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I traveled to Panama this summer for the 100th Anniversary of the Panama Canal. An expansion project is under way to a build new, even bigger canal, in hopes of boosting business for the small Central American country.
Panama spent about $5.3 billion on the project, which is about 15 percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product—the total amount of money brought into the country every year. But as mentioned in my series, the Canal Authority believes this major long-term investment will bring in big money to Panama.
A ship waits on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal to pass through. The canal was widely considered an engineering marvel at the turn of the 20th century. It celebrated its 100th anniversary this August.
A project of this scale requires a lot of hands-on-deck. More than 20,000 workers are building this massive canal.
These are hydraulic arms that are used to open and close the locks of the old canal when ships pass through.
The Canal Expansion site. Each lock— a set of massive gates that control the flow of water— weighs 4 million pounds.
A cement truck rolls through the Canal Expansion site, which is set to open for business in 2016.
The Bridge of the Americas links the East and West sides of Panama. More importantly, it has served as a primary connector to those traveling to and from Central and South America for decades.
The Miraflores locks allow water to rise and fall as ships pass through the canal. In all, ships travel 85 vertical feet up and down these chambers to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back.
A scaffolding leading to the top of the walls at the Canal Expansion site. Each 110-foot wall is expected to last at least 100 years.
These massive cargo ships have just inches to spare when passing through the canal. In order to guarantee that they transit through without crashing into the canal walls, they're guided by trains.
One of the many ports along the Panama Canal.
I can’t access today’s news. Help!!!!!!! | <urn:uuid:8f5f2fa1-d21c-4726-8718-0fcc695befc2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.channelone.com/blog_post/panama-canal-behind-the-scenes-photos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571284.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811103305-20220811133305-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.945748 | 433 | 2.875 | 3 |
Major snowstorm forecast for Massachusetts
Heavy, wet snow forecast Wednesday
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh declared a snow emergency and parking ban for the city of Boston and announced Boston Public Schools would be closed Wednesday.
Many other school districts planned to close, as well.
Unlike the last two major storms which saw light, fluffy snow, the storm that will move into Massachusetts starting Tuesday night will feature heavy, wet snow that will bring hazardous travel for much of Wednesday, forecasters said.
Up to a foot or more of heavy, wet snow could fall in much of Massachusetts, though sleet and freezing rain could hold accumulations down south of Boston and on Cape Cod.
However, computer models are beginning to differ on the amount of snow from the storm. Here are two computer models
Snow, with some mixing of rain/freezing rain in the southeast part of the state, will continue throughout the day, leading the National Weather Service to issue a winter storm warning for the entire state, beginning Tuesday night.
Snow is expected to begin falling in western Massachusetts after midnight. The entire state should see snow falling by the Wednesday morning commute, with the heaviest snow falling from the morning to early afternoon.
"This storm may have a major impact on the Wednesday morning commute," the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said. "Visibility will be low (1/2 mile or less) and 2 to 4 inches of snow are forecast to have already fallen by early morning Wednesday."
"Heavy snow will continue to fall through the commute, with rates of up to 1 inch per hour possible," MEMA said in a statement.
There should be a widespread snowfall of 8 to 10 inches of heavy, wet snow with some parts of western and central Massachusetts likely to see 10 to 14 inches.
For southeastern Massachusetts, 4 to 8 inches were forecast with lesser amounts on the Cape. A change to all rain is possible over the outer Cape and Islands.
The snow should end by Wednesday evening, but after a three day lull the region may see an even bigger storm. A classic nor'easter is forecast for Sunday, though the timing and type of precipitation were uncertain. | <urn:uuid:5ed785ce-db6c-4889-9b69-3a52814bd25e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.wcvb.com/article/major-snowstorm-forecast-for-massachusetts/8195219 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281649.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00448-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949637 | 436 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Rules Guy: Is it permissible to tamp down the grass around the hole before you putt?
The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
This morning, a gentleman in our foursome made a habit of tamping down rather forcefully around the hole with his putter (always in his line of putt, naturally). When I question this “gardening,” he claimed the greenskeepers weren’t doing their job properly when they changed holes. I happen to know better, since I am one of those greenskeepers. What rule should I quote
— Bob Keifling, Seibring, Fla.
Clearly, you are the gentleman since you chose to take the high route rather than tamp forcefully around this clod’s noggin!
Next time, let the rules do that for you. Players may repair “damage” to the putting green, which includes the hole and the area around it, even if doing so improves the line of play. But (!) normal maintenance practices, natural wear and natural surface imperfections are not damage as defined by Rule 13.1c(2) and may not be repaired.
If his tamping alters the ground and improves a condition affecting the stroke, such as line of play, then Rule 8.1a applies, and he gets the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play. Now who’s not doing his job properly?
For more green-maintenance guidance from our guru, read on …
So I was recently playing with a buddy of mine at a heavily treed course in West Virginia. When we got to the first green, he pulled a very small electric leaf blower from his cart and proceeded to carefully clear leaves, grains of sand, dead insects and anything else along his putting line. The rest of us obviously questioned this practice; he was adamant that it was within the rules. But if it was an allowable practice, Tour players would surely do it, wouldn’t they?
— Joseph D. Shuffleton, Sterling, Va.
Tour pros and caddies, look away! Okay, loyal readers, now that it’s just us, Rules Guy informs you that, under Rule 15.1a, loose impediments may be removed by any means. Which is to say, a leaf blower is a permissible way to remove loose impediments.
And just so you all know, I recently returned from the Patent and Trademark Office, where I secured exclusive rights to the “Line of Putt Loose Impediment Leaf Sweeper®.” Thoughts?
Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate Golf Logix.
Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to [email protected]. We promise he won’t throw the book at you. | <urn:uuid:fc0f46b5-1e2d-442b-bf0d-4f60d71782ca> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://golf.com/instruction/rules/rules-guy-permissible-tamp-down-grass-around-hole-before-you-putt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573104.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817183340-20220817213340-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.959472 | 645 | 1.53125 | 2 |
It’s really not that hard to write a science news story, I promise. Some new scientific results come out, you talk to a scientist on the phone and ask them what they did, then you ask a few other people who know about the research if the results made sense. It’s a lot like, well, any other reporting.
But there’s just something about science news that makes people really, really bad at covering it. Reporters blow single papers out of proportion, publish their own assumptions that the research doesn’t actually support, or plop a super-speculative headline on top of preliminary results. Then there’s the hype cycle, where writers might opt to cover overblown, one-sided university press releases instead of the actual science.
2017 rewarded us with some amazing scientific discoveries, but also some really awful coverage of basic science. Some of this came from tabloid publications you’d expect to fearmonger or pander to conspiracy theorists. But other bad reporting appeared in otherwise respectable and conscientious publications. Here are the worst offenders, with apologies.
A pretend planet doesn’t strike Earth
Image: Screenshots/Ryan F. Mandelbaum
Conspiracy and end-of-the-world theories are the bread and butter of some journalists at red-top tabloids in the United Kingdom. But some of these articles made it to the top of Google News’ science section, causing one conspiracy theory to spread far beyond entertainment: Nibiru.
Nibiru is a planet, or, er, maybe an entire solar system, that conspiracy theorists claim would have struck Earth in September, or October, or November, or December (the date changes) and bring armageddon. It’s not true of course, but recent legitimate speculation about a possible ninth planet, combined with the fact that many bad things really are happening on Earth, may have increased people’s concern.
Image. NASA/JPL-Caltech Holy shit, stop, please stop. When a crazy person says something crazy in real life, we ignore them. But for some reason on the internet we decide that every crazy person is worth listening to, news outlets with large audiences write about their fever dreams, and less crazy people suddenly get concerned because now every news outlet is the National Enquirer spewing hot garbage about some made-up astronomy bolstered by someone's ridiculous fake religious enlightenment.Read more
The theory has been around for decades, but the 2017 resurgence led to the publication of debunkers on general media sites like The Washington Post. Fox News (of course) wrote an especially bad Nibiru deep dive. None of these stories were factually inaccurate, per se, since they usually relied heavily on quotes from conspiracy theorists. Yes, it is true that the conspiracy theorist said that the world is ending. But often times, these stories included only one sentence from scientists saying that there’s very clearly no Nibiru threat.
Scientists make a model of Antarctic rock
Some of the year’s worst-reported stories were just plain wrong. News outlets reported last month that a “mantle plume” (or in one case, a monster) was brewing beneath Antarctica, “as hot as Yellowstone.” That was not really the case.
Rather than find a mantle plume, scientists built models of what might have happened if there really was a section of heated rock beneath Antarctica. They found that their model could establish some interesting facts about Antarctica, such as how it would melt the ice or affect the behaviour of the continent’s under-ice rivers.
Three decades ago, scientists began to study the possibility that there was a plume of hot rock coming up from the mantle, heating parts of Western Antarctica. Back in September, researchers published results of a model showing how such a plume might affect the Antarctic ice sheet.Read more
But scientists are still trying to establish proof of the plume’s existence — they need to do more observations. And even if it were there, it would have been there for tens of millions of years. The research was valuable in its own right, but certainly not a major discovery like the headlines made it seem. When I sent the scientists my debunker, NASA senior research scientist Erik Ivins replied: “Good. A little sanity to the issue.”
One guy gets sick from sushi
Image: Ryan F. Mandelbaum
When someone gets sick after eating a food you love, it can be upsetting. But it shouldn’t stop you from eating it. Such is the case with a recent man getting sick from sushi.
What happened, you ask? The British Medical Journal reported a creepy-sounding case study where a man in Portugal contracted the Anisakis parasite from eating sushi. The pictures were shocking. I do not want parasites in my stomach.
This shouldn’t have become a vendetta against sushi, though. Many of the stories warn that more might contract the parasite as sushi consumption increases in the West, but there was no science to support that statement. The only evidence provided by the paper itself was 27 cases of the disease that actually originated from a European cuisine: raw anchovies. And, as we wrote, only 1% of New York City’s food poisoning reports come from sushi.
Media outlets claim the universe shouldn’t exist
Here’s thing about our universe: It already exists. It should exist, because it does exist. Why it exists, we have no idea. But back in October, a bunch of people claimed that scientists claimed the universe shouldn’t exist, which is not what really happened.
A week before this news came out, scientists made a pretty incredible and super-precise measurement of a property of the antiproton — the antimatter opposite of the proton, with the same mass, but opposite charge. The measurement of the antiproton was so exact that it was even more precise than the same value for the proton itself, which is pretty incredible if you think about it.
If physics were complete as-is, the Universe wouldn't exist. All particles would have found their antiparticle pairs and annihilated into a burst of energy. Matter and antimatter look like exact mirror images of one another, after all. There's no difference between a particle and its antiparticle partner aside from having the reverse value of some of their intrinsic properties -- they're like mirror images.Read more
A week later, a press release came out with the quote that “the universe should not actually exist.” Some outlets ran with that headline:
It’s true that researchers don’t know why there’s so much more matter than antimatter. But that’s old news. Also Physics Today wrote a story in which they said that basically everyone got the story wrong except for Gizmodo, which felt pretty good.
Cheese good, coconut oil bad – or something
Image: Srinayan Puppala/Flickr
Nutrition studies are really hard to conduct objectively. At present, subjects usually just go about their lives and then scientists ask them structured questionnaires about what they have eaten. If they see any weird statistical oddities — places where it looks like a food caused something with an effect stronger than chance would — they report it. If they see a place where something they thought was unhealthy doesn’t make you sick, they also report it.
It’s really easy to turn these single results into news stories claiming that cheese is good for you, coffee will save your life, Nutella will give you cancer, or pretty much anything. But the truth is always far more nuanced. Take a recent study on cheese, which media outlets eagerly reported as claiming that cheese wouldn’t cause heart attacks or strokes.
Maybe that’s true, but maybe it’s not. The study was a meta analysis, or an examination of many past studies’ data pooled together, which is usually a good way to avoid being misled by a single outlier result. But many of the researchers received funding from the dairy industry, a fact that news outlets often left out. This is something crucial for a reader to know when weighing evidence. A newer meta analysis has found slight evidence that cheese could have some cardiovascular benefit, but this study hasn’t gotten nearly the same traction as the first.
Then there’s coconut oil. It’s fun to hate on popular health fads, so news outlets jumped all over an American Heart Association study on it. Essentially, the meta analysis showed that it can be beneficial to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats to decrease heart disease risk. It included only a few studies on coconut oil in particular. However, coconut oil is a saturated fat, so they lumped it in with the rest. They did not link coconut oil to more cases of heart disease.
Some reporters went wild, excitedly claiming that coconut oil was as bad as beef fat or butter, whatever that means. That’s not really what the science says, though. If you want some coconut oil for your pie crust, that’s fine. Just don’t go eating the stuff like vanilla pudding.
Climate reporting still hard
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Climate change is real. Human actions are in part to blame. A lot of people write about it. A lot of people are mad about it. Some people don’t believe it’s happening, a group that presumably includes the president of the United States. But the reporting is often bad, wherever you look.
A study from May found a correlation that suggested climate change could account for three additional sleepless nights per hundred people per month, and lots of folks ran with it. But this study was based on a model, correlating data from two sets.
You should know that models are never 100% correct. You should also know that correlation does not imply that one thing immediately led to another. But the real problem? This kind of hyped-up story could distract folks from the more serious, more obvious effects of climate change.
But then another paper (again, a model) published in September found that the outlook might not be so bleak – we might be able to emit more carbon before increasing the planet’s temperatures to 1.5 degreed Celsius.
The science news media has a pretty simple job. Find facts, and report them. Typically, this entails reading a scientific study, talking to the study's authors and outside experts, writing, and fact-checking the confusing bits with experts again. But sometimes, the narrative the media wants isn't actually supported by the study, or the experts. Such is the case with a new paper on climate change.Read more
Places like Breitbart and the Daily Mail immediately claimed that climate scientists themselves were saying there is less reason to fear global warming. That is untrue — again, a new model came out. In this case, some scientists disagreed with it. And the scientists behind the research themselves tried to discredit the bad media reports, releasing a statement reaffirming that they felt we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientist completes head transplant on a corpse
By now, you’ve probably heard of Sergio Canavero, the Italian doctor who plans to perform a human head transplant. If you read The Telegraph, you’d believe he already did. But the fine print was that the surgery was actually carried out on a corpse.
Many are watching Canavero closely. He’s already claimed to transplant rat and monkey heads with varying degrees of success. In the case of the rats, he didn’t say whether or not he fully severed the spinal cords. Canavero hasn’t been publishing nearly as much as one might expect for a scientist carrying out such a risky procedure. We’ll wait and see before getting as excited over swapping the heads of dead bodies.
News reports claim that “breatharians” survive on air alone
From our prior coverage:
I’m not wasting my time debunking this shit.
I have nothing else to add except that, well, the fact that any person decided to write this story at all is a travesty. | <urn:uuid:0b962a62-5917-4c89-9aba-b9df9d4cf50b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/12/the-worst-reported-science-stories-of-2017/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571584.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812045352-20220812075352-00675.warc.gz | en | 0.959823 | 2,537 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Experts are of the opinion that when it comes to the health of women, complaints change over the decades. The worries that we face with respect to our health being women at 25 years is very different as compared to the concerns at the age of 40. When women in 20s, were surveyed about their health concerns, most of them stated the following concerns:
Gynaecologists are of the opinion that protecting fertility is highly important and worthy of consideration at this age group. Reports state that nearly 11 percent of women will experience problems in their 20s, when they try to conceive. This is what the Center for Disease Control and Prevention states. However, doctors do not state infertility as a concern among the women in this age group.
Doctors further add that up to 35 years, women mostly seek their help because of injuries caused due to accidents, skin exposure and then they seek the help of doctors for bringing down alcohol and tobacco use, suicide thoughts and depression. But, this does not mean that women in their 20s should not have concern about their reproductive health. It is further added that women can do a lot of things when they are in this age group for improving their reproductive health.
One of the important methods women in this age group can follow to safeguard their fertility is to prevent STDs. They should be careful about preventing genital tract infections like Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases that can lead to scarring of the tubes and the ovaries, thereby leading to infertility in the future. It is found that Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea are the two most common causes of Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases and these infections are known to affect more than a million women each year.
Safeguarding against unwanted pregnancies:
This is also an important concern in the case of women in this age group. They should keep themselves informed about safe contraceptive methods. In addition, they should be aware of the alternative methods in the case of failure of the contraceptive methods. They can get regular checkups from their gynecologists and when the suggestions given by the health care provider is rightly followed, they can avoid unwanted pregnancies.
In the case of development of fertility conditions:
In the case of women with fertility conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, not being able to conceive is the most common and legitimate concern. For instance, PCOS is a hormonal disorder, wherein the ovaries enlarge and develop small cysts inside them, which in turn can disturb the menstrual cycle, thereby making pregnancy more difficult. When these problems are identified appropriate medical help should be obtained to enable pregnancy at the ideal age group, if a lady in this age group tries to get pregnant.
As a final word, even though reproductive health is not a concern for women in this age group, if they are not able to conceive, it is better to get medical tests before they reach their 30s. | <urn:uuid:3eb47491-9a98-4cb0-93f0-28482a9514ff> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://www.hospitalkhoj.com/womens-health/common-health-concerns-for-women-in-20s | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719041.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00169-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969396 | 583 | 2.640625 | 3 |
I am not familiar with the work of Riefenstahl, but this discussion makes me
ask the question: If Riefenstahl's abhorrent political views make it
innapropriate to defend her on artistic grounds, then why is D.H. Lawrence's
_Birth of a Nation_ canonized based on it's groundbreaking approach to film-
Being a black person, I have never felt comfortable with the near universal
reverence directed at Lawrence and his film filled with Ku Klux Klan
propaganda. I'm curious about the thoughts of others . . .
Marc [log in to unmask]
On Tue, 14 Jun 1994, David Desser wrote:
> ...More than this (since I know you don't in any way mean to
> imply this sort of thing in your wildest imagination), can "techniques" be
> separated from the cause to which they are put? More than that, as Susan
> Sontag demonstrated quite convincingly years ago, in "Fascinating Fascism,"
> Riefenstahl was obviously and clearly a fascist and a Nazi sympathizer. It
> makes no sense to defend her on purely aesthetic grounds, as if her values
> and beliefs, not to mention her contribution to the Nazi effort, were
> merely "something to get past." Has cultural relativism and "pluralism"
> allowed us to accept the Nazis as just one more value system to "get past"
> in our aesthetic sensibilities?
> David Desser,UIUC Cinema Studies
> 2109 FLB/707 S. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801 | <urn:uuid:d5a2a9d5-fec7-49e4-b574-556459a6f44c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://listserv.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9406&L=SCREEN-L&D=0&H=A&P=216758 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572581.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816211628-20220817001628-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.936889 | 387 | 1.734375 | 2 |
With most residents spending most of the summer days indoors, it is time to look at the health hazards present between the walls.
Summer in the UAE is not a time for outside leisure. In fact, anything that needs to be done outside is frantically avoided by anyone who knows better. Luckily facilities are designed to make life easy for us; we do not really need to go outside. Most of us spend most of the summer months between the air-conditioned walls of anywhere that is not outside.
True, outside temperatures exceeding 40C° cannot possibly be good to our health. Dehydration, sunburn or heat stroke are some of the hazards lurking at us from the other side of the wall. But health hazards are present within these walls too. Emirates 24/7 has listed five of these hazards.
Weak or brittle bones
It may not occur easily, but our bones need sun. Actually, our bones need Vitamin D, which can be obtained from the sun. “Most Vitamin D comes from skin exposure to sunshine. Even 15 minutes exposure to the arms or legs 2-3 times per week should provide enough natural Vitamin D for most people,” explains Dr. Chris Whately, Medical Director of Medcare Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital, Dubai.
Together with calcium, Vitamin D makes up for the prime ingredients to build strong bones, explains the orthopaedic. “The problem in the UAE is that people are often covered, and even those who do not cover up spend very little time in the sun with the result that up to 75 per cent of the population (of all nationalities) are Vitamin D deficient.”
Weak or brittle bones –a condition called osteoporosis- are the result, which can commonly lead to fractures. Vitamin D deficiency can be compromised with fortified milk and weight bearing exercise.
Light makes people happy, they say. In countries with less sunlight exposure depression has been found more profound, and exposure to artificial light is by some considered an effective anti-depression treatment. What is it we like so much about sunlight? Or what do we dislike about the lack of it?
Also here Vitamin D plays a role. “With less Vitamin D your physical health suffers. Maybe you experience minor aches, pains and fatigue,” explains says Justin Thomas, psychologist and Assistant Professor at Zayed University Abu Dhabi.
However, this does not necessarily lead to depression. But the combination of low physical activity with social withdrawal can increase the symptoms of depression, thinks Justin.
“A depressed person stays home and is physically inactive because he feels low. Psychical suffering lowers your mood further and perhaps you further withdraw from the world; the vicious cycle self -perpetuates.”
Coupled with low physical activity comes obesity, something that does not make anybody happy. Off course, physical activity does not necessarily take place outside; gyms and fitness clubs are abound and many residential buildings have a built-in gym, free of charge. But how likely are you to really visit that gym when there is a couch, TV or bed around?
Within the comfortable space of your own walls there could be numerous temptations too. The kitchen is nearby, the fridge is full; before you know it you have snuck up the sweet corner for some treats. If not, delivery service is only one phone call away. Less movement, more food.
There is nothing wrong with comfort from time to time. But being out and on the move does keep you away from the self-destructive behavior that we know so well when nobody else is there to spot it. Besides that, walking a couple of miles every day alone can lead to surprising weight loss.
Luckily not everybody is prone to this health hazard. But for a great part of the UAE population, respiratory problems are a daily challenge. In their case, the air conditioner might not be their best friend.
"It is not the air conditioner itself," explains Dr. Michael Loubser, Immunology, Asthma & Allergy specialist at Infinity Health Clinic. "It is the fact that many air conditioners are not properly maintained. Maintenance is very important, because allergens can easily be transported by this device."
Dust, mould and fungus are the main allergens that are found in many ACs and thereby find an easy gateway through to the indoors. “In the UAE 90% of the people with inhalant allergies suffer from dust mite,” says Michael. As a result people often experience their respiratory problems increased once they moved to the UAE. A clean and well-maintained AC would be the solution.
It is not scientifically proven, but there are theories that suggest increased myopia –or nearsightedness when less time is spent outside.
One theory suggests that sunlight is good for the eyes. “Exposure to sunlight increases dopamine, the chemical that in turn prevents the eye from growing. Eye growth increases myopia,” explains Saleem Moopen, ophthalmologist at DM Healthcare.
Another theory is based on the knowledge that the eye needs rest. “The eye rests when looking into a far distance,” Saleem explains. “The muscles that are present in the eye need this rest, just as the muscles in our body.”
Due to the scarce possibility of far sight in skyscraper cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, residents of these cities are suggested to face increased myopia, Saleem tells. However, the direct link in both theories is not scientifically proven at this point.
“Even though there is no harm to spend some time in the park, for example. Ideally the eye requires 10-14 hours of sunlight exposure. This is not difficult to do.” | <urn:uuid:16f21509-fce0-422b-bc70-3f1b2e71517c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.emirates247.com/lifestyle/living/staying-at-home-can-be-dangerous-for-your-health-2012-08-31-1.473525 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719273.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00066-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95731 | 1,180 | 2.828125 | 3 |
9 concepts for cleaning up space junk
From almost the first moment that man started traveling beyond Earth's atmosphere, we've been leaving behind all sorts of debris in space. Not only is it wasteful, but space junk can be dangerous as well - to satellites, to space stations, and when some of it plummets back to Earth, to human life on the ground. But there is no shortage of concepts for cleaning up the junk we've left behind in orbit, even if some of them seem far-fetched. Here's an overview of some of the ideas being proposed for cleaning up space debris.
1. Giant Lasers
Using high-powered pulsed lasers based on Earth to create plasma jets on space debris could cause them to slow down slightly and to then re-enter and either burn up in the atmosphere or fall into the oceans. "The method is called Laser Orbital Debris Removal (LODR) and it wouldn't require new technology to be developed - it would use laser technology that has been around for 15 years. It would be relatively cheap, and readily available." The biggest hitch, other than adding more litter to the oceans, is the estimated $1 million per object price tag.
2. Space Balloons
The Gossamer Orbit Lowering Device, or GOLD system, uses an ultra-thin balloon (thinner than a plastic sandwich bag), which is inflated with gas to the size of a football field and then attached to large pieces of space debris. The GOLD balloon will increase the drag of objects enough so that the space junk will enter the earth's atmosphere and burn up. If the system works, it could speed up the re-entry of some objects from a couple hundred years to just a few months.
3. Self-Destructing Janitor Satellites
EpfiNews/Video screen capture
Swiss researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology have devised a small satellite, called CleanSpace One, which could find and then grab onto space junk with jellyfish-like tentacles. The device would then plummet back towards Earth, where both the satellite and the space debris would be destroyed during the heat and friction of re-entry.
4. Wall of Water
Another idea for cleaning up space junk, from James Hollopeter of GIT Satellite, is to launch rockets full of water into space. The rockets would release their payload to create a wall of water that orbiting junk would bump into, slow down, and fall out of orbit. The Ballistic Orbital Removal System is said to be able to be put into action inexpensively, by launching water on decommissioned missiles.
5. Space Pods
Russia's space corporation, Energia, is planning to build a space pod to knock junk out of orbit and back down to earth. The pod is said to use a nuclear power core to keep it fueled for about 15 years as it orbits the earth, knocking defunct satellites out of orbit. The debris would either burn up in the atmosphere or drop into the ocean. A company representative claims that they could clean up the space around Earth in just ten years, by collecting around 600 dead satellites (all on the same geosynchronous orbit) and them sinking them into the ocean.
6. Tungsten Microdust
In theory, tons of tungsten microdust put into low earth orbit, on a trajectory opposite that of the targeted space junk, would be enough to slow smaller space debris (with dimensions under 10 cm). The slowed debris would then decay into a lower orbit, where it could be expected to fall into earth's atmosphere within a couple of decades, not the hundreds of years which the debris could remain in orbit at their current altitudes. The biggest problem with this idea is the possible health issue of tungsten entering the atmosphere - tungsten compounds have been associated with stillbirths and abnormal musculoskeletal development in some studies.
7. Space Garbage Trucks
The US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is investing in the Electrodynamic Debris Eliminator, or EDDE, a space "garbage truck" equipped with 200 giant nets which could be extended out to scoop up space garbage. The EDDE could then either fling the garbage back to Earth to land in the oceans, or push the objects into a closer orbit, which would keep them out of the way of current satellites until they decay and fall back to Earth.
8. Recycling Satellites
Instead of just trashing space debris, some dead satellites could be "mined" by other satellites for useable components. DARPA's Phoenix program could create new technology to enable harvesting of some valuable components from satellites in so-called "graveyard" orbits. The program would work to devise nanosatellites that would be cheaper to launch, and that could essentially complete their own construction by latching onto an existing satellite in the graveyard orbit and using the parts it needs.
9. Sticky Booms
Altius Space Machines is currently developing a robotic arm system it calls a "sticky boom", which can extend up to 100 meters, and uses electroadhesion to induce electrostatic charges onto any material (metal, plastics, glass, even asteroids) it comes into contact with, and then clamp onto the object because of the difference in charges. The sticky boom can attach to any space object, even if it was not designed to be grappled by a robotic arm. The sticky boom could be used to latch onto space debris for disposal.
These space junk cleanup concepts could potentially help to clear some of the debris which is currently littering the area around Earth, but many of them still have one major drawback - they tend to focus on getting the junk to come back to Earth to land in our oceans, which have enough problems without the added debris. We're still waiting for a decent solution to space junk that not only cleans up the debris, but which also disposes of it in a mindful and environmentally friendly way. | <urn:uuid:09bff00c-6221-4e7c-9bf6-922c1b7f441a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/9-concepts-cleaning-space-junk.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280310.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00181-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941426 | 1,219 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Use already existing templates for a new project planning. A planning template includes milestones, activities and summary activities.
For more information on how to create a planning template, see Save a planning template.
Open an existing project or create a new one.
For more information on how to create a project, see Create a project.
- In the project, on the Start tab, in the Sections group, click Planning.
- On the Planning page, on the Templates tab, in the Action group, click Import Templates.
In the Import template dialog box click Browse to load a template from your local data.
InLoox PM Web App supports the following file types as .mmp, .mpx, .inlooxplanning.
You can also select the saved templates in the InLoox PM Templates group from the gallery view.
For more information on how to create a project, see Save a planning template.
If you have chosen an already saved template, the Load Template dialog box will be displayed:
- Choose between Automatic and Manual calculationto define the working times of the related work packages.
Automatic calculation when using automatic calculation, all existing constraints will be replaced by a “Start as soon as possible” constraint. The activities and milestones are allocated in accordance with the planned start date from the planning settings (under “Direction”), independently of the project start date on the management page.
If backwards planning is being use, all existing constraints will be replaced by a “Finish as late as possible” constraint. The activities and milestones are allocated in accordance with the planning end date from the planning settings (under “Direction”), independently of the project end date on the management page.
- Manual calculation manual calculation takes the start date as the basis for the first element in the planning. All subsequent elements will reflect the structure of the template. In order to do this, all constraints in activities and milestones will be removed and replaced with a “Start On” constraint. The automatic planning functions are not used.
- Define the Start date as well as Work times for the planning elements if you have chosen the manual calculation.
- Select the Load resource data check box to load the resource information of a planning.
- Deactivate the Remove completion data check box, if you don't want to see progress information and resources in your planning.
- Click OK.
- The start date determines the date for the first (earliest) activity or milestone from the selected template. InLoox PM places the other items according to this time.
- You can load more than one template to the same planning. The multiple loading of the same template is also possible. | <urn:uuid:3f56a526-b597-4925-ab40-85de0836dab6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.inloox.it/supporto/documentazione/centro-d-aiuto-online/inloox-web-app/7-0/all-support-topics-for-inloox-pm-7-web-app/planning-features/planning-templates/import-a-planning-template/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00276.warc.gz | en | 0.825142 | 571 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Introduction-What exactly is Vibrational Energy?
People are a sphere of pulsating energy. Your body is made of energy-producing particles that are constantly moving. As a result, you, like everything else in the cosmos, are vibrating and producing energy. Vibrational healthcare, often known as energy medicine, is a branch of medicine that deals with vibrations.
Trusted Source aims to improve your health by using the vibrational energy created by and around your body. The notion of energy fields in the body may sound more spiritual than therapeutic to many individuals.
Additional study is needed to learn how electrical and magnetic energies activate chemical processes in the body. However, there’s mounting evidence that these energies may be used to improve your health. Vibrations have a beat to them. Seasonal variations and tidal cycles are examples of large-scale rhythms. They can also occur within your own body.
Physiological rhythms that humans can see, feel, and measure include heartbeats, respiration rates, and circadian rhythms. However, there are several minor vibrations in the body as well. Molecules vibrate at different speeds inside each of your cells. Researches have demonstrated vibrations on the nanoscale, which are far smaller than 1/1000th the width of a single human hair, using atomic force microscopes.
Electromagnetic waves are produced by these oscillations. Vibrations and the electrical radiation linked with them produce changes in your cells, which can affect how your body operates, according to researchers. Various particles vibrate at varying speeds, which can alter as the environment changes. The frequency of a particle’s motion can be influenced by temperature, for instance.
A low vibrational lifestyle is not the same as having a low vibration throughout your life.
Your energy resonance is indeed the manner you ‘echo’ to the World; it is your vibration. This can change at any time and on a daily basis. Imagine a moment while you were having a wonderful time with your friends, laughing and joking, and then the phone rings, and you get bad news, and your good mood evaporates in an instant. Your vibration is getting lower at that point in time.
Furthermore, there really is nothing improper with this. Interacting with the outer world in the present moment is living; it is feeling all of who we are, and as humans, we are a considerable deal of fear, sorrow, wrath, resentment, guilt, envy, anxiety, stress, and need, to name a few low-frequency emotions. These tiny vibrations have the potential to cause health discomfort.
- Feeling constricted in the chest and/or diaphragm.
- Breathing too quickly.
- You’ve discovered that your hands are trembling.
- Having intestinal issues.
- Experiencing a sense of weight in my body.
- Experiencing physical discomfort.
- Feeling sick to your stomach.
- The sensation of having a dry mouth.
Many health ailments might worsen, leading to other chronic illnesses that severely limit your life. To mention a few, persistent migraines, auto-immune illnesses, depression, chronic exhaustion, and panic attacks.
During encountering these sensations and feelings, your answers to issues in your life will be from a low vibrational position, which will frequently be unhelpful or lack ‘larger picture’ perspectives.
The law of vibration may be used to your advantage if you follow these steps:
Even when we’re struggling with strong emotions, the law of vibration may help us recognize them and get them out so that we can all ensure a higher frequency.
· To help you get through difficult times.
As per Richardson, utilizing this universal law can assist you in determining how you feel in any particular event or scenario. It’s simpler to identify when you’re in the company of high vibes after you’ve figured out what seems high vibratory to you—attitudes, locations, and people that feel connected, healthy, and exciting.
· In order to manifest
We should first match the vibration of what we’re seeking in order to create and develop it. As Kaiser says, you will only draw energy that is compatible with your own. You would only absorb vibes that are similar to your own.
Let’s suppose you want to materialize more riches, but you’re always thinking about how much money you need. Understand that your ideas have vibrational energy as well; for example, the thought “I need more money” has a vibration of scarcity, which might lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. “By guiding our own ideas, we have the capacity to determine the pattern of our existence,” Kaiser says.
· To deal with emotions
Resonant frequencies may also be found in emotional responses, and using this guideline will help you navigate them. “Emotions are strong guides that may help us move into some kind of better, more balanced state of being,” Kaiser adds, noting that emotions range from extremely low-frequency fear, shame, and so on to extremely high-frequency love, joy, and so on.
“There are no bad sentiments,” she explains, “it’s just energy that wants to move forward.” “We are simply releasing energy that wants to pass through each other when we are worried or disturbed.”
What are some of the advantages of vibratory energy?
A rising collection of evidence demonstrates that your mind and your body are inextricably linked. The role of vibrational energy in the interaction between the two is yet unknown. Proponents believe you may be able to adjust the vibrations of your body to: modify your attitude, enhance your physical health, and assist you in achieving your objectives and aims
According to vibrational energy specialists, some emotions and thinking patterns, such as joy, serenity, and acceptance, produce high-frequency vibrations, whilst others (such as rage, despair, and fear) produce lower frequency vibrations.
There may not be a lot of scientific data to back up this claim. Positive emotions and thought patterns, on the other hand, have been linked to improved health and goal success in several studies. Scientists at Research Published have discovered that a variety of vibrations, including electromagnetic, sound, and light, may be used to promote healing and growth in the body.
The end results.
Everything seems to be energy, according to the law of vibration, and that we can complement the energy of anything we want to produce. This global law, together with the other 11 universal laws, can assist us in living a more aligned and rich life. | <urn:uuid:9e2fc249-5c2e-43a6-ac20-28317613ebd4> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://369manifestation.com/low-vibrational-people/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808213349-20220809003349-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.942821 | 1,385 | 2.84375 | 3 |
What are the different types of weaving?
What are some of the most common weaves?
- Plain Weave. Plain weave is the simplest weave. …
- Basket Weave. A basketweave fabric is an alternative form of the plain weave. …
- Twill Weave. Twill weave is among the most commonly used weaves in textile processing. …
- Satin Weave.
What are the famous weaves of India?
Karnataka. Karnataka is the home of mulberry silk. The Mysore silk sarees with pure zari borders are famous among Indian women. The printed silk sarees with Kasuti embroidery and Belgaum sarees are among other famous varieties.
What are four different types of weaves?
Black women have many different textures of hair; luckily there’s a variety of different textures and types of weave that can suit just about any texture. The most sought after types of weave are Brazilian, Peruvian, Indian, Malaysian and Eurasian hair.
What are the three ways by which weaving is done in India?
the three ways by which weaving is done in India are knitting, felting and braiding.
What are the 5 different types of textiles?
Enter your search terms: Textiles are classified according to their component fibers into silk, wool, linen, cotton, such synthetic fibers as rayon, nylon, and polyesters, and some inorganic fibers, such as cloth of gold, glass fiber, and asbestos cloth.
Where is Indian handloom famous?
Surat: This city in the state of Gujarat is one of the greatest textile industries in India. It is famous for its handloom and diamond market. It is also known as the Textile City of Gujarat. The skills performed here includes production of yarn, weaving, processing and embroidery.
Who invented handloom in India?
Indian floral prints, dating back to the 18th century A.D were discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in the icy waters of Central Asia. The evidence shows that of all the arts and crafts of India, traditional handloom textiles are probably the oldest.
Which basic weave is wrinkles the most?
Complex Weaves are more Wrinkle-Resistant
More pronounced weaves like royal oxfords, imperial twills, and jacquards will tend to wrinkle less, whereas broadcloth (or poplin) and plain weave fabrics with a very smooth, flat appearance will tend to wrinkle more.
What does weaves mean in English?
1a : to form (cloth) by interlacing strands (as of yarn) specifically : to make (cloth) on a loom by interlacing warp and filling threads. b : to interlace (threads) into cloth. c : to make (something, such as a basket) by intertwining. 2 : spin sense 2 —used of spiders and insects. | <urn:uuid:83235d7e-5f23-4b15-88d9-21e1e57c8403> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://melgeecrafts.com/needlework/what-are-the-different-styles-of-weaving-in-india.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572089.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814234405-20220815024405-00072.warc.gz | en | 0.95311 | 610 | 3 | 3 |
Among veterinarians, prudent antibiotic use is of great concern. It turns out that we have plenty in common on this issue with medical doctors.
I’m a cattle vet from Missouri. At a recent party in northern California, I spoke with a progressive-minded physician who specializes in hematology and internal medicine. Her first question to me was, “Do you have a strong feeling about FDA Guidance 213?”
Guidance 213 dictates judicious antimicrobial use in food-producing animals by extending veterinary oversight and eliminating the sub-therapeutic use of medically important antibiotics in animal agriculture.
Naturally, my first thought was that she was setting me up to give her own opinion on the subject. The guidance has been widely criticized for “not doing enough.” It turned out she really wanted to know my professional thoughts. I figured that if I had someone who was truly willing to listen, I owed her my honest opinion.
I explained that I looked at the guidance as a positive step. Veterinarians need to be involved and accountable for all antibiotics used in beef cattle production. In my opinion, more oversight is the right thing to do. I shared situations where antibiotic resistance issues were real, and how I responded as a veterinarian – like during an outbreak of enteric disease in newborn calves when the traditional antibiotic culture and diagnostic information failed to lead to long-term solutions. This particular situation highlighted the soberness of the outbreak at hand.
We also discussed examples of appropriate use and oversight, and cases where changes in management and preventive medicine programs successfully reduced the need for therapy. I explained to her that veterinarians are trained not only to deal with the strict medical side of disease problems but also to investigate how the environment and production systems interact with disease processes.
Often, the long-term solutions we implement preempt the need for antibiotic use in the first place. She was interested to hear, for instance, how changing pasture management strategies built immunity and lowered exposure, drastically reducing the need for antibiotics to near zero. As a result, when antibiotics are needed, they are much more effective.
A good conversation
We had a good conversation about our respective levels of education, and how we both monitor antibiotic resistance and sensitivity as part of our professional activity.
I think I surprised her, and myself, about how much common ground we had on this issue.
She took the time to listen and learn, and she admitted that she had a misconception or two. I listened to her take on the issue. Her perspective is that humans and animals are part of the same biome, and it is important to elevate the position and responsibility of the veterinarian to ensure human safety. She was adamant about trained veterinary medical professionals playing the critical oversight role because of the importance of antibiotic use in food-producing animals.
Go figure. We were in agreement.
From this conversation, I learned that people outside the veterinary industry have more of a vested interest in how we conduct our business than I initially thought. If there are misconceptions about our industry, it might be our own fault.
I encourage all livestock veterinarians to get involved in this conversation and be more vocal about the important role we play in food-animal medicine. We can’t be having these conversations in a vacuum. By extending the discussion around antimicrobial concerns to the greater medical community, we can better work together to capitalize on our respective industry strengths to overcome the challenges of the future.
John Groves DVM, Eldon, MO, has been in private practice for 17 years, focusing on large, progressive registered and commercial herds with emphasis in production efficiency optimization in all phases of management. Groves also works with backgrounding operations that range from short-term starting operations to grazing and retained ownership programs.
You Might Also Like: | <urn:uuid:a0d62b90-f0c1-4215-a77e-e50060255b0b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.beefmagazine.com/health/what-happens-when-dvm-md-talk-antibiotics?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00170-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96141 | 772 | 2.4375 | 2 |
an impetuous or short-tempered person.
an excitable or fiery person
“short-tempered person,” 1650s, from hot in the figurative sense + head (n.); Johnson’s dictionary also lists hotmouthed “headstrong, ungovernable;” Elizabethan English had hot-brain “hothead” (c.1600); and Old English had hatheort “anger, rage,” literally “hot heart.”
[hot-hed-id] /ˈhɒtˈhɛd ɪd/ adjective 1. or fiery in spirit or temper; impetuous; rash: Hotheaded people shouldn’t drive cars. 2. easily angered; quick to take offense.
[hot-hed-id] /ˈhɒtˈhɛd ɪd/ adjective 1. or fiery in spirit or temper; impetuous; rash: Hotheaded people shouldn’t drive cars. 2. easily angered; quick to take offense. adjective 1. impetuous, rash, or hot-tempered
[hot-hous] /ˈhɒtˌhaʊs/ noun, plural hothouses [hot-hou-ziz] /ˈhɒtˌhaʊ zɪz/ (Show IPA) 1. an artificially heated greenhouse for the cultivation of tender plants. adjective 2. of, relating to, or noting a plant grown in a hothouse, or so fragile as to be capable of being grown only in a hothouse. 3. overprotected, artificial, or unnaturally delicate. /ˈhɒtˌhaʊs/ […]
noun 1. a lamb born in the fall or early winter, usually reared indoors, specially fed, and marketed when from 9 to 16 weeks of age. | <urn:uuid:63134961-d8bd-445e-8341-4841fbd27fc0> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://definithing.com/define-dictionary/hothead/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279915.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00279-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.840626 | 406 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Surface Finishing:Natural split
Stone Name:Black slate tiles
Slate flooring is used for exterior flooring, interior flooring and exterior walls. Slate flooring is usually laid in outdoor corridors, basements and kitchens. The indoor slate floor is durable, versatile and beautiful in appearance.
Slate tile is often used in various residential and commercial environmental beautification projects due to resistance to weather and pollution. It is often used to pave paths and decorate the surrounding pools, including exterior walls and even courtyards. Slate stone can also be used as a fountain, combining traditional and modern styles.
Indoor slate floor can be polished slate or natural style and color. The color is very rich, mainly composed of composite gray, such as gray-yellow, gray-red, gray-black, gray-white, etc.
Black slate floor tiles
Customized sizes are available
|Stone shape||Cut to size|
|Surface processing||Natural split|
|Package||Strong export wood crate|
|Qty||Depends on your requirement|
|Supply Ability||10000 m2 per/Month|
|Delivery Time||it depends on the order quantity
For regular customers, we offer incredible discounts, sample free shipping, free sample for custom design, custom packaging, and QC as per custom requirements.
We accept customized design
|Payment terms||T/T,30% deposit,70% balance against B/L COPY|
Q:Can the slate tiles customized as our need, such as put on our logo?
A:Put on your logo is also available.
Q:About the after-sale service, how can you solve the problems occurred of your overseas customer in time?
A:Quantity discrepancy, in case of any quality discrepancy, claim should be field by the Buyer within 30 days after the arrival of the goods at port of destination;Otherwise means all is acceptable;
Q:Is your price competitive?
A: Only good quality slate roof we supply. Surely we will give you best factory price based on superior product and service. | <urn:uuid:4cf09e26-6da2-4226-83e0-01a977af9789> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.xmperfectstone.com/product/black-slate-floor-tiles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570977.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809124724-20220809154724-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.900933 | 515 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The Scottish system provides a route to attainment, writes Mike Russell
Every parent has high ambitions for their child. Attainment – in its broadest sense – is about having these ambitions realised. Within the context of Curriculum for Excellence; Scottish education’s big idea – we need to drive up attainment for every child, and improve life chances for all our children and young people. For high, rich attainment recognises and affirms achievement, builds a child’s confidence and opens up future opportunities. It also makes a confident, successful country.
At present, Scotland’s education system provides a solid platform for realising future ambitions, with raising attainment already an integral part of a teacher’s daily work. As a result our educational performance is improving. In 2009/10, 50 per cent of pupils left school with at least one qualification at higher or above, while fewer than at any point in the past left with no qualifications. Last year’s exam results also show an increase in the number of pupils achieving three or more highers. We’re heading in the right direction but we need to make even greater progress on the journey.
I want the best for Scotland’s children and young people. With this in mind, I have been working with a group of head teachers, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and Education Scotland to consider how we keep raising attainment and improving life chances, and we have developed a range of advice to assist teachers.
This week I have sent this advice to every teacher in Scotland to support them and to start a wider discussion. I hope it will also, at this crucial time, help inform teachers’ personal improvement plans.
Raising attainment is deeply embedded in Curriculum for Excellence, transforming the way in which children learn and develop the skills (and experience) required for successful futures. And I should stress it’s not just about achieving better exam results – hugely important as that is. It also encompasses the variety of ways in which young people develop the knowledge and understanding required for life and work in the 21st century.
Increasing standards through excellent teaching and learning is central to Curriculum for Excellence. Using the new curriculum’s greater flexibility we can improve motivation and rich attainment in our young people.
The work with educational professionals on this project has identified core principles based on teachers’ experience and recognisable to us all. These include increasing a child’s ambition; wider engagement with families to support pupils; a focus on literacy and numeracy and the need to develop effective leadership at every level of the school.
My aim is to support teachers and aid ongoing professional development in every sphere. We have many successful learners being taught by many great teachers, meaning we have many strengths to build upon.
Yet Scotland’s education system is still not delivering everything that it should for all our young people. Vulnerable school leavers, such as those from disadvantaged backgrounds continue to leave school with fewer qualifications than their peers. These youngsters are also less likely to go on to further education, employment or training. It’s therefore vital that we address this link between deprivation and lower attainment and learn from those schools across Scotland who have shown it can be broken.
Again, Curriculum for Excellence will help here, enabling schools to deliver learning which offers pupils more personalisation and choice to help them thrive, regardless of background or personal circumstance. This must be enshrined from early years education, through Curriculum for Excellence and into post-16 learning if we’re to keep getting it right for all our children and young people.
I believe passionately that Scotland should be the best place for a child to grow up and flourish, and education is the key to achieving that ambition. Working together across politics we must make that happen and in so doing deliver improved life chances for all of our children and young people.
• Michael Russell is cabinet secretary for education and life-long learning. | <urn:uuid:7c045256-6085-4e07-a6b3-d06fb97b85ab> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/mike-russell-leading-young-to-a-fulfilling-future-1-2191646 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00221-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954006 | 811 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The conventional wisdom nowadays is that cryptocurrencies have moved beyond being tools of criminality. From what I see, there’s been some movement, but not much. For the moment, the gamekeepers (see the FBI ransomware case, in last month’s blog) have got close to the poachers – but, as with drug testing in sports, it’s a constant race.
