parshat bo : educational slavery in order for the satisfied to really understand hunger, he must experience the sensation of hunger. only then can he actually relate to hunger correctly. torah scribe photo : courtesy derech ami we read in this week ’ s parsha about the last stages of am yisrael ’ s exile in egypt. at first glance, this exile seems surprising and confounding. was it that before god chose us as the nation that would receive the torah and fulfill the eternal role of being a light unto nations, was am yisrael oppressed in egypt, demeaned and enslaved? was it a coincidence that in the process of choosing the nation we went through slavery and oppression, or was it planned and part of the process? did we benefit from it? in the torah, we read a clear answer to the question of whether or not this was planned and a process. during the “ brit ben habetarim ” – the covenant of the halves – god promised the patriarch abraham that a great nation would come of him that would carry an eternal message for the entire world. but along with this promise, god revealed to abraham that the process would not be an easy or simple one. a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them ; and they shall afflict them... and afterward shall they come out with great substance. ” ( genesis 15 : 13 - 14 ) after reading these clear words, our wonder only intensifies. why? why was it necessary for am yisrael to be a nation of slaves before entering its land and conducting an independent life there? why did am yisrael ’ s mission of spreading the light of faith and morality in the world have to be preceded by a period of oppression and degradation? we find the answer to this question in moshe rabbenu ’ s parting speech from am yisrael prior to his death. in this long speech which is spread out over much of the book of deuteronomy, he refers to am yisrael ’ s period of slavery in egypt as the “ iron melting pot ” – the oven where iron is heated and then shaped into an attractive utensil. this expression teaches us that the period of slavery was actually a period of education. yisrael was to sit in its land, independent, proud and secure, it had to undergo an educational process in egypt that was not so simple. how was the nation educated during this difficult time? the answer to


actually a period of education. yisrael was to sit in its land, independent, proud and secure, it had to undergo an educational process in egypt that was not so simple. how was the nation educated during this difficult time? the answer to this is explicitly written in the torah. the torah warns us seven times about our treatment of the stranger, the slave, the poor, and the unfortunate, and explains that the basis for this warning is the nation ’ s period of slavery in egypt. “ love therefore the stranger ; for you were strangers in the land of ( deuteronomy 10 : 19 ) another example : “ thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates... thou shalt not pervert the justice due to the stranger... but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in egypt... therefore i command thee to do this thing. ” ( deuteronomy 24 : 14 - 18 ) there are five more places where the torah warns us that we should behave toward the weak in society with justice and compassion – because we, the nation sitting its own land, were in the past slaves in egypt. god wanted to choose am yisrael, give it the torah, be good to it, and bequeath the land of israel to it. but this promise was accompanied by a big risk. the nation might feel proud and self - confident which would be expressed by treating the weak, the strangers, the orphans, and the slaves in an estranged and unfair manner. the nation had to undergo an educational process, to experience the taste of humiliation, to live oppressed and enslaved, in order for the nation ’ s collective memory to always contain the knowledge that a weak man is still a man deserving of rights just as anyone else, and deserving of honest and fair in order for the satisfied to really understand hunger, he must experience the sensation of hunger. only then can he actually relate to hunger correctly. for a nation to remember to always behave according to morality and justice, it has to experience – before becoming a nation that lives in its own land – discrimination and degradation. only then can a nation clearly understand the feelings of the weak and needy, take pity on them and treat them honestly, and live according to the mission it was given – to be a light unto nations. rabbi shmuel rabinowitz is rabbi of the western wall and its


place of publication : poltava ( tsarist russia ) | years of publication : 1910 - 1915 years available on the website : 1910 - 1915 frequency weekly newspaper chief editor and publisher : eliyahu ʿaqiva rabinovich ( 1861 – 1917 ) the newspaper ha - modia — according to its subtitle — was an orthodox jewish weekly that succeeded the orthodox monthly ha - peles, which had also been published by eliyahu ʿaqiva rabinovich ( 1861 – 1917 ) in poltava between 1901 and 1905. each issue of the newspaper usually began with a signed editorial by rabinovich, usually relating to internal orthodox matters, such as the council of orthodox rabbis, debates with other newspapers, various jewish political movements ( in particularly, zionism ), cultural trends ( such as general education ), and information about the situation of the jews throughout the russian empire as seen from an orthodox perspective. rabinovich tended to sign other articles that he wrote in the same issue as ‘ the editor ’ or under a pen name, or sometimes left them unsigned. rabinovich himself served as an orthodox rabbi in poltava from 1893 until his death in 1917. at the start of his career, he was attracted to the hovevey tsiyyon ( heb. ‘ lovers of zion ’ ) movement. however he subsequently became disappointed with zionism and eventually turned into one of its most bitter opponents. in addition to his status as an influential rabbi within the circles of non - zionist jewish orthodoxy, he was also a philosopher and one of the founders of agudat yisraʾel ( heb. ‘ the society of israel ’ ). despite the fact that the newspaper was aimed at orthodox jews in general, its readers were primary from the city of poltava ( whose jewish population numbered some twelve thousand jews ) and from its surrounding province ( around 112 thousand jews ). there are no details available regarding the distribution of ha - modia, although judging from its style and its language ( hebrew ), one must assume that it was not particularly large and that its target audience consisted of the hebrew - reading orthodox elite. at the beginning, page numbers were absent from contents of each issue. editing of the paper was fairly disorganised. it was never clear when one article concluded and another began or where an article continued, and sometimes lines of vertical text appeared — perhaps to maximise the use of the page in its entirety. most of the issues of ha - modia included between twelve to sixteen pages and they


one article concluded and another began or where an article continued, and sometimes lines of vertical text appeared — perhaps to maximise the use of the page in its entirety. most of the issues of ha - modia included between twelve to sixteen pages and they usually featured one or two articles in addition to the main editorial, such as a story emphasising the orthodox values of the newspaper, a column of letters to the editor, of which the majority dealt with local religious matters, or criticism of the religious behaviour of various institutions and individuals in the style of responsa ( for example, the opening of jewish - owned banks on the sabbath ). the column of letters to the editor appeared frequently in rashi script, as did a few other articles in other sections. from the content, it is unclear why the editor chose to use this script sometimes and the regular square script at other times. each of the main editorials that appeared at the start of each issue were printed in square script. the last page of ha - modia consisted of advertisements ; most of these aimed at publicising rabbinical texts, the majority of which were published by rabinovich ’ s own printing house. another column in the newspaper was dedicated to news relating to the jewish people, which also included reports from palestine. the ultra - orthodox ( heb. haredi ) newspaper published by agudat yisraʾel, which began to appear in 1950 in israel, preserves the name of ha - modia from poltava. the microfilm copy is in a very good condition. in some parts, there are light dirty spots or the text has seeped through onto the opposite side of the page — both problems relating to the manner in which the newspaper was stored.


- total external debt : $ 28 653 million ( world bank, 2005 ) - total external debt payments : $ 5 586 million ( world bank 2005 ). - population : 28. 0 million ( world bank, 2005 ) - percentage of adults who can read and write : 87. 9 % ( hdr 2005 ) - average life expectancy : 70. 7 years ( hdr 2005 ) - hiv prevalence : 0. 6 % ( hdr 05 ) - total health spending : 1. 9 % of gdp ( hdr 04 ) - total spending on debt service payments : 7. 07 % of gdp - annual gdp : $ 79. 4 billion ( hdr 2005 ) drop the debt fast peru is the focus of the drop the debt fast on saturday 3 may. recent political history in 1542 the spanish conqueror francisco pizarro defeated the inca empire in peru and established lima as the principle city of spain ’ s colonial possessions in south america. the peruvians later gained independence from spain in 1824 after a struggle led by jose de san martin and simon bolivar. following its independence, peru became involved in a series of territorial disputes, firstly with chile during the 19th century and later in the 20th century with equador. peru ’ s political development in the 20th century has been tumultuous. in 1968 general valasco overthrew the elected president fernando belaunde terry. corruption and abuses of human rights were widespread under valasco ’ s regime, which led, along with his deteriorating health, to his replacement by general moralez bermundez. under bermundez, there was a return to civilian government with a new democratic constitution. in 1985, alan garcia was elected as president, and during his presidency economic and human rights problems in peru escalated. peru suffered from hyperinflation and massacres carried out by the military of people belonging to or suspected of belonging to the terrorist group ‘ the shining path ’. the election of fujimori as president in 1990 did bring about an improvement to economy in peru as he implemented drastic economic reforms, which brought hyperinflation down considerably. however, accusations of bribery and corruption within his regime caused economic chaos once more and brought about his resignation. since fujimori, there have been improvements in the management of the peruvian economy. however, although the successive president implemented reforms to bring about a boom in the economy, actual poverty in peru only decreased by 5 % and over half of all peruvians are still estimated to be living below the poverty line, the re - election of garcia


