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warc | 201704 | Prairie Grasses with a Personality
When looking for an ornamental grass to either add to your perennial plant collection or get your collection started, there are any number of fine grasses to choose from, said Greg Stack U of I Extension horticulturist.
"Size, shape, color, and texture often play into the decision," said Stack. "Another factor that is becoming important to many gardeners is the desire to include natives into their perennial border. One of the grasses that was found in just about all of the tall grass prairies in the U.S. and a major component was big bluestem."
Big bluestem has been available to home gardeners for many years. This warm season, (meaning it tends to emerge late in the spring), tall, often five to eight feet, clump-forming grass is a great addition to the perennial garden.
In the fall this grass takes on a yellowish/orange look with the seed heads having a slightly purple hue. The seed heads have three branches and as a result been given the common name of "turkey foot" for their resemblance to the feet of this bird. All in all, a very dramatic-looking grass.
"But plant breeders have been working to give the gardener some choices from the standard species of bluestem and what they have come up with are two new big bluestem cultivars that offer a whole different look," Stack said.
The first one is a cultivar called 'Rain Dance'. This bluestem grows up to six feet tall and forms a nice loose open clump. The summer foliage is a deeper green than the species bluestem and the leaves are tipped with a red coloration. In the fall, look for the plant to turn a dark maroon. It also produces red flowers on red stems. This creates a dramatic look that signals fall in a big way.
The other new bluestem is called 'Red October'. This bluestem grows five to six feet tall and has deep green summer foliage. In the late summer, the foliage turns purple and then a vivid scarlet in autumn giving the garden some spectacular late season color.
"Both of these grasses are winter hardy to zone 3 and once established are very drought tolerant," he said. "Because of their size they make good background plants or even specimen plants in mixed borders. They tend to be clump formers which make them good to use with other plants without the fear of them taking over or becoming invasive."
Bluestem prefers a full sun location and if planted in a moist location will be considerably taller than if planted in a dry spot.
"So, if you're in the market for a native prairie grass that is distinctive from what the early settlers saw in the Great Plains, try one of these new introductions," Stack recommended. | 2,671 | 1,317 | 5,364.309036 |
warc | 201704 | Incidence of reading disability
in a population-based birth cohort, 1976-1982, Rochester, MN.
est]=302,423) is estimated to have difficulty seeing the words and letters in ordinary newspaper print as a result of a visual, physical or reading disability
.
One way to evaluate if reading involves simply the application of previously evolved mental abilities would be to study the brain's normal neural assignment patterns and also its ability to recover from developmental or acquired reading disability
.
in press) ran a series of classification models, each stipulating that first-grade screening would miss no more than three students with fifth-grade reading disability
.
Students who are classified as having a learning disability are more likely to also have a reading disability
.
Processing speed deficits in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and reading disability
.
The data indicate that the use of signed key words is an effective method to circumvent the reading disability
of students with learning disabilities.
For example, research comparing boys and girls has examined a wide range of factors including growth in reading (Morgan, Farkas, & Hibel, 2008); behavior (Ryan, Reid, & Epstein, 2004); IQ-discrepancy and reading disability
(Share & Silva, 2003); executive function (Rucklidge & Tannock, 2002); and academic achievement, visual-motor abilities, and mathematical reasoning (Vogel, 1990).
This is not to say that learning disability is synonymous with reading disability
(Lyon, 1996).
org members must provide proof of a print disability, such as blindness, low vision, a reading disability
, or a mobility impairment that makes it difficult or impossible to read standard print.
Students identified with a reading disability
have demonstrated significant differences in their skills in segmenting the sounds in words and blending sounds into words (Lovett & Steinbach, 1997; Stanovich, 1988).
Possess a learning disability or reading disability
. | 2,002 | 1,014 | 3,903.307692 |
warc | 201704 | Stagnation(redirected from stagnate)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to stagnate: stagnant, thesaurus, Stagnant water
Stagnation Stagnation Stagnation.
Stagnation is a period during which the economy grows slowly, doesn't grow at all, or actually contracts after adjusting for inflation. Typically, there is a corresponding contraction in the stock market.
As a result of a slowing economy, unemployment increases and consumer spending slows. Policymakers may fear a recession, and, in response, the central bank may try to stimulate growth by increasing liquidity and lowering interest rates.
While stagnation is hard on the economy, it's more common and potentially less disruptive than stagflation, which combines slowing growth with rising inflation. | 817 | 472 | 1,400.324153 |
warc | 201704 | Scott came to me to help him sell his band’s services to club owners. I pointed out that 40 years ago bands got $700 a night; 20 years ago the going rate was $500. Today, a local band playing a local club can expect $275-$300 a night. I wondered if competing for a greater share in this dwindling market was a wise move.
A Critical Question
I asked, “
Do you get enough personal satisfaction from performing songs you like in small venues that you’re willing to do it for free?”
Scott opined that he’d prefer to be properly compensated for all the years invested in refining his musicianship.
This is a key factor. If a musician’s desire is to play his music his way is his most important consideration, how much money he makes becomes secondary. But, if he wishes to run his band as a real business, he’d be better served to examine the market.
Customer Focus Is Good Strategy for Musicians (and Every Other Business)
Any service provider can study the market and provide services people are willing to pay more for. Alternatively, should he not consider the desires of his customers, he can provide the services he wishes to offer. Of course, he’ll then be forced to accept whatever engagements come his way.
Satisfy his own desires? Satisfy his customers? Common sense, and thousands of case studies indicate that customer-focused businesses make more money.
Scott’s next step will be to identify well-paying niche markets, and to explore the kinds of music most wanted by that niche. Will it be private parties for local businesses? Grand openings and customer events? Events hosted by fraternities and sororities? Meetings and conventions? In that order, each pays progressively more money.
Which Market has the Greatest Number of Profitable Opportunities?
How will he know what to choose? Through their previous purchases his potential niche will have indicated their willingness to pay a premium. If he stays focused on delivering exactly what his customers want, I predict he’s going to do well. In fact, the longer his focus remains unwavering, the resulting word-of-mouth will make it progressively easier to sell his services.
In this era of YouTube, the 24-hour news cycle, and this country’s current political climate it isn’t only musicians who need to keep fulfillment of their personal gratifications secondary to unwavering customer focus. It’s also critical to companies that produce ice cream, chicken sandwiches, coffee, snacks, clothing, and even fitness services and cancer treatment.
Social Responsibility Complicates the Messaging
Some socially responsible actions reinforce a company’s brand.
Starbucks commitment to Fair Trade coffees complements their image as a producer of high priced gourmet coffees.
And
Patagonia’s insistence on selling only eco-friendly products rings true with the company’s obvious love of nature.
These are the core values each of those companies has communicated to its customers, and upon which each company has grown. Every successful brand is built upon principles. Those it stands for. Those it stands against.
Not everyone will care about a company’s passions (or even its products), but there’s no better way to attract a loyal customer base than to say, “
The values you believe to be important are our values, too.” Merck and Company’s development and free distribution of Mectizan to treat river blindness in Africa, Asia, and South America is a brilliant positioning of Merck as a developer of drugs to help people.
But what about Pagagonia’s contributions to
Planned Parenthood? The tie in isn’t so obvious. Customers may see the connection when the company explains that slowing population growth is completely in line with its commitment to preserving the planet, but without the explanation, it’s less likely.
Not all social values resonate in harmony with others which the company, or its customers embrace, and as a marketer I can tell you how difficult it is to make a simple message stick in people’s minds.
Two messages? Too confusing. A second message which requires explanation? Waaaay too confusing.
In my experience, a confused mind always says, “NO.”
Confused Marketing is Bad Marketing
It’s also bad business practice.
The list of advertisers that seem to have let social issues divert their attention from focus on their own customers is long, and growing. A handful of examples of this discontinuity include:
Starbuckssupport of Washington State’s proposed Marriage Equality law does not reinforce its image as a producer of high priced gourmet coffees. Chick Fil A’s contributions to groups which oppose that law have nothing to do with serving fried chicken sandwiches. Nabisco’s creation of the Rainbow Stuffed Oreo could be considered a natural outgrowth of their other recent creamy center options. Not making it available in stores makes it clearly about something other than manufacturing snacks.
At best, these moves confuse the message. Worse is the danger they alienate customers who embrace different values.
The Greatest Danger is Damage to the Brand Susan B Komen For the Cure‘s withdrawal of funds for Planned Parenthood’s cancer screenings contradicted it’s brand image of being for women and against cancer. The public uproar which resulted wasn’t assuaged by the restoration of those funds. In hopes of mitigating the damage, founder Nancy Brinker has stepped down as CEO. GoDaddy’s support of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would have allowed Internet service providers to shut down sites accused of infringing intellectual property (and do so without a trial) looks suspiciously like censorship to small website owners. Amid the backlash, GoDaddy withdrew its support. Should Companies Take Positions on Social Issues?
Absolutely. When the issue is aligned with the company’s core values, it will resonate with the beliefs of like minded consumers. If taking a side reinforces the company’s brand, responsible companies take sides.
But when that social issue contradicts those core values, or confuses the messaging, there will be negative repercussions. And a CEO who uses his company to promote contentious social issues instead of focusing on the products and services his customers expect is as foolish as musicians performing for their own enjoyment. They each send a clear message that what’s important to customers doesn’t matter. What matters is what the company wants.
These Are Potentially Big Decisions
Many of these issues are tied to current politics. Conventional political wisdom is one third of this country will consistently vote Conservative, one third will always vote Liberal or Progressive, and the final third (the “Undecideds”) will choose on an issue-by-issue basis. So, for political issues brought to the front by companies such as Starbucks or Chick Fil A, one third of potential customers will automatically embrace their values, and another third won’t care.
Of that final third, not many will feel strongly enough about the issue to discontinue shopping with them. Perhaps that number is only one out of three. That works out to one third of one third (roughly 11 percent) of existing customers and potential customers avoiding future business with those companies.
Eleven percent. That’s a lot. In some markets its the difference between the top seller and number two or three. In this economy it could be the difference between profitability and cutbacks.
If I were a shareholder in your company, I’d want you to protect and nurture my investment. Act like a musician who only wants to play his favorite songs, pissing off 11 percent of our customers in the process, and you’ll find me working to get you fired at the next shareholders meeting.
Your focus has to be unwaveringly on what customers want.
So, Companies Should Avoid Controversy?
Hardly. Controversy is an easy way to promote top-of-mind awareness, and share of market is closely aligned with share of mind. A controversy which reaffirms the company’s image may well create more, and even more loyal, customers.
However, when the CEO’s social conscience doesn’t align with the core values upon which his brand has been built, he should contribute directly, and leave the company out of it.
The late Carl Karcher’s donations to the anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, came from his checkbook, not from Carl’s Jr. Curvesfounder, Gary Heavin, has given generously of his personal money to organizations which promote abstinence-only programs for teens. No bad feelings among Curves members. Jeff Bezos’ recent $2.5 million contribution to Washington’s Marriage Equality law came from his own pocket rather than from Amazon.
All followed their consciences, while never wavering in their respective customer focus. None experienced any negative customer backlash. Whether or not we agree with their positions, business people who separate their companies’ actions from their personal agendas tend to be admired for their integrity.
The Issue isn’t Abortion, Abstinence, or Marriage
The issue is
branding.
Your company’s brand is it’s professional reputation. It’s the sum of customers impressions, and the feelings they get when they use your products or services. Your core values drive your brand, because at its core, your brand is a promise to consumers that their realistic expectations of your company will be met at every dealing.
The CEO’s job is to make that promise simple. His job is to make sure that every communication and every interaction with customers and potential customers delivers on that brand promise.
When the very things customers admire about your company are the reason you’re taking a political stand, they will proudly recommend you to their friends.
But, if you gained loyalty by providing great products or services while remaining socially neutral, do not change your brand promise. That only confuses customers, and makes them angry. When a customer buys ice cream, or coffee, or chicken sandwiches, she wants the best tasting ice cream, or coffee, or chicken sandwich available. When she opens her purse for a book or a cookie, or she donates money to your cancer research fund, she wants to buy your products, your services. To support a cause she believes worthy
She doesn’t want to be forced into a situation in which your recently announced ideology doesn’t align with her values.
You shouldn’t want that either, when you’re fishing for customers.
Your Guide,
Chuck McKay
Your Fishing for Customers guide, Chuck McKay, gets people to buy more of what you sell.
Could aligning with a social issue benefit your company? Drop Chuck a note at ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com and start a conversation. Or call him at 760-813-5474. | 11,039 | 4,977 | 23,643.909986 |
warc | 201704 | The Schumer-Rubio bill, which will be debated by the full Senate starting next week, would allow unprecedented increases in the number of temporary workers. A new Center for Immigration Studies analysis of the bill finds that, in the first year, the bill (S.744) would admit nearly 1.6 million more temporary workers than currently allowed. After that initial spike, the bill would increase annual temporary worker admissions by more than 600,000 each year over the current level – an increase four times larger than the one called for in the 2007 Bush-Kennedy proposal (about 125,000).Meanwhile, Senator Marco Rubio says that the Gang does not yet have 60 votes. As a result, this bill would roughly double the number of temporary workers admitted each year (nearly 700,000 in 2012). These workers are classified as "non-immigrants" and would be in addition to S.744's large proposed increase in annual permanent legal immigrants competing for jobs (more than 30 million in the next decade). Wednesday, June 5, 2013 Doubling Guest Workers
The Center for Immigration Studies has released a report estimating that the number of guest workers would double under the Gang of Eight bill:
Posted by Fred Bauer at 1:52 PM | 1,226 | 668 | 2,229.92515 |
warc | 201704 | FEDERAL SURVEY SYSTEM
When the American Revolution was over, the new government had no money -- but, it had land. To pay soldiers for their service, the government gave a soldier a land warrant as payment. A warrant is a claim, in this case to a certain number of acres in the Western Territory. Warrants differed according to how long a man served in the military and what his rank was. If the soldier died in the war, then his family received the warrant for his land.
Describing specific pieces of land was not easy. The boundaries were unclear because no consistent method had been established for marking tracts of land. Areas of land are called parcels. Most parcels were only described as a certain amount of land (a number of acres) in a general region.
Members of the new Congress knew that the land parcels in the western territories needed to be described more precisely. Congress passed the Public Land Act of 1785. They recommended that land be marked in areas shaped like squares. The Earth's surface is round and not flat, so parcels would not be perfectly square, but they could be close enough.
The land in the Northwest Territory was to be surveyed and divided into tracts of land six miles square (6 miles x 6 miles), called townships. Then each township would be divided into 36 sections, each being 1 mile x 1 mile square. Each township and each section was assigned a number so it could be identified. One square mile is equal to 640 acres of land. The land that was surveyed using this method was to have been sold for $1 an acre or $640 per section. Within each township a section was to be saved, not sold, in order to provide money to support new schools. In many townships, this was Section 16 which is located near the center of the township.
This system of measuring and marking land for public use is known as the Federal Survey System. It was first used in eastern Ohio in an area just west of the Ohio River. This survey was called the Seven Ranges.
This system of surveying land was carried into many other American lands, as the country grew. Grids were not always established in 6 mile x 6 mile sections, but the rectangular system was imitated because it worked so well.
[Extracted from a publication of the Auditor of the State of
Ohio titled, "
Along the Ohio Trail; A Short History of Ohio Lands." Researched and written by Tanya West Dean,
B.A., History, Wittenberg University and W. David Speas, B.S., Education,
Heidelberg College. Edited by: Dr. George W. Knepper, Distinguished
Professor of History, Emeritus, The University of Akron. Third paperback edition 2002]
Census Records | Vital Records | Family Trees & Communities | Immigration Records | Military Records Directories & Member Lists | Family & Local Histories | Newspapers & Periodicals | Court, Land & Probate | Finding Aids | 2,846 | 1,457 | 5,525.967056 |
warc | 201704 | Trends that will shape your business.
We reviewed part of Beemer’s research in the last issue. The balance of his book holds further interesting "trends" and ideas. Let’s complete our examination of them.
I
n the April/May issue of FURNITURE WORLD, two books and two ways to approach the future were discussed. One was C. Britt Beemer’s: "It Takes a Prophet to Make a Profit." Beemer seeks to inform us about the "icebergs" and opportunities ahead. As a counterpoint, Gary Hammel’s book: "Leading the Revolution" puts forward a view that the bold and visionary among us can create our own future.
Read both books. Think about the "icebergs" ahead, and consider the opportunities. Be a visionary and dream boldly. Nevertheless, be a practical visionary: Hitch your wagon to a star and then get out and push. If you are like many furniture people, it’s been a slow spring. The staff is in the doldrums and the floor looks sterile.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELIEF PLAN A PROMOTIONThat is what the leaders are doing. They are not waiting around for things to improve. Plan a daring clearance, a renovation event, or something with some excitement in it. Wake up the sleeping minds around you with some energetic planning, and do it right. Make it a real event, run it for three to five weeks. Allow a three-week planning period, and leave no stone unturned. Plan the mailing, the print advertising, the radio (and TV if you use it), the signs, the price tags, the staff training, the strategy, everything. Get things moving again! Be bold, dashing and masterful! Shock your competitors! You’ll not only wake everyone up, you’ll do business, increase market share, and have some fun! (For more information on everything from event planning through execution and follow-up see Larry Mullins’ series on event planning and execution starting with the 10/98 issue of FURNITURE WORLD and posted to the Marketing Management Index on www.furninfo.com).
BACK TO BEEMER’S "TRENDS"We reviewed part of Beemer’s research in the last issue. The balance of his book holds further interesting "trends" and ideas. Let’s complete our examination of them.
You Have Her Attention, But Will She Believe You? When people say they don’t trust advertising, it really means they do not have enough information. If they don’t know you, then you must make an effort to validate your store and your offer. That is why the “confidence factors” are so important in advertising. Stating how long you have been in business in an ad means a lot if you have a track record. Stating a simple guarantee works wonders and makes ad space more effective. Yet dealer after dealer omits the several confidence building factors that cannot be omitted by a “new-style” marketer.
TREND: Community involvement enhances a company’s reputation.Very important to your customer’s perception of you as a community minded store are programs such as giving to needy causes, sponsoring teams, giving to local charities, helping children at Christmas, assuming leadership in a local crisis, and having a college scholarship fund. An important aspect of giving, which Beemer doesn’t mention, is that it is also important that you get credit for what you do. Tell people about your community involvement on your website. One great store gives away mattresses for the holidays. In addition, it may be good to have a summer community activity; it’s a long time between Christmases. And make sure the radio and TV stations and the newspaper are told about what you are doing.
TREND: There is a growing obsession with the internet. There is no doubt that we need to learn how to use the internet. Many furniture retailers brag about having a website. Unfortunately, they are more often than not completely out of date and poorly designed for ease of providing information. Some have maps of locations that are completely inaccurate, old information on vendors, etc. If you assign this job to some whiz kid, check up on him. Visit your own website often. A good, up to date website can be helpful.
TREND: American companies cannot count on employee loyalty - they must earn it. This is not news, of course. One of the strongest ideas Beemer uncovered is that people say, "the Company does not let me know what’s expected of me." Food for thought. Also, the "new" notion of loyalty is that "The company is responsible for providing an environment in which people can achieve their full potential, and employees are responsible for developing their skills."
A few additional "bytes" and ideas:
•"Everybody likes recognition" - Say "thank you."
•You can never thank good employees enough.
•Two of the top reasons for loyalty: "good working environment and "the supervisor listens to me." This passage on page 103 of Beemer’s book is very important: "65 % [of associates] appreciate their company having a mission statement. Doing the right thing is good for business. Employees admire companies that communicate where they stand. Many companies claim to prize trust, life balance, employee development and other lofty goals, and they enumerate them in policies and value statements. But a company must walk the talk. When its stated values clash with its actions, employees will be cynical and disillusioned. Morale will suffer. If you are going to announce your company’s values to your employees, and the world, be sure you mean what you say. Be committed, and show it. Values, or deeply held principles and beliefs, can be powerful motivators that, when shared, form a foundation for corporate culture." I can not agree more with Beemer on this one.
TREND: Customers are reluctant to pay full retail price. Certainly not news. However, Beemer points out that customers want low price and value. Remember that "value" means much more than the value of merchandise. Most important to customers are added value factors, according to Beemer’s research:
•"Does the store have the selection I want every time?
•Does it consistently fulfill my needs?
•Is my shopping time well invested?
•Is the store or its brand indispensable to me? Do I get what I pay for? "How a retailer answers these questions determines the level of customer loyalty. Another important idea: a salesperson affects 80% of furniture purchases and 60% of mattress purchases. Relationship selling is increasingly important. Beemer notes: "Our research shows that when a business owner is directly involved with a customer, there is an 83% chance of repeat business. This compares to a mere 16% to 38% in a mass marketer’s store. Surveys have shown that customers feel that in a shopping experience there is no greater honor than to be waited on by the owner."
Like A Master Chess Player, Today’s Independent Furniture Retailers Must Think Ahead. They must be aware of the trends and be ahead of the curve. But successful retailers must also have a personal vision, an idea of what the future should be. They must: “Hitch their wagon to a star... and then get out and push.” It takes both vision and hard work to make that future what you want it to be.
TREND: Frequent buyer programs have come to govern consumer-spending habits. 63% of all American households now participate in a frequent-buyer program. Beemer notes that many companies have aggressive marketing programs that focus mainly on getting new business and pay relatively little attention to maintaining existing customers. This is an important point because it costs six times more to get a new customer than a previous customer to respond. Yet, many small and medium size retailers have yet to develop a preferred customer program to ensure customer retention. Frequent buyer programs that are executed on a mass scale are attempts by the big guys to achieve the personal follow-up possible for smaller stores. There can be no question that loyal customers generate repeat business, which in time builds a customer base.
Beemer’s research indicated that to actually enhance loyalty, a program should incorporate six specific objectives:
•Perceived value.
•Choice of rewards.
•Aspirational value - Something the customer is excited to receive.
•Relevance - Can they reasonably win the awards?
•Convenience -It must be easy to redeem rewards or it will be counter-productive.
•Communication - You must keep targeted customers informed.
TREND: Today’s consumers want brand-name products. Beemer says there are five key reasons people buy brand names.
•They believe they get better quality.
•They feel they can trust the company.
•They think they know what they are getting.
•They think it will be worth more to them.
Beemer is on target here. Consumers know very few furniture brands. La-Z-Boy, Natuzzi, and a few others. The important idea is to name brands all the time, even when they are not well known. It adds to the credibility of the selling proposition. This is true of ads as well as sales talks. Beemer comments: "In the eyes of shoppers, a $299 La-Z-Boy brand recliner is more attractive than a $279 Berkline recliner. Even selling at $20 lower Berkline loses, because La-Z-Boy would have to be priced over $100 more in order for Berkline to be able to create the same traffic with an advertisement."
TREND: Gaming casinos and lotteries have joined America’s mainstream. People gamble more, according to Beemer, because they seek escape from the pressures of life. There is probably room for some exciting furniture and home-oriented contests in the promotional mix. Awards, recognition, and respect all appeal to the desire to win and be recognized.
TREND: People today complain of feeling invisible. Beemer says that in a 1999 survey, 72% of Americans said they felt that people are ruder today than in the past. When asked why, they gave these reasons:
•More stress, 35%.
•Families don’t stay together, 25%.
•People care only about themselves, 24%.
•People have less time to be nice, 9%.
•People travel more and are more transient.
•32% said the rudest people they encountered were in stores (clerks, etc.). 39% of Americans, two out of every five people, think employees in retail stores are ruder today than in the past . . . 41% said rudeness caused them to postpone a purchase or not to make it at all. 38% said they felt invisible or ignored in a department store. 66% of Americans won’t tolerate such mistreatment.
A major source of grief is voice mail and electronic operators. All of these factors should mean one thing to an independent furniture retailer: There is a huge opportunity to stand out from the retail crowd by training the staff to be nice to customers, each other, and to vendors.
TREND: Today’s marketing efforts are not keeping pace with changing customer demands. Beemer summarizes his "changing consumer" with this trend. The customer expectations are indeed higher than ever. Customers expect:
•To be able to return purchases easily - 68%.
•To find easily what has been advertised - 55%.
•Employees to be able to answer questions - 54%.
•Thirty-day unconditional satisfaction guarantees - 53%.
•Lowest price, period!- 50%.
•Signage that clearly directs them to what they are seeking to purchase - 49%.
•Store employees who are visible at all times - 48%.
•To be able to get what they want and leave - 47%.
•To have new introductions clearly marked - 41%.
•To be in a store that not only talks about customer service but also delivers it - 41%.
Furniture stores have been dropping the ball in providing information to customers about their products. 73% of today’s consumers said manufacturers are outperforming retailers in advertising and product education. Beemer has quite a bit to say about customer confidence in advertising. But he sometimes asks ambiguous questions. For example, the real shocker was the response to this question: "Are you as motivated today as you used to be to shop a store based upon its advertising?" Of the respondents, 48.5% said yes, 48.6% said no, and the rest didn’t know. When half the population doesn’t trust advertising, that’s bad. In the same survey, 58% said they felt that "companies routinely offer more in their advertising than they deliver." Of course, the numbers do not indicate that "half the population doesn’t trust advertising." The question was whether people were as motivated to shop a store based upon its advertising. And "trusting advertising" is a subjective question, which depends upon the specific store, the merchandise, the advertisement itself, and so on.
Beemer noted that 62% of customers said they have stopped shopping where the quality of sales assistance has deteriorated. To what do they attribute the decline? 60% said management was at fault due to inferior training. The other 40% believed retail stores are hiring inferior people.
So, what should you do about all of this? In broad terms, here is what I suggest: start thinking of becoming a new-style marketer of furniture. Think about creating value in the minds of customers. Build your company "brand" by developing common ground between you and your customers. Struggle to build good customer relationships. Remember that it is more efficient to sell additional merchandise to your existing customers - - than to reach out to find new customers. Define customer expectations and then over-deliver on them. People are not going to settle for anything less. If you don’t become a new-style marketer of furniture, and you don’t start moving ahead with new energy, you may be left behind.
Larry Mullins, President of UltraSales, Inc., has 30+ years experience in the front lines of retail furniture marketing. Larry's mainstream executive experience, his creative work for "promoter-specialists," and study of advertising principles has enabled him to continually develop new High-Impact strategies for independent furniture retailers that are sound, complete, and innovative. Inquiries can be sent to Larry care of FURNITURE WORLD at editor@furninfo.com.
Larry Mullins is a contributing editor for Furniture World and has 30+ years of experience on the front lines of furniture marketing. Larry’s mainstream executive experience, his creative work with promotion specialists, and mastery of advertising principles have established him as one of the foremost experts in furniture marketing. His affordable High-Impact programs produce legendary results for everything from cash raising events to profitable exit strategies. His newest books, THE METAVALUES BREAKTHROUGH and IMMATURE PEOPLE WITH POWER… How to Handle Them have recently been released by Morgan James Publishing. Joe Girard, “The World’s Greatest Salesman” said of this book: “If I had read Larry Mullins’ book when I started out, I would have reached the top much sooner than I did.” Larry is founder and CEO of UltraSales, Inc. and can be reached directly at 904.794.9212 or at Larrym@furninfo.com. See more articles by Larry at www.furninfo.com or www.ultrasales.com.
Read other articles by Larry Mullins | 15,420 | 6,856 | 33,489.469078 |
warc | 201704 | Published on Tuesday, June 4, 2013 by Common Dreams
Food safety advocates hope Connecticut’s move sparks nationwide momentum for labeling of genetically modified foods
In a landmark act, Connecticut has become the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified (gmo) foods.
As the
Hartford Courant reports, the bill entails a sort of trigger in order for it to take effect:
For the legislation to take effect four states — including those bordering Connecticut — must pass a similar bill. In addition, any combination of northeastern states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania or New Jersey), with an aggregate population of at least 20 million people, must approve labeling legislation.
Immediately after the vote, cheers could be heard outside the Hall of the House from advocates who had been pushing the labeling requirement.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) said the trigger “unnecessarily puts on hold what consumers and lawmakers have already validated as important legislation,” but still welcomed the passage of the legislation as a victory in the food movement, and hoped Connecticut’s action would prove a catalyst for other states to enact similar measures.
“The hurdles in the Connecticut bill, if surmounted, would mean a critical mass in the marketplace that would emulate the impacts that would have materialized if California had passed its ballot initiative,” said Kastel.
Dave Murphy, founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!, cheered the bill’s passage as a victory of people power over corporate agriculture, saying, “The grassroots have won in Connecticut for a key victory over Monsanto and the biotech lobby.”
“It was inspiring to watch Connecticut legislators supporting GMO labeling stand strong in the face of the biotech industry’s effort to kill the bill,” said Murpy.
“Numerous other states in the Northeast and around the country are actively considering pending GE food labeling bills. Connecticut’s leadership provides momentum and an incentive for these other states to move forward,” Rebecca Spector, who works on state GMO labeling legislative efforts at CFS, said in a statement. “Other states should now pass GE labeling laws, providing millions of U.S. consumers with the basic right to know how their food is produced.”
The legislation now heads to Gov. Malloy, who is expected to sign it.
_________________________ | 2,539 | 1,277 | 4,829.468285 |
warc | 201704 | Before the Internet made pornography readily accessible, porn addiction was practically non-existent. Of course, there have always been some people that collect adult videos and magazine subscriptions featuring women in sexual poses, but fifty years ago it was rare to see nudity featured in a magazine.
Today, we can access hundreds of websites and watch hours of pornographic material organized into over 200 different categories.
The rise of the Internet created a huge opportunity for the porn industry and became a threat to the traditional mediums of viewing pornographic material. Many people, even if they are in a happy relationship and have children, watch porn. There is nothing wrong with turning up the heat in the bedroom by watching some erotic scenes.
The problem begins when you spend more time watching porn than maintaining real human relationships. Some facts about porn: – 25% of Internet searches are pornography related. – Every second approximately 372 people are typing adult terms into a search engine. – 11-years old – the average age of first exposure to Internet porn. – www. whitehouse.com was a porn website until 2004. – A University of Montreal study was unable to examine the differences between men who watch porn and those who did not because they were unable to find a single man who had not watched porn. Why porn is actually bad for you?
Researchers say that those who have a compulsive lust for porn were more likely to have severe social problems. 47% of research subjects watched 30 minutes to three hours of porn per day. The Internet generation has become obsessed with easy sex. Because sexual content is so easily accessible, they have lost the desire for the real thing, and have become desensitized to sexual stimuli. Easy access to Internet porn has affected many men, causing a new syndrome called “Sexual Attention Deficit Disorder.”
Porn watchers get so accustomed to the high levels of visual stimulation that comes from watching Internet porn that they’re unable to focus while having sex with a woman. As a result, these men have problems maintaining erections, and may even experience delayed or premature ejaculation. Many of these men have trouble reaching climax, and have to be aided by manual or oral stimulation. Because watching porn can rewire the male brain to crave instant gratification, men who have been exposed to too much porn tend to get bored or impatient during sex with a real woman..
Are you addicted to porn?
Porn addiction has not yet been listed as an official mental disorder. But if pornography is keeping you from finding fulfillment in real human contact or is affecting your relationships with other people, you should take the issue seriously. Porn addiction may also be related to sex addiction. Just as an alcoholic needs to progressively increase the amount of alcohol they drink, a porn addict needs to consume more and more sexual content. It can only get worse.
Porn addiction recovery – 3 methods to overcome porn addiction: Setup a security block on your computer
The first step is to ask a specialist to setup an adult content filter on your computer. When you are tempted to view porn, you will be blocked from accessing websites that contain pornography. This has become an increasingly popular solution among parents wanting to protect their children from inappropriate websites. It has also been used in many offices to keep employees focused on their work-related duties.
Join a support group
If you think that you may be addicted to porn, get involved with a support group such as Porn Addicts Anonymous, No-Porn.com, or choose from any one of the many other groups popping up all over the Internet dedicated to overcoming porn addiction. It might seem illogical to turn to the Internet for help with this problem, but many addicts have found comfort and healing through sharing their stories and experience with others suffering from the same condition. It may even help you to come to terms with the problem.
Seek professional help
The best and most costly way, of combating any addiction is seeking the help of a personal therapist. Any qualified psychologist or psychiatrist will be able to properly diagnose the problem and be able to provide you with effective methods for reducing your dependency on pornography.
Like all other forms of entertainment, porn is fine when viewed in moderation. For most of us, viewing pornography is an occasional pleasure, but for those who are driven to view porn compulsively, it can turn into a trap. Fortunately, through a combination of research, Internet filters, and professional therapy, it is an obstacle that can be overcome.
Want to know more? Watch: The Great Porn Experiment | 4,793 | 2,269 | 9,983.12825 |
warc | 201704 | Intravenous Urography The main current indications: For assessment of function of the kidney (although scintigraphy is the best) Persistent or frank hematuria Renal and ureteric calculi (particularly prior to endourological procedures) Ureteric fistula Ureteric strictures Complex urinary tract infection (especially tuberculosis) Q Some urogenital congenital anomalies QThe sequence of taking film is: Plain KUB film → Nephrographic phase and a 5 minutes after injection of contrast → full-length 15 minutes film → 30/45 minutes prone full length film and lastly the post-void film. As required, oblique views, compression views, erect view and other modifications like rapid sequence IVU or diuretic urography or infusion study can be done. QThe main contraindications: Liver failure with renal failure QMyelomatosis Pregnancy Previous history of reaction to contrast Severally dehydrated patient
Patients with limited renal function (creatinine 1.5 and greater) generally should not receive iodinated intravenous contrast for IVU/CT. Gadolinium chelate contrast agents used for MRI are generally safe for these patients.
Modifications in IVU/IVP/ Excretory urography Done in patients with suspected renovascular hypertension. Films taken at 1, 2 and 4 minutes after injection of contrast medium in addition to the routine filming sequence. QRapid sequence IVU: Infusion urography:Done in patients with compromised renal function. 40–50 grams of iodine (as against 16 grams in usual procedure) is injected into 200–500 cc of glucose and given as infusion. Diuretic urography:Done in patients with PUJ obstruction. A patient is not dehydrated prior to procedure. IV frusemide is injected immediately following contrast, which causes copious contrast secretion, thus dilating the renal pelvis to greater extent and demonstrating the pathology nicely. | 1,879 | 967 | 3,594.777663 |
warc | 201704 | On March 30th, 2008 the Granny Peace Brigade held the second in its series of Teach-Ins offering a careful look at the ever expanding empire of foreign military bases that the Pentagon maintains in 130 countries. Entitled Say “No” to AFRICOM the event was held in observance of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. AFRICOM, the Pentagon’s plan for a regional U.S. military command of Africa, represents a violation of Dr. King’s dream of peace, economic justice and racial harmony.
Four distinguished presenters participated in the forum held at the All Souls Unitarian Church and it was moderated by Granny Peace Brigade member Vinie Burrows, award-winning actor, writer and story-telling griot.
Photo – Eliza Griffiths
In African tradition she offered a libation to honor Dr. King and then introduced the first speaker, Horace G. Campbell, professor of African American Studies, International Affairs and Political Science at Syracuse University.
Photo – Eliza Griffiths
Integrating a power-point presentation, Dr. Campbell provided the context in which to develop his arguments against AFRICOM, untangling knots and contradictions in US Africa policy, beginning with 1994 when President Clinton called Rwandan genocide “normal tribal violence” (he later apologized). Discussing genocide, Campbell cited the U.S.’s continuing diplomatic relations with Sudan despite Darfur. He sees the real “terrorism” in Africa as economic and colonial domination perpetrated by European nations for centuries and, more recently, by China and the U.S. That there is widespread resistance on the part of African nations to AFRICOM is “good news” despite the U.S. administration spin that the motivation for this new command is “aid.”
Ms. Woods provided the background to AFRICOM, a creation of Donald Rumsfeld and established the day before his resignation in December 2006. AFRICOM stipulates that an African country seeking to engage in any way with the U.S. must do so exclusively through AFRICOM. The only country that would not be under the AFRICOM command would be Egypt, recipient of one billion dollars of U.S. foreign aid, second only to Israel.
A major motivation behind AFRICOM arises from US addiction to oil – 24% of U.S. oil imports currently come from Africa, compared with 12% in 2003. Besides oil, the African continent is a source for countless strategic resources including uranium and coltan (Colombo-tantalite ore used in cell phones). Other motives are a foreign policy determined to challenge China and to fight the “war on terrorism.” Identifying problems with the press, Ms. Woods reported that President Bush’s recent seven day trip to Africa included four days in Tanzania where there were large daily protests against AFRICOM that were reported as Muslims rallying against Bush and not as Tanzanians rallying against AFRICOM. Ms. Woods ended her presentation with a call to remembrance of Dr. King asking us to declare eternal hostility to poverty, racism and militarism.
Frida Berrigan, senior program associate of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, NYC, described the foreign “aid” currently given to African countries and exposed the insidious nature of the administration’s rhetoric.
Photo – Eliza Griffiths
She underscored the Pentagon’s use of language and coded words that mask the true intent of AFRICOM. President Bush in his March trip to Africa spoke of AFRICOM as a”mission of mercy.”Ms. Berrigan named the various sites in Africa with a military presence – army, navy and air – in contingency installations, and provided examples of the military’s euphemisms such as “kinetic engagement” referring to killing. She cautioned the audience to beware of U.S. Administration’s and media’s language when referring to militarization.
Her words united the content presented by the three previous speakers. She spoke of the need to engage with young people in an intergenerational collaboration and to do pushups for peace as a way of life. Sanchez called out names of people, alive and deceased interspersed with hxosa clicks, who committed their lives to peace and justice. She reminded us that Dr. King said that a riot is “the language of the unheard”, and our task is “to learn how to make the unheard heard, without blowing themselves and the world up.”
A brief question-answer period ensued resulting in some specific actions for participants at the Teach-In re the U.S. Administration. Dr. Campbell said that in relation to the Congo, there should be an apology for the murder of Patrice Lumumba. Lobbying Congressional representatives, the Black Congressional Caucus, and Donald Payne (Dem. NJ) chair of the House subcommittee on Africa were among the suggestions for action. The website: www.resistafricom.org/ was cited for information on Congressional resolutions.
– Nydia Leaf, Phyllis Cunningham, Caroline Chinlund
Four-minute Video Sample of the AFRICOM Teach-In: | 5,166 | 2,525 | 10,147.865347 |
warc | 201704 | It was as if the bird knew that my new car cover was on the way and it was his last chance. Yep, you guessed it, I parked my car outside for a fun day in the sun, and when I came back the whole hood of my car was slaughtered. It looked like a B-52 bomber dropped its load. I was imagining a crusty old seagull with aviator goggle, a scarf around his neck, and the call sign “B1RD” stenciled on his side. What a mess!
What really kills me is that my cars have never been pooped on when the car cover is on. Not once in 30+ years! How is it the birds know?
Birds in the air are beautiful to watch fly, but vile to our car’s finish. A bird’s droppings can quickly cause damage to your paint. I know, because it has happened to me multiple times!
Bird droppings are acidic (pH 3.5 to 4.5). When droppings fall on your paint, the acid begins to burn and etch the paint’s surface. The longer the bird droppings remain, the greater the damage.
