BL ]
Why is war-torn Iraq giving $190,000 to Toys R Us?
Naomi Klein Iraqis are still being forced to pay for crimes committed by Saddam
Next week, something will happen that will unmask the upside-down morality of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. On October 21, Iraq will pay $200m in war reparations to some of the richest countries and corporations in the world.
If that seems backwards, it’s because it is. Iraqis have never been awarded reparations for any of the crimes they suffered under Saddam, or the brutal sanctions regime that claimed the lives of at least half a million people, or the US-led invasion, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recently called “illegal”. Instead, Iraqis are still being forced to pay reparations for crimes committed by their former dictator.
Quite apart from its crushing $125bn sovereign debt, Iraq has paid $18.8bn in reparations stemming from Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait. This is not in itself surprising: as a condition of the ceasefire that ended the 1991 Gulf war, Saddam agreed to pay damages stemming from the invasion. More than 50 countries have made claims, with most of the money awarded to Kuwait. What is surprising is that even after Saddam was overthrown, the payments from Iraq have continued.
Since Saddam was toppled in April, Iraq has paid out $1.8bn in reparations to the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), the Geneva-based quasi tribunal that assesses claims and disburses awards. Of those payments, $37m have gone to Britain and $32.8m have gone to the United States. That’s right: in the past 18 months, Iraq’s occupiers have collected $69.8m in reparation payments from the desperate people they have been occupying. But it gets worse: the vast majority of those payments, 78%, have gone to multinational corporations, according to statistics on the UNCC website.
Away from media scrutiny, this has been going on for years. Of course there are many legitimate claims for losses that have come before the UNCC: payments have gone to Kuwaitis who have lost loved ones, limbs, and property to Saddam’s forces. But much larger awards have gone to corporations: of the total amount the UNCC has awarded in Gulf war reparations, $21.5bn has gone to the oil industry alone. Jean-Claude Aim?, the UN diplomat who headed the UNCC until December 2000, publicly questioned the practice. “This is the first time as far as I know that the UN is engaged in retrieving lost corporate assets and profits,” he told the Wall Street Journal in 1997, and then mused: “I often wonder at the correctness of that.”
But the UNCC’s corporate handouts only accelerated. Here is a small sample of who has been getting “reparation” awards from Iraq: Halliburton ($18m), Bechtel ($7m), Mobil ($2.3m), Shell ($1.6m), Nestl? ($2.6m), Pepsi ($3.8m), Philip Morris ($1.3m), Sheraton ($11m), Kentucky Fried Chicken ($321,000) and Toys R Us ($189,449). In the vast majority of cases, these corporations did not claim that Saddam’s forces damaged their property in Kuwait – only that they “lost profits” or, in the case of American Express, experienced a “decline in business” because of the invasion and occupation of Kuwait. One of the biggest winners has been Texaco, which was awarded $505m in 1999. According to a UNCC spokesperson, only 12% of that reparation award has been paid, which means hundreds of millions more will have to come out of the coffers of post-Saddam Iraq.
The fact that Iraqis have been paying reparations to their occupiers is all the more shocking in the context of how little these countries have actually spent on aid in Iraq. Despite the $18.4bn of US tax dollars allocated for Iraq’s reconstruction, the Washington Post estimates that only $29m has been spent on water, sanitation, health, roads, bridges, and public safety combined. And in July (the latest figure available), the Department of Defence estimated that only $4m had been spent compensating Iraqis who had been injured, or who lost family members or property as a direct result of the occupation – a fraction of what the US has collected from Iraq in reparations since its occupation began.
For years there have been complaints about the UNCC being used as a slush fund for multinationals and rich oil emirates – a backdoor way for corporations to collect the money they were prevented from making as a result of the sanctions against Iraq. During the Saddam years, these concerns received little attention, for obvious reasons.
But now Saddam is gone and the slush fund survives. And every dollar sent to Geneva is a dollar not spent on humanitarian aid and reconstruction Iraq. Furthermore, if post-Saddam Iraq had not been forced to pay these reparations, it could have avoided the $437m emergency loan that the International Monetary Fund approved on September 29.
With all the talk of forgiving Iraq’s debts, the country is actually being pushed deeper into the hole, forced to borrow money from the IMF, and to accept all of the conditions and restrictions that come along with those loans. The UNCC, meanwhile, continues to assess claims and make new awards: $377m worth of new claims were awarded last month alone.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to put an end to these grotesque corporate subsidies. According to United Nations security council resolution 687, which created the reparations programme, payments from Iraq must take into account “the requirements of the people of Iraq, Iraq’s payment capacity, and the needs of the Iraqi economy”. If a single one of these three issues were genuinely taken into account, the security council would vote to put an end to these payouts tomorrow.
That is the demand of Jubilee Iraq, a debt relief organisation based in London. Reparations are owed to the victims of Saddam Hussein, the group argues – both in Iraq and in Kuwait. But the people of Iraq, who were themselves Saddam’s primary victims, should not be paying them. Instead, reparations should be the responsibility of the governments that loaned billions to Saddam, knowing the money was being spent on weapons so he could wage war on his neighbours and his own people. “If justice, and not power, prevailed in international affairs, then Saddam’s creditors would be paying reparations to Kuwait as well as far greater reparations to the Iraqi people,” says Justin Alexander, coordinator of Jubilee Iraq.
Right now precisely the opposite is happening: instead of flowing into Iraq, reparations are flowing out. It’s time for the tide to turn.
?Naomi Klein is the author of No Logo, and Fences and Windows. |
An iconic, large-scale sculpture by Donald Lipski is installed at Metro’s new El Monte Station, which is opening Oct. 14!
Read the full press release:
Iconic Sculpture Watches over new El Monte Station
An iconic sculpture by Donald Lipski will welcome transit riders at the new El Monte Station, set to open to the public on October 14. A project of Metro’s art program, the artwork provides an aesthetic and contextual landmark at the newly expanded bus hub.
Lipski, whose monumental works of art inhabit public environments throughout the United States, created a clock tower–with a twist. Entitled Time Piece, the artwork incorporates three traditional clocks within a highly contemporary framework. The functional, double-sided clocks are minimally suspended from a sweeping, 30-foot tall stainless steel arch using a web of thin stainless steel cables. The clocks are internally illuminated and in total provide six clock faces. Each clock weighs a hefty 350 lbs.
Lipski’s take on a modern-day clock tower was inspired by visits toEl Monte, and by imagining the hustle and bustle at the new transit hub.
“As the busiest bus station west of Chicago, and as a new hub of civic activity and development, the new terminal demanded something bold, memorable and dynamic,” Lipski said. “Having a vertical artwork as a focus will add immeasurably to creating a gathering place in the plaza.”
“Lipski’s work grabs the attention of our customers as they enter or exit the station,” said Maya Emsden, Deputy Executive Officer at Metro, “and his playful use of traditional clocks in this uniquely eye-catching arrangement has become an instant icon for the area.”
For centuries, clock towers have been prized civic monuments and meeting places, particularly at transit hubs. Time Piece pays homage to this tradition but is updated to contemporary times and the specific context of the bold, modern architecture of the new facility. One side of the clock faces, as customers enter the bus terminal, is modern and says “Metro.” The opposite clock faces, as customers leave the station says “El Monte” and incorporates the city seal. All six clock faces display the same exact time.
Donald Lipski is an internationally renowned sculptor with works represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), theWalkerArtCenter(Minneapolis), and the Chicago Institute of Art and has received the coveted Rome Prize from theAmericanAcademy inRome.
The clocks were manufactured by The Verdin Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. A maker of clocks and bells, which has been operated by six generations of the Verdin family since 1842. Assembly for all the sculptural components, the arch and the clocks was completed by JunoWorks, a specialty metal fabricator with a history of uniquely creative projects. Artwork installation at the station plaza was provided by KPRS Construction Services, Inc. with oversight from the artist, JunoWorks and Metro Art staff.
El Monte Station
Built in the 1970s, the original transit center was the busiest bus-only station west of theMississippi. The station was demolished to make way for a new two-level station, doubling its previous size and will accommodate up to 40,000 daily riders. The new station has modern amenities including variable message signs, intercoms, closed circuit television, solar panels, wayfinding equipment and information displays, new elevators and escalators, a transit store, bike stations and lockers.
Metro Art Program
From rail and bus stations to transit facilities, construction fences and poetry cards, Metro Art enriches the transit environment and contributes to the artistic vibrancy of the neighborhoods we serve. Metro commissions artists to create engaging artworks that make the journey more inviting and pleasurable for transit users. The artworks mirrorLos AngelesCounty’s rich contemporary and popular cultures.
Established in 1989, the Metro Art program has commissioned over 300 artists for a wide variety of temporary and permanent projects. Artists are selected through a peer review process with community input. All works are created specifically for their transit-related sites. Metro’s public art policy allocates one half of one percent of project construction costs for art.
More information and free docent guided tours: visit metro.net/art or call 213/922-4ART
Artwork copyrighted, all rights reserved.
To request images of artwork for publication please email firstname.lastname@example.org.
Categories: Metro Art |
Since the good ‘ol days; man advanced numerous things to express his dormant ability. Sports are the creation of this idle ability. There are multitudinous games which are played everywhere throughout the world. All have their own criticalness and incentive for its players. A few games are mainstream and excitedly pursued and adored while some are not similarly prevalent. Cricket is one of the most prominently saw games on the planet. It has increased extraordinary fame in late time. There is wildness and energy among cricket fan is the explanation that has contributed a ton in making the game very mainstream.
What is cricket? Cricket is a game played in open enormous green field. There are two groups and every ha eleven players including one chief, one wicket guardian and remaining being batsmen and bowlers. Cricket is anything but a round of running or accomplishing objective between pitches. On the off chance that it had been in this way, it wouldn’t have inundated whole world in its grasp. The entire world is by all accounts insane behind the sport of cricket. Two variants of cricket are played in the present occasions. These are test match and one-day matches. Prior, just test matches were played yet with the presentation of the short form, an ever increasing number of individuals have become pulled in to the game.
There were just not many nations like England and Australia, which would play cricket in starting. Be that as it may, the fame of cricket pulled in even those nations that were not playing test coordinate. A while later, West Indies, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and all the more as of late Bangladesh, Kenya, UAE and Canada have likewise entered the universe of cricket. A sum of nine world cups, remembering continuous one for West Indies has been played till date. Australia has been best group on the planet who has won this esteemed title multiple times. West Indies have won it twice while Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka have won it once.
Cricket has given numerous celebrated characters to the games world. Fans all over are insane to get a look at their preferred cricketers. Various records has been made and broken in the sport of cricket. This has contributed towards carrying cricketers into the spotlight. Cricketers everywhere throughout the world are venerated and regarded by blooms of the game. Cricket is down of energy and excitement for cricket fan. Fame of cricket is developing step by step.
In, cricket nothing is sure and consistent. Any player or group has ability to turn coordinate in support of its. A player or a whole group needs to make a solid effort to demonstrate their best capacities on the field. There are famous characters in cricket that are recalled by practically all. Allen Border, Clive Lloyd, Sunil Gavaskar, Imran Khan are a portion of the players who are recollected by all.
Presently, cricket is no more the vehicle of self-articulation. It includes cash, name and notoriety for cricketers just as for individual from cricket board. Cricket, presently has gotten a vehicle of profiting for some trying adolescents. Cricket has advanced some new stories in later past. Cricket’s name is, presently connected with discussions. |
29 Nov cooked basmati rice calories 100g
Below are a few of the benefits that regular consumption of basmati rice has on your body. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *, Cool Foods to Cool You Down and Reduce Body Heat. Click here to directly order from our website. Aside from a slight variance in the vitamin, carbs and mineral content, basmati rice has nutrients mostly in line with other rice varieties. Your email address will not be published. There are 191 calories in 1 cup, cooked Basmati Rice (Cooked). Calorie Breakdown: 3% fat, 85% carbs, 12% prot. But, what about the calories in 100g cooked basmati rice? All trademarks, copyright and other forms of intellectual property are property of their respective owners. How Daily Glass of Fenugreek Water Benefits Your Body? Calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrate values for for Basmati Rice Cooked and other related foods. *Delivery available only in Bangalore, Chennai & Hyderabad. Even if we keep the calories in 100g cooked basmati rice aside, the other essential nutrients such as folate and thiamine that can help in maintaining a healthy body. Now, let’s have a look at basmati rice calories and its nutrient content in a 100g serving. Please note that some foods may not be suitable for some people and you are urged to seek the advice of a physician before beginning any weight loss effort or diet regimen. There are 191 calories in 1 cup of cooked Basmati Rice. 9 % 5g Protein. As you can see, calories in 100g cooked basmati rice stand at 121 kcal with 25.22g of carbs. It comes in primarily 2 varieties: white & brown, both of which have a nutty and starchy flavour. Dhaba-Style Methi Aloo Recipe in Quick and Easy Steps, Spicy and Savoury Broken Wheat Pongal Recipe. 130 Cal. Below is a table representing the nutrition and calories in 100g cooked basmati rice, as per FatSecret. As you can see, calories in 100g cooked basmati rice stand at 121 kcal with 25.22g of carbs. It is not only a healthier alternative but is also suitable for diabetics who prefer foods with a low glycemic index. There are 121 calories in 100 grams of Basmati Rice (Cooked). Calorie Goal 1,870 cal. There are 121 calories in 100 grams of Basmati Rice. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Register | Sign In If you want to maximize the health benefits of rice, you can try choosing organic basmati rice. Benefits Of Basmati Rice Organic basmati rice is non-GMO and is completely free from harmful pesticides. Daily Goals. If you live in India, California, or Pakistan and consume basmati regularly, there is some good news! Calorie and Nutrition Info for a 75g Serving of Basmati Rice Percentages are based on a diet of 2000 calories a day. It is comparable to any variety of rice, including brown rice in terms of nutrient content and its nutty aroma works very well in Asian & Indian delicacies. If you eat rice in your staple diet, basmati rice is the sure way to go. Basmati rice calories and nutrition value are slightly better than other rice varieties. How does this food fit into your daily goals? Organic Spices Better for Your Health: Here’s How! You'd need to walk 42 minutes to burn 150 calories. Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500034. Road No-5, Leave a comment below and let us know! The basmati variety is one of the premium varieties of rice that is used in biryani, pulao, kheer, etc. The calories and nutrient value highly depend on the variety of rice in question. 91 % 52g Carbs. Get full nutrition facts and other common serving sizes of Basmati Rice (Cooked) including 100 g and 1 serving. Basmati rice is long-grain, thin and aromatic variety of rice that. CJ Foods Cooked White Rice with Black Bean Sauce, Neilly's Foods Zesty Rice & Red Beans Mix, Birds Eye Steamfresh Whole Grain Rice with Corn, Carrots & Peas, Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits Cajun Rice (Large). Log Food. H.No-8-2-468/A/1/2, Serving Size : 200 g serving. A report published on Consumer Reports concluded that basmati rice from the aforementioned geographical locations have about half of the arsenic content as opposed to other rice varieties. Generally, every serving of basmati rice contains a high amount of carbohydrates and micro-nutrients such as selenium, folate & thiamine. Aside from a slight variance in the vitamin, carbs and mineral content, basmati rice has nutrients mostly in line with other rice varieties. Visit CalorieKing to see calorie count and nutrient data for all portion sizes. There are 150 calories in 1 0.5 bowl (3.7 oz) of Fresh & Easy Cooked Basmati Rice. Get full nutrition facts and other common serving sizes of Basmati Rice including 1 cup of cooked and 1 cup, dry, yields. 130 / 2,000 cal left. Although the information provided on this site is presented in good faith and believed to be correct, FatSecret makes no representations or warranties as to its completeness or accuracy and all information, including nutritional values, is used by you at your own risk. We're constantly trying to serve you better and deliver what you need in the time of crisis. Your email address will not be published. It is relatively high in nutrients compared to other rice varieties and is rich in essential nutrients such as folate and thiamine that can help you in maintaining your overall physical health effectively. Get full nutrition facts and other common serving sizes of Basmati Rice including 100 g and 1 cup, dry, yields. * The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. Rice Rice - Basmati White Rice 100g (Cooked) Aj. Required fields are marked *. Since rice absorbs water during cooking, a cooked serving will weigh around 3 times its dry weight - calorie content remains the same. In almost all the rice varieties available in the market today, basmati rice has one of the lowest arsenic content. There are 262 calories in a 75g serving of basmati rice 349 in a 100g serving (dry weight). India and Pakistan are two major nations where basmati rice is highly consumed and the basmati variety, with a low arsenic content, fits the bill perfectly. Rice is a staple food product item consumed in most parts of Asia. 0 %--Fat. Restaurant-Style Rich & Creamy Methi Malai Paneer Recipe.