however, although the successive president implemented reforms to bring about a boom in the economy, actual poverty in peru only decreased by 5 % and over half of all peruvians are still estimated to be living below the poverty line, the re - election of garcia in 2006, has confirmed the continuation of economic reforms. despite his disappointing term as president in the 1980s, he claimed to have learned from his mistakes, and is attempting to decrease poverty, especially in peru ’ s southern highlands, where poverty is most acute. peru is a hugely divided society, in economic and ethnic terms. with one of the highest levels of poverty in latin america, over half the population live below the poverty line and a large proportion of those live in ‘ extreme poverty ’, meaning they are unable to meet even their most basic needs. where poverty is prevalent, so are the other classic symptoms of deprivation such as high illiteracy rates, high infant mortality and relatively low life expectancy. although these conditions of poverty are most acute in rural areas, it is also widespread in urban areas, especially lima. hand in hand with this poverty, there are also substantial degrees of wealth. however, the two lifestyles are kept completely separate and there is little scope for redistribution or social advancement. peru also suffers from divides along ethnic lines. although the precise boundaries between ethnicities have been blurred by inter - marriage and migration, there is a fairly close connection between skin colour and social position ; the darker your skin, the lower your status. the cancellation of peru ’ s external debt would allow the much needed investment in public services such as health care and education which would help break down economic and ethnic barriers causing extreme levels of poverty for some peruvians. where has the debt come from? peru ’ s foreign debt increased substantially in the 1970s, like many other latin american countries, increasing sevenfold between 1970 and 1976. during this period the peruvian government set about financial development. however, they did so without foreign investment, a strong private sector or sufficient tax system, and thus relied heavily on borrowing abroad. the debt problem in peru really began in 1975 as interest rates soared and was made worse by the poor use to which the money was put. examples of the ineffective use of the money was large amounts of military spending, development projects that primarily benefited foreign firms and the growth of ineffective and poorly managed peruvian public sector. debt cancellation status peru is officially classed as a lower - middle income country by the world bank. it is therefore not eligible for the heavily indebted poor countries initiative or the multilateral debt relief


the handbook of environment and society focuses on the interactions between people, societies and economies, and the state of nature and the environment. editorially integrated but written from multi - disciplinary perspectives, the handbook of environment and society is organised in seven sections : - environmental thought : past and present - valuing the environment - knowledges and knowing - political economy of environmental change - environmental technologies - redesigning natures - institutions and policies for influencing the environment key themes include : locations where the environment - society relation is most acute : where, for example, there are few natural resources or where industrialization is unregulated ; the discussion of these issues at different scales : local, regional, national, and global ; the cost of damage to resources ; and the relation between principal actors in the environment - society nexus. ' this is a monumental and timely contribution to scholarship on society and environments. the handbook makes it easy and compelling for anyone to learn about that scholarship in its full manifestations and as represented by some of the most highly respected researchers and thinkers in the english - speaking world. it is wide - reaching in scope and far - reaching in its implications for public and private action, a definite must for serious researchers and their libraries ' bonnie j. mccay, professor, rutgers university, usa ' this is the desert island book for anyone interested in the relationship between society and the environment. the editors have assembled a masterful collection of contributions on every conceivable dimension of environmental thinking in the social sciences and humanities. no library should be without it! ' associate professor robyn eckersley, university of melbourne, australia


think. plan. act. making an emergency plan in advance allows you to consider different situations. use common sense and make the best decisions for you and your family. when making your plan, think about the people and places in your daily lives. talk to close friends and family about their plans. develop plans together and include versions for work, school and other places you spend time. the more options you can think of now, the more prepared you will be later. item needs consider any of the special needs of your family and make a plan to keep them safe. include special situations for infants, children, adults, and seniors. be sure to consider : - baby supplies - medication, medical treatments work, and daycare plansschools, businesses and daycare providers should have an emergency plan. be sure to include their actions into your family plan, especially : breakdown plan think about how you would respond to a utility service disruption, including : - natural gas if you are an employer, think about how your business will react in an emergency : in a moving vehicle think about how an emergency could affect you in a moving - natural disasters ( weather, earthquake, etc. ) - road conditions - power lines - vehicle trouble ( explosion, mechanical failure, etc. ) a high rise building know how to react to an emergency in a high - rise building, with tips like : - stay or go evaluation - locate multiple exits - key safety instructions


author : this chapter originally appeared as a part of simkovics, 1998, stefan simkovics ' master ' s thesis prepared at vienna university of technology under the direction of o. univ. prof. dr. georg gottlob and univ. ass. mag. katrin seyr. this chapter gives an overview of the internal structure of the backend of postgres. after having read the following sections you should have an idea of how a query is processed. don ' t expect a detailed description here ( i think such a description dealing with all data structures and functions used within postgres would exceed 1000 pages! ). this chapter is intended to help understanding the general control and data flow within the backend from receiving a query to sending the results. here we give a short overview of the stages a query has to pass in order to obtain a result. a connection from an application program to the postgres server has to be established. the application program transmits a query to the server and receives the results sent back by the server. the parser stage checks the query transmitted by the application program ( client ) for correct syntax and creates a query tree. the rewrite system takes the query tree created by the parser stage and looks for any rules ( stored in the system catalogs ) to apply to the querytree and performs the transformations given in the rule bodies. one application of the rewrite system is given in the realization of views. whenever a query against a view ( i. e. a virtual table ) is made, the rewrite system rewrites the user ' s query to a query that accesses the base tables given in the view definition instead. the planner / optimizer takes the ( rewritten ) querytree and creates a queryplan that will be the input to the executor. it does so by first creating all possible paths leading to the same result. for example if there is an index on a relation to be scanned, there are two paths for the scan. one possibility is a simple sequential scan and the other possibility is to use the index. next the cost for the execution of each plan is estimated and the cheapest plan is chosen and handed back. the executor recursively steps through the plan tree and retrieves tuples in the way represented by the plan. the executor makes use of the storage system while scanning relations, performs sorts and joins, evaluates qualifications and finally hands back the tuples derived. in the following sections


| grump meter helps children control anger | | written by ellen portnoy, contributing writer | | wednesday, july 18 2012 10 : 12 | sometimes uncontrolled anger in children and teens can lead to the one event that parents, teachers, doctors and friends cannot fix — suicide. lynn kaufman, who has a master ’ s degree in social work, has devoted the last 22 years helping children and families talk about their anger, become aware of their angry moods, recognize oncoming anger signs and control their angry behaviors. “ i found the issues around families and children very interesting, ” said kaufman. “ i am interested in how relationships among people work. i am interested in children and families learning to control their anger and express it in positive and constructive ways. i am interested in people in a family understanding each other ’ s anger so that each member of the family has ways to be known and understood. ” this interest first brought her to kvc behavioral health care in wyandotte county in 1990. the focus of the treatment center was “ anger control. ” although the social workers were following a program on anger control developed by arnold goldstein, ph. d., kaufman decided that something more was needed. “ i decided that children would benefit from a tool that would help them identify their angry moods and escalating anger, ” she said. “ i developed the grump meter and immediately saw how children used it and how it helped them identify their anger and put words and new thoughts to their angry moods. ” she then started using the grump meter to teach anger control to families. families were encouraged to acknowledge anger, frustration and fear connected to aggressive and destructive behaviors. “ to my surprise, ” she added, “ the parents loved the tool and wanted to use it with their children. ” the grump meter can be any size. it is basically a ruler with five categories, blue for calm ; green for grumpy ; yellow for caution ; orange for stop ; and red for explosion. the tool became so helpful that kaufman and her daughter, janet kaufman, ph. d. decided to write a book. “ the grump meter, a family tool for anger control, ” so that many more families could use the techniques to help negotiate and manage their expression of strong feelings in new ways. “ i recognized immediately that the color and the simplicity of the book were very helpful to family understanding of anxiety, sorrow, grief, loss and anger, ” said kaufman. “ the children were able to see from colors how they changed


in new ways. “ i recognized immediately that the color and the simplicity of the book were very helpful to family understanding of anxiety, sorrow, grief, loss and anger, ” said kaufman. “ the children were able to see from colors how they changed feelings during one day. this helped them be aware of where they were on the grump meter and to reach the goal of coming back to blue. the goal of the grump meter is to have a blue day and to avoid the ride to red. ” besides helping children and their parents know where a child is on the grump meter, the book also provides ways to bring a child down from the danger zones of orange and red, and move back to the calmer green and blue zones. others are also aware of the impact kaufman has made on the children in kansas. in april she was honored by the university of kansas as the 2012 outstanding ku social work alumna. in her nomination of kaufman, hildy flanigan stated : “ in 2004, kvc opened a licensed hospital for preteens and teens. lynn was the first social worker on that unit. most of the children admitted to the hospital came with suicide ideation and / or attempts to end their lives. to help children find the language to understand their own life stories and find reasons to live instead of die, and to help them find language and their own creativity and courage, lynn turned to literature, writing, group process family dialogue and behavioral approaches, including anger control. ” kaufman said that 99 percent of children that she sees come in following suicide thoughts, feelings and actions. “ when shown the grump meter, they immediately point to red — the area of the most anger. they identify ‘ red ’ as the mood they were in when they attempted to end their lives, ” said kaufman. “ once they started to drop to orange and yellow and green, they have no thoughts of suicide. that change can take place within hours of admission to the hospital where the ‘ work ’ begins. ” “ what is in their minds when they want to kill themselves? ” kaufman asks. “ why is this day different from all other days? ’ the answer is that every child has an answer to the question and describes an issue or a story or a crisis that they cannot solve. they feel hopeless to find answers and in those moments, they see no other way to solve their problems. once they see options and consider new thoughts, their need to die is decreased. every single child who survives an attempt to end their lives


