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warc | 201704 | A while back, I shared a link to a story about revivalist Polytheists in Greece who were enduring the unsurprising scorn of the Greek Orthodox Church. A quote from that story is with me today- a Bishop of the Orthodox Church mentioned that a "few" of the Pagans were "Pagans of principle"- his words. The rest, he said, were more involved in the recension of the Old Ways for (basically) pageantry and pedantics.
Over a thousand years of being the undisputed masters of the spiritual destiny of the West has made most Christians of any stripe very condescending; this is nowhere more apparent than in the way most devoted Christians automatically assume that one cannot be
trulyand perfectly principled and moral (or even truly at peace) without Christianity.
I don't have to tell most of my readers this; they've likely already experienced this attitude in people firsthand. But what the Bishop said inspired me today; I've been thinking about what it truly means to be a "Pagan of principle", and I've been just as inspired by how the Heathen path as I know it allows modern people to be just that- truly principled people- with what I feel is the most historically grounded, realistic, and visceral "code of morality" out there today.
Most Asatruar follow some variant of what they call the "nine noble virtues"- and many times blessed be these virtues, and all who take them as friends and guides to everyday life! Those who do, without a doubt, are good, honest, courageous people motivated by noble goals. When one examines (along with the many great authors and researchers who have examined) the seeds of historical reality to see what the authentic Heathen "code for living" was, one gains quite a reward. The nine noble virtues- in their many forms- serve well to approximate it, particularly in the universal insistence on guest-friendliness and loyalty to kin.
But I've thought long and hard on the "root" of the nine noble virtues, and the roots of the honor and social codes of the Ancestors; it is easy to see, if one is prepared to see, how the true origin of our Ancestors' behaviors in life-situations is the ancient and powerful notion of
High Mindedness.
Let there be no doubt or obscurity on the matter: our Ancestors, and therefore all of us, are the People of the Sun. We are the descendants of the Ir-men, the people of the Tyr-pillar, the people of the Great Tree, the people who sprang from the blood of humans and the spiritual power of Gods. The solar disc- the glaring eye of Odhinn's triumphant Eagle, represents the victory of consciousness over the dim and dark powers that would drag all order and beauty down to Ur-chaos.
While we live, we live with the consciousness of the Gods in us. After we die, the Godly form bestowed on us by Allfather and his brothers, guided by the light we have preserved in this life, lives on. No greatness or nobility is ever truly lost. While we live, we are in possession of a precious gift, the most ennobling and precious gift that any wight or sentient being can have.
And it is this gift- this solar consciousness which has within it the entire conscious pattern of the Nine Worlds, and the possibility of unfolding into a direct and complete consciousness of wholeness- which is the best power any being can boast of having. It is this
light of Gods and Menthat gives rise to the notion of "High Mindedness"- the true human being, the true "Heathen of principle" is beholden to nothing but the highest principle in the Raidho-order of reality: the principle of constructive and beautifying cooperation and preservation.
It is stitched in the weave of Fate that we human beings were meant to apply our Godly consciousness, our minds, to the path of cooperation with one another, as the Gods cooperate to create and maintain and defend the great work of the Nine Worlds. There is no room for doubt here; we are creators like the Gods, by virtue of our gifts, and furthermore, our gift is not for us alone, but something that can and must be shared- the human "high mind" of solar-awareness is meant to protect and beautify this world, our lives, the lives of others, and to preserve what is good.
Co-creativity and Co-operation are part and parcel of the same mystery. No society worth the name ever arose on the merits of one man or woman; no society ever thrived or survived on anything other than high-minded cooperation and preservation. We have an enormous creative power and potential, and few understand that this luminous field of possibility, smoldering inside of most, but illuminating others, is the radiant presence of Allfather's spirit, which is the spirit of the Gods.
You feel it when you sense and appreciate beauty; it is why we feel so at peace when we arrange our homes in tidy ways, with beautiful, meaningful things displayed proudly, and welcome guests in. It is why we strive to build our lives around beautiful displays of nature, and neat, safe neighborhoods. It is why we create and appreciate art, music, poetry, and the like.
People talk much of "proof" for the existence of Gods or the Godly spirit, but no person who has experienced the power of creativity and orderly, beautiful aesthetics need worry over such proof. One moves in the current of Man's Fate and moves towards Man's highest intended destiny when one appreciates the beautiful things in this world and in other people.
People sometimes ask me why the "animals" (meaning "non-human living creatures") don't have this "high mindedness"- and accuse me of being "anthropocentric"; and to those people, these days I answer:
theyhave it because wehave it, and we humans are natural consecrators: we can consecrate non-human living beings, bless them, share with them, preserve and protect them, all because of our gift. We are in a web of connection and interaction- the divine light burst through fully consciously in us; it now flows from place to place and fills the web. The question becomes: will you become a willing channel?
We were meant to share our power, our special abilities. To beautify this world, preserve its many lives and forces, and live in harmony, in balance with it and with one another. When we violate this innate, Fateful directive, we see the emergence of the ugly, the destructive, and the perilous. We see and feel the difference. We know the face of the vicious wicked; we know it all too well. Only the insane can't see it and recognize it for what it is.
If there was a definition of "insanity" that I could accept, it would come down to this simple but profound thing: it would include those who have lost (or never had) the ability to sense and feel the difference between what is ennobling and what is degrading; between what is truly, spiritually healthy and what is baneful. What I am discussing is a feeling, something deep inside that guides and shelters and protects. Something innate guides the healthy people of this world away from the violating powers and the scourge of the horrid and perilous; something makes most people naturally resist the shackles of the unjust and the oppressive.
I love to think of the powerful values of the Ancestors: to have open generosity and undaunted courage; to be steadfast in friendship and uncompromising in enmity when facing the destructive and the ugly; to be faithful to kin, to one's lord, and faithful in love- to have family pride and pride in the Ancestors, keeping Troth with the sacred powers... such high-minded values rest within the ancient Teutonic belief in inexorable Fate, and the need to endure the needful and unavoidable challenges that will arise to any who stands for such high and noble values.
As I said, for me, all of these values go back to "High Mindedness"- which means to climb the rays of Odhinn's Sun-like mind and to come to understand the nature of one's own internal illumination, and to realize that we can rise above the destructiveness and greed and peril that characterizes the state of Nature's raw, red talons and which characterizes the state of the Thursic powers that still course through the deep places of the world and the cosmos.
We humans are the blossoms of the MANNAZ mystery, the vessels of
andparticipants in the work of the Gods in our own world, with a duty to spread the light of the possibilities of the High Mind to all things. We begin with ourselves, celebrating the victory of light in us, and from there, we radiate it like the sun radiates light to all the world.
This is what freedom is: to be free of the darkness of the Thursic worlds is to be free of the selfishness that would prevent us from being generous; to be free of the unconscious drives to destroy and dominate that would prevent us from being loyal to friends and self-sacrificing for the family and community; to be free of the ignorance that prevents us from seeing ourselves as parts of a greater whole, and part of an ancestral line, allowing us to see with wisdom how the Web of Wyrd contains us all and to be proud of the greater story of which we are a part. The solar mind of the great Eagle of Odhinn has given this freedom.
We can be merciful; we are free from the unforgiving law of the talon unless we have no other recourse to it for the good of all. We can be compassionate; we can be thoughtful; we can be open-minded to many sides of many issues, weighing with wisdom the merits of what confronts us in life; we can be patient and we can be better than the bulk of those who seek only insipid self-glorification and wealth at any cost. We can see entire societies in this world based on fear, not high-mindedness; it is an eternal truth that
fear is the polar opposite of the solar-minded attitude.
We see entire societies based on fear of sexuality and prudish, (sometimes violent) unthinking adherence to the words of dead scriptures; we see entire societies where the value of human life- especially female human life- has all but been lost. The way of high-mindedness is the way of life's value. Life is the seat of the solar force; it is the "high seat" of every possibility of beauty and power- and thus, no "tradition", no matter how venerable, can justify the wanton destruction of life, injustice, or the imprisonment and mistreatment of entire genders or types of people. Those who fight against these sorts of injustices fight with the righteous wrath of the Aesir- they are the true spiritual princes and spear-disir of our times.
A person who can be free in this High-Minded way of being, and increase and preserve the beauty and harmony of this world, that person is the most principled human- none can claim to be more so. And none will have a more honored seat in the Halls of the Gods when the Fate of death finally sends them to the Hel-way and then to the Doom-ring.
I do not offer promises of reward in the afterlife as some incentive; the Ancestors did not, and I do not- I offer only the truth that each person who engages the High-Mindedness that is Man's greatest gift will make him or herself into a sun in this life, and that light will shine beyond the boundaries of this life, because that is what suns and stars do. Those who remain in darkness will have only the darkness of the self when death closes their eyes and all other lights have failed.
This is not "reward for services rendered or obedience tendered"- this is "prepare your destiny now through your nobility- or lack thereof." No white Christ will let you off the hook for your own darkness- and no true "life of principle" is possible for those who have not taken full responsibility for their own light.
For those who imagine our Ancestors to have been violent, brutish people who allowed only warriors fallen in the act of battle to go to Odhinn's drinking hall, think again: it is well proven- at least to my satisfaction- that the ancient Heathens believed that men who were slain in combat and who died with the bloodstains of atrocity on their hands did not merit Valhalla. Those interested further in this point should see Rydberg's "Teutonic Mythology" for more information and evidence. Now, as in the distant past, the heavens are reserved for the stars- light for the light, and darkness for the darkness.
May the Ginnregin keep you all very safe. Let your minds join Odhinn's great victory, and be one of the heroes who helps keep the world safe until the end of Worlds.
Follow unwaveringly the course of Raidho-beauty and Wunjo-life. | 12,502 | 5,586 | 27,801.619048 |
warc | 201704 | Agricultural transformation, growth and poverty reduction
This report summarises discussions from the ‘Agriculture, food security and rural development’ conference, held in Bamako, Mali, April 2010. The conference was organised to exchange experiences and promote learning on topics related to promoting growth and reducing poverty. The dialogue among participants from China, African countries and institutions, and the donor community focused on two themes: China’s experience of economic growth and poverty reduction, including the contribution of international assistance and its relevance for other developing countries, particularly in Africa; and China’s economic cooperation with Africa and the lessons that China and the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) can share with each other to increase the collective impact of foreign aid on reducing poverty in Africa. | 912 | 497 | 1,631.323944 |
warc | 201704 | A few days ago on the way to work I was listening to Dirk Van’s show and he posed an interesting question to the listeners. Is the space program worth it?
Most said that it was, for a variety of reasons. Some of them posed were national pride, research that is done, and there were others.
I remember visiting the Kennedy Space Center several years ago. I loved the museums filled with the rockets and equipment used to explore space. I also was able to walk through the area where they were working on the International Space Station. I was with my father and he said to me “this has got to be a black hole of money here”. I couldn’t argue. I assume that NASA is run like any other government program, and is rife with waste.
The benefits of the space program are many. So many of the things that we use every day that we take for granted have been either invented or improved due to the space program.
But can’t we build a structure that can hold a perfect vacuum here on earth for a LOT cheaper and do the research there? Like for say, a billion dollars? For fiscal year -09, NASA’s budget was almost $18bb!
Do we need the weightless part to get the good research done?
Can’t private industry or individuals look for life on other planets?
I would love to hear from some of our scientists who read the blog as well as others on this subject. | 1,388 | 770 | 2,422.690909 |
warc | 201704 | Fact-checking Froman: The Top 10 Myths Used by Obama’s Top Trade Official
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman tried in a speech yesterday to defend the Obama administration’s beleaguered trade policy agenda: the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) pacts and an unpopular push to Fast Track those sweeping deals through Congress. The list of those publicly opposing the Fast Track push includes most House Democrats, a sizeable bloc of House Republicans, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and 62% of the U.S. voting public.
In attempt to justify the administration’s polemical pacts, Froman resorted to some statements of dubious veracity, ranging from half-truths to outright mistruths. To set the record straight, here are the top 10 Froman fables, followed by inconvenient facts that undercut his assertions and help explain the widespread opposition to TPP, TAFTA, and Fast Track.
1. Access to affordable medicines Froman: “[In TPP] we’re working to find better ways to foster affordable access to medicines…” Fact: This is one of the bigger whoppers to escape Froman’s mouth during the speech. Leaked negotiating texts reveal that U.S. proposals for the TPP go beyond prior U.S. pacts in handing large pharmaceutical corporations unprecedented monopoly patent protections that would restrict the availability of life-saving generic medicines and raise healthcare costs in TPP countries. The U.S. TPP proposals would empower pharmaceutical firms to extend medicine patents beyond what the World Trade Organization allows, to patent even the methods for treating patients, and to re-patent existing medicines without actually inventing anything new. A broad array of public health groups have condemned the overreaching U.S. TPP proposals, warning that they would “jeopardize many, if not millions, of lives.” 2. Income inequality Froman: “Our trade policy is a major lever for encouraging investment here at home in manufacturing, agriculture and services, creating more high-paying jobs and combating wage stagnation and income inequality.” Fact: First, study after study has shown no correlation between a country’s willingness to sign on to TPP-style pacts and its ability to attract foreign investment, casting doubt on Froman’s promise of a job-creating investment influx. But more importantly, Froman opted to ignore a big part of why U.S. workers are currently enduring such acute levels of “wage stagnation and income inequality.” He did not mention the academic consensus that status quo U.S. trade policy, which the TPP would expand, has contributed significantly to the historic rise in U.S. income inequality. The only debate has been the extent of trade’s inequality-exacerbating impact. A recent study estimates that trade flows have been responsible for more than 90% of the rise in income inequality occurring since 1995, a period characterized by trade pacts that have incentivized the offshoring of decently-paid U.S. jobs and forced U.S. workers to compete with poorly-paid workers abroad. How can the TPP, a proposed expansion of the trade policies that have exacerbated inequality, now be expected to ameliorate inequality? 3. Internet freedom Froman: “I’ve heard some critics suggest that TPP is in some way related to SOPA [the Stop Online Piracy Act]. Don’t believe it. It just isn’t true….” Fact: Froman’s attempt to assuage fears of a TPP-provided backdoor to SOPA-like limits on Internet freedom would be more convincing if a) he offered details beyond “it just isn’t true,” or b) if his statement didn’t directly contradict leaked TPP texts. A November leak of the draft TPP intellectual property chapter revealed, for example, that the U.S. is proposing draconian copyright liability rules for Internet service providers that, like SOPA, threaten to curtail Internet users’ free speech. Indeed, while nearly all other TPP countries have agreed to a proposed provision to limit Internet service providers’ liability, the United States is one of two countries to oppose such flexibility. 4. Corporate trade advisors Froman: “Our cleared advisors do include representatives from the private sector… [but] they [also] include representatives from every major labor union, public health groups…environmental groups…as well as development NGOs...” Fact: About 90% of the members of the official U.S. trade advisory system explicitly represent industry interests. These “advisors” are granted privileged access to U.S. negotiators and secretive trade negotiating texts. Less than 9% of the advisors represent the union, public health, consumer, or development organizations that Froman touts. And most of those non-industry representatives are cloistered into just two of the advisory system’s 28 committees, while 16 of the committees have zero non-business representatives. These industry-only committees meet with administration representatives three times as often as the system’s single labor committee, as highlighted by AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka in a recent letter criticizing the lack of TPP consultation with union representatives who ostensibly serve as “advisors.” Froman: “I’m pleased to announce that we are upgrading our advisory system to provide a new forum for experts on issues like public health, development and consumer safety. A new Public Interest Trade Advisory Committee, or PTAC, will join the Labor Advisory Committee and the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committees to provide cross-cutting platforms for input in the negotiations.” Fact: Froman’s announcement of a new “public interest” committee – a response to the outcry over the vast imbalance of this corporate-dominated advisory system – offers too little, too late. Amid a slew of advisory committees exclusively devoted to narrow industry interests, the “public interest” now gets a single committee? And how much influence will this committee have in changing the many core TPP provisions that threaten the public interest, now that the administration hopes to conclude TPP negotiations, which have been going on for four years, in the coming months? Proposed as a TPP afterthought, this new committee comes across as window-dressing, not a genuine restructuring of a system that gives corporations insider access to an otherwise closed trade negotiation process. 5. Fast Track Froman: Fast Track is “the mechanism by which Congress has worked with every administration since 1974 to define its marching orders on what to negotiate…” We can use Fast Track to “require[] future administrations to require labor, environmental and innovation and access to medicines [standards]…” Fact: Under Fast Track, Congress has not given the administration “marching orders” so much as marching suggestions. Though Congress inserted non-binding “negotiating objectives” for U.S. pacts into past Fast Track bills – a model replicated in the unpopular current legislation to revive Fast Track for the TPP and TAFTA – Democratic and GOP presidents alike have historically ignored negotiating objectives included in Fast Track. For example, Froman stated that Fast Track could be used to require particular labor standards. But while the 1988 Fast Track used for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) included a negotiating objective on labor standards, neither pact included such terms. The history shows that Fast-Tracked pacts that ignore Congress’ priorities can still be signed by the president (locking in the agreements’ contents) before being sent to Congress for an expedited, ex-post vote in which amendments are prohibited and debate is restricted. 6. Currency manipulation Froman: In response to a question of whether currency manipulation is being addressed in the TPP: “We take the issue of exchange rates or currency manipulation very seriously as a matter of policy…” Fact: U.S. TPP negotiators have not even initiated negotiations on the inclusion of binding disciplines on currency manipulation, much less secured other countries’ commitment to those disciplines. The U.S. inaction on currency in the TPP contrasts with letters signed by 230 Representatives (a majority) and 60 Senators (a supermajority) demanding the inclusion of currency manipulation disciplines in the TPP. Unless U.S. negotiators take currency manipulation more “seriously,” the TPP may be dead on arrival in the U.S. Congress. 7. Labor rights Froman: “In TPP we’re seeking to include disciplines requiring adherence to fundamental labor rights, including the right to organize and to collectively bargain, protections from child and forced labor and employment discrimination.” Fact: The TPP includes Vietnam, a country that bans independent unions. And Vietnam was recently red-listed by the Department of Labor as one of just four countries that use both child labor and forced labor in apparel production. While Froman acknowledged such “serious challenges,” he did not explain how they would be resolved. Is Vietnam going to change its fundamental labor laws so as to allow independent unions? Is the government going to revamp its enforcement mechanisms so as to eliminate the country’s widespread child and forced labor? Barring such sweeping changes, will the U.S. still sign on to a TPP that includes Vietnam? 8. Environmental protection Froman: “We’re asking our trading partners to commit to effectively enforce environmental laws…” Fact: While Froman touted several provisions in the draft TPP environment chapter as requiring enforcement of domestic environmental laws, he didn’t mention the draft TPP investment chapter that would empower foreign corporations to directly challenge those laws before international tribunals if they felt the laws undermined their expected future profits. Corporations have been increasingly using these extreme “investor-state” provisions under existing U.S. “free trade” agreements (FTAs) to attack domestic environmental policies, including a moratorium on fracking, renewable energy programs, and requirements to clean up oil pollution and industrial toxins. Tribunals comprised of three private attorneys have already ordered taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions to foreign firms for such safeguards, arguing that they violate sweeping FTA-granted investor privileges. Froman’s call for countries to enforce their environmental laws sounds hollow under a TPP that would simultaneously empower corporations to “sue” countries for said enforcement. 9. TPP secrecy Froman: “Let me make one thing absolutely clear: any member of Congress can see the negotiating text anytime they request it.” Fact: For three full years negotiations, members of Congress were not able to see the bracketed negotiating text of the TPP, a deal that would rewrite broad swaths of domestic U.S. policies. Only after mounting outcry among members of Congress and the public about this astounding degree of secrecy did the administration begin sharing the negotiating text with members of Congress last June. Even so, the administration still only provides TPP text access under restrictive terms for many members of Congress, such as requiring that technical staff not be present and forbidding the member of Congress from taking detailed notes or keeping a copy of the text. Meanwhile, the U.S. public remains shut out, with the Obama administration refusing to make public any part of the TPP negotiating text. Such secrecy falls short of the standard of transparency exhibited by the Bush administration, which published online the full negotiating text of the last similarly sweeping U.S. pact (the Free Trade Area of the Americas). 10. Exports under FTAs Froman: “Under President Obama, U.S. exports have increased by 50%...” “Today the post-crisis surge in exports we experienced over the last few years is beginning to recede. And that’s why we’re working to open markets in the Asia-Pacific and in Europe...” Fact: U.S. exports grew by a grand total of 0% last year under the current “trade” pact model. The year before that, they grew by 2%. Most of the export growth Froman cites came early in Obama’s tenure as a predictable rebound from the global recession that followed the 2007-2008 financial crisis. At the abysmal export growth rate seen since then, we will not reach Obama’s stated goal to double 2009’s exports until 2054, 40 years behind schedule. Froman ironically uses this export growth drop-off to argue for more-of-the-same trade policy (e.g. the TPP and TAFTA). The data simply does not support the oft-parroted pitch that we need TPP-style FTAs to boost exports. Indeed, the overall growth of U.S. exports to countries that are notFTA partners has exceeded U.S. export growth to countries that areFTA partners by 30 percent over the last decade. That’s not a solid basis from which to argue, in the name of exports, for yet another FTA. | 13,480 | 5,813 | 30,053.466368 |
warc | 201704 | International Drought Symposium
FOR PRESENTATIONS MADE AT THE SYMPOSIUM CLICK HERE
The Water Science and Policy Center at the University of California, Riverside, held an
International Drought Symposium that took place March 24-26, 2010, at the Marriott Hotel in Riverside. The main objective was to compare drought impacts and mitigation under various physical, economic, and institutional situations in these states, and to allow 'out of the box' approaches to be considered and adopted by the various countries.
The symposium brought senior disciplinary experts from Spain, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and California — all drought-prone areas — to sit together and share scientific and policy aspects related to drought and its mitigation in each of these areas. The disciplines included were: economics, agronomy, hydrology, ecology, technology, policy, and water management.
Program
Click HERE to see the symposium program.
Public Event "A World with Less Water: Discussion on Drought Policy"
Because the topic of drought is of great interest to Southern Californians, a free public event — "A World with Less Water: Discussion on Drought Policy" — was held on the last day of the symposium. Sponsored by the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, this public event was advertised widely throughout the region. A panel made up of water policy makers discussed drought issues, answered questions from the audience, and provided a thoughtful discussion about what can be done to avoid and ameliorate drought, both in California and worldwide.
Presenting Teams
Click on each country's name to get information about the drought situation in that location and to see biographies of participating team members.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Water Science and Policy Center, University of California, Riverside
Instituto Nacional de Ecologia
Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy for Africa, University of Pretoria
Agrifood Research and Technology Center
Keynote Speakers Michael J. Hayes is Director of the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), University of Nebraska-Lincoln. NDMC has 23 faculty and staff working on local, tribal, state, national, and international drought- and water-related issues. Hayes has worked at the center since 1995, he was named director in August 2007. He is also an Associate Professor in UNL's School of Natural Resources , where his responsibilities include conducting research on the economic, environmental, and social impacts of drought; developing new drought monitoring and impact assessment methodologies; assisting with the development and review of drought plans; and helping to organize and conduct drought workshops and conferences. Hayes received a bachelor's degree in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and master's and doctoral degrees in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Abstract "Lessons learned: Recent drought risk management experiences in the U.S."
Water is fundamental to life. Yet, as a resource, water is facing a complex series of challenges in terms of its quantity, quality, and management around the world and across the United States. Droughts play a major role in many of these challenges and recent droughts across many parts of the U.S. have highlighted specific lessons applicable for drought risk management. This presentation will explore some of these lessons faced by drought and water managers. These lessons focus on the understanding of drought as a natural hazard, as well as the identification of strategies to improve on the monitoring, mitigation, and planning for drought at local, regional, and national levels. Learning from these lessons will be paramount in the face of climate change with the nation and world facing ever-increasing water scarcity issues, which have serious implications for food security, ecosystem services, and many other sectors of society.
Daniel Connell is a research fellow with a joint appointment to the Australian National University's Water Initiative and Crawford School of Economics and Government. His recent book Water Politics in the Murray-Darling Basin examined the institutional arrangements in that region with a focus on basin-scale water planning and the evolving relationship between the increasingly dominant national government and the state governments that have controlled water management in the MDB for over a century. His current research focuses on multilevel water governance in Australia, South Africa, the U.S. Southwest, Spain/Portugal, India, and China. Abstract
"
Rivers within their federal systems - Similar issues, different responses in the south-west United States, Mexico, southern Africa, Spain/Portugal and southern Australia."
Governance responses to recent extreme droughts in the Colorado, Guadiana, Orange/Vaal, Rio Grande and Murray-Darling systems will be the focus of this paper. The aim is to develop a comparative template to assess policy and management performance. Elements of the template will include dispute resolution and scarcity sharing procedures, planning and policy frameworks, decentralization processes, use of economic instruments such as water trading, involvement of non-government stakeholders, treatment of sustainability and environmental issues, monitoring and reporting procedures, management of compliance issues (involving both state/provincial governments and non government stakeholders), treatment of equity issues (particularly those involving first peoples), responses to emerging issues such as climate change and, more generally, the impact of their federal systems on water management.
Core Team Members
Dr.
Jose Albiac, Agrifood Research and Technology Center (CITA), Government of Aragon, Spain.
Dr.
Jeff Connor, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Sustainable Ecosystems team, Glen Osmond SA, Australia.
Professor
Ariel Dinar, Water Science and Policy Center (WSPC), University of California, Riverside, California.
Professor
Rashid Hassan, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy for Africa (CEEPA), University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Dr.
Carlos Muñoz Piña, Instituto Nacional de Ecologia, Mexico City, Mexico. Organizing Committee University of California, Riverside:
Michael Allen, Sara Clausen, Ariel Dinar, Exequiel Ezecurra, Carol Lerner, Carol O'Brien, Kurt Schwabe, R.C. Sutton
University of California Water Resources Center:
Julie Drouyor, Christine French
For Further Information
Water Science and Policy Center
Department of Environmental Sciences University of California, Riverside 900 University Avenue Riverside, CA 92521 SponsorsClick HERE to see the sponsors of the conference and of the country teams. | 6,839 | 3,062 | 15,100.744285 |
warc | 201704 | By Mark Wallace
Now that both parties are fighting to take credit for the coalition's achievements, rather than seeking to blame each other for its impact, it seems an opportune moment to ask: who is winning the Coalition? Do the Lib Dems or the Conservatives enjoy more success in Government?
Let's tot it up, match by match, across thirteen key policy areas:
Home Office
With PCCs introduced, an immigration cap in place, the concept of regional immigration limits rejected, spending cuts to the police but crime falling regardless and even the now-famous "Go Home" vans, the Home Office is a round victory for the Conservatives. The Lib Dems will be happy about the scrapping of ID cards, but it's worth remembering that this was Tory policy at the election, too.
Blues 2 - 0 Yellows
Local Government
Both parties described themselves as localist in the run-up to 2010, but the plan the Government have implemented is almost entirely Eric Pickles'. Spending transparency, guaranteed referenda for council tax increases over 5 per cent and relaxed planning regulations all point to a Conservative win.
Blues 2 - 0 Yellows
Justice
It's a little hard to say how the different parties have fared in the Justice department. The failure to fulfil the Tory pledge for automatic jail sentences for carrying a knife illegally and the fact the Human Rights Act still has not been replaced by a British Bill of Rights are certainly points against the Conservatives, but they were respectively scored by Ken Clarke and a Commission set up by the Prime Minister, so count as own goals. Since he took over as Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling has been pushing ahead more productively with cuts to legal aid, reform of the courts system and a new, more accountable prison regime. The Lib Dems have had barely a look-in, but the own goals go on their tally - we can expect a better rematch later in the Parliament.
Blues 3 - 2 Yellows
Constitutional Reform
The Lib Dems had a good sequence of play early on - for a while it looked like they might romp home. They certainly secured the referendum on AV which they had demanded, but then the electorate overwhelmingly rejected the plan. Lords reform briefly came onto the agenda, before being torpedoed by Tory backbench opposition. In revenge, Clegg sank the boundary reform the Conservatives desperately need to iron out structural bias in the election system. Both sides lose out - a no-score draw.
Blues 0 - 0 Yellows
Education
It's fair to say Michael Gove has emerged victorious on almost every measure in Education. The academies scheme has been dramatically extended, Free Schools are springing up and new, more rigorous exams are in place. The flagship Lib Dem policy of the Pupil Premium has been implemented, but their promise to aboilish tuition fees has been entirely reversed.
Blues 5 - 1 Yellows
Transport
Both parties supported High Speed 2 in 2010, and despite heavy fire from all sides it remains Government policy. The Lib Dem policy of introducing road pricing has been rejected, and replaced by reductions and freezes in fuel prices, driven by Rob Halfon. Clegg and Cameron both promised that Heathrow would not be expanded, and they've got their way - with Lib Dem support for the policy helping to overwhelm any Tory suggestions it be revoked.
Blues 2 - 1 Yellows
Defence
The decision to hold a Strategic Defence Review rather partially removed this department from the realm of pure party politics early on in the parliament. However, the Lib Dems regularly boast that they have managed to delay any decision to replace Trident until at least 2015, while the Conservatives have successfully slimmed down the MoD's size and balanced its budget for the first time in years. A score draw.
Blues 1 - 1 Yellows
Energy and Environment
Chris Huhne, and later Ed Davey, have dominated these policy fields from DECC until Owen Paterson gave DEFRA more Tory bite in the last year. The Green Deal is in place (and splashing money everywhere), wind farms are still going ahead despite the Tories wishing to implement a moratorium and the Green Investment Bank has got the go-ahead. Shale gas has now been given the green light, but only after lengthy delays thanks to Lib Dem opposition.
Blues 1 - Yellows 5
Tax and Spend
Both parties agreed on the need for austerity after the Brown years, but we should note that the Lib Dem manifesto proposed £15 billion of spending cuts, delayed until 2011-12. Austerity has been larger than that, and began immediately. While Clegg and Alexander's presence in the Quad has certainly reduced the fiscal tightening somewhat, Government policy looks closer to Osborne's position than theirs.
On tax, it's a different story. The 50p rate is gone, but it is now 45p rather than the 40p many Tories would have preferred. The income tax threshold is rising to £10,000, following a Lib Dem manifesto pledge - though it's not a policy many Conservatives are uncomfortable about. It's fair to say Osborne's enthusiasm for tax cuts (for example on Inheritance Tax) has been sizeably hindered by his coalition partners.
Goals for each side, but level pegging so far.
Blues 2 - Yellows 2
Welfare Reform
Like Eric Pickles, Iain Duncan Smith went into the 2010 election with a coherent plan and a deep personal dedication to his brief. As a result, he's got his way on the bulk of his proposals. The two parties have collaborated to protect the Universal Credit scheme from Treasury attempts to axe it or scale it back. It says a lot that the Lib Dems' main impact on the DWP has been to veto IDS' offers to make even more savings from his budget.
Blues 2 - Yellows 1
Business and Banks
Vince Cable has long touted his Department as the heartland of Lib Dem opposition to Conservative leadership of the coalition. He's certainly managed to get the Government to adopt his industrial strategy, and blocked the Beecroft reforms to workplace regulation. But he has also had to accept the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies and the Conservative-driven cuts to red tape. The decider is the Government's decision to accept the Lib Dem policy to break up the banks.
Blues 2 - Yellows 3
Health
To say the Health and Social Care Act proved controversial is an understatement. Various of the policies within it are drawn from the Conservative 2010 manifesto, although Lib Dem opposition forced the Government into a "listening period" and resulted in several changes to the legislation.
Blues 2 - Yellows 1
Europe
This always seemed likely to be the sticking point of the Coalition. Clegg has prevented Cameron from offering an earlier referendum, and the Conservatives have been forced to use a Private Member's Bill to pursue their policy post-2015. However, the Lib Dems so far have been too afraid of public opinion to vote against the Wharton Bill, resorting to wrecking attempts in the Committees. The In/Out referendum is on the way, but Yellow blocking tactics have left the Blues open to attack by UKIP.
Blues 1 - Yellows 2
Scores so far
Here are the overall scores from the first half of the Parliamentary season. Of 13 matches, there have been 7 Blue victories, 3 Yellow wins and 3 draws. 25 goals for the Conservatives and 19 for the Liberal Democrats leaves the goal difference at +6 for the Blue team.
The contest is only going to become more hotly contested - as can be seen by Nick Clegg's attempt to take the credit for Rob Halfon's ideas today - so we will continue to watch every match and report back.
I reported yesterday that the top "red line" for Conservative Party members for any coalition negotiations with the Liberal Democrats after the 2015 election is holding the In/Out EU referendum in 2017 - after the promised renegotiation.
If these commitments are treated as one, the next four red lines in our members' poll came in as follows. On a scale of one to ten, with one representing "very negotiable" and ten representing "non negotiable", all came in at eight, with very marginal differences beween them, as follows:
I am not at all sure that the reduction and equalisation of seats will be in the Tory manifesto, given events in this Parliament, but the priority which members give to the move reflects their frustration and anger with how the Liberal Democrats behaved.
The benefits and immigration caps are popular with members as well as voters, and their ranking reflects that. There is unabashed enthusiasm for shale. It's perhaps surprising not to see the economy or tax in the top five issues. We will turn to them tomorrow.
By Mark Wallace
Yesterday I looked at new polling suggesting the young are more radical than their elders when it comes to the welfare state. Today, the British Social Attitudes survey has been released (play with the interactive data charts here), an annual orgy of data for those interested in such things.
To read the BBC, you'd think it was full of bad news for Conservatives. "British Social Attitudes Report finds softening attitudes to benefits", yells the headline.
As is so often the case, though, it's the still, small voice that holds the truth and the headline that holds the wishful thinking. The data, and the trends over time in particular, don't show a "softening" - if anything, they show the opposite.
For example, here is a graph showing two of the BSA's findings on welfare over the last thirty years. The grey line is those who think "the Government should spend more on welfare", while the black line is those who think "most benefit recipients don't deserve help""
If that isn't enough to convince you, check this next graph out. Here we have a comparison between the percentage who agree "unemployment benefits are too low" (the purple line) and the percentage who agree that "if welfare was less generous people would stand on their own two feet" (the red line):
For example, they report a fall (to 51 per cent) in those who think benefits are too high - but neglect to mention that those who think benefits are too low are in a small minority of 22 per cent. The proportion who think they are neither, ie that the level is about right, is 17 per cent - the highest rate in a decade.
The public are still on Iain Duncan Smith's side when it comes to welfare - no matter how much his critics might wish otherwise.
By Mark Wallace
A growing dataset has emerged over the last few months suggesting a rightwards shift among the young. Be it in the beliefs younger voters hold or the more modest shift in the party they support, it seems that Generation Y are striking out in a different direction to their parents.
More evidence comes today in a new Demos report, Generation Strains, in which the authors examine polling data on the views of different generations on the welfare state. Some of the results are predictable and driven by life-cycle, such as the tendency for young adults to make child benefit a high priority. Others, though, point to generational changes in opinion.
For example, look at the proportion of people in each generation who agree that "the creation of the welfare state is one of Britain's proudest achievements" (all graphs from Demos):
By Peter Hoskin Follow Peter on Twitter
This isn’t exactly a boom time for that commodity called “government competence”. After the National Audit Office’s uncomplimentary prose about the delivery of Universal Credit, yesterday, it sounds as though the Public Accounts Committee is going to be similarly critical about the course of HS2. According to a report in today’s Daily Mail, the committee will next week “deliver its own ‘damning’ verdict on official plans and costings for the 225mph line”.
Now,
I have divergent views about the Universal Credit (one of the most important
social reforms that the Coalition is introducing) and HS2 (scrap it, probably)
– but there’s a question that unifies the two. And that is: can the Government
ever implement its
grands projets on
time and on budget? At the very least, it often seems to struggle.
By Harry Phibbs
A difficult day for the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith with a critical report from the National Audit Office on the implementation of the Universal Credit leading the news bulletins.
The Government is certainly being ambitious over the scale of the project and the timescale for implementing it.
The scheme will rely on the HMRC providing "real time information" on tax reductions to the DWP - so that the level of benefits can be adjusted to ensure work pays. Tricky. To add to this Mr Duncan Smith has been let down by some of his civil servants - not only in failing to achieve the progress they promised but then, as Paul Goodman has noted, resorting to deception over their lack of progress.
Some may take a sanguine view. Dogs bark, cats meow and Whitehall IT projects go over budget. Perversely the attitude of Ministers is less forgiving over such lapses than the shrugging from the media and the public. Certainly the offer from the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne for cross party talks to "rescue" the scheme is risible. It was the Labour Party that wasted £12 billion of our money on an NHS computer system project that was scrapped.
Yet the Government will not want to judged by the standards of their predecessors. The Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is not passive over civil service failings or inefficient Government procurement.
I understand that Mr Maude and Mr Duncan Smith have been working effectively together to sort this out. Rather ironic given that when Mr Duncan Smith was the Conservative leader it was Mr Maude who led the plotting for a replacement.
The formidable Conservative backbench support for transferable tax allowances shows how crucial marriage is to Tory thinking about social policy. It's often accompanied by a preoccupation with the position of one-earner couples within the tax and benefit system, and a certain sympathy for universalism and hostility to means-testing: hence the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail's hostility to George Osborne's treatment of child benefit. Iain Duncan Smith's support for marriage is well-known. And although he isn't in charge of family policy - no-one is: a glaring weakness - he is central to its formation as delivery in his role as Work and Pensions Secretary.
At first glance, it might be assumed that Duncan Smith's position is aligned to his backbenchers, the Mail/Telegraph axis, and right-of-centre social policy writers such as Laura Perrins and Kathy Gyngell - who have recently set out similar views on this site. But I have been discovering recently that it ain't necessarily so. The Work and Pensions Secretary is carving out his own distinctive view, shaped by his experience with the Centre for Social Justice and evident in what his department is putting into practice. He is certainly an enthusiast for transferable allowances, which he sees as helping to level the taxation playing-field for one-earner couples.
By Mark Wallace
More jobs, fewer people relying on JSA and fewer redundancies will undoubtedly stir some smiles in the Treasury.
By Peter Hoskin Follow Peter on Twitter
And the word of the day is “cap”, as in “benefits cap”. You might have heard it during Iain Duncan Smith’s growling appearance on the Today Programme earlier, or read it in Grant Shapps’ article for the Daily Telegraph. For today’s the day when the Government extends what is effectively a £26,000-a-year cap on the out-of-work benefits that can be claimed by a single household across the whole country. So far, it’s only applied in four London boroughs.
To mark the occasion, CCHQ has released the infographic at the top of this page. Actually, I say “infographic”, but it’s a more a digital raspberry blown in Labour’s collective face. As we know, and as per the polling that’s available, the Tories think they’re on to a vote-winner with this cap. Hence Shapps’ confidence, in that Telegraph article, that “Labour are miles behind” on welfare. Although, as I’ve said before, he and his colleagues shouldn’t allow that confidence to spill over into callous rhetoric – there’s more to Iain Duncan Smith’s reforms than lazy lines about “scroungers” and “shirkers” admit.
By Harry Phibbs
The Times journalist Daniel Finkelstein is a bright and engaging fellow. Reading his stuff is enjoyable as you follow his reasoning weighing the merit of an argument. He is open minded and interested in radical ideas - unlike so many of his fellow pundits who are sneeringly dismissive. However Mr Finkelstein also agonises over the difficulties.
When I first met him he was Chairman of the Young Social Democrats and a great fan of David Owen. He then joined the Conservatives and was a Chris Patten enthusiast. He worked at CCHQ hand in glove with the then Party Chairman. An unlikely coupling.
So anyway although Mr Finkelstein is a Conservative he is not Thatcherite revolutionary. Yet in a recent column (£) on public spending he included this thought on what the Labour Party (or I suppose the Government) could do to achieve further reductions:
Perhaps it could start welfare provision at 21..
At the other end of the scale the age at which the old age pension is eligible is being increased with little fuss. I have suggested raising it to 70 - phased in over a few years - and Mr Finkelstein agrees. | 17,625 | 7,788 | 39,135.737673 |
warc | 201704 | Should software vendors be liable for vulnerabilities in the products they sell? Are they already liable to some degree, or would new legislation be required in order to make it so? These are interesting questions, sure to provoke strong opinions on both sides of the fence.
In almost every case, when you buy a software product, a close inspection of the End User License Agreement (EULA) will reveal a host of exculpatory clauses, exonerating the vendor of responsibility for any kind of direct, indirect, consequential (and just about every other applicable adjective) damages “whatsoever” that may arise from the installation or use of (or inability to use) the software product. But is this reasonable or indeed fair?
Software products are not a tangible asset and as such escape much of the legislation that applies to the sale of goods and their fitness for purpose. However the majority of successful compromises of systems and enterprises arise from the exploitation of a vulnerability or flaw in an application or operating system, and often results in direct financial loss.
At first glance the case for enforcing some kind of liability on vendors seems obvious. Make the vendor legally responsible for the quality of their product and thus increase their focus on writing secure code. Lower the number of vulnerabilities in published product and create an ecosystem where vendors routinely produce more robust software. Indeed the idea is not a new one. A House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on Personal Internet Security from 2006/7 reached the following conclusion (8.15):
“
We therefore recommend that the Government explore, at European level, the introduction of the principle of vendor liability within the IT industry. In the short term we recommend that such liability should be imposed on vendors (that is, software and hardware manufacturers), notwithstanding end user licensing agreements, in circumstances where negligence can be demonstrated. In the longer term, as the industry matures, a comprehensive framework of vendor liability and consumer protection should be introduced.”
Similar calls have been echoed by such luminaries as Bruce Schneier and Viviane Reding, but what might be some of the consequences and does adequate cover exist already?
The first and most obvious is that it may well increase the cost of developing software, the impossibility of creating invulnerable code would oblige vendors to take out unlimited liability insurance contracts against the inevitable stream of lawsuits, the cost of this being passed on to the consumer. Particularly when the temptation might exist for companies to skimp on even the most basic of security practices, passing the buck to the software vendor when a breach occurs. This could effectively be the death-knell for free software.
A second unintended consequence could be equally costly for the consumer. What happens when the vendor releases an updated product addressing identified flaws with an earlier version? Would cover cease for the now legacy versions, obliging consumers to commit to expensive and perhaps unnecessary upgrades to continue to benefit from their newfound legal protection?
Where do we truly stand right now, are those EULAs worth the bits they’re written on? Is new legislation required or even worthwhile? In the traditional last refuge of the scoundrel,
I Am Not A Lawyer, so I’ll defer to the opinion of a colleague who is:
“
If a software vendor negligently exposes its software to vulnerabilities, in particular because of defects in the software or non-compliance with best practices, under current law it can be held liable for all consequences arising therefrom. Exculpatory clauses in EULAs can limit liability but the validity of such clauses have to be examined on a case-by-case basis”
Bear this in mind though; the vast majority of breaches are the result of the exploitation of vulnerabilities for which a patch has already been released by the vendor. Even with a physical good such as a car, the vendor is not required to fix the (potentially life-endangering) fault, only to issue a recall and make the necessary changes. Is it really so different, and if you don’t respond to the recall notice, or install the patch, where do you think the liability is going to lie in those cases? | 4,388 | 2,151 | 8,829.039517 |
warc | 201704 | The key research question
One question above all others has shaped this investigation: why did the Italo-Romans in the early part of the first century BC introduce highly sophisticated perspectival wall-paintings into their living environments. The spatial and psychological sophistication displayed in these wall-paintings bares comparison to the virtual worlds created by today’s computerised technologies. Unlike much current experimentation, however, it was not driven by the entertainment industry. Nor does it appear to be trompe l’oeil for its own sake, or solely motivated by the desire to use paint to emulate the luxurious world of Hellenistic monarchs, as some have argued. The virtual worlds depicted in these paintings consist of a complex mixture of natural, mythological and symbolic references that seamlessly fuse with their domestic counterpart – theirs is a world of dissolution and becoming.
Despite their visual complexity the paintings have not been subjected to the kind of in-depth iconological analysis that was, for example, applied to the ancient pictorial vases found in southern Italy
(Magna Graecia). Why should this be the case? The answer to this question involves a number of complex issues that are examined in detail in the course of this publication. The short answer, however, lies in the fact that the majority of wall-paintings were found in domestic locations. The vases, on the other hand, were discovered in graves and were therefore thought to have religio-symbolic or eschatological meanings attached to them.
No such esoteric assumptions were made in respect of the wall-paintings. Their domestic location linked them to the aesthetics of interior design and decoration and not symbolic meaning. Hence, from the outset the critical framework was determined by stylistic and typological forms of analysis and not iconological methodologies. As a result the wall-paintings were denied any symbolic dénouement that they may have once possessed. Removal for inclusion into palatial decorative schemes in the eighteenth-century and museum display in the nineteenth-century, further decontextualised them, thus making narrative sequencing and iconological forms of analysis even more problematical. | 2,263 | 1,139 | 4,444.539947 |
warc | 201704 | Open-ended leases tend to run month to month.
Leases
Fixed-term leases run for a definite term, such as a year, while open-ended leases run for a period of one month or less. Because open-ended leases tend to operate month to month, they're legally known as periodic tenancies. Fixed-term rental-property lease agreements are known legally as fixed-term tenancies. Similar to fixed-term leases, open-ended leases are formal agreements between landlords and tenants.
Characteristics
Open-ended leases allow landlords and tenants to change the conditions of their lease agreements with a 30-day written notice, unless otherwise specified. For example, under open-ended leases, landlords must provide 30 days written notice regarding changes to rental rates. At the same time, tenants under open-ended leases must
let landlords know 30 days in advance if they intend to move out of the rental space.
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Category: Credit | 1,367 | 660 | 2,794.065152 |
warc | 201704 | Two surprises come from a re-analysis of classic Ediacaran fossils from Australia: they’re unrelated to Cambrian animals, and they may have lived on land.