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What is the best way to get to know people from other cultures? Food and music are definitely a great way to bring a diverse community together. Both are innately part of who we are as humans; they touch us at a more deep, subconscious level than we may realize--and it can be the perfect tool that brings us to one table, where we can truly interact in our love of culturally diverse food, music and art.
At Thunderbird School of Global Management, cultural diversity is celebrated and put on full display during "Regional Nights" organized by the Thunderbird Student Government. Regional Nights happen at least once each semester and celebrate the food, culture, traditions, art and performance of a particular region of the world--with students from that region sharing their culture with their classmates and others in the Thunderbird community.
During Regional Nights, all hands are on deck, from the students who welcome the guests at the entrance with warm smiles, to the student leaders who serve the food. This, after all, is our way of displaying our Thunderbird pride and our rich legacy of a global mindset borne out of diversity. This diversity is fully displayed, with students dressed in different national costumes representing the cultures being celebrated at the event. There is often a lot of laughter, as student see their friends in a new light, far from the classroom attire and more serious mood. And by the end of the night, there is a lot of clapping and dancing, as everyone gets into the spirit.
In the end, Regional Nights are the perfect opportunity to get out of the dorms, leave behind those business books and experience new activities, listen to music from other lands, and eat new foods right here on campus. Billy Joel is definitely right when he says, “I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.”
And in a world where many seek to build borders, it helps to have a place like Thunderbird where people feel at home in diversity, and are willing to explore and try new things. So what are you waiting for? Come and join this community that goes beyond borders and sees humanity more clearly.
By Bethany Chijindu '17, Master of Global Management |
Facts About Munich, Germany | It’s Definitely Not What You Think
Munich is home to some of the richest and oldest sights in Germany and is full of historic, cultural, and traditional grandeur.
The 11th largest city in the European Union has plenty of character that makes it stand out from the rest. From festivals to old buildings to… sausages?
Munich is a wonderful city and is one of the best places to visit if you want to tour Germany. Continue reading about Munich and discover the many facts surrounding the city.
The History of Munich
This article could easily be overruled by facts about Munich’s history. Seeing as the city has been around for quite some time, there is a lot one can say.
However, there are certain things that do stand out about the city that might spark some interest to anyone who visits.
The Capital of Bavaria
Bavaria or “The Free State of Bavaria” is one of the states of Germany in the southeastern corner of the country.
Bavaria is the largest state in Germany with an area of 27,239.58 square miles (70,550.19 square km). The state of Bavaria takes up about a 5th of Germany’s total land area. Munich is one of the cities that inhabit this state and it is also the capital of Bavaria. It is also the third-largest city in Germany.
When was Munich Founded?
In the 12th century, the Duke of Bavaria allowed some monks to start a marketplace. This marketplace became very popular and successful and it started to expand. Eventually, the expanded market place became a city – the city of Munich.
The name Munich or “München” in German, comes from the word “Mönch” which means Monk. Monks became the symbol of the city and are represented in their coat of arms.
Interesting Facts About Munich
The city of Munich has a lot of factors that would spark the curiosity of any visitor.
Whether it is about the history or the sights, the interesting characteristics and components of Munich are what makes the city such a wonderful destination.
The Birthplace of BMW
Whether you are a fan of BMW’s or not, you cannot deny that the brand is one of the most famous in the world.
The BMW originated in Munich and the brand even has a museum where you can learn about its history and see retro models. Learn about future plans and projects that are in development for BMW. You even get the chance to sit in an unreleased model as well!
The headquarters of BMW is also in Munich. It is situated close to the 1972 Olympic stadium and it even has its own zip code. The headquarters’ address has the digits 80788 and no other address in Munich has this zip code.
Germany also happens to be the birthplace of Volkswagen and if you are a lover of cars, you can even go on a Volkswagen tour when visiting Germany.
Breakfast is often seen as the most important meal of the day. A good cup of coffee, some cereal, and/or bacon and eggs have become the staple for a balanced morning meal. In Munich, however, there is only one thing that can make a breakfast complete: white pork sausages.
Known in Germany as “Weisswurst”, the sausage is almost inevitable when eating breakfast. Although, eating them at any other time of day is actually seen as taboo.
It is traditional to eat the sausages in the morning as it was usually freshly made each morning and had no preservatives, meaning it wouldn’t last very long and had to be eaten right away.
“Weisswurst” is now available to purchase and refrigerate, so you can eat them at any meal. Nevertheless, it is suggested that you do it discreetly as Bavarians are quite radical about their food traditions.
Fun Facts About Munich
Are you that guy at a party that likes to tell people “fun facts” about useless topics? Well, boy do we have some fuel for you!
Munich has a character to it that can only be described as whimsical and hilarious. The city’s charm is definitely one of the hardest ones to try and beat.
Beer is Everywhere
Something most people probably think about when they hear “Munich” is, of course, Oktoberfest! Munich is home to the largest folk festival in the world that runs for about 16-18 days between the end of September and the beginning of October.
Millions of people from around the world flock to Munich to experience the festival of beer. Even names like Lenin and Mozart have attended Oktoberfest.
The festival is held in Hofbrauhaus which is the largest beer house in the world and is famous for its beer. In fact, during the 30-year war, King Gustav of Sweden invaded Bavaria and threatened to burn down the city. After consideration, he agreed to leave in peace under the condition that the city surrender 600, 000 barrels of Hofbrauhaus beer.
Munich also has around 60 beer gardens and has also declared beer as a type of food in Bavaria.
A 5-minute walk from downtown Munich is a man-made river called Eisbach. The river is around 1.25 miles (2 km) long and flows through the Englischer Garten Park.
Eisbach is known for having large waves, which are also man-made and is very popular amongst surfers. There is usually a line of surfers waiting for a chance to surf in the legendary river, so make sure you arrive early.
You now also have a reason to bring your wetsuit to Germany, so you can ignore the weird looks from your peers about bringing a wetsuit.
Even though the city has a humorous element to it, that doesn’t mean the city doesn’t have an array of different sights to go and visit.
The city is famous for having no Skyscrapers, and its beautiful old buildings, but there is a myriad of other amazing sights in this city.
If you enjoy visiting old buildings to see and feel the history behind them, Munich has some… interesting ones to choose from.
The Neues Kino Gabriel is the oldest cinema in the world and it’s in Munich. The cinema has existed since 1906 and it, unfortunately, closed its doors to the public in April 2019.
A lot of people think that the Pionier Cinema in the Polish Szczecin is the oldest cinema, but that cinema was established in 1907.
The oldest buildings in other cities are usually churches, cathedrals, or palaces. Munich is the exception as their oldest building is none other than a bathroom. Yes, you read that right. Archaeologists were excavating the area at Marienhof and found a bathroom dating back to 1260.
It was located just outside the city’s primary gates, which meant that the city of Munich was larger in the 13th century than historians originally anticipated.
About 55 miles (88.5 km) outside of Munich lies a castle that was built for the former King of Bavaria. The castle is called Neuschwanstein and has been around since the 19th century.
Walt Disney and his wife were on Vacation in Bavaria when they visited the castle. He was so inspired by the magnificent structure that he decided to base the castle in his film, “Sleeping Beauty” on Neuschwanstein.
This castle has since become the symbol of the Disney brand and is the main attraction of any Disneyland or Disneyworld.
Finals Thoughts on Facts about Munich, Germany
The city of Munich has so many incredible attributes to it that truly makes it one of the most interesting places that one can visit. The structures, the traditions, and the people are what makes the city so unique and special.
There are, of course, many other Munich facts that we didn’t mention and that’s because it’s your turn to find them and experience Munich for yourself. So, what are you waiting for? Your beer is getting hot! |
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) on Wednesday reported that it plans to carry out a registration and evaluation review of all transport companies operating in the country.
Based on information provided by the transport ministry, a number of individuals have applied for transport licenses despite not having vehicles. The ministry said this points towards misuse of licenses.
“To combat corruption and to provide more facilities to the citizens, we have decided to dissolve all fake transport companies. We will establish companies with the necessary standards and necessary equipment,” said Hekmatullah Qawanj, spokesman for the MoTCA.
These fake licenses will be cancelled once our assessments are wrapped up, said the ministry.
But officials from the transport union have said that the fake companies had been established with the support of lawbreakers who are involved in extortion.
The officials claim these companies coordinate with certain people who have restaurants and terminals along the Kabul-Herat highway and charge travelers double the price for transport.
“Restaurants ask 400 AFs in exchange for one ticket, but they pay us only 200 AFs,” said Multan, a bus driver who travels the Kabul-Herat highway.
“The transport of travelers should not be determined by restaurant owners, who pay money to fake companies to make their demands. Whenever we criticize them, powerful elements come out in their support,” said Sulaiman Momand, a member of the transport union.
“47 companies operate in the west of the country and are based in Kabul, but only seven of these companies are real, 40 other companies are fake,” said Binyamin Wardak, manager of a private transport company in Kabul.
According to the MoTCA, the government has launched work on the establishment of standard terminals in the country which would pave the way for only professional and registered companies to operate. |
This week’s video is a little different!
Possibly it needs a little more work but what idea doesn’t.
I have been interested in milk quality on farms for quite some time. My mastitis story started with a focus on bugs and treatments. This moved into prevention, effective processes, and prevention.
I’m always moving and thinking about how to make things better and easier. So, to truly affect change on farms the role of people and good teams is really important.
I learned another lesson over the last number of weeks around building good and consistent milking routines.
I looked at what does it take to do this.
In the video below I outline some of my thinking.
It raises the question about how we can look more at people’s motivation when we build any SOPs on larger farms.
The team drives the why, the what to do, and maybe even the goals.
Milk quality is a nice place to start because it gives us performance indicators that are easy to work with and set targets.
Knowing how is easy, the wining is in the doing?
Please email me if you have a really effective team-building strategies or resources your team and farm use to build and improve the system. I am always looking for inspiration and new ideas.
Happy safe farming |
Where should you go hiking in Armenia?
If you are in a search to hike to adventurous trails and see gorgeous scenery look no further than Armenia. For such a small country, Armenia can offer you very diverse nature in each region and you can go on a hike to a mountain, to a fortress, a beautiful lake and so many more places!
Here’s a list of some of the most popular hiking treks in Armenia.
WATERS AND FORESTS OF TAVUSH REGION
Take Dilijan as your starting point and first discover what the city has to offer. Once you have seen the city and want to see more of the region, try hiking the Dilijan National Park. Due to the tireless work of many tourism enthusiasts, the hiking trail in the Park is well designed. Walk through the trail and discover the mesmerizing beauty of Tavush region most famous for its breathtaking nature.
If you are still up for another hike, navigate your way from Parz lake to Gosh lake. The hiking route again goes through a forest and Gosh village. There, you can also check out the Goshavank Monastery that was built in the 12th century and is still a very common stop for visitors year round. Don’t think of your main goal as the final destination, the whole scenery is absolutely stunning, so enjoy every bit of the surroundings during your hike.
MONASTERIES AND NATURE OF SYUNIK REGION
If you think your experience with nature in Tavush is over, the south of Armenia is a whole other story! This part of the country is completely different and you will discover much more sightseeing in the region than you can ever imagine.
First, visit Tatev monastery and explore the beautiful gorges and mountains. You will then also see a set of different hikes described on a big sign near the monastery. These trails can take you to as many exotic places as you want.
Want to experience some extreme? Take a trail that leads to the gorge to Devil’s Bridge, an exceptional natural wonders, situated in the canyon of Vorotan River with many mountainous springs around.
Interested in seeing more of the history of the villages nearby the area? Hike to the villages nearby such as Old Harjis, Halidzor or further away Khndzoresk where it looks like you are in medieval times, experiencing history with what has been preserved in the region.
Read the rest of the article at Caucasus Holidays. |
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I was walking around the Taipei Botanical Garden when I came across this sign, which explained some plant idioms. Think this sign could have specified more of the Chinese idioms and provided a proper equivalent in English to explain the idioms properly, but definitely a cool idea:
The first idiom is expanded to one side as follows:
They may have assumed it is intuitive, but I think they could have added an equivalent English expression to make it suitably clear what “Scolding pagoda tree by pointing [to] mulberry [bush]” (指桑罵槐 zhi3sang1ma4huai2 / ㄓˇ ㄙㄤ ㄇㄚˋ ㄏㄨㄞˊ）means. The expression means to make accusations or tell someone off indirectly or obliquely by telling someone else off.
A good tip for figuring out how to use expressions is to go to news.google.com and search for the expression. The expression when used in context in news stories will be thrown up as a result. I found the following, for example:
If we go into the stories, we can generally find a sentence or two where the expression is used in context, such as the following:
“扬缓”是延安市宝塔区桥沟镇中心小学的一名女教师，这两天她“摊上大事了”。该校叶校长认为她在学校微信群里说了一句“今天下午开会让狗咬了一下”是指桑骂槐，骂了自己，于次日召开全体教师行政会议，通过无记名投票将“扬缓”停职停薪一周。 (Story can be read in full here)
[Translation: Yang Huan, a primary school teacher in a primary school in the center of Qiaogou township in the Baoda District of Yan’an, has gotten “caught up in big trouble” over the last two days. Mr Ye, the school principal is of the opinion that when Yang wrote “I was bitten by a dog at the meeting this afternoon” on the school’s WeChat group, she was making an oblique criticism of him, and so the next day he held an administrative meeting with all staff and initiated a vote for Yang to be suspended without pay for a week.]
Another expression featured on the sign was the following:
So what does “Southern orange degrading to Northern sour orange” (南橘北枳 nan2ju2bei3zhi3 / ㄋㄢˊ ㄐㄩˊ ㄅㄟˇ ㄓˇ） mean? If we look it up in the Ministry of Education dictionary, we get the answer:
[Translation: Things change along with differences in the surrounding environmental conditions]
But this answer is kind of vague in terms of usage, and we might be left a little unclear as to how it is used in everyday speech. The idiom took its “root” in the idea that the fruits of similar or identical plants would have different tastes depending on whether they were planted in the north or south, because of the water and the soil acidity. We can see this applied to other things using the above technique for searching news stories:
注册制也好。核准制也好，都是世界通用的一种新股发行形式，各有特点，各有优点，也各有缺点，本身并无优劣之分，因此无需过度担忧，该担忧的是南辕北撤，故意曲解，注册制成为南橘北枳。(Full story here)
（Translation: Both registration-based and approval-based systems are used in launching IPOs; each has its particular features, its advantages and its disadvantages and neither is clearly better than the other. For this reason, there is no real need to worry about which is used, what one does need to worry about is taking action that is counterproductive and distorting things so that the registration-based system is essentially turned into an approval-based system due to local conditions.