the solution for climate change! at the same time these panels are able to capture co2 and ch4 the keshe foundation is proud to announce the development of " day & night panels " which deliver current day and night at levels considerably higher than those from present solar panel models. these d & n panels will be able to supply constant power to electrical and electronic devices. this new technology is under patent application. from the air and convert them to a liquid state. co2 and ch4 are important greenhouse gases. power generating systems for power stations, power farms, local and household power units and remote generators. which last several years instead of a few days, for computers and cellular phones. which last several years instead of a few days, for powering and cooling micro - electronics. in power stations to create a head of steam for turbines. for electric heating and light. for industrial processes. for obtaining water and desalination. we are initially offering 10, 000 units of 3 - 4 kw ac / dc and 1000 units of 10 kw ac / dc portable domestic keshe electric power generators. this web page gives a new insight into the energy production capabilities of our systems. the concept of energy creation behind the development of this reactor is based on a new understanding of the laws of physics. our technology results from applying this new understanding of the cooperation and interaction of the atomic structure of gases and matters upon each other. the principles of the behavior of gases and liquids in the environment have been studied and catalogued in detail over the past decades. this is an important factor in the development of any energy system that has to be portable and light, but at the same time flexible, powerful and functional to justify its use in any system, such as production of power, gravity or anti - gravity, shielding, medical purposes and so forth. for this system to meet these criteria it is important to use hydrogen as the primary catalyst. in 2005 prof. dr. ir. marc van overmeire of the univertity of brussels ( vub ), at the request of flag ( flanders aerospace group ) looked into mr keshe ’ s energy concept and produced the following evaluation ( download the pdf ), concluding that the concepts behind this method of energy production are valid. the use of the system as an energy source this system is a fully integrated electro - nuclear - magnetic power generator. the system, in its core, creates the magnetic force field that man is used to as part of the magnetic fields of the earth. the unit generates magnetic fields


scientists are astonished from the amazing camouflage of that little insect when attacking its victim …. a dragonfly is a type of insect belonging to the order odonata. it is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body. even though dragonflies possess 6 legs like any other insect, they are not capable of walking. dragonflies are valuable predators that eat mosquitoes, and other small insects like flies, bees, ants, and butterflies. they are usually found around lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands because their larvae, known as " nymphs ", are aquatic. in a published research by prof. aikiko mezuhtani of the center for visual science at the australian national university in canberra, there was a proof that dragonfly male is professional in camouflaging when moving as it deludes the eye of the victim so that it see it stable while attacking. the amazing design of wings and body enable the insect to make unlimited maneuvers while flying so that it can attack the victim so easily. scientists say that dragonflies use movement for their camouflage, camouflage is usually associated with immobility as it occupies the same spot in the retina of the victim. so that the victim sees it stable when it is moving, scientists say that this technique is complicated and very strange. the dragonfly uses fast, complicated and unseen movement to attack the victim. prof. mezuhtani and the team used stereoscopic cameras to reconstruct the movements of the insect in three dimensions. after a long study they discovered that this insect can arrange its wings and body during flying to make the victim see it as if it is stable. most animals can skillfully conceal themselves when stationary, but they may become apparent as soon as they move. the dragonfly uses another technique and without that it may die by hunger, but allah almighty taught that insect a unique technique to catch its victims. scientists say that the brain of the dragonfly is so small in comparison with the volume of the executed complicated arithmetic operations which produce that fast movement in the three directions. the eye covers the entire head and without that perfect design dragonfly wouldn ’ t be able to live and get its food. nature inspired human for many inventions, but the abilities of the dragonfly are more advanced than any other superior invention. scientists say that till now they don ' t know how that insect had got these abilities to perform such complicated technique as the executed motions are amazing, also they say that it would be impossible for that insect to


are more advanced than any other superior invention. scientists say that till now they don ' t know how that insect had got these abilities to perform such complicated technique as the executed motions are amazing, also they say that it would be impossible for that insect to learn itself and without the help of anyone. so who taught it that technique, nature or coincidence? look at this amazing design of wings, human can ’ t mimic it by using the latest technology methods. who did create that perfect design, nature or the insect itself? atheists must answer that question otherwise they should believe that allah almighty is the only creator or they should tell us, who is the creator? after all of the above we must realize our weakness in comparison with that little insect. but we may find some people who claim that nature created this wonderful insect!!! allah says : " ( or do they assign to allah partners who created the like of his creation, so that the creation ( which they made and his creation ) seemed alike to them? " say : " allah is the creator of all things ; and he is the one, the irresistible. ) " ( quran 13 : 6 ) we can only say what allah says in the holy qur ' an : " ( this is the creation of allah. so show me that which those ( whom you worship ) besides him have created. nay, the zalimun ( polytheists, wrongdoers and those who do not believe in the oneness of allah ) are in plain error. ) " ( quran 31 : 11 )


brasilia, the capital of brazil brasilia is a federal district, and has been the capital of the country since 1960. futuristically designed by oscar niemeyer and lucio costa, the city is in constant evolution and renewal. its bold architectural design, green areas and modern buildings prompted unesco to add it to the world heritage list. brasilia was first and foremost built in order to give an impulse to the development of the country ' s interior. juscelino kubistchek, president of brazil from 1956 to 1960, wanted to open up the broad hinterland. according to his vision, the country ' s development should not be restricted to the narrow coastal strip along the atlantic. the site chosen for the new capital was centrally located, distant 2, 120 km ( 1, 317 miles ) from belem, 1, 015 km ( 630 miles ) from sao paulo and 1, 148km ( 713 miles ) from rio de janeiro. the nearest railroad was 125 km away ( 77 miles ), the nearest paved road was 640 km away ( 397 miles ), and the nearest airport was 190 km ( 118 miles ) from what would become brasilia. seen from the air, brasilia has the shape of an airplane, with the government and administrative buildings forming the fuselage and the wings being residential quarters. to the east, the city is bordered by a half - moon artificial lake. to the west, land rises slightly to the highest point of the city, 1200 meters above sea level. today, brasilia is becoming the link between east and west, north and south of south america, also catering to the atlantic and pacific markets.


in flowing free - verse poems, a 15 - year - old white american girl who grew up in japan recounts a kaleidoscope of devastations, recoveries and irreparable damage — ranging from the geopolitical to the personal. emma ’ s lived in japan since infancy. when her family moves to massachusetts for her mother ’ s breast - cancer treatment, emma starts getting migraines. she hates “ abandoning japan ” just months after the 2011 tohoku earthquake / tsunami ; she wants to continue helping her friend madoka ’ s relatives shovel sludge from their drowned houses and wait for word of a missing aunt. japan ’ s “ endless stretches of mangled homes / the tangled mountains of debris / and all the broken towns and families ” feel like emma ’ s own. in massachusetts, “ i don ’ t know when to say what / i don ’ t know if something ’ s funny or not. ” she writes a poem : “ lonely is / when the language outside / isn ’ t the language inside. ” as emma volunteers, helping a physically disabled adult write poetry, and meets a multigenerational cambodian community with khmer rouge history, thompson nimbly braids political tragedy, natural disaster, ptsd, connections among families, and a cautious, quiet romance into an elegant whole. this is an artistic picture of devastation, fragility, bonds and choices ; here ’ s hoping some tohoku tsunami books from a japanese perspective will join it. ( poetry list, recommended resources ) ( fiction. 14 & up )


