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Difference Between Umrah and Hajj
Umrah vs Hajj
In religion, a pilgrimage is considered to be a journey for enlightenment. In this journey, an individual is to find spiritual growth and moral progress. Usually, the journey is to a place of importance to the individual’s faith. The person who undertakes the pilgrimage is called a pilgrim. These pilgrims will travel to the places that have significance to their faith. Some of these sites are the birthplace of founders, saints, places where they obtained and heard their call to their faith, or places also where the death of a loved one took place. The places that pilgrims visit are not limited but can include sites of the significant people of their faith, sites where miracles have taken place, where deities have lived, or where it is claimed there is a spiritual essence or powers. Some faiths allows shrines and temples to be used to celebrate these events from those sites and allow pilgrims and devotees to attain spiritual benefits like being healed.
One example of these places is the Holy Land. This place serves as the center of focus for pilgrimages of the Abrahamic religions, which include Christianity. Some historic figures have been known to have made their pilgrimage to these spiritual sites. Alexander the Great is known to have performed a pilgrimage in 331. He went to the great temple in Egypt and consulted an oracle of Amon-Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun. Alexander wanted the god to make him his son, and he even went as far as having the expansion of his empire put on hold to obtain it. His pilgrimage was considered to be successful and solidified his belief in the divine origin of himself.
In Islam, a pilgrimage consists of traveling to Mecca by an able-bodied Muslim. This action is done at least once in their lifetime if possible. This pilgrimage, known as Hajj, is also considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars of Islam are the basic acts in Islam and also the foundation of their faith. By doing the pilgrimage, they show their affirmation of solidarity and their complete resignation to God or Allah in the Arabic language. The Muslims are to gather at the same place at the same time to perform the same rituals.
The Hajj is based on a pilgrimage that stems from the time of Abraham. It was when he left his wife Hagar and his son, Ishmael, both of them suffering from thirst. Hagar ran back and forth from the hills to find water. In that time it was said that the angel Gabriel, also known as Jibral, came down to Earth and produced water from the Earth.
The place became known as the Well of Zamzam and a place to perform the Umrah, a minor pilgrimage which can be taken anytime of the year. In Umrah, the pilgrim is to reenact the lives of Abraham and his wife through a set of symbolic rituals. The pilgrims, when they drink the water, may also choose to drink from the Well of Zamzam. Two types of Umrah exist: al-Umrat al mufradah, which is a pilgrimage independent from Hajj, and Umrat al-tammatu, where it is performed with Hajj.
1.Pilgrimages are performed for spiritual and moral growth; people who perform these are called pilgrims. Destinations vary depending on the religion of the individual.
2.In Islam, Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca where they show their submission to God. It is also one of five pillars in Islam, the foundations of the Islamic faith.
3.Umrah is a minor pilgrimage which can be taken anytime of the year. It is a pilgrimage where the pilgrim performs rituals that have symbolic meaning to the life of Abraham. Umrah can be incorporated into Hajj.
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Leave a Response | <urn:uuid:ebb548fb-eb20-4c09-854f-f83d64e55886> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/religion-miscellaneous/islam-religion-miscellaneous/difference-between-umrah-and-hajj/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97655 | 815 | 2.984375 | 3 |
When a young associate submitted her resignation to Wendy Krincek, managing shareholder of the Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, offices of Littler Mendelson, P.C., she refused to accept it. Instead, Krincek, the mother of a two- and four-year-old, suggested they find a work arrangement benefiting the associate and the firm.
"She was a stellar associate," says Krincek, who wanted to retain that talent. At first, the associate, who wanted to balance her work and home life, worked part time with a part-time salary. "But she was the kind of associate that never said 'no,' so her salary went on a part-time basis, but she was still working full time," Krincek points out. Krincek wasn't satisfied. "We ended up compensating her on an hourly basis," she notes. And this arrangement is still working.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Fostering flexible work arrangements is just one way women in leadership roles are helping other women grow and succeed in the legal profession.
Whether women help and support each other depends on the law firm environment. Traditional law firms encourage competition and individual success. Many still have what experts call "ambivalent sexism"—an environment in which women who adhere to traditional female roles are rewarded and those who don't are ridiculed, says Joan C. Williams, co-director of the Project for Attorney Retention for WorkLife Law at University of California Hastings College of the Law, based in San Francisco.
"By and large, the majority of women want to help each other," according to Karen B. Kahn, principal of KM Advisors, LLC, New York and Chicago, a firm that works with lawyers and law firms to develop leadership skills. "But there is a group of women in their mid 40s and 50s who believe 'I worked hard to get here. Nobody helped me, so I am not going to help you,'" she explains.
Williams says some older women lawyers have this mindset because of law firm cultures that teach them the only way to be a successful lawyer is to work 24/7 and not take time off to have children.
This mindset is in sharp contrast to that of "mommy lawyers" who want a part-time schedule and flexible hours, Kahn says.
However, younger women must "recognize the shoulders they are standing on," says Ellen Ostrow, principal of Lawyers Life Coach LLC in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. She adds that older women must reach down and mentor younger women and create a collaborative environment.
To this end, many experienced women are creating women's initiatives and networking opportunities and are even hosting networking gatherings within their own homes. "There aren't enough of them," Kahn says.
Carolyn J. Vardi, an eight-year mergers and acquisition associate at White & Case LLP in New York, has benefited from her firm's women's initiative—a program started by both men and women and headed by a male partner, Timothy B. Goodell. As a result of the initiative, the firm developed a flex-time work arrangement for her.
Vardi works full time on a transaction and then takes time off before beginning another assignment. "Some weeks, I work around the clock," she says. "This system has allowed me to continue to succeed here, learn and grow as a lawyer, and at the same time have my daughter recognize me."
To keep the arrangement viable, Vardi regularly finds support from women partners and other women in her practice group. In turn, Vardi shares her experiences with women associates and participates in a firm affinity group and an online chat group focused on flex-time schedules. She also is involved in a regional organization, Flex-Time Lawyers, that connects lawyers in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., with other lawyers working flexible schedules. "That provides mental and emotional support for me," she notes.
Vardi also shares her knowledge of flex-time arrangements with law students during campus speaking engagements and panel discussions. She answers a wide range of questions, including some of a personal nature, such as "How do you juggle breastfeeding with being on a conference call all night long?"
At Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Miami, some senior lawyers work reduced schedules. Others job share, some telecommute, and still others have opted off the partnership track. These work arrangements are touted to potential and current firm lawyers and are part of the firm's fabric, says Anne Marie Estevez, a labor and employment partner at the firm. "The more I try to instill in our department and section that it should be this way, the more it trickles down," she notes.
Creating opportunities for women to grow as lawyers and people and helping them to develop relationships with clients and successful lawyers are other ways senior women help less-experienced female lawyers.
When Estevez was an associate, a senior woman partner convinced an important client to allow Estevez rather than the partner to argue a crucial motion in a major class action case.
In turn, Estevez often steps aside to allow younger women lawyers to lead. Estevez's firm hosted an event to support homeless and battered women. "At that event, I stood down and let the younger women lawyers lead the show," she says. Estevez selected a five-year associate who is a woman of color to run the event, which was attended by federal judges and lawyers from across the country. "It put her in the prominent role she deserves. It is my job to lay the foundation for her to lead."
Estevez also believes senior women lawyers must connect younger female lawyers with clients. When she makes a multimillion-dollar pitch to a potential client, she takes a younger female lawyer along. "The clients are very, very receptive," she explains. "If that lawyer becomes a partner, they already know who she is."
Each year, the Miami lawyer takes a group of lawyers to a Hispanic business women's conference. "I grew up as the only Hispanic class action lawyer that I knew," Estevez says. She notes that when she went to this event for the first time, she was overwhelmed by the number of powerful, Hispanic businesswomen filling the ballroom. "You hear their stories and you meet them. It was one of the single most important events in my life," she recalls. "I didn't want any of the Hispanic women under my watch or those I knew to have the feeling that they are one of a kind."
Women's initiatives also can involve networking to develop relationships with clients and other successful lawyers. But networking must be substantive. If people are merely socializing, Kahn explains, that is not good. She adds that women need to have frank conversations with each other, detailing what they really want personally and professionally.
These lawyers must focus on "hearing the needs of others and sharing their own needs," Kahn says. "Everybody helps each other. The more help we can give each other, the more likely we are to thrive."
Women also need to follow up with people they meet by calling them or inviting them to lunch. "One of the things that women can be is accountability checks for each other," Kahn says.
Several law firms often sponsor women's retreats. White & Case holds a two-day retreat every 18 months. Women partners share knowledge ranging from how to get business to how to select wines when entertaining clients. Younger lawyers ask questions and meet partners. "These retreats are opportunities to develop their own mentors," Goodell says.
For Vardi, meeting partners from other offices is important. "It has raised my profile in the firm. I know more attorneys and more attorneys know me," she explains, adding that this firsthand experience and contact with her will allow partners to make better decisions when she is up for partner.
The firm hosts other networking events, including some featuring well-known speakers such as entertainer Whoopi Goldberg or social and political activist Gloria Steinem. Informal get-togethers include golfing lessons, trips to art galleries, and private shopping trips to FAO Schwarz and Saks Fifth Avenue. Firm alumnae who are out of the workplace or who have become successful in the community also are invited.
Goodell says White & Case wants to continue to connect firm lawyers with these "off-ramp women" in the hopes that they will return to the firm when they go back to work. Other alumnae such as a former partner who became general counsel at a major international corporation and one who runs one of the biggest state agencies also come to network with the firm's lawyers.
Mentoring, whether it's formal or informal, also is a major way women help each other in the legal community. Some take time to go to lunch with other lawyers, while others maintain an open-door policy, encouraging colleagues to stop and ask questions.
Ostrow observes that in many law firms, women are being excluded from good mentoring opportunities and information networks. "If women in a firm reach out to them, they could get connected and they could be more successful," she says.
"When I started working in a law firm, it was very shocking," Vardi says. She went into a partner's office one evening after they had been working hard together all day. "I was very intimidated. And then she just talked to me—not just about business, but about whatever was going on in the news on a human level, not a work level. That was the first time something clicked," she explains. "It was a big moment for me. It gave me more confidence to approach partners."
This type of exchange also is important at Littler Mendelson. Krincek says she always felt free to go into any shareholder's office and have him or her give feedback without making her feel like she was asking a stupid question. "You have to create the atmosphere where it is okay," she notes."It is in our best interest to reach out to the female associates within the firm because they are more vulnerable to veering off the career path because of outside pulls," Krincek says."
The mommy guilt factor plays into a lot of decisions, even for associates," she adds. "There is this long-held perception that you can't have it all and that something is going to suffer." But she says having one-on-one conversations can keep good people from leaving.
Women also help each other by acting as role models. When Krincek began practicing at her firm, the managing partner was a woman. "It was great to have a woman in the main leadership role," she says, because it gave her the confidence that she could assume such a role. Another role model was a woman managing partner who had children and worked part time.
These women show other lawyers the types of situations that are possible, according to Krincek, who works full time. "We have different tracks," she says. "The message is there are different options that can work for everybody."
And for women who don't have role models, mentors, or networking opportunities within their firms, women's bar associations or bar associations with women's initiatives abound throughout the country..
In these places, women can create opportunities for mutual benefit, Ostrow says. "Nobody is successful in any organization unless they are being helpful to someone else." | <urn:uuid:6e945631-b64a-4834-8004-6bd6b2178620> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanbar.org/publications/perspectives_magazine_home/perspectives_magazine_index/women_perspectives_enews_winter09_enews_winter09_collaboration.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983281 | 2,344 | 1.5 | 2 |
The head of an EU group looking into search privacy issues said yesterday that Internet Protocol addresses assigned to computers should be treated as personal information. Below, more about that plus a look at some comments about how the search engines have been reported to the European Parliament to be dealing with privacy.EU Official: IP Is Personal from the Associated Press covers the testimony by the head of the EU privacy group, Peter Scharr:
He said at a European Parliament hearing on online data protection that when someone is identified by an IP, or Internet protocol, address “then it has to be regarded as personal data.”
His view differs from that of Google, which insists an IP address merely identifies the location of a computer, not who the individual user is – something strictly true but which does not recognize that many people regularly use the same computer terminal and IP address.
Scharr acknowledged that IP addresses for a computer may not always be personal or linked to an individual. For example, some computers in Internet cafes or offices are used by several people.
But these exceptions have not stopped the emergence of a host of “whois” Internet sites that apply the general rule that typing in an IP address will generate a name for the person or company linked to it.
I like the “strictly true” part. It is absolutely true. An IP address only identifies that a particular computer (or actually, a particular device of sometime, like a router) is connected to the web. IP addresses are indeed reused by various computers. WHOIS lookups can be used to track an IP address back to a particular company and, in some relatively rare cases, a company might even resolve the IP address to match an employee’s name. To learn more, see our Google Anonymizing Search Records To Protect Privacy article that goes into more depth about IP addresses.
If IP addresses are treated as personal data, then potentially search engines and others might face more stringent rules over how they are logged or kept in the EU. The article gets into this more with some background on how they are used, but then it hits this part that I simply don’t believe:
Microsoft does not record the IP address that identifies an individual computer when it logs search terms. Its Internet strategy relies on users logging into the Passport network that is linked to its popular Hotmail and Messenger services.
The company’s European Internet policy director, Thomas Myrup Kristensen, described the move as part of Microsoft’s commitment to privacy.
“In terms of the impact on user privacy, complete and irreversible anonymity is the most important point here – more impactful than whether the data is retained for 13 versus 18 versus 24 months,” he said.
Bull. OK, I’ll check with Microsoft on this to make certain. But web servers typically log IP addresses as a matter of course. I simply don’t believe that the majority of those coming to Microsoft — who are not using Passport — are somehow not having IPs logged.
Postscript: Heard back from Microsoft, and they said AP didn’t get their statement correct nor ran a correction. You can read Microsoft’s statements here, here and here (all PDF). In the first, Microsoft notes that it does log IPs but as part of the 18 month data destruction plan it announced last year, it will wipe the entire IP address (rather than losing just the end portion, as Google plans). | <urn:uuid:cd99efc1-767e-4b0f-9a1c-6db32957ea80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://searchengineland.com/will-the-european-union-decide-ip-addresses-are-personal-13195 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937946 | 711 | 2.515625 | 3 |
To form a compost pile, you must first decide upon a structure to hold it all together. Bins can be made very economically using four wooden pallets tied together to form a square or using a 4x10-foot piece of woven wire with ends connected to make a circle, using the 10-foot length to form your circle and the four-foot lenght as your height. In addition, there are several commercial composting units available through local garden stores.
Once you have a bin, you can start adding the organic material from your lawn. To make the process work efficiently, you will need to mix a variety of items together that includes both “green” and “brown” material. By mixing green materials such as grass clippings and shrubbery trimmings, you will add nitrogen to the pile that will help breakdown the leaves and other brown material.
Leaves, vegetable and fruit peelings, grass clippings, shrubbery trimmings and small limbs are just a few of the commonly used materials in compost bins. Food scraps, such as meat and dairy products, should not be used.
Depending upon the weather, the location of the bin and the size of your compost pile, you could have some finished compost in as little as six months. This compost is known to many gardeners as “black gold” because of its many uses. It is most commonly used as a soil amendment. Adding compost will increase the moisture-holding capacity, improve drainage and aeration of the soil. Over time, additions of compost create a desirable soil structure, which will make the soil much easier to work and improve the health and vigor of the flowers and vegetable plants you grow.
For more detailed information, call the Walker County Extension Office at 706-638-2548 or stop by our office to get a free copy of our “Composting and Mulching” bulletin.
Norman Edwards is coordinator of Walker County Extension Service. | <urn:uuid:1d3f628d-d2b6-4bd1-84c0-59bda6746097> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.walkermessenger.com/view/full_story_cartoon/20781288/article-Column-by-Norman-Edwards--Building-your-own-compost-pile- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947128 | 410 | 2.953125 | 3 |
We believe marriage is a permanent, lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.
Sanctity of Life
The Family Leader actively supports protection of life from conception to natural death.
The Family Leader affirms sexual relations within the bond of marriage, and opposes distortions of sexuality or special rights to those practicing distorted sexual behavior.
The Family Leader strongly supports efforts to keep judicial activism in check.
We believe truth exists and educational responsibility lies first with parents. The Family Leader works to ensure parents can choose the type of education that reflects their values.
The Family Leader challenges the establishment and spread of gambling due to its destructive impact on individuals, families, and communities.
Taxes and Spending
We believe the costs of excessive government and over-taxation is a direct threat to family well-being. | <urn:uuid:dfab5527-a73d-4c5f-b662-72a591b316e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefamilyleader.com/02-issues.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929454 | 163 | 1.78125 | 2 |
When the initial results of Libya’s first free elections started coming in earlier this month, Western policymakers began to breathe a little easier. Elections in Tunisia and Egypt have been triumphs for religious parties taking advantage of the Arab Spring’s uncertainties to push their version of Allah’s verities. But in Libya, even though fundamentalists abound, their political parties faltered.
Negotiations to form a new government will most likely drag on under the country’s improvised parliamentary system, but the dominant party coalition is clearly that of Mahmoud Jibril, 60, a former economy minister under Muammar Gaddafi and former prime minister under the transitional council that replaced the dictator. Jibril also used to be a professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh. He shuns any talk of ideology, which he calls “some sort of prison.” He prefers to talk about “creativity” and “risk-taking.” His credentials are the kind that make Western governments comfortable, if not downright giddy.
But the best news for the Libyans, at least in the short term, hasn’t come from the ballot counting by the electoral commission so much as the bean counting of the International Monetary Fund. A few days after the vote, the IMF issued a report estimating that Libya’s GDP (which crashed by 60 percent during the fighting last year) will, in a phenomenal rebound, grow by more than 116 percent this year, then settle down to growth of more than 13 percent over the following two years. In Tunisia and Egypt, the economies are essentially stagnant, with little hope of desperately needed growth any time soon.
The basic difference, of course, is that Libya has a relatively small population (about 6.7 million) with a large amount of oil (about 47 billion barrels of proven reserves). And it’s already pumping crude at almost the same rate as before the revolution. So there’s quite a substantial cushion protecting Libyans from bad politics—even if voters make mistakes at the ballot box and their representatives squander their mandates in the Parliament.
The big question for the long term, however, is whether all that oil wealth will be a source of unity for the country, or a force that inspires greedy competition among tribal and regional interests. On that score, there is plenty of cause for concern. At least since the breakups of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union 20 years ago, it has been obvious that when you take the lid off a dictatorship, cobbled-together states that tyrants held together by force tend to shatter violently. That nearly happened in Iraq. It may yet happen in Syria.
In Libya, the presence of heavily armed militias who refuse to surrender their weapons to the central government raises the constant threat that feuds will turn into pitched battles, and battles will open the way to civil war. One part of the solution is to build the national army and police. The other, as Jibril knows, is to bring down an unemployment rate that’s well over 20 percent. The problem of poverty is not as great in Libya as it is among its neighbors, but the problem of idleness and frustration can be as great there as anywhere.
Jibril, wisely, has focused his message on national unity, or, more pointedly, on nationalism and unification. His coalition party, tellingly, is called the National Forces Alliance. And one of the factors undermining the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections apparently was the widespread feeling in Libya that the Brothers’ ideology and organization was an import from Egypt. “This was a Libyan revolution, a Libyan election, and it will be a Libyan Parliament,” Jibril told Newsweek. Thus far, it looks as if the future will be uniquely Libyan as well.
With Jamie Dettmer | <urn:uuid:349a905b-01b6-4d6f-b882-6c6129cf49fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/15/will-libya-be-an-arab-spring-success-story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959932 | 786 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Who's buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn, among others. And they're doing much of it in secret.
It's a perfect storm -- the combination of three waves that are about to drown government as we know it.
The first is the greatest concentration of wealth in America in more than a century. The 400 richest Americans are richer than the bottom 150 million Americans put together. The trend started 30 years ago, and it's related to globalization and technological changes that have stymied wage growth for most people. It's also a product of "trickle-down economics," the Reagan and Bush tax cuts, and the steady decline in the bargaining power of organized labor.
The second is the wave of unlimited political contributions -- courtesy of Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy. They were the majority in one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the 2010 ruling which held that corporations are people under the First Amendment. Lower-court rulings have since then expanded Citizens United to mean that virtually any billionaire can contribute as much to a political campaign as he wants.
The third is complete secrecy about who's contributing how much to whom. The failure of the Internal Revenue Service to properly enforce our tax laws has given rise to political fronts posing as charitable, nonprofit "social welfare" organizations that don't have to disclose their donors. As a result, outfits like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS are taking in hundreds of millions from corporations that don't even tell their own shareholders what political payments they're making.
Separately, any one of these three would be bad enough. Put the three together, and our democracy is being sold down the drain.
With a more equitable and traditional distribution of wealth, far more Americans would have a fair chance of influencing politics. As the great jurist Louis Brandeis once said, "We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth in the hands of a comparative few, but we cannot have both."
Alternatively, inequality wouldn't be as much of a problem if we had strict laws limiting political spending. Or, at the very least, laws requiring that the identities of big donors be disclosed.
But we have an almost unprecedented concentration of wealth, and unlimited political spending and secrecy.
I'm not letting Democrats off the hook. Democratic candidates are still too dependent on Wall Street casino moguls and real casino magnates. (Steve Wynn has been a major contributor to Sen. Harry Reid, for example.) George Soros and a few others have poured big bucks into Democratic coffers. So have a handful of trade unions.
But make no mistake: Compared to what the GOP is doing this year, Democrats are conducting a high school bake sale. The mega-selling of American democracy is a Republican invention, and Mitt Romney and the GOP are its major beneficiaries.
And the losers aren't just Democrats. They're the American people. Our democracy is the most precious thing we have, and we're allowing it to be bought and sold like oceanfront property.
What can you do? Make a ruckus.
Demand that the Obama administration get the Internal Revenue Service to do its job and not allow political front groups to pretend they're non-political charities that don't have to disclose their donors.
Insist on legislation that forces the full disclosure of all campaign contributors. (Last month, Senate Republicans blocked the "Disclose Act," which would have gone some way toward achieving this.)
Support efforts to reverse Citizens United with an amendment to the Constitution making it clear that corporations are not people under the First Amendment.
Back legislation that would provide public financing to candidates who agree to strict limits on campaign donations -- enough to erase any advantage their opponents may get from raising large sums from a few mega-donors.
Even if you disagree with one or more of these proposals, at least fight to protect our democracy from the big-money corruption it's now prey to.
Don't fall into the seductive trap of cynicism -- assuming our democracy is hopelessly corrupt, available to the highest bidder. That kind of cynicism is what the buyers and sellers of American democracy are counting on.
If you give up on our system of government, they win everything.
Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California and former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is the author of the newly released "Beyond Outrage: What has gone wrong with our economy and our democracy, and how to fix it," a Knopf e-book original. | <urn:uuid:f0647c61-b322-4ff4-9357-e002064483fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-08-08/news/bs-ed-reich-20120808_1_steve-wynn-political-payments-karl-rove-s-crossroads-gps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959764 | 962 | 1.679688 | 2 |
backward and forward both run to need may they ,faster run to are computers If
A Turing machine is fine for reasoning about computers, but it's not
an ideal model for building them. Some more practical components of
reversible logic were introduced in the 1980s by Edward F. Fredkin
and Tommaso Toffoli, who were then working together at MIT. (Fredkin
is now at Carnegie Mellon University, Toffoli at Boston University.)
The components are logic gates, somewhat like AND and OR gates but
designed for reversibility.
In any reversible gate the number of inputs must equal the number of
outputs. Moreover, each possible set of inputs must yield a distinct
set of outputs. If this were not the case—that is, if two or
more input patterns had the same output—then the reverse
action of the gate would be ambiguous.
The devices now known as the Fredkin gate and the Toffoli gate
(see illustration on page 109) both have three inputs
and three outputs; and, as required for reversibility, each input
pattern maps to a unique output. In the Fredkin gate, one signal
controls whether the other two data lines pass straight through the
gate or else have their positions swapped. In the Toffoli gate, two
of the signals control the third; if the first two bits are both 1,
then the third bit is inverted.
Like the NOT gate, both the Fredkin and the Toffoli gates are their
own inverses: No matter what the values of the three input signals,
running them through two successive copies of the same gate will
return the signals to their original values. Both gates are also
computationally universal, meaning that a computer assembled from
multiple Fredkin or Toffoli gates (and no other components) could
simulate a Turing machine or any other device of equivalent
computational power. Thus the gates might be considered candidates
for a real reversible computer.
Of course logic gates are still just abstract devices; they have to
be given some physical implementation with transistors or other
kinds of hardware. Starting in the early 1990s, several groups have
been designing and building prototypes of reversible (or nearly
reversible) digital circuits. For example, at MIT a group including
Michael Frank and Thomas F. Knight, Jr., fabricated a series of
small but complete processor chips based on a reversible technology;
Frank continues this work at Florida State University. At the
University of Gent in Belgium, Alexis De Vos and his colleagues have
built several reversible adders and other circuits.
It's important to note that building a computer according to a
reversible logic diagram does not guarantee low-power operation.
Reversibility removes the thermodynamic floor at kT ln 2,
but the circuit must still be designed to attain that level of
energy savings. The current state of the art is far above the
theoretical floor; even the most efficient chips, reversible or not,
dissipate somewhere between 10,000 and 10 million times kT
ln 2 for each logical operation. Thus it will be some years before
reversible technology can be put to the ultimate test of challenging
the three-zeptojoule barrier. In the meantime, however, it turns out
that some concepts derived from reversible logic are already useful
in low-power circuits. One of these is charge recovery, which
attempts to recycle packets of electric charge rather than let them
drain to ground. Another is adiabatic switching, which avoids
wasteful current surges by closing switches only after voltages have
had a chance to equalize.
» Post Comment | <urn:uuid:53d5592b-4089-4273-9d8d-fc7396e4e75d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/reverse-engineering/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919654 | 782 | 4.09375 | 4 |
"Round Robin" is a game where one person starts a story and then others continue it by adding a piece at a time until the tale is complete.
Our version involves seven British comics creators. Between us we will make a comic book, a panel at a time. Our page grid is divided into three tiers... or 'plates'. Each person adds a tier to the ongoing story, which may be as many panels as they can fit into that plate.
Nobody knows where the story will go but there is one element that remains fixed: it is a murder mystery. So whatever happens along the way, we know where it has to end. A solution must be found!
Who killed Round Robin?
1. A contributor must acknowledge their turn with a comment on the last submission after which they have 3 days to submit their panel. 2. Scene changes may only occur in panel one of each page. 3. A contributor cannot follow directly after their last turn or appear twice on the same page. 4. If after 24 hrs no contributor has acknowledged their turn then rule 3 is suspended for that round and any contributor may claim the next panel. 5. "Who Killed Round Robin?" ends on December 31st 2008. | <urn:uuid:e2ea378b-6823-400e-862a-6ad9ecc07afe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whokilledroundrobin.blogspot.com/2008/07/page-25-plate-03.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960881 | 246 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Get Ready for Medicinal MDMA
Posted on Aug 21, 2011
A team of scientists in Britain is championing the cancer-fighting properties of Ecstasy, the touchy-feely party drug that makes you feel great whether or not it’s punching holes in your brain.
Researchers say the drug could be turned into a treatment for certain blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma, if its cancer-fighting properties were enhanced and its lethal potential diminished.
One of the commenters on the article linked below made an interesting point regarding MDMA’s dangers, which might offset its medicinal value: “I just love this reference to ‘safe’ drugs. ALL cancer drugs are far from safe, they are actually extremely dangerous and/or poisonous with nasty side effects.”
Tell us what you think in our own comments section below this post. —PZS
Researchers from Birmingham University claimed the designer drug, also known as MDMA, could be used to treat leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma after making it 100 times more effective at suppressing growth.
Ecstasy was already known to be effective against more than half of white blood cell cancers, but previously the large dose required to treat a tumour would also have killed the patient.
Fitsum Belay (CC-BY-ND) | <urn:uuid:a5a4ff56-8162-4eb1-86cf-0f8cc946ee74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/print/get_ready_for_medicinal_mdma_20110821/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951354 | 271 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Celebrate health during National Public Health Week: April 3-9
For Immediate Release: April 6, 2011
Media Contact: Communication Office
Vermont Department of Health
NORTHFIELD – Honey & Oat bread from La Panciata Bakery helps feed more than half of all families with young children in Vermont, boosting nutrition and food security, as part of WIC – the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants & Children.
Baker Glen Loati knew that the bread was popular when a WIC participant asked where she could buy more.
“Glenn really stepped up for the Health Department to serve the WIC families statewide,” said Donna Bister, WIC director for the Health Department. “The bakery takes a lot of pride in their product, and they’ve worked hard to get the recipe and ingredients just right.”
The bread has to meet new WIC food package requirements of the USDA to meet the nutritional needs of pregnant women, new mothers and children through age 5.
“It would have been easy to make 100 percent whole wheat bread that would fulfill all federal dietary requirements but, from the consumer standpoint, it is like eating a bale of hay or cardboard. It is very bland,” Loati said. “We added the honey and oats, and we wanted it to be good enough so that if a teething baby put a small piece in its mouth, she or he would like it and want more.”
Loati’s 20-employee business in Northfield ramped up production to serve WIC participants, making more than 11,000 loaves a month. His overall production output increased by 20 percent.
“It feels good,” he said, “to be able to provide a product that is not only good for people, but helps them out.” | <urn:uuid:814e5f2d-f5c5-45fc-adf9-4037ffacb1b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthvermont.gov/news/2011/040611_wicbaker_nphw.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967204 | 391 | 1.976563 | 2 |
- 1Up 6Down 0
Mr. Daily: "So, you're from London, trying to sell the Eel Marsh House?"
Arthur Kipps: "Yes."
Mr. Bentley: "You won't find a local buyer. The sooner the house is sold, the sooner people can move on."
Arthur hasn't even gotten off the train before he begins to realize that something is very strange about the Eel Marsh House, thanks to resident Mr. Daily (Ciaran Hinds). Something is definitely very, very wrong about that house.
- 2Up 2Down 1
Tricks in the Dark
Mr. Daily: "I believe even the most rational mind can play tricks in the dark."
Arthur Kipps seems like a rational, sensible guy - until he gets wrapped up in the mystery surrounding the Eel Marsh House. Once that happens, he starts to see things he can't explain. Are they, as Mr. Daily suggests, merely "tricks in the dark?" Or is the Woman in Black real?
- 3Up 2Down 1
Spectre of Darkness
Child's Voice: "During afternoon tea, there's a shift in the air. A bone trembling chill that tells you she's there. There are those who believe the whole town is cursed - but the house in the marsh is by far worse. What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back. The spectre of darkness: The Woman in Black."
Is the entire town cursed by The Woman in Black? Quite possibly, but the story suggests that the Eel Marsh House is the epicenter of all the worst activity, haunted by "the spectre of darkness" -- a ghost that terrorizes everyone, but especially the children.
- 4Up 2Down 1
The Woman in Black Poem
Child's Voice: "Have you seen her? The Woman in Black? She once lost a boy, and now she’s come back. Our parents all worry, they make such a fuss: For if she can’t find him, she’ll take one of us."
This eerie poem sets the mood for 'The Woman in Black,' and it explains what's going on. A vengeful spirit haunts the Eel Marsh House. If you see her, you die. This includes the town's children.
- 5Up 1Down 1
Mr. Daily (to Arthur): "You don't believe in ghosts, do you?"
Initially, attorney Arthur Kipps is skeptical about all the stories surrounding the Woman in Black and Eel Marsh House. He doesn't necessarily believe in ghosts - but he will soon enough.
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use the search box to filter your list | <urn:uuid:b025561b-9a11-4da4-9b4e-a4affecd79e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ranker.com/list/the-woman-in-black-movie-quotes/movie-and-tv-quotes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940727 | 595 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Changing lives for all one wheelchair at a time
WEST FELICIANA PARISH, LA (NBC33) — Hundreds of wheelchairs are headed from the Louisiana State Penitentiary to the Dominican Republic today. All of them started out as junk and were fixed up by Angola inmates.
Orlando Griffin has an unusual job.
“It’s really fun for me to have the opportunity to see the chair come to life,” he says. “Get your mind off life, you know.”