Dr. Gregory Retallack (University of Oregon), a native Australian, examined the rocks in south Australia containing fossil Ediacaran organisms. According to Astrobiology Magazine, Retallack now believes the creatures were not ancestors of ancient marine multicellular life, but instead represent “remnants of land-dwelling lichen or other microbial colonies.” His conclusion may or may not affect classification of Ediacarans from other parts of the world.
Retallack used state-of-the-art techniques to examine the rock, and found that its “old elephant skin” appearance resembles crusty sandstone or microbial soil crusts in modern deserts. Below the sand in which they were buried he found evidence of fossil soils.
“
This discovery has implications for the tree of life, because it removes Ediacaran fossils from the ancestry of animals,” said Retallack, professor of geological sciences and co-director of paleontological collections at the UO’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History. His evidence, mostly gathered from a site in the Flinders Ranges, is presented in a paper placed online ahead of print by the journal Nature.
“
These fossils have been a first-class scientific mystery,” he said. “They are the oldest large multicellular fossils. They lived immediately before the Cambrian evolutionary explosion that gave rise to familiar modern groups of animals.”
In the paper, Retallack wrote, “Newly documented palaeosols in the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite in South Australia
now call for a re-evaluation of its famous fossils, widely considered evolutionary predecessors of the Cambrian explosion of marine animal phyla.” He also noted, “Most Ediacaran fossils have no clear relationship with modern animals.”
If not sea creatures, what are they? Retallack suggested they could be “lichens, other microbial consortia, fungal fruiting bodies, slime molds, flanged pedestals of biological soil crusts, and even casts of needle ice.” In the paper and the press release, he had very little to say about evolution, except that the Ediacarans represent “an independent evolutionary radiation of life on land that preceded by at least 20 million years the Cambrian evolutionary explosion of animals in the sea.”
So much for pointing to multicellular precursors to the Cambrian explosion. Retallack mistakenly called it the “Cambrian evolutionary explosion.” He should have said “Cambrian explosion demolishing evolution.” See the documentary Darwin’s Dilemma for reasons why. | 2,785 | 1,346 | 5,478.959881 |
warc | 201704 | Reuse the former Crows Landing Airfield to create a vibrant, regional employment center that capitalizes on existing transportation infrastructure and provides sustainable-wage jobs.
Create strong public/private partnerships through initial public investment in environmental permitting, planning and infrastructure development.
The CLIBP is a reuse project. All vertical development will occur on the 1,528-acre former Crows Landing Air Facility property. The project would provide County residents with employment opportunities that do not require long commutes on the region’s congested roadways, leading to a reduction in vehicle miles traveled and air quality benefits.
Stanislaus County is moving forward with the development of the 1,528-acre Crows Landing Industrial Business Park – a reuse project that will provide thousands of locally based jobs within the boundaries of the former Crows Landing Air Facility.
For more than a decade, Stanislaus County has pursued the development of a regional employment center on the 1,528-acre former Crows Landing Airfield. Despite the recent economic downturn, the proposed Crows Landing Industrial Business Park (CLIBP) project has gained momentum and is moving forward.
Development forecasts have identified a resurgence in the need for industrial sites—and especially sites that offer more than 1 million square feet of buildable area. The CLIBP offers developers opportunities for large parcel development, nearby transportation infrastructure through connections to the I-5 corridor and San Francisco Bay Area, an on-site airport, and a local workforce. The site offers unparalleled opportunities for logistics, goods movement/distribution, manufacturing/light industrial, and business park development uses.
Stanislaus County has experienced one of the highest unemployment rates in California. The County’s primary goal is to create jobs where people live, and it is committed to working with the development community and private investors to secure opportunities for its available locally based workforce.
Stanislaus County looks forward to providing the development community with a unique opportunity for creative and profitable investment through the creation of strong public/private partnerships.
To demonstrate its commitment to site development and job creation, the County is providing initial site-related investment such as: | 2,422 | 1,098 | 5,276.342441 |
warc | 201704 | Saturday, March 21, 2009
I'm sure someone like Homer would tell you so, but nuclear waste does not look like glowing slime. It actually looks like dark grey metal (which is spent Uranium fuel) held in large concrete canisters. I am currently taking an introductory course in Nuclear Engineering (MAAE 4906) and I recently went to the Canadian Nuclear Association conference in February. These are the sources of my information.
So what’s the relation between the amount of nuclear waste and the amount of electricity produced? Eight thumb-size pellets of Uranium fuel can power an average home for a year. I always found it interesting to compare these 8 pellets of used fuel to the total amount of garbage the average home creates in a year. There’s definitely a lot more garbage! But how much harm does garbage cause and how much does nuclear waste cause? Well they both take up space and that has always been an issue. Also, a lot of garbage is not biodegradable and nuclear waste will take a long time to decay as well. But the upside is that nuclear waste is stored and monitored in carefully managed facilities, and in the 46 years of using nuclear energy in Canada, no member of the public was harmed because of it.
Let’s leave it at that for now in terms of waste management, but I do want to mention that I should look more into the harmful effects of mining Uranium. Let’s hope they start coming up with ways to mine Uranium while minimally affecting humans and the environment.
Nuclear reactor plants do not release greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. For example, electricity generated from nuclear reactors in Canada avoids 650 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, a total of 2.3 billion tons so far. Nuclear energy is in fact clean energy.
Nuclear power produces 15.2% of global electricity generation and is the fourth largest source of electricity in the world. Nuclear power accounts for 51% of the electricity production in Ontario, and 14.6% of the electricity produced in Canada. So as you can see, the world depends heavily on nuclear as a source of energy.
As it stands right now, nuclear is the way to go. Due to growth of demand and aging nuclear plants, by 2020 Ontario will need to replace 80% of its electricity generation. What will we replace it with? Solar panels? Wind turbines? Those alternatives are just not enough to keep up with demand. For example, one fuel pellet (the size of a thumb) supplies as much electricity as four wind turbines. Think of the difference in terms of land needed, cost to build, noisiness, etc… As for solar panels, they’re just much too expensive right now.
Let’s hope that new scientific discoveries will lead to breakthroughs in sustainable, renewable, and clean energy sources. If you consider that the sun provides 6,000 times the energy needed to power the globe, I have my fingers crossed for solar energy. | 2,956 | 1,458 | 5,903.890261 |
warc | 201704 | What is a Children's Dentistry? Well, simply put, it is the specialty of dentistry dealing with the oral health of children.
More specifically and officially, it deals with both the primary and comprehensive preventive and therapeutic oral health care of children from birth to age 21 including those with special health care needs such as Cerebral Palsy or Down's syndrome. It is the only specialty in dentistry that is age defined, not procedure defined. In fact the official name is Pediatric Dentistry. It is one of the recognized specialties of dentistry. Our national organization is the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. When your child is sick you take your child to a Pediatrician. So, in Medicine, there is Pediatrics. In Dentistry, there is Pediatric Dentistry. Originally, we Pediatric Dentists were called "Pedodontists" and we practiced "Pedodontics". Some people got confused with the name and would, from time to time think we were foot doctors! So, they changed the official name so there is no confusion. Since we provide comprehensive care that means we do a little bit of everything. When a child or teen comes into our office, we will often clean the teeth, take diagnostic x-rays, apply preventive fluoride treatments and give oral hygiene instructions. If we find a problem, we will restore a tooth with a filling or a crown. If the need is there, we may have to remove a tooth or do some other kind of oral surgery. Part of the care we provide is orthodontics or "braces." Although, in our office, we have an orthodontist on staff that handles most of our patient’s orthodontic treatment. Pediatric Dentists are trained to do braces as well. And yes, we see teens up to the age of 21. We even have patients older than that if they are still in University and not on their own yet. Much of what a Pediatric Dentist is known for is our behavior management skills. Somehow, we have to get a three year old child to sit still, lie down, open his mouth, allow an anesthetic injection, remove or wash out decay, and place fillings all without moving around or crying. Well, that's the idea anyways. Hey, I do it every day, but it's not always easy. With training and experience, we use the most likely methods to achieve the desired goal. Sometimes it's just talking with a child or guiding him through a procedure. Sometimes pharmacologic medications or laughing gas helps out. Sometimes there is just no way to do what we need without going to the hospital and completing extensive treatment with the patient under general anesthesia. So, you can see, there is a fine art of treating the patients dental condition, but doing it in a manner that is as easy as possible, accommodates parental preferences and does so in a cost effective manner. I just have to say, many people and dentists too say how difficult it must be to deal with the kids all day. Well, I'll tell you the kids are easy, it's the parents that usually more difficult to deal with. Hey, in Pediatric Dentistry, it's not all about drilling and filling, brushing and flossing. It's about caring about the children behind those wonderful smiles! Here is a link to our office web site for more info: APDA Here are some answers to some common questions from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry: AAPD Frequently Asked Questions | 3,338 | 1,596 | 6,952.075188 |
warc | 201704 | CHEYENNE -- The number of out-of-state businesses looking at locating in Wyoming has doubled over the past two fiscal years, according to a report from the state's economic development agency.
Sep 5, 2012 - By Bob Moen, The Associated Press
An annual Wyoming Business Council report noted 40 valid prospects from out-of-state businesses between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012. During the 2011 fiscal year there were 29 such inquiries, and in 2010 there were 20, according to the report sent to Gov. Matt Mead's office last week.
"Part of the reason for that is because we have a good, stable business climate that has a lot more certainty to it than most other states in terms of cost of doing business, taxation on business, that kind of thing," Robert Jensen, chief executive officer of the council, said.
Only three out-of-state firms ended up establishing a successful operation in Wyoming this past fiscal year, but 17 are still considering the state. In 2010, three business prospects came to the state while only four were still considering Wyoming.
"We have a larger pipeline of businesses interested in looking at a Wyoming location than we've had for a long time," Jensen said.
Jensen said most interest from out-of-state companies involves the possibility of expanding into Wyoming. It's very rare for a business to completely relocate its headquarters even in a good economy, he said.
"Just because we have a low cost of doing business doesn't mean that it makes sense for them to locate here if it's a long way from their market," he said.
The report noted that Wyoming's non-mineral industries are seeing good growth rates despite the struggling national economy.
"When you look at the growth rate of gross domestic product in non-mineral industries we continue to have a good, strong five-year growth rate in non-mineral industry GDP," Jensen said. "And I think that speaks to the fact that Wyoming's economy, while clearly dominated by the energy industry, still is diversifying although we probably aren't getting off the bottom of the list when it comes to diversified economies comparatively speaking to other states.
"But that said, a lot of the other states that have well diversified economies have their economy in the dump. So diversification of your economy doesn't automatically mean a healthy economy."
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warc | 201704 | EDUCATION
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GetGoing educational program is designed for new entrants to the IT Ops field, and offers a self-paced, low-cost way of obtaining the prerequisite skills and knowledge needed to obtain an entry-level IT Ops job. Self-study students can complete the entire six-month program for under $300, and for under $1,000 can certify themselves with multiple industry-recognized credentials. Our full-ride scholarship program adds on mentoring, hands-on experiences, and more – all free of charge, and with a total value of over $10,000. And the entire program can be duplicated in full by any interested mentor or mentor group, giving everyone the opportunity to bring this education to their community.
The Job Opportunity
Rather than dropping $20-$30k on a 2-year “career college” degree, prospective IT Ops career seekers should consider that, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), these entry-level “jobs require some computer knowledge, but not necessarily a postsecondary degree. Applicants who have taken some computer-related classes are often qualified.” With our program of self-paced study, students can get the education they need – along with hands-on experience – for a tiny fraction of a 2-year degree’s cost, and in a quarter of the time. Our program also lines students up for multiple industry certifications – something the BLS notes that employers, ” may require their computer support specialists to hold….”
What’s more, these IT Ops positions tend to find promotion within the field – without secondary degrees. BLS finds that, “Many computer support specialists advance to other information technology positions, such as network and computer systems administrators and software developers. Some become managers in the computer support services department.” This makes an entry-level IT Ops job – such as a help desk or support specialist position – a valuable start to a lifelong, high-earning career.
In 2015, the BLS found that these positions averaged $51,470 in annual salary – an amazing number for an entry-level job. They also found job growth in these positions to be a “faster than average” 12%, with 88,800 jobs expected to be added between 2014 and 2024, creating a total of almost 1 million positions in the US alone.
The Program
Our program specifies key industry certifications, thereby implicitly including the learning objectives behind those certifications. We also specify additional job task abilities and knowledge. At this base level, it’s up to learners to assemble their own learning materials – books, videos, or whatever – to meet the objectives and certifications we’ve outlined. In addition, we recommend specific hands-on activities as a way of gaining some minimal practical experience.
[Our revised 2017 program guide is coming soon]
Finding the Education
We work with any educational provider who approaches us to identify deliverables that can meet the criteria of our program. Presented here are the guides we’ve assembled to this point; if you’re interested in developing alternate guides with us, please contact us (“Admin” at PowerShell.org is the email address).
[Our revised 2017 Pluralsight guide is coming soon]
The Mentoring Option
We also believe that students benefit immensely from a one-on-one relationship with a qualified mentor who already works in the field. Our Mentoring Guide is designed to help those mentors conduct structured mentoring sessions, providing them with knowledge-check questions to ask, discussion points to raise, and additional resources and exercises to refer to.
[Our revised 2017 Mentor guide is coming soon]
The Scholarship
Each year, we offer a small number of full-ride scholarships that include all of our recommended education (in self-paced video form), paid certification exams, paid mentoring, and paid time for hands-on exercises (including a build-your-own PC kit and cloud compute time). Each scholarship is worth more than $10,000, and is completely free to the recipient. Half of our available scholarship funds are earmarked for learners from groups that are presently underrepresented in the IT industry. | 4,299 | 2,055 | 8,650.29927 |
warc | 201704 | Obesity is one of the unfortunate conditions that are taking place in the world today. This is when excess fats accumulate throughout the body. There are side effects to obesity and diseases that obese people are prone to like arthritis, amnesia, diabetes and cancer.
A person becomes obese if he/she eats a large amount of food in excess coupled with living a sedentary lifestyle. If a person is not involved in any physical activities, it is very easy for them to get fat. If you want to lose fat, you need to follow a healthier diet and exercise regularly. There are also lots of best weight loss pills for women in the market that can help you burn fat quickly and get you back into shape faster.
Losing weight takes effort and... | 738 | 447 | 1,211.838926 |
warc | 201704 | For years, companies and marketers have looked to bring more and more choice to consumers. This exponential growth in choice has lead to situations where consumers are overwhelmed by options to the point they can no longer make decisions, or the decision-making process requires so much time that buyer fatigue becomes a real issue.
These factors have been distilled by Aaron Shapiro, CEO of the design agency HUGE, into what he refers to as “anticipatory design”.
The foremost aspects of this approach to design are:
• Choice is Overrated
• Convenience & Choice • Efficiency & Freedom
The goal of anticipatory design is to unshackle us from the tedious choices we must make on a daily basis. In his presentation on anticipatory design, Shapiro uses the example of calling a taxi (Uber) after finishing the lecture to take him to the airport. In the “anticipatory world”, the Uber app would be aware of your schedule, be aware of when your meeting is finished and be waiting for you at the door to deliver you to the airport…all without opening a single app.
The future viability of anticipatory design rests in systems and apps that work seamlessly together, and in what Shapiro refers to as “bandwidth ubiquity”. As bandwidth becomes widespread, systems will be able to follow and anticipate habits to a great degree.
Of course, issues of personal security and privacy must be addressed when discussing systems that can adapt to your personal needs. Anticipatory systems will need to be seeded with credit card, calendar, password and other information. This is the key delineator between anticipatory design and design as we know it today. Design is for the masses, anticipatory design is personal.
If all this sounds a little too Star Trek-ish to you, HUGE are currently testing these principles an a cafe located in their Atlanta office, and hoping to mainstream them over time.
One such implementation of this in their cafe may be to track a customer via geolocation, recognise when they are in the area (for example, on their morning commute), sending an order (based on the customers past choices) to the barista via an iWatch app. The order is then prepared and waiting for the customer, who simply picks up their cup and walks out of the cafe. An RFID chip embedded in the cup signals when the customer has left the cafe, and their credit card is automatically billed.
Although this is a simple example of solving what most would consider a “first world problem” there are countless areas where these designs can bear fruit, with many others to be discovered.
In the future, data and design are inexorably bound, and as data and design merge, Shapiro says,
Data is becoming an Art. | 2,765 | 1,379 | 5,395.659898 |
warc | 201704 | Abstract
This study examines the role of Joe Louis in stimulating greater interest in golf among African Americans during his reign as world heavyweight boxing champion (1937-1949) and in joining the fight to end discrimination in golf after his retirement from boxing. During his boxing career, Louis promoted golf by participating in golf tournaments as an amateur player, employing black golf professionals as his personal golf tutors, organizing his own national tournament, and creating opportunities for interracial golf competition. Failing to achieve success in creating access for black golfers to play in the prestigious, all-white, PGA golf tournaments, Louis became more aggressive in these efforts and joined the movement to end racial discrimination in the sport. While achieving limited success, Joe Louis is credited with contributing to the initial steps in removing racial barriers in golf, which eventually led to removal of the infamous “Caucasian-only” clause from the PGA constitution, thus, paving the way for Charlie Sifford and other African Americans to attain full PGA membership.
Recommended Citation
Dawkins, Marvin P. and Farrell, Walter C. (2008) "Joe Louis and the Struggle of African American Golfers for Visibility and Access,"
Challenge: Vol. 14 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/challenge/vol14/iss1/6 | 1,389 | 779 | 2,444.568678 |
warc | 201704 | Title Recommended Citation
AIAA Paper 2004-1376. Presented at the
42nd Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, January 5, 2004, pages 1-15. Abstract
This paper is a continuation of the authors’ previous examinations of a suite of issues surrounding the putative decline in aeronautics in this country. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three specific issues believed to be of particular importance to the future of our industry. The first is the question of how many engineers we may need in our future as we confront the problem of an aging workforce and the globalization of our industry. The second is the question of what skills and abilities these engineers will need to possess as the overall industry continues to evolve. Finally, the need for more systems-oriented, multidisciplinary-skilled talent is addressed. A basic message of the paper carried on from earlier writings is that while aeronautics may indeed be a “maturing industry” (at least in some major traditional product areas), there is much that we can and should do to create a vision of our future as vivid as that which has driven our past as a means to attract and develop the talent needed to assure the future of our enterprise. Without this talent, few of the major technological advances that can be currently foreseen can come to fruition.
Disciplines
Aerospace Engineering
Copyright
2004 by the authors. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
URL: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/aero_fac/26 | 1,539 | 857 | 2,718.84014 |
warc | 201704 | Document Type
Article
Abstract Background:
Compare changes in types of hospital service revenues between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals and Western-medicine based general hospitals.
Methods:
97 TCM hospitals and 103 general hospitals were surveyed in years of 2000 and 2004. Six types of medical service revenue between the two types of hospitals were compared overtime. The national statistics from 1999 to 2008 were also used as complementary evidence.
Results:
For TCM hospitals, the percentage of service revenue from Western medicine increased from 44.3% to 47.4% while the percentage of service revenue from TCM declined from 26.4% to 18.8% from 1999 to 2004. Percentages of revenue from laboratory tests and surgical procedures for both types of hospitals increased and the discrepancy between the two types of hospitals was narrowed from 1999 to 2004. For TCM hospitals, revenues from laboratory tests increased from 3.64% to 5.06% and revenues from surgical procedures increased from 3.44% to 7.02%. General hospitals' TCM drug revenue in outpatient care declined insignificantly from 5.26% to 3.87%, while the decline for the TCM hospitals was significant from 19.73% to 13.77%. The national statistics from 1999 to 2008 showed similar trends that the percentage of revenue from Western medicine for TCM hospitals increased from 59.6% in 1999 to 62.2% in 2003 and 66.1% in 2008 while the percentage of revenue from TCM for TCM hospitals decreased from 18.0% in 1999, 15.4% in 2003, and 13.7% in 2008.
Conclusion:
Western medicine has become a vital revenue source for TCM hospitals in the current Chinese health care environment where government subsidies to health care facilities have significantly declined. Policies need to encourage TCM hospitals to identify their own special and effective services, improve public perception, increase demand, strengthen financial sources, and ultimately make contributions to preserving one of the national treasures.
Disciplines
Health and Medical Administration | Health Policy
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Citation Information
Shen, J. J., Wang, Y., Lin, F., Lu, J., Moseley, C. B., Sun, M., Hao, M. (2011). Trends of Increase in Western Medical Services in Traditional Medicine Hospitals in China.
BMC Health Services Research, 11(212), 1-9. http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/community_health_sciences_fac_articles/149 | 2,472 | 1,145 | 5,302.386026 |
warc | 201704 | This is a post from double bassist from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music student Nicholas Hart. Nick will be contributing weekly posts to the bass blog about life as a music student in one of the nation’s most exclusive programs. I think readers will find this different perspective on the double bass world and the music world in general to be quite interesting, and I am looking forward to reading these posts. You will be able to read all of Nick’s contributions under the articles page . Enjoy! ____________
Since school has started up again, Mr. Laszlo and I have been attacking the four main issues in bass playing – sound, intonation, rhythm and clarity – by improving my posture. It is unfortunate that posture is not stressed enough for beginning players, as poor posture is very hard to correct and adjusting posture can have a negative effect on one’s playing until it is properly adjusted.
In adjusting posture the method that has worked best for me is expanding my abdominal muscles and opening up the space between my abdominals and chest cavity. This was the easiest way for me to improve my posture without tiring myself out. Also, opening posture by expanding the abdominal muscles properly aligns the body with little to no effort.
Of the four previously mentioned issues, I believe that posture has the most effect on sound. The taller that we make ourselves, the bigger our sound can become. In one of my posts on sounds, I talked about creating a bigger lever with our bodies by drawing our sound from the floor. Opening up our abdominals adds at least 3 inches to our sitting height and those three inches can have an enormous impact on our sound. The taller we sit (or stand) the bigger, bassier, and more vibrant our sound can be.
There is the common misconception that we need to get closer to the bass to play in the higher registers. Yes, it is a further reach so our first instinct is the get closer to the instrument, but if we make ourselves taller and get over the instrument, it is actually much easier to reach the notes and to pull a big, free sound.
Good posture creates good balance, and balance is the key to good intonation. For me to play in tune, my left hand needs to feel the same no matter where I am playing on the bass. Mr. Laszlo has moved my focus from dividing the instrument into positions, to thinking of having only one position – balance. I realize I am stressing the word balance, but if the left hand does not have a constant connection with the string and does not apply weight to the string evenly it will be hard to have solid intonation.
Clarity is probably the most important aspect of bass playing. If we cannot produce a clear sound, it would not matter how in tune or in time we play, because it cannot be heard. After opening up my posture, I was able to improve the clarity of my sound by using my body as a whole. If I initiate the bow movement from my body, meaning I lead the bow with my body, the bow changes are much subtle and can even sometimes be inaudible. Also, a common misconception with playing the bass is that we need to use a lot of bow. If we make a comparison from a violin bow to a bass bow, the violin bow is much larger than its string length and even the instrument itself, while the bass bow is much smaller. So by using smaller amounts of bow, a slower bow, and add in our natural body weight, our sound can really clear up.
I believe that rhythm is the most important aspect to music. I’ve heard many orchestra musicians say that during an audition they rather hear a person play perfectly in time and play a couple of notes out of tune than play out of time and play everything in tune. Rhythm holds together an ensemble. When I play with a crunched posture I find it very to internalize the pulse of a piece, If I sit up, and my body has a more natural feel to it, I am able to internalize pulse and rhythm more and not have to think about it nearly as much. Also, with better posture comes easier movement. Movement is rhythm, and if we can move easily and in rhythm than we can maintain the pulse and play with better rhythm.
__________________
About the Author
Admitted into the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music at age 16, Nicholas Hart is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree as a scholarship student of Albert Laszlo. A product of the New York City Public School System, Nicholas attended the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division where he studied with Eugene Levinson. Nicholas has performed in Solo, Orchestral, and Chamber ensembles throughout New York City in venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Space. Nicholas enjoys a long collaboration with the New York Pops, having performed with them and being one of the first recipients of their Martin J. Ormandy Memorial Scholarship. Additional studies include masterclasses with Harold Robinson, Timothy Cobb, David J. Grossman and Pasquale Delache-Feldman as well as summer study with Bret Simner. Nicholas has performed with such artists as Aaron Rosand and David Bilger, and aspires to play in a major symphony orchestra after college. | 5,201 | 2,407 | 11,125.861654 |
warc | 201704 | Essays on Empirical Market Microstructure Date2011 Author
Tuzun, Tugkan
Advisor
Kyle, Albert S
MetadataShow full item record Abstract
The first essay examines the events of May 6, 2010: the ``Flash Crash". The Flash Crash, a brief period of extreme market volatility on May 6, 2010 raised questions about the current structure of the U.S. financial markets. Audit-trail data from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is used to describe the structure of the E-mini S\&P 500 stock index futures market on May 6. In this study, three questions are asked. How did High Frequency Traders (HFTs) trade on May 6? What may have triggered the Flash Crash? What role did HFTs play in the Flash Crash? There is evidence which supports that HFTs did not trigger the Flash Crash, but their responses to the unusually large selling pressure on that day exacerbated market volatility. The second essay examines the relationship between mutual fund trading and liquidity consumption in financial markets. Using Thompson Mutual Funds holdings data and the Trade and Quotes (TAQ) data, we relate the mutual fund trading to liquidity consumption. Mutual fund trading is positively correlated with liquidity consumption. Mutual fund sensitivity to liquidity consumption differs based on mutual fund investment style. Large trades reveal the trading activity of actively managed mutual funds whereas the trading activity of index funds can be explained by small trades. This is consistent with a plausible explanation that index funds need to use small trades to rebalance their portfolios and information motivates the large trades of active mutual funds. The third essay tests the predictions of trading game invariance using the sample of trades from TAQ dataset from 1993 to 2008. The theory of trading game invariance predicts that the distribution of trade sizes as a fraction of trading volume should vary across stocks proportionally to their trading activity in -2/3 power and that the number of trades should vary across stocks proportionally to their trading activity in 2/3 power. The data supports predictions of the invariance theory. For the number of trades, the estimated power coefficient of 0.69 (with standard errors of 0.001) is especially close to the predicted one of 2/3 on the subsample before 2001. These estimates increases to 0.79 (with standard errors of 0.004) after 2001 following a structural break related to a reduction in tick size and a consequent spread of algorithmic trading. Furthermore, the entire distribution of trade size shifts with the trading activity in a manner predicted by invariance theory. When trade sizes are adjusted for differences in trading activity, then their distribution is stable across stocks and similar to the distribution of a log-normal variable, truncated at the 100-share threshold. | 2,854 | 1,317 | 6,165.246773 |
warc | 201704 | Published on May 8th, 2011 |
by Melanie Kozlan Healthy Eating Made Easy: Easy and Delicious Healthy Snacks
Healthy eating should never feel like a burden. If you find it truly difficult then it’s time to discover new healthy foods to treat yourself to.
It’s always wise to eat smart and read labels when you’re in the grocery store. Staying away from processed or non-organic foods can make a huge impact on your health and can help you avoid guilty pleasures that you might not have realized were harmful to your health or the environment. For example, in the U.S. there are no labels on meat from cloned animals, or about whether or not it comes from a factory farm!
Another reason to avoid processed food: Did you know that in the U.S. cereal companies often contain unlabeled genetically modified ingredients? Basically when you pick up a box of Lucky Charms you will never know which ingredients make them ‘Magically delicious.’ Here are some of our favorite recipes and healthy snacks that make healthy eating easy! Easy Cheap Snacks: Carrot Sticks Cucumbers (Slice and soak in vinegar: They’ll taste better and the acidity of the vinegar will curb your appetite) Any fresh fruits or vegetables Raisins or any other organic dried fruit Nuts (Unsalted) Dry air-popped popcorn Sunflower or pumpkin seeds Rice Cakes with Peanut butter Delicious Recipes for Healthy Eating: Spiced Apple Pie Chips Tahini Ice-Cream Hummus Watermelon, Tomato, and Basil Skewers Stuffed Mushrooms with Tofu and Herbs Kharcho Bites Quinoa with Goat Cheese, Basil & Broccoli Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies Banana Mango Yogurt Popsicles Of course, there are lots of other simple, snack foods that can help make healthy eating easy and delicious! We’d love to hear some of your favorite healthy snacks in the comments. Melanie Kozlan is the Senior Content Director of Four Green Steps: Your one-destination for all things Green as well as the World’s largest Green marketplace! Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by paulwan8 Keep up with the latest sustainable food news by signing up for our free newsletter. CLICK HERE to sign up! | 2,157 | 1,188 | 3,832.85101 |
warc | 201704 | I find myself getting asked this question, or some variant of this question, with increasing frequency as I speak and write about the Alternative Hypothesis I find most compelling surrounding obesity and chronic disease. One implication of the Alternative Hypothesis, as you probably understand by now if you’ve been reading this blog, is that many carbohydrates, especially if consumed at the levels most Americans consume them, promote fat gain. In other words, overweight people are not the lazy, constantly ...Continue Reading
MAR | 542 | 344 | 841.360465 |
warc | 201704 | From Lakes Region EMS—
Learning to drive is a milestone in every teen’s life. It is a time of independence for both parent and teen as they can now begin driving themselves to and from various activities. It can also be a time of stress for parents, since a lack of experience can often lead to dangerous situations and potential accidents.
One way parents can encourage safe driving by teens is to set rules for when he or she is driving. He or she should know that these rules are in place for their safety as well as the safety of others on the road. The Paramedics and EMTs of Lakes Region EMS would like you to consider some suggested rules to set when your teen is beginning to drive:
No cell phone use. Cell phones are more of a necessity than a luxury now, especially when on the road. They can literally be lifesavers if you get lost, run out of gas, or get in an accident.
However, they can also cause accidents if they are used improperly. Tell your teen she can only talk on the phone if they are using a hands-free device or if they pull the car over or park. Consider using technology to assist with enforcing this rule. There are several services and applications that will prevent the phone from operating while the vehicle is in motion. While it is already a state law, a no texting rule should be emphasized again.
Limit number of people. One of the great things about having a teen who can drive is their new ability to take themselves places, like school or work or social activities. However, friends can be a distraction while driving. Set a limit to the number of people that can be in the car at a time and during what times of day. This minimizes the potential for peer pressure to make bad choices.
Always wear a seatbelt. This is a must for all drivers and passengers. Again, this is already a state law, but emphasis should be placed on this being a priority. Always obey speed limits. Make sure your teen knows that the car he is driving can be deadly and it can be easy to get out of control if they drive too fast. Make sure they know to obey all speed limits. Never drive impaired. Be sure that your teen understands that if they should never drive as or ride with an impaired driver. Make a clear understanding that you will always come to pick them up if they or someone they are riding with is impaired. This doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences later, but that your priority is them staying safe.
Since you are not going to be in the car with your teen most of the time when she is driving, it can be difficult to enforce these rules. Some parents draw up an agreement and have their teen sign it. That may or may not work with your child.
Lakes Region EMS hopes you enjoy the new freedom you both have gained, but please be careful. They don’t want to meet you by accident.
—
Lakes Region EMS is an integral part of the community and lives by the organization’s four pillars; Serving their customers with state of the art patient care, outstanding customer service, dedication to the communities they serve and financial health and responsibility. They responded to over 4000 emergencies including 271 Vehicle Crashes from stations in Chisago City, North Branch, and Rush City. | 3,265 | 1,564 | 6,717.883632 |
warc | 201704 | Jottings By An Employer's Lawyer
Friday, January 23, 2009
"would effectively replace a federally supervised secret ballot election with a process that requires a majority of workers to simply sign a card to authorize organizing a union and the workers' signatures would be made public to their employer, the union organizers and their co-workers. "Ambinder goes on give his description of what the EFCA does: Unfortunately, he takes a union talking point that is being widely circulated that is technically true, but like the name of the bill, in actuality misleading.
It is technically true that under the EFCA as now drafted, if between 30 and 50% of employees sign authorization cards, a secret ballot election is the method in which whether there is a union is determined. The reality is that unions almost never file a petition for an election unless they have 60 or 70% of authorization cards.
The reason: unions know that they have hit their high water mark in support at the filing of the petition. Once a campaign is undertaken, in which both management and the union present their views, the unions lose support. If the EFCA is adopted, not only will there be no secret ballot in almost every case, but just as importantly, there will be no opportunity for a campaign where both sides -- the pro's and con's -- of having a union in that particular workplace can be articulated.
In this age of new politics, it would be nice if both sides on this controversial and very significant issue, make their points based on reality not deception. Ironically the use of the true but misleading statement points out a fundamental flaw of the premise of the bill. If the union supporters of the legislation rely on statements that are technically true, but still misleading, what might they say to an individual employee to get him or her to sign an authorization card? And if that should occur, wouldn't the assurance of a campaign where both sides are presented, followed by a secret election, be the perfect antidote for such behavior?
Certainly unions are not the only ones that are guilty of misinformation in union campaigns, nor in all likelihood the fight over whether the EFCA will pass. Perhaps it is too much, even in a week where Americans are more optimistic than they have been in long time about the tenor of our future politics, to ask that both sides voice the real arguments in support of their positions, not rely on rhetoric that may be true, but misleading. It is no doubt naive, but it would certainly be nice.
And of course, this post only addresses one of three significant areas of change that would be brought about by the EFCA. A second, binding interest arbitration to ensure an initial agreement, is a fundamental restructuring of one the premises of existing labor law . That's a subject for a different post, but it would at least be nice to think that before such a fundamental change is made, it at least be openly debated.
Update (1/24/09): Mark Ambinder has a follow up post, Poll v. Poll: AFL-CIO's Pollster Responds To Mike Murphy. In it the AFL-CIO pollster attacks the wording of the question which elicits 74% support against the bill. Here is his first argument. Most importantly, the central claim is simply false, as you say in your post: the law does not replace or eliminate elections. That alone invalidates the question as a measure of public opinion.The statement that the EFCA doesn't do away with elections is repeated a 2nd time. As noted above, while technically true, it's a very misleading statement.
Labels: political | 3,583 | 1,729 | 7,398.097166 |
warc | 201704 | RAPID/Roadmap/3-FD-i Federal Tribal Wind and Solar Resource Leasing Process (3-FD-i) Tribal Wind and Solar Resource Leasing Process Process
3-FD-i.1 to 3-FD-i.2 – Contact Tribal Representatives; Negotiate Land Lease
The developer initiates the WSR leasing process by contacting the tribal representative. The developer and the Tribe will then negotiate the lease in accordance with Subpart E of 25 CFR 162. 25 CFR 162.010 requires the developer to negotiate directly with Indian landowners, prepare and submit to the BIA required information and analyses, and comply with Subpart E. There is no model WSR lease, although the BIA may provide guidance or assist Indian landowners in developing lease provisions.
25 CFR 162.542 contains a list of mandatory provisions that each WSR must contain. Terms not required by the regulations should be negotiated between the parties. The requirements that trigger an action during the leasing process on the part of the developer or the tribe are discussed below.
3-FD-i.3 – 3-FD-i.4 – Identify and Contact Individual Indian Landowners; Obtain Consent from Fractional Interests
If the proposed lease tract is fractioned, 25 CFR 162.010 requires the developer to identify and contact all of the fractional owners. 25 CFR 162.011 allows the developer to obtain contact information and information regarding land ownership form the BIA for purposes of negotiating the lease.
In addition, the developer must obtain consent from a specific percentage of the landowners. 25 CFR 162.012 explains what percentages are required based on the number of owners involved. If consent is obtained from the appropriate percentage of owners, non-consenting owners will be bound to the lease. A non-consenting tribe is only bound with respect to the tribally owned fractional interest, although tribal land subject to a tribal land assignment may only be leased with the consent of the tribe. The BIA will determine the number of owners and their fractional interests for purposes of obtaining consent.
3-FD-i.5 – Conduct Valuation, If Required
A Tribe may waive valuation by the BIA and negotiate payment for a WSR lease directly with the developer if it submits a tribal authorization stating that:
The negotiated compensation is satisfactory to the tribe; The tribe waives valuation; and Waiving valuation and accepting the negotiated compensation is in the best interests of the tribe. The BIA will conduct a valuation based on the fair market value analysis, described in 25 CFR 162.551, at the request of the tribe. The tribe may then use the valuation to negotiate compensation.
If the tribe does not submit a tribal authorization or request a valuation, the BIA requires the lease to provide compensation based on the fair market value determined by 25 CFR 162.551.
3-FD-i.6 to 3-FD-i.7 – Proposed Solar Land Use Lease; Submit Lease and Required Documentation to BIA
25 CFR 162.563 requires the tribe to submit the following documentation before the BIA will approve the WSR lease:
A lease executed by the Indian landowners and the lessee that meets the requirements of 25 CFR 162 et seq.; For tribal land, a tribal authorization for the lease and, if applicable, meeting the requirements of §§162.549(a), 162.555(b), and 162.557(a), or a separate signed certification meeting the requirements of §§162.555(b) and 162.557(a); A valuation, if required under §162.549 or §162.550; Proof of insurance, if required under §162.562; A performance bond or other security, if required under §162.559; Statement from the appropriate tribal authority that the proposed use is in conformance with applicable tribal law, if required by the tribe; Environmental and archeological reports, surveys, and site assessments as needed to facilitate compliance with applicable federal and tribal environmental and land use requirements, including any documentation prepared under §162.027(b); A resource development plan that describes the type and location of any permanent improvements the lessee plans to install and a schedule showing the tentative commencement and completion dates for those improvements; A restoration and reclamation plan (and any subsequent modifications to the plan); Where the lessee is not an entity owned and operated by the tribe, documents that demonstrate the technical capability of the lessee or lessee's agent to construct, operate, maintain, and terminate the proposed project and the lessee's ability to successfully design, construct, or obtain the funding for a project similar to the proposed project, if appropriate; A legal description of the land under §162.547; If the lease is being approved under 25 U.S.C. 415, information to assist us in our evaluation of the factors in 25 U.S.C. 415(a); and If the lessee is a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, or other legal entity, except a tribal entity, information such as organizational documents, certificates, filing records, and resolutions, that demonstrates that: The representative has authority to execute a lease; The lease will be enforceable against the lessee; and The legal entity is in good standing and authorized to conduct business in the jurisdiction where the land is located. The BIA begins reviewing the proposed lease once it has all of the required documents. 3-FD-i.8 to 3-FD-i.9 – Review Lease Package for Completeness; Is the Lease Package Complete?
The BIA notifies the parties by letter upon receipt of the WSR lease package. If the package is complete, the letter informs the parties of the date of receipt and the BIA begins the review process. If the package is not complete, the letter identifies what information or documentation is still required. The parties should then supplement the WSR lease package with the required information. See 25 CFR 162.565(b).
3-FD-i.10 – Complete BIA NEPA Process
The BIA must perform a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review in conjunction with the lease approval process. NEPA requires federal agencies to consider the potential environmental consequences of their proposed actions and any reasonable alternatives before undertaking a major federal action. Approval of leases on Indian lands are considered to be major federal actions. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required when a major federal action significantly affects the quality of the human environment. See 40 CFR 1502.3. If the effects of the action are not significant an Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) may be sufficient.
A tribe may request that the BIA review the proposed WSR lease before or during the NEPA process. The BIA then provides an acknowledgement of the terms of the lease and identifies any provisions that would justify disapproval of the lease pending the completion of the NEPA review. See 25 CFR 162.654. In some cases, the BIA may require NEPA review documentation from the parties. See 25 CFR 162.565(b).
3-FD-i.11 to 2-FD-i.12 – Review Lease; Has the Lease Been Approved?
The BIA must determine whether the proposed WSR lease is in the best interest of the tribe. In making that determination, the BIA will:
Review the lease and supporting documents; Identify potential environmental impacts and ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations; Make sure adequate consideration has been given to 25 U.S.C. 415(a) factors; and Require any lease modifications or mitigation measures necessary to satisfy any requirements, including federal and tribal land use requirements. See 25 CFR 162.565(a).
The BIA must approve the lease unless the required consents have not been obtained, the requirements of Subpart E have not been met, or there is a compelling reason to withhold approval in order to protect the interests of the Indian landowners. The BIA defers, to the maximum extent possible, to the tribe’s determination that the lease is in their best interests. The BIA may not unreasonably withhold approval of the lease. See 25 CFR 162.566.
The BIA must approve the lease, return the lease package for revision, or inform the parties that additional time is required within 60 days. If the BIA needs additional time, it must send a letter to the parties explaining its concerns and inviting the parties to respond within 15 days. The BIA has 30 days after sending the letter to approve or disapprove the lease. If the BIA does not comply with the deadlines in 25 CFR 162.565 the parties may take action in accordance with 25 CFR 162.588. Once the BIA has made its decision, it must provide the parties with a determination of approval or disapproval and provide the basis for that decision.
3-FD-i.13 to 3-FD-i.15 – Inform Parties That Lease Has Been Disapproved; Can the Lease be Approved if Revised?; Appeal BIA Decision
As stated above, the BIA must inform the parties whether they approve or disapprove the lease and state the basis for their decision. If the lease is disapproved, the BIA will return it to the parties for revision. If revision is not possible, the parties may appeal the BIA’s decision in accordance with the procedures found in part 2 of title 25.
3-FD-i.16 to 3-FD-i.18 – Record Lease with Land Title and Records Office; Provide Lease to Lessee and Copies of the Lease to the Tribe and Indian Landowners; Solar Land-Use Lease
25 CFR 162.568 requires all WSR lease documents to be recorded with the Land Titles and Records Office. The BIA immediately records all leases upon approval. 25 CFR 162.565(e) requires the BIA to provide the approved WSR lease to the lessee and a copy of the lease to the tribe. Copies of the lease will also be made available to Indian landowners upon request.
Once the lease has been recorded and the approved lease is returned to the lessee, operations may commence in accordance with the negotiated terms.
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warc | 201704 | By Roger Banks
According to the Washington Times, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley has resigned himself to the idea of a "trigger," tying tax relief to future surpluses. This is a sign that any conservative renaissance in Washington is still quite fragile. Never mind the talk of larger short-term tax cuts. The trigger concession signals that the Senate is still controlled by spending addicts.
The trigger, in essence, makes future tax relief dependent on future over-taxation. In principle, therefore, it is absurd. Moreover, as the President has aptly said, with the trigger in place, Congress can reduce or eliminate tax cuts by spending more. Having perfected the art of wasting tax revenue, legislators on both sides of the aisle could make quick work of eliminating promised tax cuts under any circumstances. With the aid of the trigger, they could do the trick blindfolded, one hand tied behind the back.
It is no secret that liberals in Congress are hooked on spending. Perhaps it is time to ask the compassionate question: Why should junkies of big government be deprived of the care and support available to other types of addicts? Twelve-step programs, accountability groups, talk therapy, and other treatments are effective in helping addicts overcome all sorts of dependency disorders. Yet those who suffer from a compulsion to spend taxpayer money have nowhere to turn.
Republicans who go along with the trigger -- e.g., Olympia Snow, John McCain, Arlen Specter, and now Charles Grassley -- are what is known in recovery parlance as "enablers." These are the folks who intervene to protect addicts from the natural consequences of their destructive ways. Regardless of their good intentions, enablers actually reduce the chances that their colleagues will ever overcome the spending dependency.
The real hope of recovery lies in confrontation with reality. Rather than agree to the trigger, which lets addicts get their fix under the guise of tax relief, an inverse trigger might be proposed: a law requiring the taxpayer to pay income tax if and only if he has a personal surplus after meeting his own spending needs. If liberals object that people could avoid taxes simply by spending, progress has already been made in illuminating the folly of the Democrat's proposal.
A similar opening occurs when liberals intone the refrain that "no responsible American family would spend money without first establishing a budget." Here the point should be made that no family would plan a budget without first subtracting taxes from gross income. In light of this revelation, invite liberals to see the surplus for what it is: the government's tax liability to the people (incurred by over-taxation), which must be deducted from the U.S. treasury's gross revenue before consideration of a detailed budget. In other words, just as President Bush proposed, tax cut first, detailed budget later.
It is important to remember that recovery is a process, not an event. Those liberated from the tax-and-spend fixation are best regarded not as cured, but
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warc | 201704 | Turner-Cobb, J., Smith, P., Ramchandani, P., Begen, F.M. and Padkin, A., 2016. The acute psychobiological impact of the intensive care experience on relatives.
Psychology, Health and Medicine, 21 (1), 20 - 26.
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The acute psychobiological impact of the intensive care experience on relatives.pdf - Published Version
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Abstract
There is a growing awareness amongst critical care practitioners that the impact of intensive care medicine extends beyond the patient to include the psychological impact on close family members. Several studies have addressed the needs of relatives within the intensive care context but the psychobiological impact of the experience has largely been ignored. Such impact is important in respect to health and well-being of the relative, with potential to influence patient recovery. The current feasibility study aimed to examine the acute psychobiological impact of the intensive care experience on relatives. Using a mixed methods approach, quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously. Six relatives of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a District General Hospital, were assessed within 48 h of admission. Qualitative data were provided from semi-structured interviews analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Quantitative data were collected using a range of standardised self-report questionnaires measuring coping responses, emotion, trauma symptoms and social support, and through sampling of diurnal salivary cortisol as a biomarker of stress. Four themes were identified from interview: the ICU environment, emotional responses, family relationships and support. Questionnaires identified high levels of anxiety, depression and trauma symptoms; the most commonly utilised coping techniques were acceptance, seeking support through advice and information, and substance use. Social support emerged as a key factor with focused inner circle support relating to family and ICU staff. Depressed mood and avoidance were linked to greater mean cortisol levels across the day. Greater social network and coping via self-distraction were related to lower evening cortisol, indicating them as protective factors in the ICU context. The experience of ICU has a psychological and physiological impact on relatives, suggesting the importance of identifying cost-effective interventions with evaluations of health benefits to both relatives and patients.