ktm user pages click here to find the comments for this topic carolyn ' s dead right about saxon : the program moves students along at a brisk clip. * i was thinking about it just last night, while i was doing my own saxon lesson. i ' d put money on it i ' m learning lots more than christopher, whose book is, technically speaking, more advanced. and i ' d put money on it he ' d end the year knowing more than he ' s going to know with prentice - hall if he were using saxon, too. slow and steady wins the race the conventional wisdom about ' behavioral ' programs like saxon math is that they ' re remedial ; they ' re for slow learners. well, it ' s true. if i were teaching a class of slow learners, i ' d choose saxon math in a heartbeat. but saxon also moves fast learners through material at a fast clip. if you ' re a fast learner, you just work through the material more quickly. back when christopher and i were using saxon 6 / 5, the 5th grade book, we were doing complete full lessons a day for a time. only recently have i realized that teaching to mastery means accelerating a student ' s rate of learning. high achievers move faster with direct instruction : tarver and jung reported that the direct instruction program was equally effective for lower and higher performing children who participated in the study. other studies provide additional evidence that direct instruction programs accelerate the learning of high - performing students in language ( robinson & hesse, 1981 ), reading ( schaefer, 1989 ; sexton, 1989 ), and science ( vitale & romance, 1992 ). low achievers move faster, too direct instruction is, expliticly, a teaching approach designed to produce ' maximum acceleration ' for all students at all levels. ( see : student - program alignment and teaching to mastery by siegfried engelmann ) not only can low achievers be accelerated, when they are accelerated their learning curves look like those of fast learners : i find this counterintuitive and almost bizarre. when taught to mastery, low iq students learn at the same clip as high iq students? hard to believe. on the other hand, i wouldn ' t be surprised. so many of our decades - old beliefs about students and learning are just pure ideology. so i hope engelmann ' s right. here ' s what he has to say : even students who would be predicted to have low levels of achievement benefit greatly from direct instruction. gersten, becker


about students and learning are just pure ideology. so i hope engelmann ' s right. here ' s what he has to say : even students who would be predicted to have low levels of achievement benefit greatly from direct instruction. gersten, becker, heiry, and white ( 1984 ) examined the yearly achievement test profiles of students in direct instruction classrooms to determine whether annual gains made by students with low iq scores differed significantly from the gains made by students with average or superior iq scores. figure 2. 11 [ above ] shows the yearly gains made by students in reading as measured by the wide range achievement test. as shown in this figure, students with higher iq test scores started at higher achievement levels and ended with higher levels than their peers with lower scores. however, the pattern of growth of students with low iq scores is remarkably similar to that of other students. the group with the lowest scores ( under 70 ) gained nearly as much each year in reading as students with much higher scores. by the end of third grade, those students with the lowest iq scores were performing at the 70th percentile, or a grade equivalent of 4. 3. the results are even more pronounced in math as seen in figure 2. 12 [ below ]. this figure shows the students ’ performance on the metropolitan achievement test. the growth rate for all groups of students corresponds to one grade equivalent for each year in school. these results provide evidence that direct instruction is appropriate for, and effective with, a wide variety of individuals including those with low iq scores, those with iq scores in the average range, and those with high iq scores. in addition, because children in this study were taught in small homogeneous groups ( having students with relatively the same skill levels ), the gains of students with lower iq scores were not made at the expense of other students nor the other way around. several reviews of research focusing on the use of direct instruction with special education populations have all converged on the finding that direct instruction is measurably effective with these students. white ( 1988 ) reviewed 25 such studies and found that all comparisons favored the direct instruction group. forness, kavale, blum, and lloyd ( 1997 ) conducted an analysis of various intervention programs for special education and determined direct instruction to be one of only seven interventions with strong evidence of effectiveness. perhaps because direct instruction programs have been so successful with students who have failed in other instructional programs, their use is commonly associated with children who are behind, who are failing, or who are at risk for failure. and some have questioned


evidence of effectiveness. perhaps because direct instruction programs have been so successful with students who have failed in other instructional programs, their use is commonly associated with children who are behind, who are failing, or who are at risk for failure. and some have questioned their appropriateness for general education. however, figures 2. 11 and 2. 12 provide direct evidence of the effectiveness of direct instruction for students with iq scores in the middle range and those in the upper range. engelmann and carnine ( 1989 ) found that typical second graders who had received 2 years of direct instruction scored an average 4. 6 grade equivalent in reading on a standardized achievement test. the children ’ s average scores in science and math were 4. 0 and 3. 4, respectively. other researchers have arrived at similar findings. tarver and jung ( 1995 ) investigated the effects of a direct instruction math program ( connecting math concepts ) and a discovery learning math program on the math achievement and attitudes of general education students in the primary grades. they found that, at the end of second grade, the children in the direct instruction program scored higher on measures of math computation and math concepts than children in the comparison group. in addition, children in the direct instruction program had significantly higher scores on a survey of attitudes about math. finally, tarver and jung reported that the direct instruction program was equally effective for lower and higher performing children who participated in the study. other studies provide additional evidence that direct instruction programs accelerate the learning of high - performing students in language ( robinson & hesse, 1981 ), reading ( schaefer, 1989 ; sexton, 1989 ), and science ( vitale & romance, 1992 ). acceleration for all students through direct instruction in a nutshell kumon is an acceleration program, too interestingly, kumon adds the element of teaching children to become ' self - learners, ' i. e. self - teachers : our aim should be to educate our students so well through the kumon method that they don ' t have to depend solely on classroom activities to be able to deeply understand the course content. students who develop this capacity will have a good chance to enter leading universities. to make this possible, we must help students acquire the ability of self - study from an early age and accelerate their level of study beyond their school grade. ( emphasis added ) here is the irony. when ed and i told our ' team ' that we want the school to be responsible for christopher ' s learning, as opposed to christopher being responsible for christopher ' s learning, the principal objected


school grade. ( emphasis added ) here is the irony. when ed and i told our ' team ' that we want the school to be responsible for christopher ' s learning, as opposed to christopher being responsible for christopher ' s learning, the principal objected. christopher has to learn to be responsible, he said. he ' ll need it in high school. it was another helicopter parent moment, though neither hostile nor critical. the essential meme in middle schools everywhere seems to be that helicopter parents don ' t ' allow ' their children to grow up and become responsible for themselves and their studies. but kumon says that a teach - to - mastery approach builds responsibility in children. i don ' t understand quite how that happens. but i believe that it does. i think this is one of those bayesian issues where parents have the right idea, without knowing why they have the right idea. a parent sees his child floundering and failing, and knows this is a bad thing. the parent knows the child will be far better off if the school continues to ' coddle ' and ' protect ' him while he learns the material his teachers are teaching. but how do we know this? what are we basing it on? it ' s the same problem parents have ' knowing ' fuzzy math is bad. the minute i heard about fuzzy math, i knew it was bad. but could i say why it was bad? no. same thing with ' responsibility. ' obviously, i want christopher to grow up to be a responsible person. and yet, somehow, i ' m in the position of arguing ' against ' christopher being responsible. i know — in the bayes way of knowing — i ' m right. but i don ' t know why. update 10 - 20 - 2006 : now that my child has spent one year in a math class in which full responsibility was placed upon parents for reteaching and students for learning, this issue is no longer a mystery. * ed. update 4 - 21 - 2006 : dan has some reservations on this score. it ' s certainly true that the saxon books have a tremendous amount of repetition from one book to the next. mike feinberg of kipp on spiral curricula steve and susan j on spiral curricula acceleration versus remediation parents ' stories about spiralling curricula - - catherinejohnson - 26 jan 2006 back to : main page.


webmd medical news louise chang, md july 4, 2011 - - late talkers or children with limited number of words by age 2 may have some behavioral and emotional issues as toddlers, but these issues will not follow them through their childhood and teen years. the new findings appear in the august issue of pediatrics. researchers followed more than 2, 800 children from birth through age 17. the 142 children who were late talkers did show mild levels of behavioral and emotional problems at age 2, but they were not at greater risk for such issues as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct problems, anxiety, or depression as they grew up. the findings " support a wait - and - see approach to behavioral and speech and language intervention among late talkers with otherwise normal development, " conclude study authors led by andrew j. o. whitehouse, phd, of the university of western australia in subiaco, western australia. as many as 18 % of children are “ late talkers, ” but most will catch up by the time they enter school. the new findings may not apply to children with persistent language impairment and / or other developmental delays. the late talkers in this study did not have any other developmental delays, intellectual disability, or hearing problems. they only showed expressive language delays. the key is whether or not the late talker catches up, melissa wexler gurfein, a speech - language pathologist in new york city, says in an email. " there is no way of knowing whether a child who has been identified as a late talker at age 2 will eventually catch up to the language skills of his same - aged peers, " she says. " it ' s no surprise that late talkers at age 2 may seem to have more behavioral difficulties, " she says. " the frustration of not being able to communicate successfully could be a possible cause of disruptive behavior. " but as a child matures and develops more age - appropriate language skills, his frustration with communication and disruptive behaviors may resolve. " for the child who continues to demonstrate language delays as he matures, this may not hold true, " she says. " the best thing to do for a child who is identified as a late talker is to provide early intervention to help him become as successful of a communicator as he can be since there is no way to identify if he will develop the appropriate language skills to do this on his own, " she says. children under age 3 with developmental delays, including speech delays, qualify


successful of a communicator as he can be since there is no way to identify if he will develop the appropriate language skills to do this on his own, " she says. children under age 3 with developmental delays, including speech delays, qualify for free evaluation through early intervention. if they are found to have any significant delays, they are eligible for free catch - up services. rahil briggs, psyd, an infant - toddler psychologist / behavioral expert at the children ' hospital at montefiore in the bronx, n. y., says that the children in this study fall into a very specific category, and the findings can ' t be generalized to late talkers with other developmental delays. " a 50 % delay for a kid expected to have 50 words is far different than a kid expected to have thousands of words, " she says. " at age 4, if your child remains delayed, they still have enough words to get their needs met. " a 50 % delay is far more deleterious and troublesome to the 2 - year - old, " she says. this helps explain why late talkers with no other issues will outgrow behavioral and emotional issues linked to frustration about their inability to communicate and be understood. " reassuringly, the study found that expressive language delay was not a risk factor for later emotional and behavioral problems, " says andrew adesman, md, the chief of developmental & behavioral pediatrics at steven & alexandra cohen children ' s medical center of new york in new hyde park. most children express themselves verbally soon after birth and speak their first word or words at one year. " between the first and second birthday, we expect children to progress from one to 50 words, " he says. " for children who are not meeting those milestones, the first question is are there are any difficulties understanding language and can they follow a simple command such as ' bring me a toy, ' " he says. other receptive language milestones include being able to point to body parts. " the kids who we worry about most are those with receptive language delays and socialization difficulty, " he says. briggs adds : " concerned parents should keep a language diary and write down each new word that their child says so they do not over - or underestimate the number of words their child has when the pediatrician asks about language development, " she says. " speak to your pediatrician or trusted child development specialist and make sure their child is hearing ok, and there is not a more serious language