Five days a week, he spends his time in building wheelchairs for the disabled.
“We just break it down, clean it up, use steel wool,” Griffin explains.
Griffin is an inmate at the Angola State Penitentiary.
“These hands that caused so much trouble in life can now do some good for somebody,” he says.
He's one of a handful of prisoners working for the Wheels for the World project.
“It makes me kind of excited to come to work knowing that I'm going to fix a chair to help someone else,” Albert Hills, another inmate working for the program, added. “Most of them are broke and banged up, and make them good as new.
“They really put their hearts into it,” Lt. Dwyane Anthony, oversees wheelchair program, describes. “And that's one thing I would tell them if a chair is not right, put some more love in it.”
Then, their handiwork goes all over the world.
“We've sent chairs to Cuba, to the Dominican Republic,” Gary Young, says. “We've sent chairs to Haiti, Hungary.”
The 220 chairs currently at Angola will make the journey to the Dominican Republic, along with refurbished walkers, crutches, and canes. Angola is one of only 16 penitentiaries across the country that does something like this, and it gives the inmates a second chance, too.
“It actually makes me feel good knowing that I can show somebody that we're not all the same people that came in here.”
Angola began the partnership in 2004 and has since re-built and shipped out more than 3,000 wheelchairs. | <urn:uuid:6b8b0547-a60b-4f16-be0e-4690faf017f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbc33tv.com/news/your-stories/changing-lives-for-all-one-wheelchair-at-a-time | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969362 | 483 | 1.929688 | 2 |
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It took weeks of training indoors teaching them how to change gears, brake and steer, but a New Zealand SPCA has taught three dogs how to drive a car.
Now, the canines have finally been allowed behind the wheel of a real car — with a little help from their handlers.
The effort comes via The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Auckland, which is using the unusual spectacle as way to show the intelligence of rescued dogs.
Auckland’s SPCA has been having trouble finding homes for the dogs it rescues — a common situation for animal charities around the world.
The three clever canines — Monty, Ginny and Porter — were picked out and taught by trainer Mark Vette.
“No animal has ever driven a car before so what we’re going to do is we’re going to do a straight and we’re going to head off, so we’ll start the car, get into position, brake on, gear in place, back onto the steering wheel, accelerator, take off and hoon along the straight and then stop,” he told New Zealand’s TV3.
It took Vette and the dogs months before they got up to speed — but now they’re ready for their big test. Next Monday, Monty the dog will go on national TV to show off his skills.
Files from Associated Press
Big Data is now being used by advertisers to test the efficacy of traditional and digital media campaigns, but can it be considered a panacea?
Powered by WordPress.com VIP | <urn:uuid:5ea3ae73-abfd-4b27-a10e-e675d72ed965> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/05/meanwhile-in-new-zealand-theyve-taught-dogs-how-to-drive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946649 | 383 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Be Informed, as thoroughly as possible!
Attend the monthly Ellis County Tea Party Meetings
Volunteer to be on one (or more) of the ECTP Committees. Use our Resources web pages to find valuable links to important political activity at the local, state, and federal levels, in multiple areas of interest
Review the following links to learn voting and legislative processes; understand how our government works:
Learn about the "politics" of Ellis County.
- Know which precint you live in, click here for Ellis County precint map. Get to know your precint chair.
Know who represents you! Remain engaged in your learning process and stay current - the political landscape is changing daily! Does your representative know you? They should. Study the Common Sense Texans Fiscal Responsibility Scorecard - use this type of guidance to determine your personal opinion and voting preferences. NOTE: In an effort to preserve our independent stance, ECTP, as an organization, does not endorse specific candidates! Become a Political Activist: (Click here for helpful hints to be a better activist)
- Write letters to the Editor in local newspapers (extremely effective!)
- Letter writing/email to lawmakers
- Participate in activist organizations' petitions
Help grow our numbers:
- Share what we are doing with friends, family, and neighbors wherever they live, but especially with people who live in Ellis County.
- Ask Ellis County businesses to display our business cards
- Refer to our group, website and our ECTP Facebook page on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
VOTE!!! In every election. Do you need to register to vote? Click on the Contact Us button on the Home Page and we will meet with you and get you registered.
Donate money so we can do more projects like this.
If not YOU, then Who?
But what can I do? Have you asked yourself this question? Then you are in the right place!
Can I make a difference? Yes, it takes only one person to help another, then another and so on and so on. Then you have contributed to a county full of like-minded neighbors. | <urn:uuid:0ec164a8-f1fe-4d54-bec9-4705052627c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elliscountyteaparty.org/WHAT-CAN-I-DO-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924813 | 443 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The Bereghinya Planitia quadrangle (V-8) of Venus is bounded by 25º and 50º N. latitude, 0º and 30º E. longitude. It is one of 62 quadrangles covering the entire planet at a scale of 1:5,000,000. The quadrangle derives its name from the plains region Bereghinya Planitia, most of which falls within the boundaries of the quadrangle. Bereghinya are benevolent protective female spirits in East Slavic mythology. These spirits were considered as guardians of the home, and traditional homes commonly had carvings of Bereghinya around their windows. In addition, these spirits were associated with riverbanks, so some of them were envisioned as being women with fish tails, similar to mermaids.
The Bereghinya Planitia quadrangle comprises mostly plains materials that have been highly modified by younger structures, mostly related to coronae. The map area contains all or part of 22 named coronae, 4 named deformation belts, and 2 major lava channel systems having extensive associated volcanic flows. In addition, other valles, a deformation belt, and coronae occur within the quadrangle but are unnamed. The quadrangle hosts 24 impact craters and 6 bright splotches believed due to explosive destruction of bolides in the atmosphere. Many of the impact craters have associated dark halos or parabolas, and four are accompanied by fields of secondary craters. Also present is a complex array of faults, fractures, and wrinkle ridges.The quadrangle is geologically
The quadrangle is geologically interesting primarily because of the large population of coronae, many of which are connected to each other by belts of closely spaced, complex wrinkle ridges producing a spiderlike pattern in which the "bodies" are coronae and the "legs" are the connecting belts. These coronae were named "arachnoids" by members of the Soviet Venera team. The problems of more than local interest include the kinematics and dynamics of the arachnoids, the structural and volcanic evolution of the coronae, and the age of the widespread background plains relative to structures and other material units.
Download this map as a PDF document (44 x 35 inches; 28.4 MB)
Download the accompanying pamphlet as a 19-page PDF document (304 KB)
| Help | PDF help | Geopubs main page | Other Planetary Maps |
| Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Accessibility |
| Geologic Division | Astrogeology Research Program |
This map is also available from:
USGS Information Services, Box 25286,
Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225
telephone: 303-202-4210; e-mail: [email protected] | <urn:uuid:bc1418ca-5781-4ac3-9871-a067b831cf67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2794/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929795 | 589 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: demand/supply/uptake
In this simulation we divide demand for nutrients (N and P) into two stages of demand: first a
"demand for optimal growth," and then a more restricted general "demand" which
takes supply into account.
Demand for optimal growth is the amount each plant would prefer to
absorb based on the cumulative total uptake over its lifetime as compared to the optimal cumulative
uptake at this stage in its life. Optimal cumulative uptake at any time is based on an S curve parameter that determines the
optimal concentration of N or P over the life of the plant (the heat unit
Demand for optimal growth is modified to produce general demand by considering supply. By supply here
we mean the amount of nutrient (as nitrate or labile P) available to this plant if it were the only plant in the soil
patch. Supply is based on two things: how much nutrient is available in the soil patch, and how
quickly the plant's roots can absorb the nutrient. The ability of the plant to absorb nutrients is determined
by the plant's water uptake (because nutrients are taken up with water),
which is in turn determined by the distribution and biomass of the
plant's roots. Thus general demand is the lesser of the plant's demand for optimal growth and the supply
available to this plant if it were alone.
Uptake is the actual amount of nutrient taken from the soil patch by
this plant. Each plant is given a proportion of its demand equal to the
ratio of available nutrient to the total demand of all plants in the patch.
For example, if one plant demands 10 units and another demands 6,
and the soil patch has 8 units of nutrient available, each plant will get half of its demand (8/16), so the
first plant will receive 5 units and the other 3.
For parts of the plant (leaves, flowers, etc., as modeled for drawing only), demand has a similar meaning.
Each day the plant asks each of its parts how much biomass they demand to grow or make other plant
parts. The new photosynthate for the day is partitioned to the plant
parts according to their demands. As with whole plants no weighting is done.
How it works:
plant nutrient uptake
plant water uptake | <urn:uuid:88f1b8f4-6729-4ec9-a683-06b72df7dabe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gardenwithinsight.com/help100/00000391.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946252 | 489 | 3.734375 | 4 |
The Physics Illumination
Project: Conceptual Homework on the Web
Physics Illuminations consist
of a simple interactive component (such as a Java applet) packaged
with brief descriptive text. Most are qualitative in nature and naturally
incorporate student assessments, so that they work well as automatically
graded conceptual homework. Their positive impact upon learning has
been demonstrated by the fact that over 100 students in three different
classes employing no in-class interactive engagement methods showed
conceptual learning comparable to that of the interactive engagement
classes reported by Hake.1-2 (Further tests with other
instructors are currently underway with the support.)
In-class active learning methods
have been widely studied and are generally believed by physics education
reformers to substantially improve student understanding of basic
physics concepts. However, because of the extensive attention that
has been paid to in-class methods, it is unlikely that substantial
further improvement can be made on that front (other than convincing
more instructors to use an interactive approach). By contrast, comparatively
little attention has been paid to what can be done with homework
to improve student conceptual learning. For typical students, learning
through out-of-class study is probably only weakly correlated with
learning through interactive in-class techniques; consequently, the
combination of effective homework with interactive engagement methods
may help us further improve student learning in introductory physics.
Listed below are a number of
my conclusions about what is needed for effective web-based homework,
based on my experience with Physics Illuminations. (Some of these
items have been previously discovered by others in the context of
in-class learning studies.)
- Most students will use on-line
learning materials only if such use directly affects their grade.
Giving them evidence that students who voluntarily use the materials
score higher on quizzes or exams is not a sufficient inducement.
- An applet should be accompanied
by text to accommodate less explorative learning styles. However,
such text should be very brief for students to take the time to
- The opportunity to score
well on homework encourages a high rate of participation, and consequently
more learning. This is one of several arguments for relatively
simple, single-focus learning items.
- Applets that focus on a single
topic and limit the number of variable parameters are more likely
to be effective. Most students are overwhelmed by an applet that
gives them control over many variables, since they have not internalized
the scientific approach of studying the effect of one variable
at a time.
- Approaching a concept from
different directions (with different applets) helps solidify the
learning of that concept.
- Students can learn effectively
through repetition. Applets that present students an "unlimited" number
of random cases are particularly suitable for computer-aided learning.
- It is not necessary to show
students what they did wrong if the software can give multiple
random cases of simple tasks. Students will read the accompanying
text (if it is brief) to find out what they need to do or what
they might be doing wrong. Of course, immediate feedback is essential,
but that is a given in computer-assisted learning.
- For complicated tasks, such
as problem solving, and tasks where few cases are available, context-sensitive
feedback is likely to be necessary. This is a much more difficult
research and programming problem, requiring substantial understanding
of learning (by both human and machine). Thus, it is important
to break such tasks into simple subtasks to whatever extent is
Improving student learning of
physics through the use of more effective homework is still a relatively
unexplored area. If you are interested in getting involved in this
exploration, check out the open source Physics Illumination Project
I welcome participation by non-programmers as well as programmers.
Partial support for this
project is provided by the National Science Foundation's Course,
Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Program under grant DUE-0088695.
- Ronald L. Greene, "lluminating
Physics via Web-Based Self-Study," Phys. Teach. 39,
356-360 (Sep. 2001).
- Richard R. Hake, "Interactive
Engagement versus Traditional Methods: A Six-Thousand-Student Survey
of Mechanics Test Data for Introductory Physics Courses," Am.
J. Phys. 66, 64-74 (1998).
Ron Greene is a Professor
of Physics at the University of New Orleans. During his career
he has had varied research interests, among them plasma spectroscopy,
semiconductor physics, and machine learning. This last area has
evolved into studies in computer-assisted instruction. | <urn:uuid:9f54f8f6-b5a1-4874-86f9-bbe306e97722> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aps.org/units/fed/newsletters/fall2001/greene.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917861 | 999 | 3.78125 | 4 |
Source: Flickr user Rennette Stowe
Apple is once again playing hardball with users who have the nerve to try to free their iPhones. It came to light last week that the company is working to patent a system that would allow it to brick jailbroken iPhones, essentially rendering them worthless. That announcement was followed by news that Apple just released a new version of iOS specifically to foil hackers looking to jailbreak the iPhone 4.
Both stories underscore how much Apple wants to prevent users from jailbreaking the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, all of which run iOS. But the company’s strategy is not only self-defeating and short-sighted, it’s also one the folks in Cupertino will likely have to abandon at some point.
First, a little more background: Apple’s recently-revealed patent application outlines a system designed to identify the “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking or removal of a SIM card” from a phone so the device can be located and its data erased. While such a system could be a weapon against thieves, Apple made a point of including “any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked.” This means Apple could cripple devices that have been modified to use apps not sold in the App Store. (Jailbreaking is different than SIM unlocking, which allows the gadget to be used on T-Mobile’s network, and which is an entirely different issue.)
Meanwhile, the company has released a new firmware update for the sole purpose of patching a hole that was being used to jailbreak handsets running iOS 4, according to the group of developers that created the first iPhone 4 jailbreak. Calling the standoff a “cat [and] mouse game,” the iPhone Dev Team (which is not affiliated with Apple in any way) essentially threw in the towel.
But it makes no sense for Apple to pour resources into such efforts when allowing jailbreaking — even implicitly, with a wink and a nod — could actually help move iPhones off the shelves.
There’s an ever-increasing number of apps available for jailbroken iPhones, and consumers are increasingly becoming aware of them. Jailbreaking gives iPhone users access to apps that would never be supported by the App Store (tethered apps and porn among them), but even then there’s no downside for Apple. Any tethering usage would be mitigated by AT&T’s metered data plans; it’s not like users could truly abuse them. And when it comes to porn, Apple can simply say “We don’t support that garbage” and remain unsoiled in the public eye, even as it continues to ship massive numbers of iPhones out the door.
Also, it’s worth noting a recent ruling which found that jailbreaking the iconic gadget doesn’t violate copyright law, as Liz wrote about a few months ago; it’s far from clear whether freeing the device from Apple’s policies is illegal in any sense.
Finally, revenues from the App Store are a drop in the bucket compared to Apple’s overall bottom line; the company uses the retail channel — just as it does iTunes — as a tool to boost sales for its lucrative hardware business. Apple sells DRM-free tunes and allows users to put their music libraries on the company’s devices because those strategies are good for gadget sales — where the money lies. While it may be true that more than a million iPhone users have jailbroken their devices, Apple’s policies have surely swayed some would-be (or former) users to move to Android.
Just as Apple’s support for DRM-free songs in iTunes was inevitable a few years ago, it will almost certainly have to tolerate — if not exactly support — jailbroken iPhones in the future. So why continue to invest resources in fighting a battle that’s already a loser? The iPhone Dev Team may have given up for now, but other hackers will surely find ways around Apple’s efforts to prevent jailbreaking. | <urn:uuid:650cf673-091f-4841-a6ba-b8937190e54b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pro.gigaom.com/blog/why-does-apple-continue-to-fight-iphone-jailbreaking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95308 | 854 | 1.773438 | 2 |
A new National Park Service (NPS) report for 2011 shows that the 828,947 visitors to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park spent $44,029,000.00 in communities surrounding the park. This spending supported 602 jobs in the local area.
“With its mosaic of splendid scenery and vistas, rich history, varied recreational opportunities and almost 85 miles of trails, Cumberland Gap is a wonderful place to learn about America’s story,” articulated Park Superintendent Mark Woods. “We attract visitors from across the U.S. and around the world who come here to experience the park and then spend time and money enjoying the quality and diverse services provided by our neighboring communities in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia and getting to know this amazing part of the country so proudly known as Appalachia. The National Park Service is proud to have been entrusted with the care of America’s most treasured places and delighted that the visitors we welcome generate significant contributions to the local, state, and national economy.”
The information on Cumberland Gap is part of a peer-reviewed spending analysis of national park visitors across the country conducted by Michigan State University for the National Park Service. For 2011, that report shows $13 billion of direct spending by 279 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. That visitor spending had a $30 billion impact on the entire U.S. economy and supported 252,000 jobs nationwide.
Most visitor spending supports jobs in lodging, food, and beverage service (63 percent) followed by recreation and entertainment (17 percent), other retail (11 percent), transportation and fuel (7 percent) and wholesale and manufacturing (2 percent).
To download the report visit www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/products.cfm#MGM and click on Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation, 2011. The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state.
To learn more about national parks in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia and how the National Park Service works with communities to preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide local recreation opportunities, go to www.nps.gov/kentucky, www.nps.gov/tennessee or www.nps.gov/virginia. | <urn:uuid:a4c18e88-f217-47f3-ac8d-4a0884f68f94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.middlesborodailynews.com/view/full_story/21969258/article-Local-communities-benefit-from-tourism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920473 | 473 | 2.625 | 3 |
Since the economy took a turn for the worst, I have been inundated with requests for “bank sale” properties. A common misconception seems to exist where people assume that banks are basically giving away properties that are being foreclosed on, much like we see with the fire sale of properties in the U.S.
So, what is a “Bank Sale”? Basically when someone cannot meet their obligation to the bank/lender, the institution that they have financed their home through will begin a process to take the home away from the owner. This can be a fairly lengthy process and in some cases will ultimately end up with the bank or lender selling the home to try and recoup their losses.
While it is always possible to find a good deal in today’s housing market, it isn’t common for it to be a bank owned property. The rules and regulations that govern the Canadian banking system are far more stringent than the U.S equivalents (I use that term loosely, as they barely had any rules or regulations).
Obviously if someone defaults on their home financing (mortgage, line of credit) the bank would like to get that bad debt off of their books. If they recoup that money, they can in turn lend it to someone else! However, in Canada, regardless of how the lender goes about selling the property or what is owed on the property, under the Canadian Securities Act, a lender is mandated to achieve fair market value.
Fair market value is established in conjunction with local realtors. They provide the bank with local market data and recommend a fair list price. Every so often they may reduce the price but this reduction also has to be justified with relevant market data. The bank will keep extensive records of the sale process, just in case they end up in court.
So, for everyone watching American real estate shows and dreaming of the fortune you can make from buying and selling bank owned, I am afraid that it just isn’t realistic. That’s not to say there aren’t some great real estate opportunities for either a long-term investment strategy or to help you find that dream home.
Here are two such strategies that have proven very successful for our clients.
Alternative Option 1 – Power of Attorney instead of Power of Sale
Refocusing your search for Power of Attorney homes may be a great alternative to “bank sale” homes.
With an aging population, more and more seniors are moving on to retirement residences, senior’s communities, one floor condos or apartments. This opens up an entire market place of beautiful old homes in mature neighbourhoods. Do they need some reno’s? Sure they do but the end result can be magnificent and if you can buy at the right price you will end up with a lot of equity in your home.
A perfect example of this would be the Hunt Club area of London. A beautiful mature neighborhood that takes its name from the very exclusive golf course which part of the neighbourhood backs onto. Power of Attorney homes have been known to sell for as little as $300,000 and once renovated can be worth $399,000 or more.
A Realtor in your town will be able to not only find these listings for you but let you know what areas to look in.
Alternative Option 2 – Student Property
In London, Ontario, where I work, we are lucky to have two established further education establishments, Western University (formerly UWO) and Fanshawe College. Both of these institutions are growing at rapid rates making the need for housing ever-present.
Here is a case study that we completed for a client. The unit was a condo on the main bus route to UWO (5 min bus ride). We advised our client that paying condo fees in this instance is a good idea, because you are guaranteed that the outside of the property is taken care of, along with some large ticket items like the roof and windows (this varies from condo complex to condo complex).
Purchase Price – $189,000
Down-payment(20%) - $37,800
Mortgage Rate (as of May/2012) – 5 Yr Variable @ 2.8%
Land Transfer Tax (1 time payment) - $1,615
Legal Fees & Disbursements – $ 2,000
Rent Received – 5 Bedrooms @ $425 per room = $2,125 ($1700 if your child lives rent free)
Mortgage Payment – $620
Condo Fees – $177
Utilities – $250
Property Taxes – $180
Insurance – $55
Total Monthly Costs – $1,282
Rental Income – $2,125
Monthly Profit - $ 843
Gross Income – $10,116
Less 5% Vacancy Rate – $505.80
Less 5% Maintenance Reserve – $505.80
Less Legal Fees + Land Transfer Tax – $3,615 (Amounts paid on purchase of property)
Net Income – $5489.40
Gross Income – $10,116
Less 5% Vacancy Rate – $430.80
Less 5% Maintenance Reserve – $430.80
Net Income – $9104.40
So while “bank sales” may not be the best option in Canada, you can see that great opportunities still exist in our housing markets. You just need to know where to look.
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- Best Home Renovations, Money Wasted Or Money Invested? (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
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- What Is the Difference Between a Mortgage Lender vs a Mortgage Broker? (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Reader Question: How Much Debt is Too Much Before You Need To Budget? (canadianbudgetbinder.com) | <urn:uuid:6ab1572c-d599-40c7-bf3c-5770fdd81453> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://canadianbudgetbinder.com/2012/12/06/bank-sales-in-canada-not-the-same-as-bank-foreclosures-in-the-u-s-a/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941667 | 1,252 | 1.695313 | 2 |
These winds are somewhat common in Montana and Alberta as strong winds come down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. As the air sinks, it becomes warmer and drier.
There have been some incredible temperature changes due to these winds -- also known as "snow eaters" in those areas.
On Jan. 11, 1980 in Great Falls, MT, a Chinook wind brought the temperature up from -32 to 15 above -- in 7 minutes! That stands as the record for fastest temperature change in the United States.
But the Canadians don't miss out on this either. On Jan. 6, 1966, the temperature rose 37.8 degrees in 4 minutes in Pincher Creek, Alberta.
For More Information: | <urn:uuid:e931b33e-8f65-42c6-b35c-7a3983a23043> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.komonews.com/weather/faq/4347861.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929625 | 148 | 3.25 | 3 |
OKEMAH, Okla. — On Saturday (July 14) — what would have been Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday — thousands of fans made the pilgrimage to Okemah, Okla., to revel in Guthrie’s legacy and take in performances by other iconic and up-and-coming folk singer-songwriters.
The afternoon shows at the Woody Gurthrie Folks Festival (also known as WoodyFest) were well-attended and filled with fantastic music, but the finale of the show captured the hearts of the festival-goers with sets by Terri Hendrix, Ellis Paul, Melanie and Judy Collins.
If there are any “authorities” in the folk music scene, Judy Collins is one of them. Not only was her voice a crystal clear beam of energy resonating into the bone marrow of all those in attendance, but her message — the message of folk music, of social justice — rang out loud and clear.
Collins covered two quintessential Guthrie tunes that are as prescient for us today as they were then: “Pastures of Plenty” written by Guthrie in 1941 and “Deportees,” which he wrote in 1948 after a plane of migrant laborers crashed in the hills of California on their way back to Mexico.
“Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita/Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria/You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane/All they will call you will be deportees/Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?/Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?/To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil/And be called by no name except deportees?”
Collins noted that the song is really the song of America as “Migration started in 1492.” Throughout her set, she broke into wisps of song fragments of a cappella verse in blazing clarity. Suddenly, “This land is your land/this land is my land” became a column of energy radiating from the stage.
Her final two songs revealed a more contemplative theme: “In My Life” by the Beatles and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” As she sang, “Some are dead and some are living/In my life I’ve loved them all” one got the distinct impression she was reflecting back on her life, her long career and the assortment of great artists she has known.
Before playing Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” she told a story of how she was awakened by the tune one morning at 3 and went downstairs to find Dylan in the act of composing it.
“I snuck downstairs and sat quietly behind a closed door for two hours and just listened as he wrote the song,” she said. Similarly, the crowd of hundreds sat soaking in the rich lineage that Judy Collins conveyed from the stage.
Terri Hendrix, accompanied by Lloyd Maines kicked off the Saturday evening performances and covered a wide range of tunes. One of Hendrix’s contemporary contributions to folk causes was the song “Monopoly.” The song begins: Supersize my fries/bring back two apple pies/on your way out/turn on the radio/goodbye originality/say hello to conformity/in the name of change/we’re at an all time low.” It ends with “Hey FCC don’t you turn your back on me!”
Ellis Paul’s engaged the audience when he covered Roy Orbison’s “Crying” and then had them sing along to his ode to Johnny Cash, “Kick Out the Lights.” Paul was joined on stage by David Amram to perform “Chief Joseph,” Paul’s song about the Nez Perce Indian leader who strove for a non-violent solution with the United States government.
Melanie performed a solid set accompanied by her son. She covered Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd,” the last lines of which she emphasized: “Some will rob you with a six gun/some will do it with a fountain pen.” By the end of Melanie’s set, no less fewer 14 musicians from previous performances joined her on the stage and closed out with the refrain “All we are saying/is give peace a chance.” Melanie introduced her song “Hushabye” by declaring “This is a peace song, it’s not an anti-war song. You know there’s a difference.
The lyrics echoed her sentiments: “After all is said and done/Daddy’s a hero/You are a widow’s son/And after all the fighting’s done/Life will take over/No one will have won.”
The performers and audience that assembled for this festival serve as a reminder that folk music still has an active role to play in America and will continue to so long as there are social injustices to sing about.
The Okemah Historical Society and Nineteenth Century Restorations Inc. are working to secure the funds necessary to re-assemble Woody Guthrie’s boyhood home. Politics of Okemah led to its dismantling in the 1980s.
“Fortunately all the wood is still in Okemah stored in different places, and our goal is to have it reassembled by next year,” said Dan Riedemann of Nineteenth Century Restorations. According to Riedmann, Gurthrie’s son, Arlo Guthrie, has signed on to help swing a hammer in the rebuilding. He said Jimmy LaFave has agreed to play a concert at the house once completed.
The little town of Okemah is reminiscent of the “little engine that could.” WoodyFest pushed the city’s infrastructure to the limits as air conditioning units gave way and plumbing fixtures fumbled. While these things left some wondering if the festival had outgrown itself, most were simply relieved as the sweltering crowds from the afternoon venues were cooled by a mid-July breeze that washed over the Pastures of Plenty stage Saturday evening.
The final event of the 2012 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival was held Sunday morning in the Crystal Theatre. Musicians joined together in a benefit concert to raise money for the fight against Huntington’s Disease, which claimed the life of Woody Guthrie in 1967. | <urn:uuid:674eedcd-a5ff-4fc2-8b41-54ba634bb5c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecitywire.com/node/22826 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963288 | 1,385 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Watched WALL-E for the second time last night, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time. I'll probably have to buy that one. DKC and I were watching the commentary afterward, and Andrew Stanton (the director) gave this really cool analogy about the creative process that I wanted to share with you all. Basically, he said that to him, creating a movie was like a dinosaur dig. When you start the creative process, you start uncovering bones, one by one. And sometimes those bones surprise you. You don't know what sort of a dinosaur you're dealing with at first, but as you accumulate the bones, you get a better and better idea. However, sometimes--right at the end--you get a final bone that throws your whole perception off. What you thought was a T-Rex is actually a Stegosaurus. And then you have to make a decision: do you take all the work you've already done--piecing all those bones together into a T-Rex whole--and abandon it, or do you shove the Stegosaurus bone into the T-Rex and try and make it fit. He said that where Pixar has succeeded is that they've always been willing to scrap material so that the whole is complete and right. Rebuild from the ground up, if they have to. I see a lot of truth to that statement, and I can say from experience that I hate rebuilding from the ground up when I find I've made a mistake like that. The end result's always better, though.
at 7:43 AM | <urn:uuid:fc40acec-c49e-4efe-8fb6-ea115e327d3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brycesramblings.blogspot.com/2009/01/dinosaur-dig.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981736 | 332 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Halleck, Fitz-Greene (hălˈĭk) [key], 1790–1867, American poet, b. Guilford, Conn. He was joint author, with Joseph Rodman Drake, of the humorous lampoons "Croaker Papers," most of which were printed in the New York Evening Post in 1819. In the same year he published his long satire, Fanny (1819), in the style of Byron's Beppo. His poem "Marco Bozzaris," popular as a recitation, and his "Green Be the Turf above Thee," an elegy on the death of Drake, were the best known of Halleck's graceful verses. For many years he was personal secretary to John Jacob Astor.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Fitz-Greene Halleck from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American Literature: Biographies | <urn:uuid:d9ddb4ca-6424-4a54-87f4-95fcc1bc2f70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/halleck-fitz-greene.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952305 | 207 | 2.375 | 2 |
For the better part of a decade now, I've been covering the development of a new form of renewable energy here in the Gulf of Maine / Bay of Fundy region, home to the world's highest tides.
Tides -- which run about 10 feet here in Portland, and over 50 feet at the head of the Bay of Fundy -- pack an enormous amount of energy, a fact that led early 20th century engineers to propose damming entire bays in eastern Maine as part of Hoover Dam-scale energy projects. The ecological effect would have been enormous, of course, so it's probably a good thing these projects were never completed. (Parts were built under F.D.R., including the causeway linking Eastport (a.k.a Moose Island) to the mainland.)
But the new iteration of tidal power requires no dams and, indeed, appears to have little if any adverse effect on the environment. After years of development, it's finally going commercial on this continent, starting next month in Cobscook Bay, between the two easternmost towns in the United States, Eastport and Lubec, Maine, where the tides run 20 feet.
My front page piece in yesterday's Maine Sunday Telegram tells the story of how a Maine start-up company has managed to take the lead in an industry that's attracted the likes of Siemens and Lockheed Martin, and the opportunities and challenges ahead for them and their competitors as they seek to expand in the region. | <urn:uuid:b69d50c1-a0b2-439b-83e4-c6fd223de614> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colinwoodard.blogspot.com/2012/07/tidal-power-comes-of-age-in-maine-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963989 | 300 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Barbara KingsolverArticle Free Pass
Barbara Kingsolver, (born April 8, 1955, Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.), American writer and political activist whose best-known novels concern the endurance of people living in often inhospitable environments and the beauty to be found even in such harsh circumstances.
Kingsolver grew up in eastern Kentucky, the daughter of a physician who treated the rural poor. After graduating from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, she traveled and worked in Europe and then returned to the United States.
Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees (1988) concerns a woman who makes a meaningful life for herself and a young Cherokee girl with whom she moves from rural Kentucky to the Southwest. In Animal Dreams (1990) a disconnected woman finds purpose and moral challenges when she returns to live in her small Arizona hometown. Pigs in Heaven (1993), a sequel to her first novel, deals with the protagonist’s attempts to defend her adoption of her Native American daughter. Kingsolver’s short-story collection, Homeland and Other Stories, was released in 1989. Another America (Otra America) (1991), a poetry collection in English, with a Spanish translation, primarily concerns the struggles of impoverished women against sexual and political abuse, war, and death.
With The Poisonwood Bible (1999), Kingsolver expanded her psychic and geographic territory, setting her story about the redemption of a missionary family in the Belgian Congo during the colony’s struggle for independence. In Prodigal Summer (2001) the intertwined lives of several characters living in Appalachia illuminate the relationship between humans and the natural world. Her next novel, The Lacuna (2009), combines history and fiction as it traces the life of a Mexican American novelist who befriends Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky and who is later investigated during the anticommunist McCarthy era. In 2010 The Lacuna won the Orange Prize for Fiction. A global warming parable set in Appalachia, Flight Behavior (2012) chronicles a community’s reactions to the astonishing arrival of thousands of monarch butterflies, which have forgone their winter migration because of warming temperatures in northern climes.
Kingsolver also wrote the nonfictional Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983 (1989), which records the endeavours of a group of women fighting the repressive policies of a mining corporation. Essay collections such as High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never (1995) and Small Wonder (2002) contain observations on nature, family life, and world events. In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2007), Kingsolver expounded upon the environmental consequences of human consumption and used anecdotes from her own experiences eating only locally grown food to propose an alternate means of subsistence.