You can try out this method yourself using the remaining plant-based expressions listed in the sign (I’ve provided the Chinese for you):
- “Surrendering with thorn stem” 負荊請罪
- “Cutting thorny bushes” 披荊斬棘
- “Cutting willow and couch grass” Couldn’t find this one, so if anyone can help out let me know…
The sign also offers some interesting statistics on the occurrence of plants in idioms and their origins. Feel free to comment with anything that you’ve come across which has helped you in learning Chinese. |
Client: Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG)
Caltrain is one of many transit operators in the Bay Area that continues to experience budget strain because of the instability of State and local funding sources. Its present sustainability challenge is particularly acute due to its reliance on voluntary pass-through contributions from three other local operators, who are themselves grappling with unprecedented deficits. A permanent source of dedicated funding for Caltrain must be found if this valuable and otherwise successful transportation service is to continue.
SVLG is a policy advocacy organization that has long championed improved public transit in the Silicon Valley area to support economic growth and quality of life in the region. They launched a ‘Save Caltrain’ campaign to address the multiple areas that impact Caltrain’s financial health, and they requested support from a number of industry experts, including Transportation Analytics and our lead on this project, Nancy Whelan Consulting. Our team analyzed over 20 potential funding sources to determine which options are most suitable in terms of factors such as technical feasibility, economic efficiency, and revenue yield.
Client: San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA)
Transportation Analytics was part of the PBS&J-led consultant team that conducted the preliminary feasibility evaluation of implementing congestion charging in the City of San Francisco. The Study Team explored how different charging schemes might be able to mitigate traffic congestion, reduce air pollution, and develop a revenue stream to help improve local transit operations. In December, 2010, the SFCTA Board accepted the initial study and recommended moving forward with the next stage of planning activities. Transportation Analytics had a multi-faceted role on the project including:
- financial analysis of potential pricing scenarios, including a revenue snapshot screening tool and a 30-year cash flow model
- providing expertise in financing alternatives
- modeling the financial impact and sensitivity of different pricing policies
- supporting the analysis of transit system performance impacts
- communicating the implications of various operating assumptions
- preparing major portions of the final report
Client: Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District
Transportation Analytics worked closely with the firm Sponsorship Strategies to investigate the feasibility of creating an innovative philanthropic-style sponsorship program whereby individuals and corporations could contribute towards to the preservation and enhancement of the Bridge as a tourist attraction, as well as support educational and interpretive features for visitors. Transportation Analytics developed a scenario model allowing for the comparison of different combinations of features, benefits, and public-private partnership structures. The model was able to demonstrate the implications of different policy options for Board-level review and formally quantify the true revenue potential of this controversial proposal. |
Image ID: vietnam_161521 | Date photographed: 2016-Aug-26
Tags: wildlife, invertebrates, arthropods, insects, bugs, planthoppers and leafhoppers, cuc phuong national park, vietnam
Photographer: Rhett A. Butler
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1. What is the relationship between conscience and the witness of the Holy Spirit?
Wesley defines conscience as the ability to reflect upon our experiences, beliefs, and behaviors, and then to discern right and wrong. This ability is implanted in every soul, but is distorted by sin. Through the Holy Spirit, we are called to a higher vision of conscience and are able to grow in the heights, depths, and breadth of God’s love. How do we participate in this growth? What does it look like?
2. How do we share this witness and how does Wesley use the words, simplicity and sincerity?
Simplicity has to do with singleness of focus. When we are focused in this way then our witness is “full of light, love, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit?” Simplicity has to do with intention, sincerity points to how we implement that intent. We are called to integrity, where our beliefs and actions are aligned and we are able to speak in truth, without guile, and to bear the fruits of holiness.
3. How can our witness reveal joy to the world?
If aligned to the will of God, our witness will always be one of rejoicing. This type of joy is different from happiness. Happiness comes and goes, based on the circumstances of our lives. We cannot always be happy, but we can always have joy because joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. How can our witness reveal joy to the world? |
The Russian state media watchdog Roskomnadzor has removed the block on the Telegram encrypted messenger service developed by Russian emigre Pavel Durov. The regulator declared an agreement with Durov had been reached regarding terrorists using the network.
Durov recently lost a high-profile fight with the SEC over a cryptocurrency project the American regulator considered an investment vehicle.
“We positively assess the readiness to counter terrorism and extremism stated by Telegram founder [Pavel Durov – TASS]. Roskomnadzor lifts requirements to limiting the access to the Telegram messenger by agreement with the Russian Office of General Prosecutor,” the regulator said, reported Russian state news agency TASS.
The authority expressed its readiness to interact with all the Internet companies working in Russia “for prompt prevention of dissemination of terrorist and extremist information, child pornography and propaganda of suicides and drugs.”
Russia’s federal media watchdog Roskomnadzor made the surprise announcement Thursday, citing Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s “stated readiness to counter terrorism and extremism,” wrote The Moscow Times.
Analysts will now be wondering if some kind of deal has been made regarding encryption on Telegram. Can Russian authorities now read messages? The answer is still out.
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Since the 19th century municipalities have started to offer local services like lighting, water-sewerage, waste collection and public transport. In the first decade of the 20th century this policy has been named municipal socialism: is it a significant world or just an emphasis on a rather trivial and natural phenomenon? Basically, who can manage local service better than the mayor?
What was the dominant governance of municipal public services in Europe and USA in those times: how were officials appointed or hired? Where there a form of control or regulation? Did the citizen's voice play a role?
Let's jump into the 70s and the 80s, in particular in Europe when a wave of liberalisation fever overwhelmed not only national networks like electricity, railways, telecommunication and gas but also the local services. This liberalisation fever has produced a lot of academic stuff and some policy reforms, in particular in Europe. Following also specific directives States have been obliged to put local services in a competitive context through tenders. Lawyers work on technical documents and specifications of contracts flourished to prepare municipalities for international bids for water, transport and waste services with the participation of local, national and international competitors.
At the end of the story, nevertheless, the final outcome of this effort has been very poor, in practical terms: incumbents are rarely removed in favour of new entrants. 40 years after the fever a doubt arises: maybe a lot of fudge, in the academy and policy, has been done around a very trivial issue: offering local services to the citizens in an acceptable way. Is it possible to outline the main features of future scenarios after Covid-19 disruption in the economics and organization of local public service?
FRANCO BECCHIS, Turin School of Regulation
Franco Becchis is an economist and author. Scientific Director of Foundation for the Environment and of the Turin School of Regulation, he coordinates research programmes on the interaction between economics, energy and environment and on local public services, as well as capacity building and support activities for local public entities. Teacher and lecturer in several schools and universities, he published Economia in pillole and Finanza Happy Hour (Sperling&Kupfer, 2008 and 2012), Bestiario di Finanza and L’incarico (Castelvecchi, 2016 and 2018) and The Political Economy of Local Regulation (Palgrave Macmillian, 2016).
GIORGIO BROSIO, University of Turin
Giorgio Brosio is Professor Emeritus, University of Torino, Italy. He has been professor at the Universities of Torino, Bari and Geneva. He has served as President of the Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica (Italian Public Economics Association) from 2009 to 2012 and as President of the European Public Choice Society (April 1992 - April l993) and member of the Board of the Italian Association of Regional Economics (AISRE).
His research interests focus on public choice, fiscal federalism, and public sector economics, including education and healthcare. He has worked extensively as a consultant for international institutions (IMF, World Bank, IADB, ADFB, the United Nations and the EU) on public sector reform and development, with emphasis on taxation, natural resources and decentralization issues. He has long record of publications, including books and articles on academic journals.
ANDREA GIUNTINI, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Andrea Giuntini holds a M.A. in Economic History, University of Florence, and a Ph.D. in Economic History from the Istituto Universitario Navale of Naples. Since 2000 he is Associate Professor of Economic History at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics. His research deals with contemporary economic history. His main fields of research are: history of networks, energy, transport and communications, public infrastructure, urban history.
He is member of several scientific associations: AISU (Associazione italiana di storia urbana), ASSI (Associazione di Storia e Studi sull’Impresa), EBHA (European Business History Association), IRHA (International Railway History Association), SISE (Società Italiana Storici dell’Economia), SISSCO (Società Italiana di Storia Contemporanea), Tensions of Europe, T2M (Transport, traffic and mobility), and Amici di Memoria e ricerca.
Dr. Giuntini is on the editorial boards of the following journals: Ricerche Storiche, Memoria e Ricerca, The Journal of Transport History, Revue d'histoire des chemins de fer, Transportes, servicios y telecomunicaciones, Archivio per la storia postale, Storia economica and Antologia Vieusseux, .
MARIA SALVETTI, Florence School of Regulation & OECD
Maria Salvetti (F) is a water economist and a policy analyst with nearly 20 years of experience. She a Special Advisor at the Florence School of Regulation Water and Waste Area. Since February 2019, she works for the Water Governance Program of the OECD. She has taken part in a Water Policy Dialogue focusing on water and sanitation services regulation in Argentina and in Cape Town. Before joining the OECD, she was part of the “Economics of Public Private Partnerships” chair in La Sorbonne University. She coordinated a European working group on economic regulation of water sector, in partnership with the Florence school of regulation (part of the European University Institute). She also worked as an expert for the World Bank: Danube Water Program, Mid-term review of the Portugal Water Strategy, Analysis of the water supply and sanitation services in Central Asia, Financial sustainability of the water sector in Haiti, Reform of the water subsidies in Algeria. Former chief economist for the French national agency for water and aquatic environment (Onema), Maria Salvetti produced the first report on water services performance presented during the World Water Forum (2012). From 2008 to 2010, she worked for the largest water service in France (SEDIF) providing economic and financial advice in the preparation of the PPP contract. She has also worked as senior economist for Seine Normandy water Agency (France) and the Environment Agency (England & Wales). Maria performed numerous training programmes and academic courses: The basics of environmental economics: total economic value, externalities, environmental goods & services assessment; Economic appraisal in the Water framework Directive: cost-recovery, cost effectiveness and cost-benefit; Funding water services: tariffs, transfers, taxes; Economic performance and regulation embedded in the service management contract: preparing a PPP contract; Regulation of natural monopolies in the water sector; Designing & implementing social tariffs in the water sector: feedback from two French water services; A cost effective approach to water network renewal. She is a tutorial teacher at Sorbonne University, and a teacher at Paris and Lille Institute for Political Sciences for Master students.
ANDREA SBANDATI, CISPEL Toscana
Director General of CISPEL Toscana, a Regional Association of local public services enterprises in the sector of public utilities. Since 1990 a major part of his researches and works is related to public utilities, especially to waste management. Since 1997 to present he has been a member of Quadrifoglio Consortium where he holds the position of Vice-president. He is also a collaborator for the Regional Agency for Resources Recovery SpA in Florence and for CRS Proacqua in Rome.
Working language: English
Partecipation is free upon registration.
For further info please contact email@example.com |
Sometimes, a dentist will perform a root canal to correct a teeth surgery turkey, but in some cases, the decay will not go away but will simply become more visible. You may need to consider having a dental veneer applied to help you keep your smile looking good. When you are in need of a teeth extraction, it can mean a lot of things. You may be suffering from a serious toothache that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. It can be that the wisdom tooth has come out, and the tooth has to be removed in order to keep your jaw from closing on it and causing a problem.
Teeth surgery turkey – I GET MY TEETH DONE AT DENTAL CENTRE TURKEY !!!
The tooth will need to be extracted, and your dentist will remove the tooth and all the teeth around it. It can take weeks for the tooth to heal and for the nerves to grow back in the jaw. This means that you will have to have all the new teeth you need when you have the tooth removed.
Teeth surgery turkey is a good procedure for anyone who needs to have teeth replaced. Your dental insurance will pay for the costs, and you can save a lot of money. when you can have your teeth repaired by a qualified cosmetic dentist who knows exactly how to fix your teeth. |
Stress, whether physiological or emotional, acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term), is the root cause of illness for humans as well as pets.
Have you ever considered that your dogs and cats would pick up on this, and that your stress might make them ill, or at least stress them out too?
Even though they have pretty simple lives in comparison to our own, our furry companions can get stressed out too as they prefer familiar routines, so changes like a new pet or a new baby, a house move, shift work patterns or even just furniture being moved around can create stress for them.
We get stressed out by work, families & relationships, big events like weddings or house moves, physical illness or injury, emotional distress and deaths, and traumatic events. But did you know that your stress could make your pet sick?
Animals are often sensitive creatures as well as natural healers (we all know how therapeutic stroking the cat or dog is), and because of the bond we shared with pets, this close relationship can also lead to shared energetic imbalances.
The emotional turmoil brought on by such difficulties as household financial problems, frequent job travel, or marital differences can affect our pets in very tangible ways, leading to undesirable behaviours. More worryingly, our stress can also influence the development of actual physical illness in our cats as well as in ourselves.
As responsible owners, we sometimes need to take a good look at ourselves when we ask why our pets are having problems. Stress relief for pet owners won’t solve every pet health problem, but can go a long way toward alleviating many of them.
On Saturday I will be attending a course to allow me to extend my Reiki practice to include helping the humans that might impact on our animals lives. This means that if I suspect, when treating your dog, cat or horse, that you may inadvertently be contributing to the issues seen in your pet, I’ll be able to offer an holistic therapy that includes both you and your pet, helping you find a shared state of balance. |
Thermoforming and vacuum forming are proven and widely utilized processes for forming rigid plastics into clamshells, trays, and components used for protective packaging, procedure kits, medical trays, mounting cards, and handling trays.
Some commonly used materials are:
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PETG) is a clear, tough, thermoplastic material that is easy to thermoform. PETG is ideal for medical applications because it stands up to radiation and chemical sterilization techniques without changing color.
- Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE) is clear, tough, and has excellent gas and moisture barrier properties. PETE is commonly used in soft drink bottles, injection molded consumer product containers, and both food and non-food containers.
- Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) is a thermoplastic known for its lightness, rigidity and moldability. ABS comes in conductive and anti-static grades. |
Browse Exhibits (10 total)
This exhibit celebrates the past and current presidents of the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Selected items pertaining to the women of the Space Program from the collecting areas of the University Archives at the University of Houston - Clear Lake.
Selected items from the collecting areas of the University Archives at the University of Houston - Clear Lake.
Selected works from the Alfred R. Neumann Rare Book Collection
Selected items from the UHCL Memorabilia Collection at the Universtiy of Houston - Clear Lake.
Selected materials from the University Archives at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Exhibit created in celebration of American Archives Month 2016.
Selected materials from the Maxime A. Faget Collection at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Hank Eggers (1938-2012) was born in Philadelphia PA and was an Electronics Technician in the U.S. Navy. He became a Field Engineer for General Dynamics Corp. in the early 1960s and was sent to Houston from San Diego to work as a contractor with NASA.
The online component to the Neumann Library exhibit documenting the history of the Clear Lake area.
In January 1993 the UHCL 20th Anniversary Commemoration Steering Committee convened to begin planning a year-long celebration from September 1993 to September 1994. The Committee adopted the theme "Celebration of Excellence" and planned a full slate of events such as a national aspiring playwrights festival, guest lecturer Joyce Carol Oates, and a charter faculty and staff reunion. In addition, the committee desired to commission a lasting piece of permanent artwork for the University.