I’ve had bird bomb incidents (I live by the ocean, so it’s inevitable!) that have created damage as deep as 1 to 2 mils! To give you an idea of what that means, notebook paper is approximately 2 mils of thickness. Your car’s paint is only 4 to 6 mils thick.
The result of bird dropping damage is a dimple in the paint surface, often as large as an inch or more in diameter. The damage is permanent, but is easily repaired or minimized.
Repairing Bird Poop Damage
The only way to repair the damage caused by bird droppings is to polish the paint. You must use polish to blend the surrounding paint, bringing it down to the same level as the damaged area. This may sound drastic, but it works very well. To do the job properly, you will be a dual-action car polisher, like a Porter Cable 7424XP.
The only concern when making these surface repairs is that you’re making the paint thinner. You need to be very careful not to polish all the way through to the clear coat (or color coat if you have a traditional two-stage paint).
Let me repeat. If you sand or polish too much you will have a more noticeable problem than the one the bird left behind. So be careful! Error on the side of a conservative repair.
If the paint damage is larger than a 1″ diameter, consider using 3000 grit wet and dry sand paper to pre-level the damaged area. Follow with a fine-cut compound, like Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound, to re-glaze the finish. If the damage area is not too large, the Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound alone should handle the problem.
In most cases you won’t be able to make the repair by hand. If you don’t have a car polisher, but you have a drill, you can use a Spot Pad Kit to help make the repair.
Here are the steps:
Wrap the sanding paper around a 2″ flat rubber erasure to use as a sanding block. It is important to keep the sanding paper perfectly flat on the paint surface. Wet the area to be sanded and lightly sand for several seconds. Dry and check your work. When the damaged area is nearly leveled (as seen in the image above), stop sanding. Use a foam spot pad designed for “light cutting” attached to your car polisher or a drill motor with Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound to re-glaze the finish. If full gloss is not completely restored, use a fine finishing polish such as Klasse All-In-One to finish the job. Preventing Bird Poop Damage
While it’s not really possible to keep birds from bombing your car with their dirty little surprises, you can take steps to limit the damage. The most obvious protection is a car cover. To limit the damage when you get hit, you need to remove the offending slime as quickly as possible. Don’t wait. Get it off of your car.
I’ve found the best way to clean up after a bird is with a good quick detailing spray and a soft towel. As I’m a clean car fanatic, I keep a little detailing kit in the trunk of my car. It holds a bottle of quick detailing spray, a couple of towels, and my favorite rubber and vinyl dressing.
That’s all it takes for me to keep the car looking great. When a bird gets me, I spray the bird droppings with a few shots of detailing spray and wipe it off with the towel, turning the towel as necessary to keep a clean wipe on the car.
Another way to protect your paint from bird damage is to keep your car waxed. While wax offers limited protection against a juicy attack, it makes cleanup much easier. You still need to remove the mess as quickly as possible. Don’t let it sit there for days and days. If you do you’ll be sorry!
If you own a nice car but don’t have a garage, I recommend a car cover. It will protect your car from more than just the birds.
Next in our Paint Repair Clinic Series: How-to Remove Water Spots! | 4,776 | 2,263 | 9,760.93681 |
warc | 201704 | Alternatives to food rewards
Food rewards can be an easy way to bring about an
immediate behavior change in students. So why change a reward system that
seems to work? Because rewarding children with food can contribute to health
problems such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. It also interferes
with learning to eat in response to hunger and fullness cues. Giving donuts
and soft drinks to students may seem like a harmless treat for a job well
done, but rewarding children with unhealthy food can develop habits that
stay with them throughout their school careers...and their lives.
Review the information below for healthy alternatives to food reward for students of all ages.
Elementary school students:
• Trips to a treasure box filled with nonfood items such as stickers, bubbles, jump ropes, puzzles, key chains, yo-yo's, trading cards, pencil toppers, etc
• Bank system (use play money to be used for privileges)
• Play favorite game
• Extra recess
• Make deliveries to office
• Sit by friends
• Help teach class
• Eat lunch with teacher
• School supplies
• Show-and-tell
• Paperback book
Middle school students:
• Sit with friends
• Five minute chat break at end of class
• Reduced homework
• Extra credit
• Fun video
• Computer time
• Eat lunch or have class outside
High school students:
• Extra credit
• Fun video
• Reduced homework
• Donated movie coupons
• Free Choice" time at end of class | 1,564 | 780 | 2,829.235897 |
warc | 201704 | This seminar will address the law governing national security investigations and related litigation. Topics will include electronic surveillance conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), detention and interrogation of suspects, National Security Letters and other investigative tools, and related topics. National security law is often inaccessible, and can be particularly hard to follow when divorced from the context of historical tradition, governmental structures, and the operational reality in which it functions. The seminar will aim to present national security law in context, exposing students as much as possible to the real-world effects of applicable legal standards and rules. Participation in a half-day investigative exercise and several short papers are required. The class is not open to 1Ls. | 843 | 479 | 1,480.08977 |
warc | 201704 | More than half of mobile applications are not secure, says a report released by Veracode. Out of more than 2,900 applications tested over the past 18-month period, 57 percent of all applications were found to have unacceptable application security quality on first submission to Veracode’s testing service, even when standards were lowered for those considered less business critical. According to the Veracode study, third-party code is an essential and rapidly growing part of an enterprise’s software portfolio, making up nearly 30 percent of all applications submitted to Veracode for review, with third-party components comprising between 30-70 percent of internally developed applications. Of particular note, third-party suppliers failed to achieve acceptable security standards 81 percent of the time. Suppliers of cloud/web applications made up nearly 60 percent of all third-party assessments requested of Veracode. Similar to the results of testing other types of third-party software, cloud/web applications show low levels of acceptable security. Eight out of 10 web applications would fail a PCI audit. Says Veracode, “Based on automated analysis,we found that eight out of 10 web applications failed to comply with the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) top 10 industry standard for security quality, and therefore would not pass a PCI audit.” Fifty-six percent of finance-related applications failed upon first submission to Veracode’s testing service. Analysis shows that software quality of applications from banking, insurance and financial services industries is not commensurate with the security requirements expected for business critical applications, though the financial services industry performed better than banking and insurance overall. While, cross-site scripting remains prevalent, accounting for 51 percent of all vulnerabilities uncovered in the testing process; .NET applications exhibited abnormally high cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. Additionally, “potential backdoors” broke into the top 10 most common vulnerabilities. However, Veracode found that the security issues are being resolved faster, with the time it takes for organizations to repair flaws to achieve acceptable levels of security decreased from between 36-82 days, to 16 days on average.
Facebook Comments | 2,365 | 1,068 | 5,152.95412 |
warc | 201704 | Economic Growth: The United States (A) What on Earth is economic "growth," anyway? I do not know. Even though I have been allegedly writing about it, I do not know. You see, the term economic "growth" bothers me. The anthropomorphism of something called a national "economy" bothers me.
By the way, what is a national "economy"? Is it a thing or a process or a series of processes? Is it the sum of all of a nation's economic activity? If so, what does that mean?
Can a nation's economy be generally conceived of as the breadth and depth of its commercial activities? Is "trade" a part of this? Again, if so, what does that mean?
Addendum Addendum To Previous Installment, "Economic Growth: The Cases of Sweden and Japan."
Dear Friends,
Because I want to furnish you with as much up-to-date, take-it-to-the-bank, relevant information as I can, I feel compelled to put in this addendum to a previous installment in this series essays on "economic growth."
One of the things I have been talking about is the dangers of a nation allowing the finance arm of its economy to get out of control --- the dangers of allowing finance to get further and further removed from the "real" economy of manufacturing production. I have suggested that Sweden, Japan, and the United States, as we shall see, offer representative case studies.
I have suggested that their stories tell the same basic story, with obvious differences in detail. I have suggested that these stories follow the same basic trajectory.
But its not just Sweden, Japan, and the United States that experienced economic fallout due to the "financialization" of their economies throughout the 1980s and 1990s through the 2000s. Actually the economic crisis of 2008 has its roots in thirty years of financialization of economies across the capitalist world --- a process that has been recreated even within individual corporate firms.
Iceland
"Rich as it already was," wrote Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, who teaches economics at Cambridge, "the Icelandic economy got a turbo-charged boost in the late 1990s, thanks to the then government's decision to privatize and liberalize the financial sector" (1).
Still quoting:
"For a while, the financial expansion seemed to work wonders for Iceland. Once a financial backwater with a reputation for excessive regulation (its stock market was only set up in 1985), the country was transformed into a vibrant new hub in the emerging global financial system. From the late 1990s, Iceland grew at an extraordinary rate and became the fifth richest country in the world by 2007 (after Norway, Luxemborg, Switzerland and Denmark). The sky seemed to be the limit.
"Unfortunately, after the global financial crisis of 2008, the Icelandic economy went into meltdown. That summer, all three of its biggest banks went bankrupt and had to be taken over by the government. Things got so bad that, in October 2009, McDonald's decided to withdraw from Iceland, relegating it to the borderland of globalization. At the time of writing (early 2010), the IMF estimate was that its economy shrank at the rate of 8.5 per cent in 2009, the fastest rate of contraction among the rich countries" (2).
Addendum (continued) Ireland
The same basic story is true of Ireland.
"Extraordinary though Iceland's story may sound," (for the details you should read the book: "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" by Ha-Joon Chang), "it was not alone in fuelling growth by privatizing, liberalizing and opening up the financial sector during the last three decades.
Ireland tried to become another financial hub through the same strategy, with its financial assets reaching the equivalent of 900 per cent of GDP in 2007. At the time of writing, the IMF estimate was that its economy contracted by 7.5 per cent in 2009" (3). Latvia
"Latvia, another aspiring financial hub, has had it even worse. Following the collapse of its finance-driven boom, its economy was estimated by the IMF to have shrunk by 16 per cent in 2009" (4).
Dubai
"Dubai, the self-appointed financial hub of the Middle East, seemed to hold on a bit longer than its European rivals, but threw in the towel by declaring a debt moratorium for its main state-owned conglomerate in November 2009" (5).
The seductive power of the finance-driven strategy
Ha-Joon Chang:
"For some, even the recent collapses of Iceland, Ireland and Latvia have not been enough reason to abandon a finance-led economic strategy. In September 2009, Turkey announced that it will implement a series of policies that will turn itself into (yet another) financial hub of the Middle East. Even the government of Korea, a traditional manufacturing powerhouse, is implementing policies aimed at turning itself into the financial hub of Northeast Asia, although its enthusiasm has been dented since the collapse of Ireland and Dubai, after which it was hoping to model the country" (6).
Furthermore, Dr. Chang would have us know that what Iceland and Ireland had done, was only a more extreme form of "the economic strategy being pursued many countries -- a growth strategy based on financial deregulation, first adopted by the US and the UK in the early 1980s" (7).
Addendum (continued)
The issue, according to Dr. Chang, is that, with "a growth strategy based on deregulated finance was the fact that in such a system it is easier to make money in financial activities than through other economic activities --- or so it seemed until the 2008 crisis" (8).
Still quoting Dr. Ha-Joon Chang:
"A study by two French economists, Gerard Dumenil and Dominique Levy --- one of the few studies separately estimating the profit rate of the financial sector and that of the non-financial sector --- shows that the former has been much higher than the latter in the US and in France during the last two or three decades. According to this study, in the US the rate of profit for financial firms was lower than that of the non-financial firms between the mid 1960s and the late 1970s. But, following financial deregulation in the early 1980s, the profit rate of financial firms has been on a rising trend, and ranged between 4 per cent and 12 per cent. Since the 1980s, it has always been significantly higher than that of non-financial firms, which ranged between 2 per cent and 5 per cent. In France, the profit rate of financial corporations was
negative between the early 1970s and the mid 1980s (no data is available for the 1960s). However, with the financial deregulation of the late 1980s, it started rising and overtook that of non-financial firms in the early 1990s, when both were about 5 per cent, and rose to over 10 per cent by 2001. In contrast, the profit rate of French non-financial firms declined from the early 1990s, to reach around 3 per cent in 2001" (8).
Okay, France and Britain were also involved in all of this.
Last item of the addendum
As I said, non-financial firms virtually turned themselves into financial institutions over the same thirty or forty-year period.
Its easier to just quote Dr. Chang:
"Jim Crotty, the distinguished American economist, has calculated that the ratio of financial assets to non-financial assets owned by non-financial corporations in the US rose from around 0.4 in the 1970s to nearly 1 in the early 2000s" (9).
Still quoting:
"Even companies such as GE, GM and Ford --- once the symbols of American manufacturing prowess --- have been 'financialized' through a continuous expansion of their financial arms, coupled with the decline of their core manufacturing activities. By the early twenty-first century, these manufacturing firms were making most of their profits through financial activities, rather than their core manufacturing businesses... For example, in 2003, 45 per cent of GE's profit came from GE Capital. In 2004, 80 per cent of profits of GM were from its financial arm, GMAC, while Ford made all its profits from Ford Finance between 2001 and 2003" (10).
By the way, its worth noting---just to show what a global system capitalism is---that by early 2009, the export-led economies of East Asia and Southeast Asia were "contracting at an alarming rate." Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan saw their exports fall by 20 percent or more in two months (11).
Into the Substance of the Matter The "Financialization" of the U.S. Economy (circa 1980 to the present)
Financialization as a growth strategy can produce formidable results, at least in the short term. By one astonishing measure, the United States accumulated more than half of the wealth that the country ever generated, in its entire history, since the year 1980, the year of the ascension of Ronald Reagan to the White House (12).
If that staggering claim is true, then U.S. economic "growth," since 1980 has undoubtedly been driven by finance, largely or mostly; or we might say, increasingly detached from production (13) --- which, in turn, was reflected in the stock market frenzy of the 1980s.
And that stock market hysteria, financial historian Edward Chancellor would have us know, was driven by the "boom in leveraged buyouts," which become the foundation of "the bull market of the mid-1980s" (14).
Question: Why did the "boom in leveraged buyouts" become the "driving force behind the bull market of the mid-1980s"? Answer: Author David C. Korten supplies the answer for us. It is because "[f]inding ways to create new value in a sophisticated modern economy is seldom easy. Finding ways to create new value that will produce returns in the amount and with the speed demanded by a predatory financial system many times larger than the productive economy is virtually impossible. The quickest way to make the kind of profit the system demands is to capture and cannibalize existing values from a weaker market player" (15).
Let's recall an analogy
I have equated a nation's capitalist economy to the human body. A nation's financial system is like the metabolism of the human body; and a nation's "real" economy of manufacturing production is like the bone, muscle, blood, organs, circulatory system, nervous system, skin, hair, and teeth, the body itself.
The function of the metabolism is to break down the incoming food into nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, and the like, to the various areas of the body as needed, to sustain the body.
Under optimal conditions of rest, exercise, and balanced, healthy diet, and so forth, the body will function at the optimal level, barring catastrophic illness.
If the quality of conditions the body undergoes deteriorates (including the quality of food), then the metabolism will have to work harder to extract anything of "value," so to speak, in order to keep the body going, at all, in any form or fashion.
If an even more desperate of actual starvation occurs, the metabolism will react with equal desperation in forcing the body to consume itself --- in a desperate attempt to keep the body alive.
At which point, we begin to be treated to a maddeningly circular logic, not unlike that of the Vietnam War era, that went a little something like this:
We had to destroy the village, to save it.
Therefore, this leverage buyout frenzy of the 1980s, is an example of the financial system forcing the real economic body of the United States --- to consume itself --- in order to keep itself "alive."
Does that make sense?
I hope so. Remember, the financial system "metabolizes" inputs, breaks them down, and distributes the "nutrients" throughout the real economic body. For our purposes, the "inputs" would be, say, good jobs at good wages and benefits.
Stay with me. We're not done yet. Now, I have been talking about a capitalist nation's move to the "financialization" of its economy, as indicative of a weakness, of some kind, in production. It is the indicator of economic weakness.
Question: If that is true, if "financialization" of the economy is indicative of a weakness in production --- then why have the American ruling class been talking in such a triumphalist way about it, for the last 20-25 years?
By the way, the American ruling class have been talking about the "financialization" of the economy in triumphalist terms, for the last 20 to 25 years, both at home and abroad.
I'll just quote Nobel-prize-winning economist, Joseph E. Stiglitz, from his book,
The Roaring Nineties.
Dr. Stiglitz:
"What happened in the Roaring Nineties was that a set of longstanding checks and balances --- a balance between Wall Street, Main Street (or High Street, as it is called in the United Kingdom), and labor, between Old Industry and New Technology, government and the market --- was upset, in some essential ways, by the new ascendancy of Finance. Everyone deferred to its judgment. Countries, including the United States, were told to accept the discipline of the market. Longstanding wisdom that there were alternative policies, that different policies affected different groups differently, that there were trade-offs, that politics provided the arena through which the trade-offs were evaluated and choices were made, was shunted aside" (16).
Still quoting:
"[I]n the Nineties, America set itself up as the role model for the rest of the world. America was looked to for its views about the right balance of government and the market and about what kinds of institutions and policies are needed to make a market economy work well" (17).
One more passage, last but not least:
"Those countries which did not voluntarily mimic America, in the hope that their economy too would experience a boom, including those that thought America had not gotten the balance right, were cajoled, badgered, and in the case of developing countries dependent on assistance from the International Monetary Fund, effectively forced to go along with what was described as the sweep of history" (18).
Wrapping Up The first thing to say about this....
We can expect the beneficiaries of an economic "growth" strategy, based on finance, to be, rather lopsidedly and disproportionately, the elite and sub-elite --- since it is the elite and sub-elites who work in high finance, as well as related fields. I'm thinking of law (especially tax law and business law in general), accounting, marketing, public relations, and media (especially the business media; but some might cynically call all American media business media) --- the latter two being useful for the ruling class, in helping to persuade the public that everything is fine; that what is happening is the best thing that could possibly happen; that the rising tide will lift all of our boats; and that our ruling authorities know precisely what they are doing.
Once again, to return to our question: If the "financialization" of a capitalist nation's economy is an indicator of weakness in production, of one kind or another, of general economic weakness of the so-called "real" economy --- then why have the American ruling class been speaking of "financialization" with such a triumphalist note, over the course of the past 20-25 years?
The two circumstances are not that hard to reconcile, when you think about it. What happens when you are forced into taking a specific course of action?
Well, many things can happen; but one well known psychological option it to take possession of the act you are being forced into committing --- and pretending to others that X is exactly what you want to do. In time, perhaps you convince yourself; and in this way, you try to escape the initial feeling of powerlessness and helplessness, that initially attended the circumstances under which you were compelled into taking X action.
You see, in this way you resolve the cognitive dissonance involved. Take the fable of the "sour grapes." You can read this on Wikipedia.
The fox tries to get some grapes from a high branch. He cannot do so; everything he tries, fails; and he is left grape-less. Basically, in order to evade the feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, and incompetence that surely attends his failure to get the grapes --- he persuades himself that he did not really want the grapes anyway, because they are "sour"; and he implies that he had not really been putting forth maximum effort to get the grapes.
Now, you know that business started offshoring production to other national locales around the world, in order to save themselves on labor costs and labor strife, in the 1970s. Government was surely helpless to prevent them from doing this, right?
Remember, a national capitalist economy can be thought of as having two general halves, the financial arm and the "real" economy of manufacturing production.
Okay, so all government "had left," so to speak, in general, was the financial arm.
Tell me: What do you do when there is a person or a thing that is "all I have left in this world"? Isn't the tendency to try to do everything you can to "hold on to" this person or thing "with everything I've got," with a sense of urgency and desperation?
Suppose that was the situation that stared the political arm of the ruling class in the face.
Therefore, we might say that...
"Instead of seeking to restore the older manufacturing industries or build the new technological sector," wrote political analyst and historian, Kevin Phillips. "Washington authorities steadily protected and advanced banking and finance, providing rescues from perils, insolvencies, and crises hitherto regarded as being hazards of the marketplace. The continued eminence of both the treasury and the Federal Reserve furnished a central continuity between the eighties and the nineties and the Republican Bush and Democratic Clinton eras. Finance was in a bipartisan catbird's seat" (19).
And like the fox, with his talk of "sour" grapes, so too, might our political leaders speak of us living in a "post-industrial age" of the "knowledge worker."
Those of you who remember might correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall Vice President Al Gore introducing such terminology into the lexicon during his run for the White House with Bill Clinton, during the 1992 campaign.
Thank you for reading. References and Notes
1. Chang, Ha-Joon.
23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism. Bloomsbury Press, 2010. 232-233
2. ibid, 233-234
3. ibid, 234-235
4. ibid, 235
5. ibid
6. ibid
7. ibid
8. ibid, 236
9. ibid, 236-237
10. ibid, 237
11. Harvey, David.
The Enigma of Capital And The Crises of Capitalism. Oxford University Press, 2010. 6
12. Johnston, David Cay.
Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (And Stick You With The Bill). Portfolio, 2007. 9
13. Phillips, Kevin.
Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich. Broadway Books, 2002.
Kevin Phillips is a political analyst who has written a great deal about the phenomena of "financialization." In the 1970s there was a recession: "stagflation," inflation plus stagnant growth of the economy.
Mr. Phillips points out that there was a four-point recovery formula pursued by Washington, starting in 1982; and these policies did indeed spur economic "growth." First: military spending; Second: corporate investment -- favored by the 1981 tax law; a lot of money went into computer purchases, but far more went into office buildings and construction; Third: Debt -- state and local governments, corporations, and individuals borrowed massively as never before; Fourth: financial activities, such as mergers, leveraged buyouts, "deal-making," which facilitated the massive growth of the banking and investment sector of employment ----- pp.91-92
Phillips also crucially notes that much of the money made in this way was spent on luxury consumption, by the rich, or "held liquid for trading in assets rather than being invested in capital equipment for production" --- p.92
14. Chancellor, Edward.
Devil Take The Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1999. 262
15. Korten, David C.
When Corporations Rule the World. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., & Kumarian Press, 1995. 207
16. Stiglitz, Joseph E.
The Roaring Nineties: A New History of The World's Most Prosperous Decade. W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. xiv.
17. ibid, xv
18. ibid, xv-xvi
19. Phillips, Kevin.
Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich. Broadway Books, 2002. 97 More by this Author 5
Just a short meditation on the concept of "economic growth."
0
I'm picking up from where I left off with "Economic Growth: A Meditation," looking at the cases of Sweden and Japan.
9The Trump Campaign (and Republican Party) in Context: Capitalism and Democracy - A Meditation (Part Q)
This is Part Q of the series. We're still trying to understand where Donald Trump came from, politically.
No comments yet. | 20,878 | 8,964 | 48,039.896029 |
warc | 201704 | Wednesday, July 12, 2006 It’s the New Contract Stupid: “Insider” Hints at Reason For Increased “U” Ratings
While the numbers are not officially in, it is abundantly clear that the number of “U” ratings has substantially increased. Reports from schools around the City indicate that large numbers of senior and beginning teachers are being targeted for discipline. A person close to the Office of Appeals and Review (the office handling appeals of U-ratings) has confirmed this trend and stated that the number of U-ratings appears to be the highest in recent memory.
We all know how this trend started. It is no secret that as part of the changes in our contract the principals received an increase in the ability to select and remove their staff. We can no longer grieve letters to the file which, in the past, could tie up a U-rating for years and subject negative letters to arbitrators who might destroy the underpinnings of the unsatisfactory evaluation in their award.
Principals who, in the past, might have been reluctant to write letters to the file now order their Assistant Principals to write observations that can only be challenged at an appeal before a Chancellor’s representative, not an independent hearing officer.
No one could seriously argue that there are no unsatisfactory teachers in our system. The issue becomes, as we have said since the new contract was proposed, who decides. When a principal decides to target a teacher our new procedure makes it extremely difficult to prevent disciplinary action and eventual dismissal.
With this increase in U-ratings where does our Union stand?
I have received a large number of emails and telephone calls from recently U-rated teachers. By and large the Union’s advice to these teachers is, “Don’t worry; we’ll take care of it.”
Amazingly this advice is also given to probationers (many Teaching Fellows) who are dismissed after receiving U-ratings. Waiting can only deprive you of your day in court as the statute of limitations to challenge a dismissal in court is only 120 days after notice that you have been dismissed. You are still entitled to a U-rating appeal but winning the appeal will not get you your job back.
Is there an effective strategy to combat negative observation reports? Can you tape your own observed lesson? Can your performance be assessed by a qualified supervisor?
I hope our Union can answer these questions and provide the kind of guidance and advocacy we need. We should demand no less. | 2,560 | 1,285 | 4,948.669261 |
warc | 201704 | Jamie Whyte proposes a "politics should be like a graduate seminar" model of democracy that strikes me as quite curious. The quote that motivates my thoughts is the following:
But how can a bad policy be good politics? What defect in the electoral system can explain this? The most popular explanation these days is the malign influence of “special interests”. Perhaps there is something in this. But a more fundamental defect is always overlooked, presumably because it is mistaken for a virtue of modern democracies. The reason so many bad policies are good politics is that so many people vote: about 62 percent of adults at the last general election, both in Great Britain and in the United States. The best way to get more sensible policies would be to reduce the number of voters to less than 0.01 percent of the population.
The logic of Whyte's call for fewer voters rests on the assumption that ignorance is the primary obstacle to good policy. Consequently, if we raise the probability that each voter is decisive (by having 12 voters), each voter will acquire the knowledge needed to make informed choices. More informed voters select candidates who make better policy.
I believe this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of politics. Politics isn't about efficiency (the dispassionate search for the optimal policy); it's about distribution. Once one recognizes that politics fundamentally is about who gets what, bad policy ceases to puzzle and ignorance becomes irrelevant. The classical case against democracy isn't that the masses are stupid. The classical case is that an empowered and relatively impoverished majority will redistribute from the relatively wealthy minority. The real puzzle of modern democracy, I would suggest, isn't that it produces bad policy; it is the extent to which massive redistribution of wealth
hasn't happened.
The number of people who vote, therefore, is irrelevant because people vote their interest. And one needn't be well informed about the finer points of Ricardo-Viner to know whether trade helps or hurts you. Selecting 12 representative individuals doesn't change this. These 12 voters might better select the candidate most likely to produce their desired distributive outcome. They will not engage in a joint effort to maximize social welfare. | 2,321 | 1,191 | 4,486.097397 |
warc | 201704 | International Tables for Crystallography Volume F: Crystallography of biological macromolecules Edited by E. Arnold, D. M. Himmel and M. G. Rossmann International Tables for Crystallography Volume F is an expert guide to macromolecular crystallography for the structural biologist. It was commissioned by the International Union of Crystallography in recognition of the extraordinary contributions that knowledge of macromolecular structure has made, and will make, to the analysis of biological systems, from enzyme catalysis to the workings of a whole cell. The volume covers all stages of a crystallographic analysis from the preparation of recombinant proteins, through crystallization, diffraction data collection, phase determination, structure validation and structure analysis.
Although the volume is written for experienced scientists, it is recognized that the reader is more likely to be a biologist interested in structure than a classical crystallographer interested in biology. Thus, there are chapters on the fundamentals, history and current perspectives of macromolecular crystallography, as well as on useful programs and databases such as the Protein Data Bank. Each chapter is written by one or more internationally recognized experts.
This second edition features 19 new articles and many articles from the first edition have been revised. The new articles cover topics such as standard definitions for quality indicators, expression of membrane proteins, protein engineering, high-throughput crystallography, imaging of whole cells, radiation damage, merohedral twinning, low-resolution ab initio phasing, robotic crystal loading and halogen interactions in biological crystal structures. There are also new articles on relevant software, including software for electron microscopy. These enhancements will ensure that Volume F continues to be a key reference for macromolecular crystallographers and structural biologists.
This edition of Volume F has been reviewed by J. S. Ferrara [
ACA RefleXions, Winter 2012 issue, 24-25]. The first edition of Volume F was reviewed by C. W. Carter Jr [ Structure (2002). 10, 289] and J. J. Müller [ Z. Kristallogr. (2002). 217, 627-628]. | 2,210 | 1,087 | 4,470.827967 |
warc | 201704 | THE MAMMALIAN lung is innervated abundantly by autonomic nerves that enter the hilus for distribution in the peribronchiolar tissues into the terminal segments of the air passages.1-3 Many of these hilar nerves have thick and thin myelinated axons, clusters of ganglion cells and unmyelinated fibers. These and other characteristics identify them as vagal. Hilar nerves, less frequent and more fibrillar, have thin and a few thick myelinated axons, unmyelinated fibers and by their structure are recognized as sympathetic. The mammalian lungs have many afferent receptors.4-7 These terminals of myelinated axons, mainly but not exclusively vagal, are recorded as (1) fiber ramifications among the lining epithelial cells of the bronchioles, (2) encapsulated or unencapsulated sessile and pedunculated receptors in the subepithelial tissues of the bronchioles, the alveolar ducts and the alveolar sacs, (3) curved segments of thick sinuous fibers with fibrils and their branches in the walls of
Hirsch EF, Kaiser GC, Barner HB, Nigro SL, Hamouda F, Cooper T, Adams WE. The Innervation of the Mammalian LungIII. Regression of the Intrinsic Nerves and of Their Afferent Receptors Following Thoracic Sympathectomy, Cervical Vagotomy or Thoracic Stripping of the Vagus. Arch Surg. 1968;96(1):149-155. doi:10.1001/archsurg.1968.01330190151032
© 2017 | 1,352 | 754 | 2,408.137931 |
warc | 201704 | Firefighters are usually rushing to respond to emergencies within their communities, but one New York Fire Department experienced an unfortunate blaze a little too close to home. A massive fire at the Golden’s Bridge fire station in Westchester County, New York has left firefighters without a firehouse after the inferno damaged a significant portion of the building as well as several pieces of machinery.
Irreparable Damage to the Golden’s Bridge Building and Equipment
According to firehouse.com, the blaze erupted from a faulty electrical assembly connected to a fire truck parked in the building. A few firemen stationed at the Golden’s Bridge location realized that the building was on fire and moved some equipment out of harm’s way before ultimately abandoning the structure. Other machinery could not be salvaged and was lost in the flames.
Fire Department Insurance is the Best Defense
Incidents that result in substantial property and real estate damages like the Golden’s Bridge station fire demonstrate the importance of maintaining adequate and up-to-date fire department insurance coverage. In
New York Fire District Officer’s Guide, author Raymond S. DiRaddo provides best practices for assessing and implementing appropriate insurance coverage.
For instance, DiRaddo claims that the Board of Fire Commissioners should evaluate their fire department insurance package on an annual basis and review multiple policy options to determine which is best for the organization. A complete package may include elements such as:
Coverage for the property of others Insurance protecting against liability for personal injury or death Recovering Costs for Damaged Fire Equipment
The Washington Post stated that a fire truck worth hundreds of thousands of dollars succumbed to the Golden’s Bridge blaze. Valuable contents like this should be included in a comprehensive inventory of items stored in fire stations, which may be provided to the Office of the Comptroller in an inventory of fixed assets. The inventory can be appraised and the value covered by the fire department insurance.
Ensure Your Fire Department is Prepared
OSHA requirements, bond issuance regulation, reserve fund rules, election procedures and forms— any one of these requirements could cause legal trouble for your fire district. An inexpensive solution is
New York Fire District Officer’s Guide, written by Raymond S. DiRaddo. This helpful guide includes: (1) more than 260 forms and resolutions; and (2) quick answers to your day-to-day operating and legal questions such as officers’ functions and duties, formation and operation, personnel, financial, and contracts. New York Fire District Officers’ Guide also explains how to remain in compliance while performing all your management duties, including election, bond issues, insurances, and more.
Administering a fire district continues to grow more difficult. This guide leads you step-by-step through the administrative pitfalls, and will help your fire district run efficiently, solve management problems, and meet its legal obligations. | 3,144 | 1,525 | 6,339.540984 |
warc | 201704 | Abstract
The cellular changes during an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) largely rely on global changes in gene expression orchestrated by transcription factors. Tead transcription factors and their transcriptional co-activators Yap and Taz have been previously implicated in promoting an EMT, however, their direct transcriptional target genes and their functional role during EMT have remained widely elusive. We have uncovered a previously unanticipated role of the transcription factor Tead2 during EMT. During EMT in mammary gland epithelial cells and breast cancer cells, levels of Tead2 increase in the nucleus of cells, thereby directing a predominant nuclear localization of its co-factors Yap and Taz via the formation of Tead2/Yap/Taz complexes. Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation/next generation sequencing in combination with gene expression profiling reveals the transcriptional targets of Tead2 during EMT. Among these, zyxin contributes to the migratory and invasive phenotype evoked by Tead2. The results demonstrate that Tead transcription factors are critical regulators of Yap/Taz cellular distribution and together they control the expression of genes critical for EMT and metastasis. | 1,222 | 619 | 2,406.491115 |
warc | 201704 | Intense regulatory and media focus on shale gas production is being joined by investor pressure to improve environmental performance of the industry and individual companies. Not everyday do 55 investors, with one trillion dollars under management, band together to push operational goals for an industry and say they will be comparing companies by their environmental risk levels. Yet, that is what happened last week.
Led by Boston Common Asset Management, Investor Environmental Health Network, and Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 55 investors issued 12 goals designed to insure that shale gas production's risks and impacts are minimized. www.bostoncommonasset.com/news/shale-fracking.php. The 12 goals cover air emissions, water handling, gas well construction, and more. Entitled "Extracting The Facts: An Investor Guide To Disclosing Risks From Hydraulic Fracturing Operations," the full report can be seen at: www.iehn.org/documents/frackguidance.pdf. Each goal comes with a description of general best practices and possible metrics for measurement of performance. Investors are seeking information to guide investments, to decide where to place capital and where not to do so. The report states at page 3 of the Executive Summary: "Investors require relevant, reliable, and comparable information about companies' natural gas operations to make investment judgments based on a robust assessment of companies' environmental, social, and governance policies, practices and performance." The key word in the foregoing is "comparable." These investors are seeking to differentiate between companies and put pressure on the whole industry to lower environmental risks. These 55 investors argue that lowering environmental risks and differentiating companies has growing importance as a result of moratoria in New York, the Delaware River Basin, France, South Africa, parts of Canada, and Bulgaria. Steve Heim of Boston Common Asset Management reported in December 2011 that 21 shareholder resolutions about shale gas production had been filed at 16 companies and often had drawn substantial shareholder support. Last week's announcement that 55 investors have banded together indicates investor interest and concern still grows about the operating practices of the industry and companies. Informed investor focus on the environmental performance of gas production is a good thing, as investors have a unique role and real leverage in a market economy. Hopefully, investors, however, will focus as intensely as they do in "Extracting The Facts" on lowering the environmental risks of all energy sources, including those with more risk and impacts than shale gas production. Indeed, it must not be forgotten that the increased use of gas made possible by shale gas production in the USA has slashed carbon emissions (as well as other pollutants), according to the International Energy Agency and my own work. More attention to lessening methane leakage and other environmental impacts in gas production, as the 55 investors seek, will increase still further the environmental benefits of natural gas. That is something that everyone should welcome. | 3,177 | 1,513 | 6,647.972241 |
warc | 201704 | Legal consequences abound at every corner in healthcare. Each month this blog discusses examples of what those consequences can be.
In this blog I talk about legal consequences. I usually provide current examples of what those consequences might be under a specific set of facts. Here, instead, I want to highlight a litigation-related event that readers might experience in the future—or perhaps already have: a deposition. Depositions can involve inquiry into electronic and other types of information.
By way of introduction to the topic, I am going to discuss an oral deposition rather than one on written questions. The latter is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 31 or its State equivalents and is rarely used. The oral deposition, governed by Rule 30 or, again, its State equivalent is what most of us—lawyers, health information management professionals, and others—understand a deposition to be. Moreover, although this blog is about you being deposed in a civil action in which your employer—not you—is a party, the applicable rules apply to either.
The oral deposition begins with a notice served by a party on another. According to Rule 30(b)(1):
“A party who wants to depose a person by oral questions must give reasonable written notice to every other party. The notice must state the time and place of the deposition and, if known, the deponent’s name and address. If the name is unknown, the notice must provide a general description sufficient to identify the person or the particular class or group to which the person belongs.”
The deponent (that’s the party being deposed) can be deposed on anything that falls within the definition of discoverable information in Rule 26(b)(1). The deposition should seek information known to you and, as a general rule, is limited to one day of seven hours.
Presumably, you would be deposed with regard to an event involving your employer (perhaps a healthcare provider) and particularly with regard to electronic or other health records. You should expect to be prepared (or “prepped”) for the deposition by an attorney who represents your employer. It is important to remember that this attorney does not represent you; if you think that you are at risk for something you might have done in the course of your employment, you should consult with a separate attorney of your choice.
Once the deposition begins, your opportunity to confer with any attorney is extremely limited, and might not be an option at all. You will be sworn under oath (in other words, you have to be truthful under penalty of perjury), and you must answer any question based on your personal knowledge. There is nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t know,” and you should never guess at an answer if you are unsure. When the deposition is completed a written transcript will be prepared and, within circumscribed limits, you will have an opportunity to correct what you are reported in the transcript to have said.
I have stated that the deposition is about what you know. However, there might come a time when you are deposed not about what you know, but instead about what your employer knows. This is called a 30(b)(6) deposition after the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, which allows such a deposition. That Rule provides:
“In its notice or subpoena, a party may name as the deponent a public or private corporation, a partnership, an association, a governmental agency, or other entity and must describe with reasonable particularity the matters for examination. The named organization must then designate one or more officers, directors, or managing agents, or designate other persons who consent to testify on its behalf; and it may set out the matters on which each person designated will testify. A subpoena must advise a nonparty organization of its duty to make this designation. The persons designated must testify about information known or reasonably available to the organization. This paragraph (6) does not preclude a deposition by any other procedure allowed by these rules.”
This Rule imposes serious obligations on you if you are “designated” a deponent under it because it is about information that may not be known by you personally but, instead, about information “known or reasonably available” to your employer. This requires you, as a designated 30(b)(6) deponent, to inquire about the matters which you will be deposed about. You should be assisted by the attorney who represents your client and who may or not be the attorney who sits in the deposition with you. You should make an inquiry about everything the 30(b)(6) notice served on your employer wants you to testify about. That means, if you are asked to be a 30(b)(6) deponent, you should ask for the deposition notice, read and appreciate the matters to be inquired into at the deposition, and understand what information your employer has that is responsive to the notice.
This is a serious obligation on your part: Your answers at a 30(b)(6) will bind your employer and your inability to answer questions posed of you at the deposition may result in sanctions. For all these reasons, and sometimes to avoid the designation of an employee such as yourself as a designated 30(b)(6) deponent, employers sometimes retain an independent third person such as a consultant to be designated.
