i was in seventh grade. the kids were off school for several weeks while the teachers walked the picket line. it was part of the indiana teacher ’ s union ’ s master strike plan to get higher wages statewide. the outside influences nearly tore our town apart as many of the residents were steelworkers and felt loyalty to the strikers even though their kids were suffering. my math teacher held class for her students anyway ; no doubt she was unpopular with some of her fellow teachers but the kids whose parents allowed them to cross the picket line loved her for it. i had 3 jobs in high school ; two were at minimum wage, and the third was bagging groceries at a little more than minimum wage, but the extra pay was eaten up by union dues. when i went to college, i studied engineering and took a coop job with caterpillar in peoria, illinois. my first coop session was in the east peoria tractor plant as a uaw member. it was to be split in thirds, with one session to be in the training shop to learn how to use the machine tools. that fall, the contract with the big three agriculture implement makers was up, and once again john deere was stronger financially than caterpillar and international harvester. the local union leaders were upset that cat had been passed over as a strike target for the third contract in a row, so they voted to go on an unauthorized strike. the local union president voted once and then again to break the tie ( so much for roberts ’ rules of order ). so caterpillar was on strike from the end of september until right before christmas. nothing was gained since the union didn ’ t negotiate with cat until the deere strike was settled ; the workers had to survive on approximately $ 100 per week strike pay. meanwhile, another city was divided by a strike since caterpillar was the largest employer. i missed getting machine shop training, went home and substitute taught. strikes don ’ t help anyone. for me it was an inconvenience and loss of earnings for school ; for workers trying to feed their families, strikes cause serious financial pain. new tactics – badgering the budget balancers teachers and government workers strikes are now illegal or highly discouraged. so the unions have adopted more effective tactics : coercion and influence of elected officials. in new jersey even the liberal newspapers were critical of democratic governor jon corzine for being too cozy with the public sector unions. recent pitched battles between governors of wisconsin, ohio and michigan and public sector employees have drawn


##ion and influence of elected officials. in new jersey even the liberal newspapers were critical of democratic governor jon corzine for being too cozy with the public sector unions. recent pitched battles between governors of wisconsin, ohio and michigan and public sector employees have drawn out of town protestors, the occupy movement and the usual crew of race - baiting liberals. when governor scott walker spoke at a fundraiser in troy, he drew 2000 protestors, most from out of town. some reporters wrote only about the grievances of the teachers and other protestors, but didn ' t write about the contents of walker ' s speech. what about the people attending the speech who felt intimidated by the angry protestors? the noisy 10 percent and sympathizers some protestors had signs saying “ we are the 99 %, ” but they are the noisy 10 %, with another 10 % or 20 % who sympathize with them. meanwhile, the taxpayers pay ever higher wages and benefits compared to similar work in the private sector. someday soon, we will reach a tipping point. fortunately, many of our states require a balanced budget, so the day of reckoning comes soon for those states, and they will be healthier in the long run. already states like illinois and new york that have raised taxes to solve their budget problems have seen business leave for neighboring states. meanwhile, the federal government continues to spend 40 % more than it takes in. the u. s. is piling up debt and headed on a slippery slope toward greece in a few years if we don ’ t do something soon. the battle is heating up for november, with clear consequences and choices. it will be up to the voters to sort through the demonizing and determine the best way forward.


this page will also discuss leviticus : 400 years after the israelites ' migration to egypt at the end of genesis, a new pharaoh subjects them to slavery and has all their newborn children killed. one baby escapes and is found by pharaoh ' s daughter and named moses. as an adult, he kills an overseer for beating an israelite and flees to the desert. he settles down into the life of a shepherd when he is called by god to liberate his brethren. leviticus : the guide book about how the israelites are to properly worship god. numbers : the israelites are on their way to the promised land. moses, with god ' s help, guides his people to the land flowing with milk and honey while battling hostile nomadic peoples and internal dissension. things do not go entirely to plan. deuteronomy : moses ' last instructions to the new generation of israelites about to enter canaan : moses and the previous generation of israelites are dead and its up to joshua to lead the new generation in conquering the promised land. joshua is followed by the book of judges these books contain the following tropes : - after action report : according to tradition, these books were written near the end of moses ' and joshua ' s lifetimes. - ambiguously jewish : in rabbinical tradition, moses was never circumcised, hence why he wasn ' t allowed into the promised land. freud theorized that moses wasn ' t jewish at all, but egyptian royalty that for some reason threw in with their lot. - according to exodus, moses was not allowed into the promised land because of his disobedience to god in his leadership of the isrealites. circumcision had nothing to do with it. - badass grandpa - moses was 120 when he died. joshua finally became leader, at 80. - bittersweet ending : the israelites conquer canaan but it ' s foretold the next generation will be unfaithful to god. - bury your gays : the infamous leviticus 20 : 13... two men having sex with each other must be put to death. - church militant : contrary to what you see in the ten commandments, the worshipers of the golden calf were not swallowed up by the earth. god had moses command the levite priests to slaughter them. the swallowed up by the earth vent happened later, in an unrelated incident. - crazy - prepared / the dev team thinks of everything : the laws of moses. covers civil law


the earth. god had moses command the levite priests to slaughter them. the swallowed up by the earth vent happened later, in an unrelated incident. - crazy - prepared / the dev team thinks of everything : the laws of moses. covers civil law, criminal law, public sanitation, religious rituals... it even gives some case studies for unusual events. - deus ex machina : whenever the people of israel are in need, god provides. - does not like shoes : god in the burning bush. " remove your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. " - dropped a sea on him : pharaoh and those unfortunate egyptian soldiers caught in the red sea at the wrong time. - everyone calls him barkeep : pharaoh in sharp contrast to two hebrew midwives identified by name. - exactly what it says on the tin : exodus describes an exodus. deuteronomy means " second law ". - fatal flaw - moses ' anger. - pharaoh ' s arrogance. - aaron ' s weak leadership. - miriam ' s jealousy of moses. - joshua ' s overconfidence. - balaam continuing to antagonize the israelites even after experiencing god ' s power. - foreshadowing : deut. 17 : 14 was about how to choose a good king, centuries before any israelite even thought this was a good idea. - geo effects : taken advantage of by the israelite army ( and occasionally it also gets the better of them because they weren ' t right with god ). - god was my copilot : god ( or a messenger thereof ) shows up to help joshua take town the city of jericho. - heroic blue screen of death : after joshua ' s failed attack on ai. - heel face revolving door : pharaoh. - holy backlight : moses gets glowy from spending so much time in god ' s direct presence. - holy is not safe : exodus 33 : 20 provides the page quote. moses asks to see god ' s face, but he replies that seeing it would kill moses. god arranges for moses to see his back instead. - just so story - these books explain the origins of the names of places known only to middle easterners. - kill ' em all : well, all the first - born unprotected by lamb ' s blood, anyway. - kill it with water : drowning pharaoh ' s army in the red sea. - lyrical dissonance : the song of moses ( deut. 32 : 1 - 43 )


- born unprotected by lamb ' s blood, anyway. - kill it with water : drowning pharaoh ' s army in the red sea. - lyrical dissonance : the song of moses ( deut. 32 : 1 - 43 ) which was sung as the israelites finally entered the promised land. in the passages beforehand, god had flat out told moses that his people were going to mess up badly in the end, and gave the song to moses as a reminder of what they needed to do once that day came to repent. nevertheless, it ' s about as uplifting as a kick in the balls. - meaningful echo : the generation after moses crosses the jordan river in a manner similar to how their parents crossed the red sea. - moses in the bullrushes : the trope namer. - only fatal to adults : only those israelites under the age of 20 make it to the promised land, the rest being wiped out by various means as a result of their complaining... and the fact that they were a rag tag bunch of misfits wandering a vast expanse of desert for 40 years. - pals with jesus : moses talks to god all the time and spends a lot of time in his presence. he also got to see god ' s " back ", whatever that ' s supposed to mean. - sacred hospitality : various clans get cursed for not extending it, israel gets in trouble for being stupid about it ( they made a promise they shouldn ' t have because they didn ' t consult god ), and the laws of the new nation codify being kind to strangers, extending sanctuary for escaped slaves, etc. - take a third option : joshua meets a stranger after prayer. he demands to know whether the stranger is an enemy or an ally. the stranger replies : " neither, i ' m here to command you. " joshua realizes who he ' s talking to. - 10 - minute retirement : well, forty years for moses, but who ' s counting? - torches and pitchforks : the crowds have a tendency to get a little volatile whenever things don ' t go exactly their way.