The claims for the genuine legitimacy of Cryptoland are weak. You can find a few PR firms that will represent cryptocurrencies with worthy press releases about corporate tokens and new systems of value exchange. But these cryptos are typically tiny ventures where the developers are looking for a presence on social media – nothing better than Elon Musk tweeting an effusive but ambiguous “Wow!” about your token, as he did with Doge coin, the token founded as a doggy-loving joke (the linked “asset” is the love of dogs…). See the foot of this blog for the latest on this tale!
The PR agencies that represent cryptos and corporate tokens typically do so using a few mainstream media channels but mainly messaging systems such as Telegram and its heavily encoded successors. Currently favourite messaging media of choice, they’re also widely believed to be the preferred communication systems for organised criminals.
The most worrying cases are the big PR agencies that have major cryptocurrencies as clients. It’s worth reflecting on this: the client is a disembodied shared-ledger algorithm. DLT is notionally independent of human beings. So who’s doing the briefing- and why? I’ve been approached to lobby for three different cryptocurrencies. The idea is to promote them in the media, and suggest to influencers and politicians that this is a benign, cool version of our monetary future. The blindingly obvious question is: cui bono? I certainly wasn’t approached by an algorithm. What can the benefit be to the human beings involved?
Chris Blackhurst, writer, communications consultant and former editor of The Independent has had a similar experience: “I’ve been asked to lobby for Crypto and I have lobbied for Crypto – provided I am paid in old money. But I can only get so far. Why should politicians and governments give credence to a newcomer that is set up to undermine their own system and enables the avoidance of tax?
“Whenever I think of Crypto I am drawn to Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love. For a while everything was beautiful, the counter-culture was in its pomp. But then its protagonists were made to realise that all the factors that they railed against were there for a reason, and their utopia fell apart.
“Simply by making the comparison I am marking myself down in the eyes of the Bitcoin believers as old school, past it, boring, clinging to a system which fuels a privileged few and has on numerous occasions been found to be wanting.”
But for it to work, a currency must possess three vital properties: store of value; medium of exchange; and unit of accounting. Crypto has only the first. On the second and third, Crypto is not legal tender, nor can accounts be submitted to the authorities in Bitcoin. Neither is Bitcoin a large enough currency for governments to issue bonds in it – and besides, they wouldn’t undermine their own currencies. Nor can it sustain a lending market, and it can’t be used for collateral as it won’t be accepted.
Its supporters will say this is proof of the conspiracy against it, that the mainstream is inventing reasons why crypto can’t succeed. Really?
And then there are the Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Client rules that prevent money laundering. When one trades crypto, how can one be confident you’re not transacting with a drugs cartel? Given the opaqueness of the transaction, the answer must in most cases be that there is no such certainty.
As Chris Blackhurst puts it: “Of course, banks have not been great at applying AML and KYC, but something is better than nothing. You have two banks in a street. One applies all the checks and balances; the other has a sign in the window, “No AML or KYC here”. Which one will attract crooks?
“Bitcoin is hailed as a response to a traditional money system that has been discredited. It’s pure and beautiful because it lacks regulation, centralisation and control. But when it goes wrong what will be glaringly absent will be regulation, centralisation and control.”
Finally, the actions and words of two major players in Cryptoland, a founder of Ethereum (the crypto of choice for smart contracts) and Dogecoin (the “joke” crypto that’s mysteriously found support from Elon Musk, amongst others) have both resigned and mounted savage attacks on the world they’ve left.
Here’s how Crowdfundinsider reported events: “In four days, Jackson Palmer, co-founder of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, and Anthony Di Iorio, co-founder of Etheruem have decided to quit the cryptocurrency world for different reasons.
While, Iorio, the billionaire co-founder of Ethereum, announced his ouster from the company and cryptocurrency because of personal safety concerns, Dogecoin’s Palmer launched a scathing attack on the virtual currencies by calling them the ‘currency of the wealthy’.”
There’s no actual mention of organised crime and corrupt accumulation of wealth, but just read the direct quotes, as reported, and draw your own conclusions: “While, Iorio, the billionaire co-founder of Ethereum, announced his ouster from the company and cryptocurrency because of personal safety concerns, Dogecoin’s Palmer launched a scathing attack on the virtual currencies by calling them the “currency of the wealthy.”
“The 48 -year-old co-founder of Ethereum said that he would sell blockchain firm Decentral Inc, sever ties with other start-ups he’s involved with, and instead focus on philanthropy.
He further said that he would be ‘safer’ away from crypto.”
The tale continues: “Soon after Iorio’s announcement, Palmer took to micro-blogging site Twitter on Wednesday last and said, cryptocurrency is ‘an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight, and artificially enforced scarcity.’”
Despite the departures and the explosive language surrounding them, both cryptos actually rose in value in the immediate aftermath of the resignations. Moreover, there’s been relatively little movement in the markets in the longer term. It’s almost as though people knew about these factors, sleazy as they are, and had already priced them in.
As Elon Musk might say: “Wow!” | <urn:uuid:a41413b0-b548-45c4-9665-162b7378b9bb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.moneyandco.com/blog/13893/cryptoland-idealists-charlatans-somehow-create-a-dangerous-but-viable-future | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570913.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809064307-20220809094307-00066.warc.gz | en | 0.956827 | 1,462 | 1.75 | 2 |
June 13, 2014
You may be feeling philanthropic today, perhaps because of a desire to live your life with purpose. You may find yourself looking for ways to make a contribution, and you could accomplish this by exploring ways to serve those who are less fortunate. While you could easily donate time or money to worthwhile organizations, you also might want to devote more of yourself and your unique talents to community programs and charitable organizations. At the same time, you could explore ways to bring more meaning into your usual routine today by pursuing activities that inspire and fulfill you. Not only will you enjoy yourself more, but you will be devoting your time to activities that matter to you.
Engaging in meaningful activities infuses us with a sense of purpose and greater enjoyment for life. While we may be satisfied with our lives overall, we may occasionally find ourselves feeling the need for more meaningful experiences. Whether we choose to serve others or pursue activities that inspire us, our willingness to seek more joy and meaning energizes us with a sense of excitement for life. We feel more optimistic, balanced, and fulfilled by our daily activities, and we are able to engage more deeply in every experience. Our lives then become an ongoing expression of joy and vitality, and we develop a deeper sense of purpose about our place in the world. By engaging in activities that fulfill you today, you will experience meaning and purpose in every moment.
This article is printed from DailyOM - Inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day.
Register for free at dailyom.com | <urn:uuid:ed7e716f-be28-4599-9f28-6ff4aa0559e7> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/display/printerfriendly.cgi?articleid=43755 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280587.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00563-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958679 | 313 | 1.65625 | 2 |
- At least 59 injured, Fars reports
- The 5.6-magnitude quake struck early in the evening near a nuclear power plant
- Iran's location atop faults leaves it prone to quakes
An earthquake shook southern Iran Thursday evening near a nuclear power plant, killing at least eight people and injuring 59 more, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
Twelve of the injured were in critical condition, Fars said, citing Hassan Qadami, the head of Iran's Crisis-Management Headquarters.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.6-magnitude quake was centered about 39 miles (63 km) northeast of the Persian Gulf city of Bushehr, where the nuclear plant is located, and 7 miles (14 km) northeast of Borazjan.
The quake struck at a relatively shallow -- and therefore more likely to be damaging -- depth of 10.2 miles (16.4 km) at 5:21 p.m. local time. A reporter for the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency in Borazjan said residential buildings were damaged and electricity was disrupted to several areas, including sections of Borazjan.
The city is in Bushehr province, which is the site of a nuclear power plant that went online in 2011. There was no immediate report of how the plant fared in Thursday's temblor.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the casualties and expressed condolences to the victims' families.
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake in May killed 39 people and injured 850 in Bushehr province, but the reactor was not affected, it said.
Iran's semi-official Mehr News said people who were afraid of aftershocks were staying out of their homes. Rescue teams were on the scene, Mehr said, quoting the governor of Bushehr Province, Fereydoun Hassanvand.
Iran's location atop several major faults leaves it prone to earthquakes.
In August 2012, two earthquakes in northwestern Iran struck 11 minutes apart -- the first a 6.4 magnitude, and the second a 6.3 magnitude, killing at least 306 people.
In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake struck the city of Bam in southeast Iran, killing some 31,000 people.
A 1990 quake in the northwestern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan killed as many as 50,000. | <urn:uuid:40a767f1-7946-42c6-86e2-4451b3680fe6> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/28/world/meast/iran-earthquake/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00214-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965294 | 498 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The LIM series of PIN diode RF limiters from Narda Microwave, an L-3 Communications company, handles high input power levels with fast recovery times over broad bandwidths. They are ideal for air, ground, or sea-based defense applications. The LIM series includes model LIM-101 for use from 1 to 18 GHz. It has flat leakage of 100 mW with 200-ns recover time and can handle 2 W CW and 150 W peak power (with a 1-microsecond pulse at 1-percent duty cycle). The LIM-101 is designed for operating temperatures from -55 to +95 deg. C. The models LIM-201 and LIM-301 both operate from 2 to 18 GHz with flat leakage of 150 mW or less and recovery times of 100 and 200 ns, respectively. They can handle 3 W CW and 500 W peak power (with a 1-microsecond pulse at 0.1-percent duty cycle). Models LIM-201 and LIM-301 are both designed for operating temperatures from -30 to +85 deg. C. All three limiters are supplied with removable connectors for drop-in mounting. They measure 25.4 x 16.5 x 7.9 mm. The RF limiters meet military specifications for humidity, shock, vibration, temperature, and altitude. They are available as single-function devices or in integrated assemblies (IMAs) that include switches, amplifiers, attenuators, filters, and other microwave components. | <urn:uuid:dde6eb49-07bb-431a-b1c6-642a8c3b6459> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://mwrf.com/print/content/pin-limiters-reach-18-ghz | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280266.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00504-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929053 | 300 | 1.703125 | 2 |
It’s not unusual for filmmakers to put themselves into their characters. But they’re usually not squat subterranean creatures dressed in recycled cardboard.
Stop-motion animated feature “The Boxtrolls” is about a community of underground creatures who scavenge trash from the humans above to build elaborate mechanical devices.
Producer and animator Travis Knight said the nocturnal Boxtrolls were a bit like their creators.
“They are these kind of shy, timid creatures who have questionable fashion sense and deplorable personal hygiene, who work in the dark and create little marvels of invention,” Knight told a Venice Film Festival news conference. “That’s what stop-motion animators do. So we are clearly Boxtrolls.”
The film is the latest work from Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based studio behind “Coraline” and “ParaNorman.”
Jill Lawless, http://Twitter.com/JillLawless | <urn:uuid:98489632-9cc0-411f-8d67-9b263883ab5f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.sctimes.com/story/entertainment/movies/2014/09/03/boxtrolls-animator-sees-onscreen/15047673/?from=global | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284411.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00463-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922912 | 215 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Don't just talk about a bullying problem - do something about it! A McGruff® sign will reminds kids how to take a stand against bullies.
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By Mark Wilson, Director of Employer Relations & Technology
Recently, I had a great meeting with a second semester freshman about transitioning from engineering to business. This student was seeking information on what he could be doing right now to make himself more attractive to employers and get ready for the job search. He was asking all the right questions and I wish we all had the self-awareness he has to seek information early whenever take on a new challenge in life.
One of his questions was what are employers looking for in college students. There is a list of things every employer wants, and at or near the top, leadership always makes the list. For many of us, looking for leadership is interpreted as I need to be president of a student organization. However this in not the case, leadership should be interpreted as meaning involved and making a difference. That is the key to joining a student organization to help build your resume. When you join, get involved and do something. Sadly, many students join organizations and barely attend the meetings while thinking this is what being involved means. Any recruiter can read between lines of your resume and see the difference between true participation and simply showing up.
If you are going to join a student organization to build your resume, get involved and gain some leadership experience. For example, a student described to me how as freshman she took on the role of concessions chair for a fund-raising event. As chair, she organized volunteers to work the concession stand, planned a menu and shopped for food, and managed a million other details for the concession stand team. In the end, her work raised almost $2,000 for her student organization. This is a great example of leadership through involvement and will be very appealing to employers when they see it on her resume or when they hear her talk about it in her interviews. Remember, you do not have to be the president of a student organization to gain the all important leadership experience employers are seeking. Simply get involved and find a way to contribute. | <urn:uuid:9eae14ba-d094-4b0f-9050-9bbaeaf4a382> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/ug-career-mgmt/2014/01/22/student-organizations-more-than-just-going-to-meetings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282926.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00394-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982599 | 405 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Essential Oil Safety Book
A Comprehensive Resource for Essential Oil Safety for Professional, Practitioner, and Industry Reference. The Only Reference of its Kind and a Must-Have Guide for any Health Professional, or Health Product Manufacturer.
“Hands down… the best book on essential oils you can buy. Best book purchase I’ve made all year.”
– Lather and Lotions Studio
A significant amount of new knowledge has come to light since the first edition of Essential Oil Safety was published in 1995. This new, thoroughly updated edition has been extended with new coverage and elaborated with greater detail and references to provide in depth, research-based coverage of both consequential new findings and newly tested past findings.
“Your new book is saving me endless amounts of time researching! It is so comprehensive, well written, and incredibly insightful. Truly an extraordinary book!”
– Jade Shutes, The East-West School for Herbal & Aromatic Studies
Comprehensive Essential Oil Profiles
Essential Oil Safety provides a rational basis for an analysis of hazards and risks based on current scientific understanding of their biological actions. The 600 newly structured and extended Profiles (either of essential oils or constituents) provide the only comprehensive, evidence-based guidance currently in publication to safe formulations and use of an encyclopedic range of essential oils.
“Truly an incredible book!”
“An exhaustive aromatic masterpiece.”
“An exceptional contribution to the aromatherapy profession.”
“It has arrived and it is beautiful!”
Covering New Medical Interaction Ground
For the first time, the potential for interactions between essential oils and orthodox drugs is reviewed with insights into this important area of essential oil safety. With the increasing use of both conventional medications and essential oils, this provides particularly valuable insights for practitioners, health providers, spa workers and product manufacturers.
(Click to enlarge)
– Ann MacIntire Wooledge, Wingsets
Navigate the Legal Terrain
Crucial guidelines for both the EU and the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) relating to maximum doses and restrictions are discussed, critiqued, and revised where needed to bring them up to date.
Highlights of the New Edition
• A total of 400 essential oil profiles (305 new profiles include Clary Sage, Lavender, Rose, and Tea Tree).
• A total of 206 constituent profiles, including 79 new ones.
• Five new chapters exploring essential oil safety for particular human systems in detail:
The Respiratory System (Chapter #6)
The Cardiovascular System (Chapter #7)
The Urinary System (Chapter #8)
The Digestive System (Chapter #9)
The Nervous System (Chapter #10)
• New information and review of essential oil / drug interactions.
• Over 4000 references!
• A compendium of evidence-based working knowledge for safe essential oil use and applications.
-Suzy Wollam, The Scenter of Town
About the Authors
Internationally recognized for his pioneering work in many aspects of aromatherapy, Robert Tisserand is one of only two recipients of the Alliance of International Aromatherapists Lifetime Achievement Award. Starting as an aromatherapist in 1969, he founded the first UK aromatherapy products company in 1974, and a few years later in 1977 released the first book in English on the subject: The Art of Aromatherapy.
Robert founded, and for 12 years was the publisher and editor of, The International Journal of Aromatherapy and in the 1990s he orchestrated three international AROMA conferences at British Universities.
Today Robert lives in the United States where he continues to follow his passion for aromatherapy through writing, online education, and working as an independent industry expert. He sits on the advisory board of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice and continues to inspire live audiences in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Follow his blog at http://roberttisserand.com/blog/
Originally trained as a chemist, Rodney obtained a BSc from the University of London in 1965 and a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Essex in 1968. He worked for many years in the pharmaceutical industry as a research chemist, focusing on modulators of histamine, serotonin and inositol phosphates. Rodney has published widely in the scientific literature, and has taught at University College, London, Oxford Brookes University, Edinburgh Napier University, and the University of East London. He has a longstanding interest in the medicinal properties of plant natural products, and serves on the editorial boards of professional journals promoting evidence-based botanical medicine. | <urn:uuid:47901355-7b19-4f84-a0d7-6f65b57bfda2> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://roberttisserand.com/essential-oil-safety-2nd-edition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719453.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00229-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911246 | 968 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Recently a case was reported by 9to5Mac wherein a cyclist suffered third degree burns to his leg due to his iPhone 6 catching fire. The news of spontaneously fire-catching phone batteries is not anything new, covered extensively before along with some horrendous photos of burned victims. Yet, the air is not clear and we will try to explain the actual scientific phenomenon that leads to the explosions minus any of those photos that might make you nauseous.
The core battery tech in smartphone has not seen any groundbreaking advancement in the last two decades but everything around it has progressed leaps & bounds. From battery management, charging methods to even the cables with built-in ICs, we are feeding power to our batteries in most sophisticated way today.
So it begs the question, why can’t we keep these damn batteries from engulfing themselves and anything in the vicinity in smoke and flames? Well to answer that question we need to dive into high school science, not neck-deep but waist-high.
Lithium Ion Batteries are ‘Tight’
Structure of Li-ion battery plays an very important role in understanding why Lithium-ion batteries come with so many warnings. As shown in the below image, Anode & Cathode, the two basic components of the battery are in form of sheets. A porous ‘Separator’ sheet is present between the two to prevent short circuit. This whole combination of Anode-Separator-Cathode is stacked several times in the few mm thickness of your average smartphone battery.
Such tight packing allows the several thousand mAh of capacity in just few mm’s of thickness, but also is an unavoidable recipe for disaster as we will soon see.
The Bane: Thermal Runaway
In any battery, if anode and cathode come in direct contact with each other, a short circuit occurs. This is bad for the battery as it increases the internal temperature of the battery. And in case of Li-ion batteries, it is worse as this starts a cycle of self discharging, further increasing the temperature. This is called ‘Thermal Runaway’. And this acts as a precursor to explosions.
Here, the closely packed structure of Lithium Ion batteries is its own enemy as the anode-cathode are kept apart just by a very thin separator. Also the high energy density of Li-ion batteries act as fuel for the fire, once Thermal Runaway kicks off.
The Main Reasons Why it Might Explode
These gases generated cause build up of the pressure inside the battery ultimately leading to a explosion.
Short-circuit in a battery does not occur by itself. A number of factors ranging from the manufacturing process to external factors, such as charging & working environment are responsible, which are elaborated below.
First in the list of causes that makes your battery go boom is slack in manufacturing quality and process. This is also the dominant cause which echoes the fact that cheaper batteries & phones are more susceptible to it. While manufacturing a Li-ion cell is not rocket science, still some level of QC has to be maintained as the materials involved are dangerous and unstable (Lithium).
Cheaper batteries generally employ a Separator of inferior quality, which degrades speedily, causing a short-circuit. Such batteries are also not assembled in clean environments causing deposition of particles around the terminals again leading to shorting. The external casing is also not up to the mark and is inadequate to sustain blunt forces and impacts.
Keeping your phone for charging overnight or draining it till 1%? If you do both these things, don’t worry, it will not get your phone toasted but will only effect your battery’s health over time. Li-ion batteries are peaceful in the range of 3.7 to 4.2 volts, but charging them over 5 volts or discharging them below 3.2 volts will provoke them.
All smartphones today have built in circuitry to avert the voltage going beyond the limits but again in cheaper & non-standard versions, these circuits are first to go kaput. Non-standard chargers are also equally dangerous, even more so because it involves the mains supply, which can be lethal to you as well as your battery.
iPhone Users: We have a dedicated guide to charging iPhones the right way.
If we look at the history of fried phone cases, the root cause is generally considered to be battery of the phone being non-standard or fake. But seeing as an iPhone is the culprit in the present case, we can rule that out. What looks like the probable cause is the hard impact from the fall, leading to rupture of the separator and large scale short-circuit. That’s why you are advised not to hammer your phone in fit of rage.
Finally, a little bit also should be said about heat. A perfectly fine, high-quality battery will also undergo Thermal Runaway if the external temperature remains above 60 degree Celsius for a prolonged time. So avoid placing your phone near fireplaces, room heaters or in the sun for extended time.
The following table from BatteryUniversity guides you regarding the safe temperatures.
But Why the Explosion?
Without going more into technical stuff, when, due any of the above reasons Thermal Runaway occurs, the heat inside battery increases. Furthermore, due to the inherent phenomenon of Runaway, the heat inside can reach up to 150 degree Celsius (302 F).
At this temperature the separator between the sheets melts, causing short circuit on a larger scale.
The melting separator and super heated electrolyte undergo some super complex chemical reactions producing some gases. These gases generated cause build up of the pressure inside the battery ultimately leading to a explosion. But that’s not always the result, sometimes the battery may just bulge and fail.
1. Utilize a Halon, Halon replacement or water extinguisher to extinguish the fire and prevent its spread to additional flammable materials.
2. After extinguishing the fire, douse the device with water or other non-alcoholic liquids to cool the device and prevent additional battery cells from reaching thermal runaway.
And in any unfortunate event some battery in your vicinity decides to start self-combustion, the above advice from FAA (PDF file) should be followed to douse the fire.
So What Have We Learnt?
One thing we can conclude is that sub-par batteries and components play a major role in the failures. Cheap chargers and cables are also equally liable. But keeping your phone plugged for extended times will not cause this. And purposefully damaging batteries, well those come under the Idiots at Work category about which nothing can be done. Also every battery malfunctioning doesn’t turn into TNT, some just bulge, leak or stop working.
I hope this explainer has answered the question in title, scientifically. If you have even more burning questions, feel free to ping us through comments. Happy & safe charging.
Last updated on 03 February, 2022
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic. | <urn:uuid:b2409e58-c115-43e6-a0d6-86fff5f59f8f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.guidingtech.com/60883/phone-battery-explosion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573667.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819100644-20220819130644-00067.warc.gz | en | 0.937646 | 1,493 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Philosophical Implications Contained in Name of the Essay
- Length: 4 pages
- Sources: 6
- Subject: Mythology - Religion
- Type: Essay
- Paper: #76782095
Excerpt from Essay :
philosophical implications contained in Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. His views about God were formed when Eco attended the University of Turin to take up studies in medieval philosophy and literature. There, he wrote his thesis on Thomas Aquinas, although Eco stopped believing in God and left the Roman Catholic Church. The struggles he had in his own life echo those of William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk have large issues with God and the Church. William of Baskerville is especially in this category since he has been arrest, tortured and imprisoned by the Inquisition in the past. Now, he is confronted with this same reality again and his faith is severely tried. He now again is faced with the choice between faith and knowledge, a choice he does not believe is right to make. For him, there is no contradiction between reason and faith.
Church vs. Papacy
The book reflects a conflict between the Church and the papacy where the pope guards the Church as a husband, father or mother would guard a woman's virtue. The monk Umbertino reflects upon this in Name of the Rose. He especially thinks that this is the case with the Pope Clement V who he describes as an angelic and sainted pope who preached the crusade against heretics against Dolcino . He described the Church as a whore and that obedience is due only to the Apostles of Christ represented by the spiritual successors of the first Pope Peter (Eco 228).
Greed vs. Power
The Name of the Rose touches upon such universal themes as power and greed. The monastery and the Church as a whole is based upon the suppression of human sexuality and the deviant outbursts of this sexuality and other sins such as heresy. This is especially shown in the Inquisition and the extents to which the Catholic church went to in order to secure its place as the dominant religion. In the book, "heretics" were tortured and then burned at the stake, many with viewpoints that only slightly disagreed with the official position of the church. A supporter of the church one day might find that they were a heretic the next. In the book, the Inquisition comes to abbey to burn hidden heretics who had survived the last crusade against their doctrines (ibid 234). Heretics used symbols to avoid detection and communicate with their fellow mendicants (Capozzi 11). Many of these were Millenarian and believed the second coming of Christ was at hand as born out by the symbols of his return (Murphy 48) .
Religiosity vs. Piety
The Franciscans are certainly pious. They have taken an oath of poverty and have individually given their wealth to the poor. Certainly, this true piety is contrasted with the outward religiosity of the Church officials of the inquisition who question whether Christ was poor. Only those who are rich and living in luxury would be troubled by true piety that would show their hypocrisy and lack of real religious conviction. Even now, Franciscans follow St. Francis' doctrine on this from his rule where they "zealously follow the poverty and humility of Our Lord Jesus Christ ("Franciscans")."
If Christ and the Apostles were utterly poor and owned nothing, then to see Popes and Church officials have great wealth in this world must have been a great contradiction in the eye of the general public. Certainly, the bishops assembled in the book for the inquisition's assembly would have been nervous when quietly confronted by the pious Franciscans whose only crime was their poverty. This very poverty made them a threat in the eyes of opulent leaders of the Church who would fear the day that such priests might lead the poor to take wealth from the Church and they divide it up among the poor around them.
Church vs. State
In the Name of the Rose, the Church is primary, even over kings who rule at the pleasure of God and must have fealty to the Pope, God's representative on the face of the earth. This was represented in the belief that the Pope who was the representative of Christ on earth should have ultimate authority over both the state and the crown that was its symbol. In such a case popes could depose kings or compel a king's subjects to rebel against them when their policies contradicted the decrees of the Pope and the Church. The Petrine doctrine saw earthly kings as subservient to and ruling by the hand of God as dispensed through his servant on the throne of St. Peter ("Reading Guide: Medieval Church and State") .
Faith vs. Science
The novel must be understood in the context of scholasticism, was a method of learning taught by the academics of medieval universities between 1100 -- 1500 C.E. It originally began as an attempt at the reconciliation of the philosophy of ancient philosophers with medieval Christian theology. It was not theology or philosophy, but rather a tool and methodology for learning that highlighted reasoning. Its primary purpose of scholasticism was to find an answer questions or contradictions. It well-known in medieval theology and was eventually applied to classical philosophy and fields of secular study ("New World Encyclopedia").
William demonstrates his power of deductive reasoning. Despite his faith, his analytical mind refuses to accept the diagnosis of demonic possession. Brother William manages to show that the murders are committed by a more earthly instrument. William keeps an open mind while collecting facts and observations, following pure intuition he makes analytical decisions as to what his investigations should surround just as any scholastic would do.
The crisis of faith is expressed much more by his young novice Adso who loses his virginity (and possibly his faith) because of the young girl. Like the seductiveness of secular knowledge, the feminine wiles of the beautiful girl are irresistible to the young man whose repressed sexuality and intellect are boiling over (Eco 252). A young man such as Adso is being asked to shut down his brains and hormones in order to fulfill the dictates of the Church.
Simply put, the Church was asking humanity to throw its most active emotions of sex and curiosity into the closet as the price of salvation in the next world. Only repression of the most basic human emotions without complaint or protest could in the end please the Church and the Pope totally. Just as sex and its mysteries were locked behind the bedroom doors, forbidden knowledge is locked behind the closed and bolted doors of the abbey where brother Umberto keeps them safe from the prying eyes of the simple who would be led astray by their doctrines.
Laughter as Sinful
One of the key themes Eco's book is about laughter and whether or not it is sinful. He asks the question of whether or not laughter is ultimately justified in the sight of God or whether or it is a signal of the dominance of Satan. The monk Jorge argues that a person's laughter is the principle source of all evil. Jorge reflects that "The spirit is only serene only when it contemplates the truth and takes delight in good achieved, and truth and good are not to laughed at. This is why Christ did not laugh. Laughter foments doubt (Eco 132)."
Mans Evil vs. Good
For those who hold to the Church's concept of original sin, man is evil at the core and only God's intervention through the agency of the Church provides hope of his redemption. It looks upon man as totally depraved due to the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As a consequence of the Fall of Man brought about by this sin, every human born into the world is enslaved… | <urn:uuid:0ee3db9e-af0f-4c75-9f38-a88d824ffd62> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.paperdue.com/essay/philosophical-implications-contained-in-52420 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279650.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00438-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975939 | 1,591 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Short Run Effects of a Price on Carbon Dioxide Emissions from U.S. Electric Generators
Date of Original Version
Abstract or Description
The price of delivered electricity will rise if generators have to pay for carbon dioxide emissions through an implicit or explicit mechanism. There are two main effects that a substantial price on CO2 emissions would have in the short run (before the generation fleet changes significantly). First, consumers would react to increased price by buying less, described by their price elasticity of demand. Second, a price on CO2 emissions would change the order in which existing generators are economically dispatched, depending on their carbon dioxide emissions and marginal fuel prices. Both the price increase and dispatch changes depend on the mix of generation technologies and fuels in the region available for dispatch, although the consumer response to higher prices is the dominant effect. We estimate that the instantaneous imposition of a price of $35 per metric ton on CO2 emissions would lead to a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions in PJM and MISO at a price elasticity of −0.1. Reductions in ERCOT would be about one-third as large. Thus, a price on CO2 emissions that has been shown in earlier work to stimulate investment in new generation technology also provides significant CO2 reductions before new technology is deployed at large scale.
Environ. Sci. Technol, 42, 9, 3139-3144. | <urn:uuid:9e30ebf2-3480-4594-bef4-f89e6ed3763f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://repository.cmu.edu/tepper/1309/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00268-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929987 | 285 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Please assist in preparing SOAP notes either in a muscular or skeletal body system of a fictional patient of not less then 4 paragraphs including medical terms with suffixes, roots, and prefixes. Then write a summary of the findings rather then medical diagnosis.
S: Since the last visit the patient has experienced a decrease in her lumbar spine pain. She reports that the pain continues to be achy but is more localized to the region of the right posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS). She is no longer experiencing the diffuse pain along her distal right lower extremity. When questioned about her exercise program she admits that she has been doing the last taught set of Swiss ball exercises only once per day, instead of the twice per day as was recommended. There has been no change in her health or medical status since her last visit to this office.
O: Vitals: HR = 72 bpm, .BP = 120/72, RR = 12/m, temperature = 98.6
The following orthopedic tests were performed ...
Example of a SOAP note involving the musculoskeletal system. | <urn:uuid:fefcef10-9dbd-46f5-99c5-1b4779b312d4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://brainmass.com/biology/musculoskeletal-system/soap-note-muscular-skeletal-body-system-124675 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00240-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954895 | 229 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) Degree Program
Electronic circuits are the building blocks of the technology revolution. Individuals who can build, test, program, and troubleshoot electrical circuitry are consistently in demand. If you enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together, an EET degree from DeVry could put you at the forefront of this growing industry.
Our Engineering Technology Program's hands-on approach gets you real experience bringing software and circuit hardware together. So you get the skills in electronics you need for your future.
When you earn your Electronics Engineering Technology degree from DeVry University, you will:
- Gain the skills you need through our rigorous, ETAC of ABET-accredited* onsite program
- Get hands-on, practical electrical engineering experience
- Bring software and circuit hardware together as you design, build, and troubleshoot electronic circuits by hand, leveraging capacitors, resistors, inductors, transistors, and wiring
- Create essential simulations to validate circuit designs, just like in business world
- Develop employer-valued skills through rigorous, ETAC of ABET-accredited onsite programs
- Have the option to specialize in the green field of Renewable Energy
You also have the option of earning your degree online with our bachelor's degree in Engineering Technology-Electronics (ET-E). Online Engineering Technology students experience hands-on training in building circuits using a toolkit they receive by mail. On campus or online, you'll have the same hands-on experience working with electronic circuitry and equipment and being taught by experienced practitioners.
Learn more about how your bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering Technology from DeVry University can be applied in a variety of exciting and growing career fields. Request more information.
*The BMET, CET, and EET degree programs are accredited, by location, by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) of ABET, www.abet.org. The most recent information on the status of ETAC of ABET accreditation of a location's program is available in the Academic Catalog and at http://www.devry.edu/academics/accreditation.html.The following programs, offered online and onsite, are not accredited by ETAC of ABET: Engineering Technology - Computers, and Engineering Technology - Electronics. DeVry will seek accreditation for these programs when appropriate in accordance with ETAC of ABET procedures. Future accreditation is not guaranteed.
**Program availability varies by location.
Take the Tech Path
This degree program offers the option for a tech-centric plan of study. The modern workplace is interconnected and technology-dependent. That’s why we put tech at the core of many degree programs and courses. Students in the Tech Path learn to leverage technology, connecting people, process, data and devices to solve real-world business problems.
(available on campus) (In New York, degree is Bachelor of Technology in Electronics Engineering Technology.) Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology-Electronics (online degree program)
Many Ways to Learn
We offer a specialization within the Electronics Engineering Technology degree program.
DeVry offers classes several different ways:
- At a DeVry campus location
- Through collaborative extended classrooms
Please note that program, courses, and extended classroom availability varies by location. Learn more about DeVry's Engineering Technology - Electronics degree programs online and Engineering Technology - Computers degree program online.
Looking for Ways to Make Education More Affordable?
*The certificate and associate programs vary by course requirement. If the program length is less than 30 credit hours, the entire program must be completed at DeVry University. If the program length is between 30 to 120 credit hours, 30 credit hours must be completed at DeVry University.
Maximize Your Previous Education & Complete Your Bachelor's Degree
You want to finish what you started. Save time and tuition costs by maximizing your qualifying transfer credits and benefitting from our College Completer Scholarship for those who qualify. You’ve worked hard to come this far, so why stop now?
Tuition & Financial Aid
Learn more about opportunities that may be available to help make your degree more affordable, including merit and need-based scholarships, grants, loans and the military group tuition rate. | <urn:uuid:df848028-c0e4-4949-9d0e-ae5ec58fd5fd> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.devry.edu/degree-programs/engineering-information-sciences/electronics-engineering-technology.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00574-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903192 | 872 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Bathroom Safety Products for Seniors
When caring for Alzheimer's patients, the bathroom poses some of the greatest injury risks. The Alzheimer's Store offers safety products for seniors and those with Alzheimer's, Dementia or severe Memory Loss. For the new caregiver, we offer learning resources, such as our Bathing Without A Battle DVD, and safety products to assist in bathing, such as rinse-free body bath, shampoo, and body wipes.
One of the biggest bathroom dangers is slip and falls. A good example is a condition called Stranger in the Mirror, which occurs when the person virtually thinks of themselves in younger years and gets startled when they see themselves in the bathroom mirror. When they quickly turn around, they are more likely to fall. For bathroom safety, we recommend removing all mirrors in the room or at least covering them up. Some caregivers go to the extent of removing the cabinet and replacing it with one of our lockable memory boxes. This can easily accommodate all the supplies of a typical medicine cabinet but has no mirror.
There are also great options to assist your loved one, such as our Anti-Scalding Devices, Bathing Capes, and our Shampoo in a Cap. Our anti-scalding devices are not only a great resource to keep the individual from harming themselves, but is also great for the caregiver when regulating temperature. It is very important to check the temperature EVERY time the water is being used because although the temperature can be regulated, how it feels at that time to the patient can change momentarily
Bathroom safety products can decrease the need for supervision, leaving your loved-one with more self confidence and respect for themselves. | <urn:uuid:9a7a14b6-a0f2-48ce-aabc-601793a458c6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.alzstore.com/alzheimers-bathroom-safety-s/1514.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571090.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809215803-20220810005803-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.946352 | 341 | 1.953125 | 2 |
DID JUDAS ISCARIOT HAVE TO BETRAY CHRIST?
by Shawn Brasseaux
Was Judas Iscariot treated fairly in the whole “betrayal matter?” Did he have a choice in it at all? Or had God already specifically selected him to betray the Lord Jesus Christ? As we will see, it is an interesting combination of free will and God’s foreknowledge.
If we consider the Holy Bible in totality, we see that the Creator God is very generous. He is more than willing to be merciful and forgive, more than eager to be gracious, ready to be kind and longsuffering. Exodus chapter 34 testifies: “ And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (The close of verse 7 shows that God also does not take sin lightly. Yes, He is loving, but He is righteous too. He will enforce a punishment when that righteous standard is not met.)
When we find someone in the Bible facing the wrath of a just God, or meeting some dire fate at the hands of a righteous God, we can be sure there was ample warning issued prior. God’s judgment does not simply fall on someone without notice. A clear Divine commandment was broken first: God’s Word was ignored and sin was pursued. When people die and go to Hell today, never can it be said that “they did not know” or that “they did not have a chance.” The Bible could not be clearer about the eternal death (Hell and the Lake of Fire) awaiting all sinners who do not trust Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. All have been warned; it is not God’s fault if they refuse to hear His innumerable forewarnings! (This will be important later in our discussion.)
Returning to the issue of Judas Iscariot, let us consider the following. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus Christ quoted an Old Testament verse that predicted that betrayal. Read John chapter 13, noting especially verses 18 and 21-27:
“ I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture [Psalm 41:9] may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.”
It is interesting that while the Lord Jesus referred to His betrayer, He never actually named him. Rather, He just said “one of you” (verse 21) would be the betrayer. He never commanded Judas, “You are the one whom God has chosen to betray Me.” Now, someone may say that Jesus giving Judas the sop (or moistened bread) influenced Judas to fulfill the prophecy. This argument is invalid, for Judas at this point had already contracted with the chief priests to betray Christ. Judas had already made up his mind.
John 13:18-30 parallels Matthew 26:20-25, which means that Matthew 26:14-16 preceded, came before, the Upper Room Passover we just read about in John. Notice Matthew 26:14-16: “ Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.” Jesus never told anyone about His betrayer until later (that is, the passage we just read from John), so Jesus’ words on the subject in no way influenced Judas to betray Him. Judas had always been an idolater: he never had an interest in serving the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ. For three years, Judas Iscariot had played the hypocrite. He had pretended to be a disciple, and while he had fooled all the others, Jesus Christ was never deceived (check John 6:70-71, for example). From the time of Matthew 26:14-16, Judas began to try to find a convenient time to betray Christ. There was to be no uproar or commotion. It was to be done as clandestinely as possible.
As per Acts chapter 1, the Old Testament prophets predicted the fall of one of Jesus’ disciples. With Jesus post-resurrection explaining the Old Testament Messianic verses to His disciples (Luke 24:44-48; Acts 1:1-4), they could interpret those ancient Scriptures once He ascended and return to Heaven. They gained information about Judas Iscariot.
Now we understand how the Apostle Peter had such tremendous Scriptural insight in Acts chapter 1: “ Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms [Psalm 69:25], Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and [Psalm 109:8] his bishoprick let another take.”
Take a few moments to read the original quotes in Psalms. “Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents” (Psalm 69:25). “Let his days be few; and let another take his office” (Psalm 109:8). Did you read here, or anywhere else in the Psalms, about a Judas Iscariot? There is nothing. The prophecy was specific in that Jesus’ betrayer would be His friend: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9; cf. John 13:18). Yet, it was also general in that the betrayer is unknown. By concealing the person’s identity, God the Holy Spirit was affording Judas Iscariot the opportunity to avoid it being true of him. God in His foreknew saw into the future. He knew it would ultimately be Judas, but He let Judas decide if he wanted to betray Christ. That is, God’s Word had not already selected Judas Iscariot to commit that dastardly deed. Judas had already determined to do it, and Jesus simply let him do it.
Yet, as that time of evil approaches, we can God’s grace being offered to Judas time and time again. If you search the Four Gospel Records—especially Matthew, Luke, and John—you will discover that Judas had many opportunities to turn around, to not go through with the betrayal. He refused them all because he was never a believer in Christ. Even though he had already made the decision, and had already accepted the 30 pieces of silver, God was still willing to be friendly toward His betrayer. Watch carefully.
Matthew 26:21-25: “ And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” (Judas had plenty of opportunity here to back out of the betrayal, as it had not yet occurred. He asked a rhetorical question in verse 25. He knew he had already promised to betray Christ—see verses 14-16 again! Jesus let Judas admit it.)
John 18:4-9 is another interesting passage on the subject: “ Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.” (Judas could have turned back in these verses as well. He did not; he carried on through with the betrayal.)
Now, Luke 22:48: “But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” (Here, during the betrayal, Jesus is asking a rhetorical question, prompting Judas to think about what he was doing. “Judas, are you really going to betray the Son of Man with a kiss? Is this how it is going to turn out?” Judas could have backed out again, the opportunity was there, but he was not about to take it.)
Try Matthew 26:49-50, the most startling of all: “ And forthwith he [Judas] came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him.” (Here, after the kiss of betrayal, Jesus still addressed Judas as “friend!!” Jesus was reminding Judas he was one of them, one of His most trusted Apostles. Even after it occurred, the Lord Jesus was willing to forgive and restore Judas to fellowship. “Friend, why are you come?” Can you hear the tenderness here? Using his free will, Judas bypasses this as well; he refuses to accept God’s invitation to friendship.)
Judas Iscariot did what he did because: (1) he was a sinner, (2) he was an idolater, (3) he was never a true follower of Christ, (4) he coveted 30 pieces of silver, and (5) he was a willing participant of Satan’s policy of evil. God is not to be blamed; He saw all outcomes but He never forced any one outcome! The Bible had already predicted a close friend of Jesus would betray Him, but God never singled out Judas until Judas had already covenanted for the 30 pieces of silver. Jesus did not reveal him until he had already determined what he was going to do. Judas alone made the choice—it was his wrong choice, yes, but it was his choice. God gave Judas plenty of opportunity to turn around, to not betray Christ, but the Bible never says Judas took advantage of any of those chances.
» Why did Jesus select evil Judas Iscariot to be an apostle?
» Was Judas forgiven?
» Why does the Bible give two accounts of Judas’s death? | <urn:uuid:1f8740f1-5df7-4d57-9753-58a211faa71c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://forwhatsaiththescriptures.org/2018/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571234.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811042804-20220811072804-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.980182 | 2,976 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Since its proposal in 2013, the “One Belt, One Road” initiative (OBOR) has become the most important element in Chinese economic and political diplomacy. China’s leaders, officials, and academics are all attempting to fine-tune the concept and win more supporters – governments, official, and businesses – for this dramatic enterprise, which has the potential to fundamentally transform the world’s communications, trade, and its economic and political landscape. According to Korean scholar Jae Ho-chung, when completed, OBOR will include 60 countries, with two-thirds of the world’s population, 55 percent of global GDP, and 75 percent of global energy reserves. It will consist of 900 infrastructure projects, valued at about $1.3 trillion. Much of the funding is expected to come from Chinese banks, financial institutions and special funds. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post has described OBOR as “the most significant and far-reaching project the nation has ever put forward.”
Chinese scholar Wang Tingyi of Tsinghua University explained that while OBOR is prompted by China’s interests in energy, security, and promotion of economic ties, it is actually driven by the vision of a “greater Eurasia” that calls for “strengthening economic and cultural integration” across this whole swathe of territory. Wang summarizes the Chinese strategy as “to guarantee its interests in this region and at the same time cooperate with the other powers,” under the rubric of “a new type of international relations underpinned by win-win cooperation.”
However, in India the project is not viewed with such optimism. Former Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran sees OBOR as not just an economic initiative but one that has clear political and security implications. It is for Saran “a carving out by China of a continental-marine geo-strategic realm.”Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
India is particularly concerned about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC), part of the overland “Silk Road” piece of OBOR. But Delhi need not despair as India is already an important part of the existing multi-polar Asia architecture. The logistics scenario in Asia is not as bleak from the Indian perspective as it might appear at first sight.
While OBOR captured global imagination when it was first announced over three years ago, it is important to recall that India is itself at the center of major regional connectivity projects. These might lack the dramatic impact of OBOR, but taken together, they bring together a number of solid partners and have the capacity to transform the regional economic and geopolitical landscape to India’s advantage. India, thus, has little need to feel insecure about OBOR.
The most important Indian connectivity project is of course the trade and transit corridor from Chabahar in Iran to Afghanistan, to link with the highway network of the latter; India has already contributed to this network with the Zaranj-Delaram highway. The Chabahar port development agreement and a tripartite pact on a trade and transit corridor linking India, Afghanistan, and Iran was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Iran re-opened the discussion in New Delhi
This project has the greatest economic and strategic value for India since it provides unimpeded access to Afghanistan and enables India and Iran to contribute together to the economic development and political stability of Afghanistan. But the importance of this project goes well beyond Afghanistan: it provides a highway across the relatively peaceful northern part of Afghanistan to all the Central Asian republics, culminating at Almaty in Kazakhstan.
The other connectivity project with which India is associated is the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC). Initiated in September 2000, over a decade before OBOR, INSTC initially brought together India, Iran, and Russia in an effort to create multi-modal links (ship-rail-road) from India to Europe, via the Gulf, Central Asia, and Russia. The partnership was later expanded to include Turkey and the other Central Asian republics. A dry-run to check its viability was also successfully conducted in August 2014, after which transit and customs agreements were approved in September 2015.
These connectivity projects received a boost recently when the Indian cabinet approved India’s accession to the Ashgabat Agreement. This multi-modal transport agreement, which brings together India, Oman, Iran, and the Central Asian republics, was initiated in April 2011, two years before OBOR was announced. Its route will be linked closely to INSTC projects.
Closer to home, India is looking at a number of connectivity proposals. These include the development of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal into a maritime hub, including a dry dock and a ship-building facility. At the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee, India has been looking at setting up a petroleum hub, besides activating the 80-year-old oil tank farm in the strategically-located port city. India has also announced that it will develop a number of connectivity projects in South Asia, valued at $5 billion.
Though promoted by China, OBOR is open to a change in course and content. Indian engagement, therefore, is also an opportunity to shape OBOR to suit Indian needs and interests. Given that the CPEC appears to be floundering, Indian willingness to participate and thereby create greater economic viability would also generate great goodwill within important sections of the Chinese state. This goodwill could well influence politics elsewhere, including on Indian membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and a willingness to increase pressure on Pakistani state actors on terrorism both in private and in public.
Participation in CPEC specifically, and OBOR more generally, in Central Asia and Southeast Asia also allows India to play the role of a “swing factor.” Indian buy-in into the Pakistani economy through CPEC, for example, is also an opportunity to influence Pakistani politics and state actors. Will the Pakistanis or the Chinese agree to allow India to join? There will be groups in both countries that will see business sense in involving India and might well push for Delhi’s inclusion.
One OBOR-related project that already involves India directly is the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, or BCIM-EC. It will involve a combination of infrastructure and trade facilitation arrangements between the four countries, as road, air, and water links from Kolkata in India to Kunming in south-central China, at a total cost of $22 billion. Conceived in the 1990s, BCIM-EC was formally endorsed by all four countries in December 2013 and is viewed as a part of the OBOR connectivity projects. While India will benefit in terms of the development of the Kolkata port and the opening up of the economic potential of its northeastern states, China will obtain one more route bypassing the Malacca Strait.
China clearly does not have a monopoly on envisaging major connectivity projects in Asia, and India is fully capable of leading a number of important projects for its economic and geopolitical benefit. Besides the fact that India is a major role-player in a number of strategically important connectivity projects in its neighborhood, there have been a number of developments relating to OBOR that constitute a reality check on Chinese ambitions and encourage a more cooperative mind-set on its part.
First, there is little doubt that China has recognized the need for more extensive and intensive dialogue with principal role-players such as India, whose participation in the OBOR would be crucial for the success of the project. Both countries accept the importance of expanding connectivity in Asia, a continent that is rich in resources but unable to move these goods to markets where they are required. If connectivity projects were to be negotiated among the various stakeholders and decisions taken with a cooperative spirit, the strategic value of the projects would increasingly give way to their more important economic value, which would be the true “win-win” that Chinese policymakers have been emphasizing lately. This would open the space for an active Indian role in projects that serve its interests, such as BCIM-EC and those that would promote links from South Asia to Central Asia and Russia.