What made you want to look up "Barbara Kingsolver"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:21d83852-8157-40ae-a763-bd99b3eeffe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/318744/Barbara-Kingsolver | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94011 | 587 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Now that November has arrived, we are less likely to experience hot spells where temperatures exceed 90 degrees, which is important for some of our most spectacular winter bloomers.
Pansies and cyclamen respond poorly to high temperatures. They may react to the hot temperatures by declining quickly.
Pansies are the most popular winter annual. They provide blue, yellow, white, purple and orange blooms everyday through the end of May if they are planted in full sun now. They have more cold tolerance than petunias, dianthus, calendula, stocks and even snapdragons, so there is usually no cold-weather break in blooming in January like the others experience.
Pansies are available in several varieties based on bloom size and color pattern. The most common selections are the monkey-faced pansies. They have a black center within the colored flower. The monkey-faced varieties offer blooms that are half-dollar sized. The Majestic Beauty variety offers a monkey-faced pansy that has a larger bloom, nearly twice as large.
Clear-faced pansies have become more and more popular in area gardens. Their blooms are also about half-dollar sized.
Gardeners that want a smaller bloom size can grow the pansy cousins Johnny jump-ups and violas. Johnny jump-ups have nickel-sized blooms of yellow or violet. Violas have quarter-sized blooms.
Grow pansies in full sun (at least six hours) in beds or containers. Mixed-color beds are the norm, but single-color beds are very showy. Pansies work well as a border planted around taller winter annuals. They are susceptible to slug and snail damage, so protect them with slug and snail bait.
Cyclamen have been used for years as an indoor plant. The leaves are attractive and provide a perfect background for the spectacular blooms. The flowers are orchid-like in very pure colors of white, red, pink, purple, lavender and rose.
Cyclamen are surprisingly hardy as outdoor winter plants. The foliage is very cold tolerant. Cover cyclamen with agricultural fiber or blankets when temperatures fall below 30 degrees to maintain the blooms.
Grow them in deep shade and they will decorate your landscape with blooms every day until May when they decline with the heat. Use them in containers or beds in deep shade. Single-color plantings or drifts of single colors are the usual way to use cyclamen, but a bed of mixed white and another color is decorative.
The main complaint about cyclamen is the cost. A hundred cyclamen in a bed in the shade in front of the house are very showy, but at $6 per plant, you may have to refinance the house to afford them.
Cyclamen will live and bloom in the house for years, but they are hard to over-summer outside. Even if you can keep the foliage alive by storing them in containers in a corner of the yard, they are slow to re-bloom. The beautiful plants offered by your favorite nursery each winter are grown in Colorado or other cold-weather location.
Spinach is not a blooming plant, but has the same negative reaction to hot spells that affects pansies and cyclamen. Plant spinach transplants in the vegetable garden now to provide leaves for salads and vegetable dishes into May.
Harvest spinach leaf by leaf as you need it, without ever taking more than a third of the foliage. | <urn:uuid:81cf12ca-5786-4fbe-b1a9-64def28cb983> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/bulverde/article/Pansies-and-cyclamen-Cold-tolerant-winter-blooms-4016973.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94488 | 722 | 2.734375 | 3 |
When the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John caught glimpses of God, they were overcome with despair at their own unworthiness in the light of His glory. The same could be said of Daniel or Paul, or any number of figures from Scripture.
But when the protagonist of a new book called The Shack is introduced to the Father of heaven, he is greeted by a large, beaming, African-American woman who goes by the name of Papa.
If you have not heard about The Shack, there is a good chance you will soon. A novel self-published about a year ago by William P. Young, the book has gained quite a following in Christian circles. It is still among the top 10 sellers at Amazon.com. And when it receives a glowing endorsement from a scholar whom I respect, like Eugene Peterson, it is not a phenomenon that discerning Christians can ignore.
The story is about a man named Mack, who is struggling in the aftermath of the brutal murder of his young daughter. One day he finds a note in his mailboxapparently from God. God wants Mack to meet Him at the shack, the place where his daughter was killed.
When he arrives, the shack and the winter scene around it transform, Narnia-like, into a mystical mountain paradise, perhaps meant to be heaven itself. Now dwelling in the shack are three mysterious figuresthe African-American woman, a Middle Eastern workman, and an Asian girlwho reveal themselves as God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The rest of the book is basically a discussion between Mack and the three persons of the Trinity. While the discussion is mostly on the deep topics of creation, the fall, freedom, and forgiveness, too often the author slips in silly lines that, frankly, seem ridiculous in the mouth of the Godhead. Jesus, looking at Papa, says, Isnt she great? At one point, Papa warns Mack that eating too many of the greens in front of him will give him the trots. And when Jesus spills batter on the floor and on Papa, Jesus then washes Heror is it His?feet. Papa coos, Oh, that feels sooooo good. Ugh.
Okay, it is only an allegory. But like Pilgrims Progress, allegories contain deep truths. That is my problem. It is the authors low view of Scripture. For example, Mack is tied to a tree by his drunken, abusive father, who beats Mack with a belt and Bible verses. The author reflects derisively in another spot that nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that guilt edges.
The Bible, it seems, is just one among many equally valid ways in which God reveals Himself. And, we are told, the Bible is not about rules and principles; it is about relationship. Sadly, the author fails to show that the relationship with God must be built on the truth of who He really is, not on our reaction to a sunset or a painting.
That is not to say The Shack is without merit. The centrality of Christ and Gods breathtaking, costly love come through loud and clear. But these truths are available everywhere in Scripture, everywhere in Christian literature. You do not have to visit The Shack to find them.
As Papa warns Mack, God is not who Mack expects He is. But He is also not what our creative imaginations make Him to be, either.
He Is, after all, Who He Is.
From BreakPoint®, May 6, 2008, Copyright 2008, Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with the permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without the express written permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. BreakPoint® and Prison Fellowship Ministries® are registered trademarks of Prison Fellowship | <urn:uuid:5e1862a5-8a48-475e-a5ef-ecf9a2167430> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/diminishing-glory-32270/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960639 | 794 | 1.6875 | 2 |
See my above statement. Being a nice person means nothing. I hope you realize this. There are going to be a lot of nice people missing out on the splendors of God in the afterlife.And are you okay with this?
Is it all about being on God's "team" (and the correct team, at that)? Or can someone be somewhere doing the work of a Christian (service, charity, self-sacrifice, love of neighbor) without really knowing it or labeling it as such? Will God judge your heart and your actions in life, or just your Certificate of Baptism?
It makes little difference what I am ok with. I don't make the rules.
And that would be a 'yes'.
Good people going to hell is okay with you because you believe those are "the rules".
Sorry, it's just that this kind of attitude has never made any sense to me.
It is not a yes. It is an acceptance of what we know to be true. There is but one path to God and that is not through some great effort on our behalf. What does being a nice person really mean? How is this going to help any more than not being a nice person or randomly being a nice person, or even being a mean person? This is all subjective to what you or I think a nice person is or what a nice person should be doing. These are our earthly standards, which have little or nothing to do with God. Nice is good, but it is not enough.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
I guess by "nice" I am thinking of genuine kindness. The Golden Rule is not unique to Christ's teachings, and frankly, many non-Christians exhibit true kindness better and more regularly than many Christians.
This makes me think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan in St. Luke's Gospel.
"Who is my neighbour?", the expert in the Law asked Jesus...
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
I was thinking of those "nice" people that help and love their neighbours, whether subscribing to any particular religion or not.
I guess what really bothers me is when people casually and matter-of-factly claim that good people cannot be saved because, for one reason or another, they do not call themselves Christians. This would of course include many good people that I know and love.
But perhaps I've misconstrued what you wrote. I do that sometimes.
I'm uncomfortable ruling on anyone's salvation, good or evil. That's for God to do. | <urn:uuid:ca73ec0e-7b0a-473c-8e92-b0c10334aa91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php?topic=49189.msg865639 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986097 | 799 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Thomas County Museum of History is located in the historic 1923 Flowers-Roberts House at 725 North Dawson Street in Thomasville, Georgia. The building contains more than thirty-five exhibits about the history of Thomas County, as well as the document, photo, and three-dimensional archives that provide the material evidence of what happened in Thomas County’s past.
A guided tour of the Museum grounds begins with a twenty minute video documentary of Thomas County’s history, with an emphasis on the Victorian-era hotels and the dozens of plantations scattered around Thomas County. Your docent will then walk you through the 1870 Rufus Smith log house, which was moved to Museum grounds in 1974, and provides a setting to share the story of both the Smith family and yeoman farmers of the period.
From there, you will walk to the 1877 Emily Joyner house, and hear the story of both the Civil War widow who first lived there, and the Flowers’ family nanny, Matilda Calloway, who lived there during the first half of the twentieth century. After the Joyner house, you will visit the 1896 Oliver Ewart bowling alley, built to entertain the winter resident who owned the Museum’s property from 1893-1900.
Following the bowling alley, you will go to the 1940 Roberts’ Garage, which currently houses two Model T cars and two Victorian era carriages. After the garage, you will return to the Flowers-Roberts House for a self-guided tour of the Museum’s many exhibits, including the timeline-style exhibits in the large Davis Wing addition at the rear of the house. Guided tours are not mandatory and you are free to self-guide yourself around the exhibits throughout the Flowers-Roberts House, but to see the historic buildings on the Museum grounds requires a tour guide. With or without guide, tours of the Museum cost $5 for adults, $1 for children, and you should plan at least an hour for a guided tour plus time to roam the exhibits. We thank you for your interest in Thomas County history and hope to see you soon! | <urn:uuid:73a5071c-aa56-4d4d-a24b-b41b95ffb128> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thomascountyhistory.org/visiting-the-museum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952631 | 429 | 2.109375 | 2 |
A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone-the general term for all circulating weather systems (counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere) over tropical waters. Tropical cyclones are classified as follows:
1. Tropical Depression - An organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with a defined circulation and maximum sustained winds of 38 mph (33 knots) or less.
2. Tropical Storm - An organized system of strong thunderstorms with a defined circulation and maximum sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph (34-63 knots).
3. Hurricane - An intense tropical weather system with a well defined circulation and maximum sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or higher. In the western Pacific, hurricanes are called "typhoons," and similar storms in the Indian Ocean are called "cyclones."
Hurricanes are products of the tropical ocean and atmosphere. Powered by heat from the sea, they are steered by the easterly trade winds and the temperate westerlies as well as by their own ferocious energy. Around their core, winds grow with great velocity, generating violent seas. Moving ashore, they sweep the ocean inward while spawning tornadoes and producing torrential rains and floods. Each year on average, ten tropical storms (of which six becom become hurricanes) develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of Mexico. Many of these remain over the ocean. Howevever, about five hurricanes strike the United States coastline every 3 years. Of these five, two will be major hurricanes (category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale). | <urn:uuid:1b8084d4-c1fa-41f8-88e6-a8ac03dba348> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/defining.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934747 | 317 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Here is the term that we will be hearing a lot in 2013 in the startup community in Atlantic Canada: series A.
And my bet is that by the time we welcome in 2014, it will be a term that has happy connotations for some companies and nasty ones for others.
In the startup world, series A refers to your first round of venture capital financing. The lines get blurred in raising capital, but in a textbook startup, the company will be funded first by founder, friends and family, and then by a seed round of financing — usually less than, say, $750,000.
If the company looks to be a winner, it will attract a series A round of financing from venture capital funds. A series A round is usually $1 million to $2 million — enough to give the company some momentum and let it get noticed by other venture capital funds for the series B, C and D rounds.
What we have seen in Atlantic Canada this year is a surge of seeding that resembles the Biblical years of feast.
There were more than 30 Atlantic Canadian companies covered by Entrevestor that received between $100,000 and $1 million in equity financing last year. There were undoubtedly more than that because we never hear about all the financings for startups. This is great news, and it is likely going to continue. There are new companies coming out of the Launch36 accelerator, out of universities and New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s Breakthru competition, which ends in March. There will be more seed funding for these companies.
The challenge this year will be getting over the series A crunch.
The series A crunch is a term now being bandied about in technology communities in the United States. It refers to the worry that the thousands of tech companies that received seed funding in the last few years will all be competing with each other for series A financing in the next two years.
The theory goes that there is not enough money to go around, so some of these young companies are going to fail.
According to the website
So the world is divided on whether this is gospel or balderdash, but we in Atlantic Canada should at least sit up and take note.
There are scores of young Atlantic Canadian companies looking for that $1-million-plus round in the next 12 months.
Most of them will not find that kind of money locally, so many are spending time in the U.S. courting investors.
That is entirely the correct strategy, but they will be battling in a market that is already flooding with demand for cash from those 4,000 other companies.
What this means is there will probably be a few startups in the region that will run out of money this coming year. There will be seed capital lost, and some of it may be taxpayers’ money. That will probably be countered by some successful companies that do land series A rounds, many of them helped by the regional venture capital fund coming on stream.
There will be others that find creative solutions, such as building up more seed financing from angel investors, borrowing money or seeking investment from strategic partners. The most successful will bring in money from the most basic means of all — by accelerating sales. Tech gurus all urge companies to work on sales in preference to raising capital, and the market will force many to do just that.
Maybe that will end up being the rallying cry of 2013 — revenue is the new series A.
Peter Moreira operates www.entrevestor.com. | <urn:uuid:c2561c75-0743-4d39-94fd-1f573baae201> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/360305-entrevestor-series-a-financing-competitive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96778 | 718 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Printed in 1909, this map represents the parts of Virginia, and the United States, that were “wet” and “dry.” These terms refer to the prohibition movement. In “wet” areas, the sale and consumption of alcohol was allowed, but in “dry” areas the sale of alcohol was illegal. On this map, the black areas represent wet places and the white areas, dry ones. The bottom of the map presents statistics from the Virginia State Auditor of Public Accounts. They include the number of saloons and bars in cities and counties, the number of breweries and distilleries, the number of liquor stores, and the number of alcohol licenses. The statistics indicate that the number of licenses to sell alcohol in 1901 was approximately 2,900, which had decreased by 2,043 by 1909 to 857, a major accomplishment for the prohibition movement in Virginia.
The major prohibition organization in 1909 was the Anti-Saloon League (ASL) of Virginia. Clergymen had founded the national organization in 1893. The ASL of Virginia was established in 1901 at the Second Baptist Church in Richmond. The organization quickly became directly involved in the state's politics. The superintendent of the organization when this map was made and one of its most effective leaders was James Cannon Jr., a Methodist cleric. He worked directly with politicians to draft prohibition legislation. By 1909, saloons were illegal in eighty-six of the state's one hundred counties. The ASL of Virginia's biggest victory came in 1916, when statewide prohibition went into effect.
1. What do wet and dry mean in the context of this map?
2. Which are three "wet" cities or towns? Three dry cities?
3. Why was 1916 such a successful year for the ASL of Virginia?
1. Did Prohibition achieve its aims or lead to a great increase in organized crime?
2. Why did the U.S. Congress repeal Prohibition?
Mathews, Mary Beth. "To Educate, Agitate, and Legislate': Baptists, Methodists, and the Anti-Saloon League of Virginia, 1901–1910." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 117, no. 3 (2009): 214–249.
Pegram, Thomas R. "Temperance Politics and Regional Political Culture: The Anti-saloon League in Maryland and the South, 1907–1915." Journal of Southern History 63, no. 1 (1997): 57–90. | <urn:uuid:39948e3c-2060-4a1a-93e9-8d89b8a02b14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/wet_and_dry?mode=pv | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966355 | 514 | 3.5 | 4 |
Series intro: A new citizen is emerging. That citizen is engaged, concerned, and most of all, confident; confident in his or her choice as a consumer, confident in his or her power as an employee, confident that change is possible.
The Footprint Chronicles
were developed to document the changes we’re making as a company to lighten our environmental impact and do less harm. These chronicles are as much an inspiration to Patagonia employees as they are an outgrowth of our personal values. The “My Footprint” series shares the stories of Patagonia employees who have been inspired by the Chronicles, and whose inspiring lives help fuel the vision of what we can do as a company.
Their stories are offered here, glimpses of individual footprints spotted along the path toward positive change. We invite you to enjoy these personal accounts, and share your own in the Comments section included with these posts.
[Ed note: This installment comes from a local Ventura canoe paddler; someone whose time on the water has influenced their concern for water resources. Faced with a different set of problems than our previous contributor
, the solution outlined below is a do-it-yourself inspiration. Enjoy reading this footprint, and remember to click the "About" section if interested in submitting your own.]
Our family had long considered doing something to solve both the problem of old plumbing running over from our laundry, and needing to water our large backyard — adding a greywater
system to the washing machine seemed the obvious solution. Our laundry room is in the back of the house, conveniently perched at the top of a hill above the backyard. A simple water-diversion scheme for the laundry's greywater made a great deal of sense.
[Looking more elaborate than it is, a simple valve system controls which portion of the yard receives irrigation through a newly installed greywater system. Photo: tps]
It seemed simple enough to create an alternate drain line that, instead of going to the sewer system, went to a greywater system in the backyard, taking
advantage of gravity to water our hillside, and perhaps the lower section of the yard. Given wash water is accounts for a large percentage of total household water use, we’d make a large contribution to a greener backyard without any added water. What a deal!
We contacted Devin Slavin of Abundance in Balance Design
and hoped that a consultation with him would give us the knowledge and direction we needed to make this all work well. It sure seemed like the right thing to do. Our family decided to share what we learned here in this post. Water is a precious resource we need to not waste.
It took us about 5 months to complete, but only because we were occasionally slow at taking whatever “the next step” of the project might be from time to time. Our greywater project was finally completed in late July of 2008. We now have an alternate drain line for our laundry that runs under the house, out the back and to a hillside. Every time we do our laundry now, we are watering a different level of the hillside’s many fruit trees and shrubs. And nearly everything we have planted there will provide us with food, too. It’s awesome!
Here’s a breakdown of the project. First of all, major props go out to Devin for overseeing, planning and helping us execute this project. He helped not only do it, but do it right.
As you can see, the hillside has some terraces in it and plenty of slope. Using this slope to our advantage for watering was what made this project seem like such an obvious thing to do.
We had to fence off the new planting area from our oh-so-bad dog (he would simply
have to dig things up
to see what we put in of course). I used simple chicken wire and stakes to do this as our dog, thankfully, isn’t a jumper.
One of the more major steps was tearing out a wall out in the laundry room to install the alternate drain line, but that wasn’t so bad. Climbing under the house and routing the ABS pipe out a vent to the crawl space and then over some steps to the back slope was more challenging. We’ve since had the floor replaced in the laundry room, along with new wallboard. Now we can choose to route water to the backyard, or to the sewer if there was ever a need.
Devin devised a great valve system (photo above) that allows us to turn on one level at a time. We simply flip a couple of switches with each laundry load and this allows us to get water to any of the four different levels on the hillside. He spent a day carefully grading the four different levels in the terraces so that the water would flow properly. This is a low pressure system that relies on gravity to disperse all of the water. If the water is allowed to sit in one place, it becomes blackwater, not graywater. Yuck!
We used polyethylene tubing
for the water lines. This tubing, while more expensive, is way better environmentally than PVC and its flexible nature makes it pretty simple to work with, too. It also withstands UV rays better. Most of this bright yellow tubing is covered up by 4 to 5 inches of mulch, too.
We planted several different fruit trees and berry bushes, with everything having a gopher basket, too. There are “tee” connectors that feed water to each of these plants that we easily spliced into the yellow lines. We then got mulch from a community garden nearby and put layers of it all around.
We spent a fair amount on this project, but knowing that our hillside is now well landscaped, a source of food, and really easy to maintain, made it all worthwhile. We’re very happy with the results.
[All photos: tps] | <urn:uuid:5f87eb10-fa7e-4539-b2ab-bfd61b2311cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecleanestline.com/2009/01/my-footprint-grow-with-the-flow.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962217 | 1,233 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Executives of Belgian organizations are urging the Philippine government to enable small and medium Filipino enterprises to flourish and create more jobs.
"You need entrepreneurs. You need a lot of people to invest, however small, in businesses," said Karel Van Eetvelt, chief executive officer of Unizo, an organization of 85,000 entrepreneurs based in Belgium.
Van Eetvelt joined a Belgian group to meet local farmers and entrepreneurs in rural areas.
Trias, a Belgian development group that maintains a presence in 10 countries, has been helping nongovernment organizations in the Philippines to train local entrepreneurs. The group is funded by Unizo and Boerenbond.
One of the sites the group visited was Camarines Sur, where Trias' partner, the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been helping out public market vendors and small entrepreneurs.
In Manila, the Belgian team also participated in a workshop with Ka-Entrep Micro and Small Entrepreneurs Organizations of the Philippines (Ka-Entrep) to review strategies on promoting entrepreneurship.
"If you have well-rounded and educated workforce to contribute to businesses, then the potential of businesses to grow is huge," Van Eetvel says.
According to Ka-Entrep, an organization of small and micro entrepreneurs in Metro Manila, the Barangay Micro Business Enterprise Act of 2012 is supposed to encourage the formation and growth of Filipino micro enterprises. But that law, it says, fails to live up to its hype. Only a few businessmen are aware of its existence.
Citing a 2009 data from the National Statistics Office, there are 710,822 micro enterprises, accounting for 91.1 percent of all the businesses operating in the country. This segment employs 30 percent of the country's workforce.
According to Dora Hizon, president of Ka-Entrep, most Filipinos are "not trained to have an entrepreneurial mindset. Fresh graduates would always look for employment opportunities and not a business prospect."
Ka-Entrep, with Trias, now hopes to encourage more people to embark on a business.
Already, the Belgian organization plans to reach out to more organizations of entrepreneurs, as it calls the Philippine government's attention to the plight of the struggling businesses, says Gudrun Cartuyvels, Trias country director. | <urn:uuid:e847f516-f322-467b-a8f5-a111fd548bc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sg.news.yahoo.com/belgian-group-sets-aid-small-filipino-entrepreneurs-063006014.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937468 | 485 | 1.5 | 2 |
|The Normans||Battle of Hastings||Yalding|
In about 1026, Herleva of Falaise, the sixteen year old daughter of a tanner from Falaise in Normandy, gave birth to a son called Richard. The boy's father was Gilbert, Count of Brionne, one of the most powerful landowners in Normandy. As Herleva was not married to Gilbert, the boy became known as Richard Fitz Gilbert. The term 'Fitz' was used to show that Richard was the illegitimate son of Gilbert.
When Robert, Duke of Normandy died in 1035 William of Normandy inherited his father's title. Several leading Normans, including Gilbert of Brionne, Osbern the Seneschal and Alan of Brittany, became William's guardians.
A number of Norman barons would not accept an illegitimate son as their leader and in 1040 an attempt was made to kill William. The plot failed but they did manage to kill Gilbert of Brionne. As Richard was illegitimate, he did not receive very much land when his father died.
When William of Normandy, decided to invade England in 1066, he invited his three half-brothers, Richard Fitz Gilbert, Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain to join him. Richard, who had married Rohese, daughter of Walter Giffard of Normandy, also brought with him members of his wife's family.
After his coronation in 1066, William the Conqueror claimed that all the land in England now belonged to him. William retained about a fifth of this land for his own use. The rest was distributed to those men who had helped him defeat Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
Richard Fitz Gilbert, was granted land in Kent, Essex, Surrey, Suffolk and Norfolk. In exchange for this land. Richard had to promise to provide the king with sixty knights. In order to supply these knights, barons divided their land up into smaller units called manors. These manors were then passed on to men who promised to serve as knights when the king needed them.
Richard built castles at Tonbridge (Kent), Clare (Suffolk), Bletchingley (Surrey) and Hanley (Worcester). His knights normally lived in the manor that they had been granted. Once or twice a year, Richard would visit his knights to check the manor accounts and to collect the profits that the land had made.
The Normans were very impressed with Richard's castle at Tonbridge. After a while people in Kent began calling him Richard of Tonbridge. Other people called him Richard of Clare, after the castle and large estates he owned in Clare in Suffolk. In time, Richard adopted Clare as his family name and he became known as Richard de Clare.
William the Conqueror trusted Richard de Clare and appointed him as a member of his ruling council. Richard was also given the title Chief Justiciar. This meant that Richard took over the running of the government when the king was making one of his many visits to Normandy. In this post he played an important role in the suppression of the revolt against William in 1075.
Just before William the Conqueror died he decided that William Rufus, rather than his older brother, Robert Curthose, should be king of England. He was crowned by Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on 26th September, 1087.
The following year some Normans, including Richard de Clare, Odo of Bayeux, Robert of Mortain, William Fitz Osbern and Geoffrey of Coutances, led a rebellion against the rule of Rufus in order to place Robert Curthose on the throne. However most Normans in England remained loyal and Rufus and his army successfully attacked the rebel strongholds at Tonbridge, Pevensey and Rochester.
After a two day siege at Tonbridge Castle, Richard de Clare was forced to surrender to William Rufus. Richard was punished by having his castle and the town of Tonbridge burnt to the ground. Richard de Clare was also forced to live in a monastery where he died three years later. His land was inherited by his son, Gilbert de Clare.
(1) Edward Hasted, The History of the County of Kent (1797)
Richard de Clare came into England with William the Conqueror and gave him great assistance at the Battle of Hastings... in return he was granted large estates in England.
(2) Jennifer Ward, The Lands of the Clare Family (1980)
William the Conqueror aimed to secure Kent and Sussex and to guard the routes to London by giving estates there to men on whom he especially trusted... important places like Tonbndge on the River Medway, was given to Richard de Clare... Richard de Clare granted some of his manors to vassals. Stoke in Surrey, for instance, was given to Roger de Abernon... vassals like Roger de Abernon performed military service. | <urn:uuid:cfe67994-80dc-46d4-90b1-5c066cad3ed2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/NORrichardfitz.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984021 | 1,014 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Is being single, especially for those over 40, a cause for celebration? Disappointment? Alarm? Relief?
In this weekend’s Washington Post Magazine, Ellen McCarthy explores the lives of women and men who have yet to find “The One.” Indeed, what “being single” means, socially and culturally, is changing: According to data from Pew Research Center and the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 96.6 million single Americans. Just 51 percent of the adult population is married, compared with 72 percent in 1960. And a recent Pew/Time Magazine survey found that 39 percent of people think marriage is becoming obsolete.
For the past week, we’ve been asking people to fill out an online survey to tell us more about the single life: the advantages, disadvantages, assumptions, stigmas and rationales. More than a thousand responses came flooding in; here, a round-up of the results.
Our survey was by no means scientific, but it helps to know from whom these responses are coming. The average age of our survey participants was 46.2 years old. Women made up 82 percent of the respondents; men, 18 percent. About 35 percent said their annual income was under $50,000; 41 percent were making between $50,000 and $100,000; and 23 percent bring in more than $100,000 a year.
Why do you think you have never been married?
We asked this question two ways: First, we offered 19 multiple-choice options. The top five selected from that list:
• I’ve had loving relationships, but never found the right partner for marriage
• I value my independence
• I choose the wrong partners
• I prioritized my career
• The potential partners I meet are not up to my standards
We also let people answer the question in their own words:
“I keep thinking I was standing in the wrong line. That I should have thought more carefully about where to attend college. The person I was looking for married someone else or just never crossed paths with me. Now that I am in my early 50’s I don’t know what I would do if I met her tomorrow.”
— Steve, age 52
“There is a lid for every pot, but some of us are crepe pans. I think there just isn’t anyone who would be a good partner for me. Either that, or I just have incredibly bad luck and he’s out there, but I have never run into him, no matter what I’ve tried.”
— Anne Marie, age 50
“Was too busy having fun adventures and didn’t really think about it. Then one day I woke up, looked around, and realized most of the rest of the world seemed to be married with kids. My mom used to say to my sister, brother, and myself, ‘Never get married. Never have kids.’ I don’t know why she said that, but none of the three of us have ever been married and we do not have kids. Maybe I was brainwashed?!”
“It was never that important to me. For most of my life, I have been able to attract more female sexual partners that I need. I do not like to negotiate or compromise on personal matters.”
— Joe, age 55
“There are a lot of things in life you can’t plan for in any meaningful way. Finding a partner, falling in love — I may *want* those things but I can’t make them happen. They either happen or they don’t. In my case, life kept on happening — college, grad school, work and travel abroad, pregnancy, single parenting, back to grad school for a new career, etc. Somehow, getting married just didn’t happen.”
— Susan, age 48
“I think once I decided (at about 21) that I didn’t want children, that took the pressure off. I wouldn’t want kids without a partner, but deciding that made me focus on my career and on caring for what I wanted first.”
— Anna, age 57
“I think I was too immature my first 30 years. Even now I’m not sure I am mature enough. I think I, and the two or three women who might have had me, are fortunate that we never tied the knot.”
— Earl, age 63
“I haven’t come across the right person. Timing has not been favorable. As an African-American woman the pickings are slimmer and men of our race have many choices.”
— Keisha, age 40
“I am a larger woman. While I think I’m fabulous and attractive, it’s clear that the majority of single men disagree. My dating pool has always been severely limited because of this. So, when I have met potential partners, who are already few and far between, they’ve been severely flawed. Any woman has to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince, and the number of available frogs for me is very small. I figure I’m due to find that prince around the time I turn 90.”
— Lori, age 43
“I’m not a big risk taker and I believe you need to take that ‘leap of faith’ in really opening up to someone. I tend to hold back a bit and get nervous when I meet someone fabulous ... which doesn’t happen very often.”
— Suzy, age 44
“I never got married because I just didn’t. I think also, I have never had faith in the institution of marriage as such, and I have the type of persona that does not mind being alone. In fact, it has come to the point that I need to be alone, probably a great deal more than the average person.”
— Alison, age 49
“If it weren’t for bad taste in men, I’d have no taste at all. Also, ‘compromise’ is not a word that’s easy for me to work with because I am usually suspicious that it means ‘I love you, now change’ for women. It doesn’t seem like a fair deal for women in some ways and for men in other ways.”
— Susan, age 62
(Hover over the chart to see the full answers and percentages.)
What are some of the advantages to being single?
“Complete freedom: to take sudden trips to places I like; to be free from entangling obligations and burdens; to make dramatic changes to my life fairly quickly without having to consult anyone else. Do not have to be subject to significant criticism for life choices. Do not have to accommodate my biological family (whom I very much detest) with wife and children.”
— Don, age 66
“Quicker decisions. You can live life closer to the authentic you. ”
— Ruby, age 40
“My decisions about my time, money, energy, are my own. My life is relatively drama free. I don’t worry about being abused, cheated on, left, minimized, or dominated. I can live where I want, move when I want to, keep the house as clean (or not) as I choose. When I thought it would be fun and interesting to move abroad for a few years (and it was!), I didn’t have to worry about interrupting someone else’s career. My house is peaceful and calm; there’s no fighting, frozen silences, or bickering.”
— Maggie, age 54
“Not having to negotiate another’s moods. I sometimes notice an off-putting dynamic between couples (either straight or same-sex) where one partner undermines the other, or plays a role which requires the partner to maintain a level of forbearance. Not having someone ask “Are you really going to wear that?” Or ask “Am I going to like this?” at dinner. I like the freedom to come and go as I please, accept or reject invitations according to my own values, listen to the music I enjoy, and just being on my own, unjudged.”
— Tim, age 50
“With a highly demanding career, I can use my free time to focus on self-rejuvenation, exercise, etc. Some days I can’t imagine arriving home at 8:30 pm to a family who needs my full attention.”
— Shannon, age 41
What are some of the disadvantages to being single?
The down side: feeling acute loneliness, feeling freakish (at family and other reunions), having people ask if I’m gay, having wives become insecure/defensive around me at parties, assuming that I am after their husbands when the opposite is true.
— Mattie, 53
“There are no “still great you are single” gift showers — I have been to a zillion bridal/baby showers — thus I still have the mismatched plates from when I was 22.”
— Mary, age 42
“I think personal growth comes with having to compromise with someone, loving them enough to make their needs equal to your own and figuring out how to meet both. I think that, without that daily presence or challenge in our life, we can become caricatures of ourselves — our best and especially our worst tendencies magnified and exaggerated because there were no moderating influences in our lives. Strong friendships can help in this regard, but I don’t think it’s the same kind of moderating force that comes of compromising within an intimate relationship.