look, ma! no thrusters! nearly all spacecraft in existence today work based on newton ' s third law — for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. expulsive explosion of pressurized stuff out the spacecraft ' s back creates a reaction force that accelerates the spacecraft forward. * this means that real - life and conceivable future spaceships are mostly fuel tanks with a controlled explosion chamber in the back, with comparatively little volume for basic life support and human habitation. most science fiction stories, however are about humans, not reaction mass, so science fiction writers would prefer spacecraft to have much more of their volume dedicated to human activities. they typically want their spaceships to be able to operate within walking - distance of the cantina, rather than turning half the town into slag as our heroes flee mos eisley. a reactionless drive or reactionless engine is a piece of advanced technology invented to make life easy for those science fiction for our purposes it is sufficient to define the drive as follows : " any form of propulsion not based around expulsion of fuel or reaction mass ". in other words the drive will propel a vehicle, almost always a starship, without having to waste space carrying propellant. sometimes authors will try to control these drives by requiring a power plant to make it keep working but more than a few will keep working forever. obviously this would be an awesome invention! so why don ' t we have them? well, naively it would shatter the fundamental basis of all physics since isaac newton, as detailed here, and modern theories predict effects too small to be useful. thoughtful speculative fiction writers have also noted that any sort of reactionless drive would provide those who possess it with an infinitely powerful weapon ( compare weaponized exhaust, which is the use of a reaction drive as a weapon ). note that this would not be a problem if they required truly massive amounts of power * but many examples don ' t. some writers try to side step this potential danger by setting a maximum speed that the drive can go. unfortunately while this eliminates the possibility of an infinitely powerful missile it still leaves the developer with an infinitely powerful energy source leaving the writer with most of the same problems. other times, it may be limited to higher tech species or sufficiently advanced aliens who presumably have some scientific understanding beyond the ken of " lesser races ". open / close all folders - mobile suit victory gundam featured the reactionless minovsky drive ( a scaled down version of the system used to make battleships fly ) on


advanced aliens who presumably have some scientific understanding beyond the ken of " lesser races ". open / close all folders - mobile suit victory gundam featured the reactionless minovsky drive ( a scaled down version of the system used to make battleships fly ) on the victory gundam and it ' s successor, the v2, granting thruster - less levitation within atmospheres and in the latter case enough surplus power to sustain the enormous " wings of light ". - gunbuster features the eltreum, a 70 km - long carrier craft that uses mathematical computations and a load of other stuff to somehow warp the fabric of spacetime itself in order to move. - the trope namer is larry niven ' s known space universe stories. the utility of this technology is made clear in the ringworld books as it allows the ships to remain stationary relative to the ringworld for extended periods. - cavorite from h. g. wells ' the first men in the moon created anti - gravitational thrust. it blocks the earth ' s gravity in the same way lead blocks electromagnetic fields, allowing the moon ' s weaker gravity to pull the vessel up. needless to say jules verne had a fit. - ender in exile actually plays this one fairly straight as far as power goes. the starship engines work with a directional forcefield, dissolving space debris in front of the ship and propelling it out the back. of course, it was the same dissolving technology that created the little doctor device, a weapon that rips molecules apart, increasing by proximity of mass. meaning that if someone drove the ship ' s engine into a sizable mass ( say, a planet ) the entire structure would unweave. - that ' s still a reaction drive, just not carrying the mass ; it ' s essentially a ram scoop. the " park shift " drives in use by speaker for the dead seem to be true reactionless drives, somehow manipulating reference frames to spin the universe past your ship ( at relativistic but subluminal speeds ), but card doesn ' t go into much detail. ( the park shift drive is also an inertialess drive of sorts ; a spacecraft can instantly switch from a dead - stop to going 99 % of the speed of light without having to spend time accelerating. ) - the cities in flight series has the dillon - wagoner graviton polarity generator or " spindizzy " which gets more efficiency when it moves greater amounts of mass. - rendezvous with rama by arthur


without having to spend time accelerating. ) - the cities in flight series has the dillon - wagoner graviton polarity generator or " spindizzy " which gets more efficiency when it moves greater amounts of mass. - rendezvous with rama by arthur c. clarke gives one to the eponymous mysterious alien spacecraft, and acknowledges its impossibility in order to add to the mystery. " there goes newton ' s third law. " - the impeller drive of honor harrington generates a pair of bands of extremely high gravitational distortion that allow a ship to go forward in a method that is likened to surfing. top speed for unmanned items ( such as missiles ) is in excess of 99 % of lightspeed under the right conditions. manned vessels are generally restricted to 0. 8c for military vessels and 0. 6c for commercial, but that ' s a function of particle shielding not the drive. the real limiting factor is how great an acceleration that your crew can withstand, something that is increased by inertial compensators. - isaac asimov : - in the gods themselves, he managed to come up with a fully thought through mechanism for this that doesn ' t involve abandoning conservation of momentum. there might not be anything to push against where you are in this universe, but what about the one next door? - in the fourth book of the foundation series, foundation ' s edge, the ( first ) foundation produces a few top - secret starships that use a " gravitic drive " for maneuvering in normal space. these ships use no reaction mass. according to the next book, foundation and earth, the gravitic drive draws its power from the combined gravitational field of the entire galaxy. - the eponymous technology in anti - grav unlimited are rods that act like " gravity magnets ". through experimentation, he not only manages to create a perpetual motion engine for his van ( by welding two rods perpendicular to each other so that they ' re always being pulled up on one side and down the other ), but also manages to rig rods such that he can make the van fly. - in fleeing earth ( terre en fuite ) by francois bordes ( aka francis carsac ), the second civilization of humanity ( after we mostly die out in another ice age ) is conquered by aliens. when the aliens are defeated using a genetically - engineered virus, they leave behind some of their technology, including their primary means of propulsion in space called " space magnets ". apparently, there are certain energy lines between nearby stars that can be used


. when the aliens are defeated using a genetically - engineered virus, they leave behind some of their technology, including their primary means of propulsion in space called " space magnets ". apparently, there are certain energy lines between nearby stars that can be used for space travel by using these " space magnets " to allow a ship to be " pulled " towards a specific star. a ship with a " space magnet " can accelerate to close to 80 % of the speed of light. ships can also maneuver with these drives similar to how sailing ships can be still pushed by the wind even going in a perpendicular direction. there are limitations, however. it is discovered that there is a barrier of sorts at midpoint between the two stars that prevents a ship with a " space magnet " from moving farther ( why the drive can ' t simply be shut off for the time being is not explained ). exceptions include a massive object traveling at very high speeds. this comes into play when the sun is about to explode, forcing humans to build giant " space magnets " that allow them to move planets, such as earth and venus. - in tom swift and the race to the moon, the plucky hero ' s spaceship is driven by " repellatrons. " while there is no exhaust, these don ' t violate the conservation of momentum, because they work by pushing remotely against the earth. - in stone by adam roberts, reactionless propulsion is achieved by extremely rapid teleportation in infinitesimal steps. this can even be applied to an individual, who can be wrapped in a protective shell, with life - support equipment and a teleportation device, and then sent off to their destination through interstellar space. the speed of this mechanism is affected by gravitational fields, where a stronger field requires more complex calculation ( and thus less rapid steps ). the reader may notice this sounds exactly like the stutterdrive mentioned for sword of the stars under video games. as stone was published in 2003, and the game in 2006, i can only assume it was half - inched. - larry niven proposed more - or - less this design in his " the theory and practice of teleportation ", originally a speech at boskone in 1969. - in c. j. cherryh ' s alliance / union verse, the faster - than - light travel drives that are used to enter hyperspace can, while in normal space, be used to make instantaneous changes in velocity ( piling on a second impossibility on top


the many ways cylons in battlestar galactica have outstripped their creators technologically is by giving all of their baseships reactionless drives. in fact, due to the star shape and lack of outward features, it ' s sometimes unclear which way is their up, down, or forward. their fighters still use normal engines, presumably due to power / size constraints. - the firefly class of merchant space ships does spew a little bit of exhaust when it goes to full burn, but this exhaust is extremely rarefied and appears static against the backdrop of interplanetary space. given the spacecraft ' s lack of internal space for storing propellant, the exhaust may merely be the ( unaccelerated ) fuel expended to power the reactionless drive. - the various reactionless drives in gurps : spaceships are most obviously useful in that they save a tremendous amount of space because even the best reaction engines require a large fraction of the ship ' s mass in order to reach useful speeds. all of them require a great deal of power to operate, but not nearly enough to explain the thrust through anything but superscience. - the " ether propeller " of space 1889. - later versions of traveller used reactionless " thruster plates " for spaceship movement. - the ion drive engines of starfire are probably reactionless drives — they let a starship instantly switch back - and - forth between a dead stop and 10 % of the speed of light at the flick of a switch, so they definitely ignore pesky details of physics like inertia — but we are never told outright whether they spew exhaust or not. - in warhammer 40000, some of the more technologically advanced races have them. the necrons do in addition to being the only race to possess true ftl travel as opposed to using the warp. the eldar and dark eldar may possibly have them, while other races do not. - in sword of the stars, the liir have what ' s called a stutterdrive, which teleports their ships an infinitesimal amount millions of times a second. they use no thrust and have no inertia, and their ships are not affected by in - game techs that affect thrust. - this is also out of necessity, as their ships are filled with water and trying to move them through normal means would be an engineering nightmare. however, they do have a disadvantage when maneuvering near large celestial bodies, as gravity wells makes teleportation calculations more complex