##estimate the number of words their child has when the pediatrician asks about language development, " she says. " speak to your pediatrician or trusted child development specialist and make sure their child is hearing ok, and there is not a more serious language disorder that is not only affecting them now, but may affect them later on, " she says. the researchers did account for certain factors linked to speech and behavioral issues such as mom ' s age and education level, income, smoking or alcohol use during pregnancy, but they did not account for maternal depression, she says. maternal depression is predictor of language delay, she says. " we know that if moms are depressed they are less likely to chat up their toddlers all day, " she says. sources : whitehouse, a. pediatrics, 2011. andrew adesman, md, chief, developmental & behavioral pediatrics, steven & alexandra cohen children ' s medical center of new york, new hyde park. melissa wexler gurfein, speech - language pathologist, new york. rahil briggs, psyd, infant - toddler psychologist / behavioral expert, children ' hospital at montefiore, new york. here are the most recent story comments. view all the views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of newssource 16 the health news section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. see additional information.


most active stories - five things you should know about the proposed marijuana rules - daredevil photographer posts photos taken at dizzying heights - 3 pulled from skagit river after i - 5 bridge collapse in mount vernon - ' pot - bellied ' pig : local butcher spikes pig feed with weed - ' staggering ' rate hike under obamacare no longer likely news & music contributors blues time machine many rivers converged to make a new orleans classic : ' iko iko ' it ’ s one of the most iconic songs from new orleans, and like the city, it ’ s origin and meaning are a product of may different influences. its meaning is still being debated by scholars and linguists, but “ iko iko ” was first recorded in 1953 by james “ sugar boy ” crawford, who wrote the pop song “ jock - a - mo ” based on 2 different mardi gras indian chants. the mardi gras “ indians ” are actually african - american groups who have been parading as indian tribes at mardi gras since the mid - 19th century. over the years the custom has evolved into a competition based on costumes and dances. to learn more about the mardi gras indians here ’ s a wikpedia article : the precise origin and meaning of the lyrics has been the subject of much debate. theories about the origins include louisiana creole french, choctaw and chickasaw, and west african. here is one of many articles that attempt to parse the linguistics : whatever the exact source of the chants, “ iko iko ” tells the story of two competing tribes confronting each other at a parade. and though “ sugar boy ” crawford recorded it in 1953, the dixie cups ( 2 sisters and a cousin ) said they learned the song from their grandmother, making it much older. the dixie cups recorded it in 1965 ; apparently it was not planned, they were just messing around in the studio, not knowing that the tape was rolling. here ’ s a live clip of them singing “ iko iko ” : mac rebennack, better known as dr. john, has been a mainstay of new orleans music, going back to the 1950 ’ s, when he started work as a session player. his 1968 album gris - gris, and 1972 ’ s gumbo ( with “ iko iko ” ) introduced the pop music world to the intricately syncopated and funky sounds of new orleans. this clip shows dr. john at the piano explaining what influenced him : along


according to the un children ’ s fund ( unicef ), lack of water safety regulations, inter - ministerial coordination and surveillance can paint a deceptively benign portrait of water quality. “ there are different interpretations of water safety among the line ministries [ working on water issues ], which makes it hard to draw a conclusion about water quality, ” rolf luyendijk, senior statistician for water and sanitation at unicef, said. taps, boreholes, covered wells or springs, as well as rainwater, are considered “ improved ” and “ safe ” water sources but they do not guarantee safe drinking water, he said. “ water from a dug well may not meet microbiological standards and may still be deadly, ” he told irin. according to the world health organisation ( who ), contaminated water contributes to more than two million deaths from diarrhoea each year, plus millions of other cases of waterborne diseases. in 2004, unicef and who piloted rapid water assessments in bangladesh, china, ethiopia, india, jordan, nicaragua, nigeria and tajikistan, which showed that only piped came close to meeting international guidelines. other water sources labelled as “ improved ” were about half - way compliant with the international guidelines. luyendijk told irin ministries working on water and sanitation need to improve data coordination and water quality surveillance to find out if investments are reaching the neediest. “ there is an enormous amount of money invested in boosting access [ to safe water and sanitation ] and those improvements have not reached the poorest quintile [ 20 percent ], ” he said. while 84 percent of people living in low - income countries are reported to use improved water sources, eight out of 10 people without access live in rural areas, according to the latest who - unicef report on water and sanitation coverage.


abstract : the first half of this decade saw landmark advances in the communication industry, particularly in broadband technologies. the next generation communication networks will be based on fast switching and streamlined protocols, and the impact of high - capacity broadband networks on application developers and users will be nothing short of revolutionary. designing and implementing network infrastructures that support the multimedia services are critical to the business success in the 90s and beyond. this course brings needed perspective to students seeking to understand high speed networks and services. the course focuses its learning on a thorough understanding of asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ), a major technology that is anticipated to play a major role in shaping networking of the future, and its coexistence with ip networks. course benefits : the course provides an in - depth description of the atm technology. the atm protocol architecture is discussed in depth and atm technical considerations and implications on future network services are explored. several proposed congestion and flow control algorithms will also be studied. realizing the importance of internetworking, the ietf and the atm forum are pursuing standardizing technologies that will allow ip to be run over atm, including lan emulation, ip multicasting over atm and short - cut - routing. in addition, multilayer switching has been adopted by vendors to combine the speed and manageability of switching with the internetworking ability and flexibility of ip. these ip / atm protocols and technologies will be presented and discussed. audience : this course is of interest to network reseachers, telecommunication managers, network supervisors, system support engineers, lan managers and administrators, system integrators and computer and information science students. 1. b - isdn architecture overview 2. atm architecture 3. atm adaptation layer and qos service architecture segmentation and reassembly cbr, vbr - rt, vbr - nrt, abr, ubr 4. atm call admission and traffic access control traffic descriptor, qos parameters, effective bandwidth generic cell rate algorithm ( gcra ), leaky bucket traffic policing and shaping 5. packet scheduling and buffer management weighted fair queueing 6. abr flow control 7. lan emulation lecs, les, bus, and lec 8. ip over atm classical ip over atm, multicast address resolution server ( mars ), next hop resolution protocol ( nhrp ), and multiprotocol over atm ( mpoa ) 9. multilayer switching 10. reservation protocol ( rsvp ) about the speaker : taieb znati is an associate professor of computer science and


hop resolution protocol ( nhrp ), and multiprotocol over atm ( mpoa ) 9. multilayer switching 10. reservation protocol ( rsvp ) about the speaker : taieb znati is an associate professor of computer science and telecommunication university of pittsburgh, pittsburgh pa dr. znati obtained a ph. d. degree in computer science at michigan state university, east lansing, in april 1988, and a master of science degree at purdue university, west lafayette, indiana. he joined the faculty of the department of computer science with a joint appointment in the graduate program of telecommunications at the university of pittsburgh in the fall of 1988. prior to that date, he was a system manager and a networking coordinator at the case center for computer aided design at michigan state university. as a network coordinator, dr. znati developed a plan of networking requirements for the college of engineering. at inria ( france ), dr. znati was part of the syrius research group where he participated in the design and analyis of distributed database systems. dr. znati current research interests are in the areas of distributed systems, wired and wireless real - time communication networks to support multimedia applications, and local area networks with a particular emphasis on the design and analysis of communication protocols for distributed real - time systems. he has published numerous papers in these areas and develped different frameworks to support quality of service requirements of multimedia applications. dr. znati also participated in the development of several programs of continued education. he is a regular participant in " network focused college " education program and the advanced technology innovation program at the information networking institute ( ini ) of carnegie melon university. dr. znati was also invited to present lectures and tutorials in networking and distributed multimedia systems related topics in the united states of america and abroad. dr. znati chaired multiple conferences and workshops in the field of distributed multimedia systems, high speed communication networks and simulation. he was frequently invited to be a member of a panel to discuss future developments in multimedia systems and high speed networks from the perspective of researchers, developers and users.