Saadat Hassan Bilal is a PhD Scholar at the School of Politics & International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. | <urn:uuid:438cabf5-df05-4cf5-90b9-697a4e82a26e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://thediplomat.com/2017/01/india-has-nothing-to-fear-from-chinas-belt-and-road/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282140.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00134-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957002 | 1,735 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Facts, Identification & Control
Appearance / Identification
What Do Bees Look Like?
Found globally, bees are winged insects of the order Hymenoptera, super-family Apoidea. There are more than 20,000 recorded bee species. Megachile pluto, the largest of these creatures, is reported to be 3.9 cm long, while Perdita minima, the most diminutive of bees, are shorter than 2 mm long. Bees can be black or brown with red, yellow or lustrous blue stripes.
Behavior, Diet & Habits
While some bees are solitary, species such as honey bees and bumble bees are tremendously social. Bee colonies are comprised of three castes: the queen bee, infertile female worker bees and male drones. The queen mates and lays eggs for the span of her life. Honey bee queens can live up to five years, though most average a lifespan of two to three years. Male drones exist solely to fertilize the queen and die soon after having fulfilled their task. Female worker bees perform a multitude of tasks necessary to the survival of the hive. As a result of their constant laboring, their average life span is usually a mere six weeks.
All bees are hairy, a crucial trait for pollen collection. Flowers and flourishing vegetation often attract bees, and there is no insect as important as the bee when it comes to pollination. Many female bee species have rows of bristles on their hind legs which form a hollow basket. When the bee lands on a flower, pollen grains are combed into the hollow basket and bristles. Cross-pollination occurs when the displaced grains of pollen are distributed to the fertile pistils of other flowers as the bee alights upon them. Although only females are able to transfer pollen, all bees are able to sip the nectar from flowers using a tonguelike organ. This nectar is their primary source of energy. Pollen is sustenance for both adult and larval bees, as it contains protein and other nutrients necessary to their survival. Bees possess an organ that converts nectar into honey, which is collected, depending on the species, inside the hive or bee colony.
The most well-documented and encountered bee swarms are those of honey bees. Typically, honey bee swarms are not a major threat, unless when dealing with Africanized honey bees. The bees do not have a nest or young and, therefore, are less defensive. However, they will sting if provoked.
Bee swarming typically occurs in colonies that are thriving and with robust populations. Weak colonies of bees may not swarm until they become stronger and larger in population. Bee colonies may become weak due to starvation, disease or failing queens. Several factors can contribute to the occurrence of a swarm, such as seasonal changes and overcrowding.
Swarming involves a contingent of workers and a queen departing the original colony. The swarm typically gathers at a resting site, often in a tree, after leaving the colony. Scouts are sent to location a new location, such as in a log or other cavity. Once a suitable location is found, the swarm will relocate to the site and begin to nest.
Two kinds of bee swarms occur: primary and secondary. The queen bees lead primary swarms, which include a larger number of workers acting to protect the egg-laying queen. Secondary swarms are led by several virgin female bees and as a result, these swarms are half the size of the primary swarm and do not occur as often.
While bees can benefit the environment in many ways, it is inconvenient and possibly dangerous to let a bee hive thrive near your home.
It is important to properly identify the particular species living near your home, as bees are often mistaken for wasps due to their similar physical characteristics. There are different elimination processes for wasps and bees, so effective treatment relies upon proper identification. When using any method of bee control, it is also necessary to know effective application strategies, as well as the limitations and dangers associated with each method. In many regions, special licenses are required to treat infestations.
The only way to rid your home of bees is to remove the hive entirely. This precarious task requires the correct tools and strategy. For safety and efficiency purposes, a pest control expert should be consulted before any bee control technique is attempted.
Types of Bees:
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NEW YORK — More teens than ever before aren’t getting a sufficient amount of sleep, and too much screen time — particularly from smartphones — is likely to blame, a new study finds.
Researchers at San Diego State University and Iowa State University looked at data from two large, nationally-representative studies covering more than 360,000 American teenagers, finding that a significant number of millennials are sleep deprived.
One study examined, called the Monitoring the Future survey, helped the researchers calculate the percentage of children who average less than seven hours of shut-eye a night, while the other— referred to as the Young Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey— helped them evaluate the average number of hours of sleep an adolescent got on a school night.
On both metrics, today’s youth are lacking sufficient slumber, the researchers found.
In 2015, nearly 40 percent of adolescents got less than seven hours of sleep a night on average, which represented a 17 percent jump from just six years prior, and a 58 percent increase from a 1991 study.
This shift in sleeping habits was likely directly attributable to increased internet use, as supported by one statistic: teens who used the web for at least five hours a day were 50 percent more likely to get insufficient sleep than peers who only spent an hour online a day.
Lead researcher Jean Twenge points out that smartphone adoption reached critical mass around 2009, which may explain why trends have developed as they have.
“Teens’ sleep began to shorten just as the majority started using smartphones,” says Twenge in a university news release. “It’s a very suspicious pattern.”
Sleep deprivation is a very serious issue, Twenge warns, as it causes many youth to be inattentive in class, and drowsy during other activities.
“Our body is going to try to meet its sleep needs, which means sleep is going to interfere or shove its nose in other spheres of our lives,” explains Twenge, who has authored books on millennials. “Teens may catch up with naps on the weekend or they may start falling asleep at school.”
While technology can play a beneficial role in an adolescent’s life, it can become detrimental past a couple of hours of use a day, Twenge notes.
She particularly recommends that teens eschew their phones and tablets before bed, as the devices can interfere with restful sleep.
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While I’ve taken it to heart as a mantra and find myself saying it with my daily affirmations (alongside Marie Forleo’s “everything is figure-outable”), I’ll admit I’m the last to want to start anything before I feel fully prepared. My perfectionist, anal side often just does not let me. (I’ve waited seven years to have a second child, mostly because I didn’t feel ready. See what I mean?)
I’ve mellowed out a bit over the years, mostly because of necessity, and have taken leaps – literally at my third degree black belt test and figuratively just about every day. (This blog is one good example!)
But starting before I’m ready is still hard for me. I always wonder: how? What is the actual process that allows someone to jump off a cliff, without the guarantee that some kind of safety device will activate to prevent a major catastrophe? Can someone just show me what it looks like when you do something when you’re not fully there?
Two weeks ago, I got to see how it’s done. I went to see John Leguizamo’s new stand up comedy show, Latin History for Dummies. It was artful, funny and inspiring.
John Leguizamo walked on stage and straight to one of the two props in the room, a laptop computer (the other prop was a blackboard). The computer was on.
What?! You’re gonna read your jokes? This is going to be interesting …
John told the excited audience that he was preparing his show for Broadway, and he would be reading most of his material to us, as he was still perfecting it. He would welcome our feedback.
I think someone actually said “What?” or maybe something more obscene. John made a joke about the Oscars, told us not to worry, he would make the reading worth our time. And he did!
For over an hour, John read (but not really because he already knew most of the material) at times a brilliantly funny, and at times a biting and cynical, yet real, informative, and soulful recount of history, as most people don’t know it. A couple of times he cracked himself up, and a few times he actually messed up (as in he stumbled through a few words).
The show was hilarious, and I laughed my heart out. But the biggest reason why I loved it was because I got to see how a pro does this thing called, “start before you’re ready”.
In the process I got to see – really see the man – Mr. John Leguizamo, not because of how I watched or listened but because of how he showed up: open, vulnerable, and fully present.
Here’s what I learned that evening:
Have a vision
Yes, John had a laptop for facts, numbers and some of his material. But the vision started way before there was ever a file on a computer. It started with a dream of what he wanted people to know – the untold and uncelebrated side of history – and how he wanted the people to feel; all people.
Use my tools
If a pro like John is not afraid to use notes on stage, what excuse do I have? Really?! There is no shame, no fear, and no embarrassment in using tools. Pay attention to and let go of the voices in my head that insist I memorize, perfect, fine-tune a blog post (a document, a program, or a speech) because that’s what pros do. Stop listening to those voices.
An audience in one room is not the whole world. It is just that: one audience, one moment in time. Include the people in the room fully, by not only letting them enjoy or participate, but also by giving them a way to shape and mold the experience – if not for them, then for the next revision.
Under promise over deliver
John walked on stage and said he would read his jokes, right off the bat. I knew what to expect. During the show, however, he walked away from the laptop, a lot. In fact, I forgot all about the laptop. I was intrigued, mesmerized, entertained. It was magical!
Make people feel good
Know what I want people to walk away with. I walked away feeling light, happy, smiling. I appreciated John’s comedic genius, but also my life, my time to see the show, the people that I love who saw the show with me.
I’m totally energized to ask: where am I holding back? And where am I waiting to be ready?
What kind of mom, entrepreneur, world-changer would I be if I stopped holding back?
Here’s Steven Pressfield’s full paragraph:
“Don’t prepare. Begin.
Remember, our enemy is not lack of preparation; it’s not the difficulty of the project, or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account.
The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do.
Start before you’re ready.
Good things happen when we start before we’re ready.”
I’d love to hear from you. Where are you holding back, and are you waiting to be ready? Leave me a comment below, and hop over to my Facebook page to find out my answers.
With love and appreciation,
P.S: I recommend the show whole-heartedly!
“Each day is a little life” – Schopenhauer
The magic dust of New Year excitement has settled. It now takes longer to see the sparkle in the midst of preparing lunches, attending meetings, and doing life every day. I recently caught myself evaluating how I’m doing by analyzing my output thus far, which inevitably led me to feeling like I’m not doing quite “enough”, and like I’m already falling “behind” (whatever that means). Feeling behind, in one word, feels: Yuck!
Depending on the study you read, it takes 21, 28, or 66 days to build a habit. This is why we have 21 days cleanses, 28 days diet plans, or three months to a 5K programs. Most of us put our best effort forward for those days, and then, admittedly fall off the band wagon again, and again, and again.
Here’s my interesting non-scientific observation both of myself and my students: it only takes one failure to take down our meticulously built tower of confidence, one mean glance to make our delicate self-esteem shatter into million pieces, one limited belief to make our teeter-totter balancing self-worth lean to the side of insignificance.
That’s just c r a z y!
Sure it can take one day to stop a healthy habit, to postpone our dreams, or to make ourselves and others miserable. But by that same token, it takes only one day to get back on the inspiration bus and on the unstoppable action route to dream-your-big-life land. Here’s a list of a few of my favorite things to do when I’m feeling that “not quite enough and totally behind” feeling:
1. Shrug and Flush
I’ve learned to say “oh well” even though I know my seeming indifference to the issue at hand would drive my mother mad (as it makes me too). As I tell the kids: you don’t stand there and look at your poop in the potty, do you? You flush it! Flush the mistakes, the mean words, the sour looks. Flush, flush, flush. (I use the toilet brush too when necessary).
When I was a dancer I was taught to smile in spite of the blisters on my feet inside the pointe shoes, the tight hair bun giving me a headache, the long rehearsals. One of my favorite mantras is: no matter what, smile!
3. Get an inspiration infusion stat
I get my inspiration from walking in nature. I have a special spot where the pelicans come to hang out at the Bayshore. I love watching them organize themselves for long trips, and take flight. I go there to listen to my thoughts and to talk to my inner spirit. I go there to pray and say thank you. Whatever it is that inspires you – music, art, reading, watching movies, exercising, a TED talk – take one hour off and indulge yourself.
4. Do the Work
Sometimes the best cure for the yuck feeling is blocking out time on the calendar with your Chief Executive You, turn off email, phone and any other interruptions and get the work done! In a favorite book of mine, Do the Work, Steven Pressfield says it well: “Resistance is a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.” You hear the man: Do the Work! (Read the book if you need to add another source of inspiration to your infusion above.)
5. Take a Siesta
Sometimes the truth is simple: we just need to take a break. We don’t do it more often because we feel we should be doing something more productive instead. Why would you waste this precious time taking a break? My Qigong teacher, Dr. Roger Jahnke calls this “napping Qigong”. A great many things happen when we rest; our body restores and replenishes. Our mind relaxes and declutters. Our spirit performs jumping jacks and blissful cartwheels.
6. Start with Thank You!
It sounds cliché and yet here it is: be grateful for what you have. Here is the full extent of the quote at the start of this post:
“Each day is a little life; every waking and rising a little birth; every fresh morning a little youth;every going to rest and sleep a little death.”
Knowing that you have one more special gift to have a full life today, what one person, dream, place, thing can you be grateful for and how will you show it?
With love, for the joy you bring to my life, your generosity in reading this blog, your persistence advocating for wellbeing for yourself and your kids.
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From Left to Right: Dr Francis Hutchinson and Dato’ Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)
The relationship between Malaysia and China has undergone three phases. During the first phase in the 1970s, initiating the relationship with China was a proactive move to ease the political threat and fear. Externally, Malaysia wanted to stay involved in the development of global affairs, notably the US-China rapprochement in 1972 during the cold war period. On the other hand, internally, Malaysia was facing the threat from Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and would like to garner support from the local Chinese community. This was also part of the Prime Minister’s effort to shift away from a pro-west to non-alignment strategy. However, it is noted that as China was still supporting communism, nothing had been done to grow the bilateral relationship.
1980s-2009 was the second phase – full engagement. It was the beginning of Chinese economic reform and opening-up. Corresponding to the policy change in China, Tun Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad decided to develop the relationship further between the two countries after China stopped supporting the CPM. Various approaches had been taken to deepen the understanding and relationship among the two countries, such as through visits of higher-ups to the country, signing of bilateral contracts, and expansion of sectors such as tourism and education. Besides that, China was eager to integrate into the global system economically, as evident by the signing of WTO in 2002, so Malaysia pushed China to play an active regional role by introducing it into ASEAN.
Since 2009, with China’s stability and greater integration with the world, the two countries have now established full cooperation and partnership, which is the third phase of Malaysia-China relations. Now China is Malaysia’s top trading partner, along with its various infrastructure investments in Malaysia, especially those under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has also showed its support to Malaysia during the national and leadership crisis, particularly the MH370 disappearance and the 1MDB scandal. Malaysia has also tried to engage China more vigorously to serve the interest of ASEAN.
The seminar was attended by an audience of 72 people, including researchers, civil servants, students and members of public (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)
Despite the positive progress, Malaysia is aware of the implementation issues in managing the projects, such as the capacity of the Malaysian markets and supply of skilled labor. Other concerns include strategic intentions of China and the sovereignty, as well as economic dependency on China. According to a survey done in 2015, the disadvantages of China investment outweighs the advantages, especially among the Malaysian Chinese community and the cost of investment is perceived differently by the various races.
Dato Abdul Majid shared that the Malaysia-China BRI collaboration can possibly accelerate Malaysia’s transformation, in terms of infrastructure building and the subsequent economic implications. At a larger scope, Malaysia national policy can also be influenced by the geopolitical and geostrategic impact resulted from China’s active involvement in ASEAN and its relationship with US.
He concluded that the transformation from fear and suspicion in the beginning to the present partnership and cooperation has showcased the diplomatic achievement by Malaysian leaders. Moving forward, with China on the rise, Malaysia will continue to invest and maintain the bilateral relationship in a friendly and non-confrontational way but he stressed that with increasing presence of China in Malaysia, a bottom line must be set between the two countries to best serve Malaysia’s national interest.
For the Q&A section, concerns regarding China’s political stance and its attitude towards Malaysian politics were discussed. Dato Abdul Majid also highlighted that ASEAN should function as a unity and promote a regional identity. The talk was attended by an audience of 72 people, including researchers, civil servants, students and members of public. | <urn:uuid:0e93c626-b179-40e9-bf11-572f3758df74> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.iseas.edu.sg/media/event-highlights/transformation-of-malaysia-china-relations-drivers-motives-and-possible-impact-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572161.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815054743-20220815084743-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.969915 | 811 | 2.734375 | 3 |
I am sometimes asked if the economy would collapse were we to bring our economy into balance with our natural resources. My answer is no, it will be a more robust system.
An economy that is in sync with the earth’s ecosystem-an eco-economy-will contrast profoundly with the polluting, disruptive, and ultimately self-destructing economy of today-the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy.
First, we will have a stable population rather than an increasingly expanding one putting ever more pressure on the earth to supply its needs. Among the key economic sectors-energy, materials, and food-the most profound changes will be in energy and materials. It is difficult to imagine a more fundamental sectoral restructuring than that in the energy sector as it shifts from oil, coal, and natural gas to wind, solar cells, and geothermal energy. With materials, the change is not so much in the materials used as in the structure of the sector itself as it shifts from the linear economic model, where materials go from the mine or forest to the landfill, to the reuse/recycle model. In this closed loop system, which emulates nature, recycling industries will largely replace extraction industries. The materials loop will be closed, yielding no waste and nothing for the landfills. In the food sector, the challenge is to better manage natural capital: stabilizing aquifers by increasing water productivity, conserving topsoil by altering agricultural practices, and raising land productivity to avoid clearing more forests for food production.
Harvests from oceanic fisheries, a major source of animal protein in the human diet, will be reduced to the sustainable yield. Additional demand will be satisfied by fish farming. This is, in effect, an aquatic version of the same shift that occurred during the transition from hunting and gathering to farming.
Instead of being run on fossil fuels, the eco-economy will be powered by sources of energy that derive from the Sun, such as wind and sunlight, and by geothermal energy from within the earth. Cars and buses will run on electricity derived from wind and possibly fuel cells powered by hydrogen. Atmospheric CO2 levels will be stable. In contrast to today’s energy economy, where the world’s reserves of oil and coal are concentrated in a handful of countries, energy sources will be as widely distributed as sunlight and wind. The heavy dependence of the entire world on one geographic region-the Middle East-for much of its energy will decline as the new climate-benign energy sources take over.
The transport systems of cities will change. Instead of the noisy, congested, polluting, auto-centered transport systems of today, cities will have rail-centered transport systems and they will be bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly, offering more mobility, more exercise, cleaner air, and less frustration. Urban personal mobility will increase as automobile use and traffic congestion decline.
New Industries, New Jobs
Building an eco-economy represents one of the greatest investment opportunities of all time. Restructuring the global economy will create not only new industries, but also new jobs-indeed, whole new professions and new specialties within professions. For example, as wind becomes an increasingly prominent energy source, there will be a need for wind meteorologists to analyze potential wind sites, monitor wind speeds, and select the best sites for wind farms. The better the data on wind resources, the more efficient the industry will become. Closely related to this new profession will be engineers to design and supply wind turbines.
Among the signposts of an environmentally sustainable economy are buildings that are in harmony with the environment. Environmental architects will be needed to design buildings that are energy- and materials-efficient and that maximize natural heating, cooling, and lighting.
In a future of water scarcity, watershed hydrologists will be at the center of watershed management regimes. It will be their responsibility to understand the hydrological cycle, including the movement of underground water, and to know the depth of aquifers and determine their sustainable yield. As the world shifts from a throwaway economy, engineers will be needed to design products that can be recycled-from cars to computers. Once products are designed to be disassembled quickly and easily into component parts and materials, comprehensive recycling is relatively easy. It will be the responsibility of the recycling engineers to close the materials loop, converting the linear flow-through economy into a comprehensive recycling economy.
In countries with a wealth of geothermal energy, it will be up to geothermal geologists to locate the best sites either for power plants or for tapping directly to heat buildings. Retraining petroleum geologists to master geothermal technologies is one way of satisfying the likely surge in demand for geothermal geologists.
If the world is to stabilize population sooner rather than later, it will need far more family planning midwives in Third World communities. This growth sector will be concentrated largely in developing countries, where millions of women lack access to family planning.
Another pressing need, particularly in developing countries, is for a new breed of sanitary engineers to design sewage systems not dependent on water, a trend that is already under way in some water-scarce countries. Using water to wash waste away is a reckless use of a scarce resource. Washing waste away is even less acceptable today as marine ecosystems are overwhelmed by nutrient flows. Apart from the ecological disruption of a water-based disposal method, there are also much higher priorities in the use of water, such as drinking, bathing, and irrigation.
Yet another new specialty that is likely to expand rapidly in agriculture as productive farmland becomes scarce is agronomists who specialize in multiple cropping and intercropping. This requires an expertise both in the selection of crops that can fit together well in a tight rotation in various locales and in agricultural practices that facilitate multiple cropping.
No sector of the global economy will be untouched by the Environmental Revolution. In this new economy, some companies will be winners and some will be losers. Those who anticipate the emerging eco-economy and plan for it will be the winners. Those who cling to the past risk becoming part of it.
Lester Brown is President of the Earth Policy Institute. This article adapted from his book Eco-Economy:Building an Economy for the Earth,”The Shape of an Eco-Economy.” See www.earth-policy.org
About the Author
Peter Meek is the chief engineer for Engineering Circle an independent company run by experienced engineers and purchasers. Peter is a professional mechanical engineer with over 12 years’ experience as a project manager for large scale projects in the global energy sectors. Peter has lived and worked in the UK, USA, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Latin America. Peter has an in depth understanding of the buyer / supplier relationship for today’s global energy markets.
The Popco (population press) is a bi-monthly newsletter of the Population Coalition. It presents news, facts, and viewpoints on a wide range of population, consumption, sustainability, and environmental issues. The views expressed in articles are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views of the Population Coalition or the Editor. Information is collected from many sources; we attempt to be accurate. Permission is granted to reprint any portion of this newsletter, if proper credit is given.
There’s nothing like starting the year with a smartly notion out advertising plan. New year brings an array of probabilities for your enterprise. It’s going to be a fantastic chance to individuals who pose SEO capabilities and might wish to show their expertise in the search engine optimization area. The winner will walk away with a reward of $50000 from Wix.com.
You will have the chance to create your very own website and make sure it ranks for the keyword “SEO Hero” (more info about the competition here). I have been contacted by one of my friend who is going to participate in this competition. He asked me to analyze digital advertising plans of 2017 which would help him to optimize his website for the keyword term SEO hero in order to win the competition.
It’s time to do a survey to see what marketing startegies and plans may contribute to win the wix seo hero challenge.
Social and digital marketing have hit their stride — and now that each contestant is lower back from winter smash and settling in to the new 12 months, it’s time to do a survey to see what marketing startegies and plans may contribute to win the wix seo hero challenge.
Increase in revenue
Everything is geared towards the price. Contenders are tailoring their digital advertising and marketing plans to boost user engagement. Rightfully in order more visitors mean that the efforts are working and also you are getting returns for your digital marketing efforts.
Additionally, marketers are since what definitely works for them in terms of their sales cycle is a protracted-term, complex one with the assist of many influencers. Direct income aren’t as beneficial because it was. clients hate being sold to. In a digital world, the place every thing is searchable, purchasers find you. they are drawn in through inbound advertising the place content material, social media, and website positioning all work collectively to pull customers to you.
Advised for You
Webcast, 2017 January 10.: Leveraging Urgency and shortage for increased income
Goal for steadiness in elements
Digital advertising requires shut monitoring as it regularly contains actual-time engagement from clients. hence, doing every little thing in-condo isn’t highest quality. Entrepreneurs are leveraging each in-house and outsourced substances to plot their digital marketing thoughts. Outsource experts like web optimization consultants, social media strategists, and digital assistants to aid you in executing your plans.
Overcome barriers to digital advertising success
Identical to in any business, you’re going to come upon barriers along the manner. For digital entrepreneurs, two of the good three boundaries contain income and lead quality however the top hurdle is finances constraints. With social media continuing with its pay to play policy, you should spend to make sure that your posts reach the right audience.
Set a budget for each digital channel you’re going to use and revisit it quarterly. don’t look ahead to a 12 months earlier than checking if you nonetheless have the substances to continue. Through reviewing your finances inside shorter durations, you may be in a position to gauge which channels are working and want greater materials. this could let you regulate your thoughts immediately.
Invest in the most beneficial channels
Regardless of the popularity of social media, the two most beneficial digital channels are web sites and emails. Your own web site is the place which you can show off your items, create revenue funnels, and collect beneficial statistics on purchaser habits. Be sure that your web page is optimized for mobile viewing. It’s all about consumer adventure when it involves internet searching.
Allot elements for growing content material that directs to your web page. Also, keep your web page up to date. Be more proactive in electronic mail marketing and include extra of that for your advertising and marketing plan.
As you create your digital marketing plan for this 12 months, determine your most excellent channels, round up your resources, and calibrate all over the year. While there isn’t any such issue as a perfect digital advertising and marketing plan, which you could create probably the most advantageous one for the competition.
The company Egdon Resources have recently announced that it will move forward with its plans concerning the Wressle oil and gas discovery. Wressle is located in Lincolnshire, England and has been a huge project for the company for some time now.
In it’s announcement the company explained that it was now one hundred percent comfortable working towards creating a field development plan whilst on the PEDL180 license. The company no longer require other costly and time consuming testing operations.
In a previous testing operation, the Ashover Grit used its flow rates and counted a staggering eighty barrels of oil each day that had been influenced by localised near well bore formation damage. This meant that the flow rates were not typical of what could be obtained from Ashover Grit.
If Egdon Resources are able to solve the problems associated with the ‘skin’, reservoir engineering analysts have predicted that the company could see production rates of more than five hundred barrels of oil each day.
As part of the announcement Egdon Resources explained that it will tackle the ‘skin’ problem with a comprehensive suite of procedures and operations. We are not sure on the details of what this entails, but one thing that is for certain is that the well will be worked on in order to prepare it for production over a long period of time.
The Company are now looking to work on an FDG for Wressle and aim to put a submission into the Oil and Gas Authority in 2016. The company will also be expected to submit permitting and planning applications to the North Lincolnshire Council as well as the Environment Agency. It will not be an easy ride for Egdon Resources but the results could be incredibly worthwhile.
Currently Egdon Resources are looking to phase the production process. Initially the company will focus on the oil reservoir belonging to Ashover Grit.
The Managing Director of Egdon Resources, Mark Abbott has spoken publicly about the work involved. He said that the company are delighted that the results from their work have allowed the PEDL180 venture to move forward.
He further commented that the company were now focused on gaining the appropriate consent in order for them to start oil production from the Ashover Grit. Mark is hopeful that oil production will start in the first half of 2016.
More good news in the oil and gas industry this week, Faroe Petroleum have made the exciting announcement that they have found oil off Norway. Despire this find, shares in Faroe Petroleum have dropped. This is because it has been suggested that the oil find was less than what the company had hoped for.
The company announced that a drilling activity near the Pil discovery in the Norwegian Sea had struck oil. Faroe Petroleum had hoped that it would find between thirteen and thirty one million barrels of oil.
If the company have found that amount of oil, Faroe is set to gain between three and eight million barrels. This is because Faroe has a twenty five per cent stake. At the beginning of the year, Faroe had close to thirty one million barrels and this new find could be a remarkable addition to its portfolio.
Faroe Petroleum are sure to be celebrating after this find, as they have not been too lucky recently. Two other drilling activities off Norway that Faroe Petroleum conducted unfortunately turned out to be dry.
However, despite this positive announcement, the company’s shares fell. As mentioned it has been suggested that the drop in shares has been put down to the amount of oil found.
Faroe also had a bit of a nightmare with the southern part of the Boomerang well. The company stated that they were unfortunate not to find any gas or oil. But, in April, the company made a find in the Skime East well. This find was less than what they were hoping for, but they did say that the find was showing signs of future success.
Incidents like these show just how risky and challenging drilling work in the oil and gas industry can be. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only thing that oil and gas companies need to worry about. The declining price of oil has been a huge problem for many oil and gas organisations.
The Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum said: “We are pleased to announce the results from the Boomerang well, which adds further resources to the Pil area from a new reservoir. This appraisal and exploration well has provided a significant amount of important data and again proven how prospective the Pil area is.”
The company is due to start drilling in the Blink well soon. Again, the company have suggested there is huge potential in this well and are excited to see the results
Just how difficult and dangerous the Twilight Era proves to be, and just how quickly it will come to an end, will depend on one key factor: How quickly we move to reduce our reliance on petroleum as a major source of our energy and begin the transition to alternative fuels. This transition cannot be avoided. It will come whether we are prepared for it or not. The only way we can avert its most painful features is by moving swiftly to lay the foundations for a post-petroleum economy.
Several recent developments-persistently high gasoline prices, unprecedented warnings from the Secretary of Energy and the major oil companies, China’s brief pursuit of the American Unocal Corporation-suggest that we are just about to enter the Twilight Era of Petroleum, a time of chronic energy shortages and economic stagnation as well as recurring crisis and conflict. Petroleum will not exactly disappear during this period-it will still be available at the neighborhood gas pump, for those who can afford it-but it will not be cheap and abundant, as it has been for the past 30 years. The culture and lifestyles we associate with the heyday of the Petroleum Age-large, gas-guzzling cars and SUVs, low-density suburban sprawl, strip malls and mega-malls, cross-country driving vacations, and so on-will give way to more constrained patterns of living based on a tight gasoline diet.
While Americans will still consume the lion’s share of global petroleum stocks on a daily basis, we will have to compete far more vigorously with consumers from other countries, including China and India, for access to an ever-diminishing pool of supply.
The concept of a “twilight” of petroleum derives from what is known about the global supply and demand equation. Energy experts have long acknowledged that the global production of oil will someday reach a moment of maximum (or “peak”) daily output, followed by an increasingly sharp drop in supply.
But while the basic concept of peak oil has gained substantial worldwide acceptance, there is still much confusion about its actual character. Many people who express familiarity with the concept tend to view peak oil as a sharp pinnacle, with global output rising to the summit one month and dropping sharply the next; and looking back from a hundred years hence, things might actually appear this way. But for those of us embedded in this moment of time, peak oil will be experienced as something more like a rocky plateau-an extended period of time, perhaps several decades in length, during which global oil production will remain at or near current levels but will fail to achieve the elevated output deemed necessary to satisfy future world demand. The result will be perennially high prices, intense international competition for available supplies, and periodic shortages caused by political and social unrest in the producing countries.
The Era of Easy Oil Is Over
The Twilight Era of oil, as I term it, is likely to be characterized by the growing politicization of oil policy and the recurring use of military force to gain control over valuable supplies. This is so because oil, alone among all major trading commodities, is viewed as a strategic material; something so vital to a nation’s economic well-being as to justify the use of force in assuring its availability. That nations are prepared to go to war over petroleum is not exactly a new phenomenon. The pursuit of foreign oil was a significant factor in World War II and the 1991 Gulf War, to offer only two examples; but it is likely to become ever more a part of our everyday world in a period of increased competition and diminishing supplies.
This new era will not begin with a single, clearly defined incident, but rather with a series of events suggesting the transition from a period of relative abundance to a time of persistent scarcity. These events will take both economic and political form: on the one hand, rising energy prices and contracting supplies; on the other, more diplomatic crises and military assertiveness. Recently, we have witnessed significant examples of both.
On the economic side, the most important signals have been provided by rising crude oil prices and warnings of diminished output in the future. A barrel of crude now costs over $60-approximately twice the figure for this time a year ago-and many experts believe that the price could rise much higher if the supply situation continues to deteriorate. “We’ve entered a new era of oil prices,” said energy expert Daniel Yergin in an April interview with Time Magazine. If markets remain as tight as they are at present, “you’ll see a lot more volatility, and you could see prices spike up as high as $65 to $80.”
Analysts at Goldman Sachs are even more pessimistic, suggesting that oil could reach as high as $105 a barrel in the near future. “We believe that oil markets may have entered the early stages of what we have referred to as a super-spike’ period,” they reported in April, with elevated prices prevailing for a “multi-year” stretch of time.
Of course, the world has experienced severe price spikes before-most notably in 1973-74 following the October War between Egypt and Israel and the Arab oil embargo, as well as in 1979-80 following the Iranian Revolution-but this time the high prices are likely to persist indefinitely, rather than recede as was the case in the past. This is because new production (in such places as the Caspian Sea and off the West coast of Africa) is not coming on line fast enough or furiously enough to compensate for the decline in output from older fields, such as those in North America and the North Sea. On top of this, it is becoming increasingly evident that stalwart producers like Russia and Saudi Arabia have depleted many of their most prolific fields and are no longer capable of boosting their total output in significant ways.
Until recently, it was considered heresy for officials of the oil industry and government bodies like the U.S. Department of Energy to acknowledge the possibility of a near-term contraction in oil supplies. But several recent events signal the breakdown of the dominant consensus:
On July 8, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman told reporters from the Christian Science Monitor that the era of cheap and abundant petroleum may now be over. “For the first time in my lifetime,” he declared, major oil suppliers like Saudi Arabia “are right at their ragged edge” in their ability to satisfy rising world demand for energy. Despite the huge increase in international demand, Bodman noted, the world’s leading producers are not capable of substantially expanding their output, and so we should expect a continuing upward trend in gasoline prices. “We are in a new situation,” he asserted. “We are likely at least in the near-term to be dealing with a different pricing regime than we have seen before.”
One week later, oil giant Chevron took out a two-page spread in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other major papers to signal its awareness of the impending energy crunch. “One thing is clear,” the advertisement announced, “the era of easy oil is over.” This was an extraordinary admission by a major oil company. The ad went on to say that “many of the world’s oil and gas fields are maturing” and that “new energy discoveries are mainly occurring in places where resources are difficult to extract, physically, economically, and even politically.” Equally revealing, the ad noted that the world will consume approximately one trillion barrels of oil over the next 30 years-about as much untapped petroleum as is thought to lie in the world’s known, “proven” reserves.
National Security Policy Based on Oil
These, and other recent reports from trade and industry sources, suggest that the anticipated slowdown in global petroleum output will have severe economic consequences. If prices spike at $100 a barrel, as suggested by Goldman Sachs, a global economic recession is almost unavoidable. At the same time, the slowdown in output is sure to have significant political and military consequences, as suggested by another set of recent events.
The most notable of these, of course, is the domestic brouhaha triggered by the $18.5 billion bid by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for U.S.-based Unocal, originally known as the Union Oil Company of California. Unocal, the owner of substantial oil and gas reserves in Asia, was originally wooed by Chevron, which offered $16.8 billion for the company earlier this year. The very fact that a Chinese firm had been prepared to outbid a powerful American firm for control of a major U.S.-based oil company is immensely significant in purely economic terms.
Since abandoned by the Chinese because of fierce American political opposition, the effort, if consummated, would have represented the largest transaction ever by a Chinese enterprise in the United States. But the bid triggered intense political debate and resistance in Washington because of CNOOC’s ties to the Chinese government-it is 70% owned by the state-and because the principal commodity involved, oil, was considered so vital to the U.S. economy and was thought to be less plentiful than once assumed. Fearing that China might gain control over valuable supplies of oil and gas that would someday be needed at home, conservative politicians sought to block CNOOC’s acquisition of Unocal by recasting the matter in national security terms.
“This is a national security issue,” former CIA Director R. James Woolsey testified before the House Armed Services Committee in July. “China is pursuing a national strategy of domination of the energy markets and strategic dominance of the western Pacific”-a strategy, he argued, that would be greatly enhanced by CNOOC’s acquisition of Unocal. Seen from this perspective, CNOOC’s bid was considered a threat to U.S. security interests and thus could have been barred by Congress or the President.
The notion of blocking a commercial transaction by a major foreign trading partner of the United States obviously flew in the face of the reigning economic doctrine of free trade and globalization. By invoking national security considerations, however, the President is empowered to bar the acquisition of a U.S. company in accordance with the Defense Production Act of 1950, a Cold War measure designed to prevent the flow of advanced technologies to the Soviet Union and it allies. This is precisely what was being proposed by a huge majority in the House of Representatives.
On June 30, the House adopted a resolution declaring that CNOOC’s takeover of Unocal could “impair the national security of the United States” and therefore should be barred by the President under terms of the 1950 law. This outlook then made its way into the omnibus energy bill adopted by Congress before its summer recess: Citing potential national security aspects of the matter, the bill imposed a mandatory 120-day federal review of the CNOOC bid-effectively ensuring its demise.
Further evidence of a growing amalgamation between energy issues and U.S. national security policy can be found in the Pentagon’s 2005 report on Chinese military power, released on July 20. While in previous years this report had focused mainly on China’s purported threat to the island of Taiwan, this year’s edition pays as much attention to the military implications of China’s growing dependence on imported oil and natural gas. “This dependence on overseas resources and energy supplies… is playing a role in shaping China’s strategy and policy,” the report notes. “Such concerns factor heavily in Beijing’s relations with Angola, Central Asia, Indonesia, the Middle East (including Iran), Russia, Sudan, and Venezuela… Beijing’s belief that it requires such special relationships in order to assure its energy access could shape its defense strategy and force planning in the future.”
The unclassified version of the Pentagon report does not state what steps Washington should take in response to these developments, but the implications are obvious: The United States must strengthen its own forces in key oil-producing regions so as to preclude any drive by China to dominate or control these areas.
Just how seriously American policymakers view these various energy-related developments is further revealed in another recent event: the first high-profile “war game” featuring an overseas oil crisis. Known as “Oil Shockwave,” this extraordinary exercise was chaired by Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and featured the participation of such prominent figures as former CIA Director Robert M. Gates, former Marine Corps Commandant General P. X. Kelley, and former National Economic Adviser Gene B. Sperling.
According to its sponsors, the game was conducted to determine what steps the United States could take to mitigate the impact of a significant disruption in overseas production and delivery, such as might be produced by a civil war in Nigeria and a terrorist upsurge in Saudi Arabia. The answer: practically nothing. “Once oil supply disruptions occur,” the participants concluded, “there is little that can be done in the short term to protect the U.S. economy from its impacts, including gasoline above $5 per gallon and a sharp decline in economic growth potentially leading into a recession.”
Not surprisingly, the outcome of the exercise produced a great deal of alarm among its participants. “This simulation serves as a clear warning that even relatively small reductions in oil supply will result in tremendous national security and economic problems for the country,” said Robbie Diamond of Securing America’s Energy Future (SAFE), one of the event’s principal sponsors. “The issue deserves immediate attention.”
Entering the Era of Resource Wars
From what is known of this exercise, “Oil Shockwave” did not consider the use of military force to deal with the imagined developments. But if recent history is any indication, this is sure to be one of the actions contemplated by U.S. policymakers in the event of an actual crisis. Indeed, it is official U.S. policy-enshrined in the “Carter Doctrine” of January 23, 1980-to use military force when necessary to resist any hostile effort to impede the flow of Middle Eastern oil.
This principle was first invoked by President Reagan to allow the protection of Kuwaiti oil tankers by U.S. forces during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88 and by President Bush Senior to authorize the protection of Saudi Arabia by U.S. forces during the first Gulf War of 1990-91. The same basic principle underlay the military and economic “containment” of Iraq from 1991 to 2003; and, when that approach failed to achieve its intended result of “regime change,” the use of military force to bring it about.
A similar reliance on force would undoubtedly be the outcome of at least one of the key imagined events in the Oil Shockwave exercise: a major terrorist upheaval in Saudi Arabia leading to the mass evacuation of foreign oil workers and the crippling of Saudi oil output. It is inconceivable that President Bush or his successor would refrain from the use of military force in such a situation, particularly given the historic presence of American troops in and around major Saudi oilfields.
In setting the stage for its simulated crisis, Oil Shockwave identified a set of conditions that provide a vivid preview of what we can expect during the Twilight Era of Petroleum:
Global oil prices exceeding $150 per barrel
Gasoline prices of $5.00 or more per gallon
A spike in the consumer price index of more than 12%
A protracted recession
A decline of over 25% in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index
A crisis with China over Taiwan
Increased friction with Saudi Arabia over U.S. policy toward Israel
Whether or not we experience these precise conditions cannot be foreseen at this time, it is incontestable that a slowdown in the global production of petroleum will produce increasingly severe developments of this sort and, in a far tenser, more desperate world, almost certainly threaten resource wars of all sorts; nor will this be a temporary situation from which we can hope to recover quickly. It will be a semi-permanent state of affairs.
Eventually, of course, global oil production will not merely be stagnant, as during the Twilight Era, but will begin a gradual, irreversible decline, leading to the end of the Petroleum Age altogether. Just how difficult and dangerous the Twilight Era proves to be, and just how quickly it will come to an end, will depend on one key factor: How quickly we move to reduce our reliance on petroleum as a major source of our energy and begin the transition to alternative fuels. This transition cannot be avoided. It will come whether we are prepared for it or not. The only way we can avert its most painful features is by moving swiftly to lay the foundations for a post-petroleum economy.
Berkeley, Aug. 15 , 2005 – Jan Lundberg, veteran petroleum analyst who joined the environmental movement and fought industry expansion, has a different explanation for record gasoline prices than the one provided by his former firm, Lundberg Survey, which on Aug. 14 attributed them only to high crude oil prices.
“The peak of world oil extraction is approximately now, although reserves data from the oil industry and OPEC are notoriously unreliable. Shortage of crude oil has started to make itself felt, as strained production levels of the most useful crudes reflect tight supply. It is true that oil demand has managed to reach record levels (82.2 million barrels a day; source: IEA), but oil fields inevitably peter out,” he told Fox News Radio.
Nearly 20 oil-exporting countries are past their peak in production. Also, Saudi Arabia is showing signs of leveling off. Another sign of dwindling geological resources is when industry does not invest in drilling new wells-despite record profits for oil-and rather buys up oil reserves via corporate mergers. “Refining capacity is almost maxed out, but industry sees little point in building more refineries when crude supply is in doubt,” Lundberg added. World discoveries peaked by 1965, and the trend in declining discovery is unalterable. U.S. production peaked in 1970.
Lundberg stated, “Growth of the economy ends when petroleum is in short supply. When the market really feels the gap between supply and demand widen, the price will go through the roof. Alternative energy sources are not ready. The coming oil shock will signal an historic flip-over from expanding our civilization via petroleum dependence to seeing the commencement -after “petrocollapse”-of a reversion to sustainable living based on local ecological capacity. The short answer to ‘What do we do now?’ is conserve, radically.”
Lundberg also told Fox News that it is erroneous to calculate that the adjusted price for gasoline, including inflation, is under the price of two and a half decades ago. This is because “subsidies-direct, indirect and hidden, such as the War on Iraq-to oil and refined products, if included in the price, would make oil cost perhaps $120 per barrel today. This is one reason people must work longer hours and obtain extra jobs,” he explained. | <urn:uuid:d05874b8-c925-43f0-b0de-6d0757500302> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.popco.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00328-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959793 | 7,287 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Friday, March 16, 2012
Saint Patrick's Day is upon us, and our Irish president (who traces his family back to the aptly-named village of "Moneygall") is celebrating his roots by spreading the Blarney even thicker than usual.
Specifically, Barack O'Bama says he is now considering opening our nation's strategic oil reserves to help drive down the price of gasoline, and drive up his own plunging poll numbers.
While some might see this as pure politics and sham (or shamrock) policy,
Hope n' Change recognizes that keeping the strategic oil reserve intact is really only of value in case of a far-fetched emergency like the Strait of Hormuz being blocked, or Israel and Iran getting into a shooting war, or Arabs deciding they don't like America. And fortunately, since our Nobel Prize-winning president brought lasting peace to the Middle East, none of those things could possibly happen!
Still, it's odd that until now the president has insisted that there is no relationship between the availability of oil and the price of gas...a belief which has informed his decisions to prevent the Keystone XL pipeline, to shut down oil exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and bring the issuing of new oil leases to a crawl.
But now he's out on the stump claiming that no one is a bigger proponent of drilling than he is, with the possible exception of Sandra Fluke.
Frankly, Hope n' Change is writing off all of this nonsense as just some good-natured St. Patrick's Day joshing by Mr. O'Bama - none of which should be taken seriously.
And all of which should be washed down with a significant quantity of green beer. | <urn:uuid:e0f426e3-e4c7-40ed-8f97-a2ba1e6ffca0> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://hopenchangecartoons.blogspot.com/2012/03/green-energy.html?showComment=1331897460603 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00034-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968451 | 352 | 1.523438 | 2 |
With the launching of CSOFT’s #GetSchooled Initiative, CSOFT has announced the beginning of its International Ambassador program. CSOFT will use its network, which spans over 171 countries, to inspire and train individuals and educate them about the problems that girls face in education. Through the Ambassador program, CSOFT hopes to mobilize its global team and worldwide partners to bring about practical change. It will challenge them to make a difference by providing opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to spread the message, raise awareness, and organize fundraising.
“The nature of our business is international” shared Ms. Shunee Yee, Founder & CEO of CSOFT, “we have partners around the world, our reach and ability is broad. It is our duty to use our network and the influence we have to help others. Outstanding female leadership makes a difference in the world, and that begins with a good education.”
CSOFT’s International Ambassador Program is made up of high school and college students around the world in addition to professional linguists, all of whom are committed to spreading awareness about the issues of educational inequality by taking part in a series of challenges. Over the next year our Ambassadors will create videos, look for fundraising opportunities, and spread the word about the problems which adolescent girls face which prevent them from having the opportunity to learn.
#GetSchooled was inspired by CSOFT’s collaboration with the Obama Administration’s Let Girls Learn initiative which aims to benefit the 62 million girls around the world who are in need of an education. In March 2016, CSOFT agreed to provide multilingual translation support by translating Peace Corp material in order to ensure that the message of Let Girls Learn is spread to the far corners of the world.
In addition to launching its International Ambassadors program, on September 24, the CEO of CSOFT International, Shunee Yee, presided over an Executive Lunch meeting for the #GetSchooled project. Marisa Drew (Co-Head of Credit Suisse EMEA Investment Banking and Capital Markets Division), Lara Tiam (Vice President of Human Resources at Shanghai Disney Resort), Yan Wang
(Vice President of Sales at Shanghai Disney Resort), Jean Zou (General Manager of Shanghai Disney Resort), Catty Ren (CEO of Google Adwords Shenzhen Experience Center), Jane Sun (COO of Ctrip), Diana Kuan (Chiarman of Three on the Bund), and more of China’s most successful female leaders were all in attendance. Together they discussed how to promote equality in education, in order to help more girls in China realize their life dreams.
Yee explains, “CSOFT hopes to become a model enterprise in the localization and globalization industry. Yet while we begin to expand within that industry, we also hope to begin to contribute to society by doing our part to change the world.”
Learn more about CSOFT’s Translation Services here. | <urn:uuid:1fb35a76-c614-4988-87b3-b60a9324d381> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://blog.csoftintl.com/find-out-about-csofts-getschooled-initiative/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571911.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813081639-20220813111639-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.943547 | 614 | 1.585938 | 2 |
David Voellinger, M.D.
By Laura Freeman
David Voellinger has always enjoyed exploring the horizons of health care—and understanding how new technologies can help improve patients’ lives. That drive led him to the field of bariatric surgery, where he has become a pioneer in the application of groundbreaking techniques and treatments to help patients face the physical and psychological challenges of obesity.
Recently Voellinger performed the fourth incisionless bariatric surgery in the United States on a 39-year-old patient at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The POSE (primary obesity surgery, endolumenal) procedure was part of the research to evaluate a new endoscopic surgery tool—the EndoSurgical Operating System (EOS)—to visualize the stomach,” he says.
“Working through the patient’s mouth, I use the EOS tool to grasp the stomach lining. Then I deploy polyester suture anchors to hold the tissue in place while creating multiple tissue folds on the stomach wall to reduce the stomach’s size and capacity,” he explains. “Eliminating incisions reduces the risk of infection, scars are completely eliminated, and there’s less postoperative pain and faster recovery.
“This may change the way bariatric surgery is done,” Voellinger says. “It helps patients control hunger, and they are back to normal activity in a few days.”
Voellinger had previously used the EOS tool, manufactured by USGI Medical, for revising bariatric surgeries. He says the technology also has been adapted for other new procedures including transoral gallbladder removal and transvaginal appendectomies.