— Amy, age 43
“Anything out of the ordinary becomes magnified. Special events (like weddings) or emergencies (medical issues, or a car breaking down) become a bigger deal somehow.”
— Suzy, age 44
Loneliness, and the sense that one has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
— James, age 61
“You mess up the seating chart at fancy dinners. It can be difficult to find a date for an event where one is appropriate. There is no one to take care of you when you are sick or to drive you home after surgery. Most couples do not wish to socialize with you. The tax code is much more generous to married people. Politicians never say they are fighting for working singles — just working families. “
— Pamela, age 62
“When the economy was at its worst, people were more aware of letting someone go who had a family — regardless if their spouse was also working. If I was fired, there is nobody else to help pay the mortgage, Pepco, etc.
— Melinda, age 41
“There really are no “disadvantages”. Your life is what you make it no matter what. There’s always someone to talk to or go out with, maybe it takes some planning but that’s ok.”
— Joyce, age 45
What do you say when people ask why you’re not married?
“Smile, shrug. Although it’s a major peeve when it’s a happily married man who says it with a bit of a wink. It’s patronizing.”
— Marianne, age 41
“Should I be?”
— Barbara, age 45
“Damn, I KNEW I forgot something!”
— Margaret, age 51
“First I sigh heavily. I tell them that either I was too picky or I dated women out of my league. Sometimes I blame it on drinking beer but many beer drinkers are married.”
— Robert, age 59
“I say that the ones who asked weren’t the ones I wanted and the ones I wanted didn’t ask.”
— Judith, age 70
“I absolutely hate this question because the unspoken sentiment is that there is something wrong with me. My stock answer now is ‘I’m accepting applications and conducting interviews. Please let me know if you know of any potential candidates.’ “
— Nancy, age 54
“Depending on who’s asking: ‘I haven’t felt it necessary.’ ‘I’m waiting to find more people who are as happy married as I am single. There’s not many.’ ... ‘I have a hard time believing that marriage is for everyone. We don’t say everyone should be a parent, a teacher, a police officer, lawyer. We don’t say everyone should enjoy Brazillian music, dark chocolate, or chunky peanut butter. But yet, people seem to believe that EVERYONE should enjoy the experience of being partnered/married. I’m just not sure that’s accurate, and until someone comes along and wants to be with me while still letting me be me, I’m going to keep on being single.’”
— Dina, age 43
What are some assumptions other people make about you? Are they correct or incorrect?
“That I’m either living a much more sparkling life than I am or the opposite, that I’m frantic and desperate and sad. That singleness is completely a matter of choice, as if I can wave a magic wand and get married if I wanted to without having to take into account whether anybody wants to marry ME.”
-- Kathy, age 49
“Some men think that I’m willing to sleep with anyone, any time. This is incorrect. Some men think that I am experiencing severe sexual deprivation. Um, they are probably right. Some people assume that I deliberately decided not to marry. This is not true. Some think I’m “too picky.” This is also not true. At least one man I had dated assumed that I had endless empty, lonely nights. This was also not true. I have had managers who expect me to work through holidays and on weekends because, obviously, I don’t have a life! This is not true. Some people assume that D.C. is a tough place for a woman to meet a man, especially for a woman of a certain age. This is true. I can’t be certain of this but I think that some people assume I’m a bitch, or have some fundamental personality flaw, that has kept me from finding The One. This is also not true. Some people have assumed that I’m gay. Not true.”
— Karen, age 52
“They assume I have loads of free time. I don’t. They assume I have trouble “getting a man.” I really don’t. They assume I am psychologically disturbed. I don’t think that’s so. They assume I am a lesbian. I’m not. They assume I have trouble committing. This is true!”
— Maggie, age 54
“People assume I’m either a playboy or a Peter Pan. Some assume that I enjoy being single and that’s it. All three assumptions are incorrect.”
— Ted, age 40
Do you ever feel stigmatized or ostracized?
“Completely. In society, there is still a lot of pressure and expectation to be married. When you’re not, society sees you as a failure, an old maid, and a spinster. It’s much different for women than it is for men. Maybe it’s easier in D.C., because there are so many single women. But when I go home to see my family, their friends and neighbors treat me like I’m a freak.
— Melissa, age 40
“Absolutely. The dreaded single supplement of the travel industry. ... The phrase “family values” really makes me grit my teeth. It is as if an entire portion of society is dismissed.”
— Nancy, age 54
“I was told years ago by a ‘friend’ that she did not invite single women to coed gatherings at her house as it upset the wives!”
— Mary, age 67
“Yes. Single older women are considered less valuable in almost every situation. I am facing significant discrimination in the workplace right now.”
— Aubrey, age 59
If you could change the course of a past relationship so that it led to marriage, would you?
64 percent: No, I think my past relationships ended just as they should have
36 percent: Yes. If I could go back in time and do something differently, I would. | <urn:uuid:42f2b052-cc1d-4579-877d-33dbd1adf13c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/the-single-life-results-from-our-survey/2012/02/10/gIQAEi4g4Q_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970531 | 3,575 | 1.859375 | 2 |
The orchard was originally part of a larger 187-acre property, which was bordered by Il Route 176 and Sunnyside Road to the east. It included 157 acres of farmland and 30 acres of wooded land. The Bauman Brothers owned and operated a dairy farm for many years. They built the stone foundations for the older buildings, dated 1902, from boulders cleared from the planting fields.
In 1957 the Wilkens Family moved from Elmhurst to the property, which included a country house, many farm buildings, and access to the nearby town of Woodstock. Their first venture to raise mink was brief because it proved to be labor intensive with little income. The family decided to instead farm corn and soybeans. And they did successfully for the next 34 years.
In 1989 James and Sue Hong purchased 150 acres of cornfields from the Wilken’s family. They commuted from Arlington Heights every day to enjoy the fresh country air and plan the future of the farm. The following spring, the Hongs planted 20,000 evergreen trees as a windbreak surrounding the farm. This agriculture planting method protects the crops, increases the temperature of the farmland and adds breathtaking scenery. They also planted a couple hundred-apple trees, but the trees did not do very well initially. In order to realize the dream of an orchard, James attended Kellogg Apple School at Michigan State University, read many books and attended several seminars on the subject. In 1993, 3000 apple trees were planted and joined by an additional 4000 trees the following year. The orchard trees did exceedingly well, and the Hong family moved to Woodstock to develop the orchard.
As the apple trees continued to grow, so did the amenities on the farm. James applied his degrees in landscape architecture and architectural engineering to develop a landscaping business. He designed the rolling fields into the beautiful scenic backdrop you see today. In 1997 the Farmers Market was built to offer guests seasonal décor, kitchen tools and refreshments.
In 2008 the Apple Barn was built to house the educational school tours and accommodate large functions such as graduations, reunions, family and company picnics and fundraisers. It has been our honor to host wedding ceremonies and receptions. It was here the Hong’s two daughters were married. The orchard continued to grow in 2008 and an additional 4000 apple trees were planted on the east side of the farm. Former owner Eleanor Wilkens still visits the orchard every year. She states, “Presently the farm has changed measurable to suit this generation. It is a joy to see this new generation use the land for various uses.” | <urn:uuid:0dd4c417-aad4-488b-89ad-d9503bb1dc52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allseasonsorchard.com/about-us/history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976095 | 538 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Many critics’ arguments against the commercial viability of wind and PV amount to the fact that neither can be used as baseload power at large scale – and therefore ‘why would a utility, for example, be interested in adopting them’?
But as utilities increasingly seek alternatives to coal and oil, they are prepared to look beyond this viewpoint and investigate the “value” inherent in each of the technologies that a utility could benefit from, maybe as a hedge against rising gas prices, or as a way to help achieve a mandatory renewables generation target.
And one utility in particular, Puget Sound Energy, is even experimenting by using wind and PV in combination, to discover exactly how this could address the variability issues of both sources. Nowhere else in the USA has a utility tried to marry such different sources of electricity generation, but the elements’ uneven temperaments are precisely what the utility finds attractive. They are aiming to track the power profiles of each to see if there’s a way to balance the two, effectively to see if it is viable to fill in the wind gaps with solar PV power. Not to mention raise the profile of renewable energy in the process.
Steven St. Clair, manager, renewable assets at PSE, says that PSE initially decided to put up solar arrays at its Wild Horse Wind Farm because infrastructure and grid connection were already in place. This mitigated costs, particularly as the farm is located only two hours’ drive from Seattle, a major population centre. “We wanted to have the ability to draw people over to see these renewable energy technologies and use that as an opportunity for educational outreach,” St. Clair says.
Despite being further north than sunny California, eastern Washington has a very good solar resource. St. Clair notes, “according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the solar intensity in eastern Washington is about equal to that of Houston, Texas.”
PSE also decided to place solar arrays at its wind farm in order to boost the local solar market. “Ten per cent of the solar panels that we are going to be using are made in the state of Washington by a company called Silicon Energy,” St. Clair explains. The remaining 2,400 panels are made by Sharp, USA.
The what and the how
Solar panels are being added to the Wild Horse Wind Farm in two phases. The first phase began in October 2007 with the 2,400 solar panels from Sharp USA yielding 450 kW. The second phase will see another 50 kW installed, bringing the total to 500 kW, with an annual output of about 650 MWh.
Project statistics: Wild Horse Wind Farm
127 1.8 MW Vestas wind turbines;
229 MWp capacity;
642,000 MWh annual output;
Positioned at 4,000 ft elevation.
2,723 fi xed angle, multicrystalline photovoltaic solar panels (2,408,
0.187 kW panels from Sharp Electronics, 315, 0.165 kW panels
from Silicon Energy);
500 kW system;
650,718 kWh annual output.
This makes the Wild Horse solar installation easily the largest in the North West, according to St. Clair. The largest in the US, to his knowledge, is the 14 MW solar PV array at Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada Desert.
Not surprisingly, erecting solar panels on a wind farm did present some challenges. The wind farm itself was originally planned with a design criterion for a 100miles/h wind speed, but after a wind event of 115-116miles/h, the design criteria had to be increased to 120miles/h.
This also meant that the solar panel stack, which was planned to be 7 feet high, had to be reduced to five feet high.
St. Clair is keen to say that so far, the solar panels at Wild Horse have exceeded production estimates for every month they have been in operation. “Currently we’re running about 11% ahead of where we thought we would be on an energy basis. Now it’s too early to say that we will see that kind of performance for the entire first year of the project and for subsequent years, but certainly it’s been very gratifying to see the kind of generation that we’ve had from it.”
He is aware, though, that this level of performance will ease off. “Solar panels do deteriorate over time, and we would expect to see a drop off of maybe 1%-1.5% each year of the project, but right now we’re so far ahead that I think the future bodes very well.”
In addition to Wild Horse, PSE has another wind farm, the 150 MW Hopkins Ridge. The annual capacity factor between the two is nominally 32%-35%, operating 65%-70% of the time. With added solar, this profile could improve further due to the different power profiles. Wind tends to blow in the evening, throughout the night and early morning, whereas solar is a mid-day resource.
However, the solar PV does not fully balance the wind, nor can it fully meet peak demand. As PSE does not use energy storage in the form of batteries or pump storage to balance its system, the utility is drawing on the multiple resources of its grid-connected system, with hydro the most prominent.
“In the Pacific North West of the US, we have the huge advantage of the Columbia River system,” St. Clair says. “There’s a tremendous amount of hydro power development on the Columbia River, and all of our balancing of wind farms, load, and multiple resources are done off the Columbia system.
“We like to say that we have virtual storage using the Columbia River, so when the wind farms are up producing, we can back off a little bit on our hydro system and store the water upstream from the dams, holding it in our reservoirs,” St. Clair explains.
As PSE also has gas and coal plants, so far it has been able to integrate the variability within its system, but the company is aware of the challenge of adding more renewables to its power make-up: “I think over time, as we add more and more wind power, it’s going to be increasingly difficult, but there are a number of strategies available. We may choose regional storage, pump storage, or some kind of control area pooling.”
St. Clair is clear, however, that more wind is coming.
St. Clair is fully aware of renewables still being a relatively expensive energy source, with solar PV being even more expensive than wind, but says this is largely due to solar being at the same stage as wind was some years ago. “A great many benefits and breakthroughs in manufacturing and design have allowed wind power to be competitive with alternative sources, and solar PV will get there too, as the price of silicon comes down and some of the newer thin fi lm technologies really begin to take hold in the market,” he says.
PSE in merger with Macquarie Infrastructure Partners
PSE is currently engaged in a merger with the Australian bank Macquarie, which has put together a group of six investor funds that are buying all shares in PSE. The funds are said to look for long term growth rather than short term benefi ts, something which matches PSE’s strategy, St. Clair says.
The merger will bring extra funds to PSE, which needs to replace ageing infrastructure, but also add additional electric-generating resources – both renewable and conventional.
“It gives us that access to money, to make those investments, and I think you’ll see a number of additional wind farms and probably some other renewable investments from us as we go through time,” St. Clair adds.
The activity of “early adopters” such as PSE can itself help bring prices down, St. Clair believes. Price supports, as seen with wind, could also help put downward pressure on solar prices. Google presents one example, as the company has installed a 1.6 MW system in California.
According to St. Clair, it is possible to see a pay-back period of only 6-7 years if an extra tax credit (ITC), not available to utilities, is taken into account. Local incentives, which reduce demand from the utility and energy bills to the utility, are also important.
Looking at PSE’s own installation, St. Clair admits the project is not yet yielding financial benefits: “we call the Wild Horse solar PV array a demonstration project because we have seen a number of benefits that are not strictly financial benefits. However, these benefits can help us develop our industry here in the State of Washington, and we can provide an opportunity for our customers, in effect it is an investment in the future,” he says.
As a utility, PSE does not qualify for many of the incentives in place for renewable energy. However, as a wind farm operator, PSE is following the efforts to renew the US Production Tax Credit (PTC), which is set to expire at the end of this year.
St. Clair does not believe the failure [up to this point] to renew the PTC will have heavy long-term consequences. “If history is a teacher, what we see is a dramatic change in the market place in the year following an expiration of a tax credit. Wind development proceeds very strongly until the tax expires, and then development activities drop off significantly until the tax credits are re-instated or re-established.
“I’m not sure that we will see a huge drop, quite honestly, this year, because there are many, many projects now in the pipeline that developers and various companies have already bought into,” St. Clair says.
However, there is “still hope that the PTC will be approved before the end of the year.”
When it comes to solar, the picture is slightly different as there is no PTC. There is an investment tax credit, but this is not available to utilities. “That’s something we’re currently working with our legislative team back in the Federal congress to try to change,” St. Clair concludes. | <urn:uuid:ebdbcd4e-03be-48ba-9db7-8435f011e2a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/399/load-balancing-pse-installs-wind-with-pv/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962687 | 2,144 | 3 | 3 |
After hitting near-record levels in 2006-07, school suspensions fell slightly in 2007-08. The number of students receiving multiple suspensions also fell. Racial disparities, however, continued to widen. In Montgomery County, African-American students were four times more likely to receive suspensions than were White students. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs continue to spread across Maryland. These behavior modification programs are likely to have played a major role in the declining levels of school suspensions. Maryland must continue to support PBIS expansion statewide.
For the full report by Advocates for Children and Youth, click here. | <urn:uuid:9bf40473-c9ea-478b-aa50-e50642900b90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acy.org/articlenav.php?id=357 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973548 | 123 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Volunteer for NIAID-funded clinical studies related to Lyme disease on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Lyme disease is an infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. In the majority of cases, it is successfully treated with oral antibiotics.
The term “chronic Lyme disease” (CLD) is very confusing, as it has been used to describe people with different illnesses. While the term is sometimes used to describe illness in patients with Lyme disease, in many occasions it has been used to describe symptoms in people who have no evidence of a current or past infection with B. burgdorferi (Infect Dis Clin N Am 22:341-60, 2008). In other cases, “CLD” is used in patients who have non-specific symptoms (like fatigue and pain) after treatment for Lyme disease, but who have no evidence of active infection with B. burgdorferi. Physicians sometimes describe these patients as having post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS).
Because of the confusion in how the term CLD is employed, experts in this field do not support its use (New Engl J Med 357:1422-30, 2008).
For early Lyme disease, a short course of oral antibiotics such as doxycycline or amoxicillin is curative in the majority of the cases. In more complicated cases, Lyme disease can usually be successfully treated with 3 to 4 weeks of antibiotic therapy.
In patients who have non-specific symptoms after being treated for Lyme disease, and no evidence of active infection (patients with PLDS), studies have shown that more antibiotic therapy is not helpful and can be dangerous.
These trials were designed to ensure that several key parameters were addressed.
The first clinical trial, which included two multicenter studies, provided no evidence that extended antibiotic treatment is beneficial (New Engl J Med 345:85-92, 2001). In those studies, physicians examined long-term antibiotic therapy in patients with a well-documented history of previous Lyme disease but who reported persistent pain, fatigue, impaired cognitive function, or unexplained numbness. Those symptoms are common among people reporting PLDS. Patients were treated with 30 days of an intravenous (IV) antibiotic followed by 60 days of an oral antibiotic.
These studies reinforced the evidence that patients reporting PLDS symptoms have a severe impairment in overall physical health and quality of life. However, results showed no benefit from prolonged antibiotic therapy when compared with placebo in treating those symptoms.
In another study, published in 2003, researchers examined the effect of 28 days of IV antibiotic compared with placebo in 55 patients reporting persistent, severe fatigue at least 6 months following treatment for laboratory-diagnosed Lyme disease. Patients were assessed for improvements in self-reported fatigue and cognitive function (Neurology 60:1923-30, 2003).
In that study, people receiving antibiotics did report a greater improvement in fatigue than those on placebo. However, no benefit to cognitive function was observed. In addition, six of the study individuals had serious adverse events associated with IV antibiotic use, four requiring hospitalization. Overall, the study authors concluded that additional antibiotic therapy for PLDS was not supported by the evidence.
More recently, a study supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke again showed that long-term antibiotic use for Lyme disease is not an effective strategy for cognitive improvement (Neurology 70(13):992-1003, 2008). Researchers compared clinical improvement following 10 weeks of IV ceftriaxone versus IV placebo. The patients were treated for Lyme disease and presented with objective memory impairment tests. In a complicated statistical model, the ceftriaxone group showed a slightly greater improvement at 12 weeks, but at 24 weeks, both the ceftriaxone and the placebo groups had improved similarly from baseline. In addition, adverse affects attributed to IV ceftriaxone occurred in 26 percent of patients. The authors conclude that because of the limited duration of the cognitive improvement and the risks involved, 10 weeks of IV ceftriaxone was not an effective strategy for cognitive improvement in these patients and more durable and safer treatment strategies are still needed.
Carefully designed, placebo-controlled studies have failed to demonstrate that prolonged antibiotic therapy is beneficial. Although isolated success stories are always good to hear, such reports alone are not sufficient grounds to support a therapeutic approach.
A positive response to prolonged antibiotic therapy may be due to the placebo effect, which was reported as high as 40 percent in the studies described above.
Patients also risk negative and sometimes serious reactions to the antibiotics themselves. In the first studies described above, 25 percent of the patients in the treatment group experienced study-related adverse events (New Engl J Med 345:85-92, 2001). In the clinical trial looking at cognitive function, six patients experienced serious adverse events, four of whom required hospitalization (Neurology 60:1923-30, 2003). In the most recent trial for cognitive improvement, 26 percent of patients given IV therapy experienced adverse events compared with 7 percent for the IV placebo group (Neurology 70(13):992-1003, 2008).
In addition to personal safety concerns, unnecessary antibiotic use contributes to the serious, growing problem of antimicrobial resistance. Overuse of antibiotics has led to many bacteria developing resistance to the very drugs doctors once used to combat them.
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Last Updated April 16, 2009
Last Reviewed April 16, 2009 | <urn:uuid:0ca94967-1cc5-4029-8dfe-b8cad81c79c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymedisease/understanding/Pages/chronic.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945131 | 1,124 | 3.6875 | 4 |
The longing for peace is one we are all familiar at one time or another. The Psalmist echoes this desire in both the question “how long?” and in the affirmation that “you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.” Psalm four petitions the Lord, “O that we might see some good!” But even through the bad, the Psalmist can lay down in comfort and security in the arms of the Lord.
This image reflects this quest for peace or safety. This young woman has found a place where she can lie down and sleep in peace, as the title This is Where I Find My Peace indicates. This space for her is one in which she feels secure enough to close her eyes and rest. Her hands show a release of the tensions of her life as she lies in the grass. The photograph captures her peace and abandon. Oh that we should be as lucky as this young woman to find a place of rest in times of trouble, somewhere that troubles can be caught up in the gentle breeze and drift away.
The Psalmist reminds us that we do in fact have a place to “lie down and sleep in peace.” The Lord is a place of security and rest even when the rest of the world is falling apart, even when we are in distress, even when we have turned away. We must trust in the Lord that wherever we lay our heads will be places of peace where we can let it all go, where we can give it all to God so long as we rest in the Sovereign’s arms. -- Maggie Jarrell | <urn:uuid:a889b1cb-0503-4bb9-b7dc-6fa90c2bcc03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54147 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953032 | 329 | 2.125 | 2 |
In 2009-2010 Oregon used the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) to test students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 in reading and math; in grades 4, 7 and 10 in writing; and in grades 5, 8 and 10 in science. The OAKS is a standards-based test, which means it measures how well students are mastering specific skills defined for each grade by the state of Oregon. The goal is for all students to score at or above the state standard.
Source: Oregon Department of Education
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Welcome to GreatSchools! | <urn:uuid:ea9a76ea-18da-4b4c-a7d7-be134427251e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greatschools.org/oregon/beaverton/184-Beaverton-High-School/?tab=ratings | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93973 | 239 | 2.671875 | 3 |
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English & Communication
We believe that a student’s critical awareness of the world and adeptness in oral and written communication provide a lasting basis for professional success and a fulfilling life.
By providing solid grounding in literary studies, professional writing, communication studies or English education, courses in each major develop the skills and perspective that enable students to adapt to change and devise creative solutions to new problems. And we also offer internship opportunities and a variety of extracurricular activities.
Dynamic classes, a growing number of majors, and the long-term success of our alumni demonstrate the relevance of our programs to a diverse and changing society. Fontbonne students who have majored in English studies or communication studies have pursued careers in law, advertising, public relations, teaching, business, politics, journalism, and broadcasting. | <urn:uuid:65b9195c-8576-48c8-91f3-25abfa2a3619> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fontbonne.edu/academics/undergraduate/departments/englishcommunication/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922838 | 168 | 1.640625 | 2 |
An advertisement for a forthcoming art auction features a replica of Roy Lichtenstein's "Ball of Twine," 40 by 36 inches, painted in 1963, magma on canvas. Estimated selling price: a mere $14 million to $18 million.
Expertly, even suavely executed, the objet d'art looks precisely like what it claims to be, neither more nor less than a ball of twine, although it wouldn't surprise me to read some academic interpretation of it as an Oedipal fetish or a heteronormative embodiment of entropy. Put simply, it's a brazen celebration of unimportance. It invites you - or challenges you - to see it as a trifle. I can imagine the impish artist holding it up against Brunelleschi's dome or Michelangelo's David and daring us to make a judgment of comparative value.
This isn't to say that there's no merit in art which reveals the wonderful in mundane things. We sleepwalk through life unaware that the commonplace is a field of miracles. Moreover, Lichtenstein's ball of twine has a kind of austere beauty, a blank eloquence. It's perfect, however banal. But what does it celebrate? What does it speak to? It strikes me as a taunting denial of transcendent, sublime, ideal beauty. It suggests that the great human enterprise comes to nothing grander than this insignificant, utilitarian, mass-produced thing. Let the citizens of Cawker City, home of the world's largest ball of twine, rejoice. They may have a more worthy civic emblem than the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal. The message seems to be that man has become subordinate to his stuff. Like Andy Warhol's famous soup can, the ball of twine proclaims that one thing is as important and no better than another.
Loss of confidence in the meaning of life has been going on since Copernicus kicked humanity out of the center of the universe, of course. And art is driven by the desire to "push the envelope." We are perpetually changing, wrote the great art critic Bernard Berenson. "Our art cycles, compared to those of Egypt or China, are of short duration : and our genius is as frequently destructive as constructive."
The ball of twine is a discreet emblem, but it reminds me of notorious, adolescent art works such as Andres Serrano's Christ in urine, Chris Ofili's dung Madonna, and Bruce Nauman's clown on the toilet. It actually looks like a dropping, a neat excretion deposited by an adolescent prankster in the mausoleum of Western Civilization. That which we can't compete with we mock or defile.
Two world wars have discredited Western Civilization. Science has elevated chaos and uncertainty to ultimate principals. God has retreated to his country house. Instant 24-hour news pummels us with examples of the triumph of irrationality and random causality. Ambiguity, relativity, irony, irreverence mock enduring values. Contemporary art and literature worship the anti-hero and deride the notion our destinies depend to some extent on our actions. The ball of twine fits right in. Perhaps it's an idol we ought to worship.
A kind of rebuttal was offered by John Updike, who said something to the effect that life is meaningless - but not literature and art. Art is the antidote to chaos and futility. It furnishes the meaning we yearn for. King Lear, Hamlet, the Sistine chapel, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony rescue us from nihilism. They inspire us, steel us up after the daily knockout has left us on the mat. Without art, literature and music, our world would have remained a jungle, wrote Berenson. "If we do not succeed in loving what through the ages has been loved, it is useless to lie ourselves into believing that we do. A good rough test is whether we feel that it is reconciling us to life. No artifact is a work of art if it does not help to humanize us."
Whatever the value of Lichtenstein's ball of twine may be, it doesn't meet this test. Actually, I wouldn't mind having it on my wall - but $14 million? You could buy a lot of matadors on black velvet or Precious Moments masterpieces for that. | <urn:uuid:8c0b6b25-1517-4bc2-9c70-3611fb6dd5a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/04/put_price_art_you_dont_have_pay/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954363 | 902 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Harnessing Digital Media for 21st Century Skills
Global Kids is a nationally recognized pioneer and leader in harnessing the ever-evolving digital culture to engage youth in learning about their world and becoming active, engaged global citizens. The Online Leadership Program (OLP) integrates international and public policy issues into digital media programs to encourage digital literacy and technical competency, foster global awareness, promote civic participation and develop 21st Century skills.
Global Kids recognizes that in order for youth to succeed in classrooms, workplaces and the public sphere, they need to take charge of their learning, and integrate their formal learning with the informal education they are receiving through the digital media around them. Youth involved in OLP programs learn how to communicate and express their views regarding domestic and global issues through online games, virtual worlds, social media, and more, which they document and share with peers, educators, and researchers. At the same time, digital media is used as tool for alternative assessments practices, using digital portfolios and game-like badges to document and motivate interest-driven learning.
Global Kids is recognized as a pioneer who, for over ten years, has consistently developed best practices, curricula, reports, and resources to support other institutions. Global Kids’ expertise is sought by major institutions such as the Field Museum, the New York Public Library, the World Bank, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to develop their capacity to use digital media as an effective and transformative educational tool. Global Kids was co-founded Games For Change and was the first educational institution to conduct public programs within the virtual world of Teen Second Life. Since then, Global Kids has reached thousands of youth worldwide via virtual spaces.
To learn more about GK & Serious Games, click here.
To learn more about GK & Social Media, click here.
To learn more about GK & Alternative Assessment, click here.
To learn more about GK & Edge Work, click here.
To learn more about GK's classroom-based Expressions program, click here.
To learn more about GK's work in general with digital media, click here. | <urn:uuid:13d9c02a-192b-4eeb-bb04-fabd6a08f0e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://globalkids.org/our-programs/digital-media/?view=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938184 | 430 | 2.609375 | 3 |
When history looks back on the outcome of efforts to prevent southeast Louisiana from becoming part of the Gulf of Mexico, few headlines could turn out to be as significant as this one from Saturday's Times-Picayune: "Corps delays repairs on MR-GO." It wasn't the news that the chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. General Thomas Bostick, wants Louisiana to pay 35 percent of a $2.9 billion plan to repair damage from that project; we're always fighting the feds over dollars.
It was the second part of his message that should have stopped hearts across the coast -- especially inside the offices of Louisiana's leading politicians:
"If at any time data indicate that the high level of relative sea level rise is occurring, additional federal investments in the plan would be reassessed." The general officially introduced into the debate about our future on these starving deltas a question that has been gaining momentum across the country: Should the nation invest billions of dollars restoring our wetlands if the sea level rise caused by global warming is only going to flood them by the end of the century?
Now, there are many reasonable "Yes" answers to that question.
The first is that this area is too important economically and ecologically to the nation to simply give up, even in the face of rising sea levels.
Another would be that America has a moral obligation to restoration because most of the damage resulted from federal projects -- river levees, shipping channels, tens of thousands of miles dredged for oil and gas that powered the rest of the nation.
You could even argue it would cost more to move the port, the refineries, the pipelines and the cities than beefing up restoration projects.
But none of those arguments will resonate with cash-strapped Americans when they discover politicians from the state asking for money to stop this disaster are simultaneously working to prevent the nation from addressing one of its major causes: Sea level rise.
Yet that's just what's been happening.
The people we've been sending to Washington, and the governor's office, are among the staunchest opponents of regulations to reduce carbon emissions -- a primary driver of global warming, which is causing the seas to rise at an accelerated rate.
Indeed, Louisiana is already feeling that impact. Some evidence: Over the past few decades sea level rise at Key West, Fla., has been averaging 2.23 millimeters per year; at Grand Isle that figure has been 9.23 mm a year -- highest by far on the continent.
The world's foremost scientists -- including many from Louisiana -- say a key to stopping our march to a watery grave is reducing global warming. But our delegation in Washington and our governor oppose those regulations.
Why? They say it would be too harmful to the industries that line their campaign pockets -- oil, gas, power generation and petro-chemical. Or, they claim to be smarter than the world's brightest scientists.
How serious is their opposition?
Just last week our GOP House members voted for a bill that would prevent regulation of carbon. That number included Reps. Steve Scalise and Jeff Landry, who represent parishes currently being drowned by sea level rise. They've even signed onto bills that would prevent the federal government from merely studying global warming.
We're not doing much better over in the Senate.
Our Democrat, Sen. Mary Landrieu, has repeatedly split with her party's majority and voted to block greenhouse gas regulations. The usual excuse: Too costly to industry.
Our Republican senator, David Vitter, is even more rabid in his opposition. At one point he voted to prevent funding for federal regional climate change offices, and he continues to state his that opinion global warming is not caused by humans -- never mind what the world's experts have reported.
Before the state got serious about its coastal problem and released its $50 billion master plan earlier this year, people outside of Bayou Country could laugh those votes off as ideological chest thumping in an oil state. But Gen. Bostick's comments may well have changed all of that for our fellow citizens who live elsewhere -- especially those concerned about the nation's fiscal fitness.
They may now wonder if coming to Louisiana's rescue isn't a bit like funding cancer treatment for a man who refuses to quit smoking.
The analogy fits. In a very real sense, each vote against carbon regulation is a vote against the future of our coast.
Bob Marshall is Outdoors editor. His email address is [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:f234393c-1e0d-48fc-998d-b2978f877f18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/08/cant_save_louisiana_coast_with.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965621 | 932 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Tonight at sunset begins a very solemn day on the Jewish Calendar, Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance day. It is observed on the 27th day of the month of Nisan, which marks the day when Allied troops liberated the first Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, Germany, in 1945. The full name of the day is Yom Hashoah Ve-Hagevurah, which means the "Day of (remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism."
On the morning of April 12th, 1945 General Eisenhower met Generals Bradley and Patton at Ohrdruf Concentration Camp. Afterwards Eisenhower also ordered every American soldier in the area who was not on the front lines to visit Ohrdruf and Buchenwald. He wanted them to see for themselves what they were fighting against. On this Yom HaShoah their words are much more moving then anything I could say :
During the camp inspections with his top commanders Eisenhower said that the atrocities were “beyond the American mind to comprehend.” He ordered that every citizen of the town of Gotha personally tour the camp and, after having done so, the mayor and his wife went home and hanged themselves. Later on Ike wrote to Mamie, “I never dreamed that such cruelty, bestiality, and savagery could really exist in this world.” He cabled General Marshall to suggest that he come to Germany and see these camps for himself. He encouraged Marshall to bring Congressmen and journalists with him. It would be many months before the world would know the full scope of the Holocaust — many months before they knew that the Nazi murder apparatus that was being discovered at Buchenwald and dozens of other death camps had slaughtered millions of innocent people.