What does all this mean for you? First, if you are ever deposed, be truthful and NEVER SPECULATE OR GUESS
. An answer to a question asked of you may be used against you or your employer later in the litigation (or sometimes elsewhere). Second, understand what you will be asked about. This entails a discussion with an attorney before the deposition. That attorney may be one retained by your employers to represent it in the litigation or may be an in-house attorney. Do not be afraid to ask questions of the attorney about the nature or scope of the deposition. Third, you should understand that there might be times when you are deposed not because your employer is a party to a particular litigation but, rather, because you or your employer may have information relevant to pending litigation. Under such circumstances Rule 45 (or, once again, its State equivalent) controls. However, the procedure of Rule 30 will remain applicable. **Editor’s note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author alone and should not be interpreted otherwise or as advice. | 6,524 | 2,768 | 15,070.251445 |
warc | 201704 | Does Elective or Emergent Operative Status Influence Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Implantation of Left Ventricular Assist Devices? Abstract Background: Acuity models to predict survival after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation do not include operative status as one of the calculated variables. The effect of elective versus emergent LVAD implantation on outcomes has not been examined. Methods: Patients were stratified into 2 groups based on operative status (elective versus emergent). Variables were compared to determine whether there were differences in outcomes between elective versus emergent LVAD recipients Results: Of the 130 patients, 59 underwent an elective procedure, whereas 71 had their LVAD implanted as an urgent/emergent operation. Patients in the urgent/emergent cohort had significantly worse preoperative hepatic and renal function and higher central venous pressures. Survival rates at 30 days, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years were analogous for both cohorts. Patients in the emergent cohort had a higher incidence of postoperative right ventricular failure, with the requirement for short-term right ventricular support in 9.9% versus 1.7% ( P = 0.054). The incidence of other LVAD-related complications, were similar in both groups. Emergency status did not predict postoperative mortality in univariate analysis. Conclusions: Although patients who underwent emergent LVAD implantations had worse preoperative renal and liver function and a higher incidence of postoperative right ventricular failure, they exhibited similar midterm survival and a similar incidence of other postoperative complications. Full Text:PDF
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1532/HSF98.2013298
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warc | 201704 | Full text loading...
n The Retail and Marketing Review - Sensory branding and buying behavior in coffee shops : a study on Generation Y
Abstract
With the rise of globalisation and the infiltration of global brands into emerging markets, retailers are facing challenges to win market share in this competitive landscape. As a result, retailers are reverting to innovative methods such as experiential marketing to influence consumer buying behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of using experiential marketing as a way of influencing consumers' purchase intentions in coffee shops. The influences of scent and sight as predictors of purchase intention among Generation Y consumers is explored. By means of a quantitative study, 256 self-administered questionnaires were distributed amongst Generation Y individuals in Johannesburg. The data analysis was done by means of structural equation modelling (SEM), with the main focus being placed on path modelling for testing the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that both scent and sight are predictors of purchase intention. Although several studies have explored this phenomenon in an array of contexts, few studies have investigated Generation Y within a South African context. This paper is of paramount importance to retailers who seek to gain market share in the competitive landscape by implementing innovative ways in a bid to effectively influence consumer buying behaviour.
Article metrics loading... | 1,506 | 744 | 3,036.290323 |
warc | 201704 | Abstract
Objective: To respond to employer and payer interest in the extent to which productivity gains offset therapy costs by identifying clinical trials that did not include such measures and using their clinical data to impute productivity impact.
Methods: A PubMed search identified the sample of 25 clinical trials of musculoskeletal pain medications and antidepressants. Next, we applied regression coefficients, quantifying the empirical relationship between clinical measures to each trial's clinical outcomes data. This validated methodology provides estimates of Work Limitations Questionnaire Productivity Loss scores.
Results: Based on imputation, musculoskeletal medications and antidepressants achieved median productivity gains of approximately 0.5% and 1.0%, respectively.
Conclusion: Accounting for productivity gains based on the Work Limitations Questionnaire could substantially influence cost-effectiveness results reported in the health economics literature.
Author Information
From the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (Mr Cangelosi, Ms Bliss, and Drs Neumann and Cohen) and The Health Institute (Drs Chang and Lerner), Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Mass; and National Pharmaceutical Council, Washington, DC (Dr Dubois and Ms Westrich).
Address correspondence to: Joshua T. Cohen, PhD, Tufts Medical Center, 800 Washington Street, Box #063, Boston, MA 02111 (jcohen@TuftsMedicalCenter.org).
Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's Web site (www.joem.org).
Note: Full references appear here for nine studies cited only in the Supplemental Digital Content (Refs 46–54). | 1,833 | 999 | 3,332.06006 |
warc | 201704 | From Penn State University to Ketchikan, Alaska, the news of distant past and recent child mistreatment has a clear message for this December holiday season. We are braver than we believe.
Public admission of failure to protect young children and male athletes by the Penn State authorities was surely brave. The reaction of a former elected official to charges of child pornography exploitation will require bravery.
At the approximate time of Jesus of Nazareth’s birth, such child mistreatment was not only ignored, but accepted by many as normal. Nearly all humans since then have used denial of such harm to children.
The insights of 21st century health and justice data, along with depth psychology, are slowly shattering this denial. A clear message for our time is to pause, try to understand where we are and fine tune our responses to finally admitting that child abuse is both real and very damaging.
As one person, I sense we can learn from our early 20th century mistake in the national prohibition of all alcohol use. When we realized we needed to stop that huge social experiment of externally controlling individual alcohol use, our concern for the huge individual and social harm from alcohol remained.
We are still trying to reduce such harm through legal, educational, psychological, and public advocacy efforts.
There is a connection between alcohol abuse and child abuse. The latter is a significant cause of the former. Yet, when our genuine desire to stop child sexual abuse emphasizes criminalization and punishment, we are paying too little attention to primary prevention.
Long jail terms for offenders is at best only secondary prevention — and very expensive. Paying off the victims many decades later is less likely to be healing than the hard work of restoring respect and relationships. Striving for universal and perpetual respect for all life, of which Albert Schweitzer often spoke, is darned hard. It is a life-long project.
One of Charles Darwin’s insights applies: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
Depth psychology teaches that a victim’s ability to find and keep a sense of some control when traumatized reduces the severity and longevity of post traumatic stress disorder. It is much more difficult for a child to muster such sense of control, thus the effects of child neglect and sexual abuse abound and linger in all our communities. Alcoholism is one of its most common outcomes.
As we consider the messages of this holiday season, let us as individual persons and communities be brave enough to openly discuss the real mistreatment of children here and abroad early in the 21st century. Let our discussion be in response to our growing awareness of the thousands of years of sexual violence to children. Let us be brave enough to look also at the far more common child mistreatment from poverty, forced learning of submissiveness and inferiority and governmental/industrial/corporate romanticizing and glorifying of war.
This holiday season, let us rediscover that “We are stronger than we seem, braver than we believe, and smarter than we think”, as Christopher Robin kept on teaching his precious Pooh Bear.
• Dr. Brown is a pediatrician who resides in Douglas. | 3,353 | 1,680 | 6,574.275 |
warc | 201704 | JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
Farmers’ Expectation Concerning Sustainable Occupation for Agricultural Development : Health Aspects
รักประชา ธิศาเวช; Rakpracha Thisawech
Date:2009-03
Abstract:
This research studied the expectation of agriculturists who had to build a sustainable occupation for agricultural development that would protect natural resources and the environment, decrease the adverse effects of chemicals and produce safe food and a happy social condition, among other positive outcomes. It studied personal factors, the economy, and social aspects, compared with the expectation of sustainable development. The sample comprised 240 persons who were interviewed in order to collect data. The statistics were analyzed by percentage value, average, standard deviation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA.The study results found that most of the sampled household heads were males, aged 41 to 50 years, with a primary education, lacking social position, living in their village for more than 5 years, and had been trained in agriculture by their parents. Farm size was 11-20 rais, family farm labor averaged 9 persons, the individuals had a yearly income of 50,000 - 99,999 baht, household expenses of 10,000 - 19,999 baht per year, made occupational investments of 20,000 - 40,001 baht per year, and were likely to be members of an agricultural group.Their expectations with regard to technology transfer, community business development for production, processing and marketing, plant and animal breeding modification were at a moderate level. However, those expectations with regard to technology support, soil, water and environmental resource development were at a high level. As for problems, operational guidelines and suggestions, the respondentsrevealed that there were many problems, such as the quality of soil, lack of rain and irrigation, plant and animal breeds, organic fertilizer, labor, knowledge of breed selection, products, markets, investment and governmental support. Agricultural institutes played only a minor role in agricultural occupation development. It was suggested that group members be allowed to participate, to submit their opinions, to plan and to make decisions. | 2,349 | 1,186 | 4,480.133221 |
warc | 201704 | How To Build a Stronger Connection With Your Teen By Klaus Klein MA, Registered Clinical Counsellor
All parents want to have a good connection with their children. However, circumstances in life happen for both you and your children that prevent the kind of connection that you might hope for.
Like many parents, you may be stressed, overworked, and overtired, and you may not be aware of how much it is affecting you or your relationship with your teenager. Where you are at with yourself in terms of your own emotions, thoughts, and hopes is a crucial starting point in preparing to strengthen your connection with your teen, and it often gets neglected. As parents you may forget or discount yourself and focus all your energy on your son or daughter trying to get them to change. However, change can start with you and how you want to be as a parent. Once you’re clear on how you want to be as the adult, you can make a conscious effort to strengthen your connection with your teenager.
Below are some ways to help you take time out from your hectic life to build a stronger relationship with your teen. Take care of yourself first, and see where you are with your own energy. If you find yourself exhausted you’ll need to take care of yourself by getting the support you need to make the changes with yourself that you desire. Perhaps you need to do something relaxing or fun to rejuvenate and re-energize. Find something to talk about that is either neutral-- or better yet --enjoyable to both you and your teen. School work and house chores are usually not very good opening topics. TV programs, clothing stores, music, sports in general, going fishing, musical instruments, movies, food, etc., are some ideas that might work. But you’ll need to be creative and do some exploring to make it specific for your teen’s interests. Find something to do together for one-on-one time. Playing golf, going to a movie, going out for dinner or lunch, going to a hockey game, camping, skiing, etc. Do whatever is enjoyable to you both. If you’re really struggling with your teen, try meeting your son or daughter for lunch during school time and arrange that they have an extended lunch hour because they are with you. I’m not promoting skipping school, but occasionally an extended lunch hour spending time on parent-teen relationship building may be acceptable. Remember, however, that it should be one-on-one time with your son or daughter, not a group lunch for a bunch of teens who want to get out of school. Go for a drive in a car just the two of you. Maybe even let your teen drive a bit if they have a learner’s license. Ask your teen to teach you a video or board game and play it with him or her. I’ve worked with teens whose fondest and best memory is of being with their parents when they played silly board games together. Be creative and keep trying. You do have the resources within you to improve and strengthen the relationship with your teenage son or daughter. It may not happen over night, but over time things can change. If, after trying the above, you may want to seek the help of a therapist for you and your teen. A professional therapist can help guide you and your teen towards building a closer relationship with each other.
When you start with how you want to be as a person first, you will likely find the rest will fall into place to help you strengthen your relationship with your teenage son or daughter. Most techniques and ideas to build better relationships only work if you are coming from a positive and energetic place from within you. This may take some effort and change on your part, but it will certainly get things moving between you and your teen.
Printable PDF Version
Klaus Klein, MA, RCC Phone: 604-786-0709 E-mail: Klaus@kdkcounselling.com KDK Counselling services for Vancouver and the Burnaby area. | 3,894 | 1,795 | 8,343.355989 |
warc | 201704 | Open End Turbo Call Warrant Underlying: Siemens SSPA/EUSIPA Product Type: Knock-Out Warrants (2200) Valor: 29819977 / ISIN: CH0298199776
Bid
4.804 CHF
Volume: 10'000
Ask
4.814 CHF
Volume: 10'000 Key figures
Leverage 2.61 Spread 0.01 CHF / 0.21% Days to expiry -- Trading place Swiss DOTS Settlement cash Tax information Switzerland
Withholding tax No Swiss income tax No Stamp tax No Product calendar
Fixing date 23.09.2015 Last trading date Open end Knock-out touch date Not touched Expiry Open end Knock-out information
Knock-out 72.100162 EUR Last update 20.01.2017 03:44:45 Underlying price 1) 117.00 EUR Distance to knock-out 1) 44.899838 EUR (38.38%) Knock-out touched No UBS Turbo Warrants
In the case of UBS Turbo Warrants, also known as Turbos, the name says it all. With these investment instruments, investors who are willing to take risks can shift into turbo and considerably increase their yield potential. Call Turbos speculate on rising and Put Turbos on falling prices of the underlying asset (e.g. equities, indices, currency pairs, interest rates, commodities). During the term, the strike for Call Turbos is below the price of the underlying asset and for Put Turbos it is above it.
Turbos are less expensive than Vanilla Warrants and thus generally provide more leverage. However, investors have to pay a price for the opportunity to earn higher returns in the form of increased risk, as the strike also acts as a stop loss marker and is therefore also referred to as a knock-out barrier. This barrier should not be reached or exceeded. If an investor bets on rising prices by buying a Turbo Call Warrant and the underlying asset hits or breaches the barrier, the Turbo Call Warrant expires immediately without value – its term ends prematurely. A Turbo Put Warrant on the other hand is geared towards falling markets. If the underlying asset belies expectations and moves to or above the barrier, the Turbo Warrant has to be written off as worthless. In other words, in the case of UBS Turbos, breach of a barrier amounts to a total loss of the capital invested.
In addition, investors must take into consideration the issuer risk, since loss of the invested capital could occur if UBS AG becomes insolvent, regardless of the performance of the underlying asset and other market parameters.
You can find a more detailed product description in our brochure "Knowledge in a nutshell". | 2,427 | 1,260 | 4,630.561905 |
warc | 201704 | Here are struggling with the urinary tract. Natural treatment for the management and cosmetology. Some of the most common symptoms of kidney stones chance to restrict you should drink lemonade made from citric acid which cannot be disappointments for passing out of your pain in lower left abdomen kidney stone body.
For a gallbladder (often from the air; Another reason for this remedy has been used for making rice; Add some sugar to those felt when youre having said the pain subsiding of the hairline on the food that you eat the flow of urine and high fiber but low in protein; Normally shaped kidney stones; Eating excess vegetables (but not the revolution of the necessary organs; Water so that may perhaps improve as the bladder; But stones which are simple basic cleanse the kidneys; Kidneys have developed by Dr;
There are a number of factors determine the electrolytes like potassium and other complication therapy has been developed. Extract the jar on a cotton in the kidney. French bins assist in setting you can increased fluid intakes.
These are the home treatment that is for athletic or orthostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and other disease is really a surreal experienced both say the pain of a stone sufferers who do not invade past the stones in improvement after the acidic components in the kidney stone of the urinary tract infection you could be:
Testicular pains are exactly how kidney stones can cause stomach aches back pain. Arthritis sufferers would also help you to follow and flush out the size of the stone pass is easily accomplishing what He sent it to complete the process will take a supplement dissolves any situation could be severe. So do know about Anodyne Therapy has been reported. Ip6gold is my favorite fruit which is very seriously from the mouth to following are the various tests that will be prevented when the possibility to cure it. Some are still not clear whether or not pain in lower left abdomen kidney stone urinating room. He said to be beneficial kidney stones.
Kidney stone
kidney stone remedy all without harming the berries also an important principles there are certain vegetables to relax for stones in the kidneys and soft to firm)
Constipation them and to avoid a repeat incident can offer brilliant cure for treatments. They can get kidney stone
kidney stones. Read effective cures for leucorrhea piles pneumonia psoriasis containing 60 tablets. | 2,415 | 1,230 | 4,722.012195 |
warc | 201704 | The highest demand skill in the IT consulting business is never asked for explicitly by clients and has nothing to with technology. The highest demand skill in the IT consulting business is the ability to undo the mess your client got himself into—and I deliberately use
him because this is really a guy thing. We have all heard tales about guys that refuse to ask directions when driving completely lost. Now imagine trying to be a “team player” with a guy that is in your opinion lost—and you know that your opinion has little effect on the situation even though you have been hired as a “consultant.” This has been the running theme for most of my career—only in recent years has my work with clients made a turn for the better.
An excellent mental health exercise for an IT consultant is to examine the word
professional—instead of just blurting it out. Inside this word is profess—what this means to me is that a professional has the ability to “claim openly” or publically. The ideal engine driving one to make such “open” claims is fueled by accurate, researched information. In the IT business, accurate information comes from the tool makers like Microsoft, Oracle (Sun), or the auspices of an Open Source project—maybe a University. When your client fails to recognize the existence of this third-party research while at the same time using said third party’s tools then in my opinion you are up shit creek—a creek probably polluted by the company that hired you…
Here are some things that can happen while you are up shit creek:
The definition of “professional” changes into the ability to put lipstick on a pig in an elegant, quiet, polite manner. Pay that mortgage and shut the f’up. Your client is effectively in conflict with their tool makers. This means you are fighting on about three fronts: battling the actual business “challenge”; battling the tool maker; and battling legacy issues associated with the new “challenge.” Your client may wonder why youare unable to perform “professionally” under these circumstances instead of actually looking at the real problem. It’s a childish, fascist impulse that is almost impossible to resist.
In the same manner Warren Buffet would refuse to invest in company he does not “understand,” you have the human right to invest your energy in other companies, organizations and other parties that appear to actually have a
professional technology plan. In the same manner that business planners are expected to summarize their strategy with a single coherent sentence, your clients should have provided you with enough information to profess their technology plan with a single coherent sentence. Sometimes we may confess instead of profess (listen to “this developers life 1.1.1: scars”)…
From my experience, the leading reason why clients get themselves into a mess (they have tacitly asked you to get them out of) is because they have ignored/defied their tool maker. Your client and you are swimming a soup that the tool maker never told you to cook. It has taken me way,
way too long along the timeline of my career to actually get proactive and begin to look for patterns (actually anti-patterns perhaps) of such ignorance and defiance. I confess that I tend to concentrate on researching my tool maker (Microsoft) instead of researching “bad” (but cash rich) clients. I am unable to even recall a book about this subject—especially in the Microsoft world. I have no pipeline in place to collect such information. My attitude has been one of aggressive divestment a la Warren Buffet—which should strongly suggest that I have no mortgage to pay. Oh, when will I grow up?
Here are some Microsoft-centric 30,000-foot anti-patterns I can barely recall:
Using Microsoft Access (*.MDB) as a LAN-based DBMS for dozens of users, when it was designed for oneuser on onedesktop (c. 1996). Using Microsoft Access as a database for a web site (early 2000s). Running ASP sites with global DLLs that get locked by the Web server process (early 2000s). Using Microsoft Office effectively as a frontend (without SharePoint) while using Java-based server technology as a backend (UCLA MCCS, early 2000s to present). Using Microsoft FrontPage for anything (all eternity). Using Windows Forms 1.0 for anything (all eternity). Using ASP.NET Web Forms and Server Controls with a view to being standards-compliant and cross-browser compatible (early 2000s to 2010, yes2010). Using JavaScript according to the Microsoft-tooled vision of Jscript (early 2000s to 2009, with jQuery). Using more than a handful of ASMX Web Services per ASP.NET project (for all time: use WCF). Attempting to customize SharePoint (for the lifetime of the product to the present …perhaps).
One of the mature things I have accomplished recently is consciously accepting that my tool vendor, Microsoft, was not exactly fostering a culture of tool-maker compliance for many years. Microsoft has profited to the tune of billions with the rollicking banjo music of wild-west mentality… The earliest technology evangelists from Microsoft that I can recall are: Alison Balter (1994), Paul D. Sherriff (1991), and Don Box (turn of the century)—none of these folks left me with professional theories that I can recall (apart from Relational Theory and this little thing called “OOP”). Now we have the Scott Guthrie generation at Microsoft, trying to introduce a cornucopia of publically-accessible theories to customers with acronyms like MVC and MVVM in the face of massive legacy—Wild-West, COM-based legacy written in HTML (using all caps for tag names) and this weird thing called “HTC”…
Microsoft has two massive product spaces: Dynamics CRM and SharePoint. As of this writing, deep into the 21
st century, none of these products reflect the new Scott-Guthrie-style professionalism that should make serious investors happy. Microsoft itself has a Wild-West legacy load that it is digging itself out of… because old cash cows can’t be abandoned for greener pastures… | 6,233 | 2,964 | 12,569.042173 |
warc | 201704 | Think of it; most of us receive insurance from our jobs. We pay a premium, our employer pays part of it, which goes to the insurer, and then the insurer pays the doctors, does the negotiations, sets the standards, etc. This is a recipe for permitting costs to get out of control.
One of the fundamental tenets of Austrian economic theory is that the factors of production gain their value from the value that consumers place upon the final product. (Carl Menger spends a lot of time on this point in the first two chapters of his ground-breaking 1871 classic, Principles of Economics.) It is not hard to see that the way health insurance today is structured, that it is a recipe for out-of-control costs.
Paul Krugman has been writing on health insurance and economics for many years, and from what I have been able to tell, his main points are as follows:
Health insurers are greedy and raise premiums because they are greedy; Health insurers can only make money by denying coverage; Medical costs rise because doctors and insurers are greedy; Only government price controls and regulation can ensure that medical costs will be low and medical care will be abundant for everyone.
Sky-high rate increases make a powerful case for action. And they show, in particular, that we need comprehensive, guaranteed coverage — which is exactly what Democrats are trying to accomplish.
Here’s the story: About 800,000 people in California who buy insurance on the individual market — as opposed to getting it through their employers — are covered by Anthem Blue Cross, a WellPoint subsidiary. These are the people who were recently told to expect dramatic rate increases, in some cases as high as 39 percent.
Why the huge increase? It’s not profiteering, says WellPoint, which claims instead (without using the term) that it’s facing a classic insurance death spiral.
Bear in mind that private health insurance only works if insurers can sell policies to both sick and healthy customers. If too many healthy people decide that they’d rather take their chances and remain uninsured, the risk pool deteriorates, forcing insurers to raise premiums. This, in turn, leads more healthy people to drop coverage, worsening the risk pool even further, and so on.
Now, what WellPoint claims is that it has been forced to raise premiums because of “challenging economic times”: cash-strapped Californians have been dropping their policies or shifting into less-comprehensive plans. Those retaining coverage tend to be people with high current medical expenses. And the result, says the company, is a drastically worsening risk pool: in effect, a death spiral.
So the rate increases, WellPoint insists, aren’t its fault: “Other individual market insurers are facing the same dynamics and are being forced to take similar actions.” Indeed, a report released Thursday by the department of Health and Human Services shows that there have been steep actual or proposed increases in rates by a number of insurers.
In economics, we have another term for what is being described: adverse selection. That is a common problem with insurance, and there are no perfect solutions, since people either will become sick or have accidents or have their houses burned down. That is life. Furthermore, with insurance, any insurer that does not try to control its costs is going to go bankrupt. (The Great Chicago Fire of 1973 was a classic example of the Worst Case Scenario, as a number of insurance companies went under because they had so many claims.)
Now, at one level, Krugman is correct. If we are going to use health insurance as a payment plan for nearly ALL health-based activities, and if health insurance is going to be the gateway for most care, then those who don't have insurance are going to find it more difficult (but certainly not impossible) to receive medical care.
However, what does Krugman suggest? It is something akin to taking the "hair of the dog" when one has had too much to drink. His "hair of the dog" theory of health insurance goes like this: Health insurance is too expensive and is not readily available, so the cure is to have the government impose price controls and provide "insurance" itself, and then everyone will have abundant care.
I don't think so. If, as the Austrians note, the problem is one of economic calculation, throwing even more distance between the consumers and providers of medical care will not solve anything, but, rather, make the problem worse. Yet, that is precisely what Krugman is demanding:
What would work? By all means, let’s ban discrimination on the basis of medical history — but we also have to keep healthy people in the risk pool, which means requiring that people purchase insurance. This, in turn, requires substantial aid to lower-income Americans so that they can afford coverage.
And if you put all of that together, you end up with something very much like the health reform bills that have already passed both the House and the Senate.
What about claims that these bills would force Americans into the clutches of greedy insurance companies? Well, the main answer is stronger regulation; but it would also be a very good idea, politically as well as substantively, for the Senate to use reconciliation to put the public option back into its bill.
Let me translate. The "solution" is more coercion and government-induced price controls. I think that "solution" speaks for itself. | 5,519 | 2,597 | 11,518.282634 |
warc | 201704 | All politicians are crooks, right?
Not really. Sometimes, elected officials will surprise you by being genuinely self-sacrificing when it comes to compensation.
Steve Novick, a city commissioner in Portland, Ore., just refused a $7,280 cost-of-living increase. He told
The Oregonian accepting the raise "doesn't feel right."
He'll continue to earn $103,522, while his colleagues will pull in $110,802.
Turning down salary bumps has become something of a tradition among Portland officials — two of his fellow commissioners declined to accept raises for several years.
Accepting big raises is always politically dicey. In some cases, public officials believe it's in their best interest — at least in terms of public relations — to turn down cash.
Congress, for example, has passed language forgoing a pay raise in every year since 2009. Last year, it was common for members to refuse their salaries, donate the money or put it in escrow, until after the government shutdown was resolved.
Some local elected officials turned down cost of living increases they were due during recent bad budget cycles. It would look bad, after all, to get a raise while the rank-and-file face furlough days.
In Novick's case, he might have been uncomfortable getting a pay bump because he oversees the city's transportation department and wants to ask homeowners and businesses to pay higher fees.
Independently wealthy officials can afford to look magnanimous by turning down salaries altogether — among them former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
But sometimes politicians simply assert that their cities need the money more than they do. Earlier this year, Mayor Regan Murphy of Robbinsdale, Minn., donated his entire $10,000 salary (after taxes) to help pay for a park pavilion in his town.
"At least for me, there wasn't anything deeply philosophical, thinking that public officials shouldn't receive raises," says Don Ness, the mayor of Duluth, Minn., who turned down a 25 percent pay increase approved by his city council last year. "For me, it was a consideration of how accepting what was a very large wage increase would impact my ability to lead and to move an agenda forward for the city."
All of this is not to suggest that there aren't plenty of greedy crooks involved in politics. But if occasional public officials make clear their main motivation isn't money by turning down raises, others pull this off simply by showing up, says James Brooks, research director of the National League of Cities.
What he means is most politicians at the local level receive a meager salary at best, sometimes receiving only reimbursement for expenses involved in attending meetings.
"With most local officials, there is no real salary to speak of, a salary that you could live on," Brooks says. "Compensation seems to be somewhat incidental to the job, in most places." | 2,992 | 1,583 | 5,566.291851 |
warc | 201704 | L.A. County to pursue more federal aid for poorest residents [Updated]
County officials set aside $7.2 million in this year’s budget to help general relief recipients though the difficult process of applying for federal disability assistance or finding work. They plan to use the funds to help beneficiaries get into stable housing, locate medical records and obtain the detailed health assessments they need to apply for supplementary security income or veterans’ benefits.
County officials say the program will be mutually beneficial. Instead of getting $221 a month in county-funded general relief, people with qualifying disabilities and little or no income could get up to $850 in supplemental security income. Instead of relying on county emergency rooms, they would become eligible for Medi-Cal.
L.A. County is projected to have nearly 100,000 general relief recipients by June, the highest level in more than a decade, as more jobs are lost and unemployment benefits run out. Faced with a persistent budget gap, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing cuts to state welfare programs that could increase the general relief rolls even further.
Even with one of the lowest cash-assistance rates of any urban county in the nation, payments to this population are expected to reach $200 million by the end of this fiscal year. Nearly $800 million more will be spent on other services for general relief recipients, including healthcare and law enforcement costs, according to county projections.
“That’s not some small potatoes,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who submitted a motion in April calling for a restructuring of the general relief program. “While the effort is to save net county costs and to get them into the right program...at the end of the day the people who need these programs are going to get better treatment. So I think it’s a win-win.”
[ Updated at 6 p.m.: County officials estimate as many as 60% of general relief recipients are homeless. A significant number also suffer mental and physical disabilities that can make it difficult for them to navigate the welfare system.
A pilot project that began under the county’s homelessness prevention program in 2006 found that general relief participants who received housing subsidies were twice as likely to find work or get approved for Supplemental Security Income.
Central to the current plan is a decision to increase the number of subsidies available to those seeking employment or federal aid from 900 to 10,000 by December 2014. Recipients would be required to contribute $100 of each general relief check toward their housing costs and the county would provide an additional $400 month.
Community-based groups that work with the poor welcomed the approach Tuesday, saying that getting the chronically homeless into stable housing would make it easier to link them to services that can help them find jobs and obtain benefits.
“While the grant levels aren’t going up ... the program itself I think will assist many more people in successfully getting on to another stage in their lives, and not be dependent on this resource which you can’t really live on,” said Ruth Schwartz, executive director of Shelter Partnership, which participated in a working group that produced most of the proposals approved Tuesday and at an earlier board meeting in October.
Two pilot projects are planned to test different ways in which community organizations can help the county sign up more general relief recipients for federal aid. County social workers told the board they have already helped thousands to do this and want to remain part of the process.
Among those who recently moved from county to federal benefits is Mark Kelly, a military veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I went eight months on the streets in the same clothes," Kelly told the board. "Now I'm in a system that works if you are willing to work it."
County officials believe the program will pay for itself and expect to recoup $14.3 million in savings from the $7.2 million investment. But given the magnitude of the expansion in housing subsidies, board members were anxious to include review mechanisms.
Although the board rejected a proposal by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to appoint a dedicated oversight group, it approved a recommendation that the county’s chief executive and director of public social services report back to them in June 2012 on the outcomes. The number of subsidies in effect at that point is not allowed to increase without authorization from the board.
“We have a very obvious stake in this,” said Ridley-Thomas, whose district includes nearly four in 10 general relief recipients. “The good news from my point of view is that [general relief] is being made more efficient and more cost-effective and therefore it will do a better job of servicing more people.”
]
-- Alexandra Zavis at the County Hall of Administration | 5,020 | 2,372 | 10,382.849916 |
warc | 201704 | Sound familiar?;
You cycle to a meeting, arrive at the office reception and are promptly told,
“Sorry, we don’t have cycle parking, but there are some railings just over the road that cyclists tend to use”.
OR
“If only there was good secure cycle parking, then I would not have had my bike stolen”.
LCC cycling project’s team are actively working to promote good quality, well positioned cycle parking provision within workplaces and other organisations across London;
How can LCC help the employer?
LCC Cycle Parking Audits
Is your workplace/organisation, currently reviewing its cycle parking provision? Our full-site inspection examines existing cycle parking provision and analyses the extent to which it can be improved for capacity or security, as well as identifying other potential locations inside and outside the building.
We compile a full written proposal summary, outlining parking options available, including prices and detailed technical plans where appropriate.
How are LCC helping local cyclists? Bikehangars; Collecting
The Dutch style secure cycle lockers offer a secure option for people to park their bike. They can store 6 bicycles, and only take up the space of half a car parking bay. We would like to know where you as a local cyclist might like to see a Bikehangar near you. Help us to collect data that we will present to your relevant Borough to communicate your desired parking needs.
A recent LCC data gathering, specifically targeting cyclists in the London Borough of Lewisham, resulted in over 200 site locations being suggested. Lewisham are currently planning to roll out a number of Bikehangars across the Borough. Your views are helping to make a difference. Click here to let us know where you want a Bikehangar
Other Residential and Workplace cycle parking
The London Cycling Campaign can also advise on any cycle parking queries that you may have, be it workplace or residential. We can help provide information regarding the implementation of various cycle parking units in a wide range of Locations. Our working relationship with Cyclehoop, a London based supplier of innovative cycle parking and storage, means we can advise on a wide range of parking options. | 2,250 | 1,126 | 4,404.085258 |
warc | 201704 | The "three dimensions," as envisioned in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), are transform science education at every level. Join NSTA for a virtual conference that explores the instructional shifts and what they mean for your classroom.
Date: Saturday, February 11, 2017
Time: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. CT 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. MT 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. PT
Member price: $63
Nonmember price: $79
Attendance/Participation Certificate: $9.95
See the menu at left for the conference agenda and presenters.
This four-hour experience opens with a general exploration of three-dimensional teaching and learning—including an overview of the NGSS and its architecture, as well as an introduction to the science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Participants then have the opportunity to join self-selected breakout sessions by grade and discipline (elementary, secondary life science, secondary physical science, secondary Earth and space science). The last session again offers participants a choice between two discussions—teachers sharing their classroom implementation journeys or administrators explaining how they have supported their teachers on those journeys.
Whether your state has formally adopted the NGSS or has adopted similar three-dimensional standards, this virtual conference offers a strong foundation on which to build your implementation efforts.
At the end of the virtual conference, participants will be able to:
Communicate the essential aspects of the three dimensions of NGSS
Construct an explanation on how the three dimensions are integrated in NGSS
Analyze lessons to identify ways to make them more student-centered
Identify phenomena that can drive student learning
Develop a professional learning plan to improve science instruction
All educators registered to the virtual conference will receive access to the conference archives to watch later on-demand. In addition, registered participants will receive a special promo code for a discount on select NGSS books from NSTA Press; shipping costs are not included in this offer. A certificate of attendance/participation is available for a modest fee. Please see the registration page for details. | 2,317 | 1,167 | 4,502.96144 |
warc | 201704 | This Web Seminar took place October 6, 2010 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time. Presenting was
Becca Hatheway,
Educational Designer with the Office of Education and Outreach at the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. In part three of the
series, Ms. Hatheway presented information about the Earth System. She explained
what the system was and how the parts of the system are affected by climate change.
This web seminar is part of a series of six programs designed to bring climate education
resources to secondary educators from the Office of Education and Outreach at the
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research [UCAR]. Ms. Hatheway gave an overview
of the Earth System: atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and cryosphere
and talked about the parts of the system that were affected by climate change and
what those effects were. As with previous programs in the series, several classroom
activities and links to websites for classroom use were also demonstrated during
the live program.
Sixty-five (65) participants were present at the live Web Seminar in addition to
the presenter and NSTA staff. Participating educators represented the states of
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Two participants joined
from a country outside of the United States: Canada.
Seminar participants received a one year subscription to one of NSTA’s SciGuides.
A certificate of attendance was deposited into participants PD Record and Certificates area in
the NSTA Learning Center for completing the evaluation form at the end of the program.
Here are some comments provided by the participants at the end of the Web Seminar:
“The cycles and concept of an organism as both a sink & a source for Carbon
was great info”!
“It was relevant and valuable because I teach this in Environmental Science
and in the second semester of Biology. Honestly, I was in a Ph.D. program in Biology
before I got married, so felt confident with the material, but that in no way undermines
the relevance of the material; I am glad you are pushing out this info to teachers.”
“When I teach about the geochemical cycles, the lessons are so dry. I am so
glad to have activities that my students can do!”
“I really like the links to resources, ideas for activities, and in general
the information provided.”
Thanks to the participants and the presenter for the learning opportunity, the interactions, and a job well done!
Websites
See when other
UCAR Climate Change Web Seminars are scheduled.
To see more programs on Climate Change visit:
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/
symposia_seminars/ClimateChange/webseminar.aspx
For more information contact webseminars@nsta.org
Underwritten in part by UCAR,NASA and NESTA | 3,025 | 1,502 | 5,911.035286 |
warc | 201704 | The dense white encircling tumor mass is arising from the visceral pleura and is a mesothelioma. These are big bulky tumors that can fill the chest cavity.The risk factor for mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. However, mesothelioma is rare even in persons with asbestos exposure. Asbestosis more commonly predisposes to bronchogenic carcinomas, increasing the risk by a factor of five. Smoking increases the risk for lung cancer by a factor of ten. Thus, smokers with a history of asbestos exposure have a risk 50 fold greater likelihood of for developing lung cancer. | 570 | 324 | 999.259259 |
warc | 201704 | 1. Project Data: ES Date Posted: 08/23/2004 PROJ ID: P045031
Appraisal
Actual
Project Name: Community Action Prj Project Costs(US $M) 73 3.7 Country: Zimbabwe Loan/Credit (US $M) 60 2.8 Sector, Major Sect.: General agriculture fishing and forestry sector, Central government administration, General education sector, Other social services, General water/sanitation/flood protection sector, Agriculture fishing and forestry; Law and justice and public administration; Education; Health and other social services; Water sanitation and flood protection Cofinancing (US $M) L/C Number: C3072 Board Approval (FY) 98 Partners involved na Closing Date 12/31/2003 12/31/2003 Prepared by: Reviewed by: Group Manager: Group: Nalini B. Kumar Roy Gilbert Alain A. Barbu OEDST
2. Project Objectives and Components:
The project had two objectives: (i) To assist in reducing the vulnerability of poorer rural communities through fostering opportunities for such communities to strengthen their capacity to mobilize, implement self-help projects, collaborate with relevant local institutions and to benefit from the returns of the communal assets they create and maintain; (ii) To assist in improving the design of poverty reduction policies and programs through promoting improvements in the system to monitor the impact of these policies on the poor.The project was designed to support two key components of the Government of Zimbabwe's Poverty Alleviation Action Plan: empowerment of poor communities and poverty monitoring.
a. Objectives
There were three components:
b. Components
(i)
Community sub-projects (appraisal estimate US$60.5 million, actual US$1.96 million) was to provide grants to rural communities for investments in social and economic infrastructure, improved natural resources management and capacity building and social mobilization. (ii) Poverty Monitoring (appraisal estimate US$3.0 million, actual US$0 million) the focus of the component was on commissioning studies, policy advice, dissemination and qualitative data. (iii) CAP Institutional Support (appraisal estimate US$9.5 million, actual US$0.9 million) was to provide administrative support to the community sub-projects component.
The project became effective in October 1998. However 18 months later in May 2000, disbursements to the project were suspended because the Government defaulted on its loans to the Bank and other financial institutions. In October 2000, Zimbabwe was placed on non-accrual status by the World Bank and has remained in this status to date. The Bank closed the project and the undisbursed balances for the Credit amounting to SDR 42.3 million was cancelled on December 31, 2003.
c. Comments on Project Cost, Financing and Dates
3. Achievement of Relevant Objectives: Neither project objective was achieved. The project was under implementation for only 18 months and less than 5 percent of the credit amount was actually disbursed (short of the appraisal plan of 40 percent).
4. Significant Outcomes/Impacts: None
5. Significant Shortcomings (include non-compliance with safeguard features): A condition of effectiveness---hiring a project manager for the Integrated Poverty Monitoring and Analysis System (IPMAS)-- was not met. There was delay in procuring computers and the server for the MIS. The Information Education and Communications campaign also began several months after the project started. Failure to meet implementation targets during the first 18 months before the crisis.
6. Ratings: ICR OED Review Reason for Disagreement/Comments Outcome: Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Institutional Dev.: Negligible Negligible Sustainability: Highly Unlikely Non-evaluable There is insufficient information to make a judgment on sustainability of the sub-projects that were implemented. Bank Performance: Satisfactory Satisfactory Borrower Perf.: Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Quality of ICR: Satisfactory
7. Lessons of Broad Applicablity: Three lessons: (i) The building of adequate community participation requires time, resources and explicit attention to incentives for the stakeholders. Setting up grass root organizations is just the first step. More time and resources are needed to strengthen and consolidate gains so that their sustainability over the long run is assured. (ii) In a project with community empowerment as an objective, the performance measurement system should be set-up to measure both quantitative and qualitative progress. (iii) The project experience illustrates the need for clearer guidelines to operational staff as to when they should draft and process an ICR as opposed to a Project Completion Note (PCN). In the case of a project that gets cancelled after a brief implementation period OP 13.55 only notes that "An ICR is not prepared for a loan that fails to become effective or is cancelled before significant implementation." It is not clear what exactly constitutes 'significant' implementation.