Exploring the Field
The Dothan, Alabama, native became interested in bariatric, laparoscopic, and endoscopic procedures as an SOM medical student and resident. “What drew me to bariatric surgery was seeing our patients there postoperatively—and how the procedures had changed their entire lives by helping them control hunger to lose weight,” he recalls. “Many of their medical problems were gone, they were off medications, they were more confident, and they had a better outlook on life.”
After graduation in 1994 and completion of his residency in 1996, Voellinger ventured further into the field with a fellowship in advanced laproscopy and bariatrics at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center. Five years ago he founded Southeast Bariatrics in Charlotte, but he hasn’t forgotten what he learned in Birmingham.
“I had some terrific teachers,” Voellinger says. “The school gave me a wide breadth of knowledge. I’m still involved in clinical research because of the work I did there. Currently, I’m involved with a national study on a new gastric band and two studies on endoscopic techniques.”
Voellinger says that he still applies the lessons of his SOM mentors. “It all boils down to taking care of patients and what happens in the operating room,” he says. “It’s more than just the surgery itself. It’s how you set up the room and the team and how you care for the patient and family.”
A Good Match
One crucial aspect of that care, Voellinger says, is matching the patient to the bariatric procedure. “There are pluses and minuses to each,” he explains. “An adjustable band has lower risks, but there is typically less weight loss. With a gastric bypass or a biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, patients lose the most weight but risks are higher. A vertical-sleeve gastrectomy is in between.
“As we get five-, 10-, and 20-year data on bariatric surgery, the techniques are getting better. We’ve decreased morbidity and mortality to less than 1 percent. Around 80 to 90 percent of patients lose significant weight and keep it off with appropriate surgery and lifestyle management.”
Voellinger emphasizes that bariatric surgery is a tool—not the whole treatment. “Patients should be carefully selected and educated prior to surgery. They need lifestyle management and follow-up for success,” he says, adding that his staff includes a nutritionist, physiologist, behavior counselors, and even some former patients.
Looking ahead, Voellinger plans to continue making his practice an innovative, multidisciplinary resource that can provide tools to help patients win the obesity battle. “With the improvements we’re making, I hope we’ll soon have more to offer adolescents, patients with diabetes, and others who need help avoiding the serious physical and emotional consequences of obesity,” he says. “I love being out there, pushing the envelope every day.” | <urn:uuid:41f5ab67-44cd-4914-942d-eb40dd776828> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.uab.edu/medicine/magazine/fallwinter2009/alumni | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280761.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00093-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956529 | 1,013 | 2.21875 | 2 |
87% of projects suffer because people put their own needs ahead of the team’s and organization's needs.
The Five Behaviors is a comprehensive assessment that measures a team's level of trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results, and enables them to adopt a common language and framework to fit in with existing initiatives. It is an interactive and engaging experience that helps professionals and their organizations discover what it takes to build a high-performing team. This program is designed to help team members discover how their own unique personality styles contribute to their team’s overall success. The goal is to completely redefine teamwork and collaboration within your organization.
Our facilitated programs enable teams to understand their current state and create their own strategies for ongoing and sustained improvement. After participating in our programs, teams:
- Make better decisions
- Tap into skills of all members
- Avoid wasting time on politics, confusion, and destructive conflict
- Create a competitive advantage
- Become more productive and effectvie | <urn:uuid:b79aa10f-e296-47ae-908b-afc179afaf91> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://l2lconsultingteam.com/5-behaviors-cohesive-team/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573163.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818033705-20220818063705-00074.warc.gz | en | 0.953511 | 203 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A Comparison of Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Conditioning Regimens for Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Disorders. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021.
Outcomes in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Congenital Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia. Transplant Cell Ther. 2021.
Collection of Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cells in One Day is Associated with Decreased Donor Toxicity compared to Two Days in Unrelated Donors. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2020.
Genetic factors rather than blast reduction determine outcomes of allogeneic HCT in BCR-ABL-negative MPN in blast phase. Blood Adv. 2020;4(21):5562-5573.
Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Patients Who Develop Mucosal Barrier Injury-Laboratory Confirmed Bloodstream Infections in the First 100 Days After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(1):e1918668.
Late effects after ablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation for adolescent and young adult acute myeloid leukemia. Blood Adv. 2020;4(6):983-992.
Choice of conditioning regimens for bone marrow transplantation in severe aplastic anemia. Blood Adv. 2019;3(20):3123-3131. | <urn:uuid:e9772b52-9509-4649-a1e7-c41cea912b32> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.stembook.org/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=14967 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572286.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816090541-20220816120541-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.669695 | 323 | 1.78125 | 2 |
The course is intended to contribute to students' understanding of recovery oriented community-based services and community support of vulnerable people with special emphasis on people with mental health problems and disabled people.
The course emphasizes the importance of strengthening local communities, community development. Students will be able to connect this two fields, looking at traditional care services from a new, wider perspective.
The course will be organized by Tallinn University Institute of Social Work and ELTE University Faculty of Social Sciences within the framework of the Open University Program between October and December 2014. Lectures can be mastered any time between the given time frame but assignments has to be submitted by the given time we highlighted in the Calendar.
Participants signing up for the course will receive 4 ECTS from Tallinn University Institute of Social Work and ELTE University after the accomplishment of the course.
Literature we used for designing the course:
Slade, M. (2009) Personal Recovery and Mental Illness: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals (Values-Based Practice) Cambridge University Press, 2009
Thornicroft, G., Szmukler, G., Mueser, K., Drake, R. (2011) Oxford Textbook of Community Mental Health. Oxford University Press 2011.
Wilken, J-P. (2005) Rehabilitation and Recovery. A comprehensive approach. SWP Publisher. 2005
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Castells, M. (2005) The Network Society. From Knowledge to Policy. Center for Transatlantic Relations
Carpenter, Mick and Raj, T.. (2012) Editorial introduction : towards a paradigm shift from community care to community development in mental health. Community Development Journal, Vol.47 (No.4). pp. 457-472. ISSN 0010-3802
Morris, D.; Gilchrist, A.: (2012) Communities Connected: Inclusion, Participation and Common Purpose. RSA Action and Research Centre. London 2012
Gilchrist, A. (2009) The Well-connected Community: A Networking Approach to Community Development. The Policy Press, Bristol, UK. 2009
Lecturer (Estonia - Tallinn University)
Zsolt Bugarszki, PhD is lecturer at Tallinn University Institute of Social Work. Dr. Bugarszki was born in Budapest, Hungary. For more than 12 years he had been teaching at ELTE University's Faculty of Social Sciences in Budapest. Besides his academic career he has been working in different services and development project in the field of community-services in many Eastern-European and post-Soviet countries. His special expertise is service development in low- and middle income countries. He is the director of the international organization CARe Europe.
Lecturer (Hungary - ELTE University) | <urn:uuid:8694d7b0-1bf0-43ad-8baf-0fe19408d01e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://eliademy.com/catalog/community-support-and-community-development.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281162.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00540-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886146 | 590 | 1.929688 | 2 |
“There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.” – Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman,
from an address to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy, June 19, 1879, known as his “War is hell” speech (Wikipedia entry on Sherman).
(Query: Does anyone have an electronic link to the full text of Sherman’s address that day? Or, do you know where it might be found, even in hard copy?)
David Parker quoted the prayer out of Mark Twain’s disturbing story, “The War Prayer.” Go there for a discussion on what Twain meant, and just how much opposed to war he was.
For a deeper context, and a Jeff Danziger cartoon that will make you stand up and think, see the original post of this quote. | <urn:uuid:1b4898ea-aae7-41ef-a602-cb8328b47913> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/encore-quote-of-the-moment-sherman-on-war/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718278.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00239-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962009 | 188 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Today's global marketplace is creating unique engineering and design issues for both machine designers and component suppliers that were not considered particularly important when products were designed, built, and used in only one country or continent. Designing the next-generation packaging machine, semiconductor process tool, or electronic assembly system for China, Brazil, France, or the United States requires that machine designers and component suppliers address a variety of issues including cultural, logistical, component availability, tooling, technical standards, and service. Some of these issues are more easily addressed, but others require better up-front planning, more time, and expense. One thing is certain; it is changing the way system and component suppliers are engineering and manufacturing their next-generation products.
As internal engineering resources continue to be eliminated or outsourced, designers are being asked to do more and in less time. Machines must now meet varying design specifications and requirements for use in the global marketplace. As profit margins become thinner, a machine must be less complicated, more economical to manufacture, and be supported anywhere in the world.
Simplicity of design makes the process easier in terms of high performing and highly reliable components that meet any number of different global specifications, as well as off-the-shelf component availability to shorten lead times. And component and subsystem suppliers are adapting to this new market reality. Gone are the days when a machine characteristic has to be designed around the limitation of a single component. Today, products designed into next-generation machines must be flexible enough for global acceptance. In other words, machines need to work as effectively in the United States at 60 Hz as they do in Italy at 50 Hz.
At a systems level, motion-control components must address all of the machine's mechanical requirements including linear travel distance, speed, mass, number of axes, and motor requirements such as torque, inertia, acceleration, power, and shaft size. Other global issues pertain to the specifications for the control electronics, environmental concerns, acceptance criteria, ISO standards, and others. Many of these issues can be summarized in the following list:
Fewer engineering resources and time-to-market pressures complicate the design process. The question for suppliers is how can their components simplify the overall design by reducing the number of components, maintaining high reliability, shortening the regulatory approval process while meeting performance and cost targets and global design specifications.
Consider a hypothetical machine with four axes of motion. It may require 480-Vac motors meeting CE requirements with a wide range of torques and speeds. Some motors may need particular mounting standards to match up to gearboxes, have dimensional constraints because of other factors in the machine design, or specific feedback-device requirements regarding accuracy or resolution. Leading motion-control companies are taking a new and innovative approach to their next-generation servomotor products to address this issue. Plus, finding a motor or system that exactly fits the machine specification is getting easier thanks to dynamic-simulation software and online product selection programs offered by many motion-control suppliers.
Innovations are taking place in servodrives as well. Three key attributes characterize breakthroughs in new servodrive product development: ease of use, reliability, and compatibility across a wide range of motor types and global communications protocols. Ease of use incorporates features such as intelligent feedback devices that eliminate drive tuning. Other features include autoconfiguration capabilities, simpler cabling options (such as one cable per drive for each motion axis), and a common graphical user interface across multiple drive platforms to reduce the learning curve. These features make it easier to set up and configure the machine in the field and require fewer engineering resources. Reliability is another important factor in selecting electronic components. The trend is toward machines with fewer components, which leads to fewer points of failure in the overall design. This increases system reliability and uptime, leading to greater productivity.
Compatibility with a wide variety of brushless servomotors is essential, letting a common drive platform power conventional servomotors, direct-drive rotary (DDR) and direct-drive linear (DDL) servomotors. Finally, because customers have standardized on a number of communications protocols, servodrives that can support all the common platforms -- from common standard analog commands to CANopen, Sercos, Profibus, DeviceNet, and Ethernet -- means one drive or drive family can meet any communications requirement.
Getting a machine through the safety certification process is changing as manufacturing expands to new geographic regions. It used to be that getting the UL, CE, or CUL stamp of approval was all that was required. Now new standards like CCC in China are becoming necessary steps in the machine-certification process. Component suppliers can ease the process by ensuring their components are certified to meet all the new global standards.
After completing the import/export, certification, transportation, and paperwork logistics and the machine is installed far from where it was originally designed and manufactured, what happens when it needs servicing? As markets expand for sophisticated manufacturing equipment, the ability of component suppliers and machine builders alike to service their equipment becomes a key factor in building strong customer loyalty. Supplying a component that will be designed into a machine is only half the story. The manufacturer needs to know that component suppliers can provide the support needed to keep their equipment running wherever it may be deployed.
As capital-equipment manufacturers move portions of their manufacturing operations to low-cost regions in Asia or South America, supply chain logistics become more complex. Component suppliers are themselves moving manufacturing to these same low-cost regions and investing in their support infrastructure. The companies making these investments will be well positioned to support their globally expanding customer base.
Danaher Motion, www.danahermotion.com
BENEFITS OF GLOBAL FEATURE SETS|
|Components meet international compliance standards: CE, UL/CUL, CCC (China)||Faster and easier machine certification and allows machine builders to sell into a broad range of markets.|
|Input voltage: 120 Vac, 240 Vac (single and 3-phase), 400 Vac, 480 Vac (3-phase)||Provides machine builders the flexibility to match the voltage requirements for a wide range of international standards.|
|Communication protocols: DeviceNet, Profibus, CANopen, Sercos, TCP/IP, etc.||Interface to a variety of controllers and devices commonly used in diverse motion-control industries.|
|Mountings: North America, European, Japanese standards||Flexibility to match motors to a wide range of components or transmission types.|
|Wide range of frame sizes and stack lengths||A wide range of torque and speed capabilities in varying package sizes to accommodate various performance requirements, physical envelopes, and load inertia situations.|
|IP65||Provides resistance to dust and water jets.|
|Viton seals||Provide resistance to many corrosive liquids.| | <urn:uuid:7915509c-4b3a-4c5f-ae65-d8757d13f47a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://machinedesign.com/print/archive/globetrotting-machines | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00274-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930346 | 1,412 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1922 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
About The independent. (Redding, Shasta County, Calif.) 1926-19??
Redding, Shasta County, Calif. (1926-19??)
The independent. : (Redding, Shasta County, Calif.) 1926-19??
- Place of publication:
- Redding, Shasta County, Calif.
- Geographic coverage:
| View more titles from this:
- Thomas R. Kendall
- Dates of publication:
- Daily (except Sun. and Mon.)
- California--Shasta County.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01215710
- Shasta County (Calif.)--Newspapers.
- Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 5 (Apr. 8, 1926).
- sn 92068953
View complete holdings information | <urn:uuid:81e61d22-4c05-4da1-9bab-874e9e9b1041> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92068953/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720737.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00221-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.700269 | 230 | 1.53125 | 2 |
CEC member Appolinaire Oussou Lio, geographer and naturalist, reports on recent efforts to save the African manatees of Benin. His NGO lead a mission to Lake Slre to see two manatees that had travelled out of their flooded river and were later trapped in the lake by drought. The author links the event to climate change.
On the 16 of December 2009, the population of Goho in the commune of Seme-Kpodji informed GRABE-BENIN (an NGO) of the death of an African manatee. Going to the site, the team, led by Executive Director Mr. Leonce KPODOZOUNTO, used the opportunity to educate the local communities about the threat to this animal and its river corridors of migration. The scientific name of the manatee is Trichechus senegalensis, the largest mammel of fresh water which migrates the length of the river Ouémé, as well as the lakes that surround it. Often killed by the local population for meat or to be sold at high prices, the manatee is on the verge of extinction.
Four months after the death of the manatee at Goho, the NGO Nature Tropicale alerted us to the presence of a couple of manatees living in the lake Slre. Careful to protect this aquatic animal, the Biodiversity Forum of Benin (a conference focused on the farm school « GRAINE FUTURE » of GRABE-BENIN) was transferred to a nearby location. On Saturday, March 6th 2010, several NGOs focused on preservation of the environment as well as some representatives of the government reunited at Lake Slre to study and reflect on the life of these large and mysterious animals. Many people saw live manatees for the first time. (For me as well, this was a touching moment to care for a live manatee).
Why did we find these two manatees in the Slre Lake ?
Without a doubt, climate change is the cause. How? As a result of changing temperatures, the zones traversed by the river Oueme brought a flood of water, increasing the water level of the lakes. The manatees probably thought, « There is enough water everywhere! We should go further to find food and explore! » What an error, though! They didn’t realize they were at the gate of No Return. The diminishment of water was brutal with the great drought that followed, caused by evaporation.
From time to time, one could cross the river by foot on the riverbed. So if the strong are weakening, what should the weak do? The water level of the lake tragically diminished. Our two friends the manatees were trapped, without a hope of returning to the river Ouémé which would allow them to continue on their route. To confront the dangers, animals often have their own survival strategies. Our two « unfortunate adventurers » decided to solve their problem by crushing the cavities in the depths of the lake to get to more water, and hid their backs as much as possible while waiting for the rain to return.
The manatees: We saved them but…
In canoes filled with men and women, we were followed by the villagers, some of whom walked in the water that barely reached their thighs. A few meters from the refuge of the animals, the canoes were immobilized. It was the beginning of an adventure of the Ecoguards. It took us 15 minutes to find the animals and hold them up to the villagers to see this splendour of nature. We then moved the animals back to their native habit, letting them continue on their natural migration.
And then afterwards? What did we do ?
To protect the space of manatees in the area, we worked with the local communities to create a sustainable plan. We must work with these local communities to educate and develop alternative activities (such as ecotourism) that can replace the poaching of the manatees, thus saving these gentle creatures from rapid extinction.
We have need of your technical expertise and donations to begin a real program to protect African manatees in Benin. | <urn:uuid:eeed6630-5ad6-4a3e-aaed-80d2009afd1f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://cms.iucn.org/content/cec-member-seeks-save-manatees-benin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280292.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00344-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969313 | 870 | 3.125 | 3 |
It's estimated that one in 133 Americans suffer from celiac disease and another 18 million Americans have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. For them, "gluten-free" is more than a diet buzzword—it's a necessity!
But not everyone following a gluten-free diet seems to know what gluten actually is, as Jimmy Kimmel found out on his show:
Hilarious! For the record: Gluten is a protein composite found in foods that are processed from wheat and related species of grain (including barley, rye, and spelt). So, yes: bread, crackers, cookies, cakes, and pasta are definitely culprits. But there are other things with gluten in them that you might not immediately expect—such as seitan (the vegetarian high-protein "meat" that's actually made entirely with wheat), tabouli (another vegetarian fave), couscous (um, starting to realize that "gluten-free" and "vegan" might be a rough combo), soy sauce, pudding, hot dogs, sausages, salad dressings...and even lip gloss.
Oh, and here's another: certain varieties of marshmallows! I know this only because my six-year-old has apparently been talking about gluten with her school friends (insert quizzical look here), and she informed me that Peeps are gluten-free. Naturally, I researched it. She was right.
Are you gluten-sensitive? Are there any other foods you might not expect to contain/be cross-contaminated with gluten that you'd add to this list? | <urn:uuid:11444d3c-a964-4156-bd8c-316b274238c2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.glamour.com/story/jimmy-kimmel-gluten | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00177-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966055 | 328 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Rating Guatemalan Nonprofits – a force for growth in the sector
Pionero Philanthropy has been working on refining its approach regarding the rating of current and future partner nonprofits in Guatemala. After taking into consideration our research, experience and feedback, we are excited to announce some changes to our evaluation system.
The Original “Clunky” Methodology
When Pionero started, we combined our nonprofit experience, with Academic literature and models from development organizations such as the UN, USAID and DFiD. The 5 Evaluation Pillars of Sustainability, Transparency, Efficiency, Impact, Need were decided upon.
Relevant questions relating to each pillar were created whilst balancing common foreign donor expectations with Guatemalan realities. We created a nonprofit questionnaire which we filled out at every nonprofit visit. All this information, in conjunction with background research was collated into a nonprofit report for each organization.
A More Measurable Approach
As more nonprofits showed interest in partnering and as we updated nonprofit reports, it became clear that we needed to implement some form of rating system.
Originally, we resisted implementing such a system. This is because we felt that applying a rating system would encourage unfair comparisons leaving little room for meaningful differentiation.
We feared that a rating system would disadvantage smaller nonprofits because larger organizations are usually better positioned to satisfy stricter donor requirements. We were concerned that donors would disregard smaller nonprofits who have impressive potential for exponential impact within their communities.
The Pionero Philanthropy Scoring System
In order to combat concerns, level the playing field, and champion organizations making a concerted effort to improve, we decided to implement 2 routes to getting a Gold Seal of Excellence.
We are also introducing specific awards for organizations that score high in specific evaluation areas of donor interest.
The Benefits of a Rating System
So what changed Pionero Philanthropy’s mind to implement a rating system? Why is a scoring system beneficial to the Guatemalan nonprofit sector?
1. Data Driven Comparisons are Beneficial for Research
Although we understand the value in subjective, narrative information, numerical data was lacking in our evaluation process. We also wanted to perform more analyses across datasets which is best performed by using numbers.
We hope that the data collected and available on our website will be useful to many actors. These stakeholders include nonprofits, donors, academics and more.
2. Data-Driven Comparisons Pinpoint Areas of Improvement
0-2 points are available for each of the 50 subcategories. Allocating points enables nonprofits to identify and focus on areas for improvement.
Pionero Philanthropy also has a Nonprofit Resource Center which contains details of each measurement and supporting resources. These tools aim to assist nonprofits in taking immediate action to improve their scores.
3. The Rating System can Empower Nonprofits and Increase Awareness of Donor Expectations
The Pionero rating system is based on 50 Academic Best Practices based on US donor standards. They are adapted to the Guatemala nonprofit context.
Through spotlighting donor standards, we hope that nonprofits will be well prepared to respond to foreign donor standards independent from Pionero Philanthropy. We hope this translates into more funding and growth opportunities in the future!
4. The System Encourages Sector-Wide Growth and Investment
Through the rating system, we hope in the long term to support the sector and drive more investment and attention to the country.
5. Ratings and Seals of Excellence are Quick Visual Tools to Promote Partner Nonprofits
We hope that promoting our partner nonprofits and their Seals and awards, that donors and collaborators will feel confident in contacting them thanks to Pionero’s Independent verification.
Furthermore, we hope our partner nonprofits will display their seals in external communications. This we hope will increase outside interest in these great causes.
Implementation of the Rating System
Pionero Philanthropy will be implementing its new rating system where staff will be repeating in person visits to current partners and carrying out the methodology from scratch with new partners visits.
A pilot evaluation gave encouraging results from the Guatemala City education based nonprofit, Cada Niño.
We are very impressed with Cada Niño’s response to the new rating system. The nonprofit managed to make substantial improvements which drastically improved their rating.
We hope that improvements to ratings and their resulting impacts will lead to a more prosperous Guatemalan nonprofit sector. | <urn:uuid:251e1f72-7cb0-41c5-875d-b32cb5262485> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.pionerophilanthropy.org/rating-nonprofits-in-guatemala/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00667.warc.gz | en | 0.932187 | 896 | 1.5 | 2 |
A Visit from St. Nicholas
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,
"A Visit from St. Nicholas", more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas" and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who claimed authorship in 1837. Some commentators now believe the poem was written by Henry Livingston, Jr.
The poem has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American" and is largely responsible for some of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today. It has had a massive impact on the history of Christmas gift-giving. Before the poem gained wide popularity, American ideas had varied considerably about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors. "A Visit from St. Nicholas" eventually was set to music and has been recorded by many artists.
- 1 Plot
- 2 Meter
- 3 Literary history
- 4 Original copies
- 5 Authorship controversy
- 6 In popular culture
- 7 See also
- 8 References
- 9 External links
On Christmas Eve night, while his wife and children sleep, a father awakens to noises outside his house. Looking out the window, he sees Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) in an air-borne sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. After landing his sleigh on the roof, the saint enters the house through the chimney, carrying a sack of toys with him. The father watches Santa filling the children's Christmas stockings hanging by the fire, and laughs to himself. They share a conspiratorial moment before the saint bounds up the chimney again. As he flies away, Santa wishes everyone a "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."
The poem's meter is anapestic tetrameter (four feet of unstressed-unstressed-stressed). The anapest is the same foot used to construct limericks, and the common metrical modifications that can be observed in the limerick form also can be observed in Moore's poem. For example, while the first two lines each use full anapests, lines 3 and 4 each drop the first unstressed syllable. Likewise, lines 9 and 10 drop the first unstressed syllable; they also add an extra unstressed syllable to the end.
According to legend, "A Visit" was composed by Clement Clarke Moore on a snowy winter's day during a shopping trip on a sleigh. His inspiration for the character of Saint Nicholas was a local Dutch handyman as well as the historical Saint Nicholas. Moore originated many of the features that are still associated with Santa Claus today while borrowing other aspects, such as the use of reindeer. The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on 23 December 1823, having been sent there by a friend of Moore, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached. It was first attributed in print to Moore in 1837. Moore himself acknowledged authorship when he included it in his own book of poems in 1844. By then, the original publisher and at least seven others had already acknowledged his authorship. Moore had a reputation as an erudite professor and had not wished at first to be connected with the unscholarly verse. He included it in the anthology at the insistence of his children, for whom he had originally written the piece.
Moore's conception of St. Nicholas was borrowed from his friend Washington Irving (see below), but Moore portrayed his "jolly old elf" as arriving on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. At the time that Moore wrote the poem, Christmas Day was overtaking New Year's Day as the preferred genteel family holiday of the season, but some Protestants viewed Christmas as the result of "Catholic ignorance and deception" and still had reservations. By having St. Nicholas arrive the night before, Moore "deftly shifted the focus away from Christmas Day with its still-problematic religious associations." As a result, "New Yorkers embraced Moore's child-centered version of Christmas as if they had been doing it all their lives."
In An American Anthology, 1787–1900, editor Edmund Clarence Stedman reprinted the Moore version of the poem, including the German spelling of "Donder and Blitzen" that he adopted, rather than the earlier Dutch version from 1823 "Dunder and Blixem." Both phrases translate as "Thunder and Lightning" in English, though the German word for thunder is "Donner" and the words in modern Dutch would be "Donder en Bliksem."
Modern printings frequently incorporate alterations that reflect changing linguistic and cultural sensibilities. For example, breast in "The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow" is frequently bowdlerized to crest; the archaic ere in "But I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight" is frequently replaced with as. Note that this change implies that Santa Claus made his exclamation during the moment that he disappeared from view, while the exclamation came before his disappearance in the original. "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night" is frequently rendered with the traditional English locution "'Merry Christmas'" and with "goodnight" as a single word.
Four hand-written copies of the poem are known to exist and three are in museums, including the New-York Historical Society library. The fourth copy, written out and signed by Clement Clarke Moore as a gift to a friend in 1860, was sold by one private collector to another in December 2006. It was purchased for $280,000 by an unnamed "chief executive officer of a media company" who resides in New York City, according to Dallas, Texas-based Heritage Auctions which brokered the private sale.
Moore's connection with the poem has been questioned by Professor Donald Foster, who used textual content analysis and external evidence to argue that Moore could not have been the author. Foster believes that Major Henry Livingston, Jr., a New Yorker with Dutch and Scottish roots, should be considered the chief candidate for authorship, a view long espoused by the Livingston family. Livingston was distantly related to Moore's wife. Foster's claim, however, has been countered by document dealer and historian Seth Kaller, who once owned one of Moore's original manuscripts of the poem. Kaller has offered a point-by-point rebuttal of both Foster's linguistic analysis and external findings, buttressed by the work of autograph expert James Lowe and Dr. Joe Nickell, author of Pen, Ink and Evidence.
Evidence in favor of Moore
Moore is credited by his friend Charles Fenno Hoffman as author in the 25 December 1837 Pennsylvania Inquirer and Daily Courier. Further, the Rev. David Butler, who allegedly showed the poem to Sentinel editor Orville L. Holley, was a relative of Moore's. A letter to Moore from the publisher states, "I understand from Mr. Holley that he received it from Mrs. Sackett, the wife of Mr. Daniel Sackett who was then a merchant in this city". Moore preferred to be known for his more scholarly works, but allowed the poem to be included in his anthology in 1844 at the request of his children. By that time, the original publisher and at least seven others had already acknowledged his authorship. Livingston family lore gives credit to their forebear rather than Moore, but there is no proof that Livingston himself ever claimed authorship, nor has any record ever been found of any printing of the poem with Livingston's name attached to it, despite more than 40 years of searches.
Evidence in favor of Livingston
Advocates for Livingston's authorship argue that Moore "tried at first to disavow" the poem. They also posit that Moore falsely claimed to have translated a book. Document dealer and historian Seth Kaller has challenged both claims. Kaller examined the book in question, A Complete Treatise on Merinos and Other Sheep, as well as many letters signed by Moore, and found that the "signature" was not penned by Moore, and thus provides no evidence that Moore made any plagiaristic claim. Kaller's findings were confirmed by autograph expert James Lowe, by Dr. Joe Nickell, the author of Pen, Ink & Evidence, and by others. According to Kaller, Moore's name was likely written on the book by a New-York Historical Society cataloger to indicate that it had been a gift from Moore to the Society.
The following points have been advanced in order to credit the poem to Major Henry Livingston, Jr.:
Livingston also wrote poetry primarily using an anapaestic metrical scheme, and it is claimed that some of the phraseology of A Visit is consistent with other poems by Livingston, and that Livingston's poetry is more optimistic than Moore's poetry published in his own name. But Stephen Nissenbaum argues in his Battle for Christmas that the poem could have been a social satire of the Victorianization of Christmas. Furthermore, Kaller claims that Foster cherry-picked only the poems that fit his thesis and that many of Moore's unpublished works have a tenor, phraseology, and meter similar to A Visit. Moore had even written a letter titled "From Saint Nicholas" that may have predated 1823.
Foster also contends that Moore hated tobacco and would, therefore, never have depicted St. Nicholas with a pipe. However, Kaller notes, the source of evidence for Moore's supposed disapproval of tobacco is The Wine Drinker, another poem by him. In actuality, that verse contradicts such a claim. Moore's The Wine Drinker criticizes self-righteous, hypocritical advocates of temperance who secretly indulge in the substances which they publicly oppose, and supports the social use of tobacco in moderation (as well as wine, and even opium, which was more acceptable in his day than it is now).
Foster also asserts that Livingston's mother was Dutch, which accounts for the references to the Dutch Sinteklaes tradition and the use of the Dutch names "Dunder and Blixem". Against this claim, it is suggested by Kaller that Moore — a friend of writer Washington Irving and member of the same literary society — may have acquired some of his knowledge of New York Dutch traditions from Irving. Irving had written A History of New York in 1809 under the name of "Dietrich Knickerbocker." It includes several references to legends of St. Nicholas, including the following that bears a close relationship to the poem:
And the sage Oloffe dreamed a dream,—and lo, the good St. Nicholas came riding over the tops of the trees, in that self-same wagon wherein he brings his yearly presents to children, and he descended hard by where the heroes of Communipaw had made their late repast. And he lit his pipe by the fire, and sat himself down and smoked; and as he smoked, the smoke from his pipe ascended into the air and spread like a cloud overhead. And Oloffe bethought him, and he hastened and climbed up to the top of one of the tallest trees, and saw that the smoke spread over a great extent of country; and as he considered it more attentively, he fancied that the great volume of smoke assumed a variety of marvelous forms, where in dim obscurity he saw shadowed out palaces and domes and lofty spires, all of which lasted but a moment, and then faded away, until the whole rolled off, and nothing but the green woods were left. And when St. Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hatband, and laying his finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van Kortlandt a very significant look; then, mounting his wagon, he returned over the tree-tops and disappeared.— Washington Irving, A History of New York
MacDonald P. Jackson, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, has spent his entire academic career analyzing authorship attribution. He has written a book titled Who Wrote "the Night Before Christmas"?: Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore Vs. Henry Livingston Question, published in 2016, in which he evaluates the opposing arguments and, for the first time, uses the author-attribution techniques of modern computational stylistics to examine the long-standing controversy. Jackson employs a range of tests and introduces a new one, statistical analysis of phonemes; he concludes that Livingston is the true author of the classic work.
In popular culture
- In the Garfield comic strips published during the week of 19–24 December 1983, the text of the poem was drawn above scenes of Garfield acting out the part of the narrator.
- From 13–25 December 2010, Over the Hedge covered the poem in a story arc, in which Verne tries to read it to Hammy and R.J., but keeps getting interrupted by their silly comments.
- The 11 December 1968 installation of Peanuts features Sally Brown attempting to recite the poem but inadvertently substituting the name of golfer Jack Nicklaus for "Saint Nicholas" ("The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hope that Jack Nicklaus soon would be there"), after which Charlie Brown is hesitant to correct her.
- Issue 40 of the DC Comics book Young Justice (2001) is a full-length parody of the poem. Unusual for a comic book, it features no panels or word balloons, only full-page illustrations accompanied by rhyming text. In the story, Santa sacrifices his life to save the world from a vengeful alien villain (though it's implied he'll be reborn next Christmas) and the teen heroes are stuck with the task of delivering all his gifts.
- Florence Cestac adapted it for Christmas Classics: Graphic Classics Volume Nineteen (2010).
- The short silent film The Night Before Christmas (1905) was the first production of the poem on film.
- In the 1933 Pooch the Pup cartoon Merry Dog (1933), Pooch the recites the poem. When he mentions the line "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse," a rat finds it ludicrous, and therefore comes out to cause a little trouble.
- The Silly Symphonies cartoon short, The Night Before Christmas (1933),
- The Tom & Jerry cartoon short The Night Before Christmas (1941) opens with the poem's first lines, Jerry appearing from his hole on the word "mouse".
- In Die Hard (1988), Theo, the terrorist's tech specialist, is reporting on the assaulting Swat team, beginning his 'narration' with the first lines of the poem.
- In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) reads the story to his extended family, but changes the narrative when he looks out the window and sees Cousin Eddie and Eddie's kidnapped hostage (Clark's boss) approaching the house. Instead of describing the "miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer", Clark describes the strange event taking place in his front yard.
- The title of Tim Burton's stop motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) parodies the poem's first line.
- The film The Santa Clause (1994) features Tim Allen's character reading the poem to his son, who was later awakened by reindeer on the roof, citing the phrase "arose such a clatter".
- A "Canonical List of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Variations" contains nearly 1000 versions of the classic poem.
- In 2014, the Cottage and Eagle Studios reproduced in its original format, "The Night Before Christmas or a Visit of St. Nicholas", originally published in 1896 by the McLoughin Brothers of New York.
- Richard J. Davis' poetry adaptation, "The Night Before Christmas, 1914" (2013), is based upon the events of the Christmas Truce during World War I.
- Lance Corporal James M. Schmidt penned "Merry Christmas, My friend. A Marine's version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'" (1986).
- James Thurber's parody, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas IN THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY MANNER", which originally appeared in the 24 December 1927, issue of The New Yorker.
- Trosclair's children's book, The Cajun Night Before Christmas (1973), offers a Cajun version of the classic tale, written in Cajun dialect and changing the scene to a Louisiana swamp and the saint's vehicle to a skiff pulled by alligators.
- In E.B. White's novel Stuart Little (1945), the title character's parents change the second line to "not even a louse", so as not to offend their son, who is a mouse.
Music and spoken word
- In 1953, Perry Como recorded a reading of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Its original release was on the Around the Christmas Tree LPM-3133.
- The Louis Armstrong Christmas CD Christmas Through the Years includes Louis reading the poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas", better known as "The Night before Christmas". Recorded on 26 February 1971 in the den of his Corona, Queens home (now the Louis Armstrong House Museum), it is his last commercial recording, and the only one without his own music.
- The nu metal band Korn released a limited edition promotional 12-inch single in 1993, which featured two versions of their "A Visit from St. Nicholas" parody: "Christmas Song (Squeak by the FCC version)" and "Christmas Song (Blatant FCC Violation version)". The song was also planned to appear in Korn's debut album, but eventually was not included.
- The poem was set to music by Ken Darby and recorded by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians in 1942 in an arrangement by Harry Simeone.
- Dave Seville recorded the poem for the 1963 album Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2.
- Anthony Daniels voiced the character of C-3PO on Meco Monardo's 1980 record Christmas in the Stars reciting "A Christmas Sighting ('Twas the Night Before Christmas)", in which he describes "S. Claus" coming to the droids' toy factory to pick up the year's presents to distribute.
- Actor Jack Palance narrates the poem on Laurie Z's 2001 recording, "Heart of the Holidays".
- Under the title "A Visit From St. Nick", the poem was set for Speaker & Orchestra by Robert Lichtenberger in 1987. It was commissioned for and premiered by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Polochick, and repeated by the BSO on a number of subsequent Christmas holiday concerts. The work has also been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by the late Erich Kunzel, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elizabeth Schulze as well as other ensembles in the USA. Narrators have included then-mayor-of-Baltimore Kurt Schmoke, actor George Clooney and actress Pat Carroll.
- The poem was set to music by Aaron Dai in 2006 as "The Night Before Christmas". It has been performed by The Chelsea Symphony and noteworthy narrators such as Richard Kind, Ana Gasteyer, and David Hyde Pierce.
- A Pokémon version of this poem is included on the soundtrack CD album of Pokémon-themed Christmas songs entitled Pokémon Christmas Bash.
- In a 1939 recording included in the Nimbus Records collection Prima Voce: The Spirit of Christmas Past, actor Basil Rathbone reads the poem.
- The Bob Rivers comedy album Twisted Christmas features the track "A Visit from St. Nicholson", a narration of a Christmas visit from Jack Nicholson.
- In the Dave Van Ronk song "Yas Yas Yas", the poem is parodied in the verse "'Twas the night before Christmas, all was quiet in the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, when from the lawn there came a big crash. It was Father Christmas landing on his yas yas yas."
- A new rock/pop musical adaptation was released in 2011 by the artist JJ's Tunes & Tales on CD, Baby and iTunes. The single features the singing of Juliet Lyons, and a rock band that includes both electric guitars and mandolins. This musical adaptation has singing and music throughout, with no spoken or rap lyric sections.
- Since 1911 the Church of the Intercession in Manhattan has held a service that includes the reading of the poem followed by a procession to the tomb of Clement Clarke Moore at Trinity Cemetery the Sunday before Christmas.
- In Mono Virus, a song by the Eraserheads from their 1996 album Fruitcake, the singer recites a parodied version of the poem before going into the song.
- Alma Deutscher had composed the song in 2014, under the name "The Night before Christmas".
Radio and television
- In A Muppet Family Christmas, the Sesame Street Muppets perform a play based on the poem, with Ernie narrating as the father (the main character) and Bert as Mamma (he lost a coin toss). The monsters appear as the reindeer, with the Two-Headed Monster as Santa (and Grover as the mouse who is not stirring, literally). The narration omits the line, "The children were nestled, all snug in their bed(s)/While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads", because the line was just extra information that wasn't central to the skit's production.
- Episode 55 of Animaniacs featured a skit titled "The Day Before Christmas", in which Ralph the Guard is given the task of delivering Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's Christmas presents. The short is presented as a bedtime story told by Slappy Squirrel to her nephew Skippy and is narrated in the poetic form as the original story. This cartoon was adapted into comic book form in a special comic book published by DC Comics in October 1994.
- In the Barney and the Backyard Gang special, "Waiting for Santa", Barney reads the story to Michael and Amy, whom he has befriended, while Santa himself is in the living room of the house doing his usual work. He falls asleep just as he comes to "With a little old driver, so lively and quick/I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick." Santa whispers the last quotation to the camera after that.
- In the 1961 Bell Telephone Hour television program A Trip to Christmas, Ken Darby's musical version of the poem is performed off-screen by hostess Jane Wyatt and a chorus, and enacted onscreen by the Bil Baird Marionettes.
- The 23 December 2011 broadcast of the CBS Evening News ended with Scott Pelley's saying: "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
- Some holiday airings of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy had Charlie McCarthy trying to recite the poem from memory, resulting in such lines as: "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care/In hopes that the laundryman soon would be there". (A few times the line went: "In hopes that the room could stand some fresh air"), "He flies through the air with the greatest of ease/The jolly old elf in the red BVD's", and "Now, Dasher, Now, Dancer, and what do you know/Dasher and Dancer paid $220 to show!"
- The song with the poem as its basis, arranged by Harry Simeone and music by Ken Darby, was performed at holiday airings of Fibber McGee and Molly, usually introduced by Teeny, the neighbor girl, as their "Christmas Carol".
- At the beginning of Friends (TV series) episode 9, "The One with Christmas in Tulsa" (airdate 26 September 2002), Phoebe sings the last four lines of The Night Before Christmas, and Joey claims she wrote it. Another reference is seen is episode 10 of season 7, "The One with the Holiday Armadillo" (aired December 14, 2000), when Ross asks Chandler to leave and Chandler responds by saying "But I didn't get to shake my belly like a bowl full of jelly!"
- The special Power Rangers Megaforce episode, "Robo Knight Before Christmas", ends with Robo Knight saying: "Merry Christmas to all humans on Earth, and to all a good night!"
- The The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show story arc "Topsy Turvy World" featured a plot by Boris Badenov to replace Santa Claus for nefarious purposes. The cliffhanger pun titles for one segment of the storyline were: "'The Fright Before Christmas', or 'A Visit From Saint Nicholouse'."
- The Shake It Up episode "Merry Merry it Up" ended with Flynn in the hot tub, saying "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good soak!"
- A hip-hop animated version of the poem was made as an hour-long animated special, The Night B4 Christmas.
- Bell Telephone Company sponsored a short film titled The Spirit of Christmas (circa 1950), featuring the Les and Mabel Beaton marionettes. Within a few years, it became a holiday perennial in many TV markets, especially in the Philadelphia area. In subsequent years it was licensed out as a 16mm film and shown in schools during the Christmas season.
- In the animated TV special by Rankin/Bass (1974), titled Twas the Night Before Christmas, the characters and portions of the plot are loosely based on the poem.
- In the Cabin Pressure radio show on BBC4 the intro of the episode Molokai references some verses of the poem.
- For Christmas 1985, the Internet Engineering Task Force circulated an RFC document that was actually a poem about the early days of the Internet, titled "Twas the Night Before Start-up".
- A version that originated on USENET in 1988 has circulated on Internet message boards and chain emails ever since. The entire poem is rephrased using more complicated and lesser known words. It is sometimes called "Technical Night Before Christmas" or subtitled "For readers in their 23rd year of schooling".
- "The Night Before Doom", which appears in the Official DOOM F.A.Q., is a poem centered on the computer game Doom (1993).
- "Are Santa's Reindeer Used for Propulsion or Navigation?" (2013), written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Phillip M. Cunio, deconstructs the poem to determine the answer to that question.
- Burrows, Edwin G. & Wallace, Mike. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. pp. 462-463 ISBN 0-19-511634-8
- Walsh, Joseph J. (2001). Were They Wise Men Or Kings?: The Book of Christmas Questions. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-664-22312-5.
- Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America. Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-19-509300-3.
- Kaller, Seth. "The Authorship of The Night Before Christmas". sethkaller.com.
- Siefker, Phyllis (1997). Santa Claus,. McFarland & Company. p. 4. ISBN 0-7864-0246-6.
- "A Visit from St. Nicholas". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
- "Copy of Poem Sold; 'Twas Worth $280K". Washington Post. Associated Press. 19 December 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- Mann, Ted. "Ho, Ho, Hoax," Scarsdale Magazine, 30 November 2006
- "Major Henry Livingston, Jr. (1748–1828) Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas", Representative Poetry Online
- Lowe, James. "A Christmas to Remember: A Visit from St. Nicholas." Autograph Collector. January 2000. 26-29.
- Nickell, Joe. "The Case of the Christmas Poem." Manuscripts, Fall 2002, 54;4:293-308; Nickell, Joe. "The Case of the Christmas Poem: Part 2." Manuscripts, Winter 2003, 55;1:5-15.
- Christoph, Peter. "Clement Moore Revisited". Major Henry Livingston, Jr., the author of "Night Before Christmas". Intermedia Enterprises. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- Kirkpatrick, David D. (26 October 2000). "Literary Sleuth Casts Doubt on the Authorship of an Iconic Christmas Poem". New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- Kaller, Seth. "The Moore Things Change...," The New-York Journal of American History, Fall 2004
- Lowe, James. "A Christmas to Remember: A Visit from St. Nicholas," Autograph Collector, January 2000, pp. 26-29
- A history of New York: from the ... - Washington Irving - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- Jackson, MacDonald P. (2016). Who Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"?: Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476664439.
- Emery, David. "With Apologies to Clement C. Moore...". Urban Legends. About.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- Monroe, Mathew. "Canonical List of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Variations". Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- Gospelweb.net. "Marine Christmas Poem - originally written by a Marine, for Marines". Gospelweb.net. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- Thurber, James (24 December 1927). "A Visit from Saint Nicholas IN THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY MANNER". The New Yorker.
- Trosclair (September 1992) . Cajun Night Before Christmas. Night Before Christmas Series (20th Anniversary ed.). Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN 0-88289-940-6.
- "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". Kokomo.ca. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- "Louis Armstrong House Museum". louisarmstronghouse.org. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- "'Christmas Song U.S. 12" Vinyl (EAS 6643)'". Korn Is Peachy. GeoCities.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- "DR. MOORE'S GRAVE VISITED BY CHILDREN - Wreath Is Placed in Memory of Yuletide Poem's Author at Annual Ceremony. TABLET ALSO HONORS HIM It Is Unveiled at Chelsea Spot Where Verse Was Written--Dickens's Son Remembered. - Article - NYTimes.com". nytimes.com. 25 December 1930. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- "CHURCH SERVICES TOMORROW". nytimes.com. 22 December 1917. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- Cerf, Vint (December 1985). "RFC 968: Twas the Night Before Start-up". Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force. Archived from the original on 28 April 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- Luekart, Hank (1994). "The Night Before Doom". Doomworld. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- Cunio, Phillip (2013). "Are Santa's Reindeer Used for Propulsion or Navigation?". Slice of MIT. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- Jackson, MacDonald P. (2016). Who Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"?: Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476664439.
- Foster, Donald (2000). Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-6357-9.
- Gardner, Martin (1991). The Annotated Night Before Christmas: A Collection Of Sequels, Parodies, And Imitations Of Clement Moore's Immortal Ballad About Santa Claus; Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Martin Gardner. Summit Books. ISBN 0-671-70839-2.
- Nissenbaum, Stephen (1997). The Battle for Christmas: A Social and Cultural History of Christmas that Shows How It Was Transformed from an Unruly Carnival Season into the Quintessential American Family Holiday. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-41223-9.
- Niels Henry Sonne. "The Night Before Christmas"—Who Wrote It? S.l: s.n, 1972. Reprinted from The Historical magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, vol. 41, no. 4, pages 373-380.
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- "Attribution Scholar Mac Jackson Comes Down on the Side of Livingston's Authorship" by MacDonald P. Jackson
- "The Authorship of The Night Before Christmas" by Seth Kaller
- First published text from the 1823 Troy Sentinel and a picture of its 1830 edited broadside edition.
- Text attributed to Livingston, at University of Toronto's Representative Poetry Online.
- The Night Before Christmas Bibliography by Nancy H. Marshall
- Photos of illustrated texts as old as 1840, credited to Moore
- Photos of an 1860 manuscript autographed by Moore
- Free audiobook from LibriVox
- Article about a change in the poem at Urban Legends Reference Pages
- Moore version online at Bartleby
- eText of a 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, at Project Gutenberg
- TheNightBeforeChristmas.com with many of scans of favorite antique illustrated versions as old as 1825
- VisitFromStNicholas.com with hundreds of scans of illustrated texts as old as 1825
- Free Audiobook from The Internet Archive (Community Audio)
- A Visit from Saint Nicholas From the Collections at the Library of Congress
- Story Bear Narrated VIDEO version with SUBTITLES Designed to help children read from Children's-Stories.net | <urn:uuid:9f18f489-e3c9-4893-8cc8-bdfefad7fb54> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Visit_from_St._Nicholas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720380.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00056-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942908 | 7,294 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Area Sport Fishing Reports
Prince of Wales Island
Archived Sport Fishing Report
April 27, 2021
* Just a reminder to anglers, please do your part to help slow the spread of Covid-19 by following and reviewing the current State of Alaska Health Mandates in effect. This includes practicing social distancing while sport and personal use fishing and wearing a face covering when fishing and if you are needing fishing supplies from your local store as indicated in Health Alert 12.