General Eisenhower understood that many people would be unable to comprehend the full scope of this horror. He also understood that any human deeds that were so utterly evil might eventually be challenged or even denied as being literally unbelievable. For these reasons he ordered that all the civilian news media and military combat camera units be required to visit the camps and record their observations in print, pictures and film. As he explained to General Marshall, “I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”
His prediction proved correct. When some groups, even today, attempt to deny that the Holocaust ever happened they are must confront the massive official record, including both written evidence and thousands of pictures, that Eisenhower ordered to be assembled when he saw what the Nazis had done. Source
General Patton wrote the following in his diary after he toured the Camp:
It was the most appalling sight imaginable. In a shed . . . was a pile of about 40 completely naked human bodies in the last stages of emaciation. These bodies were lightly sprinkled with lime, not for the purposes of destroying them, but for the purpose of removing the stench.
When the shed was full--I presume its capacity to be about 200, the bodies were taken to a pit a mile from the camp where they were buried. The inmates claimed that 3,000 men, who had been either shot in the head or who had died of starvation, had been so buried since the 1st of January (Source
General Omar Bradley said of the atrocities at Ohrdruf:
"The smell of death overwhelmed us even before we passed through the stockade. More than 3200 naked, emaciated bodies had been flung into shallow graves. Others lay in the streets where they had fallen. Lice crawled over the yellowed skin of their sharp, bony frames."May the Memories of those who suffered through the Shoah always be for a blessing. And may we never forget what evil men can do when they are appeased by the rest of the world.
Below is a clip of the news video taken of that day. It is graphic, but it should be watched nevertheless. (If you cannot see video: click here) | <urn:uuid:f465144e-3428-436e-bdf9-e8f92c28ebc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2011/05/yom-hashoah-8-visions-of-horror.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979536 | 843 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Airline passengers soon will be allowed to take small scissors and screwdrivers aboard planes again, Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley announced Friday.
Hawley said the change will take effect Dec. 22 and is part of a broader effort aimed at having screeners spend more of their time searching for explosives rather than small, sharp objects that don't pose as great a risk. The small implements were banned after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In addition, more passengers will be subjected to secondary screening and pat-downs will include the arms and legs as well as the torso. Passengers also can expect more randomness at security gates so would-be terrorists won't know for sure what they will see.
For example, an airport might require all passengers to remove their shoes one day but not the next. Some passengers may have to show their identification an extra time or have their carry-on bag hand-searched.
"By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals who wish to do us harm," Hawley said.
Among the items no longer prohibited from airliner cabins: scissors 4 inches or less, and tools such as screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers that are smaller than 7 inches. Box-cutters and small knives will remain on the list of banned items.
Flight attendants and some lawmakers say the changes undermine security.
"I have not spoken to a flight attendant at any airline that isn't outraged by this," said Thom McDaniel, president of Southwest Airlines flight attendants' union, Transport Workers Local 556. "They want to focus more on explosives, but they're not even mentioning that the biggest threat to commercial aviation right now is still the fact that most cargo is not screened."
Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., said Thursday they intend to introduce a bill to preserve the current list of items barred from the cabin.
"The Bush administration proposal is just asking the next Mohamed Atta to move from box cutters to scissors as the weapon that's used in the passenger cabin of planes," Markey said, referring to the leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Justin Green is an attorney for the families of three flight attendants who died aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which hijackers crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11. Two of the flight attendants, Bobbi Arestegui and Karen Martin, were stabbed by the terrorists. The third, Betty Ong, reported what was happening during the hijacking in a telephone call to authorities on the ground.
"The families are outraged that the TSA is planning on letting weapons back on board," Green said.
Airlines generally support Hawley's plan. So does the pilots' largest union, the Air Line Pilots Association.
Bob Hesselbein, the union's national security committee chairman, said pilots think it's more important to focus on passengers' intent rather than what they're carrying.
"A Swiss army knife in the briefcase of a frequent flyer we know very well is a tool," Hesselbein said. "A ballpoint pen in the hands of a terrorist is a weapon."
TSA screeners this year alone have confiscated 12.6 million prohibited items, including 3 million sharp objects, according to the Homeland Security Department.
They've also taken away 8.1 million lighters, the only item prohibited by law. Congress, concerned that terrorists would have an easier time igniting a bomb with a lighter than with matches, enacted the ban. It took effect April 14.
Supporters of the changes say security enhancements since Sept. 11, 2001, make it far less likely that hijackers could commandeer a jet and crash it into a building.
The expected lifting of the ban on sharp objects carried aboard planes has some flight attendants feeling like they are not only the last line of defense in aviation, but also that they've been left... | <urn:uuid:c63452a7-7ae5-4ed4-b4ee-cc008caa2db3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/10435159/tsa-to-implement-changes-in-screening-procedures-just-before-christmas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963474 | 825 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Transport minister Norman Baker conducted the first piece of shovel work as he got the Midland Metro extension in Birmingham underway.
Once completed in 2015, the scheme will see trams returning to the streets of Birmingham for the first time in over 50 years and create more than 1,500 sustainable new jobs in the process.
More than 3.5 million passengers a year will be delivered right into the heart of the city's shopping district by the new network, helping the scheme boost the regional economy by more than £50 million a year.
The work is part of a wider £127 million joint project between Centro and the Black Country and Birmingham City councils.
“This is an example of the kind of infrastructure project we need to help boost growth around the UK," said Mr Baker.
"The Metro extension will also cut congestion, improve air quality and be a real boon for the local economy."
Author: Editor Gavin Pearson ([email protected] or 0207 202 0255) | <urn:uuid:063355b7-3e23-43d3-bc47-148e2e1250e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acenet.co.uk/norman-baker-gets-tram-construction-started/869/6/1/3/82743193-9e0b-4c7e-b56b-b68de3079ab8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915454 | 208 | 1.867188 | 2 |
How Great We Are or Choose to Be
To what degree does your sun burn bright? To what degree does your mind sail to its greatest heights? The importance of a college degree and how we as a community see ourselves, is what buoys us to soar through any door and over rooftops to the offices and the top corporate floors. The Superman inside of both you and me is set free, and sent sailing on a journey that enables us to leap beyond the boundaries of neighborhood, class and ethnicity. No matter where you hail from, urban or rural, ghetto or middle class neighborhood, the power of the degree is understood. Your charge is to establish a station to broadcast your ingenuity, to secure patents and to create companies to exceed the expectations of your peers and even you to succeed. This is exactly the site, the place that we hope that you will launch from today. We’re highlighting those who chose to get higher degrees — MBAs and Ph.D.s. We’ve begun to forget how important are these. We want to address and speak to those who are dropping out each and every day, and show them shining examples of those who are in it to stay.
The Trail of Tears of Native Americans who were forced to move across the land, evokes remembrances of our own quest which has been all but erased, along with our collective thirst for education throughout the urban landscape. What is escaping us is the dignity of what education means. And then life smacks our youth in the face and looks like something obscene. A drive-by, a drug addiction and we ask, “Don’t you know about that crack? Then why, why are you using it?”
Depression beyond compare, prisons that hold are souls captive, stuck there because their aspirations are no more than noise on the channels that they watched each and every night. Public broadcasts air how they can fuss and fight. Those are things that are planted in their heads. Those rhymes aren’t breeding intelligence or academic pursuit, more often than not it’s economic and emotional paralysis instead.
Here we celebrate royal heritage and those who wear thorns, too. The thorns of lowered expectations that lead to small sales for people who lack education and who don’t know what to do. In desperation, they choose not to elevate themselves. It isn’t because they can’t see their peers, but the tears are falling too hard for them to see.
We want them to be the phoenix that rises beyond the sun that day, that chooses to be in places that we can’t see. We want people to take the time and to know what door they can go through, because they are prepared, dressed in suits and ties, looking smart and professional too. We want to build a community that is proud and then it can be said, that you are on par with our president, having a J.D. instead. No, we don’t mean Jermaine Dupri, but a Juris Doctor degree. Understand what the letters mean and what doors they open in life for you. There are several who have done great things and look just like me and you. We’ve highlighted these brothers and sisters who reflect and stand with the few.
I challenge us all to take education and commit to learning more than we know right now. Get your education and elevate your lot in life. Increase out network, and increase our net worth so that we can together lift up the African American community to higher ground. Let those people who choose to fly high, celebrate those people they will be introduced to, and take note of in this special issue. Understand that it is through information and education that we change the station of our people today. Peace. | <urn:uuid:5fc0fc60-720b-433e-9c70-2bca4a158452> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rollingout.com/politics/how-great-we-are-or-choose-to-be/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965452 | 776 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Policing the Public Gaze: The Assault on Citizen Photography, by Pauline Hadaway, director of Belfast Exposed gallery, reveals the growing restriction of citizen photography - by community safety wardens, private security guards, and self-appointed ‘jobsworths’.
This ranges from children being told that they can only take photos of particular parts of the body, to sports clubs told they should remove all photos of kids from their websites.
Hadaway argues that it is important that people are able to take spontaneous photographs of public life, whether of children or any other contemporary touchy subjects: 'We need to stop this self-censorship.'
Download a print or screen version of the report.
See reviews in Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, and British Photography Journal
We have challenged the regulation of photography of children. See: Why do schools really stop parents taking photographs of their children?, Guardian, 23 June | <urn:uuid:54b13169-e911-41c6-971f-6807c6804ade> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.manifestoclub.com/photographyreport | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951191 | 190 | 1.554688 | 2 |
See also:art of
See also:tree-cultivation . The culture of those
See also:plants which supply the
See also:food of man or nourish the domestic animals must have exclusively occupied his
See also:attention for many ages; whilst the
See also:timber employed in houses,
See also:ships and
See also:machines, or for fuel, was found in the native woods . Hence, though the culture of fruit-trees, and occasionally of ornamental trees and shrubs, was practised by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, the cultivation of timber-trees on a large scale only took place in
See also:modern times . In the days of Charlemagne, the greater
See also:part of France and Germany was covered with immense forests; and one of the benefits conferred on France by that
See also:prince was the rooting up of portions of these forests throughout the
See also:country, and substituting orchards or vineyards . Artificial plantations appear to have been formed in Germany sooner than in any other country, apparently as early as the 15th century . In Britain planting was begun, though sparingly, a century later . After the extensive transfers of
See also:property on the seizure of the
See also:church lands by
See also:Henry VIII., much timber was sold by the new owners, and the quantity thus thrown into the market so lowered its price, as Hollingshed informs us, that the builders of cottages, who had formerly employed
See also:willow and other cheap and
See also:common woods, now built them of the best
See also:oak . The demand for timber constantly increased, and the need of an extended
See also:surface of arable
See also:land arising at the same
See also:time, the natural forests became greatly circumscribed, till at last timber began to be imported, and the proprietors of land to think, first of protecting their native woods, afterwards of enclosing waste ground and allowing it to become covered with self-sown seedlings, and ultimately of
See also:sowing acorns and
See also:mast in such enclosures, or of filling them with
See also:young plants collected in the woods—a practice which exists in
See also:Sussex and other parts of England even now . Planting, however, was not general in England till the beginning of the 17th century, when the introduction of trees was facilitated by the interchange of plants by means of botanic gardens, which, in that century, were first established in different countries .
See also:Evelyn's Sylva, the first edition of which appeared in 1664, rendered an extremely important service to
See also:arboriculture; and there is no doubt that theornamental plantations in which England surpasses all other countries are in some measure the result of his
See also:enthusiasm . In consequence of a scarcity of timber for
See also:naval purposes, and the increased expense during the
See also:Napoleonic war of obtaining
See also:foreign supplies, planting received a
See also:great stimulus in Britain in the early part of the 19th century . After the peace of 1815 the rage for planting with a view to profit subsided; but there was a growing taste for the introduction of trees and shrubs from foreign countries, and for their cultivation for
See also:ornament and use .
The profusion of trees and shrubs planted around suburban villas and country mansions, as well as in
See also:town squares and public parks, shows how much arboriculture is an
See also:object of pleasure to the
See also:people . While isolated trees and old hedgerows are disappearing before steam cultivation, the advantages of shelter from well-arranged plantations are more fully appreciated; and more attention is paid to the principles of
See also:forest conservancy both at home and abroad . In all thickly peopled countries the forests have long ceased to supply the necessities of the inhabitants by natural
See also:reproduction; and it has become needful to
See also:form plantations either by
See also:government or by private enterprise, for the growth of timber, and in some cases for
See also:climatic amelioration . This subject is, however, dealt with more fully under FORESTS AND FORESTRY (q.v.); and the
See also:separate articles on the various sorts of tree may be consulted for details as to each .
FERNANDEZ ARBOS (1863- )
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Links to articles and home page are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:bbe0982f-0689-469a-9d39-52982d6e6b74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/APO_ARN/ARBORICULTURE_Lat_arbor_a_tree_.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950602 | 1,015 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Twitcidents and Pros of being a Wikipedian
Here are a few articles and news pieces I liked this week.
Of course, the entrepreneur (or startup company) is the doctor. As entrepreneurs, we solve pain. The best entrepreneurs solve a lot of pain for a lot of people. Often a customer doesn’t even realize the pain until being introduced to a product or company, but it’s pain nonetheless. Now, if entrepreneurs think of themselves as doctors, it’s easy to determine exactly how to solicit feedback from a customer.
Researchers from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have created Twitcident, a framework for filtering and analyzing tweets to crowdsource information about crises. For the past ten months the system has been in testing as a support program for the Dutch police and fire department.
Wikipedia editors are always searching for reliable sources. Unfortunately, that quest often leads to dead ends: out-of-print news articles, paywalled magazines, or books and journals locked in a company’s database. We’re happy to announce that the process just got a little easier with the donation of 1000 full-access, one-year accounts fromHighBeam Research to active Wikipedia editors.
Social media can be complex and cumbersome. However, if used effectively, healthcare providers can become more educated, and perhaps more compassionate clinicians. There are two ways in which I have been able to use Medicine 2.0 applications to gain clinical insight: tracking research and information generated by other health care professionals, and reading about the healthcare experience from the patient perspective. | <urn:uuid:b8ea2707-08fc-4ab3-ab8d-95f760654eec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceroll.com/2012/04/18/twitcidents-and-pros-of-being-a-wikipedian/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942727 | 328 | 1.773438 | 2 |
From the Super Mario Wiki
“OK, everyone! Let's swim!”
Penguins are a species of flightless bird found in the Mario series. They are good swimmers and often inhabit cold climates, like their real-world counterparts, to which they bear varying degrees of resemblance, depending on the game. Most of them do not hurt Mario, though they sometimes act as obstacles or hindrances to his quest. Benevolent penguins often speak with Mario, sometimes asking for his help or offering him a service. Penguins can easily be confused with the smaller, similar-looking species Bumpties.
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
Penguins were introduced into the Mario series in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode 7 Continents for 7 Koopas. In the episode, Bowser had assigned Big Mouth Koopa to take over the continent of Antarctica. To do so, Big Mouth build an Abominable Snowkoopa, which he brought to life with his Magic Wand, so that it could terrorize the local penguins. Later on, Luigi stole Big Mouth's Wand, which he used to not only destroy the Abominable Snowkoopa, but also to enlarge the penguins, which gave chase after Big Mouth.
Nintendo Adventure Books
A penguin named Feldspar acts as the host and referee of the International Mushroom Games in Leaping Lizards. He does a rather poor job, ignoring the dirty ploys and tactics used by several of the competitors.
Mario is Missing!
Penguins then appeared in the PC edition of Mario is Missing!, where they were a part of the background of Antarctica; also of note, the game's narrator states that if Bowser succeeds in his plan to melt Antarctica in Mario is Missing!, "dozens of Penguins will be left homeless".
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Donkey Kong
In Donkey Kong for the Game Boy, Penguins appeared as enemies of Mario. They inhabit the Iceberg in stage 7-3. Penguins kill Mario if he runs into them, but he can stand on them fine. He can also pick the penguins up and throw them at other enemies.
Super Mario series
Super Mario 64
“Egad! My baby!! Have you seen my baby??? She´s the most precious baby in the whole wide world. (They say she has my beak...) I just can´t remember where I left her. Let´s see...I stopped for herring and ice cubes, then I...oohh! I just don´t know!”
Penguins were given more prominent appearances in Super Mario 64, where they could be seen in the level Cool Cool Mountain. In the game, a Penguin had lost her baby Tuxie and asks Mario to find her. Mario finds her and is awarded with a Power Star. Also, later, Mario has to race down a long, icy slide and get to the finish line before a Penguin does. If Mario wins, he will be awarded with another Power Star. Also, in Snowman's Land, there's a Penguin on the bridge leading to the top of the giant snowman. The Penguin can be used to sneak around the giant snowman head. Super Mario 64 also introduced the appearance given to the Penguins of Mushroom World, as opposed to the standard Penguins of Earth.
Super Mario Galaxy
In Super Mario Galaxy, Penguins reappear residing in the Loopdeeloop Galaxy, Sea Slide Galaxy, Drip Drop Galaxy, Buoy Base Galaxy, Loopdeeswoop Galaxy and Beach Bowl Galaxy. There is also one lone penguin in Freezeflame Galaxy, and an elderly penguin named Penguru in the Drip Drop Galaxy, Bigmouth Galaxy, and Sea Slide Galaxy. Usually, the Penguins will challenge Mario to some sort of water challenge, such as surfing, collecting shells, or racing them. They are quite friendly, and will give Mario tips on how to swim, or even help him find Silver Stars. In the Loopdeeloop Galaxy and Loopdeeswoop Galaxy, the penguins spend their time surfing on Manta Rays. They also have a Coach which is a black penguin bigger than normal penguins who teaches Mario (and Luigi) how to use shells to swim with. The penguins in this game are shown to live in more tropical areas than the previous games, which had penguins living mainly in cold areas. It is unknown why, but in the penguin race mission of Sea Slide Galaxy, there's a penguin smaller than Mario and any other penguins found in the game. This penguin can be found walking around the lighthouse.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Penguins reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2. In this game the Penguins appear only in one galaxy; the Cosmic Cove Galaxy. They appear with Penguru (who also appeared in Hightail Falls Galaxy) and Coach in all levels of the galaxy. In the first level, Penguins are all throughout giving Mario hints on how to swim and leading him along.
In the second level of the Cosmic Cove Galaxy, a Luma has been trapped in a cage and all the Penguins have gone searching around the galaxy to find the key. They lead Mario in the correct direction and give him many hints on how to swim. After Mario has completed this second mission, one penguin will appear on Starship Mario and tell Mario how to swim whenever spoken to.
Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Mario Kart 7
Mario Pinball Land
In Mario Pinball Land, Penguins appear to be in the Ice World; if Mario hits one of them, the Penguin will slip down to the icy floor, waddling while sliding. If Mario hits it one more time while the Penguin is down lying on the icy floor, he will earn 2,000 points. While sliding, if a Penguin hits another waddling Penguin, the other Penguin slips down to the icy floor while sliding as the process repeats.
Mario Party series
The Penguins also appear in the Mario Party series (such as in the minigame Pushy Penguins from Mario Party 5). They are not to be confused with Bumpties, who are shorter, smaller, and generally appear mainly in the Yoshi series, with a few exceptions.
Mario Party 4
A penguin appears as one of the friends that need to be found in the minigame Lab Brats.
Mario Party 5
A mob of penguins appear in the minigame Pushy Penguins as they run across from the right side of the screen and dive into the water to the left. The players must avoid the penguins and find gaps between to avoid being pushed off.
Mario Party Advance
In Mario Party Advance a Penguin can be found in the Ice Casino of Shroom City. He is trying to save up money to buy a ring for his girlfriend, Pengwen, but has lost all of his money playing Drop 'em. If the Player wins the game for him, he will thank the player by giving away a Gaddget and the minigame. The ending reveals that he still can't afford the wedding ring.
Also, there is a multiplayer function in the game known as the Penguin Race. Both Players must have the game, and whoever has the highest minigame high scores wins.
Mario Party 8
Mario Party 9
In Mario Party 9, Penguins appear as obstructions in the minigame Polar Extreme, simply wandering on the various chunks of ice in the water. Hitting them results in a player being stunned. Like the other players, they can be stomped on, but this does not affect them.
Mario Strikers Charged
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Mario Sports Mix
Mario Tennis Open
Notable Penguins
Names in Other Languages | <urn:uuid:d0a66c84-f303-45a0-84e3-d7da405d08b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mariowiki.com/Penguin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936523 | 1,603 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Asthma Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
I think I have asthma. Now what?
Some signs of asthma include a chronic cough, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, or wheezing. Talk to your doctor if you or your child has a cough that keeps you up at night, a cold that won’t go away, shortness of breath or wheezing after exercise, or coughing, wheezing or chest tightness that seems to occur at a certain time of year or in conjunction with your allergies.
A physician will diagnosis asthma based on one or more of the following: a history of symptoms, physical examination of lungs and nasal passages, a breathing test, such as spirometry, or a trial of asthma medications. Other tests that might be performed include allergy testing, chest X-ray, bronchial challenge tests or exercise challenge tests.
Not all breathing difficulties are asthma. Conditions such as cystic fibrosis, pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may mimic the symptoms of asthma. If you’re not comfortable with your diagnosis or an aspect of your treatment, ask to be referred to a respirologist.
Each person’s asthma triggers are different, and an important part of managing the condition is identifying what your triggers are. Some triggers are considered inflammatory, meaning they cause mucus and inflammation in the airways.
Allergens: They could be allergy triggers, such as pollen, pet dander, dust mites or mould. Viral infections can also cause inflammatory symptoms.
Irritants: Other triggers are called irritants, and are not allergy-based. They cause the muscles in the airways to contract. Irritants include cigarette smoke, exercise, cold air, chemicals, fragrance and air pollution.
Keep track of where and when your asthma flares up. If it’s normally at home, than something in the house, such as a pet or dust mites, might be the trigger.
If it’s always in springtime, then pollen allergies are a likely culprit. Your doctor or asthma educator can help you identify your triggers.
Asthma treatment is generally two-fold. First you should avoid your triggers wherever possible. Secondly, your doctor will prescribe you medication. Generally this will include a controller (or preventer) medication and a reliever (or rescue) medication.
Controller medications are taken on a daily basis and treat the underlying inflammation of the airway. Some people stop taking their controller medications when they feel well, but this can lead to worsening asthma symptoms, and can be dangerous. If you reduce the inflammation in the airways with medication, when you’re confronted with a trigger, you’re less likely to have a significant reaction.
On the other hand, reliever medications are used when you are having an asthma flare-up. They work to open up the airways quickly – you should feel relief within five to 10 minutes and it will last up to four hours. Rescue medications should be used sparingly. If you are using your reliever more than three times per week, your asthma in out of control.
THE ASTHMA EDUCATOR
An asthma educator is a health professional who is certified to help people with asthma understand their disease and how to manage it. In Canada, they are called either Certified Asthma Educators (CAEs) or Certified Respiratory Educators (CREs) and they have taken specific courses and passed exams in respiratory health.
They work in conjunction with physicians and other health professionals to optimize the health and lifestyle of a person with asthma. Find a CAE or CRE near you. | <urn:uuid:24406e3b-33b0-45fb-8c5f-657c5caed6c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2010/09/02/asthma-symptoms-diagnosis-and-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942106 | 749 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Here are some strategies to discuss with kids that can help improve the situation and make them feel better:
1. Avoid the bully and use the buddy system.
Use a different bathroom if a bully is nearby and don't go to your locker when there is nobody around. Make sure you have someone with you so that you're not alone with the bully. Buddy up with a friend on the bus, in the hallways, or at recess — wherever the bully is. Offer to do the same for a friend.
2. Hold the anger.
It's natural to get upset by the bully, but that's what bullies thrive on. It makes them feel more powerful. Practice not reacting by crying or looking red or upset. It takes a lot of practice, but it's a useful skill for keeping off of a bully's radar. Sometimes kids find it useful to practice "cool down" strategies such as counting to 10, writing down their angry words, taking deep breaths or walking away. Sometimes the best thing to do is to teach kids to wear a "poker face" until they are clear of any danger (smiling or laughing may provoke the bully).
3. Act brave, walk away, and ignore the bully.
Firmly and clearly tell the bully to stop, then walk away. Practice ways to ignore the hurtful remarks, like acting uninterested or texting someone on your cell phone. By ignoring the bully, you're showing that you don't care. Eventually, the bully will probably get bored with trying to bother you.
4. Tell an adult.
Teachers, principals, parents, and lunchroom personnel at school can all help stop bullying.
5. Talk about it.
Talk to someone you trust, such as a guidance counselor, teacher, sibling, or friend. They may offer some helpful suggestions, and even if they can't fix the situation, it may help you feel a little less alone.
6. Remove the incentives.
If the bully is demanding your lunch money, start bringing your lunch. If he's trying to get your music player, don't bring it to school. | <urn:uuid:ee247bf2-139c-4c32-a3e9-10626d269fda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.i94online.com/MomBullying/story.aspx?ID=1220551 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958262 | 435 | 3.671875 | 4 |
- Gordius the Centurian
Soldier in Caesarea, Cappadocia. Convert to Christianity. Dismissed from the army as his religion made his loyalties questionable to the authorities. Lived as a desert hermit. During the persecutions of Diocletian, he turned himself over to the authorities so he could publicly proclaim his faith. Martyr.
- Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
- Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
- Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Inflamed with zeal for the Faith, of thine own free will thou didst hasten to the stadium and rejoice in the contest there. Thou didst quench the flames of evil in the streams of thy blood by beheading, O Prize-winner. The life-giver has glorified thee, O Gordius. - troparion of Saint Gordius
- “Saint Gordius of Cappadocia“. Saints.SQPN.com. 13 January 2013. Web. 18 May 2013. <> | <urn:uuid:0d5dec23-5f53-4d0a-b785-83aa0432adf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-gordius-of-cappadocia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936411 | 230 | 2.1875 | 2 |
John James Audubon is revered as one of the most gifted naturalist-illustrators of the nineteenth century. So it is hard to believe that, following his death, his widow Lucy had trouble finding a repository for her husband's legacy. In 1862, Mrs. Audubon offered the New-York Historical Society the original drawings used to produce Audubon's seminal work, The Birds of America, and though it would take a year to raise the funds needed to acquire the drawings, in 1863 New-York Historical finally purchased all 435 preparatory watercolors, plus thirty-four other works. Today, New-York Historical has the largest holdings of Audubon-related material in the world.
A limited selection of the holdings are on view in the Luce Center. All 474 watercolors in the collection will be on display in Audubon's Aviary. | <urn:uuid:2ec96139-15cb-4ac0-8d80-c3eb5178c3a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibits/collections/about/228/table/paged/title | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936715 | 181 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Later that day the phone rang. I lifted the receiver to hear for the first time, the mesmerizing voice that would dominate my Destiny for the next 20 years. It was the voice of Harry Kislevitz, a Wizard of the highest order. I immediately fell under his spell.
His voice alone was captivating, kind, exuberant, and resonating. It was the voice of Santa Claus, calling, from just across the river in New Jersey, to offer me the possibility of making toys, happily ever after.
In the days and years that followed I spoke to Harry, hour after hour, nearly every day, and found him to be the most complex and amazing person I had ever known. And his voice, alone, was all there was to know, for although, he lived just a few miles away, he remained only a disembodied voice on the telephone for the next four years.
As I had never met Harry in person, at least not until years later, I filled in the missing pieces, with items from my own imagination. Therefore, he could be anything I wanted him to be: a friend, a playmate, a toy tycoon, a God maybe. But most of all, in spite of the fact that he was only ten years my senior and already had six children of his own, this unknown entity, who appeared to possess great wisdom and maturity, became a father figure to me. I never spoke to my own father much when he was living. We never had a conversation, or very much in common. Now here on the phone was Harry Kislevitz, a brilliant complex individual with an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge, who also happened to be the World’s most sympathetic listener, honoring me with his attention, as we mined my mind for toy ideas. To my surprise, we found that there were plenty there.
Thus, from 1965 to 1971, we played together, inventing one thing or another. If Harry liked a toy idea he would manufacturer it. There were no holds barred, no avenue in Toytown left untraveled, no chamber in the Castle Colorforms, unexplored. But, like the bride of Bluebeard, there was one door I was not allowed to enter. That was the door marked “Colorforms”. That alone was off limits. Harry had invented Colorforms, the vinyl plastic pieces that stuck to a shinny surface. And he was convinced that there was no idea or application involving Colorforms, nor could there ever be, that he had not thought up already.
In the ten or so years that Colorforms existed, aspiring toy inventors had assailed Harry with suggestions of new ways to use the plastic pieces: stick them on the TV, or the refrigerator, even vinyl snowflakes adhering to the window panes at Christmas. Harry had been there, seen that, done that, and thought about it all before. He had tasted success with Colorforms, and now, rather than build upon it, he wanted to do something new. Thus, he would entertain no further discussion on the subject. The very mention of “stick-ons” was off limits. The door to Colorforms was shut and bolted. Until 6 years later, through a curious set of circumstances, I broke it down once and forever.
From that day forward I stuck with Colorforms for the next 15 years. Fifteen years that flew away, and in the end, seemed to count for nothing. Along the way I became what Harry called the “Creative Director” a term I never fully understood; for that matter, neither did He. It was all the more confusing as I was never an employee. My remuneration was always in the form of royalties, based upon how well “my”, so called, “items” sold. Nonetheless, I threw in a lot of extra stuff for free.
This website chronicles the years I spent in that capacity. (I’m tempted to say captivity) The products shown for each year will not be everything that Colorforms produced that year, but only those I innovated, and for which I received a royalty. These will be presented only in the year and catalogue in which they first appeared, even though, they may have continued in the line for many years.
Eventually the role of Creative director came to be anything that I did best. If there was any aspect of any of “my items” someone else could do better than me, like specking type, hand lettering, creating “finished art”, etc. they got the job; for which, by the way, they were handsomely paid. On individual items, compared to my measly royalty, these artists made out much better than me. But, across the board, as the number of “my items” multiplied, it added up to a good living.
All Photographs Copyright MEL BIRNKRANT
On December 19th, 1964 with Christmas just a few days away, an article about Boutique Fantastique appeared in the New York Times.
In the early 1960s, My wife and I ran a small business in New York City, handcrafting “Authentic Reproductions" of antique toys and music boxes that never, existed in the first place. It was called, "Boutique Fantastique". The name was derived from the ballet “La Boutique Fantasque” by Respighi-Rossini, and translates into English as “The Fantastic Toy Shop”. Fantastic indeed, for all the toys and dolls there came to life at night. The concept and the music always intrigued me. | <urn:uuid:00206017-02d2-43bb-851f-dc4284c776b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://melbirnkrant.com/colorforms/page1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984175 | 1,172 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Harvey Milk, the pioneering gay
politician assassinated in 1978, was once a Goldwater Republican,
but by the time he held office he was a fairly typical progressive.
David Lampo reviews a new collection of Milk’s writing, and in the
process assesses ;Milk’s mixed legacy. View this article. | <urn:uuid:a83e895c-0244-430d-b382-d8d3952d3699> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scenereleases.eu/david-lampo-on-harvey-milk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943411 | 71 | 1.5 | 2 |
Florian M. Freimoser, PhD
Institute of Plant Sciences
Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants
ETH Zurich, LFW D46.1
Tel: +41 +44 632 38 44
Fax: +41 +44 632 10 44
Please also visit our other web site!
The molecule we study is so plain
the inorganic polyphosphate chain
Our group studies a simple
polyphosphate (poly P).
Poly P is a linear polymer that consists of a variable number of
(from three to more than a thousand) that are
linked by energy-rich phosphoanhydride bonds. It occurs ubiquitously in all living cells and regulates many molecular and biological processes. Nevertheless, poly P is scarcely studied and little is known about poly P metabolism and its exact molecular functions; especially in eukaryotes. In our group we have developed methods to quantify poly P, to stain and localize poly P and to screen for poly P binding proteins. We are using these tools to investigate poly P metabolism and functions in fungi, plants and algae. However, at the moment our main efforts are devoted to the study of poly P metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and of poly P in fungal cell walls. | <urn:uuid:a93e2a54-dcd1-4b10-ae9f-2f8c0d9f9503> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://openwetware.org/index.php?title=Freimoser&oldid=203175 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91121 | 263 | 2.15625 | 2 |
The steady flow of reissues and recordings of well-known works may suggest a lack of imagination, but the record companies do much more than churn out the old favourites. For example, this week's discs offer new perspectives on standard repertoire pieces, fine performances by two outstanding young instrumentalists, and some unjustly forgotten symphonies.