Joyce Goerke, honorary chair of the committee and wife of then-UHCL President Glenn Goerke, suggested a quilt as an artistic symbol of the commemorative event. Just as a large quilt is created of many small parts, the University represents a unified community, a patchwork of people and ideas.
The photos and other records used for this exhibit can be found in the UHCL. 20th Anniversary Quilt Commemoration Committee Records (#2001-0007) University Archives, Neumann Library, University of Houston-Clear Lake. |
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Virgin Atlantic is seeking protection from creditors in the US as it struggles to survive the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating effect on the airline industry, a court has heard.
The airline, founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson, could run out of money by the end of September if creditors do not approve a £1.2bn bailout package.
The news comes after Virgin Atlantic announced it was closing its Gatwick operation and axing 3,150 jobs – around a third of its workforce – in May.
The company had previously told staff to take eight weeks of unpaid leave, and called on the UK government to offer emergency the airline industry credit facilities worth up to £7.5bn.
Although further redundancies cannot be ruled out, the latest update has no direct impact on more job cuts and the airline says it is confident it will continue running flights.
At a High Court hearing in London on Tuesday, a lawyer representing Virgin Atlantic told the judge the company was “undergoing a liquidity crisis” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The group’s financial position has been severely affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused unprecedented disruption to the global aviation industry,” David Allison QC said in written submissions to the court.
“Passenger demand has plummeted to a level that would, until recently, have been unthinkable.”
“As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the group is now undergoing a liquidity crisis.
“[Without] a restructuring and an injection of new money, it is projected that the group’s cash flow would drop to a critical level by the week commencing September 21, 2020.”
He added: “It is projected that the group would run out of money altogether during the week commencing September 28, 2020.”
In a connected move later on Tuesday, Virgin Atlantic filed for protection in a US federal bankruptcy court in New York.
The company is seeking protection under chapter 15 of the US bankruptcy code, which allows a foreign debtor to shield assets in the country.
In April, Virgin Australia went into administration. Its new owner Bain Capital today announced it is set to cut 3,000 jobs.
Virgin Atlantic has previously said it does not expect demand for air travel to return to pre-coronavirus levels until 2023.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “Virgin Atlantic attended court yesterday (4th August) as part of a solvent recapitalisation process under 26(A) of the UK Companies Act 2006. That process is proceeding with the support of the majority of our creditors.
“Following the UK hearing held yesterday (4th August), ancillary proceedings in support of the solvent recapitalisation were also filed in the US under their Chapter 15 process. These ancillary US proceedings have been commenced under provisions that allow US courts to recognise foreign restructuring processes.
“In the case of Virgin Atlantic, the process we have asked to be recognised is a solvent restructuring of an English company under Part 26A of the English Companies Act 2006.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated. |
By Emma Lord*
On December 1st, 2016, headlines marked the formal end of Colombia´s prolonged war. Emma Lord shares some reflections on the contextual complexity of the conflict based on fieldwork in the department of Valle del Cauca in 2015.
Sitting in the kitchen of a caleño guitarist –a research informant and friend– we chat about his day over fruit salad and scattered documents, reproduced paper forms on the table. We just recognized each other in the street, two blocks from his house, from regular gatherings to recite and share poems in a local park. The meeting was coincidental as he was returning from his dusty bus transit to a satellite town on the foothills of Valle de Cauca, two hours from Cali. The documents we look at are from his land restitution claim under Colombia’s Ley de Víctimas y Restitución de Tierras (2011), which aims to compensate victims of the armed conflict since 1985. It is October 2014.
As a European researcher interested in tracing the concrete processes governing access to land, I am curious to follow the details of my friend’s procedure as he prepares to return in two months or so for his next appointment. Thanks to his poems, I already know the story of his son, exiled in Canada; and his final words to his deceased wife when they parted ways on the journey to Bogotá, her by plane and his by night bus, due to his last-minute premonition against flying that night, dismissed by her as superstitious.
Who says my poems are poems?
My poems are not poems.
After you know my poems are not poems,
Then we can begin to discuss poetry!
Japanese Haiku, Ryokan; in ‘Amor en la noche, guerra en la mañana’ –Diego Lozano, Caleño poet
Official reclamation points for armed conflict victims within the city of Cali are already beyond their capacity, as the administrative wheels of the cumbersome land restitution process are only just grinding into action. Despite years of planning, international human rights organizations predict that only a small minority of claims can be successful. Given the extent and high level of manipulation inherent in state institutions recording information related to this historically complex context, concrete incidents can be the only means to gauge what is taking place.
Here, even the most supposedly certain of international agreements fails to be respected. For instance, the Colombian constitution of 1991 granted de jure territorial rights to indigenous and afro-Colombian groups, acknowledging the formal basis for a pluri-national politics of difference. The creation of Zona Reserva Campesina (ZRC) awarded rights to non-ethnic peasants in 1994. Nevertheless, legal recognition proved irrelevant in preventing de facto forced evictions from the ethnic territories of the coastal Pacific Rim. And despite the Colombian government’s ratification of the signed peace agreement with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) in December 2016, my prolonged observations in the Valle de Cauca revealed a much more complex situation. Military forces remain authorized to kill whichever gangs they have labeled as criminal, marking the covert continuation of an unofficial war.
The non-governmental organizations working to facilitate victims’ claims to compensation and land restitution in Cali are much less visible than their counterparts in Bogotá and Medellín; few have websites or publicity on digitally searchable directories. For me, gaining the level of trust and social connections needed to be able to talk to them freely has taken some months. However, with patience, my extended stay brought connections to a nationwide social movement, ´Voz de la Consciencia´, which helped see more clearly through clouded waters (you can listen to their radio station here).
Displacement is not an officially encouraged research theme in Colombia, yet many intellectuals work now under threat or exile. This created challenges in terms of knowing exactly where to begin my research when I arrived in Colombia in April 2014. For example, one of these intellectuals, Alfredo Molano, has narrated his forced exile to Spain after uncovering a thousand stories of “eviction for political reasons, but for economic ends” as a sociologist and journalist.
Searching through library press records brought much relevant knowledge, but not in the manner I expected. A hushed phone call from an attendant, then a quiet request to present myself to someone that wanted to meet me. Much to my relief it was an offer of assistance from a gentleman under early retirement from the university. Through his patient narrations, my understanding about the areas with unrecorded narratives grew. His stories contained rich details and opinions, missing from many historical accounts of Colombia. I gradually realized how widely different the printed word can be from what Colombian writers would like to express, if granted freedom of speech. What is set in print can be often evocative yet at times rather cryptic.
For me, the most vivid anecdotes came from discussions with poets. Talking and listening to them I grasped how to understand Colombia’s history. I needed to consider key authors and events that my previous digitized literature reviews had overlooked. Many poets write anonymously. One of these, for example, opened his soul to reveal the meaning of war; watching the blood drain from his companions’ faces, learning of the destruction of their remains, escaping to wander the hills alone, due to a favor that had saved the life of a military general’s son.
El Lomo (anonymous)
|Hoy desperté soñando, yo no escuchaba el traquetear de la metralleta, en su lugar escuchaba el trino de pájaros lejanos; soñé que los fusiles se convertían en machetes.
Que donde se sembraban minas, crecían arboles de pan coger, oí sonrisas de niños, ladrar de perros y robustas mujeres, lavar en los ríos, vi hombres que en vez de mochilas y fusiles llevaban canastos y azadones.
Soñé que lo tierra ya no se teñía de rojo, sino verdecid esmeraldina, ya no corrían ríos de sangre, ni de llanto sino cascadas cantarines, vi como blancos pañuelos se elevaban al aire convertidos en palomas.
Vi mis viejos, mi rancho, y aquel escuálido caballo que en su huesudo lomo me llevo a la escuela , trotando alegre…
Pero desperté a mi oscura realidad
Soy solo un pensamiento, hoy mi morada frio, lo comparto con otros seres sollozantes…
Me ha crecido hierba entre los dedos, donde habitaban mis ojos, solo hay dos cuencos oscuros y vacios, soy un desaparecido mas.
Una estadística, un Jhon Doe, solo espero que algún día escuchen mis silenciosos ruegos, y me sepulten en tierra santa con mi verdadero nombre, pues no me llamo ‘NN’.
|Today I awoke dreaming, I didn’t hear the (click) of the rifle, instead I heard the trilling of distant birds; I dreamed that the rifles had changed into machetes.
That where they had laid mines, grew trees of ‘pan coger’, I heard smiles of children, barking of dogs and sturdy women, washing in the rivers, I saw men, instead of carrying rucksacks and rifles bore baskets y rakes.
I dreamed that the earth no longer contained red, only green emeralds, no longer ran with rivers of blood or tears, only singing cascades, I saw white handkerchiefs raised in the air changed into doves.
I saw my old folks, my ranch, and that skeletal horse that carried me to school on its bony back, trotty happily…
But I awoke to my dark reality
I am only a thought, today my cold hearth, I share with other sobbing beings…
Grass has grown between my fingers, where my eyes lived, there are only two dark and empty holes, I am just another who has disappeared.
A statistic, a John Doe, I only hope that one day they listen to my silent prayers and they bury me in sacred earth with my real name, then I won’t be called ‘NN’.
Who can say how many countless stories about the Colombian conflict remain untold? The illustrations accompanying the impromptu poetry of Cali, printed, hand written and online, depict every facet of human imagination from the beautiful to the strange, the wondrous dream to the nightmare. The Colombian armed conflict is notorious for brutal and bloodthirsty accounts of dismemberment, hanged corpses, false positives. By contrast, my interview with X resembled the destruction of a concentration camp, clinical, dehumanized and cold. This association shifts my entire understanding of the research context and raises questions about the wisdom of legal intervention strategies, in the face of such disrespect for the law and for humanity.
Who can say how the formal peace declaration will alter the lives of Colombian citizens from now on? Any account of Colombia surely omits the cultural warmth that is typically found among the people, in and around Cali. Since my first arrival welcoming faces on the airport bus warmly inquired into my background, my family, my plans, simultaneously warning against the perils of straying from my intended trajectory, venturing unaccompanied, or even taking a taxi alone. My first transit from the bus station was accompanied by a kind fellow passenger living a few blocks from my hostel. It has been a shock to unravel how this warmth is built upon the deepest incidence of suffering; to shine light on the images imagined by the poets of Colombia. And to experience how in the face of atrocities, which deliberately remain uncounted, people still reach out openly to take a visitor’s hand.
* Emma Jane Lord is a PhD candidate with the Strategic Communication Group, Wageningen University. |
State Natural History Museum of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University is one of the oldest European Museums as well as a major research and educational center in Ukraine, engaged in exhibition, research, educational activity and promotion of scientific and ecological knowledge. Shortly after the opening of Kharkiv Imperial University its administration asked headmasters of local schools and colleges to send to University various antiquities and objects of historical value. The University Warden count Severin Pototskyi bought in Hannover Professor Andre’s collection and in St. Petersburg a collection owned by an Italian Chetti. They contained many kinds of animals: corals, shells, molluscs, insects, birds, petrifactions and minerals, and on 2 April 1807 these two collections arrived in Kharkiv. This date is believed to be the date of founding the Museum. A lot of scientists and statesmen have helped the Museum to enrich its collections and now it is in possession of some unique valuable exhibits.
The exhibits in the Museum collections make in total over 250 thousand items brought from all over the world. These are stuffed animals and birds, skulls, bird eggs, wet and dry specimens of various animals, insects, rocks and minerals, petrifactions and skeletons, dummies and plaster casts of extinct animals. 23 exhibition rooms of the Museum host 4 expositions: Geological, the Invertebrates, the Vertebrates, Organic World Evolution and Nature Conservation. All exhibits are displayed in the form of systematic collections as well as biogroups and dioramas with audio and visual effects. The Museum has also educational functions: students have classes here, it provides assistance for researchers and scientists, stets up temporary exhibitions on Nature Conservation, Mineralogy and Paleontology. The Museum maintains contacts with many research institutions and museums from different countries. About 40 thousand residents of the city, tourists, foreign guests, scientists and experts in various fields of knowledge visit the Museum every year. |
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Presentations & Conferences
Here are two sources that you can use to find the best conference to present your work at or even just to have a look at what is out there:
Tips for presenting:
- Smile and exude confidence, even if you don’t feel it.
- Practice, practice, practice!!
- To relax, ask the audience questions and have a ‘conversation’ with them before you begin with the presentation
- Know and engage your audience- Information is great but people tend to lose focus after listening to facts for extended periods of time. To take a break from the facts, engage your audience with a story to wake them up and keep them interested. A story every 10-15 minutes will keep your audience listening.
- Bring it! Do as much research on your topic of presentation as you possibly can
- Attend other presentations to get tips of how to do presentations and learn from their mistakes
- Know your material and do not rely on your slides
Tips for creating amazing presentations
- Limit the number of words used on slides (use keywords only). People cannot read and listen simultaneously- while they are reading the text on the slides their attention shifts from what are saying
- Make use of attention-grabbing relevant pictures and diagrams- Keeps the audience interested and say more than words do
- Use colour cautiously
- Use an appropriate font size
- Make use of MS PowerPoint add-ons to enhance your slides |
When it comes to saving electricity, one of the tips you hear about most is unplugging devices when not in use. But that can get annoying after a while. And in many cases, it is simply not feasible. For example, some outlets in your home are difficult to reach.
One of the suggestions for making the task of unplugging or completely powering off devices easier is to use power strips. With one flip of the switch, you can turn off an entire group of devices. But the negative to this approach is easily identifiable. What if you want to only turn off SOME of the devices connected to the strip?
Advanced power strips to the rescue!
Power strips are getting smarter all the time. There are basically five types of advanced power strips which will help you lower your electric bill — all while making it easier to control groups of devices.
Timer Power Strips – $ to $$
These type of power strips operate on a pre-set schedule. Outlets have to programmed to turn on and off at set schedules. This can help lower your power bill by automatically turning off devices when you know your home will be empty and at night while you’re sleep. Just remember that once you set the schedule, it’s up to you to stick to it.
Activity Monitor Power Strips – $$ to $$$
These type of power strips attempt to detect if there is movement or activity in the room. They use motion sensors and if there is no movement or activity detected, the outlets on the switch automatically turn off. In theory, this type of strip is a good idea but in reality, motion sensors aren’t 100% perfect.
Remote Switch Power Strips – $
These type of power strips are controlled via remote switch which eliminates the need to physically walk over to the strip itself. These are the cheapest type of advanced power strips but there’s one thing you always need to remember — don’t forget to use the remote to turn off the strip.
Master-Controlled Power Strip – $ to $$
These type of power strips have a very interesting concept. When you turn on a primary device (the “master”) such as your television, all of the other outlets are turned on as well. The same works in reverse. In this example, once you turn off the television, all of the other outlets are turned off as well. Depending on how you use your individual power strips, it may sometimes be tricky to select which device should be the master.
Masterless Power Strip – $$ to $$$
These type of power strips also have a very interesting concept. When all of the devices plugged in to the strip have been turned off, the entire strip is turned off, thus eliminating the vampire loads.
Note: The masterless power strip may also be labeled as “automatic switching” or “power detection.”
The good news is, you have a choice as to which type of advanced power strip you would like to use. The questions you have to ask yourself are:
- Do you want manual or automated control?
- Do the devices connected to the strip shut completely off or do they go into sleep mode?