Item Type: Article ISSN: 1354-8506 Uncontrolled Keywords: coping ; intensive care ; relatives ; social support ; stress Subjects: UNSPECIFIED Group: Faculty of Science & Technology ID Code: 24558 Deposited By: Unnamed user with email symplectic@symplectic Deposited On: 24 Aug 2016 13:57 Last Modified: 24 Aug 2016 13:57 Downloads
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warc | 201704 | Sallabank, Julia Margaret (2005)
Prestige from the bottom up : a review of language planning in Guernsey. Current Issues in Language Planning, 6 (1). pp. 44-63. ISSN 1466-4208 Abstract
This paper discusses language planning measures in Guernsey, Channel Islands. The indigenous language is spoken fluently by only 2% of the population, and is at level 7 on Fishman’s 8-point scale of endangerment. It has no official status and low social prestige, and language planning has little official support or funding. Political autonomy has not increased the language’s status or stopped intergenerational transmission from declining. Most language planning initiatives are very small-scale and are undertaken by pressure groups or individuals, who focus on social prestige at grass-roots level rather than official status. The likelihood of success of current efforts is evaluated.
Item Type: Article Journal or Publication Title: Current Issues in Language Planning Uncontrolled Keywords: endangered languages ; revitalisation ; status ; prestige ; planning ; attitudes Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics Departments: Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences > Linguistics & English Language ID Code: 8360 Deposited By: Mr Richard Ingham Deposited On: 18 Apr 2008 13:56 Refereed?: Yes Published?: Published Last Modified: 26 Dec 2016 00:03 Identification Number: URI: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/8360 Actions (login required)
View Item | 1,476 | 860 | 2,505.767442 |
warc | 201704 | Kitchin, Rob and Hubbard, P. J. (1999)
Research, action and 'critical' geographies. Area, 31 (3). pp. 195-198. ISSN 0004-0894
Download (370kB) Abstract
In the 199Os, the notion of ‘doing’ critical geographies has become one of the central themes infusing human geographic study. Eschewing the strictures of radical Marxist approaches (which principally focused on the forms of oppression and inequality wrought by capitalist process), critical geography has consequently sought to examine the diverse sociospatial processes that regulate and reproduce social exclusion. The lens of critical geographers has thus widened from a narrow focus on capital-labour relations to encompass broader processes of social disadvantage and marginalization as they affect women, ethnic minorities, sexual dissidents, disabled people and so on. Simultaneously, this ’critical agenda’ has been accompanied by a heightened concern that the geographer’s research on social oppression and exclusion should be sensitive to the life experiences of marginalized groups. For example, in recent years there have been several papers (eg Keith 7992; Robinson 1994; Rose 1997) and collections (Canadian Geographer 1993; Professional Geographer 1994; Antipode 1995) that have examined issues such as reflexivity, empowerment, emancipation, critical praxis, positionality and power relations. Such writing has generally concentrated on the complex social relations the exist between researcher and researched, with ideas from feminist scholarship (in particular) invoked to dismiss assumptions that research is an objective and ‘value-free’ endeavour.
Item Type: Article Additional Information: The final and definitive version of this article is available at Area Vol.31 No.3(1999) pp.195-198. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.1999.tb00083.x Keywords: research; critical geography; social exclusion; Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > National Institute for Regional and Spatial analysis, NIRSA
Item ID: 3918 Depositing User: Prof. Rob Kitchin Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2012 11:25 Journal or Publication Title: Area Publisher: Wiley Blackwell Refereed: Yes URI: Repository Staff Only(login required)
Item control page | 2,291 | 1,270 | 4,053.446457 |
warc | 201704 | Take-up on UK business parks during the second half of 2001fell by 16.5% during compared with the previous six months, according to new research from GVA Grimley. But activity is still 4.2% above the average level for the period since 1996.
The absence of pre-lettings is largely responsible for the downturn, with pre-let construction activity down 33% on the previous six months. Carl Potter, National Head of Business Parks at GVA Grimley, said: ‘Over the course of GVA GrimleyÂ's last three business park reviews, we have witnessed a decline in speculative development and a slow but steady increase in availability. The last six months, though, have seen a dramatic and sudden increase in vacancy rates - a trend attributed to both the continued downturn in the technology sector and the aftermath of September 11.’
Availability of space on UK business parks has been increasing steadily since a trough of 5.2% in December 1998. And the amount of vacant space rose sharply between June and December 2002 from 6.6% to 8.3% of stock. In total 4.8 million sf of business park space is now standing empty. But Potter said the market fundamentals remained solid. ‘Although at first glance the figures might seem discouraging, they do indicate that things arenÂ't all bad,’ he said, ‘Although there has been a drop in the number of lettings, this is still above average since 1996. Furthermore, developers are still active - particularly in the speculative market - reflecting an underlying belief in the business parks market.’ (source: GlobeSt.com) | 1,665 | 877 | 2,963.586089 |
warc | 201704 | The way that you go about financing your business may vary depending upon a number of factors:
The stage of evolution your business is at; Your past trading history; The purpose you need the funding for; How much you are planning to borrow and how that is measured against your overall financial worth and that of your business; etc.
Let’s have a look at each of those in due course.
The stage your business is at
Companies that are still in the early stages of setup or with a very limited trading history may have special challenges in terms of finding business launch funds.
Typically lenders may wish to see that you are investing a relatively meaningful amount of your own finances into your enterprise (e.g. through re-mortgaging) thereby effectively sharing the risk with them.
Lenders in this category are often the new business section of the banks, some finance houses, business angels and very possibly some of the specialist venture capitalist companies. It is also not unusual to see new businesses drawing upon family finances from relatives, where such a thing exists.
Your past trading history
Businesses that have two or more years of trading and accounts behind them may be able to look more widely around in the marketplace for various forms of business loan.
Companies such as everline.com may have a role to play in helping here.
Once you do have a trading history behind you, you may find it easier also to borrow larger sums – particularly if they are linked to things such as capital acquisitions or business expansion.
The purpose you need the funding for
Some potential lenders here may be rather more focused on understanding the minutiae of your requirement than others.
The banks in particular may prefer longer-term lending and for what might be termed routine purposes, as opposed to short-term loans needed to cope with a given situation.
Many lenders may prefer to see loan requests that are being driven by strategic thinking rather than crisis management. Most will wish to be sure that you are clear that you will be able to afford the repayments within whatever terms and conditions you have agreed.
How much you are planning to borrow
As you might imagine, trying to obtain business funding that appears to be out of any proportion to the size, scale and profitability of your enterprise, may be something of a challenge for many if not all lenders.
Some might offer flexible loans of up to £50,000 over 52 weeks with the option to repay it early and thereby save on interest payments though others may insist upon what are called fixed term arrangements.
Making your case
Whatever your individual circumstances and however they may influence your choice of potential lender, in almost every situation it is imperative to be seen to be someone that is professional and clear as to why the money is required and what purpose it will be put to.
Little is more discouraging to potential lenders than a business loan proposition without a supporting rationale. Be certain that you have a clear, well-articulated and thought-through loan request – particularly if it is for anything other than a relatively small sum of money.
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warc | 201704 | Mankind has more than a hundred years of use Vaseline a variety of purposes.It is simple to use, has no odor and color.To protect against the adverse effects of the environment, to prevent scaling, soften the skin - all this can be achieved if you apply Vaseline.What else can be useful is an effective and proven tool?This will be discussed in this article.
bit of history in the second half of the XIX century was opened by Robert Chezbro Vaseline.Almost immediately, he was put into large-scale production.Since the 1870s it was sold as an effective tool for the treatment of burns, cuts, scrapes, cracked skin.Women used it in skin care.By the end of the XIX century it was practically in every home.And today does not lose its relevance such an effective product like Vaseline.Price means, most importantly, fairly acceptable.The cost of petroleum jelly - in the range of 20-30 rubles per 25 grams.
Vaseline: composition and properties
means consists of a mixture of liquid and solid carbohydrates.Rece
Species Vaseline
The tool is divided into three types:
Technical.This type of cleaning is subjected to the least.Petroleum jelly color can vary from yellow to dark brown.This tool has a pronounced smell of kerosene.Vaseline is widely used in the industry.It protects metal parts from moisture, acts as the impregnation of electrical insulators and is used as a lubricant for the various contacts.The composition of petroleum jelly presence of an acid, so if you hit it on the skin can cause irritation. Medical.This type of agent is thoroughly processed and is white in color.Vaseline medical topically applied as a protective and emollient, and as a basis for medicinal ointments.Means applying a thin layer, will help to eliminate minor cracks in the skin and make it softer after the negative impact of the wind, sun or frost.Mucosal protection from injury when using enemas or vapor tube helps Vaseline, which before the introduction of stringent tips smeared with this tool.
Beauty.This kind used in the manufacture of many creams and oils.In its pure form it is used very rarely, because it contributes to clogging of the pores and blocking access of oxygen to the skin.However, Vaseline Cosmetic is an effective emollient before the massage.He also has a restorative effect.Vaseline is recommended after Dermabrasion or peeling. Vaseline face
Vaseline is an effective means in the fight against premature skin aging and age-related wrinkles.This effect is due to its ability to create on the skin surface protective film that prevents dehydration of tissues.Also, petrolatum and tools based on it hypoallergenic and safe for the human body.This is true, of course, if the product is of high quality.Besides petrolatum does not penetrate into the skin, it is resistant to degradation in cosmetics do not interact with other substances.
protection against environmental
Due to the dense layer formed by Vaseline, skin is protected from cold air, strong winds and the sun.The protective film on the face protects the skin cells from the cold, his lips - from cracking and chapping.
protection in everyday life
With this product, you can protect the mucous membrane of the nose from drying out during cleaning dusty places or allergic reactions.Detergents can cause irritation or skin peeling.Vaseline, applied a thin layer just before contact with these substances, get rid of such phenomena.
The use in decorative cosmetics
Vaseline can be mixed with decorative cosmetics, for example, with shadows.This will give them uniformity, luster and will promote ease of application.If you run out of blush or lipstick, do yourself a cosmetic can, using petroleum jelly, which simply mixed with food coloring desired shade.
Vaseline in cosmetology
This tool is able to dissolve and remove even resistant makeup.However, the use of petroleum jelly for removing makeup should carefully avoiding contact with particles of funds for the eye mucosa.After the procedure, petroleum jelly should be removed from the surface of the skin, as its residues can cause edema morning.Also, this tool effectively combats wrinkles.To this end petroleum jelly in a 1: 2 mixed with aloe gel.The resulting mixture is applied to the skin for 20 minutes.Then the remnants of the mask are washed away, the face is rinsed with cold water.If we combine jelly with honey or visceral fat, you can get a nutritious mask for lips.
As can be seen from the foregoing, many problems can be avoided by using this effective and affordable means as Vaseline.
What else can you use this product?
In summer, the skin may appear diaper rash.To avoid this, it is necessary before going out to lubricate the problem areas with Vaseline.
With this tool, you can extend the stability of the flavor of your favorite perfume.To do this, apply a little Vaseline on the skin, and then at the same place to splash spirits.
If you regularly lubricate the skin of the hands and feet with Vaseline, it is a long time will remain soft and young.Before going to bed, you can put on your skin a thin layer of means, wear cotton socks and gloves are the same.Per night Vaseline absorbed, and the next morning the skin of your hands and feet will be soft and smooth.
Vaseline can increase the growth of eyelashes.Therefore, we can periodically apply to them means.This should be done carefully, because as Vaseline, caught on the mucous eye, can cause inflammation.
The tool can replace the modeling gel for eyebrows.For this jelly spread on the hairs with a clean brush.This not only helps keep the shape of the eyebrows during the day, but also give it a natural shine.
With this product, you can avoid getting polish on the skin during a manicure.To do this before applying the decorative tools must be lubricated with petroleum jelly cuticle.And if you get paint on the skin, then remove it will be very easy.If
while bathing baby shampoo gets into the eyes, eyebrows, lubricate it with Vaseline.This will protect the baby from the discomfort.
Vaseline - a universal, affordable, harmless tool that should be in every woman's purse. | 6,114 | 2,797 | 13,303.469432 |
warc | 201704 | PublicationsBack To Publications One for All and All for OneIntra-Organizational Dynamics in Humanitarian Action
A significant proportion of humanitarian assistance is now delivered by NGOs which have in effect become federated trans-national organizations, alliances of members from different countries, all seeking to provide assistance in times of crisis. This report describes research carried out to better understand how these transnational bodies organize their membership, deliver and accountability systems in times of crisis.
We examined the field response systems and structures of six NGOs to understand how they function during emergencies. A description of the organizations is included in the report. We identify six key learning points that are important for multi-member organizations operating in emergency contexts.
This report is the result of a study commissioned by Oxfam America. | 907 | 506 | 1,616.826087 |
warc | 201704 | GlucoMenu helps Type 1, Type 2 & Pre-Diabetics with
Achieving better blood sugar results
Weight loss and weight management
Reducing confusion with treatment (what to eat, drink, activity, testing)
Coping with diagnosis, feeling better, and increasing energy levels
Jose Cuervo Authentic Lime Margarita contains
Jose Cuervo Authentic Lime Margarita
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9.95% alcohol. Alcoholic beverages can affect your blood sugar. This choice provides calories without other nutrients. Carbohydrate Choices: 2 45% of calories are from carbohydrate. One Carbohydrate Choice is approximately 15 grams of carbohydrate. Fat: 0 grams Your selection contains no fat. Strive to consume less than 30% of your calories from fat. This beverage contains zero saturated fat. Limit saturated fat to 10% of total calories daily. Sodium: 0 milligrams Consider that fresh foods (e.g. fresh fruits and vegetables) often have significantly less sodium than processed foods. If you choose this consider...
Christine Mixed drinks are often high in calories and carbohydrate. Consume these in moderation.
To burn this off... Walk for 42 minutes Jog for 20 minutes Bike for 27 minutes Swim for 23 minutes Based on a person weighing 175 pounds (change weight)
Blood sugar and diet are directly related. It is important for those with Diabetes to learn as much as possible about nutrition. FREE Diabetic Profile
Bread Crumb Navigation
FOODPICKER: Alcohol: Mixed Drinks
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 6 fl oz
Amount Per Serving
Calories 212
Total Fat 0g
Saturated Fat 0g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 0mg
Total Carbohydrate 24g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Sugars 0g
Sugar Alcohol 0g
Protein 0g
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 0%
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000
calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower
depending on your calorie needs.
Calories Per Gram:
Fat 9 Carbohydrate 4 Protein 4 | 1,989 | 1,060 | 3,657.133019 |
warc | 201704 | Adventure Based Learning May is National Walking Month. Here at Forever Manchester we fund a wide variety of community groups and projects, including walking groups.
Adventure Based Learning is based in the Oldham area of Greater Manchester.
Mark Hilton set up Adventure Based Learning (ABL) in January 2011 to get people who may not otherwise gain access to the countryside and the activities it offers.
Steadily, he built up a membership of teachers, social workers and youth workers to help design projects that would interest, motivate and encourage a love of the outdoors and all it offers. The group is a rare mixture of old, young, male, female experienced and novice adventurers but they all get on well. They offer taster sessions that enable people to try out activities for courses that develop and promote self-confidence, communication and team building skills. Some courses lead to accreditation leading to further training, which helps those hoping to improve employability.
The range of activities is huge and includes outdoor climbing and mountaineering, orienteering and navigation and sailing for the fit and healthy as well as a wide variety of country skills such as conservation, bush craft, ecological growing, outdoor cooking and plant, tree, fungi, animal and insect identification. ABL also provides a range of craft activities linked to nature such as raft building and willow weaving.
Every course is designed to suit the group or individual involved so the variation is brilliant. All participants are given the opportunity to help plan, do and review their house and residential courses.
The Venture Skills course was also adapted for a group of people with mental health issues to include suitable accompanied walks and a variety of activities within their capabilities.
The Adventure Quest course is aimed at year 6-7 children in the area and aims at helping children feel more self-reliant and making them feel more self-confident.
Participants are given the chance to explore the skills they never knew they had an explore a range of courses, which can lead to awards and certificates and the opportunity to advance to further hopes, fears, and aspirations in a fun learning environment and experience outdoor climbing, indoor climbing, gorge scrambling, worm holing and abseiling as well as many other team building and confidence boosting activities.
One member of the group, Lee joined ABL after being unemployed for two years. Lee self-referred himself to the group and gained a number of qualifications whilst volunteering with ABL. Thanks to these qualifications and the confidence that ABL gave to him, Lee has now gone into steady employment. | 2,695 | 1,303 | 5,551.327705 |
warc | 201704 | Moss Side Fire Station Amateur Boxing Club We recently funded Moss Side Fire Station Amateur Boxing Club (MSFSABC), based in South Manchester.
The group is an amateur boxing club based in Moss Side and is affiliated with Moss Side Fire Station. Marginalised individuals and those socially excluded are welcomed to the club to train and build confidence.
The club provides 16 boxing and fitness sessions a week with no discrimination of age, gender, ethnicity or ability. There are sports clubs and leisure facilities around Moss Side, however, due to territorial constraints some community members cannot attend certain gyms and the boxing club is perceived as a safe and neutral ground with no gang affiliation. The boxing gym has a draw to members as it provides them with a level of kudos and “street cred” that other sporting activities fail to do. This draw brings the young people into the club and trainers can then work on making this into a positive and potentially life-changing experience for them.
The club put on a boxing show at the fire station a couple of times a year to showcase the work that they have been doing. It also means members can display their work to friends, family and members of the public. This show also raises money for the gym itself.
Forever Manchester recently funded Moss Side Fire Station to ensure they have the money to put on their next showcase. The award given to them funded the hire of the equipment, the fees for the caterers, the medical provision that has to be present and the expenses for the travelling opposition.
The event will be put on in the grounds of the fire station, and if the Manchester weather allows it, it’ll be outdoors too.
The boxing show will be using competitive boxers who are aged 11-34 years old.
The club has been going for over 5 years and has many great stories about members improving their life skills because of the participation in their activities. The local community has benefited from our project in the following ways:
The provision of activities relevant to the local area and people: Many local young people do not engage with other services or activities such as football, youth clubs etc. and MSFSABC fill these gaps. They have also opened the club from 10pm-12pm during Ramadan in order to allow those members who were fasting to break their fast and train afterwards. The club has also been able to provide ladies only and a disability classes, catering for a diverse range of people. The spreading of positive values and the production of better citizens: This is difficult to measure but has been corroborated by partner agencies such as GMP and the local authority. Their task is to improve the local community and they support the club wholeheartedly as they help them to achieve their desired outcomes. The establishment of volunteers in 3 High Schools (Burnage High School, Barlow RC and Loretto) who work as staff members in the pupil welfare departments who act as mentors and who help to challenge anti-social/bad behaviour.
Attendees of the group said:
“I have been training at Moss Side Fire Station Amateur Boxing Club for over two years and I have enjoyed every moment of it. The facilities are fantastic and the coaches, in my view are doing an impeccable job. I look forward to training and progressing as a boxer at this gym.” “I’ve been at the gym for two years now and I enjoy all the sessions and the new equipment has benefited me, being one of the only girls in the gym I feel no discomfort of being part of the community.” | 3,590 | 1,706 | 7,445.146542 |
warc | 201704 | What about *ACCEPTABLE* addictions?
How about *READING* "addiction": spending your "down" time reading books? Or the aforementioned Television "addiction"? Or, even worse, our "addiction" to work - 40+ hours a week in behavior that has been "proven" to be as detrimental to our health as alcohol abuse?
I guess it all comes down to what one group of people consider "balanced" behavior versus another group. Is reading books every evening instead of watching television for an "addictive" amount of time considered abnormal? Is working at a skill you really enjoy - and often getting paid for it - considered an "addiction"?
Usually an "addiction" is defined as a behavior that adversely affects your life; that is, a behavior that causes physiological, psychological or financial damage to you and your family or close associates. "Traditional" addictions like alcohol, drugs or gambling have clearly identifiable symptoms and consequences. However, "substitution" of one behavior for another that does NOT have adverse life impacts, or at least no worse than the replaced "acceptable" behavior, shouldn't qualify as an addiction - unless they start having the same impact to your life as one of the "traditional" addictive behaviors.
So substituting computer or technology use for time that would be spent reading, watching television, playing chess, watching a movie are NOT addiction: they are simply "life-style choices" that technology makes available today.
And the real biggie - work "addiction" - is actually encouraged, as it decreases the cost of productivity...at the expense of both quality of life and physiological health.
Tell you what: I won't consider it an "addiction" until the police set up checkpoints for "excessive work behavior" late at night and haul me off to a Caribbean resort until I "learn my lesson" and pay my leisure debt to Society... | 1,913 | 1,010 | 3,539.99703 |
warc | 201704 | It was 34° F this morning, as it has been for the last couple of days, but it doesn’t bother Helleborus orientalis one bit. For many years I had assumed that Hellebore was either native to the UK or maybe the PNW because they were living with the cold and rain just like the rest of us here, none the worse for the wear. In fact, Hellebore is of European origin, and the variety Helleborus orientalis spedifically is native to Greece, Turkey and the Caucasus.
Hellebore orientalis (a.k.a Lenten Rose or winter rose) and is an evergreen that blooms December-February, when its yearly glamor is over. The rest of the year they provide a nice foliage accent. Hellebore is easy for the beginning gardener and is not plagued with many diseases or pests, however nothing is completely “care free” in the garden.
As knowledgeable Seattle-area gardener Judy Thomas (who is also an amazing garden artist) reminded me, cutting off old leaves when it starts to bloom will do two things: prevent botrytis and show off the flowers better. I have to admit I hate doing that, but I know she is right because botrytis is a fungus that lives off of plant debris. I also have peonies and strawberries not far from my hellebore in some areas, and they are also susceptible to botrytis so I just take a deep breath and cut off those old leaves. I’ll keep most of the new ones for now since there aren’t that many. You can see one of the leaves I’m going to cut off in the photo below.
Hellebore orientalis ‘Mardi Gras Double’ is a hybrid hellebore with slightly larger than average flowers that have a cup-like shape. The buds have a pinkish hue and open into a white bloom that has pinkish red speckles near the center. As the flowers age they will become more consistently light pink.
Plant your hellebore where it will have full to partial shade, moist well-draining soil, and a little shelter. Two of my favorite hellebores are planted under a Japanese Laceleaf “Red Dragon” so they have shelter from the elements. The spot would be too sunny later in the season, but by that time the laceleaf is providing a shady umbrella but still allows plenty of air circulation. I also like to plant winter blooming plants near the walkways, windows, or anywhere I can see them as I arrive home to provide maximum impact in preventing the winter blahs.
Click here to see what the Mardi Gras looks like in 2012. | 2,445 | 1,261 | 4,620.487708 |
warc | 201704 | My dad was adopted. His birth mother was a young teenager when she gave birth to him. I think I remember hearing that the birth father was much older but, the details remain murky. She later went onto marry and had no other children. My father had three other adopted siblings, all were raised with happy memories childhoods of playing baseball on dairy farms, summers on Lake Michigan and finned, teal colored automobile- quintessential life in the 1950's. While I was in college my father decided to find his birth mother. He discovered that she was old stock American, her family having lived in America at least since the time of Lincoln. Although most of the rest of the details about her life were unremarkable, she did share with my dad that no one else in her whole life, except her and her mother, knew about her pregnancy. There is much to the story that I have forgotten, or didn't ask or wasn't told but my biological grandmother's life and decisions much more made sense after I read the book, "The Girls who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe v. Wade" by Ann Fessler.
Please read this book if you have not already. I think it is fair to place this book in the category of "books that have changed my life". Not only did it make my own family history seem less strange but, it literally gives voice to those who had no choice and, for me, reaffirms why it is so vital to appreciate and continue to fight for our reproductive freedoms. Additionally, it explains away the rationale for why women should give their babies up for adoption rather than having abortions. Our physiological process of childbirth has evolved to bond a mother to her baby and visa versa. Deciding on adoption is an completely different kind of choice than choosing to not have a baby. A quote from the book: "The girls who went away were told by family members, social-service agencies, and clergy that relinquishing their child for adoption was the only acceptable option. It would preserve their reputation and save both the mother and child from a lifetime of shame. Often it was clear to everyone, except the expectant mother, that adoption was the answer...They were simply told they must surrender their child, keep their secret, move on and forget." While on the topic of adoption, I'd like to mention a wonderful New York City program, The Doula Project. It provides doulas to those who cannot afford douals, doulas for women having abortion procedures and doulas for births in which the baby will be adopted. And lastly, the title quote is from John Irving's novel The Cider House Rules. A novel that deals much with choices of abortion and adoption pre Roe v. Wade. | 2,739 | 1,424 | 5,251.032303 |
warc | 201704 | Last week we looked at the history of piracy and the similarities between today’s headlines in Somalia and those of the Barbary Coast (LINK). In that article we introduced the likely cause of piracy; need. Today we take a harder look at this subject and introduce another necessary element in the development of regional piracy; opportunity.
Need
Piracy is a global problem that sparks when need meets opportunity. Poverty and political instability are problems in a high number of maritime nations but few there have either the need or opportunity to attempt acts of piracy.
The most basic need comes from the inability of one to provide food, clothing or shelter to those under an individual’s care. While needs of this type would provide the impetus for engaging in piracy, it’s often the case that people lacking in these areas also lack access to the basic tools needed to hijack or rob a ship.
Need as it’s perceived by a group of people contemplating piracy can also come from changes in or a dichotomy of wealth. An individual is more likely to be content with their life and the occurrence of tragedy if they have not experienced world advances in medicine, technology, etc. If, however, a group has experienced advances, regardless of how basic, and these are taken from them, the perception of need is magnified. Even if basic needs are being met and stability has be achieved a perception of need can occur when in close proximity to people experiencing “a better life”. Such is the case of residents of Indonesia along the Straight Of Malacca, as they live in close proximity to the wealthier countries of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
In the case of Somalia need comes from a radical change in the wealth of a group of people. Fishermen in the region were meeting their basic needs until foreign fishermen began competing with local fishermen. This problem was aggregated by a significant decrease in the stock of local fisheries which has been attributed to pollution from commercial shipping.
Opportunity
Need and desire alone do not lead to the start of piracy as success also requires opportunity. A convergence of events are required to provide the opportunity for piracy.
. The first step in opportunity is having the basic equipment needed to commit an act of piracy (fast boats, basic communication technology, etc) but this is a low bar for entry. Equipment . The second step is having either a lack of or the support of law enforcement. This, combined with a lack of judicial process creates the next step of opportunity. Political Instability are required if a pirate is going to be successful. Not every ship is easy to hijack. Many are too fast for small vessels to catch and others have features like low freeboard that provide easy access to boarders. Suitable targets . It is suspected that piracy occurs most often in the Straight of Malacca because pirates are tipped off which ships departing Singapore have received deliveries of cash. In the case of Somalia, pirates first captured larger fishing boats and utilized the knowledge of the captured crew. Now they are believed to be using ransom money to buy equipment (AIS receivers, Internet access, etc) that facilitate the gathering of information. Information Suitable Targets
Of the events of opportunity required to commit acts of piracy the most important is an abundance of suitable targets close enough to land to be accessed by small vessels. This occurs only in select areas of the world known as Choke Points. The following graph shows the choke points of the world oil supply:
.
2008 Piracy Mapped
The red dots show successful attacks and the yellow dots show unsuccessful attempts. The two are loosely correlated by the sophistication of the pirates.
Political Instability
The following map showing political risk and poverty comes from The Economist:
.
The Hotspots
Of interest is the correlation between the choke points, piracy and political stability / poverty. To demonstrate this we have overlaid the three maps below:
.
Combined Effect
The combination of these three maps clearly shows the correlation between opportunity (a high number of potential targets & lack of political stability), need and the resultant acts of piracy.
Of note: There is one discrepancy in these findings, Nigeria. This is because need and opportunity collide, not with the transportation of oil, but the exploration and production of this valuable commodity. | 4,496 | 2,060 | 9,696.95534 |
warc | 201704 | This guest post by a scientist who finds himself a FishOutOfWater highlights just how concerned we should be … global warming is not an issue for your grandchildren …
Flowers are blooming in England in January more than a month early. The Vail, Colorado ski resort has no natural snow for the first time in 30 years of operation while Homer Alaska had over 15 feet of snow by the tenth of January smashing all time records. Temperatures were strangely warm in the Dakotas with highs reaching the low seventies on Jan 5 & 6 in several towns in South Dakota, smashing records by as much as 15°F.
Crocuses in England credit:Ben Birchall
Record Start to 2012 The first 10 days of 2012 have been warmer than anytime in recorded history across portions of the Northern Plains. This was mainly due to the lack of snow cover leading to unseasonably warm high temperatures. The average high temperature for the first 10 days in January (January 1-January 10) was warmer than previously recorded, in some instances by 6 degrees!
Record Warmth: January 5, 2012A warm front pushed northeastward across Minnesota and brought with it very warm temperatures, making it feel more like late March or early April than the first week of January.
Temperatures soared across Minnesota where there was abundant sunshine and no snow on the ground. The highest temperature found so far from a National Weather Service Cooperative Station is 62 degrees at Marshall. Both Milan and Madison in southwestern Minnesota both saw 61 degrees. An automated station near Canby in Yellow Medicine County reached 63 degrees. Looking back to 1891 this is the first time a maximum temperature reached 60 degrees in the state for the first week of January. St. Cloud saw a record high of 53 degrees, breaking the old record of 43 degrees set in 1984. Clouds held the temperature down in the Twin Cities and “only” had a high of 45 degrees.
There has never been a 60 degree temperature recorded during the first week of January in Minnesota’s modern climate record. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Minnesota during the first week of January is 59 degrees, occurring on January 7, 2003 in Amboy, MN. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Minnesota on January 5 is 57 degrees, recorded at Crookston in 1902.
The Pacific Storm Track Buried Alaska in Snow, While Drought Began in California.
The storm track across the Pacific, which is normally in the Pacific northwest or California in the first week of January, was far north dumping Homer Alaska with a record 15 feet of snow, and counting. The jet stream was far north of normal from Alaska to Europe. The cold air was locked up in Siberia, Alaska and the Arctic while drought rapidly developed in California.
The Sierra Nevada went a record two months in the rainy season without precipitation. Winter snows are beginning this week, 2 months late. Historic droughts in California have started with La Nina years like this one. Time will tell.
Atmospheric circulation patterns were the most extreme on record for December measured by an index called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) according to Dr. Jeff Masters. A strong positive NAO has cold air in Canada moving offshore into the Labrador Sea while the U.S and Europe are warm. A Strongly positive NAO produces a tight pressure gradient and intense storms in the north Atlantic.
Hurricane hammered the holidaysDecember 26, 2011
One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit Norway hammered coastal areas during the Christmas weekend and left a wide path of destruction throughout the south, west and northwest. Winds were clocked at more than 200 kilometers an hour, terrifying residents in many areas and leaving more than 100,000 homes without power.
EUMETSAT imagery shows Dagamr developing offshore of Iceland then striking Norway.
December 2011 jet stream pattern the most extreme on record.The cause of this warm first half of winter is the most extreme configuration of the jet stream ever recorded, as measured by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The Arctic Oscillation (AO), and its close cousin, the North Atlantic Oscillation (which can be thought of as the North Atlantic’s portion of the larger-scale AO), are climate patterns in the Northern Hemisphere defined by fluctuations in the difference of sea-level pressure in the North Atlantic between the Icelandic Low and the Azores High. The AO and NAO have significant impacts on winter weather in North America and Europe–the AO and NAO affect the path, intensity, and shape of the jet stream, influencing where storms track and how strong these storms become. During December 2011, the NAO index was +2.52, which was the most extreme difference in pressure between Iceland and the Azores ever observed in December (records of the NAO go back to 1865.) The AO during December 2011 had its second most extreme December value on record, behind the equally unusual December of 2006. These positive AO/NAO conditions caused the Icelandic Low to draw a strong south-westerly flow of air over eastern North America, preventing Arctic air from plunging southward over the U.S. and Europe.
Wild swings in the December Arctic OscillationThis winter’s remarkable AO/NAO pattern stands in stark contrast to what occurred the previous two winters, when we had the most extreme December jet stream patterns on record in the opposite direction (a strongly negative AO/NAO). The negative AO conditions suppressed westerly winds over the North Atlantic, allowing Arctic air to spill southwards into eastern North America and Western Europe, bringing unusually cold and snowy conditions. The December Arctic Oscillation index has fluctuated wildly over the past six years, with the two most extreme positive and two most extreme negative values on record. Unfortunately, we don’t understand why the AO varies so much from winter to winter, nor why the AO has taken on such extreme configurations during four of the past six winters. Climate models are generally too crude to make skillful predictions on how human-caused climate change may be affecting the AO, or what might happen to the AO in the future. There is research linking an increase in solar activity and sunspots with the positive phase of the AO. Solar activity has increased sharply this winter compared to the past two winters, so perhaps we have seen a strong solar influence on the winter AO the past three winters. Arctic sea ice loss has been linked to the negative (cold) phase of the AO, like we observed the previous two winters. Those winters both had near-record low amounts of sunspot activity, so sea ice loss and low sunspot activity may have combined to bring a negative AO.
However, this winter with the AO reversed, Arctic sea ice extent is near the record minimum for the date and calculations of sea ice volume are at record lows. Last winter and the winter before that, very warm water around Greenland helped trigger deep lows in the Labrador sea while warm air blew over Greenland from its east coast.Gulf stream water pushed up towards Greenland, maintaining the pattern. This year, with a stronger, tighter Arctic atmospheric circulation and stronger westerly winds across the north Atlantic the warm water that originates in the Gulf Stream is being driven up the coast of Norway into the Arctic ocean.
The most extreme high temperature anomalies on earth this December and early January were not where the records were set in the United States. They are in the Arctic ocean where the sea ice is missing, over the Barents sea.
These storms released huge amounts of heat into the atmosphere above the Barents sea. The cold air that blew off of Greenland triggered convective overturning of the waters between Greenland and Iceland. The storms generated strong southerly winds from the north Atlantic into the Arctic.
The strong southerly winds along the coast of Norway strengthened the Norway current, driving warm Atlantic water into the Arctic, maintaining the ice free area. This is a pattern that has continued from the fall into the middle of January.
The warm salty Atlantic water, much of which originated in the Gulf Stream, is being driven by currents from the Barents sea deep into the Arctic ocean along the Siberian shelf. Numerical modeling of combined sea height data combined with gravity data measured from satellites interpolates the results of a small set of measured profiles of the Arctic ocean, tracking the warm Atlantic water as it flows off the Siberian shelf at 100 meters depth.
Arctic temperaturesAir temperatures in December were lower than average over much of the Arctic Ocean, but higher than average over the Kara and Barents seas. Higher-than-average temperatures in these regions stemmed from two major factors. First, where sea ice extent is low, heat can escape from areas of open water, warming the atmosphere. Second, surface winds in the Kara and Barents Sea ice blew persistently from the south, bringing in heat from lower latitudes. This imported heat also helped to keep sea ice extent low in this area. Conditions over Canada were also unusually warm during December, but conditions over southeast Greenland have been 6 to 8 degrees Celsius (11 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit) colder than average, partly because of northerly winds in the area. Temperatures averaged up to 30°F where the sea ice was missing for the first week of January. This figure needs confirmation, but clearly the open ocean is releasing exceptional amounts of heat to the atmosphere where the ice is absent.
Positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation The past two Arctic winters were dominated by a negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation, a large-scale weather pattern that brings generally warm conditions to the Arctic and colder conditions to Europe and North America. In contrast, the winter of 2011 has so far seen a mostly positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. While temperatures were above normal in the Kara and Barents seas, the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation tends to keep the coldest winter air locked up in the Arctic, which keeps the middle latitudes free of frigid Arctic temperatures and strong snowstorms. This weather pattern helps to explain the low snow cover and warm conditions over much of the United States and Eastern Europe so far this winter.
Several studies have shown that during the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation, thick ice tends to move out of the Arctic through Fram Strait, leaving the Arctic with thinner ice that melts out more easily in summer.Scientists will be watching closely for this connection if the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation continues through the winter.
Some scientists have speculated that the negative Arctic Oscillation pattern of the last two winters was in part driven by low sea ice extent. The recurrence of the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation so far this winter, following a near-record low summer sea ice extent, suggests that other factors play an important role.
The continuing loss of sea ice appears to have become self-sustaining. Global warming has expanded the pool of warm water in the north Atlantic and more of that water is getting into the Arctic. It’s a death spiral for Arctic sea ice.
A strong control of sea ice area (SIA) in the Nordic Seas in the period 1982–2006 by oceanic heat variability is reported. In particular, variability of summer Atlantic water temperature in the Barents Sea Opening explains about 75% of the variance of the following winter SIA anomalies which opens prospects for seasonal predictability of regional sea ice cover. A strong link of winter SIA anomalies to variability in the previous spring sea surface temperature on the western (Greenland Sea) and eastern (Barents Sea) sides of the Nordic Seas indicates that the oceanic control of sea ice cover in these areas mainly results from postsummer surface reemergence of oceanic heat anomalies generated by earlier atmospheric forcing. In particular, late winter North Atlantic Oscillation and anomalous winds across the Barents Sea ice edge significantly influence next winter sea ice cover on the western and eastern sides of the Nordic Seas, respectively.
After it loses heat in the Barents sea the warm salty Atlantic water becomes denser than the cold Arctic surface water which is freshened by the huge volume of river water that flows into the Arctic ocean. The Atlantic water forms a warm layer typically found beginning at about 200 meters deep in the Arctic ocean. The increased storminess in the Barents sea is apparently increasing the rate of flow of Atlantic water into the Siberian Basins of the Arctic, changing the Arctic currents and the distribution of salty and fresh water in the Arctic ocean.
Taken as a whole, the salinity of the Arctic Ocean is similar to the past, but the change in the freshwater pathway means the Eurasian Basin has gotten more saline while the Canada Basin has gotten fresher.“The freshening on the Canadian side of the Arctic over the last few years represents a redistribution of freshwater, there does not seem to be a net freshening of the ocean,” Kwok said.
In the Eurasian Basin, the change means less freshwater enters the layer known as the cold halocline and could be contributing to declines in ice in that part of the Arctic, Morison said. The cold halocline normally sits like a barrier between ice and warm water that comes into the Arctic from the Atlantic Ocean. Without salt the icy cold freshwater is lighter, which is why it is able to float over the warm water.
The increasing salinity of the surface water along the Siberian shelf is increasing its density. When ice forms in the winter the exclusion of salt from the ice is making water that is cold and dense enough to sink into the warm salty Atlantic water below. This increased mixing of warm water is heating the Siberian side of the Arctic ocean and the air above it. The following summer, it is leading to faster ice melt, furthering the death spiral of summer Arctic sea ice. | 14,136 | 5,680 | 34,914.426761 |
warc | 201704 | Today’s post comes from Manhattan Review Italy, a well-known provider of test prep and MBA Admissions Consulting in Florence, Milan, Naples, and Rome for Top Business Schools.
Are you applying to business school? If so, you probably already know there’s scads of information about the admissions process out there. It can be overwhelming, but if you strategize and make a plan, you should find yourself ahead of the curve. But where should an application begin? It can be hard to sort through the junk and get to what you need. Here’s a list of five myths about the admissions process along with our advice on how to prepare for success.
I’ll prepare for the interview after I submit my application!
This is a bad call. Interviewing is a lifelong skill, and you can’t “cram” to learn interview techniques at the last minute. If you’re serious about business (and business school), you owe it to yourself to build your interviewing skills.
How? Set aside an hour a week to focus on interview skills. Make a list of probable b-school admissions questions and answer them in writing, then practice saying your responses in a natural way. Ask a friend to ask you questions. Remember to smile, make eye contact, and lift the end of your sentences. Have you ever acted? Take an acting lesson. Seriously. It will improve your diction and confidence. And try this: videotape yourself responding to question, and try to see yourself objectively. Would you admit you to the program if you were in charge? If not, why? Keep practicing.
I have a great recommendation from a VIP, C-level exec of alum! Wahoo! I’m made!
You and everyone else. Practically every serious candidate will have a high quality recommendation. What matters as much if not more than the letterhead and name of the recommender is what the recommender has to say, so while you might be tempted to get mom or dad to call in a favor from Senator Jones, Professor Allen (who actually knows you and your work) may be the better bet. The admissions committee wants to get an idea of who you are as a candidate, and recommendations are a clear way for them to learn about who you are (and not just how well-connected you appear to be on paper).
If I don’t have blue-chip experience, I won’t get into a top ten program!
Happy to report this is another myth. In fact, if your background is unorthodox, it might help you stand out. Don’t be shy when explaining your background, especially if you got to where you are in an atypical way. Are you a serial entrepreneur who started your first business at sixteen? This is fascinating, even if your used golf ball business failed and nearly got you arrested. Admissions panels are looking for candidates who made the most of the opportunities they had and who made opportunities of their own. Initiative, drive, consistency, leadership, and ambition don’t belong solely to blue-chip elite.
My essay is so wildly different I am definitely going to stand out!
Sorry, this isn’t true. Think about how many thousands of applicants these committees have poured over during their tenure. They’ve seen it all. And if they haven’t, is it really worth risking your admission on a clever, unusual letter? "Look, I created my own Elvish alphabet based on the lost letters of Tolkein and wrote my letter using it! Here’s a key."
Just write a well-crafted letter that explains your qualifications and why you want to attend the program. Some practical tips: read the letter aloud, ask a friend to review it, edit it on your computer and on paper, read it aloud again, and have a friend check it one last time for typos.
The GMAT’s a big deal – AWA not so much…
This is another big myth! Whether you’re a native English speaker or not you need to pay attention to the AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment). Admissions committees will use this as both a measure of your ability to communicate and your academic seriousness. Any low or middling score in your application could give cause to the committee to offer someone else the slot that would otherwise belong to you. Don’t take that chance.
So what’s the take-away? In every part of your application, take no half-measures! At least then if you don’t get in, you can sleep at night knowing you did your best.
If you are just beginning your MBA application, check out our free interactive MBA Admissions Webinars, where you’ll gain lots of useful insight into the MBA Admissions process from Manhattan Review’s Director of Admissions Consulting, who has been a member for the Wharton Admissions Committee for many years. The session will reveal many secrets of the admissions process and definitely increase your chances of success. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your questions answered and get an inside perspective from an expert! | 4,924 | 2,348 | 10,003.18569 |
warc | 201704 | Thought Leaders Summit 2016 Marriott Islamabad 21 January 2016
As a leading segment of society, business has become the most powerful force for positive change in the world today. While markets compete to attract the capital from world over, countries are gauged by investors using various factors that can promote business growth in a country. Ease of Doing Business (EODB) is an indicator, being used by World Bank to review business friendly environment in countries around the globe. Pakistan currently stands at 138 out of 189 countries in EODB index. In order to attract foreign investment, accelerate industrial growth, increase employment opportunities and stabilize the economy, it is important for Pakistan to take prompt measures for sustainable improvement in EODB.
This index is largely influenced by public sector organizations that come in contact with business community for 11 key factors. Since human governance drives organization strategy, therefore it is of great interest to investors and regulators worldwide. It facilitates mutual alignment of interests of directors, top-level management and employees for better performance and productivity.
HR Metrics, with support of SHRM Forum Pakistan, is organizing a “Thought Leaders Summit” at Marriott Islamabad on
21 January 2016. The Theme is “Strengthening Human Governance for Sustainable Ease of Doing Business Index”. The Summit will engage Pakistan top policy makers, business councils, business owners, CEOs, board chairpersons, regulators, senior government officials, civil society representatives, international development organizations, CHROs, CFOs, COOs, CMOs and senior HR executives. Summit Objectives
1. Provide a synergistic platform to Pakistan’s policy makers and industry expert business leaders to discuss challenges of human governance and its impact on the business and overall economy.
2. Provide a helping hand to the government in establishing a coherent and comprehensive human resource management (HRM) policy framework consistent with its broader development and investment strategy.
3 Suggest implementation plan for national HRM policy that is responsive to new economic developments for creating a favorable investment climate in the country.
Intended Benefits
The development of human governance framework will define a human system that promotes good governance objectives and implementation plans to measure their success. It will encourage merit-based practices that ensure effective strategic decision-making with a view to create responsible, accountable, controlled and value driven organizations. It is through human governance that government can improve EODB sustainably and also strengthen its agenda of privatization, deregulation, restructuring and good governance seeking to enhance growth and productivity in the economy. | 2,873 | 1,399 | 5,826.090779 |
warc | 201704 | When Decisions are Made Types of Decision Making Programmed Decisions—are routine decisions and follow almost automatic process. Following are some of the attributes of Programmed decisions: Managers have made decision many times before. There are rules or guidelines to follow. Example:Deciding to reorder office supplies. Non-programmed Decisions—are required to be taken when some new situation has arisen, or a unusual situations that have not been often addressed has arisen. No rules or established norms to follow since the situation is new to the organization. In some of the cases, managers take the cue of decisions made by other firms facing similar situations. However, these “other firms” may be the closest competitor and hence following their strategy may not produce the desired results. Hence, these decisions are made based on qualitative information, quantitative information, intuition, and judgment. Rather, looking from an organizational perspective, if we look on a personal level, question asked in CAT 2007 was a similar situation of decision making. Example:Should the firm invest in a new echnology?
Directions for questions 1 and 2
Shabnam is considering three alternatives to invest her surplus cash for a week. She wishes to guarantee maximum returns on her investment. She has three options, each of which can be utilized fully or partially in conjunction with others.
Option A: Invest in a public sector bank. It promises a return of +0.10%. Option B: Invest in mutual funds of ABC Ltd. A rise in the stock market will result in a return of +5%, while a fall will entail a return of –3%. Option C: Invest in mutual funds of CBA Ltd. A rise in the stock market will result in a return of –2.5%, while a fall will entail of +2%.