Leif Ove Andsnes presents a relatively unfamiliar image of Schubert with his account (EMI CDC 5 57266 2, £12.99) of the late A major Piano Sonata D959, which is so boldly dramatic that you could be forgiven for thinking it was by Beethoven. Andsnes takes a firm grip on the first movement, contrasting deliciously milky tone in its lyrical moments with growling aggression in the lowest register of the more violent passages. Four songs confirm the equal importance of the instrumental accompaniments in Schubert's lieder. Ian Bostridge makes the ideal vocal partner here, shading the details in the text with customary style and intelligence. Thus, the fluent weave of voice and piano in Pilgerweise and (with horn) Auf dem Strom, dark atmosphere in Der Ungluckliche and subtle touches in Die Sterne reveal the full brilliance of Schubert's musical realisation of the poetry.
Until now, the music of Louise Farrenc (1804-75) had been all but forgotten. However, Farrenc was a formidable figure among women composers, with a considerable output to her credit. Her three symphonies - which owe much of their musical aesthetic character to Mendelssohn - were likened by her contemporaries to those of the greatest classical masters.
Stefan Sanderling directs the Orchestre de Bretagne with sensitivity and taste (PV700030, £13.99, 2 CDs) and, despite the shallow live acoustics of Rennes Opera, it is still possible to appreciate the warmth and vigour of this music. Sanderling and his team present a generally well-disciplined ensemble keenly sensitive to Farrenc's imaginative thematic development and novel instrumental combinations. Energetic playing generates real excitement in the outer movements, while subtle blending of the woodwinds in the slow movements, in particular, heightens the emotional impact at the heart of each work. The scherzos of the second and third symphonies have an engaging elfin quality of which Mendelssohn would have been justly proud.
Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto was given its first performance in 1845 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and went on to become one of the best-loved pieces in musical history. Joshua Bell's splendid new version of the concerto with Roger Norrington and the Camerata Salzburg (Sony SK 89505, £13.99) underlines the reasons for its lasting popularity. Norrington and the orchestra match Bell's sweet-toned playing of the solo part perfectly, offering a vibrant mix of passion and tender lyricism in the outer movements and luxuriant romantic melody in the andante.
Beethoven's Violin Concerto met with only moderate success at its first hearing in 1806. However, Mendelssohn and the 12-year-old Joseph Joachim revived the work to great acclaim in 1844. Beethoven's concerto has been a popular favourite ever since, but it is refreshing when, as here, artists offer persuasive new insights. In the opening allegro of Bell's wondrous interpretation, the solo violin soars above a rather weighty orchestral landscape, and he resolves the movement's expressive conflicts brilliantly in his own cleverly conceived cadenza. Rapt stillness in the larghetto dissolves any remaining tension before the infectiously exuberant finale.
Harmonia Mundi has once again found two outstanding young stars in cellist Marie Hallynck and pianist Cedric Tiberghien for its series "Les Nouveaux Musiciens". Both artists have already received numerous accolades and, on the evidence of this recital of music by Schumann and Grieg (HMN 911779, £8.99), it is easy to see why. Their sympathetic musical feeling for this repertoire is completely winning. Cello and piano interweave with naturalness and ease in Schumann's Adagio and Allegro and Phantasiestucke, fluently releasing the music's natural expression. Hallynck and Tiberghien both possess sparkling technique, but their skill lies in using only that which is necessary to capture the spirit of each piece, as in their apt characterisations of each of the Funf Stucke im Volkston.
Grieg was himself a gifted pianist, and evidence of his studies with Moscheles can be found in the more virtuoso aspects of the Cello Sonata. Tiberghien's sensitivity to the orchestral qualities of the keyboard writing is superbly matched by Hallynck's impressive tonal and dynamic range. Their passion in the first movement, poised tranquillity in the andante and thrilling muscularity in the finale are all quite irresistible.
- You can purchase most of the CDs mentioned in this piece at discounted prices from our retail partner Musica. Click here for details. | <urn:uuid:1a30e5cd-23fd-42d1-8c2d-3d7d2c30f370> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4728450/Classical-round-up.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932143 | 1,095 | 1.5625 | 2 |
News from our Blog
Read below to locate information and resources for disabled consumers. You can also visit
The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal agency that makes recommendations to the President and Congress to improve the quality of life for Americans with disabilities and their families. The NCD works to empower individuals with disabilities and to promote equal opportunity
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) provides legally based advocacy services for people with disabilities in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) provides training and information to parents of disabled children and to people who work with them.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity offers resources and answers questions about the housing rights of people with disabilities, and the responsibilities of housing providers and building and design professionals according to the federal law.
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) administers a free loan service of recorded and Braille books and magazines, music scores in Braille and large print, plus specially designed playback equipment. Service is also extended to eligible American citizens residing abroad. While NLS administers the program, direct service is provided through a national network of cooperating libraries.
Relay Services. Telecommunications relay services link telephone conversations between individuals who use standard voice telephones and those who use text telephones (TTYs). Calls can be made from either type of telephone to the other type through the relay service.
Local Relay Services. States provide relay services for local and long distance calls. Please consult your local telephone directory for information on the use, fees (if any), services, and dialing instructions for that area.
Federal Relay Service. The FRS, a program of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), provides access to TTY users who wish to conduct official business nationwide with and within the federal government. The toll-free number is 1-800-377-8642. For more information on relay communications or to obtain a brochure on using the FRS, please call toll-free 1-800-877-0996.
Other Services. Consumers who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who have a speech impairment, and use a TTY may receive operator and directory assistance for calls by calling toll-free 1-800-855-1155. Check the introductory pages of your local telephone directory for additional TTY services.
Page Last Reviewed or Updated: May 16, 2013 | <urn:uuid:566b6afd-59e4-47c0-83d2-b1d644fb3615> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usa.gov/topics/benefits/disability.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919375 | 528 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Smarter Business: Greening the Games
Professional sports team up with NRDC to reduce their environmental impact.
Major League Soccer
In 2009, Major League Soccer launched Greener Goals, the League’s environmental platform, in partnership with NRDC. NRDC continues to work with Major League Soccer to identify ways to reduce their environmental footprint and raise fan awareness about environmental issues.
MLS W.O.R.K.S. GREENER GOALS will aim to support the environment by undertaking community initiatives in partnership with our clubs and educating the soccer community about the importance of environmental sustainability.” –MLS Greener Goals Mission Statement
In 2011 MLS launched Greener Goals week, a League-wide effort focused on reducing the environmental footprint of team and stadium operations, and increasing environmental awareness through fan outreach, community events, and in stadium programs.
During Greener Goals Week, MLS purchased Green-e Certified renewable energy credits from Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset 100% of the electricity used at home matches during the week of April 16-23. The clubs’ combined renewable energy credits offset 2,126,600 pounds of CO2, the equivalent of powering 137 homes for an entire year. Information on waste management, energy and transportation alternatives was also added to MLS stadiums and training venue guidelines. Fans attending MLS games during this week received Eco-tip Wallet guides developed by the NRDC, and flower seed packets courtesy of America the Beautiful Fund.
TEAM INITIATIVES: Read More↓
Here is a brief sampling of the efforts being taken by teams:
The Portland Timbers at JELD-WEN Field
JELD-WEN Field and the Portland Timbers are committed to pursuing more sustainable operations and environmentally preferable products throughout the facility. JELD-WEN Field received the 2009 “Recycle Works Award” from the City of Portland office of Sustainable Development and achieved LEED Silver certification in late 2011. Green features of the facility include:
- Energy efficient lighting, motion sensors, and energy conservation programs (turning off lights and heaters during off-hours).
- Water-conserving low flow urinals and toilets.
- Recycling programs for glass, plastics, paper, cardboard, cooking oil, pallets and unclaimed “Lost and Found” clothing, glasses and cell phones.
- A food donation program for unused prepared food and a compost program for food waste.
The Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field
Since its design and construction in 2002, CenturyLink Field Event Center, home of the Seattle Sounders FC, has featured high efficiency fixtures and building systems in an effort to reduce environmental impacts. This includes: a state of the art building management system and a programmable lighting control system that monitors heating, ventilation, and lighting systems to reduce energy consumption; high efficiency lighting fixtures and HVAC; and low-flow aerators on faucets.
Since then, they have continued to make substantial improvements to their building operations. In particular, CenturyLink Field Event Center management have addressed the stadium’s waste stream. As of 2010, they are recycling and/or composting over 58 percent of stadium waste. The stadium was awarded “Event Recycler of the Year” by the Washington State Recycling Association in 2009 for their waste reduction efforts. Visitors can use one of over 500 recycle containers and over 175 food waste compost containers throughout the facility to dispose of waste more responsibly. And post-game staff even sort waste discarded in the seating area. Some of the stadium’s other green features include:
- Installing reflective “cool roof” materials that reduce heat absorbed by the roof and lower cooling costs;
- Retrofitting bathrooms with ultra-low-flow water fixtures;
- Providing food serviceware made from bio-based, compostable materials, in partnership with Levy Restaurants (Levy has also implemented a sustainable food program with suppliers); and
- Purchasing post-consumer recycled content paper products for toilet paper, hand towels and office paper.
In July 2011, CenturyLink Field finished installing a 3,750-panel solar array that spans 2.5 acres on the roof of the event center–the biggest solar installation in the state of Washington. The panels are projected to generate over 830,000 kwh annually—the equivalent of the total energy used in 95 Seattle homes for an entire year. The panels use cutting-edge thin-film technology that capture both direct and reflected sunlight across a 360-degree cylinder surface, taking advantage of the event center’s reflective roofing material.
CenturyLink Field and the Seattle Sounders FC are also founding members of the Green Sports Alliance.
The Vancouver White Caps at BC Place
The Vancouver White Caps begin playing in the newly renovated BC Place in September 2011. The stadium has been upgraded to feature more efficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems and operations. Energy efficient fixtures and a new lighting design resulted in an approximate 40 percent reduction of lighting load compared to the original system. The stadium’s new retractable roof is also much more energy efficient than the original, saving 25 percent on energy costs -- about $350,000 per year.
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Green Sports on Switchboard
- NBA Launches Environmental Data System During Green Week 2013
- posted by Alice Henly, 4/4/13
- Today, in conjunction with opening day of NBA Green Week 2013, the National Basketball Association ...
- NBA Teams Play Green In Celebration of Green Week 2013
- posted by Alice Henly, 4/4/13
- The NBA stands alone as the only major professional sports league in the world to host an annual weeklong ...
- Bates Sustainable Athletes Group Hosts Sports Greening Event Featuring NRDC
- posted by Alice Henly, 3/4/13
- Last week, the Bates Sustainable Athletes group hosted their first sports green event. Sustainable Athletes ...
- Green Sports Alliance Comes to New York
- posted by Alice Henly, 11/15/12
- Today the Green Sports Alliance announced that their third annual Summit will be held in New York City, ...
- Getting to the Game: Delivering Green Transportation Options to Sports Fans
- posted by Deron Lovaas, 9/25/12
- Growing up in the Washington region -- albeit off-and-on because my Dad was in the foreign service ... | <urn:uuid:78fdbd0c-26ef-49d8-a79a-fb62b76d1ba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nrdc.org/greenbusiness/guides/sports/mls.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924316 | 1,320 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Attack One responds to a call for person who can’t breathe. The patient is a middle-aged woman having an asthma attack in her room on the second floor of her apartment. The crew starts her on a nebulizer treatment and begins moving her down the steps. Suddenly the patient sneezes, and as she does her weight shifts on the stretcher. The EMT at the foot of the stretcher immediately screams, and the rest of the crew scrambles to hold the stretcher steady as he loses his balance and falls to his knees. His colleagues move quickly to ensure stability of the patient on the stretcher and continue her nebulizer treatment, but the EMT, in obvious distress, can’t move out of the way on the steps.
The Attack One crew chief quickly decides to move the patient on her stretcher back up the steps, let her continue her treatment, and have the injured EMT evaluated and moved off the steps. The EMT is 42 years old and in good health, with no history of back problems. He complains of severe pain in his lower back, saying he “felt something tear” in his left lower back as the stretcher shifted. He says his entire lower back feels like it’s in spasm, and he doesn’t want to try to move, lest it get worse. He has no numbness in his legs, no abdominal pain and no other injury.
The crew chief calls for another ambulance and directs the first crew to continue care of the woman with asthma. She is upset that her movement caused injury to the EMT, and that’s worsening her shortness of breath. The crew chief reassures her that the EMT will be OK, and that she had no control over what happened. He asks if she will concentrate on her treatment, and assures her the rest of the team will take good care of the injured rescuer.
The crew finds a backboard and tries to get it under the injured EMT, but it seems like every movement causes him discomfort and spasming in his back. Finally they find a way to get him on the board, and then gently move him down the steps to a room on the first floor. There he asks if they will return to caring for the original patient, since he’s more concerned about her welfare than his injury.
The original patient is much improved after completing her nebulizer treatment, and she’s safely moved down the steps, where she gives her best wishes to the EMS and apologizes for hurting him. The remaining crew members then take her on to the ambulance and hospital. The second crew finishes evaluation of the injured EMT. He is in pain even at rest, and any movement makes his pain much worse. He has intact distal movement and sensation in his legs, and has not lost control of his bowels or bladder. He is very tender in his left lower back area. His position of greatest comfort is rolled slightly to the left side, so they prop him up with some rolled towels.
Fearing the movement of transport could worsen the EMT’s already-significant discomfort, the paramedic suggests giving him a shot of pain medication. But the EMT quickly refuses. “I know the policy, and I’ll need to have a drug screen at the hospital,” he says. “If you give me pain medicine, it will show up on the test, and I’ll never be able to get it explained. I’ve seen it happen to EMTs in other departments, and they lost their jobs. I can’t afford to lose my job or even have to take time off, so do not give me any medicine.”
The paramedic tries multiple times to explain the need for pain medicine, and that they will complete the paperwork to document the need for giving the narcotic, but the EMT won’t budge. He remains terrified that any medicine showing up on a drug screen will lead to suspension and loss of his job. An EMS supervisor who arrives at the scene also tries to get the EMT to accept medication, confirming that he will document the need for it, but there is no changing the patient’s mind. Consequently it’s very difficult to move him into the ambulance, and he remains in severe pain en route to the hospital. | <urn:uuid:7540b53a-8d5b-4d6b-90d9-dc97691ded01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emsworld.com/article/10331525/just-say-no | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976434 | 905 | 2.25 | 2 |
Every once in a while, I get accosted by something delightfully tangential to the while cipher mysteries arena. A nice example of this recently popped up as part of the University of Western Australia’s Second Life (a well-known online virtual world) presence, where a certain ‘Hypatia Pickens’ built herself a Voynich-themed area, with odd-looking plants and nymphs sliding down a curious slide into the cool water.
Naturally, that’s not the real story here, not when the question I immediately wanted answered was “who is Hypatia Pickens, exactly?”
It turns out Hypatia’s real name is Sarah Higley; she teaches medieval literature at the University of Rochester; she wrote a 2007 book on Hildegard of Bingen’s Lingua Ignota (which I wonder whether my friend Philip Neal has yet seen); she has created a conlang (constructed language) called Teonaht; and she created the (largely satirical) Star Trek character Reginald Barclay.
All of which probably serves to explain her interest in the Voynich Manuscript, which is surely – if you believe all you read on the Internet – nothing less than a medieval constructed lingua ignota invented by aliens… specifically Ferengi (simply because the world is itself a lovable medieval Arabic term meaning Franks). | <urn:uuid:f5568b0b-14ab-4cf7-98d1-b0e91949c0c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ciphermysteries.com/2012/09/30/hypatia-pickens-voynich-inspired-3d-art | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936113 | 297 | 2.109375 | 2 |
5 Credit Tips for Teens
Who do you think is more likely to get into trouble using credit cards? A college freshman who was never exposed to credit his entire life, or a teenager who was added as an authorized user on his parent's card at 15 and taught how to responsibly use credit. Let's put it this way. I've met a lot of people who have found themselves in serious debt, and every single one of them started using credit for the first time when they were older or in college. Not once have I ever met a young teenager in credit card debt. Have you?
So here's my point. While many personal finance experts shun the idea of credit cards in teenagers' wallets, I happen to believe there's really no better time for a young person to build sound financial habits and learn how credit works. If you're a parent who cares about your child's financial future, I hope you're doing what's necessary to help your teen learn how to use credit cards responsibly at a young age. And if you're a teenager who unfortunately doesn't have parents willing or able to get you started on the path to good credit, here are 5 quick tips to keep in mind as you begin the process on your own:
1.) Become an Authorized User
Becoming an authorized user on a credit card in good standing with low credit utilization is the best way to build credit from a young age. Check with your parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, and find someone you can trust to add you as an authorized user as soon as possible. Length of credit history accounts for 15 percent of your FICO score, so becoming an authorized user early on will give you a huge advantage over your peers. 2.) Practice with a Debit Card If you can't get approved for your own credit card or become an authorized user, at least get yourself a checking account so you can start using a debit card. While debit cards are certainly different than credit cards, managing a debit card should help teach you how to budget and keep track of your expenses. You'll need to use these same skills when you're old enough to have your own credit card.
2.) Treat Credit Cards Like Cash
One valuable lesson to learn at a young age is that cash and credit must be treated in the same manner. What I mean by that is you should never purchase something on a credit card if you don't already have the cash sitting in your bank account. Credit cards are a convenience and a tool to manage your finances. They should never be used as a way to buy something now and pay it off over an extended period of time.
3.) Strike the Word "Minimum Payments" from Your Vocabulary
Responsible credit card use means paying your bill in full every month. You should never carry a balance or ever think about paying anything less than the statement balance. EVER! 5.) Compare and Apply for Credit Cards Online Credit card offers will start arriving in your mailbox at some point in the future. Don't get overly excited. This doesn't mean you're now part of some exclusive club. In fact, there's a good chance you'll find a better credit card offer online. So do your research, compare the best credit cards for college students or 0% interest credit cards online and find the perfect card that fits your lifestyle. | <urn:uuid:48501c6e-89be-49c1-a721-cefb4745af16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creditnet.com/articles/five-credit-tips-for-teens.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973144 | 676 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Invite Jane Austen to speak at your school assembly, museum, library, or Jane Austen themed special event. Available as a 30 to 60 minute performance, let Jane Austen speak to you about her life, loves and family. Drawing from Jane Austen's letters, novels and Juvenilia, Jane speaks to you from Chawton Cottage in the autumn of 1815. Her first three novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park have been published, and Emma is complete.
Actress Debra Ann Miller portrays Jane Austen in the most vibrant and hopeful time of her life.
Debra Ann Miller has been an actress, and voice over talent for over 25 years. She has toured the country with Child's Play Touring Theatre, Artreach, and the Reading is Fundamental program, as well as working in Chicago theatres including The Organic, Royal George, Noble Fool and Victory Gardens. In 2004, Debra won the Best Actress award at the Chicago Indie Fest for her first film Zen Noir .
In addition to portraying Jane Austen, Debra is currently touring the country in
With Lincoln Productions' 'Visiting the Lincolns' and Mrs. Lincoln's Salon , as Mary Todd Lincoln. Debra has
been working as an historical impersonator for the last 15 years.
Contact Debra Ann Miller at [email protected]
Ideal for School or Library Assembly
Invite Jane Austen to "pay a call" to your organization or school. The author delights students with stories about the people and events that influenced her life. Through engaging conversation with her "hosts" and quotes from her letters, juvenilia, and novels, Jane Austen speaks about her childhood in Steventon, her brothers and beloved sister Cassandra and her writing. By the end of the presentation, the audience will know more about Miss Jane Austen the woman, as well as the author. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions both during and after the performance, so encourage students to come prepared.
(30 minute running time) Question & Answer follows. Study guides available
April 27- Mead Public Library
May 7- Glenview Public Library
"Mrs. Lincoln's Salon"
Mrs. Lincoln's Salon
May 12- Driehaus Museum
Tea With Jane Austen at the Driehaus Museum
May 22- Roanoke County Public Library
"Mrs. Lincoln's Salon"
Roanoke County Public Library Website
May 23- The Glebe Retirement Community
The Glebe Events
June 1- Mentor Public Library
Registration for Just Jane: a visit with Jane Austen
June 1- JASNA Ohio North Coast
A Day Wtth Jane Austen
“I didn't have enough time to rave to you about how wonderful you were, and that goes for the script as well as the performance, both of which were superb.”
Area Coordinator for the Greater Chicago Chapter of JASNA
“You are now my Jane.
Everyone I spoke to agreed that you were the highlight of the day. And yes, you not only delight, but you educate.”
Dr. Elisabeth Lenckos
Director of Programs for the Jane Austen Society of North America Greater Chicago Region and a Chawton House Library Research Fellow 2009-2010.
“I just wanted to let you know once again how blown away I was by your performance. You were super as Jane! Not only was your acting fantastic (you were Jane Austen), but you did a stupendous job with your script. Thank you for a wonderful experience.”
45-60 minute one woman performance
Call upon Jane Austen in the autumn of 1815 at her home, Chawton Cottage. Her first three novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park are published, and Emma is complete. Jane visits with you at this, the most vibrant and hopeful time of her life. Drawing from her letters, juvenilia, and novels, this one hour performance delves deeper into the personal life of one of the most beloved and intriguing novelists of the 19th century. Learn about her exotic cousin Eliza ,her mentor and friend Madame LeFroy and the loves and losses that shaped her life and informed her perception of the world. Suitable for both the casual reader of her novels and the most devoted "Janeite", Just Jane can be tailored to fit your time constraints and is appropriate for meetings, fundraisers and Teas.
Celebrate the 202nd anniversary of the release of
Sense and Sensibility | <urn:uuid:f53e6908-9fc3-4ec1-a6a4-0c12e441c466> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.talklikejaneausten.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943819 | 958 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Skills & Supplementary
A photocopiable resource book of skills activities for advanced-level students. The book is accompanied by an audio CD for the listening and speaking activities.
This book provides original and stimulating listening practice across a range of levels and topics.
A resource book of multi-level skills activities encouraging students to read material on different levels and in different ways.
This lively resource book encourages students to expand their speaking skills using role play, problem solving, puzzles, games, interviews, storytelling and discussion.
A resource book of multi-level writing activities. | <urn:uuid:dbc9e647-a0e9-4087-b6a4-2b9bd7759ac0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cambridge.org/es/elt/catalogue/subject/item382410/Integrated-Skills/?site_locale=es_ES | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915647 | 115 | 2.40625 | 2 |
A Denture (also known as false teeth) is a custom-made removable replacement for multiple missing teeth. Full dentures replace most or all of your teeth, and partial dentures replace one or more missing teeth. Both types of dentures support facial muscles and lips, and keep them from sagging and receding which will make you look younger, improve speech, and improve your health by enabling you to eat properly
Dentures are custom made in a dental laboratory from impressions taken of your mouth.
With proper care and good oral hygiene, full dentures can last 5-10 years. Over a period of time as your mouth naturally changes shape, dentures need to be relined, remade, or rebased. (Rebasing a denture means a new base is created utilizing the teeth on your current denture).
Full dentures may be prescribed by your Dentist if you have lost, or are about to lose, all of your teeth as a result of disease, decay, injury, or surgery.
There are two main types of full dentures, conventional and immediate:
After a thorough exam of your teeth, gums and supporting bone structure, your Dentist will discuss treatment options with you and answer your questions. If the agreed-upon treatment includes dentures, here's what to expect:
Dentures and oral tissues must be checked annually. Damage to oral tissue can occur without any pain or other symptoms. Early detection and elimination of inflammation is important to minimize shrinkage of the supporting bone and tissues. | <urn:uuid:937dcd65-0445-418f-8d20-231f7073bfab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mckinneydentalgroup.com/dentures | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944809 | 313 | 2.796875 | 3 |
|Search Collections||Exhibits and Education||Seattle Facts||About the Archives|
Guide to the Archives of the City of Seattle
Record Group 7000
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) was created in 1997 when the water, solid waste, drainage, and wastewater utilities from the Engineering and Water departments were merged with the Engineering Services Division of the Engineering Department and the Customer Service Call Center and Construction Engineering Sections of City Light. SPU provides water to over 1.25 million customers in the Puget Sound region. Other services to the public include sewer, drainage, and solid waste (garbage and recycling). SPU also provides engineering and survey services to city departments. The department's outreach and education programs aim to reduce water consumption and increase recycling and composting.
Speeches, presentations, biographies and photographs of Diana Gale, the first Director of Seattle Public Utilities, including speeches on solid waste management she gave as Director of the Solid Waste Utility, 1989-1992. Also included are records of Communications and Strategic Policy staff regarding budget, water supply, water conservation, fish conservation, urban creek management and other issues, as well as SPU Asset Management Committee files.
Photographs of Seattle Public Utilities programs, facilities, and equipment including: the Wildfire Team at the Cedar River Watershed; the Employee Resource Center; and the Clean & Green Seattle Initiative. Photographs also document work done on the Natural Systems Drainage project in High Point, Broadview, and Pinehurst, and the Street Edge Alernatives program.
Newsletters and brochures published by SPU, many of them related to issues such as solid waste, conservation, and recycling.
Correspondence with citizens, organizations, businesses, city departments and legislators regarding service problems, utility accounts and SPU policies. Includes correspondence referred by the Mayor’s Office, City Council members and Citizens Service Bureau.
Digital photographs representing the demolition of the former Municipal Building and the Groundbreaking of the new City Hall in 2001.
Administrative project records from the Engineering Department Drainage and Wastewater Utility and the Seattle Public Utilities Resource Planning Division. Projects include the Thornton Creek Watershed Action Plan, Central Waterfront cleanup project, Elliott Bay/Duwamish Source Control Project, and Longfellow Creek project. Records include correspondence, email, grants and contract documents, reports, flow statistics, brochures and outreach material.
Content includes construction management organizational chart photographs.
Photographs documenting drainage and flood control facilities in Seattle including ditches and catchbasins. Also included are images of Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center; Lake Washington Combined Sewer Overflow (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System), and fish ladders and creeks in Seattle's North End.
Weekly photographs, taken during 2004, document SPU Field Operations and Maintenance employees participating in group activities. Collection includes group staff photos and facilities such as BPA transmission lines, Cedar River maintenance crew, Lincoln Reservoir, and West Seattle Gatehouse. | <urn:uuid:361c0a22-3408-45f4-a046-8fb73ab848c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seattle.gov/CityArchives/Research/guide/7000.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907103 | 606 | 1.953125 | 2 |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has chosen the happiest nations on earth. In the 10 happiest are Demark and the rest of the Scandinavian countries. What are the characteristics of these countries?
In judging the OECD took into consideration material living conditions such as housing, income and jobs and quality of life such as community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance.
The Danes cite two reasons they are happy. There is no divide of the country between a class of rich and a class of poor. The middle class is large and prosperous. No 1 percent vs. 99 percent. Second, though they have extremely high taxes, the state provides great services. Thus, people decide what occupation to pursue by what they would like to do to earn a living, and not on what amount of money they can earn.
The employment rate in Demark is 73 percent and with a low percentage of workers working overtime. Thus, its people have ample leisure time. They have 16.06 hours of leisure time, including sleep, a condition encouraged by government policies.
Demark is energy independent. Badly hit by the 1973 Arab oil embargo, Demark responded. The people imposed on themselves a set of gasoline taxes, CO2 taxes and building-and-appliance efficiency standards allowing their industry to grow while keeping their energy consumption stable. Denmark gets 20 percent of its electricity from wind. This country is at about 1 percent. The result is that Denmark's energy consumption has remained stable over 30 years while it gross domestic product has doubled.
"Education, including sex education, is available to all with equity and ease -- 99 percent of children graduate from high school," reports Population Press. Higher education doesn't require enormous student loans.
"Demark has national health insurance which provides for all," a Population Press article continues. Family planning, counseling, and pregnancy services are free. "The Danes accept sexuality as a normal part of life, and feel that abortion should be allowed free of social stigma. They decided that prevention of adolescent pregnancy should have a high priority, therefore sex education and responsible parenting classes are part of their school curriculum, starting at an early age. Not surprisingly, there are very few unwanted pregnancies, and few babies to be adopted.
"Denmark has a stable population, a social cohesion, a great educational system, energy independence, universal health care including free family planning, jobs and a retirement system for everyone, comfortable housing, lovely countryside and plenty of leisure time to enjoy it. In short, why wouldn't the Danish people be happy?"
The Danish people have created a society that I believe most peoples would find enjoyable. Instead of working for oneself with a goal of becoming wealthy and telling the rest the devil can take them, the Danes work for the good of nation and all the people in it. It's a humanist nation and a nation that has legalized euthanasia.
Denmark is primarily secular. Yet, it has produced a nation that is closer to one that Christ would approve than this nation with its large Christian population. But this nation is maturing. This last election exhibits that it is. The Tea Party and the more conservative candidates lost. America is secularizing and bringing with it a more charitable and tolerant society, one that fits Christian concepts.
It is ironic that this is the case. This nation with all its attempts to educate its peoples still has a population in which a large percentage still believes in Creationism and not evolution.
In the wake of President Obama's victory, there have been many disappointed Tea-Party types that have signed secessionist petitions. That is, in view of the President's victory they wish to secede from this nation. Such an act reveals the ignorance and teenage mind level of these secessionists. They are the super-individualists, the all-hat-no-cattle cowboys, the NRA lovers, the let the devil-take-the-hind-most capitalists, militarists and all those others who sneer at a society that works to build the kind of society that Denmark has created.
Thus, it seems appropriate to accommodate the secessionists by paying the fare to transport them to one of the happiest nations on earth. They can growl about the taxes while enjoying the amenities and lifestyle of a liberal nation. And be converted to the ways of a sane nation -- perhaps.
Mann is a lawyer in Hinton. | <urn:uuid:d09e2c44-2ab8-4b3c-b8c7-8a1a9c5bc4bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/OpEdCommentaries/201301030090 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967414 | 914 | 2.453125 | 2 |
The word ‘Dormer’ comes from the French word ‘dormir’, which means to sleep. Dormers and extensions are a modern method of construction. A dormer is basically a window that projects outwards from a roof. Dormers are designed to add up space, and to allow sunlight and ventilation into attic spaces. They allow you to make the most of your existing Long Island home. Some dormers are decorative and give an aesthetic appeal to your house as well.
Dormers are available in different shapes, sizes and styles. All of them are capable of enhancing the use of attic spaces. However, it is important to choose them according to the style of your building. A few basic styles of dormers available in the market are gable, shed, polygonal, arched, pyramidal and composite dormers. Your Long Island remodeling contractor is well-versed in the various types of dormers and can advise you as to which is best suited for your needs.
Dormers and Extensions: Why Are They So Popular?
Dormers and extensions are primarily used to increase the amount of living space in buildings. They are lightweight, yet very sturdy. A majority of the dormers are maintenance-free and fully water-tight. Various reasons that have made dormers and extensions a popular option for construction are:
Additional Living Space
Adding extensions and dormers provides additional living space in your Long Island home. The ample sunlight converts the attic space into a light and airy living space. The extra living space allows you to accommodate new arrivals to the family and guests. Also, the additional living space adds value to the net worth of your home.
Fitting dormers in your Long Island home enables you to open the windows even during bad weather. They keep rain away from the window panes, while allowing fresh air into the room. The fresh air circulation throughout the room prevents the room from becoming musty and smelly.
Ease of Installation
The one piece construction of dormers ensures easy installation in the roof opening.