of necessity, as their ships are filled with water and trying to move them through normal means would be an engineering nightmare. however, they do have a disadvantage when maneuvering near large celestial bodies, as gravity wells makes teleportation calculations more complex, slowing down the ship. - they still use thrusters to rotate. also, if the stutterdrive is destroyed in battle, they are able to use the thrusters to move slowly. it is also not explained why, when the drive is destroyed, they keep drifting, even though they should stop dead. - the tarka normally have reaction drives, but their hyperdrives can be enhanced to allow them to maneuver at subluminal speeds without the use of reaction drives. this leaves space in the aft section to add more and / or heavier turrets. - the morrigi use gravity manipulation for their propulsion. they are precursors who used to have very advanced tech, though. - one of the drive systems in ascendancy is a gravity drive which works by projecting gravitons in front of the ship, which then pull the ship forward. presumably, the gravitons are removed after the ship passes, otherwise, they would then pull it backwards. it should be noted that this is by far not the fastest engine in the game and has no advantages other than be slightly faster than the one preceding it. - the normandy ( both of them ) in the mass effect games uses a " tantalus drive " that propels the ship by creating mass concentrations in front of the ship that it falls into through gravity, principally for stealth purposes to avoid the use of heat - emitting thrusters. - the greater powers of orion ' s arm have access to 3 kinds of reactionless drives for their spaceships, all largely based on the alcubierre drive ( see real life section below ) but limited to just below the speed of light ( attempting to hit c allegedly causes void bubble collapse ). like alcubierre drive, they depend on negative mass, and as per the setting ' s guidelines, elaborate justification has been provided as to their plausibility. thematically, the lesser gods ' displacement and halo drives ( pictured above ) have only disposable engines located inside void bubbles and magnetically or gravitationally coupled to an external ship, since at their level, the only way to take down said bubbles is to destroy them chaotically. the highest archailects ' void drives however are true warp craft, with entire ships or fleets being contained within


from horrifying stats that suggest half of us will be clinically obese within 20 years, to research that shows one third of all uk children are already overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, every week seems to throw up another scare story about our national weight problem. [ healthy : kids prefer stickers to crisps ] and the stark facts don ’ t lie : the number of overweight or obese children is increasing year - on - year in britain. there are currently one million obese children under the age of 16. “ puppy fat ”, you say? but the truth is as many as 70 per cent of those kids will grow up to become obese adults. if we continue as we are, 90 per cent of today ’ s children could be overweight or obese by 2050. as leading uk obesity prevention organisation mend points out, the consequences for our health – and our children ’ s – will be grave : “ children and adults who are above a healthy weight are much more likely to develop chronic diseases. ” these include heart and blood disease, some cancers, osteoarthritis, fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, infertility, asthma and high blood pressure – which can lead to stroke. meanwhile, experts suggest that overweight children will tend to have poorer body image, leaving them susceptible to eating disorders in later life. the reason for the increase in obesity is complex, but societal changes in the way we eat, what we eat and how active we are conspire to produce the problem. it doesn ’ t help that there is confusing information out there about what foods are healthy and what aren ’ t – such as so - called “ low fat ” products, which can be high in sugar. so how can you act now to prevent obesity in your children before it happens? for childhood obesity week ( july 2 - 8 ) we bring you our top ten tips to keeping your kids on the straight and narrow : the modern trend for snacking on the go has partly contributed to our inability to fathom when we are genuinely hungry – and adds to the calories we intake every day. keep regular, proper mealtimes for the family – including breakfast. even better, aim to eat seated around a table. it is good to avoid distractions during a meal, so that food is eaten consciously. as the department of health ’ s change4life programme notes : “ growing bodies respond better to routine. ” swap the snacks swap sugary snacks and drinks to ones


is good to avoid distractions during a meal, so that food is eaten consciously. as the department of health ’ s change4life programme notes : “ growing bodies respond better to routine. ” swap the snacks swap sugary snacks and drinks to ones that are lower in sugar. it is best to keep sugary foods to mealtimes ( e. g breakfast cereals ) than to eat them as snacks. so switch sugar soft drinks for water, skimmed milk or well - diluted pure fruit juice, swap sugary snacks such as cakes and biscuits for fresh fruit, a chunk of cheese or bread - based options such as a scone or currant bun. buy reduced sugar jams and choose canned fruit in juice rather than syrup. check the labels check the labels of seemingly healthy ‘ low fat ’ options for the sugar content. look for the ‘ carbohydrates ( of which sugars ) figure - ‘ high ’ sugars is more than 15g of total sugars per 100g ; ‘ low ’ is 5g of total sugars per 100g. added sugars will be high up in the ingredients list, too. other terms include sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, corn syrup and honey. serve up ‘ me - size ’ meals resist the urge to dole out extra portions on your kids ’ plates – or to insist they finish everything in front of them. it ’ s vital to make sure children get the right amount for their age. respect your child ’ s appetite – their bodies know how much they need. follow the ‘ five a day ’ rule you ’ ve heard it a million times before, but do try to dole out five portions of fruit and veg a day – it ’ s easier than you might think. some nhs tips include adding fruit, such a banana, strawberries or sultanas, to a child ’ s breakfast cereal ; giving dried fruit as a snack ; popping extra vegetables in a pasta sauce or casserole for dinner. get them moving exercise is vital at all ages : the nhs points out, for instance, that children under the age of five who can walk unaided should be physically active for at least three hours a day, whether indoors or out. and those aged five to 18 should do at least one hour of aerobic activity every day – a mix of moderate activities such as walking to school, rollerblading, skateboarding or playing in the playground and more intensive exercise such as running, playing chase, vigorous dancing, football or riding


at least one hour of aerobic activity every day – a mix of moderate activities such as walking to school, rollerblading, skateboarding or playing in the playground and more intensive exercise such as running, playing chase, vigorous dancing, football or riding a bike fast or on hills. cut back fat as well as sugar, cutting back on fat is a key tool in the battle against obesity. the easiest and surest method is to limit junk food, and too many fatty treats such as cakes, crisps and chocolate. children – especially the under - twos – do need a certain amount of healthy fat in their diet so when they are very young make sure they have full fat milk and dairy products. you can switch to lower fat varieties over the age of two. but watch out for the “ bad ” fats – saturated fat – in foods such as processed meats ( burgers, sausages ), pastry, coconut and palm oil. see change4life for more ideas on where to cut down on fatty foods. don ’ t use sweet treats as a reward try not to get into the habit, from the outset of weaning, of ‘ rewarding ’ good eating with a sweet treat at the end. limit desserts to special occasions. a yoghurt or piece of fruit is fine if your child is still peckish after their meal. limit the telly it ’ s a cliche but too much time spent stuck in front of the tv or computer games eats into the time spent engaged in active exercise. place strict controls on your child ’ s tv and computer viewing habits to ensure they are encouraged into active play as much as possible – even if it ’ s just skipping in the garden or racing up and down the stairs. bring the whole family on board the only sure way to ensure healthy eating and healthy habits is to set an example as a whole family – so don ’ t tuck into sweet treats and junk food while your child sits down to a plate of fish pie and spinach ; make sure the whole family gets involved in activities at the weekends such as walking, swimming and outdoor games, and try to get everyone to respect mealtimes and sit around the table to enjoy them.


characters of permutation representations let ’ s take to be a permutation representation coming from a group action on a finite set that we ’ ll also call. it ’ s straightforward to calculate the character of this representation. indeed, the standard basis that comes from the elements of gives us a nice matrix representation : on the left is the matrix of the action on, while on the right it ’ s the group action on the set. hopefully this won ’ t be too confusing. the matrix entry in row and column is if sends to, and it ’ s otherwise. so what ’ s the character? it ’ s the trace of the matrix, which is the sum of all the diagonal elements : this sum counts up for each point that sends back to itself, and otherwise. that is, it counts the number of fixed points of the permutation. as a special case, we can consider the defining representation of the symmetric group. the character counts the number of fixed points of any given permutation. for instance, in the case we calculate : in particular, the character takes the value on the identity element, and the degree of the representation is as well. this is no coincidence ; will always be the degree of the representation in question, since any matrix representation of degree must send to the identity matrix, whose trace is. this holds both for permutation representations and for any other representation.


a person ' s gait could be early sign of alzheimer ' s subtle changes in the way a person walks can be an early warning sign of cognitive decline and a signal for advanced testing, researchers reported sunday at the alzheimer ' s association international conference in vancouver, canada. the findings are the first to link a physical symptom to the disease, which up until now required doctors to begin a diagnosis by focusing on cognition and administering lengthy neurological exams. the evidence in the five studies is " robust, " experts say. they note walking changes can occur even before cognition decline surfaces. the presentation on the opening day of a week of meetings follows a plan the u. s. government announced in may to help train doctors in earlier detection and to find a cure by 2025. " monitoring deterioration and other changes in a person ' s gait is ideal because it doesn ' t require any expensive technology or take a lot of time to assess, " says bill thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the alzheimer ' s association. the disease afflicts 5. 4 million in the usa, and the number is forecast to spike to 16 million in 2050 as baby boomers age. " walking and movements require a perfect and simultaneous integration of multiple areas of the brain, " says rodolfo savica, author of a study at the mayo clinic in rochester, minn. walking changes occur because the disease interferes with the circuitry between areas of brain. savica ruled out other diseases, such as parkinson ' s and arthritis, as possible causes. in the mayo clinic study, researchers measured the stride length, cadence and velocity of more than 1, 341 participants through a computerized gait instrument at two or more visits roughly 15 months apart. those with lower cadence, velocity and length of stride experienced significantly larger declines in global cognition, memory and executive function. " these changes support a possible role of gait changes as an early predictor of cognitive impairment, " savica says. another large study of 1, 153 adults with a mean age of 78, by researchers at the basel mobility center in basel, switzerland, found that gait became " slower and more variable as cognition decline progressed. " participants were divided into groups based on cognitive diagnoses : cognitively healthy, mild cognitive impairment ( mci ) or alzheimer ' s dementia. gait was measured using a walkway with 30, 000 integrated sensors. those with alzheimer ' s walked slower than those with mci, who walked slower than those who were cognitively healthy