0.20% 0.15% 0.30% 0.25% 0.10%
64% in option B and 36% in option C 1/3 in each of the three options 30% in option A, 32% in option B and 38% in option C 100% in option A 36% in option B and 64% in option C
Basics of Linear programming Scheduling problems | 2,050 | 995 | 4,145.326633 |
warc | 201704 | The proposal is based on earlier studies describing a novel "on-off" reversible switch mechanism that regulates transcription of multiple genes, mainly proto-oncogenes that control cell division and tumorigenesis. The mechanism involves repression by PSF protein and reversal of repression by endogenous RNAs that bind and release PSF from a gene. The general aim of the R21 proposal is to determine whether the genomic RNA of hepatitis D virus (HDV gRNA) has the same tumorigenic function as endogenous PSF-binding RNAs, involving binding to PSF and reversing repression of proto-oncogenes. Epidemiological studies suggest that infection by HDV, and also by HCV, can cause HCC, and co-infection with HBV is required to provide help for producing HDV particles, contradicting the prevailing view that HBV causes HCC. The epidemiological evidence is bolstered by molecular evidence showing that HDV gRNA binds preferentially to PSF protein in vitro, and by functional evidence showing that transfection of NIH3T3 cells with a HDV gRNA transgene results in transformation of the NIH3T3 cells to tumorigenic cells. Encouraged by these seminal findings, we propose the following experiments. (i) Test for binding of HDV gRNA to PSF protein and induced transcription of the proto- oncogene Rab23 in NIH3T3 cells transfected with a HDV gRNA transgene;(ii) Test for formation of tumors in a mouse liver by transfecting a HDV gRNA transgene into the liver. We expect these experiments will provide further support for the proposed tumorigenic role of HDV gRNA in the etiology of HCC and lead to new molecular targets for diagnosing and treating HCC induced by HDV infection.
The proposal will test a novel mechanism that generates hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) resulting from infection with hepatitis D virus (HDV), which contradicts the prevailing view that HBV causes HCC. We expect the results will identify new molecular targets for diagnosis and therapy of HCC. | 1,964 | 904 | 4,256.057522 |
warc | 201704 | Welcome to the first Seed Sowing Saturday of 2011! Where all of us seed starting fanatics recap our weekly seed starting experiences and share with each other what we’re working on, how we’re doing it all, and of course the results!
I chose to start my seed sowing this week by starting shallots. We do a great deal of our cooking in the kitchen with yellow onions and I love the red ones grilled but I think by far the best all around cooking onion is the shallot. It doesn’t have the overwhelming strong taste like the red onions and has a nicer flavor than the yellow onions. The only problem with shallots is that they are so expensive. So to increase the quality of our cooking without raising the grocery expenses we are going to attempt to grow shallots.
I like to use everyday kitchen trays to hold out seed starting pots. They are cheap and easily available. I filled this one with 16 small round peat pots. In the past I’ve used all kinds of plastic yogurt containers with holes poked in the bottom but I happened to have some small peat pots in the garage that were handy.
I added a commercial seed starting mix. It’s one of the easiest ways to go and is available in organic versions. Many people make their own formulas for seed starting mix but I haven’t as of yet (I’m interested in hearing about your soil mix if you have one!) After adding the mix to the pots I watered the tray and allowed the water to soak into the pots and the soil.
In went the shallot seeds! I placed two per pot for a total of 32 shallots. I hope they all germinate but there will probably be some seeds that are no longer viable. Onions have shorter shelf life than many other plants and these seeds have been around a little while.Even if only half of the seeds germinate I’ll still have a nice crop of shallots.
In our upstairs closet I have a grow light set up for our seed starting. It’s just an old fluorescent shop lamp but it’s always done a great job. I like to adjust the height so that it is close to the seeds. Once the seedlings are old enough I’ll harden them off to the outdoors and plant them as onion sets in the garden.
Next week I hope to make my seed purchase for this year’s seeds. I usually go with heirlooms so that I can save the seeds but I may try a few hybrid summer squashes to see if any can resist the squash bugs, borers, and the rot issues I had last year. We love our summer squash around here and get cranky when we can’t grow it!
What’s going on with your Seed Sowing Saturday? Don’t forget to leave a link to your post below in the comments! | 2,651 | 1,295 | 5,254.916602 |
warc | 201704 | Last week as part of its glitzy annual conference in Long Beach, California, TED awarded its $1 million prize to Sugata Mitra to support his wish to build a “School in the Cloud,” a self-organized learning environment based on his “Hole in the Wall” and “Granny Cloud” research.
Next week Pearson, the largest and most powerful education company in the world, will publish Dale Stephens’ book
Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will, a personal experience narrative and guide about dropping out of college and making it in Silicon Valley.
Both these projects — the Hole in the Wall and the Uncollege movement — claim to “hack education” on behalf of the learner. And both have been the topics of TED Talks — on the main TED stage and at the smaller TEDx spin–offs.
Mitra’s TED talks, which have been particularly successful, describe his company’s placing of computer kiosks into the slums of India. From there, street children have gained computer and English literacy skills without adult intervention.
It’s an story that Stephens nods vigorously at: the self-directed and self-motivated student can learn anything; no thanks to our testing-dominated public school curriculum; no thanks to our federally-subsidized, loan-obsessed university; but thanks to the Internet and the growing availability of open online resources -- thanks to the access and a lot of “grit.”
In the TED world of techno-humanitarianism, this computer-enabled learning certainly makes for an incredibly compelling story.
But once something becomes a TED Talk, it becomes oddly unassailable. The video, the speech, the idea, the applause — there too often stops our critical faculties. We don’t interrupt. We don’t jeer. We don’t ask any follow-up questions.
They lecture. We listen.
The phrase, “child-driven education” — promoted by Sugatra Mitra and Dale Stephens and others — is a stirring one. It’s a good slogan, as all popular TED talks are wont to be.
It’s one that posits that all children are capable learners — no manner race nor creed nor gender nor income; it’s one that posits that knowledge need not be delivered by teachers nor learning spaces be teacher-centered. Hail discovery, curiosity, inquiry and such.
This new vision for education, as Mitra explains it, can be enabled now thanks to computer technologies. “The future of learning” will be a break from the present and the past — from our current education system’s factory model and its colonial legacy.
“I tried to look at where did the kind of learning we do in schools, where did it come from? And you can look far back into the past, but if you look at present-day schooling the way it is, it’s quite easy to figure out where it came from. It came from about 300 years ago, and it came from the last and the biggest of the empires on this planet. [“The British Empire”] Imagine trying to run the show, trying to run the entire planet, without computers, without telephones, with data handwritten on pieces of paper, and traveling by ships. But the Victorians actually did it. What they did was amazing. They created a global computer made up of people. It’s still with us today. It’s called the bureaucratic administrative machine. In order to have that machine running, you need lots and lots of people. They made another machine to produce those people: the school. The schools would produce the people who would then become parts of the bureaucratic administrative machine. They must be identical to each other. They must know three things: They must have good handwriting, because the data is handwritten; they must be able to read; and they must be able to do multiplication, division, addition and subtraction in their head. They must be so identical that you could pick one up from New Zealand and ship them to Canada and he would be instantly functional. The Victorians were great engineers. They engineered a system that was so robust that it’s still with us today, continuously producing identical people for a machine that no longer exists. The empire is gone, so what are we doing with that design that produces these identical people, and what are we going to do next if we ever are going to do anything else with it?
[“Schools as we know them are obsolete"]
So that’s a pretty strong comment there. I said schools as we know them now, they’re obsolete. I’m not saying they’re broken. It’s quite fashionable to say that the education system’s broken. It’s not broken. It’s wonderfully constructed. It’s just that we don’t need it anymore. It’s outdated. What are the kind of jobs that we have today? Well, the clerks are the computers. They’re there in thousands in every office. And you have people who guide those computers to do their clerical jobs. Those people don’t need to be able to write beautifully by hand. They don’t need to be able to multiply numbers in their heads. They do need to be able to read. In fact, they need to be able to read discerningly.”
Pardon my quoting Mitra’s TED Prize acceptance speech at length, but I always feel like it’s hard to get a word in edgewise in TED Talks. Indeed, they’re designed that way: well-scripted and highly-polished presentations — 15 to 20 minutes on “ideas worth spreading.” The audience is supposed to bask in the ideas — get carried away in the prose and in the delight of human curiosity and the superstar delivery and “why hadn’t I thunk of that” problem-solving.
You are not supposed to interrogate a TED Talk. You’re supposed to share the talk on Facebook.
But I have questions.
I have questions about this history of schooling as Mitra (and others) tell it, about colonialism and neo-colonialism. I have questions about the funding of the initial “Hole in the Wall” project (it came from NIIT, an India-based “enterprise learning solution” company that offers 2- and 4-year IT diplomas). I have questions about these commercial interests in “child-driven education” (As Ellen Seitler asks, “can the customer base be expanded to reach people without a computer, without literacy, and without any formal teaching whatsoever?”). I have questions about the research from the “Hole in the Wall” project —
the research, not the 15 minute TED spiel about it. I have questions about girls’ lack of participation in the kiosks. I have questions about project’s usage of retired British schoolteachers — “grannies” — to interact with Indian children via Skype.
I have questions about community support. I have questions about what happens when we dismantle public institutions like schools — questions about social justice, questions about community, questions about care. I have questions about the promise of a liberation via a “child-driven education,” questions about this particular brand of neo-liberalism, techno-humanitarianism, and techno-individualism.
You don’t get to ask questions of a TED Talk. Even the $10,000 ticket to watch it live only gives you the privilege of a seat in the theater.
As Evgeny Morozov recently wrote in a review of several books published by the new TED press,
“Since any meaningful discussion of politics is off limits at TED, the solutions advocated by TED’s techno-humanitarians cannot go beyond the toolkit available to the scientist, the coder, and the engineer. This leaves Silicon Valley entrepreneurs positioned as TED’s preferred redeemers. In TED world, tech entrepreneurs are in the business of solving the world’s most pressing problems. This is what makes TED stand out from other globalist shindigs, and makes its intellectual performances increasingly irrelevant to genuine thought and serious action.”
Dale Stephens is not a tech entrepreneur. But as one of the first recipients of the 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship, the program that pays young men and women (well, mostly men) $100,000 to drop out of college to pursue their entrepreneurial visions, Stephens has been supported by one of the most powerful tech entrepreneurs and one of the world’s richest men: PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
Stephens’ and Thiel’s message about education overlap in many places, namely: “there is a higher education bubble.” That is, our investment in college education is overhyped and irrational, and now the cost of a diploma has out-stripped its value.
That’s the underlying argument of Stephens soon-to-be-released book
Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will.
The book, along with Stephens’ larger speaking and writing efforts about unschooling, share with Sugata Mitra’s TED Talk the notion that we can and must support a learner-centered and learner-driven education future — something that universities in particular, Stephens argues, fail to do.
But this isn’t simply about the rise of the learner — we’d be so naive to believe that’s the case. It’s about the rise of the technology industry alongside the collapse of the education sector. Take away the public school, as Mitra suggests — it is a colonial legacy! — and replace it with computers. Something like NIIT Enterprise Learning Solutions, perhaps, “one of the top 5 training companies in the world.”
Stephens echoes those on the TED stage and those in Silicon Valley when he talks about the future of higher education thusly: “the advancement of technology means that educational institutions are being dismantled. … And just like that, the three major functions of a university—knowledge delivery, community building, and employer signaling—are replaced.”
Of course, to narrow “the university to these three “major functions” is, well, narrow. What about knowledge building? What about research? What about civics and service?
What about the public good?
And let’s be clear here: this is a calculated view and one perfectly crafted for the intellectually impeccable TED stage, one that situates education institutions as
attacked by the Internet, rather than as the co-creators of it; one that posits professors as necessarily resistors to change, rather than agents of innovation.
And framed as such, this signals a massive opportunity —a wink and a nod to those investors in the audience — for the tech entrepreneur. See also: the TED Talk by Salman Khan (2+ million views). The TED Talk by Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller (+900K views). The TED Talk by Sugata Mitra (1.2 million views).
Much like a TED Talk, Stephens’ book is neither designed nor prepared to be closely interrogated. He talks “big ideas” in sweeping generalizations. Stephens invokes anecdote after anecdote, hoping I suppose that this blurs into data. But while “uncollege” might make a good slogan — particularly considering the high cost of tuition and the increasing burden of student debt — the advice in Stephens’ handbook doesn’t always stand up to close scrutiny.
“I’m the first MacCaw not to go to Cambridge,” says one of the informant. This and a myriad of other utterances are rather mind-boggling markers of privilege, markers that
Hacking Your Education fails to examine and that the book seems extraordinarily unaware of.
One hack it offers for the young uncollege-er: “take people out for coffee” — budget $150 a month to do so. Another hack: “go to conferences.” Sneak in. “Hardly anyone will notice.” Another hack: “buy an airplane ticket.” “You can go anywhere in the world for $1500.” “Collect frequent flyer points.” Too bad if you’re big or black or brown or a non-native English speaker or the working poor or a single mom. Just practice your posture and your grammar and your email introductions, and you’re golden.
“You are responsible for your own successes and failures” according to
Hacking Your Education. Systematic racism, sexism, classism be damned. Race, class, and gender privilege, family and community and mentor support — how much of “hacking your education” entails relying on this and not just on individual drive, curiosity, or “grit”? The book ignores all this. (Cue Peter Thiel’s libertarianism and Silicon Valley’s insistence that it is a meritocracy.)
Now don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty that education institutions do — from K–12 onward — that doesn’t help learners at all. Cost. Curriculum. Control. Assessments. Standardization. Debt. Unemployment. Existential Malaise.
Yet much of what’s written about in
Hacking Your Education feels like a caricature of school, a convenient description of the failures of our modern education system that feels very particular to Stephens’ own biography, to the anecdotes told by his informants and — and here’s the most troubling part — to a larger political narrative about the “brokenness” and irrelevance of the public education system. “Think about it,” Dale writes, “in your twelve years of school did any teachers ever ask you what you wanted to learn, or did they just prepare you for the next test?”
Or “schools only teach what is settled.”
Or “university does not exist to train you for the real world—it exists to make money.”
These assertions can all be easily disputed, if no other reason than none of them are backed up with any evidence or research. And even the data the book does cite are flawed or contested, crafted to make a particular political point. The way that Stephens (and he’s certainly not alone in this) touts the findings in
Academically Adrift — that college students don’t learn critical skills — without any recognition of the serious critiques about the book’s methodology, is a case in point.
Take too the claim that “When I started writing this book in 2011, the average student graduated with $25,000 or so in debt. By 2012, it was up to $27,000 in debt.” Not quite true. That might be the average for students who take out student loans; but only two-thirds of students do so. That means the average student loan debt is actually lower — and here’s the problem with mean versus median — skewed too by the very small percentage of borrowers (3.1%) who borrow over $100,000.
I’m quibbling here, perhaps. This isn’t a book grounded in education research. It’s a book grounded in personal experience: “Ditch the lectures, save tens of thousands, and learn more than your peers ever will.” Or, “Do what Dale did.” Drop out. Network. Travel. Profit.
And Stephens has been extraordinarily successful at this. He’s been successful as a (TED) speaker. As an op-ed writer. And now, as a Pearson-published author.
His book is not a TED book, but it shares with the Mitra's TED Talk that certain hope for virality and inscrutability. As Morozov writes,
Today TED is an insatiable kingpin of international meme laundering—a place where ideas, regardless of their quality, go to seek celebrity, to live in the form of videos, tweets, and now e-books. In the world of TED—or, to use their argot, in the TED “ecosystem”—books become talks, talks become memes, memes become projects, projects become talks, talks become books—and so it goes ad infinitum in the sizzling Stakhanovite cycle of memetics, until any shade of depth or nuance disappears into the virtual void. Richard Dawkins, the father of memetics, should be very proud. Perhaps he can explain how “ideas worth spreading” become “ideas no footnotes can support.”
Hacking Your Education advances the notion that education is a personal (financial) investment rather than a public good. The School in the Cloud project posits that education is a corporate (financial) investment rather than a public good. Why fund public schools when we can put a kiosk in a tech company’s annex? Why fund public schools when you can learn anything online?
The future that TED Talks paint doesn’t want us to think too deeply as we ask these questions. But what happens,when we “hack education” in such a way that our public institutions are dismantled? What happens to that public good? What happens to community? What happens to local economies? What happens to social justice?
As such, the vision for the future of education offered in Stephens’ new book is an individualist and incredibly elitist one. It contains a grossly unexamined exceptionalism, much like the Hole in the Wall which, at the end of the day, worked best for the strongest boys on the streets.
So despite their claims to be liberatory — with the focus on “the learner” and “the child” — this hacking of education by Mitra and Stephens is politically regressive. It is however likely to be good business for the legions of tech entrepreneurs in the audience.
Sugata Mitra, “Build a School in the Cloud,” TED, 2013. (link) Dale Stephens, Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will, Perigee Trade, 2013. (Amazon Affiliate link) Disclosure: I was one of the first people to write about Stephens and Uncollege; I'm thanked in the book's acknowledgments. I'm also giving my first TEDx talk this spring. So there you go. | 18,016 | 7,534 | 40,281.327316 |
warc | 201704 | There’s a reason why you should never let ’em see — or smell — you sweat. You appear not just less confident, but less …
smell
Beer smells like beer and a violet smells like a violet to everyone, right? Maybe not, according to the latest study that traced the way we smell to differences in our genes.
Beagles are known as good hunters. So why not send them in search of deadly bacteria?
Elderly people have a distinct smell, confirm researchers at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, but contrary to stereotype their scent isn’t all bad.
Who doesn’t love the scent of a juicy slab of bacon? People with two functional copies of a gene linked to the OR7D4 odor receptor, that’s who.
They’re man’s best friend, but dogs, it turns out, may also be a doctor’s newest secret weapon for detecting cancer.
Loss of smell is often an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, and, according to new research published in the
Journal of Neuroscience, could possibly serve as a warning sign at the onset of the disease. Previous research has explored the relationship between loss of smell—or olfactory dysfunction—and the accumulation of a protein … | 1,231 | 705 | 2,001.029787 |
warc | 201704 | When it comes to vacation time, CIOs aren’t fully committed, according to healthsystemCIO.com’s July Snap Survey, which found that although most CIOs take time off, few are able to truly disconnect.
In the survey, 93 percent indicated they had taken — or plan to take — a vacation this year. However, nearly 90 percent admit to checking email while out of the office, with 38 percent logging in once a day, and almost half (48 percent) logging in several times a day.
For some CIOs, sorting through emails during vacation can help avoid the “avalanche of work” often waiting upon return, as one respondent put it. Another noted, “It’s difficult to get away, and unfortunately the work piles up, so the refreshment from being away quickly turns into a scramble to get back on top of things.”
On a more positive note, CIOs feel its imperative to encourage staff members to use their allotted time off, with 55 percent stating they don’t expect any response from staffers who are contacted while out of the office, and 45 percent indicating that a reply is expected — but only in urgent matters. A critical step toward ensuring that both leaders and staff are able to remain unplugged is succession planning, according to one CIO, who stated, “If you’ve clearly identified a number two, you train your number two, and you build a simple rule that says ‘one of us has to be here all the time,’ you can actually go on vacation.”
Overall, CIOs believe getting away is critical — even if it’s only for a short time. One respondent noted that the department has implemented a rule banning eating at the desk to encourage staffers to take a proper lunch break. “It is important to get away from your desk to change your perspective every day — not just on vacation.”
Finally, the majority (65 percent) of respondents reported feeling refreshed after returning from vacation, although many were on the fence, noting that playing catch-up upon return can negate the effects of time away.
(SnapSurveys are answered by the healthsystemCIO.com CIO Advisory Panel . ) 1. Are you planning to go on vacation this year, or have you already taken time off? Yes I’ve already taken two weeks of vacation. It is necessary to my sanity. Taking separate one-week vacations. This year’s vacation will encompass moving the family to Georgia. Not sure if that constitutes a vacation, but it will be time away from my paid job (I was going to say work, but that just didn’t feel right). Yes, for two weeks starting July 29. It’s difficult to get away, and unfortunately the work piles up, so the refreshment from being away quickly turns into a scramble to get back on top of things. Took a week back in April. I try to spread three weeks over the year with one week reserved in a single block and “totally off the grid.” No I’m not sure Workload is extremely heavy. I am concerned about taking time off, mostly based on an assumption of facing an avalanche of work upon return to the office. 2. How frequently do you check e-mail while on vacation?
Several times a day
CEO expects email replies. But only when it’s convenient for me. All accept for one off-the-grid week, I am nearly as connected as if I were in the office. I don’t engage as much, but stay aware. Breakfast and dinner.
About once a day
This last week of vacation was unusual. Most of the time, I only check twice during the week. I may not be able to check frequently because I’m traveling abroad. Email is a scourge, but with 300-400 messages a day, if I don’t keep up it becomes impossible. As an additional insult, I only need to see about 10 percent of that. I would say two to three times a day. I still usually check in a.m., and quickly check later in the day.
About once a week
Depends on available time and what is going on at work.
Never
That’s why they call it vacation. I have capable staff. This is not a one person show; your staff must be able to step up or you haven’t sufficiently empowered them. However, this year was unusual in taking a completely unplugged vacation. 3. Do you encourage your staff to take time off?
Yes, I think it makes them better employees
Sometimes people need to be off the most when we’re so busy, but if they don’t take time off, you begin to get diminishing returns on their work. It is strongly encouraged and is part of review discussion. Yes, but not a lot. We’re too busy for staff to take their full five weeks in the case of long-term managers. I believe it is very important and healthy for all. Yes, absolutely. Wish I could do more, but I have all chosen a profession that has extremely high time demands, and there are times that I have had modify their time away plans. We have a hospital wide initiative to get paid time off the books, so we are encouraging our staff to take time.
No, it’s none of my business
No, we’ve got so much to do that I can’t bring myself to encourage it
4. Do you ever contact staff members while they’re on vacation?
Yes, and I expect them to respond
Yes, but I only expect a response for urgent matters (and I make that clear)
As rarely as I can get away with it — only for extremely urgent matters. For me, it’s often “do as I say, not as I do.” I’m very good about making my direct reports really take time off when they’re of — no email, no phone calls, if at all possible. A big part of this, I’ve found, is succession planning for department leaders. If you’ve clearly identified a number two, you train your number two, and you build a simple rule that says “one of us has to be here all the time,” you can actually go on vacation! It has to be for a truly critical need that only they have the answer for and it simply cannot wait until they return. Very rarely.
No
I try to avoid it at all costs. I don’t want to be contacted, and I don’t contact them. I don’t believe in doing so unless it is a real emergency. Even then, I would hesitate. I suppose there might be rare occasions where this would be necessary, but generally, when staff are away, they should really be away. I CC my staff while on vacation so they are abreast of discussions when they return. Do not disturb is in effect. 5. Do you feel refreshed after returning from vacation?
Yes, definitely
Depends on what the time off activity is. It also helps to really take weekends periodically that do not involve any sort of work. Really, it is a mixed bag. I enjoy the time as long as I go in wide-eyed. There will be stuff to hurry and do before you leave and stuff to do to catch up, but I think at the end of the day, it pays off to escape. I even have a ‘no eating at your desk rule’ in the department so people get up and take a lunch break. It is important to get away from your desk to change your perspective EVERY DAY — not just on vacation. Even if you wolf something down in 15 minutes and come back to your desk, it’s good. Physically yes, but I dread catching up on email, voice mail, and problems/projects. Nice to clear email and voice mail before returning. Yes, at least to some degree. The biggest challenge is often trying to find the “slow time” that’s the best time to go on vacation. For CIOs these days, there’s no such thing as a slow time. I enjoy getting away and spending quality time with my best friend (my wife). However, the catching up when I get back is a little stressful. I do a fair amount of work while on vacation, but it’s still rejuvenating to be in a different location doing ‘vacation’ things! The week that I am totally discounted I return from most refreshed — but the most slammed with what ‘feels’ like a zillion communications to come to terms with… as soon as I walk in the door. Yes and no. Yes, I feel refreshed. But then the stress sets in and wipes out the refreshed feeling. I make sure of it.
No, there is so much catching up to do that taking time off is more stressful than working
I think my answer lies more in the middle. I can feel refreshed if I have checked and moved emails into a separate folder during the week. I create three folders — high, normal, and low. As I check emails during the week, I move them into one of those areas.
N/A
Usually, but there are issues I’d rather deal with on a five-minute call then unwinding two weeks later. | 8,596 | 3,725 | 18,931.968859 |
warc | 201704 | Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood and fat cells. High triglyceride levels increase your risk for heart disease. Ideal blood levels for triglycerides are below 150 milligrams per deciliter. If your triglycerides are high, consuming small, frequent meals without skipping meals may help lower your triglycerides, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Benefits of Small Meals
Overweight and obesity are risk factors for high triglyceride levels. Eating small, frequent meals instead of infrequent, larger meals can prevent you from overeating, help control your calorie intake and keep you at a healthy body weight. MayoClinic.com reports that if you’re overweight, losing just 5 to 10 pounds can help reduce high triglyceride levels. Regular exercise also helps reduce high triglyceride levels, and eating small, frequent meals can keep your energy levels high before, during and after your workouts.
What to Eat
When trying to lower high triglyceride levels, what you eat is just as important as how much and when you eat. Whole grains and other high-fiber foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds are helpful for lowering cholesterol and triglycerides when consumed in place of refined grains, sugars and saturated fats. Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids such as fish, walnuts, flaxseed, soy products and canola oil can also help reduce high triglyceride levels. A study published in 2010 in the “Journal of the American College of Nutrition” found that during a 12-week weight-loss program, subjects who consumed pistachio nuts instead of pretzels for an afternoon snack had significantly lower triglyceride levels after just six weeks.
What to Limit
Avoid or limit refined grains, simple sugars, saturated fats and alcoholic beverages to help reduce high triglyceride levels, according to Cleveland Clinic. Examples of foods to limit include white bread, white rice, sweets, sugary drinks such as regular sodas or sweetened tea, table sugar, honey, syrups, ice cream, doughnuts, candies and pastries. Instead, choose sugar-free beverages and high-fiber grains such as whole-grain bread, whole-grain pasta, regular oatmeal, brown rice, bulgur and quinoa. Due to high cholesterol and saturated fat content, limit or avoid high-fat meats, regular cheeses, egg yolks, whole milk, butter and ice cream.
Consider Fish Oil
In addition to eating small, frequent meals, maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising regularly and taking a fish oil supplement may help keep your triglyceride levels under control. MedlinePlus reports that taking a fish oil supplement containing 375 milligrams of DHA and 465 milligrams of EPA may help reduce high triglyceride levels by up to 50 percent. However, always talk with your doctor before taking any type of supplement.
Cleveland Clinic: Heart and Vascular Health and Prevention MayoClinic.com: Triglycerides: Why Do They Matter? Journal of the American College of Nutrition: Pistachio Nuts Reduce Triglycerides and Body Weight by Comparison to Refined Carbohydrate Snack in Obese Subjects on a 12-Week Weight Loss Program MedlinePlus: Fish Oil Photo Credits salad on the plate image by Aleksej Kostin from Fotolia.com | 3,215 | 1,462 | 7,012.746238 |
warc | 201704 | A couple of weeks ago, Meghan Telpner asked me if I would be interested in reviewing her new ebook,
The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked. The book chronicles Meghan’s two year journey to health, beginning with a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and ending with a symptom free life.
Meghan studied nutrition at The Institute of Holistic Nutrition and now works as a certified nutritionist and holistic lifestyle consultant and runs her own wonderful blog, Making Love In The Kitchen. After 4 years of serious digestive issues, Meghan was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and rather than follow the advice of her western doctors in Canada, Meghan chose a more holistic approach to healing. The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked is a blog Meghan posted to from the time of her diagnosis up until her graduation from nutrition school, and I was honored when she asked me to read her story, and an amazing story it is.
The book begins with Meghan’s illness and diagnosis, and even though she may have been born with the disease, Meghan comes to the conclusion that her lifestyle was not helping matters any:
I believe the appearance of the disease was the last attempt of my conscience to tell me I was on the wrong path. I knew it in my heart but when my body became so sick that I physically could not go to work, it became clear. It was only a matter of time, given the high stress course my life was on, that some sort of disease was going to make an appearance…
Meghan’s western doctors offer no advice other than drugs and perhaps surgery to remove the diseased area of Meghan’s colon. Other than that, there is no known cure for Crohn’s disease, and the symptoms can always come back. Ignoring their advice, Meghan instead chooses to fly to California for intensive acupuncture therapy. Eating a whole foods diet, practicing regular yoga and mediation (
in a yurt!), and taking Chinese herbal remedies also contribute to her healing. 3 months later, Meghan returns to Canada symptom free to begin her studies towards her nutrition certification.
It is the changes Meghan makes in her life that bring an end to her Crohn’s disease symptoms rather than any drugs or surgeries. In reclaiming her own health, Meghan learns to take care of her body, filling it with nutritious food, plenty of movement as well as plenty of rest. There are long walks every morning, bicycle rides, and a discovered love of yoga. With all of these changes come quiet and calm. Disease thrives on stress and all the craziness that we create for ourselves, but if we take care of ourselves completely, taking into account that mind-body connection, almost anything is possible. Meghan is a prime example of this, and I think she sums it up best in her New Year’s
un-resolution following her return to Canada from her treatments in California: This year, for the first time, I am making absolutely no New Year’s resolutions. I plan only to continue living as I learned to do in California, and that is happily. I will continue being good to myself. I will eat when I am hungry. I will rest when I am tired and I will move when my body wants it…I will not feel guilty in the least for doing what my heart desires. And most of all, I will no fear or worry about the countless unknowns that lie ahead.
I began reading The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked expecting a step-by-step guide to healing Crohn’s disease symptoms, but it is so much more. Yes, eating a whole foods diet is important, but so is rest and living as stress-free as possible. Slow down my friends. Take an early morning walk or a long leisurely bike ride. Seek out the
sunshine and rainbows of life. They may not always be visible, but we simply have to trust that they are waiting for us behind those grey clouds. Your mind body will thank you. Right Meghan? 🙂 and
I highly recommend The Healthy Cookie: Unbaked to anyone that has been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and for anyone else hoping to live a life free from disease and illness. I took so much away from Meghan’s story, but most importantly, I learned that I need to slow down and breathe…2 vital things in life that I often forget to do.
Meghan, thank you for sharing your story with us. | 4,263 | 1,996 | 8,880.538076 |
warc | 201704 | At a client, we’ve been reworking some particularly hairy calculation code. For better or worse, the convention is that we call a
FooFetcher to get hold of a Foo when we need one. Here’s an example that returns Transfers, which are payments to and from an account. In this case, we’re mostly getting hold of Transfers directly because can identify them 1. public interface TransferFetcher { Transfer fetchFor(TransferId id); Transfer fetchOffsetFor(Transfer transfer); Set fetchOutstandingFor(Client client, CustomerReference reference); Transfer fetchFor(CustomerReference reference); }
This looks like a reasonable design—all the methods are to do with retrieving Transfers—but it’s odd that only one of them returns a collection of Transfers. That’s a clue.
When we looked at the class, we discovered that the
fetchOutstandingFor() method has a different implementation from the other methods and pulls in several dependencies that only it needs. In addition, unlike the other methods, it has only one caller (apart from its tests, of course). It doesn’t really fit in the Fetcher implementation which is now inconsistent.
It’s easy to imagine how this method got added. The programmers needed to get a feature written, and the code already had a dependency that was concerned with Transfers. It was quicker to add a method to the existing Fetcher, even if that meant making it much more complicated, than to introduce a new collaborator. They sold a Call Option—they cashed in the immediate benefit at the cost of weakening the model. The team would be ahead so long as no-one needed to change that code.
The option got called on us. As part of our reworking, we needed to change how Transfer objects were constructed so we could handle a new kind of transaction. The structure we planned meant changing another object, say
Accounts, to depend on a
TransferFetcher, but the current implementation of
TransferFetcher depended on
Accounts to implement
fetchOutstandingFor(). We had a dependency loop. We should have taken a diversion and moved the behaviour of
fetchOutstandingFor() into an appropriate object, but then we had our own delivery pressures. In the end, we found a workaround that allowed us to finish the task we were in the middle of, with a note to come back and fix the Fetcher.
The cost of recovery includes not just the effort of investigating and applying a solution (which would have been less when the code was introduced) but also the drag on motivation. It’s a huge gumption trap to be making steady progress towards a goal and then be knocked off course by an unnecessary design flaw. The research described in The Progress Principal suggests that small blockers like this have a disproportionate impact compared to their size. Time to break for a cup of tea.
I believe that software quality is a cumulative property. It’s the accumulation of many small good or bad design decisions that either make a codebase productive to work with or just too expensive to maintain.
…and, right on cue, Rangwald talks about The Tyranny of the Urgent.
1) The details of the domain have been changed to protect the innocent, so please don’t worry too much about the detail.
Thanks to @aparker42 for his comments | 3,312 | 1,611 | 6,626.055866 |
warc | 201704 | HOUSTON — The United States’ average daily oil production is on track to surge by 1 million barrels per day this year, the biggest one-year jump in the nation’s history, according to federal data.
The country has pumped an average of 7.5 million barrels of crude per day in 2013, up from 6.5 million barrels per day in 2012. That breaks last year’s record, when oil production jumped by 837,000 barrels per day between 2011 and 2012.
The data is evidence of the astonishingly rapid turnaround in the nation’s energy story. Oil production declined in 29 of the 40 years between 1971 and 2011. In total, oil production fell by about 40 percent during that time, from 9.5 million barrels per day in 1971 to 5.6 million barrels per day in 2011.
Still, the production surge has caused oil imports to drop considerably. The nation shipped in an average of 7.9 million barrels per day of crude in September, the most recent period for which import data is available. That’s a significant drop from the peak in 2005, when the nation imported an average of 10.1 million barrels per day. | 1,112 | 549 | 2,181.464481 |
warc | 201704 | Benefits of An Efficiency Apartment. Since you prefer to live by yourself, considering the merits of an efficiency apartment make a lot of sense. This kind of living arrangement can provide you with all the basics, and also ensures that you have more disposable income to devote to other purposes. When you weigh the pros of this kind of space, it will be easy to see why many singles like this approach.
Since you would prefer to spend your free time doing something other than cleaning house, an efficiency apartment is ideal. The space is compact, meaning that you can clean it all in very little time. If you happen to be the type that does not leave things lying around, you could easily spend an hour Saturday morning and have the entire place spotless. That leaves the rest of the weekend for activities that are much more amusing.
The cost is also a big draw of an efficiency apartment. Along with the lower monthly rental rate, there is the matter of the utilities. Simply put, the cost of heating and cooling your space will be significantly less, even in comparison to a one bedroom unit. The money you save on utilities alone can allow you to add to your savings account every month. a move that will provide a more secure financial future.
Until you decide to find a spouse and start a family, do you really need much in the way of living space? Take a look at some of the efficiency apartments in the area. You cold very well find one that is in an ideal location, has a great price, and will make for a wonderful home sweet home for the next few years. | 1,572 | 816 | 3,018.779412 |
warc | 201704 | No. We are always learning. For many illnesses we can only provide symptomatic care, meaning we can only treat the signs and symptoms, not the cause. In some cases the treatment is curative, meaning that yes, we can provide the "answers" to cure the condition, and in some cases we can only provide palliative care, meaning comfort while dying. I would say that for the vast majority of ailments we can only provide symptomatic care. Fortunately in some serious conditions such as heart disease, we have surgery which is curative, if only temporary in some cases. In many illnesses, such as insulin dependent diabetes, we have the science to be able to know how to provide what the body is lacking and to prevent further damage from the condition. | 751 | 395 | 1,420.24557 |
warc | 201704 | Your Brain And Your Immune System - Can You Really Think Yourself Well? Comedies To Tickle Your Funny Bone. Soothing Music For Those Ill And In Pain.
Just pick up any newspaper, turn to any local news channel, or log-on to the Internet, and you'll see that the flu season is in full swing!
How people choose to face the flu season however, is entirely up to their own personal preferences.
Some choose to get vaccinated, others choose to ride it out with the use of over-the-counter medication, while others opt for a more natural approach.
While the thought of a more natural approach toward getting rid of the cold or flu conjures up images of herbs and fresh, immune fighting, antioxidant rich produce, many often overlook another simple immunity builder - The brain.
* The Brain And The Immune System - What's The Link?
Extensive research has continued to show that the brain and the immune system "talk" to each other about the health (or lack of) of the individual, and that one's mind exercises a strong influence over one's body - immune system included.
In keeping with these studies, the
June 1986 issue of stated: "Immunologists are discovering more about the links between mind and body, the mechanisms of psychosomatic disease." National Geographic magazine also concurs, when it reported on the close link between the brain and the immune system: "A great deal of evidence shows that the two systems are inextricably interconnected.... The emerging picture shows that the immune and nervous systems are highly integrated, able to talk back and forth to coordinate their activities." Science * Negative Vs. Positive Thinking - Its Affect On Our Well-being.
Taking in consideration that the brain and the immune system are in communicato with each other, it shouldn't come as a surprise then, that factors such as mental stress, depression, loneliness, and bereavement can negatively affect the workings of the white blood cells or lymphocytes. Thereby, reducing *T-cell activities which leads to illnesses.
If negative mental factors adversely affect the immune system, than what effect would a positive mental attitude have on the immune system?
In 1980,
Dr. Robert Samp noted the results of a University of Wisconsin study which revealed that in addition to heredity and other vital factors, those with a positive (mental) outlook on life, as well as those who avoided prolonged periods of physical or mental stress, lived longer.
Living longer is one thing however. It's the type of mentality one posses during his/her lifetime that is just as vital.
This is why over twenty years ago, scientists at the
State University of New York revealed that laughter (which is linked to a positive frame of mind) helps trigger the release of powerful hormones that energize a person's immune system.
In addition, one of the substances increased by laughter - cytokines - have been found to promote the activity of white blood cells, which are vital in warding off bacterial and viral infections and which destroy potential cancer cells - (
Cytokines are critical to the development and functioning of both the innate and adaptive immune response, although not limited to just the immune system. They are often secreted by immune cells that have encountered a pathogen, thereby activating and recruiting further immune cells to increase the system's response to the pathogen - Wikipedia).
Positive thinking and good hardy laughter, has also been found to normalize imbalances in the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems; stabilizing the heartbeat and breathing; boosting the blood flow to muscles and increasing brain activity.
Giving the phrase "laughter is the best medicine" a whole new meaning.
* Positive Thoughts And Your Health - What You Can Do.
Given this information then, it seems plausible that although not a cure-all or substitute for other vital treatments, positive thinking can make a large impact on our all over physical health and well-being.
Whether it's the use of laughter, positive reaffirmations, an upbeat attitude, positive thinking, or even a simple smile (which has been found to produce an electrical stimulus that affects the pituitary gland - thereby, releasing endorphins, which essentially are chemical substances in the brain the makes you feel happy), - in addition to a healthy lifestyle - has been shown to be a great tool in getting and staying healthy.
So the next time your sick, in addition to your "get-better-regimen", think positive thoughts by....
1.) keeping in contact with your family and friends (via phone and e-mail of course - to prevent making them ill)
2.) telling yourself you're going to get better
3.) watching a comedy
4.) reading the comics
5.) telling a joke or listening to one
6.) reminiscing over good times shared with friends and family
7.) sending yourself some flowers
8.) reading the get-well cards you've received (if you havent' received any new ones, read ones received from previous illness - in the event you've saved any)
9.) since smells affects one's mood as well, surrounding yourself with smells that bring you joy (such as lavender, gingerbread, or homemade apple pie scented fragrance diffusers)
10.) listening to soothing music
11.) getting a massage (touch has a very powerful effect on one's mental and physcial well-being - http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Power-Of-The-Human-Touch)
12.) smiling
Who knows, with these simple suggestions, you just may "think yourself well."
*[T-cells play a central role in cell-mediated immunity - which is an immune response that does not involve antibodies or complement but rather involves the activation of macrophages, natural killer cells (or NK), in turn NK cells play a major role in the rejection of tumors and cells infected by viruses - Wikipedia].
copywrite © 2009.
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warc | 201704 | Religions have inculcated people that the feminine principle is evil as a result of the Adam and Eve mythology. Religions, especially patriarchical religions, have indoctrinated people that women were to controlled and subjugated to male authority. All aspects of women's power, particularly sexuality, have been classified as demonic and evil by such religions.
Religions where women have been dominant were classified as evil and demonic. It seems that many patriarchial/organized religions view women's power and strength as threatening and unfathomable. It is the reasoning of such religions that if such power is not contained, there would be havoc. An example of this was the hysteria in the Middle Ages against midwives and other so-called female pagan practictioners. It seems that these patriarchical/organized religions were uncomfortable with women who owned their power and were only happy when women were voiceless, powerless, and submissive to male and religious authority. There are still remnants of such misogynic feelings towards women today from religious authorities especially when it comes to contraception and abortion. Many religious authorities insist that women's bodies are not their own and they have no right to determination in that regard. In many countries of the world, women are still oppressed and denied the right to education and self-expression. There are STILL some religions who refuse to admit women to powerful religious vocations such as ministers and priests, viewing that women are only fit in religious vocations that are subordinate to that of the male. Why is the feminine feared and reviled by many religious authorities?
I think evidence supports the belief that our species began with male domination. Religion was one of the binding forces for society; so it would, of course, come to the conclusion that this was normal and good.
It is only recently that Western society has progressed to the point that it understands might is not necessarily right. Religion takes time to come around because it is predicated on the assumption that God set things in place. That every step we take is away from his Grace. They first have to find evidence in their scripture for something being wrong or misinterpreted. Then they have to convince others to agree with them. Then they have to raise a generation to believe in it. But, isn't that the way all society makes peaceful progress?
Have you considered that there might be a specific reason why there are male and females?
When you consider that there is a difference, you should also conclude that it is for a purpose. If you were to understand the purposes behind that difference, you would also conclude that each will best serve the purpose behind the design. So unless you are the Father of the organisations in question religious or otherwise, Who are you to dictate to them what should be and what should not be? Wisdom dictates that any automated thing have a single head. We see in the our own body structure, which is perpetuated naturally. It is also a natural for us to establish a head within the thing we design whether it be a toy or organisation. So the natural thing for the woman is to establish he male companion as her head. There are situation where the female will not look to her male companion as head, but this is usually a case of design purposes. If You were challenging the occurrences of leaderships' abuses of their power, (and this is not necessarily strictly a male /female issue)that would be understandable , Because you then speak against oddity and not for it.
I have a hub on this very subject and I have to say I am baffled and amazed by most of the comments being put forth condoning the degradation of women. I think this goes straight to the strength of indoctrination. Yes men and women are different physically and generally we are sometimes different of the mind as well, but certainly not in regards to intelligence and understanding. Why women drag their family to any church on Sunday morning to be taught that they can't participate in any way except in a menial way is beyond my comprehension. It's also beyond my comprehension why any women or person for that matter would let anyone else even a spouse let them make decisions for them. Happiness is being in control of your own life. Without that control we become miserable wether it's in marriage or work. At home you let someone make decisions for you, at church you're told women are good enough or equal and then if your husband allows you to work your told what to do all day? I think you've been the victims of indoctrination.
Rad Man, TOTALLY CONCUR. I, for the life of me, find it totally plausible that women are the main ones who participate and contribute to their churches yet they are third class citizens as far their respective religion goes. They buy into the premise that they are inferior to men and must be submissive to them. How can they logically adhere to a religion that is misogynic.
For instance, the Roman Catholic religion is misogynic on its primary and secondary premise. Women, according to Roman Catholicism, are nothing but receptables and vessels. Roman Catholicism is totally against women's control and free exercise of her reproductive destiny. More fundamentalistic Protestantism, for example Southern Baptist assert that women are to get men assume the leadership role. My response is this totally inanity and atavistic, medieval logic is WTF? Why do women continue to subject themselves to religious authority when they know that by its premise, this religious authority and dogma is atavistically misogynic to say the least. Are some women so uncertain of themselves that they need someone to constantly tell them what, when, and how to think? As a postmodern feminist, I am totally incensed by this. Women, wake up please and assess the situation!
Many women don't want control. They want to be taken care of. Why do they call themselves girls? Why do they conduct themselves like children around men? Sorry, I don't think those women are taken advantage of. They willingly submit in order not to have to take responsibility.
Not all women are like that, but the ones who play the game are just as at fault as the men in keeping other women from their full potential.
Yes, because of indoctrination. This is what they have been taught.
I don't think so radman. I think it is a mindset of many women, whether religious or not. A Peter Pan complex, you could say. They just don't want to grow up. A lot of women don't want to work. They simply want to stay home, even if there are no kids or the kids are in school.
You could call it indoctrination if you want, but I don't consider it religious indoctrination. A lot of women want to be kept and they aren't dumb enough to believe they will be kept if they don't play dumb.
I would say yes at this point. Willing to bend my opinion if I see some evidence to the contrary.
I also see some women wanting to "regain control," whereas what they are really wanting is total control over everyone and everything. Yet when they get even near to that realisation, they get fearful of "what have I taken on? I need to off-load the responsibility here.... where's a man, let him deal with it!" I am something of a misogynist. Mainly because I don't have the patience to put up with your funny logic sometimes. Also because I don't have the skills to communicate with you. Beyond that, I try to respect women, and work along with you...... if that seems impossible or just plain confronting, I can and do walk away. Is that being too honest?
I remember a few years ago when my wife would drag me and my three boys to mass. I would of course pay a little attention as I could as to not become offended, then one day I noticed a family with a few girls sitting there and it struck me. This lady is bring her girls to worship in a place that treat girls like second class citizens. We would allow this in a public company as a matter of fact it's illegal and yet women continue to pay and give to people who have no respect for them as people.
Some men just can't handle a real woman!
Sure, some women are not real women. These fake women confuse real men.
I sound confused? You're the one talking about REAL women. I thought they were all real, unless born male. Or do you think some women are more real than others?
I think that the poster was talking about women who are secure in their femininity and are not afraid to access and harness their true feminine power. The poster was referring to pure and unadultered feminine power.
It is a figure of speech. Of course, you know that, but you would rather waste time being generally contentious about petty, trifling matters than do something productive for your family . . . like a real man.
There you go again, trying to define what REAL is. REAL man make money, REAL women stay home. The problem with the word is it can be taken differently depending on the context, it's vague. So the next time you want to insult my manhood, say something like "like a Strong, attentive or productive man". If your going to insult at least do it right.