If you are planning to install extensions and dormers in your home, it is important to seek the permission of local planning authority. You need to acquire prior permission from the concerned authority before you actually start with any major alteration work. | <urn:uuid:c02522e6-e016-4ef0-9f36-cfd62a4991be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.builtrightny.com/long_island_remodeling/dormers/add-visual-appeal-to-your-long-island-home-with-dormers-and-extensions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948193 | 476 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Post Date: October 6, 2005
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School today announced that the recipient of its 2005 Great Negotiator award is Sadako Ogata, the former United Nations high commissioner for refugees in the 1990s. Ogata is known for mobilizing support to deal with the emerging crisis of those identified as “internally displaced persons” in the Kurdish region of Iraq, the Balkans, Afghanistan and the African Great Lakes region, which encompasses the borders of Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Distinguished as one of the top 10 most influential women in the world during that time, most of Ogata’s negotiating on behalf of the world’s dispossessed was low-profile and unheralded, conducted in a vigorous, hands-on manner that often placed her in harm’s way on the frontlines of conflict.
“All of us at PON are deeply impressed with the type of extraordinary negotiations Sadako Ogata undertook during her tenure at the United Nations. Her skilled negotiations on behalf of refugees saved many lives, yet are less well understood than many higher profile diplomatic efforts. We are looking forward to learning from Mrs.Ogata about her remarkable experiences in working to protect those who were defenseless and dispossessed,” said Robert Mnookin, chair of the Program on Negotiation.
Born in Tokyo, Sadako Ogata grew up in Japan and China. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkley. She became the dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo and transitioned to diplomacy serving on the Japanese delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1968, and as minister on the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in New York between 1976 and 1979. Ogata’s first direct contact with refugees was when she was asked by the Japanese government to lead the Japanese mission to plan and provide assistance to Cambodian refugees in 1979. She was first elected to become U.N. high commissioner for refugees in 1990 and was reelected to that post three times until her final term ended in 2000.
Described by colleagues as a five-foot giant, the diminutive Ogata was a formidable negotiator often having to deal with the indifference of governments, or confront the hostility of armed factions with which she was seeking cooperation. Lacking some traditional negotiating tools such as financial and military resources, she and her colleagues at the UNHC overcame daunting barriers to improve the plight of refugees and ensure their safety.
Beyond such direct negotiations, Ogata has been an effective proponent of initiatives such as the Imagine Coexistence Project, spearheaded by PON faculty member Antonia Chayes and Harvard Law School Professor Martha Minow, that designed and funded joint economic activities to make conflict less likely among previously warring factions in unstable regions.
Ogata is currently the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a national agency for international development assistance. She is the author of the recently released book A Turbulent Decade—Confronting the Refugee Crisis of the 1990s (March, 2005; WW. Norton and Co.), which details her experiences.
Ogata will be honored by members of the Harvard community and invited guests on October 20 at the Fogg Art Museum. Prior to the evening reception, she will participate in panel discussions with faculty members of the Program on Negotiation that will take place Thursday, October 20 at Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Program on Negotiation, the discussions with Sadako Ogata are free and open to the public. For more information about the public discussions, please visit www.pon.harvard.edu or call: 617-495-1684.
The Great Negotiator Award was created six years ago by the Program on Negotiation to recognize an individual whose lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a significant and lasting impact. Past recipients of the Great Negotiator Award include Richard Holbrooke, former United States ambassador to the United Nations (2004), Stuart Eizenstat, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union (2003), Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations’ special envoy for Afghanistan (2002), Charlene Barshefsky, U.S. trade representative in the second Clinton administration (2001) and former Senator George Mitchell for his work in Northern Ireland (2000).
About the Program on Negotiation:
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON) is a world-renowned research center committed to improving the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution. As a consortium of faculty, students and staff from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University and other Boston area universities, PON draws from many disciplines, including law, business, government, psychology, economics, anthropology and education. PON presents lectures, discussions, classes, and conferences in addition to producing books, periodicals and training materials that feature the research and achievements of scholars and practitioners worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pon.harvard.edu. | <urn:uuid:9f63042d-e57c-43c0-90ae-91aa4b0e4717> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2005/10/06_ogata.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963671 | 1,071 | 1.96875 | 2 |
13 deaths alarm university
Thirteen students of the University of Education, Winneba have died since the beginning of this year.
The causes of death are however not known as the post mortem reports on their deaths were submitted direct to their families by the hospital authorities.
Alarmed at this development, the authorities have decided that starting from next academic year, a yearly medical examination of all its students will be conducted to determine their health status.
Though the examination would not be compulsory, all students would be billed at an average of 50,000 cedis for it.
The decision was agreed on jointly by the university authorities and the student leadership.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Anamuah Mensah announced this when the MP for Awutu Effutu-Senya and Deputy Minister of Health, Samuel Owusu-Agyei presented assorted medical items valued at 15 million cedis through the UEW branch of TESCON to the university clinic.
He said the university with the support of Barclays Bank, Ghana is putting up a 1 billion cedi clinic at the campus for screening and to serve students who fall sick.
He noted that students who fall sick on campus are unable to access medical attention at the various hospitals because of lack of funds and as a result most of them instead of having thorough check-ups only get first aid treatment.
Source: The Ghanaian Times | <urn:uuid:cbcb6a06-5b97-4df8-8cfa-0e303c41fdf7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.modernghana.com/news/135022/1/13-deaths-alarm-university.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974465 | 286 | 1.710938 | 2 |
We post a new episode of Appalachian History weekly podcast every Sunday. You can start listening right away by clicking the podcast icon over on the right side of your screen. If you’d rather grab the show off itunes for later listening, click here:
We open today’s show with the story of the Wizard Clip from West Virginia’s eastern panhandle. The tale takes its name from an unquiet spirit haunting the house of one Adam Livingston, of Smithfield. A sound of shears clipping could be heard at most hours of the day and night, and the unseen snipping produced half moon cutouts in clothing, bedsheets, and curtains throughout the house, whether protected or not. The trouble began in 1794, when a traveler boarding at the house suddenly took mortally sick. Being Catholic, he begged Livingston to send for a priest to deliver last rites. Livingston, an intensely bigoted member of the Lutheran church, exclaimed ‘that he knew of no priest in that neighborhood, and if there was one, he should never pass the threshold of his door.’
We’ll pause in between things to catch up on a Calendar of Events in the region this week, with special attention paid to events that emphasize heritage and local color.
“Growing up in Cleveland, TN, I always knew in my gut that I’d end up going there,” says guest blogger Tim Hooker in our next segment. “I don’t know if “haunted” is the right word to describe it,” he continues. “But, it is a special place, with “unexplained” aspects. The “It” is the mausoleum at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The mausoleum’s most unlikely claim to fame comes from the red streaks over its portal. They’re simply not supposed to be there. They are not the painted remains of some adolescent vandalism. They defy chemical analysis. They are not a property of white Italian marble. But, they’re there.”
A true ghost story is found in the hills of Burke County, NC, where the eerie Brown Mountain Lights dance along the ridgeline of a low-slung mountain in the famous Linville Gorge wilderness. On clear, moonless nights, especially in March and October, observers see orbs of light rise from the mountaintop and dance along the ridge before lifting and fading into the air. The lights are of various colors, and some even change shades while they are in view. Guest blogger David Biddix, who in 2009 co-authored a photographic survey about Spruce Pine, NC, fills us in on the history of this ancient phenomenon.
We’ll wrap things up with the story of how the post office came to Pine Mountain, KY. The great difficulty in attracting one was that most of the locals could neither read nor write; mail is after all a form of written communication. One man, William Creech (1845-1918), took it upon himself to tackle the issue. He made a first attack on the problem by urging each of his neighbors to send off to both of the leading mail-order houses for their catalogues. If the son-in-law of the family had a different name, Creech asked the farmer to send it off twice. Whenever the necessity arose, which was often, he wrote the cards of request himself.
And, thanks to the good folks at the Digital Archive, we’ll be able to enjoy some authentic Appalachian music from Pie Plant Pete in a 1929 recording of “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane.”
So, call your old blue-tick hound up on the porch, fire up your corn-cob pipe, and settle in for a dose of Appalachian History. | <urn:uuid:2df77e33-324e-489d-b607-1520a05a282c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2010/10/listen-here-appalachian-history-weekly-posts-today-16.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952272 | 797 | 1.8125 | 2 |
[In the spirit of balanced reporting, CNI News occasionally offers news and responsible opinion that may run contrary to the views of most ISCNI members and staff. This is such a story. For the record, ISCNI's official view on "alien abduction" is that the phenomenon remains unexplained but is, in many cases, most likely caused by an intrusive, intelligent influence outside the experiencer's own mind, rather an originating in the mind. Researcher Dr. Michael Persinger disagrees. CNI News thanks John Powell and Errol Bruce-Knapp of MUFON Ontario for this story, which first appeared in the Toronto Star on January 14, 1996. The writer, Jay Ingram, hosts the TV program "@discovery.ca" on the (Canadian) Discovery Channel.]
by Jay Ingram
Last Sunday [Jan 7] I spent an hour inside a special chamber at Laurentian University in Sudbury [Ontario, Canada] trying to see if I could have the other-worldly experience of being abducted by aliens. And while the event fell short of being a close encounter of the third kind, it had its moments.
It was all part of "Alien Week" on the Discovery [Canadian TV] Channel.Three of us went to Sudbury to see a Laurentian neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Persinger. He has devoted years of research to understanding some ot the stranger phenomena of modern life, including accounts of being abducted by aliens. His view is that such apparent contacts between aliens and humans are actually the result of unusual events in the brains of those reporting them.
There have been hundreds of reports over the last 30 years, mostly in North America, of aliens kidnapping and experimenting with innocent people. The experience includes visits to alien spacecraft, the implantation of objects inside the abductees' bodies (which never seem to be found), the removal of eggs or sperm and even the impregnation of abducted women. Some victims claim to have been abducted several times -- in extreme cases, on a regular basis.
The tendency is to dismiss such bizarre accounts as ridiculous. But the sheer numbers and the unhappiness and suffering of at least some of the "abductees" deserves something more.
Persinger doesn't believe these people are necessarily lying. He thinks many of them might have had a real experience of a "presence," the strong (and sometimes terrifying) feeling that one is not alone.
The experience of an "other" is well-documented in the neuroscientific literature. It tends to happen to people who are capable of vivid imagery and who are under some sort of stress -- anything from lack of oxygen and food to a recent bereavement. Such experiences are thought to be triggered somehow in the temporal lobes, those parts of the brain around and above the ears.
Persinger has set up an isolation chamber at Laurentian in an attempt to simulate such experiences. That is where I spent much of last Sunday afternoon. The chamber is about the size of a small bedroom, lit only by a red light. I sat in an overstuffed chair in the middle of the room and put on a blindfold and tight-fitting helmet fitted with electrical gear for stimulating my brain.
Then for two consecutive half-hour periods, the double doors to the chamber were closed and I sat there alone as my temporal lobes were bathed in pulsed electromagentic fields.
Did I see aliens? Unfortunately not. I didn't even have the eerie feeling that someone was there in the chamber with me. My brain might not be prone to such vivid imagery. I did, however, see a series of tiny faces floating in front of me. They look like white Wedgwood china faces, all female, on a dark background, with the faces sometimes changing from one to another as I watched. They were entrancing, if somewhat fleeting.
I had other moments of rapidly changing dream-like images, but the faces impressed me the most. Is Michael Persinger right that electrical events in the temporal lobes are responsible for the rash of reports of alien abductions? Not that you could demonstrate from my experience. But his hypothesis rings true for me, even though it must be admitted that there are gaps that must be filled in.
In particular, I'd want to see concrete evidence that the simple experience of a presence can and has been transformed into a detailed story of aliens, spacecraft and invasive experiments. It's plausible, not proven. As Persinger says, if you had the feeling that someone was with you in his chamber (many have done so) it would be upsetting enough but at least you would know why it was happening. Imagine having the same experience while sitting at home, alone.
Original file name: CNI - Abduction.Persinger 1.18
This file was converted with TextToHTML - (c) Logic n.v. | <urn:uuid:0629f70d-c7a4-4675-aa35-87b67469f048> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.anomalies.net/archive/cni-news/CNI.0004.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972184 | 993 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Taken from: The Barefoot Collective. (2009). The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organizations and Social Change. Cape Town: Community Development Resource Association. Retrieved March 18, 2009, from www.barefootguide.org
Organizations matter. They make it possible for us to pool the strengths we have as individual human beings to achieve things that we could not do alone. They enable us to collectively mobilize our individual powers to face our human challenges with greater possibility.
At this point in our history, humanity faces significant and urgent choices and decisions. The people making these choices and decisions are those who have the power of organization behind them, be they governments with bureaucracies, be they businesspeople with corporate empires or be they ordinary people with local organizations and social movements behind them.
When ordinary people are able to create, link and strengthen their own organizations, and through them to voice and act out what they think, feel and want, they acquire more power over the choices and decisions that affect their lives. For people living in poverty and without basic rights, organization makes a different future possible. In building organizations, one shapes the world.
Seeing what is there, supporting what is possible
Local organizations begin small, often becoming more than originally intended, like the organization of the women gardeners above. Support from the outside, from funders, non-governmental organizations, activists or government workers can help, but the will of people to develop their own organizations does not need to be imported, only unblocked and supported. Indeed attempts to import models of organization or projects from the outside (usually westernized managerial forms) have proven more likely to kill local initiatives and fail for lack of ownership.
The fact that people, under the direst of circumstances, are able to pull themselves together and organize themselves is a celebration of the fact that the impulse to develop and organize is inborn. | <urn:uuid:faa6c073-d8ca-4fce-846f-72945a445d51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.how-matters.org/2010/07/04/why-organizations-matter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949999 | 381 | 2.375 | 2 |
For all those smokers out there, chances are you're not thinking
about your child, spouse or others around you when you light up a
cigarette. Think twice, say doctors.
Passive smoking, often dubbed the 'silent killer', is more
dangerous than you believe and the complications it creates have
gone up like never before.
"Passive smoking is little talked about. But it's critical.
Getting exposed to second-hand smoke is just as bad as active
smoking and passive smokers often suffer from lung problems,
breathlessness and allergies," Ravindra L. Kulkarni, a
cardiologist and director of Just for Hearts, an organisation for
heart care and lifestyle management, told IANS.
The first global study on passive smoking estimated that it causes
600,000 deaths every year. One-third of those killed are children
who are often exposed to smoke at home, the World Health
Organisation (WHO) estimated.
"Just by getting yourself exposed to smoke, you unknowingly expose
yourself to all kinds of health problems. Women and children are
especially vulnerable," Amol Akhade, a consultant medical
oncologist at International Oncology Services, told IANS.
According to experts, a smoker's exhaled smoke is called exhaled
mainstream smoke. The smoke drifting from their lit cigarette is
called sidestream smoke. The combination of mainstream and
sidestream smoke is called second-hand smoke (SHS) or
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
Most of the smoke that hangs in a room is sidestream smoke, which
contains higher levels of cancer-causing compounds than mainstream
"Second-hand smoke is a common indoor pollutant at homes...
sometimes because of reasons beyond your control, like a guest
smoking, or smoke drifting in from outside. Children in particular
are at risk of serious health effects from second-hand smoke,"
said Aarti Goyal, a health activist.
According to Kulkarni, there have been rising number of
asthma-like cases and of allergic reactions because of passive
"One of the biggest disadvantage of tackling passive smoking is
that it is not visible, unlike active smoking," he said.
"There are not as many studies done of how many people are
affected by it. But from the cases that we get, we have seen that
people exposed to smoke sometimes suffer from allergic reactions
and it is worse for those with lung problems and asthma," he said.
Irritation of the eyes, nose and throat are some of the other
Passive smokers have a higher risk of heart diseases, doctors say.
So if you smoke and your spouse does not, beware.
Studies also show that long-term exposure to second-hand smoke can
increase the chances of lung cancer by 20-30 percent.
Chances of artheosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, also
increases in cases of long-term exposure to second-hand smoke.
While measures have been adopted to curb the ill-effects of
smoking by means of putting a law in place that bans smoking in
public places, poor implementation remains a problem.
"The risk of passive smoking is rising rapidly among the urban
population. Banning smoking is one of the strategies to minimise
the bad effects, but implementation is a major issue," Akhade
"The high pollution level increases the risk more," said Kulkarni.
Spreading awareness may be a way to curb the problem.
Anoop Jain, an occasional smoker, for instance, had no idea about
the harms of passive smoking.
"I smoke occasionally when I am under stress. I know it is harmful
to my health, but I had no idea that it was so harmful to my
family too," he said.
"It is especially scary that our kids get exposed to so much
second-hand smoke every day! At home, the situation is under our
control, but what about outside?" asked Rani Mehra, a mother of
two school-going children.
Rahman can be contacted at [email protected]) | <urn:uuid:12ed2a72-6e5c-4c73-886d-587ab162491e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ummid.com/news/2012/May/30.05.2012/passive_smoking.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954854 | 878 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Charlie Martin wants to get fit, and balance and mobility are elements of fitness. Yoga and Pilates can help in this regard, but they are inefficient, time-consuming, and are not designed with the goal of fitness in mind.
Humans are built to raise and lower their center of gravity, sometimes while carrying things. How much mobility and balance does Charlie need? How does he know when he is mobile and balanced “enough”?
The beautiful answer: Charlie will have enough mobility and balance when he can raise and lower his center of gravity while he is carrying things.
He doesn’t need to be able to get completely flat in Pigeon Pose; he needs to be able to do this:
Humans need to be able to Front Squat and Overhead Squat. The best way to get there? Work on your Front Squat and Overhead Squat.
An amazing fact that may win Charlie over to Crossfit, as it did me: you will get better at yoga and Pilates by doing Front Squats and Overhead Squats, even if you do not do yoga and Pilates at all.
Whereas the reverse — doing yoga and Pilates to get better at squatting — is not remotely as effective.
There are plenty of stretches and devices that can help in this regard; you will even come across some of them while participating in yoga and Pilates. However, the goal, if you want to get fit, should always be gaining enough mobility and balance to do Front Squats and Overhead Squats — two genetically determined, functional human movements — and not gaining enough mobility to do yoga, Pilates, splits, etc.
This example carries over to every human activity: if you get better at the basic functional movements of the human body, you will be better at everything else a human can do. You will be an athlete already, without stepping onto a practice field. Get yourself some great squat skills first, then go specialize in whatever else you love.
Think about the squat, the deadlift, and the press as the “core fitness curriculum”; the “three Rs” of your body. That Masters degree in yoga can come afterwards, and will come more easily.
Charlie has sent video of his form doing squats, deadlifts, and presses: later this week we will analyze them, and see if Charlie is ready to step up his workout intensity. There will be sweat involved, though we will honor Charlie’s “no vomiting” edict. | <urn:uuid:a8f97631-b916-490f-8ee2-46b8670c5523> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/02/19/charlie-martin-late-blooming-athlete-week-3-yoga-without-the-yoga/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958335 | 522 | 1.960938 | 2 |
For Want of a Crosswalk, a Life was Lost
A piece co-authored by Dr. Richard Jackson, IoES professor and Department of Environmental Health Sciences chair, was featured in the Huffington Post.
Written by Larry Cohen, MSW, Executive Director, Prevention Institute
A mother crosses in the middle of the street carrying her baby, with her four year old separate and adrift. The four year old is hit, and, horrifically, killed by a drunk driver. Raquel Nelson is the Atlanta-area mom, who was convicted of vehicular homicide after her 4-year-old son was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver. The driver, who was under the influence of alcohol and painkillers, also had a previous record of hit-and-run. And now, the mother is threatened with years in prison (though the charges have been reduced), while the drunk driver is sentenced to six months. We ask how do we hold the mother accountable? What is the proper punishment for the driver? But no one is asking what can be done so that this doesn't keep happening. How can we claim it's moral to blame the mother when we don't also take responsibility for fixing the problem?
We shouldn't design highways where pedestrians who need to cross have no safe places to do so -- no lights and no cross walks within reasonable distances, and with cars going too fast. Streets where cars are all that matter and people (especially ones who are poor) don't matter, and for sure not people who are black, exhausted, or four years old. Instead of wasting our time debating who should be punished and how much, we need to invest our traffic safety funds in efforts that keep our children and families safe.
If we spent our money on smart transportation planning, that prioritizes pedestrians and bicyclists as well as cars, we could meet all these needs. In New York, a particular intersection on Queen's Boulevard had become the city's deadliest, and most of the victims there were senior citizens. If you watched people crossing, it was apparent that many were unable to make it across the street before the light changed. Residences were on one side and the commercial areas on the other side. "One only needs to see the roadway itself to realize something is terribly wrong here. Disaster is waiting to happen," said Richard Retting, the transportation safety manager who tried to fix it.
To read the entire article in the HuffPost Impact section click here.
This piece was co-authored with Richard J Jackson, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Jackson is the Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health. He served 15 years at the CDC where he established the National Asthma Epidemiology and Control Program. Over the past decade, much of Dr. Jackson's work has focused on how the 'built environment,' including architecture and urban planning, affects health.
Published: Thursday, August 04, 2011 | <urn:uuid:b8536a8a-ded6-4b30-9f08-c4f9ae387743> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.environment.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=12494 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978775 | 603 | 2.421875 | 2 |
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Nearly 3/4 of BP spill oil gone from Gulf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly three-fourths of oil from the BP spill is gone from the Gulf of Mexico, with 26 percent remaining as a sheen or tarballs, buried in sediment or washed ashore, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday.
"It is estimated that burning, skimming and direct recovery from the wellhead removed one quarter (25 percent) of the oil released from the wellhead," the scientists said in the report "BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Budget: What Happened to the Oil?"
Another 25 percent naturally evaporated or dissolved and 24 percent was dispersed, either naturally or "as the result of operations," into small droplets, the report said.
The rest of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude spilled into the Gulf after the April 20 rig explosion that triggered the leak is either on or just beneath the water's surface as "light sheen or weathered tarballs," has washed ashore where it may have been collected, or is buried in sand and sediments at the sea bottom.
The report found 33 percent of the oil has been dealt with by the Unified Command, which includes government and private efforts.
"This includes oil that was captured directly from the wellhead by the riser pipe insertion tube and top hat systems (17 percent), burning (5 percent), skimming (3 percent) and chemical dispersion (8 percent)," the report found.
Natural processes broke down the rest of the 74 percent that has been removed from the Gulf.
"The good news is that the vast majority of the oil appears to be gone," Carol Browner, energy and climate change adviser to President Barack Obama, said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "That's what the initial assessment of our scientists is telling us."
"We do feel like this is an important turning point," she said.
The report was released just before officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency testified at a U.S. Senate hearing about the use of dispersant chemicals to combat the BP spill.
Paul Anastas, of EPA's office of research and development, acknowledged there are "environmental tradeoffs" to consider when using dispersants.
Anastas told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that dispersants are generally less toxic than oil, cut the risk to shorelines and degrade quickly, in days or weeks.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Rick Cowan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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Part 2: The Myth of the Online Dictionary
So (as several of you have asked in the comments, with varying levels of plaintiveness) why don't dictionaries just go completely online, and include every word? There'd be none of this stupid in-or-out waffling on the part of the lexicographers; they could just muster the words in an orderly fashion and march them onto the web, break for a long lunch, and go home early.
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of this include-everything-on-the-web idea. I'm seethingly impatient for it. I want it hot, fresh, and now, and I'm grumpy that I don't have it yet.
Don't have it yet? But what about OED.com, dictionary.com, onelook.com, bartleby.com, m-w.com, Wiktionary, OmegaWiki ... there's no shortage of dictionaries you can see online. What there's a shortage of is true Online Dictionaries.
A dictionary online is just a print dictionary translated to the web, with little, if any, attention paid to the advantages of web delivery. A few links, a couple of different font options -- that's it. The basic arrangement, format, layout ... those remain largely unchanged. (A couple of the online dictionaries don't even allow full-text search inside definitions! So if you can't remember the word, you can't triangulate it by looking for words you think might be used in its definition.)
Everything in the dictionary-online is still seen through the lens of print, and what print needs. The web is an afterthought. Even the wiki-style dictionaries (which I am all in favor of, and I'm on the advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation) are largely based on print ideals of organization and inclusion. (Even Wiktionary wants words to be at least a year old before they are included in the project.)
A true Online Dictionary would be created with the web in mind. And it might not look the way we think a dictionary "should" look at all!
Print dictionary layout is optimized (or possibly ossified) for print delivery. Dictionary layout has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years: look at a page of Johnson's Dictionary, and you recognize it immediately: "That's a dictionary." But is that format, time-tested as it is, the best one for an online dictionary? I am not convinced it is. But no dictionary that I'm aware of is testing what a true online dictionary would or should or could look like.
Not only do I think the macrostructure of the dictionary will have to change online, I believe the microstructure of the entry probably will too. Do lexicographers still need to be crafting tight little knots of definitions if the pressure to explain everything in three lines or less is no longer there? Where's the sweet spot between "short, but impenetrable" and "too long for quick comprehension ... okay, now you're an encyclopedia"?
Because lexicographers' time isn't infinite, even if the web seems nearly so, they will still have to figure out the process of herding all the words into the new online dictionary. (I can see entries accreting over time as evidence of use piles up; the first embryonic uses of word barely showing, with only one or two lonely examples, and the older words becoming like huge dripping stalactites as they accumulate hundreds of examples. You could gauge the longevity of a word by the shape of its entry.)
Before we can have a real Online Dictionary we have to figure out how people will use it, what they really need and what they simply want. Then we can figure out what it will look like, how it will behave, and what it should contain.
We also need to figure out how we can fund it. How will people pay for online dictionary content, if at all? Per word micropayments? Subscriptions? A tiered subscription with basic words being free, but harder or rarer words costing more? Paying a fee through their ISP? Taking it not-for-profit and being funded by grants? Advertising? Charging people to add their own words or definitions? (I'm just kidding about that last part, but I can imagine some people wouldn't be.) Pretty much the only funding option not available for the online dictionary is putting it between hard covers and selling it for $24.95 in Barnes and Noble ... because then you have to make the online dictionary with print in mind.
The true Online Dictionary is still a myth, sadly. But every day I think about how to make it into reality. | <urn:uuid:5f314acf-dc46-4008-9253-11065f7551f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.volokh.com/posts/1190819637.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952496 | 979 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Start: 5:30 pm
End: 6:30 pm
Come to an info-session led by Betty Scott to explore ways poetry connects us to personal awareness, to readers, and to the creative spirit. Learn how to tap into memories and bring forth images to share within a community, designed to appreciate poetry's rich landscape and history. We'll play with words, sounds and thoughts and a writing exercise. Please bring paper and a pencil. To register for the weekend retreat visit: https://register.whatcomcommunityed.com/CourseStatus.awp?&course=12F8183057OA Time: Sat., Nov. 17, 9:00 am-3 p.m. and Sun., Nov.18, 1:00-4:00 pm. Location: Whatcom Community College - Foundation 201C Betty Scott's writings have appeared in a dozen regional magazines. Before moving to Bellingham she worked at The Wenatchee World, a daily newspaper, and for five years wrote a column called "Musings by Betty Scott." In May of 2012, she was presented an Empowered Poet Award by World Poetry International of Richmond, Canada, and was featured on their website in August. Recently she co-judged the Sue Boynton Poetry Contest and was a featured writer and workshop presenter at the Chuckanut Writers Conference.
Start: 6:00 pm
End: 8:00 pm
Are you a writer in search of a writing group? Village Books is hosting a fiction writing group on the mezzanine level of the store near the poetry section and Book Fare Cafe. Come meet other writers who can help you get organized, give feedback, and help you with your writing goals. This group is open to newcomers and drop-ins and will meet the second and fourth Thursday of each month from 6-8pm.
Start: 7:00 pm
Join Village Books and the Whatcom Association of Kayak Enthusiasts (WAKE), for an evening with author Vince Welch, who will talk about his new book, The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West. Amos Burg (1901-1986), a native of Portland, Oregon, was the first to complete transits of the free-flowing, undammed Snake and Columbia Rivers by canoe, and in 1938 he became the first to navigate the length of the Colorado River in a rubber raft. In his daring explorations of waterways from the Southwest up through Canada and into Alaska, Burg is considered to be the only person known to have run all major Western rivers from source to mouth. In The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West author Vince Welch, himself a river guide, weaves a passionate and well-researched narrative using extensive material from Burg’s own rich archives. History buffs, paddlers, and adventure readers alike will delight in this remarkable regional history of the larger-than-life Burg, a quintessential man of the American West and one of the last "voyageurs" of North America's great waterways. Vince Welch was a boatman on Northwest rivers for several years before heading to the Colorado River, where he guided for Grand Canyon Dories and first encountered the legend of Amos Burg. He has since lived and guided all over the West and has written for River magazine, The Utne Reader, Boatman's Quarterly Review, and Mountain Gazette, for which he is a senior correspondent. Welch lives in Portland, Oregon. | <urn:uuid:7850c69a-38df-4b91-9cc3-6c9951bc18c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.villagebooks.com/event/2012/11/08/day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947129 | 713 | 1.585938 | 2 |
I sat down (over the internet) to have a chat with Helen Papagiannis, the person behind Augmented Stories, the @ARstories twitter account, and the very first augmented children’s pop-up book, Who’s Afraid of Bugs, experienced on iPhone or iPad 2 through the junaio augmented reality browser. Though I met Helen briefly and attended her excellent presentation in May at Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara, CA, I wanted to learn more about her AR research – especially this new endeavor with augmenting children’s literature for the purpose of education.
You explained a bit on your blog already, but tell us a little more
about what led you to this project.
I was really excited to create something in AR for iPad 2 and take advantage of the beautiful screen real estate and rear camera, particularly as no one had done this yet with a children’s book, let alone a physical pop-up book. I adore paper engineering and pop-up books, as well as digital technology. And that’s what AR
can do really well, combine these two areas: the tactile with the virtual. The other important part for me was to design something with image recognition or natural feature tracking, as opposed to obtrusive markers that can really disrupt the design (to be dually noted, I’ve also seen this done well and such ‘glyphs’ can help signify that there is an AR experience waiting).
In the case of my AR pop-up book, Who’s Afraid of Bugs?, image recognition
was a natural fit as the reader is asked to use the iPad 2 to uncover these
creatures throughout the story, overcoming their fears, not knowing where these
bugs might pop-up! Ok perhaps that’s a little cruel but I really think it adds to
the wonderment (one of my favourite words for AR and the subject of my TEDx talk) of the experience in the unexpected reveals. “Wonderment” is probably not
the word someone with a terrible fear of creepy-crawlies would use, but even still,
I think there’s a moment of astonishment, which is startling, that arises when the
3D creature ‘magically’ appears through AR.
Lastly, the iPad 2 creates an excellent shift in how we view AR experiences – we
now have a real ‘looking-glass’ to use, with a direct sight line into another world,
as opposed to previous web-cam desktop experiences where, in my opinion,
there can be a real disconnect between the viewer and the AR/physical space.
Too often wee see those YouTube videos of someone trying very hard to peer
over a piece of paper they’re holding up to their web-cam on their computer.
Sure, again, there are successful examples of the magic-mirror approach, but I
think we’re getting closer to the future of the ubiquity of direct AR vision and
eyewear with the looking-glass method. Exciting times!
“AR, like cinema when it was first new, commenced with a
wonderment of the technology”. You’ve often compared the
beginning of moving pictures to that of Augmented Reality. Your
TEDx talk had eventgoers pass through “the ghost of Melies”; early
responses to the Lumiere brothers The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
had reviewers speaking of haunting apparitions and phantoms
moving across the wall; compared to the initial reaction to film, is AR
a similarly-unnerving paradigm shift in the way we experience
We’re entering a whole new visual medium and language with AR, and thereby a
paradigm shift (similar to film when first new). This is an area of my PhD research
and one that I’m currently writing about. I mentioned astonishment – this is actually a term film theorist Tom Gunning uses to describe the initial reaction of
early film spectators, and one that I draw from. Gunning describes a sense of
shock that arises in the audience from a fear that they are threatened by a fastspeed
locomotive, which is charging at them from on screen.
There’s a wonder at the illusion presented. Similarly, we could say there is a moment where the AR spider evokes a similar reaction of threat and astonishment, although in reality, we know it’s not there. “Presence” is a term VR and AR researchers use to
describe the ‘sense of really being there’. Merging the physical environment and
digital objects in AR creates potentially large opportunities for presence. We
need to harness this alongside context to create compelling content and
experiences. Unlike film, and any medium before it, AR has it’s own unique
characteristics that we need to leverage. I spoke to this in my ARE2011
So far the response to your book has been overwhelmingly positive,
especially on Twitter. Do you plan to make other pop-up books along
the same lines for Ophidiophobes, Mysophobes, Walloonaphobes
Yes, I’d love to! I think there’s the potential to address numerous phobias here,
utilizing AR in a playful manner. As I mention on my blog, AR psychotherapy
studies were an inspiration to the narrative. Not sure about “Walloonaphobes”,
Mr. Lord. What are you trying to say about the Belgians?