deciphering poor penmanship postal worker is a specialist in cracking the code of bad handwriting. during the christmas mail rush, it may be comforting to know the u. s. postal service has a building that serves as a last defense for poor penmanship. workers inside the salt lake city remote encoding center spend hours going through mail, trying to decipher where the mail is supposed to go. as a data conversion operator, holli apodaca ' s job is to figure out mysteries. and because she is so good at figuring them out, she can solve roughly 8, 000 mysteries in a single day. " we get the worst of the worst, " apodaca said. she and other data conversion operators don ' t see the actual envelops, just an image taken by a robot that couldn ' t read them at a processing facility somewhere in america. " without us, all these letters and the other types of mail we key would have to be hand - sorted, which is more time consuming and more costly, " apodaca explained. salt lake city is one of two facilities doing this type of work ; the other is in wichita, kansas. " right now we ' re doing between 4 million and 5 million pieces of mail a day, " said karen heath, a manager at salt lake ' s remote encoding center. sometimes, it ' s just the zip code that can ' t be read. other times, the ink has smeared. but often, it ' s just good, old - fashioned bad penmanship. " we ' re now called ‘ scribble specialists, ' " heath said. " the last two months, we have become known as the ‘ scribble specialists. ' " close to 1, 100 workers decipher addresses at the salt lake facility, which is open 24 hours a day. using their computers, they can zoom in on images, rotate them - whatever it takes to get the letter mailed. " it is nice you can get it to where it actually needs to go without having to have somebody else handle it, " apodaca said. of course, they also know where letters from children simply addressed to santa or the north pole are supposed to go. " we know to send it to the zip code in alaska, " heath said. workers say the volume of mail starts to slow down the day before christmas. even still, there will always be thousands and thousands of letters to go through. their advice : take your time when writing an address.


facts about obesity overweight and obesity together make up a leading preventable cause of death in the u. s. obesity is a chronic disease that can seriously affect your health. overweight means that you have extra body weight, and obesity means having a high amount of extra body fat. being overweight or obese raises your risk for health problems, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. public health experts agree that overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in this country and around the world, although the increase seems to have leveled off recently. more than a third of u. s. adults are obese. people ages 60 and older are more likely to be obese than younger adults, according to the most recent data from the national health and nutrition examination survey. and the problem also affects children. one out of five, or 17 percent, of u. s. children ages 6 to 19 is obese. overweight and obesity are different points on a scale that ranges from being underweight to being morbidly obese. where you fit on this scale is determined by your body mass index ( bmi ). bmi is a measure of your weight as it relates to your height. bmi usually gives you a good idea of the amount of body fat you have. it ' s used by health care provider to find out your risk for obesity - related diseases. occasionally, some very muscular people may have a bmi in the overweight range. but these people are not considered overweight because muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue. in general, a bmi from 18. 5 to 24. 9 in adults is considered normal. a bmi of more than 25 is considered overweight. a person is considered obese if the bmi is greater than 30 and morbidly obese if the bmi is 40 or greater. in general, after the age of 50, a man ' s weight stays about the same. his weight even drops slightly between ages 60 and 74. a woman ' s weight continues to increase until age 60, and then begins to drop. obesity can also be measured by waist - to - hip ratio. this is a measurement tool that looks at the amount of fat on your waist, compared with the amount of fat on your hips and buttocks. the waist circumference tells the amount of abdominal fat. a waist circumference of more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women may increase the risk for heart disease and other diseases tied to


hips and buttocks. the waist circumference tells the amount of abdominal fat. a waist circumference of more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women may increase the risk for heart disease and other diseases tied to being overweight. talk with your health care provider if you have questions about healthy body weight. what causes obesity? in many ways, obesity is a puzzling disease. experts don ' t know exactly how your body regulates your weight and body fat. what they do know is that a person who eats more calories than he or she uses for energy each day will gain weight. but the risk factors that determine obesity can be complex. they are usually a combination of genes, socioeconomic factors, metabolism, and lifestyle choices. some endocrine disorders, diseases, and medications may also affect a person ' s weight. factors that may affect obesity include : genetics. studies show that the likelihood of becoming obese can be passed down through a family ' s genes. researchers have found several genes that appear to be linked with obesity. genes, for instance, may affect where you store extra fat in your body. but most researchers think that it takes more than just one gene to cause an obesity epidemic. they are continuing to do more research to better understand the how genes and lifestyle interact to cause obesity. because families eat meals together and share other activities, environment also plays a role. metabolism factors. how your body uses energy is different from how another person ' s uses it. metabolism and hormones can differ from person to person, and these factors play a role in how much weight you gain. one example is ghrelin, a hormone that regulates appetite. researchers have found that ghrelin may help trigger hunger and give you a feeling of fullness. another example is polycystic ovary syndrome ( pcos ), a condition in women caused by high levels of certain hormones. a woman with pcos is more likely to be obese. socioeconomic factors. how much money you make can affect whether you are obese. this is especially true for women. women who are poor and of lower social status are more likely to be obese than women of higher socioeconomic status. this is especially true among minority groups. lifestyle choices. overeating and a lack of exercise both contribute to obesity. but these are lifestyle choices that can be changed. if many of your calories come from refined foods or foods high in sugar or fat, you will likely gain weight. if you don ' t get


and a lack of exercise both contribute to obesity. but these are lifestyle choices that can be changed. if many of your calories come from refined foods or foods high in sugar or fat, you will likely gain weight. if you don ' t get much if any exercise, you ' ll find it hard to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. medicines. medicines like corticosteroids, antidepressants, and antiseizure drugs can cause you to gain weight. emotions. emotional eating – eating when you ' re bored or upset – can lead to weight gain. too little sleep. people who sleep fewer than five hours a night are more likely to become obese than people who get seven to eight hours of sleep a night. health effects of obesity obesity has a far - ranging negative effect on health. each year in the u. s., obesity - related conditions cost more than $ 100 billion and cause premature deaths. the health effects linked with obesity include : high blood pressure. excess weight requires more blood to circulate to the fat tissue and the blood vessels to become narrow. this makes the heart work harder, because it must pump more blood against more resistance from the blood vessels. more circulating blood and more resistance also means more pressure on the artery walls. higher pressure on the artery walls increases the blood pressure. excess weight also raises blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels and lowers hdl ( " good " ) cholesterol levels. type 2 diabetes. obesity is the major cause of type 2 diabetes. obesity can make your body resistant to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. when obesity causes insulin resistance, your blood sugar level rises. even moderate obesity dramatically increases the risk for diabetes. heart disease. atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, happens more often in obese people. coronary artery disease is also more common in obese people because fatty deposits build up in arteries that supply the heart. narrowed arteries and reduced blood flow to the heart can cause chest pain called angina or a heart attack. blood clots can also form in narrowed arteries and cause a stroke. joint problems, including osteoarthritis. obesity can affect the knees and hips because extra weight stresses the joints. joint replacement surgery may not be a good choice for an obese person because the artificial joint has a higher risk of loosening and causing further damage. sleep apnea and respiratory problems. sleep apnea causes people to stop breathing for brief periods during sleep. sleep apnea


not be a good choice for an obese person because the artificial joint has a higher risk of loosening and causing further damage. sleep apnea and respiratory problems. sleep apnea causes people to stop breathing for brief periods during sleep. sleep apnea interrupts sleep and causes sleepiness during the day. it also causes heavy snoring. breathing problems tied to obesity happen when added weight of the chest wall squeezes the lungs. this restricts breathing. sleep apnea is also linked with high blood pressure. cancer. being overweight or obese increases your risk for a variety of cancers, according to the american cancer society. these include cancers of the colon and rectum, esophagus, kidney, and pancreas. among obese women, the risk increases for cancer of the endometrium, or the lining of the uterus, and breast in those who have gone through menopause. men who are overweight may have a higher risk for prostate cancer. metabolic syndrome. the national cholesterol education program says that metabolic syndrome is risk factor for cardiovascular disease. metabolic syndrome has of six major parts : abdominal obesity, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, inflammation, and higher than normal levels of certain clotting chemicals in the blood. psychosocial effects. people who are overweight or obese can have problems socially or psychologically. this is because the culture in the u. s. often values a body image that ' s overly thin. overweight and obese people are often blamed for their condition. other people may think of them as lazy or weak - willed. it is not uncommon for people who are overweight or obese to earn less than other people or to have fewer or no romantic relationships. some people ' s disapproval of those who are overweight may progress to bias, discrimination, and even torment.