- Does one device need to be on in order for the other devices to be used?
Answer those questions and you will know exactly which strips to purchase. |
The hailstorm that hit the region of La Ribera Alta last Friday caused losses of more than 4 million euros in an area of 2,000 hectares of crops, mainly persimmons and citrus, according to the first estimates made by the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA).
According to ASAJA, although the affected strip was new, barely one kilometre wide, it affected numerous municipalities such as Benimodo, l’Alcúdia, Massalavés, Guadassuar, Alzira, Benimuslem, Alberic and Carcaixent, among others. In addition, the stone caused devastating damage, with an average of 50% and in the worst cases up to 100% of the harvest, in the middle of the campaign for harvesting persimmons and early varieties of mandarins and oranges.
So much so that, according to testimonies associated with AVA-ASAJA, the intense storm destroyed entire fields that were to be harvested as of this Tuesday, so that some farmers have not been able to harvest anything for only three days, losing the entire crop.
AVA-ASAJA regrets this meteorological setback in a season in which both persimmon and citrus fruit prices at origin are reasonable due to the balance between the existing supply and the demand pushed by the Covid-19.
“In the case of persimmon, the stone becomes the drop that fills the glass because it aggravates the drastic reduction in the harvest after the effects of the climatic anomaly in spring and the unprecedented incidence of pests and diseases which is at 50% of the crop’s potential capacity”, explain the agricultural producers’ association.
In addition to the plots that are 100% affected, there are many others with damage levels of 70 or 80% where the collidors will not enter either because the labour costs do not allow for compensation of the expected income.
The agricultural organization asks Agroseguro to expedite the assessments to pay the appropriate compensation, while the authorities are asked to implement tax measures to alleviate the losses of affected farmers, including a sharp reduction of modules for the next income tax return. |
Chemi-pure is the original ion filter medium in a nylon bag. Chemi-pure produces constant results that make it easier to maintain any kind of aquarium. Crystal clear water, constant Ph level, reduced levels of ammonia and nitrates and fewer water changes
Chemi-Pure quickly filters excess waste nutrients that bacteria feed on, stopping bacteria build up and clearing your tank. Most fish tanks and aquariums become cloudy, dirty or murky as bacteria consume waste and multiply, clouding up the water. Chemi-Pure removes dissolved organic waste, food and other particulates quickly and safely by filtering them directly from marine and freshwater tank water, stopping the bacteria build up.
Chemi-pure is a simple-to-use filter media suitable for all types of aquatic environments, and which is manufactured with the latest technologies available. Chemi-Pure is very economical, and provides problem-free filter operation. Chemi-Pure is a nylon filter bag filled with a high grade blend of activated carbons and ion exchange resins. The activated carbons filter particulates and waste while the ion exchange resins help remove nitrogen (ammonia and nitrate) build up which is harmful to your fish. Chemi-Pure also stabilizes water chemistry while keeping your pH levels perfectly constant. Its effects are far reaching, another reason why aquarists worldwide have been using it for years to help improve the life and health of their aquariums. Below is a listing of some of the benefits of using Chemi-pure:
-Keeps pH stable and constant -Reduces fish loss due to pH changes or polluted water -Keeps aquariums crystal clear -Provides positive neurological reactions in fish, mimicking a natural environment -Removes dissolved organics. -Helps fish have a better appetite -Eliminates osmotic shock. -Increases fish life span. -Filters out coppers, metals, odors and phenol. -Prevents ion antagonism. -Lasts up to 4 months -Available in several sizes
Simple to Use Instructions: 1. Keep Chemi-pure packages sealed until ready for use, then remove bag directly from the bottle. 2. Rinse Chemi-pure bag with filtered water. 3. Keep the nylon bag closed, and insert into filtration system where carbon or chemical filtration is required, laying bag flat, and allowing for a substantial flow of water flowing through the nylon bag. Be sure to place Chemi-pure in an area of your filter that is large enough to accept the amount needed. 4. If necessary, use filter floss to fill gaps, and to support the Chemi-pure bag so it remains directly in the water flow path. 5. Change floss and rinse off bag when flow-through filter decreases 6. Chemi-pure is specially formulated, and should not be divided under any circumstances. |
On November 14, 2016, Donald Trump, a man with no personal experience whatsoever with the federal government, designed his White House staff by placing at the top of the staff two men with equal power: Steven Bannon, who is designated with a new title “chief strategist,” and Reince Priebus, taking the traditional title of “chief of staff.” Neither Bannon nor Priebus has prior experience in the federal government either, nor do the other players with access to Trump and part of his inner circle: Kellyanne Conway and Jared Kushner.
Since Trump’s inauguration there have been stories about the power struggles between the players, principally the Bannonites versus the Priebusites. For example on January 20, 2017, CNN reported on “The Power Struggle Among Trump’s Inner Circle”; by February 3, 2017, The New Yorker reported on “Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus’s War For the White House”; and two weeks later the Washington Monthly headlined “Right Wing Media on the Bannon vs Priebus Power Struggle.”
Trump’s White House operations, which have produced mostly chaos during his first two months in office, are on my mind because I am reading an advance copy of journalist Chris Whipple’s new book, The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency (publication date April 8, 2017). If past is prologue, and I believe that to be true, then based on Chris Whipple’s findings, Trump has asked for trouble, and will likely get more chaos.
Whipple found that modern presidents without a strong chief of staff have not done well. Neither JFK nor LBJ had strong chiefs of staff, and after Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs debacle, he made his brother, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy the de facto chief; LBJ remained his own chief of staff, and allowed the Vietnam War to both get out of hand and consume his presidency. When Vice President Jerry Ford assumed the presidency after Nixon’s resignation, his first impulse was to have no chief of staff. That quickly proved a disaster so he reversed himself. Similarly, President Jimmy Carter went two years with no chief of staff and accomplished little. A president who is occupied controlling the schedule for which aides can use the White House tennis court is wasting his time. Whipple notes that even when Carter finally installed Hamilton Jordan as his chief of staff, Jordan was not well suited for the post, and that choice cost him a second term.
Today, Whipple found, the post of White House chief of staff is based largely on the model that President Nixon’s chief of staff, H. R. “Bob” Haldeman, designed and operated, notwithstanding the fact that Haldeman mismanaged Watergate and other Nixon illegal excesses disastrously. As Whipple discovered, and mentioned to me when interviewing me about the Nixon White House, Whipple said Haldeman himself attended a January 1986 symposium with other living chiefs of staff in San Diego, California, where he was asked how the Watergate scandal had happened. “The thing that went wrong is that the system [he had developed for the White House] was not followed. Had we dealt with [Watergate] in the way we set up from the outset . . . we would have resolved that matter satisfactorily, probably unfortunately for some people, but that was necessary and should have been done. It wasn’t done, and that was what led to the ultimate crisis.” As I told Whipple, to his surprise and as he quotes in the book; “That’s exactly what happened.”
Haldeman created a checking and balancing system that was employed on most everything at the Nixon White House, except for Nixon’s excesses—which led to the demise of his presidency. The lesson is obvious. The White House needs a strong internal staffing system, because issues that arrive at the White House could not be resolved at a lower level and they are important. Thus, if a mistake is made, it will likely harm the president. But if such a system is created and then not employed, it might as well not have even existed. A White House that treats every problem and situation in an ad hoc fashion, without careful and complete staffing, will inevitably hurt the president.
Whipple’s book shows how smoothly a White House with a strong chief of staff with the checks, double checks, and controls of the Haldeman system can operate, as well as how poorly it can be for those that do not get it together. Briefly stated, under the Haldeman model, a chief of staff controls the president’s schedule, and the access of people and paper to the president. He makes certain the president sees who he needs to see and receives the information he needs when he needs it, and together he and the president work out the president’s schedule. Presidential travel today is extremely complex, requiring careful advance planning. The message from Whipple’s book—aside from being a fascinating read about the inner-workings of the Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama White Houses—is that a president who organizes conflict and struggles in the staffing system, thus exacerbating the inherent conflicts of a staff seeking to influence the most powerful political office in the world, is heading for problems.
Trump ran his real estate and branding organization by encouraging staff conflicts. A commercial business seeks ideas and solutions that make the most money. Government exists for a very different reason as rather succinctly stated by the nation’s founders. To paraphrase and quote: Governments are instituted to secure the self-evident truths “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” While the words of the Declaration of Independence are not expressly repeated in the Constitution, nor has the jurisprudence of the so-called “declarationists” (see, e.g., an essay on declarationsim) embracing and promoting this concept, it remains an accurate explanation for why we have a government.
I wish I could have told Whipple that Haldeman’s operations of the White House were designed to make certain the president’s programs and actions were designed to accomplish this fundamental purpose of government, but I doubt that has ever been the operating measurement for any president or chief of staff. Rather the White House staff operation takes as a given the president’s plans and programs are consistent with and in furtherance of these reasons we have government, and like the president, everyone who works for the federal government pledges to support and uphold the U.S. Constitution, the charter for government operations, thus controlling the execution and implementation of any president’s campaign pledges and promises.
The Haldeman model was anything but prosaic or lofty, rather it was designed to control the president schedule so that he was only involved in matters that required his attention, that all papers and people going to the Oval Office went through Haldeman, so he could determine if the matter required presidential attention. While Nixon wanted to set policy he wanted the executive departments and agencies to both provide him with suggestions and follow through with his decisions. Nixon’s tapes show two themes dominated his thinking. He wanted to bring about world peace, which would not only get him reelected to a second term, but also give him the prominent place in history he craved. The other thought driving him would in the end doom him. As noted by Whipple: “Nixon was determined to do one other thing: exact revenge on his enemies.” I am sure Whipple noticed when going through Nixon’s White House papers—particularly materials once located in “special files” – often addressed Nixon’s efforts at revenge and this fell outside the normal staffing system.
What Haldeman’s system also did was prevent the very type of White House atmosphere that Trump is encouraging: creating divisions, rivalries and competition within the staff. No palace intrigue was tolerated. Nixon’s biggest prima donnas were two academics: Patrick Moynihan and Henry Kissinger. Haldeman handled them both well. Moynihan soon departed to run for the U.S. Senate, successfully. Kissinger survived even Watergate, tarnished but in control of U.S. foreign policy, for other than Nixon, no one understood it better than Henry.
Staff divisions, rivalries and competition result in ruffled-feathers, hard-feelings, if not back-stabbing. The reasons there are so many leaks from the Trump White House is because of this internal strife, and while Trump may have found it produced good money making ideas in his business operations, it is difficult to see how staff discord produces the best public policies.
Just look at the immigration policy produced by the Bannonites in the two Executive Orders banning Muslims, which have been blocked by federal judges. These are the epitome of bad staff work. Everything that could be done wrong in developing and implementing Trump’s campaign promises on immigration has been done.
It is said the as president, Franklin Roosevelt gave conflicting assignments to staff to obtain differing views. Under the Haldeman model, however, good staffing provided the president with all possible views setting forth the upside and downside, good and bad, pro and con, of each. As Chris Whipple’s work shows, the most successful White House operation were, to uses Donald Trump’s inchoate dream of his own White House, “fine-turned machines.” But so long as Trump is encouraging the Bannonites and Preibusite, not to mention Kellyanneites and Jaredites to struggle for his favor, I am confident it will produce more chaos than actions that will reflect favorably on his presidency.
I suggest Trump read Chris Whipple’s book, but he doesn’t read, nor have the patience to listen to the audio edition. Maybe he would like Whipple’s earlier work, his documentary on the chiefs of staff, which evolved into The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency. Hey, Chris, send them both to the president and his top aides. It could make us all a little safer if the material falls into the right hands. |
How to Screen Your Non-Employed Provider Populations
With a growing number of contracted, referring, ordering, and prescribing physicians, you may interact with many providers who aren’t employees of your practice. Although these providers are not subject to your credentialing and privileging process, you are still responsible for verifying that these providers aren’t excluded at a state or federal level from providing services.
Mitigate Risk of HHS OIG Fines and Penalties
If you use the services of an excluded provider, you may be subject to penalties from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at Health and Human Services (HHS). You are expected to regularly perform the same checks against the exclusion list for non-employees as you are for your employed providers. To avoid fines and penalties, comprehensive monitoring of all providers is necessary. OIG does not send notifications of newly listed providers; rather, it expects health care entities to check the exclusion list regularly.
The exclusion list maintained by the OIG is called the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE). This database can be downloaded, and providers should be verified against the list regularly — best practice is to check the database upon hiring and on a monthly basis. You will be held responsible if a provider you hire is on the exclusion list.
In addition to non-reimbursement of claims, hiring a provider on the exclusion list makes you subject to civil monetary penalties, whether you knew the provider was on the list or not.
What Information Does the Special Advisory Bulletin 2013 Provide?
The Special Advisory Bulletin of 2013 details the effects of exclusion from federal healthcare programs. It clarifies the responsibilities for healthcare entities to screen both employees and contractors, outlines the differences between the LEIE and other exclusion lists (such as SAM.gov), and explains circumstances under which providers may or may not use the services of excluded providers.
Can an Excluded Provider Refer a Patient to a Non-Excluded Provider?
An excluded provider may refer a patient to a non-excluded provider but beware. The conditions under which this is legal are strict. The excluded provider may not provide any services to the patient, including prescribing, ordering, or furnishing.
The non-excluded provider must treat the patient and bill state or federal healthcare programs completely independent of the excluded provider. If the non-excluded provider uses the services of the excluded provider to treat the patient in any way the provider can be held responsible. This includes providing items, services, and prescriptions.
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6 Tips for Screening and Monitoring Non-Employed Physicians
It’s a good idea to have a system in place for organizing your referral providers to make screening and monitoring easier. This is especially true if your practice relies heavily on referred procedures such as imaging, prescriptions, and laboratories. Here are a few tips:
- Keep a record of all your referring providers.
- Classify them by type of service and billing procedures.
- Determine who is responsible for monitoring providers and if these processes are sufficient to meet OIG guidelines. Determine where referral data is recorded.
- Determine how often new providers are used.
- Determine if data collected from new providers is sufficient for screening.
- Find out how often monitoring is conducted and determine if this time interval is sufficient to meet OIG guidelines.
4 Credentials to Verify for Every Non-Employed Provider
Even if a provider is on the LEIE list, it doesn’t mean they won’t have other credentials. To avoid liability, it’s important to check all of a physician’s credentials before using the services of a provider. Make sure the non-employed physician has all of the following:
- A current, unrestricted license
- Current verified credentials
- No exclusions from practice with Medicare/Medicaid programs
- Valid Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) registration for prescriptions
How Augmented Data Helps You Screen Non-Employed Providers
When organizing provider data, using augmented data like the National Provider Identifier (NPI) and SSN helps create a smarter exclusion monitoring program. With the provider’s NPI number, you can check enrollment in national provider registries like NPPES. You can also use the NPI to screen against exclusion lists like LEIE, SAM.gov, and State Medicaid. By combining the provider’s NPI and SSN with your exclusion list search, you can avoid liability and fines and keep your patients safe.
Screening with FACIS®, is the most comprehensive data set for screening and monitoring healthcare providers, makes it easy to verify non-employed provider credentials not only against the OIG exclusion list but also against all federal and state data sources with real-time accuracy. Speak to a credentialing expert at Verisys to find out how you can ensure your non-employed providers’ credentials meet all government and regulatory standards.
|Written by Juliette Willard
Healthcare Communications Specialist
Being creative is my passion! Writer. Painter. Problem Solver. Optimist.