I love Francophonic Belgians- but some people are irrationally afraid of them. Your research, your projects, even your twitter account convey the
importance of narratives within technology and media. How do you
see the progression of AR’s narrative so far?
As I’ve said in the past about AR: content really needs to catch up to the
technology. I really think we’re starting to get there! Developing compelling
content is a critical component to AR’s success: AR has to be fun, entertaining
and provide a valuable experience. The time is ripe for more AR explorers and
storytellers to help define where AR can go as a new format and to contribute to its staying power beyond gimmick or fad.
Let’s look at early cinema again. The first films were about the novelty of the
technology. (The subjects of these films would seem very mundane to us today:
workers leaving a factory, etc.) Narrative came later, and so with AR. I believe
this is what the next phase holds; a serious inquiry into what the technology can
do beyond captivation with the technology in itself.
If AR had a memoir, what would its title be?
When I divorced myself from other mediums and came into my own
Or Who I Was, Who I Am and Who I Want to Be: A Memoir by Augmented
Reality. Ok I cheated on the last one and used the ‘Memoir Generator’ on the
Or how about, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. Wait, no that’s a real
book and is actually kind of relevant to (the future of) AR in regards to
neurological functions and altered perception.
When can we expect the completed book?
I’m presently seeking a publisher. A shameless call out to publishers who see the
promise and future of AR in books and would like to collaborate! I may also self-publish.
Let’s put it in the ‘books’ for late Fall 2011/Winter 2012.
What was your biggest fear when you were a kid? What would have
been the best augmented reality experience to help you overcome it?
I was TERRIFIED of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz when I
was a kid. No lies. I loved that movie and watched it repeatedly, but whenever
the witch appeared I would jump over the couch and duck down until she was
gone. The best AR experience to help me overcome it would have probably been
a magic-mirror effect where I became the Wicked Witch and realized that
maybe she’s not so different after all — perhaps there’s a little wickedness in
each of us? Or it would have been potentially scarring.
But the point here is that one of the things AR can do really well is
personalization, whether it’s in branding, storytelling (aren’t they one in the
same?), information sharing, or play. AR also has the opportunity to be an
empathy builder, allowing for perspective shifts and seeing a new world, virtually,
from someone else’s point of view. Ok I should stop, I’m writing a dissertation
here. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter. I also consult. | <urn:uuid:f529a9ef-1de6-46b6-9127-f33182509fdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://junaio.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/the-story-behind-arstories-interview-with-helen-papagiannis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948214 | 1,883 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Mr. Roy Harvey's Wagon Ride
|The weather threatened rain on a
Saturday in May when a special surprise was in store for a fellow who is 95
years old. Everyone who shared in the surprise hoped the weather would
cooperate so that Mr. Roy Harvey of the Taylors Crossroads community could
sit behind a team of mules once again. That was the surprise... a ride in a
wagon being pulled by a team of mules. Neighbors, friends and family members
gathered at the home of Mr. Harveyís daughter and son-in-law, Bea and Ray
Taylor, on the Keisling Ridge Road awaiting the arrival of a wagon and mules
owned and driven by Kenneth Sells. Everyone present, with the exception of
Mr. Harvey, knew about the surprise, and as the wagon came down the driveway
to the Taylor home, Ray Taylor asked his father-in-law what he thought about
taking a ride in the wagon. His immediate response was "Iím ready!" Because
of failing eyesight, images arenít easily seen for Mr. Harvey, but the
excitement was easy to see in his eyes once he realized what he was going to
get to do. With the help of a couple of able-bodied neighbors, Mr. Harvey
was lifted into a seat beside Kenneth Sells, and along with Rod Johnson, the
trio set off. The idea to take Mr. Harvey for a ride began with Rod and
Kenneth, and as a result of their idea, a surprise with family, neighbors,
and friends sharing in the day was planned.
|The wagon that carried the fellows on
their journey wasnít just any old ordinary wagon either. Mr. Harveyís ride
deserved the finest one that could be found, and thatís just what it was.
Kenneth Sells hand-crafted the wagon himself, beginning with the cutting of
cedar trees from his property. Next, he hand-planed the lumber at his
sawmill. And finally, after many long hours, the project was painstakingly
completed. Kennethís mules that pulled the wagon are named Ruth and Jen. But
this was not the only team of mules that showed up at the Taylor house that
day. Rod Johnsonís son, Brian, came with his mules, Jake and Hank. Donald
Mabe, and his mule named Jackson was next, followed by Frankie Beason with
Troy, Pride, and Homer in tow. The entire group of wagons formed a parade as
Kenneth, Rod and Mr. Harvey led the way to the old Plain Grove school
(Possum Trot), a distance of around a half a mile from the Taylor home.
Mr. Roy Harvey, Kenneth Sells and Rod Johnson start out for a wagon ride.
Sitting behind a team of mules wasnít anything new to Mr. Harvey. He told me he owned a lot of good mules over the years. He said the best ones he owned were named Ole Red and Bill. A wagon served as transportation for his family for many years since Mr. Harvey didnít own a vehicle until sometime in the 1950's. The Herd Ridge community was the place he grew up as one of seven children of Tom and Byrd Harvey. He said life was hard back then, but he thought he had a pretty good life. He could remember hauling lumber on a wagon to Livingston for $5.00 a load, and that a good saddle mule could be bought for $300.00 back then. Today Iím told they can bring as much as $4,000 to $8,000.00 each.
Mr. Roy Harvey, Kenneth Sells and Rod Johnson return from their ride to the old Plain Grove (Possum Trot) school building.
Mr. Harvey, whose wife, Ida (Richardson) Harvey passed away seven years ago, had five sons and one daughter. Their names are Douglas; Dudley; Donald; Jay; Gerald; and Beatrice. He shares the home of his daughter, Bea and her husband, Ray Taylor. Mr. Harveyís eyesight may not be as good as it used to be, but his mind is as sharp as ever. He recited a poem for me that afternoon, something he learned when he was in the third grade at Herd School. The poem was titled "A Wonderful World" and he told me his teacherís name that year was Bessie Parrott.
Family members present for this special event, including Bea and Ray Taylor, were Douglas Harvey, his daughter, Teresa Barber and her fiancee, Kenny Craig; Donald Harvey and wife, Sue Harvey, their daughter, Tammy Long and her son, Caleb; Julie and James Brown, and their daughters, Lindsey and Kesley. A number of neighbors and friends were also in attendance.
Being a good neighbor is something very much alive and well in the Taylors Crossroads community. Thanks to Kenneth and Rod, Mr. Harvey was able to enjoy once more a ride through the countryside behind a team of mules, something he has spent a lot of time doing in the past. Had the weather not had rain in the forecast, the trip was to have included going to his old home place on the Herd Ridge, but that journey has been saved for the next time. And with the kindness of caring neighbors like Kenneth and Rod, Iíll just bet they do their best to make certain that trip takes place. Something as simple as a wagon ride brought much happiness not only to Mr. Harvey, but to everyone who was there. It also served as a reminder that in our busy lives, itís always the simple things that mean the most, and a person had to only look at the big smile of Mr. Harveyís face and the sparkle in his eyes to see how very true that is. I was glad to share in this special day for Mr. Harvey. | <urn:uuid:05962cee-94d6-4fbd-96dd-bcea5c4174e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.josephinesjournal.com/royharvey.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981802 | 1,245 | 2.125 | 2 |
CMSWire Collaboration Style is a Question of Organizational DNA CMSWire In my work I see that there are as many views of “collaboration” as there are companies — some companies are simply content with email, some approach collaboration as a project...
"Far from causing fallings-out or cutthroat rivalry for promotions, office friendships are “closer and more emotional than any other,” says The Daily Telegraph. “Even workers who seem to have little in common can become best friends. And far from the backbiting of contestants on television hit The Apprentice, workmates can become best friends in the face of adversity, the study says.
The report from Lancaster University for the journal Emotion, Space and Society described an office workplace as ‘the modern day social club.’ People of all ages and backgrounds are often thrown together without any notice or choice, yet have to spend several hours a day side by side, often in stressful situations. This increases the likelihood of tight bonds of friendship, lead researcher Dr. Anne Cronin of Lancaster’s sociology department said.”
"German psychoanalyst Eric Fromm said, “The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity.”
Everyone I have ever known — I take that back — every likableperson I have ever known in this world has admitted to periods of sheer insecurity. They looked at themselves from the perspective of someone else — perhaps a person with no appreciation of their talents, personality traits, abilities—and judged themselves unfairly according to the perverted view."
This is a great TEDx talk by Bob Chapman. Bob runs a company called Barry Wehmiller. He and his organization are obsessed with developing people and creating an environment that allows them to go home fulfilled by the work they do.
The Center for Creative Leadership did a study with data from 6,731 managers from 38 countries. Their study found that the ability to understand what others are feeling is a skill that clearly contributes to effective leadership. In some cultures, the connection between empathy and performance is particularly striking, placing an even greater value on empathy as a leadership skill.
The findings were consistent across the sample: empathy is positively related to job performance. Managers who show more empathy toward direct reports are viewed as better performers in their job by their bosses.
Open your eyes and heart to listen. There have been numerous instances when I just listened and kept quiet. The other person cried and the tears made him lighter.He could face the situation in a better way.
Writers practice the advice of Sir Francis Bacon, even if they are not aware of his precise words: 'A (wo)man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket and write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought are commonly the most valuable and should be secured because they seldom return.' | <urn:uuid:7cf2a41d-ff54-47b7-9db7-0c9fd0f91b92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scoop.it/t/coaching-in-education/p/3995338482/there-s-more-to-life-than-being-happy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975429 | 598 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Venice Islands Tour
There was a time, nearly 1,500 years ago, when Torcello was the largest and most important settlement in the Venetian Lagoon. Those days are long gone: As silt from rivers on the mainland filled up the shallow waters around Torcello, trade became more difficult and malarial mosquitoes bred. The 20,000 or so inhabitants gradually made their way to Venice, and today only a few dozen innkeepers, farmers, and other hardy souls live on the largely abandoned island.
Still, it's obvious even from the Burano waterfront that Torcello is worth a visit: A magnificent Byzantine-Italian cathedral dating back to 639 A.D., the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, looms over the island with the Bell Tower and Church of Santa Fosca alongside.
Allow 45 minutes or an hour to visit the religious buildings around the central piazza, which is a short walk along a canal from the ACTV pier. Tickets are sold individually for the Basilica, the Bell Tower, and the small Archaeological Museum, but the best deal is a combination ticket that includes all three plus the use of an audioguide in the Basilica (still called the "Cathedral" by many, and still in use for weddings and religious festivals).
Don't let claustrophobia or a fear of steep stairs keep you from ascending the Bell Tower: The climb is easy, via a series of gentle well-lit ramps, and from the top you'll get a fine view of the church buildings, the island, and the Lagoon.
If your exertions leave you hungry or thirsty, head for one of the indoor-outdoor restaurants around the piazza or along the path to the boat dock. (A kiosk also sells bottled drinks and other refreshments.)
How to reach Torcello:
From the ACTV pier on Burano, take the 9 water bus to Torcello. The boat runs twice an hour in each direction, and it takes only five minutes to cross the narrow strip of water between the islands.
Aerial Venice - Torcello on our main site
Next page: Return options | <urn:uuid:e1e0a127-f94c-46a4-937a-7c6ce1243246> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/mobile/articles/venice-islands-tour-torcello.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934588 | 449 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Information and Support For Families
This section is for people who are worried that someone close to them has a gambling problem. If you have problems with gambling yourself, please see the Getting Help section.
Most families faced with problem gambling want to know how they can regain control of their lives. We hope this section will help you:
- Understand how gambling may affect your family
- Learn how to help someone with a gambling problem
- Find ways to get your family life back in order
- Deal with money issues
- Learn how counselling can help you and your family
- Find resources that have helped other families
Your life may feel out of control right now. But with help, your family can deal with and get over problems caused by gambling. People with gambling problems do recover, and their families do heal. Your family can be one of them. By reading this information on ProblemGambling.ca, you have taken an important first step. | <urn:uuid:c313ef8d-0b99-4b7a-9816-c5b9ddde09df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.problemgambling.ca/gambling-help/support-for-families/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957541 | 192 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Two interesting nuggets in Ezra Klein’s story about studying economics in video games. First, a question I’ve asked myself many times about Facebook and currency:
“Just for example,” Castronova says, “Facebook has an entire currency system that isn’t taxed or regulated. At what point does that threaten what the Federal Reserve does?”
Next it’s a broader point about what effect video games have on the economy-at-large:
There’s also a question of whether actions in online worlds count as real-life economic activity. “Say someone is playing Eve Online for a whole week and not providing services in real life,” Guðmundsson says. “That would hurt GDP [the measure of real-life economic growth], but it would increase the Gross User Product in the virtual world. So did overall value creation really decline?”
.. via NoahBrier.com: http://bit.ly/TWLngA .. | <urn:uuid:8a779e08-b5e2-4981-a070-e57243e53407> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heyitsnoah.tumblr.com/post/32607950398/the-economics-of-games | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947175 | 212 | 2.203125 | 2 |
A great office architecture design which is called the MP09 building is completed by the GS Architects. This headquarter is designed in Graz, Austria. This office which is designed by the architect is designed for the Uniopt Pachleitner Group; it is an eyewear and jewelry company which is based there. By the architect, this office is nicknamed the ‘Black Panther’. The architect brief is to construct a landmark building which is reflected the products of the company designs, as well as its culture and the philosophy.
The practice which is opted for a ventilated rain screen cladding system from Sto, it is to achieve the sculpture-like aesthetic with the dynamic sharp edges and imposing the angles. As well as a pure, black finish, this mechanical system is allowed for the highly ambitious design. The architect wants a protective glass system to characterize the nature and the purpose of the client from the start. All the functional and the aesthetic design elements which the architect required are provided by the Sto Verotec Glass system. With the sculptural elements throughout, the interior of the building is equally striking. To inspire the creativity, the client is demanded a tranquil, beautiful space. While to achieve the highly contemporary look which is posed a significant acoustical issue, the materials are specified. The StoSilent Pane Alu which is chosen is functioned to adequately deal with the reverberation of the reflective materials. The selling factor to both client and the system designer is the ability of the acoustic system to ass to, rather than subtract from the other interior elements
Visit the GS Architects website – here. | <urn:uuid:c9ffa2b9-23a4-497e-9046-9ce093a8fa54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zeospot.com/mp09-building-by-gs-architects-an-impressive-new-jewelry-headquarter-architecture-design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969738 | 327 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The Grey Family was first published in 1956. It is now
out of print.
Story | Thoughts
| Editions and Availability
The Grey family consists of Mr and Mrs Grey, Edward, Sarah, Bill
and Polly. Mr Grey is a lawyer, but because it is "very difficult
to earn a lot of money at the beginning of being a lawyer"
(The Grey Family, 1967 Red Knight edition:7), the Greys
are not very well off. Edward wants to be a farmer when he grows
up. Sarah, who is very clever but not particularly pretty, plans
to get married and have lots of children. Bill (who is Sarah's
twin) is exceptionally good-looking, and wants to be a television
announcer or a film star. Polly doesn't know what she wants to
be when she grows up.
The other member of the household is Nana. After Nana's husband
died, and her children moved to Australia, she felt lonely, so
she went to see Mrs Grey's mother, who she had once nursed: although
she was financially independent, she wanted to work. This was
three days after Sarah and Bill had been born, and when she learned
about this Nana immediately went to help. Although Mr and Mrs
Grey will not let her work for nothing, when money is particularly
tight they "put her wages in her book", to be paid later.
Two events early on in the book become the major plot points:
a ballet teacher discovers that Polly has a talent for dancing,
which means that money must be found for her to have lessons;
and Edward saves a dog from drowning, earning the gratitude of
the dog's owner, Lord Pink.
(This section contains "spoilers" for those who have
not read the book.)
The Grey Family is like a bland version of The
Bell Family. It, too, deals with the day to day life
of an "ordinary" family (although with the obligatory
daughter who has a talent for dancing), and much of the plot is
driven by problems arising from a lack of money. Interestingly,
the actual members of the Grey family can be seen to parallel
the Johnsons in White Boots:
one who has "no brains" but wants to work on the land
(Edward and Alec), one who is very clever (Sarah and Toby), one
who is very good-looking and wants to become "a television
announcer, or a film star" (Bill and Edward), and one who
displays a talent in the course of the book (Polly for dancing,
and Harriet for skating).
However, The Grey Family appears to be designed for
a younger readership. It was originally published by Hamish Hamilton
as part of their "Reindeer" series, which seems to have
been aimed at the under-10s. The Grey Family is rather
longer and more eventful than Noel's other books published by
Hamish Hamilton - Bertram
and Old Chairs to Mend
(both in the "Antelope" series), and Let's
Go Coaching ("Gazelle").
Probably because of the different audience, The Grey Family
is much shorter than earlier works such as The
Bell Family and White
Boots, and the characters are less complex. Unfortunately,
this also makes them less interesting. Furthermore, in White
Boots, all of the characters except Edward have their
careers paths mapped out - Mr Pulton will pay for Alec to go to
an agricultural college, and then to set him up in a market garden;
this means that there will be enough money for Toby to go "somewhere
like Oxford and be a professor of mathematics" (White
Boots, 1951:252), and Harriet is already well on the
way with her skating career. By contrast, in The Grey Family
the children's plans don't seem to extend much beyond "when
I grow up". Polly is the exception to this, as by the end
of the book she has obtained a dancing scholarship. However, Edward
is simply going to "become" a farmer (no suggestion
of where the capital to buy a farm will come from - perhaps Lord
Pink will provide it). Sarah should obtain a scholarship, but
there is no sense of what her ultimate career will be, and she
herself simply says that she is "going to marry, and have
lots and lots of children. Six of each. Six boys and six girls"
(The Grey Family, 1967 Red Knight edition:9). The sheer
number of children make it clear that this is still a very childish
ambition. Bill expects that his good looks will simply enable
him to walk into a film career: Edward in White Boots
has the same belief, but this makes him the least realistic of
the Johnsons, whereas in this regard Bill is like his brother
and sister - he has a goal, but no planned method of achieving
The Grey Family is one of the few of Noel's books in
which the parents are invariably referred to as Father and Mother,
rather than by their Christian names.
Editions and Availability
The Grey Family was first published by Hamish Hamilton
Ltd in 1956, with illustrations by Pat Marriott. By 1964 there
had been six impressions.
In 1967, Knight Books released a paperback edition, with the
original Pat Marriott illustrations. Another paperback was released
in 1973, by Hodder.
The Grey Family does not appear to have had a US release.
Out of Print
The Grey Family is out of print, and surprisingly
rare. In February 2004, second hand copies through online booksellers
start in price at £24. (Source: Addall
Used and Out of Print Book Search.) | <urn:uuid:aaf436d8-2aa5-4ae6-8c4a-411fce3ca2ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whitegauntlet.com.au/noelstreatfeild/ChildFiction/BooksGreyFamily.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974979 | 1,220 | 1.921875 | 2 |
April 28th, 2006
WVU New and information Services
April 28, 2006
The WVU Libraries’ online database of historical photographs has recently grown beyond 10,000 digital images.
The milestone comes only five months after launching West Virginia History OnView. The database made its debut during Mountaineer Week in November 2005 with about 5,000 images.
“We created the database with the ambitious goal of cataloging 25,000 photographs from our West Virginia and Regional History Collection (WVRHC), and I’m pleased that we are making brisk progress,” WVU Libraries Dean Frances O’Brien said. “We are also all delighted that the site already draws thousands of users every month. People have found WV History OnView to be a valuable research tool.”
Since November 2005, the WVU Libraries have counted 20,000 individual visits to the site a month, according to Dennis Newborn, head of systems for the libraries. High usage actually caused the site to crash shortly after going online five months ago.
“Its popularity is pretty obvious,” said Newborn said.
Newborn is quick to give credit for the success to long hours WVU Libraries’ staff have dedicated to the project.
“It’s been amazing the number of photographs we’ve been able to add to the site,” Newborn said. “It’s a lot of hard work on the part of many people in the library.”
The database provides users with immediate access via the Internet to some of the best images from an archive of more than 150,000 photographs owned by the WVRHC.
The physical collection, located in Wise Library, has been used regularly by students and faculty at WVU and other institutions, researchers, historians, and members of the media. Many of the pictures often end up in term papers, classroom presentations, newspaper and magazine articles, and documentaries.
The WV History OnView site can be reached by going to the WVU Libraries homepage at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/ and clicking on the WV History OnView link at the bottom right of the page. | <urn:uuid:041ecf96-f504-4514-89d8-5575f8846736> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/about/news/2006/04/28/west-virginia-history-onview-hits-10000-photos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945632 | 461 | 2.265625 | 2 |
An Open Source Life
A concept is after all, a concept. A concept goes down in history as ‘groundbreaking’ only if its applications charter untested waters, if they dissolve physical boundaries, have far reaching impacts in every sphere of life and influence the lives of millions of people belonging to every strata of society, in every corner of the world. Open Source is a tool by the use of which we can shape our tomorrow and dare to dream even beyond that.
We have done extensive research for this section to bring to you the reality about real life applications which are developed or under development with the aim of betterment of humanity as a whole. The topics covered under this section are education, communication, food and entertainment (the basic requirements of today’s urban world!). We have tried to show that impact the Open Source has made in the lives of normal people outside the area of technological development because after all, the real test is in the real world, and the real world is inhabited by real people.
Inside This Section
Open Multimedia Standards
As explained previously in the Open Standards page, understanding their use in daily life is extremely essential. By using Open Standards, we would not just be helping to spread the unified standards everywhere, but also we would be saving ourselves from the many threats of using a closed standard.
In the super-fast paced world of today, something which is not ‘instant’ is as good as a rock. And above all, we need instant communication. For communication over the internet, we have e-mails and Instant Messengers or IM’s as we call them. Most of the IM’s belong to the line of CSS such as MSN and Yahoo! The developers of these systems do not disclose their source codes.
Educators have been called upon throughout history to combat a closed mindset among people, to let the world know about the ‘other’ side, the ‘free’ side. Censorship has been imposed on all types of flow of information by various powers who don’t want a new world order to be instated.
Open Source in Gaming Industry
Open Source has touched almost every part of the multimedia industry. Why should gaming be left apart? Open Source and Open Standards have left a significant mark on the gaming industry. Here, we will see in brief some of the Open Standards implemented in the Gaming Industry.
Say ‘movies’ and one thinks of big production houses enlisting the service of acclaimed directors, larger than life actors, experienced scriptwriters, stuntmen and movie crews, professional recording, editing, sound mixing and marketing teams.
Now, didn’t you just think that ‘Open Source Food’ is a contradiction of terms? How can open source be possibly related to Open Source? | <urn:uuid:8c3e2029-abab-4b01-b6c6-03e2c67170f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02363/section5/introduction.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924442 | 578 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Fans of the hit Nintendo classic, Star Fox, will really love this one. Typing in “Do a Barrel Roll” into your Google search bar will cause the search results to rotate and flip across the screen, very similar to the barrel rolls performed by pilots in the video game. Or in real life, because real pilots can do that too.
See below for a still image of the new search feature:
Uh, yeah. A simple screenshot obviously can’t convey the “cool” factor of this new Google hack, so I’ll let you head to Google search to figure it out for yourself and see the new trick action. Otherwise, drop by TechZwn to get a good laugh at the nostalgic Star Fox world where the inspiration for this feature most likely sprang from.
Maybe even pay a visit to “The Revolving Internet“. Though be warned: It’s a bit dizzying.
If you found this interesting, be sure to take a peek at another cool search feature. We previously revealed that searching up the word “tilt” in your smartphone would provide nauseating results in Google. Searching for the term will effectively tilt and skew the screen a bit to reflect the keyword, a hack that uses a bit of CSS trickery to bring it to life.
There are more great finds from around the Web, every day at Shareables. | <urn:uuid:51685513-9ab7-43f2-a1d3-003a91ea962c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2011/11/03/brilliant-search-google-for-do-a-barrel-roll-youll-love-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919764 | 290 | 1.609375 | 2 |
New Ocean Energy and Offshore Wind Regulations Announced
Offshore renewable energy development new rules and regulations could be introduced in the U.S. this year, potentially cutting the red tape for companies looking to put their wind, wave, or tidal projects in the water. Ken Salazar, the new head of the Department of the Interior, made an announcement this week that he plans to set a framework for offshore renewable energy “in the coming months.”
There was supposed to be rules in place as much as three years ago as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, but “The Bush administration was so intent on opening new areas for oil and gas offshore that it torpedoed offshore renewable energy efforts,” Salazar said.
Offshore wind energy is becoming a big contender for the nations renewable energy plan going forward, with many projects beginning to look like they might receive planning permission. There are at least two big offshore wind projects on the way in the Northeast that could benefit from a streamlined bureaucracy, including a 350-MW project in New Jersey by Deepwater Wind and the Public Service Enterprise Group and a 400-MW project in Rhode Island again by Deepwater Wind.
The biggest winner could be the relatively young ocean power industry. Currently there are only a handful of projects worldwide in the ocean and generating energy that is feeding into a grid. There is quite a lot of contradictory and confusing laws and bureaucracy in the U.S. at the moment that could do with clearing up and streamlining.
Clearing up the interagency dispute between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Minerals Management Service could be a boon to Lockheed Martin and Ocean Power Technologies. The two announced plans last month to work together on a utility-scale wave power project that would be located off the coast of California or Oregon. | <urn:uuid:f64d1b1a-5e47-4c77-b84d-106a0f5879a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.altdotenergy.com/2009/02/new-ocean-energy-and-offshore-wind-regulations-announced/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959616 | 367 | 2.1875 | 2 |
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On Air Staff and WPM Interns
It's All Politics
Thu February 21, 2013
Failure To Ratify: During Amendment Battles, Some States Opt To Watch
Originally published on Thu February 21, 2013 9:37 am
Mississippi has received lots of attention this week for finally having ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. But the state is hardly alone in being slow about blessing some long-established national principle.
After a sufficient number of states have ratified an amendment, it can feel like a moot point for legislatures to give belated approval to laws that are already in effect.
"Legislative calendars are crowded, and arguing over settled matters isn't a good use of time," says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Remember from civics class how constitutional amendments are ratified? Two-thirds of both chambers of Congress approve a resolution, which is then sent to the states. If three-quarters of them pass the amendment within a set period of time, it's enshrined into the Constitution.
'They Missed The Boat'
This has happened on 27 of the 33 occasions that Congress has sent amendments out to the states. Of the six amendments submitted to the states that failed to attract the needed support, the most recent came in 1985, when time ran out for states to ratify an amendment giving full congressional representation to the District of Columbia.
Once an amendment has been passed by three-quarters of the states, the others need not bother; it's settled law. Lots of states have withheld approval of amendments that have already achieved the support needed for ratification.
For example, four states — Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Utah — have never ratified the 16th Amendment, allowing the imposition of the federal income tax. Their residents still pay up come April 15, though.
"Massachusetts, Georgia and Connecticut didn't ratify the first 10 amendments until the late 1930s" — actually, 1939 — "about the time that the Bill of Rights became a big deal in the United States," says Pauline Maier, an MIT historian and author of Ratification. "They missed the boat in 1789-91."
After the amendment to repeal Prohibition was rapidly passed by the necessary 36 states in 1933, only a couple of the states that had missed the boat ever bothered with it. "Maybe they felt they didn't need to, because other states had already repealed it," says Florence M. Jumonville, a historian and librarian at the University of New Orleans.
Reluctant Rhode Island
But no state, it seems, has been as reluctant to sign off on constitutional provisions as Rhode Island. Some appear to be cases where the state's vote wasn't needed, such as the 16th Amendment and the 22nd Amendment (two-term limits for presidents).
Rhode Island, though, had boycotted the Constitutional Convention and originally rejected the Constitution itself. It was the last of the 13 original colonies to approve the founding document, in part because of a long-forgotten argument over paper money.
"They already felt they had just fought a war to get out from one distant government, and they didn't want to be under another one," says Al Klyberg, former director of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Rhode Island later pushed hard against the 17th Amendment, which created direct election of U.S. senators. Prior to its adoption in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures.
The old system suited Rhode Island. Thanks to the clubby atmosphere it created in the Senate, Rhode Island Republican Nelson Aldrich so dominated the body that he was often referred to as the "general manager of the United States."
Also, letting the Legislature pick senators ensured GOP dominance within the state. Rural towns dominated by the GOP had disproportionate representation in the state Legislature and hadn't selected a Democratic senator since 1850 (prior to the Republican Party's founding).
"It was very clear why the General Assembly would fail to ratify that amendment," says Patrick T. Conley, historian laureate of the state. "It would be relinquishing power."
Rhode Island also initially resisted the 15th Amendment, which (in theory, upon ratification in 1870) guaranteed voting rights for African-American men. One of its senators had already helped water down its language during congressional consideration, so that it didn't address discrimination based on nationality or ethnicity.
Still, Rhode Island officials worried that it might interfere with the state's practice of requiring naturalized citizens to own property before they could vote. "There was a big anti-Irish sentiment to Rhode Island's reticence to amending," Conley says.
Ultimately, pressure was put on the state because its approval was needed for ratification, due to opposition from Southern states as well as Oregon and California. Those states were reluctant to ratify for fear the franchise might be extended to citizens of Chinese ancestry; they didn't get around to ratifying the amendment until 1959 and 1962, respectively.
A number of states have played catch-up in this way, approving amendments decades after they had become part of the Constitution. Tennessee, for example, didn't approve the 15th Amendment until 1997, while Maryland ratified the 17th Amendment just last year.
"This is what you might call a feel-good ratification," says Richard Bernstein, the author of Amending America. "They're trying to make amends for having missed making it part of the Constitution the first time."
But it's also a reminder that constitutional amendments — even though they must achieve some sort of consensus because of the supermajority vote requirements for passage — were often highly controversial in their day. There were reasons Rhode Island didn't want to approve direct election of senators, or Mississippi didn't vote to abolish slavery back in the 1860s.
"Virtually all of the amendments were controversial in some way," says Bernstein, who teaches history and political science at City College of New York, "even the Bill of Rights itself." | <urn:uuid:4aa8a534-f8c3-4a52-b418-7e756fd317c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wyomingpublicradio.net/post/failure-ratify-during-amendment-battles-some-states-opt-watch | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976652 | 1,305 | 2.75 | 3 |
Fiestas del mundo hispano
La Navidad: La Navidad (also known as ‘Las Pascuas’ in Spain, though this is very confusing to most Latin Americans who only associate ‘Pascuas’ with Easter) is an extremely important holiday in the Hispanic world.
There are a number of significant differences between the ways in which La Navidad is celebrated in Spain, and the way in which Christmas is celebrated in the United States. Many families still hold to the tradition that gifts are not exchanged on Christmas, but rather on the ‘Día de los Reyes’ (King’s Day) on January 6th (ie., the 12th day of Christmas…). See more here.
Ladino Hanukkah: Jews, Moors and Christians co-occupied the Iberian peninsula for centuries before the Moors and Jews were expelled in 1492 by Los reyes católicos. The Moors, of course, spoke primarily Arabic even while living on the Iberian peninsula, but the Jewish population largely spoke Spanish. When they were expelled, they carried 15th century Spanish with them to what is now Eastern Europe and North Africa, and they continue to speak what is now known as Ladino to this day. Listening and reading Ladino is a fun exercise. Follow this link to hear and read a couple of traditional Hanukkah songs in Ladino.
Cinco de mayo: Cinco de mayo is not Mexican Independence day as many people believe (Mexican Independence Day is September 15th). Rather, it celebrates the defeat of the French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 by a Mexican army half the size of the invading force. Learn more here. | <urn:uuid:401ecf35-1e24-4c7b-9719-0f3c5c693923> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fhuhs.org/departments/spanish/misc/fiestas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96279 | 371 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Subsets and Splits