Sport fishing opportunities on Prince of Wales (POW) during the spring are highlighted by steelhead which can be accessed on a vast road system with a large number of rivers, creeks, and lakes. These drainages also provide opportunities for Dolly Varden, cutthroat, and rainbow trout. Steelhead returns have likely peaked with active spawning occuring in some drainages. However, fresh fish will continue to enter through early May. Bottomfish, shellfish, and king salmon fishing is currently good in marine waters.
An excellent resource for planning a trip is the gofishak interactive map for POW which provides information on fishing locations, species run timing, fishing gear, and angler access.
Chinook (king) salmon fishing on the western side of POW is good with catches reported from outside waters. King salmon fishing is closed in marine waters on the east side of POW (see below).
Chinook Salmon regulations for 2021 are:
- The daily bag limit for resident anglers is three fish over 28 inches. Resident anglers may not use two rods while targeting king salmon as of March 31.
- The daily bag limit for nonresident anglers is one fish with an annual limit of four fish over 28 inches through 2021.
- The eastside of POW (Districts 2 & 6) will be closed to king salmon fishing from April 1 to June 14.
- Immediately upon landing and retaining a chinook salmon a nonresident must enter the species, date, and location, in ink, on the back of their sport fishing license, or on a nontransferable harvest record.
Fishing has been sporadic with some drainages producing better than others. Active spawning has been observed, although fresh fish should continue to enter drainages through early May. Productive drainages for steelhead include Thorne, Klawock, Harris, and Karta rivers; Ratz, Eagle, and Staney creeks.
Trout and Dolly Varden
Rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, and Dolly Varden are available in many of the freshwater drainages of POW. Fishing is currently good as fish feed on pink salmon smolt and steelhead eggs. Productive drainages for trout include Klawock, Luck, and Sarkar lakes; the Thorne River, and Ratz Creek. Regulations regarding size limits, bag limits, and the use of bait can vary by waterbody, so please check the Southeast Alaska Sport Fish Regulation Summary.
Halibut fishing is good and should remain so through the summer.
Lingcod fishing is closed from December 1 to May 15.
Rockfish can be caught year-round. A helpful flyer is available on the Fish and Game website for identifying common rockfish of POW.
All sport fishing vessels are required to have at least one functional deepwater release device (regardless of species targeted) and anglers will be REQUIRED to use a deepwater release device to release rockfish to the depth it was hooked or to a depth of at least 100 feet. Please see the Southeast Alaska Sport Fish Regulation Summary or visit your local ADF&G office to see examples of rockfish release devices and learn about their use.
Demersal Shelf Rockfish
The retention of demersal shelf rockfish is prohibited during 2021.
- No retention of demersal shelf rockfish which are the following species: yelloweye, quillback, copper, canary, china, tiger, and rosethorn rockfish.
Some slope rockfish are common in marine waters surrounding POW. The most common species are silvergrey, rougheye, shortraker, and vermilion rockfish.
- One per day; one in possession
Pelagic rockfish provide good fishing in the marine waters surrounding POW.
- Season: year-round
- Five per day; ten in possession
For additional information regarding rockfish identification and management please refer to the rockfish conservation page on the ADF&G Sport Fish website.
For further information, please feel free to contact the Prince of Wales Area Management Biologist: Craig Schwanke (907) 826-2498. | <urn:uuid:a5a75576-83c8-49e1-bd37-fb76b3d0e3d9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishingReports/index.cfm?ADFG=R1.archive&Area_key=32&RecordID=5390&Year=2021 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572192.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815145459-20220815175459-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.926542 | 986 | 1.546875 | 2 |
California law makes it clear that as an employee, you have a right to be treated fairly by your employer. In order to help preserve your employment rights, and regardless of whether you intend to file suit or not, the first step is to bring any issue to the attention of your employer and the Human Resource Department.
Step One: Make Your Complaint.
As an employee, you might find it difficult to bring a complaint to your employer since often times an employee with a pressing issue may feel that complaining will subject them to additional discrimination, retaliation, or unfair treatment. At times like this, it is imperative to gather the courage to bring your concerns to the employer’s attention. The more important an issue, the harder it will seem to bring the matter to light, which is all the more reason to do so. A well run Human Resource Department, or any manager or supervisor worth their salt, with be willing to listen and investigate the matter in order to find a cure.
A complaint can be written (preferable) or oral, but regardless of the form in which it is made, it needs to be made to the employer to put them on notice of the matter that needs to be investigated and resolved. A complaint to the employer should include:
1. A summary of what occurred (i.e. what occurred, when, who was involved, and any potential witnesses);
2. Described with sufficient specificity the alleged wrongful conduct (i.e. employee believed they were subjected to discrimination, retaliation, harassment, or wrongful termination); and
3. The basis the employee believed was the underlying reason for the wrongful conduct (i.e. was the employee’s age, race, national origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or good-faith complaint of illegal activity as the basis for the employer’s wrongful conduct)
Emails are a fantastic way to keep everyone on the same page as to what the matter is, and how you want it handled. Do this in an on-going organic email chain. Also, be sure that emails regarding your complaint, and any follow-up, are all directed to the Human Resource Department, your manager or supervisor, and the highest ranking executive. It might require some searching, but all managers, supervisors, human resource specialists, and executives have company email addresses.
Step Two: The Investigation Process.
Once you issue your complaint to the employer and their Human Resource Department, you will find yourself being asked follow-up questions, and you should do what you can to cooperate with their investigation. Always be sure to provide truthful information to assist the investigator, such as names, dates, statements, and any witnesses that may help corroborate the events.
Step Three: Creating and Maintaining a Record.
Throughout the investigation process, you may find that other people have come out of the woodwork with helpful information. You may also find that the employer may be willing to cure the problem right away to the satisfaction of everyone involved. Other times, some employers fail to follow the letter of the law, shirk their responsibility in conducting a proper investigation, and try sweeping a matter under the rug. Its is at this pint where your record will help save you from the “he said, she said” scenario, and in the process, preserving your employment rights.
Your record should consist of:
1. A copy of the written complaint. If you made an oral complaint, keep a ledger or log of who you told, what your complaint was, what the basis for the compliant was such as gender, race, disability, etc., and when you complained or follow-up on a complaint.
2. Copies of all emails. Its helpful to print-out any and keep hard copies of any and all emails.
3. Names and contact information of witnesses, along with any helpful information they may have.
4. A personal ledger in chorological order from the first day of the misconduct in the workplace. Keep events as they happen in order with detailed information such as names, dates, statements, and important events. It is also helpful to include how each event affected you. For some employment matters, an employee may need to seek and medical or psychological treatment as a result of the on-going workplace issue. If this is the case, be sure to include treatment information in your personal journal or log. Its also a good idea to write the words “confidential work product” on the top of each page of your log, especially if you feel as though you may need to consult and possibly retain an attorney to assist you in your matter.
Above all else, keep your record safe, keep it secure. Make a binder or folder for all your information. This is your best proof of any alleged wrong doing by an employer, and the best way to protect your employment rights. | <urn:uuid:e18d55f6-22b9-48be-8c81-5cf5cd54385b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://thebellilawfirm.com/tag/action-steps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571234.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811042804-20220811072804-00073.warc.gz | en | 0.961116 | 994 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal
Sir Jimmy Savile (1926–2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality, who was well known in Britain for his eccentricities and, at the time of his death, was generally respected for his charitable work. He was knighted in 1990. In September and October 2012, almost a year after his death, claims were widely publicised that he had committed sexual abuse, his alleged victims ranging from prepubescent girls and boys to adults. By 11 October 2012 allegations had been made to 13 British police forces, and this led to the setting-up of inquiries into practices at the BBC and within the National Health Service.
On 19 October 2012 the Metropolitan Police Service launched a formal criminal investigation, Operation Yewtree, into historic allegations of child sexual abuse by Savile and other people, some still living, over four decades. It stated that it was pursuing over 400 lines of inquiry, based on the claims of 200 witnesses, via 14 police forces across the UK. It described the alleged abuse as being “on an unprecedented scale”, and the number of potential victims as “staggering”. By 19 December, eight people had been questioned as part of the investigation. The Metropolitan Police stated that the total number of alleged victims was 589, of whom 450 alleged abuse by Savile.
The report of the investigations undertaken jointly by the police and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Giving Victims a Voice, was published on 11 January 2013. It reported allegations covering a period of fifty years, including 214 alleged acts by Savile which, though uncorroborated, have been formally recorded as crimes, some involving children as young as eight. The report states “within the recorded crimes there are 126 indecent acts and 34 rape/penetration offences.” Alleged offences took place at 13 hospitals as well as on BBC premises, according to the report. In October 2013 it was announced that inquiries had been extended to other hospitals. On 26 June 2014, the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, reported on the findings of the investigations led by Kate Lampard. He said that Savile had sexually assaulted victims aged between five and 75 in NHS hospitals, and apologised to the victims. Further investigations, in hospitals and elsewhere, led to additional allegations of sexual abuse by Savile.
Much of Savile’s career involved working with children and young people, including visiting schools and hospital wards. He spent 20 years presenting Top of the Pops before a teenage audience, and an overlapping 20 years presenting Jim’ll Fix It, in which he helped the wishes of viewers, mainly children, come true. During his lifetime, two police investigations had looked into reports about Savile, the earliest known being in 1958, but none had led to charges; the reports had each concluded that there was insufficient evidence for any charges to be brought related to sexual offences. In October 2012 it was announced that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would investigate why proceedings against Savile in 2009 were dropped.
The scandal was a major factor leading to the establishment of the wider-ranging Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which was announced by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, in July 2014. In February 2015 the inquiry was reconfigured as a statutory inquiry to be chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard.
- 3New allegations
- 4Police and related investigations
- 5Department of Health investigations
- 6Department for Education
- 7Call for single inquiry
- 9See also
- 11Further reading
- 12External links
Savile claimed the key to his success on Jim’ll Fix It had been that he disliked children, although he later admitted to saying it to deflect scrutiny of his life. He did not own a computer, as he did not want people to think he was downloading child pornography. In a 1990 interview for The Independent on Sunday, Lynn Barber asked him about rumours that he liked “little girls”. Savile said:
“…the young girls in question don’t gather round me because of me – it’s because I know the people they love, the stars… I am of no interest to them.”
“[We] live in a very funny world. And it’s easier for me, as a single man, to say “I don’t like children” because that puts a lot of salacious tabloid people off the hunt…. How do they know whether I am [a paedophile] or not? How does anybody know whether I am? Nobody knows whether I am or not. I know I’m not.”
Broadcaster and journalist Orla Barry, on the Irish radio station Newstalk in 2007, asked him about allegations aired during the Theroux documentary. When asked about the paedophilia rumours, Savile responded, “What rumours?” In 2012, Barry expressed surprise that other journalists had not pursued the matter, saying “Maybe in the UK they were slightly closer to him.”
In 2007, Savile was interviewed under caution by police investigating an allegation of indecent assault at the now-closed Duncroft Approved School for Girls near Staines in the 1970s when he was a regular visitor. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advised there was insufficient evidence to take any further action and no charges were brought. In 2012 it was reported that staff at the school had not been questioned about the allegations at the time. The former headmistress of the school said she had been “hoodwinked” by Savile, but described some of those who had brought the allegations as “delinquents”.
In March 2008, Savile started legal proceedings against The Sun newspaper which had linked him in several articles to child abuse at the Jerseychildren’s home Haut de la Garenne. Savile denied visiting Haut de la Garenne, but admitted he had after a photograph was published showing him at the home surrounded by children. The States of Jersey Police said an allegation of indecent assault by Savile at the home in the 1970s had been investigated in 2008, but there had been insufficient evidence to proceed.
Aborted Newsnight report
Savile died on 29 October 2011 aged 84. At the time of his death, and funeral in Leeds Cathedral, he was widely praised for his charity and voluntary activities as well as his entertainment work.
Immediately after Savile’s death, Meirion Jones and Liz Mackean from the BBC programme Newsnight began to investigate reports that he had sexually abused children. They interviewed one alleged victim on camera and talked to a number of others who were willing to be quoted about alleged abuse at Duncroft Approved School near London, the BBC, and Stoke Mandeville hospital. The headmistress of Duncroft was Meirion Jones’s own aunt, Margaret Jones. The Newsnight team, which included former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, also found out about the Surrey police investigation into Savile. The report was scheduled for broadcast on 7 December 2011, but a decision was taken to cancel its transmission, which ultimately developed into a major crisis for the BBC when the ITV documentary was screened in October 2012. The subsequent Pollard Review found that Jones and MacKean assembled cogent evidence that Savile had a history of abusing young women and Newsnight was in a position to break the story in 2011. No mention of the dropped Newsnight report was made in public at the time.
In January and February 2012, several newspapers reported that Newsnight had investigated allegations of sexual abuse immediately after Savile’s death but that the report had been shelved. An article by Miles Goslett in The Oldie alleged a cover-up. The BBC showed two Savile tributes over the 2011 Christmas period, and it was alleged that the Newsnight report had been dropped because its content would have compromised the showing of the tributes. A joint submission to the Leveson Inquiry from Anna van Heeswijk (Object), Jacqui Hunt (Equality Now), Heather Harvey (Eaves) and Marai Larasi (End Violence against Women) was titled “Just the Women“, a phrase which was reportedly written by Newsnight editor Peter Rippon in an email to a colleague concerning the lack of other authorities [than the alleged female victims] for evidence of Savile’s abuse. A Newsnight spokesman said, “Any suggestion that a story was dropped for anything other than editorial reasons is completely untrue.”
In October 2013, the transcript of a Surrey Police interview with Savile in 2009 was published after a request under the Freedom of information Act. Savile denied the sexual abuse allegations relating to the Duncroft Approved School in the 1970s which were put to him by the police, saying “I’ve never, ever done anything wrong” and stating that the accusers wanted a “few quid”.
Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile
An ITV documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile was broadcast on 3 October 2012. It was researched and presented by Mark Williams-Thomas, a police investigator in the successful prosecution of Jonathan King over sexual offences involving children in 2001.
Several women interviewed said that, as teenagers, they had been sexually abused by Savile. It was also said Savile obtained access to teenage girls through television programmes such as Top of the Pops and Clunk, Click (1973–74), and his charity work. Savile’s former colleagues said he made no attempt to hide his interest in girls from them, while another said she had walked in on him french kissing an underage girl. One woman who said Savile had sexually assaulted her when she was 14 in 1970 explained she had not pursued her complaint to police in 2008 after being told it would lead to a “media circus“. The founder of ChildLine, Esther Rantzen, was shown the interviews by Williams-Thomas and commented that “There were always rumours that he [Savile] behaved very inappropriately sexually with children.”
BBC comments and investigations
Newspaper reports claimed Douglas Muggeridge, controller of Radio 1 in the early 1970s, was aware of allegations against Savile, and asked for a report in 1973. Derek Chinnery, controller of Radio 1 from 1978 to 1985, recalled an occasion when he confronted Savile, saying “I asked, ‘what’s all this, these rumours we hear about you Jimmy?’ And he said, ‘that’s all nonsense’. There was no reason to disbelieve.” Michael Grade told Channel 4 News that during his time at the BBC he had “fleetingly” heard rumours about Savile, but described claims of a cover-up as “ludicrous”. The BBC said no evidence of allegations of misconduct or actual misconduct by Savile had been found in its files and denied there had been a cover-up of his activities.
On 8 October, the Director-General of the BBC, George Entwistle, apologised for what had happened and said further internal investigations would take place. The chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, said the investigation would be set up as soon as police enquiries had been completed, and would be chaired by a figure from outside the BBC. As a result of the shelving of the Newsnight investigation into Savile’s activities (see above), there were complaints on Newswatch. On 11 October 2012, the Director-General asked BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie to look into staff concerns over the dropping of the item. He announced a review of BBC policy on child protection, and an enquiry into its culture and practices, focusing on the years Savile worked there.
The BBC was criticised in parliament for its handling of the affair. Harriet Harman said the allegations “cast a stain” on the corporation. Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, said she was satisfied the BBC was taking the allegations very seriously, and dismissed calls for an independent inquiry. Labour leader Ed Miliband said an independent inquiry was the only way to ensure justice for those involved. George Entwistle offered to appear before the parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee to explain the BBC’s position and actions.
On 16 October the BBC appointed heads of two inquiries into events surrounding Savile. Former High Court judge Dame Janet Smith, who led the inquiry into serial killer Harold Shipman, was to review the culture and practices of the BBC during the time Savile worked there, and Nick Pollard, a former Sky News executive, would look at why a Newsnight investigation into Savile’s activities was dropped shortly before transmission.
A Panorama investigation was broadcast on 22 October 2012. George Entwistle declined to be interviewed, citing legal advice that BBC senior management should co-operate only with the police, the BBC’s reviews and Parliament. On 21 October it was reported that the producer responsible for the dropped Newsnight report, Meirion Jones, had warned the programme’s editor, Peter Rippon, in December 2011 that the BBC risked being accused of a cover-up if the item was dropped. On 22 October the BBC announced Rippon would “step aside” from his role of editor with immediate effect. On the day after the Panorama broadcast, Entwistle appeared before the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee, at which he faced hostile questioning and stated that it had been a “catastrophic mistake” to cancel the Newsnightbroadcast.
“The expression which I came to associate with Savile’s sex partners was … the now politically incorrect ‘under-age subnormals’. He targeted the institutionalised, the hospitalised – and this was known. Why did Jimmy Savile go to hospitals? That’s where the patients were.”
Gambaccini claimed that Savile bribed the police. Sir Roger Jones, former chairman of Children in Need, the BBC’s annual charity fundraising event to support disadvantaged children and young people, said Savile had been barred from involvement because of rumours about an inappropriate interest in young girls. Savile had appeared on the telethon in 1984, 1987 and 1989 before Jones became chairman.
The report by Nick Pollard into the BBC’s handling of the affair was published on 19 December 2012. It concluded that the decision to drop the original Newsnight report on the allegations against Savile in December 2011 was “flawed”, but that it had not been done to protect the Savile tribute programmes. However, it criticised George Entwistle for apparently failing to read emails warning him of Savile’s “dark side”, and that, after the allegations against Savile eventually became public, the BBC fell into a “level of chaos and confusion [that] was even greater than was apparent at the time”. The BBC announced that Newsnight editor Peter Rippon and deputy editor Liz Gibbons would be replaced.Transcripts of evidence to the Pollard inquiry, together with emails and other submissions, were published on 22 February 2013.
Meirion Jones who first broke the news was terminated from the BBC in February 2015. Liz Mackean, the reporter from the BBC programme Newsnight also involved in the initial report, left the BBC in early 2013, and stated “When the Savile scandal broke, the BBC tried to smear my reputation.” The editor of Panorama that aired the investigation on Savile on 22 October 2012 is now in an administrative position at BBC.Clive Edwards, who as commissioning editor for current affairs oversaw the Panorama documentary, was decommissioned.
Dame Janet Smith review
In November 2012, Dame Janet Smith called for evidence, from people who were the subject of inappropriate sexual conduct by Savile on BBC premises, or on location for the BBC; people who knew of or suspected such conduct; anyone who raised concerns about Savile’s conduct within the BBC; people who worked for or with Savile on programmes at the BBC between about 1964 and 2007, or who were familiar with “the culture or practices of the BBC during that time insofar as they may have been relevant to preventing or enabling the sexual abuse of children, young people or teenagers”; and people who held senior positions at the BBC who may have relevant information. By 5 December 2012, the review’s team had been contacted by “over 290” individuals, including many former or current BBC employees. On 1 May 2015 it was announced that the review report was finished, but it could not be published as it might prejudice ongoing police investigations.
The review was published 25 February. The review, which totaled more than 700 pages, found Savile had sexually abused 72 people and had raped eight people, including an eight-year-old, at “virtually every one of the BBC premises at which he worked”. Smith stated that some BBC staff members were aware of complaints against Savile but did not pass the information to senior management due to the “culture of not complaining.” She described an “atmosphere of fear” still existing at the BBC and that some of those interviewed for the inquiry did so only after being assured their names would not be published as they feared reprisal. A separate report into the offending of Stuart Hall was released the same day.
Following the broadcast of the ITV documentary, many people came forward to make allegations about Savile’s conduct towards young people. Some abuse was said to have taken place on BBC premises. It was claimed that Savile had abused at least one boy as well as numerous girls.
Claims were made about Savile’s activities in hospitals. It was claimed that he sexually abused a 13-year-old patient during a visit to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1971 and an eight-year-old girl in the same hospital recovering from an operation. Staff reported he searched the wards for young patients to abuse, and they instructed patients in the children’s ward to feign sleep during his visits. A hospital spokesman said, though it was working with the police, it had no record of inappropriate behaviour by Savile. The BBC carried statements from a retired detective inspector of the local police force that a nurse at Stoke Mandeville hospital had reported Savile’s abuse of patients there to him in the 1970s and he had repeatedly informed his superiors about this, but they did not believe him.
A former nurse said she saw Savile molest a brain-damaged patient at Leeds hospital, saying, “He kissed her, and I thought he was a visitor coming to see her, and he started rubbing his hands down her arms and then I don’t know of a nice way to put it but he molested her.”
Savile was a volunteer at the adult high-security psychiatric Broadmoor Hospital, and in August 1988 was appointed to chair an interim task force overseeing the management of the hospital, after its management board had been suspended. It is alleged that Savile had hospital keys and access to patients’ rooms. In a separate allegation, a lawyer said a client had been abused by Savile when he was a 10-year-old at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home in Jersey.
Julie Fernandez, who later appeared in BBC television programmes Eldorado and The Office, was invited to a BBC studio to appear on Jim’ll Fix It. She recalled her experience in a radio interview: “I was in my wheelchair, but I just remember [Savile’s] hands being everywhere and just lingering those two, three, four seconds slightly too long in places they shouldn’t […] It was in a busy room full of people in a studio so it was quite discreetly done and you don’t kind of realise what’s happening at the time, especially when you’re 14 and it’s the first time you’ve ever been in a studio and you’re very excited. But I do remember feeling uncomfortable and he had these huge rings on his fingers.”
Singer Coleen Nolan said Savile invited her to a hotel when she was 14 and had been involved in a TV recording at the Top of the Pops studio and that it made her “uncomfortable”, “But you didn’t talk about those things then.” Savile’s great-niece Caroline Robinson said she had been sexually abused by him twice at family gatherings. She believed some members of the family knew about his abuse but had turned a blind eye to it.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that he was “truly shocked” by the published allegations, which should be “properly investigated”. The Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust stated that it was considering giving funds to those working with victims of sexual abuse, and that it may change its name because of the allegations; the trust later announced that it would close. As part of the investigations, enquiries would be made into allegations of abuse when Savile worked as a volunteer at Leeds General Infirmary.
In October 2012, it was reported that the Sunday Mirror had decided not to publish allegations of sexual abuse at a children’s home by two women against Savile. Paul Connew, who was the newspaper’s editor when the women came forward in 1994, described the allegations as “credible and convincing”, but said that lawyers had advised against publication. In July 2013, Connew said that he believed that the newspaper would have lost a libel action over the allegations, as the two women, who had been pupils at Duncroft Approved School, did not want to be named. He also expressed concern that a jury would have been “starstruck” by Savile.
The Metropolitan Police Service stated on 4 October 2012 that its Child Abuse Investigation Command would lead a process of assessing the allegations. By 9 October the Metropolitan Police had formally recorded eight allegations against Savile, but announced that it was following up 120 lines of inquiry, covering up to 25 alleged victims of abuse, mainly girls aged between 13 and 16. These covered a period spanning four decades, from 1959 until the 1980s, and were on “a national scale”. An inquiry process, known as Operation Yewtree, was set up jointly with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and involving other organisations including the BBC and ITV. Commander Peter Spindler, head of specialist crime investigations, said: “At this stage it is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender.”
On 19 October 2012 the Metropolitan Police launched a formal criminal investigation into historic allegations of child sex abuse by Savile over four decades. It stated that it was pursuing over 400 separate lines of inquiry based on evidence of 200 witnesses via 14 police forces across the UK. Commander Spindler said: “We are dealing with alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale. The profile of this operation has empowered a staggering number of victims to come forward to report the sexual exploitation which occurred during their childhood.” John Cameron of the NSPCC said that Savile was “a well-organised prolific sex offender, who’s used his power, his authority, his influence to procure children and offend against them.”
On 25 October the police reported that the number of possible victims was “fast approaching 300”. It was also reported that police were looking at allegations that three doctors in hospitals with which Savile had been associated had been involved in the abuse of young people in their care.
By 19 December, eight people had been arrested for questioning, and later bailed, as part of the inquiry. These included former pop star Gary Glitter; comedian Freddie Starr; former BBC producers Wilfred De’ath and Ted Beston; DJ Dave Lee Travis; publicist Max Clifford; Rolf Harris; and an unnamed man in his 60s. Travis stated that his arrest had been connected with matters not linked to children. Clifford denied what he termed the “damaging and totally untrue allegations”.
In early 2013, comedian Jim Davidson and two unnamed men were arrested as part of the inquiry, bringing the total to 11. De’Ath was later told that he would not face any charges, and said that the police action had been “overzealous”. In May 2013, it was reported that Ted Beston would not face prosecution due to insufficient evidence.
On 12 December, Commander Peter Spindler said that the investigation had been completed and that the report of Operation Yewtree was being prepared for publication early in 2013. He said that a total of 589 alleged victims of abuse had come forward in the inquiry, of whom 450 alleged abuse by Savile. Of the alleged victims, 82% were female and 80% were children or young people. There were 31 allegations of rape by Savile, across seven police force areas. Commander Spindler said: “Savile’s offending peaked in the 70s and what we… will be showing… is how he used his position in society… to get his sexual gratification.” The operation had involved 30 police officers, and its cost so far was estimated at about £2 million.
On 11 January 2013, Giving Victims a Voice, a report into allegations of sexual abuse made against Jimmy Savile under Operation Yewtree, by the Metropolitan Police Service and the NSPCC was published under the logo of the Crown Prosecution Service. Among its conclusions are that “It is now clear that Savile was hiding in plain sight and using his celebrity status and fundraising activity to gain uncontrolled access to vulnerable people across six decades. For a variety of reasons the vast majority of his victims did not feel they could speak out and it’s apparent that some of the small number who did had their accounts dismissed by those in authority including parents and carers.”
The document was given wide publicity throughout the media. Journalist Charles Moore wrote in The Daily Telegraph that he had read the whole report and it did not reveal the extent of abuse as the BBC website had stated in the lead headline “Jimmy Savile scandal: Report reveals extent of abuse”. He remarked that there was no evidence in the report which a court would recognise. Instead it assumed that because uncorroborated allegations had been made, the offences were committed, and, treating allegations as facts, it declared that 214 incidents had now been “formally recorded” as crimes. Moore commented that by doing so the report undermined justice. Jonathan Brown, writing in The Independent, said that the report “revealed a man who used his celebrity status and outwardly well-intended works to gain access to and ultimately rape and sexually exploit hundreds of vulnerable young star-struck victims…”
In March 2013 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary reported that 214 of the complaints that had been made against Savile after his death would have been criminal offences if they had been reported at the time. Sixteen persons reported being raped by Savile under the age of 16, and four of those were under the age of ten. Thirteen others reported serious sexual abuse by Savile, including four under-ten-year-olds. Another ten reported being raped by Savile while over the age of sixteen.
DJ and friend of Savile Ray Teret was found guilty of seven rapes and 11 indecent assaults in December 2014; while Teret was cleared of aiding and abetting Savile to rape a 15-year-old girl, he was found guilty of raping the same complainant. An attorney for 169 of Savile’s alleged victims stated that Teret’s guilty verdicts represent “the closest the victims of Jimmy Savile will get to a conviction against their attacker”.
Crown Prosecution Service
On 24 October 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, would review the service’s decisions not to prosecute Savile in 2009, in relation to four claims against him for sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s. The report, prepared by the principal legal advisor to the DPP, Alison Levitt QC, was published on 11 January 2013. It found that, if police and prosecutors had taken a different approach towards the allegations, prosecutions could have been possible in relation to three of the claims. Keir Starmer apologised for the shortcomings of the CPS and criticised two police forces for taking an “unjustifiably cautious” approach.
In November 2013, shortly after he left the position of Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer called for mandatory reporting which would compel all professionals such as teachers, doctors and social workers to report suspicions of child abuse or face legal consequences in the light of the scandal.
HMIC assessment of police investigations
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced on 6 November 2012 that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary would also carry out an assessment of all the investigations relating to Savile undertaken by police forces across the country, examine whether allegations were properly investigated, and identify any related issues.
On 12 March 2013, a report entitled “Mistakes were made: HMIC’s review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile between 1964 and 2012” was published, which included material showing that police had received intelligence about Savile’s sexual conduct dating back to 1963.
Investigations in Jersey
On 7 November 2012 it was announced that an inquiry would also be undertaken, by a senior legal figure from outside the island, into allegations that Savile had abused children at Haut de la Garenne in Jersey.
West Yorkshire Police report
On 10 May 2013, West Yorkshire Police published a report into the relationship of the force with Savile. It concluded that he had not been protected from arrest or prosecution, but that there had been an “over-reliance on personal friendships” between Savile and some officers. The report states that there are “currently 76 crimes involving 68 victims committed in the West Yorkshire area relating to Savile”, but none of them were reported to the police before his death. Nine of the incidents relate to persons under the age of nine, the youngest being aged five. A copy of the report was to be passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
North Yorkshire Police report
On 18 December 2014, North Yorkshire Police published a report of an internal inquiry into its actions. The inquiry, termed Operation Hibiscus, found no evidence of misconduct by officers, but also concluded that opportunities had been missed to prosecute both Savile and Peter Jaconelli, a former mayor of Scarborough who died in 1999, for child sex abuse. The report stated that 32 allegations had been made against Jaconelli, and five against Savile. Jaconelli was stripped of civic honours earlier in 2014 after allegations against him were first published by the North Yorks Enquirer. The Assistant Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, Paul Kennedy, said that the report showed that there would have been sufficient evidence for the Crown Prosecution Service to consider criminal charges against both Savile and Jaconelli if they were still alive.
Surrey Police report
On 29 April 2015, Surrey Police published a report stating that Savile had sexually assaulted 22 students and a visitor at the Duncroft Approved School for Girls in Staines-upon-Thames between 1974 and 1979. The report said that Savile had committed at least 46 offences at the school, including one which would have been classed as rape under current law.
Department of Health investigations
The Department of Health announced that former barrister Kate Lampard would chair the department’s investigations into Savile’s activities at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Leeds General Infirmary, Broadmoor Hospital and other hospitals and facilities in England. In October 2013 the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, announced that inquiries had been extended to other, unnamed, hospitals. As at November 2013, the list of hospitals investigated included:
- Barnet General Hospital
- Broadmoor Hospital
- Booth Hall Children’s Hospital
- Cardiff Royal Infirmary
- De La Pole Hospital
- Dewsbury Hospital
- Dryburn Hospital
- Exeter Hospital
- Great Ormond Street Hospital
- Hammersmith Hospital
- High Royds Psychiatric Hospital
- Leavesden Secure Mental Hospital
- Leeds General Infirmary
- Marsden Hospital
- Maudsley Hospital
- Moss Side Hospital (formerly part of Ashworth Hospital)
- North Manchester General Hospital
- Odstock Hospital
- Pinderfields Hospital
- Portsmouth Hospital
- Prestwich Psychiatric Hospital, Prestwich
- Queen Mary’s Hospital, Carshalton
- Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead
- Rampton Hospital
- Royal Free Hospital, London
- Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle
- Saxondale Hospital
- Seacroft Hospital, Leeds
- St Catherine’s Hospital Birkenhead
- Stoke Mandeville Hospital
- Whitby Memorial Hospital, Whitby
- Wythenshawe Hospital
The results of the investigations were made public by Hunt on 26 June 2014. The report concluded that Savile sexually assaulted victims in NHS hospitals over several decades. At Leeds General Infirmary, 60 people, including both staff and patients, stated that they had been abused by Savile, with their ages ranging from 5 to 75. It reported a number of organisational failures which had allowed him to continue unchallenged. Hunt apologised to the victims of the assaults, and said that the findings “will shake our country to the core”.
It was reported that Savile had boasted to nurses and other staff that he performed sex acts on the bodies of recently deceased persons in the mortuary of Leeds General Hospital and claimed to have removed glass eyes from corpses and made them into rings. The report says “We have no way of proving Savile’s claims that he interfered with the bodies of the deceased patients in the mortuary in this way” but that Savile did have unsupervised access to the mortuary.
A separate report on Savile’s activities at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, prepared by independent investigator Dr Androulla Johnstone and published on 26 February 2015, found that he had sexually abused more than 50 people there, including staff, patients and visitors. One was an 8-year-old child. Savile had full access to all parts of the hospital. The report stated that it was widely known at the hospital that Savile was a “sex pest”, and that 10 complaints had been made at the time, but no action was taken.
“Savile was a highly unusual personality whose lifestyle, behaviour and offending patterns were equally unusual. As a result of his celebrity, his volunteering, and his fundraising he had exceptional access to a number of NHS hospitals and took the opportunities that that access gave him to abuse patients, staff and others on a remarkable scale. Savile’s celebrity and his roles as a volunteer and fundraiser also gave him power and influence within NHS hospitals which meant that his behaviour, which was often evidently inappropriate, was not challenged as it should have been. Savile’s ability to continue to pursue his activities without effective challenge was aided by fragmented hospital management arrangements; social attitudes of the times, including reticence in reporting and accepting reports of sexual harassment and abuse, and greater deference than today towards those in positions of influence and power; and less bold and intrusive media reporting. While it might be tempting to dismiss the Savile case as wholly exceptional, a unique result of a perfect storm of circumstances, the evidence we have gathered indicates that there are many elements of the Savile story that could be repeated in future. There is always a risk of the abuse, including sexual abuse, of people in hospitals. There will always be people who seek to gain undue influence and power within public institutions including in hospitals. And society and individuals continue to have a weakness for celebrities. Hospital organisations need to be aware of the risks posed by these matters and manage them appropriately.”
Department for Education
A report for the Department for Education reached no firm conclusions over whether Savile had abused children or staff when visiting schools and children’s homes, or hosting shows at which they had been invited to attend, between the 1960s and 1980s. The report, published on 26 February 2015, brought together the findings of various investigations carried out by local authorities, charities and schools. The Children’s Minister, Edward Timpson, said that, though information had been received from credible sources, there was insufficient corroborating evidence to draw firm conclusions.
Call for single inquiry
On 8 November 2012 the Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, called in Parliament for a single, overarching public inquiry to examine all recent allegations of child abuse, including those relating to the North Wales child abuse scandal and those related to Savile. This was supported by former minister Tim Loughton and the NSPCC.
An overarching panel inquiry was announced by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, in July 2014, to examine how the country’s institutions had handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It is to be led by an independent panel of experts, and was to be chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss. On 14 July it was announced that Baroness Butler-Sloss was standing down, and that a new chair would be appointed. On 5 September it was announced that it would be chaired by Fiona Woolf but on 31 October 2014 she too resigned from the role. On 4 February 2015 May announced that the inquiry would be chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand High Court judge, and would be given new powers as a statutory inquiry.
Savile’s family asked “out of respect to public opinion” that his gravestone be taken from the cemetery where his body is buried. Scarborough Borough Council and funeral directors removed it “under cover of night” and sent it to landfill.
A café at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, “Jimmy’s”, which displayed a neon sign in the shape of Savile’s signature, is to be renamed. Cunard cancelled a sail-past tribute to Savile’s burial place at Scarborough, scheduled for 15:00 BST on 1 August 2013. The University of Bedfordshirestripped Savile of the honorary degree it had awarded him in 2009. Savile’s name was removed from the Great North Run Hall of Fame.
On 23 October 2012 two registered charities, the Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust and the Jimmy Savile Stoke Mandeville Hospital Trust, set up to “provide funds for the relief of poverty and sickness and other charitable purposes beneficial to the community”, announced they would close and have their funds redistributed to other charities.
It was reported on 28 October 2012 that Savile’s cottage in Glen Coe had been spray-painted with slogans and the door damaged. The cottage had been searched by police looking for evidence of others involved with him in abuse. Plans to sell the cottage early in 2012 were halted by Savile’s charitable trust, which had planned to turn it into a respite centre for the disabled. These plans were in turn halted when the trust announced it would close. The cottage was sold at auction on 30 May 2013.
On 2 November it was reported that letters had been sent to Savile’s estate, the BBC, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Broadmoor, and Leeds General Infirmary by solicitors acting on behalf of 20 clients who claimed to have been abused by Savile, and that legal action against them was being considered.
On 20 January 2013 the BBC apologised after it screened an episode of Tweenies, recorded in 2001, which featured a character called Max presenting a parody of Top of The Pops, dressed up and with a hairstyle like Savile, and also using some of his catchphrases.
In June 2015 a stage play about Savile and the abuse scandal was premiered at The Park Theatre in London. Titled An Audience with Jimmy Savile, it was written by Jonathan Maitland and starred Alistair McGowan as Savile.
- BBC sexual abuse cases
- BBC controversies
- Criticism of the BBC
- Institutional abuse
- North Wales child abuse scandal
- Elm Guest House child abuse scandal
- Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations
- 2016 Jian Ghomeshi scandal at CBC (broadcaster)
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- website of The Dame Janet Smith Review | <urn:uuid:4999e0f5-3c16-4d6f-aae4-0b137434fe21> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://cosmiconvergence.com/2016/12/08/jimmy-savile-sexual-abuse-scandal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570793.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808092125-20220808122125-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.963489 | 14,796 | 1.710938 | 2 |
There are a number of ways to travel to Colditz. It may sound complicated at first, but it's actually pretty easy to get there once you know how.
The town of Colditz sits in a river valley in an area of rolling hills and farmland, 24 miles southeast of Leipzig in the eastern part of Germany.
Coming from outside of Germany, travelers can fly into the Leipzig-Halle airport or fly into Berlin and travel by train to Leipzig (about a 1 hour ride on the fast ICE trains, leaving Berlin about every hour). Leipzig is the closest major city to Colditz.
You can take the train from Leipzig-Halle airport to the Leipzig main train station (Hauptbahnhof), where you catch another train to get to Colditz. The trip from the Leipzig airport to Colditz takes about two hours and involves taking two trains and a bus, (or a train and one bus weekdays) but it's not difficult (see details below).
Ryanair has some really cheap flights from London-Stansted airport to Leipzig-Halle airport outside of Leipzig, near the town of Schkeuditz.
Train service into Colditz was eliminated a few years ago. You can get there by a combination of train and bus, or just the bus. The trip used to require taking a train to one of the smaller towns (Grossbothen, Grimma, Bad Lausick or Tanndorf), then a bus to Colditz. Now you can take a direct bus during the week, but still have to do the combo via Grossbothen on the weekends. Check the Deutschebahn schedule for the times.
Some recent (2015) travelers discovered, and shared with me, that there is now a direct bus weekdays between Leipzig and Colditz again, though it doesn't show up as a choice when you use the Deutschebahn (DB) site to check transit information. Apparently, Bus 690 leaves the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, arrives in Grimma, and becomes Bus 619, which goes to Colditz Sportplatz. The bus trip takes about 90 minutes and costs 7 Euros. You can check the schedules for the two buses (that are one!) on the Deutschebahn site and match them up. The train/bus combo is still the way to get there on Saturdays and Sundays.
Bus 690 leaves from the east side of the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (called Hauptbahnhof Ostseite, Leipzig, on the DB website). When you walk out the doors of the train station in Leipzig (facing the city), go left and a short distance away you will see a bus stop (yellow circle on top of the pole). The Colditz bus leaves from there and they have the schedule attached to the pole.
The trains towards Colditz run daily about every hour from the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (an interesting sight in itself - one of the largest train stations in Europe), mainly alternating via Grimma (33 minute trip) or Grossbothen (43 minute trip), and sometimes via Bad Lausick or Tanndorf . The remainder of the trip is via bus to Colditz.
Regardless of which town you travel through, the total time is the about the same, 1 hour and 18 minutes to Colditz from Leipzig.
You'll be catching a bus from one of the small town train stations and the train schedule will tell you the bus number for Colditz.
The bus part of the ride to Colditz ambles through various little towns and gives you a good view of the surrounding countryside. It is very comfortable and air-conditioned.
Don't get off at the first stop (Leipzigerstrasse) in Colditz; you'll be on the wrong side of the river. Get off at the next stop next to a playing field (Sportplatz is the name of the stop) which is just outside the old part of town. Ask the driver to be sure (ask for "Colditz Sportplatz"). Cross the street and head into the town on Nicolaistrasse. Go about two blocks until the street ends, then go left, then immediately right onto Untermarkt and you will be in the old town center with its market square and, of course, the castle above it. (See map of Colditz below.)
You can also take a taxi from the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, though the bus or train would be cheaper and almost as easy.
(the only Saturday/Sunday option)
I haven't tried the Grossbothen route, but some Australian visitors used it and generously shared the following information...
Grossbothen station is inactive (deserted). When you get off the train, facing the station, go left and walk about 250 meters to a main road (Colditzer Landstrasse). At the main road, turn right and walk about 50 meters before crossing the road to the bus stop. The stop has a posted timetable for the #619 bus. The bus will be heading down the hill in the direction of the railway overpass. Tell the driver "Colditz Sportplatz"; it's the second stop in Colditz, a couple of minutes after it crosses the bridge. The fare was 2.60 Euros in June of 2014. They also mentioned there was nowhere open in town to eat after 6:00 p.m.
You can travel to Colditz by taking the train to Grossbothen, then bus #619 to Colditz. Get details from the train station in Dresden when you get your ticket.
Important Note: I've included schedule information to give you an idea of how often and when the the trains and buses run, but the days and times are subject to change at any time, so before making plans, please check with the German Railway for current bus and train schedules, at www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de (in English).
There is a major highway, A14, running east-west between Leipzig and Dresden. Coming from the Leipzig direction, head east until you get to the Grimma exit onto B107 south. The sign should say Rochlitz/ Colditz. Coming from Dresden, watch for the same exit and head south. Stay on this road all the way to Colditz.
Just before the Mulde river on the edge of town, Highway B107 turns sharply right. Keep going straight on B176 and cross the bridge over the river.
You will now be in the old part of Colditz, which is very compact. The Markt (town square) and the castle are all within a couple of blocks . You can't miss the castle. It towers over the town and you can see it from far away.
Special thanks to Pete Nowakiwskyj for providing the additional information. | <urn:uuid:9a81bdcc-5aa7-48e9-8570-39cac1ba8545> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.uncommon-travel-germany.com/travel-to-colditz.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280266.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00492-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928194 | 1,439 | 1.546875 | 2 |
One of the most important features of a malicious attack is its ability to conceal itself from both protection solutions and victims. The main role in performing a hidden attack is played by exploits to software vulnerabilities that can be used to secretly download malicious code on the victim machine. Generally, exploits are distributed in exploit packs which appear in the form of plugin detects (to identify the type and version of software installed on the user computer) and a set of exploits, one of which is issued to the user if an appropriate vulnerability is found.
Recently, we have come across a new technique used to hide exploit-based attacks: fraudsters packed the exploit pack in the Flash file.
Downloading an Exploit
The standard technique used in a drive-by attack is to compromise a web site with a link leading to a landing page with the exploit pack. From there the pack uploads the necessary exploit onto the user computer. From the point of view of security software, this unmasks all the components of the exploit pack because they are simply uploaded onto the landing page. As a result, the exploits and the plugin detects are visible in the web traffic. The criminals must mask each component separately if the attack is to go unnoticed.
The unconventional new approach with the Flash package is definitely more efficient for criminals. The standard landing page is missing. The user follows the link to get to a page with a packed Flash object that turns out to be the exploit pack and the configuration file in an image form. The packed Flash file with the exploit pack is loaded to a page in the browser and has the right to write to and modify the page, i.e. it can add exploits to the page which will then be executed.
Let us look into how this works, using the Netrino exploit pack as our example.
This is what the packed Flash object looks like:
The packed Flash object (exploit pack)
This is how it looks after de-obfuscation:
The Flash object (exploit-pack) after de-obfuscation
The packing is supposed to prevent the malicious object from being detected. A Flash object like this is not opened by most popular deobfuscators. For instance, SWF Decompiler freezes and then reports an error.
The results of using a popular deobfuscator on the Flash object of the Neutrino exploit pack
The Flash object is written to a page in the user’s browser with the parameter allowscriptaccess = “always” – this allows for the page to be modified, even if the object was loaded from a different domain. Although Flash objects rarely require page modification rights, there is nothing very unusual about this option and indeed a lot of legitimate Flash content is loaded this way. With this privilege, the malicious Flash object simply writes exploits to the page from its binary data.
Thus, there is no malicious content in the web traffic or on the page delivered to the browser. The malicious content is hidden behind a good packer, and the exploits emerge while a page is processed by the browser.
Contents of the Flash object
Let us have a look at what the analyzed Flash object contains, and what it writes to a web page. After unpacking, we see six embedded binary objects. These binary objects are coded with RC4, and some are also compressed with the standard ‘deflate’ algorithm.
The encoded binary objects within the Flash object
Here is how one of the objects is decoded and delivered:
The code for decrypting and adding the exploit to a page
Other objects are decrypted in a similar manner.
Let us summarize the binary objects contained in the Flash pack:
- An exploit for the CVE-2013-2551 vulnerability in Internet Explorer
- A malicious DLL which is also part of other versions of the Neutrino exploit pack (discussed later in this article).
- Two exploits for the CVE-2014-6332 vulnerability in Internet Explorer’s VBS processor:
- An exploit for the CVE-2014-0569 vulnerability in Adobe Flash
- An exploit for the CVE-2014-0515 vulnerability in Adobe Flash
The exploit for the CVE-2013-2551 vulnerability
Exploits for the CVE-2014-6332 vulnerability
The exploit for the CVE-2014-0569 vulnerability
The exploit for the CVE-2014-0515 vulnerability
By the way, there is no plugin detect for Adobe Flash exploits in this exploit pack. ActionScript tools are used to check the version of Adobe Flash. Adobe Flash versions that can be attacked using exploits are hardcoded in the Flash-pack code:
In the most recent versions, modifications were introduced into the Flash pack. These include adding another exploit for the vulnerability CVE-2015-0536 in Adobe Flash.
The configuration file
Let us have a look at one interesting function in the Flash pack.
It should be remembered that an image (a configuration file) is posted on the landing page alongside with the Flash object.
The image posted on the page
A special function reads this image from the landing page, decodes its Base64 and RC4, and thus obtains the configuration file.
The function for obtaining the configuration file
The configuration file contains the keys and identifiers of the exploits discussed above, which are available for the user to download. The availability of the configuration file gives some flexibility to the cybercriminals: they can specify the best settings for its operation at each specific period of time without changing the exploit pack itself. For example, they can specify priority exploits or separately keep the keys with which to decrypt the objects within the pack.
The configuration file decrypted from the image
In the later versions of the Flash pack, however, the configuration file is part of the actual exploit pack rather than a separate picture.
Implementing the payload
The shell-code of one of the exploits is a VBS code with binary code in a string, which is executed by the exploitation of the vulnerability CVE-2014-6332 in Internet Explorer’s VBS processor. As a result, the file shell32.dll is loaded to the folder “%temp%/System32/.