Connect with Juliette on LinkedIn |
- 1 8 Ways to Cope with Insomnia during Pregnancy
- 2 Conclusion
Updated: 3 August, 2019
Hi there. Welcome to Vital Health Recipes, we hope you find this post helpful.
Imagine having to deal with insomnia despite all the stress you have gone through the day during your pregnancy. Just when you feel the need to catch a good sleep before the baby wakes up; you are faced with the stark reality of insomnia. How can you overcome this frustrating experience? Consider these useful tips:
8 Ways to Cope with Insomnia during Pregnancy
1. Don’t drink too much caffeine
If you are preparing to go to bed, resist the temptation to consume caffeine. Since caffeine is present in most beverages like tea, chocolate, and coffee, stay away from them a few hours before bedtime. Caffeine will keep you awake.
2. Reduce your water intake before bed
Sometimes, frequent urination at night may be responsible for your insomnia. To overcome that problem, limit your water intake to a few hours before going to bed. Stop drinking at least an hour before bedtime.
3. Drink plenty of water
While drinking water before bedtime can cause insomnia, drinking plenty of water during the day will prevent this sleeping problem. If you consume a large quantity of water, your body will be fully hydrated which may prevent leg cramps, another cause of insomnia.
4. Exercise is useful
Aside helping you to stay fit by shedding excess weight, about 30 minutes of exercise everyday can also be instrumental to getting good sleep at night. Exercise releases endorphins to improve your mood, while the sun, a good source of vitamin D will have the same effect on you. The combination of exercise and exposure to sun will reduce your vulnerability to anxiety and depression. When these two are out of the way, your pregnancy insomnia will become history.
5. Warm bath can help
Due to the rigor of the day, your body may desire a refreshing night rest. In order to wind down, go for a warm bath. This will make you feel refreshed and relaxed. In addition, having warm bath will remove the cause of your insomnia such as aches and pains.
6. Engage yourself in other activities
If insomnia pays you a visit, leave your bedroom and go to another room in the house where you can engage yourself in something else. You can read a book or find a way to keep yourself busy until you feel sleepy again. You can then return to your bedroom and try to sleep again. This is a proven antidote against insomnia.
7. Turn off all electronic devices in your home
If there is something that screens and electronic devices are good at, it is promoting sleeplessness. To enjoy good sleep, turn off your electronic devices about an hour before going to bed. To prevent unnecessary interruption, you can set your mobile devices into silent mode if you don’t want to turn them off completely. This will put you in good frame of mind that is conducive to restful sleep.
8. Get regular massage
Sometimes, your insomnia may be a product of anxiety or stress. Perhaps you can’t identify the culprit that deprives you of the much-needed sleep. If that’s your experience, a good massage is what you need. If you get a regular massage, it will help you relax your muscles and diffuse any tension that may cause your sleeplessness.
While insomnia will always like to rear its ugly head, you can overcome the problem by implementing these tested and proven techniques. Thus, you will get the restful sleep that will benefit you and your baby. Also important to note that this could also come with abdominal pain. |
We need to re-introduce the basics –
give it our all, support employment
of a system that validates, so we can
make mistakes, question, and assess
success – together, overcome helpless
shake ups; remember that analysis
expressing understanding is useful.
Participate – it matters – labour, we
are preschoolers needing instruction,
intentions good but manufacturing
challenge – more work needed, peers
who intervene, critique, research,
vocalize and reiterate a purpose.
Together facilitating a moral compass
seeking security, manifesting harmony
we are teachers investigating possibility
leaning on one another, evaluators
driven by an urgency – remembrances,
experience dictating discernment –
our demonstrations articulating need. |
Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala) — 27 September-3 October 2006
Smithsonian / US Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 27 September-3 October 2006
Managing Editor: Sally Kuhn Sennert
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Santa Maria (Guatemala). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 27 September-3 October 2006. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
14.757°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3745 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Explosive activity at Santa María has continued to be reported during 21-29 September by INSIVUMEH. Two explosions on 21 September caused minor ashfall and small block avalanches. A pyroclastic flow the next day was generated by material coming off of Caliente dome. Additional explosions reported on 26 and 29 September again caused ashfall to the SW. Lava extrusion on the 29th triggered avalanches that sent blocks to the base of the crater.
Geologic Background. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is part of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rise above the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The sharp-topped, conical profile is cut on the SW flank by a 1.5-km-wide crater. The oval-shaped crater extends from just below the summit to the lower flank, and was formed during a catastrophic eruption in 1902. The renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 that devastated much of SW Guatemala followed a long repose period after construction of the large basaltic-andesite stratovolcano. The massive dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four vents, with activity progressing W towards the most recent, Caliente. Dome growth has been accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions, with periodic lava extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars. |
French Army Campsite 17 (north) Bladensburg
Units: Bourbonnois, Soissonnois, Saintonge, Royal Deux-Ponts Regiments of Infantry plus regimental artillery and Lauzun's Legion consecutively
Destination: Crompond/Yorktown Heights, New York and from there to Boston, Massachusetts (French infantry) and winterquarters in Wilmington, Delaware (Lauzun's Legion)
Date: July 17-19, 1782 (Lauzun's Legion), July 19-24, 1782 (French infantry)
Public Access: 1
Having crossed the Potomac, French forces encamp at Bladensburg, their seventeenth camp since departure from Williamsburg, Virginia, on July 1, 1782, on their way to a long encampment at Baltimore. |
Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him.
You can find many ways to explain what history is and if it has a great lesson to teach us. Winston Churchill wrote: "To test the present you must appeal to history." One of the Christian historians wrote: "What history does is to uncover man's universal sin." (H. Butterfield) You can certainly see that plainly when you read the book of Daniel in the Old Testament.
In its later chapters, the Book of Daniel tells of kings and queens, generals and war-lords, each of them appearing for a time, seeming to be all-powerful until an even more powerful leader appeared and toppled them. One of the most ruthless and ungodly of these leaders appears in the second part of Daniel chapter 11. It seemed he could do anything he liked. But look at the words at the top of this page. That happened in 164 BC. Today he is forgotten.
In the middle of all that is described in Daniel, God was working out his purposes. In the overthrow of all these ancient rulers, and especially the king of whom we read in Daniel chapter 11, we have a picture of what is yet to happen when Satan, the great anti-Christ, and all who follow him, will be overthrown under the terrible judgment of God: "Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him." Only God is the all-powerful one whose kingdom has no end. Then all will see that history is truly his story and the end will be glorious. |
MADISON (WKOW) -- Thirty-six more people were added Saturday to the total of those who have died in Wisconsin because of COVID-19, according to the latest numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Deaths for each day are reported by DHS HERE.
DHS also reported 120 people were newly-hospitalized.
As of Friday afternoon, 1,054 COVID-19 patients were being treated in Wisconsin hospitals, down 23 from the day prior.
Of those, 242 are in the ICU, down 2 from the day before, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association.
There have been 3,046 positive COVID-19 tests since yesterday in Wisconsin and 5,568 negative results.
Of all positive cases reported since the pandemic began, 445,886 or 88.3 percent, are considered recovered.
DHS now has a county-level dashboard to assess the COVID-19 activity level in counties and Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition regions that measure what DHS calls the burden in each county. View the dashboard HERE.
Deaths, hospitalizations due to COVID-19
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services updates the statistics each day on its website around 2 p.m.
The new strain of the coronavirus causes the disease COVID-19. Symptoms include cough, fever and shortness of breath. A full list of symptoms is available on the Centers for Disease Control website.
In severe cases, pneumonia can develop. Those most at risk include the elderly, people with heart or lung disease as well as anyone at greater risk of infection.
For most, the virus is mild, presenting similarly to a common cold or the flu.
Anyone who thinks they may have the disease should call ahead to a hospital or clinic before going in for a diagnosis. Doing so gives the staff time to take the proper precautions so the virus does not spread.
Those needing emergency medical services should continue to use 911. |
THOMASTON, CT – Ward Leonard Electric Company held its first Operation Shoebox charity drive recently, collecting donated items for our troops deployed outside of the United States.
Started in 2003, Operation Shoebox is an organization which was founded in order to raise morale and let the men and women defending our country know that they are cared about. Based in Bellview, Florida, Operation Shoebox has over 1300 dedicated volunteers in three locations and is dependent upon people all across the country who donate their time, money and assistance in accomplishing the mission; without them, the organization would not be able to accomplish what they do.
"On behalf of Operation Shoebox of Belleview, Florida we are so appreciative of all the efforts put forth by everyone,” said Volunteer Coordinator Janet Oliver.
The drive concluded with a military appreciation luncheon on August 17, held for all employees who donated much-needed items ranging from snacks and personal care items to board games and letters of thanks in support of our soldiers overseas.
Ward Leonard President Michael Clute said of the drive: “The Ward Leonard Team has prided itself over many decades in providing our armed forces with mission-critical power transmission and control solutions to sustain their efforts in the most demanding global environments. Our humble, yet enthusiastic, support of Operation Shoebox today is just another way for us to individually and collectively support and honor those that selflessly commit themselves every day to defending our nation’s interests and way of life.” |
A University of Warwick academic and WHO adviser says that a study which claim salt may not be as damaging to health as is usually claimed is flawed.
“The latest publication in The Lancet from the PURE study does not add anything to the knowledge of the effects of salt on cardiovascular outcomes and, more importantly, does not provide any evidence that reducing population sodium consumption by a moderate amount causes harm.
“The PURE study, due to the numerous flaws highlighted in the last few years in international journals, is not fit to address any of the issues regarding salt consumption and cardiovascular outcomes.
“The assessment of exposure by spot urine collections and the use of the Kawasaki formula is flawed, leading to biased estimates, also shown in the PURE validation of Chinese data. The Kawasaki formula leads to a systematic bias – this bias leads to an overestimate of CVD risk at lower levels of intake. The effect of this bias ‘creates’ a J-shaped curve between sodium consumption and cardiovascular outcomes, as recently shown using data from the Trials Of Hypertension Prevention (TOHP) I and II (published in International Journal of Epidemiology a few weeks ago) – the TOHP trials data was not taken into consideration in the present study. Several repeated 24h urine collections with sodium estimates do show a linear and graded relationship between sodium consumption and CVD risk, with no J shape at all.
“The use of ‘ecological’ associations, which relate average exposures with average outcomes, is immaterial to the interpretations offered by the authors and editorial, due to the lack of allowance for important confounders.
“Concerted actions globally, led by the World Health Organization and endorsed by multiple international health organizations should continue to reduce population salt consumption.”
Prof Francesco Cappuccio, Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine and Epidemiology, Warwick Medical School
For more information contact Nicola Jones, Media Relations Manager, University of Warwick N.Jones.email@example.com or 07920531221 |
Washington: The incoming Biden administration will have a more deliberate and thoughtful engagement with India, a noted foreign policy expert has said, asserting that there will be an opportunity to work with New Delhi to balance the burgeoning influence of China in the region.
Sohini Chatterjee, a faculty member at Columbia University who previously served as senior policy advisor in the Obama administration, said in some cases, there will be a “little bit of consistency” as both US President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden believe that India is an important strategic partner in the region.
But Trump’s relationship with India was a bit more short-term and reactive, the Biden administration is likely to have a slightly more deliberate and thoughtful engagement with India, Chatterjee told PTI.
“I think there’ll be an opportunity to really work with India to balance the kind of burgeoning influence of China in the region, and structure a dialogue that that seeks, in some ways to counterbalance that burgeoning influence,” she said, adding that the QUAD engagement involving Japan and Australia would continue.
Chatterjee, who is also senior associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, and Legal Advisor to Independent International Legal Advocates, said for the Biden administration at the minimum human rights will now be “on the table as a critical issue to address.”
The Biden administration is going to be much more concerned with basic, fundamental human rights, she said.
Chatterjee said that there could be greater cooperation between India and the US in multilateral institution, in particularl at the UN Security Council where India is now a non-permanent member for the next two years beginning January next year.
Now that President-elect Biden is planning on joining the Paris Climate accord, as soon as he gets into office, having a strategic dialogue with India on how to combat climate change would be a great opportunity, she said.
Observing that the Biden administration in its early days was probably going to be very concerned with tackling some of the issues on the home front including COVID19, Chatterjee said there are opportunities to work with India on issues like climate change, and COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, that would probably be an initial priority.
Noting that the bilateral trade relationship has been strained under the Trump administration, Chatterjee said that Biden is well aware of the importance of the US- India trade relationship, as well as the need for the two countries to work to counterbalance China’s influence on trade in the region.
“So, I think there’ll be a pivot there on the trade side. The defense cooperation will likely continue. And these transnational challenges, like climate change, and pandemics, and even international terrorism, will probably become even more critical under the Biden administration,” she said.
Stating that the Trump administration was very keen to disengage from the multilateral institutions, she noted the Biden administration has a chance to lead again on the global stage.
“And having India sort of rise to the occasion at the international space, I think, this would be a great time for that as well. I think the US should work with others with other democracies to not only address the kind of imbalances in favour of China at the WTO, but also address that sort of imbalances and trade that favour China in the region,” Chatterjee said. |
By Jessica Gregory
Article 27 on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child claims: “I have the right to have a proper house, food and clothing”. And yet, the majority of MPs voted against extending free school meals over the Christmas holidays- a time for loving and sharing.
In January 2020, in England alone, almost 1.5 million children claimed free school meals, which is about 17.3% of state-educated pupils. However, since the start of the Conid-19 Covid-19 pandemic, an estimated 900,000 more children have tried to get free school meals. Clearly, this scheme has helped.
However, during a time that can already be hard enough for some families (particularly with the added stresses of Covid-19), the majority of MPs voted for children to go without meals over the Christmas period.
Out of the grand 322 MPs who voted for children to go hungry, Kevin Foster (Torbay’s MP) was one of them. In response to this, Alfie Dean- a fourteen-year-old who set up the Babbacombe Pantry during lockdown- wrote a strong letter to Mr. Foster, expressing his utter dishusdisgust the result.
In his open letter, he wrote, “I find it sickening, that you have voted to let 6000 children, in your constituency, potentially go without a meal”, followed by the notion of whether Kevin Foster really was doing right by Torbay.
During lockdown, Alfie Dean opened the Babbacombe Pantry outside his house, using a shelf from his room, for people to take bread, milk and more from. Alfie encouraged people to ‘take what you need, leave what you don’t, donate what you can”.
Unfortunately, not everyone acts with such kindness. Not only was it Kevin Foster who voted for this ‘sickening’ motion, but also Mel Stride (Conservative for Central Devon), and
Anthony Mangnall (Conservative for Totnes). However, there were some in our local area who did vote for the free school meals: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative for Newton Abbot) and Ben Bradshaw (Labour for Exeter).
In the case of Anne Marie Morris, she rebelled against her party to support the right for children to have free school meals. She said the reason why she voted this was because Covid-19 has had a ‘heavy impact’ on many people throughout Teignbridge, bringing ‘significant economic difficulties’ for many lives.
So, for some reason, the majority of MPs voted for children to go without a meal, even though it may not give them the strength to fight this ‘invisible enemy’ we call coronavirus, even though we are a high income country and even though it would be the right thing to do at Christmas- a time of good fortune and merriment. But how can we expect anyone to be merry with an empty stomach?
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Reasoning Over Knowledge Graphs in Vector Space using Embeddings.