It's probably something left over from our biological evolution. There was once a survival advantage in male and female humans raising offspring together, with each having functional specialisms reflected in the physical differences between them, i.e. the characteristics that result from males having higher levels of testosterone, females higher levels of estrogen compounds. These differences allowed each to carry out different types of task more effectively (e.g. breastfeeding an infant, killing animals for food and protection etc).
My guess is that historically the deference to males by females was rooted in the fact that males happened to be the physically stronger sex and were responsible for providing resources and protection. Females and offspring are vulnerable during the gestation period and were dependent on males for those resources and protection. Deference and compliance to the male is more likely to result in paternal support than being challenging and defiant. Also being physically stronger, males could use force to compel compliance in females. Not an option available to most females (although females adapted other ways of controlling the behaviour of males!). Over time the evolutionary advantage of bi-parental care and the differences between sexes developed into the social constructs of marriage and gender roles. When these were codified through religious texts, the deference to males by females was too, turning it into a moral imperative rather than just a pragmatic behaviour between different sexes. It was then used politically (unwittingly or not) as a way of sustaining the status quote to the benefit of one social group over another (in this case men over women). Today societal roles previously based on the physical differences between the sexes are fast becoming obsolete. Therefore if a coupling between two people is desired by both, and harmony is their goal, it's probably more important that both are willing to accept the other's wants, needs and ideas as being as valid and important as their own, and then be willing to make reasonable compromises when faced with a conflict of interest. If someone makes a free, conscious decision to "submit" to another, fine. I don't think it's helpful to expect it though. Besides there is all sorts of issues thrown up by the fact that today a husband and wife may not necessarily be a male and female.
You articulated your points well and are very eloquent! However, I believe your perspective is fundamentally skewed. Because I am Christian, I will speak for Christianity, which I am going to assume is one of the religions you would consider patriarchal.
Women in the Bible are not weak, oppressed, flakes who are subjugated by men. The women in the Bible who are seen as honorable are compassionate, brave, intelligent, dignified, and servant-hearted. By servant-hearted I do not refer to obsequiousness, but to a heart that wishes to show love by giving preference to others. Think of Esther, who risked her life by addressing the king, so as to protect her race, the Jews, from slaughter. Think of Deborah, who led an army into battle to save her people from oppression. Think of Ruth, who compassionately stayed with her mother in law, though she was not required to after her husband died, to serve her, help her, and take care of her. These are women the Bible honors. Also, it is important to make the distinction that women are not called to be submissive to men. Wives are called to be submissive to their husbands. If a women were submissive to all men there is no way she could be submissive to her husband as well. Here is where complimentarianism comes in. Complementarianism is the idea that men and women are equal but have differing roles and purposes. The man/women relationship, specifically between husband and wife, is symbolic of the relationship between God and his people. Women are called to be submissive to their husbands because the Church is called to be submissive to God. But, remember it is a symbol of Christ and his church, so the husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved the church. How did Christ love the church? With mercy, blessing, and abundant sacrifice. So, in an ideal, Christian, husband/wife relationship, the women allows her husband to lead in decision making, but the husband respects his wife and gives her preference as much as possible. In essence, they complement each other. This creates for an equal partnership, where both parties make decisions together, but the relationship still reflects God and his church. It is also important to remember that men and women are both equally under the authority of God. Also, I assume by sexual power you are referring to sexual freedom, meaning sexual activity that occurs outside of marriage. You are right, the Bible does consider this evil, but not solely among women, but among anyone. In regards to your example of the Middle Ages, that was five hundred years ago, during a time when people were poorly educated, and therefore took the word of Catholic authorities as gospel rather than studying the actual Word of God. In regards to my own views on abortion I believe that when a women becomes pregnant it isn't just her body anymore. She is sharing it with another, human organism who deserves a chance to live. However, those are my own, personal views. Lastly, women are not feared in Christianity. Women are respected. Today, opening a door for a women, pulling out her chair, paying the dinner bill, these are things that are considered disrespectful to a women, as though the man is assuming she is too weak to do these things on her own. Quite the contrary. By doing this men are serving women and it is a sign of respect and care. I don't understand why gender must be so divisive. Why must it be men vs women? The truth is men and women are different. Equal, yes, but different. There is no denying it, biologically. We are equal, but we are not the same. We were meant to complement one another, not fight one another. I hope you understand that although I disagree with you, I respect your opinion and think that you articulated it very intelligently.
gmwilliams, thanks for the hub, but I must respectfully disagree with your conclusions on this matter, and really even the premise of the argument.
MasonZgoda, I could not have said it better.
Organized, patriarchical religions throughout history have demonized women and marginalized their sexuality. Women's sexuality, especially in the Western religions, was viewed as evil. The status of women in such religions was severely regulated and women were told to subvert their sexuality and being to male authorities. Remnants of such ideas are existing today in terms of women's right to reproductive health and freedoms. The subject of women's control over their bodies is a source of contention in many religions today.
Male religious authorities, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, seem to be on the vanguard when it comes to abortion and contraception. Their premise is that women are to have no say regarding their reproductive destiny and to be passive receptacles regarding reproductive. Furthermore, many more conservative religions are against having women in powerful positions in the church, they must be always in the subjugate positions whether as nuns and/or assistants. While liberal Protestant and Jewish religions have rabbis and ministers, the more conservative religions such as Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Judaism refuse to acknowledge and permt women in such positions and they still believe that women are lesser than men. Most of the church participators, activists, and contributors are women yet they are powerless in their particular church. They are also subjected to their particular religion's misogynist teachings and doctrines. However, these women refuse to study and clearly analyse this, blindly accepting and explaining away their religious doctrine and teachings. I refuse to understand this. If something or someone does not respect you and/or your essence, it is best to leave and discontinue association with that particular thing or person. These women are so enamored of being in a religion that they refuse to see the detriments and the dark misogynic underminings of their particular religions.
gmwilliams, I will say that you may have a point regarding particular religions and how they keep women at near slave level (or at least demean them). Islam, for example is a particularly harsh religion towards women and does not allow much leniency towards their rights.
However, ‘do not throw the baby out with the bathwater’ and make a sweeping assertion about all ‘organized, patriarchical religions’. My defense is for Christianity, with regards to your perspective. I am a part of a church, and denomination, which accepts women in ministry as completely fine and normal. So, your belief that a woman has to basically ‘bend the knee’ to the man if she is a part of such a religion is really false. Also, when there are particular issues which cross over from being just about women to something more then it may make sense that religions might have something to say about it. When it comes to abortion the primary focus, for many religions, is no longer just on the woman because there is another life involved. There is a new life which is growing inside the woman and this is why there is controversy over abortion; the argument is not whether the woman can live, breathe, and be happy it is whether this new life can live, breathe, and be happy, because the woman already has those opportunities.
You are quite welcome indeed. Have a Blessed Day.
Have a look in the dictionary to see the meaning of the word, 'submissive' and you'll find nothing in there referring to equality. Also, have a look at the word, "misogyny" to see what the Church is in fact based upon.
What's the world coming to? Two atheists telling women to have some self respect.
You're both misguided on the teaching of submission. The bible says to submit to one another... and this is a willing submission not a forced submission. You have to understand that the other side of this teaching is that the man would love the woman as Christ loves the church... he is not enabled to be abusive under these teachings... it is a simple teaching that there be a leader and a follower. Life works peacefully this way, but there is never supposed to be a lack of respect on either side.
Or more precisely, you don't know the meaning of the word, 'submission'.
Submission is not required at all in a relationship because it accomplishes little more than humiliation and degradation of the person. It is merely another failed concept from the bible based upon the misogynist mindset of Bronze Age thinking. Submission does not garner or support respect, whatsoever.
You're wrong as usual... also, you're a...
Never mind, I don't want to be banned from HP's b/c of you. Don't you have ppl in real life to spew your hateful, ignorant views on?
So, because I don't agree with your ridiculous religious beliefs, you need to toss out personal insults? Terrible behavior.
If I'm wrong, you need to show that. Of course, you can't.
No, lots of ppl don't agree with me, they just seem to be able to summon the ability to converse like a respectable adult. You on the other hand have a closed mind and a dark heart. Your name fits you aptly. I'm through listening to your garbage. You have no respect for anyone and you're full of hate. Deal with the truth.
Wow, more personal insults. Terrible, but typical Christian behavior.
Still can't stick to the subject matter? Can't show why folks are wrong, they just are because you believe they are. Hilarious.
Is this how you feel about all believers? I thought I have had conversations with you without calling you names.
I've tried having many reasonable conversations with him. I was especially patient with him the first time he carried on his usual assault. He ended up getting banned. I had no knowledge of this. He came after me by email and my hubs posting hateful mail blaming me for being the cause. I didn't even know how to report him at the time. Since then Ive asked him numerous times to not address me cause his only goal is to fight. It is my opinion that no one should be a doormat for abuse... we're just sharing thoughts and opinions here, if he can't play nice... he should take the bench.
Totally agree. Everyone has a right to have his/her voice. There is no one correct opinion, all are valid and should be expressed and respected.
I've had a few discussions with ATM as well, and quite frankly, I respect him. We don't always see eye to eye and his responses can be viewed as being harsh at times. The thing to remember about him (that I had to learn) is that his responses are not meant to be personally against the individual, just the beliefs. I am able to separate my personal self from my beliefs in an effort to discuss and debate at times because I know that, at least for me, some of my beliefs can be seen as crazy from both atheists as well as fellow believers. One of the important things that may help keep things from escalating too much is avoiding resorting to name calling. Most people jump on that sort of thing as un-Christianlike behavior and can use that against us (and they typically do)
Keep the faith and stay strong in your convictions enough to where you can express your beliefs without getting too emotional and you (personally, not your beliefs) will gain some measure of their respect (not saying it is important to you)
More lies. How very sad you feel compelled to do such things.
I'm not sure why you are hostile with ATM. He appears to be a supporter of equal rights and respect for women. Is that something you are opposed to?
Im not sure if you've read the majority of his posts. If I said God wants men to love their wives, he would say God doesn't exist and I am a fool for saying so. His goal seems to be consternation and nothing more.
I do understand, but if you say stuff like "humans should love and respect each other" instead of "God wants Men to love their wives" he will leave you alone. Promise.
Sorry, there is a lack of respect for someone who is purposefully submitting there opinions and desires to the waste side. How far does this submission go, does your husband come home and say "I truly love you but you need to be barefoot and pregnant and converse with no one outside this house"? Do you say yes sir would you like your feet washed with that? A lack of respect for the women by the man and by the woman.
Radman, I always appreciate you.
hmmm... How can I explain submission in a way that wont come across distasteful? Every woman has her own personality. Some are women who love to be dominated. I personally don't want to be dominated except maybe in the bedroom. Not that you asked for that bit of info, but like I said we all have different personalities. My friend and mentor who recently died was very strong willed. She needed a man who was also very strong or she said she would have steam rolled him. The idea is that marriage is a relationship very much like the relationship between man and God. God allows man to have his own free will, but does that mean man should dismiss God and do what ever he pleases or should he follow God's teachings which are to love and live uprightly? It is a willing submission we offer God. Now, does that mean all men act in a godly manner? No, some fail at loving their wives and children the way God loves us, but we are all works in progress... hopefully in time that man will mature and become the man wants him to be... and if he's very lucky, his wife and kids will still be there to love and forgive him for any past mistakes. All the churches I attend counsel women to get out of any abusive situation. If they know what they are doing, they will counsel the man and hold him accountable for any abusive behavior. But again, the point the Bible makes is 1) men love your wives as Christ loves the church and 2) women submit to your husbands and 3) submit to one another. It is not the misogynistic idea that many non-believers assume.
Yes it is because you have different roles for the sexes. People are individuals, some men also like to be dominated and told what to do. These are things that need to be worked out by the couple, not some church telling the man to dominate his dominate wife when he doesn't want to.
Don't you see, women have been fighting for equal rights for years and they get it everywhere but the church that is supposed to be about love and tolerance. The OT, especially Genesis is all about distain for women. Women are treated like cattle for the most part, if anything all churches should be treating people as equals with separate rules for the sexes.
Domination is not a part of it, you misunderstand this point.
If you have a business, there is an order involved is there not? Life would be anarchy without this order. Children have rights too, does that mean they should rule their households? I have the same rights my husband does. I share every thought and opinion freely. You believe you understand this concept, but you don't because you have been indoctrinated to believe it is what you think it is. I can't help you understand it until you open your mind.
My mind is completely opened. You are giving men and women specific roles instead treating them as people that can figure out the roles on their own. A marriage doesn't need a leader. A marriage needs two people who love and respect each other. You think a marriage needs a leader because that's what you've been taught.
A marriage needs two people who love and respect each other.
I completely agree, as does the Bible. You cannot wrap your mind around a loving and godly man. Maybe you have never met one. Im sorry for that.
You agree, but think the husband needs more respect, as he make decisions for you.
No, he doesn't need *more respect. I just step aside and allow him to lead. You would have to understand quite a bit about the Bible and its teachings to understand this point alone.
See, the Bible teaches that God leads the husband, (not that He doesn't lead me personally). But when it comes to the family, God gives the husband insight to the way He would have them go. God can also use the wife if the husband is off track. If a husband is a humble and godly man, he will listen when his wife gives him advise. My husband is a humble man and I respect that about him more than almost anything else. He is extremely intelligent and also very kind... so I find it easy to allow him to lead. However I have strengths he doesn't, like being intuitive for example, so I bring that to the relationship. It is not extremely complicated or overly simple, but it does require understanding. I am able to shed some light on the matter. Im actually running out the door now. Talk to you all later.
You can try to make this make sense all day, but it won't work. By stating that God gives men direction before women is something men would tell you to have dominance and control. The bible was written by men who had very little respect for women.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NIV If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekelsof silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. Numbers 31:13-18 NLT But Moses was furious with all the generals and captains who had returned from the battle. “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves. Leviticus 21:9 NLT If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she also defiles her father’s holiness, and she must be burned to death.
Well, I do not subscribe to the atavistic premise that men lead and women follow. Remember, the adage me Tarzan, you Jane. This is the 21st century, men and women are equal partners. Women can lead as well as men and men can also be followers.
Such gender stereotyping ended in the mid20 century for most of us. Of couse, the bible was written by men. Rad Man, you know that and I know that but many people aver that it was "divinely inspired." Where is the logic in that, please tell me. Well I tell you, there is NONE.
The issue is not that it is divinely inspired.. There is logic in that, the issue is that people think that "divinely inspired" means exactly the same thing as "divinely given" and refuse to acknowledge that the book was written by men that all have their own ideas of how things should be instead of what they really are
Tell me, if you know and understand this, why listen to the 2000-4000 ranting of men of questionable ethics?
Because I don't listen to all of it. Also, I don't hold to my belief as an absolute certainty.. If I gave you my story and what I believe and why, you'd think I was just as nuts as a lot of my fellow believers do. Long story short, I hold to my "belief" as an optimistic (of sorts) opinion instead of an absolute certainty. I also don't operate under the reward/punishment system now do I think that anyone who doesn't believe as i do are going to Hell. I've stated this before that If there is a hell to speak of and a place of judgment, then there will be a lot of so- called "Christians" are going to be very surprised as to where they end up
We do, it's called misogyny. It is outdated thinking.
So, God talks to your husband and tells him what to do?
Then, there is no need for submission because that will only serve to remove the respect.
Is every decision in your household a joint decision that both you and your wife decide and sign off on, Rad?
You need to first look up the word in the dictionary to understand the meaning of the word so you aren't using it in error.
Submission only serves to humiliate and degrade, it is not needed in any relationships. Of course, do away with the submission and you'll do away with the abuse.
There's an alternate definition for "submission," and it's "being a doormat."
you're absolutely right. hopefully I have stated clearly that the bible does not teach that version of the word.
Beth, Even as a believer, I can see how the bible can be viewed as teaching that version. One thing to remember is that the most universally used version of submit and it's variations is that it is synonymous with obedience. Add to that the way hebrew women were treated at that time along with indoctrination by people seeking to keep the world as a male dominated society also have turned the word into a curse word
I was not taught that version. As Ive stated repeatedly, I was taught that the translation was not the doormat version, it is the version of a willing submission. If I had time, I would look up the translation for you however I am getting ready for work atm. I am a willing partner in supporting our family. I will leave my burka at home. Bye for now
Then, the bible is misusing or misunderstanding the word, as well.
No, brother. The idea is, ". . . husbands and wives submit to one another."
Now, do you see how a successful relationship will grow from a foundation of giving and love? It is a partnership of mutual respect and recognition. So it should be.
+1. Biblically accurate and well articulated. Thank you MasonZgoda.
I am something of a misogynist. Mainly because I don't have the patience to put up with your funny logic sometimes. Also because I don't have the skills to communicate with you.
LOL... so you hate us b/c of your own failings. No, I don't think that's too honest. I think it's time someone said it out loud.
Yes, logic and skills appear not to be part of your intellect.
No need to make up more lies about me. Where did I say I hated you or anyone else? You create a lie and you want to say it out loud? That's very odd.
I would never use that word "hate." I did say that I try to respect women. That excludes hate. Would you like to
try a bit of respect for men, instead of blaming? I freely admit that much of my "problem" has come from my childhood years, when it was easier to run away from the difficulties in communicating, for one reason or the other. Now, whenever I meet a woman who is willing to look inside herself, at her own "stuff," and be honest with herself, she and I get on fabulously.... we learn to communicate by "doing it." A never ending story!
Maybe it's just me but I haven't met a woman who doesn't speak her mind and do what she wants in decades...
By the way, my ex-wife (a lawyer) did some research on that whole submitting to a husband thing and came up with an interesting conclusion: submit was not intended to be in the context of deference or giving in; it was in the context of giving the man her opinion (as in submitting a report to your boss for instance) and he in turn takes it to God. She gave a talk to a women's group at her church and they thought she was a genius.
Isn't it fascinating... So many claim to let the husband lead, but if you press them on it you'll find out they do what they want. It's almost like, you can make all the decisions as long as you run them past me first.
I don't understand why you're so contrary. It's not *that hard to understand and I tried many times to explain it. Why can't ppl just say "I don't get it, but I respect your right to believe it."
Thank you suburban poet. I really appreciate your input!
Oh I have complete respect for you and I do understand. I just don't agree.
Mindgames to the multillionth degree. Relationships should be based upon equal parity and respect. Equality, not the premise that men lead and women follow. That premise reminds me of the scenario, me Tarzan, me man,king, you Jane, you woman, slave.
The premise indicates ownership and the idea of the woman as property and the lesser. That premise is not for the postmodern woman. If anyone talks to me about submission, I will GO THERE........... Let a man lead me and I follow? When Alaska becomes a tropical, Pacific paradise. I am a feminist/womanist from the 1970s and I DO NOT play that! I would like to add that the premise that the man leads and the woman follows is a precursor to domestic and other forms of abuse. That attitude shows that women are second class citizens, not worthy of respect. This attitude sometimes lead to rape and other forms of sexual abuse.
Now THAT, to me, is a conversation. Thanks, I can address that.
It is definitely NOT supposed to be a Tarzan/Jane situation. Im sure there are men (and even women) who might want to make it that, but that is not what Jesus teaches. How can a man be humble and dominate a woman? How can a man love (in the true sense of the word) a woman and take away her ability to think, reason and thrive? If the verse states that a man should love his wife as Christ loves the church, then shouldn't we say, "how did Christ love the church?" Well, He lived as an example, he healed, he spent time with, he provided for and he ultimately laid down his life as a sacrifice for her. I was taught that what his leadership is - is an umbrella... a covering for a man's wife and children. When done correctly, I promise you, it's actually quite a beautiful practice. Not at all the ugly picture you might have in your head.
Please remember that I'm giving you personally my respect as a person and what I'm about to write is not an attack on you personally, but on what you've been taught.
You were taught that what his leadership is - is not you (because you're a women). So much for being equal in the eyes of God?
The thing is, I have explained it over and over, but you keep going back to your original opinion that the scales are unequally balanced. I'm trying to explain that it isn't what you might think, but you can't break out of the same box you want to fit it into. One has to be willing to open their mind to consider that something is different than they might imagine it. Please consider some of the things Ive said.
I consider all of what you say, are you considering anything of what I say?
We have considered what you've said and you are wrong.
Yes, I understand you want the universe and reality to be a certain way, but it doesn't exhibit what you want it to.
That would obviously be a lie because we both know reality exhibits exactly the same thing for you as it does for me and everyone else on the planet.
Or, can you show otherwise? Didn't think so.
One word, 'submission'
It's not in our heads, it's in the abuse of women and the requirements to deal with that within the Church and the sky rocketing divorce rate amongst Christians.
We do get it, but we don't respect it, it does not deserve respect because it does not offer respect, like so many religious beliefs.
Of course I am... I just don't think you understand our goal. What God is telling a man is that He is holding him responsible... that He has placed this family in the man's care and He expects him to love and care for them as He cares for His own.
God has expectations for the woman too, and that isn't just the traditional things you might believe. In Proverbs 31, a queen gives her son her best advice for him in choosing a good wife, but first she tell him what kind of man he should be. Advice for him: She tells him not to drink, lest he oppress people and deprive them of their rights. To speak for those who can't speak for themselves and for the destitute. Speak up and judge fairly to defend the rights of the poor and needy. And in choosing a wife. She should have noble character. He should have full confidence in her. She should bring him good and not harm. She should be a hard worker. She should be able to deal with her household and deal with merchants and trade profitably. She should be able to make decisions like buying land and planting fields. She should help the poor and needy. She should have strength and dignity, wisdom and honor. Her children and husband should honor her with their words Charm and beauty are deceptive, but she should have a fear of God. (Meaning she should honor God in all she does.) Hopefully this gives you a better view of a godly woman. This is the goal a Christian woman is striving for. It's not an ideal for the faint of heart and it may take a lifetime to achieve these goals, but it's something of great value to aim for.
But, in reality (try joining it sometime) we as individuals have chosen our spouses, they have not been placed before us by God. If that were the case, Christian divorce rates would be zero, yet they sky rocket.
It gives us a snapshot of the misogynist mindset and the perfect Bronze Age woman. Women are not like that, anymore. Some have brains and can think for themselves.
Submitted for those who say you don't make things personal... lol
Confused by having a mirror held up by a stranger.
You are insulting and abusive. The very thing you say you fear for Christian relationships. God save women from "forward-thinking" men like you.
A Troubled Man is a woman. Hello?! The internet is a tricky, man made astral plane where we project virtual beings.
lol.. what are you talking about? Are you saying metaphorically he is a woman or physically he is a woman? and if he is actually a woman, how do you know/ what does it matter?
1. We go way back.
2. It is an interesting social phenomena.
Soul Man Dancing is merely another sockpuppet created by a troll who has been banned permanently form these forums many times, but he keeps coming back with another userid. Never learns.
Yes, I understand you believe that because I criticize and ridicule your cherished beliefs. That is entirely the problem, that most believers are unable to distance themselves from their beliefs in order to talk about them.
Then, they marry Christian men and get abused because they don't submit to them, followed by an ugly divorce.
You assume everything and seem to know nothing... I wonder if you've ever known any ppl outside of your belief system?
No, you do not insult my beliefs only, you insult me. You said women like me were brainless and you make constant comments like this. I do not claim to be Einstein, but I assure you sir, I am not without intellect. You criticize that which you do not comprehend. I believe that leaves you on the ignorant side. I have tried to enlighten you, but I guess there are things you cannot fathom. So that's why I do very little conversing with you. You sir, are stuck.
Should be:
"You assume everything and seem to know nothing... I wonder if you've ever known any ppl outside of your belief system? No, you do not insult my beliefs only, you insult me. You said women like me were brainless and you make constant comments like this. I do not claim to be Einstein, but I assure you, mam, I am not without intellect. You criticize that which you do not comprehend. I believe that leaves you on the ignorant side. I have tried to enlighten you, but I guess there are things you cannot fathom. So that's why I do very little conversing with you. You, mam, are stuck."
so basically insert mam in place of sir. ok, got it.
I won't be around much longer, today. It won't be long until that HP troll drops the dime on me. Take it easy.
So did you feel like you were a nerdy dweeb? We only spoke a few times. I feel bad that you felt lured. This wasn't my goal. I tried to explain that. I hope we can get past this. I don't like to be at odds with anyone.
We are not at odds. Think about it. I stepped in to communicate, not alienate. Avoid old patterns.
I never know what you're talking about. Im sorry... anyway... it was nice meeting you. (Oh, you edited a bit. lol) ok then, I wish you the best.
Sorry to be cryptic. Thank you. I only want the best for you!
I would like the best for me as well... and Im definitely working towards that goal.
Thanks for caring.
You are so funny. One minute you're tearing me apart, the next you're complimenting me. Im the same me all the time and Im honest about it.
I enjoyed meeting you too... most of the time.
I never tore you apart. I simply stated that your husband should drop you like a hot rock. If you are in a loveless relationship without a mutual exchange of healthy affection while you are running a love/lust game on internet Bozo's, then why play house? It is a sucker's game. Why broadcast your dysfunction?
I am an artist. Many married women have run that line by me, "I haven't had sex with my husband in over a year." A few times, I took the bait. Want to see my scars? Now, I am allergic.
Senor, that is not my story. My husband fell away from God and cheated on me numerous times. I was left alone for 2 years, then when he went thru recovery, I was left alone for 3 more years. I signed the divorce papers but he was unwilling, so we lived in the same house in separate bedrooms which allowed the kids to have 2 parents who loved them and lived for them to take care of them.
I took part in many online relationships (and told my husband, I didn't keep secrets from him) during that time. It was literally in the last 2 weeks that we have been trying to reconcile. I don't really appreciate my story being misrepresented. Again, I will print our whole FB conversation if you want me to. I never tried to lure you into anything. I actually told you I would need to defriend you if necessary b/c I hadn't taken part in online relationships in months. I really don't know what happened on your end, but you seemed to change drastically over night. I'm sorry if I did something to mislead you.
While I deeply and sincerely am sorry for the predicament with your husband, the story does make a strong argument for the results of submission.
Christian and non Christian husbands cheat all the time. You would have to know our story to understand what happened, however I doubt you read a lot of hubs... you seem to mainly focus on the forums?
1. Knock yourself out.
2. No, you did not mislead me. You just throw out more personal info in public than is appropriate. I was trying to give you a heads up, but I guess you missed it.
Are you and a troubled man the same person? it's like tag-teaming here.
I have the right to share my story should I choose to. I had a father, I'm not looking for a new one. My story is what motivates me to write presently. I'm pretty sure Im not alone in this. What do you want from me? I can't figure you out for the life of me.
1. Bad guess, but I understand the sentiment. I have had more than a dozen at a time tag-teaming my ass. i sent them crying home to Big Brother.
2. Sure, and you can tell us when your hemorrhoids flair up. 3. I have daughters, and I am not looking for another one. 4. Your story? The way you tell it is provokes active participation from the uninitiated. 5. Nothing. 6. Like I told you. I am just another writer. I have done a good job engaging in your role playing exercises. Maybe you should consider a change of style and broaden your audience.
I honestly don't understand. Ive not invited you to participate in anything.
I don't know what you want me to do or say.
1. I see that.
2. But . . . you did. You know that you are chumming. 3. Save it for the tourists.
This is why I blocked you on FB. You appear to be somewhat unbalanced. If I'd have wanted to participate with you in an online relationship, I simply would have. Had we met a few months earlier, Im sure we would have. I had many online relationships... the fact that we didn't should tell you I wasn't looking for one. I don't know what else to tell you.
Ha ha ha! You blocked me because you didn't like what I had to say about your chum line. I am just a writer, darlin'. Some of my characters are unbalanced, though.
Maybe you could just stop talking to me and that way you wouldn't have to accuse me of luring you?
You never lured me, but your style is provocative and alluring. I just walked down the road with you for awhile. No harm, no foul. I'm cool with your gig, if you are.
I don't have a gig. Im just me. Quit attacking ok? Its very confusing.
Now, wait a minute, here. I am not attacking you. Let me take another run at it.
Maybe you are just alluring. Or . . . you are alluring.
Quit it, you're doing it again. You beat me up then you appeal to a part of me that Im trying to drown off... You say you're on my side, but I can't figure out if you're a good guy or a bad one.
No one is neutral. You're either good or you're not.
I did not beat you up. I only pushed you. Please don't call the law!
So are you just gonna keep dropping by, throwing a wrench in the works or can we just get along like normal ppl?
It is hard to get rid of trolls while you are still feeding them.
He's not a mean troll, he's seems like a nice and normal person, not at all the kind of troll I am used to. More like a friend, but then he seems to have issues with me out of no where. I don't know... I don't get very angry very often.
Do normal people spend a lot of time yammering on insignificant forums?
Sorry that your husband has been unfaithful. Sometimes people do stupid things. I find it strange that you're giving marriage advice as if you've got this all worked out. Perhaps he wasn't looking for you to be submissive after all? Just a question, I'm not judging.
Im not giving marriage advice. Im sharing my beliefs. Am I not allowed to do so b/c my husband failed me? If anything I believe we are a success story. We were just another statistic for divorce, but he sought out healing for all his failings with 12-step programs, therapy and godly counseling. He spent years trying to find his way into a solid relationship with God and sought my forgiveness. I thought I had forgiven him, I was kind to him and continued to take care of him. But at some point it occurred to me that I hadn't forgiven him. I prayed and prayed and all of a sudden one day, I had a desire to be close to him again. After being thru hell and back, we are working on our marriage. I am just now trying to return to God and it is somewhat challenging after having used different addictions to help me deal with all the pain I was enduring.
Again, this is *my story. You may have a different one, but I believe we are all more similar than we are different. I don't apologize for being open. I hope that my story may help others.
Thank you for your honest testimony. .I'm sure your story could serve as an example for other Christian couples that continually seek God for healing of broken marriages and trust..
Beth, we are only tearing your beliefs apart, we are not tearing you apart. And, while I understand you probably consider your beliefs to be a big part of you, they are not your arms and legs, they are ideals and beliefs of other people who lived a long time ago. You just happen to accept them as true.
I can understand how light works in great detail and I can experiment with light and confirm that understanding myself, but that understanding is merely an accepted idea based on facts and evidence, that which other people discovered, not me, hence it's not part of me in the same way my appearance, my thoughts, my imagination, arms, legs, my own discoveries, etc, are all part of me. So, it's a matter of rounding up all of those beliefs and placing them at a distance, corralled and open for criticism. And, that should be easy to do considering there are millions of others who claim to share those beliefs and you would have at your disposal a tremendous amount of agreement and support from them. You'll also have folks who don't agree and they'll tell you in no uncertain terms their opinions of those beliefs and how those beliefs have affected societies and people for centuries, often negatively. And, of course, they aren't doing anything to insult you personally, they are focusing entirely on the beliefs and the hard, cold facts associated with them. That should be no problem for you because you never committed any of those heinous acts. But, since they are part and parcel to the religion, they need to be brought forth and acknowledged, often in stark contrast to the claims of believers. Again, no one is focusing on you personally. However, if a believer stands up and rejects, denies or ignores facts and evidence, then they are being dishonest. That too, needs to be brought forth and acknowledged. And, that's where it starts to get personal. Have a look at Deepes Mind's posts to see what I'm talking about. He can easily stand at a distance and scrutinize his own belief system, find fault and flaws and openly acknowledge them based on their individual merit, credibility and validity. He also acknowledges views and observations of others here, you included, thus adding to his understanding. That is the honesty we all come to expect, from everyone. And, when you DO stand at a distance from your beliefs, we see the real you, and you appear to be a perfectly normal human being, compassionate and sincere. Embrace those beliefs as part of you and you absorb all the negativity that goes along with it.
"we"
Say what you have to say on your own... you don't need "others" to validate your beliefs. I appreciate you speaking respectfully to me for the first time. It makes you seem a lot more human. I disagree with deepes mind's methods a bit, I will be honest with you, but we are not all alike and he has a right to address you as he chooses. Thanks for the first real conversation Ive had with you.
Once again, to be clear, I don't hold beliefs, nor have a belief system.
I have not disrespected you at all, I have been disrespecting your religious beliefs. Huge difference. His methods are based on being honest about his beliefs, do you disagree with being honest? He has the right to address us honestly, and he is practicing that right. If that is a right you don't wish to practice, should we then offer our respect?
Id rather not discuss my feelings concerning his methods. It's his right to communicate freely.
Anyway, take care.
Again, his methods are that of being honest with his beliefs and communicating them. Why would you not want to discuss that?
I am very honest. Ive tried to communicate with you openly and honestly. You appreciate his communication style better and I support your right to do that.
I don't like to argue, which is why I avoid these threads as much as possible, but sometimes I am drawn in by a subject or maybe b/c there is a lack of a thread I find more interesting... in any event.... Hello! Yes, I am a Christian, with all my good points and failings. You are not, and I'm sure you have good points and failings too. Nice to meet you. I hope all is going well in your day.
I appreciate her not wanting to talk about me and express her feelings about me and my feelings. As far as I know, she would only be basing her feelings on the short interaction she and I had (which she thought I was passive aggressively attacking her) as well as seeing my interactions with you. I'm not sure if she has read any of my hubs to get a feel for anything that I specifically believe otherwise so thee is the possibility of there being limited objectivity regarding her feelings regarding me.
I see the honesty and openness in her discussions with me and others here. We've all arrived at our different levels of belief (or non belief) in different ways as according to the things we have learned about life as well as our understanding and perception of those things. Because of that, we can only be open and honest about our opinions regarding specific topics and situations. Thank you beth
Hi Beth!! Hope you are doing well.
Maybe I missed something, but the only thing I noticed that we disagreed on was ATM. The funny thing about that disagreement is that the only thing we truly (for the most part) disagree on is how we actually SEE the situation.. We both agree that his views about religion in general are very strong. We also agree that his approach and responses are very strong as well and, from our perspectives, very aggressive. The only way I note that we are different is in how we handle the approach. I choose not to take it personally for 2 reasons: 1) I like to discuss and debate with all people regardless of their approach. It helps me to push my thinking as well as adjust my vocabulary in order to strengthen my points. 2) ATM is another person on a computer, just like me, just like Rad, just like you. I do not know any of you personally and as such, you do not have any affect (positive or negative) on my life once I step away from my computer. I respect everyone here while I'm here, but when I unplug from the matrix, that's it. ATM is not accountable to me for his behavior, nor are you (though you are a very nice and respectful lady to me). At the end of the day, our accountability is to God (if there is one, out of respect to the atheists here). I've read some of your hubs, and I'm a fan.. You have a lot of interesting perspectives and make good points in the ones I read.. Keep up the good work
WOW!! an actual compliment (sort of) from ATM?? I am surprised.. Maybe there is a God that he actually complimented a believer..LOL
Not really, just a simple description of what's going on here. But, it appears to have fallen on deaf ears, anyways.
Obviously, I know a great deal more than you. Sorry, I have no belief system, but I do understand most believers operate on belief systems because they have never developed their minds to think rationally and objectively.
Once again, you are making up lies. I never called you brainless. That is the fault of your religious beliefs, making you say things that aren't true. We have yet to see that. Yes, I understand you are compelled to claim others don't understand your belief system and how it controls you. But, we do understand. You have not enlightened anything or anyone, you have merely offered your belief system, and we have found it to be lacking.
A real woman would never lure needy dweebs, with their loins on fire, into eagerly participating in emotional adultery on the internet.
Although I have shared in numerous hubs about my life, I *never did that with you... and told you I was not interested in having a relationship with you. You told me you understood that and then got all crazy on me out of no where. I have always been 100% open and honest with anyone and everyone who asked. I don't have anything to hide. I would be happy to print the totality of our conversation on FB if you'd like me to, although I don't know what the rules are about that kind of thing here. I don't want to abuse the forum.
Who got crazy? I just pointed out flaws in the methodology, nothing personal.
My question is why do women continue to blindly follow such religions. Even in the western countries where they have a choice.
I haven't posted in this forum in like two weeks and the stream of notifications of others who are posting here is NEVER ENDING. I keep thinking someone has commented on my hub but then my excitement is brutally rebuffed by seeing "RandomUsername and 21 others have commented on…" *tears up* I can't take it! Please, my beautiful fellow hubbers, if you care at all for my sanity…agree to disagree.
by Grace Marguerite Williams3 years ago
Religion has been oftentimes categorized as the GREAT DELUSION and OPIATE of humankind. Religion has been the means of separation and dissention among humankind. Wars and prejudices against those...
by Eric Graudins7 years ago
It's going to be hard for me to write objectively about this, but I'll try.I've recently seen a documentary about the child witches in Nigeria. I think it's just about the most terrifying and horrendous thing I've...
by Rishad I Habib6 years ago
No explanation needed...Say 'Yes' if you do & Say 'No' if you dont.'Hate'...may not be the appropriate word here but I couldnt come up with another one in the title & Im extremely sorry for that. Its not...
by pisean2823115 years ago
Ok..being atheist , you dont believe in any intelligent supreme being ...my question is, you began atheist because of your observiation , experience and what role has religion played in making you atheist?
by Greatest I am4 years ago
Women. God’s afterthought and man’s curse to rule.I think it quite ironic that God, who tells us to reproduce as his first commandment to man in Genesis 1, does not give us something to reproduce with till...
by sasta105 years ago
I have seen many times people associating the word Extrimist to names of certain religion. In my opinion the word extrimist and name of religion can not go together as religion is there to bring peace to...
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warc | 201704 | Should the furnace blower be in the ON position as opposed to Auto? I've been told that by leaving the blower on 24/7 the house will heat/cool better and save energy. Is this fact or fiction? Thanks
Running the fan 24/7 can potentially even temperatures out in a house, especially in two story applications. In essence you are homogenizing the air.
However, it's often a bad idea for a number of reasons. Many duct systems leak excessively causing artificially high infiltration any time the fan runs. That drives outdoor humidity, contaminants and whatever else inside. And if you only have one or two returns then any bedroom that has a closed door will also cause pressurization issues, which has a similar effect.
The bottom line is that some people in some instances will perceive improved comfort by running the fan. But many get just the opposite. And unless you have an unusually tight duct system with good return placement, the odds are good that you'll increase your bill. | 988 | 588 | 1,651.707483 |
warc | 201704 | Synopsis
Over 400 Nutritional Remedies to Help Treat and Prevent Disease!
You'd never take a medication without getting detailed instructions about the proper dosage. That's a good rule of thumb for nutrients, too. The fact is, nutrients—vitamins, minerals, and other food components—can't do their job of driving the body's natural protective mechanisms if they're not present in the optimum amounts. The question is, how much is enough? If you get too little of a certain nutrient, it won't do you any good. Get too much, and it could cause side effects. Inside NutriCures, you'll find complete nutritional "prescriptions" for more than 60 common health concerns, showing you which nutrients you need, in what amounts, and why. Author Alice Feinstein has scoured the latest research and interviewed top health experts to bring you the best information and advice on nutritional healing. Nowhere else will you find such comprehensive recommendations for such a wide range of conditions, including:Weight problemsHigh cholesterolDiabetesColds and fluMigrainesInsomniaAsthmaPsoriasisBack painSinusitis Thyroid problemsCataracts
About Alice Feinstein See more books from this Author
Published April 13, 2010 by Rodale. 416 pages Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Education & Reference, Professional & Technical. Non-fiction | 1,340 | 797 | 2,222.685069 |
warc | 201704 | The start of the new school year has many families across the country sweating the costs of higher education, as tuition at public and private colleges and universities nationwide are at an all-time high. A handful of legislators in the New York Assembly, however, have expressed their determination to increase these expenses for taxpayers in their state by making illegal aliens eligible to receive taxpayer funded scholarships and financial aid awards at the state’s public schools.
Legislators in the state Senate have successfully defeated similar legislation, often referred to as the “DREAM Act,” every year since 2011. Such legislation would make an illegal alien eligible to receive assistance through the New York State Tuition Assistance Program (NYSTAP) if they attended and graduated from a high school in the state. Currently, only citizen and lawful permanent residents are eligible to receive taxpayer funded awards through NYSTAP. The NYSTAP program is designed to help students pay tuition at approved colleges and universities in New York by providing up to $5k awards per student annually.
State Senator Jose Peralta (D-13) supports the legislation, despite its estimated $27 million price tag for implementation alone. Other state legislators, including, Assembly member Nicole Malliotakis (R-64) have opposed providing post-secondary education benefit to illegal aliens because of its unfairness to citizen and legal immigrant students and favored expanding NYSTAP to those students. “[The Tuition Assistance Program] should be used in place of the DREAM Act to provide financial aid to middle-class citizens and legal immigrants who are struggling with the ever-increasing cost of college,” said Malliotakis in 2015 when considering DREAM Act legislation that year. | 1,817 | 922 | 3,523.639913 |
warc | 201704 | United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division
ENTRY GRANTING
MOTION TO DISMISS
SARAH EVANS BARKER, District Judge.
In February of 2012, plaintiff Charles White, the former Secretary of State of Indiana, was convicted of procuring or submitting a false/fictitious/fraudulent voter registration application, voting outside precinct of residence, procuring/casting/tabulating a false/fictitious/fraudulent ballot, theft, and two counts of perjury. He was also charged with fraud on a financial institution, but was found not guilty of that charge. In his complaint filed on March 4, 2013, he raised several federal and state law claims with respect to that prosecution. The Court previously dismissed all claims except for those related directly to the investigation of the charge against Mr. White upon which he was found not guilty, the fraud against a financial institution charge. Mr. White was directed to file a second amended complaint based solely on the remaining claims. Mr. White has done so and the defendants have moved to dismiss the second amended complaint. For the reasons stated below, the motion to dismiss [dkt 32] is granted.
I. Motion to Dismiss Standard
The purpose of a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) is to test the sufficiency of the complaint, not the merits of the suit.
Triad Assocs., Inc. v. Chi. Hous. Auth., 892 F.2d 583, 586 (7th Cir. 1989). The standard for assessing the procedural sufficiency of pleadings is imposed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), which requires "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Thus, although the complaint need not recite "detailed factual allegations, " it must state enough facts that, when accepted as true, "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 570 (2007). A claim is facially plausible when the plaintiff pleads facts sufficient for the Court to infer that the defendant is liable for the alleged misconduct. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). The Twombly/Iqbal standard "is not akin to a probability requirement', but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully." Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). By comparison, a complaint that merely contains "labels and conclusions" or "a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action" does not satisfy the factual plausibility standard. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555.
In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Court views the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accepting all well-pleaded factual allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences from those allegations in favor of the plaintiff.
Lee v. City of Chi., 330 F.3d 456, 459 (7th Cir. 2003). Thus, a complaint should only be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) when "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Killingsworth v. HSBC Bank Nev., N.A., 507 F.3d 614, 618 (7th Cir. 2007). Additionally, the Court may not rely upon evidence and facts outside of those alleged in the complaint in ruling on a motion to dismiss.
II. Discussion
A.
Equal Protection
In Claim I, Mr. White alleges that defendants Dowd, Daniel Sigler, DJ Sigler, and Hansard violated his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He asserts a "class of one" claim, alleging that he was prosecuted when others similarly situated were not. The defendants argue that a class-of-one claim cannot be based the discretionary governmental activity of prosecuting him.
Unlike a traditional equal protection claim, which alleges that the plaintiffs "have been arbitrarily classified as members of an identifiable group, " a class-of-one claim "asserts that an individual has been irrationally singled out, without regard for any group affiliation, for discriminatory treatment."
United States v. Moore, 543 F.3d 891, 896 (7th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). That is the plaintiff's claim here - that he was irrationally singled out for prosecution. But courts have held that class-of one claims are not applicable to governmental action that is the product of a highly discretionary decision-making process. Id. at 898-99. The Supreme Court explained in Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture: There are some forms of state action... which by their nature involve discretionary decisionmaking based on a vast array of subjective, individualized assessments. In such cases the rule that people should be "treated alike, under like circumstances and conditions" is not violated when one person is treated differently from others, because treating like individuals differently is an accepted consequence of the discretion granted. In such situations, allowing a challenge based on the arbitrary singling out of a particular person would undermine the very discretion that such state officials are entrusted to exercise.
553 U.S. 591, 603 (2008). This reasoning was applied to the class-of-one claim based on criminal prosecutions in
United States v. Moore, 543 F.3d 891, 899-900 (7th Cir. 2008). In that case, a criminal defendant appealing his conviction argued that his equal protection rights were violated when he was treated differently than similarly situated criminal defendants. The court explained the difficulties inherent in mounting a challenge to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion: in the ordinary case, so long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in his discretion." Of course, this broad discretion is subject to constitutional restraints, and cannot be based upon invidious criteria such as race or religion. But an exercise of prosecutorial discretion cannot be successfully challenged merely on the ground that it is irrational or arbitrary; in the realm of prosecutorial charging decisions, only invidious discrimination is forbidden.
Id. Because Moore's equal protection challenge was premised on irrationality, not invidious discrimination, it was rejected. Id. at 900.
Mr. White's equal protection claim suffers from the same deficiencies. He alleges no invidious discrimination on the part of the defendants, but alleges only that he was prosecuted while others in similar circumstances were not. Recognizing the obstacles to such a claim, Mr. White argues that his equal protection claim is not based solely on his prosecution, but is also based on the pre-charge investigatory phase of the prosecution against him. But the reasoning that prevents a class-of-one claim based on the decision to prosecute someone based on the discretion inherent in such decisions applies equally to investigative decisions.
See Flowers v. City of Minneapolis, 558 F.3d 794, 799-800 (8th Cir. 2009) ("while a police officer's investigative decisions remain subject to traditional class-based equal protection analysis, they may not be attacked in a class-of-one equal protection claim"). A different result might be required if the plaintiff alleged that he ... | 7,342 | 3,286 | 16,299.418746 |
warc | 201704 | An Indian court today sentenced three men to death for the horrific gang rape of a photojournalist in Mumbai last year. They are the first to be sentenced under India’s tough new anti-rape law.
The sentence drives home something that’s been obvious for some time now: After appearing to be on the verge of abolishing the death penalty entirely, India has now firmly rejoined the ranks of the world’s executioners. It’s one of a number of countries — including some of the world’s largest democracies — that have recently re-embraced capital punishment.