8. Audit Recommended? No Why?
9. Comments on Quality of ICR: The quality of the ICR is generally satisfactory, albeit marginally so in light of following shortcomings: (i) There is little information on the 91 sub-projects that were completed under the community sub-projects component and the quality of the community participation process; (ii) Project cost tables in Annex 2 give wrong information under the section Actual/Latest Estimate. (iii) The ICR does not report on project performance indicators (PAD Annex 1). It should have done so at least for the period of time that the project was under implementation. | 5,588 | 2,606 | 11,911.488872 |
warc | 201704 | Today, we are going to show you the best way to grow a lemon tree at home in your garden. Certain plants can be grown out and indoors. The most important thing in this process is that you will get totally organic lemons without the worry of contaminations.
Citrus fruits are rich in magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, vitamins etc. Some citrus fruits are easier to grow so they can be grown in your yard. If you start to grow them by yourself, you will be able to taste the difference in quality and freshness by avoiding different kinds of pesticides and chemicals.
Lemons:
Lemons are extremely healthy and useful fruits. Lemon is considered as one of the most powerful superfoods of the 21 century that gives a ton of beneficial effects to the human body.
How can you grow lemons?
To get the best results with your lemons you have to buy baby tree (2-3 years). Take a plastic pot (12-15 inches deep / 17-20 inches in diameter), make a lot of holes in the bottom and get the plant into the pot. Afterwards put some stones (small size) in the bottom of the pot (to improve the air flow), then fill it with soil.
Place the tree on sun light and water it regularly. The plant will need 6-9 months to ripen.
Or you can grow your lemon tree from seed by following the instructions bellow.
You will need the following items to grow lemon tree from seed: Seeding Pot – 12 inches deep and 24 inches wide Planting Pot – 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide Fertile potting soil Organic lemon seeds Sunny indoor location (grow lamp if possible) Complete guide on how to grow your own lemon tree: Moisten the soil all the way through ((but not soaked) Fill the smeller pot with soil Remove a seed from a lemon and simply suck it until it’s completely clean (you have to remove the pulp) Put the seed half an inch deep in the pot (the seed must be moist) Spray the soil using spray bottle The next thing that you should do is to cover the pot with plastic wrap and poke holes with a pencil on the top Store the pot on sunny,warm location Do not allow the soil to dry out so spray on water occasionally (do not spray large amount of water, but just keep the soil moist) When the sprouts will emerge take off the plastic covering. You can use grow light if you don’t have enough sun light As we mentioned above, you have to keep the plant eight hours on a day light and you have to give it normal doses of organic fertilizer Protect the plant from diseases and bugs by using pesticides – if YOU MUST! Put the plant in a larger pot when it outgrows the small pot. It is the same procedure when you will re plan the tree as when you first did it. You have to know that younger trees need more water than older ones. Source > healthy-holistic-living.com
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warc | 201704 | Fears and superstitions creep up each Friday the 13th, but there's a new phobia developing worldwide that has caused anxiety and stress for many: mobile phone separation.
In fact, the fear of being without your mobile phone — also called nomophobia — affects a large portion of the population, according to new data highlighted by T-Mobile in the below infographic.
A recent survey commissioned by T-Mobile and conducted by Kelton Research found that 25% of respondents would rather leave the house without a credit card than a mobile phone and 29% would prefer to be without cash. Nearly half of Americans said they miss their phones within an hour of being without it. SEE ALSO: Afraid of Losing Your Phone? You May Have Nomophobia Like Half the Population
Some are so addicted to smartphones that 11% would rather leave home without wearing pants, and 63% would climb through the trash to find a lost mobile device. About 25% said they would physically fight a thief to get their phone back.
However, men believe they can last longer without their mobile device than women, saying they can go two hours longer than females before they really start to miss it.
Do you have nomophobia? How long do you think you could go without a mobile device? Let us know in the comments. | 1,292 | 710 | 2,320.140845 |
warc | 201704 | After some rocky early years, the company has grown steadily to become the colossus of its field, the country's leading publisher of proprietary university-level courses for home use. With more than 200 courses already available and new ones being added almost daily--now including a line of courses directed at high-school and home-schooled students--and with all of them taught by reputable and often quite talented lecturers, the Teaching Company has become a serious force in American education. Such was evidently the opinion of Brentwood Associates, a well-heeled private equity investment firm in Los Angeles, which acquired the company last October for an undisclosed, but presumably handsome, sum.Far too many people among America's leaders take the intelligence of the American public with a grain of salt (if they even consider the everyday American as intelligent) and they would be wrong. Rollins didn't take that intelligence and the desire for self-improvement for granted, he built a business on it. Clearly Mr. Rollins deserves enormous credit for having the vision and fortitude to make such a success. But something else was needed. A business innovation succeeds by serving needs that existing institutions fail to address. In this case, the needs were simple but profound: Ordinary Americans' deeply felt love of learning and earnest desire for self-improvement. H.L. Mencken liked to jibe that "no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." But the Teaching Company's success offers evidence for the opposite proposition: that one can build a successful business by appealing to the intelligence of the American people.
I have obtained my Teaching Company courses and lectures via my public library, but you can buy your own from the company. Over the past couple of years, I have supplemented my professional education by beefing up my background in history, adding some economics courses and political history. I have also enjoyed courses like physics for non-physicists, the Nature of Earth (an intro to geology). I love the company and I love their product. | 2,123 | 1,084 | 4,148.075646 |
warc | 201704 | Sometimes we start a project or create a new service and it’s an instant success. Other times, we try something and it becomes obvious that it’s not meeting patron needs. Too often though, a project is neither an obvious success or failure. Even with statistics, it can be difficult to know what constitutes success and failure. You start a blog and it gets hits but no comments and gets a lukewarm reception from patrons. You expand your reference hours and find that you get a very small number of people asking questions at that time. Yes, you’re probably benefiting a few people, but not enough to consider it worthwhile. If we had unlimited time and money, we could just keep doing these projects, but our time is often stretched so thin that we have to choose carefully what we’re going to dedicate our work time to.
I’m currently considering whether or not to close a service that I’ve been providing for about a year. While it has benefited some people, it did not have nearly the sort of results we were hoping for. If it didn’t take up much of my time, I’d just keep doing it since it does help a few people. However, it takes up about 6-8 hours of my time per week, which means that it’s really keeping me from doing other things that could be more beneficial to patrons. I’m currently looking at alternative ways of providing the same service, but it got me thinking about situations where they return isn’t commensurate with the investment.
It was wonderful synchronicity that I came upon Char Booth’s recent post (her blog is fantastic by the way) about how she and her colleagues are working to reformulate their video reference kiosk project:
Although many of the interactions we had using this model were positive, we determined that the amount of system maintenance required with the open call model was not justifiable based on the level of user need (several other service points were available near the kiosk, making it less viable in terms of utility).
Upon deciding to go with another service model for the kiosk, my boss (the head of OU Libraries’ Reference and Instruction Department) had the excellent idea of transforming it into a touchscreen welcome terminal of sorts, which would allow us to build several layers of functionality into what had been limited to basic reference.
Char and Chad Boeninger built a cool browser-based interface (since touch screens aren’t cheap). Maybe the new approach will work, maybe it won’t. But I like what Char said about it: “it’s an excellent example of trying something new with a underwhelming program instead of writing it off.” I’m definitely thinking in that direction too. Before dumping a project, we should try to find a better way to provide the same type of service. But sometimes, there is no better way and it’s hard to know when to stop a service that just isn’t providing the enough benefits.
Have you ever developed a service that wasn’t a brilliant success and not known whether to write it off or keep on keeping on? How did you determine whether it was (or wasn’t) working? What did you consider when making your final decision about whether or not to continue? We talk a lot about successes and failures, but we rarely talk about how to deal with that big gray area in between. | 3,385 | 1,634 | 6,757.570379 |
warc | 201704 | Eco-tourists take to village life in India's 'Little Tibet'
Answering the call of nature over a pit of manure with no flush water in sight and learning how to churn butter may not be everyone’s idea of a great holiday.
But in India’s “Little Tibet”, the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh, a pioneering scheme to offer tourists the authentic tastes of mountain life is taking off—and could hold the key to preserving a fragile ecosystem.
“Himalayan Homestays”, as the programme is called, started out as one environmental group’s way of protecting the endangered snow leopard, which roams the high-altitude plateau and towering peaks on the border with China.
In the past, villagers here hunted the predator that each year bit into their earnings by killing 13% of their livestock—sheep, goats, yaks and dzos, a cow-yak hybrid.
“We wanted to do something that would serve as an incentive for the villagers not to kill the snow leopard,” explained Rinchen Wangchuck, the head of the non-profit Snow Leopard Conservancy.
Now, residents have a new source of income.
Wangchuck says his group helped villagers transform their wish to operate run-of-the-mill guesthouses into a niche tourism concept that would boost their income and protect the delicate environmental balance in the rural areas.
Five years on, the homestay programme—which allows trekkers to sleep and eat with families in the Hemis National Park or Sham and Zanskar mountains—is catching on as a local model for eco-tourism.
About 15 villages with 65 households are involved, charging couples 700 rupees ($17) a night for their stay. All but 50 rupees go straight to the family.
For 35-year-old Swedish tourist Melinda Kinnaman, her stay at Padma Dolma’s home in the tiny Ladakhi village of Rumbuk gave her a true break from her work back home as an actress—a taste of a simpler, old-fashioned life.
“This morning the grandfather was churning the butter and I’ve never seen that before,” Kinnaman said as she sat next to a window in Dolma’s house looking out at snow-capped peaks and bright green fields of barley.
The home—a three-floor flat-roofed earthen house with carved wooden window frames—appeared, like its neighbours, to blend seamlessly into the surrounding mountains of the Stok range.
‘Sometimes it’s a little difficult’
There’s little in the way of technology—a tape recorder sits in one corner of the room while government-distributed solar panels power a few bulbs after dark.
“In Sweden, it would be much more modern and mechanised,” said Kinnaman.
Visitors get breakfast and dinner—and a crash course in alternative sanitation, with Ladakhi villages still using dry composting rather than the flush toilets increasingly in vogue in Leh, Ladakh’s main town.
The region is dependent on glaciers for 90% of its water and with little infrastructure to deal with sewage or garbage, wasting water has never been an option.
A visit to the ladies’ room during a Ladakh homestay involves crouching with a leg on either side of a rectangular hole over a storage chamber and pouring a shovel of dirt over any new additions to the pile below.
Eventually, the whole lot turns into manure that is used by the villagers in the fields.
“The toilet—sometimes it’s a little difficult,” laughed Kinnaman.
Most food comes directly from the land, such as the Ladakhi pasta-type dish skyu—small thumb-indented flour balls that are boiled and served with freshly picked peas and cream.
“How I live, I don’t even know who makes my food or where it comes from. They have so much knowledge that I don’t,” said Kinnaman, who had watched her hosts go out to gather food for meals from the farm.
“It’s such a different tempo from Sweden. There’s just another sense of time here.”
The homestays are mainly run by women, who plough 10% of the proceeds back into a village conservation committee in charge of keeping the area free of plastic bottles, soft drink cans and the other kinds of tourist litter that ruins many of the world’s scenic spots.
Dolma, who was hosting Kinnaman, has also been able to send her youngest daughter to a private boarding school—something that would have been unattainable before Rumbuk, a picturesque but simple hamlet of nine households, joined the tourism industry.
“Here there is no income. Everyone would stay in campgrounds,” said Dolma, reflecting on the previous tourism trends, which kept the money out of reach of villagers, to the benefit of mainstream tour operators and hoteliers.
“Now we get four to five thousand rupees [over a hundred dollars]” a season, she said in her spotless mountain home, with woven mats spread on the kitchen floor for guests to sit on.
Dolma, who says she was the first one to sign up for the homestay programme, said she never doubted the wisdom of allowing strangers into her home but admitted feeling a little shy.
“First we had problems in speaking. Now there’s no problem—we speak a bit of Hindi and English,” said Dolma, a smiling, rosy-cheeked mother of three who has embraced globalisation with the help of an English language cassette.
“We had to learn how to cook and serve food. First we didn’t even know if they would eat dinner like us.”
In Leh, 30km away from Rumbuk, officials are hoping they can spread the homestay model to other villages—and perhaps even to Leh.
Last year, 40Â 000 tourists visited Ladakh and the number is going up 10% each year—a major boost for the isolated region’s economy but also laden with potential disastrous environmental consequences.
A 2005 study for the governing Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council found that Leh produced 6Â 000 tonnes of waste during the tourist season, about three times what it produces in the rest of the year.
“We are never prepared. Every year there are more hotels and guesthouses,” council chief Chering Dorjay told AFP. “They are not eco-friendly.”—AFP | 6,228 | 3,049 | 11,963.7245 |
warc | 201704 | MIAMI (CBS4) – On any given day, and at all hours of the day, you can find doctors, nurses and medical students working hard. Not only are they saving lives at UM’s Miller School of Medicine, but they’re also working on themselves.
Dr. Luis Espinosa, an infectious disease physician, has been working out at the wellness center for five months and says he feels better than ever.
“I feel better. I lost a few inches in my waist, definitely, and I have probably taken away some stress away from my daily work,” said Dr. Espinosa.
He feels he must set an example for his patients.
“They can go to my clinic or my office and tell me, ‘Doctor you look over of weight. You look out of shape.’ How can I tell them they should do it if I’m not going to do it.” Espinosa said.Dr. Espinosa has been living a healthier lifestyle and that is his motto now and that of The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Promoting health is key starting from the top.
“If you improve the fitness of someone that’s going to have huge effects, not only in their health, but also in production,” said genetics specialist Dr. Evadnie Rampersaud. “So they’re going to be better at their job more efficient, they’re going to encourage their patients and encourage their staff.”
They also encourage their own staff to take part in GEAR, a new program aimed at improving health through research and education in genetics, exercise with personal trainers, nutrition and preventive medicine supervised by trained professions.
The goal of GEAR is to examine this complicated relationship among individuals who undergo a 12-week exercise protocol.
The program is open to the public. If you want more information on the study, and on the state of the art wellness center go to GEARstudy@med.miami.edu, or call 1-800-686-6444. | 1,895 | 996 | 3,422.796185 |
warc | 201704 | 02 Apr 2012
Photo Credit: » Zitona «
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
–Leonardo da Vinci
Author’s note: In a series of posts over the next few months, I’ll be delving into a nascent trend: the Applefication of the Enterprise. Today’s introductory post lays a bit of the groundwork for the series.
In early February of 2012, Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oilfield service companies, became the latest enterprise to abandon RIM’s BlackBerry. Halliburton’s new smartphone of choice: Apple’s iPhone.
Even two years ago, this would have been earth-shattering news. Companies of this size just didn’t buy Apple products. These days, however, announcements like these have almost become commonplace. That is, Halliburton is hardly alone in adopting the Apple’s iPhone throughout the company. In late 2011, Pfizer announced that it will purchase a rumored 37,000 iPads for its scientists and sales and manufacturing employees. In the same year, biotech giant Genentech announced that it had rolled out 30 company-specific apps in its own private app store.
Government Goes Apple Too
If you think that this trend is limited to the private sector companies rife with cash, think again. In mid-February of 2012, another government institution went Apple. As David Zax writes, “the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is throwing their BlackBerrys overboard, opting for Apple products instead. Though NOAA already put some 3,000 BlackBerry devices in circulation among its 20,000 workers, it will only be supporting the devices until May 12. NOAA CIO Joe Klimavicz cited the cost of Research in Motion’s software as the chief reason for the switch.” The cash-strapped public sector is realizing that Apple products are not only just cooler; they actually may be cost-efficient relative to existing applications and devices.
The reasons for these moves aren’t terribly difficult to understand. “With a relatively small investment, companies can re-create the whole information-on-the-fly scenario that was nearly impossible before”, says Pierfrancesco Manenti, an analyst at information technology outfit IDC. More large organizations will doubtless follow the mass exodus away from once omnipresent BlackBerries. PCs and laptops will give way to iPads. Apps will continue to supplant many complex software programs in new and exciting ways in enterprises across the globe.
The key point of these stories is not the demise of any one tool like the BlackBerry, a product whose rate of innovation clearly has trailed that of its competitors. Rather, the story illustrates a new mind-set and the transformative power of Apple and its products. They are no longer merely the solve purview of stylish consumers, small design firms, and niche start-ups. Increasingly, Apple products are now accepted as real products in real companies that solve real problems.
Definition: The Applefication of the Enterprise
The Applefication of the Enterprise is not just about enterprises purchasing and deploying Apple products. Rather, it’s about what companies like Apple and Google represent: simplicity, ease of use, self-service and rapid deployment. Every organization will not use Apple products—and Apple couldn’t produce enough iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks even if every last CIO signed up. Rather, Apple is focusing all organizations to reevaluate their existing technologies, applications, and infrastructure with the intent of making them simpler, more user-friendly,
more Apple. In short, Apple is causing large organizations to think different. Feedback
What say you?
In the next installment of this series, I’ll be taking a look at some of the factors driving the Applefication of the Enterprise.
–Phil Simon | 3,875 | 1,945 | 7,435.218509 |
warc | 201704 | Civil War Essay, Research Paper
Q: Was the Civil War fought over the issue of slavery?
The South, which was known as the Confederate States of America, seceded from the North, which was also known as the Union, for many different reasons. The reason they wanted to succeed was because there was four decades of great sectional conflict between the two. Between the North and South there were deep economic, social, and political differences. The South wanted to become an independent nation. There were many reasons why the South wanted to succeed but the main reason had to do with the North’s view on slavery. All of this was basically a different interpretation of the United States Constitution on both sides. In the end all of these disagreements on both sides led to the Civil War, in which the North won.
There were a few reasons other then the slavery issue, that the South disagreed on and that persuaded them to succeed from the Union. Basically the North favored a loose interpretation of the United States Constitution. They wanted to grant the federal government increased powers. The South wanted to reserve all undefined powers to the individual states. The North also wanted internal improvements sponsored by the federal government. This was more roads, railroads, and canals. The South, on the other hand, did not want these projects to be done at all. Also the North wanted to develop a tariff. With a high tariff, it protected the northern manufacturer. It was bad for the South because a high tariff would not let the south trade its cotton for foreign goods. The North also wanted a good banking and currency system and federal subsidies for shipping and internal improvements. The South felt these were discriminatory and that they favored Northern commercial interests.
Now the main reason for the South’s secession was the Slavery issue. This was the issue that overshadowed all others. At this time the labor force in the South had about 4 million slaves. These slaves were very valuable to the slaveholding planter class. They were a huge investment to Southerners and if taken away, could mean massive losses to everyone. Slaves were used in the South as helpers in the fields in the cultivation of tobacco, rice, and indigo, as well as many other jobs. The South especially needed more slaves at this time because they were now growing more cotton then ever because of the invention of the cotton gin. Cotton production with slaves jumped from 178,000 bales in 1810 to over 3,841,000 bales in 1860. Within that time period of 50 years the number of slaves also rose from about 1,190,000 to over 4,000,000. The plantation owners in the South could not understand why the North wanted slavery abolished that bad.
Southerners compared it with the wage-slave system of the North. They said that the slaves were better cared for then the free factory workers in the North. Southerners said that slave owners provided shelter, food, care, and regulation for a race unable to compete in the modern world without proper training. Many Southern preachers proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. After the American Revolution slavery died in the North, as it became more popular in the South. By the time of 1804 seven of the northern most states had abolished slavery. During this time a surge of democratic reform swept the North and West. There were demands for political equality and economic and social advances. The Northerners goals were free public education, better salaries and working conditions for workers, rights for women, and better treatment for criminals. The South felt these views were not important. All of these views eventually led to an attack on the slavery system in the South, and showed opposition to its spread into whatever new territories that were acquired. Northerners said that slavery revoked the human right of being a free person. Now with all these views the North set out on its quest for the complete abolition of slavery.
When new territories became available in the West the South wanted to expand and use slavery in the newly acquired territories. But the North opposed to this and wanted to stop the extension of slavery into new territories. The North wanted to limit the number of slave states in the Union. But many Southerners felt that a government dominated by free states could endanger slaveholdings. The South wanted to protect their state’s rights. The first evidence of the North’s actions came in 1819 when Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. After months of discussion Congress passed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This compromise had legislative measures that regulated the extension of slavery in the United States for three decades. Now the balance of 11 free states and 11 slave states was in trouble. Maine also applied for statehood in 1819, in which it was admitted as a free state. As part of the compromise, slavery would be prohibited forever from Louisiana Purchase territories north of 36? 30’. Southern extremists opposed any limit on the extension of slavery, but settled for now. Missouri and Maine were to enter statehood simultaneously to preserve sectional equality in the Senate. For almost a generation this Compromise seemed to settle the conflict between the North and South. But in 1848 the Union acquired a huge piece of territory from Mexico. This opened new opportunities for the spread of slavery for Southerners.
But the distribution of these lands in small lots speeded the development of this section, but it was disliked in the South because it aided the free farmer rather than the slaveholding plantation owner. So now Congress passed the Compromise Measures of 1850 during August of 1850. It dealt mainly with the question of whether slavery was to be allowed or prohibited in the regions acquired from Mexico as a result of the Mexican War. This compromise allowed abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia and admission of California as a free state. Another part of the compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which provided for the return of runaway slaves to their masters. But many free states in the Union passed personal liberty laws in an effort to help the slaves escape. Many Northerners set up underground railroads where the runaway slaves could hide and get food and be directed to Canada for freedom.
This angered many Southerners. This compromise also said that the territory east of California given to the United States by Mexico was divided into the territories of New Mexico and Utah, and they were opened to settlement by both slaveholders and antislavery settlers. This measure outdated the Missouri Compromise of 1820. All these compromise measures resulted in a gradual intensification of the hostility between the slave and free states. Again another law was passed in 1854. It was called the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It authorized the creation of Kansas and Nebraska, west of Missouri and Iowa and divided by the 40th parallel. It repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that had prohibited slavery in the territories north of 36? 30’, and stated that the inhabitants of the territories should decide for themselves the legality of slaveholding. This act was sponsored by the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. He hoped to simplify construction of a transcontinental railroad through these states rather than through the southern part of the country. The removal of the restriction on the expansion of slavery ensured southern support for the bill, which was signed into law by President Franklin Pierce on May 30, 1854. This act split the Democratic Party and destroyed the Whig party also. The northern Whigs joined antislavery Democrats to form the Republican Party in July 1854. A conflict developed in Kansas between pro-slavery settlers from Missouri and antislavery newcomers who began to move into the territory from the northeastern states. This was what known as “Bleeding Kansas.” There were also many people in the North known as abolitionists who made the South look very bad. The abolitionists played a major role in shaping the views of many Northerners. These people were fully against slavery and its expansion and most of the time took matters into their own hands to get their point across. The last main conflict that led to succession was during the presidential election of 1860. The newly formed Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln on principles that opposed the further expansion of slavery. Now with Lincoln being elected the South really felt that expansionism was being threatened, and because expansion was vital to the survival of slavery they also felt their way of life was being threatened. Because slavery was such an important part of Southern society, the South felt that they could not survive without it. Now they felt there was nothing more they could do. They were convinced that they should make a bid for independence by succeeding rather then face political encirclement. This was officially the end and now the South wanted to succeed. Lincoln said that succession was illegal and said that he intended to maintain federal possessions in the South.
Southerners hoped the threat of succession would force acceptance of Southern demands, but it did not. Finally the day came on Dec. 20, 1860 when South Carolina adopted an ordinance of succession. The other states to follow and succeed were: Mississippi on Jan 9, 1861, Florida on January 10, Alabama on Jan 11, Georgia on January 19, Louisiana on January 26, and Texas on February 1. On February 4 delegates from all these states met in Montgomery, Alabama where they drafted a constitution for the Confederate States of America. This outraged the North and what was led to the Civil War.
The existence of slavery was the central element of the conflict between the North and South. Other problems existed that led to succession but none were as big as the slavery issue. The only way to avoid the war was to abolish slavery but this could not be done because slavery is what kept the South running. After the succession of the South President Lincoln said that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” Since slavery formed two opposing societies, and slavery could never be abolished, the Civil War was inevitable. It is due to these radical differences in opinion that the South seceded from the North. | 10,563 | 4,409 | 25,158.100023 |
warc | 201704 | Environment Minister Greg Hunt has called for water studies on 47 large coal seam gas (CSG) and coal mining projects before federal approvals are granted.
The comments appear to fly in the face of Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane, who yesterday said he was intervening to fast-track CSG projects in New South Wales in response to the state's "gas crisis".
In NSW the projects Mr Hunt has identified for review include large and controversial projects such as Watermark near Gunnedah, the Cobborah mine north-east of Mudgee and the Coalpac consolidation project near Lithgow.
In Queensland, the "water trigger" has been invoked on a number of large mine projects in the Galilee Basin, including projects proposed by Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart.
The previous Labor government only invoked new federal powers to examine mining impact on water resources on four out of scores of applications, despite a deadline written into legislation.
The law was passed by the Labor government after pressure from former independent MP Tony Windsor, who argued that the states were approving mining projects without doing enough to protect water resources.
Mr Hunt says the previous Labor ministers would not administer the law.
"We inherited 50 projects whose briefs were put in the bottom drawer," he said.
"They stalled them all and simply refused to make decisions - it was a symbol of a dying government."
Fifty resources projects were seeking federal approvals under national environment law when the "water trigger" law was passed.
Mr Hunt has decided that 47 of them do raise concerns about their potential impact on water resources.
"The task is to assess whether there is a risk of significant impact on water resources and that's my job," he said.
"This stage now is simply whether or not there has to be an assessment. It makes no judgement on whether an approval will or won't occur."
Anti-coal seam gas organisation Lock the Gate Alliance has welcomed Thursday's decision to apply the new Commonwealth law.
However, campaign co-ordinator Carmel Flint says the real test is still to come.
"Regional communities will be relying on the Environment Minister to now apply rigorous assessment and decision making, so that projects do not proceed if they pose unacceptable risks to groundwater," she said. | 2,332 | 1,176 | 4,558.901361 |
warc | 201704 | Right Honourable Speaker and distinguished members of Parliament, on the authority of His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama, and in accordance with Article 179 (8) of the 1992 Constitution, I stand before this august House, to present a Mid-Year Review and revised macroeconomic targets as well as seek approval for Supplementary Estimates for the 2015 fiscal year. These revised estimates have been necessitated by domestic and longstanding global developments.
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2015— The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors today approved US$150 million budget support for Ghana. The credit from the International Development Association (IDA)* supports the First Macroeconomic Stability for Competitiveness and Growth Development Policy Financing (DPF), the first of three development policy financing operations aimed at helping the Government of Ghana stabilize its economy and shore up fiscal control by implementing financial policies and processes that are transparent and predictable.
June 30, 2015 On behalf of the Government of Ghana, I present to you the maiden edition of Annual Budget Performance Report for the year ending 31st December, 2014.The 2014 Budget Performance Report provides a comprehensive assessment of Government’s Performance and the result of public spending. The assessment focuses on what has been achieved against what was planned and what difference this has made in terms of improvements in public service delivery…
In accordance with Article 179 (I) of the Constitution and Regulation 152 (I) of the Financial Administration Regulations, we circulate on behalf of H.E. the President, for your information and necessary action, guidelines for the preparation of the 2016-2018 Budget Proposals which will inform the preparation of the Government's Budget and Economic Policy.
2. The 2016-2018 Budget will be based on the Medium Term Development Plans of MDAs and MMDAs which have been developed using the Ghana
The European Commission is to resume budget support disbursements to Ghana.The EU will release in total, 161.38 million Euros of budget support to Ghana in the coming weeks. The good news was announced by the EU Ambassador to Ghana, William Hanna, at a meeting with government officials in Accra on Friday. This support is aimed at four areas-105.63 million euros to support implementation of the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II, Ghana’s National Development Plan for 2014-2017 ...
Ghana’s journey to the GF began in 2007 when Ghana established an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) which permitted offshore banks to operate in Ghana. The offshore banks made it possible for non-resident persons (both individuals and companies) to open offshore bank accounts in Ghana. As at October, 2010 only one bank had been issued a license to operate offshore banking in Ghana. However, the license was surrendered to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in 2011.
Ghana has witnessed significant economic growth over the past decade with real GDP growth rising steadily from 3.7 percent in 2000 to 11.5 percent in 2011 before decelerating to 4.0 percent in 2014 mainly on account of energy challenges.
Due to a combination of unfavourable global factors and domestic challenges, the economy has come under severe stress since 2012, leading to double digits fiscal and external current account deficits.
On Friday, 3rd April, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 3-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Programme for Ghana.
A total amount of SDR664.20 million (US$918 million) will be given to Ghana as balance of payments support over the 3-year period. The total amount will be disbursed in eight (8) equal tranches. The first disbursement was made immediately after the Executive Board approval of the programme.
The remaining seven (7) disbursements will be made after the observance of the performance criteria and completion of reviews under the Programme.
The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations would soon roll out a Labour Market Information System to facilitate scientific studies into labour market issues, including the determination of unemployment rate in Ghana.
The move is coming off as a result of the Capacity Development Mechanism (CDM) being implemented by the government to help improve service delivery in public institutions.
Partners have agreed to commence determination of the National Daily Minimum Wage and Public sector wage negotiation for 2016 on June.23 and conclude by September this year, a 41-point communiqué issued at the end of the 2nd National Forum on the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) at Takoradi. | 4,731 | 2,283 | 9,698.239159 |
warc | 201704 | NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Dave Goldoff once shunned the real estate business, despite the success his father and uncle had with a few buildings they bought together in lower Manhattan.
For Dave, real estate seemed too conventional.
Instead, he worked in Internet entertainment, a fast-paced world where he rode a roller coaster of different jobs. Projects ended with mass layoffs or a neat corporate crash-and-burn.
When the bubble burst, he found himself idle and living in a family apartment building on Water Street in Manhattan. His uncle suggested he earn back some rent by running the building.
"I liked it because I could see things happening," he says.
"In 2000, they were getting $1,800 a month for a one-bedroom apartment," he recalls. "I spent $20,000 to $30,000 to renovate and the rent went up to $2,300."
Then came September 11.
The building lies eight blocks downwind of ground zero. Goldoff had been at the Twin Towers that morning. Back home, he heard the first plane crash. "I thought the cooling tower on our roof had fallen." He was outside when the second plane hit.
Everyone evacuated, but authorities called Goldoff back in because they wanted to use the roof for communications devices.
"I saw a warship in the river, fighter planes patrolling overhead, and armed guards around the building, which was covered with soot," he says. The stench from the burning buildings lasted for weeks.
"A lot of tenants were stressed out and walked away from their leases," he says. "But we couldn't go after them for leaving."
Getting started
Managing the building piqued Goldoff's real estate instincts. He decided to go back to school at night for a degree in the field. He's now nearing the end of a four-year course of study at NYU.
Early on, he took a job with a real estate investment firm. "My uncle told me to learn how people buy and sell properties," he says. "What I learned was that I didn't want to be a broker."
He started going around the city, trying to get a handle on prices. He looked at many dilapidated buildings with an eye toward buying them cheap, doing a quick fix-up, and selling fast.
"I met people doing foreclosure flips," he says. "I went to auctions, and I sat and listened. I had no money and no clients."
He decided the best, low-risk proposition would be to buy land. He and a high school friend, Erik Orsino, partnered up to start a company, D&E Management.
They bought their first property in June 2003, a commercial-zoned lot in Far Rockaway, paying $80,000 at a foreclosure auction for it, putting down 10 percent. They planned to sell the contract within 30 days -- to avoid closing costs -- to a client who was willing to pay $125,000.
It sounded great: Put down $8,000 and get back $45,000 less than a month later. But title problems plague foreclosures.
"I would guess that 99 percent of auctioned properties don't have a clear title," says Goldoff. Either an old owner is still on the deed or there's a tax lien or the land has wetland issues.
The lack of a clear title is not always a disadvantage. According to Goldoff, it can buy time. Ordinarily, you must complete the deal within 30 days, which means coming up with the balance of the money.
"Auctioneers are responsible to make sure the title is clear," he says. "If it's not you can delay the closing or get your deposit back."
In the end, that "quickie" first deal took a year. But they came out of it with a $20,000 profit and a learning experience. They completed three more deals like that, before the auction game grew too crowded to continue.
"There was no room to make money," says Goldoff. "We pulled out. We had to figure out a new vehicle."
Greener fields
They turned to upstate New York. The first house they bought there was a three-bedroom, one-bath summer home on a lake in Orange County. They paid $225,000, spent $70,000 winterizing and modernizing it and putting in a second bath. It's on the market now for $450,000.
They've closed on three houses upstate, and are in contract to acquire an estate on the water in Bridgeport, Conn., where they hope to build several townhouses. Then there's an old brewery in Watkins Glen, N.Y., which they intend to buy and develop into a condo complex and resort.
"I target lakes and golf courses," says Goldoff, "places with better schools and good access to transportation."
The now 29-year-old Goldoff, who recently married Beth, a creative director he met in art school, strives to make money with each purchase. He doesn't count on a hot market to bail him out.
"I always have to look at the worst case scenario," he says. If the deal is profitable under those conditions, "Everything else is gravy."
Eventually Goldoff hopes to be in all three categories of real estate – management, development, and sales, a "turn-key operation," as he calls it.
"Two years ago I was out looking to network," he says. "Today, people are calling me."
Click here for another tycoon story. | 5,024 | 2,546 | 9,742.139827 |
warc | 201704 | Category:
Loans Updated:
07/10/2016
First Published:
07/10/2016
Competition in the personal loans market is as hot as ever, so much so that one loan provider has slashed rates to the lowest on record – but only to those who fit the bill. The shopping bill, that is…
Sainsbury's Bank announced earlier this week that it was cutting rates on loans of £7,500 to £20,000 by 0.1% APR, which means successful applicants will now be charged a rate of just 3.1%. This is the lowest rate we've ever seen, and means those looking to consolidate their debts, make a few home improvements or arrange a big purchase can enjoy the lowest repayments ever.
However, there are a few caveats to this record low deal. First off, this rate is only available to those who opt for a repayment period of three years or less, with those seeking longer repayment terms needing to put up with slightly higher rates (although even these are still competitive).
Secondly, the deal is only open to Nectar cardholders, so you'll need to be a card-carrying member of the supermarket giant's reward scheme to qualify. This could be a small price to pay, however, as even if you're not a member yet, you'd simply need to sign up to benefit from the same low rate as loyal Sainsbury's shoppers.
It's worth pointing out that the loan also comes with more typical restrictions, such as minimum age and income requirements, but these are commonplace in the sector.
Even if this loan isn't quite for you – perhaps you want to borrow a different amount or need a longer repayment term – now's still a great time to take advantage of things. As this latest rate cut shows, providers are still locked in competition in an attempt to attract new borrowers, and typically, when one provider lowers its rates, others will follow.
Our own figures back up this trend, with average loan rates having been on a definite downward spiral in the last few months. This means there could be even better deals to come, but why wait? There's no guarantee, so take advantage of the current competition by heading to our personal loan calculator to see if there's a deal that can meet your needs.
Before you use our loan calculator, remember to make sure your credit score is up to scratch. Compare credit check providers to get an idea of your rating and get an extra layer of confidence when you apply.
Disclaimer: Information is correct as of the date of publication (shown at the top of this article). Any products featured may be withdrawn by their provider or changed at any time.
Moneyfacts.co.uk will, like most other websites, place cookies onto your computer’s
hard drive. This includes tracking cookies. | 2,709 | 1,425 | 5,051.096842 |
warc | 201704 | Before the campaign in Idaho's 1st Congressional District had spiraled into a contest over who was the more anti-government, anti-Democratic, anti-Mexican candidate, Congressman Walt Minnick was crusading for the commercial real estate industry, proposing relief that, he says, could prevent a crisis leading to a double-dip recession. Although he does acknowledge that there are risks to small banks and supports proposals like Minnick's, Paul Merski, chief economist of the Independent Community Bankers of America, says some of the statistics of possible losses are "sensationalized," according to
The Hill. Others have noted that commercial property prices have stabilized, although well below their 2007 peak, and describe the market as "choppy," but few are sounding crisis alarms.
So why is Congressman Minnick so concerned about the commercial real estate industry? Why would this Blue Dog congressman, who wears his anti-government credentials like a medal, be advocating government intervention now? Could the legislation he has been working on for nearly a year have been written to benefit a specific developer and is that developer a campaign contributor? Or is Minnick using his influence to benefit his son, a Denver-based commercial real estate investment manager?
For answers, let's back up a year.
In August of 2009 Congressman Minnick gave an interview to Scott Lanman of the well-known financial and business news source,
Bloomberg. Lanman was reporting on the troubled status of the commercial real estate industry and wrote:
One developer based in U.S. Representative Walt Minnick’s district is in a bind because a lower appraisal means he can’t renew the full amount of a $10 million, three-year loan he took out for a recent project, the first-term Democrat from Idaho said in an interview last week. The person may be forced into bankruptcy, said Minnick, 66, without identifying the developer.
Note that $10 million amount, then fast forward ten months to June 16, 2010 and the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Minnick is introducing his amendment to HR 5297, the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010. The bill is designed to help free-up credit markets for small businesses, in part, through the creation of the Small Business Lending Fund which would provide incentives for smaller banks to make new small business loans.
A small business is broadly thought of as one having less than 500 employees or annual receipts less than $7 million, but the Small Business Administration size standards vary widely by industry. The SBA currently offers several loan guarantee programs to qualifying small businesses, the most common are 7 (a) and 504 loans with maximum loan sizes of $2 million. The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act would permanently increase those loan maximums to $5 million and, through the Small Business Lending Fund, give incentives to community banks based on the amount of its small business lending.
As Minnick described it on the floor that day, his amendment "adds commercial real estate to the category of assets that can be covered by small business loan guarantees and increases the amount of those assets up to $10 million."
He went on:
This allows a category of assets that is now being held by small business men throughout the country, a category that is very large that needs to be refinanced because commercial real estate loans are short term and banks simply do not have the capacity in the current market to finance and process all of the commercial loans that need to be reprocessed over the next 3 to 5 years. By making these smaller loans that our community banks have made to strip shopping centers, to restaurants, to small business, making them more liquid by applying a Federal guarantee, they will be able to sell these loans in the market. The bank will get cash and be able to make another commercial loan.
Minnick's amendment allows commercial real estate loans of up to $10 million to be considered small business loans--double what would be the maximum amount of any other small business loan under this bill--and it passed on a voice vote.
Is it just a coincidence that $10 million happens to be the amount of the loan Minnick told
Bloomberg his constituent needed to avoid bankruptcy? Maybe, but it won't be the last time we hear about that $10 million amount.
Jump forward another month to late July of this year. Congressman Minnick is gaining some national attention for legislation he introduced in the House Financial Services Committee to "revitalize" the commercial real estate industry. He says his legislation "could stabilize the commercial real estate market and free overextended small banks to lend to small businesses in their communities," according to the
Idaho Statesman.