Jure Leskovec, Stanford
Answering complex logical queries on large-scale knowledge graphs is a fundamental yet challenging task. In this I will give an overview of using vector space embeddings for performing logical reasoning in knowledge graphs. First, I will talk about knowledge graph completion method that predicts relations between a pair of entities by: Considering the Relational Context of each entity by capturing the relation types adjacent to the entity and modeled through a novel edge-based message passing scheme; Considering the Relational Paths capturing all paths between the two entities; And, adaptively integrating the Relational Context and Relational Path through a learnable attention mechanism. Second, we will also discuss QUERY2BOX, an embedding-based framework for reasoning over arbitrary queries with and, or and existential operators in massive and incomplete KGs. Our main insight is that queries can be embedded as boxes (i.e., hyper-rectangles), where a set of points inside the box corresponds to a set of answer entities of the query. We show that conjunctions can be naturally represented as intersections of boxes and also prove a negative result that handling disjunctions would require embedding with dimension proportional to the number of KG entities.
The slides are available here.
More details in the paper available here.
Jure Leskovec is an associate professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, the Chief Scientist at Pinterest, and an Investigator at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. He was the co-founder of a machine learning startup Kosei, which was later acquired by Pinterest. Leskovec's research area is machine learning and data science for large interconnected systems. Focuses on modeling complex, richly-labeled relational structures, graphs, and networks for systems at all scales, from interactions of proteins in a cell to interactions between humans in a society. Applications include commonsense reasoning, recommender systems, social network analysis, computational social science, and computational biology with an emphasis on drug discovery. This research has won several awards including a Lagrange Prize, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and numerous best paper and test of time awards. It has also been featured in popular press outlets such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Leskovec received his bachelor's degree in computer science from University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, PhD in machine learning from Carnegie Mellon University and postdoctoral training at Cornell University. You can follow him on Twitter at @jure. |
The system for the acceptance of students for all of the universities in the Kurdistan Region is centralized. As a result, the University of Zakho participates in a centralized admission procedure, which is conducted by the ‘Central Admission Bureau of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research’ – Kurdistan Regional Government. The graduates of the “Secondary School Baccalaureate Examination” apply to the desired department via a computerized application site called “Zanko Line”. The selection of a given faculty or college depends on the students’ graduation degrees at the secondary school. This process is only available for secondary school graduates and they will be accepted at universities and institutions in the Kurdistan Region. International students are required to equalise their academic certificates at the ‘Directorate of Evaluation and Assessment’ in Erbil, For more information click here. As a result, the University of Zakho accepts students annually to all of their scientific departments. After their acceptance in this process the students are obliged to contact the General Registration Directorate at the University of Zakho for their certainty of approval in the desired scientific department. Furthermore, the students from outside of Zakho are given accommodations by the Directorate of Dormitory. After this process, the students join the scientific program of the nominated department at the University of Zakho at no cost.
The university awards the following undergraduate degrees:
- BA (Bachelor of Arts), See Faculty website .
- BSc (Bachelor of Science), See Faculty website .
- BEd (Bachelor of Education), See Faculty website .
Registration's Requirements Acceptance of students at the University of Zakho
- Iraqi nationality or any other nationality.
- Holds an Iraqi high school Degree or any other equivalent high school degree.
- Medical tests certificate.
- Graduates of the last school year and the past three years that precede it and is not admitted to any college or institute in the country or private college.
- The first quarter of the graduates of Islamic high schools in Islamic Sciences, Arabic language, and History departments of the School of Arts.
- The first quarter of the graduates of vocational high shchools in Computer Sciences, Commerce and Banking, and Business Economic Departments.
- The graduates of branches in the professional morning schools and secondary professional evenings schools are allowed to apply to the Board of Technical Education but the rates of their acceptance is determined in accordance with plan requirements for admission of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
- The registration procedure is carried out by the Zanko line .
In the University of Zakho, every one can register by using Zanko Line website.
The requirements for registration in the University of Zakho are aforementioned in the Registration's Requirements section of this page.
You can see the details of each degree awarded by visiting the following websites: |
Hadoop and Spark are software frameworks from Apache Software Foundation that are used to manage âBig Dataâ. With automated IBM Research analytics, the InfoSphere also converts information from datasets into actionable insights. We have tested and analyzed both services and determined their differences and similarities. Spark has its own SQL engine and works well when integrated with Kafka and Flume. Hadoop can be integrated with multiple analytic tools to get the best out of it, like Mahout for Machine-Learning, R and Python for Analytics and visualization, Python, Spark for real time processing, MongoDB and Hbase for Nosql database, Pentaho for BI etc. In this case, you need resource managers like CanN or Mesos only. There are various tools for various purposes. You’ll have access to clusters of both tools, and while Spark will quickly analyze real-time information, Hadoop can process security-sensitive data. If you need to process a large number of requests, Hadoop, even being slower, is a more reliable option. Finally, you use the data for further MapReduce processing to get relevant insights. The bigger your datasets are, the better the precision of automated decisions will be. We will contact you within one business day. Also learn about its role of driver & worker, various ways of deploying spark and its different uses. are running in-memory settings and ten times faster on disks. A Bit of Sparkâs History. Spark allows analyzing user interactions with the browser, perform interactive query search to find unstructured data, and support their search engine. Such an approach allows creating comprehensive client profiles for further personalization and interface optimization. AOL uses Hadoop for statistics generation, ETL style processing and behavioral analysis. Spark Streaming allows setting up the workflow for stream-computing apps. However, good is not good enough. ; native version for other languages in a development stage; The system can be integrated with many popular computing systems and. It improves performance speed and makes management easier. The system should offer a lot of personalization and provide powerful real-time tracking features to make the navigation of such a big website efficient. At first, the files are processed in a Hadoop Distributed File System. Apache Spark is known for its effective use of CPU cores over many server nodes. Companies that work with static data and don’t need real-time batch processing will be satisfied with Map/Reduce performance. are thought of either as opposing tools or software completing. The company enables access to the biggest datasets in the world, helping businesses to learn more about a particular industry, market, train machine learning tools, etc. He always stays aware of the latest technology trends and applies them to the day to day activities of the dev team. It may begin with building a small or medium cluster in your industry as per data (in GBs or few TBs ) available at present and scale up your cluster in future depending on the growth of your data. Advantages of Using Apache Spark with Hadoop: Apache Spark fits into the Hadoop open-source community, building on top of the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). By using our website you agree to our, Underlining the difference between Spark and Hadoop, Industrial planning and predictive maintenance, What is the Role of Big Data in Retail Industry, Enterprise Data Warehouse: Concepts, Architecture, and Components, Node.js vs Python: What to Choose for Backend Development, The Fundamental Differences Between Data Engineers vs Data Scientists. Hadoop is initially written in Java, but it also supports Python. It performs data classification, clustering, dimensionality reduction, and other features. At first, the files are processed in a Hadoop Distributed File System. What is Spark â Get to know about its definition, Spark framework, its architecture & major components, difference between apache spark and hadoop. For the record, Spark is said to be 100 times faster than Hadoop. The. Great if you have enough memory, not so great if you don't. During batch processing, RAM tends to go in overload, slowing the entire system down. Head of Technology 5+ years. The code on the frameworks is written with 80 high-level operators. This way, developers will be able to access real-time data the same way they can work with static files. The Internet of Things is the key application of big data. Oh yes, I said 100 times faster it is not a typo. Hadoop is not a replacement for your existing data processing infrastructure. The scope is the main. The data here is processed in parallel, continuously – this obviously contributed to better performance speed. Amazon Web Services use Hadoop to power their Elastic MapReduce service. |
Kerala Wedding Sadhya: A Sumptuous and an Elaborate Feast of Sorts
A traditional wedding in Kerala is an intimate affair that generally takes place in the morning with simple rituals and a short ceremony that ends by lunchtime. While it is refreshing to be part of a quick wedding ceremony, it is the Sadhya the guests really look forward to! The newly-weds along with their family and friends sit down to eat a delicious and festive wedding Sadhya.
A typical Kerala Sadhya is a grand orchestration of 20-23 flavoursome local dishes. Served left to right on a banana leaf, the top half consists of accompaniments while the bottom half makes up the staples and mains. Tradition insists that the tapering end of the leaf points to the left of the seated guest. Not just at weddings, such a spread is served on landmark birthdays, Vishu and Onam. It is elaborate and hence, requires an audience to be really enjoyed.
In olden times, Sadhya preparation was considered as a community event where all the neighbouring homes came together to prepare the dishes. Depending on the number of dishes to be prepared and for how many people, the preparations would accordingly begin 1-2 days before. Nowadays, the wedding cooks and caterers need to tackle the challenge of preparing these dishes and serving hungry guests.
Puli Inchi (Image Source: Archana’s Kitchen)
Starting out with pickles, you will be presented two delicious options – a raw mango pickle flavoured with red chilli powder and mustard seeds, and the famous Puli Inchi, a hot and sweet concoction made using ginger, jaggery and green chillies. Next in line are the plantain (or banana) chips. The mildly spicy flavour is a result these chips being flavoured with ginger powder, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and tossed in jaggery syrup. For a crunchy element, there are the Kerala pappadums which are made with rice flour and lentils and deep-fried in a generous amount of coconut oil.
Next, a spoonful of Thoran will be placed on the banana leaf. It is a simple preparation comprising or cabbage or beans stir-fried with grated coconut, mustard seeds, curry leaves and turmeric. Unlike the Tamilian Poriyal, Thoran uses copious amounts of grated coconut. A personal favourite on the wedding spread, Kalan is the next dish to be served. Yam is the most common tuber used for Kalan which is cooked in yoghurt, fenugreek, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, black pepper, curry leaves and ghee.
Avial (Image Source: Cooking Curries)
The mildly-flavoured Olan is served next. It is generally made with ash gourd or pumpkin with black-eyed beans simmered in thick coconut milk. Olan’s flavours can remind you that of Kerala stew. In some parts of Kerala, Olan is replaced by Stew and served with Appams. In southern parts of Kerala, you will get to enjoy More Kootan – similar to Tamil Nadu’s Kuzhambu. Perhaps the most renowned dish of the Sadhya is the Avial, next line after Olan. A melody of vegetables cooked in curd and ground coconut, seasoned with curry leaves and coconut oil – just the description can make your mouth water.
What you will notice is the entire spread features quite a number of vegetables and flavours catering to all your taste buds. Guests get to savour an amalgamation of incredible flavours and textures while enjoying the meal the traditional way. One of the gravies that is a part of the spread is Erissery which combines yellow pumpkins with fried coconut gravy. Another option is Kootu Curry, a mix of vegetables and chickpeas.
Kootu Curry (Image Source: The Spice Adventures)
Similar to raita but Kichadi and Pachadi are tempered with spices in coconut oil. Pachadi is grated coconut and yoghurt while Kichadi is just the yoghurt. Grated cucumber and thinly-sliced okras are added to this. The dish is also a great coolant for the body. Placed at the centre is Kerala’s par-boiled choru rice with the paruppu dal and a dollop of ghee. The first course served with rice is the Sambar. This dish holds such a high rank in the Sadhya that the quality of the meal is purely judged on how delicious is the Sambar. The difference between the Kerala Sambar and Tamil Brahmin Sambar is the former uses more of coconut. The Sambar is followed by the Rasam which is a tangy, peppery broth and finally concluded with spiced buttermilk, all of which is enjoyed with rice.
Sambar (Image Source: Pepper Delight)
Needless to say, every region of Kerala presents a set of regional dishes that get included in the wedding Sadhya. Hindu, Muslim and Christian influences do play a role in the harmony of flavours presented on the banana leaf. In some regions, meat and seafood is also a part of the spread so depending on which part of Kerala the couple is from, you may even get to feast on dishes like Meen Curry and Fish Pollichathu!
The spectacular feast ends with two incredible dessert – Pal Ada Pradhaman, milk slow-cooked with rice flakes in large wood-fired ovens and vessels, and Paruppu Payasam which is lentil cooked with milk and aromatics. The meal ends with sweet banana.
Payasam (Image Source: Feed Your Temptations)
If you ever get invited to a traditional Kerala wedding, don’t miss out on the opportunity because you’re in for a really delicious treat! |
November 26, 2020: Goodbye Mercury as the planet speeds back into the sun’s glare. It returns to the evening sky during the new year. Morning Star Venus continues to step eastward in Virgo.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:54 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:22 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times for your location.
If you’re still tracking Mercury, it is very low in the east-southeast at about 30 minutes before sunrise. This is a challenge to see. An unobstructed, cloud-free horizon is required to see the planet with a binocular. So, we say “Goodbye” to Mercury until it returns to the evening sky during late January and early February of the new year.
This leaves Venus as the lone bright morning planet.
During recent mornings, we’ve watched Venus step through Virgo. This morning that eastern dance continues. The planet is near the Virgo – Libra border, almost between the stars Kappa Virginis (κ Vir on the chart) and Lambda Virginis (λ Vir). Ten days ago, it passed Spica in a wide conjunction. Notice its location compared to the star this morning. During the next few mornings notice its position compared to the κ Vir and λ Vir.
In two mornings, Venus moves into Libra.
Detailed note: One hour before sunrise, brilliant Venus is over 14° in altitude in the east-south-east. With a binocular note that it is nearly between κ Vir and λ Vir, 1.8° to the lower right of κ Vir and 1.6° to the upper left of λ Vir. Thirty minutes before sunrise, Mercury is only 3° in altitude in the east-southeast, 15.6° to the lower left of Venus. Use a binocular to locate Mercury.
Read more about the planets during November.
During the early evening hours of winter, the stars that shine from the southern sky are a sampler of the sky’s brightest stars.
January 21, 2021: Several bright stars are in the morning sky. This morning look for Antares in the east-southeast. Mercury – near its greatest elongation – is in the west-southwest after sunset. Mars and the moon are near each other. Planet Uranus is near Mars.
January 20, 2021: Mercury is low in the west-southwest after sunset. The bright moon is to the lower right of Mars, while the Red Planet passes planet Uranus. |
Although Pennsylvania has adopted a new school funding formula, the state’s distribution of dollars still largely disregards the actual needs of students.
When dividing its largest pot of education cash, Pennsylvania provides the most funding (per pupil) to districts where enrollment has steeply declined over the past 25 years.
Of the top 25 districts in terms of per-pupil state funding, all but one has seen enrollment drop since 1991, when the state implemented a “hold harmless” policy.
Under that rule, the state stopped counting actual students when deciding how to allocate dollars. So districts that shrank did not see corresponding decreases in state aid, and, therefore, per-pupil funding increased.
Each of the top five districts by state per-pupil funding have seen enrollment drops of at least 30 percent.
As the interactive map above shows, many of the districts that receive the most per-pupil funding from the state are clustered in the rural western and central parts of the commonwealth — where population declines have been steep.
The map is color graded by per pupil funding from the state’s main public school budget line, the basic education subsidy — which this year totalled $5.68 billion.
In addition to the dollars noted above, districts receive other monies from the state, as well as from local and federal sources.
These calculations are based on a Keystone Crossroads’ analysis of Pennsylvania Department of Education enrollment data along with 2015-16 school budget data.
The current year budget numbers include the small fraction of cash that went through the state’s new student-weighted funding formula, which lawmakers plan to use only for new increases in aid.
So even after implementing a formula, more than 97 percent of the basic education pot is guided by “hold harmless.”
As the interactive graph below shows, there continues to be a stark correlation between per-pupil state funding and enrollment changes since 1991.
Want high per-pupil state funding and low property taxes? Go west.
By not counting actual enrollment, the state has also had a major effect on local tax burden.
“Hold harmless” has allowed many districts to ask comparatively less in local school taxes from residents.