A 1983 Indian Supreme Court decision allows for capital punishment in only the “rarest of the rare” cases and from 2004 to 2011 the country didn’t carry out any executions at all. From 1995 to 2012, it carried out only three.
Then in 2012, Amjal Kasab — the last surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai terror attack — was hanged in secret in what appeared to be an unusually swift and haphazard execution. The Kashmiri militant Afzal Guru was hanged under similar circumstances last year. Seventy-two people in total were sentenced to die in India last year, including four of the men involved in the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi last year — a case that shocked the country and prompted the drafting of new laws aimed at speeding up the prosecution of rapists.
India’s not the only country heading in this direction. Amnesty International’s 2013 death penalty report noted that executions were up 15 per cent last year — and that’s not even counting China, where the number of executions is a state secret. Just three countries — Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia — accounted for 80 per cent of executions, but to my mind, the most interesting recent trend has been countries like India that have been bucking the general global movement away from the death penalty.
Nigeria carried out its first executions in eight years last year and Indonesia its first in five years. Vietnam resumed them after an 18-month pause with the execution of seven people by lethal injection.
It’s true that in terms of number of countries, the world is moving away from the death penalty. According to Amnesty’s numbers, 37 countries had the death penalty in 1994 compared to 22 today. In Europe and Latin America, the practice essentially has been entirely banished and an increasing number of African countries are reviewing their laws.
On the other hand — with the exception of Brazil, where it’s banned, and Russia, where it’s legal but abolished in practice — the world’s ten biggest countries are all death penalty states. With India, Japan and Indonesia rejoining the U.S., the world’s largest democracies are death penalty countries and the practice has heavy popular support in all of them.
The U.S. still executes a lot more people — 39 in 2013 — than any non-dictatorship and many dictatorships, although that number is, along with public support for the death penalty, falling over concerns about the fairness of prosecutions as well as more mundane worries like a shortage of the drugs needed for lethal injection.
Americans seem to be reconsidering the death penalty at a time when the United States is looking like less of a global outlier on executions.
Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs and writes the World blog. Follow him on Twitter. The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics. | 3,726 | 1,746 | 7,605.649485 |
warc | 201704 | Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is discouraged after myocardial infarction; however, use of NSAIDs is widespread. In an analysis of Danish health and mortality administrative registries, Olsen and colleagues examined the association of NSAID use with risk of bleeding and cardiovascular events in 61 971 patients with incident myocardial infarction. The authors found that among patients receiving antithrombotic therapy after myocardial infarction, concomitant use of NSAIDs was associated with increased risk of bleeding and excess thrombotic events during a median follow-up of 3.5 years. In an Editorial, Campbell and Moliterno discuss hazards of adding NSAIDs to antithrombotic therapy after myocardial infarction.
Editorial
Vincristine—a part of every treatment protocol for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)—is often associated with a dose-limiting peripheral neuropathy. Diouf and colleagues performed a genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis in a cohort of 321 patients receiving treatment for childhood ALL and found that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the CEP72 gene was associated with increased risk and severity of vincristine-related peripheral neuropathy. In an Editorial, McLeod discusses the benefits and risks associated with personalized medicine.
Author Video Interview
Data to inform the acute and long-term treatment of patients with oral anticoagulant–associated intracerebral hemorrhage (OAC-ICH) are limited. In a retrospective cohort study involving 1176 patients with OAC-ICH, Kuramatsu and colleagues assessed the associations of anticoagulation-reversal and blood pressure levels with hematoma enlargement, and the association of OAC-resumption with patient outcomes. The authors report that reduced rates of hematoma enlargement were associated with systolic blood pressure less than 160 mm Hg at 4 hours and reversal of international normalized ratio levels to less than 1.3 within 4 hours of admission. Resumption of anticoagulant therapy was associated with a lower risk of ischemic events without increased bleeding complications.
Laboratory measurements are required to detect asymptomatic and early-stage kidney disease. Levey and colleagues summarize evidence from recent guidelines and reviews supporting the use of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and albuminuria for detection and staging of acute and chronic kidney disease in adults. The authors review clinical characteristics of acute and chronic kidney disease, provide guidance for initial and confirmatory assessment of GFR and albuminuria for diagnosis and staging, and discuss indications for testing in special populations and assessing kidney function for drug dosing.
Continuing Medical Education
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other autoimmune diseases are often treated with hydroxychloroquine—placing them at risk of irreversible toxic maculopathy. An article in JAMA Ophthalmology reported that many patients are not undergoing recommended routine monitoring for this serious adverse effect. In this From the JAMA Network article, Marmor and Melles discuss factors to consider in hydroxychloroquine dosing and the importance of annual screening to detect early signs of retinal toxicity.
This JAMA Diagnostic Test Interpretation article by Chen and colleagues presents a man with diffuse B-cell lymphoma involving the abdomen who was seen in the emergency department after 5 days of nausea and vomiting. He was afebrile and normotensive and he had mild tachycardia. Physical examination revealed a large, firm mass near the umbilicus, without abdominal rigidity or rebound tenderness. He had an elevated serum lactate level and low bicarbonate, low Paco2, and marginally acidotic pH venous blood gas results. How would you interpret these findings?
Highlights. JAMA. 2015;313(8):771-773. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.11595
© 2017 | 3,960 | 1,916 | 8,108.079332 |
warc | 201704 | Study: Lice-Infested Farmed Salmon Not to Blame for Wild Salmon Die-Off
The wild pink salmon of western Canada are in trouble: In the early 2000s, their numbers in some locations swiftly dropped by 90 percent or more. One explanation put forth for this steep population decline is that sea lice, parasites ubiquitous on farmed salmon, jumped to the wild variety of the fish. But this week in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a new study casts doubt on that idea and says the sea lice are not to blame.
When Gary Marty of the University of California, Davis, and his colleagues looked at that aspect for the Broughton Archipelago of western Canada, they found that salmon survival was not lower in years when the juveniles passed by louse-infested farms. This, they say, suggests that something other than sea lice must be reducing survival rates. [New Scientist]
Marty’s team checked up on a decade worth of data dating back to before the 2002 crash, and found a few interesting things. First, they say, the predominance of the lice in wild populations appears to predict the number found in farms a little later, suggesting the parasites travel from wild salmon to farmed ones and not the other way around. Second, they argue, it does appear that a high number of lice in the farmed fish predicts higher than normal exposure for the juveniles of the wild variety, but that increased exposure can’t account for the huge population drop in the wild salmon.
“Based on extrapolations from controlled laboratory studies, infestation levels… might have killed 8% if the juvenile salmon [leaving the area].” In other words this was not enough to destabilise the wild population, they added: “Death caused by sea lice exposure replaced death caused by other causes, resulting in no net change in generational survival.” [BBC News]
But if not sea lice, then what killed so many wild salmon in so short a time?
Marty suggests that the 2002 crash was due to some unrelated cause, perhaps a virus or bacterium. He admits that it is possible that sea lice were part of a combination of factors that led to the declines; perhaps lice or viral infection alone aren’t enough to kill that many fish, but if both occur in the same year, many juveniles die. However, he doesn’t think that this is likely. [Nature News]
Marty notes that many of the sick wild salmon showed reddening or bleeding at the base of their fins—an ailment associated with environmental stress or infection, not with the sea louse parasite. Plus, though the sea lice are a salmon parasite, the salmon also like to eat the sea lice, which could help them fight off its parasitic effects.
For his part, Martin KrkoÅ¡ek—the researcher whose earlier study said that wild salmon in rivers that were exposed to farmed fish populations tended to decline—isn’t convinced. KrkoÅ¡ek argues that the new study is too limited by studying just the Broughton Archipelago location, and says that its statistical connections aren’t convincing.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Related Articles: | 3,185 | 1,550 | 6,271.367742 |
warc | 201704 | SESSION TITLE: DVT/PE/Pulmonary Hypertension Posters II SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Poster PRESENTED ON: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM PURPOSE: Use of thrombolysis in acute pulmonary embolism has not been conclusively shown to improve outcomes. In a meta analysis, there was a non significant reduction in mortality in the thrombolytic group when compared to anticoagulant therapy alone. Prior studies were not large enough to answer this question. In order to get larger sample size, we used Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) which is one of the largest databases in United States METHODS: We used NIS from years 2000 to 2009 for our study. We identified the admissions with acute pulmonary embolism, CPR and usage of thrombolysis using ICD-9-CM codes. Since NIS has information about time to these procedures, we were able to identify patients with PE who underwent CPR within 48 hours of admission. The use of thrombolysis within 48 hours was similarly identified. The outcomes studied were mortality, length of hospital stay and discharge destinations. We used chi square test to compare the categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank test for continuous variables. We further constructed a multivariable logistic regression model to examine whether there was mortality difference between those who received thrombolysis and those who did not. The model adjusted for age, gender, hospital type and Charlson’s co-morbidity index. P value was kept at 0.05 RESULTS: There were 1,313,021 patients discharged with primary diagnosis of pulmonary embolism from 2000 to 2009. Of these 5354 (0.41%) underwent CPR within 48 hours of presentation and of these, 731 (13.6%) underwent thrombolysis. The in hospital mortality in those who received thrombolysis was not significantly lower than those who did not undergo thrombolysis (82.2% vs. 77.5%, p=0.20). On adjusted analysis, the odds of mortality were not significantly lower in thrombolysis group (OR 0.82; 95%CI 0.52-1.28). The length of stay was longer in those who received thrombolysis than those who did not (p=0.04). The discharges to home were not significantly different in the two groups CONCLUSIONS: In patients with cardiac arrest after pulmonary embolism, thrombolysis did not improve mortality. There was tendency towards improved outcomes with thrombolysis, though the adjusted odds were non-significant CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Patients with pulmonary embolism with cardiac arrest have high mortality and need of thrombolysis should be individualized DISCLOSURE: The following authors have nothing to disclose: Shahryar Ahmad, Saqib Baig, Jawad Hussain, Rahul Nanchal, Gagan Kumar
No Product/Research Disclosure Information | 2,719 | 1,373 | 5,368.688274 |
warc | 201704 | The
date of the beginning of summer varies according to climate, tradition and culture, but when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa.
In the
Northern Hemisphere summer lasts from the Summer Solstice (about 21 June) to the Autumnal Equinox (September 22 or 23). In the Southern Hemisphere, summer lasts from December until March.
At the
summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice. The 1st day of summer 2016 in Northern Hemisphere will be on Monday, 20th June. And the last day of summer 2016 will be on Thursday 22nd September.
The reason the
equinoxes and solstices don’t always come on the same day is that Earth doesn’t circle the sun in exactly 365 days. Solstices happen twice a year – in June and December .
One might think that since it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Earth is closest to the Sun during the June Solstice. But it’s the opposite – the Earth is actually farthest from the Sun during this time of the year. In fact, the Earth will be on its Aphelion (the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is furthest from the sun) a few weeks after the June Solstice.
The Earth’s orbit around the Sun has very little effect over the Seasons on Earth. Instead, it the tilt of Earth’s rotational axis, which is angled at around 23.4 degrees, that creates seasons. The direction of Earth’s tilt does not change as the Earth orbits the Sun – the two hemispheres point towards the same direction in space at all times. What changes as the Earth orbits around the Sun is the position of the hemispheres in relation to the Sun – the Northern Hemisphere faces towards the Sun during the June Solstice, thus experiencing summer. The Southern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun and therefore enjoys winter during this time.
“
Summer” came from the Old English name for that time of year, sumor. This, in turn, came from the Proto-Germanic sumur-, which itself came from the Proto-Indo-European root sam- (sam- seems to be a variant of the Proto-Indo-European sem-, meaning “together / one”). Solstice comes from the Latin words sol, meaning ‘ Sun’ and sistere, meaning ‘ to come to a stop or stand still‘.
The “
dog days of summer” refer to the weeks between July 3 and August 11 and are named after the Dog Star (Sirius) in the Canis Major constellation. The ancient Greeks blamed Sirius for the hot temperatures, drought, discomfort, and sickness that occurred during the summer.
The month of
June was named after either Juniores, the lower branch of the roman Senate, or Juno, the wife of Jupiter.
Marc Antony named the month of
July, in honor of Julius Caesar.
The month of
August was named for Julius Caeser’s adopted nephew Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius, who held the title “Augustus.” He named the month after himself.
“
September” is from the Latin word septem, meaning “seven.”
The word “
season” in this context comes from the Old French “seison”, meaning “sowing / planting”. This in turn came from the Latin “sationem” meaning “sowing”. Ancient pagans celebrated midsummer with bonfires. It was believed that the crops would grow as high as a couple could jump across the fire. Additionally, bonfires would generate magic by boosting the sun’s powers. Many ancient civilizations celebrated the summer solstice. For example, the ancient Greeks celebrated the agriculture god Cronus; the ancient Romans paid tribute to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth; and the ancient Chinese honored femininity and the force known as yin.
In southern England, more than 35,000 people gather at
Stonehenge to see the summer solstice. Druids and pagans are among those who celebrate the longest day of the year at this notable place. The Eiffel Tower grows in summer. This historic structure is made of iron. Metal expands with heat. As a result, the Eiffel Tower can grow more than 15 centimeters (6 inches) in hot weather.
The
first Olympic Games in the modern era were the 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece. The Games featured the Panathinaiko Stadium, the first giant stadium of the modern world that housed the largest crowd to ever watch a sporting event. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream takes place on Midsummer’s Eve, a time that Elizabethans would have associated with celebration. The summer solstice was associated with dancing drinking, mystery, and magic. In his bewitching play, Shakespeare captures the festive atmosphere of the season and even includes some summer rituals. In Chinese astronomy, summer starts on or around 5 May, with the jiéqì (solar term) known as lìxià, i.e. “establishment of summer”, and it ends on or around 6 August. According to meteorologists, summer extends for the whole months of June, July, and August in the northern hemisphere and the whole months of December, January, and February in the southern hemisphere. Under meteorological definitions, all seasons are arbitrarily set to start at the beginning of a calendar month and end at the end of a month. Summer is the by far the busiest time at movie theaters, and Hollywood always hopes to earn a significant portion of total annual ticket sales through summer blockbuster months. | 5,579 | 2,500 | 11,872.112 |
warc | 201704 | Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/5377
Title: European Automobile CO2 Emissions: From Forecasts to Reality Authors: Zachariadis, Theodoros Issue Date: 2007 Publisher: Springer-Verlag Source: Proceedings of Workshop on Climate Change and Energy Pathways for the Mediterranean, 2007, Nicosia, Cyprus. Abstract: The voluntary agreement between the European Commission and the automotive industry to cut new car CO2 emissions by 25% between 1995 and 2009 is probably the most important EU initiative to curb carbon emissions as it addresses the road transport sector, whose growth may cancel out all other attempts to meet the EU’s Kyoto commitment. The paper evaluates progress in automobile fuel economy and CO2 emissions observed since 1995, examines the issue within the international context and attempts to assess whether further improvements are possible after 2010 in Europe. Based on data available up to mid-2005 it seems that, in the absence of strong technical progress and remarkable changes in consumer behavior until 2009, the industry’s commitment can only be met with some years’ delay. Moreover, it is most likely that technical progress will not persist in the future unless a policy mix of regulations and economic instruments is implemented. URI: http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/5377
http://172.16.21.12:8080/jspui/handle/10488/5377
http://hdl.handle.net/10488/5377
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-5774-8_11 Rights: © 2008 Springer. All rights reserved. Appears in Collections: Δημοσιεύσεις σε συνέδρια/Conference papers
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warc | 201704 | Is your social strategy efforts in line with the latest social media marketing statistics? Find out.
John Koetsier of VentureBeat reports that “content marketing company Compendium ran a study with more than 200 companies” that looked into various social media marketing statistics in both B2B and B2C conversations, and “it turns out that who you’re marketing to makes a massive difference.”
Koetsier writes that “the study looked at factors such as word count, punctuation, time of posting, and day of the week of posting to determine success factors,” and, “if you’re talking to consumers, Monday and Wednesday are best on Twitter,” while “LinkedIn is better on Monday.” The study also found that for B2B marketers, “post to LinkedIn on Sunday, and to Twitter on Wednesday,” but avoid using hashtags altogether. “The one great commonality” for all social media marketers is to avoid using question marks, as posts that contained them “get between 25 and 52 percent fewer clicks.” Read the full post for a more complete summary and to get a look at the infographic that presents a fuller picture of Compendium’s social media marketing statistics. | 1,247 | 638 | 2,243.818182 |
warc | 201704 | Happy New Year, FDA! Now... resolve to regulate food package claims! *[Updated with photo of a 'misleading cake'] [ Updated, 11:35 a.m.: What the heck is the cake in that picture? It's a mock-up by the Center for Science in the Public Interest filled with wording of the kind seen on many food labels. The consumer advocacy group has a New Year's resolution for the Food and Drug Administration: Come down hard on these kinds of misleading messages. ]
Just in time for 2010, the well-known food cop group sent the FDA a 158-page report listing "the most egregious examples of false claims, ingredient obfuscations and other labeling shenanigans," as the CSPI press folks put it. The report, dubbed "Food Labeling Chaos," recommends a complete overhaul of labels to get rid of such problems as:
Packaged foods that say they contain several servings when in all likelihood the entire contents will be consumed in one sitting; Products that proudly proclaim they contain no trans fats when they may contain a lot of saturated fat; Foods are promoted as supporting the immune system or supporting healthy arteries when there's scant evidence they're likely to do so.
CSPI recommends, among other things, that:
The ingredients list should be reformulated so that, to name one example, all the different sources of sugars -- sugar, high fructose corn syrup, yada yada -- be grouped together, enabling consumers to get a better handle on just how much added sugar a product contains. Caffeine content should be added. (We recently wrote about that issue in the Health section.) Meat and poultry should have to disclose its nutrition information as well. Like, what about all that salty broth many cuts of meat are injected with? Serving sizes should be reworked to approach something a little realistic. Who's going to eat half a 2.5-ounce package of Fruity Snacks? Or half a microwaveable tub of "Healthy Choice" minestrone soup? Get rid of "qualified health claims" that allow companies to note weak health-nutrition links that aren't strongly supported by science, as well as the meaningless but optimistic-sounding statements such as "to help protect healthy joints," currently on a glucosamine-laced Minute Maid orange juice boxes. The whole nutrition facts and ingredients list panel could use a revamp, and the key nutrition information should be presented in a nice, clear way on the front of food packages.
The report contains a picture of the current nutrition facts label and a reworked one that CSPI thinks would be easier to parse.
To illustrate how misleading some packages can be, the report has a cute mock-up of a slice of fictitious "Tasty Living Double Chocolate Layer Cake" -- in a wrapper peppered with claims. "Made with whole wheat!" (How
much whole wheat?) "High in Fiber!" (How is fiber defined?) "0 grams trans fat." (Yes, but it could be swimming in palm kernel oil...) "Supports Immunity!" (Um, cake does that how?) "All Natural" (a term the FDA has not defined). "Contains Cherries." (In picograms? nanograms? femtograms?)
Absurd -- except that we have lots of real-life silliness of that kind on our food packages today. I especially like the listed example of Gerber "Graduates," juice treats for preschoolers, in a package that is covered with pictures of whole fruits and that proclaims it's made with "real fruit juice concentrate and natural fruit flavors" and is "all natural." Each serving contains 17 grams of added sugar. Hardly any of the pictured fruits are in it. The main ingredients are corn syrup and sugar.
-- Rosie Mestel
Image: That's not a real cake, so, no, you can't buy it -- but the messages on the label look an awful lot like the ones we see on packaged foods all over the supermarket. Credit: CSPI | 3,788 | 1,961 | 7,236.026517 |
warc | 201704 | Thursday, August 12, 2010
On the heels of its new immigration law, Arizona is coming close to holding a referendum on whether the state should guarantee the right of employees to vote for a union by secret ballot. This, of course, is a direct attempt to thwart EFCA should it pass--similar to other states earlier in the year. Seems like a lot of time and money for nothing more than political points. In addition to the obvious preemption problem, the chances of a card check bill passing Congress any time soon doesn't seem too likely.
Hat Tip: Jason Walta
-JH
Two new (to me, at least) resources floated over the transom this week. One is the Whistleblower Protection Program page unveiled by OSHA last month.
A second is the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals decisions. Tip of the hit to Associate Counsel Devin Rice.
CAS
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
When the ADAAA amended the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2008, it included a provision entitled “Claims of No Disability,” which provides simply that “Nothing in this Act shall provide the basis for a claim by an individual without a disability that the individual was subject to discrimination because of the individual’s lack of disability.” 42 U.S.C. § 12101. Given that one has to be a qualified individual with a disability to be protected by most of the statute’s provisions (the major exception relates to medical exams), the inclusion of this provision seemed a little surprising.
Nor does the legislative history provide much in the way of insights. For example, a Section-by-Section Analysis, although providing some meaningful discussion of other sections of the ADAAA, contents itself with saying only that this provision “[p]rohibits reverse discrimination claims by disallowing claims based on the lack of disability.” H.R. REP. No. 110-730 (2008). Unlike other portions of the Analyses, there is no indication that Congress believed it was overriding misguided case law. Thus, Jeannette Cox,
Crossroads and Signposts: The ADA Amendments Act of 2008, 85 IND. L.J. 187 (2010), argues that the provision is unnecessary because the entire structure of the ADA makes clear that only disabled individuals have claims.
While I agree with Jeannette, that only deepens the mystery as to why someone thought it a good idea to include this provision in the ADAAA. Maybe just a lawyer-like excess of caution. Or maybe a more subtle effort to influence the debate about whether “reasonable accommodation” is a kind of “affirmative action” or “preference?”
Although scholars have objected to “preference” language for accommodating disabled individuals, Anita Silvers,
Protection or Privilege? Reasonable Accommodation, Reverse Discrimination, and the Fair Costs of Repairing Recognition for Disabled People in the Workforce, 8 J. Gender,Race, & Just. 561 (2005), the Court in U.S. Airways, Inc. v. Barnett, 535 U.S. 391 (2002), explicitly rejected the notion that accommodation had to stop short of preferences for disabled workers.
Nevertheless, the “preference” language continues to influence circuit court decisions. Before
Barnett, a number of decisions declared that the ADA does not command “discrimination in favor of the disabled,” e.g., Matthews v. Commonwealth Edison Co. 128 F.3d 1194 (7th Cir. 1997), but even after the Supreme Court spoke, the preference objection continues to pop up. For example, Huber v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 486 F.3d 480, 483 (8th Cir. 2007), held that, because the “the ADA is not an affirmative action statute,” it does not require an employer in filling a position to prefer a qualified disabled employee to a more qualified nondisabled worker. And while the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Huber, the case settled before the Court could decide it.
Might the provision of the ADAAA barring claims by the nondisabled provide ammunition when the
Huber issue arises again before the Court? Or is this language too oblique to have much chance of influencing the Justices?
Thanks to Caitlin Petry
CAS
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sam Estreicher (NYU) and Zev Eigen (Northwestern) has just posted on SSRN their chapter, "The Forum for Adjudication of Employment Disputes," which will appear in the Research Handbook on the Economics of Labor and Employment Law (edited by Michael Wachter and Cynthia Estlund; published by Edward Elgar). The abstract:
This chapter focuses on the appropriate design of the forum for adjudication of employment disputes. By the term “adjudication,” we refer to the resolution of “rights” disputes – disputes over the application of a contract or the application of a statutory or regulatory rule to a particular factual situation. We are not referring to “interests” disputes – disputes over the substantive content of an initial contract or renewal agreement. In considering the design question, we assume that all involved actors, (employees, employers, unions, etc.) retain whatever endowments they currently possess in terms of intelligence, energy, income, occupational status, access to resources, union representation, and statutory and contractual rights. Holding these endowments constant, we ask what institutional arrangements for adjudicating rights disputes would do the best job of resolving those disputes in a fair, efficient manner for workers, managers and the public generally.
On the legislative front, we oppose current efforts in Congress to amend the Federal Arbitration Act to prohibit predispute arbitration agreements. At least if applied in the employment context, this is a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Employment arbitration, if it is properly structured and regulated, improves the likelihood that employees, and most especially those who are relatively low-paid, will be able to obtain an adjudication on the merits of their rights disputes with the employer. Abolition of employment arbitration simply relegates those employees to the courts to fare as best they can on their own in a complex, formal litigation environment. Based on what is practically and politically feasible as of this writing, employer-promulgated ADR should be the basis of an employment adjudication system that supplements the work of courts, administrative agencies and, in the union sector, the grievance and arbitration process. We say this because unless adequate resources are provided to administrative agency adjudicators or courts to handle responsibly the vast increase in self-represented employee claims – which we think unlikely – the appropriate legislative response, even for critics of employer-promulgated ADR, is to develop safeguards that help minimize their concerns without driving employers to abandon the process entirely. If we were starting from scratch, we would be inclined to consider a system similar to Great Britain’s. The UK approach started as a wrongful dismissal statute and over time also assumed adjudicatory authority over discrimination claims. The UK system mixes government-supplied mediation services with a tripartite government-funded, public adjudication. The system supersedes any common law cause of action for breach of the employment agreement and employment statutes; employment disputes that go to the regular civil courts are limited to libel and slander, certain torts and claims for injunctive relief for breach of restrictive covenants. Class actions are not authorized. There may be some institutional features of the UK approach that are difficult to replicate here. One such feature is the tripartite adjudicatory structure used in England. With our low union density in private companies and the fact that employers tend not to form representative associations in the employment law field, it will take some ingenuity to develop a regularized procedure for selecting employer- and employee-side adjudicators. The more difficult question is whether there is any political will to adopt something like the UK system. Lawyers representing employees would not necessarily oppose such legislation if they could remove all caps on recovery and retain their ability to bring lawsuits (including class actions) in the courts. Employers might support such legislation, if it did not include abolition of employment at-will and there was some institutional guarantee of modest awards of the UK variety. Most employees, we believe, would be best off under the UK approach but we cannot get there politically. Therein lies the dilemma for law reform. We do believe, however, that working with what is in place at many companies, much can be done to improve employer-promulgated ADR to pick up many of the desirable features of the UK approach but in an American flavor responsive to U.S. legal and popular culture.
Looks like an interesting approach to a significant problem in enforcing employment rights, so check it out.
-JH
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The Chive, via Orly Lobel, presents this saga-in-pictures of a young woman who quit her job via a dry-erase board, then emailed the photos to her entire office. For the entire story, go to the source -- I've reproduced only three of the thirty-two photos.
Or not, as several comments have pointed out.
rb
Paul Secunda (Marquette) has just posted on SSRN his essay (forthcoming ABA Tax Section NewsQuarterly) 401K Follies and the Need to Reinvigorate the U.S. Annuity Market. Here's the abstract:
Even given potential issues with requiring an annuity option for 401K plans, the time has come to hedge as a society against the risk associated with the recent embrace of the 401K as the private retirement funding vehicle of choice in the United States. The proposal described herein seeks to diminish the retirement security deficit through three interlocking regulatory parts: (1) a requirement to offer an annuity as part of 401K distribution options; (2) mandatory education pre-distribution on annuities; and (3) mandatory fee disclosure by annuity providers. These steps will likely reinvigorate the annuities market in the United States and help to bring an end to the 401K Follies.
rb
Monday, August 9, 2010
The New York Times has a story on a strike (technically the employer locked out employees on the eve of a strike) that I have to post on as a nod to my son's love of superheroes. The reason? This strike is at a Honeywell plant that is the country's only uranium conversion plant and is located in Metropolis, Ill. which describes itself as the hometown of Superman. The reasons for the work dispute are what you'd expect at such a plant: safety issues related to what the workers and their union perceive as a rash of cancer cases among workers.
-JH
Mark Hurd, until Friday CEO of Hewlett-Packard, apparently lost his job from what began as a sexual harassment charge. Although the facts are still coming in, it appears that Jodie Fisher (left) worked as an event-planning contractor for HP, where she came into contact with Hurd. She and Hurd apparently spent some time (and the company's money) together, though Hurd is now saying the relationship was not sexual. Two weeks ago, Fisher's attorney sent a letter to the HP Board accusing Hurd of sexual harassment. That triggered a Board investigation in which the Board concluded that no harassment had occurred, but that Hurd had falsified expense statements connected with the time he spent with Fisher. The Board asked for Hurd's resignation on Friday. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that Fisher was "surprised and saddened that Mark Hurd lost his job over this. That was never my intention."
Neither Hurd nor Fisher come out of this looking good. Hurd until now had a golden reputation at HP -- the company's financial performance has improved markedly under his leadership, and he is widely credited with instilling a culture of high ethical standards at the company. Falsifying $20,000 in expense statements -- pocket change to a person of Hurd's income -- was not a bright move. Nor is trying to date (if in fact that's what happened) a subordinate -- that's always an invitation to a claim of sexual harassment.
Fisher doesn't look so great here, either -- if nothing sexual occurred and she didn't want Hurd to lose his job, why did she have an attorney send a letter to the HP Board? An allegation of sexual harassment is supposed to trigger a company investigation and, if warranted, prompt effective remedial action. When Fisher says she was not interested in any such remedial action, that makes it appear that all she wanted was money. Was this just a slightly more-refined extortion attempt than Rick Pitino's?
If Hurd crossed the sexual harassment line, then Fisher and her attorney had every right to send that letter. But if he did not, then invoking the sexual harassment laws in this manner constitutes an abuse of legal process, and disserves real victims who depend upon this process to redress real wrongs.
Comments are welcome.
rb
Peter E. Shapiro, Union Shops, Not Border Stops: Updating NLRB Sanctions to Help Organize Immigrant Workers AfterHoffman, 78 George Wash. L. Rev. 1069 (2010). Aditi Bagchi, The Myth of Equality in the Employment Relation, 2009 Mich. St. L. Rev. 579. Amelia Michele Joiner, The ADAAA: Opening the Floodgates, 47 San Deigo L. Rev. 331 (2010). | 13,424 | 6,306 | 28,112.487155 |
warc | 201704 | Monday, February 23, 2009
I will be speaking today at the Hamline Health Law institute in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the topic:
Diverging Perspectives of "Charitable": Federal Income Tax Versus State Property Tax Exemptions for Hospitals and Homes for the Elderly. Here is the description:
Many states are challenging property tax exemptions for charitable hospitals and elderly housing under the guise of preventing superfluous flows of tax benefits to the rich or middle class. State tax officials resort to "quid pro quo" or similar notions to justify claims that the financially well-off are not entitled to this government largess. Federal law recognizes, though, that "charitable" includes benefits to the poor, in addition to hospital care to all and elderly housing. Using these examples (hospitals and elderly housing), this presentation will explore the impact on state exemption law of two perspectives of "charitable" - the narrow alms giving view of many states versus the broader societal view of federal law.
One of the points I intend to bring out is that the diverging views of what is "charitable" from the federal law perspective and from the state law perspective is at odds with the goal of charity to create contextual diversity. For example, in the
Provena case in Illinois, the court states explicitly: "In this respect, the Illinois standard for exemption from property taxes is different from the more diffuse "community benefit" standard for exemption from the federal income tax." Astonishingly, the court interprets the law in Illinois in a way that completely ignores the benefits to society of the many non-charity care activities of a hospital - medical education, crisis nursery services, behavioral health benefits, and Medicaid and Medicare subsidies, for example. True, many of these non-charity care community benefits are not directly linked to notions of "free care" or "gifts" to the poor, but they are valuable in their own right. The real likelihood is that the many states that have this narrow view of charity will, inevitably, adversely affect the ability of nonprofits in general to use creativity, innovation and a myriad of other ideas as a way to advance the marketplace and make society all the better.
DAB
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/nonprofit/2009/02/brennen-speaks.html | 2,351 | 1,180 | 4,630.274576 |
warc | 201704 | Since giving up farming a couple years ago, my interest in sustainable diets has only changed focus, not waned. Turning away from the domestic, I have been exploring wildcrafted food and medicine, including plants traditionally used by Native Americans. So this spring, when my former farming partner, Clara, invited me to visit northeast Oregon with her for the early summer harvest season of wild foods there, I was thrilled.
We spent six weeks in and around Hell’s Canyon on the Oregon/Idaho border, an area that’s abundant for foragers and has been for millennia. Fruit trees, berry bushes, wild roots and medicinal herbs can be found in profusion, mostly on public land. Most of this flora is native but some was introduced through European colonization. All of it is threatened to one degree or another by misuse of the land, both contemporary and historic, and by Climate Change. Indeed, every place we explored offered us a glimpse of the past and a taste of the future. | 991 | 606 | 1,599.336634 |
warc | 201704 | Men's Rights Movement Claim: A high percentage -- 40% or more -- of rape accusations are false. The Facts: This claim is dubious. The studies claiming these high numbers have been debunked. Better studies estimate the rate of false accusations as being in the single digits, generally in a range from 2-8%.
The Facts: This claim is dubious. The studies claiming these high numbers have been debunked. Better studies estimate the rate of false accusations as being in the single digits, generally in a range from 2-8%.
Here are some useful posts and papers on the subject. You'll notice they don't all agree with one another; It's a complicated subject.
False Rape Allegations Are Rare (YesMeansYes)
Excerpt:
The reputable, methodologically sound reviews put the frequency of false reports in the single-digit percentages. There are people who, for propaganda reasons, keep saying that the incidence of false reports is much higher. They create these figures with biased reviews or intellectually dishonest mislabeling. ... A new study ... based on a review of every single rape allegation made to a US university police department — the study does not disclose which school — over a ten year period. The result: 5.9 percent false allegations.
Critique of Eugene Kanin’s Study Of False Rape Reports (Alas, a blog)
Excerpt:
Eugene Kanin famously found that 41%, or perhaps 50%, of rapes reported to police are false. Kanin's study is both badly designed and unverifiable; more reliable studies have found that between 2% and 8% of rapes reported to police are false reports.Here's the Kanin study being discussed. (pdf).
False Allegations Of Rape Not Common – Or Are They? (Alas, a blog)
More on Kanin.
Report on False Reporting Of Non-Stranger Rapes (abyss2hope)
A discussion of a paper that notes:
In the research literature, estimates for the percentage of sexual assault reports that are false have varied widely, virtually across the entire possible spectrum. For example, a very comprehensive review article documented estimates from 1.5% to 90% (Rumney, 2006). However, very few of these estimates are based on research that could be considered credible. Most are reported without the kind of information that would be needed to evaluate their reliability and validity. A few are little more than published opinions, based either on personal experience or a non-systematic review (e.g. of police files, interviews with police investigators, or other information with unknown reliability and validity).The paper reviews recent research and notes that the most credible studies find "the rate of false reporting for sexual assault is in the range of 2-8%."
NOTE: the link to the study on abyss2hope is broken. This one works. (It's a pdf.)
Why it's so hard to quantify false rape charges, by Emily Bazelon and Rachael Larimore (Slate)
[I]sn't the rate of false rape charges an empirical question, with a specific answer that isn't vulnerable to ideological twisting? Yes and no. There has been a burst of research on this subject. Some of it is careful, but much of it is questionable. While most of the good studies converge at a rate of about 8 percent to 10 percent for false rape charges, the literature isn't quite definitive enough to stamp out the far higher estimates.
Anti-feminist myths debunked (Pandagon)
Contains an interesting discussion of the Kanin study.
Claims about McDowell's research into false rape allegations are not credible (Feminist Critics)
Discussion of another study that found a high percentage of false accusations.
Why Women Allegedly Lie About Rape (abyss2hope)
Also discusses McDowell's Air Force study
The myth of women’s false accusations of domestic violence and rape and misuse of protection orders (Michael Flood)
Excerpt:
Myth: Women routinely make up allegations of domestic violence and rape, including to gain advantage in family law cases. And women use protection orders to remove men from their homes or deny contact with children. Facts: The risk of domestic violence increases at the time of separation. Most allegations of domestic violence in the context of family law proceedings are made in good faith and with support and evidence for their claims. Rates of false accusations of rape are very low. Women living with domestic violence often do not take out protection orders and do so only as a last resort. Protection orders provide an effective means of reducing women’s vulnerability to violence.Note: I think this paper lowballs the estimate of false rape accusations. See the YesMeansYes article above for what I think is a more reasonable take.
False Allegations, Recantations, and Unfounding in the Context of Sexual Assault, Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force (pdf)
Explains why recantations cannot be taken as definitive proof that an allegation is false.
Because recantation is used so frequently by victims to halt criminal justice involvement, it should never be seen, in and of itself, as indicative of a false report.
Another kind of false allegation:
The myth of false accusations of child abuse (Michael Flood)
Excerpt:
Myth: Women routinely make false accusations of child abuse or domestic violence to gain advantage in family law proceedings and to arbitrarily deny their ex-partners’ access to the children. Facts: Allegations of child abuse are rare. False allegations are rare; False allegations are made by fathers and mothers at equal rates; The child abuse often takes place in families where there is also domestic violence; Allegations of child abuse rarely result in the denial of parental contact.(Note: Most data cited from Australia.)
Rape Myths Past and Present
An article in the British magazine New Statesman, by Joanna Bourke, Professor of History at Birkbeck and author of Rape: A History from the 1860s to the Present (Virago, 2007). Excerpt:
[W]hat is the risk of an accused man being falsely accused of rape? Popular prejudices estimate that around half of rape victims are lying, but a major Home Office research project in 2000-2003 concluded that only three per cent of rape allegations were false. Indeed, contrary to the notion that men are at risk of being falsely accused, it is much more common for actual rapists to get away with their actions. Around four-fifths of rapes are never reported to the police. And only five per cent of rapes reported to the police ever end in a conviction. This is the lowest attrition rate of any country in Europe, except for Ireland.
None of this is to say that people aren't falsely accused -- of rape, and of other crimes -- or falsely convicted. They are, and it's a tragedy. Here are two groups that advocate for the the falsely accused and falsely convicted:
The Innocence Project
The National Center for Reason and Justice
NOTE: I have added text and links to this post since I originally posted it. | 6,943 | 3,081 | 15,458.935411 |
warc | 201704 | The number of fatal heart attacks has halved in just under a decade.
The reduction has been attributed, in part, to fewer people smoking and better management of risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Improvements in hospital care have also contributed to a rise in the numbers surviving, researchers told the British Medical Journal.
They found the death rate fell by 50 per cent among men and 53 per cent in women when they analysed 840,000 cardiac cases in England between 2002 and 2010.
Overall, 61 per cent of the people who had a heart attack were men, 36 per cent of heart attacks resulted in death and 73 per cent hit those aged 65 and above.
While Prof Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said the results of the charityâs study were âimpressiveâ he was concerned âfar too many heart attack victims still die from a cardiac arrest before medical help arrivesâ.
He said many deaths could be prevented if bystanders performed âhands-onlyâ resuscitation if they saw somebody suffering a cardiac arrest â part of a new BHF campaign. | 1,128 | 643 | 1,877.076205 |
warc | 201704 | If the time has come for You to "Find Your Dream Home in Mississauga", then I would love to help. New properties are listed every day. By filling out the form, I can have new Mississauga Listings emailed to You as soon as they become available.
If you are buying a home, then, before you decide on whether this home is your dream home, the following checklist will help you look at prospective homes with a critical eye. We suggest printing this page and putting it on a clipboard. When you find a home that really interests you, mark the features you see and note their general condition on this list.
Home value sometimes referred to as "Value in Use", is best described as the probable price at which a home trades in a free, competitive, and open market and is synonymous with the market value.
The Income Tax Act does not specifically set out whether or not a gain or loss is capital in nature. The taxpayer is responsible for reporting the gain as income or capital gain. This report may then be challenged by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency with the onus of proof on the taxpayer.
When should I sell my home? Your answer to this question might be right now! If you have taken a job in another city or made an offer on a new home, or had an addition to your family, selling your home fast might be the most important goal you have. Most people, however, have some flexibility when they sell their home. Let us take a closer look at the most important factors that can go into this decision.
A hot market is a "seller’s market". During a seller’s market, properties can sell within a few days of being listed and there are often multiple offers. Sometimes homes even sell above the asking price. Though most buyers want to get a "deal" on a home, reducing your offer by even a few thousand dollars could mean that someone else will get the home you desire.
You may have lived in your home for many years. The location factors that you considered when making your purchase decision may not apply to today’s buyers. The task is to identify the current positive aspects of your home’s location and market them aggressively. When it comes to positive locations, people’s different attitudes and preferences will determine if a location is a “good” one.
Specializing in home sellers and buyers in Mississauga, and condominium sellers in the city centre square one area, save you thousands of dollars on commission rates, negotiate best price for you when you sell or buy your home, Free Market Evaluation, how to get top dollar for your home when you sell.
The equity in your home is like any other investment - it needs to be monitored. Homeowners should have their equity evaluated once a year.Now might be the perfect time...And it is FREE, WITH NO OBLIGATION! Just fill out the form below. | 2,852 | 1,448 | 5,512.947514 |
warc | 201704 | In recent years, a number of high-end mind mapping software programs have added the capability of importing data from a variety of sources and displaying it in mind maps. This significantly increases their value as business tools – especially for creating dashboards that can display live data on key business metrics.
From database connections to Excel spreadsheet cell ranges and Outlook e-mail messages, today’s mind mapping software can accommodate data from a myriad of sources and display it in a rich, visual format. This can help you conduct “What if?” analyses with your data and glean fresh insights from it. It can also transform your mind maps from collections of ideas, project actions and planning steps into rich data dashboards that can help you be significantly more productive and insightful.
This new Mind Mapping Insider report will show you what’s possible and which programs support this advanced functionality.
Members-only resource The link to download this report is accessible to members of the Mind Mapping Insiders group.
Become a Mind Mapping Insider member to access this valuable template and instructions today. You will also get access to over 100 other tutorials, interviews, templates, mind map analyses and other valuable resources designed to improve your mind mapping skills. Become an expert mind mapper today – join the Mind Mapping Insider membership program! | 1,436 | 722 | 2,784.487535 |
warc | 201704 | Fear Essay, Research Paper
Fear is the quintessential human emotion. Some people live lives devoid of joy, happiness, and pleasure, but no one escapes the experience of fear and fear s companion, pain. We are born in fear and pain. Our lives are profoundly shaped by them, as well as our efforts to avoid them.
Fear, experienced by every being of the human species, is an utterly unavoidable emotion. The extent and range of fears varies from person to person, but the emotion is the same. One person s reaction of seeing a snake will be similar to another person s reaction of walking into a train station. The body is programmed to react in a distinct fashion once the stimulus is recognized.
With all or almost all animals, even with birds, Terror causes the body to tremble. The skin becomes pale, sweat breaks out, and the hair bristles. The secretions of the alimentary canal and of the kidneys are increased, and they are involuntarily voided The breathing is hurried. The heart beats quickly, wildly, and violently; but whether it pumps the blood more efficiently through the body may be doubted, for the surface seems bloodless and the strength of the muscles soon fails The mental faculties are much disturbed. Utter prostration soon follows, and even fainting I once caught a robin in a room, which fainted so completely, that for a time I thought it dead.
Why the body reacts this way, is a very technical subject that is not to be discussed over the duration of this essay. The brain is the most important organ of the human body; however, it is also the most complicated and the least understood. Although the physiological aspects of fear are being overlooked right now, the psychological points will be explored in depth.
What makes a person afraid? The amount of anxiety a person experiences at a given time is dependent on several factors such as culture, media, past experience as well as the unavoidable natural-born fear. An example of a cultural induced phobia is that a child raised in a highly religious, homophobic household is more likely to be homophobic than a child who is raised atheist with two mothers.
Alfred Hitchcock receives an angry letter from the father of a girl who refuses to shower after seeing Psycho. Such a phobia is a media induced fear.
The experiences of a person s past are extremely important constituents that affect a person s range, and intensity of fears. As it is explained in John Locke’s most important work, An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, the mind is analogous to a blank slate, a tabula rasa, on which the senses make impressions. If a young boy is chased and stung by a nest of bees, this experience will be kept in his mind forever; the slate is marked. Every action and every experience is marked on the tabula rasa. The slate is marked, whether the person consciously remembers or not; and there is no eraser. This theory also explains the irrational phobias that many people experience. Often, the affected can t understand why he is afraid, but through therapy he comes to an understanding of some previous event that had a traumatizing affect.
The human s natural-born fear is the fear that every human possesses. The fear is not of tangible consistency; it is a fear tied tightly with its partner, psychology. It is a fear of loss of comfort, as the human race knows it. Human comfort doesn t mean a nice house and comfortable bed, in fact, a large percentage of the world has never seen such a luxury. Human comfort is the comfort of knowing what is happening, and what is going to happen. It is the comfort of understanding how it is happening and why it is happening. When something awful happens, the first thing the unfortunate person often exclaims is Why me? Asking such a question isn t going to help the situation, but it is what the person truly wants to know, he wants to know why his comfort was upset.
As discussed earlier, every person faces fear, and it is fear accompanied by anxiety that shapes lives. Paradoxically, horror films and literature have been thriving since it has been technologically possible. Dating further back, scary tales have been passed through generations for centuries. What is it that makes society want to be scared?
Fear is inextricably bound to pain, but it is also linked with pleasure. Successfully overcoming a fear or emerging from a fearful situation unscathed can be a highly pleasurable experience, for surviving a scare can often trigger the release of a flood of opiatelike neurochemicals.
Simply, horror films make people feel good. It isn t unusual to see someone laughing, or feeling giddy after something scary has happened, whether it is real life or while watching a film. Such things make people feel more alive. Roller coasters are another example of things that give a similar dose of small-time euphoria. Film or roller coaster, either one has an addictive characteristic. To feel the same pleasurable feeling, the next time the dose needs to be anted. In some cases, it becomes so extreme that people attempt to climb Mr. Everest, or jump from high-rise to high-rise on a motorcycle. The process is similar of a drug user; over time, more and more of the drug is needed to produce the same effect.
Moving back to film, an audience s attention is captured through the method of horror. Horror films come in all types, ranging from dead men rising from the grave, created men rising from the operation table, and men rising out of bed in an attempt to kill the whole town. However, the classier horror films, the films that stand out in the sometimes considered B-grade genre, are films that deal directly with the human psyche. These films raise questions that can t be answered; they turn situations that happen to anyone into scream-inducing masterpieces. Like cheese that attracts a mouse, such films are able to draw out our deepest fears by simulating them in close to reality conditions.