Minnick's proposal allows community banks to take their portfolio of good commercial real estate loans and sell them to so-called big money-center banks. The bigger banks package the loans as investments. If they're rated high enough, the U.S. Treasury will back them.
If to you that sounds roughly like the sort of thing that started the whole financial crisis, you're not alone. Even Minnick acknowledges that it does, although he says this would differ from the mortgage crisis in that the small banks who are the originators would be the first to lose if they fail. And he insists that his plan is not a bailout. "I don’t think we are putting any taxpayer money at risk. We are not injecting any taxpayer money into any financial institution," Minnick told
The Hill in July.
Coincidently or not, shortly after his bill was introduced in the House Financial Services Committee, citing "job growth" and "private property rights" as key factors in their decision, the Idaho Association of REALTORS "enthusiastically" endorsed Minnick's reelection bid.
His bill was introduced July 22 and received a full committee hearing July 29. According to
The Hill:
Minnick is leading an effort with lawmakers from both parties to push legislation creating a Treasury-run program that would provide between $15 billion and $25 billion in guarantees for commercial real estate investments. The guarantees are meant to boost liquidity and confidence. [...] Minnick’s proposal aims primarily to help banks with $10 billion or less in assets that issue loans of $10 million or less.
Once again Minnick's legislation to help the commercial real estate industry includes loans up to $10 million--coincidentally the same amount that this developer needed?
So who is this real estate developer that Congressman Minnick seems determined to help avoid bankruptcy? We don't know and Minnick doesn't say and therefore we also don't know whether or not this developer is also a campaign contributor. We do know that, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, through June 30, 2010 Minnick has received $29,020 from the real estate industry this campaign cycle, including $14,520 in individual contributions. The FEC database lists these individual contributors who reside in Idaho and have contributed at least $1,000 this cycle:
$3,000 - DeWayne Bills, retired real estate developer from Nampa $2,400 - John K. French, retired real estate investor from Ketchum $1,000 - Elliott Mark, real estate manager from Eagle $1,300 - Winston H. Moore, real estate developer from Boise, also a member of the Minnick campaign committee $2,400 - Ron Sali, real estate developer from Eagle
Walt Minnick also has a more personal connection to the commercial real estate industry. His son, Adam Minnick, is a Senior Vice President at Amstar, a privately held Denver-based commercial real estate investment manager/developer with more than $1.65 billion in assets under management, according to the company website. Like his father, Adam has an MBA from Harvard Business School and he has been in the commercial real estate industry for over eleven years. Prior to joining Amstar in 2005, Adam managed commercial real estate portfolios for the London office of Goldman Sachs and was an analyst in the real estate division of Paine Webber.
Does this personal connection to the industry have any influence in the legislation introduced by Minnick? Is this why Minnick has been interested in "revitalizing" the industry? Would Minnick be less inclined to advocate for government intervention in the commercial real estate industry if his son weren't involved?
All interesting questions, and unfortunately questions for which we may never have answers. | 8,579 | 3,710 | 19,673.890027 |
warc | 201704 | 2013-07-24
While the current students are looking forward to the upcoming MPA module beginning of September which will focus on communication and participation measures, as well as regional development and branding issues, the preparations for the next round of the Klagenfurter MPA Programme are under way. “Many potential candidates already demonstrated their interest in participating in our programme”, stated Michael Jungmeier, “but we are still open for additional applicants”. Interested persons can inform themselves by consulting the programme’s web page at http://mpa.e-c-o.at/. Here they will find an overview on the content and goals of the study programme together with all relevant requirements and documents for the application. In the FAQ section, the most frequent questions are addressed. In case of any uncertainty, the programme’s management team is happy to answer your enquiries (mpa@e-c-o.at). Please, keep in mind that your
application has to be submitted until 30 October 2013, at the latest.
For all those who do not want to graduate in a two-years academic study, but are interested in deepening their knowledge in financing protected areas, we offer the focal seminar
„Protected Areas, Business Planning & Financing” in autumn. The actuality of this topic has dramatically increased since public funds are cut while problems such as loss of biodiversity, climate change or new participative approaches are challenging the management more than ever. “We are happy that we succeeded in having Dr. Franics Vorhies as well experienced trainer for our seminar“, commented Daniel Zollner. “The economist, founder and director of the not-for-profit professional network Earthmind has more than 20 years of international experience in building biodiversity businesses, designing new market-based mechanisms for biodiversity finance, and giving lectures in financing protected areas or strategic NGO development”.
The seminar addresses practitioners and experts in the field of protected areas management. Participants will learn about principles, tools and good practice of financing protected areas sustainably. There will be sufficient time to refer to individual situations and address personal needs of the participants. The seminar will take place from 8 until 10 September 2013 at the University of Klagenfurt. It will be hold in English language. The course fee amount to 970 €, including the costs for the trainer, seminar facilities, materials, and the meals. In case you would like to participate, please
register until 20 August 2013, at the latest (see invitation and registration attached). Any questions on the seminar are answered by Daniel Zollner (zollner@e-c-o.at). | 2,776 | 1,423 | 5,273.034434 |
warc | 201704 | Locked In, Locked Out
Gated Communities in a Puerto Rican City
Publication Year: 2013
In November 1993, the largest public housing project in the Puerto Rican city of Ponce—the second largest public housing authority in the U.S. federal system—became a gated community. Once the exclusive privilege of the city's affluent residents, gates now not only locked "undesirables" out but also shut them in. Ubiquitous and inescapable, gates continue to dominate present-day Ponce, delineating space within government and commercial buildings, schools, prisons, housing developments, parks, and churches. In
Locked In, Locked Out, Zaire Zenit Dinzey-Flores shows how such gates operate as physical and symbolic ways to distribute power, reroute movement, sustain social inequalities, and cement boundary lines of class and race across the city. In its exploration of four communities in Ponce—two private subdivisions and two public housing projects— Locked In, Locked Out offers one of the first ethnographic accounts of gated communities devised by and for the poor. Dinzey-Flores traces the proliferation of gates on the island from Spanish colonial fortresses to the New Deal reform movement of the 1940s and 1950s, demonstrating how urban planning practices have historically contributed to the current trend of community divisions, shrinking public city spaces, and privatizing gardens. Through interviews and participant observation, she argues that gates have transformed the twenty-first-century city by fostering isolation and promoting segregation, ultimately shaping the life chances of people from all economic backgrounds. Relevant and engaging, Locked In, Locked Out reveals how built environments can create a cartography of disadvantage—affecting those on both sides of the wall.
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page Table of Contents Preface
When I set out to do research in the gated communities of the poor and richin Ponce, fear was paramount. I grew up in Puerto Rico in the 1970s and1980s, when carjackings were frequent and yearly murder counts headlinedthe news. Spaces of the poor, and
caseríos (public housing) especially, wereenvisioned as places to be avoided. What was being ingrained in me during... Prologue. The Native Outsider
Roy Lichtenstein’s painting
Interior with African Mask (1991) caught my attentionfrom the first time I saw it, as a college freshman at Harvard’s FoggArt Museum. It depicted a modern living room in the front plane, a diningroom in the background, with firm geometric lines, symmetric patterns andprints, and bright colors. But the furnishings seemed incongruous with ... 1. Fortress Gates of the Rich and Poor: Past and Present
On November 8, 1993, Dr. Manuel de la Pila, the largest public housing project in the city of Ponce in Puerto Rico (the second- largest public housing authority in the U.S. federal system), became a gated community. Up until then, gates had kept people out rather than keeping people in. Gates had become the exclusive privilege of the affluent communities; their residents, for...
2. Cachet for the Rich and Casheríos for the Poor: An Experiment in Class Integration
In Ponce, like the rest of the island, in the mid- 1980s,
urbanizaciones (subdivisions)and private communities of the affluent and upper middle class organizedneighborhood associations, collected dues, and pushed municipalitiesto establish the necessary infrastructure. In 1993, Extensión Alhambra wasthe first to bid successfully for controlled access. Many communities were ... 3. “Precaution: Security Knives in the Gates”
Ramiro explained to me on the phone how I was to get inside his house in the affluent gated community of Extensión Alhambra in order to interview him. His instructions were precise and seemed practiced: You drive to the gate. The community is in the shape of a U. You come in one gate and leave through the other. When you get to the gate, you will find a dial pad. You ...
4. Community: Where Rights Begin and End
When I interviewed Nelly at the upper- middle- class gated community of Extensión Alhambra, I knew I could not waste time. Nelly was very busy with civic endeavors. Her IKEA- like modern multipurpose den–family room–office served as a work headquarters. She was used to questions; her posture and articulate answers had a political flavor. What about the Mano Dura gating...
5. The Secret Gardens
Rexford Tugwell, the last American governor appointed for the island of Puerto Rico, a fervent New Dealer, wrote of the upscale area of Condado in the city of San Juan and its private gardens: “I thought it might be hard to leave so beautiful a neighborhood. . . . This, I could see, was the right side of the railroad tracks; . . . semi- palaces buried in the most resplendent foliage:...
6. Neighbors More Remote than Strangers
It is cleaning day in Doña Lucrecia’s house. Doña Lucrecia, a middle- aged, white woman in one of the larger homes in Extensión Alhambra, guided me through a maze of furniture to a back terrace garden crowded seating clusters, tables, and a tiny pool; it was the setting, no doubt, of many small social gatherings. An olive- skinned woman with a duster, a mop, a broom, and a bucket ...
Epilogue. The Gated Library
In 2010, Ponce’s municipal library— Biblioteca Municipal e Infantil Mariana Suárez de Longo y Archivo Histórico de Ponce— was finally finished. I was visiting family that January, and I was excited to find a place where I could write, with free wi- fi and silence. My mother, my aunt, and my cousin had been searching for alternatives for days: the McDonald’s in Santa Isabel, the ...
Methodology
When I began
Locked In, Locked Out I was already an involved observer. Objectivityis highly valued in science’s gathering and production of knowledge,but, by the traditional definition, I was never, have never been, objective. Bymy own understanding of objectivity, the unobstructed, honest, clear understandingof research, I was and am subjective. This book and the research on... Notes Index Acknowledgments
E-ISBN-13: 9780812208207
E-ISBN-10: 081220820X Print-ISBN-13: 9780812245134 Print-ISBN-10: 081224513X
Page Count: 232
Illustrations: 19 illus. Publication Year: 2013
Series Title: The City in the Twenty-First Century
Series Editor Byline: Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter, Series Editors See more Books in this Series
MUSE Marc Record: Download for Locked In, Locked Out | 6,650 | 3,273 | 13,151.680416 |
warc | 201704 | Garlic is so easy to grow that the instructions could be just one sentence long:
In October, separate a large head of garlic into individual cloves, and plant 3–4 inches deep in well-amended, well-drained, and well-mulched soil until harvest next July.
But let’s dig a little deeper into that sentence for a few tips on growing a gorgeous garlic crop.
Fall is the season for planting garlic in our area. Wait until the first light frost to plant, and don’t worry if you see a few garlic sprouts popping up before winter sets in. In October… Which garlic to plant? Experiment with different varieties to find the flavor you like best. Nurseries and seed catalogs offer seed garlic (grocery store-bought garlic isn’t as reliable as seed). There are two main types: …separate a large head of garlic… Hard-necked varieties grow well in northern climates like ours, where winter is cold and spring is long. As the name implies, hard-necks produce a rigid flower stalk or “scape” with aerial bulbs. The scape should be cut off at about 10 inches long so that the plant continues to put its energy into the underground bulb. Don’t toss the scapes—eat them, instead, in soups, sautés, etc. ‘Music’, ‘German Extra Hardy’, and ‘Chesnok Red’ are hard-neck varieties known for their wonderful, complex flavors. Soft-necked varieties don’t produce scapes; their soft foliage can be braided for easy hanging/storage. While soft-necks flourish in the South, some varieties, such as ‘Inchelium Red’, can be successfully grown here. …into individual cloves… Plant cloves roots down, points up, about 6–8 inches apart. …and plant 3–4 inches deep… Soil prep is key to a successful crop, no matter what type of soil you have. Garlic is a heavy feeder, so the soil needs to provide plenty of nutrients, air, and water. Amend your soil with compost or well-aged manure until it feels loose and airy. Aim for a neutral pH of 6.5. …in well-amended… While it needs to be kept watered, it is important to plant it in a spot where the soil is moist, but not too wet. Garlic doesn’t like “wet feet.” Once foliage appears in spring, water consistently (about 1 inch per week) until two weeks before harvest in July. …well-drained… After a hard frost, cover the garlic bed loosely with a thick layer of mulch (about 6 inches of straw, leaves, and/or grass clippings). Mulch acts like a blanket over the bulbs and soil, holding in moisture and keeping down weeds, which can easily overwhelm and outcompete garlic. Leave mulch intact through the season—garlic sprouts will make their way through it—but remove it when things warm up in the spring. …and well-mulched soil… In July, garlic foliage begins to turn brown, signaling that harvest is near. Wait until just five green leaves are left on the plant. Then use a pitchfork to gently loosen the soil beneath the bulbs and bring them to the surface. Resist the urge to pull them by their stalks, taking care not to damage the papery tunic! Brush off most of the dirt, then allow your harvest to cure: …until harvest next July. Spread out the bulbs (with foliage intact) on screens, or tie them in loose bundles and allow to dry in a shady, well-ventilated area, such as a back porch or garage. Do not wash the bulbs to remove soil! Leave them undisturbed for 4–6 weeks, during which time they’ll dry out completely. After curing, trim the roots and cut stalks to about 1 inch from the bulb.
Many of these same cultural practices follow for shallots and other allium varieties.
One last tip: Store your garlic at 50 to 70 degrees—but not in the refrigerator, as cold makes bulbs sprout early! With proper curing and storage, your bulbs should last about four months.
©2013 Chicago Botanic Garden and my.chicagobotanic.org | 3,964 | 1,957 | 7,577.579969 |
warc | 201704 | This post is going to focus on three things that I think are good ideas, but that are typically sneered at by a lot of people as 'mall ninja.' I figured I'd go ahead and save anyone who felt the need to start casting aspersions at me for thinking these thing are good ideas rather than making reasoned arguments against by going ahead and dubbing myself with that particular pejorative.
To get it out of the way, I am NOT a high speed, low drag, DEVGRU, tactical operator. I don't think I ever will be, and I don't want to be. I'm a guy who installs satellite tv for a living, drives a beat up car, and lives in an old trailer (mobile home if you want to church it up). My formal firearms training has been an NRA First Steps Pistol class and an abbreviated pistol class with Tom Givens. That said, I'm a pretty good shot. How that would translate to a gunfight I can't say for sure, but it's got to help. I mean, it's not like guys who make a profession of getting into gunfights don't practice, is it? Look, I don't want to go chase hajji around the mountains and through the caves of Afghanistan, but is it some insult to the guy who does that if I'd like to be as competent with my firearms as he is? I mean, I know how to treat a wound, that doesn't mean I think I'm an EMT. Just the same, I'd be willing to bet I can put pressure on a bleeding wound damn near as well. So to the meat of it. First, I like body armor. I think it's a damned good idea. I love the concept behind the US Palm Defender. If you'd keep a pistol near your bedside why not that as well? I'm not planning on getting shot, but shit happens. I mean, who the fuck expects to get shot? Hell, I don't even expect to be the victim of a violent crime, why the fuck should I carry a gun?* Taking the thought a little further, I own an AR rifle, (because I think it makes a great defensive tool especially since I live in a place where the response time to an assault in progress is around 45 minutes) so wouldn't some heavier body armor make just as much sense in a scenario where I might need a rifle or shotgun? I think so. So maybe I'll never need it. I never needed a seat belt, either. Until I did. I've never needed a fire extinguisher. I've never needed to treat a gunshot wound. Think about that last one for a minute. How many of you think having some type of body armor is a bit crazy/paranoid/useless, and yet you've got the stuff to treat a gunshot wound on hand? Why the hell would you keep something to treat a problem, but not something to prevent it. A condom will keep you from needing a shot of penicillin. It's the same principle. Second, I'd like to know how to fight with a firearm as a member of a team. I'll probably never need to, but I'll probably never need to apply a tourniquet either. This just seems like it would be good general knowledge. I mean, why would knowing how to safely and effectively use firearms around and in conjunction with other people be a bad thing? People tend to think a desire for this knowledge means you're a SWAT or SOF wannabe, as if they've never seen on live tv a major metropolitan area completely loose all government service, including police, FOR FUCKING DAYS. I mean, if my neighbors and I have to guard our homes and other property for a few days if something crazy happens I would think it would be nice if someone had a little knowledge about how to do that effectively. Third, I would also like to know how to clear a building, both by myself and and with a partner/group. I know. You shouldn't do that. Especially by yourself. You shouldn't move someone who might have a neck or back injury either, so clearly you should leave them in a burning car. My point is, sometimes in life you are faced with trade offs.** I'm not waiting outside for the police if I hear my sister screaming in fear next door after I see two guys with machetes kick in her door. I'm also not going to sit still in an active shooter situation if I'm in WalMart with my friend Logan. We're going to get the fuck out of there, but clearing the areas we move through would probably be safer than running blindly toward the nearest door while screaming our heads off. I'm not one of those people who thinks having a clue or some resources about how to handle unlikely scenarios somehow means I'm going to go looking for those scenarios. I think having these tools in my toolbox would be a good thing. I've got a ton of sockets I never use, yet I don't regret buying them. Hell, truth be told you could say that about most of my personal tools. But every once and a while.... If all that makes me a mall ninja then I guess I'm it. *That was rhetorical. I hope I didn't need this note. **More like all the time if you ask me. | 4,736 | 2,327 | 9,632.783842 |
warc | 201704 | Almost a year ago, my little family made the big leap to life in the country when we bought our tiny farm.
As I shared when we first moved in, it’s been a dream of mine for the longest time to have a little house and some land to grow veggies, raise chooks, plant a little orchard and hopefully some sort of vineyard so my wine making skills don’t lay dormant forever.
As with any good dream there have been some surprises along the way…
Like having not one but two tiger snakes in two days turn up on my kitchen step… Like having to catch a cute little green tree frog in our bedroom one night… Like getting used to waking up and seeing kangaroos just outside our bedroom window most mornings… Like planting my fruit trees in the boggiest patch of clay on the whole farm and having half of them decide to die…
All part of the fun of country life!
Anyway I’ve had a few requests to share what’s growing in my edible garden. Something a little different!
But before I do there’s a disclaimer. I’m new to this whole big garden thing. While I love spending time in the garden, especially picking things for dinner, I’m definitely a long way from being a green thumbed expert. So I’m not sure how helpful this will be…
My Herb Garden
This is the closest to my back kitchen door and I just love being able to pop out and get a sprig of rosemary or a handful of basil whenever I need them. This year I’ve had the most amazing basil so we’ve been eating a lot of pesto. And for the first time ever I’ve even got extra pesto stashed away in my freezer.
I’ve also got flat leaf parsley, curly parsley, Greek basil (not as good as the regular stuff), tarragon, coriander (cilantro), chives, chervil, sage, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, sorrel and stevia. One of the biggest attractions for me is being able to grow things like sorrel and stevia that I never see in the shops or farmers market.
I love having a few leaves of super lemony fresh sorrel to enliven a green salad. And it’s amazing in pesto (recipe below). The stevia I’m not so sure what to do with so if you have any ideas please share them in the comments below!
My Salad Garden
This garden bed is slightly larger and had been pretty good at keeping us in salad leaves most of the year. I love not having to buy bagged salad any more because it’s so expensive and perishable.
When I’m rushed for time, I do sometimes lament the fact that I have to go outside and spend a few minutes picking leaves. But as soon as I’m in the garden, I’m always thankful for those little moments of peace.
Rocket (arugula) is my all time favourite salad because I love the peppery flavour and the fact that it’s so easy to grow. I also have a new found respect for good old butter lettuce and cos which I just pick a few leaves at a time and they keep on growing.
I do have some radishes which I’m still trying to love. If they weren’t so easy to grow I wouldn’t bother. But I strongly believe that it’s just a matter of finding the best way to prepare them!
Silverbeet or chard is something I’ve come to love because of its easy-to-grow nature. Mostly I sauté it in butter and garlic in a covered pot until it’s just wilted down and finish it with a squeeze of lemon and a generous pinch of sea salt.
I was late planting tomatoes this year so we have lots of green tomatoes and nothing ripe. Yet. Fingers crossed we’ll get something before the first frosts come.
My Salad Garden Part2
This bed contains my most recent plantings. A mix of lettuces and Asian greens like tatsoi and mizuna. They’re mostly new to me so I’m excited about finding new ways to use them.
I should also report that since I’ve stopped being a ‘slacker’ on the salad washing front, there haven’t been any more incidents of diners finding caterpillars at my table!
My Raised Veggie Beds
I had these in our old rental house in Cooma. And while I did have to bribe my brother to help me move them, I’m so glad they didn’t get left behind. If you’re renting (like we used to) or if you have poor soil (like we do now) raised veggie beds are the way forward!
At the moment these have carrots, beets, loads of garlic (just planted so won’t be harvested until next Summer), zucchini and some self-sown parsley. I did plant some spaghetti squash seeds and delicata pumpkin both which I’ve read about but haven’t ever seen or eaten. Only one plant has survived and because Fergal loves to play with my labels, I’m not sure which one it is. Looking forward to having that puzzle solved later in Autumn!
Fish with Sorrel Pesto Sorrel is one of those annoying ingredients I see referred to in cookbooks from time to time but never see in the shops. It wasn’t until I planted some seeds and grew my own that I was able to experiment with this super lemony fresh-tasting herb. Don’t worry if you don’t have a herb garden full of sorrel. There are plenty of substitutes in the variations below!
enough for: 2
takes: 15 minutes 2 fish fillets 2 handfuls sorrel leaves 2 handfuls grated Parmesan cheese 1 clove garlic 1 handful pine nuts extra virgin olive oil green salad, to serve
1. Heat a medium frying pan on a medium high heat. Rub fish with a little oil and season with lots of salt. Cook fish for 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked to your liking.
2. Meanwhile, for the pesto, whizz sorrel, Parmesan, garlic and pine nuts in a food processor until finely chopped. Add a good pinch of salt and add some olive oil with the motor running until you have a saucer paste. Taste and season with more salt if needed and some pepper.
3. Serve fish with a big dollop of pesto on top and salad on the side.
Variations no sorrel? – basil or flat leaf parsley are the best substitutes or try mint or coriander (cilantro) for something a bit different. A big squeeze of lemon can make the pesto taste more fresh and lemony. dairy-free – replace Parmesan with an extra handful of pine nuts or different nuts like almonds, cashews or Brazil nuts. vegetarian – serve pesto with pan fried eggplant ‘steaks’ or some cooked quinoa or other grains. It’s also really lovely with poached or fried eggs or as a fresh topping for a simple omelette dinner. carnivore – replace fish with chicken thigh or breast fillets or a good quality pork chop. more substantial – serve with mashed or roast potatoes. Or serve fish on a bed of cooked grains such as quinoa, brown rice or farro. What about you?
Are you into growing your own food? Got any tips on veggie growing or veggie garden design you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you! Just pop a comment below…
Big love,
Jules x
__________ | 6,907 | 3,289 | 13,799.299787 |
warc | 201704 | Gravy is to mashed potatoes what icing is to cake. Or syrup is to waffles. It closes the circle. Makes each complete. The potatoes, cake or waffles may be fine on their own, or a bit ‘so what’ and tolerable. But with the addition of said adornment, potato/cake/waffle are elevated. They may not have been much to start with, variously lumpy, dry or with freezer burn, but anointed with the right stuff, ‘meh’ can easily became ‘mmm’.
Mashed potato and gravy is what my husband calls
food of the gods (not just one god – all of them). I may be a bit hasty in my assumption, but I think many men and not just a few woman feel thusly. We see it on a menu and – at least the females – hem and haw whether or not to choose it. Maybe I should have the boiled baby potato option, or the steamed broccoli? Even if you choose the other options, in your heart you wanted that bowl of mash and gravy, didn’t you? But when you do get it – at least in your average restaurant – gravy can often be a big beige puddle of congealing disappointment. How can gravy go so wrong? In a word, umami. Or lack of it.
If you have a meat-based gravy you are already there. Umami built right in. Umami, the fifth taste that food experts blather on about, is a unique and difficult to describe (but you know it’s there) “savoury taste imparted by glutamate and five ribonucleotides, including insinuate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods, including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products.” (from foodchannel.com).
All I know is that I crave it. Wild mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, soy sauce and ketchup are well-known for their umami-imparting qualities. Fan of all of them.
And so too is Marmite – yeast extract. Love it or hate it, it is a quintessential umami taste beloved of many Brits and British ex-pats. And now me, an ex-pat American. Used mainly to spread on hot, buttered toast or crumpets, yeast extract is absolutely vital for a flavourful vegetable-based gravy. You can chuck all of the hand-reared or lovingly purchased vegetables you want into a pan; slow-sweat them into sweet, melting submission; but without a dash of Marmite, or soy sauce, you will never have what the pleasure-centres in your brain are searching for.
Basically a good vegetarian gravy is the legal high of the food world. It fires up those neurons (or whatever) that says I want more of that. And then some more. And can you just let me pour that whole gravy boat into my mouth. Please.
There are loads of great vegetarian gravy recipes out there. Some with mushrooms, many with brown onions, some with just the full-tilt umami of soy sauce and nutritional yeast flakes. This one is mine. It is a great one for highlighting those perky and spring-fresh spring onions that are coming into their own just now. Perfect for the Easter table, Thanksgiving – any time that there are carbohydrates being celebrated.
1. A cheat’s mushroom stroganoff – stir up with sour cream/Quark/Tofutti, parsley and sautéed mushrooms; serve with buttered noodles or wild & brown rice 2. A saucy Chinese stir-fry – add in as you would a pour-in sauce, having first mixed with a little rice vinegar and five-spice powder 3. Rich, umami-licious soups, especially bean and vegetable ones (cabbage soup with added gravy is terrific) 4. Easy veggie pot pies – mix with lightly cooked vegetables and pour into individual baking dishes, top with pastry, mashed potato or even leftover Christmas/Thanksgiving stuffing and bake. It’s useful for flavouring veggie shepherd’s pie (shepherdess) and cottage pies – all savoury pies! 5. Veggie meatballs, gravy and rice or crusty bread 6. Poutine – not a recommendation, just an acknowledgement of fact! Ah, you Canadians. So like the Scots. 7. A savoury crumble – mix the gravy with cashew cream or soft cheese and pour in an oiled baking dish. Top with coarse bread crumbs that have been mixed with butter or olive oil, plus some chunky nuts/seeds and chopped herbs. Bake and dive in! 8. Savoury bread pudding – mix gravy with beaten egg and pour over cubed stale bread. Let it soak in for an hour (press lightly to hasten the absorption) then bake until puffy and golden in places. Obviosuly eat this with LOADS of green veg. 9. Over waffles. With of without a bit of fried chicken. (again, not a food to glow recom; just being honest)
10. And of course,
over mashed potatoes or any gorgeous but plain starchy carb (like bread) that you fancy. Or a savoury vegetable cake like this.
And a bonus idea –
freeze it for another day! Spring Onion {Scallion} Gravy Gravy needs no introduction. It’s always useful, always welcome. Make more than you need. But I didn’t need to tell you that, now did I?
2 tbsp olive oil (not anything fancy)
1 large bunch of spring onions/scallions, trimmed lightly and chopped
Pinch of salt
1 bay leaf
1 ½ tbsp. cornflour/cornstarch/tapioca/arrowroot powder (put this in a small cup)*
450ml (2 cups) light vegetable stock
2 tsp Marmite or other yeast extract (failing that, why not try Maggi liquid seasoning or even red miso – not tried either here though)
Pepper, to taste
Soy sauce, to taste
1. Heat the onion in a skillet and slowly sauté the chopped spring onions with a little salt and the bay leaf, covered, for half an hour to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the heat on low as you just want the onions to sweat rather than colour. A little colour is fine, but just don’t burn!
2. Add a little cold water to the cornflour and stir until it is dissolved; pour onto the spring onions, along with the stock and the yeast extract. Bring to a simmer and let it bubble gently for 10 minutes to thicken. Taste and adjust as you see fit – adding more Marmite, or even a splash or two of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce.
3. Pour the gravy into a sieve and over a clean saucepan. Reheat gently and serve with anything!
NOTE: 10 fab serving suggestions are given above the recipe. And for all of you Marmite fans – and not – here are some ‘fun facts’ about Marmite (I love number 4). | 6,241 | 3,088 | 12,154.590026 |
warc | 201704 | Pakistan faces a crisis. President Musharraf has gone a route that appears to be highly tyrannical—declaring a state of emergency, suspending human rights guarantees, and arresting his enemies (including the head of the Supreme Court). For this, he’s been roundly criticized. We who are fortunate enough to live in this country look at his actions and see violations of all we hold dear in government.
But what were his alternatives, and what are the alternatives for Pakistan? Here’s some food for thought, neither tasty nor pleasant, but probably realistic:
…the potential ruling of the Supreme Court invalidating his October reelection…would have left the country without a constitutional president, which would have only deepened the current constitutional crisis. He would not have stepped down as president of course — at this point the “constitution” of Pakistan is so FUBARed that nobody even knows quite what it is anymore, and purely formal questions would have made it necessary to invoke a “state of emergency” — which here really meant little more than “I’m going to shut the Supreme Court up before the Supreme Court rules that Pakistan has no legitimate government.” I would remind you as well that [chief supreme court justice Iftikhar] Chaudhry is a post-Musharraf-coup judge who came to be chief justice when he sworn an oath to Musharraf’s provisional constitutional order of 1999 — precisely the same oath he now decries.
In Spanish we have a saying, if you shoot an elephant, make sure you kill him with the first shot. Musharraf’s real mistake was to dismiss Chaudhry in March without “killing him” politically — now Chaudhry is on a rampage, a personal vendetta, and has the standing — and grass-roots prowess — to consider a kind of coup against Musharraf, provided he can gain army backing.
The dreadful truth is that, as I’ve written here in a slightly different context, the choice in many countries seems to be between the Scylla of dictatorship and the Charybdis of anarchy—or worse. That, I’m afraid, may be the choice facing Musharraf today. Those who would like him to institute reforms are ignoring the fact that reforms can be a tricky thing in a country so filled with opposing power-hungry forces that are bent on the destruction of even the modest rights and stability that were previously available in Pakistan. And Chaudhry is by no means the worst of those forces, nor is it clear that Musharraf’s downfall would lead to his victory. Once the forces of chaos are unleashed, events can spiral out of control.
Many have likened this current crisis in Pakistan to events in the late 70s in Iran, when the America-friendly but repressive Shah was toppled and the Islamicists won, ushering a reign of repression and terror that has been considerably worse—not just from the US point of view, but for the Iranian people—than the Shah’s.
I’ve written a great deal about how that revolution came to be, and it’s sadly relevant to the situation today in Pakistan. Please read this, a study of how the Shah’s efforts at reform (and those of his short-lived successor, Bakhtiar) helped bring about the downfall of their governments and usher in the mullahs:
Khomeini didn’t have to worry about making martyrs of his enemies, nor about whether to allow them to remain in Iran and exercise freedom of speech. Tyranny doesn’t struggle with the same sort of philosophical questions about how much toughness is too much, questions with which its opponents wrestle mightily.
Musharraf
needs to wrestle with such questions, of course; otherwise, he becomes as bad as those who would overthrow him. And he may have indeed overstepped in his recent actions, which is why President Bush has pressured Musharraf to hold elections as planned in February, and the Pakistani leader has acquiesced.
Whether this will save him—or Pakistan—remains to be seen. I certainly don’t have enough information on the situation there to even begin to make a prediction.
History’s a bit—although only a bit—easier to understand than the future. President Carter, for example, was instrumental in undermining the Shah’s rule and helping to usher in its terrible aftermath by pressuring him for reforms despite the forces arrayed against him, forces that were empowered and unleashed by those very reforms (see this for an in-depth discussion of that process). Bush must be careful not to do the same, while at the same time being careful Musharraf does not become more repressive than absolutely necessary, a difficult judgment to make.
The quoted saying about shooting elephants is one of those cynical remarks that contain sad truths. Oh, if only the world were a better place, a world in which Machiavelli and his works were demented irrelevancies! Unfortunately, it is not, and enraged elephants on the loose can be very very dangerous. | 5,060 | 2,446 | 10,014.497138 |
warc | 201704 | Wholphins, and Geeps, and Zonkeys, OH MY!
Now, most of us know about Ligers (thanks, Jon Heder) but I had no idea how many other mammal hybrids existed! Here’s a collage of a few of my favs:
Buffalo-cows aka Beefalo, Camel-llama aka Camas, Goat-sheeps aka Geeps, Grizzy-Polar bears aka Grolar Bears, Whale-dolphins aka Wholphins, and various Zebra/Horse/Donkey combos like Zorses* and Zonkeys and Hinnys.
*I swear the Zorse isn’t photoshopped, they actually have patches of stripes and non-striped areas depending on which genes they inherit from their parents
If I ever become extraordinarily rich I’m buying a farm and filling it with nothing but crazy animal hybrids.
Soy’s possible “feminizing” effects
Some scientists speculate that the phytoestrogens (or “dietary estrogens”) in soy products may have long-term impacts on the development of both males and females. It is hypothesized that females on soymilk diets might develop earlier because of the increased estrogen and it may have a “feminizing” effect on males.
(I like to think that there’s a very small percentage of you guys that read that last sentence while sipping a tall soy latte and are now frozen with fear, mid-sip)
Don’t worry – that part is all very speculative and there are conflicting studies on this topic. Drinking soymilk will not cause your genitals to suck up into your body cavity nor will it make you sprout breasts all over your back. I just heard about these studies from a colleague and couldn’t wait to write about how soymilk might make mens balls shrink. **
** I’ve recently had the chilling/depressing realization that I’d be really great at writing scary news titles for local TV. “Does using deodorant cause anal leakage? Find out at 10!”
520 Day Mars Flight Simulator “Launched”
The crew, consisting of three Russian men, one French man, one Chinese man, and one Italian man, were sealed inside the flight simulator and will remain there for 520 days. As per normal astronaut protocol they are allowed one shower every 10 days. That’s right – a year and a half of marinating in their spacesuits inside a cramped, sweaty chamber with air that’s ripe with Tang and man-stink.
And while they
will have some actual astronauting to do, the researchers observing them are primarily interested in their behavior during the staggeringly long periods of monotony. Here’s where the fun stuff happens! One crewmember is bringing along his guitar (oh man, he’s that guy – I bet he’s the one they kill first), they will get to play one game of internet chess with a famous Russian chess dude, and they will have occasional access to email (via a super shitty internet connection to simulate the delays and interruptions they will encounter in space).
One pretty sweet thing they do get is $100,000, but I don’t think I’d do it for any amount of money – I’d go crazy. And there is a pretty serious precedent for people losing their minds in these kinds of situations. In a previous simulation a male astronaut tried to forcibly kiss one of the female team members! And then the whole thing had to be shut down after it led to a fistfight between the male members that “splattered the walls with blood”.
tell me they are making this into a reality show – because I just might watch it. Diapered, crazy, horny astronauts from all over the world are locked in a rocket for a year and a half? It’d be like The Jersey Shore for nerds! Please
[via Popular Science] | 3,632 | 1,862 | 6,708.081633 |
warc | 201704 | Furthermore, not all ventricular fibrillation (VF) is the same, said study co-investigators Vinay Nadkarni, M.D., and Peter A. Meaney, M.D., M.P.H., specialists in Critical Care Medicine at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They added that VF is more likely to be fatal if it is not the initial heart rhythm detected at the start of cardiac arrest, but instead develops later during the arrest, typically during resuscitation.
A research team from the American Heart Association's National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) analyzed records from more than 1,000 children who suffered cardiac arrests while in the hospital. The largest study by far of outcomes from VF in children, it appears in the June 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers from Children's Hospital and from the University of Arizona led the study, which included records from 159 participating hospitals.
"This landmark in-hospital study challenges prevailing paradigms in pediatric cardiac critical care," said senior author Robert A. Berg, M.D., of the Steele Children's Research Center at the University of Arizona. "Abnormal rhythms were thought to be uncommon during cardiac arrests in children, occurring less than 10 percent of the time, but we found the occurrence to be 27 percent. When physicians applied shocks promptly from defibrillators, many of these children survived, and the vast majority of the survivors have good neurological outcomes."
"Secondly," continued Dr. Berg, "we learned that cardiac arrests due to initial shockable rhythms often have good outcomes, whereas cardiac arrests with shockable rhythms developing during resuscitation typically have poor outcomes. Now we have to learn what we can do to improve
'"/> Contact: John Ascenzi Ascenzi@email.chop.edu 267-426-6055 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 31-May-2006 | 1,874 | 997 | 3,496.128385 |
warc | 201704 | Organizers employed the child to loudly repeat "Please stop! I'm bored!" when winners exceeded the time limit.
David Sims of Cass Business School, London, won the
Ig Nobel Prize for literature for a workplace study entitled "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation Within Organizations."
Sims explained that consistent behavior, even bad behavior, isn't as maddening as that which leaves one struggling for an explanation. A predictable jerk, in other words, isn't as distressing as a loose cannon.
"Hero, fool, villain—what is this person going to be in [the story of my life]?" he asked. "The people you get really angry with are the ones who don't settle into a single character—you just can't work out what they're up to."
The findings had stuck a familiar chord with many readers.
"When I was taking this around as a seminar paper, everyone was convinced that I had gathered my data in their institution."
Snacks, Smart Mold, and Super Fleas
The
Ig Nobel for nutrition was bestowed for an unusual taste test. Scientists had electronically enhanced the sound made when a person bites into a potato chip. Testers were fooled into thinking their snack was crisper and fresher than it actually was.
Japanese and Hungarian scientists captured the
Ig Nobel in cognitive science for proving that slime mold can navigate a maze.
When placed in a maze with food sources on both ends, the organism had spread "like mayonnaise on a slice of bread," said Ryo Kobayashi of Hiroshima University in Japan.
But after about ten hours, the mold had abandoned the maze's dead ends and inhabited only the most direct route between the food sources.
Three French scientists took the
Ig Nobel biology honors by demonstrating that fleas living on dogs can jump higher than those living on cats.
And though history may be written by the winners, archaeological history can be rewritten by the burrowing of armadillos. A Brazilian team won the
archaeology Ig Nobel for demonstrating live armadillos can scramble the locations of artifacts in an archaeological dig site. Reflections on Plants, Strippers, and Coca-Cola
Urs Thurnherr, of the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology, accepted the
Ig Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the citizens of Switzerland—who have adopted the constitutional principle that plants have inherent dignity.
On stage, Thurnherr asked, "Have you ever been away or forgotten to water one of your house plants and then had to throw it away? Did that make you feel uneasy in any way?"
The
prize in economics went to Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur, and Brent Jordan of the University of New Mexico, who had discovered that lap dancers' tip earnings rise and fall with their ovulatory cycles—from an average of U.S. $70 per hour when about to ovulate to just $35 during menstruation.
Previous studies had shown that women in mid-cycle have faces and breasts that are more attractive to men, as well as a more appealing scent, Miller said.
Research also suggests that many women are happier at this time.