additions, clarifications, and corrections regarding the content of this document will be most graciously accepted : please send email to firstname. lastname @ example. org. rating : value judgments are used to categorize web sites based on their content. these ratings could use simple allowed / disallowed distinctions like those found in programs like cybersitter or netnanny, or they can have many values, as seen in ratings systems based on platform for internet content selection ( pics, see question 3. 0 ). filtering : with each request for information, the filtering software examines the resource that the user has requested. if the resource is on the " not allowed " list, or if it does not have the proper pics rating, the filtering software tells the user that access has been denied and the browser does not display the contents of the web site. the first content filters were stand - alone systems consisting of mechanisms for determining which sites should be blocked, along with software to do the filtering, all provided by a single vendor. the other type of content filter is protocol - based. these systems consist of software that uses established standards for communicating ratings information across the internet. unlike stand - alone systems, protocol - based systems do not contain any information regarding which sites ( or types of sites ) should be blocked. protocol - based systems simply know how to find this information on the internet, and how to interpret it. filters and ratings systems are seen as tools that would provide the cyberspace equivalent of the physical separations that are used to limit access to " adult " materials. in rating a site as objectionable, and refusing to display it on the user ' s computer screen, filters and ratings systems can be used to prevent children from seeing material that their parents find objectionable. in preventing access, the software acts as an automated version of the convenience - store clerk who refuses to sell adult magazines to high - school students. filters are also used by businesses to prevent employees from accessing internet resources that are either not work related or otherwise deemed inappropriate. whether used in homes or workplaces, these tools raise serious privacy concerns. list - based blocking works by explicitly enumerating sites that should either be blocked or allowed. these lists are generally provided by filter vendors, who search for sites that meet criteria for being classified as either " objectionable " or " family - friendly ". filtering software vendors vary greatly in the amount of information and control they make available to users. most vendors do not allow users to see the actual list


for sites that meet criteria for being classified as either " objectionable " or " family - friendly ". filtering software vendors vary greatly in the amount of information and control they make available to users. most vendors do not allow users to see the actual list of blocked sites, as it is considered to be a kind of trade secret. however, some vendors provide detailed descriptions of the criteria used to determine which sites should be blocked. some vendors might allow users to add sites to the list, either in their own software or by sending sites to the vendor for review. stand - alone filtering tools also vary in the extent to which they can be configured by users. some software packages allow users to make selections from a list of the categories they would like blocked. for example, a parent may wish to block explicit sex but not discussions of homosexuality as a life - style. others might allow users to choose from a range of choices in any given topic area. for example, instead of simply blocking all nudity, these tools might allow users to chose to allow partial nudity while blocking full nudity. keyword - based blocking uses text searches to categorize sites. if a site contains objectionable words or phrases, it will be blocked. first, these lists are incomplete. due to the decentralized nature of the internet, it ' s practically impossible to definitively search all internet sites for " objectionable " material. even with a paid staff searching for sites to block, software vendors cannot hope to identify all sites that meet their blocking criteria. furthermore, since new web sites are constantly appearing, even regular updates from the software vendor will not block out all adult web sites. each updated list will be obsolete as soon as it is released, as any as any site that appears after the update will not be on the list, and will not be blocked. the volatility of individual sites is yet another potential cause of trouble. adult material might be added to ( or removed from ) a site soon after the site is added to ( or removed from ) a list of blocked sites. blocking lists also raise problems by withholding information from users, who may or may not have access to information describing the criteria used to block web sites. while some vendors provide descriptions of their blocking criteria, this information is often vague or incomplete. several vendors have extended blocking beyond merely " objectionable " materials. in some instances, political sites and sites that criticize blocking software have been blocked. this obscurity is compounded by practices used to protect these lists of blocked sites


or incomplete. several vendors have extended blocking beyond merely " objectionable " materials. in some instances, political sites and sites that criticize blocking software have been blocked. this obscurity is compounded by practices used to protect these lists of blocked sites. vendors often consider these lists to be proprietary intellectual property, which they protect through mathematical encryption, which renders the lists incomprehensible to end users. as a result, users are unable to examine which sites are blocked and why. this arbitrary behavior demeans the user ' s role as an active, thoughtful participant in their use of the internet. keyword searches cannot use contextual information. while searches can identify the presence of certain words in a text, they cannot evaluate the context in which those words are used. for example, a search might find the word " breast " on a web page, but it cannot determine whether that word was used in a chicken recipe, an erotic story, or in some other manner. in one notable incident, america online ' s keyword searches blocked a breast cancer support group. keyword searches cannot interpret graphics. it is not currently possible to " search " the contents of a picture. therefore, a page containing sexually explicit pictures will be blocked only if the text on that page contains one or more words from the list of words to be blocked. the massachusetts institute of technology ' s world wide web consortium has developed a set of technical standards called pics ( platform for internet content selection ) so that people can electronically distribute descriptions of digital works in a simple, computer - readable form. computers can process these labels in the background, automatically shielding users from undesirable material or directing their attention to sites of particular interest. the original impetus for pics was to allow parents and teachers to screen materials they felt were inappropriate for children using the net. rather than censoring what is distributed, as the communications decency act and other legislative initiatives have tried to do, pics enables users to control what they receive. there are two components involved in the practical use of pics : ratings systems, and software that uses ratings systems to filter content. pics - based software uses an alternative approach based on distributed sharing of ratings information. instead of using blocking lists or keyword searches, programs that use pics use standardized " ratings systems " to determine which sites should be blocked. available from software vendors or from internet sites, these ratings systems are be used to describe the content of internet sites ( see question 3. 7 for a description of how pic


pics use standardized " ratings systems " to determine which sites should be blocked. available from software vendors or from internet sites, these ratings systems are be used to describe the content of internet sites ( see question 3. 7 for a description of how pics works in practice ). users of pics - based software are usually given the ability to choose which ratings system they would like to use. as an open standard, pics can be used for a wide range of applications. in addition to providing a means for blocking content deemed unsuitable for children, pics might also be used for describing content in terms of its educational content, potential for violations of privacy, or any other criteria that involve rating of internet sites. in some senses, programs that use pics are much more flexible than stand - alone filtering software. users of pics software are not tied to the judgments of the software vendor, and the descriptions of the criteria used by the ratings systems are publicly available. however, users are currently limited to choosing between a small number of ratings systems, each of which has its own biases and viewpoints. users that disagree with the popular ratings systems may be unable to use pics in a manner that fits their needs and viewpoints. a rating is a description of some particular internet content, using the terms and vocabulary of some ratings system. self - rating : web site publishers can evaluate their own content and put pics rating information directly into their web pages. currently, this evaluation can be done through web pages provided by developers of the major ratings services. third - party ratings : interested third parties can use pics ratings systems to evaluate web sites and publish their own ratings for these sites. educational groups, religious groups, or individuals can rate sites and publish these ratings on the internet for users to access. your browser software may influence choice of ratings service. if you use microsoft ' s internet explorer, you only have one choice ( rsaci ) built in to the initial distribution. to use other ratings services, ie users must download files from the ' net and install them on their pcs. currently ( as of september 1997 ), there are three pics services that are being widely used or promoted : rsaci : sponsored by the recreational software advisory council ( known for ratings on video games ), rsaci is probably the most widely used pics ratings system in use today. rsaci ' s ratings categories include violence, nudity, sex, and language, with 5 ratings within each category. as of september 1997, rsaci


rsaci is probably the most widely used pics ratings system in use today. rsaci ' s ratings categories include violence, nudity, sex, and language, with 5 ratings within each category. as of september 1997, rsaci claims to have over 43, 000 sites rated. safesurf : developed by the safesurf corporation, this system ' s categories include " age range, " " profanity, " " heterosexual themes, " " homosexual themes, " " nudity, " " violence, " " sex, violence, and profanity, " " intolerance, " " glorifying drug use, " " other adult themes, " and " gambling, " with 9 distinctions for each category. safesurf and rsaci both rely on self - rating of internet sites by web publishers. netshepherd : based in calgary, net shepherd rates sites based on quality levels ( 1 - 5 stars ). unlike safesurf and rsac, netshepherd conducts third - party ratings of web sites. they claim to have rated over 300, 000 sites. netshepherd has also announced partnerships with firms such as altavista and catholic telecom, inc. once these choices have been made, the browser software uses them to filter sites. when an internet site is requested, the browser compares the site ' s rating with the user ' s selection. if the site has ratings for the chosen system and those ratings fit within the parameters chosen by the user, it is displayed as usual. if the appropriate ratings fall outside of those parameters ( perhaps the site has " frontal nudity, " while the user was only willing to accept " partial nudity " ), access to the site is prohibited, and the user is shown a message indicating that the site is blocked. since most web sites are not currently rated, most software provides users with the option of blocking out sites that do not contain pics ratings. in order to prevent mischievous children from changing ratings or disabling pics altogether, most browsers can be configured to require a password before disabling pics. rsaci, safesurf, and other proponents of ratings would obviously like everyone to rate their sites, while civil libertarians and opponents of ratings argue against any ratings. publishers of family - oriented sites or those who are trying to reach audiences concerned with internet content might consider rating. similarly, purveyors of adult material might rate their sites in order to be " good citizens ". in evaluating