Horror is the only genre that is not defined by certain character types and story elements. It can take place almost anywhere. It is defined instead by a mood or atmosphere and by how it makes the audience feel. Filmmaker David Cronenberg describes horror as the genre as the genre of confrontation which allows the viewer to confront things that disturb him or her It is the function of fantasy to encompass a real life fear and transform it into something that can be dealt with or obliterated.
Although there is a high percentage of people dealing with sectionalized phobias, the percentage isn t large enough to create a film only for such an audience. Most horror films, with the idea to confront the real life fears of a wide range of people, deal only with the so-called natural-born fears that are possessed by everyone.
Cronenberg s description of horror supports the idea that the scariest films are the films that dig deep into the human psyche. What the human race enjoys best is being able to control things. Political power is a never-ending battle, gang wars are the same; and it all comes back to control. An extreme example of this truth of life is an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia, where the person feels the need to exhibit radical control over his eating. What happens when people view situations in which some force cannot be controlled, at any expense?
It s not so bad when an alien on another planet is killed by some intergenerational spell, but what about when a young girl from an upper-middle class neighborhood is taken over by the devil? Or a middle age woman, because of weather, pulls into a motel and is killed? There are many young girls living in upper-middle class neighborhoods. In fact, the tagline on a film page reads: Something beyond comprehension is happening to a little girl on this street, in this house. Such a blurb gives the impression that it can happen to any little girl, in any house. Also, it isn t rare for drivers to pull over and spend a night in any motel that can be found. To see horrifying things happen in a situation in which one could sometime be involved, is scary.
The last and most frightening aspect of all commendable horror films is the aspect of the unexplainable. This facet reflects back to the concept of control; what cannot be understood can t be controlled. However, the unexplainable is an issue that is also more than control; it is an issue of the human comfort. Humans are naturally instigators, wanting to know why or how something happens is only normal. As the minds of young children become more complex they begin to ask more questions. Why? Why? is a common phrase of the 4-year-old.
For what reason does the government spend billions of dollars on space research? Is it possible, or hopeful, that at some point the other planets may contribute to the planet? Of course it is possible, but in the minds of many, taxpayers dollars are being wasted. People tilt their heads up, see the sun, moon and stars and want to know more; they want to see the bright lights up close, they want to know how far away those lights are. The questions will never end; the human is constantly on a quest for knowledge.
Fortunately there are answers for most things in today s world. When an answer isn t available, one is fabricated to calm society. However, once a person can clearly see that there is no answer, or that there is no way to find an answer, the person becomes very frightened.
The above discussed aspects of horror films are all portrayed in two of the centuries best known thrillers: Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and The Exorcist (1973), by William Friedkin.
Hitchcock s Psycho is the story of secretary, Marion, who steals $40,000 from her employer and flees. She is forced, by inclement weather, to pull into the Bates Motel. The motel is deserted except for a handsome young man, Norman Bates, who runs the motel and takes care of his mother. They have dinner, but it is after dinner, in her room, that the celebrated shower scene takes place. Marion is brutally murdered. The remainder of the film is composed of Marion s searchers and investigators trying to discover her whereabouts. One of the investigators is killed. Norman is eventually arrested and his mother is found dead and decomposing in his house.
The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, is the story of a 12-year-old girl named Regan who lives in Georgetown with her wealthy mother. She begins to act bizarre, and neither she nor her mother can understand why. The bizarre happenings become more prevalent and it is eventually obvious that Regan is no longer Regan; her body has been taken over by the Satan. Her mother calls in priests to do an exorcism, however the elder, faithfully strong priest is found dead in the girl s room. The younger priest intervenes, but allows the devil to enter his body. He then throws himself out the window. The daughter is cured.
An exorcism, which is rare, but still performed to this day is defined by the Catholic Dictionary:
The act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things, which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice; the means employed for this purpose, especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demon, in the name of God, or any of the higher power in which he is subject.
By using an exorcism to force evil out of the young girl s body, Friedkin is pitting good versus evil.
The Exorcist s outcome, along with being very visually shocking, is quite scary. It is impossible to know whether the devil forces the priest to jump out of the window, or whether the priest jumps out of the window to try to rid the world of the evil. Either way, evil prevails. Two priests are killed in the process of ridding the devil from Regan s body. Seeing that priests, mediators between humans and God, aren t able to control such evil, leaves no hope for those of the lower classes of faith. No hope of controlling.
The nature of the human to control is an important factor in securing the film s success. However, what contributes greatly and really envelops the earlier mentioned facets, is the aspect of the unexplainable forces. Evil, to this day, cannot be explained. Why does evil come? In what forms does it come? Why does it affect the people it does? People of every profession express an effort at explaining the mysterious phenomenon. There are definitions of evil, there are so-called symptoms of evil, however, there is no proof to support any hypothesizing. The idea that such a mysterious and unstoppable force can take over and hurt any select person, along with all the people around him, at any time, is horrific.
Expansion on the idea of mysterious, unexplainable forces leads right into the film Psycho. The killer, Norman Bates, has some unexplainable psychosis. At first he appears to be normal, portraying the persona of a nice young man who takes care of his mother and the family business. In fact, it is Hitchcock s magical cinematography and thoughtful casting that convinces the audience to sympathize with Bates. When the viewers find out that he is a killer who has split personalities , the audience is mystified and upset. The audience chooses to sympathize with a psychotic killer instead of a rational businesswoman who makes a wrong turn in the conscious department. Can it happen any day? Bates seems normal, and it isn t until too late that it is found out he isn t.
Similar to The Exorcist, the other thing that captivates the audience while viewing Psycho is the theme of unexplainable forces. The workings of science, to this day, are unexplainable. Laws have been developed to explain what science does, yet there is no plausible justification for the mysteries of science.
In the case of Psycho, the art of science is specifically devoted to the brain. Norman Bates is a sick man and it is clear that his brain functions unconventionally. Why his brain functions in such a way is left unknown. Is there some chemical imbalance that alters his perception of the world around him? It is possible. However, why this imbalance occurs, and how it can be controlled is left open only to theory. His actions portray evil. He kills his own race, other human beings, and feels no shame. Any rational and healthy person would admit that it s not possible to be free of guilt after killing another man. This relates back to question of: How is it possible?
Similar to that in The Exorcist, this aspect of evil has almost mystical qualities. How can the devil take over a young girl? How can a human man be so inclined to kill his mother as well as female visitors that he feels he does no wrong? Such events exude feelings of inhumanity. And inhumanity leads right back to the issue of control, or lack thereof.
Psycho, a subtle, suspense-filled shocker, can initially be seen as an opposite to the high tension, overtly grotesque Exorcist. It is only when analyzed thoroughly that similarities can be established. Each film has its own distinct style for raising questions that can t be answered, and each film has its own distinct style for exhibiting the inferiority of humans to higher powers. However, it is because of the fact that both films raise questions that can t be answered, and because of the fact that both films exhibit the inferiority of humans to higher powers that they are considered similar. The two films, although different in endless ways, evoke fear using similar triggers.
The emotion of fear is a natural occurring emotion that is stimulated and then exhibited in many various forms. An acquired fear is a fear that is formed from a traumatic event, or from prolonged negative exposure. Because the entire human population does not have the same acquired fears, such fears aren t evoked purposely during film. However, the fears spoken about earlier, the fears humans are born with, are unavoidable, and quite exploitable. | 16,014 | 6,956 | 36,775.105808 |
warc | 201704 | Electricians have been forced to wear the cost of replacing allegedly faulty solar devices produced by collapsed Sunshine Coast company Advancetech.
Liquidators were appointed to the solar and electrical distributor last week, just days after the Queensland Government recalled 27,000 devices that had been sold in Queensland and New South Wales.
The Avanco DC isolators used in solar electrical systems have been linked to dozens of fires, although nobody has been injured.
A notice on the company's website said the liquidators, SV Partners, are not required to comply with the terms of the product recall order.
"As liquidators, we are not trading the company's business and unfortunately we are not able to assist with the replacement of the isolators the subject of the recall orders," the notice said.
"Unfortunately [we] are not able to directly assist customers of the company or the end users of the products recalled."
Queensland Master Electricians chief executive Malcolm Richards said that meant the electrical contractors who installed the isolators must wear the cost of replacing the recalled devices.
"The reassurance for the customers involved is that the contractors are still obligated to replace their product for free," he said.
"But then the drama starts for the electrical contractors who have to then pursue the funds back from the liquidator.
"There are a lot of small, mum-and-dad operators who are involved in the solar industry, who have installed solar panels under the government rebate scheme, who are now going to be left high and dry and have to stump up the cost of replacing this product, which they bought in good faith as an approved Australian product at the time."
Advancetech was sold to another company the day after the recall.
Mr Richards says his organisation has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Fair Trading Queensland to investigate what happened.
"We've asked Fair Trading Queensland and the ACCC just to look into the nature of the business exchange and the liquidation in this case," he said.
"There's obviously some concerning issues there we want looked at to ensure everything was done properly." | 2,213 | 1,061 | 4,557.403393 |
warc | 201704 | Researchers want to unleash a swarm of mosquitoes on the north Queensland city of Townsville with the goal of curbing the spread of dengue fever.
Today, the researchers will hold a meeting with community leaders to try to get the city on board.
Scientists want to introduce mosquitoes that are infected with the bacteria Wolbachia, which makes the insects resistant to dengue fever.
The potentially fatal disease has no specific treatment and no vaccine.
Small-scale trials in Cairns have shown Wolbachia prevents mosquitoes from transmitting dengue, and they eventually overrun the existing dengue-carrying population.
Monash University Professor Scott O'Neill says he hopes the research will eventually lead to the elimination of dengue.
"When you think how big the disease is, how big a problem it is, it's quite an ambitious goal," he said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the incidence of dengue had grown dramatically around the world in recent decades.
Scientists estimate there are 390 million cases around the world every year.
Cairns woman Kath Kinneally was one of them.
She was struck down in the middle of training for an ironman race earlier this year.
"I remember it so clearly because I'd been feeling fine and it was almost instant - my back started aching and my legs started aching and I just thought 'I just have to go to bed'," she said.
"All night it just ... the ache is indescribable really. Hot and cold, shaking and then one minute sweating. Every single bit of my body just hurt."
She thought her chances of finishing the ironman event were over but she eventually bounced back.
"I waited a couple of weeks and had to go back to the doctors for some more blood tests and even though I felt awful I just hoped I could [get permission] for at least half-an-hour runs, at least that would be better than doing nothing," she said.
"They told me that I just simply wasn't allowed to because my blood count was all over the place ... so I remember sitting there and just bawling my eyes out thinking that's it, I'm not going to be able to do it.
"So I didn't get the clearance to start exercising until six weeks after I was diagnosed, and everything was just slow. It was taking me ages to do a five-kilometre run.
"I just kept going and persevered and did it. It took me nearly 15 hours, which is a little slower than I'd have liked."
Two weeks' ago, Ms Kinneally completed the Cairns Ironman in a time of 15 hours.
Overseas trips increase threat
Australia's love affair with Bali has meant the number of cases brought back from South-East Asia has quadrupled in the past few years.
In the past six months, there were almost 200 confirmed cases in northern Queensland.
Professor O'Neill says he and his team have successfully run small-scale trials in Cairns.
"We've had strong community support, the science has been very good and it's looking very promising," he said.
"[But] most of the dengue is happening in big cities in the tropics - Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok - places like that.
"This is almost like a staging ground for us to work out how to upscale and how to be able to deploy the method in a way that would enable us to do it over entire cities."
Community gives positive feedback
A community reference group has been set up to gauge support for the plan.
Former local senior sergeant and now councillor Gary Eddiehausen is in charge.
"There's been no negative feedback whatsoever and I wouldn't expect there to be because it is a significant issue in north and far-north Queensland," he said.
"Apart from our areas overseas, it's a significantly larger problem so I'd be very surprised if anyone had any issues whatsoever with it really."
Depending on support from the community, mosquitoes could be unleashed as soon as October.
Professor O'Neill will share his experiences with the group this afternoon.
"We'll be working closely ... over the months ahead just to make sure that we are paying attention to what the community feels, what its views are and that we're responding appropriately to those," he said. | 4,115 | 2,032 | 8,215.824311 |
warc | 201704 | This weekend I was at an old friend I don’t see very often’s little birthday get together. We had just gotten done eating and she looked at my mess of a plate of picked apart food and looked at me and said….I think I figured out something..remind me to ask you something later. I was like..umm okay. It seemed a little odd but I wasn’t expecting the question that was to come.
So the next day…I was at church with her & a group of her friends and she saw this guy and said something about how much weight he has lost…then it was like she was suddenly reminded of something and turned to me and said…so how have you lost all that weight? what are you doing? Did you have surgery? (all in one super fast run on sentence). She looked so sure of herself like she
just knew and stared at me obviously looking for me to answer only the last question.
I just kinda looked at her like HUH??? I was kind of taken off guard b/c it’s something I never even thought about getting asked. Plus I was a little mortified that she asked me in front of other people.
I said to her…well I looked into it but insurance won’t pay for it.
Side note: I’ve actually looked into it several times over the last ten years. I don’t knock surgery at all. I believe people should do whatever they can to lose the weight and be healthy. We work for a very very small company with small group insurance. Our rates are sky high. And b/c it’s a small group plan..they don’t cover that kind of stuff. And if they did…we still have a $5000 deductible. No..that’s not a typo. Our deductible is $5K. I’ll just let that sink in a minute.
So then she looks at me and says…. but you’ve lost so much, how much have you lost?
I said…50 lbs? (in the form of a question bc to me 50 lbs isn’t much)
She said…that’s a lot!
Then she said…but you lost it so fast!
I was like…I haven’t lost anything in months!
At this point her friend said….but it really has been quite a while she’s been trying to lose, I read her blog.
And I said…yeah I’ve been trying since like last August.
Then my friend said…well I guess it just seems like that because I don’t see you much. (which is very true…I see her about every 3-4 months and sometimes can go 6 months to a year. And when we get together it feels like no time has passed. We pick up right where we left off…yes one of those good friends like that. So I can see why it seems like I lost a lot of weight in a short period of time to her)
So let’s review how “fast” I’ve lost
all this weight.
Now..50 lbs IS a lot. But when I started off needing to lose 140 lbs and I have 90 MORE to go..it doesn’t seem like much.
And 50 lbs in the amount of time I’ve been dieting? Seems like very little. I know I said August (b/c I was trying to guess on the spot based on when I started documenting on my blog) but let’s be real…I’ve been on a diet & losing and gaining and losing MY WHOLE LIFE. But for blog purposes…I started documenting it September 1 of last year. That started a string of yo yo’s where I lost & gained & started over a bunch. Then right before my 30th birthday I had a minor freak out and got serious about losing. That was mid-October. I started doing the Visalus shakes and stayed on them for a long time. IT WAS HARD.
So let’s just say the real “losing” started mid-October.
October to June is
9 months.
50 lbs in 9 months.
That is 5 1/2 pounds a month.
I wouldn’t call that
fast.
BUT I haven’t actually lost anything since APRIL.
So October to April is
7 months.
That is still only about 7 lbs
a month.
A few years ago before my wedding I lost over 40 lbs in about 2 1/2 months. Now THAT’S fast!
Also..bigger people can lose a lot of weight more quickly than smaller people. But the smaller they get…it starts taking longer to lose and the harder it is for the weight to come off.
So at the time..I was very taken off guard by the question and very embarrassed that it was asked in front of other people.
Here’s the thing. I HATE attention brought to my weight. EVER.
It’s actually a very sensitive subject.
It’s hard for people to understand that because I am so open about it on my blog.
It’s one thing for me to talk about it on my blog. That’s kind of
why I blog. I blog about my weight loss mostly for ME. Like a diary. It’s an outlet for me to share..or even just get my thoughts out…and document my struggle. My blog is very one-sided for the most part. I feel free to express myself and talk about anything…without the feeling of embarrassment or awkwardness and even shame that come from real life convos.
But in real life? Let’s just pretend like there is no elephant in the room please.
Even when a person is like…ohhhh you look so good. I’m ALWAYS embarrassed. Even though for a tiny fraction of a second I feel good…I am then immediately embarrassed and ashamed that I ever “didn’t look good.” Although it’s a genuine compliment…I feel like it’s a loud megaphone saying…look at her she used to be really fat and now she’s less fat!!! And then I imagine everyone around that heard the comment that doesn’t know me thinking…I wonder just how fat she was? And then I feel like when I see that person or anyone the next time and I haven’t lost anymore or if I gained some back that they are thinking about that.
I also don’t want to be known as…the girl that used to be fat. Sometimes I dream about moving far away to a town where no one knows me after I lose all the weight just so I can be known as ME.
I know that sounds crazy to some people…but that is just how my mind works. My weight is a burden that is always on my mind and makes me crazy and paranoid.
I would rather my weight loss, or lack thereof, or how I’m losing it or anything pertaining to my weight never be brought up in real life. You want to compliment me? Leave a comment on my blog. Want to know how I lost it? Ask me on my blog. OR in private.
But don’t ever guess at how.
Especially the way my friend did.
Now I know her heart…and she by no means meant anything by it other than being curious.
Like I said at first I was just like…huh? Then moved to a bit embarrassed. But on the way home I really got upset about it. Not mad at her. Just embarrassed by the whole situation and really irritated.
Because #1 it really really bothered me that it was said in public. Not because I think anything is wrong with getting surgery…but because I’m ALWAYS embarrassed when my weight is being discussed. Also..everyone knows that you have to be a certain amount overweight to get surgery…so just to refer to it is like saying THAT’S how overweight I was. And to be fair…THAT IS how overweight I was I’m sure. But the point is…it’s just embarrassing and hurtful for people to say it. Or in this case…refer to it.
#2..Why go to the extreme? Whenever anyone loses a huge amount of weight…people always immediately think they had surgery. So…what if a 175 lb person loses 40 lbs quickly? Why are people not all….OMG how’d you lose that? Are you throwing up? Because
obviously no one loses weight the normal diet & exercise way anymore…it always has to be some extreme measure. Except no one asks people that don’t have as much to lose what extreme measure they went to to lose it..they just assume it’s some diet. Plus I think automatically assuming that a person who lost a large amount of weight had surgery can sometimes be a slap in the face to them if they lost it the old fashioned way of diet & exercise!
I get it…people are curious. I’m one of the first ones that wants to know how someone lost weight so maybe I can try it. But I think it’s rather rude to jump to conclusions about
how they lost it.
Which brings me to #3: If someone were to do something like have surgery and not make it known to everyone…then they obviously have a good reason to keep it private and that should be respected. Unless someone willingly shares something like that…I think it’s out of line to ask. Especially in front of others. But there are also other reasons to be careful of how you ask….people need to be sensitive in case it’s something else like a medical reason or say they had a miscarriage they are keeping private and the emotional toll has caused them to lose a lot of weight from loss of appetite. It would be very hard for them to answer you honestly and still keep that private. It would also prob be very painful to be reminded that’s how they lost the weight.
Let me be clear…my friend meant nothing by asking me that. She is very kind hearted and had no clue about my deep deep issues with my weight being discussed in public. I have only ever shared that part of me in depth
. And since she never reads my blog…ahem….she wouldn’t really know that. And I’m sure she felt she could ask me anything and it not be a problem. And for the most part she can. Just not in front of others. on my blog
This is MY problem. Most normal people like her don’t know what all goes through an overweight person like me’s head. How I obsess. How things that don’t bother normal people CONSUME me.
I know she saw that half eaten plate and was just curious. But what she doesn’t know is that I had just stuffed my fat food addicted face with McDonald’s before I got to her party. She didn’t know that I had been dieting all week on a low calorie, high protein diet that makes me eat less anyway. That the McDonald’s and the food I had in front of her were the first real “bad” foods I’d had in a week and I didn’t want to overdue it bc I know when I eat good for awhile and then bad I get BAD stomach cramps. And diarrhea. And I wanted to still enjoy the evening with her.
What she didn’t know is that the food I left on the plate was taunting me. It was sooo good and I wanted more. I wanted to eat it all. I was trying to have self control. But my mind was saying…just eat the rest…you’ve already blown your diet. Enjoy it. Start over Monday. Don’t do it Nina…just leave the rest. Don’t make yourself sick. You aren’t hungry. You don’t need it. Look at how many calories are on that plate. But it’s sooo good. Just one more bite. Eat me. Eat me. Eat me!
That’s pretty much what goes through my head EVERY. SINGLE. MEAL.
Also…as I eat I worry about looking like a pig in front of others by eating too much. Or eating too little because people think something’s wrong or get offended that I don’t like their food. And I’m worried that if I leave too little food or too much food that I draw attention to myself and to my weight. It’s a double edged sword and a never ending battle.
And to be honest…there is no certain way I can say how I lost it. It’s a lot of ways. The thing is…I get so tired of things or my body gets used to something…so I have to change it up. I started off doing the shakes & one healthy meal…then shakes & soup…then eating very very little….then just counting calories using MFP…then back to the shakes…then atkins style meat & eggs only…then back to trying to eat just healthy foods & log the calories…then back to atkins. There is no certain thing that ‘just works’ for me. I just do something until I can’t stand it anymore OR my body get’s used to it and refuses to lose another pound. Then I switch to something else….usually after a few days/weeks of binging. That’s why I gain and have to lose 5 lbs back ALL.THE.TIME.
Last week…I was a good little dieter & calorie logger and lost 3.8 lbs.. then Sat & Sun I just ate kinda whatever. This morning I was at:
So there ya go. I have to RE-lose 2.2 lbs.
I wanted to share this whole thing with you to give you another point of view. So that maybe you can be more sensitive to certain situations. I know that’s prob not the only time I will get asked something like that…especially if someone hasn’t seen me in a long time. I know that some people are just curious…but at the same time I feel like I shouldn’t
have to explain anything unless I just want to. It’s my body and my business. I share what I want to on my blog because I want to. In real life…I just don’t want to talk about it.
And….Since the proof is in the pudding..here is my jiggly pudding belly in all it’s stretch mark glory. Sorry..no surgery scars. Just lots and lots of hideous stretch marks.
Another fat girl prob…sometimes my stretch marks itch like crazy. Sometimes they will bubble up in certain places and get infected. Sometimes they are all dark red. These are all from pregnancy by the way. I’ll try to find the pic of my belly with a baby in it when my stretch marks were crazy huge and dark across my whole belly and I looked fo reals like a tiger.
Update 7/17/13- I found the pics of my pregnancy battle scars. | 13,451 | 5,780 | 29,175.637889 |
warc | 201704 | The redesigned Ram pickup doesn't look much different -- there are subtle changes to the grill and headlights -- but Chrysler promises much improved fuel efficiency.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- With gas prices rising, even truck fans are looking to go easier on the stuff. So the latest version of Chrysler Group's Ram truck, being unveiled at the New York Auto Show, is geared to minimize fuel consumption.
Chrysler boasts that it will be the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid full-sized truck sold in America.
The new Ram -- the Dodge name has been dropped -- will be the first pickup available with an eight-speed transmission, Chrysler said.
Ram buyers will be able to choose between a 5.7-liter V8 or 3.7-liter V6 engine. The new V6 will produce considerably more power than the Ram's current V6 engine with 20% better fuel economy, Chrysler said. That would mean the new Ram truck should get combined city and highway fuel economy of better than 19 miles per gallon compared to 16 mpg in the current V6 Ram.
Today, only about 10% of Ram trucks sold are equipped with a V6 engine with the vast majority of buyers opting for the big Hemi V8.
A new eight-speed transmission will also be available with both engines.
Recently, many truck makers have been emphasizing better fuel efficiency. Ford ( , Fortune 500), for example, has found major success with its EcoBoost V6. However, the fuel economy benefit of the EcoBoost V6 compared to Ford's 5.0-liter V8 engine is rather small (only about one mile per gallon).
Ford's V6 and EcoBoost V6 trucks get 18 and 19 miles gallon in combined city and highway driving, respectively
The new Ram V8 will offer better fuel economy than Ford's EcoBoost V6, while the Ram V6 will beat Ford's non-EcoBoost V6, Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said.
Chrysler expects more buyers to opt for the V6 engine, especially since it's now offered in the Crew Cab and 4-wheel-drive models that were previously available only with the big V8.
In addition to the new engine and transmission, the new Ram will have an automatic "start-stop" system that will shut off the engine whenever the truck pauses at a stop light or stop sign.
Also, the new truck has adjustable air suspension. At highway speeds, the suspension automatically lowers the truck one inch for better aerodynamics.
Various parts of the truck have also been redesigned with lighter materials to save weight. For example, the new frame, made with high-strength steel, is 30 pounds lighter, while the new aluminum hood is 26 pounds lighter.
One big change for Ram truck drivers will be the way they use the new transmission. Instead of the usual stick-like gear selector, drivers will switch from Park to Drive or Reverse using a knob in the dashboard. The knob, similar to that used in Jaguar luxury cars, frees up more space inside the cab compared to traditional gear selectors.
What we want Apple to unveil at WWDC Millennials squeezed out of buying a home 7 traits the rich have in common Big Data knows you're sick, tired and depressed Your car is a giant computer - and it can be hacked | 3,094 | 1,541 | 6,173.94549 |
warc | 201704 | papers disagreeing with important tenets of the climate hysteria didn't even exist. To make you even more frustrated, the interview with this evil stupid lady has attracted many more comments than the interview with Edward Witten, the world's most cited scientist.
It's a tie: both groups largely despise pure science and modern physics A month ago, I mentioned that an interview with Edward Witten had occurred at a very strange place, namely John Horgan's blog hosted by Scientific American. John "End Of Science" Horgan is a loon and one does expect a completely different kind of people to be interviewed over there. And do you know who was the next interviewee who was interrogated on the same blog?
She's not just a hardcore Marxist who has some deluded beliefs. She is a truly evil lady, indeed. When she was visiting Harvard – before a department at that school outrageously hired her – she learned that there was a climate skeptic in the physics department. So she wrote a mail to me with copies sent to all my superiors at Harvard and her alarmist friends who had some potential to harm me personally. The letter claimed that I despised the best scientists (meaning the alarmist whackos) from the last 50 years and something should be done about that.
Decent people obviously agree that she is a despicable bitch who wants to harm inconvenient scholars in ways that don't differ in any way from Hitler's and Stalin's eras. And of course, pretty much everyone in the physics department would agree with me that she was this kind of a šitty monster, to put it really diplomatically. But I also knew that Harvard was filled with individuals not dissimilar to herself who were powerful enough to really spoil other people's lives.
Many years ago, meritocracy had died at Harvard's history department that hired this evil Marxist as faculty.
Incidentally, Oreskes would write the book "Merchants of Doubts" that would demonize the climate skeptics as – the following words are my summary, not a direct quote – the zombies who dare to oppose Marxism. What a sin. A film director is completing a film based on "Merchants of Doubts" and I was at least happy to learn what was the film director's favorite moment during filming:
The director enjoyed working with Marc Morano, a climate skeptic who is behind the ClimateDepot.COM website. Believe me, I am not surprised that it's the "denier" rather than e.g. Ms Oreskes who appeared in that sentence! What was your favorite moment from filming? I enjoyed working with one of the deniers Marc Morano who was a very interesting character. Very smart guy on some levels and very honest guy was telling me what he was thinking and I was thinking it was fascinating to have that experience and to be with him.
Climate alarmism is supported by various people and they have different motivations to do so. The participants of the recent "People's Climate March" in Manhattan were mostly members of the Communist Party of the USA and similar extreme left-wing groups. Advocates of a Big Government and the state that regulates everything and everyone obviously love the ideology about a "climate threat" because it is a way to promote political goals they have been struggling for since 1867 (the publication of
Das Kapital).
Politicians of all flavors – not just the extreme left-wing ones – liked to embrace this ideology because they were promoted to "saviors of the Earth" who are allowed to tax and harass everyone without questions and who only need to parrot the alarmist slogans to get reelected. Many journalists loved to scare the people with horror stories about the looming climate catastrophes. One doesn't need any intelligence or new data to write such stories and they may be pumped repeatedly and the newspapers may be sold repeatedly because the number of readers who just love to scare themselves every day is apparently high.
For scientists in the climate science, it was obviously a source of grants. The discipline that would be considered to be one of the most inferior disciplines of physical sciences (I will focus on this point later) would suddenly lead the fight to "save the Earth". Dear boffins, will we die by 2050 or not? Please tell us! That has led to the increase of funding for the climate science by more than an order of magnitude in less than 2 decades. In other words, more than 90% of the money that this community is getting is linked to the climate hysteria. With this tight correlation between the funding and the hysteria, you simply can't be surprised that many people found it convenient to switch to the panic – and many more people were hired just because they were compatible with the hysteria even though they completely suck as scientists.
The tension between the climate alarmists and particle or fundamental physics has been described in many previous blog posts. That's why I want to switch to something else, namely the sad observation that in the "skeptical grassroots climate movement", one may find a similar kind of hostility against legitimate science. Two days ago, the world's most widely read blog about the climate would publish the story
no papers and just a few nearly unknown patents listed by Google Scholar, and those are related to some everyday biochemistry, anyway.
Just like Watts himself, he clearly doesn't have and cannot have a clue about particle physics. But he decided to "pick the winners", anyway. The rant's rating was close to 5.0.
I am physically scared of the people who can't see that Edward Witten – or even myself, for that matter – is vastly smarter than the likes of Lee Smolin. I am scared that many of these morons are actually power-thirsty and would love to influence the evolution of a scientific discipline that is about 40 IQ points above their mental abilities.
I am shocked that these morons are arrogant enough to talk about "groupthink" when it comes to string theorists. String theorists are pretty much 1,000 or at most 2,000 – if one counts them inclusively enough – smartest people on the Earth. If I want to meet another string theorist, I have to travel 100 kilometers (to Prague) and hope that Martin Schnabl has a spare hour. If I want to meet about 5 string theorists, I have to ride 200 kilometers in the opposite direction (to Munich). If I want to see a group of roughly 10 string theorists, I have to move by 600 kilometers somewhere to Amsterdam or something, and so on. You are surely getting the point.
The number of morons who have upvoted that idiotic rant by Eric Worrall within a few hours is orders of magnitude larger than the number of all string theorists on planet Earth. How can they fail to see that to talk about "groupthink of string theorists" is a rigorous proof of their hopeless idiocy?
If string theorists agree about something, well, it's because there is evidence – often as rock-solid as a readable mathematical proof. It is completely nonsensical to demand some "diversity about every question" within the scientific community or its relevant part. As science is making progress, it's converging towards the correct answers (most of the time) and the percentage of the people who disagree with the correct answers is decreasing. Those who agree are asking more detailed questions and developing more accurate theories, so their large percentage is being split to "subgroups" that differ when it comes to more refined issues. You will always find questions in which over 99% of the people agree, you will always find questions on which the researchers are split, and there will always be big differences between the percentanges encoding the opinions of the experts and those of the general public. To pretend that these tautological observations indicate something "sick" about the science is insane.
Well, I don't believe that most people outside these climate wars are similarly unreasonable. Both the climate alarmist movement and the bulk of the WUWT-like climate skeptical movement have one thing in common: they think that things like measuring and interpolating the temperature belong to the culmination of science. But you know, to decide whether string theory or loop quantum gravity correctly describes black hole thermodynamics is harder than to read the temperature from the thermometer or to notice that the thermometer is 2 meters away from an asphalted sidewalk.
Well, everyone who has a clue knows that the science of climate change is at most a continuation of a discipline of classical physics that would mostly freeze something like 100 years ago and wouldn't dramatically evolve afterwards. Atmospheric physics, climatology, and meteorology are specializations that would attract the weakest students of physics in physics departments of universities across the world. I could tell you quite something about this correlation from my Alma Mater – the Charles University in Prague.
Moreover, I can assure you that almost all physicists in the disciplines that would attract the talents – it would be particle physics and condensed matter physics most of the time, with some genetics and financial fields at different but overlapping eras (of course that the disciplines attracting the top minds are evolving in time) – would confirm my comments about the inferior status of the climate-related disciplines, and so would a very famous atmospheric scientist at MIT whom I know rather well in person - guess who is that.
But like the alarmists, it looks like the WUWT community is really "living" the life focusing on these climate stories.
Back in the real world, there hasn't been really any significant "climate change" in the last two decades. The trend of the global mean temperature in the last 18 years and 1 month is zero (or minus epsilon). There's absolutely nothing to talk about here. More sadly, climate science has made a minimal progress in improving its knowledge (including topics that are emphasized all the time, like the CO2 climate sensitivity) during the same two decades, despite some $70 billion that have been thrown to this research (or thrown to the garbage bin with the words that it's needed for the climate science).
Climate alarmists (from many occupations, see the motivations at the top) have attempted to promote the climate panic to one of the most important issues in the world. The most solid reason why I would consider the climate panic irrational is nothing else than the fact that the climate change surely doesn't make it among the (100) most important trends or issues to be considered. If it's not important, it's silly to talk about it all the time.
But the bulk of the climate skeptical movement must disagree with these trivial comments because it's possible to publish something like 10 climate-related news stories every day that happen to attract almost 100,000 readers. What these one-per-hour stories can be about in the world where nothing substantial has really changed about the climate (and the climate research) for 20 years?
One should be puzzled.
I think that a sensible "skeptic" would want this irrational panic to simply fade away – that's what I always wanted – and we should encourage the apparent trend that this fad seems to be fading away, indeed. But I feel it ain't the case for skeptics including Anthony. It seems to me that they learned to
lovethe (completely indefensible) idea that the climate change is an important topic and it shold stay an important topic (or even become a more important one). From this perspective, the differences between the likes of Michael Mann and Anthony Watts might be much more minor than we are normally imagining.
This is an issue I started to be increasingly worried roughly 2 weeks ago when Anthony Watts attended a lecture by Michael Mann in Bristol. The very idea that an important American such as Anthony Watts would fly from the U.S. to Southwestern England mainly to see a talk by a notorious but otherwise irrelevant crook sounded surreal to me. Does Anthony really believe that a talk by a Michael Mann is this important for Watts to fly to another continent?
But the evaluation of the event looked even more surreal. I was expecting that because Watts was flying to Europe for such an event, he would at least be visible or important in some way. But a Facebook discussion by some alarmists has painted a very different picture:
In other words, Anthony and pals played the role of "pussies" who would not only help to legitimize Michael Mann but they would work hard to make him important. My common-sense interpretation is that a talk that attracts a blogger from another continent whose blog has about 200 million views Chris Colose:Any disruption from Watts et al.? Michael E. Mann:Nothing. The man didn't say a word, didn't ask a question. There were no questions at all from the climate change denier contingent that supposedly had come out in force – conspiracy theories already abounding that the questions from the crowd were "plants". Tinfoil Hat anyone? has to be important. While Michael Mann – who is pretty much a self-confessed crook – didn't "win" a word of criticism, Anthony Watts found it a good idea to post a text against all of high energy physics by a biochemical crank.
Similarly, three years ago, Watts would promote Rossi's cold fusion, while allowing the guest blogger to spit on all of nuclear physics. Why? How is it possible?
Some climate alarmists and leftists often say that the skeptics and U.S. conservatives hate and deny almost all of science, and all things like that, and one must say that the evidence does indicate that these statements could be pretty much accurate, especially when it comes to modern physics – more or less everything that is conceptually new and was found since the year 1900. A problem is that the climate alarmists are doing the same thing – and John Horgan's obsessive attacks on Edward Witten and his field was just one example I chose above.
The sad reason is that almost no one in these camps actually cares about science. These wars are political wars and they have always been political wars. Science is only used as a hostage. My opinions about the political wars are well-known but unfortunately, there are not too many people who think that science is at least equally important. | 14,458 | 6,409 | 32,182.528944 |
warc | 201704 | Sugar!
You wise souls can probably spare me the research....
What effects does sugar have on a weightlifter's appearance? I'm ignorant on the subject.
Does sugar convert any nutrients to fat? Should sugar be avoided? Should it be consumed more at certain times than others?
Thanks in advance!
I made a post about sugar a while ago. Let me see if i can go find it!
Found it!
War on Sugar
Why when people diet they try their best to cut out as much fat as possible? Myself included.
In a healthy diet we should aim to get between 25 percent to 35 percent of our calories from fat.
Of that, less than seven percent should come from saturated fat. That would be fats from meat and dairy origin.
Less than one percent should come from trans fats, and that would be primarily from partially hydrogenated fats and a little bit from animal fat.
And then the rest should really come from mono and poly unsaturated fats. And that would come from liquid vegetable oil.
I feel that sugar is the enemy. It fights fat reduction, it fights high energy living, it fights against health. But even us health conscience people have problems living the life we want to live in health because of America's over-reliance of simple sugars, which are readily available for pennies anytime you want them.
In an article written by Brian Calkins, he sums up this topic like this:
Bottom line, the goal in consuming carbohydrates should be to reduce or eliminate simple sugars and instead focus on the complex carbohydrates – both the starchy and fibrous complex carbs – those that have not been processed or refined.
Do the best you can. At first, it may seem challenging as you begin to uncover the foods that contain sugar, eliminate them and seek out the more supportive carbohydrates. But once you get into the habit of eating the fibrous and starchy carbohydrates, eventually it will become a way of life for you. I can promise you, after an initial effort, the payoff of eliminating sugar from your diet can be dramatic. Your energy level will soar. You will lose stubborn body fat. And your craving for sugar will completely dissipate.
awesome, thanks emeka!
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warc | 201704 | Tropes of Transport
Hegel and Emotion
Publication Year: 2013
Intervening in the multidisciplinary debate on emotion, Tropes of Transport offers a fresh analysis of Hegel’s work that becomes an important resource for Pahl’s cutting-edge theory of emotionality. If it is usually assumed that the sincerity of emotions and the force of affects depend on their immediacy, Pahl explores to what extent mediation—and therefore a certain degree of manipulation but also of sympathy—is constitutive of emotionality. Hegel serves as a particularly helpful interlocutor not only because he offers a sophisticated analysis of mediation, but also because, rather than locating emotion in the heart, he introduces impersonal tropes of transport, such as trembling, release, and shattering.
Published by: Northwestern University Press
Cover Title Page, Copyright Contents Acknowledgments
This book has formed in many layers of learning, teaching, reading, and thinking together. I would like to thank my teachers Hélène Cixous, Judith Butler, Winfried Kudszus, Ann Smock, and Trinh Minh-ha. Each one of you not only taught me a specific approach to literary and philosophical texts but also taught me to dare. ...
Introduction
Hegel is not a very agreeable philosopher—that much can probably be agreed upon. From Schelling and Kierkegaard to Derrida, his name has come to stand for the imperialism of an all-appropriating spirit, cold magisterialism, and Prussian state control. Yet, his work does not always agree with this reception. ...
Part 1. Emotional Subjects 1. Heart
From its inception Western philosophy has produced, sustained, and reproduced a fierce antagonism between rationality and emotionality. To expel emotion from the sphere of reason must be considered one of the foundational gestures of philosophy as a discipline. ...
2. Pathos
Hegel sometimes distinguishes
Pathos (pathos) from Leidenschaft (passion)and at other times he uses them as synonyms. When one termstands in for the other, Hegel usually wants to confer the ethical prestigeof tragic “pathos” upon “passion” in order to argue against the rationalist(Kantian and Socratic) tendency ... Part 2. Emotional Syntax 3. Release
I will begin with the end. This first chapter on emotional syntax analyzeshow Hegel’s
Phenomenology ends, in order to clear the way for a new beginningin the reading of this Hegelian text. Against the expectationraised by the title of the last chapter of the Phenomenology and by thecommon view that this text is a teleological narrative, ... 4. Juggle
For Hegel, rhythm affects logic. What is more, logical necessity is constitutedby the rhythm of the concept’s movement: “It is in this nature ofwhat is to be its concept in its being that
logical necessity in general consists.This alone is the rational and the rhythm of the organic whole . . . —thatis, it is this alone which is the speculative” ... 5. Acknowledging
The title of this chapter translates Anerkennen—in Hegel’s trope of
gegenseitigesAnerkennen—as “acknowledging” rather than using the standardtranslation, which is “recognition.” Let me explain this choice. “Recognition”has two meanings in English. The first meaning presupposes a priorknowledge of what or whom one now encounters again. ... 6. Tremble
Tremble becomes an explicit topic in the
Phenomenology in a brief butmemorable moment toward the end of the section on “Self-Sufficiencyand Non-Self-Sufficiency of Self-Consciousness; Mastery and Servitude.”In one of the Phenomenology’s frequent parabases, the phenomenologistcommunicates to the reader a truth ... 7. Broken
The twentieth century has read the
Phenomenology of Spirit as a coherentnarrative of progress. It has commonly accepted that “the Phenomenologyraises empirical consciousness to absolute knowledge” while understandingthis “raising” as an improvement and “absolute knowledge” as thefinal mastery of truth (Hyppolite 1974, 39). ... Epilogue: Against Emotional Violence
Appadurai locates the reasons for the increase in global violence in thespread of specific emotional conditions. In
Fear of Small Numbers: An Essayon the Geography of Anger, he argues that the ethnic cleansings of theearly 1990s in eastern Europe, Rwanda, and India, as well as the terrorthat has come to dominate the beginning of the new millennium, ... Notes Bibliography Index About the Author
E-ISBN-13: 9780810165670
Print-ISBN-13: 9780810127845
Publication Year: 2013
OCLC Number: 867784716
MUSE Marc Record: Download for Tropes of Transport | 4,704 | 2,331 | 9,085.117117 |
warc | 201704 | Browse Results For:
British and Mi'kmaq in Acadia, 1700-1867
Manuscrits de 1810
Historical Fiction and Changing Ideas of Canada
Fiction that reconsiders, challenges, reshapes, and/or upholds national narratives of history has long been an integral aspect of Canadian literature. Works by writers of historical fiction (from early practitioners such as John Richardson to contemporary figures such as Alice Munro and George Elliott Clarke) propose new views and understandings of Canadian history and individual relationships to it. Critical evaluation of these works sheds light on the complexity of these depictions.
The contributors in
National Plots: Historical Fiction and Changing Ideas of Canada critically examine texts with subject matter ranging from George Vancouver’s west coast explorations to the eradication of the Beothuk in Newfoundland. Reflecting diverse methodologies and theoretical approaches, the essays seek to explicate depictions of “the historical” in individual texts and to explore larger questions relating to historical fiction as a genre with complex and divergent political motivations and goals. Although the topics of the essays vary widely, as a whole the collection raises (and answers) questions about the significance of the roles historical fiction has played within Canadian culture for nearly two centuries.
Les études sur le nationalisme et les politiques sociales se sont multipliées au cours des dernières années, mais peu d’entre elles ont abordé les interactions entre ces deux phénomènes. Alors que les chercheurs intéressés par la citoyenneté sociale font parfois référence à ces interactions, ils se penchent rarement sur la notion de nationalisme. Pour leur part, les spécialistes du nationalisme traitent rarement de protection sociale, préférant approfondir les questions de langue, de culture, d’ethnicité et de religion. Ainsi, ce livre explore, dans une perspective historique et comparative, la nature des liens entre nationalisme et protection sociale. Au plan théorique, l’analyse jette un éclairage neuf sur une question plus générale : la relation entre la formation de l’identité, la territorialité et la protection sociale. Bien que ce livre fasse référence à plusieurs pays, il scrute particulièrement les cas du Canada (Québec), du Royaume-Uni (Écosse) et de la Belgique (Flandre) – des États multiculturels où se trouvent d’importants mouvements nationalistes. L’ouvrage examine également les politiques sociales de ces pays en regard de celles d’autres États plus monolithiques comme les États-Unis et l’Allemagne, afin d’élargir la perspective comparative entre nationalisme et protection sociale.
Four Centuries of Canadian Nursing
Nursing has a long and varied history in Canada. Since the founding of the first hospital by the Augustine nuns in 1637, nurses have contributed greatly to Canadians' quality of life.
On All Frontiers is a comprehensive history of Canadian nursing. Editors Christina Bates, Dianne Dodd, and Nicole Rousseau have brought together a vast body of research into one volume. Authored by leading experts, the chapters and vignettes form an overview of the history of Canadian nursing to date.
From the midwives of early Canada to urban public health nurses, from remote outposts to the battlefields of Europe,
On All Frontiers documents the hardships, challenges, and achievements of Canadian nurses. Richly illustrated with archival photographs, it will prove essential to scholars of Canadian health care history.
Masculinity and the Idea of Boyhood in Postwar Ontario, 1945–1960
Ontario Boys explores the preoccupation with boyhood in Ontario during the immediate postwar period, 1945–1960. It argues that a traditional version of boyhood was being rejuvenated in response to a population fraught with uncertainty, and suffering from insecurity, instability, and gender anxiety brought on by depression-era and wartime disruptions in marital, familial, and labour relations, as well as mass migration, rapid postwar economic changes, the emergence of the Cold War, and the looming threat of atomic annihilation. In this sociopolitical and cultural context, concerned adults began to cast the fate of the postwar world onto children, in particular boys.
In the decade and a half immediately following World War II, the version of boyhood that became the ideal was one that stressed selflessness, togetherness, honesty, fearlessness, frank determination, and emotional toughness. It was thought that investing boys with this version of masculinity was essential if they were to grow into the kind of citizens capable of governing, protecting, and defending the nation, and, of course, maintaining and regulating the social order.
Drawing on a wide variety of sources,
Ontario Boys demonstrates that, although girls were expected and encouraged to internalize a “special kind” of citizenship, as caregivers and educators of children and nurturers of men, the gendered content and language employed indicated that active public citizenship and democracy was intended for boys. An “appropriate” boyhood in the postwar period became, if nothing else, a metaphor for the survival of the nation.
Making a Capital - Constuire une capitale
Ottawa - Making a Capital is a collection of 24 never-before published essays in English and in French on the history of Ottawa. It brings together leading historians, archeologists and archivists whose work reveals the rich tapestry of the city. Pre-contact society, French Canadian voyageurs, the early civil service, the first labour organizers and Jewish peddlers are among the many fascinating topics covered. Readers will also learn about the origins of local street names, the Great Fire of 1900, Ottawa's multicultural past, the demise of its streetcar system, Ottawa's transformation during the Second World War and the significance of federal government architecture. This book is an indispensable collection for those interested in local history and the history of Canada's capital.