abusing the keys to the blog a bit here, but i thought i ’ d appeal to the substantial collective knowledge of our readership. another research project has piqued my interest in existing cases, historical and contemporary, in which particular groups ( indigenous people, primarily ) are granted international border crossing privileges by virtue of their membership in that group. examples : indigenous peoples residing in the vicinity of the us / canada border have extensive free passage rights and a right to reside in the country not of their citizenship, as outlined in the jay treaty ( 1794 ) and again in the treaty of ghent ( 1814 ). more here. on the us / mexico border, no broad indigenous right of free passage exists. however, for at least some groups such arrangements have come to exist. the kickapoo were chased out of the great lakes region and moved around for much of the 19th century, eventually settling in two locations : a federal territory created for them in indian territory and some land granted to them by the mexican government in coahuila. the two groups maintained cultural, political and economic ties, and the ins informally granted the kickapoo free and unfettered passage from the 1950 ′ s on. that arrangement was eventually codified in the kickapoo band of texas act in 1983. in 1751, the stromstad treaty between denmark and sweden codified the boundary between the ( then danish ) territory of norway and sweden. this law contained a “ lapp codicil, ” which granted members of the lapp people free passage rights across this border for the purposes of nomadic reindeer herding. i ’ m looking for more examples of the phenomenon. i ’ d be interested in border crossing rights for indigenous peoples or other specific ethnic or national groups, whether achieved via international treaties, national legislation, and administrative practice.


leo baeck was born in lissa ( now leszno, poland ), in the then german province of posen on may 23, 1873, the son of a rabbi. after attending the conservative jewish theological seminary in breslau ( now wroclaw, poland ), he moved to berlin to study at the more liberal lehranstalt fur die wissenschaft des judentums in berlin. by 1897 he had secured his first post as rabbi in oppeln ( now opole, poland ). in oppeln, baeck made his mark as an intellectual and a modern theologian in, with the publication of das wesen des judentums ( “ the essence of judaism ” ) in 1905. written in response to adolf von harnack ’ s das wesen des christentums ( “ the essence of christianity ” ), the book is a passionate argument for the enduring relevance of judaism. rather than the cult based on outmoded rituals and laws that harnack saw in judaism, baeck located the essence of judaism in the intersection between rational ethics and a personal experience of the divine. the commandment to search the scriptures for ethical principles, he argued, made judaism an evolving, perpetually modern tradition of critical thought. a humanist, a scholar, and a modern theologian, a man deeply versed in both rabbinical study and western culture, a feldrabbiner during world war one, baeck was irreversibly committed to the cause of jewish life in germany. in many ways he symbolized the delicate, fertile symbiosis of jewish and german thought that characterized the years before hitler ’ s reich. a stoic, baeck remained at his post as the civilization he loved was shredded. he was a reluctant interlocutor with the nazis from their rise through the final solution, a stance for which he was rewarded with dispatch to the theresienstadt concentration camp. – roger cohen, from leo baeck institute at 50, 2005. in 1912 leo baeck was called to berlin, where he worked both as a rabbi at the large synagogue on fasanenstraße as well as a lecturer at the hochschule fur die wissenschaft des judentums. a patriot who was committed to the cause of jewish life in germany, baeck emerged as an important symbolic and political leader of german jewry. during the first world war, baeck served as a chaplain ( feldrabbiner ) in the german army. in 1918 he returned to berlin and


life in germany, baeck emerged as an important symbolic and political leader of german jewry. during the first world war, baeck served as a chaplain ( feldrabbiner ) in the german army. in 1918 he returned to berlin and worked at the prussian culture ministry as an expert in hebrew. in addition to his position as a rabbi and his lecturing at the hochschule, leo baeck also became president of the union of german rabbis ( allgemeiner deutscher rabbinerverband ) in 1922. he was elected president of the german b ’ nai b ’ rith order in 1924. at this time baeck also joined the central - verein deutscher staatsburger judischen glaubens, and the jewish agency for palestine. when the nazis rose to power in 1933 leo baeck was elected president of the reichsvertretung der deutschen juden, an umbrella organization of german - jewish groups founded to advance the interests of german jewry in the face of nazi persecution. the organization was forced to change its name to the reichsverband der juden in deutschland in 1935 to reflect the nazi view that there were no “ german jews ” but only “ jews in germany. ” as the head of this organization, baeck worked to maintain the morale of german jews and alleviate the discrimination and persecution of the jews by the national socialists. under baeck, the organization also helped jews emigrate from germany. in spite of several offers of emigration, leo baeck refused to leave germany or his community, even after jewish businesses and synagogues ( including his home congregation at fasanenstrasse ) were burned and looted in november 1938. he is reported to have said that he would only leave germany when he was the last jew remaining there. he remained the nominal president of the reichsverband when it was placed under nazi control and renamed the reichsvereinigung der juden in deutschland. when this organization was finally disbanded in 1943, leo baeck, along with his family members, was sent to the concentration camp at theresienstadt ( terezin ) at the age of seventy. during his time in theresienstadt, leo baeck continued to teach, holding secret lectures on philosophy and religion in the barracks of the camp. in spite of being forced to perform hard labor, he also managed to begin a manuscript that would later become dieses volk – judische existenz, ( “ this people israel : the meaning of


religion in the barracks of the camp. in spite of being forced to perform hard labor, he also managed to begin a manuscript that would later become dieses volk – judische existenz, ( “ this people israel : the meaning of jewish existence ” ) an interpretation of jewish history. the camp was liberated in may 1945 by the red army. none of baeck ’ s four sisters survived theresienstadt. after the liberation of the camp, leo baeck eventually made his way to england where his daughter ruth resided. he received many citations and honors as a result of his efforts under the nazis, and spent much of his next years travelling and lecturing, as well as writing and helping to found several organizations with the goals of assisting the remnants of european jewry. he also reached out to the new federal republic of germany and to israel. in 1955, a group of emigre german - jewish intellectuals including hannah arendt, martin buber, robert weltsch, and gershom scholem met in jerusalem to found an institute that would preserve the history of the german - jewish culture. they named the institute in baeck ’ s honor and appointed him its first president. although leo baeck died just over a year later, on november 2, 1956, he left an indelible imprint on the mission and work of the leo baeck institute.


search the library by daniel j. schultz the second amendment to the united states constitution states : " a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. " the reference to a " well regulated " militia, probably conjures up a connotation at odds with the meaning intended by the framers. in today ' s english, the term " well regulated " probably implies heavy and intense government regulation. however, that conclusion is erroneous. the words " well regulated " had a far different meaning at the time the second amendment was drafted. in the context of the constitution ' s provisions for congressional power over certain aspects of the militia, and in the context of the framers ' definition of " militia, " government regulation was not the intended meaning. rather, the term meant only what it says, that the necessary militia be well regulated, but not by the national government. to determine the meaning of the constitution, one must start with the words of the constitution itself. if the meaning is plain, that meaning controls. to ascertain the meaning of the term " well regulated " as it was used in the second amendment, it is necessary to begin with the purpose of the second amendment itself. the overriding purpose of the framers in guaranteeing the right of the people to keep and bear arms was as a check on the standing army, which the constitution gave the congress the power to " raise and support. " as noah webster put it in a pamphlet urging ratification of the constitution, " before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed ; as they are in almost every kingdom in europe. " george mason remarked to his virginia delegates regarding the colonies ' recent experience with britain, in which the monarch ' s goal had been " to disarm the people ; that [ that ]... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. " a widely reprinted article by tench coxe, an ally and correspondent of james madison, described the second amendment ' s overriding goal as a check upon the national government ' s standing army : as civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their


to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms. thus, the well regulated militia necessary to the security of a free state was a militia that might someday fight against a standing army raised and supported by a tyrannical national government. obviously, for that reason, the framers did not say " a militia well regulated by the congress, being necessary to the security of a free state " - - because a militia so regulated might not be separate enough from, or free enough from, the national government, in the sense of both physical and operational control, to preserve the " security of a free state. " it is also helpful to contemplate the overriding purpose and object of the bill of rights in general. to secure ratification of the constitution, the federalists, urging passage of the constitution by the states had committed themselves to the addition of the bill of rights, to serve as " further guards for private rights. " in that regard, the first ten amendments to the constitution were designed to be a series of " shall nots, " telling the new national government again, in no uncertain terms, where it could not tread. it would be incongruous to suppose or suggest the bill of rights, including the second amendment, which were proscriptions on the powers of the national government, simultaneously acted as a grant of power to the national government. similarly, as to the term " well regulated, " it would make no sense to suggest this referred to a grant of " regulation " power to the government ( national or state ), when the entire purpose of the bill of rights was to both declare individual rights and tell the national government where the scope of its enumerated powers ended. in keeping with the intent and purpose of the bill of rights both of declaring individual rights and proscribing the powers of the national government, the use and meaning of the term " militia " in the second amendment, which needs to be " well regulated, " helps explain what " well regulated " meant. when the constitution was ratified, the framers unanimously believed that the " militia " included all of the people capable of bearing arms. george mason, one of the virginians who refused to sign the constitution because it lacked a bill of rights, said : " who are the militia? they consist now of the whole people. " likewise