against any ratings. publishers of family - oriented sites or those who are trying to reach audiences concerned with internet content might consider rating. similarly, purveyors of adult material might rate their sites in order to be " good citizens ". in evaluating ratings systems, publishers may want to examine the categories used by each system and the distinctions used by those categories. different systems will classify ratings systems in different ways, some of which may misrepresent the content of web sites. for example, sites discussing safe sex might not want to be placed in the same category with pornographic sites. web site publishers might also consider the popularity of the ratings services. currently ( as of september 1997 ), there are only a few major ratings services. publishers are free to user other ratings, but these may not be useful to the internet users who rely upon the popular systems. this presents a dilemma for some publishers, who can either accept the ratings of the popular systems, even if those ratings misrepresent their material, or refuse to rate their sites, knowing that this might cause their sites to be unavailable to some users. versions of microsoft ' s internet explorer have provided an extreme example of this problem. although ie allows user to use any pics ratings system, rsaci is the only system that is built in to the selection list. since internet explorer is the most widely - used pics - capable browser ( as of fall 1997, netscape ' s navigator does not support pics ), it seems likely that many pics users will be relying upon rsaci. for publishers interested in reaching a wide audience, this market force may determine their choice of ratings system. finally, philosophical concerns may cause some people to decide not to rate. web - site publishers who are not comfortable with the general content of available ratings systems, or who object to the concept of ratings, may choose not to rate their own sites. msnbc ' s troubles with ratings provide an ironic illustration of this possibility. displeased with the rsaci ratings that would be necessary, msnbc management removed all rating information from the site. msnbc and other news organizations briefly discussed the possibility of creating a new ratings system specifically for news reporting. while this proposal was eventually rejected, it illustrates some of the problems with content ratings. well - funded publishers like msnbc might be able to effectively create ratings systems that meet their needs, but smaller publishers who want to rate their sites may be forced to accept unsatisfactory ratings. to make matters worse, third party rating does


. well - funded publishers like msnbc might be able to effectively create ratings systems that meet their needs, but smaller publishers who want to rate their sites may be forced to accept unsatisfactory ratings. to make matters worse, third party rating does not require the consent or even notification of a web - site publisher. since third party ratings are distributed by third party " label bureaus, " a web - site publisher may not know if her pages have been rated, or what the ratings said. third - party ratings also present significant technical challenges that may discourage their development. unlike self - ratings, third party pics ratings do not reside on publisher ' s web pages. instead, they must be distributed to users using one of two methods : some software, such as microsoft ' s internet explorer, provides users with the option of blocking out any site that does not have a rating. this choice may be appropriate for some, but it severely restricts the available options. by blocking out most of the web ( including possibly some sites designed for younger users ), this approach presents children with a severely restricted view of the world. these issues of quality and accountability would become even trickier if numerous schemes were to come into use. if there were dozens of pics ratings schemes to choose from, publishers would not know which to choose, and users might not know which to trust. the first - and currently the only viable alternative - is to avoid use of pics for self - rating, and in internet browsers. the second approach would be to develop a new ratings vocabulary, as an alternative to rsaci, safesurf, or other currently available ratings systems. this involves several steps : the first step is generation of a ratings system, including categories that would be discussed and distinctions within those categories. this would require a discussion of the values that will be represented in the ratings system, and how these values should be expressed. once the system has been developed, sites must be rated. this can be done in one of two ways : given the significant resources that will be needed to effectively deploy a new ratings system, it seems unlikely that there will be a large number of pics alternatives available in the near future. the developers of pics are trying to change this through the pics incubator project, which offers resources to organizations interested in developing new ratings systems. book reviews and movie ratings are only two examples of the many ways in which we use information filters. used in conjunction with other information sources - including advertising and word - of - mouth -


, which offers resources to organizations interested in developing new ratings systems. book reviews and movie ratings are only two examples of the many ways in which we use information filters. used in conjunction with other information sources - including advertising and word - of - mouth - these ratings provide a basis for making informed decisions regarding information. unfortunately, pics does not currently provide users with the contextual information and range of choices necessary for informed decision making. when deciding which movies to see, we have access to reviews, advertisements and trailers which provide information regarding the content. these details help us choose intelligently based on our values and preferences. on the other hand, pics - based systems do not provide any contextual detail : users are simply told that access to a site is denied because the site ' s rating exceeds a certain value on the rating scale. furthermore, the limited range of currently available pics ratings system does not provide users with a meaningful choice between alternatives. parents who are not comfortable with any of the current ratings systems may not find pics to be a viable alternative. continuing with our analogies to other media, consider book reviews in a world where only two or three publications reviewed books. this might work very well for people who agree with the opinions of these reviewers ( and, of course, for the reviewers themselves! ), but it would work very poorly for those who have differing viewpoints. some might argue that the " success " of a single set of movie ratings offers a model for pics. however, ratings are generally applied only to movies made for entertainment by major producers. documentaries and educational films are generally not rated, but similar web sites could be rated under pics. movie ratings also provide a cautionary lesson that should be considered with respect to the internet. unrated movies, or movies with certain ratings, often have a difficult time reaching audiences, as they may not be shown in certain theaters or carried by large video chains. this has led to self - censorship, as directors trim explicit scenes in order to avoid nc - 17 ratings. this may be appropriate for commercially - oriented entertainment, but it could be dangerous when applied to safe - sex information on the internet. ratings systems also fail to account for the global nature of the internet. legal or practical pressures aimed at convincing internet publishers to rate their own sites will have little effect, as these businesses or individuals have the option of simply moving their material to a foreign country. furthermore, the existing ratings systems are of limited value to those in countries that do not share western values. concerns about un


their own sites will have little effect, as these businesses or individuals have the option of simply moving their material to a foreign country. furthermore, the existing ratings systems are of limited value to those in countries that do not share western values. concerns about unrated international material or differing cultural values could be addressed through direct censorship. for example, governments might use pics ratings or proprietary filtering software to implement " national firewalls " which would screen out objectionable material. alternatively, ratings might be used to " punish " inappropriate speech. if search engines chose to block sites with certain ratings ( or unrated sites ), or if browsers blocked certain ratings ( or lack of ratings ) by default, these sites might never be seen. it is possible that a wide range of pics ratings system could come into use, providing families with a real opportunity to choose ratings that meet their values. the utility of pics might also be increased by use of new technologies like " metadata " ( data about data, used to describe the content of web pages and other information resources ), which might be used to provide contextual information along with pics ratings. however, these tools may not be available for general use for some time, if at all. some people confuse ratings with the topical organization that is used in libraries and web sites like yahoo. while no system of organization of information is neutral, topical schemes attempt to describe what a resource is " about ". rating rarely helps us find information resources topically and is usually too narrowly focused on a few criteria to be useful for information retrieval. if this question is taken to mean : " are there any solutions that would provide children with the ability to use the internet without ever seeing material that is explicit or " adult, " the answer is probably yes. this would require a combination of three factors : if the question is interpreted as meaning : " are there any solutions that provide some protection from adult or objectionable material without restricting free speech? " the answer is much less clear. stand - alone systems clearly don ' t meet these criteria, as they place users at the whims of software vendors, who may block sites for arbitrary reasons. in theory, pics might fit this role, but the lack of a meaningful choice between substantially different ratings systems leaves parents and publishers with the choice of using ratings that they may not agree with, or that fail to adequately describe their needs or materials. describing speech as " adult " or " appropriate for children " is inherently a tricky and value - laden process. in the u.


with the choice of using ratings that they may not agree with, or that fail to adequately describe their needs or materials. describing speech as " adult " or " appropriate for children " is inherently a tricky and value - laden process. in the u. s., many people have attempted to prevent schools and libraries from using everyday publications like huckleberry finn and descriptions of gay / lesbian lifestyles. the fierce debates over these efforts show that no consensus can be reached. increased use of filtering software would likely be the beginning, rather than the end, of debates regarding what internet materials are " appropriate " for children, and who gets to make that decision. secondly, parents should play an active role and interest in their children ' s use of the internet. for some children this might mean restricting internet use to closely supervised sessions. other children might be able to work with clearly defined rules and guidelines. to discourage unsupervised use of the internet, parents might consider measures such as placing the family computer in a common space in the home and retaining adult control over any passwords required for internet access. parents should also work to educate children regarding proper use of the internet. just as parents teach children not to talk to strangers on the street, parents might discourage children from visiting certain web sites, divulging personal or family information, or participating in inappropriate chats. some parents might consider using filtering software, despite all of the potential drawbacks. parents considering this route should closely examine their options, in order to understand their options and the implications of any choice. for stand - alone filtering systems, this means investigating the criteria used in developing blocking lists and / or news reports describing the software. if possible, parents might try to find stand - alone systems that allow users to view and edit the lists of blocked sites. parents considering the use of pics systems should investigate the categories used by the various ratings systems, in order to find one that meets their needs. information about pics - based systems can be found at the home pages of the respective ratings systems. in general, the use of a filtering product involves an implicit acceptance of the criteria used to generate the ratings involved. before making this decision, parents should take care to insure that the values behind the ratings are compatible with their beliefs. finally, parents should realize that the internet is just a reflection of society in general. much of the " adult " content on the internet can be found on cable tv, at local video stores, or in movie theaters. since other media fail to shield children