Of the 100 districts that receive the most per-pupil funding from the state, the overwhelming majority have residents who spend below the state average when it comes to the share of personal income that goes to local property taxes for schools.
This includes six districts in the top half of median household income in the state: South Side, Avella, Western Beaver, Iroquois, Marion Center and Northwest.
The tax burden figures are taken from a 2014 Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center study of state data.
Conversely, the districts where enrollment has grown have not seen requisite increases in state aid, and local tax burden has risen.
Many of the districts that grew since 1991 are located in pockets of suburban wealth where local tax capacity is high.
But some districts have fared especially bad in this deal. Of the 100 districts that receive the least state aid per pupil, three pay above the state average of personal income towards school taxes while falling in the bottom half of median household wealth rankings.
This is the case for State College (which grew 20 percent), Hanover Public (which grew 19 percent), and Loyalsock Township (which grew 15 percent).
The “hold harmless” policy has also negatively impacted some of the state’s most distressed districts, where enrollment has grown and student needs are immense.
Based on the new formula, the state recognizes that York, Reading, Allentown, Philadelphia, Erie, Carbondale, Panther Valley, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Shenandoah Valley face among the greatest challenges in the commonwealth.
But none of these districts are in the top 25 by per pupil state funding.
That’s partly because each of these districts has grown since 1991, without receiving corresponding increases in state dollars.
And it’s partly due to the fact that, for the bulk of state aid, the commonwealth does not systematically acknowledge the burdens districts face based on student poverty, language fluency, and other factors.
In essence, state policy continues to dictate that students in South Side SD (west of Pittsburgh), where median income is more than $65,000, get significantly more per-pupil aid than in Reading, where median income is less than $27,000.
Philadelphia receives less money per pupil from the state than 151 districts. Erie receives less than 198 districts.
A political impossibility?
If the entire basic education pot were divided fairly according to the new student-weighted formula, the current order would be vastly disrupted.
A redistribution would occur where $1.1 billion dollars would be taken from 350 districts and given to the other 150 districts.
This is widely considered politically impossible for a few reasons.
Many of the most powerful lawmakers in Harrisburg represent districts that would be on the losing end of this prospect, including Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman R, Centre, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, and House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny.
Scarnati’s districts — which have seen some of the steepest percentage enrollment declines since 1991 — would be especially devastated. All 27 would lose money, and most of them would see cuts of more than $2,000 per pupil.
Five of those districts are currently in the top 15 of per-pupil state funding.
Statewide education advocates are also not clamoring for the redistribution.
The Campaign for Fair Education Funding, a coalition of more than 50 advocacy groups, says all districts need more funds in order to ensure that students can meet the state’s academic benchmarks in the midst of sharply rising fixed expenses.
The advocates say current inequities will subside over time by dramatically increasing the amount of new dollars going through the formula. They’re calling for the state to increase funding by $400 million annually for 8 years.
Gov. Tom Wolf says that’s not politically possible. After a historically long budget battle last year, the state boosted total education spending by $245 million.
As a comparison to the map above, the map below shows how the new formula dictates per-pupil funding, which was used to disperse less than 3 percent of the total.
On this map, the highest per-pupil rates are in the districts that face the greatest challenges. |
ESC OER Taskforce/opencourseware
OpenCourseWare - OpenCourseWare (OCW) are free and available digital publications of high quality, university‐level educational material organized and presented as courses. OCW often include course planning materials and evaluation tools as well as thematic content. OpenCourseWare are openly licensed and accessible to anyone, anytime, via the internet.
(adapted from: OCW Consortium) |
A school in Bangkok, Thailand, is using plastic pens to socially distance children during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kindergarteners at Wat Khlong Toey School were pictured playing alone in the individual pens, that are closed on three sides, in pictures taken by photojournalist Lauren DeCicca that Getty Images released on Monday:
Older students were pictured at desks, separated by similar-style dividers:
Other images showed designated areas for students to stand in class:
And hand sanitizer stations dotted around the school’s buildings:
The school reopened to 250 students in July after its forced closure in March.
Elsewhere in Thailand, students at Ban Pa Muad School in Chiang Mai are wearing face visors and these hats to maintain distance from each other in a bid to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
There have been 3,351 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Thailand.
COVID-19 has killed 58 people nationwide, per Johns Hopkins University.
The country, with a population of 69 million, reported no new cases on Monday or Tuesday, according to the Bangkok Post.
The United States, meanwhile, now accounts for more than a quarter of 20 million cases worldwide. Some 5 million people have tested positive for the contagion and more than 160,000 people have died.
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The United States will designate the anti-fascist team Antifa a terrorist organisation, President Donald Trump says.
The president accused Antifa of beginning riots at boulevard protests over George Floyd’s demise.
Mr Floyd, a black guy, died in police custody previous this week, reigniting anger at police remedy of African-American citizens.
Protests over his demise have grew to become violent, prompting primary towns to impose curfews.
The Nationwide Guard – the USA reserve army drive for home emergencies – were deployed in 15 states to lend a hand police forces handle the unrest.
In Minneapolis, the place Mr Floyd died on Monday after a white police officer put his knee on his neck for greater than 8 mins, there were 5 nights of arson and looting.
US officers have given contrasting explanations for who’s accountable for the riots, with some suggesting out of doors teams and folks had been concerned.
On Saturday, Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz steered that international influences, white supremacists and drug cartels had been at the back of the violence, giving few different main points.
On Twitter Mr Trump blamed “Antifa-led anarchists” and “Radical Left Anarchists” for the unrest, once more with out offering extra specifics.
The president didn’t specify how or when he intends to designate Antifa as a terrorist organisation.
There are methods the Trump management can designate folks or teams as international terrorists, together with regulation and an government order.
However felony mavens have wondered whether or not Mr Trump has the authority to label Antifa a “home terrorist organisation”.
Mary McCord, a former senior Justice Division legit, stated “no present felony authority exists for designating home organisations as terrorist organisations”.
“Any strive at this kind of designation would lift important First Modification issues,” Ms McCord added, relating to the constitutional proper to freedom of speech, faith and meeting.
In 2019, Republican senators offered a non-binding solution designed to claim Antifa organisations as “home terrorists”.
Who has been blamed for the riots?
To start with, the protests had been non violent as folks, outraged by means of Mr Floyd’s demise and different fresh examples of police brutality in opposition to African-American citizens, took to the streets.
As anger grew, it isn’t transparent what brought about the ones protests to spiral into riots. But in fresh days, federal and state officers have made company allegations, with out offering any proof.
“It is ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Do not lay the blame on others!” Mr Trump tweeted on Saturday.
US Lawyer Normal William Barr has echoed the president, accusing Antifa and different “agitators” of hijacking the protests sweeping throughout the USA.
“The violence instigated and performed by means of Antifa and different identical teams in reference to the rioting is home terrorism and can be handled accordingly,” Mr Barr stated on Sunday.
Previous, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo struck a extra wary tone. Showing on Fox Information, he described the rioters as “Antifa-like”, however stressed out it “is still observed precisely how” the non violent protests took a sinister flip.
Minnesota Lawyer Normal Keith Ellison stated he had proof that folks from out of doors Minneapolis had been interested by acts of violence within the state. He didn’t provide an explanation for if those folks had been aligned with any teams or political views particularly.
Others, together with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have pointed the finger at outsiders at the proper wing of politics.
“We are actually confronting white supremacists, individuals of organised crime, out of state instigators, and most likely even international actors to ruin and destabilise our town and our area,” Frey tweeted on Saturday.
Then again on Sunday, government in Minnesota stated folks from out of the state represented about 20% of Saturday’s arrests.
Antifa – brief for anti-fascist motion – is a protest motion that strongly opposes neo-Nazis, fascism, white supremacists and racism. It is regarded as to be a loosely organised team of activists and not using a leaders.
Maximum individuals oppose all types of racism and sexism, and strongly oppose what they see because the nationalist, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim insurance policies that Mr Trump has enacted.
Anti-government and anti-capitalist, Antifa’s individuals are incessantly perceived as extra intently aligned with anarchists than the mainstream left.
The motion won new prominence in the USA for its function in confronting white supremacists at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
President Trump drew in style grievance when he stated there used to be violence on “many aspects” in Charlottesville and first of all ignored to explicitly censure the white supremacists who organised the rally. |
Do you know how to guard yourself from a data breach?
Now more than ever, it's important for you to protect yourself from a data breach. A data breach occurs when your sensitive or confidential information--driver's license numbers, medical records, Social Security numbers, bank or credit card account numbers--is stolen, copied or used by an unauthorized person.
Follow these tips to protect against a personal data breach:
- Review credit card and bank statements for fraudulent charges at least once a month. If there is a suspicious charge, contact your financial institution.
- Request that your financial institution close any accounts that you suspect were compromised, and ask for replacement cards with new account numbers and PINs.
- Determine if there have been unusual requests, such as change-of-address or attempts to secure additional or replacement credit cards.
- Instruct the card issuer not to honor any requests regarding your card without your written authorization.
- Credit card issuers offer a variety of e-mail and/or text notices. You can ask for a notice when charges over a certain amount are made, or when your balance reaches a certain level.
If you have been the victim of identity theft, contact the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, to place a security freeze on your account:
Report the identity theft to the police, as you may need to provide a copy of the police report to your bank, creditors and credit reporting agencies. If the local police are not familiar with investigating information compromises, contact the local office of the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service.
To ensure that an identity thief has not opened a new account in your name, you should review your credit report. To obtain a free copy of the report, go to annualcreditreport.com. If there are any accounts on your report that you did not open, contact the credit bureau to report the fraud and dispute the charges. |
Always Clear Your Browser History And Cookies | Here’s Why?
You’ve probably heard someone at one point tell you to delete your cookies/browsing history and/or clear your cache when you were experiencing technical issues online. In this article, I will discuss why users might consider deleting and clearing these elements at least periodically (if not regularly).
How web browsers handle your history
Before we get into the notion of deleting cookies and other elements of a user’s browsing history, it’s important that we first understand how users generate histories while browsing the web. Taking a broad view, “history” in this situation refers to information that a user generates while using a web browser. This data ranges from files downloaded to sites visited to other important tidbits. Every piece of history falls into one of seven categories. These are as follows:
Active logins are when a user signs into a website and then migrates away from that site while their web browser keeps them logged in. Sometimes, users must designate a website for “persistent logins” or “authenticated sessions” with their web browser. Other times, active logins occur automatically with websites for which they’ve requested their web browser remember their login credentials.
Browsing and Download History
For most web browsers, browsing history is the aggregate of web destinations stored in a user’s History menu as well as the sites that auto-complete in the browser’s location bar. Download history refers to the all the files an individual has downloaded off the Internet while using their web browser.
Temporary files like web pages and online media are stored in the cache. Doing so speeds up the web browsing experience. It’s easier for the web browser to load a saved file than to load a new copy of the website or page.
Form and Search Bar Data
This portion of a user’s history refers to all the information they’ve typed into forms displayed on web pages and into their browser’s search bar.
Offline Website Data
Sometimes, users choose to store information from a web browser on their computer. This allows them to access the information even when they’re not connected to the web.
Whenever a user visits a website, Site Preferences saves the configurations specified by the user for that particular destination. These types of preferences include pop-up blocker usage, character encoding, and zoom level.
Reasons for deleting your web browsing history and cookies
Now that we can identify the different elements that make up our web browsing history, let’s get into why you would want to occasionally wipe these elements:
You logged into one of your accounts on a public computer.
There’s times when we find the need to browse the web or log into our email using a public computer. When we do, the last thing we want is for that computer to remember our login credentials or keep a copy of the websites we visited. It’s best to remain anonymous and delete your history in this case. (As an added incentive, you’d probably be doing others who used the public computer and who didn’t think of clearing their information a favor.)
You don’t want websites tracking you.
Everyone likes to browse the web, but you don’t want all these websites remembering who you are. You especially don’t want third-parties following you around the web across multiple sites. By deleting your history, you make it much more difficult for websites and other entities to identity you.
You’re encountering bugs when trying to load a website.
Files stored in a cache represent a snapshot of a web page or website at a given period of time. These saved files prove problematic if the site owner introduces a new feature or update that affects how the site functions. Buggy behavior could ensue, which is why users should clear the cache periodically to make sure they’re accessing the most up-to-date versions of the websites they love.
Your browser is slow.
Web browsers save cookies as files to your hard drive. They’re small in size (only a few KB), but over time, you can accumulate a lot of them. This volume means your web browser must use more and more computing power to properly load saved web pages, which means your browser sessions will likely get slower and slower. Cookies and the cache do help speed up your web browsing, but it’s a good idea nonetheless to clear these files now and then to free up hard disk space and computing power while browsing the web.
You changed your login credentials.
There are times where we choose (or need) to change our passwords. This presents a problem if we don’t clear our cookies. Failure to do so could prevent a website from successfully authenticating us for a service. Deleting cookies and creating a new one with the updated login credentials will solve this problem. |
Netwalker Ransomware Infecting Users via Coronavirus Phishing
NetWalker ransomware is believed to be a variant of the Mailto Ransomware family. The .mailto file extension along with an email address is attached as the extension to all of your files, making them inaccessible. All encrypted files will receive the new extension as a secondary one. The NetWalker ransomware drops a ransom note, which gives instructions to victims on how they can allegedly restore their data by paying a ransom fee.
MalwareHunterTeam was able to find an attachment used in a new Coronavirus phishing campaign that installs the Netwalker Ransomware.
Cybercriminals launched a NetWalker (Mailto) ransomware attack against the Illinois Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) website, according to The News-Gazette. The health district’s email accounts, environmental health records and patient electronic medical records were unaffected by the cyberattack.
The NetWalker attack was discovered last week as CUPHD officials tried to deliver Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates to Champaign-Urbana residents, The News-Gazette reported. It temporarily prevented health district employees from accessing certain files.
The new Netwalker phishing campaign is using an attachment named “CORONAVIRUS_COVID-19.vbs” that contains an embedded Netwalker Ransomware executable and obfuscated code to extract and launch it on the computer.
When the script is executed, the executable will be saved to %Temp%\qeSw.exe and launched.
Once executed, the ransomware will encrypt the files on the computer and append a random extension to encrypted file names. Of particular interest, Head of SentinelLabs Vitali Kremez told BleepingComputer that this version of the ransomware specifically avoids terminating the Fortinet endpoint protection client. When asked why they would do that, Kremez stated it may be to avoid detection.
“I suppose it might be because they have already disabled the anti-virus functionality directly from the customer admin panel; however, they do not want to trip an alarm by terminating the clients,” Kremez told BleepingComputer.
When done, victims will find a ransom note named -Readme.txt that contains instructions on how to access the ransomware’s Tor payment site to pay the ransom demand. |
Things to do in Epworth, Lincolnshire
Take the Epworth, Wesley Trail - and discover how this pretty North Lincolnshire town became the birthplace of world Methodism.
St. Andrew's, Epworth is the beautiful church where Samuel Wesley, John's father was rector after the family moved to Epworth in 1695. His tomb lies in the churchyard and it was from here that John gave rousing speeches to crowds after he was denied the use of the church itself, due to his unorthodox beliefs.
The Old Rectory, is an imposing Queen Anne building which dates from 1709 and replaces an earlier residence which was burnt down by arsonists. The Wesley family lived here for almost forty years and it is now a museum housing Wesley memorabilia.
Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, Epworth was built in 1889 as a memorial to the contributions made by John and Charles Wesley to world religion. Note the beautiful stained glass window featuring the two brothers looking in the direction of the Old Rectory where they were born. |
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