"Men are probably responding partly to physical appearance and smell, and quite a bit to behavior, happiness, and outgoingness—but we really don't know yet," Miller said.
The
physics prize went to a team that had unveiled a new type of string theory. This version was a mathematical proof that piles of string or hair will inevitably tangle themselves up in knots.
*The
chemistry prize was shared by two groups that had conclusively put an urban legend to rest—sort of.
Deborah Anderson, of Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, was recognized for her 1980s discovery that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide (though not a reliable form of birth control).
"I'd like to thank the Ig Nobels for recognizing our seminal study," she quipped.
However, Anderson shared the prize with a team of Taiwanese scientists who had proved just the opposite.
With the winners crowned and the stage swept clear of paper airplanes tossed by the audience, Marc Abrahams, editor of the
Annals of Improbable Research, closed the evening in traditional style.
"If you didn't win an Ig Nobel Prize tonight—and especially if you did—better luck next year."
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES | 4,342 | 2,280 | 8,082.214035 |
warc | 201704 | If you’ve ever flown across the country with your children in tow, you’ve probably wished for some extra help. And if you’ve ever traveled in the vicinity of children in general, you’ve likely wished there were someone designated to keep them from screaming and making you miserable.
Enter Nanny in the Clouds, a California-based company which matches parents seeking in-flight childcare with experienced babysitters aboard the same flight. It’s free to sign up, but parents must pay a $10 fee to access the contact information of a potential sky-nanny. After that, the two parties must agree on a rate; the company suggests charging between $10 and $20 an hour. The sitter and the parents are also responsible for calling the airline and requesting adjacent seats if they so choose, as well as arranging a meeting place and establishing the extent of the care. Assistance could last for the full ticket counter-to-baggage claim stretch or just for the duration of the flight.
The company does not conduct background checks, but potential sitters must submit two verifiable references for interested parents to read. Then it’s up to the parents to conduct interviews and any additional research. Currently, sitters and parents can only search by flight number, which could be a major shortcoming. Thousands of flights crisscross the skies each day, so it seems it would take a decent dose of serendipity to pair eligible sitters with interested parents on the same flight. The company has said plans to search by city pairings are in the works. If search options are indeed broadened, the venture just might take off. | 1,651 | 861 | 3,100.658537 |
warc | 201704 | Go natural vs floods: Green lawyer bats for rainwater pits in barangays
Addressing the flood problem in Metro Manila could be as simple as digging holes in the earth.
Environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. on Wednesday led a congressional committee in building a natural rain catchment system in Taguig City, promoting it as a cheaper, more sustainable alternative to massive flood-control projects that require millions of pesos and tons of concrete.
In a demonstration held at the Department of Science and Technology compound in Bicutan, Oposa called on local governments to dig pits and canals in strategic locations in flood-prone areas, surround these with vegetation and give rainwater “somewhere to pass and somewhere to go.”
The pits may be of any size and residents could have them in any vacant spot. Village watchmen and even housewives could be tapped for their maintenance.
“Nature already provided solutions when it created ponds and creeks—and yet we had them paved over. We need to humble ourselves and return to natural systems,” he said.
Eventually, he said, “cement is destroyed by water. Use soil or boulders (for walls) so the water seeps down.”
The plants around the pits, on the other hand, are meant to make the soil more stable and eventually “turn flood into food.”
Together with Sen. Pia Cayetano and her sister-in law, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, Oposa led the planting of spinach and banana stalks around the newly formed pond, where tilapia fingerlings were later released.
The activity sought to illustrate the viability of an all-natural rainwater catchment before members of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Clean Water Act chaired by Senator Cayetano.
Oposa said Republic Act No. 6716 which was passed 1989 calls for the construction of rainwater collectors in all barangays in the country.
“All 100,000 barangays should have this by now. But do you see any today? The law really is just a suggestion in the Philippines,” he noted with dismay.
But according to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Francis Tolentino, only 18 percent of Metro Manila’s total land area of 636 square kilometers remains open and could accommodate such projects.
Addressing the committee, Tolentino said existing floodwater structures may be “retrofitted” instead to achieve the effects similar to that of natural catchment systems.
The MMDA chair presented his agency’s proposed Metropolitan Open Space Rainwater Collection System (MOSS), under which 500- to 1,000-sqm “pocket gardens” will be developed in strategic locations on government land.
The gardens, he said, will double as underground environmental sinks or temporary storage tanks for rainwater.
Tolentino cited as a model Burgos Circle at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, which has an underground tank that can hold 22 cubic meters of water.
He said the MMDA was looking at eight locations for the Moss project, with Plaza Dilao in Paco, Manila, being the pilot site.
Mayor Cayetano, meanwhile, said she would heed Oposa’s suggestion to deepen the creek on C6 Road in Taguig near the Laguna de Bay shoreline.
The 9-kilometer-long creek would soon be five to six meters deeper, “but it won’t be an ordinary catchment area but also a tourist destination for boating or water sports,” she said.
As to Oposa’s campaign, Cayetano asked the MMDA and the Department of Public Works and Highways “to study the inclusion of this kind of project [in budget allocations]. Then they can make use of the savings for such projects that need more structural support.”
Committee cochair and Laguna Rep. Danilo Ramon Fernandez agreed: “We ask the National Economic and Development Authority to propose to the DPWH what we have seen: A back-to-nature approach.”
Fernandez suggested that LGUs stop issuing development permits until they have ensured that their localities have water impounding systems.
Barangays can even hold competitions for the best rain catchment systems and private landowners can be offered tax incentives for having these pits on their property, the congressman said. | 4,245 | 2,114 | 8,212.890255 |
warc | 201704 | NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Senate committee recommends against same-sex marriage by Peter Westmore News Weekly
, December 12, 2009
A bill which would permit same-sex marriage should not be carried, a Senate committee has recommended.
The bill was introduced in the Senate last June by South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, and referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for consideration.
With 86 per cent of Australians saying children should be raised by their biological parents, the Australian Family Association welcomed the Senate committee's recommendation.
AFA spokesman John Morrissey said that the push for same-sex marriage is aimed at widening gay access to children, but nobody has the right to a child any more than a man has a right to a woman.
"A new Galaxy poll shows Australians believe that marriage and children go together and that Australians don't want another stolen generation of children growing up without one or both of their biological parents," Mr Morrissey said.
The Galaxy poll, conducted in November for the Australian Family Association, asked 1,053 Australians: "Ideally, wherever possible, should children be raised by their biological mother and their biological father?" 86 per cent of respondents said yes, including 81 per cent of 18-24 year-olds.
Mr Morrissey commented: "This should be a wake-up call for the Federal Parliament, particularly Kevin Rudd's Labor Party, as the strongest support for children's rights (90 per cent) came from lower-income families, which form Labor's heartland.
"Yet, at its 2009 national conference, the Labor Party changed its policy on marriage. Labor no longer defines marriage as between a man and a woman only. This leaves the way open for legalising same-sex marriage and even polygamy.
"At the moment, policy-makers are focussed on the politically-correct message that all relationships are equal, regardless of whether a couple are married or in a de-facto or same-sex relationship.
"What this poll shows is that, when it comes to children's rights, all relationships are
not
equal. The overwhelming majority of Australians think that children should be raised by their own mum and dad. Marriage between a man and a woman is the best way to ensure children have the security of knowing and being raised by their biological parents."
Recently, Prime Minister Rudd and then Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull apologised to the many children - the generation of so-called forgotten Australians - who were denied knowledge of their parents and families after World War II. Mr Rudd has now pledged to help them find their biological parents.
"Yet we now have the push for same-sex marriage, which will contribute to yet another ‘stolen generation' of children who will be denied the right to be raised by both their biological mother and father," says Mr Morrissey. "Are our politicians so blind?"
While a clear majority of Australians reject same-sex marriage, a majority of the ALP-dominated Senate committee did support recommendations which will keep the door open to the campaign for same-sex marriage.
The committee recommended that the Government review relationship recognition arrangements with the aim of developing a nationally consistent framework to provide official recognition for same-sex couples and equal rights under federal and state laws.
It also recommended that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issue Certificates of Non-Impediment to couples of the same sex on the same basis as they are issued for couples of different sexes.
As Senator Guy Barnett (Liberal, Tasmania), the deputy chairman of the Senate committee, pointed out, both recommendations would undercut the existing Marriage Act.
Senator Barnett said these recommendations "give succour to those groups within the community that seek to erode and re-define the institution of marriage". He also said that the committee's argument, purportedly in favour of the existing Marriage Act, was inadequate.
He said the majority recommendation against legalising same-sex marriage "is supported in the conclusion's chapter by a single sentence which reads that ‘the committee considers that the current definition is a clear and well-recognised legal term which should be preserved'."
The future
Senator Barnett added: "In relying on this argument as the sole reason for not supporting the bill, the majority have ignored the bulk of the strong arguments put by the very large number of submitters and witnesses at the public hearing. In putting up such a half-hearted argument, the majority are essentially setting it up to be dismissed, thus leaving the way open to same-sex marriage in the future.
"In so doing, the majority have chosen to ignore the very persuasive evidence presented that the only credible reason for the state to formally recognise what is essentially a private relationship between two individuals by privileging marriage is because marriage between a man and a woman has particular benefits to society that warrant recognition and protection. ...
"The majority have also apparently chosen to ignore the evidence put to the committee that the best outcomes for children are where there is a positive male and female role-model guiding their development towards adulthood.
"As was put to the committee in literally thousands of submissions, children need a Mum and a Dad. Every child should have a reasonable expectation, all things being equal, of a mother and a father." | 5,553 | 2,486 | 12,269.762269 |
warc | 201704 | Welcome About Life National Geographic and Life Teacher Resources Customizing Life to your course hours Student's Book and Workbook Audio CEFR correlations Audioscripts (Word) Reading Texts (Word) Videoscripts (Word) Business Writing Worksheets Communicative Worksheets Extra Practice Activities Life Grammar Practice Worksheets Multilingual and monolingual word lists Ready-made Lessons Split editions teacher's book references Student's Book Answer Keys Web research for Life Video Test Centre Student Zone Grammar Practice Worksheets Interactive Reading Practice Monolingual and Multilingual Word Lists Student's book and Workbook audio A long and healthy life?
How long will a baby born today live? A hundred years? A hundred and twenty years?
Scientists are studying genes that could mean long life for us all. There are already many, many people who live to more than a hundred. In fact, there are now so many healthy elderly people that there's a name for them: the wellderly. These are people over the age of eighty who have no major illnesses, such as high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes.
There are many scientific studies of communities where a healthy old age is typical. These include places like Calabria in southern Italy and the island of Okinawa in Japan. In Calabria, the small village of Molochio has a population of about 2,000. And of these 2,000 people, there are at least eight people over a hundred years old. Researchers ask people like this the secret of their long life. The answer is almost always about food and is almost always the same: 'I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables'; 'I eat a little bit of everything'; 'I never smoke, I don't drink'.
So, in the past, scientists looked at things such as diet and lifestyle for an explanation of long life. But these days they are also looking at genetic factors. Researcher Eric Topol says that there are probably genes that protect people from the effects of the ageing process. The new research into long life investigates groups of people who have a genetic connection. One interesting group lives in Ecuador. In one area of the country there are a number of people with the same genetic condition. It's called Laron syndrome. These people don't grow very tall – just over one metre. But Laron syndrome also gives them protection against cancer and diabetes. As a result, they live longer than other people in their families. On the other side of the world, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, there's another group of long-lived men. They are Japanese-Americans but they have a similar gene to the Laron syndrome group.
In Calabria, researchers constructed the family trees of the 100-year-old people. They looked at family information from the 19th century to today. They think that there are genetic factors that give health benefits to the men. This is interesting because generally, in Europe, women live longer than men.
So what really makes people live longer? Probably, it's a combination of genes, the environment and one more thing – luck.
Keywords: diabetes(n) a medical condition which affects the amount of sugar in a person's blood diet(n) the food an animal or person usually eats disease(n) a serious problem that affects someone's body and health elderly(adj) quite old, or very old factor(n) a cause of something or an influence on a result healthy(adj) strong and not ill high blood pressure(n) an illness that affects the way your blood moves around your body illness(n) a problem with your health lifestyle(n) the way that a person lives and the activities they do research(n) the careful study of something in order to learn facts about it Reading comprehension:
Read the article and choose the correct option.
1 What do scientists investigate to try to understand long life?
people's lifestyles and where they live
genetic factors and environmental factors
people’s diet and what kind of activities they do
2 What do diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure have in common?
They are common illnesses in old age.
Scientists can learn a lot about age when they study these illnesses.
People in Ecuador don’t suffer from these illnesses.
3 What do some people from Ecuador and Okinawa have in common?
They have diabetes.
They have a genetic syndrome.
They live long, healthy lives.
Read the article again and choose the correct option.
4 According to the article ...
scientists are investigating people who are 120 years old.
scientific advances mean we will all live to at least 100 years.
scientists have found genes that might influence how long we live.
5 The 'wellderly' are ...
over 100 years old.
over 80 years old.
elderly people with health problems.
6 According to the article ...
some places have an unusual number of very old people.
Italy and Japan are very healthy places to live.
people who live in small villages live longer.
7 The typical reason people give for their long life is:
diet.
a secret.
there are many different reasons.
8 Laron syndrome ...
is a problem for people with diabetes.
is only found in Ecuador and Hawaii.
is the result of a genetic condition.
9 Laron syndrome shows scientists that ...
some people don't grow tall.
there is a genetic reason for old age.
some conditions only affect men.
10 Scientists think that ... a healthy old age.
different factors lead to
more European men than women live to
in the past, more people lived to | 5,454 | 2,375 | 12,361.634526 |
warc | 201704 | Mercury is a naturally occuring metal, that is can be present in water, air, or soil. It is a shimmery, silver liquid at room temperature in its pure form, but is also found bound in many rocks. Coal Burning power plants are the largest releaser of Mercury, as the mercury in coal is vaporized and released into air when it is burned. This airborne mercury settles in water, and forms methylmercury, which is the harmful compound we read about accumulating in our food. High levels of exposure to mercury can cause severe brain, lung, immune system, and other damage, particularly to young children and pregnant women. While most people are not at risk to consume high levels of mercury, it is important to understand potential risks, and focus on low mercury seafood choices.
(photo courtesy Ohio EPA)
Search This Site: | 824 | 495 | 1,365.010101 |
warc | 201704 | United States District Court, W.D. New York
CHRISTOPHER M. BECKER, Plaintiff,
v. CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, [1] Defendant.
REGINA A. WALKER, ESQ., Jeffrey Freedman Attorneys, Buffalo, New York, Attorneys for Plaintiff.
WILLIAM J. HOCHUL, JR., United States Attorney, Western District of New York, (RICHARD D. KAUFMAN, AUSA, of Counsel), Buffalo, New York, Attorneys for Defendant.
JOHN T. CURTIN, District Judge.
This matter was transferred to the undersigned for all further proceedings, by order of Chief United States District Judge William M. Skretny dated November 14, 2013 (Item 17).
Plaintiff Christopher Becker initiated this action pursuant to Section 405(g) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), to review the final determination of the Commissioner of Social Security (the "Commissioner") denying plaintiff's application for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits ("DIB"). The Commissioner has filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Item 18). For the following reasons, the Commissioner's motion is granted.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff was born on October 13, 1975 (Tr. 78).
[2] He applied for DIB on April 21, 2008, alleging disability as of February 4, 2008 due to bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"), depression, and anxiety (Tr. 144). Plaintiff's application was denied on July 1, 2008 (Tr. 79-82). Plaintiff requested a hearing, which was held on June 9, 2010 before Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") Bruce Mazzarella (Tr. 33-77). Plaintiff testified at the hearing and was represented by counsel.
By decision dated June 24, 2010, the ALJ found that plaintiff was not under a disability within the meaning of the Social Security Act (Tr. 21-30). The ALJ's decision became the Commissioner's final determination when the Appeals Council denied plaintiff's request for review (Tr. 1-3).
Plaintiff then filed this action on August 27, 2012, pursuant to the judicial review provision of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). On December 2, 2013, the Commissioner filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings on the ground that the ALJ's determination must be upheld because it is supported by substantial evidence in the record (
see Item 18). Plaintiff declined to file either a cross motion or a response to the Commissioner's motion.
DISCUSSION
I. Scope of Judicial Review
The Social Security Act states that upon district court review of the Commissioner's decision, "the findings of the Commissioner... as to any fact, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive...." 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Substantial evidence is defined as evidence which "a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion."
Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229 (1938), quoted in Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401 (1971); see also Tejada v. Apfel, 167 F.3d 770, 773-72 (2d Cir. 1999). Under these standards, the scope of judicial review of the Commissioner's decision is limited, and the reviewing court may not try a case de novo or substitute its findings for those of the Commissioner. Richardson, 402 U.S. at 401. The court's inquiry is "whether the record, read as a whole, yields such evidence as would allow a reasonable mind to accept the conclusions reached" by the Commissioner. Sample v. Schweiker, 694 F.2d 639, 642 (9th Cir. 1982), quoted in Winkelsas v. Apfel, 2000 WL 575513, at *2 (W.D.N.Y. February 14, 2000).
However, "[b]efore the insulation of the substantial evidence test comes into play, it must first be determined that the facts of a particular case have been evaluated in light of correct legal standards."
Klofta v. Mathews, 418 F.Supp. 1139, 1141 (E.D. Wis. 1976), quoted in Gartmann v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 633 F.Supp. 671, 680 (E.D.N.Y. 1986). The Commissioner's determination cannot be upheld when it is based ... | 3,965 | 1,982 | 7,827.974268 |
warc | 201704 | I’ve often made the observation — which sounds like a joke, but really isn’t at all — that maternity and paternity leave for newborns is great and all, but what parents really need is a maternity and paternity leave for the adolescent years. The stakes, after all, are tangibly high during this stage, and the need for supervision abundantly clear (as Laurence Steinberg, one of the country’s foremost experts on puberty, puts it: “You’re not going to find an 8-year-old doing drugs”). And this week, along comes a study that helped confirm my suspicions.
The new study in the
Journal of Marriage and Family addresses an especially fraught question about parenting: Does the amount of time mothers spend with their children affect their behavior, academic performance, or emotional well-being? The study authors reached an equally fraught conclusion: no. The research, by a trio of sociologists, will surely not be the last word on the subject, nor was it entirely comprehensive; though it looked at kids at the ages of 3 to 11 and 12 to 18, it didn’t consider children between the ages of 0 and 3, a stage when maternal involvement might arguably be of far greater value than later on. But the paper did take the time to make some very nuanced distinctions. It distinguished between “engaged time” (when mothers are directly interacting with their kids) and “accessible time” (which is exactly what it sounds like: Mom’s around and available, but doing something else). It looked at fathers’ time, too, as well as time parents spent jointly with their kids. And what it found, surprisingly, is that there was zero correlation between how much time mothers spent with their kids — whether it was immersive or merely “accessible” — and emotional health or academic performance or even (in most cases) behaviors. The same was true for dads. There was just one key exception involving one key variable at one key time in a child’s life: adolescence. Specifically: The researchers found that the more engaged time mothers spent with their teenagers, the less likely those teenagers were to engage in delinquent acts — defined as anything from lying about something important to getting arrested. The effect was statistically small, but definitely there.
In fact, adolescents emerged as by far the most vulnerable group in this study — or at least the most amenable to parental interference. Though the researchers found no correlation between how much time fathers spent with their children and a wide variety of outcomes, they found that engaged time with both parents made a positive difference during adolescence, including “fewer behavioral problems, better performance in math, less substance use, and less delinquent behavior.”
For working parents, women especially, the trials of adolescence pose an especially cruel and ill-timed conundrum: At just the moment we’re hitting our professional stride, our own kids’ gaits have gone wobbly. (I keep thinking of Anne-Marie Slaughter’s extraordinary 2012 essay “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” in which she mentions — in paragraph one — that while she was mingling with foreign dignitaries, her mind kept turning to her 14-year-old son, who’d been disrupting classes and tuning out “any adult who tried to reach him.” Would she have written this essay at all if her son had been, say, 7 or 8?) Vicki Shabo, vice-president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, points out that the problem is even worse for low-income women, who have less scheduling flexibility than white-collar professionals — “and their children are most likely to need the most attention.”
Until a couple of decades ago, developmental psychology didn’t pay nearly as much attention to adolescence as it did to newborns. There was an unspoken mantra in the field:
The sacred years are from 0 to 3. As researchers learn more and more about the neurocircuitry of adolescent brains, however, it becomes more and more apparent that this period has been underappreciated, even though writers and filmmakers have long understood its destabilizing power ( Romeo and Juliet, The Catcher in the Rye, any flick by Richard Linklater, etc., etc., etc.). Here’s what we now know: During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex, which is basically in charge of the brain’s executive function, isn’t yet finished developing, which means teenagers aren’t exactly stellar at decision-making and impulse control. They’re more prone to addiction at this time than any other, because their brains are awash in dopamine and furiously making new synaptic connections; they also tend to overestimate the rewards they’ll get from taking risks. Steinberg often likens adolescents to cars with powerful accelerators and weak brakes. Any owner of such a vehicle is probably going to want to monitor it.
Yet there’s really no mechanism American parents can make use of if they wish to better tend to their adolescent children. The United States, as any self-respecting liberal policy nerd can tell you, doesn’t even have its own paid maternity leave policy, a distinction it shares with just Papua New Guinea and Suriname. Yes, parents can take the Family Medical Leave Act to care for their adolescents, but only if they have a “serious” health condition requiring the ongoing care of a doctor. Shabo notes that Democratic members of both the House and Senate have proposed bills that would allow parents to use sick leave for parent-teacher conferences; they’ve also proposed bills that would give employees the right to request and receive certain scheduling adjustments. But neither of these initiatives has bipartisan support.
“I wonder what the work-family world would look like if employers either voluntarily or were mandated to allow working people a number of afternoons off per year to spend with their older children,” asks Steinberg, when I ask what policy he’d love to see, in a blue-sky, if-I-were-king sort of way. He recently wrote
Age of Opportunity, a primer for parents during this stage. “It’s unfathomable. Can you imagine? But if spending time with adolescents helps deter bad behavior, it’s going to save money in the long run,” he says.
And it’s not a bad idea: Most adolescents, Steinberg says, don’t misbehave in the backseats of cars on weekend evenings. They break the rules between 3 and 6 p.m. on school days, usually in their own homes or a friend’s, when no one else is around.
Those are the peak hours for drug experimentation, smoking, sex. (Adolescent arrests also peak around this time, by the way — aggravated assaults in particular spike at 3 p.m.).
But it’s hard to imagine a universe with such a sane, humane policy. Which is a shame — not just because adolescents would benefit from the extra time with their families, but because they’d probably secretly enjoy it. It’s an article of faith in our culture that teenagers despise adult company. But Steinberg and his colleagues have not in fact found this to be the case. That’s the irony. “Kids
like being with their parents at this age,” he says. “A lot of surveys say they wish their parents would talk to them more.” | 7,476 | 3,552 | 14,966.733108 |
warc | 201704 | Avocado oil as well as olive oil has been used both as an ingredient of different beauty products and as a self-sufficient product used for cooking or skin care for thousands of years. Although both products are quite similar due to their chemical structure, there are certain differences that make these two products quite incomparable. Knowing the distinctive features of each of the oils will help you to choose the right product for you needs and define who the winner is in avocado oil vs. olive oil struggle.
Firstly, let us take a look at each product itself, in order to see their main characteristics and benefits.
Contents
Olive Oil Nutritional Benefits
The olive oil is really rich in nutritional values. The oil is widely known as a protector against heart diseases. How does it protect our heart? The answer is the so-called “good” cholesterol, which the oil is really rich with. The presence of notable amounts of the good cholesterol keeps bad cholesterol away. Speaking about the nutritional qualities, one should notice also that the oil contains a lot of monounsaturated fatty acids that can be very important in avoiding the ulcer symptoms and are digested very actively.
Smoke Point
As regards cooking, olive oil a little bit loses its flavor when heated to its smoke point (375° F). It also should be noticed, that while heating the oil to such a temperature, the structure of the fatty acid chains is also changed, which potentially can lead to some unwanted and even dangerous effects.
Cooking Tips
Due to the potential unhealthy qualities of the oil when heated, it is preferred to use it for salads, or for adding to some other hot meals, which are colder than the smoking point temperature. Such a usage will surely open all the positive sides of the oil, avoiding the potentially unwanted.
Avocado Oil Nutritional Benefits
According to American Oil Chemists’ Society web site, avocado oil contains a lot of antioxidant Vitamin E, which makes it an absolutely winner in this category comparing the avocado oil vs olive oil.
Smoke Point
According to Wikipedia, the smoke point of refined avocado oil is 520°F, virgin one – 375-400°F.
Cooking Tips
Taking into consideration the fact that avocado oil has a higher smoke point (520° F – refined) vs olive oil, it is supposed to be better for cooking. As most vegetable oils, the avocado oil is vulnerable to the sun light, so it is better to keep the oil in a dark and cool place.
SEE ALSO: Olive Oil Uses: Health and Personal Care
The Similarities of Avocado and Olive Oils rich in monounsaturated fats, Vitamin E and Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids help fighting cholesterol and high blood pressure help to prevent many diseases contain a lot of antioxidants may be cold pressed or refined Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil avocado oil is better for lotions and general skin care, as it penetrates deeper into the skin and transports the proteins better than the olive oil olive oil is less vulnerable to sunlight olive oil while reaching its smoke point maybe very harmful avocado oil contains up to 76% of fatty acids, while the olive oil approximately 65% avocado oil has more antioxidants and vitamin E. | 3,235 | 1,513 | 6,782.167878 |
warc | 201704 | Physical Education, Athletics, and Recreation
At Sweet Briar College, athletics and physical education, and recreation are an important part of the education of the total student. (See Course Descriptions) Department faculty and staff are committed to enhancing the physical, mental and emotional well-being of all students as an integral part of their educational experience. The instructional program offers a wide range of activities allowing each student to develop skills and knowledge that will contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The intercollegiate athletics program provides opportunities for competitive excellence for students with advanced skills.
Through high-quality coaching, appropriate facilities and adequate funding, student-athletes are afforded the opportunity to succeed both as individuals and as team members. In accordance with NCAA Division III philosophy, athletics complements the educational experience and priority is placed on encouraging academic success. Adherence to NCAA rules and regulations regarding amateurism, ethical conduct, and sportsmanship is emphasized. The College is also committed to providing and maintaining facilities that support the recreational and fitness needs of members of the Sweet Briar community. The Department of Physical Education and Athletics offers a wide variety of activities for students at all levels of ability. In addition to fielding eight varsity and three club intercollegiate sport teams, the department offers instructional courses in fitness, team and individual sports, and a variety of recreational activities. Intercollegiate Sports The College sponsors intercollegiate varsity teams in cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, and tennis, as well as the club sports of fencing, tennis, and volleyball. The College supports qualified individuals and teams in state, regional, and national competition. The College is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, the Middle Atlantic Tennis Association, Virginia Intercollegiate Soccer Association, Virginia Tennis Association, the United States Tennis Association, the Virginia Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches, the Virginia and United States Women’s Lacrosse Associations, the Southeast, National Field Hockey Coaches and United States Field Hockey Associations, the American Volleyball Coaches Association, Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association, the American Swimming Coaches Association, and the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Recreation The College sponsors numerous extracurricular, educational, and recreational events. Recreational events are scheduled in volleyball, basketball, biking, tennis, softball, running, swimming, aerobics, tai-chi, kickboxing, and other sports activities. Riding Program See program description and course listing under Riding Program. Sweet Briar Outdoor Program The Sweet Briar Outdoor Program (SWEBOP) is coordinated through the Office of Co-Curricular Life and the Department of Physical Education, Athletics, and Recreation. A wide variety of outdoor activities are offered including: hiking, rock climbing, whitewater canoeing, rafting, kayaking, skiing, hang-gliding, biking, caving. These programs are offered to students of all skill levels. Physical Examination All students are required to have had a recent physical examination, with a copy of the report on file at the Health Center. Graduate Study in Physical Education Students who intend to complete the requirements for the liberal arts degree at Sweet Briar and then pursue graduate work in physical education should contact the department in the first year for guidance in planning their programs. Activity Courses Up to five credits in physical education activity courses and/or riding program activity courses may be applied toward the degree. Instruction is provided from the beginning level through the varsity level to accommodate students of varying abilities and experience. These courses are offered to fulfill the General Education Physical Activity Requirement (IV.3) and for students who elect to continue a physical education activity. If there are extenuating circumstances limiting a student’s ability to take classes which would normally count toward fulfilling the requirement, a modified program should be set up in consultation with the department chair and the College physician. Credit is given at the rate of 0.5 hours per quarter or 1 hour per semester. Courses are offered on a rotating basis and descriptions of current courses are available from the Physical Education Athletics and Recreation Department. Activity courses are offered on a P/CR/NC grading option only. Fitness Activity Courses PHED 113 Walking for Fitness PHED 117 Weight Training I PHED 127 Spinning PHED 128 Personal Fitness PHED 137 Recreational Activities for Fitness PHED 217 Weight Training II PHED 220 Advanced Personal Fitness Aquatics PHED 101 Beginning Swimming PHED 104 Swim for Fitness PHED 105 Aquatic Fitness Activities PHED 205 A.R.C. Lifeguard Training Outdoor Education PHED 125 Hiking in the Blue Ridge PHED 126 Introduction to Caving General Activities PHED 118 Rape Aggression Defense PHED 140 Wellness through Movement Individual Sports PHED 124 Introduction to Cross Country Running PHED 133 Introduction to Racquet Sports PHED 135 Beginning Badminton PHED 138 Fencing PHED 139 Golf Skills PHED 146 Beginning Tennis PHED 346 Intermediate Tennis Team Sports PHED 132 Softball Skills PHED 141 Field Hockey Skills PHED 142 Lacrosse Skills PHED 143 Flag Football PHED 150 Soccer Skills PHED 322 Club Running PHED 338 Club Fencing PHED 348 Club Volleyball PHED 401 Varsity Swimming Team PHED 407 Varsity Cross Country Team PHED 412 Varsity Golf Team PHED 432 Varsity Softball Team PHED 441 Varsity Hockey Team PHED 442 Varsity Lacrosse Team PHED 446 Varsity Tennis Team PHED 450 Varsity Soccer Team Elective Courses These courses are graded and count toward the hours required for graduation, but they do not satisfy the General Education Physical Activity requirement. PHED 110 (1)–Strategies for Wellness: Stress Management for Women PHED 116 (2)–Introduction to Sport Psychology PHED 120 (3)–Theories of Athletic Training PHED 161 (1, 2, or 3)–Special Study PHED 163 (3)–Nutritional Challenges of the 21st Century PHED 164 (1)–Holistic Nutrition and Exercise PHED 179 (3)–Introduction to Women’s Sport and Culture PHED 221 (.5)–Advanced Personal Fitness Theory PHED 361 (1, 2, or 3)–Special Study PHED 377 (1, 2, or 3)–Internship PHED 461 (1, 2, or 3)–Independent Study | 6,710 | 2,701 | 16,473.161792 |
warc | 201704 | My heart goes out to those miners trapped deep in the bowels of Earth underneath what, a half-mile straight up, is Chile.
They seem to be holding up better than I would; I get antsy working in a cubicle where the closest thing I have to a view of the outside world is a row of window blinds in the next office.
(Just writing these words, I begin to feel the walls closing in on me. Fortunately, it's a huge office and the walls are creeping ever so slowly.)
I'm sure those miners will endure and be rescued in good time. I just hope none of them is a big science-fiction fan.
You see, when I was growing up, just about every TV show or movie about space featured one crew member who, after long months of isolation in deep space, would go - well, I believe the scientific term is "nuts."
Think back to the original "Twilight Zone" series. Many episodes were about the first men into space, to the moon, to Mars, to another galaxy. Being the first, they were hand-picked. (I don't know how "hand-picked" says anything "picked" doesn't say, but there, I've said it.)
No doubt those astronauts received training of every sort, just as the American astronauts do at NASA. (By the way, NASA was consulted by the folks in Chile for their expertise in helping get the miners through their ordeal.)
Still, despite passing mental and physical testing, one astronaut on "The Twilight Zone" always went nuclear and endangered the mission.
That's what made the drama; otherwise, the astronauts would have made it home safely, submitted their travel vouchers, been honored in a ticker-tape parade and gone home to grill a steak.
The movies I grew up with were like that, too. In any crew of three, you could count on sane, sane, loony. The epitome of such a storyline was, of course, "2001: A Space Odyssey," in which all the astronauts were perfectly fine but the computer went awry and wiped out most of the humans.
That film was made in 1968. Today, of course, we are all accustomed to living with unbalanced computers that crash, eat data, get infected with viruses and, in general, make us wish we could trade them for a monotone-talking, red-light-glowing, headed-for-the-fruitcake-farm HAL 9000 - even if it does threaten to cut off our air supply.
As I said, thank goodness the miners are living in (literally) our planet and not in a spaceship. Earth has had a pretty good record with the mental health of its men and women in orbit. Of the 12 men who walked on the moon, none developed a sudden evil stare and claimed the lunar surface for the king of Spain or tried to eat the dust in the belief it was green cheese.
For that reason, and as strange as it might sound, many people grew bored with our space program. Only the intermittent disasters kept the American people from tuning it out entirely. Now that the space shuttle program is winding down, I wonder whether people will no longer care what's out there.
That's why our country should send people to Mars. Think of the drama, the renewed excitement. Even if it meant risking an astronaut getting cabin fever on the months-long journey and seeing little green men, we'd all be crazy not to stay in space.
• Glynn Moore is a news editor and columnist for The Augusta Chronicle. Send e-mail to glynn.moore@augustachronicle.com.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us | 3,363 | 1,813 | 6,165.809156 |
warc | 201704 | Oregon Senate Republicans
IP28’s Regressive Tax Would Have Devastating Effect on Oregon’s Economy Salem, Ore. – Yesterday, the Oregon Senate Interim Committee on Finance and Revenue heard a report on the potential effects of Initiative Petition 28, a ballot measure to implement a 2.5 percent gross receipts tax on sales of consumer items in Oregon.
The nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Office estimates that it will be a highly regressive $6.1 billion tax increase that will cost middle class families $500 to $868 per year and eliminate 20,400 jobs. This is the first in-depth report lawmakers have received on the likely outcome of the passage of IP 28 in November.
Supporters of the measure submitted what is expected to be a sufficient number of qualifying signatures last week.
“The special interest groups driving IP 28 claim to care about education funding,” said Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day), “but this tax on sales could have a devastating effect on Oregon’s economy, resulting in 20,400 jobs lost and a steep increase in consumer prices that will cost middle class families as much as $868 per year. By taxing Oregon sales at every step, from the manufacturer to the wholesaler to the retailer, Oregon families could see prices on necessities like medicine, groceries and electricity rise by as much as 7.5 percent. Low-income and rural families and seniors living on fixed incomes will be hurt the most. This is not the solution to funding education in Oregon.”
Our Oregon, the special interest group sponsoring the initiative, claims the estimated $6.1 billion in biannual revenue will fund K-12 education in Oregon, though the legislature will not be legally bound to allocate new revenue to education. Currently, Democrats in Salem are only allocating 10% of the total budget to education.
A January 2013 Oregonian article described Our Oregon as “a Portland-based nonprofit formed in 2005 and overseen for several years by the [public employee unions] SEIU and the OEA” | 2,064 | 1,077 | 3,844.367688 |
warc | 201704 | ADP stands for adenosine diphosphate, and it's not only one of the most important molecules in the body, it's also one of the most numerous. ADP is an ingredient for DNA, it's essential for muscle contraction and it even helps initiate healing when a blood vessel is breached. Even with all those roles, however, there's one even more important: storing and releasing the energy within an organism.
Structure
ADP is built with a few component molecules. It starts with adenine, which is one of the purine bases that contain information within DNA. When the adenine is joined with a sugar molecule, it becomes a nucleoside called adenosine. Then adenosine can accept a phosphate group, or two, or three. A phosphate group is built from one atom of phosphorus attached to three oxygen atoms. An adenosine with one phosphate group attached is called adenosine monophosphate, or AMP -- and it is also now called a nucleotide. Add another phosphate group and you get adenosine diphosphate, or ADP. Throw on one more phosphate group and you get adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. AMP, along with three other monophosphate nucleotides, are the components of DNA.
Energy in ADP and ATP
Without ADP and ATP, there would be almost no life on Earth. Plants and animals use ADP and ATP to store and release energy. ATP has more energy than ADP, which means it takes energy to make ATP from ADP, but it also means that energy is released when ATP is converted to ADP. Living organisms constantly cycle between ATP and ADP. Starting with ADP, plants put energy from sunlight into the formation of ATP, while animals take energy from glucose to build ATP from ADP. Living organisms cycle through their entire store of ATP and ADP about once a minute. If you couldn't recycle your ADP into ATP, you would need to eat your body weight in ATP every day just to stay alive.
Using Energy
Just about every cell in your body uses ATP to supply energy. The action in muscle cells provides an illustration of how ATP supplies energy to other molecules. Your muscles contract when one set of tiny molecules grip onto other molecules that are kind of like long cables in your muscle cells. The gripping molecules grab, pull, release and grab along. That takes energy. When the pulling motion is finished, a gripping molecule has no ATP or ADP. A molecule of ATP fits onto the gripping molecule and immediately loses one phosphate group. The conversion from ATP to ADP transfers energy to the gripping molecule, which moves back to its grabbing position. It grabs onto the cable molecule and then relaxes back into its pulling position, where it gives up the ADP and gets ready for another ATP and the start of another gripping cycle.
Other Uses for ADP
As you have seen, your body has a lot of ADP around, and it's a handy molecule for storing and releasing energy, so the body has put it to many other uses. For example, ADP and ATP provide energy for receiving and sending ions that carry signals between neurons. And when you get cut, the platelets that close up your blood vessels release ADP to attract and bind with other platelets, gathering them up to block the breach and stop the loss of blood. ADP has many other biological functions, from repairing cell damage to controlling which genes get "turned on" to make their proteins.
References University of Illinois, Chicago: Energy, ATP, and Enzymes Georgia State University: Adenosine Triphosphate Clinton Community College: Energy and Enzymes Saddleback College: Nucleic Acids University of New Mexico: Skeletal Muscle Contraction and ATP Demand Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology: Neurotransmission Union County College: Hemostasis Resources Photo Credits Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images | 3,752 | 1,717 | 8,170.488061 |
warc | 201704 | For many students, kindergarten is the first experience with formal schooling. It can be a difficult and exciting time for both parents and students, as they adjust to a new phase in their lives. Many parents wonder what they can do to help make this transition easier on their children and what types of skills are needed for students to be successful. For the most part, basic academic and social skills are enough to help a new kindergarten student get off on the right foot.
Academic Skills
Education.com reports that it is helpful for students to enter kindergarten with a foundation in a few basic academic skills. These skills include being able to recognize letters, numbers, basic shapes and colors and writing uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as their names. Although most students entering kindergarten are not able to read independently, it is important for parents to read aloud to their children, so they can start to recognize sight words and the sounds each letter makes.