, parents should realize that the internet is just a reflection of society in general. much of the " adult " content on the internet can be found on cable tv, at local video stores, or in movie theaters. since other media fail to shield children from violence or sexual content, restrictions on the internet will always be incomplete. isp - based filtering : isps might do the filtering themselves, preventing their customers from accessing objectionable materials, even if those customers do not have their own filtering software. this requires the use of a proxy server, which would serve as a broker between the isp ' s customers and remote web sites. when a customer of a filtering isp wants to see a web site, his request goes to the proxy server operated by the isp. the proxy server will then check to see if the site should be blocked. if the site is allowable, the proxy server retrieves the web page and returns it to the customer. this approach is technically feasible. in fact, it ' s currently used by many corporations, and some isps that offer this service. however, proxying requires significant computational resources that may be beyond the means of smaller isps. even if the isp can afford the computers and internet bandwidth needed, this approach is still far from ideal. in order to do the filtering, proxy servers would have to use stand - alone or pics - based systems, so they would be subject to the limitations of these technologies ( see 2. 4, 2. 5, and 3. 13 ). the shortcomings of existing filtering systems may prove particularly troublesome for isps that advertise filtering services, as these firms could be embarrassed or worse if their filters fail to block adult material. finally, isps that filter material may lose customers who are interested in unfiltered access to the internet. providing filtering software : others have suggested that isps should be required to provide users with filtering software. while this might be welcome by parents who are thinking about getting on to the ' net ( and by software vendors! ) it could present a financial serious burden for smaller isps. most advocates of the use of blocking software by libraries have forgotten that the public library is a branch of government, and therefore subject to first amendment rules which prohibit content - based censorship of speech. these rules apply to the acquisition or the removal of internet content by a library. secondly, government rules classifying speech by the acceptability of content ( in libraries or elsewhere ) are inherently suspect, may not be vague or


creating a fairer britain a duty on the public sector to promote gender equality was introduced across britain in 2007 following similar duties in relation to race and disability in 2002 and 2006. this means that all public bodies, including local authorities, should be assessing the needs of women and men and taking action to meet these needs. local authorities should carry out research on prevalence and use other local information to help them do this. the equality and human rights commission has published guidance on the gender equality duty. under the sex discrimination act it is permissible to limit the provision of facilities or services to one sex in a number of circumstances, including services provided by women ’ s refuges if they are providing special care comparable to that provided at a hospital, as would rape crisis centres if they were providing medical or psychiatric care. it is also lawful to provide single sex services where female users are likely to suffer serious embarrassment at the presence of men. this could include rape crisis centres and women ’ s refuges if they involve group provision of services involving intimate personal matters. the law in this area does not change because of the gender duty : if something was lawful before the duty was introduced, it remains lawful. however, this is a complex area of law with a number of exemptions, and further details are set out in chapter 6 of the code of practice on the gender equality duty the gender duty cannot be used as grounds to cut or refuse funding to single sex services. it would equally be inappropriate to interpret the gender duty as meaning that services should be provided on the same scale for both men and women. for instance, because the majority of victims of domestic violence and rape are women, it would not be appropriate for a local council to fund or provide refuge services on an equal numbers basis for men and for women. for example, when ealing council ’ s new funding policies threatened the survival of a long - standing domestic violence support group, the southall black sisters ( sbs ) the decision was overturned following a legal challenge at the high court. the new criteria required those applying for funding to provide domestic violence services to all people in ealing ' irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, race, faith, age [ and ] disability ' for the same amount of money that had previously been given to sbs. this would effectively result in less funding for the highly specialised services targeted at ethnic minority women offered by sbs. this was challenged in the courts by two service users of sbs. the ehrc intervened and argued that the council had failed to carry out their legal obligations under the race


in less funding for the highly specialised services targeted at ethnic minority women offered by sbs. this was challenged in the courts by two service users of sbs. the ehrc intervened and argued that the council had failed to carry out their legal obligations under the race equality duties to assess the impact of changes in funding criteria and that the council did not understand the correct interpretation of the race relations act 1976, which allowed for the targeting of domestic violence services to particular ' hard to reach ' communities as a form of lawful positive action to achieve equality and encourage integration. ealing council conceded the claims during the hearing, with the effect that they will need to re - consider the funding criteria and the process for inviting bids for domestic violence services. local authorities should ensure that they are compliant with both the concordat and the compact. sustainable funding is essential for specialised services to continue and develop - this means funding cycles of at least three years. services often find it difficult to secure core costs yet these are critical for effective provision. in many cases, the support provided by specialised voluntary sector services saves the statutory sector money, particularly health, social services and the police. more information can be found in the map of gaps and map of gaps 2 reports. developing new provision in an area should only be undertaken in partnership with specialised organisations such as those in neighbouring areas or national umbrella bodies such as rape crisis and women ’ s aid. issues such as start - up costs, recruiting staff with sufficient experience and knowledge and developing referral pathways require consultation and careful consideration.


coastal & marine geology infobank our mapping systems the usgs and science education usgs fact sheets ground penetrating radar comment : 11 : 53 - 13 : 06 ( 01 : 13 ) source : annenberg / cpb resources - earth revealed - 4. the sea floor keywords : subduction, " grand canyon ", vessel, instrument, " camel - grab ", " box corer ", " james sadd " our transcription : subduction begins at enormous underwater trenches, some of them several times deeper than the grand canyon. because of the great depth, marine geologists have had to come up with a host of ingenious ways of exploring the deep sea floor. the primary tool used by earth scientists to study the ocean floor is a research vessel like this one, outfitted with a variety of oceanographic sampling instruments. mounted on the stern of the vessel, is this a - frame, which is a hydraulically movable rack used to lift and deploy the instruments. the oceanographic sampling instruments are tethered to the vessel with this steel cable wound around a revolving drum. scientists can take a bite of sediment or rock from the ocean bottom using a sampling instrument like this " camel - grab ". it takes sediment samples very quickly but only of the upper few centimeters of ocean bottom. often times, an undisturbed sample of the deeper layers is required to examine variations in the accumulated sediment on the ocean bottom with time. this " box corer " takes an entire column of sediment, which later can be split open and the individual layers analyzed like pages in a book. geology school keywords


the morale in rhode island in july l777 was very low. newport had been occupied by the british since december 1716 and the colony had undergone a miserable winter with serious food and fuel shortages. british general richard prescott insulted newport residents in every way possible. soldiers were allowed to get drunk, break into homes and steal. quakers who refused to take off their hats for any authority were accosted in the streets by soldiers and their hats were knocked off. anyone, male or female, venturing out after dark was liable to be accosted by drunken soldiers and brutalized. the news outside of rhode island was gloom - ridden. our troops were just beginning to recuperate from the terrible winter at valley forge. general washington, fearful of weakening his small army, refused to release troops to rid rhode island of the british. rhode island privateers were having difficulties, the navy was bottled up in providence, and the powerful british fleet seemed fully in control. the more pessimistic were already beginning to emphasize the hopelessness of the situation and there was talk of surrender. the colony desperately needed some action that would lift up her spirits and give her the confidence to strike a blow for independence. fortunately for rhode island on july 9, 1777, major william barton performed a deed so daring and against such odds that rhode island again felt free and undefeated. barton heard a number of rumors from british troops in newport who were very dissatisfied with their pompous commander. the soldiers charged that prescott was secretly having an affair with the wife of a prosperous tory named overing. prescott often visited mrs. overing at her home in middletown, about five miles north of newport, and remained there in the cool, comfortable house overnight while his troops remained in their hot, crowded quarters in newport. prescott held the colonists in such low esteem that he took but few guards with him on his visits. major barton gathered a few men from tiverton and portsmouth and rowed across the bay to warwick. their plan was to capture the british general and to keep him at daniel arnold ' s tavern on west shore road. in the middle of the night on july 8, five whaleboats left warwick neck in the dark and carefully made their way past the british patrol boats. years of clandestine smuggling operations gave them the knowledge of the waters in the bay and the necessary skills to land undetected at middletown without benefit of lights. powerful john hunt of portsmouth quietly came upon the lone sentry guarding the house and overpowered him before he could make a sound. within minutes the


the waters in the bay and the necessary skills to land undetected at middletown without benefit of lights. powerful john hunt of portsmouth quietly came upon the lone sentry guarding the house and overpowered him before he could make a sound. within minutes the colonists were in prescott ' s bedroom. the general had never been more startled in his life than on that morning when he awoke to stare into the pistols of barton and his men. one sound, he was told, and he would be a dead man. the confused prescott wasn ' t even allowed to dress as he was seized and rushed from the house in the early dawn. the men departed as silently as they had entered. with prescott unceremoniously dumped in the bottom of a whaleboat, they rowed silently across the bay to warwick neck once more. british sentries on board the patrol boats never noticed them and probably wouldn ' t have believed that a british general was a prisoner in one of the small boats had they even been told. once back in warwick, prescott remained a prisoner at daniel arnold ' s tavern for the remainder of july 9 while barton awaited orders for the delivery of his high - ranking prisoner. the news spread throughout the colonies and was applauded everywhere. there was almost as much joy among the british troops in newport as among the townsmen when they received the news. general prescott ' s officers even enjoyed a laugh or two at his expense. it was not very often that a man like prescott, who inconvenienced and humiliated others, was so treated and barton became an american hero overnight. the americans were taking no chances of having their captive freed by tories or by a raid in warwick, however, and quickly took him to providence, where he was held until he could later be exchanged for charles lee, an american general. the rhode island general assembly was so pleased with the feat that barton and hunt were given a bounty of over $ 1, 000, and later the continental congress bestowed honors upon the major and his rhode islanders. in due time, prescott was exchanged and returned to command in newport, where he inflicted even more hardships on british soldiers and residents alike. he especially mistreated his hessian troops and, except for the tories who flattered him and received favors from him, prescott was regarded as one of the most hated men in rhode island. as a further reward for his daring, william barton was promoted to lieutenant colonel and put in command of 200 foot soldiers and 200 horsemen. when general robert pigot attacked warren and bristol with