The name and the path of the loaded file are similar to those of regular Windows DLLs. Using the regular DLL hijacking technique, one can go without using the functions run, start, open etc., and thus mask the launch of a malicious DLL from the security product.
Using DLL hijacking shell32.dll
The exploit modifies the environment variable SYSDIR and attempts to load System.ShellApplication – this launches the malicious DLL.
The launched DLL is a dropper which loads the script”p.js” to the victim’s computer and launches it.
The main part of shell32.dll code
The launched p.js script
This script is the loader of the principal malicious file.
The version of the Flash pack described in this article emerged in late 2014 and was actively distributed in Q1 2015. There were also new modifications of the Flash pack, but their basic working principles didn’t change.
It wasn’t until March 2015 that we observed Neutrino Flash pack attacks on the computers of 60,541 users. On average about 2,000 users were attacked every day; on certain days, the number of potential victims reached 5,000 to 6,000.
The number of unique users attacked by Neutrino Flash pack
This exploit pack is predominantly used to attack users located in the USA and Canada.
The geographic distribution of Neutrino Flash-pack attacks (as of March 2015)
The idea of use a Flash-pack to distribute exploits is relatively new and it has proved fairly successful for cybercriminals. Existing Flash properties allow them to pack the exploit pack into a Flash object and conceal it with an obfuscator. The Flash capability to specify website access parameters then allows them to write exploits to a webpage in the user’s browser. The exploit-pack’s components are not found in the web traffic, nor in the loaded page.
Although the malware writers are constantly updating the exploit-pack and introducing modifications into the code of the malicious Flash pack in order to prevent security products from detecting it, Kaspersky Lab responds promptly to these threats. Alongside regular protection methods, Kaspersky Lab’s products use a special “Anti-Exploit Protection” (AEP) component, which detects this threat with the help of behavior analysis.
Kaspersky Lab’s products detect this Flash pack under the verdict HEUR:Exploit.Script.Blocker, HEUR:Exploit.SWF.Generic. | <urn:uuid:060a13c6-ddc4-4609-9e7f-24bbcd5bb135> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://securelist.com/how-exploit-packs-are-concealed-in-a-flash-object/69727/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817032054-20220817062054-00470.warc.gz | en | 0.888696 | 1,805 | 2.640625 | 3 |
ALiEMU New Course: Pediatric Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral IV Access
Did you know that the ALiEMU learning management platform has courses in addition to the AIR Series? We just published the third installment of the pediatric point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) series, which focuses on peripheral IV access using ultrasonography. Do you use the traditional transverse, transverse with dynamic needle tip visualization, or longitudinal ultrasound technique?
ALiEMU: Pediatric EM Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral IV Access
Go get your ALiEMU course completion certificate on POCUS for Peripheral IV Access. The UCSF authorship team of Drs. Margaret Lin, Scott Sutton, and Aaron Kornblith cover the details of performing this common procedure. This includes understanding the vascular anatomy, optimizing ultrasonography technique, and applying advanced troubleshooting tips.
The post ALiEMU New Course: Pediatric Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral IV Access appeared first on ALiEM.
Like articles like this one?
Safe& Secure Checkout | <urn:uuid:2e6c105a-06af-4649-9256-2bda2bcb44db> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://tactical-medicine.com/blogs/news/aliemu-new-course-pediatric-ultrasound-guided-peripheral-iv-access | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571538.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812014923-20220812044923-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.833151 | 246 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Sampark Foundation rolls out Baithak to ‘bring school to children'
Free online learning platform will teach children in Hindi
Sampark Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded by former HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar, has launched an app — Baithak — with a free learning and development platform in Hindi.
The platform will provide education to about two crore children across the entire Hindi-speaking belt of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
“The app intends to teach children in the age group of 5-15, or up to class 8, across rural areas in maths, english and science. Due to the ongoing lockdown, the children are not able to go to the school. If the children can’t go to school, we will bring the school to them,” Nayar, Chairman of Sampark Foundation, told BusinessLine.
Baithak, which is a crowd-sourcing platform, already has two lakh teachers who create content on a daily basis. The app — which permits users to download content for free and view later, even without Internet — has already recorded more than one lakh downloads, he added.
The app, which follows State syllabuses (customised for each State), comes loaded with animated video content, worksheets, gaming, puzzles, chats platforms and live sessions among others.
The online classes will be conducted from 9-11 am by Sampark’s Smart Shala teachers, with live sessions by Baithak’s online mascot ‘Sampark Didi’.
Zero tech cost
Baithak was developed in San Francisco by Nayar’s 28 ‘friends’, who work with multinational companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn among others. The testing was done in Benguluru.
“The entire app was been developed by what I call ‘Friends of Vineet Nayar’. So, the technology cost is zero,” Nayar said.
Nayar, who left HCL Technologies in 2013, had set up Sampark Foundation with an investment of ₹650 crore.
He, along with his wife Anupama, is investing ₹10 crore in Baithak.
Besides artificial intelligence (AI), the app uses bots, video compression technologies, analytics engine and visualisation tools among others.
Another feature of the platform is a tab where the State leadership can interact directly with the parents and teachers by posting circulars, schedules, guidelines, suggestions and other content. | <urn:uuid:ec14db71-6e18-452f-a521-61012915cae0> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.vineetnayar.com/articles-blogs/sampark-foundation-rolls-out-baithak-bring-school-children | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572304.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816120802-20220816150802-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.943426 | 556 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The first true cataract surgery was performed in 1747, and today it is the most commonly performed surgery in the United States. It is estimated that 3.5 million cataract procedures are performed annually in the US. SoCal Eye Ophthalmology in Long Beach are Cataract Specialists and Cataract Surgeons.
Cataracts, often associated with cloudy vision, represents the most common cause of vision loss among people older than 50. This progressive eye condition affects more than 22 million Americans. The good news is that vision impairment as a result of cataracts is reversible. Cataract surgery is now a standard, extremely safe, surgery, with an excellent success rates. Nine out of 10 people who have cataracts surgery regain vision anywhere from 20/20 to 20/40.
Cataracts: Frosty Windows
The Mayo Clinic describes having cataracts as “a bit like looking through a frosty or foggy window.” With age, the normally transparent lens inside the eye becomes cloudy. This cloudiness prevents light from passing into the back of the eye. This results in a blurred, ‘foggy’ image. Cataract formation is a natural result of aging. In fact, cataracts develop slowly over decades and most people do not have any limitation in their vision with the earliest form of cataracts. It is only later on, when the cataracts are denser, that they have an impact on daily tasks such as reading, driving (especially night-time driving) or watching a TV.
To detect the presence of cataracts, we recommend annual eye exams, especially after age 60. Schedule an Exam with SoCal Eye Today
Common Cataracts Symptoms
- Clouded, blurred or dim vision
- Increasing difficulty with vision at night
- Sensitivity to light and glare, and seeing halos
- Frequent changes in eyeglass or contact lens prescription
- Fading or yellowing of colors
- Double vision in a single eye
The long-term effect of cataracts, untreated, is a progressive decline in vision. However, cataract surgery can restore functional, normal vision and all the happiness it entails.
In the early stages, cataract-impaired vision can be improved with a simple change in eyeglass prescriptive, magnification or even better lighting. Once the cataracts progress to the point of disrupting daily life, surgery is the next step and fortunately, SoCal employs the latest technology to give you the best vision. Modern cataract surgery performed by our cataract specialists is a 10 minute procedure that is performed on an out-patient basis with light sedation. It involves the removal of the cloudy, natural lens and the implantation of a replacement lens, an intraocular implant (IOL). In 90% of cases 20/20 to 20/40 vision is restored within days. Complete healing time is three weeks.
Cataracts are mostly a product of aging but certain cataract risk factors create the early onset of the condition. Avoiding them can help slow its progression:
- Ultraviolet radiation (sunlight – wear sunglasses)
- Prolonged use of steroids
- Statin cholesterol medicines
- Obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure
SoCal Eye & Cataracts:
All treatment begins with a Consultation with one of our SoCal Eye Cataracts Specialists. We have two offices to care for you, LAKEWOOD (562) 531-2020 or LOS ALAMITOS (562) 598-7728 or send us an Online Consultation Request. We look forward to meeting you! | <urn:uuid:60b26ef2-aed8-4f11-9db9-3e73ee193a84> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://socaleye.com/2021/01/cataracts-frosty-windows/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.926766 | 787 | 2.5 | 2 |
So March is international listening month.
I'll admit, the thought of dedicating a month to listening seems a bit silly (and who gets to decide what month is dedicated to what?) But listening is important stuff.
It's easy to think that a conversation is about what we bring to the table. We focus on sharing something that is interesting or funny or exciting, in the hopes that it will draw our partner in.
But you know what? A lot of times, people just want someone to listen to them. And if you prove that you care about your partner by being a good listener, they'll be happy to listen to what you share in return---even if it's not incredibly funny or exciting.
So take the opportunity this month to work on your listening. There's different ways you can do this. You can focus on asking good questions that encourage your partner to share. You can be deliberate to root out interruptions---and if you do catch yourself interrupting, apologize and let your partner finish. You can even ask the people in your life to help you be a better listener, and to let you know in a gentle way when you are doing a poor job of listening.
There's also resources out there to help you improve your listening skills. There is an international listening association (who knew?) that has some worthwhile listening resources. I'm particularly fond of their pdf version of a booklet from the 50s called Listening is a 10 Part Skill. The booklet style is a bit dated, but the advice is well worth a read.
In the comments, let me know your favorite listening tips---or share situations when listening is a challenge for you. And happy international listening month! (Next month is national poetry month, so practice your listening now and you'll be ready to listen attentively at a poetry reading come April!) | <urn:uuid:4de100f5-e5a3-48ad-ae9d-50e7b3dff5c9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.improveyoursocialskills.com/international-listening-month | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573118.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817213446-20220818003446-00678.warc.gz | en | 0.953953 | 375 | 1.625 | 2 |
|Posted by hj on June 10, 2004 at 20:04:51:|
|In response to Re: Tankless Water Heaters|
They do not stay in contact with the water long enough to reduce the flue temperature. So, they run hotter.
: Can you please help me understand why tankless (Instantaneous) water heaters require category category III venting? Not sure why this is different then most heaters as a category I.
|Replies to this post|
|There are none.| | <urn:uuid:298fe3b3-e76b-42e8-a5a9-3916a501a880> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://terrylove.com/wwwboard/messages2/49317.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281151.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00117-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927243 | 111 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Photo by .Va i ♥ ven. Arp
As a teacher I always feel there are two New Years in a single year—September and January. I find it a welcome opportunity to evaluate and realign my goals, personally and professionally. Although I don’t refer to my professional goals as resolutions, in this context using Wikipedia’s definition, a commitment to goals, projects or reforming of habits, it fits. Call them what you will—goals, resolutions, plans, objectives.
Frankly, I prefer my professional new year’s resolutions over my personal ones as they are more about exploring new ideas and experiences with my students and colleagues, and less about what I am not doing, like losing weight and saving money. My professional resolutions always seem to be dynamic, exciting and evolving, while my personal January resolutions tend to be generic, familiar and tired. Don’t get me wrong, I have personal goals and I am a very goal oriented person but I don’t do well with the whole “it is January, ergo I need to come up with some goals”. It may work for some people but I tend to create my goals as life unfolds, January or not.
After the holidays I read through a backlog of Seth Godin’s blog posts, and I was yet again reminded how much his words resonate with me. In his most recent posts a common theme spoke to me and it is one I needed to hear to be renewed for the upcoming term. It is about committing to being a ruckus maker, being dedicated to bringing about change.
I think my desire to bring about change found me before I found it. In my search for ways to infuse technology into learning I stumbled upon many opportunities and many roadblocks, many tools and many policies, many questions and yet not as many answers, or at least ones I was willing to accept. These all led me to the same place—wondering why. Why can’t we look at this differently? Why can’t we try this for the sake of our students? Why is this door closed? It was a if I had re-entered the toddler “why” phase. These many “whys” fuelled my strong commitment to bringing about change—change with a purpose, with a goal, with meaning. All grounded in, “What is best for our students and their learning?”
What I have discovered is that as you start asking “why” to a broad scope of people and start offering “what if” options to be explored, the more the doors open and the more change can stretch its wings and find some room to fly around. Instead of change flexing its muscles and evoking fear, I am learning that giving it a crack of sunlight to grow and become established is far more effective and far less threatening.
I rounded up 6 themes from Seth’s posts that I think will give me strength and courage to push forward. I hope they speak to you, too!
You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.
“It’s always been this way” is not a reason to keep on keeping on. Challenge the status quo.
As soon as you accept that just about everything in our created world is only a few generations old, it makes it a lot easier to deal with the fact that the assumptions we make about the future are generally wrong, and that the stress we have over change is completely wasted.
A great question is one you can ask yourself, one that disturbs your status quo and scares you a little bit.
You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It’s never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment — just one second — to decide.
One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you’re in the room…
Another is to be the sort of person who is missed when you’re not.The first involves making noise. The second involves making a difference.
…Great storytellers and artists and ruckus makers manage to insulate themselves from the people they’re going to hassle. And the job of those that are being hassled by the commotion is to be hassled by the commotion. No commotion, no job.
In place of new year’s resolutions I am making a commitment to the above statements, for myself and for my students. While I believe I have long been committed to these ideas, I love the clarity and focus found here on this list. I think they will help serve as my compass, particularly when the road gets rough and the ruckus maker needs a reminder as to why a ruckus is worth making.
How will you create a ruckus this year? | <urn:uuid:ec538f58-5352-4ece-b6d9-9d199991c4aa> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://tannisteaches.wordpress.com/tag/seth-godin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280310.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00181-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972794 | 1,029 | 1.554688 | 2 |
from the book the pearl by john steinbeck chapter 6
Answers 1Add Yours
The pearl symbolizes the power of freed that took hold of his heart. The very people he wanted to benefit from the pearl's wealth were killed or hurt terribly. KIno realizes what Juana has said all along. The Pearl was evil because it ignited the greed in mens' hearts. | <urn:uuid:e1247f92-c016-43e6-838d-23bb512da483> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.gradesaver.com/the-pearl/q-and-a/if-kino-therw-the-pearl-back-out-of-rage-and-fustration-then-what-does-the-pearl-symbolize-and-what-is-the-lesson-learned-from-the-book-the-pearl-by-john-steinbeck-chapter-6-125172 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280128.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00390-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989109 | 80 | 2.078125 | 2 |
How will NFTs shape the future of sport? Permit us depend the means.
Firstly, even so, a tiny important techno-track record. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are one of a kind, non-interchangeable digital property represented on a blockchain. Their creation will allow articles creators to restrict the number of house owners of an asset to as handful of as one particular, therefore producing an aspect of shortage. NFTs are anticipated to underpin value trade in Internet3, a decentralised edition of the world wide web that may possibly offer the structure for the metaverse — a bodily/digital new globe exactly where people can transition seamlessly throughout a number of experiences.
PwC US’ recent Sporting activities Sector Outlook 2022 outlines the methods that sporting activities teams are by now utilising NFTs in North The usa, but in Australia much too, NFT use is on the increase and the encounters they could help are beginning to be explored. Listed here are 3 means:
1. Sports collectibles
Collectible NFTs — commonly accredited by leagues, teams, golf equipment or specific athletes — effectively provide as electronic buying and selling playing cards and for sports activities teams, can be utilized to market collectible, authenticated, confined-version electronic material.
Collectible NFTs are an fascinating possibility and are currently remaining explored by sporting organisations all-around the planet. In 2021, for example, the Melbourne Cup Carnival auctioned off 10 unusual NFTs of traditionally vital races.1 In the US, NBA Top rated Photographs from Dapper Labs, are yet another perfectly regarded illustration of sporting activities NFT ‘moments,’ the place users can purchase packs of assorted video moments, of which some may perhaps be fairly uncommon.
The following step in the electronic trading card evolution could be in ‘before they had been famous’ playing cards, showcasing NFTs of rising stars. In the US, this could be in the form of playing cards for small league gamers and college prospects. In Australia, this could extend to likely AFL draft picks, or up and coming stars in junior rugby or soccer leagues or regional and point out cricket teams.
It is very likely that professional-wanting supporter movies are poised to growth in price. Faster than we consider, followers will be equipped to make and market their own NFTs with the simply click of a button. Video clips of ridiculous performs, gravity-defying speckies and miraculous hail-mary’s will be equipped to be authenticated and confined. Consider that there are specifically five authenticated versions of a basketball prodigy creating the successful basket for the championship activity, or the cricket-obsessed kid-following-door who scores a hat-trick in a friendly and goes on to be known as up to participate in in a check match? How a lot may well people primary films be well worth in 5 a long time? In 10?
Groups and ticket distributors are also obtaining in on the action, turning ticket stubs into NFTs. Before long, electronic tickets may well provide as a hype video clip — then a emphasize reel — from the match you had been at. Feel about conventional memorabilia – the paper ticket stub for the finest scoring NBA player is presently marketing for a quarter of a million dollars.2 For the up coming technology, potentially that ticket stub is digital, authenticated and features exceptional articles. Maybe lovers display screen it in the metaverse like they would proudly body the original and hold it on the residing home wall. Also on the horizon are FNFTs (fractionalised NFTs) exactly where ownership could be break up among numerous supporters at a a lot reduced cost barrier. Owning the NFT of the Ashes may well be out of arrive at for most, but what about a speck of ash?
2. Year ticket or member NFTs
Several groups have previously commenced to consider how tickets could become digital tokens, giving ticket holders — particularly period ticket holders — entry to particular content material or unique reserved areas within stadiums. In Australia, the place period tickets aren’t typical, NFTs could be applied for memberships to golf equipment in the AFL, rugby or soccer leagues. This could include exclusive VIP parts of the stadium, savings at concession stands or on items or other classic added benefits of period tickets or membership.
Exceptional stadium-based memberships like the Melbourne Cricket Club or Sydney Cricket Ground, where membership is typically a matter of decades-extensive waitlists, NFTs could be a normal in good shape, easily making it possible for for visitor use or restricted, but even now unique, transferable possession. Or, tokens could deliver an option to maintain people on the waitlist contented (and bringing in income) with exceptional content material. For a compact once-a-year cost, waitlist members could acquire the identical digital benefits as time pass or membership holders.
These NFTs could come to be a confirmed move to what ever special articles a team can desire up. For case in point, in 2022, the Australian Open up produced NFT artwork tennis balls joined to locations on the actual physical courts that, upon a successful shot landing on them, uploaded its own metadata, stats and highlights of the match, and granted the proprietor excess rewards – these types of as accessibility to exclusive branded merch. If the shot was a championship a single, the operator gained a person of the physical balls from the match.3
Tokenised variations of memberships or year tickets will permit organisations to go even further. Soon, it is most likely that season ticket holders or users of a club could receive unique version collectible NFTs for the games they go to. Inside of a couple years, these could turn out to be a normal portion of their membership, and this kind of tokens a way to clearly show off their fandom.
For sponsors, tokenization presents a great way to align on their own with a workforce or league and create exceptional activations that develop fairness for both makes. By working with blockchain technology, groups can make it so only sponsors can confirm and guarantee that buyers do not reduce their added benefits if they misplace their actual physical ticket — producing value for both of those sponsors and followers.
3. Virtual entry tokens
Collectible NFTs and membership/period ticket tokens are, in some strategies, just evolutions and enhancements of conventional loyalty courses. But combining the metaverse with digital property allows a full new marketplace for even a lot more lover segments. Digital access tokens could permit special obtain for the duration of or right after game titles, plus new varieties of social encounters and prospects to have interaction with teams, athletes and other supporters in just the metaverse.
Inside video games, tokens could help a distinct viewing expertise for fans who are willing to pay extra or who just cannot show up at video games in particular person. Supporters could interact with gamers for the duration of the game in a digital placing, or with other followers in digital worlds. Athlete obtain will be vital for achieving the next technology of fans, and when social media enables this in some measure, the metaverse could significantly expand the possibility. Heading more, token proprietors could obtain accessibility to exceptional video material, these kinds of as player cams or locker-place access. Some groups are already promoting tokens that give followers the correct to affect non-strategic game-day selections, these types of as wander-up songs.4
This virtual entry could logically be prolonged to membership and period ticket holders as very well. For occasion, for most away game titles, metaverse tokens would allow users to however experience like VIPs and get accessibility to distinctive material. For game titles they attend, they could come to feel like portion of the staff by just about sitting in on the halftime speech or seeing the video game from the coach’s viewpoint.
The accessibility and possible to generate shortage would make a virtual obtain token particularly valuable. More, just about every enthusiast who buys a token leaves a details footprint. By knowing so a lot about which lovers have these tokens, sponsorship could also grow to be a big profits stream for teams or leagues. Set a further way, electronic belongings and the metaverse give a full new environment the place teams’ model fairness can be leveraged for both of those ticket income and sponsored events.
So what does it all indicate?
Electronic property could essentially alter how fans interact with their favorite teams. There will be additional methods to meaningfully hook up with teams and athletes than ever before. If executed successfully to aid improve the consumer expertise, enthusiasts would be in a position to type even nearer bonds with their teams. But the opening siren has only just rung when it comes to the prospective of NFTs. Going ahead they could be utilised as section of participant contracts, for media legal rights or even sponsorship specials – delivering important profits options for sports activities organisations.
The problem will likely arrive from organisations’ potential to create the infrastructure that allows digital property to prosper. To be prosperous, teams and leagues will want innovative tech stacks that hook up their new digital revenue knowledge with existing consumer databases. Even further, they will require to anticipate and mitigate lawful danger and tax implications in an evolving landscape.
Sport has normally responded effectively to shifts in shopper conduct, and with NFTs, Web3 and the metaverse on the horizon, it is time to put together for a reimagination of the sport. | <urn:uuid:ae7a929a-12e3-4dd1-8c33-e3a1dd28bc95> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.magellan-rfid.com/nfts-and-the-reimagination-of-sport.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571950.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813111851-20220813141851-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.940951 | 1,955 | 1.828125 | 2 |
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is it me,or does this lady say the same thing in each interview she conducts?
its almost like she is reading it off...
interesting all the same.
Foerster, who also runs his own tour group company in Peru and has authored 11 books on ancient history, told Ancient Origins that a geneticist who tested skull samples has found that they contain mutated DNA that does not match any known genetic DNA information in GenBank, an open-access sequence database of all the known genetic data in the world.
How can we explain elongated skulls that are thousands of years old that contain genetic material “unknown in any human, primate or animal known so far”? For months, many of us have been eagerly awaiting the results of the first DNA tests to ever be performed on the famous Paracas skulls. The results for one of the skulls are now in, and the scientist that did the testing is declaring that this skull represents a “new human-like creature” unlike anything that has ever been discovered before.
reply to post by redtic
Sincerity and mental illness are not mutually exclusive. Sincerity merely requires a BELIEF that what you are saying is true. | <urn:uuid:a0846719-7962-44e1-aaf6-89649ab894f8> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1003225/pg1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282926.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00392-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959562 | 297 | 2 | 2 |
The first New Hampshire Democratic majority in over a century just seriously overreached itself:
By Norma Love, Associated Press Writer | April 19, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. —Gov. John Lynch told The Associated Press on Thursday he will sign legislation establishing civil unions in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire thus will become the fourth state to adopt civil unions and the first to do so without first having a court fight over denying gays the right to marry.
This is good news in a way, the Dems have been in power here for just a couple of months and have already proved to the entire state that when you vote Dem you get Liberal social engineering and political colonialism under the Massachusetts Democratic Machine. They have just shot themselves in the foot.
The New Hampshire electorate may have put a new party into power up in Concord, but that does not mean we suddenly all became Liberals in the last six months. | <urn:uuid:5c62bbe2-c543-4e5d-a934-e6026644a27f> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://hairybeast.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/ap-nh-governor-lynch-to-sign-civil-unions-bill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719566.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00261-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952311 | 186 | 1.828125 | 2 |
We're No. 1!
The Florida Department of Education's comparison of district geometry End of Course exam results shows that district students are No. 1 in the state.
Eighty-four percent of the county's 599 geometry students, in the eighth- through 10th-grade, scored a Level 3 or higher, compared to 63 percent of geometry students statewide. The scoring also reflects a 25 percent increase over 2011-12.
The finding promises to be a major morale booster to anyone concerned with the academic standing of Monroe County students, and was immediately praised by Superintendent of Schools Mark Porter.
"As a former math teacher, I really do appreciate the challenges that accompany student success in this content area," Porter said. "Geometry tends to be a subject that many students often struggle with, yet this type of outstanding success evidences the extraordinary efforts that teachers are making to modify instruction to meet student needs. This kind of an outcome doesn't happen without extraordinary teacher effort. This is something we really need to learn from as well. Embedded in this success are best practices that we need to identify and transport into other content areas."
Christina McPherson, the District Director of Accountability and Assessment, also welcomed the End of Course results.
"We're extremely pleased with the result and the significant gains that were made from the previous school year," McPherson said. "In addition, 100 percent of our eighth-graders district-wide passed the geometry exams, and as a result of these significant gains, we are conducting an analysis of our results, to examine the specific strategies utilized by teachers to create these gains and determine future predictability of student achievement if the same strategies are implemented."
Several initiatives have helped to bring about the impressive results, according to Porter, including geometry boot camps, emphasis on application in the lesson department, real-life problem solving, engaging activities and project-based learning, collaborative group work, vertical teaming, establishing building block and foundational learning, promoting student access to digital content, and district-wide teacher interdisciplinary planning.
Horace O'Bryant School Principal Mike Henriquez, a strong proponent of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, also hailed the geometry scores.
"Three years ago our Mathematics Department formed a Professional Learning Community, with goals to increase rigor, access and achievement in algebra and geometry," Henriquez said. "Through their efforts our teachers set high expectations, developed challenging and engaging lessons, established a belief system that all students can achieve and motivated our students to achieve at their highest level. As principal I am extremely proud of our teachers and students, and with what we've been able to accomplish over the past few years." | <urn:uuid:131e5f0f-b417-4000-9a52-9944e0a91910> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://keysnews.com/print/48683 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00213-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959837 | 554 | 2.109375 | 2 |
“Egypt, the largest Arab state, the second largest recipient of U.S. military aid, and our second most important ally in the Middle East, is now in the hands of a hostile regime—an elected one at that—which we continue to treat as a friendly one,” says Raymond Stock in a recent article published by the Middle East Forum.
When President Obama gave a speech in Cairo on January 25, 2009, it was portrayed as an outreach to the Middle East and Islam. Seated in the front row at Cairo University, however, was the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood. The speech asked Muslims to define themselves “not by national or ethnic identity, but by their religion.”
What followed was the overthrow of the Mubarak regime and the election of Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood as president, a victory for its 84-year struggle for power in the land of its birth. How radical is the Muslim Brotherhood? In January on Holocaust Remembrance Day, a key figure in Morsi’s government, Fathi Shihab-Eddim, called the Holocaust a hoax cooked up by U.S. intelligence operatives, saying that the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II had simply moved to the U.S.
Such views are widely held by Muslims and reflect Islam’s hatred of Jews, but most Americans remain oblivious to the fact that Islam hates Christianity and all other religions. The official policy of the U.S. is to ignore this and to support the Morsi regime. Morsi is on record saying that Jews are “apes and pigs.” The 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt is now just an illusion.
To get some insight into life under Islam in Egypt (and elsewhere) some of the fatwas issued in 2012, legal decrees issued by learned Muslims, one called for the destruction of the pyramids and the Sphinx. Another opposed setting a minimum age for marriage in the new constitution, i.e. pedophilia. A fatwa called for scrapping the Camp David accords and another permitted the killing of any anti-Islamization protesters. Greetings to Christians on holidays such as Christmas and Easter were forbidden.
At this writing, the U.S. is shipping the first four of sixteen F-16s promised to Mubarak and giving the Morsi regime two hundred Abrams tanks in the same package. On January 26, Morsi said this was a sign of support for his rule and it is.
Special Operations Speaks, an organization of Special Ops veterans, has spoken out against this weapons transfer noting that “These modern U.S. weapons are part of a package of military aid to Egypt that was concluded in 2010 with the previous Hosni Mubarak regime. The times and our relationship have changed and not for the better,” cited the “viciously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood” deeming the provision of weapons “liberal foreign policy at its most inept.”
The U.S. is not alone, however, it supporting a regime dedicated, along with the rest of Islam, to the destruction of the West. Morsi is expecting a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, plus $5 billion in emergency aid from the European Union. More billions have been pledged by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Having failed to reach an agreement with Iraq, the U.S. pulled its troops from that nation which is now wracked with attacks and is, in effect, a close ally of Iran. President Obama has announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. All the money and military efforts in those nations has come to nothing.
At the same time, al Qaeda has expanded its operations, most recently in Mali, but also throughout Africa, most notably its northern tier known as the Maghreb. An attack in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three others—most notably on the anniversary of 9/11—resulted in the deliberate deception of the American public, suggesting it was a spontaneous act, the result of a video no one had seen. Neither the President, nor his out-doing Secretary of State has been held responsible for this.
The in-coming Secretary of State, John Kerry, favors “negotiations” with Iran when there has been no evidence since 1979 that anything other than a state of war has existed with that nation. The nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, displayed an alarming lack of understanding of the threats to our national security or the rise of Islamic terrorism, a reflection of its jihad to impose Islam on the entire world.
Dr. Peter Hammond, the author of “Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat”, pointed out that Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. What Americans and others in the West do not grasp is that it is a complete, total, 100% system of life. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social and military components, but it is the religious component that masks the other elements of Islam.
It consistently describes itself as “a religion of peace” when it has been the root cause of all the terrorism in the world since the latter part of the last century and marks the new century as one in which a war to destroy it is the only alternative to being destroyed by it.
The President, the son of a Kenyan Muslim and step-son of an Indonesian Muslim, has consistently demonstrated his support for Islam. One of his first acts as President was to call for the closing of Guantanamo where jihadists are interned. He described the enhanced interrogation used to find Osama bin Laden and to deter further acts of terrorism against America as “torture.” His first television interview was with Al-Arabia, a Middle East television channel. Obama has announced plans to travel to Israel, the first such trip since his 2008 campaign.
America and the West are feeding the alligator, hoping to be the last to be eaten. We are losing the battle is Islam and, unless this is reversed, we shall end up being its slaves.
© Alan Caruba, 2013. | <urn:uuid:c109b144-44eb-4639-9f42-d690b6beef4a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://papundits.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/losing-the-battle-with-islam/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280483.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00296-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974382 | 1,270 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Detects Sealing Material Application
Case Number 61
last update: April 13, 2015
This application uses a Spot Fiber Sensor.
This Small Spot Fiber Sensor detects shortage of sealing material during sealing material application.
Compact, inexpensive sensors were not available.
Benefit / Efficiency
The small-diameter fiber head makes it possible to mount the Fiber Unit and Lens Unit to the tip of the nozzle. A lens is used at the end of the Fiber Unit to enable detecting the sealing material with the small spot.
E32-C42 + E39-F3A + E3NX-FA
OMRON's Fiber Sensors continue to support an increasing range of applications. | <urn:uuid:c2dc96a4-5b24-46fd-a4ea-59d1333933e7> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.ia.omron.com/products/applications/case/61.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280483.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00291-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.829464 | 142 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Political stalemate, financing issues, and logistical hurdles threaten to derail Madagascar's overdue upcoming presidential elections, the country's first since a coup in 2009 plunged the island into political crisis.
Voting was originally scheduled for 24 July, 2013, but faced with sorting out the legitimacy of some contested candidates, the government has postponed elections again, moving the date a month later to 23 August, 2013.
Madagascar has not had an elected president since the spring of 2009, when elected President Marc Ravalomanana was forced to resign his power by the country's military following violent clashes between authorities and anti-government protesters. The military promptly handed over the government reigns to opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, who immediately dissolved the two houses of parliament.
During Rajoelina's tenure as head of the transitional government, presidential elections have been pushed back three times since the first scheduled date, 26 November, 2010, and parliamentary elections have been postponed four times since 20 March, 2010. Because of this political cluster, the European Union, the United States, and other countries suspended aid to the island and the African Union suspended Madagascar's membership until a return to the state of law.
More than two years after the ouster, Rajoelina and three of the country's four main opposition parties signed a political road map [fr] on 16 September, 2011 that says former presidents and the current president of the transition are prohibited from running for another presidential term. The road map also states [fr] that any candidates running need to resign from any governing office if they want to validate their candidacy.
That hasn't stopped three candidates of the 50 candidates running from throwing their hat into the ring, despite violating parts of the road map and international pressure to withdraw: the current President of the transition, Rajoelina; Madagascar's former two-time President Didier Rastiraka, who served from 1975 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2002; and Lalao Ravalomanana, the wife of booted President Ravalomanana. Rajoelina initially stated that he would not seek a presidential term, but has since changed his mind.
Given the political deadlock caused by the three aforementioned candidacies, all three and their spouses are now barred from entering the European Union with a Schengen Visa [fr].
As for the rest of candidates who have been preparing for elections since 2011, here is a photo montage of some of them:
The country's leadership crisis has had far-reaching consequences well beyond the political arena. A report by the World Bank states that the impact of the political crisis is multi-pronged:
- The economy has stalled, income per capita has fallen
- Poverty has sharply increased
- Social outcomes have worsened
- Public finances are increasingly under stress
- Foreign aid remains muted
- Infrastructure has deteriorated
- The ability to deal with exogenous shocks is severely curtailed
- The resilience of agriculture had helped avoid a food crisis so far
- Madagascar’s longstanding governance problems have only been exacerbated
- The resilience of the private sector is increasingly being tested
More than 92 percent of the population live under two US dollars a day. Because of the sharp decline in job opportunities since the crisis, poverty has driven women into prostitution with 29,000 registered sex workers in the town of Toamasina in 2012, up from 17,000 in 1993. A documentary by Journeyman Pictures details the lives of those who are forced to trade sex for survival:
Complicating the already tense situation, the country was recently hit by cyclone Haruna which ravaged most of its southern region. A locust infestation followed, wrecking havoc on its already fragilized agriculture.
Transparent, credible, and timely elections are seen by many as the first critical step towards exiting the crisis, but it appears that the vote may still very well be in jeopardy. How much longer can the Malagasy people endure such hardships? | <urn:uuid:d8515edf-868e-4eca-87b0-20b5c1a2778c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://globalvoices.org/2013/06/10/delays-political-turmoil-plague-madagascar-as-elections-near/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719136.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00466-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968068 | 805 | 2.625 | 3 |
It will be a regret if you do not go to visit Inle Lake when setting your feet on Myanmar. Inle Lake is considered as Myanmar's precious pearl with the unique landscapes and specific culture of Inthar people, surely that you will have many interesting experiences.
In western Shan State, you will find the serenely picturesque Inle Lake, famous for its floating villages, gardens and markets and the unique way of life of the local Intha people, with their functioning communities based entirely on the water.
Inle Lake is the second largest natural lake in Myanmar. It is a beautiful highland lake situated in the middle of the Nyaungshwe Valley of the Shan Plateau, nestled between two mountain ranges that extend from north to south, feels like a different world to the rest of Myanmar.
Floating Village in the are of Inle Lake
Inle Lake is 35 kilometers away from the nearest airport at Heho, and there are flights to there from both Yangon and Mandalay. There is an entry fee of around US$10 for the Inle Lake area, which you have to pay when entering Nyaungshwe.
The lake area is an example of a rural countryside town that is calm and peaceful, perfect for a vacation of relaxation. Although the lake is not large, it contains a number of endemic species some of which are found nowhere else in the world. The views are also amazing.
Life on water
The beauty of Lake Inle comes not just from the nature but from its relationship with the people who live on it. An estimated 100,000 Intha (Angsa) people live on and around the lake. In their own language the word Intha means "Sons of the Lake". They are devout Buddhists and places frequently visited in their area are proof of their religious beliefs. Their way of life is certainly well adapted to this environment. With no roads or sidewalks to speak of, locals and visitors alike get around in one-person-wide wooden boats outfitted with outboard propellers, which emit a noisy whine when at full throttle and can be raised and lowered depending on water levels. Fishermen work the lake, using a mesmerizing one-legged paddling technique you won’t see anywhere else in the world. This unique way of rowing has make them famous. The Intha have also developed a singular form of aquaculture: a network of interwoven seaweed and hyacinths creates a thick layer of humus over the years, and this is attached to the bottom of the lake with bamboo poles, and then planted with tomatoes, cauliflower, aubergines and flowers.
A Floating Tomato Garden On Inle Lake
Towns growing from the islands, houses suspended above the water, and floating commerce that takes place between them all. The villages of Inle Lake are wonderfully picturesque. Stilted houses of teak and bamboo line the banks of the lake, and the narrow canals that feed into it. Some villages are even built on the water and access is by boat only. Some homes are simple huts, while others are multi-story structures of sturdy teak and come complete with satellite dishes. Life is carried out on the banks of the lake and rivers – this is where children play, people bathe, do their laundry, and wash everything from buffaloes to motorbikes. And as with all of Myanmar, religion plays a massive part in local life, and numerous pagodas and monasteries can be found on the lake and its shores.
A Pagoda On The Lake Shore
The lake is the livelihood of these people – the fish beneath the surface provide their daily meals and also the means of trade with the communities on the shore. But increasingly the lake is bringing the residents of Inle a new source of income – the tourists who arrive by the boatload every day. There are many restaurants dotted around the lake where you can indulge in their delicious catches of the day. Along with fishing, traditional handicrafts are an important part of the local economy, and you will get to see silk weavers and silversmiths plying their trade on the lake.
Just like in other key tourist destinations in Myanmar, there is no shortage of dining establishments at Inle Lake and it may be a rural destination, but that does not mean the place is lacking when it comes to gastronomic delights. The restaurants at Inle Lake can be divided into two main categories. The first serve local Inthar dishes or Shan cuisine. Often, Chinese food is not far behind Shan dishes in a typical menu. The second category encompasses more western-style eateries that normally specialize in pancakes and pasta. The mix of western and local dishes makes for a more cosmopolitan approach.
Hence, if you are planning for your trip to Myanmar, Inle Lake deserves being a must - visit destination in your list.
Getting to Inle Lake
The easiest way to get into Inle Lake (and the most comfortable) is by domestic flight. Prices for flights are around US$110 from Yangon and US$75 from Mandalay, but unlike bus companies the government is heavily involved in the domestic air market, a good chunk of your money will be going into their hands. The closest airport is in Heho, which is a taxi-ride (about 1 hour) away from the lake itself (walking down the road from the airport, towards the highway, should see quoted fares drop, if not, try your luck hailing a taxi or passing pickup on the highway itself). Taking a taxi from the airport is expensive, as of Sep 2015 there is a fixed, non-bargainable price of 25.000 Kyats to go to Nyuang Shwe. When returning, you can often save by booking a shared taxi through your hotel or one of the many travel agents around. Check with them the day before you fly out.
Domestic flight from Mandalay
A less expensive but more uncomfortable and time consuming option is that which most Myanmar people take - the bus. Buses depart daily, and cost around US$14-20 (12 hours) from Yangon or US$12 (7-8 hours) from Mandalay. The journey from Bagan has improved a lot; 2 buses at 7:30 and 19:30; it takes 7 hours to Kalaw and ~8,5 to Nyang Shwe, and costs 11,000 kyats (US$ 8.44). Bus arrives directly to Nyaung Shwe, walking distance to many guest houses. Overnight buses do run and with the new road between Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw the time taken for the trip has been shortened.
Day bus transfer from Bagan to Inle Lake
There is also a direct bus from Hsipaw (14 hours) which leaves Hsipaw at 4.30pm and costs 15,000 kyats (US$11.51). Supposed to take 12-14 hours but expect some delays. From southern destinations like Hpa An or Kyaiktiyo you can change buses in Bago instead of going through Yangon.
A train coming from Kalaw, Thazi or even from Yangon (direct), can bring you to Shwe Nyaung, which town is situated only 13 km away from Nyaung Shwe, the main touristy town where you'll find most accomodations, restaurants, souvenirs shops as well as travel agencies and tour guides.
The train from Kalaw is about 3.5 hours through mountains and fields, lots of scenic views on the way.
Train to Inle Lake
The train from Yangon is about 30 hours, direct, including a 5 hours-stop in Thazi where passengers can have a rest and sleep (in the train). Definitly the cheapest way to get there. To get from the train station (Shwe Nyaung) to your accomodation in Nyaung Shwe, you can either catch a pick-up truck or take a taxi.
Accommodation near Inle Lake
With Inle Lake being such a huge draw in Myanmar for backpackers, there are numerous guesthouses, hotels and hostels to choose from. There are places to suit every budget.
Virtually all of these high end Inle Lake resorts are located in the South Lake and are almost universally gorgeous. The Villa Inle Resort, Pristine Lotus Spa and Shwe Inn Floating Resort are the best regarded, but also carry per-night rates of $100 to $250.
The Villa Inle Resort
There are numerous cheaper Inle Lake resorts available to book online too, like the well-regarded Aquarius Inn and Pyi Guest House.
For those looking for slightly more up-market digs, there are two spots travelers rave about: Princess Garden Hotel – Rated No. 1 on many travel sites, this hotel costs around $35 a night and Teakwood Guesthouse running about $35 per night.
Image sources: Internet | <urn:uuid:b199f44b-6917-4e0e-a0e9-bef1aa65b549> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.bestpricevn.com/travelguide/Article_Inle-Lake-61.html?url_cat=destinations&cat_id=1&des_id=420&sub_id=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00574-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959468 | 1,864 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Tampering of machinery space bilge water separators, oil content meters or the use of by-passes, so called magic pipes, is unfortunately still a very common occurrence on board vessels. The number of US prosecutions and heavy fines remain at a high level in spite of the enhanced environmental awareness. Whistle blowers are highly rewarded when reporting illegal discharges and the need to secure the evidence is vital. The US Department of justice target the oil record book when looking for inconsistencies as presenting wrong or falsified records will result in a fine regardless of where the actual discharge has taken place. If the crew has tried to hide evidence to the US Coast Guard or cover up records the prosecution will also include obstruction of justice that will add to the fines and possibly yield prison sentences.
Dilution of the oil content meter sample or simply closing the sample valve is by far the most common method to trick the oil content meter, but there are many ways. All modern oil content meters are logging the oil content, alarms and running status of the oily water separator with a time stamp. This is an IMO requirement from 2005 but surprisingly many engineers are unaware of this logging function. Mismatches between the log and the oil record book can be reason for prosecution. A record of straight 0 PPM (Parts Per Million) in the logger is a red flag that indicates that there has not been a sample flow through the oil content meter. A port state control officer can instruct the crew to operate the OWS and a history of straight 0 PPM will be hard to explain. Especially if the oil content meter does not show 0 PPM at the inspection where there must be a flow through the oil content meter. The IMO requirement of Oil content meter loggers does unfortunately not include the overboard valve position, the volume of discharged water or geographical position and the incomplete log is rather a danger to the crew than a way to prove compliance. So the need to have all operation data of the oily water separator securely logged is vital.
The Swedish Waste Water Treatment manufacturer Marinfloc developed the first Whitebox on the market in 1999 with over 900 units delivered since. The Whitebox is a control and monitoring system for bilge water discharge and is installed downstream of any Oily water separator. It contains all vital equipment concerning the discharge of treated bilge water such as an oil content meter, overboard three way valve, flow meter, sample water flow switch etc. all installed in a locked cage to which the Chief engineer has the key. Signals from the Whitebox of the oil content, valve positions, flow through the oil content meter, flow overboard, door position etc. together with the vessel GPS-position and time is recorded in a digital recorder installed in the engine control room. This enables the Chief engineer to have full control of the overboard discharge from the oily water separator as the Whitebox is tamper proof as long as it is locked. The main purpose of the Whitebox is to protect the crew and shipowner as it provides the evidence that the operations has been complaint and with no tampering of the equipment.
Marinfloc AB delivers equipment for marine and offshore installations when it comes to Waste Water handling. Marinfloc deliver solutions for bilge and sewage treatment on-board vessels and bilge, sewage and deck drain treatment on-board offshore installations. Marinfloc AB is a company based in Sweden and was founded in 1996. | <urn:uuid:240aa788-8675-4611-9974-19525f098291> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.cleanerseas.com/safe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283689.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00350-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944445 | 694 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Worldwide IT spending is forecast to surpass $3.7 trillion in 2013, a 3.8 percent increase from 2012 projected spending of $3.6 trillion, but it’s the outlook for Big Data that is creating much excitement, according to Gartner, Inc.
“By 2015, 4.4 million IT jobs globally will be created to support Big Data, generating 1.9 million IT jobs in the United States,” said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research. “In addition, every big data-related role in the U.S. will create employment for three people outside of IT, so over the next four years a total of 6 million jobs in the U.S. will be generated by the information economy.“
“But there is a challenge. There is not enough talent in the industry. Our public and private education systems are failing us. Therefore, only one-third of the IT jobs will be filled. Data experts will be a scarce, valuable commodity,” Mr. Sondergaard said. “IT leaders will need immediate focus on how their organization develops and attracts the skills required. These jobs will be needed to grow your business. These jobs are the future of the new information economy.”
Mr. Sondergaard recently provided the latest outlook for the IT industry. He said the IT industry is entering the nexus of forces, which includes a confluence and integration of cloud, social collaboration, mobile and information.
“This is a time of accelerating change, where your current IT architecture will be rendered obsolete,” Mr. Sondergaard said. “You must lead through this change, selectively destroy low impact systems, and aggressively change your IT cost structure. This is the new world of the nexus, the next age of computing.”
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Five ways enterprises can use email analytics augmented by machine learning to surface insights that can help them ward off risk and meet or exceed goals across their organizations. ... More >>
Predictive analytics uses past data to forecast outcomes and target the right prospects – a move that's redefining the use of data and insights in marketing. ... More >> | <urn:uuid:de745513-8fa3-4a07-b07c-b30f5b984d81> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/big-data-is-creating-big-jobs-4.4-million-by-2015-04.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560284352.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095124-00189-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923242 | 477 | 1.835938 | 2 |
With all that pizza they eat, you’d have thought they’d be dead from heart attacks by now. But this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
It’s astonishing that what should have been a minor pop-culture curiosity has enjoyed such longevity and continues to be reinvented. The newest iteration is Friday’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” a live-action reboot produced by Michael Bay and starring Megan Fox as the crime fighters’ buddy, April O’Neil.
Here, we answer six burning questions behind the “Turtles” franchise.
Seriously, why are they teenage mutant turtles?
It’s a good question, and ultimately, a billion-dollar one. The secret origin of the Turtles dates back to the early 1980s in Northampton, Mass., as two artist friends, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, would often get together and draw comics.
One night, the two were hanging out and Laird was engrossed in one of his favorite TV shows. Eastman loved to distract his friend when he was glued to the boob tube, so he quickly sketched something to make Laird laugh: a turtle standing upright wearing a mask and carrying nunchaku. Above it, he drew a crude logo reading “Ninja Turtle.”
Laird laughed and drew another, slightly different turtle. Eastman responded by drawing an image of four turtles together, each holding different weapons. Laird took it and added the words “Teenage Mutant” to the “Ninja Turtle” logo.
The next day, they decided to write a story telling the origin of these characters. Using money from a tax refund and $1,000 from a relative, the duo printed 3,000 copies of the comic book “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” No. 1 in 1984. (A copy is now worth close to $20,000.)
Eastman and Laird called their studio Mirage as a joke, because they had no actual studio. They worked out of their living room.