included all of the people capable of bearing arms. george mason, one of the virginians who refused to sign the constitution because it lacked a bill of rights, said : " who are the militia? they consist now of the whole people. " likewise, the federal farmer, one of the most important anti - federalist opponents of the constitution, referred to a " militia, when properly formed, [ as ] in fact the people themselves. " the list goes on and on. by contrast, nowhere is to be found a contemporaneous definition of the militia, by any of the framers, as anything other than the " whole body of the people. " indeed, as one commentator said, the notion that the framers intended the second amendment to protect the " collective " right of the states to maintain militias rather than the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms, " remains one of the most closely guarded secrets of the eighteenth century, for no known writing surviving from the period between 1787 and 1791 states such a thesis. " furthermore, returning to the text of the second amendment itself, the right to keep and bear arms is expressly retained by " the people, " not the states. recently the u. s. supreme court confirmed this view, finding that the right to keep and bear arms was an individual right held by the " people, " - - a " term of art employed in select parts of the constitution, " specifically the preamble and the first, second, fourth, ninth and tenth amendments. thus, the term " well regulated " ought to be considered in the context of the noun it modifies, the people themselves, the militia ( s ). the above analysis leads us finally to the term " well regulated. " what did these two words mean at the time of ratification? were they commonly used to refer to a governmental bureaucracy as we know it today, with countless rules and regulations and inspectors, or something quite different? we begin this analysis by examining how the term " regulate " was used elsewhere in the constitution. in every other instance where the term " regulate " is used, or regulations are referred to, the constitution specifies who is to do the regulating and what is being " regulated. " however, in the second amendment, the framers chose only to use the term " well regulated " to describe a militia and chose not to define who or what would regulate it. it is also important to note that the framers ' chose to use the indefinite article " a " to refer to the militia, rather


use the term " well regulated " to describe a militia and chose not to define who or what would regulate it. it is also important to note that the framers ' chose to use the indefinite article " a " to refer to the militia, rather than the definite article " the. " this choice suggests that the framers were not referring to any particular well regulated militia but, instead, only to the concept that well regulated militias, made up of citizens bearing arms, were necessary to secure a free state. thus, the framers chose not to explicitly define who, or what, would regulate the militias, nor what such regulation would consist of, nor how the regulation was to be accomplished. this comparison of the framers ' use of the term " well regulated " in the second amendment, and the words " regulate " and " regulation " elsewhere in the constitution, clarifies the meaning of that term in reference to its object, namely, the militia. there is no doubt the framers understood that the term " militia " had multiple meanings. first, the framers understood all of the people to be part of the unorganized militia. the unorganized militia members, " the people, " had the right to keep and bear arms. they could, individually, or in concert, " well regulate " themselves ; that is, they could train to shoot accurately and to learn the basics of military tactics. this interpretation is in keeping with english usage of the time, which included within the meaning of the verb " regulate " the concept of self - regulation or self - control ( as it does still to this day ). the concept that the people retained the right to self - regulate their local militia groups ( or regulate themselves as individual militia members ) is entirely consistent with the framers ' use of the indefinite article " a " in the phrase " a well regulated militia. " this concept of the people ' s self - regulation, that is, non - governmental regulation, is also in keeping with the limited grant of power to congress " for calling forth " the militia for only certain, limited purposes, to " provide for " the militia only certain limited control and equipment, and the limited grant of power to the president regarding the militia, who only serves as commander in chief of that portion of the militia called into the actual service of the nation. the " well regula [ tion ] " of the militia set forth in the second amendment was apart from that control over the militia exercised by congress and the president, which extended only to that


the militia called into the actual service of the nation. the " well regula [ tion ] " of the militia set forth in the second amendment was apart from that control over the militia exercised by congress and the president, which extended only to that part of the militia called into actual service of the union. thus, " well regula [ tion ] " referred to something else. since the fundamental purpose of the militia was to serve as a check upon a standing army, it would seem the words " well regulated " referred to the necessity that the armed citizens making up the militia ( s ) have the level of equipment and training necessary to be an effective and formidable check upon the national government ' s standing army. this view is confirmed by alexander hamilton ' s observation, in the federalist, no. 29, regarding the people ' s militias ability to be a match for a standing army : "... but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights.... " it is an absolute truism that law - abiding, armed citizens pose no threat to other law - abiding citizens. the framers ' writings show they also believed this. as we have seen, the framers understood that " well regulated " militias, that is, armed citizens, ready to form militias that would be well trained, self - regulated and disciplined, would pose no threat to their fellow citizens, but would, indeed, help to " insure domestic tranquility " and " provide for the common defence. " 1. in constitutional or statutory construction, language should always be accorded its plain meaning. see, e. g., martin v. hunter ' s lessee, 14 u. s. ( 1 wheat. ) 304, 326 ( 1816 ). 2. " on every question of construction [ of the constitution ] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed. " thomas jefferson, letter to william johnson, june 12, 1823, the complete jefferson, p. 32. 3. " the congress shall have power..


text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed. " thomas jefferson, letter to william johnson, june 12, 1823, the complete jefferson, p. 32. 3. " the congress shall have power... to raise and support armies.... " u. s. const., article i, section 8, cl. 12. 4. senate subcommittee on the constitution of the comm. on the judiciary, 97th cong., 2d sess., the right to keep and bear arms ( comm. print 1982 ), at 5. 5. 3 j. elliot, debates in the several state conventions 380 ( 2d ed. 1836 ). 6. originally published under the pseudonym " a pennsylvanian, " these " remarks on the first part of the amendments to the federal constitution " first appeared in the philadelphia federal gazette, june 18, 1789, at 2, col. 1. they were reprinted by the new york packet, june 23, 1789, at 2, cols. 1 - 2, and by the boston centennial, july 4, 1789, at 1, col. 2. the u. s. supreme court, in u. s. v. miller, 307 u. s. 174, 83 l. ed. 2d 1206, 59 s. ct. 816 ( 1939 ), noted that the debates in the constitutional convention, the history and legislation of the colonies and states, and the writings of approved commentators showed that the militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense - - a body enrolled for military discipline. 7. 11 papers of james madison 307 ( r. rutland & c. hobson ed. 1977 ) ( letter of oct. 20, 1788, from madison to edmund pendleton ) ( emphasis added ). 8. an examination of the other nine amendments of the bill of rights shows that they were designed, like the second amendment, to declare rights retained by the people ( 1 - 9 ), or the states ( 10 ), and to provide a clear list of powers not given to the national government : " congress shall make no law.... " ( amendment i ) ; " no soldier shall.... " ( amendment iii ) ; " the right of the people... shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue.... " ( amendment iv ) ; " no person shall... ; nor shall any person... ; nor shall private property be taken


right of the people... shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue.... " ( amendment iv ) ; " no person shall... ; nor shall any person... ; nor shall private property be taken.... " ( amendment v ) ; " in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy.... " ( amendment vi ) ; " in suits at common law... the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by jury, shall be otherwise re - examined in any court of the united states.... " ( amendment vii ) ; " excessive bail shall not be required.... " ( amendment viii ) ; " the enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. " ( amendment ix ) ; " the powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. " ( amendment x ). 9. 3 j. elliot, debates in the general state conventions 425 ( 3d ed. 1937 ) ( statement of george mason, june 14, 1788 ), reprinted in levinson, the embarassing second amendment, 99 yale l. rev. 637, 647 ( 1989 ). see supra note 6 and accompanying text. 10. letters from the federal farmer to the republican 123 ( w. bennet ed. 1978 ) ( ascribed to richard henry lee ), reprinted in levinson, supra note 9, at 647. see supra note 6 and accompanying text. 11. s. halbrook, that every man be armed : the evolution of a constitutional right, p. 83 ( the independent institute, 1984 ). 12. u. s. v. verdugo - urquidez, 494 u. s. 259, 265 ( 1990 ) ( " the second amendment protects ' the right of the people to keep and bear arms '.... " ). 13. " the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof ; but the congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. " ( article i, section 4 ) ; " the congress shall have power... to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several


may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. " ( article i, section 4 ) ; " the congress shall have power... to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the indian tribes.... " ( article i, section 8, cl. 3 ) ; " the congress shall have power... to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.... " ( article i, section 8, cl. 5 ) ; " no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another : nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. " ( article i, section 9 ) ; " in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. in all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the congress shall make. " ( article iii, section 2, cl. 2 ) ; " no person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due. " ( article iv, section 2, cl. 3 ) ; " the congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the united states ; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the united states, or of any particular state. " ( article iv, section 3, cl. 2 ). 14. see supra, notes 6, 9 and 10 and accompanying text. 15. the oxford english dictionary gives the following examples of usage for the term " well regulated " : 1709 : " if a liberal education has formed in us... well - regulated appetites, and worthy inclinations. " 1714 : " the practice of all well regulated courts of justice in the world. " 1812 : " the equation of time... is the adjustment of the difference of time, as shown by a well - regulated clock