was regarded as one of the most hated men in rhode island. as a further reward for his daring, william barton was promoted to lieutenant colonel and put in command of 200 foot soldiers and 200 horsemen. when general robert pigot attacked warren and bristol with a large force, barton nearly gave rhode island another spectacular accomplishment by attacking the british at bristol ferry. unfortunately, the american commander, whose job it was to hold the british in bristol until barton arrived, felt that his force was too small and retreated. this allowed the british to burn 70 flatboats gathered for an invasion of newport and part of the town as well. even more damage might have been inflicted had not barton arrived when he did and attacked the large british force. the americans fought so well that the british were nearly overcome, but when barton was shot in the leg the british were able to make good their retreat. barton recovered from his wound and went on to become one of rhode island ' s favorite heroes. at the turn of the century, his prestige and influence was felt in helping to establish the textile industry in rhode island. in later life, the rhode islander who captured a general moved to vermont, where he purchased land and founded the town that still bears his name. while the capture of prescott had little strategic importance in the war, the daring and the bravery of the rhode islanders served to keep up morale and was an example of the will, ingenuity and determination that would keep the colonies going throughout the struggle.


one of the most insidious forms of racial discrimination and injustice is the growing manifestation known as racially motivated " economic segregation. " across the united states during the eight years of the bush administration between 2001 and 2008, banking and mortgage companies were systematically deregulated. black americans, in particular, were disproportionately targeted and segregated for subprime, high interest mortgages and housing loans that were far beyond acceptable lending practices. the result was massive financial devastation and loss in the black american community with the highest foreclosure and bankruptcy rates in the nation. today, black americans are still reeling from the housing crisis coupled with a debilitating unemployment rate beyond 14 percent. but we are entering into a questionable period of american history and politics when it is not popular or politically correct for those who have been targeted for exploitation, discrimination and economic injustice to speak out publicly for fear of being perceived or mischaracterized as mere irresponsible " victims " or " freeloaders " in our national society. what former massachusetts gov. mitt romney said about the 47 percent of americans who in his view do not pay taxes and who see themselves as " victims " is only touching the surface the serious economic and social realities for millions of americans. the real controversy goes way beyond the revelation of what romney exactly said with malice and bias in those private moments before his wealthy supporters in boca raton, fla. what should be deeper at issue is why black americans and other people of color in america are economically segregated and discriminated against in the u. s. economy? economic segregation is the deliberate premeditated targeting and separation of people based on race, class or on some other social factor that denies equal access to economic opportunity and justice. decades ago there were many unjust public policies and laws that attempted to justify education segregation. the supreme court ruled in 1954 that separate and unequal public schools were unconstitutional. economic segregation, like education segregation, is a violation of civil rights and should also be declared unconstitutional. " redlining " is not a new phenomenon when it comes to systematic racial discrimination in the housing marketplace. the 1968 fair housing act made it a federal law for sellers and landlords not to discriminate against buyers and renters. yet, it is important to note the recent proactive work and progress of the national association of real estate brokers ( nareb ) concerning the economic impact of the housing crisis on black america. during the annual legislative conference of the congressional black caucus foundation ( cbcf )


to note the recent proactive work and progress of the national association of real estate brokers ( nareb ) concerning the economic impact of the housing crisis on black america. during the annual legislative conference of the congressional black caucus foundation ( cbcf ) held in washington, d. c., nareb sponsored a forum on the " state of housing in black america. " nareb president and ceo julius cartwright emphasized, " it is urgently important that we mobilize and take action to address the myriad of critical issues that we have identified documenting housing - related disparities for african americans across the nation. " now that there are emerging signs exhibiting a gradual recovery in the u. s. economy from the depths of a recession, it is important for black americans to challenge and confront the lingering financial disparities and negative economic dispositions that have been unfairly imposed on black americans and others. this is not about just crying out about what is wrong with the economy. we have to always be vocal without apology. we do, however, have much to fight for, and that is the economic recovery, development and sustainability of black communities. for all of these reasons, we have to pull the " sheets " off the systemic segregation and discrimination wherever it may be found in the marketplace : housing, manufacturing, financial services and banking, environmental exposure disparities, imports and exports, or in other economic sectors. there is so much opportunity today to rid our communities of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment. but it will require further struggle, focus and taking every chance to reinvest and to rebuild our families, communities, educational institutions, and businesses. we need to raise up a new generation of freedom fighters and entrepreneurs who are neither afraid nor ashamed to call out and fight discrimination and economic segregation in all of its forms.


habitat - fish passage technical assistance date published : march 16, 2001 number of pages : 58 resident and anadromous salmonids are a vital component of the culture and economy of the pacific northwest. each year, millions of dollars in revenues are generated in washington, oregon, and california by sport and commercial fisheries targeting salmon and trout. in addition, the presence and abundance of salmonids indicates the health of pacific northwest stream ecosystems. without question, protection and enhancement of salmonids and the habitats that support them directly enhances the distribution and abundance of many other wildlife species as well. correction of human - made fish passage barriers such as impassable culverts, dams, floodgates, or degraded fishways is one of the most cost effective methods of salmonid restoration. in many cases, several miles of quality salmon and trout habitat can be retrieved and brought into production by eliminating a single point source fish barrier. to address these problems, the fish passage unit performs several major functions : fishway inspections, fishway operation and maintenance, culvert inventory work, fishway major project development, database management, and training / consultation on fish passage related issues. the unit is composed of specialized fish biologists, engineers, technicians, and equipment operators. following is a summary of work completed.


the story begins two generations before the trojan war when the child anthedon ( rejoicing in flowers ) was born to the minos ( ruler ) of crete ( who had come from skuthia, i. e. scythia ) by bull - loving pasiphae ( all - illuminating ), a daughter of the moon and sun ( that is, helios, also called phaethon, illuminating ). one day the child went into a cave used to store hydromel ( mead ), which was the sacred drink before dionysos gave us wine. in innocent ignorance he drowned himself in the liquor, but nobody knew what had happened to him. therefore the minos sent for the kouretes ( curetes ), who were known as great seers ( manteis ), and they told him that whoever could best describe minos ' miraculous cow would be able to restore anthedon alive to him. this cow changed colors every four hours : from the black of chaotic night, to the pure white of day, to the vital red of blood, then back to black again. so minos had all the diviners in the land brought together, and the kouretes judged the best description to be that of a certain iatromantis ( healer - seer, i. e. shaman ) from corinth called poluidos ( " much knowing " ), the son of koiranos, the son of abas, the son of melampous ( blackfoot ) the egyptian, the most famous iatromantis in greece, who knew the language of snakes and woodworms. poluidos said that the cow was like the ripening mulberry ( batos ), which is first pure white, then vibrant red, and finally a rich dark purple ( i. e. black ). ( these are also the colors of the alchemical great work. ) therefore, poluidos was entrusted with finding anthedon, and by divination he came to a place where the owl ( glaux ) was driving away the bees ( melissai ) from a cave ( for bees reveal the presence of prophetic goddesses ). looking inside he found the drowned boy, and brought him to minos. however, the grief - stricken minos was not satisfied, because the kouretes had said that the iatromantis would restore his living son to him, so he ordered that poluidos be shut up with the boy ' s body in


however, the grief - stricken minos was not satisfied, because the kouretes had said that the iatromantis would restore his living son to him, so he ordered that poluidos be shut up with the boy ' s body in a beehive - shaped tomb, until he brought anthedon back to life. this was beyond poluidos ' ( or any mortal ' s ) power, and so he prayed to the gods for help. after a while, as his eyes became accustomed to the dark, he saw a snake approaching the corpse. on an impulse he killed the snake, because the idea had come into him that it would nibble the corpse. shortly thereafter a second snake came forth and discovered the body of the first. then it went away and came back holding in its mouth the twig of an herb ( called dios anthos, the flower of zeus ) with three blue - green ( glaukos ) leaves. [ graves thinks it was mistletoe, the druidic herb of the sun. ] the second snake laid this herb upon the first snake, which immediately came to life and left with its companion. poluidos was astonished, but quickly took the serpent ' s branch and applied it to the boy while repeating a prayer three times. like the snake, the boy immediately returned to life. ( this is the very same herb that asclepius later used to resurrect hippolytus. ) anthedon had a shiny blue - gray scar over his heart where the branch had touched him, and so he was thereafter called glaukos ( blue - grey ) or in their language glas ( gaelic, " grey " ). poluidos explained to the boy that a part of his mortality had been burned away and replaced by divine substance, as shown by the scar. in this way he was reborn as a iatromantis ( healer - seer ), and he was called antitheos ( godlike ). moreover, he later discovered that from the serpent - staff he had acquired power over snakes, as have his descendants to the end of time. minos gave poluidos many gifts, but then ordered him to teach glaukos all his arts, especially divination ; because glaukos ( or glas ) was an eager student, he became known as gathelos glaukos or, in their language, gaodhal glas, from gaoith - dil ( lover of learning ). his magical craft,