The comic quickly took off and was soon selling tens of thousands of copies. Its success led to a boom of imitators. Eastman has said that during full Turtlemania in the late 1980s, he counted 21 adjective-
adjective-adjective-noun knock-offs, including “Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters” and “Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos.”
Why are they named after artists?
Of all the left-field aspects involving mutated teenage turtles, perhaps the most left field is their names: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael. Are these guys into painting Italian altarpieces?
When it came to naming their admittedly silly creations, Eastman and Laird first considered Asian names, because the Turtles are ninjas. But that didn’t seem silly enough.
Both creators were big art-history fans, and one of them tossed out the idea of naming their heroes after famous Renaissance artists. Donatello (after the Florentine sculptor) was nearly called Bernini, in honor of the great architect and artist. Laird, however, wanted another name that ended in “o,” so Donatello it was.
Did Billy Crystal almost played a turtle?
Possibly. In the 1980s, the first pitch Eastman and Laird got for a film treatment was from schlockmeister Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. The idea was to have the Turtles played by four comedians who were popular at the time — Gallagher, Sam Kinison, Bobcat Goldthwait and Billy Crystal. The actors would be dressed in turtle shells and have their arms and legs painted green.
Another treatment received at the time took the Turtles into R-rated territory and included a scene with partially nude nuns on roller skates fighting the heroes.
Did the creators really sign their first licensing deal on a napkin?
It’s true. After the comic became a hit, Eastman and Laird were approached by various agents looking to license their creation. In 1986, Surge Licensing president Mark Freedman asked the artists if he could meet with them. Freedman, wearing an expensive suit, arrived in Northampton to find Eastman and Laird wearing shorts and covered in paint, in the process of painting their apartment.
The agent promised to make them millions. A skeptical Eastman and Laird reached for a napkin and drew up a nonexclusive, 30-day contract. Within a month, Freedman had a commitment from Playmates Toys. Action figures, candy, tote bags, bedsheets and a popular cartoon series soon followed. By 1991, Eastman estimates he was grossing $50 million a year.
Is it true that the turtles attracted lawsuits?
Any property that makes so much money usually does. Buffalo Bob from “The Howdy Doody Show” filed a multimillion dollar suit against Eastman and Laird, claiming the Turtles copied his catchphrase “Cowabunga!” One man brought on a suit claiming God had told him about the Turtles. And the animation studio behind the 1980s TV series tried to claim half of the royalties, saying they’d created everything that made the characters popular.
Did the property have some out-there fans?
You bet your shell. One female groupie from France had sexual fantasies about the Turtles. She’d send Mirage explicit drawings and letters about what she’d like to do with the shelled foursome. Because … well, there’s no explaining that one.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sprang into pop culture as a comic book in 1984 — this 1985 ad also promoted Mirage Studios, the “pro” name of creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
The syndicated TV cartoon “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” aired from 1987 to 1996, featuring jokey, pizza-obsessed reptiles. A second series ran from 2003 to 2009; Nickelodeon has aired a third since 2012.
A live-action film debuted in 1990 — with Raphael reading the New York Post — followed by sequels in ’91 and ’93. A reboot, “TMNT,” hit screens in 2007; now, Michael Bay has produced a 2014 movie.
“Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation,” a live-action syndicated television series, aired in 1997 and ’98 — and introduced a trim female ninja turtle, Venus de Milo. | <urn:uuid:41462afa-3761-4768-b9a5-bda71fa9f4e5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://nypost.com/2014/08/03/surprising-facts-about-the-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283301.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00501-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967713 | 1,378 | 1.960938 | 2 |
3 Common Reasons Why Your bitcoin tidings Isn't Working (And How To Fix It)
If you're brand new to investing or haven't heard of it before this article can help you get to know it. This article will help you understand the amazing benefits that come with investing in Bitcoins. It will also let you be aware of the various ways of trading that are being used by people all around the globe right now. In this article, you will learn about "bitcoins" as an online currency. The currency has already generated lots of excitement in the financial world.
On the internet, it's growing in popularity. The online currency lets you access the most current information about the ways you can benefit. It will explain how to begin and the kind of recommendations experts make for their expertise. From there, you can get more information from the website.
It is a good idea to follow the liveblogs that are posted every day by the chief executives officer and other notable figures in this field. The article was written with the assistance of a variety of experts. There was no one who could offer them timely news. For the most up-to-date news, it is best to check their blog. The latest news on how to get started in this industry is available on their blog as well.
This technology breakthrough lets you learn about some of the newest products and services that companies offer. It is possible to learn about the latest items and services regular people are using. There were several articles about smartphones, cloud computing, digital signature, and many more, at the time this piece was published. https://revistas.ufpi.br/index.php/gecont/user/viewPublicProfile/1714428 These articles will give you details on how you can get started with technology, and will help you get acquainted with these concepts.
Another aspect of the discussion is the possibility of finding out more about the government's view on the future and current status regarding regulation and implementation. For instance the Australian government recently issued an electronic money policy as well as virtual currency. In this way they want to make it easier for businesses to conduct business within the country and with foreign counterparts. The government will also be able to determine whether virtual currencies could benefit the Australian economy.
It is crucial that you are educated about the subject. Understanding the market is crucial for anyone who is looking to trade. Understanding the risks involved as well. Before you make the decision to enter the market it is a good idea to learn about the basics of trading.
The next step is to learn about the different currencies and their relationship to the dollar. You'll definitely want to become more familiar with the U.S. dollar since it is the most frequently used currency throughout the world. It is important to learn more about the British Pound and the Euro, Japanese yens, Swiss Francs, Canadian dollars, and Australian dollars.
It is vital that you pay close attention to section that will introduce you to the terms of the market. These terms will assist you to identify which currencies are suitable to trade. Be sure to pay attention to the section which will discuss the importance of liquidity. If you have high liquidity you want to trade. It is crucial that you be aware of this section. | <urn:uuid:14f10a1a-e390-4d57-bd4e-edce442e1ef8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://tiny-wiki.win/index.php/3_Common_Reasons_Why_Your_bitcoin_tidings_Isn%27t_Working_(And_How_To_Fix_It) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573399.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818185216-20220818215216-00076.warc.gz | en | 0.966977 | 659 | 2.21875 | 2 |
This article places the experiences of the Active Citizenship in Central America project, led by Dublin City University, within wider discussions on the role of civil society in building democracy and furthering development. The article examines project development and content and assesses its effectiveness, using a framework derived from Nancy Fraser’s (1993) concept of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ publics. It finds that the project oscillates between these positions, and it makes policy recommendations to help to move it closer to a ‘strong publics’ conception. It ends by asserting that in the current conjuncture a ‘strong publics’ conception is a useful guiding principle for the design of development projects to strengthen civil society.
This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.
How to cite this resource
Citation styles vary so we recommend you check what is appropriate for your context. You may choose to cite Oxfam resources as follows:
Author(s)/Editor(s). (Year of publication). Title and sub-title. Place of publication: name of publisher. DOI (where available). URL
Our FAQs page has some examples of this approach. | <urn:uuid:9eba5d3d-5d41-45da-9852-88cf0a6ec88f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/wanted-strong-publics-for-uncertain-times-the-active-citizenship-in-central-ame-131125/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571993.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814022847-20220814052847-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.860654 | 279 | 2.203125 | 2 |
was calculated by the version 5.0.0 of the geecee program (Rice et al., 2000) in Galaxy (Blankenberg et al., 2007) for the genome and CDS of three species (https://main.g2.bx.psu.edu/).
We tested the DNA extract by using 2 panchordopoxvirus PCRs specific for the variable GC content
of the genera included in the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae and other unclassified chordopoxviruses (19).
Table 2 shows the description, sequence length, and GC content
for each isolate.
However, the TERT promoter has proved to be a challenging region to amplify due to its high GC content
(>80%), homopolymer runs, and low sequence complexity (2).
These include genes with complex sequence contexts such as pseudogenes, genetic rearrangements, and a high GC content
. Regions of high homology with other genomic regions, such as pseudogenes or gene duplication events, may lead to false-positive and/or false-negative results due to mismapped reads.
A common challenge in diagnostics is generating sufficient reads through the first exons of genes, where GC content
tends to be higher than average.
The GC content
of the host-derived sequences, in most cases, existed in about 40%, while GC content
of the symbiont was in about 54% (Fig.
Schuster, "GC content
dependency of open reading frame prediction via stop codon frequencies" Gene, vol.
The GC content
of the draft genome is 25.44%, which is almost identical to the GC content
of the recently published draft genome of Methanobrevibacter arboriphilus strain ANOR1 (25.46%) , and is in accordance with the overall trend that most Methanobrevibacter and Methanosphaera species genomes tend to have low GC contents
between ~24 and 33%, indicating that an early divergent evolution of these two genera from other Methanobacteriales groups may have occurred.
The genomic GC content
was about 40~45% in vertebrate.
Amplicons were designed to include variable characters, lengths, and GC content
. Primers for HRM were developed based on the following criteria: (i) primer pairs should yield an amplicon of <300 bp; and (ii) primer pairs should yield amplicons with a sufficient number of variable sites to enable species discrimination. | <urn:uuid:b59d242f-2ce0-4328-90d3-83669c0dea4c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/GC+content | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571745.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812170436-20220812200436-00479.warc.gz | en | 0.897724 | 531 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Wikipedia Education Programs are making a positive impact on Wikipedia, and we are collecting the numbers to prove it. This dashboard will collect and publish numbers from education programs around the world. The idea is to quantify and document the impact that Wikipedia Education Programs have on the projects. For historical program data, please see the Wikipedia Education Program Summary Information page.
Global program data
In order to paint a more accurate picture of educational initiatives and activities around the world, the Wikipedia Education Program aims to collect some basic data about these global programs. The idea is to look at on-wiki impact and tell a data-driven story for education.
While collecting numbers in one central location makes it easy to get a global snapshot of activity around the world, the idea is not to directly compare programs against each other.
There are two categories of metrics that we track for education programs: education metrics and global metrics. These metrics are a way to gauge program participation, content creation, diversity, and learning.
General program information
Academic terms around the world vary in duration. Without this information, we cannot accurately compare contributions from place to place.
The following "education metrics" are intended to provide a standardized way of tracking a few key measures of impact on goals specific to education.
- Number of instructors
- Number of instructor editors
- Number of students
- Number of volunteers
- Number of admins/sysops
- Number of classes
- Number of faculties
- Number of institutions
The following "global metrics" are designed to provide a standardized way of tracking a few key measures of progress towards our strategic goals for content and participation.
- Number of active editors involved
- Number of newly registered users
- Number of individuals involved
- Number of media files uploaded
- Number of articles created or improved
- Number of bytes added/deleted
- Number of female instructors
- Number of female students
- Number of female program volunteers
- Number of female program leaders
- Learning question: Did your work increase the motivation of contributors, and how do you know?
- Learning question: Did your work improve teaching, and how do you know?
- Learning question: Did your work increase learning, and how do you know?
Submit your numbers
Please submit your numbers to this online spreadsheet. Please refrain from editing numbers already submitted by other volunteers or programs unless you are affiliated with that program and are updating or correcting the data.
- Education/Dashboard/Version 1.0 — This version tracked global program metrics in a wiki table from 2007 to 2015
- Education/Dashboard/Version 2.0 — This version tracked global program metrics in a Google Spreadsheet from 2014 to 2015
- Education/Dashboard/Version 3.0 — This version tracks global program metrics from July 2015 to the present
- Wikipedia Education Program metrics for evaluation
- Tracking and Reporting Toolkit
- Wikimetrics training overview learning module
- Wikimetrics walkthrough (YouTube)
- Wikimetrics hangout discussion for education program leaders (YouTube)
- Outreach:Category:Wikipedia Education Program metrics
- Commons:Category:Wikipedia Education Program metrics
- Program start date for the class, academic term, or defined editing period
- Program end date for the class, academic term, or defined editing period
- Total number of instructors participating
- Total number of instructors who are trained to edit Wikimedia projects
- Total number of students participating
- Total number of volunteers who contributed hours to supporting the education program
- Total number of education program volunteers who are users with advanced permissions, such as administrators
- Total number of classes participating
- Total number of academic departments, divisions, or faculties participating
- Total number of institutions participating
- Total number of editors who editor made at least five edits in the previous month and were involved at any capacity (planning, executing, participating, etc.) during the project.
- Total number of editors who created a new account for a project within two weeks before the beginning of the project.
- Total number of everybody involved, i.e. all people participating in the project — organizers, users, attendees, etc.
- Total number of images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons or added to Wikipedia articles or other Wikiproject pages.
- Total number of articles created or improved during the program.
- Total number of bytes added to and/or deleted from Wikimedia project pages by a user cohort as part of this program implementation. | <urn:uuid:def11e6b-dde5-4da4-bda4-d6073f3a5575> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Dashboard/Archive/en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572212.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815205848-20220815235848-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.889568 | 985 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The utility company will be installing 35,000 Technolog customer sewer alarms at properties across Yorkshire.
The move follows a successful pilot project of 5,000 devices in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and Doncaster, which won the Institute of Water North Region Innovation award.
Once installed, the customer sewer alarms will monitor the water level within the combined sewer gullies using a pressure sensor which sends an alert remotely when an increase in level is identified.
The devices use a wireless network to enable Yorkshire Water teams to identifying trends in how the sewers are performing.
This will allow Yorkshire Water teams to quickly analyse, identify and proactively respond to increases in sewer levels which and are often signs that precede sewage escaping the network onto streets or into people’s homes.
Increased levels in gullies can indicate potential blockages or damage within the sewer network which are restricting flow.
Henry Dixon, business transformation manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “This project represents a significant investment and forms a key part of our ambition to increase the technology in operation across our network.
The devices will provide vital insight into the performance of the network, allowing our teams to monitor flows and understand network performance remotely.
“Our successful pilot project helped to prevent sewer flooding in homes and gardens, improved our customers’ experience by alerting us to blockages before they caused a problem and saved time and cost on our Customer Field Services visits by attending proactively to resolve problems before they caused flooding.
“The expansion of the project will ensure we can quickly identify potential problems and mobilise our teams to investigate the network before there is an impact on our customers and/or the environment across Yorkshire.”
Luke Thornton, business development director at Technolog Group, said: “We have been working collaboratively with Yorkshire Water for over three years, in the development and fine tuning of this product and service offering.
“This project is testament to Yorkshire Water’s ambition and commitment to significantly reduce internal and external flooding issues for their customers.”
For more information on the project visit the Yorkshire Water website. | <urn:uuid:3991875d-cd87-4bdc-8262-55c79b7dc281> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/business/yorkshire-water-launches-project-to-reduce-sewer-flooding-following-successful-pilot-in-doncaster-3756363 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.916974 | 429 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Mr. Young, an employee of a large home improvement retailer, injured his shoulder while on the job. The injury was not surprising, as Mr. Young had been working for his employer for fourteen years and part of his job involved moving metal shelves and putting up displays. While Mr. Young’s employer agreed that the injury was compensable, a disagreement arose between Mr. Young and his employer as to how the injury should be treated.
Mr. Young’s case is not uncommon. When an injured employee is eligible for Workers’ Compensation the injured employee may end up seeing more than one doctor. In such cases different doctors may recommend different courses of treatment. This can lead to conflicts when an employer desires that an injured employee choose a less costly course of treatment than the course of treatment preferred by the employee.
For example, during the treatment of his shoulder injury Mr. Young had seen two different doctors, Doctor B and Doctor C. Both doctors had been authorized by Mr. Young’s employer to evaluate and treat his shoulder injury. However, the doctors had given conflicting opinions as to what kind of treatment was appropriate. Doctor C wanted to perform a test to evaluate the extent of Mr. Young’s shoulder injury, and follow up with a surgery regardless of the test result. Doctor B, on the other hand, wanted to perform a test first and wait upon the test results before deciding on surgery. The employer wanted to go with Doctor B’s wait and see approach. This would have decreased the chance that the employer would be on the hook to pay for a surgery should the Doctor recommend against such surgery. Mr. Young, on the other hand, had argued to be treated by Doctor C and receive the surgery no matter the outcome of the test results. Thus, resolution of this dilemma posed a difficult question-should the employee or the employer get the right to make the decision as to how an employee’s compensable injury is treated?
Under North Carolina Workers’ Compensation laws, your employer generally has the right to direct medical treatment for a compensable injury. This right of your employer to direct your medical treatment also involves a right by your employer to select the treating physician.
Even though the rule governing how employers can direct medical treatment is seemingly straight forward, it is not uncommon for disagreements to arise when an employee and employer disagree over a course of medical treatment. One of the most commonly used exceptions to the general rule of employer directed medical treatment is found in North Carolina General Statute Section 97-25(c). This exception allows an employee to trump an employer’s choice of a medical provider and choose their own treating doctor.
But, an employee can’t just change doctors at their own choosing. To force an employer to agree to a change in the treating physician, or a change in course of treatment, an injured employee must go before the Industrial Commission and show why such a change is necessary. The Commission may then order the employer to pay for the new physician or provide a different course of treatment if the Commission finds the change necessary.
In Mr. Young’s case, because Mr. Young’s employer had admitted that Mr. Young’s injury was compensable Mr. Young’s employer retained the right to direct Mr. Young’s medical treatment. The Commission also determined that Mr. Young did not present sufficient evidence to show an entitlement to a change of physician, and was thus precluded from choosing to be treated by Doctor C. However, the Commission did order Mr. Young’s employer to pay for the tests recommended by both Doctors. Furthermore, because of the conflicting opinions of the two doctors Mr. Young’s employer was ordered to choose yet a different doctor than either Doctors B or C to evaluate Mr. Young’s and provide appropriate treatment.
A skilled Workers’ Compensation attorney can provide you with advice regarding whether or not your situation can benefit by a change of physician or appeal to the Industrial Commission for a change of treatment. If you need, an attorney can also represent you before the Industrial Commission in arguing for a change of treatment or physician. If you have questions regarding your Workers’ Compensation claim don’t hesitate to contact us today.
Kanipe v. Lane Upholstery, 141 N.C. App. 620, 623-24, 540 S.E.2d 785, 788 (2000)
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-25(c), http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_97/GS_97-25.pdf | <urn:uuid:860ad5d7-9eb7-4973-ac36-e35cb0e12f04> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://millerlawgroupnc.com/resources/disagree-with-employer-over-injury-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570977.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809124724-20220809154724-00467.warc.gz | en | 0.965927 | 957 | 1.632813 | 2 |
You are hereDean Court Hotel, York
Dean Court Hotel, York
Built by the architects J.B. & W. Atkinson in 1865, the Dean Court Hotel was originally three separate houses for Clergy from the nearby York Minster. On 11 March 2011 The York Press published the following story entitled ‘Ghost’ pulls leg of York hotel guest Marc Richards' concerning a strange experience in the Dean Court Hotel.
A GUEST claims a ghost may have pulled his leg while he was lying in bed at a hotel near York Minster.
Marc Richards, 44, from Manchester, said, apart from his partner, he was alone in the Room 25 at the Dean Court Hotel when, in the early hours, he felt something tugging at his leg. He has written to the hotel to say: “Something grabbed my foot quite hard and pulled, as if to pull me out of bed. I was lying awake at 2.50am when my foot was grabbed and pulled with such a force I moved down the bed several centimetres.”
He said he had spent a week trying to rationalise what happened, but could not, so he was wondering whether other guests had experienced anything similar.
He said: “I would really like to know whether I am a bit mad or that it was something else.”
A hotel spokesman said the Dean Court, built in 1850, was investigated five years ago by a paranormal group, which reported speaking to a ghost named Annie and another named Dorothy, and also spotting the spooky spirit of an ex-army officer in a bath chair. He said: “Another paranormal group is visiting the Dean Court in a few weeks to spend an all-night vigil seeking things that go bump in the night.” | <urn:uuid:5e3eb433-a04a-4249-bf69-4dbc4f0725b1> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/north-yorkshire/hauntings/dean-court-hotel-york.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280763.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00523-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98566 | 364 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Stationary Exercise Bikes For A Safe Workout
Stationary exercise bikes are also called indoor bikes, or studio cycles, but regardless of what they're called, they are perhaps the best home work-out equipment. We are all told to exercise for thirty minutes each day to stay healthy, as well as make sure, that we eat a well balanced food intake, so a stationary exercise bike is a worthwhile investment. There are two fundamental types of stationary exercise bikes - upright (pedals below the rider) or recumbent (pedals in front of the rider). If seat comfort is a priority then recumbent bikes are the most comfortable with the additional benefit of good back support.
Many experts would say that stationary exercise bikes are unmatched for burning calories, raising your heart rate, and providing you with a great aerobic workout. They are a fundamental piece of gym equipment due to the low-impact, high-gain cardiovascular exercise they provide, and perhaps it doesn't really need to be written down, they are stationary and don't need much room. You simply place your exercise bike beside your TV, window, children or anywhere that is convenient, and peddle away to build hamstring and thigh muscles and stamina, while enjoying your favorite TV show, or looking after the children as they play. With an upright bike, by keeping your back straight and your stomach tight, you can build all of these muscles at the same time.
Stationary exercise bikes are promoted throughout the health and fitness business as a form of safe exercise because, unlike treadmills, exercise bicycles limit the shock to leg and knee joints. They are also pretty easy to use with no complex programming needed, although it is possible on some models. But nearly all of us learned to ride a bike when we were kids so nothing could be easier than getting on and exercising. And what's more you know you're not going to come off, however slow you ride. And you don't have to think about other vehicles either! Lots of people also ride stationary exercise bikes for warming up and down, before and after their training session.
If you weren't aware before, perhaps you now are satisfied that stationary exercise bikes are great exercise machines for all levels of keen health and fitness fans, including novices. They are straightforward to ride with variable resistance, so your heart, lungs and muscles can be worked as much or little as you wish. Stationary exercise bikes are also very reliable and require only minimum maintenance. You can burn an average of 550 calories per hour riding an exercise bike so you may want to buy one, if you want to work out in one of the easiest ways possible.
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The Dune Du Pyla, France, is the largest sand dune in Europe measuring about 500m wide, 2500m long and 100m high. Learn more about the Dune Du Pyla (Sometimes called Dune Du Pilat)
Few people would argue with the fact that that workers who enjoy job satisfaction are likely to be the most productive, and for many it is the ultimate goal - to do something they like and to get paid for it. Time and...
You can lose 25 pounds if you follow a few eating suggestions. No fancy diet plan needed - just common sense how to lose 25 pounds | <urn:uuid:3fd850fd-da93-4148-8d03-9dfa528c39da> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://hubpages.com/health/stationary-exercise-bikes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279189.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00063-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977248 | 668 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The MONICA project is demonstrating how IoT technologies can manage both sound and security at large, open-air cultural and sporting events – and keep everybody happy.
When Keith Richards sends the first notes of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” out over the screaming crowd of Rolling Stones fans, you want those ticket holders to feel like they’ve indeed gotten every bit of their money’s worth. But you certainly don’t want it to be at the expense of dissatisfying the neighbours. How can you tell what portion of the sound wafting through city streets and sidewalks is actually coming from the concert, and how much is just the ‘normal’ noise of a pulsing metropolis?
That’s where the MONICA project comes in. A large-scale demonstration of how cities can use the Internet of things (IoT) to meet such challenges, MONICA deploys a cloud-based plat-form to wirelessly connect various IoT-enabled devices. Control systems monitor the data collected and can automatically induce required actions based on the information gathered.
One hoped-for outcome of the project is an acoustic system that can reduce low frequencies outside a concert area, while not interfering with the music in the audience area of venues that use it. It should be able to support designated quiet zones within the concert venue as well. The acoustic system will be automatically adjusted for changes in weather, audiences, music types and other variables.
Twenty-nine partners from around the EU
Brüel & Kjær is one of the many partners involved in the MONICA project. The company’s role is threefold: 1) to create and deliver IoT-enabled sound level meter prototypes for use at the EU pilot sites; 2) to develop the complex algorithms that can accurately estimate the impact of the different sound contributions; and 3) to automatically detect sounds that could indicate a ‘security situation’.
“It’s going to enable not just Brüel & Kjær, but also all the other partners in the project, to collect the data they need – it will be possible to deploy our solution anywhere,” says Brüel & Kjær Research Engineer Karim Haddad, PhD. All data is protected to ensure privacy, and MONICA will comply with the applicable national and EU regulations on data protection, privacy, informed consent and authorization.LEARN MORE
BRÜEL & KJÆR MICROPHONES
Karim adds: “The sound level meters will contain GPS info, so you can recognize exactly where they are and collect the data you need in the cloud.”
As part of the process of data collection, microphones are placed wherever sound optimization is required and according to the landscape’s unique demands. Anything from the weather, to the location of surrounding buildings, to the sounds themselves affect how sound propagates. “If there’s a long stretch without buildings near the concert area, then the sound waves can travel far distances. But behind a building, there’s not much sound contribution, so you might not hear the concert at all. Temperature, wind and humidity can also affect how sound travels, and some noises carry farther distances than others. It’s quite complex,” says Wookeun Song, PhD, Brüel & Kjær Research Engineer.Fredagsrock (Friday’s rock) at the Open Air Stage in Tivoli
Is it concert noise or city noise?LEARN MORE
BRÜEL & KJÆR SOUND LEVEL METERS
Of course, measuring sound levels is only useful in the context of the MONICA project if it’s possible to detect how much of the overall sound is from concert activities and how much is city noise.
That requires Brüel & Kjær to create algorithms, placed in the cloud and linked with IoT-enabled devices that can calculate the different sound contributions.
Some of the algorithms depend on time synchronization between the sound level meters – within virtually a millisecond. Otherwise, it’s impossible for the algorithms to determine how sound actually propagates between different locations. And decisions about what actions need to be taken to ensure optimal sound depend on the availability of accurate data.
“Distinguishing between different sound sources is not an easy task. Furthermore, no one has created this type of algorithm distinguishing concert noise from city noise before,“ says Wookeun.
Brüel & Kjær uses machine learning, as well as other types of algorithms, to solve the basic problem of identifying concert noise vs city noise. During the ‘training’ phase of machine learning, a learning algorithm enables the system to determine how to distinguish concert noise from other types of noise.Karim Haddad and Wookeun Song work in Brüel & Kjær’s Innovation Team – the team responsible for researching new methods and technologies that solve and simplify our customers’ existing and future sound and vibration challenges
A guinea pig in Tivoli Gardens
Tivoli, one of the world’s most popular amusement parks, wants to be both a great place for concert patrons and a great neighbour, which makes their interest in contributing to the project a natural fit.
Brüel & Kjær is analysing the data now and is taking even more measurements during the new season of Tivoli Friday Rock concerts, which begins this month. This will enable validation of the algorithm.
Six pilot sites, including Tivoli, are included in the MONICA project. Where the sound level meters will make their formal debut is unknown as of the Waves publication date.
Safe and sound
Security is another aspect of the MONICA project in which sound plays a role. Although video cameras are used at concert venues, they are only as useful as what they can see – which sometimes is a shoulder-to-shoulder ‘wall’ of people.
Sound, however, has no line-of-sight issue, so we can detect acoustic abnormalities instead. Say, for example, there’s a fight going on among some concertgoers, but it’s not visible from a video camera. If there are sound level meters deployed throughout the area, it is possible to determine that there’s trouble near a specific microphone and dispatch security personnel to the location.
By combining video and audio, the picture of what’s actually happening at or near the concert area becomes even more accurate.
Smarter cities, smarter residents
Devices such as smart wristbands, video cameras, loudspeakers, mobile phones and smart glasses will also be part of the portfolio of applications MONICA will be able to offer to enhance city services.
The project has the potential to be used in a wide variety of ways. Based on open standards and architectures, the platform can be reused across multiple applications, with only the application layer specific to the deployment setting.
Look for results of the project in a future issue of Waves.
The MONICA project stands for Management of Networked IoT Wearables – Very Large Scale Demonstration of Cultural Security Applications. A three-year project co-funded by the European Commission, it involves 29 partners in nine countries. In Denmark, participants include Tivoli Gardens, which represents an amusement park with outdoor concerts; the Technical University of Denmark, which is optimizing and predicting sound transmission; and Brüel & Kjær, responsible for detecting, measuring and analyzing the sound data.
The first demonstrations of the project are expected in Spring 2018, and the six pilot sites are located in Bonn, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Leeds, Lyon and Torino.
See more: Monica Project WebsiteThis is not the end of the story.
Click here to read about the MONICA project's real-world debut in Torino, Italy.
Can it really be that difficult?
One of the many challenges in distinguishing between concert and city noises is distinguishing low-frequency noises from each other. Because low-frequency sounds like a bass drum, bass guitar, car, truck or thunder have a far narrower frequency (Hz) range than high-frequency sounds, they are harder to differentiate – both for the human ear and for a machine.
The Brüel & Kjær solution uses machine learning to detect, first of all, whether the sound being measured actually does come from the concert or not; then, the algorithm determines how MUCH of the total, synchronized sound picture is from the concert. | <urn:uuid:291b6fe5-cec4-4cba-b3fa-3e19205d4674> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.bksv.com/en/knowledge/blog/sound/iot-sound-level-meter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571472.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811133823-20220811163823-00676.warc.gz | en | 0.915504 | 1,777 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Sam Piyasena and Beverly Philp are back with another book to release the creative energy in you. I love their earlier book Just Draw It! which is equally as fun.
This book focuses on the paint medium. Pages are beautifully laid out with projects, suggestions and examples on the types of art and styles you can create on your own. The content is suitable for all skill levels. As long as you have paint, paper and brush, you're good to go.
The projects invite you to experiment and explore different techniques and ways of thinking. There are instructions to follow along, fundamentals are explained and occasionally there are featured profiles of artists who paint in the same style. The teaching style is casual and the main aim as I see it is really to have fun and enjoy making art.
If you like this book, check out the following too:
- Just Draw It!
- Freehand: Sketching Tips and Tricks Drawn from Art
- Playing With Sketches
- Art Before Breakfast
- Just Add Watercolor
- Pen & Ink: Contemporary Artists, Timeless Techniques
- Sketch Book for the Artist
Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.
If you buy from the links, I get a little commission that helps me get more books to feature. | <urn:uuid:4c3d4d07-3734-4ad6-a2f9-4c2b595ab33a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-just-paint-it-worlds-most-enjoyable-painting-course-ever | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570793.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808092125-20220808122125-00673.warc.gz | en | 0.953432 | 267 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Since there are many developed and modern technologies to assist them in their daily activities, people nowadays are more active than ever before. Different people with various personalities have alternative lifestyle as well as the goal of their life. It is quite strange to admit that these days, when life is getting more convenient because of the development of modern technologies, people tends to get more works to do instead of choosing to sit back and enjoy their life.
In fact, people choose their life to be such a busy life. They set their goals and dream so many dreams that they usually have a thought in their mind that they have to work harder to achieve the final goals.
Working hard and living a busy life is not only a choice but also a responsibility that everyone must have. In addition, it is not everyone who lives a busy life does not enjoy their life. There are still many people who have to work so hard every day but still have healthy habits. They know how to balance their life between works, family and also have time for their personal’s passion. For example, people still have opportunities to have a vacation with their family once every two or three months. There are various ways to enjoy the life without taking break everyday after work.
People who are not officially employed by any company usually to be the ones who are even busier that anyone else. More precisely, they do not have certain work time during day and tend to work all day long. Especially those people who stay home and do the housework, they usually have a thought in their mind that they always have something to do next. Moreover, people who work in a company know when to start their work days and what time they can finish it and enjoy the rest time of the day. In fact, it is not what happens to those people who have to stay home and deal with housework as well as their children’s schedule. Most of the time they usually have to do multi-tasking works... | <urn:uuid:385c252f-b62c-4418-89ff-bd9484ae585f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.studymode.com/essays/Living-a-Warp-Speed-1573186.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280872.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00310-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989914 | 398 | 2.15625 | 2 |
“The most probable outcome is that you end up with some kind of default in Greece,” Borg said in an interview with Sveriges Radio (SR).
“Considering the way the situation has been handled so far, one cannot rule out that (Greece) will fall into bankruptcy in the end,” he added.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who leads a new three-party coalition government, was meeting Thursday with auditors from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank in a bid to renegotiate his country’s second bailout.
The Greek government is expected to promise creditors that it will redouble privatization efforts to show that it remains on a recovery path that will enable it to rejoin the world economy.
Borg stressed that even if the new Greek government manages to get an extension of payment deadlines and meets all its pledges, its target of a debt to gross domestic product ratio of 120 percent by 2020 remains too high.
“A 120 percent debt level is rarely sustainable, particularly not in a country with very weak growth prospects,” Borg said.
The Swedish finance minister, whose country is not a member of the eurozone, meanwhile said it remained unclear if a default would necessarily push Greece out of the common currency bloc.
“Obviously, they only have harsh alternatives,” he said.
“They could either do this by building up better prospects for the future inside the euro, or at the end of the day, they might choose to leave,” he added. | <urn:uuid:7ef5053b-e6af-4a91-85ac-4e3ecafdd823> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.thelocal.se/20120705/41858/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572221.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816060335-20220816090335-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.956958 | 328 | 1.820313 | 2 |
5 Gifts Ideas For Eco-Friendly Wedding
Posted by: Clara Fernandes at 9/30/2016 05:23:00 am
India 30 September 2016:
How inspirational it would be if you favor your guests with some handcrafted ornaments filled with seeds. They will feel so special when they’ll see the first flower of the seeds that you gifted them on their special day.
We; The people waste lot of food and flowers on the wedding. If we do some charity and donate the leftovers, whether it is some food, flower or water bottles to those in need, that will be more eco-friendly and helping, No?
Why not end your day on a very sweet note? You can favor your guests with a bottle of fresh honey from the local farm or the fresh chocolates from the bakery or a jar filled with candies. It is quite eco-friendly and guests will love this for sure.
Instead of spending money on other expensive things we can also gift fresh fruits to the guests. Fresh fruits from the local farm will be eco-friendly and healthy to eat. Guest can carry fruits in a recyclable bag.
If you had LEDs or other energy efficient bulbs at your wedding then you can donate your lightening to the venue so that they can use them for the future purposes.
(Tips shared on behalf of Mr. Ashu Garg, Founder, Good Times Concept events, a wedding architect firm) | <urn:uuid:9560694f-9dc0-4c4c-a972-8aa94f294c3d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.pocketpressrelease.com/2016/09/5-Gifts-Ideas-For-Eco-Friendly-Wedding.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00214-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933185 | 298 | 1.671875 | 2 |
"Once upon a time..."--narrative in nursing.
|Subject:||Nursing education (Methods)|
|Author:||Carroll, V. Susan|
|Publication:||Name: Journal of Neuroscience Nursing Publisher: American Association of Neuroscience Nurses Audience: Professional Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Health care industry Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 American Association of Neuroscience Nurses ISSN: 0888-0395|
|Issue:||Date: Oct, 2010 Source Volume: 42 Source Issue: 5|
|Geographic:||Geographic Scope: United States Geographic Code: 1USA United States|
Story telling, narratives of our lives as they happen, pervades our
social world. Stories allow us to make sense of our experiences and add
value to our personal histories. Throughout history, narratives have
been used to communicate important knowledge from the past to
present-day listeners; narratives convey cultural and social norms in
addition to individual experiences. Narrative has a long, time-honored
tradition in nursing as well. As we care for patients and their
families, we listen to their stories. We also share our practice in the
stories we tell. Telling stories and listening to those of others
underscore the similarities and connections among us.
Narratives may also provide us with ways in which we can mentor new practitioners, conduct research, learn and grow professionally, teach others, and reflect on our practice. Benner embedded narratives--exemplars--in her work describing the levels of competency in clinical nursing practice. In 2005, Sigma Them Tau created a resource article outlining the essentials of reflection and reflective practice in nursing. The Sigma Theta Tau document tells us that reflection is a way in which we bridge the theory-to-practice gap; it allows us to develop practical knowledge and working intelligence. One key recommendation from the scholars who developed the document centers on using reflective models, theories, and methods to guide and to enhance education; this recommendation mirrors a shift in academic culture from the traditional, teacher-focused "dissemination of knowledge" model of education to learner-focused models that look at what the learner does and why in the social context of learning.
Using reflective stories or narratives in this educational context creates a unique interaction between learner and teacher. In this encounter between the two, the teacher can create a transformational learning opportunity that the learner interprets as caring. Narrative in an academic context allows learners to use the tacit knowledge that is embedded in experience to master and apply new knowledge. Narrative fosters critical thinking. Reflective narrative requires listening; it relies on communication and relationships; it supports collaboration. Narrative--story telling--can also help us teach the patients for whom we care.
Given the huge amounts of health-related educational material available in myriad formats and the constantly shifting healthcare environment, our patients must take in, process, and use complex information that can seem overwhelming. They have to possess a high degree of health literacy. However, the true health literacy issue may not be the lack of information and the ability to read it but the individual's ability to process the information. We are neuroscience nurses--we understand the left-brain/right-brain dichotomy. Left-brain learners are typically thought of as linear learners; they are analytical, logical learners who tend to process information sequentially, step by step. Right-brain learners process information more globally, integrating experience and discovery. Adult learning theory tells us that adults want and need to incorporate practical, everyday life experiences into what they must learn.
Story telling can provide nurses with an avenue that is beneficial for teaching and motivating change. Osborne (2008) noted that "when you tell a good story, you can frame important messages in ways that make them memorable for your listeners." Story telling allows us to create knowledge by transforming experience. It actively draws the patient (learner) into the story being told. "Telling the right story at the right time can help a patient understand the importance of adherence to a treatment plan" (Day, 2009, p. 2) or decide to make critical lifestyle changes. Story telling can be a way to increase health literacy.
As we listen to our patients' stories, values and cultural practices that should guide our care can be elicited. Tolerance and culturally sensitive care are enhanced when we "hear" a patient's narrative. Story telling can also be a part of support groups; stories provide the experiential connection patients, and their families may need but open up learning opportunities as well. Encouragement from the storyteller and the group provides support and may change a patient's negative outlook to a more positive one. Patients may be telling their stories and reading those of others through blogs, in e-journals, and in chat rooms. Story telling can be therapeutic because a story crosses individual and cultural differences; a story uncovers shared meaning.
Tell tales. Listen to those of others. Create a narrative. Teach. Learn.
Day, V. (2009). Promoting health literacy through storytelling. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3), 1-4.
Osborne, H. (2008). In other words ... Tools of change: Telling and listening to stories. On Call. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=8051.
V. Susan Carroll, Editor
|Gale Copyright:||Copyright 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.| | <urn:uuid:0c421f4c-7dbc-4f06-9cd5-1784815f6ef5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.biomedsearch.com/article/Once-upon-time-narrative-in/238912113.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00574-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897348 | 1,142 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Colors improve our experiences every day. Whether it’s the meals we enjoy with our families, the beverages we sip, or the occasional sweet we treat ourselves to, colors enhance nearly every dining experience.
Here are some reasons why colors are safe:
- Colors have been used throughout recorded history and are an integral part of various cultures. Therefore, color additives are commonly used in a wide variety of foods and beverages. They are among the most widely studied food ingredients and are subject to strict global regulatory requirements.
- In the United States, all color additives must be approved by the FDA prior to placement into the market and are subject to extensive safety assessment as described in the FDA Redbook. The Redbook provides guidance on the toxicological principles for the safety assessment of food ingredients.
- Similar processes exist for color additive approval in Canada and the EU. Codex Alimentarius’ JECFA review is required for inclusion in the General Standard for Food Additives, which is increasingly used as the primary source for additive regulations globally.
- All color additives allowed for use in the US and the EU have been extensively studied, which translates into the ability to always assure that colors, enjoyed under their intended use, are safe for the consumer
- There are a multitude of published studies focused on color additive safety that are accessible to the public for review.
- The source of a color additive, whether it originates from plant, mineral, animal, or synthetic source, has no bearing on its safety.
- The global producers of colors remain vigilant about the safety and compliance of our products through additional testing at the request of government officials and close monitoring of new scientific developments.
- Since our founding in 1972, we at IACM have stood as a strong voice in support for the safe use of color additives. We are respected by regulatory bodies worldwide for our unparalleled knowledge and access to leading scientific researchers and color industry experts. This tradition continues today, as both the association and its member companies maintain our strong commitment to safety regarding the safe use of color additives.
- Ensuring the safety of color ingredients used in the products consumers enjoy and maintaining the public’s confidence in that safety is the color industry’s primary goal
IACM, which represents both color manufacturers and consumer product companies that use color, understands that the safety of the food supply is of paramount importance to all consumers. Color additives have been extensively studied in a wide variety of toxicology studies including toxicity and carcinogenicity studies, reproduction studies, studies of metabolism and pharmacokinetics, and genetic toxicology assays. The relatively small number of color additives used globally permits more attention to be given to the safety assessment of individual materials. | <urn:uuid:014924d3-478b-4106-bd10-b528b17c1458> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://iacmcolor.org/why-colors-are-safe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.944995 | 549 | 2.890625 | 3 |
This full-day workshop will equip participants to take the Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) exam. This workshop can be taken in lieu of the online training course available on the ISI website. The workshop presentations, discussions, and group exercises will be facilitated by an ISI-approved Envision trainer, Bridget S. Henk, P.E., ENV SP, LEED AP…Details
represent numerous different aspects of civilization, including:
- Water & Wastewater Systems
- Soils & Foundations (Geotechnical)
- Buildings & Bridges (Structures)
- Transportation, Traffic & Transit
- Construction Management
- Rivers, Lakes & Ports (Water Resources)and many, many more.
All you need to do is look around you! | <urn:uuid:366f23e8-6631-412d-944a-a1af62483f86> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.ascewise.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718285.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00105-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.807131 | 161 | 1.960938 | 2 |
CALAHORRA Y SAENZ, JOSE FRANCISCO
CALAHORRA Y SAENZ, JOSÉ FRANCISCO (?–?). Fray José Francisco Calahorra y Saenz was for over twenty years a Franciscan missionary in East Texas. His services demonstrate the superlative use to which the Spanish government put priests as mediators and diplomats. His 1745 report from Nacogdoches to Joaquín de Orobio y Basterra, captain at La Bahía, concerning Frenchmen wrecked on the Texas coast resulted in Orobio's visit to Los Adaes to consult Governor Francisco García Larios on French activities. After the defeat of Diego Ortiz Parrilla at Spanish Fort in 1759, Calahorra attempted to restore peace with the northern tribes. Tawakonis and Yscanis visited him asking peace and offering to give up Spanish captives and cannons. In September 1760 the governor furnished an escort for the priest to go to the Tawakoni villages on the upper Sabine River to meet a delegation of Taovayas for a peace meeting. He made other trips to the northern Indians in 1762 and 1763 and, as a result of the conference, proposed moving the San Sabá Presidio (see SAN LUIS DE LAS AMARILLAS PRESIDIO) to the Tawakoni area or to the country between the Tawakonis and the Taovayas. It was probably as a result of his efforts that the Taovayas took the captive Antonio Treviño to San Antonio in 1765. Though Calahorra may have been at Los Adaes part of the time, he was in Nacogdoches in 1768, when Fray Gaspar José de Solís inspected the East Texas missions.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Handbook of Texas Online, "Calahorra Y Saenz, Jose Francisco," accessed January 20, 2017, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca08.
Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. | <urn:uuid:259a88d8-4e64-4456-a598-ca259aebf9ba> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca08 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280825.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00206-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918431 | 620 | 2.5625 | 3 |
With Super Bowl Frenzy in full swing, we thought we’d take a look at one of the ways Americans celebrate their favorite sport — by tailgating. Wikipedia defines a tailgate party as “a social event held on and around the open tailgate of a vehicle.” In 1998, John Madden even wrote a book about this, entitled John Madden’s Ultimate Tailgating.
This cool Infographic shows us how “tailgating has grown into a science, an art and a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Check out these interesting stats:
- 42% spend more than $500 per season on food and supplies
- 30% of tailgaters never even set foot inside the stadium
- 95% prepare their food at the stadium, with 59% using a combination of grills, smokers and stoves
- 51% set up at least 3-4 hours before the game
- 21% will throw as many as 11-15 tailgate parties during the year
- The Number One beer served at these parties: Bud Light!
Tailgating not for you? Check out this post on with tips on how to plan your own Super Bowl Party at home.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Enjoy the game at home, at the stadium, or at the parking lot. | <urn:uuid:a9fffcb0-24e6-4b78-a1e1-7fe6bf332090> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://froomzblog.com/2013/01/29/how-to-tailgate-in-style-infographic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285001.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00310-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962753 | 271 | 1.59375 | 2 |
History & Setting
Clinical neuropsychology is the oldest subspecialty within the UF Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. Established in 1964 by Paul Satz, Ph.D., it has provided didactic coursework, research and clinical training at the graduate, intern, and post-doctoral levels. While at UF, Dr. Satz developed the first neuropsychology research laboratory, the first neuropsychology clinical service at the Health Science Center, and mentored a cohort of graduate students, interns, and post-doctoral fellows who went on to figure prominently in the field themselves.
In 1970, Kenneth Heilman, MD, was recruited from Boston to join the Neurology Department in the UF College of Medicine. A year later, he and Dr. Satz developed and co-taught the first UF graduate level course in neuropsychology, Human Higher Brain Function. This course continues to be offered in our curriculum today. Through the research and clinical collaborations of Drs. Satz and Heilman, the University of Florida began to be recognized as a site where advanced training in the human neurobehavioral sciences could be pursued. Dr. Satz was one of the early founders of the International Neuropsychology Society, serving as its President in 1974, and helped develop Division of 40 of the American Psychological Association. In the middle 1970's, the Department of Clinical Psychology was moved from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Allied Health Professions and was formally relocated to the Health Science Center. As a result, one unique aspect of Clinical Neuropsychology education at the University of Florida is that it has always been sited in a Health Sciences Center, allowing from the outset rich opportunities for multidisciplinary research and teaching collaborations. This early established multidiscripinary collaboration continues to be present today.
UF's Neuropsychology Timeline:
|1964:||Paul Satz and establishment of Neuropsychology at UF|
|-||First Neuropsychology Clinical Service|
|-||First Neuropsychology Research Lab|
|1970:||Ken Heilman recruited to UF, Behavioral Neurology program begins|
|1971:||First Formal graduate level course in Neuropsychology at UF|
|1972:||First "stand alone" INS meeting (New Orleans)|
|1974:||Paul Satz elected President of INS|
|1977:||Heilman begins Post-Doctoral Trianing Program in Behavioral Neuorlogy at UF|
|1978:||Eileen Fennell joins CHP/Neuropsychology Facuty|
|1979:||Paul Satz leaves UF|
|1980:||Rus Bauer joins CHP Faculty|
|1981:||Center for Neuropsychological Studies established|
|1982:||Heilman elected President of INS|
|1989:||Crosson (89) and Dede (93) join CHP faculty|
|1998:||McKnight Brain Institute opens|
The First Neuropsychology Clinic.
The first Neuropsychology Clinic was situated on the fifth floor of Shands Teaching Hospital, in keeping with the model espoused by Louis Cohen, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Clinical Psychology from 19 to 19 . Dr. Cohen believed that for psychologists to be utilized by medical staff, they must be located as c ose as possible to the source of their referrals. As a result, neuropsychology consults were seen in two offices adjacent to the Neurosurgery Inpatient Unit on the fifth floor of Shands. Up to two patients a day were evaluated using a modified Halstead-Reitan/Benton approach. To help with this service, Dr. Satz hired a research assistant, a recent college graduate (Eileen Fennell). The neurologists at that time were B.J. Wilder, Melvin Greer, and Richard Schmidt (division head). When Neurology became an independent department in 1974, Melvin Greer went on to become its first chair. One of the early neurosurgeons during that time was Lamar Roberts, who had been trained at Montreal Neurologic Institute by Wilder Penfield.