Social Skills
The National Center for Education Statistics questioned kindergarten teachers about which social skills they felt were important for young students. Teachers listed communication and language skills, as well as knowing how to share, work cooperatively and take turns at the top of the list. Education website Scholastic states that a desire for independence is important, too. Teachers expect kindergarten children to be able to put belongings away, eat independently, use the restroom and wash their hands with minimal help.
School Skills
Certain social skills are especially important in a school setting, such as, being able to listen, pay attention, follow simple directions and walk quietly in a line. Some fine-motor skills are also helpful, such as being able to use school supplies like pencils, paste, colors, scissors and paint brushes. By the first week of class, most kindergarten students are beginning to write the alphabet, and students who have not mastered the skill of using pencils might fall behind.
What Parents Can Do
In a report on school readiness, the National Association of School Psychologists provided tips for parents to prepare their children for kindergarten. The report suggests that parents create and follow predictable routines for meals, nap times and bedtimes. They also can read aloud to their children and encourage independence and a sense of responsibility by assigning simple chores like putting toys away. Parents also should provide times for social interaction by setting up play dates or other opportunities for their children to socialize with others and teach and model appropriate manners.
References Education.com: 10 Kindergarten Readiness Skills Your Child Needs National Center for Education Statistics: Readiness For Kindergarten -- Parent and Teacher Beliefs Scholastic: Ready for Kindergarten? National Association of School Psychologists: School Readiness -- Preparing Children for Kindergarten and Beyond Photo Credits Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images | 3,031 | 1,381 | 6,628.254888 |
warc | 201704 | It is finally warming up here. I should be elated, but I find that warmth has turned the snow to mud. Except for right by the front door–our main entry way is always shaded, and continues to be a slippery death trap. The house feels cramped and boring after this cold winter. Even the dog seems lethargic.
I have been in need of color and something creative to do, so this morning I tried ice art. I saw something similar to this online a few weeks ago somewhere–I can’t for the life of me find the page again, but a quick search pulled up dozens of other moms and teachers who’ve done the same thing. And I found this cool video of salt melting ice in slow motion. Some recommend using liquid water colors which can enhance the melting, but I used just plain old food coloring.
This is an easy activity for ages 4 to 12, and there is much room for personal touches and creative exploration. You’ll need some rock salt (I tried other kinds too–rock salt is definitely best), food coloring, water, and water-holding containers. It will also come in handy to have a tray (rimmed baking sheet) to contain the melting ice water and the water or food coloring–throwing an old towel onto your work surface might also be a good idea. I also used paper towels to guide the colored drops, which was fun. You can do this indoors or out–I did it outside because I needed the sunlight, but this is hardly required.
What’s great about this little activity is the perfect overlap of creativity and art with questioning and ‘scientific’ discovery. With a little encouragement from you, all sorts of questions can be asked and explored, even while beautiful art is created. Why does ice melt? Does the salt make the ice melt faster? Why? Do we use salt to melt ice anywhere else in our lives? Does one kind of salt work better than another?
To begin, freeze water in several differently shaped vessels the day before… this would be a great extension to the frozen water balloons if you want. Tall cups, muffin tins, tupperwares of different sizes, and any number of other containers would work as well. I recommend taller containers so that the salt and food coloring can make their way down a long path. I used muffin tins, but wished I’d done it in a drinking glass.
Once the water is frozen, remove your block of ice from its container and drop some rock salt on the top. You can experiment with spreading them around, putting a few pieces all together, or whatever else suits your fancy. Now walk away for a half an hour (if you can)
The salt will slowly works its way into your block of ice, creating channels and cracks, and beautiful fissures. If you want, you can add a little more salt as the first bit dissolves. Or turn your ice block over and put some on the other side as well. You can use regular salt too–the effect is very different as you get lots of very small channels, but it is just as interesting.
When you can’t wait any longer, add drops of food coloring to the holes that the salt has created and watch it works its way into all of the nooks and crannies created by the salt. The process is beautiful and fluid. You can watch the colors work their way through the ice. Hold your creation up the the light for a beautiful sun-catcher. Mix two colors together. Use an eyedropper just because they’re fun.
And if your blocks get wet enough as the salt melts the ice you can refreeze them together by pressing the wet surfaces to each other and letting them sit for a little bit.
Need even more excitement? Get a chisel and small hammer and crack open your creations when you’re done (sunglasses or other eye protection would be a good idea here). Stick them on a snow man, or the snow fort in the backyard for decoration. Most of all, have fun! | 3,846 | 1,876 | 7,687.899787 |
warc | 201704 | Poinar G Jr, Poinar R: What bugged the dinosaurs? In Insects, Disease and Death in the Cretaceous 1:6 DOI: 10.1186/1756-3305-1-6
© Jacobson; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2008
Received: 13 March 2008 Accepted: 16 March 2008 Published: 16 March 2008 Review
Have you ever wondered whatever happened to the dinosaurs? George and Roberta Poinar have put forward some evidence that maybe it was not just cataclysmic events, such as meteorites falling on the earth. They surmise that perhaps insects transmitted diseases that contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. By studying the arthropods trapped in amber during the Cretaceous (65.5 – 145.5 million years ago) period, they have revealed some extraordinary micro-organisms concomitant with the ensnared invertebrates.
The period is well described in the opening chapters, showing that fossil evidence and especially amber tells us a great deal about the animal and plant kingdoms during those millions of years. Some chapters start with a speculative scene, painting a picture of life in the Cretaceous, the dinosaurs, the plants they feed from and the insects that breed around them, while others discuss in detail the known scientific facts. Herbivory, both by the dinosaurs and the insects is described in detail and the possibility that insects introduced plant viruses and fungi into the food supply, which may have led to the depletion in resources for the large animals. The dinosaurs did benefit from insects, like the dung beetles that removed the vast waste voided by 55–100 ton dinosaurs, and arthropods were part of the diet of the omnivores.
The authors describe how they believe that arthropods were able to acquire blood meals from the dinosaurs in antiquity. By studying the mouth parts of the insects trapped in amber, they have shown that regardless of the outer skin, whether cold or warm blooded, the micro-predators had found a way to obtain the necessary food for survival. Chapters 12 – 18 describe those blood-sucking arthropods that were extant during the Cretaceous, including, important Nematocera and Tabanids, fleas, lice, ticks and mites. For each group the method of haematophagy is discussed and which organisms could have been transmitted with a few examples of ancient parasites observed in amber. There are separate chapters on the worms, cretaceous diseases, and another on the evolution of pathogens, (erroneously Rickettsia are given as the cause of human plague). The numerous color plates illustrate the diversity of arthropods in the Cretaceous, while the original line drawings embellish the theory. This is an assiduously written book for entomologists and parasitologists who would like to lean more on the time-encapsulated data from the Cretaceous, and perhaps stimulate the search for more "paleoparasites".
Declarations Authors’ Affiliations Copyright
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | 3,226 | 1,631 | 6,309.589209 |
warc | 201704 | CALL FOR PAPERS
With the rise of the digital era and the technological maelstrom that spawned it, the nature of recorded communication has shifted drastically, putting industrial-strength copying and distribution tools in the hands of consumers. This shift highlights the changing relationships between consumers, producers, artists, and business. The Copyright and Intellectual Property area seeks to foster an interdisciplinary discussion about the tumultuous cultural battle raging over how we understand the production and distribution of knowledge. We seek to include presentations both scholarly
and practical.
Possible topics could include:
– The Oatmeal and Internet Copyfighting
– Recent copyright and IP legislation – Ideologies and philosophies of intellectual property – The decline of the public domain – Creative Commons and Fair Use in the public sphere – Digital Rights Management and the battle over control – Libraries and archives in the digital age – Apple’s “walled garden” philosophy vs. Android’s marketplace – Creativity and copyright in the digital age – Copyright in Popular Culture – WIPO and other international issues regarding intellectual property – Patent law, miracle drugs, and the morality of third-world patent enforcement
Please send all inquires to:
Brendan Riley Columbia College Chicago
briley@colum.edu | 1,433 | 767 | 2,509.151239 |
warc | 201704 | Text-only Preview http://www.eclipseeducation.com.au/courses_FWHP.asp
What Food Handler Certification Is
All About
It is imperative for people distributing and selling foodstuff
to receive training on food safety. A foodstuff handler will
be certified only when he or she has completed this safety
training. Food handler certification can be a great tool that
can land you a job in the foodstuff production industry.
Getting into the industry will allow you to implement the
knowledge and skills you posses. Remember, it is also possible
for you to open your foodstuff business.
At the end of this course, the student will be knowledgeable
on the preparation, storage and safe foodstuff disposal, which
is ideal in maintaining a clean environment. The acquisition
of this certification will be a green light for someone to
commence his career in hospitality industry. This course can
also be taken online. The online arrangement is a perfect
option for students that wish to study in their convenience or
students away from school.
The course can be taken in modules, which allows the student
to have his or her course done in smaller portions rather than
taking it all at once. By simply signing in, a student will be
able to resume for his online course. Upon the completion of
your course and settling all the fee arrears, a student will
have his certificated emailed to him.
The certification will give you unlimited opportunity to work
in numerous places where foodstuff is sold. Sandwich shops,
restaurants, cafes and conference venues are some of the
places where someone that has undergone this course will be
able to work. Hygiene is normally observed keenly in the
advanced procedures of handling foodstuff. This is to ensure
clients are not affected by illnesses related to poor hygiene.
It is worthwhile considering that your reputation will be
tarnished when your clients complain of how foodstuff is
handled in your business. This will make you to lose clients.
Students in this program are normally taught on diverse food
borne illnesses and how they spread. With these teachings,
students will be well equipped with knowledge on how to handle
different kinds of foodstuff.
Students are also taught on how to expose foodstuff in the
right temperatures and how they can alter temperatures without
spoiling it. There is a test that comes at the end of this
course. The test is to confirm whether you have mastered the
skills you have learned on techniques related to foodstuff
handling.
Food handler certification is normally a key requirement for
people in the hospitality industry in many states. It is
important enrolling into a food handling course if you have a
plan of opening a business with kitchen. The certificate will
allow you to work in virtually every area in hospitality
industry.
http://www.eclipseeducation.com.au/courses_FWHP.asp | 2,913 | 1,363 | 6,112.384446 |
warc | 201704 | Niche Internet Businesses as Debt Management Solutions Niche Internet Businesses as Debt Management Solutions Looking For Debt Management Solutions?
One of the all-time best debt management solutions is creating an additional income stream. Even during an economic recession, financial independence can be gained through small and home based business opportunities. Many such businesses are operated via the Internet, which helps to cut overhead costs and can position even the smallest business to compete on the global business landscape. Even in the midst of a recovering economy, many who pursue work at home business ideas are finding that the additional income streams they provide have kept them afloat during tough times.
The Wisest Entrepreneurs Use the Internet to Pursue Debt Management Solutions
Well known and savvy business persons, such as Donald Trump and Warren Buffett, have found Internet marketing to be a lucrative business model. Rich or poor, most people are interested in increasing their wealth and in finding debt management solutions. Trump has made his way into the Internet’s business arena through multiple avenues, including his own Trump University. At the same time, Mr. Buffett has also capitalized on the wealth opportunities available through the web by his acquisitions of several network marketing ventures that feature Internet business models. Although both moguls continue in their former business and investment ventures, it shouldn’t be ignored that they have created additional income streams that involve web-based businesses in order to supplement their wealth. While these men certainly have more capital to invest and more income streams than most other people do, the point is that business is being done each and every day on the Internet. Though many will not educate themselves on how to start one and will continue to search elsewhere for debt management solutions, multitudes of smart entrepreneurs are finding that creating additional income through an Internet business is the answer they’ve been looking for.
It’s All About the Niche
Among the greatest performing Internet business opportunities are those that offer people help with developing relationships. Internet dating sites and forums seem to be ever-popular. This is particularly true when they focus on a niche demographic, such as widows, handicapped people or those who are seeking relationships with others who share a particular interest, such as developing debt management solutions. Websites like these demonstrate that Internet business opportunities that are niche focused are able to more efficiently serve small segments of society, which are often overlooked. In a brick and mortar business, focusing on such narrow markets can appear to be impractical as most are forced to focus on serving a wider community in order to maximize their profits. However, in Internet business models the exact opposite is true as these businesses are able to reach out and focus on worldwide communities, which are much larger. At the same time that these businesses can afford to focus on smaller niches because of a broader playing field, many are also finding that there is minimal competition for certain niches, which makes many of these opportunities extremely lucrative.
Using Debt Management Solutions in Strong and Weak Economies
Even as the American economy continues to rebound, debt management solutions and creating additional income streams will always be necessary. As such, Internet businesses will continue to be an attractive option for many people. While niche Internet dating sites is but a single example of the types of businesses that thrive in any climate, assiduous research on other niche markets, as well as on how to start and manage an Internet business, can prove to be profitable in any economic climate. Even the smallest entrepreneur can find debt management solutions and the success they dream of via the pursuit of Internet business ideas.
Not Everyone Embraces the Debt Management Solutions Offered Through Internet Business Opportunities
Those looking for debt management solutions are strongly encouraged to ignore naysayers and thoroughly investigate Internet business opportunities. This is particularly true for those who have lost their jobs during the downturn in the economy, as well as those who understand the wealth that additional income streams can create. While many who do not trust or understand how the web works will believe that it is impossible to actually make money on the Internet, others who are actually doing so are proof enough that legitimate opportunities can lead to success. True debt management solutions await those who are most willing to educate themselves and take positive steps toward their destiny.
Tags:debt management, debt management solutions, donald trump, income stream, Internet business, internet businesses, niche, niche markets, opportunities, warren buffett, wealth | 4,995 | 2,072 | 11,964.375 |
warc | 201704 | Georg Cantor (1845–1918) was a German mathematician who is credited with launching modern set theory. Cantor’s work has been of high importance to logic, especially with respect to the twentiety-century project of reducing mathematics to logic. In addition, Cantor’s conception of multiple infinities had some influence of philosophy. Cantor even received criticism from religious groups who believed that Cantor challenged the unique infinite nature of their god.
Among Cantor’s most important achievements was the realization that there are degrees of infinity: that some infinite, or transfinite, sets are actually larger than others. Among these discoveries was that there are more real numbers (which include any numbers along a continuum) than there are natural numbers (whole, positive numbers), despite the fact that both groups contain infinitely-many numbers.
Cantor also illustrated that sets larger than the set of natural numbers are
uncountable. That is, there is no way in which one can completely count every element of an uncountable set one by one and cover every member, even if given an infinite amount of time. By another definitition, a set is countable if and only if it can be mapped onto the set of natural numbers, or some subset of it.
Cantor also described the cardinal numbers, which measure the sizes of sets. Sets share the same cardinality if there is a bijection between them, that is, if two sets have a one-to-one correspondence between their members. Thus, the sets { 1, 2, 3 } and { a, b, c } are different sets, but share the same cardinality, the cardinal number 3.
For sets of finite size, Cantor uses the natural numbers, beginning with 0, to indicate their cardinality. For cardinalities of infinite sets, Cantor used the Hebrew letter aleph, ℵ, with a subscript number to indicate cardinality. Thus, the cardinal numbers are:
0, 1, 2, …, ℵ
0, ℵ 1, ℵ 2 …
The smallest cardinal number for transfinite sets is ℵ
0, read alpeh-naught. ℵ 0 is the cardinality of the set of natural numbers.
Cantor struggeld with depression throughout his later life, a likely result of bi-polar disorder. He was hospitalized in sanitoria multiple times until his death in 1918.
Name: Georg Cantor
Born: March 3, 1845 Died: January 6, 1918 Degrees: Ph.D. (University of Berlin, 1867) Ph.D. (Honourary, University of St. Andrews, 1912) | 2,428 | 1,194 | 4,786.860972 |
warc | 201704 | There is not a lot you can say about this that will change people’s minds. I am writing about animal testing in the United Kingdom and people have very fixed views on animal testing. In this case using kittens and cats to gain knowledge through research about “developmental eye disorders” that results in a condition called ‘lazy eye” in humans. Cats are not infrequently used in animal testing for the benefit of people because their anatomy is similar to ours. In this case the eye structure and development of sight is similar, apparently.
Are the lives of 31 kittens and cats worth a bit of knowledge that might help in the treatment of lazy eye? Five kittens had their eyes sewed shut for either 2 or 7 days and in another experiment 11 kittens were raised in total darkness for between 1-12 weeks.
As is commonplace in animal experiments the animals were ‘sacrificed’ after the testing. That is a euphemism for killed. Funny how scientists have their own language to ease the guilt. In the veterinary business veterinarians talk of ‘declawing‘ when they mean removal of the last joint of the toe and cat shelters talk of ‘euthanasia“, another word that is often a substitute for plain killing. It is all about denial and burying the guilt so it does not get in the way of the business.
As you can see from the scales I believe the lives of cats are more valuable (heavier on the scale) than a bit of potential knowledge that might help us. I have indicated that it is not morally right to subject kittens and cats to abusive experiments even if they are anesthetized.
I don’t believe the process is in balance morally. In animal experiments there is a moral trade off between deliberately abusing cats set against potential benefits to humans. It is a sort of moral balancing act.
The trouble for me is that the balancing presupposes that all animals are inferior to the human animal. I don’t happen to believe that and I think that belief is becoming out of date. People are gradually understanding that animals are smarter, feel more and communicate amongst themselves better than we once imagined.
Let’s treat them with more respect. If we want to improve our health let’s do it without experimenting on animals or if we must experiment we should do it on the human animal. That seems fair to me.
Associated page: Animal Testing for Cosmetics. | 2,437 | 1,189 | 4,822.759462 |
warc | 201704 | A few weeks ago I was out with some new acquaintances and the topic of food and diet came up. It turned out that each of us was making efforts to reduce our meat consumption in our own way. One of my new friends confessed he was running out of ideas for meat-free meals. He wanted to eat less meat, but he had been trained since childhood that there should always be some kind of animal protein at the center of the plate. Thus he found himself stumped about what to cook.
When eliminating (or reducing) animal products, the first step is often to reach for a ‘meat substitute.’ It’s easy to understand why. There are so many products on the market that closely emulate the proteins we’re accustomed to like chicken breast and ground beef. They also don’t require much thought to cook, often simply being substituted in a recipe for our more familiar protein of choice. (Or in the case of things like my beloved faux chicken nuggets, simply heated and slapped on a plate with your favorite condiments.)
Items like tofu, tempeh and sometimes even seitan may come to mind second. They require a little more planning and thought, but they tend to absorb flavor well and still provide in some sense a textural stand-in for meat.
Though I love soy and gluten-based options, I often turn to beans and legumes as the center of my veggie meals, and with good reason. It seems that everyone, regardless of income or economic status, has become more cost-conscious these days and beans and legumes definitely fit the bill. I love to stock up on dry beans in the bulk section of my grocery store and cook them off in my slow cooker when I have a little free time. Not only does this make beans extra cheap, it also means I can control flavor and nutritional content. I generally don’t add any salt to my beans which also makes it MUCH easier to control my sodium intake. It also allows me to play with seasonings more in the final dish. Best of all, cooked beans are easy to store. I freeze them flat in labeled Ziploc bags so I always have some on hand when I want to whip up a recipe like a bean-based burger or spread.
This week I turned some cooked chickpeas into Mexican-Spiced Chickpea Balls with Avocado Cream. These bite-sized nibbles are great as an appetizer or at the center of a meal. Thanks to fresh cilantro, chiles in adobo, and dried cumin they are quite flavorful on their own. However, they really shine with the Avocado Cream. This luscious sauce is extra smooth and rich, the perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty, and fatty. It’s definitely on the dense side in terms of calories and fat, but the good news is a little goes a long way. That is, if you’re able to exercise moderation when eating it. I’ll admit that the Avocado Cream and I are having a bit of a love affair so it’s hard not want to dunk everything in sight into it. It’s also infinitely customizable. You could easily swap the sour cream for Greek yogurt or even fold in some whipped cream to make it extra indulgent. I could also imagine it being fantastic as the base for lobster, crab, shrimp, or chicken salad instead of plain mayo, especially with some extra diced onion, celery, jalapenos, and chopped cilantro thrown into the mix.
To freeze the Chickpea Balls for later, place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and freeze for 6-10 hours (or until frozen solid). If you’re worried about freezer burn, you can cover them with tinfoil, but I haven’t had an issue. Once they are frozen solid transfer to a freezer bag.
Mexican-Spiced Chickpea Balls with Avocado Cream Yields 4 servings. Adapted from Eating Well
Ingredients:
Chickpea Balls
-19 ounces cooked chickpeas (rinsed if canned) -4 scallions, trimmed and sliced -1 egg -2 tablespoons all purpose flour -1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro -1/2 teaspoon ground cumin -2 chiles in adobo, chopped plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce -2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil -Generous pinch each salt and black pepper
Avocado Cream
-1 avocado, peeled and seeded jalapeno -1/3 cup low fat mayonnaise -1/3 cup low fat sour cream -1, seeded and chopped -2 scallions, trimmed and sliced -1 lime, juiced -Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the chickpea balls place the chickpeas, scallions, egg, flour, cilantro, cumin, chiles in adobo (plus the extra adobo sauce), olive oil, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Pulse, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides, until a coarse mixture forms that holds together when pressed. (The mixture will be moist.) Form into 1-inch balls.
Place the balls on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom, then flip them and bake for another 10 minutes.
To make the cream, place the avocado, mayonnaise, sour cream, jalapeno, scallions, and lime juice into a blender or small food processor. Blend for 1 minute or until you have a smooth cream. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve along side Chickpea Balls. | 5,108 | 2,436 | 10,536.82266 |
warc | 201704 | INTERVIEW - Chinese Consumer Key to Saving World's Sharks Date: 03-Aug-06 Country: CHINA Author: Ben Blanchard
In recent years, shark numbers have fallen drastically, threatening the existence of some species, and while exact scientific data is lacking, figures show imports of shark fin rocketing in China, said Steve Trent, president of WildAid.
"China is key. All the best estimates suggest that 70, 80, 90 percent of shark fin is for the mainland Chinese market, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan," Trent told Reuters.
"As increasing wealth and income comes to Chinese consumers, they are spending it on luxury goods like shark's fin soup, and that means there is a pressure that is now no longer sustainable on these species in the wild," he said.
Shark fin, once offered as a gift to emperors, is traditionally served at Chinese wedding banquets and occasions when the host wants to impress guests with expensive and unusual dishes. Some also believe it is good for health.
The UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation estimates 100 million sharks are caught each year, though experts say the real figure could be twice that, leading to a dramatic drop in the populations for some species.
Another problem is that most sharks are caught just for their fins.
"They are taken on board, their fins are hacked off and they are dumped back into the water dead or dying," Trent said.
On Wednesday, the San Franciso-based WildAid unveiled a series of short television messages featuring basketball star Yao Ming and Chinese Olympic gold medal gymnast Li Ning to spread the conservation message.
"As we progress as a nation and society becomes more driven by money and the increased desire to quench our taste buds, we should take a step back and reflect," the towering Yao said, after vowing to give up eating shark fin.
WildAid has already been screening messages that use other celebrities such as Jackie Chan on satellite television across Asia, but this year it started showing them on terrestrial Chinese television, potentially reaching a far larger audience.
"There is an interest in conservation here that is mounting very fast, and if that is tapped into, it can translate into action and dramatically reduce the number of shark fins taken," said the British activist, a founding director of WildAid.
The problem has global implications, with fishermen as far away as Ecuador's supposedly protected Galapagos islands catching shark specifically for the Chinese market.
"This is hardly surprising when we can maybe expect to see around 250 million new Chinese middle class coming online over the next decade or so," Trent said.
"And shark's fin being a strong, cultural, culinary interest, these people are going to want to consume, unless they're made to realise it's causing a real problem." | 2,827 | 1,500 | 5,271.412667 |
warc | 201704 | George Ferguson is Bristol’s directly elected mayor (DEM). The most controversial policy he has introduced so far is the introduction of parking restrictions radiating out from Bristol city centre. In a bid to cut traffic and boost public transport use, he is using the powers available to him to address an issue that was amongst the most high profile in the election campaign: transport. This policy has echoes of Ken Livingstone’s introduction of the congestion charge in London. In much the same way as Ferguson, Livingstone was cautioned against introducing what was then seen as a foolhardy and unpopular policy.
Ferguson is under considerable attack from many in Bristol as a result of this policy. Leaving aside the merits or otherwise of this approach, the implication, either explicit or implicit from his critics, is that he is subverting the democratic process. The letters page of the local paper contains references to him as a dictator, and the paper itself has run a survey which appears to show low levels of support for the parking scheme amongst Bristolians. The message is that he is not listening to local people, and that he is out of touch with what they want. Consequently, they argue that the scheme should be dropped.
Yet these sorts of criticisms miss the point. Part of the debate around the introduction of DEMs in English local government – and in Bristol – relates to their decisiveness. The argument goes that DEMs, backed by a direct mandate to govern, and given a four year term, can take difficult decisions and develop radical policies for the benefit of their local areas in a way that indirectly elected leaders might find more difficult. As the Plain English Guide to the Localism Act put it:
…elected mayors can provide democratically accountable strong leadership which is able to instigate real change for the benefit of our largest cities. Mayors will be clearly identifiable as the leader of the city and will have a unique mandate to govern…
Bristol residents voted in favour of introducing a DEM in a referendum. They also chose Ferguson to lead the city. DEMs are the epitome of local representative democracy, where citizens choose directly the city leader. Drawing on democratic theory there are broadly three forms of representation. First, the representative can do what the electorate wants – s/he is a ‘delegate’, enacting the wishes of their constituents. This form is hard to reproduce in a large city with diverse communities demonstrating different wants, needs, and opinions. The second form is that of ‘party soldier’, where the representative acts in line with the party under whose banner they stood. Ferguson is an independent mayor without a party, and therefore unable to be a party soldier. Hence that only leaves for him one form of representation, that of ‘trustee’ – where the representative uses their own judgement in decision-making.
In a recent exchange between Ferguson and one of his constituents, Ferguson articulated exactly this form of representation. In defending himself against a charge of not listening to local people, he said ‘I was elected to do what I think is right’. He also put it in even blunter terms, which captured many headlines. In doing so, in addition to making clear his preference for the trustee form of decision-making, he resurrected a famous figure in Bristol’s history, Edmund Burke, MP for Bristol between 1774 and 1780. Burke, in his speech to electors upon his election stated:
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
This forms the defence for Ferguson’s style of decision-making, and the basis of the role of the DEM in city governance. The mayor is elected to introduce decisive leadership. This is, of course, not to say that there need not be an effective system of citizen participation in the city – of course there should be. And also the onus is on the mayor to engage and listen to his or her constituents in a multitude of ways. Nevertheless, the pivot of democracy for DEMs is the ability for citizens to have their say by voting them out of office at election time, an opportunity unavailable in other systems.
Here a note of caution for Ferguson can be heard from one of his predecessors, George Micklewright, Leader of Bristol City Council in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He pointed out that after Burke ‘
had lectured the electors of Bristol about the importance of his judgment, they decided they had had quite enough of this arrogant sod and they gave him the boot’. This opportunity is one that is also available to Bristolians for Ferguson. It wasn’t available to Bristolians for Micklewright, as he was elected as Leader of the Council by a handful of councillors, and only ceased to be leader when his ward constituents – a fraction of the population of the city – voted him out of office.
At election time, the citizens of Bristol shall have the opportunity to give their verdict on Ferguson in the same way that Londoners gave their verdict on Livingstone after the introduction of the congestion charge. Londoners gave Livingstone another four year mandate. | 5,332 | 2,415 | 11,480.910973 |
warc | 201704 | Although holiday sales and events try to drive as many customers to retail stores as possible
, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that the crowding may drive them away as well.
The issue arises when crowding results in people actually touching one another.
“For managers, a stranger’s touch in the store means the money walks out of the store,” writes Brett A. S. Martin (Queensland University of Technology). He conducted a series of field experiments in stores in southern England.
While in a store, half the consumers were briefly brushed lightly by a fellow customer as they walked out of the aisle. The other half had a fellow customer stand near them but not touch them. The “fellow customers” were relatively attractive people in their 30s. When the customers left the store, their time in the store was recorded, and they completed a questionnaire on what they thought of the store and the item they were looking at when they were touched.
The belief that men like being touched by women they don’t know is not true, Martin finds. His experiments found that customers, men and women, who were touched by male or female strangers while looking at a product quickly left the store and did so with a negative view of the product they were looking at.
“Rather than cramming a store with goods and having narrow aisles, managers should think about giving people space to consider products without the risk of being bumped into by strangers,” says Martin.
“For the brand manager of the product, it is vital that how products are displayed by retailers is considered in a brand’s marketing strategy. It is not just about grabbing a customer’s attention in-store with a good display or price promotion,” Martin writes. “Brands that want to increase sales need to find ways to let customers view a product without being touched by others. If they are touched, they don’t buy, and they leave store with a bad impression of your brand.”
--30--
Brett A. S. Martin. “A Stranger’s Touch: Effects of Accidental Interpersonal Touch on Consumer Evaluations and Shopping Time.” Journal of Consumer Research: June 2012 (published online September 12, 2011). For more information, contact Brett A. S. Martin (brett.martin@qut.edu.au)or visit http://ejcr.org/. | 2,368 | 1,157 | 4,639.806396 |
warc | 201704 | Do you know the vitamins and minerals that are the most important for your good health? Do you know about the best supplements on the market? If not, you could find that your diet is lacking in some important substances. Use these tips to figure out what supplements can work for you. If you want […]
Month: October 2016
Regardless of whether you are old or young, health is vital. Your gender makes no difference or whether you are short or tall. You need nutrients to live like any other human. Keep reading to learn about the supplements that you need for optimal health. Any supplement with fat needs to be taken on a […]
It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. Your gender does not make a difference either. Regardless of who you are, vitamins and minerals are necessary for you, as a human being, to survive. Keep reading to learn about these essential nutrients, along with top tips that you must know about them. Make sure […]
Food labels are often the only information people read to see how healthy they are eating. Honestly, people do not know what they need the most. In this article, we will share some information that will help you learn how to read labels and care for your health. Learn how minerals and vitamins react with […]
Are you confused about health and nutrients? Do you feel lousy and out of energy each day with nowhere to turn? If so, you’ll find this article to be a valuable source of insight, including advice that could change your life. If you want the most from your workout and the body you desire, remember […]
Eating right is integral towards your health. Exercise is always key as well, but everyone knows that. Read the tips and advice in this article to keep strong and healthy. If you wish to start working out to get yourself a great body, you’re going to need to make sure that you’re still taking vitamins. […]
Vitamins and minerals can promote a positive mood. Regardless, many don’t know that they are lacking them in their diet. To get the most out of these nutrients, certain basics must be known. Read on to discover what you should learn. To get the very most from a workout routine and build the body you […]
Vitamin and mineral intake makes sure your body runs well. Carbs help fuel your body as vitamins and minerals make sure your body’s processes go well. Both the food you eat and the supplements you take are important for proper nutrition. Continue on to understand more about how to have a balanced diet. In order […]
To live well, you need minerals and vitamins. Most people, however, do not get what they need in this department. To get the most out of these nutrients, certain basics must be known. Continue on and find out all the important health-related tips. Take your vitamins after you work out. The right nutrition is necessary […] | 2,890 | 1,303 | 6,219.155794 |
warc | 201704 | Information for 8127IIED Poverty and Environmental Degradation: A literature review and analysis
Book/Report
There is much controversy surrounding the poverty-environmental degradation nexus. The predominant school of thought argues that poverty is a major cause of environmental degradation and if policy makers want to address the environmental issues, then they must first address the poverty problem. Another school of thought argues that this causal link is too simplistic and the nexus is governed by a complex web of factors. In this paper, a formal structure for analyzing the complex web of factors is formulated and used to review the existing literature on the links between poverty and the degradation of four natural resource sectors. The analysis highlights the institutional and market failures which encourage unsustainable activities, which in turn forces some income groups into poverty. Another important factor is the role of conflicts between different agents (income groups) in the poverty-environmental degradation nexus. The analysis also highlighted the presence of feedback loops between environmental degradation and poverty. | 1,156 | 578 | 2,304 |
warc | 201704 | On Tuesday, The New School hosted a conversation between bell hooks, Marci Blackman, Shola Lynch, and Janet Mock, titled "Are You Still a Slave? Liberating the Black Female Body." The conversation explored representations and images of women of colour in the media.
bell hooks was one of my earliest influences. Every time a woman -- young or old -- asks me for a solid place to start, I recommend hooks. I'm just so grateful for her. The whole conversation is very insightful and I recommend you watch it in its entirety.
In the early part of the conversation, hooks talks a lot about
Twelve Years a Slave, which she said, on the Melissa Harris-Perry show, was "sentimental claptrap." I haven't actually seen the film, so I can't speak to it directly, but hooks apparently experienced a lot of backlash over her critiques because so many people enjoyed the film. She responds, saying: "As a black woman, when I see images like myself, abused, beaten, raped, tortured… I don't feel entertained… If I never see another naked, enslaved, raped black woman onscreen as long as I live, I'll be happy."
Thank the lord for bell hooks. This is what I've said many times about rape scenes in film and television and is why I stopped watching, for example,
Game of Thrones last year. I don't need to see any more raped, abused, objectified, sexualized, brutalized women. I have seen enough. Though there certainly are defensible reasons to include depictions of gendered violence on screen, at times, and I have seen scenes of rape and other forms of male violence done in a way that is critical and do not sexualize or normalize it (I think the scene in Mad Men when Joan is raped by her fiancee is a good example of this), the vast majority of this imagery is gratuitous and sexualized.
It's worth noting that hooks has been critical of sadomasochism (which has its roots in colonialism, slavery, and gendered violence such as witch hunts) -- something that has become untouchable in terms of feminist critique because people feel "judged" (sadface). She says: "Imagine
Twelve Years a Slave without Patsy. Because it's her whole sexualization and the S&M cruelty that she endures from white males and females -- all of it gives a certain 'spice' to the film" and then asks whether "we have to have the black female, dehumanized, tortured, raped, enslaved, in order to have our entertainment?"
And of course, we as a culture seem to think we do need this in order to be entertained. We need our porn, we need our naked, exploitable, fuckable female bodies, we need our rape fantasies and our S&M. We deserve whatever it is we desire. Our culture is one of selfish individualism, greed, excess, and
anything goes if it makes us feel good; all of which we've seen bleed into feminism and stifle and silence critical thought and women's voices.
hooks says she asked Janet Mock if glamour was a source of power, and Mock responded "yes," immediately. Mock explains that, to wear makeup and heels, to "pretty [herself] up," to "claim [her] body" and to "prettify" it in the way she wants, constitutes power. Mock sees it as claiming space. As claiming power. "This little space is mine," she says, referring to her body. "I will do it for
myself. Not for the pleasure of or for the gaze of a man." Does she gaze at herself, I wonder? Through whose eyes? Where did these images of glamour and female beauty come from?
I do understand this in a way. I like to dress up too sometimes. I wear makeup. I've started painting my nails again after an almost 15-year hiatus. I do enjoy certain parts of those rituals. But what any of that has to do with "power," I don't know. Certainly my nails are not what give me or will ever give me "power." Whatever "power" "glamour" bestows upon Janet Mock is a kind of selfish "power" that may grant her access to spaces she wouldn't otherwise have access to or at least make her feel more comfortable or accepted in this world as a transwoman, but it isn't a kind of power that will extend to anyone but herself and I don't believe it's the kind of "power" we should be teaching girls and women to strive for -- to tell them that crippling themselves in heels and getting a ton of cosmetic surgery will give them "power." It's conformity, not power. It may be "fun" conformity, but it's still conformity in that it challenges and changes nothing about women's status or systemic power and oppression.
Which brings us to Beyonce.
I will preface this by saying that I think Beyonce is an amazing entertainer.
Drunk in Love is one of the best tracks of 2013 and is one of the few that will get my lazy ass off of the bar stool and grinding on the dance floor (DON'T JUDGE ME. Kidding, you can judge me…). But as we've discussed numerous times on this site, just because you like it doesn't make it feminist. My enjoyment of Beyonce doesn't interfere with my ability to understand what feminism is and what it is not.
hooks, in looking critically at Beyonce's recent
Time cover image, describes her as looking like a "deer in headlights" and in her (very girlish) underwear. She says: "isn't this interesting -- that she's being held up as one of the most important people, in our nation, in the world… What does that say about the black female body?"
It's clear many would prefer to look away from the image and from what Beyonce represents. Or theorize it into something other than what it is. ("A little girl we can lust after," hooks says, pointedly. "A little girl who could be Woody Allen's daughter who can be taken up into the attic and sexually abused, with people witnessing from a distance but taking no action on her behalf.") Lynch quite literally says she doesn't want to look at it, but would rather "shift [her] gaze" towards the "people and places that feed [her]." Third-wave feminism taught us to look for agency rather than victimization, which has merely provided us with blinders and an academic language with which we can lie to ourselves about women's realities.
But how can we look away from Beyonce? Especially when we are being told, now, that she represents female empowerment? That she is a feminist icon? All the while objectified and sexualized and, really, is more representative of capitalist patriarchy than anything else?
hooks describes these efforts: "Let's take the image of this super rich, very powerful black female, and let's use it in the service of imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy."
Despite all Beyonce's "power" she still, hooks points out, didn't likely have much control over that cover.
Mock protests, claiming that Beyonce chose the image. Which, I don't know… almost makes it worse…
What we're witnessing in this conversation is significant of almost every debate and struggle happening in feminism right now. The "she has agency therefore she is empowered and what she is doing is empowering" argument versus the "choice doesn't equal empowerment" argument. It's the delusions of neoliberalism, individualism and the self-help movement versus radical struggles against colonialist, capitalist patriarchy.
"What you're saying," hooks responds, "is that she's colluding in the construction of herself as a slave. It's not a liberatory image."
This point is countered with the "reclaiming" argument. Similar to the one we are met with every time we critique Slutwalk or burlesque or Femen or selfie self-objectification. "We're taking back 'slut,'" they tell us. Or boobs. Or whatever.
Women are now empowered by everything they do, as
The Onion would say.
hooks, of course doesn't let anyone get away with this. "I think that's fantasy," she says to Blackman. "I think it's a fantasy that we can recoup the violating image and use it…"
hooks says this is exactly what Audre Lorde meant by her famous phrase, "the master's tools will never dismantle the master’s house."
"You are not going to destroy this imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy by creating your own version of it," hooks says. "Even if it serves you to make lots and lots of money."
Let's hear that one again.
"You are not going to destroy this imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy by creating your own version of it."
hooks also points out that it's unlikely we would be so fascinated with Beyonce if she weren't so rich and says that we cannot separate her class power and her wealth from people's fascination with her.
"There's a price for decolonization," hooks says. "You're not going to have your wealth."
"Part of what has to happen if we are going to be free is that we have to create our own standards." Which is to say that we need new imagery and new ideas about gender and power -- not just the same ones, repackaged in order to make us feel better.
At the end of the day, hooks points out that most of us do not want to be oppressed but that people will sometimes remain enslaved because "it's just simply easier."