glaukos ( or glas ) was an eager student, he became known as gathelos glaukos or, in their language, gaodhal glas, from gaoith - dil ( lover of learning ). his magical craft, the glaukou tekhne ( art of the blue man ), became so famous that the ancients would say, " it doesn ' t take the art of the blue man to do so and so " when they meant " it doesn ' t take a wizard to do so and so. " eventually minos gave poluidos leave to return home, but before he did so, the seer bade glaukos to spit in his mouth. ovid is wrong in claiming that by so doing glaukos lost all power of divination and that in this way poluidos reclaimed the gift he had been compelled to give. if this were true, how could glaukos have become the famous seer that he did, eagerly sought for his prophecies by people throughout greece? what really happened is that poluidos also spat into glaukos ' mouth ; in this way a sacred covenant was forged between the two seers. thus also glaukos was called gnostes ( soothsayer ). ( this name is also equipotent with the antitheos euplokamos, the godlike one with fair locks ) after returning home, poluidos fathered eukhenor ( who accompanied his father to troy and was killed by paris in the war ), astuktatia and manto ( a famous prophetess ). when glaukos got his beard, he went to live on the shores of the euboicum mare ( euboean sea ) at the place in euboia that is now called anthedon in his honor. he felt a strong attraction for the sea and used to fish with both nets and rod and line. one day he came to a rocky place, with the waves on one side and on the other a meadow of grassy herbs, never touched by sheep or goats, nor frequented by bees, nor cut by people. he spread out his nets and lines on this grass to dry, and was counting the fish that were still on his hooks, when he observed the strangest thing : one of the fish nibbled a certain blue - green or gray grassy herb ( glauke poia ) and suddenly became rejuvenated and jumped back into the water. in this way


his hooks, when he observed the strangest thing : one of the fish nibbled a certain blue - green or gray grassy herb ( glauke poia ) and suddenly became rejuvenated and jumped back into the water. in this way all the fish escaped back into the water. ( this herb, which some call glaukiskos, had been sown by kronos in his golden age. ) glaukos was curious about the nature of this undying grass ( danaia poia ), and so he picked some of it and chewed it. immediately his heart began to pound and he felt the irresistible call of the sea. he cried, " farewell earth, to which i shall never return! " and jumped into the depths. he was immediately surrounded by schools of sea - divinities, who called on the all - encircling king and queen, okeanos ( ocean ) and tethus, to accept him in their domain. the seirenes ( sirens ) sang a magic purification song to him thrice three times, and told him that he had to bathe in the hundred streams. when glaukos did so, his mind became confused as in a dream and was so transformed that he could not even clearly remember his earlier life. through his delirium he discovered that he had a thick green beard, and bluish skin, and feet like the tail of a fish. thus he became glaukos of the sea ( pontios or thalassios ), a pontomedon ( lord of the sea ) and came to rule a kingdom under the waters near delos. to the prophetic art he had learned from poluidos, he added the art of the wise old man of the sea, nereus the truthful, son of earth and sea ( gaia and pontos ), who was his friend, and thereafter glaukos gnostes ( soothsayer ) delivered oracles, coming once a year to the seamen in each port and island of greece. not long after glaukos ' transformation, skulla ( scylla ), a beautiful nereid ( daughter of old man nereus ), came down to the seashore at night. there she disrobed and refreshed herself in a shallow pool. in the moonlight she saw a beautiful boy floating with his chest and arms out of the water. she pulled her long hair over her breasts and called to him, " what are you looking at? " " the most


mysterious island near sicily [ monte circei? ], which is the home of many beasts, who live on hills green with herbs. it is a paradoxical place, where the sun rises and sets, and the hidden kingdom of potnia kirke ( mistress circe ), divine sorceress and daughter of the sun ( helios ) and perse, a moon goddess ( perhaps hekate herself ) born of the ocean ; thus kirke was the sister of pasiphae, the mother of glaukos. he came up through a submarine cave that opens into her halls ( megara ). there he called for audience with the queen and explained that he was filled with passion for a nymph. he begged, " theia ( aunt ) kirke, polupharmakos ( knowing many potions ), master of the magic of love, grant me this favor and sing a spell or brew a potion - for i know the magic power of herbs - but not one that will cure me! rather, turn her heart so that she burns with as much passion as me. " the regal and powerful enchantress, kirke euplokamos ( fair - haired ), replied, " ah, godlike glaukos, my dear young sea lord, it would be far better if you loved someone like me, who knows what it is to burn with passion, than that frivolous nymph. " then with many words and actions she won his heart, so that he felt the same lust as her. in a shallow pool in her halls they tangled their limbs, hers soft and white, his glossy and blue, and spawned like fish. then crafty ( doloessa ) kirke taught him arts and incantations that would allow him to take the form of a mortal man, and accept her love in this way too. and through the night they enjoyed every pleasure afforded by their bodies and their craft. in the morning glaukos begged kirke audeessa ( speaking mortal speech ) for forgiveness, saying, " gracious goddess i have misled you. although you have shown me every kindness and we have joined in passion, i cannot stop loving skulla. indeed seaweed will grow on the tops of the mountains, and trees will grow in the depths of the sea, before i will stop loving her. " ( kirke is called euplokamos - fair - haired - because that name is equipotent with audeessa leaina - the


, and trees will grow in the depths of the sea, before i will stop loving her. " ( kirke is called euplokamos - fair - haired - because that name is equipotent with audeessa leaina - the lioness who speaks the speech of mortals - her secret nature. ) mistress kirke was furious and would have destroyed glaukos, but she loved him already and knew he was a powerful sea lord. therefore she turned her wrath toward skulla, circling like a sparrow hawk and saying to herself " very well ; you want her desiring you like a bitch in heat, and so she shall. " she stormed into the dark forest and gathered secret herbs and pulverized them into a pungent powder while she sang a spell taught to her by hekate. when she was done, she wrapped her azure robe around her fair shoulders and went out through her court, where her familiar animals fawned about her ( for she is potnia theron - mistress of the beasts ). by magic arts she skimmed across the waves to rhegion ( modern reggio di calabria ), opposite the rocky coast of zankle ( mod. messina ), and to that pool where skulla was accustomed to refresh herself. she poured her potent potion into the water as she circled it, intoning over it a complex spell thrice nine times. at her usual time skulla came to the pool, loosened the peplos ( robe ) from her shoulders, and folded it on a rock. when she had waded waist deep into the pool she felt something churning in the water around her thighs ; suddenly the water around her waist erupted with snarling dogs ' heads. she jumped from the pool to escape them, but discovered in her horror that they were her : her legs were covered with shaggy hair and shaped like dogs ; each of her beautiful buttocks had become a yapping dog head, and her place of love had become a snarling dog. such was the revenge of kirke polupharmakos ( skilled in many potions ). kirke brought great - hearted glaukos to see what she had done to skulla, hoping that she would then have all his love, but he was horrified that she could do such a thing and fled from her into the ocean ' s depths. skulla deine ( the terrible ) went to hide in a cave by the shore, where she would show her beautiful torso to lure sailors into her cave. when they came to lie


a thing and fled from her into the ocean ' s depths. skulla deine ( the terrible ) went to hide in a cave by the shore, where she would show her beautiful torso to lure sailors into her cave. when they came to lie with her, her lustful hunger was satisfied by the ravening dog - heads, for this was the only way they could be fed ( although they could be placated somewhat by stroking ). she also revenged herself on kirke by devouring as many of odysseus ' companions as she was able. skulla petraia ( living on rocks ) stayed in this place for many years, until she was mercifully turned to stone. in ten months - the period of divine gestation - kirke bore a daughter from the seed of glaukos gnostes ( soothsayer ), whom she named sibulla ( sibyl ). when the girl was grown she traveled in many lands, and so she was called phoito ( wanderer ). first she went to live in eruthrai ( erythrae ), where she achieved much fame for her prophecies, for when the achaeans were on the way to ilion, she told them that troy would fall and that a poet ( i. e. homer ) would tell lies about the war. later she went with the kimmerioi ( cimmerians ) to sardo ( sardinia ), where she prophesied to those long - breasted mountain nymphs ( numphai oreskooi dolikhomazoi ) who call themselves dianades or ianades ( i. e. the janae, daughters of jana ), who in turn taught her many secrets, including the ways through the underworld. [ this meeting is described somewhat differently in the janid, the mythic history of the janae. ] then they traveled to lake aornos ( lk. avernus, near naples ), the mouth of the underworld, where they established a home in the great cave ( near baiae ) and she founded the oracular shrine later moved to kume ( cumae ) ; among the cimmerians she was consulted by aeneas and odysseus after they left troy. finally she went to the city of the nymphs ( astu numpheon ) on samos, where she lived many years, prophesying from the cave of the nymphs there [ probably the spiliani cave