Ethnohistory of the Indians of Canada's Northwest Territories
For fifty years anthropologist June Helm studied the culture and ethnohistory of the Dene, “The People,” the Athapaskan-speaking Indians of the Mackenzie River drainage of Canada's western subarctic. Now in this impressive collection she brings together previously published essays—with updated commentaries where necessary—unpublished field notes, archival documents, supplementary essays and notes from collaborators, and narratives by the Dene themselves as an offering to those studying North American Indians, hunter-gatherers, and subarctic ethnohistory and as a historical resource for the people of all ethnicities who live in Denendeh, Land of the Dene.
Helm begins with a broad-ranging, stimulating overview of the social organization of hunter-gatherer peoples of the world, past and present, that provides a background for all she has learned about the Dene. The chapters in part 1 focus on community and daily life among the Mackenzie Dene in the middle of the twentieth century. After two historical overview chapters, Helm moves from the early years of the twentieth century to the earliest contacts between Dene and white culture, ending with a look at the momentous changes in Dene-government relations in the 1970s. Part 3 considers traditional Dene knowledge, meaning, and enjoyments, including a chapter on the Dogrib hand game. Throughout, Helm's encyclopedic knowledge combines with her personal interactions to create a collection that is unique in its breadth and intensity.
An Ethnography of Git lax m'oon
Wolves, Work, and Conquest in the Northern Rockies | 7,980 | 3,757 | 16,278.60527 |
warc | 201704 | The committee that re-shaped Finland’s Africa policy Börje Mattsson walked through the bush with Angola’s freedom fighters and later contributed to a key change in Finnish official policy towards Southern Africa’s liberation movements. Now writing his memoir, he uses the NAI library to get his facts straight and to corroborate his recollections.
His first encounter with Africa was in 1969. As chairperson of the Finnish student’s UN association, he was invited to a conference in Uganda. He also visited Kenya and Tanzania, the latter then serving as a hub for the liberation movements of Southern Africa.
“It was from here the various liberation movements organised and launched their resistance to colonialism. I got to know both Sam Nujoma and Samora Machel, later the presidents of Namibia and Mozambique,” Mattsson recalls.
Finnish Africa committee After returning to Finland, he and several comrades established the Africa committee, whose aim was informing the people of Finland about events in Africa. It also actively supported the liberation struggle. However, before its members could inform others they needed more information themselves and decided to return to Africa. A contribution of 5, 000 Swedish kronor by the Nordic Africa Institute financed the journey. Their first destination was Ethiopia, where the committee more or less by coincidence found themselves at an OAU meeting of African heads of state. They befriended the leader of the Angolan independence struggle, Agostino Neto, and, out of the blue, Mattsson was invited to pay a visit to the MPLA guerrillas fighting against the Portuguese.
“Neto said our chances of survival were fifty-fifty. If we were unarmed when the Portuguese attacked, we could say we were journalists. However, we didn’t want any special treatment ‒ if our friends were going to be killed, they might as well kill us too. So we carried weapons,” Mattsson explains.
They filmed their walk through the bush with a Super8 camera. The film proved invaluable back in Finland in countering the propaganda portraying the MPLA as violent terrorists. Their soldiers were ordinary men and women wanting only their freedom. In the early 1970s, Finland supported no armed struggles, regardless of the oppressiveness of the regime. The Africa committee scored a huge victory when, after years of advocacy work, Finland changed that policy.
Heroes become despots The liberation movements and newly independent African states shaped the optimistic view of Africa that characterised the 1960s and 1970s. However, it didn’t take long for the optimism to sour and for former heroes to become despots.
“All liberation movements become awful ruling parties once they are in power. This is clearly evidenced in their political rhetoric, whereby critical voices are labelled as traitorous. Corruption also really hampers democratic development. It seems that many Africa leaders believe that since they fought for and achieved independence, they have a right to a good life,” Mattsson notes.
Even though he recognises South Africa’s current troubles, Mattsson still views that country as a miracle. “A racist system far worse than any imposed by a colonial power was dismantled. And it was achieved without much violence or retaliation. This was fundamentally thanks to Nelson Mandela.”
“But now the ANC, too, has become a dinosaur unable to move beyond the freedom struggle,” Mattson concludes.
More info: Read more about Finland’s involvement in southern Africa’s liberation.
NAI director Iina Soiri and Pekka Peltola are authors of the book ‘Finland and national liberation in Southern Africa’. | 3,758 | 1,837 | 7,425.988024 |
warc | 201704 | Lessons learned from the purple finger revolution
The cascading changes of these last few months have been nothing if not dramatic. Whether it be purple fingers in Iraq or orange clothing in Ukraine or the Lebanese flag with its picture of a green cedar, it all seems part of a whole. The visuals are astounding; the naked hope and determination in the faces of the people are clear. The fact that these photos are coming from a part of the world many thought immune from the desire for freedom only make them more astouding, and more moving.
But what do they actually mean? I was talking with a friend yesterday who reminded me that the outcome is uncertain and civil war and other unspecified dire events may end up undoing all of this. And I agree--up to a point, that is.
We can't know the end result. But then, we never can. But no matter what happens, one thing can't be taken away, and that is the fact that these events have demonstrated--once and for all--something basic about human nature.
When the authors of the Declaration of Independence wrote "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." it was more an article of faith than anything else, because the right of liberty (and the desire for it) was not all that self-evident to most of the world. But the framers turned out to be prescient, because here is evidence that is so strong that I think it amounts to proof: human beings want and value liberty and self-determination. Even though these things are abstractions compared to basic needs such as food and water, they seem to represent another basic need, one of the human spirit.
The purple finger revolution that is spreading so swiftly right now might end up coming to naught, although I don't think so. But even if the Cassandras are right, and it ends in new repressions or civil war or dramatic terrorist carnage, there is no turning back from the knowledge of what we've witnessed ourselves, and that is the deep and virtually universal desire for liberty.
An added note: If you happen to have read my earlier post on intrapersonal change and how it occurs, I want to add that this knowledge about the desire for liberty has comes to us through images that affect us on both the cognitive and the emotional level, through observation. We view the photos and are moved; at the same time, we are processing them cognitively for what they
mean, and we (even the NY Times) are changed as a result.
I believe that one of the reasons this "purple finger revolution" has been able to move with such rapidity is that the worldwide media are able to spread those images quickly and effectively to people who in years past would never have had access to them. These people see those images, do the same sort of processing, and come to their own changed conclusions:
it's possible; we can do this, too. And, for those people who actually participate in the demonstrations or the elections, and directly experience their own newfound power, further personal change occurs not just through observation but through action. The whole thing is a feedback loop in which the observations and the attendent feelings and cognitions lead to action, and that action leads to other feelings and cognitions, which can in turn lead to changed beliefs and even further action. | 3,291 | 1,586 | 6,797.803279 |
warc | 201704 | MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino on Monday signed into law the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, which provides for the rationalization of salaries and benefits of officials and employees of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
In a statement, the President said bloated salaries of top GOCC officials lead to the unwieldiness of such institutions. "Worse, it contributes to a culture of political transactionalism, deeming such positions as mere political currency—to be granted based on expediency and proximity to those in power, rather than on character and competence. This bill effectively paves the way for wider-ranging reforms in our public corporations," Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said. The President thanked several lawmakers for urging Congress to pass the bill. They are Speaker Sonny Belmonte, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Franklin Drilon and Cavite Rep. Joseph Abaya. Drilon said the bill creates a Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) which shall be composed of five members—chairman with the rank of Cabinet secretary and two members with the rank of undersecretary to be appointed by the President—and the Budget and Finance secretaries as ex-officio members. The commission shall develop a new position and classification system that will apply to all officers and employees of GOCCs, whether covered by the Salary Standardization Law or exempt from it. Members of the board of directors or trustees and officers of state firms have the legal obligation to act in good faith in all the dealings with the property and monies of the GOCC. Any board member or officer found to have benefited from the GOCC excess benefit or profit shall be subject to restitution without prejudice to any administrative, civil or criminal case. Drilon expects the law to become effective 15 days after its publication or by July 1, 2011. | 1,903 | 1,011 | 3,544.361029 |
warc | 201704 | Roche began its pilot hybrid-car program in 2004. Today 15 percent of the company's sales representatives drive company-owned hybrid vehicles, reducing greenhouse emission by 1,033 tons per year. (The company's sales representatives drive an average of 20,000 miles per year.) In addition, Roche will save more than 80,000 gallons of gas per year by switching to these hybrid vehicles.
For the average car-owning American, driving is one of the top two daily pollution-causing activities - the other being electricity use. An average household with two medium-sized sedans emits more than 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Scientists believe that increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases caused by automobile emissions are contributing to global warming, resulting in problems such as tornadoes, droughts, winter storms, forest fires and damage to water resources. But reducing tailpipe emissions can help to put the brakes on a global climate crisis.
"Roche's hybrid-car program demonstrates the company's commitment to corporate social responsibility and is a prime example of how all companies can make a contribution," said Terry F. Yosie, president and chief executive officer of World Environment Center, an independent, not-for-profit, non-advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information on ways that you can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent global climate change, visit the World Environment Center Web site at www.wec.org. | 1,486 | 805 | 2,730.178882 |
warc | 201704 | ‘Pedring’ out, ‘Quiel’ in
Typhoon “Pedring” roared out of the country Wednesday, leaving an official death toll of 21, including 10 children with ages ranging from seven months to 10 years.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has lowered all storm signals, but said Pedring would continue to enhance the southwest monsoon to bring scattered to widespread rain over western Luzon.
It also said it was closely watching a tropical storm that could enter the Philippine area of responsibility from the Pacific Ocean at any time.
The storm will be called
Quiel once it enters the PAR, the weather bureau said.
As damage reports trickled in, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) confirmed that 21 people were dead, 25 more were injured and 33 others were missing as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Five people died in the National Capital Region, seven in Central Luzon, two in Bicol, two in the Cordillera Administrative Region, two in Ilocos, two in Cagayan Valley, and one in Calabarzon.
The NDRRMC said that 112 people were rescued at the height of the typhoon, and that nearly 10,000 families (or about 48,000 persons) were still in evacuation centers.
From initial reports, Pedring (international name: Nesat) destroyed at least P912 million worth of crops, livestock and fisheries, and at least P72 million in infrastructure, including nearly 5,000 damaged houses.
Weeping farmers
In Candaba, Pampanga, Mayor Jerry Pelayo said he saw farmers weeping as they tried to harvest the palay flattened by Pedring’s winds.
“This is the second time that their crops were ruined. The first was in July. The second time was painful because they planted on loans again, while others pawned their land to get loans,” Pelayo said by phone.
At least 61 road sections in Luzon remained impassable due to floods, landslides, mudflows and fallen debris.
Pedring intensified over the West Philippine Sea but no longer posed a threat as it exited the Philippine area of responsibility at around 1 p.m. and headed to southern China, Pagasa said.
Power ‘emergency’
In preparation for the new storm, Energy Secretary Jose Almendras on Wednesday declared a “state of emergency” in power in Luzon in order to undertake an “emergency procedure” that would ensure safe and timely water releases from the dams.
Almendras said at a briefing that the procedure involved putting hydropower facilities on priority dispatch so that water released from the dams could be used for power generation.
He said the declaration of the state of emergency was intended to allow the Department of Energy to direct transmission operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) to give priority to such facilities in Luzon.
This means that the capacity generated by these plants should be the first to be consumed among other power sources.
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said that as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, only 189,000 customers (or 3.8 percent of its 4.9-million franchise base) remained without power and that only seven of its 698 circuits had yet to be energized.
“[These] are mostly isolated circuits, or circuits which have been badly damaged, or the restoration of which is made more difficult by obstructions like debris,” said Alfredo Panlilio, Meralco senior vice president and head of customer retail services and corporate communications.
Panlilio said Meralco’s service crews would continue to work around the clock until power had been restored to all its clients.
In a separate report, NGCP said eight provinces in Luzon still had areas without power as of 4 p.m. Wednesday because of damaged transmission lines and facilities.
NGCP said 96 percent of Nueva Vizcaya province remained without power, 81 percent of Isabela, 67 percent of La Union, 57 percent of Bataan, 73 percent of Nueva Ecija, 6 percent of Pampanga, 98 percent of Zambales, and 63 percent of Benguet.
The power supply in eight towns and a city in western Pangasinan, cut off by fallen trees, has yet to be restored. More than 70 villages in central Pangasinan were also without power.
Agri damage
As much as P729 million worth of crops and infrastructure were damaged, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The latest DA figures showed that P725.109 million worth of corn, rice and high-value commercial crops were lost when Pedring pummeled Luzon with raging winds and strong rains.
Damage to fisheries infrastructure was estimated at P4.08 million.
According to the DA, 45,607 metric tons of crops were damaged during the typhoon. Of these, rice made up 35,175 MT; corn, 6,322 MT; and high-value commercial crops, 110 MT.
The “affected” areas added up to 77,864 hectares, the DA said.
But it said 77,062 ha (66,825 ha of rice, 10,127 of corn and 110 of high-value commercial crops) had a chance of recovery.
To ensure that families would not go hungry, the National Food Authority (NFA) issued 10,425 bags of rice for distribution to typhoon victims.
NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo said in a statement that the bags of rice were distributed to families in Bicol, Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley.
Banayo also said that despite the damage, the rice stock was still sufficient.
He said that as of the third week of September, the overall food security inventory was at 2.5 million MT—equivalent, he said, to 75 days’ supply given the estimated domestic daily requirement of 34,000 MT.
The NFA said its rice inventory was equivalent to 52 percent of the country’s total rice stock.
Delayed impact
As Pedring moved toward the West Philippine Sea, residents of Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon began feeling the impact of the heavy rains it dumped on Tuesday. Waterways swelled and dams began releasing water, causing massive flooding.
Among the provinces worst hit by floods are Isabela and Bulacan.
Reports from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Isabela said at least four people drowned in Cauayan City and the towns of Angadanan, Naguilian and Jones.
Heavy water releases from Magat Dam in Isabela sent 3,285 residents fleeing to high grounds and evacuation centers.
Saturnino Tenedor, Magat Dam instrumentation section chief, said the reservoir level breached the 193 meters above sea level (masl) critical level by 1.71 masl on Wednesday. Seven gates of the dam were opened.
Marooned on rooftops
At least 55 villages in the capital Ilagan had been flooded since Tuesday, said information officer Antonio Montereal Jr. He said teams had been going around town to rescue residents marooned on their rooftops and to give them food.
The northern villages of Isabela were also isolated after the Tagaran Bridge in Cauayan was rendered impassable by rising river water.
In Bulacan province, rising waters in Bocaue town forced residents to park their cars on a flyover.
Bulacan Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado said the release of water from the Angat, Bustos and Ipo dams caused widespread flooding in 21 towns including Norzagaray, San Miguel, San Rafael, Bustos, Baliuag, Plaridel, Calumpit, Pulilan, Paombong and Hagonoy.
He ordered a forced evacuation of 30,314 people.
At least 12 of the 49 villages of San Miguel town were submerged after dikes there and in nearby Doña Remedios Trinidad town were damaged on Tuesday.
Trash slide kills 2
In Olongapo City, 26-year-old Lanivhie Ganseco and her 14-month-old daughter, Shanaia, were killed on Tuesday night when a portion of the city dump was loosened by rains.
Mayor James Gordon Jr. said the trash slide buried the huts of three families but that as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, only the Gansecos’ bodies had been found. A man identified as Eduardo Doesnt, 38, was reported missing.
In Pangasinan province, Governor Amado Espino Jr. asked operators of the San Roque Dam in San Manuel town to order a “preemptive release” of water from the reservoir and not wait until the water reached critical level.
The reservoir’s level was recorded at 276.49 masl, more than 3 masl below its spilling level of 280 masl as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“It is difficult to ease the people’s apprehension. National Power Corp. and San Roque Power Corp. should coordinate on the water releases,” Espino said.
Refuge in cemetery
Reports from the Office of Civil Defense in Central Luzon said Pedring flooded 224 of 3,102 villages there, sending 66,849 people to barangay halls, schools and churches for shelter.
Displaced residents of Cabanatuan City sought refuge in a cemetery.
Four people remained missing in the provinces of Aurora, Tarlac and Pampanga. They include a boy and a girl who were swept away by lahar that the rains remobilized in the Pasig-Potrero River in Porac, Pampanga, on Tuesday.
The typhoon left 672 families homeless and 326 others with damaged houses.
Floods and winds destroyed palay valued at P865.4 million, vegetables worth P3.05 million, and P26.9 million worth of fish stocks, the DA said. Aurora incurred the biggest losses.
41 evac sites in Calabarzon
In Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), 18,271 persons (or 3,736 families) remained at 41 evacuation sites.
The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 21,767 persons (or 4,517 families) were affected by the typhoon that caused storm surges and floods in parts of the region and damaged roads and infrastructure.
In Batangas province, 60 houses in the towns of Sta. Teresita and Taal and in Lipa City were totally ruined, while 12 were partially damaged by the strong winds.
The Bagbag bridge connecting the towns of Nasugbu, Lian and Calatagan remained closed to light vehicles because of damage caused by the flood.
Knee- to waist-deep floods were reported in the towns of San Pedro, Sta. Cruz, Mabitac and Sta. Maria in Laguna province.
Reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, TJ Burgonio, Amy R. Remo and Leila B. Salaverria in Manila; Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Tonette Orejas, Robert Gonzaga, Armand Galang and Jo Martinez-Clemente, Inquirer Central Luzon; Villamor Visaya Jr., Yolanda Sotelo, Gabriel Cardinoza and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Maricar Cinco and Mar Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon | 10,401 | 4,824 | 21,938.261816 |
warc | 201704 | Last modified: Monday, April 21, 2008
Active aftershocks FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In the wake of the earthquake that shook the Midwest early last Friday, there have been a series of aftershocks associated with the event. Much can be learned about the processes of seismically active zones in the Midwest by studying these aftershocks. Indiana University Professor of Geological Studies Michael Hamburger answers some commonly asked questions regarding the aftershocks, how they are being studied, what can be learned from them, and the area and event from which they originate.
Q: What exactly happened on Friday morning? What do we know about the earthquake now? HAMBURGER: Early last Friday morning, at 5:38 a.m. local time, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck near the Indiana/Illinois border just west of Mt. Carmel, Ill. The earthquake was widely felt throughout the Midwest with some minor damage in areas surrounding the epicenter, mostly occurring in small towns west of Mt. Carmel. The earthquake occurred in an area known as the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, the site of a number of moderate-sized earthquakes over the last several decades. This event was the largest to have occurred in the area since a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that occurred near Carbondale, Ill. in 1968.
Q: What are aftershocks, how many have we experienced, and how long will they last? HAMBURGER: Aftershocks are small earthquakes that occur in the aftermath of a major event, like the one experienced Friday morning. It is very common for dozens or more to occur in the days to weeks following an earthquake, but their number and intensity is highly variable. This event is proving to be a very active sequence, including at least two substantial aftershocks felt throughout the region. An aftershock of magnitude 4.6 occurred at 11:14 a.m. last Friday morning, and more recently a magnitude 4.0 aftershock occurred at 1:38 a.m. Monday morning. Over two dozen aftershocks have been reported thus far.
Q: How are the aftershocks being studied? HAMBURGER: Indiana University, along with several other institutions, sent several teams to the region of the epicenter and is monitoring aftershock activity. The teams set up five Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments and six seismographs to monitor the movement of the earth's crust associated with the earthquake and aftershock activity in the days following the event. (A map detailing the locations of each earthquake, aftershock and instrumentation setup is available upon request.)
Additionally, IU has been involved for many years in running an outreach program placing seismographs at schools throughout the region. By virtue of that network, known as the Indiana PEPP Earthquake Science Program (see http://www.indiana.edu/~pepp for additional information about the program), we now have an Indiana state seismograph network that has provided high-quality scientific data with which to study the earthquake.
Q: What can be learned by studying the aftershocks? HAMBURGER: Because earthquakes are relatively rare in the Midwest, each time one occurs seismologists tend to rush out to gather as much field-based information as possible. The detailed study of aftershocks and their effects help teach us about the structures and processes of earthquakes in the Midwest. This particular earthquake occurred in the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, which contains its own fault system that runs close to and parallels the Wabash River. Studying the aftershocks may also help better understand the nature of the system and to forecast possible future seismic activity.
Q: What is this earthquake's connection to the New Madrid Fault? HAMBURGER: The New Madrid Seismic Zone refers to area of intense seismic activity along the Mississippi River Valley, located well south of the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone. Although they are different areas, the two seismic zones have many similarities, and understanding the structures and processes of one will help us understand the origins and relationships between these two enigmatic geological structures. | 4,115 | 1,859 | 9,084.432491 |
warc | 201704 | Nursing Care Plan – Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism is an over production of thyroid hormone, which creates far reaching metabolic effects. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the thyroid gland occur with increased vascularity. Most of the clinical manifestations result from increased metabolic rate, excessive heat production, increase neuro- muscular and cardiovascular activity, and hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. The condition is more often in women than men and occurs in several form.
Common signs and symptoms :
1. Palpitations
2. Heat intolerance 3. Nervousness 4. Insomnia 5. Breathlessness 6. Increased bowel movements 7. Light or absent menstrual periods 8. Fatigue 9. Fast heart rate 10. Trembling hands 11. Weight loss 12. Muscle weakness 13. Warm moist skin 14. Hair loss 15. Staring gaze | 827 | 500 | 1,349.664 |
warc | 201704 | Since the beginning of 2008 — right around the time that Albany legislators failed to enact congestion pricing — NYC subway and bus fares have been hiked three times. Now the fourth fare hike in five years is on the horizon, and with Albany lawmakers sitting on their hands as MTA revenues fail to keep up with costs, there’s no relief in sight for millions of transit-riding New Yorkers.
Today MTA Chair Joe Lhota announced four options under consideration for the 2013 fare hike. The scenarios are weighted so that the fare hike will either fall primarily on riders who buy unlimited Metrocards or on those who mainly buy pay-per-ride cards. Monthly unlimiteds could cost $21 more, or single fares could go up to $2.50 from $2.25. (The Straphangers Campaign has produced a handy chart [PDF] to see how each option would affect your expenses.)
Either way, this string of hikes puts the fare on pace to triple the rate of inflation, according to a recent report from Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. While working families in New York City end up paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars more out of pocket to cover higher fares, Governor Cuomo and the state legislature haven’t shown any intention of stepping in to help. In fact, they’ve made the situation more precarious by raiding the MTA’s budget and weakening the agency’s dedicated funding.
It doesn’t have to be this way. At any point, Albany could help to lessen the burden on working New Yorkers while simultaneously eliminating a source of enormous dysfunction in the region’s transportation system: the discrepancy between the free East River bridges and the MTA’s tolled crossings, which produces debilitating traffic jams and will only get worse as fares and tolls rise under the status quo.
The solution? Cuomo and the legislature could enact “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz’s “Fair Plan” [PDF], as Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign noted in a statement today:
Blocking or reducing the fare increase is possible, if we get more help from Albany. One promising plan is to generate new revenue by both raising and lowering tolls on city bridges and tunnels in line with where there is the most and least congestion. Under this plan – developed by a former New York City traffic commissioner Sam Schwartz, known as Gridlock Sam – tolls would go down on some facilities (like the Throgs Neck and Verrazano-Narrow Bridges) and be instituted on others (Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.) The State would need to authorize some of the tolls.
So far, Transportation Alternatives has collected more than 15,000 signatures asking Albany to stop the next fare hike. If you sign on, I suggest adding a note about the Fair Plan. | 2,775 | 1,484 | 5,015.195418 |
warc | 201704 | Petition for Review of Orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC Ex Parte No. 334)
Before Aldisert, Hunter and Higginbotham, Circuit Judges.
Petitioners in these consolidated cases have asked us to review final orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission that formulate and partially implement new car service rules governing the rates paid by the railroads for the use of each other's freight cars. The ICC formulated the new rules pursuant to a 1976 amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, but chose to implement the new car service rate formula piecemeal, giving immediate effect only to the revised cost of capital portion of the car service formula while leaving other portions of the formula unaltered. We determine that the ICC does not have authority under § 1(14)(a) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § 11122, to order implementation of only one factor in the car service formula when other factors specifically mentioned by statute are also in need of revision and implementation. We therefore order a stay of the effective date of new basic per diem rates until all factors have been updated by the commission. Although we are ordering a stay, we do uphold the ICC's formulation for the cost of capital portion of its car service rate formula, including its determination to use the effective tax rate of the rail companies in the cost of capital formula used to calculate the basic per diem car service rates.
The various petitions
*fn1 before us request our review of two final orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission in Ex Parte No. 334, Car Service Compensation Basic Per Diem Charges Formula Revision in Accordance with the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, reflecting decisions of April 3, 1978 (Order 2), and of April 6, 1979 (Order 3). *fn2 The commission proceeding in Ex Parte 334, as its title indicates, was designed to implement § 212 of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (4R Act) which modified § 1(14)(a) of the Interstate Commerce Act to require that charges paid by a railroad for the use of freight cars that it does not own must be fixed on the basis of the costs of ownership, including a fair return on the cost of owning and maintaining each type of freight car. *fn3
Petitioners in Nos. 78-1575 and 79-1640, Consolidated Rail Corporation, Chicago and Northwestern Transportation Company, and Soo Line Railroad Company, argue that the commission's per diem rates were formulated by ignoring or misapplying statutory criteria. They argue that the statute calls for a "fair return" and that the agency's orders are the result of an unfair and illegitimate interpretation of the statute, that "current costs of capital" was not properly interpreted, and that costs of repair must be updated. In addition, they urge that the revised rates are too high and violate the policies and purposes of railroad legislation.
*fn4
Intervenors, the Seven Railroad Group, see note 1 supra, argue that the commission's revision of the current costs of capital portion of the per diem formula was sufficient to meet the statutory mandate of § 212, without concurrent implementation of revised repair costs, or other revisions based on new data. Finally, the Seven Railroad Group, petitioning in No. 78-1740, objects to the commission's decision, in the revised cost of capital formula, to use the railroads' effective tax rate rather than their statutory tax rate. The commission, naturally enough, supports its actions as in compliance with the statute.
Since the turn of the century, railroads have paid for the use of each other's freight cars on the basis of a per diem rate. This rate, originally based solely on the number of days that a railroad had possession of another's cars, had been fixed by mutual agreement. In order to facilitate interstate commerce, railroads are required to accept from originating railroads loaded freight cars in route to their final destination, rather than shifting the freight between the cars of connecting roads. This is called the car pool system. See generally United States v. Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp., 406 U.S. 742, 743, 92 S. Ct. 1941, 1944, 32 L. Ed. 2d 453 (1972); Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad v. United States, 583 F.2d 678, 681 (3d Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 968, 99 S. Ct. 1520, 59 L. Ed. 2d 784 (1979). These self-regulating agreements broke down, however, when several railroads refused to pay the per diem rates, and the commission then instituted a proceeding under § 1(14)(a) of the Interstate Commerce Act for the purpose of prescribing, under a code of car service rules, the compensation to be paid for rental of freight cars.
In 1966, Congress first amended § 1(14)(a). The amendments were the product of congressional concern that serious and recurrent freight car shortages were being caused by per diem rates that were too low to encourage car construction but, rather, encouraged terminating railroads to hold cars on their sidings rather than send them back to the owning roads. Because these amendments failed to relieve the endemic car shortages, however, Congress again attempted to solve the problem by passing § 212 of the 4R Act in 1976 to encourage car ownership through adoption of per diem rates that would more accurately reflect the actual costs of purchasing, owning, and maintaining freight cars. By requiring rates that were fully compensatory, Congress hoped to discourage the use of cars not owned and thereby maximize efficient car utilization.
The legislative history of the 4R Act shows that Congress saw the act as a remedy to the major problems of the railroads, among them the fact that the return on investments had been insufficient to enable the railroads to finance capital expenditures. Because the rate of return had been less than the cost of investment for many years, rail car acquisition had not been meeting the needs of the industry. Congress specifically found, for example, that "(not) only the Consolidated Rail Corporation ("ConRail'), but the Nation's rail industry at large is today faced with the clearly demonstrable need to make massive capital expenditures to . . . acquire equipment in quantities to enable the National Rail System to properly discharge its common carrier public interest responsibility for prompt and efficient transport;" Congress also foresaw the expenditure of almost two billion dollars for the acquisition of rolling stock and other equipment. S.Rep.No.499, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 1, 21, reprinted in (1976) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 14, 35. Section 212 of the 4R Act was designed to attack these problems.
The per diem rates in effect prior to the commission's Ex Parte 334 proceedings were those established in the commission's 1968 Per Diem Report. Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad, 332 I.C.C. 176 (1968), aff'd sub nom. Union Pacific Railroad v. United States, 300 F. Supp. 318 (D.Neb.), aff'd sub nom. Boston & Maine Railroad v. United States, 396 U.S. 27, 90 S. Ct. 196, 24 L. Ed. 2d 142 (1969). The 1966 amendments to § 1(14)(a) required the commission to consider the national level of ownership of a type of freight car and other factors affecting the adequacy of the national freight car supply and then,
on the basis of such consideration, determine whether compensation should be computed solely on the basis of elements of ownership expense involved in owning and maintaining such type of freight car, including a fair return on value, or whether such compensation should be increased by such incentive element or elements of compensation as in the Commission's judgment will provide just and reasonable compensation to freight car owners, contribute to sound car service practices (including efficient utilization and distribution of cars), and encourage the acquisition and maintenance of a car supply adequate to meet the needs of commerce and the national defense.
Union Pacific Railroad v. United States, 300 F. Supp. at 321.
Section 212 of the 4R Act amended § 1(14)(a) in several significant respects. The 1976 amendment begins by stating: "It is the intent of the Congress to encourage the purchase, acquisition, and efficient utilization of freight cars." For the full text of § 212, see note 3 supra. The aim of encouraging the purchase of new freight cars, as well as their acquisition and efficient utilization, was thus included in a statutory pronouncement for the first time. The inclusion clarifies, we think, congressional intent with regard to another new development, the statutory call for consideration of current costs of capital. The commission is now required to determine compensation for the use of a per diem freight car after giving consideration to "current costs."
Other substantive changes in 1976 were that the commission should give consideration to the transportation use of each type of freight car and that the elements of ownership expense should include, not just "a fair return on value," but specifically "a fair return on the cost of such type of freight car (giving due consideration to current costs of capital, repairs, materials, parts, and labor)."
Normally this court's standard of review is set forth in § 10(e) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706, under which the commission's orders would be reviewed to see if they were "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law." The scope of our review of the commission's actions is generally narrow, limited to whether the commission's conclusions are rationally supported. United States v. Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp., 406 U.S. 742, 749, 92 S. Ct. 1941, 1946, 32 L. Ed. 2d 453 (1972). A different standard of review applies to issues of statutory construction. We are, of course, not bound by the commission's conclusions if they are based on a misinterpretation of the act. The courts are the final authorities on the proper interpretation of the statute. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Federal Maritime Commission, 390 U.S. 261, 272, 88 S. Ct. 929, 935, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1090 (1968). Therefore, we will examine the statute to see if the commission has the statutory authority for its actions. The question of whether § 212 of the 4R Act should be construed as permitting the commission to adopt new rates only after consideration of all the statutorily enumerated factors is a fundamental question that goes to the basis upon which the agency is empowered by Congress to act. This court need not defer to the agency in drawing its conclusion as to the meaning of the statute or the nature of the agency's power to act. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 390 U.S. at 272, 88 S. Ct. at 935. Administrative discretion and the appropriate scope of review thereof are not relevant until the court first resolves the issue of statutory construction. Allegheny General Hospital v. NLRB, 608 F.2d 965, 970 (3d Cir. 1979).
It is well established that an agency must consider all factors specifically included in its statutory mandate. Shannon v. HUD, 436 F.2d 809, 819 (3d Cir. 1970); Pennsylvania v. Lynn, 163 U.S. App. D.C. 288, 501 F.2d 848, 855 (D.C. Cir. 1974). See also ICC v. J-T Transport Co., 368 U.S. 81, 89, 82 S. Ct. 204, 209, 7 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1961). The courts then perform their function of insuring that the commission has considered all the relevant factors brought to its attention by interested parties and has reached a reasoned decision. National Industrial Sand Association v. Marshall, 601 F.2d 689, 699-700 (3d Cir. 1979).
Using these precepts, we will first examine the commission's decision to proceed with the implementation of one revised factor in its new basic per diem formula, the cost of capital factor, even though other factors have not been revised since 1968 and an additional factor, the transportation use of each type of freight car, has been added. We will examine closely, as a matter of statutory construction, the congressional direction to use current costs as a basis for the rates. Our examination of the revised basic per diem formula itself, including the formula for calculating the cost of capital, will then be examined under a narrower scope of review to see that the commission has reached a rationally supported determination.
In Orders 2 and 3 the commission has prescribed a formula that went into effect on June 1, 1979, and included a new current cost of railroad capital factor, adjusted depreciation rates, to which no objections are raised, and a car repair factor that was adjusted upward for inflation but was still based on data over a decade old. Significantly, the rate effective June 1 was not derived directly from the new formula prescribed in Ex Parte 334. See note 5 infra. The rate did not incorporate any change in the basic car repair factors themselves and thus may not reflect current costs.
The commission has not considered current repair costs up until this time, having postponed review of the repair cost component of its formula until new data were collected. Data were requested by the commission in Order 3, and were originally due to the commission on May 30, 1979. The Association of American Railroads, an industry-wide organization of which all the roads party to this litigation are members, finally submitted the necessary information to the commission on November 26, 1979, shortly before oral argument in this case. As an interim measure, until a new repair cost factor could be computed, the commission factored the old repair cost into an interim rate. According to Conrail, the old repair costs may be significantly higher than the new repair costs still to be computed; at the same time, the new current costs of capital calculated in Orders 2 and 3 are higher than the old costs. The interim per diem rate may thus be higher than the final rate resulting from the use of repair costs which would be updated at the same time as costs of capital. Thus, the result of the agency's action may have been to increase the basic per diem rates beyond the intent of Congress in amending § 1(14)(a). This would not be a proper interpretation of § 212, "(s)uch compensation shall be fixed on the basis of the elements of ownership . . . including a fair return . . . giving due consideration to current costs of capital, repairs, materials, parts, and labor," because current repair costs would be eliminated from consideration; the resulting basic per diem rate would be distorted.
What Conrail and the other petitioners in Nos. 78-1575 and 79-1640 object to is the commission's determination that, because the cost of capital section of the new formula, unlike the other sections of the formula, would not require the data by car type first available for the year 1978, and then not until the end of 1979, it would order immediate implementation of the cost of capital section. Conrail argues that the commission's action of partial ... | 15,106 | 6,030 | 37,537.032172 |
warc | 201704 | The wonders of potable.
The mythical being underside for plentiful citizens. The 'norm' for one others. And poisonous substance if you have CFS/PVFS/ME ...
I call to mind once I most primitive got Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome/CFS pay for in 1995, I initiative that having a go on the town or two wouldn't affect me any otherwise to my PRE-CFS days. Unfortunately I didn't cognise what I was doing to myself.
I didn't know how inadequately drug of abuse can feeling the firmness of this CFS ...
Nowadays I don't touch potable at all, and haven't done so for a few geezerhood now. I'd instead see at lowest a few work time in the day instead of person infirm for weeks on end because of one hard drink!
Because once you have CFS/M.E., you possibly will as very well be hammering chemical element lint your pharynx...
---SIDE NOTE----
Okay - so that comparison could be a littler 'dramatic', but you get what I connote right?
---SIDE NOTE----
You see once you have CFS/M.E., you are plausible to create **alcohol intolerance**...
The littlest intoxicating helping - even a very small bit,
can dispatch you into a revert - as I learnt the hard-fought way umpteen eld ago.
Having an spiritous revel now and once again was ample to tip the rigidity of my PVFS/CFS finished the top and put me in bed indefinitely.
When a **normal** causal agency gets doped they may surface a bit bad for a day or so, after which, they're rear legs to 'normal', healthy put money on and raring to go. But once a individual with M.E./CFS gets fuddled - or even has retributory one drink, they're predictable to perceive close to 'death warmed up' for what seems resembling an eternity!!!
Personally, I don't in truth similar alcoholic beverage more than so I don't fille it. But even if I did,
I have realized that drink no longer makes me have a feeling the way it in use to earlier I had CFS...
Drinking drink now feels like I'm ingestion myself poison, and my unit reacts appropriately - i.e. a flare, or worse, a revert - and I suffer the consequences for a long, lifelong time later on.
Unfortunately, furthermost of us CFS sufferers are fitting not authoritative enough to escape the poisons of inebriant.
So for supreme of us, it's lucklessly a skin of accepting it, or exploit much, by a long way worse.
As Dr Shepherd writes in his pamphlet 'Living With M.E.':
"Some individuals who antecedently enjoyed and tolerated lawful body process of drinkable in need any unfavorable effects, now find that even miniature amounts kind them utterly not well."
- p214, Dr Shepherd, 'Living With M.E.' -
So if you have M.E./CFS, it is likely that you may have modern an intolerance to street drug.
And that's not forgetting that potable too affects the personal estate of antidepressants (often nonarbitrary to CFS sufferers to dainty their tiredness and to abet sufferers snooze)! So if you're attractive antidepressants, it's unambiguously something to bear in worry.
Having CFS/ME can be a exceptionally introverted and grave education and decline can be a totally echt and overserious evidence for whatsoever CFS sufferers. So the concluding item you stipulation is to proceeds substances that engender you knowingness worse.
And surmisal what?
Yep, you've feeling it, alcohol is also a soporiferous. So it's not a bad entry to portion if you're depressed!
And reported to Dr Shepherd, heaps sufferers sorrowfully do circle to beverage...
But alcoholic beverage is no response. Apart from in all probability making you feel depressed, you could besides refine an drinkable dependency!
What's more, if you **are** beverage intolerant, consequently it would cause it much harder for you to recuperate from M.E./CFS (pretty by a long way insurmountable even), spell you keep golf shot potable in your unit.
And here's whichever more 'food for thought'...
When you come up with active how severely a CFS sick person can be mannered by **one** hard drink, after how defectively could drink be touching you if you're intake more???
So location you go - a undivided database of reasons why you may possibly deduce twice over roughly speaking imbibition anything remotely spiritous piece you have CFS/M.E.
While you may no longer be drink rigid former you have cured from CFS/M.E., it may good be a key offender for preventing you from **recovering** from your CFS/M.E spell you motionless have it.
I didn't know around the reasonable personal estate of drinkable once I preliminary had Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome ...
... and I suffered the knock-on effect. My complaint got worsened. A lot worsened. And I was solitary having a twosome of drinks now and again! So I prospect this nonfictional prose armaments you beside adequate info for you to build an learned judgment going on for intoxicant any way.
You never cognise - it may recovered formulate the division...
To brainstorm out more something like fare and biological process for ME/CFS visit:
And to read reviews of my popular supplements & items for ME/CFS, visit:
Copyright, Claire Williams, 2003-2005. All Rights Reserved.
----
** Publication Guidelines **
The article preceding may be cheerfully reproduced provided that:
(1) you merely letters to a 100% opt-in list; (2) ALL golf links are
LIVE hyperlinks (3) the piece is published in its entirety
including the title, written document notice, & the author's
bio & resource box (which must be located straight below
the article).
--- | 5,468 | 2,779 | 10,656.598777 |
warc | 201704 | The scientist had just won a major grant to develop new drugs to inhibit HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The National Institutes of Health had awarded him and two other scientists a significant $1.5 million to be spent over three years.
Their goal? Find a new approach to block the virus, which has been gaining resistance against some older drugs.
Strosberg’s proposal was to employ the $10 million robot Florida taxpayers purchased for Scripps back in 2005, and test hundreds of thousands of possibly effective drug-like compounds for a few that showed an ability to latch onto a key protein that makes up the outer shell of the HIV virus.
Disrupting the viral shell might prevent new virus particles from forming, and thus halt the progress and spread of the disease, he reasoned.
“Because of the growing resistance of HIV against current treatments, a new, differently targeted approach to treating the disease is urgently needed,” Strosberg said in an announcement about the grant.
Strosberg has used a similar approach to develop promising potential drugs against Hepatitis C.
Strosberg, a cancer survivor, died on March 15, while undergoing a medical procedure at Good Samaritan Medical Center. At 67, he had suffered a heart attack during the procedure.
At his memorial service on Monday, his son Serge recalled how energized his father had been about his work since moving to Florida. He said he told his son he felt like a young post-doc again, Serge Strosberg said, adding that his father rarely slept more than five hours a night, often rising before 5 a.m. to write new grant proposals.
Born in a Swiss refugee camp to parents who had fled across the Alps amid the Holocaust, Strosberg was laid to rest on a green hillside off Northlake Boulevard, not far from the disputed Mecca Farms orange grove where Scripps had originally been slated to rise.
There were few people at Scripps Florida who were as enthusiastic about biotechnology as Strosberg. At every opportunity, he would speak before county commissioners, the general public, biotechnology leaders in the state.
In June of 2005, he went to the podium to tell the county it should support construction of a business incubator for small biotech start-ups, because there was no suitable lab space in the area.
In the face of a tongue-lashing from a typically acerbic County Commissioner Mary McCarty, he didn’t cower.
“The Palm Beach County Commission and, I believe, the state legislature, feel they have given a lot of money,” McCarty said. “We’re kind of done with that.”
Strosberg fired back.
“You’re not ‘giving,’ you’re investing. This is not a gift. This is something you’re going to recoup 10 times, 100 times,” he said.
The incubator was eventually built by a private firm.
Strosberg had arrived in Palm Beach County just five months earlier, making him one of the first “big-name” scientists to arrive in Florida, after interferon-discoverer Dr. Charles Weissmann. Both had been recruited by then-Scripps President Dr. Richard Lerner.
Strosberg had the launching of a string of successful biotechnology companies on his resume, and that alone made him an important hire.
The most recent start-up, Hybrigenics, specialized in the study of protein-protein interactions. His other companies included Chemunex SA, Nouveau Marché, Incyte, Praecis.
Lerner said Strosberg’s business experience and his relationships with the private money likely to support biotech startups would prove important to the successful creation growth of a biotech cluster here.
David Willoughby was one of the entrepreneurs who moved to Florida to launch a bioscience business, Ocean Ridge Biosciences, which is a service laboratory that helps other scientists and biotech companies with genetic biomarker discovery.
“He was really helpful to my company in the beginning,” Willoughby said.
He said the grant Strosberg had recently won was an important one for the scientist, a large R01 grant shared with Florida Atlantic University’s Massimo Caputi and Scripps’ Susana Valente. He said Strosberg had sent in many other grant proposals to the NIH, only to have them rejected.
Scripps’ spokeswoman Mika Ono said the institute intended to continue Strosberg’s project.
“We’re planning to continue the project funded by the grant, including the portions conducted by Drs. Valente and Caputi,” Ono said. “We’re currently in the process of finding a new principal investigator for the project.” | 4,628 | 2,285 | 8,994.725602 |
warc | 201704 | The olive tree, Olea europaea, is very hearty, drought, disease, and fire-resistant. Many olive trees in the groves around the Mediterranean are said to be hundreds of years old, while an age of 2,000 years is claimed for a number of individual trees–which has been scientifically verified.
The nutritional benefits from green olives are many:
· Olives contain both vitamins, minerals and are high in sodium content. Do not eat too many if you have high blood pressure.
· Olives contain 4.44 mg of iron, which is 24.7 percent of the daily value.
· One serving of olives contains 4.03 mg of vitamin E, or 20.1 percent of the DV. Vitamin E helps to protect your skin from ultraviolet light.
· Olives include 0.34 mg of copper, which is 17 percent of the DV. Copper aides your body in the utilization of iron and reduces tissue damage from free radicals.
· Olives have 4.3 g of fiber or 17.2 percent of your DV. Dietary fibers helps the digestive system.
Next, You are going to love this recipe!
INGREDIENTS
· I pint crushed bitter green olive (Crush olives with wooden meat tenderizer mallet)
· 1 small stalk of celery
· 1 clove crushed whole garlic
· I/2 tsp. Oregano
· 3-4 tbs. olive oil
· 1 empty quart container
PREPARATION
Empty crushed olives into quart container
Add diced celery and rest of ingredients
Place top on container and shake a few times
Let sit a few hours before refrigerating
The main difference between the salt cured olives and the crushed bitter ones is that the black olives are very salty, unless you soak them in water before adding other ingredients. Also, the crushed green olives, although bitter, are very tasty.
Serve as an appetizer on french bread, crackers or toss in salads. Do not forget to remove pits.
Lisa DeFazio’s a leading nutrition expert and a Master’s degree level Registered Dietitian, so be sure to check out her website and follow her on Twitter for more tips and videos — and if U wanna know more about olives OR anything else, U can always email us at Questions@FitPerez.com!!
Tags: delicious, food, green olives, lisa defazio, marinated, recipe | 2,194 | 1,178 | 3,900.03056 |
warc | 201704 | There is an old and long followed adverb that says that “When opportunity knocks, you had better answer.” In that context, opportunity is viewed as a favorable situation that occurs that must be taken advantage of, however, opportunity can refer to any situation that may arise, and the chance to follow this path exists. Some opportunities can be negative in nature. Now, in the project management world, the term opportunity typically refers to the usage in a positive light. It refers specifically to a condition or situation that is favorable to the project, a set of circumstances that would be viewed as favorable to the project, a series of events or happenings that could be construed as favorable to the project, as well as any potential risks that could have a potentially positive impact on the sum total of all project objectives, as well as could potentially have a positive impact on any future changes that may take place. The direct contrast to the term opportunity could be the term threat.
This term is defined in the 3rd and the 4th edition of the PMBOK. | 1,086 | 541 | 2,153.933457 |
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