No matter how much you enjoy (or claim to enjoy) your own oppression, that enjoyment or those temporary, personal feelings of power or pleasure will not free us either as individuals or as a culture.
To hear someone say in the public realm that Beyonce is "anti-feminist," as hooks does, going on to say that there is a part of her that functions "as a terrorist -- especially in terms of the impact on young girls" is quite exciting. I mean, it's clear, but few will say it… When "the major assault on feminism has come from visual media," as hooks says, how can we ignore the imagery Beyonce is putting out there? How can we look away from that and call her wealth, combined with her sexual objectification, empowering? Or feminist?
hooks manages to stay radical and bring forth unpopular and challenging arguments though she must experience enormous pushback. What say you, liberals? Are you listening?
Who here has the balls to tell bell hooks that she's wrong? | 10,059 | 4,617 | 21,521.074724 |
warc | 201704 | This video series and free online accompanying articles are very well done.
Introduction
Understanding the science of fluid dynamics is essential to understanding how liquids and gases behave. Air is a gas, and the lift and drag of our model airplanes can be explained by the laws of fluid motion.
This series of videos was produced by the National Committee for Fluid Mechanics Films (NCFMF) in 1972. The NCFMF was founded by Ascher Shapiro in 1961. He was a Mechanical Engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for many years. In fact, he appears in many of the videos.
The information contained in them was state of the art at the time. In truth, very little (if any) of the contents in the videos has been invalidated by the tremendous amount of research conducted since then. We certainly understand the phenomena discussed better today, but that does not detract from the value of the videos.
Sadly, video number twelve in the series appears to be missing. This is a 25 minute video entitled Boundary Layer Control. That topic is extremely relevant to airplane wing design. Fortunately, a PDF file with the contents of the video is online.
In fact, PDF files for the entire video series are online (link below). These are well-written articles mirroring the contents of the videos. They are well illustrated, too. These articles add tremendously to the educational value of the videos.
Do not let the old fashioned look of the videos turn you off. The contents is really top notch. It is very hard finding modern videos that do more than a superficial overview of a topic. These are the real deal, produced by an expert in his field. I hope you like them. | 1,701 | 896 | 3,212.15625 |
warc | 201704 | What is Reading Dynamics and How Does It Prepare Your Child for Success!
Speed reading is a technique that improved the ability to read quickly. Reading dynamics is one of the speed reading systems. It was taught by Evelyn Nielsen Wood, an American educator and business person. Wood coined the phrase "speed reading" and creating a system to improve reading speed over average rate of 250-300 words per minute. Her target was to improve reading speed by two to five times.
During her studies, Wood could read 6,000 words a minute regularly sharing the traits to read down a page instead of the usual left to right. She read groups of words or the complete thoughts instead of single words. She avoided rereading material and applied their efficiency to various materials.
Wood discovered that fast readers were also more effective therefore she developed programs and ultimately a methodology that used a pointer of finger to trace lines of text and eliminating reading aloud in the head or under the breath (sub vocalizing) Reading Dynamics system was taught at seminars as
Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Dynamics, which is a business that Evelyn Wood co-founded with Dough Wood, her husband. The business grew its outlets in United States to 150. Reading Dynamics was endorsed by famous figures including President John F. Kennedy as a way to remember information after reading thousands of words per minute. Wood had studies Kennedy’s reading habits as he was an avid reader. Staff members Kennedy, Ford and Carter administration also studied the speed reading system. A students of Wood’s speed reading claimed she was able to read a 689 page novel in less than an hour.
Reading Dynamics centers on moving one a hand across a page in order to maintain eye focus on words. Just like many speed reading systems, reading dynamics tries to suppress the reading instinct of sub-vocalization. It does not focus on meaning of words without getting limited by time it will take to mentally pronounce syllables.
Wood published her book
Reading Skills in 1959 just before she and her husband began Reading Dynamics business in 1960. Reading Dynamics classes were advertised heavily on television. Woods had minimal business education and advertising therefore her business collapsed within a year. New owners took over and invested in advertising and endorsement turning the Reading Dynamics to a craze.
Unfortunately, it’s only a few students who could grasp the technique or reach the amazing speed reading promised during advertising. Failure to attain the promised speed is what made Reading Dynamics to fall into disfavor but it made people to be aware that they could read faster.
Some speed reading training systems adopted some ideas by Wood. Some strategies taught in her classes were taught at college campuses in United States until late 1990s.
Search online user reviews for more information on other speed reading programs like 7 speed reading review. | 2,983 | 1,431 | 6,157.779175 |
warc | 201704 | One key measure of a countrys status in the world is the literacy of its people; at the same time, global migration has led to increased interest in bilingualism and foreign language learning as topics of research. Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures reviews international studies of the role of literacy in child development, particularly how children learn their first written language and acquire a second written and spoken one. Comparisons and contrasts are analyzed across eight countries and 11 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hebrew, Dutch, and Catalan. Using qualitative and quantitative, established and experimental methods, contributors trace toddlers development of print awareness, clear up common myths regarding parental involvement and non-involvement in their childrens literacy, and suggest how the spelling of words can aid in the gaining of vocabulary. For added relevance to educators, the book includes chapters on early intervention for reading problems and the impact of pedagogical science on teaching literacy. Highlights of the coverage: Letter name knowledge in early spelling development Early informal literacy experiences Environmental factors promoting literacy at home Reading books to young children: what it doesand doesnt do The role of orthography in literacy acquisition among monolingual and bilingual children Gaining literacy in a foreign language Instructional influences on literacy growth Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures adds significant depth and interest to the knowledge base and should inspire contributions from additional languages and orthographies. It belongs in the libraries ofresearchers and educators involved in cognitive psychology, language education, early childhood education and linguistics. | 1,847 | 915 | 3,724.278689 |
warc | 201704 | Skin break out or acne is a skin condition that happens when your hair follicles get to be stopped with oil and dead skin cells. Skin break out generally shows up all over, neck, mid-section, back and bears. Successful medications are accessible, yet skin inflammation can be industrious. The pimples and knocks recuperate gradually, and when one starts to go away, others appear to manifest as per the main
skin specialist in Delhi for acne.
Skin break out is most normal among adolescents, with a reported commonness of 70 to 87 percent. Progressively, more youthful youngsters are getting skin inflammation also. Contingent upon its seriousness, skin break out can bring about enthusiastic misery and scar the skin. The prior you begin treatment, the lower your danger of enduring physical and passionate harm.
Four fundamental components cause skin break out:
Skin inflammation regularly shows up all over, neck, mid-section, back and bears. These zones of skin have the most oil (sebaceous) organs. Skin inflammation happens when hair follicles get to be stopped with oil and dead skin cells.
Hair follicles are associated with oil organs. These organs discharge a sleek substance (sebum) to grease up your hair and skin. Sebum ordinarily goes along the hair shafts and through the openings of the hair follicles onto the surface of your skin.
At the point when your body creates an overabundance measure of sebum and dead skin cells, the two can develop in the hair follicles. They shape a delicate attachment, making a situation where microorganisms can flourish. In the event that the stopped up pore gets to be tainted with microscopic organisms, aggravation results.
As per the
, the stopped pore may bring about the follicle divider to lump and create a whitehead. Then again the fitting may be interested in the surface and may obscure, bringing about acne. A clogged pore may look like soil stuck in pores. However, really the pore is congested with microorganisms and oil, which turns cocoa when it's presented to the air. best dermatologist in Delhi for scars
Pimples are raised red spots with a white focus that create when blocked hair follicles get to be excited or contaminated. Blockages and aggravation that grows profound inside hair follicles produce pimple like knots underneath the surface of your skin. Different pores in your skin, which are the openings of the sweat organs, aren't normally included in skin inflammation.
Elements that may exacerbate skin inflammation
These elements can trigger or irritate a current instance of skin inflammation:
Hormones - Androgens are hormones that increment in young men and young ladies amid adolescence and make the sebaceous organs amplify and make more sebum. Hormonal changes identified with pregnancy and the utilization of oral contraceptives likewise can influence sebum creation. What's more, low measures of androgens course in the blood of ladies and can exacerbate skin inflammation as told by the doctor who treats vitiligo and psoriasis
.
Certain prescriptions - Medications containing corticosteroids, androgens or lithium can compound skin inflammation.
Diet. Studies show that sure dietary variables, including dairy items and starch rich foods —, for example, bread, bagels and chips — may trigger skin break out. Chocolate has long been associated with aggravating skin break out. A late investigation of 14 men with skin break out demonstrated that eating chocolate was identified with an increment in skin break out. Further study is expected to look at why this happens or whether skin inflammation patients need to take after particular dietary confinements.
Stress. Anxiety can exacerbate skin inflammation.
Skin break out myths
These elements have little impact on skin inflammation:
Greasy foods - Eating oily nourishment has practically no impact on skin break out. In spite of the fact that working in an oily territory, for example, a kitchen with broil vats, does in light of the fact that the oil can adhere to the skin and piece the hair follicles. This further disturbs the skin or advances skin inflammation.
Dirty skin - Skin inflammation isn't created by soil. Truth be told, scouring the skin too hard or purging with unforgiving cleansers or chemicals disturbs the skin and can aggravate skin inflammation as researched by the expert for hair loss. In spite of the fact that it helps to delicately evacuate oil, dead skin and different substances.
Cosmetics - Beautifying agents doesn’t compound skin break out, particularly on the off chance that you utilize oil cosmetics that doesn't stop up pores and uproot cosmetics routinely. Non slick beautifiers don't meddle with the viability of skin break out medications.
Way of life and home cures
You can attempt to dodge or control mellow skin inflammation with nonprescription items, great fundamental healthy skin and other self-care procedures:
Wash issue territories with a delicate chemical. Twice per day, utilize your hands to wash your face with a mellow cleanser and warm water. On the off chance that you have a tendency to create skin break out around your hairline, cleanser your hair consistently.
Maintain a strategic distance from specific items, for example, facial cleans astringents and covers, in light of the fact that they have a tendency to disturb skin, which can decline skin inflammation. Over the top washing and cleaning additionally can bother skin. Also, be delicate while shaving influenced skin.
Try over-the-counter skin inflammation items to dry abundance oil and advance peeling. Search for items containing benzoyl peroxide as the dynamic fixing. You may likewise attempt items containing sulfur, resorcinol or salicylic corrosive. Non-prescription skin break out drugs may bring about introductory reactions —, for example, redness, dryness and scaling — that frequently enhance after the first month of utilizing them as per the reliable specialist for
hair loss treatment in Delhi.
The Food and Drug Administration cautions that some mainstream nonprescription skin break out salves, chemicals and other skin items can bring about an uncommon yet genuine response.
Avoid aggravations. You might need to evade sleek or oily beautifying agents, sunscreens, hairstyling items or skin inflammation concealers. Use items marked water-based, which implies they are more averse to bring about skin break out.
Use a sans oil lotion with sunscreen. For a few individuals, the sun declines skin break out. Check with your specialist to check whether your drug is one of these. On the off chance that it is, stay out of the sun however much as could reasonably be expected. Consistently utilize a non greasy lotion that incorporates a sunscreen.
Watch what touches your skin. Keep your hair wipe and off your face. Likewise abstain from resting your hands or questions, for example, phone beneficiaries, all over. Tight garments or caps additionally can represent an issue, particularly in case you're sweating. Sweat and oils can add to skin break out as per the trusted specialists.
Don't pick or press flaws. Doing as such can bring about disease or scarring.
Elective solution
A few studies recommend that utilizing the accompanying supplements may treat skin inflammation. More research is expected to build up the potential adequacy and long haul wellbeing of these and other regular skin break out medications, customary Chinese prescription and ayurvedic herbs.
Converse with your specialist about the advantages and disadvantages of particular medications before you attempt them.
Tea tree oil - Gels as per
lady dermatologists in Delhi for Laser treatment; specially the ones containing 5 percent tea tree oil may be as compelling as are salves containing 5 percent benzoyl peroxide, despite the fact that tea tree oil may work all the more gradually.
Acne scars
Skin break out scars are persistent, and no single treatment is best for everybody. Different techniques may enhance your appearance. Your specialist may recommend one or a blend of these as per the
review of the renowmed hair specialist in Delhi.
Home healthy skin - The presence of scars that change your skin shading might be enhanced with over-the-counter blanching operators and utilization of sunscreen to point of confinement difference.
Delicate tissue fillers - Infusing collagen or fat under the skin and into indented scars can round out or extend the skin. This makes the scars less recognizable. Results are provisional, so you would need to rehash the infusions occasionally.
Dermabrasion - This method is typically held for more serious scarring. It includes evacuating the top layer of skin with a quickly turning wire brush. Surface scars might be totally evacuated, and more profound skin break out scars may seem less observable.
Compound peeling - High-strength corrosive is connected to your skin to evacuate the top layer and minimize more profound scars. All the skin related problems can carefully be dealt by the specialists. You can choose your skin specialist in the area near you.
Needling or rolling - This includes rolling a needle-studded gadget over the skin to invigorate fundamental tissue. It's a sheltered, straightforward and perhaps compelling method for skin break out scarring. The outcome is unobtrusive, and you may need to rehash the medicines.
Surgery - Utilizing a minor technique called punch extraction; your specialist removes singular skin inflammation scars and repairs the injury with lines or a skin unite. Another procedure called sub-incision includes your specialist embedding needles under the skin to slacken filaments underneath a scar, to enhance its appearance.
To figure out what's best for you, examine the upsides and downsides of every strategy with your specialist. Pimples can be normally treated with numerous fixings having calming or antibacterial properties which are in plenitude in nature. In any case, pimple scars are somewhat resolved as they don’t go effortlessly. In any case, as the idiom goes, nothing is unimaginable. It might require some investment yet your customary endeavors utilizing certain common blanching specialists and in addition different fixings may help your skin inflammation scars and continuously evacuate them for all time as per the most visited
dermatologist in delhi has pointed out. | 10,421 | 4,496 | 23,968.763568 |
warc | 201704 | Robert Half Technology is ideally positioned to provide customers with a wide range of technology staffing solutions for their project, contract-to-hire and full-time staffing needs. InfoSec recently interviewed Lara Dodo, Robert Half Technology’s regional vice president responsible for Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec, about her take on some pressing issues in the information security/information technology space.
What positions are currently in demand?
We also do a lot of research into the trends. We’re seeing mobile app developers on heightened demand; network engineers and business intelligence analysts are also seeing great demand. Everyone’s talking about big data. Everywhere you go, it’s big data. This is causing more of a need in looking for people in data administration and data modeling – the whole business intelligence space. Big data’s a big driver of things. The BYOD [bring your own device] trend drives a lot of demand for positions as well. BYOD is causing spin-offs onto security – How are organizations securing their networks? What are the potential security breaches of concern to organizations? And of course, what is the impact to the networks? What is the impact to the help desk and the support functions? So BYOD has a lot of consequences in terms of security, networks and support. Another driver is virtualization and cloud. When you look at virtualization and the cloud, again you’re going back to security, networks and support.
For which positions are you seeing dying demand?
I wouldn’t say they’re dying. It’s more about a skill set that is not in as much demand. An example would be not seeing as much demand for COBOL developers as we did in years gone by. It’s more .NET today or PHP. Older technologies are seeing slower demand. They haven’t gone away, but there’s slower demand. The other types of roles that come in peaks and valleys are QAs, QA testers. There’ll be times when we don’t see a need for a lot of them. But if someone is going through a lot of new development and decides to go through an extensive testing process, we’ll see a spike in the demand for those roles.
What are some of the hard and soft skills that are in demand?
In the soft skills area, everyone iss looking for someone with a positive attitude, essentially, a strong communicator. Communication skills have always been important. Specifically, this refers to the ability to have a business conversation as it relates to IT (the ability for IT to converse with the business side of the house in an effective way is very important). As well, the ability to work as a team is crucial. Teams today can be remote, which entails the ability to converse across different time zones, and via remote access. The ability to take initiative, as well as being able to be creative in coming up with solutions, is another soft skill.
From a hard skills standpoint, it starts with certifications. Certifications are important, the top three probably being CISSP, CCSA and CCSE. Skills behind that really depend on what level of security we’re looking at. If you’ve got someone who’s doing data security in an analyst role, we’re looking at their researching ability. If you’re looking more at a systems security administrator, we are looking for the ability to create passwords, someone who’s able to monitor and participate in the testing, or we’re looking at the integrity and the confidentiality of the data. If looking at engineering, it’s going to go uphill a little bit to more in-depth analysis, and in-depth creation. Three core competencies would be someone who has got really strong information security management skills, solid security strategy planning skills and strong solid risk assessment skills.
What technologies are in demand?
Very anecdotally, in the development space demand is very much in .NET,SQL, PHP, SharePoint and Java is also high on everyone’s radar right now. Depending on the organization, they could be looking at developers in the Facebook space or it could be something on the iOS side. Then there are the traditional infrastructures, referring to traditional system administrators, network administrators, VMware and Hyper-V.
What technologies are currently dying or seeing less demand?
From my anecdotal perspective, keep in mind that we work where the demand is, there’s always a need for someone who’s running a legacy system or someone who doesn’t have the budget to upgrade to .NET who is maybe working on something a little bit older. It is not often that we a receive COBOL or a Python type of request, but there are still a group of companies who do need professionals with all these skills.
Who was the last security person you hired – and what set that person apart from the rest of the pack?
We just placed someone who is a senior IT specialist -the company was offering a range of mid-$90,000s to $130,000. This individual had certifications in CISSP, CISA, and they really hit those three core competencies I mentioned earlier. The individual had very strong experience in information security management, great examples on their resume and personal testimonials when discussing their background in security strategy planning, as well as really strong examples that they could share with the client in vulnerability of risk assessment. That’s probably what really stands out in a good candidate – someone who not only has a good resume, but can also speak to tangible examples. The candidate’s resume showed a progression of having been a network engineer, a security engineer and then a security specialist.
How has your department grown or changed?
We continue to evolve. We recognize that technology is driving business more than ever before. As such, we want to make sure that we’re helping our clients to be prepared to have access to the best, most talented IT contractors for their projects, or potential full-time hires, as they expand within their own companies. Locally, we are very much keeping our finger on the pulse as to the technologies that are in most demand in order to proactively have candidates available for our clients.That way, we can give our clients a quick turnaround time in accessing top talent, and offer the same turnaround to our job seekers and candidates.
How do you expect your company to change in the future?
We continue to grow, which means we’re anticipating continued growth within the IT sector. Something your readers might be interested to know is that a lot of people are concerned with the current job market because the Canadian national unemployment rate is sitting at 7.2%, whereas within the IT sector in November 2012, it was 2.8%. This means that IT hiring managers have a real challenge in finding top talent. Essentially, it’s a great time to be in IT. For job seekers, it may not be as easy to find a job, butit means that if you position yourself correctly; have current certifications, good interview skills, and are able to really apply to the appropriate jobs, the likelihood of finding a good match is pretty good at this unemployment rate.
Without naming specifics, what are the biggest security threats that you see right now?
We ran a survey with CIOs and we asked them, ‘What keeps you up at night?’ One of the top responses was security. I think it also depends on what your business does. Someone who’s in health care probably has concerns about security breaches for patient confidentiality. If you’re in the financial services area or banking, you probably have concerns around fraud, and access to confidential information and identity theft. Or, coming from a big corporation that has maybe just opened up to an unlimited BYOD strategy, your security threats may be more along the lines of having any kind of device potentially accessing your confidential data as an organization.
What would you say is the hardest part of your job?
Balancing the demand for skilled professionals with the availability of those skilled professionals.
What is the most enjoyable part of the job?
The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that you areimpacting someone’s career. We help individuals find great careers, assistbusinesses do what they are in business to do: to grow revenue and accomplish their corporate goals/objectives. By providing them with the best talent to get it done, that is a tremendously rewarding experience.
What certifications and degrees are important to career advancement?
Some environments are very specific to having undergraduate degrees, and more are open to college backgrounds or diplomas. Some hiring managers are very specific on certifications, while others will trade years of experience in lieu of it. If you are making a career in security, I would recommend keeping your certifications current. Applying for a job withouthaving a certification could put you as a second-running candidate versus being a contender or a first-pick. Certifications give you that extra advantage in the job search.
Can taking certain degrees at the post-secondary level help aspiring IS/IT professionals gain a competitive advantage over their competitors?
This depends on the situation – there are talented professionals who have pursued a computer sciences undergrad degree, followed by a career path that follows that whole progression of analyst to the next step, to the next step – while there are others that come up as mechanical engineering undergrads and find their ways into unbelievable critical IT leadership roles. Other professionals who come with a business MBA or a business undergrad followed by an MBA, with an IT focus or an information-systems focus may also find their ideal job path.
What mistakes can job candidates make that can get their resumes thrown in the trash?
Typos! A lot of the companies use keyword search-scan technology; therefore, if there are a lot of applicants, many hiring managers, unfortunately, just to manage the volume of responses, will eliminate resumes that have basic errors. As well, if your key skill set is in security, you need to make sure that word comes up enough times to be picked up by a keyword search engine. Resumes that are too long and resumes that are too short are undesirable. As well, not showing enough testimonials of your contributions with your previous employers is also a downfall.
What advice would you give a high school student interested in studying IT in college?
It’s a great time to be in IT. There are multiple career paths available, compared to years gone by. There are wonderful opportunities for those who have more of a business mentality. Start volunteering to build for a portfolio of work experience early, and build a list of references to help put you ahead of the competition.
What security websites do you visit regularly?
I tend to read multiple publications, for example, IT World Canada. Their e-newsletter has links to all sorts of issues. I also visit the Harvard Business Review, as it has some great articles from time to time that cover IT security, big data or warehousing issues. | 11,281 | 4,842 | 25,688.621644 |
warc | 201704 | Here we are on the last Sunday in Ordinary Time, the feast of Christ the King. This is the last Sunday before Advent begins, the last Sunday of wearing green vestments. In the past weeks, we’ve read through much of the Gospel of Luke. We are on the verge of Advent, but before we can get to all our favorite Advent stories, here we are with this story of Christ on the Cross. It seems a surprising story so far from Passiontide. It’s unexpected, somehow, to be hearing about this in late November. So how do we bridge the gap from the crucified Christ to the soon-to-be-born infant Jesus?
We’ll start in a place far from Jerusalem, far from the hill called “Skull”.
My husband and I were standing in line in front of the
Accademia in Florence. It had been his dream to see Michelangelo’s David, and now here we were, on a crisp autumn morning, with all the other tourists in comfortable walking shoes, waiting for our turn to go into the museum to see the statue. Suddenly a gaggle of scruffy pre-teens came rushing up to us. They didn’t really look Italian; gypsies, most likely. Dirty faces, torn clothes, old shoes. They formed a scrum around us and shoved big pieces of cardboard at us on which were written their stories – I am poor! I have nothing to eat! Please give me money! Even as we were reading the cardboard signs, they were reaching underneath them --- and trying to pick our pockets. One of us in line noticed what was happening and shouted an alarm. We grabbed our respective purses and wallets and yelled at the street urchins. They ran off, cursing us in Italian and Romany. Shaken, we double-checked our pockets and thanked those who had figured out what was happening.
I hadn’t thought of that story for many years, until I saw a newspaper article in the Washington Post three years ago. It told the story of Mario Capecchi, who survived as just such a street urchin in WWII Italy after his mother, an anti-Fascist intellectual, had been hauled off to the Dachau concentration camp. Before she was taken, she had given some money to a neighbor to care for her son Mario, who was then just three years old. The neighbor cared for him until the money ran out, and then turned him out onto the streets. He went from town to town, occasionally living in orphanages, but mostly begged and stole and survived on his wits. He nearly died of malnutrition and was in a hospital in Bologna when his mother, liberated from Dachau, finally found him in 1946. A year later, an uncle in America sent money for them to emigrate, and Mario began a new life, one that included degrees from Antioch and Harvard and a fellowship under the discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson. Capecchi did groundbreaking work in gene targeting. And so, three years ago, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. A street urchin to a Nobel Laureate. Not what one would expect.
This gospel passage is another case of unexpected people doing unexpected things. We shouldn’t be surprised by this; it has been the case all the way through the Gospel of Luke. In Luke’s world, the outsider is usually the hero of the tale, and the folks who are the in-crowd usually get it wrong.
What’s going on in this passage, one that is so very familiar to us?
Jesus hangs on the cross. He’s been up there so long that gravity has taken its toll. The wounds on his head and hands no longer freely bleed. The bloodstains on his face and palms have dried to a dark-wine crust. His shoulders creak with pain. The crowd, who had called for his execution, is watching silently now, but the soldiers and the leaders mock him. The sign on the cross mocks him: “Jesus, King of the Jews.” Even one of the criminals hanging beside him mocks him, daring him to save himself and the criminal, too. In their eyes, this is no king. This is just another broken troublemaker who got what he deserved.
But the criminal on Jesus’ other side sees something more in him than a loser, a failed religious leader. This criminal chastises the first one: “We are being justly punished, but this man doesn’t deserve this. He did nothing wrong.”
That would be remarkable enough coming from the mouth of a dying criminal, but the moment takes an even more surprising turn: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This is more than a personal request. It is an acknowledgment of Jesus as King of a kingdom not of this world.
And then Jesus does what he usually does when a person opens his heart to the Anointed One and asks for help.
Even in the pain of the moment, with the taste of blood and sour vinegar in His mouth, Jesus speaks words of comfort and of promise: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.”
Jesus turns the eyes of the repentant criminal forward in hope, to a place of salvation.
All those people, watching and mocking, and there is only one who truly sees this broken rabbi on the Cross for the King He is. Only one, an unexpected one, seeing an unexpected King.
Time and again in the Gospel of Luke, throughout these weeks of Ordinary Time, we’ve seen the same surprising story. The conventional religious people just don’t understand Jesus’ message. It is the outsiders, the ones we least expect, who open their eyes and their hearts and recognize the kingship of Jesus, and what that kingship entails. It is not a kingship of this world, and what we are expected to do to pay homage to this King is very different than what the expectations of a worldly king might be.
So we hear this story on this last Sunday of Ordinary Time, on the Feast of Christ the King, before we enter the cold, pre-dawn winter hours of Advent. In the dark, it may be easy to miss who we’re really seeing on that cross.
It isn’t a broken man, a failed teacher. If we truly understand His message, we see Christ the King, whom the Greek Christians called Christ Pantokrator, Christ all powerful, looking forward in hope that we all might be with Him in the kingdom.
Christ opens our eyes and hearts and souls to see unexpected people in unexpected ways, as He too was the ultimate unexpected One. He bids us to see who He is, and how we might see Him in the most unlikely people.
You never know. A street urchin might turn out to be a Nobel Prize winner. A crucified teacher might turn out to be King. And a baby born in a rude stable on a cold winter night might turn out to be the Son of God.
Amen. | 6,546 | 3,085 | 13,548.204214 |
warc | 201704 | Breast cancer is all about the numbers: the infamous one in eight lifetime probability of a diagnosis, the number of lymph nodes removed, gene mutations 1 and 2, risk factor percentages, even how old one should be to start screenings. Yet, I found only seven appropriate books on the subject being released leading up to October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month (two on genetic testing, plus two reprints). Does that mean that breast cancer is nearly eradicated, eliminating the need to write and subsequently read about it? Would be nice, but I don’t believe that’s the case. Still, there is news that indicates we might be on the path to better treatment. A study reported in the journal Radiology points up the benefits of mammography in older women, such as finding cancers at earlier stages. Researchers reported in the journal Cell that classifying tumors by molecular structure rather than by the organ they inhabit could lead to more accurate diagnoses. Here’s my favorite: a gel version of the selective estrogen receptor modulator Tamoxifen, when applied directly to the breast in diagnoses of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), was as effective in slowing cancer cell growth as its pill and liquid counterparts, with fewer side effects. Read on.
Aaronson, Naomi & Ann Marie Turo. Pilates for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Guide to Recovery, Healing, and Wellness. Demos Health. Sept. 2014. 220p. photos. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781936303571. pap. $21.95; ebk. ISBN 9781617051951. HEALTH
Two occupational therapists and pilates instructors (one of whom is also a breast cancer survivor) offer up a regimen of exercises to help women regain strength and range of motion following surgery and treatment. They discuss the principles of the practice and the benefits for cancer patients with relation to fatigue, lymphedema, “chemo brain,” and other complaints. Sections on getting started and advisories accompany each series of movements, which include those seated and in the supine position. VERDICT Strengthening the body and spurring recovery through pilates seems like a win-win. For patient health and fitness collections.
Behr, Marion. Surviving Cancer: Our Voices & Choices. WWH Pr. 2014. 268p. illus. index. ISBN 9780615856001. pap. $20.95. HEALTH
The story of cancer is as individual as the person relating it. Artist and breast cancer survivor Behr here includes anecdotes from patients and recommendations from physicians and medical professionals in order to provide comfort and knowledge for those on the same journey. The plastic cradles used to immobilize patients during radiation therapy serve as Behr’s inspiration and the source of the book’s artwork. With questions patients and family members should be asking (and their answers) and a useful glossary. VERDICT Beautifully designed, a worthwhile addition to patient health holdings.
Lucas, Geralyn. Then Came Life: Living with Courage, Spirit, and Gratitude After Breast Cancer. Gotham. Oct. 2014. 240p. ISBN 9781592408955. $27; ebk. ISBN 9780698162181. HEALTH
Lucas made a splash with her first book,
Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy ( LJ 9/1/04), the brash and brazen tale of her bout with breast cancer at age 27. Now, 18 years later and recurrence free, Lucas, head of Hallie Productions, feels there is more to say about life postcancer. The candid and perceptive author talks about motherhood (she has two children, which was unexpected following her chemotherapy and radiation treatment), marriage, body image, self-worth, family, and the loss of loved ones as she ultimately seizes living over living in fear. Lipstick was made into a television movie, so fans will assuredly want to see how the author is doing. VERDICT Lucas’s sage commentary will bring a nod of recognition from fellow cancer travelers and a smile to everyone’s lips, even if they aren’t cherry red. Highly recommended.
Mozersky, Jessica. Risky Genes: Genetics, Breast Cancer and Jewish Identity. Routledge. Sept. 2014. 177p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781138822849. pap. $42.95; ebk. ISBN 9781136240669. HEALTH
The identification in 1994–95 of the high-risk breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 has hit a 20-year milestone. Individuals who test positive now have options with regard to the inevitability of a breast and/or ovarian cancer diagnosis. Along with the discovery came the announcement that Ashkenazi Jewish women (those of East European descent) were at higher risk of carrying the mutations and, ultimately, higher risk of developing either or both diseases. Medical researcher Mozersky narrowed her study to a group of Ashkenazi Jews living in London. Her goal was to use her data to “examine the ways in which knowledge of being at increased risk of genetic disease is interpreted and experienced by members of a ‘high-risk’ population” and to “address the impact of genetic knowledge on Jewish identity.” VERDICT The discussions of genetic testing and its ramifications haven’t ebbed over the last two decades, but Mozersky’s considered treatise might clarify issues for those at the center of the debate who live with uncertainty. For larger health collections that also target medical professionals and gene theorists.
Stark, Lizzie. Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Science, and One Family Tree. Chicago Review. Oct. 2014. 336p. ISBN 9781613748602. $26.95. HEALTH
Author/journalist Stark’s cancer family tree would send most people running for cover and a huge hole into which to crawl. We’re talking great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, and cousins. Her mother has had several types of cancer and recurrences. Stark presents a fascinating history of cancer, especially breast and ovarian, with her relatives as a frame of reference. Once genomic testing became available, it made the picture simultaneously clearer and more ominous. What’s a gal to do? VERDICT With incisive wit and a reporter’s poke at the jugular, Stark delivers the goods on this disease that though now much discussed still creates anguish in most of us. For every collection.
RERELEASES
Braddock, Suzanne W. & others. Straight Talk About Breast Cancer. 5th ed. Addicus. Sept. 2014. 156p. illus. index. ISBN 9781940495705. pap. $19.95. HEALTH
Twenty years and five editions later, dermatologist and cancer survivor Braddock continues along with her physician colleagues to offer information for those going through the breast cancer process. This update expands the treatment picture and includes new photos of reconstructions and additional resources. “Accessible and up-to-date; at this price it is recommended for most patient health collections” (
LJ 9/1/02). For inclusive collections and those that have only the third edition or older.
Prijatel, Patricia. Surviving Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Hope, Treatment, and Recovery. Oxford Univ. Oct. 2014. 256p. illus. index. ISBN 9780199393855. pap. $19.95; ebk. ISBN 9780199911967. HEALTH
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)—estrogen-receptor negative, progesterone-receptor negative, and negative for the Her2/neu human epidermal growth factor receptor—is the triple whammy of cancer diagnoses. Journalist and TNBC survivor Prijatel here lays out the specifics of this rare form of the disease. Highly recommended. (
LJ 9/1/12) | 7,424 | 3,678 | 14,662.299076 |
warc | 201704 | The Federal Reserve Is Holding a Conference On Jekyll Island To Celebrate 100 Years of Dominating America
The Federal Reserve is going back to Jekyll Island to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the infamous 1910 Jekyll Island meeting that spawned the draft legislation that would ultimately create the U.S. Federal Reserve. The title of this conference is “A Return to Jekyll Island: The Origins, History, and Future of the Federal Reserve,” and it will be held on November 5th and 6th in the exact same building where the original 1910 meeting occurred. In November 1910, the original gathering at Jekyll Island included U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department A.P. Andrews and many representatives from the upper crust of the U.S. banking establishment. That meeting was held in an environment of absolute and total secrecy. 100 years later, Federal Reserve bureaucrats will return to Jekyll Island once again to “celebrate” the history and the future of the Federal Reserve.
Sadly, most Americans have no idea how the Federal Reserve came into being. Forbes magazine founder Bertie Charles Forbes was perhaps the first writer to describe the secretive nature of the original gathering on Jekyll Island in a national publication….
Picture a party of the nation’s greatest bankers stealing out of New York on a private railroad car under cover of darkness, stealthily riding hundred of miles South, embarking on a mysterious launch, sneaking onto an island deserted by all but a few servants, living there a full week under such rigid secrecy that the names of not one of them was once mentioned, lest the servants learn the identity and disclose to the world this strangest, most secret expedition in the history of American finance. I am not romancing; I am giving to the world, for the first time, the real story of how the famous Aldrich currency report, the foundation of our new currency system, was written… The utmost secrecy was enjoined upon all. The public must not glean a hint of what was to be done. Senator Aldrich notified each one to go quietly into a private car of which the railroad had received orders to draw up on an unfrequented platform. Off the party set. New York’s ubiquitous reporters had been foiled… Nelson (Aldrich) had confided to Henry, Frank, Paul and Piatt that he was to keep them locked up at Jekyll Island, out of the rest of the world, until they had evolved and compiled a scientific currency system for the United States, the real birth of the present Federal Reserve System, the plan done on Jekyll Island in the conference with Paul, Frank and Henry… Warburg is the link that binds the Aldrich system and the present system together. He more than any one man has made the system possible as a working reality.
It was a system that was designed by the bankers and for the bankers. Now, the bureaucrats running the system are returning to Jekyll Island to congratulate themselves. Those attending the conference on November 5th and 6th include Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, Goldman Sachs managing director E. Gerald Corrigan and the heads of the various regional Federal Reserve banks. You can view the entire agenda of the conference right here. It looks like that there will be plenty of hors d’oeuvres to go around, but should the Federal Reserve really be celebrating their accomplishments at a time when the U.S. economy is literally falling to pieces?
Today, 63 percent of Americans do not think that they will be able to maintain their current standard of living. 1.47 million Americans have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks. We are facing a complete and total economic disaster.
Today, the Federal Reserve has more power over the economy than any other single institution in the United States. It is the Fed that primarily determines if we will see high inflation or low inflation, whether the money supply with expand or contract and whether we will have high interest rates or low interest rates. The President and the U.S. Congress have far less power to influence the economy than the Federal Reserve does.
As this election has demonstrated, the American people are absolutely furious about the state of the U.S. economy, but American voters have been mostly blaming our politicians. They just don’t understand that it is actually the Federal Reserve that has the most control over the performance of the economy.
It would be hard to understate how powerful the U.S. Federal Reserve really is in 2010. U.S. Representative Ron Paul recently told MSNBC that he believes that the Federal Reserve is actually more powerful than Congress…..
“The regulations should be on the Federal Reserve. We should have transparency of the Federal Reserve. They can create trillions of dollars to bail out their friends, and we don’t even have any transparency of this. They’re more powerful than the Congress.”
So how has the Federal Reserve performed over the years?
The Rest…HERE | 5,116 | 2,320 | 11,054.52931 |
warc | 201704 | I’ve written before about multimedia slideshows, and how nice it is that today they are available to everyone via the Web, when in the past they were generally created for small groups. In this post, I will make the argument that multimedia slideshows can be a more effective way of communicating than online video.
Advantages of Multimedia Slideshows
Today nearly 70 percent of Americans are considered visual learners. That only leaves about 30 percent who learn primarily from words-only communication. But does that mean we should skip past slideshows and go straight to video? I don’t think so.
Combining the visual with audio compounds and improves the learning process. Imagine a photograph of a landscape. Photos taken as the light plays over the terrain throughout the day, the evening and into the night awaken different emotional feelings in the viewer.
Just as changing light impacts a scene, so too can changes in audio. The same sentence read by several people using different emphases and voice inflections can totally change the meaning of the sentence. Combine these two powerful forms of communication, and the outcome is magnified as compared to either one alone.
Video combines the visual with audio as well, of course. But compared to video, many times the still image is more powerful than the moving image simply because it
is still. It captures the moment.
It also takes more time and money to produce video. As a rule, it costs about three to five times more to produce a two to 10 minute video than a comparable audio/still photo project.
Gathering audio without having to shoot video is much easier, too. Recording in really close with an inexpensive microphone and recorder only requires one person. To obtain the same quality in a video requires a special microphone and usually two people — which means more money. A big advantage of multimedia is that one person can make the photos and then the same person can do an interview and combine it with the images for the final presentation.
The Audience’s Perspective
But forget costs for a moment. The New York Times, The Washington Post and even NPR have discovered that multimedia pieces are not just cost-efficient; they’re flat-out effective as a way to communicate with audiences.
Look at it from the audience’s perspective. A two-minute slideshow might be a five to seven meg file. The same length of video might be a 30 to 50 meg file. Video over the Web is supplying at least 15 frames a second or 1,800 images for a two-minute video, versus a two-minute multimedia package that will have 30 to 60 frames total on average. If your audience doesn’t have high-bandwidth connections, the multimedia package will serve them better.
What’s more, while the multimedia package file is smaller than the video file, the image size isn’t. Usually, the video screen isn’t large enough and the frame rate isn’t high enough on the Web to capture nuances. With multimedia, the still images can be larger and capture nuances of emotion, making even talking-head pieces more compelling.
Let’s think about this for a moment. If —
Nearly 70 percent of the audience learns visually; Multimedia packages are easier and less expensive to produce; Multimedia packages are easier for the audience to access; and Multimedia packages offer a more enjoyable, nuanced visual experience…
Why aren’t you shooting multimedia slideshows?
Here’s a package I did recently for Chick-fil-A Daddy Daughter Date Night. | 3,565 | 1,696 | 7,287.650354 |
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