UF's first Neuropsychology Research Laboratory
The first formal neuropsychology research laboratory at UF was located on the 4th floor of the Psychology Building in the Department of Psychology. As director of this lab, Dr. Satz' primary research interests spanned both child and adult neuropsychology and included: dyslexia, learning disability, brain laterality, and handedness.
Child Neuropsychology: In the mid-1960's, Dr. Satz was awarded his first NIH grant to study predictors of reading disability/dyslexia in young pre-kindergarten children. Children throughout all of Alachua County were screened for this research, since early detection provided the opportunity for early intervention. These children were subsequently followed in several large scale longitudinal studies of developmental dyslexia in what came to be known as the Florida Longitudinal Project, from Kindergarten through Grade 6. This research led to the purchase of a "departmental mobile home" or testing laboratory that was used to travel around the state of Florida for collecting followup data on children enrolled in the Florida longitudinal project. Numerous dissertations emerged from this work including those of Jack Fletcher, Robin Morris, Eileen Fennell, and Charles Schauer. This research on precursors of reading disability led to intense international research collaborations with Dirk Bakker and Harry Van der Vlugt of Holland.
Adult Neuropsychology. A second focus of Dr. Satz' laboratory involved brain laterality, handedness, and hemispheric differences in processing verbal and nonverbal materials . These studies used "state of the art" techniques drawn from experimental cognitive psychology, such as dichotic listening, tachistiscopic visual half field presentations, and dual task paradigms. Throughout the 1970's, Dr. Satz was successful in obtaining NIH funding to support these laterality and handedness studies. Of particular theoretic importance were his contributions to "pathological left handedness" and the brain capacity-reserve hypothesis. At all times, he was unwavering in his adherence to methodologic issues, validity and reliability of instruments in behavioral science, and commitment to graduate student training and education in neuropsychology.
Early graduate students, interns and post-docs in Neuropsychology
Grad Students: Sara Sparrow, Jack Fletcher, Robin Morris, Eileen Fennell, Dawn Bowers, Charles Schauer, Jeff Fitzsimmons, Reva Tankle, Joanne Yanowitz
Interns: Larry Binder, Eileen Fennell, Linus Bilauskus, Rus Bauer (for 1 month)
Post Docs: Gerry Taylor, followed by David Hines, Ron Goebel, Fred Coolidge, Lynn Speedie, Carol Bullard Bates, Louis Sutker
Most famous neuropsychology dissertation defense:
The first and perhaps most famous "neuropsychology" dissertation defense was that of Sara Sparrow, the first doctoral student of Dr. Paul Satz. At her defense, she served cavier and wine. This led to a dramatic change in policy regarding doctoral defenses in CHP. Following her successful defense, Dr. Sparrow continued on in a prestigious academic research career at Yale, where she was Chief Child Psychologist of Yale Child Study Center from 1977-2002. In 2002, she received a Career Scientist Award from the American Association of Mental Retardation for her contributions to the field, including her role as senior author of the Vineland Scales of Development. Currently, Dr. Sparrow is Professor Emeritus of Yale and Senior Research Scientist of the Child Study Center. She is the 2004-2005 President of Division 33 of the American Psychological Association.
Paul Satz, Ph.D.
Paul Satz, Ph.D. is among a small group of individuals who played an early pivotal role in developing neuropsychology as a distinct research and professional discipline. He was one of the early founders of the International Neuropsychology Society, serving as its President in 1974. He developed intense research collaborations with international colleagues and helped develop Division of 40 of the American Psychological Association. At UF, he was responsible for establishing Clinical Neuropsychology as a subspeciality within the Department of Clinical Psychology.
Dr. Satz came to UF from the University of Kentucky, where he received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology under the mentorship of Jesse Harris. His doctoral dissertation ( The Block Rotation Task ) won the prestigious Creative Talent Award given by the American Institutes of Research. He began as a post-doc in the Division of Behavioral Sciences, which was part of the Department of Psychiatry in the UF Medical school. A year later, in 1964, he was hired by Dr. Louis Cohen (Chair of Clinical Psychology) as a faculty member in the newly estabilished, free standing Department of Clinical Psychology.
While at UF, Dr. Satz established the first neuropsychology clinical service, the first neuropsychology research laboratory, and mentored a cadre of graduate students, interns, and post-doctoral fellows. He and colleague Ken Heilman, M.D., who joined to the UF Faculty in Neurology in 1970, developed the first graduate level course in neuropsychology at UF, Human Brain Function, and began the legacy of multidisciplinary neuropsychology research at the UF Health Sciences Center.
In 1979, Dr. Satz moved to the University of Victoria as a Visiting Professor before accepting a position as a Professor and Chief of the Neuropsychology Program at the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital at UCLA. At UCLA, Dr. Satz was instrumental in formalizing research and clinical training in neuropsychology at the Postdoctoral Level.
Dr. Satz has been one of the most productive and influential researchers in neuropsychology. He is author or coauthor or more than 300 publications. His primary research interests involve dyslexia, learning disability, handedness, and brain laterality. In 1996, he received a prestigious APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions. Currently, he is Professor Emeritus at UCLA.
Molly Harrower, Ph.D.
Molly Harrower, Ph.D., was a professor in UF's Department of Clinical Psychology from 1967 until 1975, when she became Professor Emeritus. Although relatively unknown in the mainstream history of neuropsychology, Dr. Harrower was one of the first psychologists to work "under the tent" of patients who underwent brain surgery by Wilder Penfield at Montreal Neurologic Institute during the 1930's. Her initial studies of personality and emotional changes in patients following resection of the temporal lobes set the stage for more systematic neuropsychiatric research in years to come. By training, Harrower was an experimental psychologist in the Gestaltist tradition, receiving her Ph.D. under the tutelage of Kurt Koffka at Smith College in 1934 and additional training with Kurt Goldstein. Following a personal experience with a friend who developed a brain tumor and dramatic personality changes, she was awarded a Rockefeller Medical Foundation fellowship to study the psychological effects of brain injury. This was a novel, almost heretical view at that time, and Harrower was given feedback by the grant reviewers that there are no psychology effects of brain, only physical effects. As chief clinical psychologist at MNI from 1937-41, her early research pioneered the view that patients, who despite large removals of temporal cortex, displayed minimal IQ changes yet demonstrated substantial alterations in perceptual organization and personality. After leaving MNI in the 1940's, she became a pioneer in the practice of psychology working with chronically ill patients. Harrower wore multiple hats; however, her legacy to clinical neuropsychology involved laying a groundwork for neuropsychiatric consequences of epilepsy surgery and providing an early professional presence for psychologists in medical settings. She received a Distinguished Contribution Award from the Society for Personality Assessment in September 1972. | <urn:uuid:20313b8e-5871-43ec-ba06-ea1384aa9703> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://neuropsy.phhp.ufl.edu/about.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719547.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00395-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943705 | 2,465 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Senator Whitmire believes that public education should be the State's highest priority. He has fought for increased public education funding, teacher pay increases, smaller class sizes, and a more adequate and equitable education funding system.
Senator Whitmire worked with his colleagues to reduce the number of tests our students must take to graduate while ensuring different pathways to graduation and higher education opportunities.
One of Senator Whitmire's top priorities is the over-ticketing and expulsion in our public schools. While schools must be kept safe and dangerous students removed, school districts must quit over relying on the criminal justice system to handle disruptive, non-violent behavior.
He led the charge against tuition deregulation and continues to push for increased funding for our universities, community colleges, and tuition assistance programs. All students should have the opportunity to pursue a higher education without fearing they will be over-burdened by debt. | <urn:uuid:b6cf306b-49d7-4ed7-b6ca-3aa8cb873338> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.johnwhitmire.com/education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571097.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810010059-20220810040059-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.953707 | 179 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Friday, December 17, 2021
Pendant on face instead of mask
The crew throws in what should be civil rights activists from the pilots
FFP2 masks very effectively prevent the spread of corona virus, the protective effect of tight women’s underwear, on the other hand, is very low. In Florida, a man has to get off a plane because he wears a piece on his face rather than a mask. Through his opposition he sees himself in the tradition of the Afro-American civil rights movement.
A passenger in the United States was thrown off a plane before departure because he pulled a red bearing over his face instead of a safety mask. The 38-year-old masked protester wanted to fly from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to the US capital, Washington, U.S. media reported Thursday. In a cellphone video he is seen sitting in his seat with red underwear on his face and then asked to leave the plane by United Airlines staff.
Covering the unusual face, the man protests against the need for a mask on the planes. “Nonsense is the best way to show absurdity,” the 38-year-old told NBC2. The need for a mask is “stupid”, “stupid” and “theater” – after all, the corona virus does not know that “we are at the height of the air”. There is no correlation between the need for a mask and the height of the aircraft on flights in the United States – but many sit together for hours in a confined space.
The man compared himself to Rosa Parks, an American civil rights icon on NBC2. The African-American opposed racial segregation in the southern state in 1955 and refused to get up from his seat in a section of the bus reserved for white passengers. Change in the United States has always been considered by “ordinary people,” travelers said. “Rosa Parks was not popular. She changed the course of history.”
Masked enemies often cause trouble
He said several passengers left the plane after the person was thrown off the plane. In the cell phone video, a person is shown doing this. Praised the conduct of the United Airlines team. “The customer did not clearly comply with the requirement of the mask imposed by the federal authorities,” the airline said. It is to be welcomed that the problems that may have occurred during the flight were prevented as the staff raised the issue before the flight took off.
There have always been arguments about the need for masks on planes in the United States. Many reject the obligation to wear mouth and nose protection. Like the vaccine, this issue has been politically blamed in the United States. Former President Donald Trump, for example, rarely wore a safety mask and publicly mocked those who wore the mask. On the other hand, his successor, Joe Biden, continues to urge people to follow the recommendations of health officials regarding wearing masks.
The limit of 800,000 corona deaths has been exceeded in the United States this week. This is the highest number recorded in the world.
“Social media maven. Amateur food buff. Pop culture trailblazer. Tv ninja.” | <urn:uuid:73324ad8-4add-4845-a1be-c56d436ea75a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://raventribune.com/hanging-on-the-face-instead-of-a-mask-thrown-by-a-group-of-civil-rights-activists-from-the-pilots/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571222.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810222056-20220811012056-00671.warc.gz | en | 0.974986 | 660 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Russia’s Progress 53 cargo capsule carried out a successful but unexpected cosmonaut-assisted docking with the six-person International Space Station late Friday, following a four day journey that included a satisfactory test of the suddenly balky upgraded rendezvous system.
The linkup at the ISS Russian segment Zvezda module occurred at 5:30 p.m., EST.
The latest unpiloted Progress spacecraft, which delivered just under three tons of fuel, science equipment, spare parts, water, and compressed oxygen and air, will remain docked to serve as a source of propulsion for station altitude raising and debris avoidance maneuvers.
As Progress 53 moved within 60 meters of the station for Friday’s docking, the capsule's new KURS-NA automated rendezvous system faulted to the manually commanded TORU backup mode. Station commander Oleg Kotov was standing by, ready to transmit remote commands with a joystick, in case of difficulty.
Kotov’s steady hand issued commands from a Zvezda module command and video display panel that led to a linkup just two minutes later than scheduled.
Progress 53 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz booster on Monday at 3:53 p.m. EST.
On Wednesday, the Russian freighter carried out a scheduled pass within one mile of the station for a trial activation of the KURS-NA rendezvous system, which features three fewer antennas, upgraded electronics, lower power requirements and less mass than the automated rendezvous equipment it replaces. The changes also remove a potential docking obstruction.
The mid-week KURS-NA testing went well, with the freighter moving out in front of the ISS after rendezvous transmissions from Progress 53 were recognized by the station’s Russian segment. The freighter then moved behind and below the ISS to begin the final rendezvous and docking run.
The test mission was accommodated by changing the typical Progress mission timeline, six hours for the more recent “express” missions and two days for the typical cargo delivery.
The new KURS-NA system, which the Russians developed when components from a previous supplier became unavailable, are in line for use on future Soyuz crew as well as Progress re-supply craft. | <urn:uuid:3be9cf77-efec-472c-a8f1-e31bd702f976> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://aviationweek.com/print/blog/iss-commander-guides-progress-53-docking-demo-new-automated-rendezvous-system-components?group_id=6698 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719136.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00467-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936697 | 470 | 2.046875 | 2 |
News agencies have reported radiation measurements from nearby the Fukushima nuclear reactor, as well as in other locations in Japan, such as Tokyo. The following is an attempt to explain those measurements and put them in context.
What is a Sievert? What is a rem?
There are several ways of measuring radiation. The Sievert is the metric measurement of the biological risk of exposure to radiation. The rem is the equivalent measure in conventional units. The Sievert is a cumulative measure of risk – therefore, media agencies often report exposure in units of Sieverts per hour.
What are the short- and long-term health effects of radiation?
In the short term, exposure to high levels of radiation can cause radiation sickness, leading to nausea, weakness, hair loss, and, in some cases, death. Exposure to radiation can also have long-term health effects, increasing the risk of cancer.
What levels of radiation cause short-term (acute) effects?
Exposure to more than 0.5 Sievert of radiation has been linked to acute health effects, beginning with the onset of nausea. After 1 Sievert of exposure, individuals are at risk of more severe health effects, including hemorrhage. Exposure to several Sieverts of radiation can result in death.
What levels of radiation cause long-term effects, such as cancer?
There is no known safe level of exposure to radiation. According to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a single dose of 0.1 Sieverts would result in approximately 1 person in 100 developing cancer over their lifetime. Lower doses produce proportionally smaller risks. For example, a single exposure of 0.01 Sieverts would cause 1 person in 1,000 to develop cancer during their lifetime.
What have the levels of radiation exposure been at the Fukushima plant, or elsewhere in Japan?
The highest radiation reading on March 15 at the Fukushima plant was a reading of 0.4 Sieverts/hour between reactors 3 and 4. [CURRENT LEVELS MAY WELL BE HIGHER.] It is unknown how long that level of radiation persisted, but experts have stated that such high levels of radiation are definitely capable of harming human health. Since then, radiation levels have declined, with the International Atomic Energy Agency reporting at 2 a.m. Eastern time on March 15 a reading of 0.6 millisieverts per hour.
A helpful chart illustrating the effects of various levels of radiation exposure can be found here. | <urn:uuid:be4fac48-08a8-4a56-9a0e-04556f2e8dbc> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://marylandpirg.org/blogs/blog/mdp/what-do-radiation-levels-reported-media-mean | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571284.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811103305-20220811133305-00479.warc.gz | en | 0.958933 | 500 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Values in Action Inventory of Strengths
It was created by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, well-known researchers in the field of positive psychology, in order to operationalize their Character Strengths and Virtues Handbook (CSV). The CSV is the positive psychology counterpart to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) used in traditional psychology. Unlike the DSM, which scientifically categorizes human deficits and disorders, the CSV classifies positive human strengths. Moreover, the CSV is centered on helping people recognize and build upon their strengths. This aligned with the overall goal of the positive psychology movement, which aims to make people’s lives more fulfilling, rather than simply treating mental illness. Notably, the VIA-IS is the tool by which people can identify their own positive strengths and learn how to capitalize on them.
Classification of strengths
- Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, grit, love of learning, perspective
- Courage: bravery, perseverance, honesty, zest
- Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence
- Justice: teamwork, fairness, leadership
- Temperance: forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation
- Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality
Composition and administration
The VIA-IS is composed of a 240 item measure of 24 character strengths (10 items per strength). On average, an individual will complete the VIA-IS in 30 to 40 minutes. Since 2001, the survey is available online for free at www.viacharacter.org and over 400,000 people have participated so far. Participants are instructed to answer each item on the VIA-IS in terms of “whether the statement describes what you are like”. Participants respond according to a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1= very much unlike me, 5= very much like me). Sample items include “I find the world a very interesting place”, which gauges curiosity, and “I always let bygone be bygones”, which gauges forgiveness. People can score anywhere from 10 to 50 points for each of the 24 strengths. Moreover, a higher score on a scale indicates that the participant more strongly identifies with that scale's associated strength. Score reports are delivered to each participant at the completion of the survey. Feedback is provided for the signature strengths, but not for the lesser strengths. The results rank order the participant’s strengths from 1-24, with the top 4-7 strengths considered “signature strengths”.
As a relatively new field of research, positive psychology lacked a common vocabulary for discussing measurable positive traits before 2004. Traditional psychology benefited from the creation of DSM, as it provided researchers and clinicians with the same set of language from which they could talk about the negative. As a first step in remedying this disparity between tradition and positive psychology, Peterson and Seligman set out to identify, organize and measure character.
Peterson & Seligman began by defining the notion of character as traits that are possessed by an individual and are stable over time, but can still be impacted by setting and thus are subject to change. The researchers then started the process of identifying character strengths and virtues by brainstorming with a group of noted positive psychology scholars. Then, Peterson & Seligman examined ancient cultures (including their religions, politics, education and philosophies) for information about how people in the past construed human virtue. The researchers looked for virtues that were present across cultures and time. Six core virtues emerged from their analysis: courage, justice, humanity, temperance, transcendence and wisdom.
Next, Peterson and Seligman proposed a model of classification which includes horizontal and vertical components. The hierarchical system is modeled after the Linnaean classification of species, which ranges from a specific species to more general and broad categories. The scientists stated the six core values are the broadest category and are, “core characteristics valued by moral philosophers and religious thinkers” (p. 13). Peterson and Seligman then moved down the hierarchy to identifying character strengths, which are, “the psychological processes or mechanisms that define the virtues” (p. 13).
The researchers began the process of identifying individual character strengths by brainstorming with a group of noted positive psychology scholars. This exercise generated a list of human strengths, which were helpful when consulting with Gallup Organization. Peterson and Seligman then performed an exhaustive literature search for work that directly addresses good character in the domains of, “psychiatry, youth development, philosophy and psychology” (p. 15). Some individuals who influenced Peterson and Seligman’s choice of strengths include: Abraham Maslow, Erik Erikson, Ellen Greenberger, Marie Jahoda, Carol Ryff, Michael Cawley, Howard Gardner, Shalom Schwartz. In an effort to leave no stone unturned, the researchers also looked for virtue-laden messages in popular culture. For example, the researchers examined Hallmark greeting cards, personal ads, graffiti, bumper stickers and profiles of Pokémon characters.
After identifying dozens of ‘candidate strengths’, the researchers needed to find a way to further refine their list. Therefore, Peterson & Seligman developed a list of 10 criteria (e.g., strengths must contribute to a sense of a fulfilling life, must be intrinsically valuable) to help them select the final 24 strengths for the CSV (see CSV for complete list of criteria). Approximately half of the strengths included in the CSV meet all 10 criteria, and half do not. By looking for similarities between candidate strengths, the researchers distributed 24 character strengths between six virtue categories. Only after creating this a priori organization of traits, the researchers performed, “an exploratory factor analysis of scale scores using varimax rotation,” (p. 632) from which five factors emerged. Peterson & Seligman state that they are not as concerned with how the 24 strengths are grouped into virtue clusters because, in the end, these traits are mixed together to form the character of a person.
Validity and reliability
Peterson and Seligman state that all character strengths must be measurable. Of the 24 strengths, most can be assessed using self-report questionnaires, behavioral observation, peer-report methods and clinical interviews. Three strengths, however, have yet to be reliably assessed: humility, modesty and bravery. The researchers acknowledge that some strengths are more difficult to assess than others, therefore methods of assessing these strengths are still in-progress.
For each strength, there are typically several measures that could be administered in order to assess a person's trait level for that strength. Time and energy, however, prohibit administering all of the measures for the 24 strengths in one testing session. To solve this problem, Peterson & Seligman designed a new measure, the VIA-IS, to assess all 24 strengths in relatively brief amount of time. Beginning in the fall of 2000, the researchers pilot tested the VIA-IS with a group of 250 adults. The researchers removed items that correlated poorly with the rest of the items in the same scale of interest. Peterson & Seligman repeated this process until Cronbach's alpha for all scales exceeded .70. Along the way, the researchers added in 3 reverse-scored items in each of the 24 scales as well. For the current version of the VIA-IS, test-retest correlations for all scales during a 4-month period are > .70.
Peterson & Seligman (2004) provide limited data on the validity and reliability of the VIA-IS. In fact, the only published statistics are stated above. The researchers say that they will provide the full statistical results of their analysis of the VIA-IS in a future publication. However, other researchers have published studies that challenge the validity of this 6 factor structure (Shryack, Steger, Krueger & Kallie, 2010; Singh & Choubisa, 2010).
Empirical findings and limitations
Although researchers have not yet examined the validity and reliability of the VIA-IS, they are beginning to look at how the 24 character strengths are distributed within the United States and international populations. Researchers found that, within the United States, the most commonly endorsed strengths are kindness, fairness, honesty, gratitude and judgment. The lesser strengths demonstrated consistency across states and regions as well: prudence, modesty and self-regulation. The researchers did not find regional differences in the rank-order of strengths, with the exception of the South demonstrating slightly higher scores for religiousness.
When the rank order of strengths in the U.S. is compared to that of 53 other countries, scientists found the relative pattern of rank ordering did not differ. This finding provides evidence to support Peterson & Seligman’s (2004) assertion that their classification system is composed of universally acknowledged strengths.
The results of this study do have limitations. More specifically, respondents to the survey must speak English, as the VIA-IS was not translated into each respondent’s native language. This may restrict the extension of these results to non-English speakers.
In an earlier study, researchers administered the English-language version of the VIA-IS to individuals in 40 countries (Steen, Park & Peterson, 2005; in Park, Peterson & Seligman, 2005). Worldwide, the following strengths were most associated with positive life satisfaction: hope, zest, gratitude and love. The researchers called these strengths of the heart'. Moreover, strengths associated with knowledge, such as love of learning and curiosity, were least correlated with life satisfaction.
Scientists have also performed more in-depth analyses of the VIA-IS when it is applied to populations outside of the United States. Unlike Park, Peterson & Seligman (2006), Linley and colleagues (2007) did not simply compare the rank-order of strengths of the U.S. to other countries. Linley and colleagues (2007) administered the VIA-IS to 17,056 individuals living in the United Kingdom between 2002 & 2005. Compared to the entire U.K. population, the study’s sample was better educated, composed of more women and fewer elderly individuals.
The researchers found that as people aged, strength scores tended to increase. Using Pearson’s correlations, researchers looked for associations between age and strengths. The following strengths showed the strongest correlations: love of learning, curiosity, forgiveness, self-regulation and fairness. Humor, however, did not follow this pattern and was negatively correlated with age.
In terms of statistically significant gender differences, women demonstrated higher scores for interpersonal strengths (kindness, love and social intelligence) and appreciation of beauty and gratitude. Men scored significantly higher than women on creativity. For men and women, four of the top five signature strengths were the same: open-mindedness, fairness, curiosity and love of learning.
When the means and standard deviations were broken down by gender and age, they were consistent with those reported by U.S. samples. The rank ordering of strengths were comparable to the patterns found in the U.S. and other international samples. Once again, research supports Peterson & Seligman’s (2004) assertion that the strengths listed in the CSV and VIA-IS are present in the majority of cultures.
An important limitation of this study, as with all studies that collect data via the internet, is that the samples tend to be more educated and from higher socioeconomic background because these individuals are more likely to have access and knowledge of the internet.
Unlike previous studies, Shimai and colleagues (2007) tested the applicability of a translated version of the VIA-IS to a sample in Japan. The researchers administered the VIA-IS to 308 young adults from Japan and 1099 young adults from the U.S. The scientists translated the VIA-IS into Japanese and then back to English in order to be examined by the original creators of the VIA-IS. They confirmed that the Japanese version of the VIA-IS demonstrated face validity, test-retest reliability and internal consistency before administering it to young adults.
The researchers found that top-ranked strengths (in terms of prevalence) for young adults in Japan, were similar to those of young adults in the U.S. The percentage of people who scored high or low on each character strength were similar between the two countries. Moreover, the scientists did not find a significant variation in the pattern of gender differences between the United States and Japan. Women in both countries were more likely than men to score highly on the strengths of kindness, love, gratitude, teamwork and appreciation of beauty, whereas men in both countries were more likely score highly on the strengths of open-mindedness, perspective, creativity, self-regulation and bravery. The correlations between specific strengths and happiness outcomes were consistent as well. More specifically, the strengths of zest, curiosity, gratitude, and hope were significantly positively correlated with subjective measures of happiness for both populations.
Differences between the young adults in Japan and the U.S. emerged as well. The rank-order of religiousness was the biggest difference between the cultures. For American young adults, religiousness was on average, the 14th most prevalent strength. For Japanese young adults, religiousness was, on average, the 19th most prevalent strength. The researchers attributed this finding to the fact that some of the items on the VIA-IS that assess religiousness were based on Western connotations of religiosity (e.g. monotheistic traditions).
A notable limitation of this study is that the researchers examined young adults, rather than the population at-large. According to the researchers, young adults in Japan are more active participants in a more global, Americanized culture than the older generations. This could explain the commonalities found between young adults in Japan and the US.
Overall, Shimai and colleagues demonstrated that the VIA-IS can be successfully and accurately translated into other languages. When this is done, however, researchers will need to ensure that the items on the scale are not culturally biased toward Western concepts.
One of the major goals of positive psychology is to help people “cultivate and sustain the good life” (p. 640). The creation of the VIA-IS provides a practical measure that can be used to evaluate the efficacy of these positive interventions. As one example, consider the thousands of people participate in life coaching and character education programs every year (Eccles & Gootman, 2002; in Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Strengths of character are often the outcome of interest, yet these programs do not employ a rigorous outcome measure in order to gauge efficacy. Researchers propose that if these programs used the VIA-IS, then they may discover unanticipated benefits of their interventions and would facilitate objective evaluation of its outcome.
Peterson & Seligman (2004) suggest that the VIA-IS could be used as a way to help people identify their signature strengths. With this knowledge, people could then begin to capitalize and build upon their signature strengths. Positive psychologists argue that the VIA-IS should not be used as a way to identify your ‘lesser strengths’ or weaknesses. Their approach departs from the medical model of traditional psychology, which focuses on fixing deficits. In contrast, positive psychologists emphasize that people should focus and build upon what they are doing well.
Using a second order factor analysis, Macdonald & colleagues (2008) found that the 24 strengths did not fit into the 6 higher order virtues model proposed in the CSV. None of the clusters of characters strengths that they found resembled the structure of the 6 virtue clusters of strengths. The researchers noted that many of the VIA character strengths cross-loaded onto multiple factors. Rather, the strengths were best represented by a one and four factor model. A one factor model would mean that the strengths are best accounted for by, “one overarching factor,” such as a global trait of character (p. 797). A four factor model more closely resembles the 'Big Five' model of personality. The character strengths in the four factor model could be organized into the following four groups: Niceness, Positivity, Intellect and Conscientiousness.
Peterson and Seligman (2004) conducted a factor analysis and found that a five factor model, rather than their 6 hierarchical virtues model, best organized the strengths. Their study, however, did not include five of the character strengths in the results of their analysis. The researchers most likely did this because their results were plagued by the problem of strengths cross-loading on to multiple factors, similar to what occurred in Macdonald and colleagues (2008) study. Clearly, empirical evidence casts doubt on the link proposed by Peterson & Seligman (2004) between the 24 strengths and associated 6 higher order virtues.
Brdar & Kashdan (2009) used more precise statistical tools to build upon the findings of the two earlier studies. They found that a four factor model (Interpersonal Strengths, Vitality, Fortitude and Cautiousness) explained 60% of the variance. One large, overarching factor explained 50% of the variance. The four factors found by Brdar and Kashdan (2009) are similar to the four factors found by Macdonald and colleagues (2008). Once again, the Brdar and Kashdan found that the 24 strengths did not fall into the 6 higher order virtues proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004). The correlations found between many of the strengths demonstrates that each strength is not distinct, which contradicts the claims made by the creators of the VIA-IS.
Caution should be taken in interpreting the results from these three studies as their samples differ in age and country of origin.
- Peterson & Seligman. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: a handbook and classification. Washington, DC: APA Press.
- Snyder & Lopez. (2007). Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Linley, Maltby, Wood, Joseph, Harrington, Peterson & Seligman. (2007). Character strengths in the United Kingdom: The VIA inventory of strengths. Personality and Individual Differences, 42(3), 341-351.
- Park, Peterson & Seligman. (2006). Character strengths in fifty-four nations and the fifty US states. The Journal of Positive Psychology. 1(3), 118-129.
- Park, Peterson & Seligman. (2005). Positive psychology progress: An empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421.
- Park, Peterson & Seligman. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 603–619.
- Shimai, Otake, Park, Peterson & Seligman. (2007). Convergence of character strengths in American and Japanese young adults, Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 311–322.
- Macdonald, Bore & Munro. (2008). Values in action scale and the Big 5: An empirical indication of structure. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 787–799.
- Brdar, B. & Kashdan, T. (2009). Character strengths and well-being in Croatia: An empirical investigation of structure and correlates. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(1), 151-154.
Shryack, J., Steger, M. F., Krueger, R. F., & Kallie, C. S. (2010). The structure of virtue: An empirical investigation of the dimensionality of the virtues in action inventory of strengths. Personality and Individual Differences 48, 714–719. Singh, K., & Choubisa, R. (2010). Empirical validation of values in Action-Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) in Indian context. Psychological Studies, 55, 151–158. | <urn:uuid:f9f5a65b-6630-4709-942a-fe71c44e11ae> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Values_in_Action_Inventory_of_Strengths_(VIA-IS) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282926.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00394-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92849 | 4,120 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Each of University of California’s nine campuses serving undergraduates have now formally announced plans to offer most classes online this fall, as the four-year university system moves forward amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In general, the campuses will deliver the vast majority of classes virtually, except for classes such as science labs and small discussion seminars that are difficult to provide remotely.
At the same time, the universities have also said they will allow
The announcements come as the coronavirus continues to spread across California and the United States. Hospitalizations are increasing in some parts of California, including in Orange and Ventura counties as well as in the San Joaquin Valley, according to the Los Angeles Times. California is also among nine states that on Tuesday registered either new single-day highs in cases of the virus or a record for seven-day new case averages, the Washington Post reported.
Classes across the UC system first transitioned to being delivered virtually in March, as the coronavirus began to spread rapidly across the state.
The plans being put forward by UC campuses for the fall are in line with the expectations set by system president Janet Napolitano, who said last month that “most of, if not all of, our campuses will operate in some kind of hybrid mode.”
The state’s other four-year public university system, the 23-campus California State University, initially appeared to take a stricter approach than UC in limiting in-person classes for the fall. Tim White, that system’s chancellor, made national headlines last month when he said that most classes across the system will be offered online this fall, with limited exceptions for classes that can’t be delivered virtually.
Napolitano did not take the same top-down approach, instead leaving decisions for the fall to each individual campus across the UC system. But as those campuses have released their plans, they appear to be fairly similar to what can be expected across the CSU system, with the majority of classes being taught remotely and a few courses being delivered face-to-face.
Here is what is known about plans for eight of UC’s campuses:
In-person classes at Berkeley will be offered on a limited basis to students “who wish to come to campus,” the university said Wednesday. “Large courses” will be delivered remotely, the university said, but smaller discussion groups that are part of those classes may be available in person. The university is still in the process of determining specifically which classes will have in-person options for the fall and plans to make that information available by July.
In any case, the university will not require any student to take in-person classes or be present on campus. Even courses that offer in-person instruction will also be available “via a remotely delivered method,” according to the university.
A limited number of students will be able to stay in campus housing. Out of more than 30,000 undergraduate students, the university plans to house up to 6,500 students in residence halls. Those students will need to be tested for Covid-19, the disease the virus causes, before moving into their dorms and will be asked to isolate for between seven and 10 days after arriving. Students who will be given priority for staying in campus housing include low-income students, students who have already signed housing contracts, students with disabilities and athletes.
Most courses will be offered virtually at Davis this fall, but some will also be available in person “depending on health guidelines and instructor preference,” according to the university. The university plans to offer in-person instruction for the “small number of courses that cannot be delivered remotely,” including classes that emphasize hands-on learning.
Classes that are offered in-person will be held in classrooms that are bigger than usual.
If county and state health guidelines allow, the university will also allow students to return to campus housing this fall, but residence halls “will have reduced density,” the university said.
Irvine was the first UC campus to disclose plans for the fall, announcing last week that almost all undergraduate classes would be delivered remotely, with exceptions made for labs, clinical courses and some engineering classes.
However, the university does plan to allow students to return to campus. University officials wrote in a letter to students and their families that the university is “committed to providing as many students as possible with a meaningful campus residential experience” and would allow students to stay in dorms with single and double rooms.
UCLA said this week that it expects between 15% and 20% of classes will be offered either in person or with a mix of in-person and virtual delivery. Those classes will include labs, clinical courses, some performing arts classes and other courses that can’t be delivered remotely. The rest of the university’s classes will be conducted online.
The university said it will also offer on-campus housing but at a “lower population density” and will prioritize housing “based on a variety of factors,” including the financial needs of students and the distance between their primary residence and the campus.
Merced is aiming to offer between 20% and 30% of classes in person this fall as part of a blended approach of remote, in-person and hybrid course offerings, the university said last week.
Priority for on-campus housing will go to incoming freshmen, foster and former foster students, students with disabilities and students who are homeless or otherwise housing insecure. Housing that is still available after those students have been accommodated will be offered to other students on a waiting list.
All classes at UC Riverside will be available virtually during the fall quarter. Instructors who want to offer in-person classes can submit requests to do so, but any classes approved for in-person instruction will also need to accommodate students who can’t attend in person.
The university said it expects that a “relatively small number of classes” will be approved for in-person instruction, and that it will prioritize graduate classes and undergraduate lab and studio courses.
On-campus housing will be available to students, “but the density will be lower than normal and is still being determined,” according to the university.
Most classes will be offered remotely — and definitely all classes with enrollments of more than 50 students. At the same time the university says “we still plan to create a meaningful on-campus experience for as many students as we can, particularly those with special circumstances.”
Campus residence halls will be open, but with no more than double occupancy per room. Before returning to campus, students will be required to show that they have tested negatively to the virus, and once there they will be asked to limit social interactions for the first two weeks, and then to stay on campus for the entire quarter which begins on October 1.
Residence halls will impose a strict “no visitor” policy. The university says it will give special consideration in allocating housing “to students in their first year on campus and those with special circumstances. “The number of housing units for graduate students will not be affected.
Students living off campus in Isla Vista are being encouraged to “will carefully explore all options, and be mindful about the importance of physical distancing and reduced density in living situations.” Even in off campus housing, students are advised not to more than two people per bedroom.
UC San Diego, which was the last campus to announce its fall plans, says it will conduct about 30% of classes in-person this fall, the university announced as it formally released its plans for the fall quarter. The university said it will open campus housing to students but, like other campuses across the UC system, will limit housing to single and double occupancy rooms. UC San Diego’s plans are in line with the plans of UC’s eight other undergraduate campuses, which have each said they will hold a limited number of in-person classes and reopen dorms for some students.
UC San Diego also is planning to conduct regular coronavirus testing of students. By doing widespread testing and using interventions such as isolation and quarantine, the university said it expects the program will “lessen the likelihood of a significant outbreak on campus.”
Most courses will be offered remotely this fall, UC Santa Cruz announced Wednesday, but in-person instruction will be provided for a “small number of classes that cannot be delivered remotely.” That includes some lab classes, studio courses and field study courses.
The on-campus housing offered by the university will be significantly reduced, with priority given to “various continuing student populations and new transfer students, who may have a need to be physically present for courses or labs taught on campus,” the university said.
To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource’s no-cost daily email on latest developments in education. | <urn:uuid:d2f61168-1727-4f19-937f-7075637635ec> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://edsource.org/2020/university-of-california-campuses-plan-to-offer-most-classes-online-this-fall/633991?replytocom=86076 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571190.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810131127-20220810161127-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.964001 | 1,847 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Two men visited Mrs. Althouse Thursday evening, and it is said one of them, while in the sick room, was seen to handle a cup of coffee and milk from which the patient drank occasionally.... The men were unknown to the family, but Mrs. Althouse seemed to know who they were, although she declined to talk about them. Vague talk about money and Mrs. Althouse's husband adds to the mystery. The men are said to be from Syracuse...."An article published in the NYT on June 24, 1888. If it was mysterious at the time, it's even more mysterious now. How does one become "well-known" for being a "mysterious... sleeper"? Presumably — given that the men were said to be from Syracuse — Attica is Attica, New York... which you probably associate with the prison, the one with the riot and the Al Pacino... but the prison was not built until 1930.
ADDED: Several commenters are piecing together the story. Apparently, the woman's first name was not Helen but Emma. Edutcher found this old newspaper article, which includes some efforts at understanding the woman's condition (falling asleep for 25 days or more). One doctor said: "It is simply a condition of hysteria. The subjects are almost invariably women and of a particular temperament. There must be this temperament. I don to wish to be understood as ascribing it to outside hypnotic influences." (The doctor was interested in hypnosis as a treatment for hysteria.)
Quaestor suggests Kleine-Levin syndrome — AKA "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" — which has a Wikipedia page here. There doesn't seem to be much understanding of the cause or the treatment even today. But it's not true that the subjects are mostly women. They are 3 males to 1 female.
It's such an odd thing that we fall asleep and then wake up. We assume that will just happen. We've all had trouble sleeping, I assume, and when that happens we may observe the mystery of sleep. We seem to know how to do it but not how to do it. We don't so much worry that we won't know how to wake up. Outside of the unique problem of dying in one's sleep, we take it for granted that we will wake up. We have the knack. Who knows why? | <urn:uuid:12257602-330b-4d0c-9439-87900045a3e9> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/mrs-helen-althouse-well-known.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00027-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984673 | 484 | 2.265625 | 2 |
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This is the fourth part in a mini-sequence presenting material from Robert Kurzban's excellent book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind.
In the previous post, Strategic ignorance and plausible deniability, we discussed some ways by which people might have modules designed to keep them away from certain kinds of information. These arguments were relatively straightforward.
The next step up is the hypothesis that our "press secretary module" might be designed to contain information that is useful for certain purposes, even if other modules have information that not only conflicts with this information, but is also more likely to be accurate. That is, some modules are designed to acquire systematically biased - i.e. false - information, including information that other modules "know" is wrong.
This is the third part in a mini-sequence presenting material from Robert Kurzban's excellent book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind.
The press secretary of an organization is tasked with presenting outsiders with the best possible image of the organization. While they're not supposed to outright lie, they do use euphemisms and try to only mention the positive sides of things.
A plot point in the TV series West Wing is that the President of the United States has a disease which he wants to hide from the public. The White House Press Secretary is careful to ask whether there's anything she needs to know about the President's health, instead of whether there's anything she should know. As the President's disease is technically something she should know but not something she needs to know, this allows the President to hide the disease from her without lying to her (and by extension, to the American public). As she then doesn't need to lie either, she can do her job better.
If our minds are modular, critical information can be kept away from the modules that are associated with consciousness and speech production. It can often be better if the parts of the system that exist to deal with others are blissfully ignorant, or even actively mistaken, about information that exists in other parts of the system.
In one experiment, people could choose between two options. Choosing option A meant they got $5, and someone else also got $5. Option B meant that they got $6 and the other person got $1. About two thirds were generous and chose option A.
A different group of people played a slightly different game. As before, they could choose between $5 or $6 for themselves, but they didn't know how their choice would affect the other person's payoff. They could find out, however – if they just clicked a button, they'd be told whether the choice was between $5/$5 and $6/$1, or $5/$1 and $6/$5. From a subject's point of view, clicking a button might tell them that picking the option they actually preferred meant they were costing the other person $4. Not clicking meant that they could honestly say that they didn't know what their choice cost the other person. It turned out that about half of the people refused to look at the other player's payoffs, and that many more subjects chose $6/? than $5/?.
There are many situations where not knowing something means you can avoid a lose-lose situation. If know your friend is guilty of a serious crime and you are called to testify in court, you may either betray your friend or commit perjury. If you see a building on fire, and a small boy comes to tell you that a cat is caught in the window, your options are to either risk yourself to save the cat, or take the reputational hit of neglecting a socially perceived duty to rescue the cat. (Footnote in the book: ”You could kill the boy, but then you've got other problems.”) In the trolley problem, many people will consider both options wrong. In one setup, 87% of the people who were asked thought that pushing a man to the tracks to save five was wrong, and 62% said that not pushing him was wrong. Better to never see the people on the tracks. In addition to having your reputation besmirched by not trying to save someone, many nations have actual ”duty to rescue” laws which require you to act if you see someone in serious trouble.
In general, people (and societies) often believe that if you know about something bad, you have a duty to stop it. If you don't know about something, then obviously you can't be blamed for not stopping it. So we should expect that part of our behavior is designed to avoid finding out information that would impose an unpleasant duty on us.
I personally tend to notice this conflict if I see people in public places who look like they might be sleeping or passed out. Most likely, they're just sleeping and don't want to be bothered. If they're drunk or on drugs, they could even be aggressive. But then there's always the chance that they have some kind of a condition and need medical assistance. Should I go poke them to make sure? You can't be blamed if you act like you didn't notice them, some part of me whispers. Remember the suggestion that you can fight the bystander effect by singling out a person and asking them directly for help? You can't pretend you haven't noticed a duty if the duty is pointed out to you directly. As for the bystander effect in general, there's less of a perceived duty to help if everyone else ignores the person, too. (But then this can't be the sole explanation, because people are most likely to act when they're alone and there's nobody else around to know about your duty. The bystander effect isn't actually discussed in the book, this paragraph is my own speculation.)
The police may also prefer not to know about some minor crime that is being committed. If it's known that they're ignoring drug use (say), they lose some of their authority and may end up punished by their superiors. If they don't ignore it, they may spend all of their time doing minor busts instead of concentrating on more serious crime. Parents may also pretend that they don't notice their kids engaging in some minor misbehavior, if they don't want to lose their authority but don't feel like interfering either.
In effect, the value of ignorance comes from the costs of others seeing you know something that puts you in a position in which you are perceived to have a duty and must choose to do one of two costly acts – punish, or ignore. In may own lab, we have found that people know this. When our subjects are given the opportunity to punish someone who has been unkind in an economic game, they do so much less when their punishment won't be known by anyone. That is, they decline to punish when the cloak of anonymity protects them.
The (soon-to-expire) ”don't ask, don't tell” policy of the United States military can be seen as an institutionalization of this rule. Soldiers are forbidden from revealing information about their sexuality, which would force their commanders to discharge them. On the other hand, commanders are also forbidden from inquiring into the matter and finding out.
A related factor is the desire for plausible deniability. A person who wants to have multiple sexual partners may resist getting himself tested for sexual disease. If he was tested, he might find out he had a disease, and then he'd be accused of knowingly endangering others if he didn't tell them about his disease. If he isn't tested, he'll only be accused of not finding out that information, which is often considered less serious.
These are examples of situations where it's advantageous to be ignorant of something. But there are also situations where it is good to be actively mistaken. More about them in the next post.
Robert Kurzban's Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind is a book about how our brains are composed of a variety of different, interacting systems. While that premise is hardly new, many of our intuitions are still grounded in the idea of a unified, non-compartmental self. Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite takes the modular view and systematically attacks a number of ideas based on the unified view, replacing them with a theory based on the modular view. It clarifies a number of issues previously discussed on Overcoming Bias and Less Wrong, and even debunks some outright fallacious theories that we on Less Wrong have implicitly accepted. It is quite possibly the best single book on psychology that I've read. In this posts and posts that follow, I will be summarizing some of its most important contributions.
Chapter 1: Consistently Inconsistent (available for free here) presents evidence of our brains being modular, and points out some implications of this.
As previously discussed, severing the connection between the two hemispheres of a person's brain causes some odd effects. Present the left hemisphere with a picture of a chicken claw, and the right with a picture of a wintry scene. Now show the patient an array of cards with pictures of objects on them, and ask them to point (with each hand) something related to what they saw. The hand controlled by the left hemisphere points to a chicken, the hand controlled by the right hemisphere points to a snow shovel. Fine so far.
But what happens when you ask the patient to explain why they pointed to those objects in particular? The left hemisphere is in control of the verbal apparatus. It knows that it saw a chicken claw, and it knows that it pointed at the picture of the chicken, and that the hand controlled by the other hemisphere pointed at the picture of a shovel. Asked to explain this, it comes up with the explanation that the shovel is for cleaning up after the chicken. While the right hemisphere knows about the snowy scene, it doesn't control the verbal apparatus and can't communicate directly with the left hemisphere, so this doesn't affect the reply.
Now one asks, what did ”the patient” think was going on? A crucial point of the book is that there's no such thing as the patient. ”The patient” is just two different hemispheres, to some extent disconnected. You can either ask what the left hemisphere thinks, or what the right hemisphere thinks. But asking about ”the patient's beliefs” is a wrong question. If you know what the left hemisphere believes, what the right hemisphere believes, and how this influences the overall behavior, then you know all that there is to know.
This is the second part in a mini-sequence presenting material from Robert Kurzban's excellent book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind.
Chapter 2: Evolution and the Fragmented Brain. Braitenberg's Vehicles are thought experiments that use Matchbox car-like vehicles. A simple one might have a sensor that made the car drive away from heat. A more complex one has four sensors: one for light, one for temperature, one for organic material, and one for oxygen. This can already cause some complex behaviors: ”It dislikes high temperature, turns away from hot places, and at the same time seems to dislike light bulbs with even greater passion, since it turns toward them and destroys them.” Adding simple modules specialized for different tasks, such as avoiding high temperatures, can make the overall behavior increasingly complex as the modules' influences interact.
A ”module”, in the context of the book, is an information-processing mechanism specialized for some function. It's comparable to subroutine in a computer program, operating relatively independently of other parts of the code. There's a strong reason to believe that human brains are composed of a large number of modules, for specialization yields efficiency.
Consider a hammer or screwdriver. Both tools have very specific shapes, for they've been designed to manipulate objects of a certain shape in a specific way. If they were of a different shape, they'd work worse for the purpose they were intended for. Workers will do better if they have both hammers and screwdrivers in their toolbox, instead of one ”general” tool meant to perform both functions. Likewise, a toaster is specialized for toasting bread, with slots just large enough for the bread to fit in, but small enough to efficiently deliver the heat to both sides of the bread. You could toast bread with a butane torch, but it would be hard to toast it evenly – assuming you didn't just immolate the bread. The toaster ”assumes” many things about the problem it has to solve – the shape of the bread, the amount of time the toast needs to be heated, that the socket it's plugged into will deliver the right kind of power, and so on. You could use the toaster as a paperweight or a weapon, but not being specialized for those tasks, it would do poorly at it.
To the extent that there is a problem with regularities, an efficient solution to the problem will embody those regularities. This is true for both physical objects and computational ones. Microsoft Word is worse for writing code than a dedicated programming environment, which has all kinds of specialized tools for the task of writing, running and debugging code. | <urn:uuid:7affb725-1135-4cd4-8d2a-21cf4e862605> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://lesswrong.com/tag/whyeveryonehypocrite/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719784.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00425-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968988 | 2,772 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Susan Crawford's FIBER reveals that, “If we can just finish the last mile for fiber to reach into households. . . we can unleash a revolution of economic growth, education, and health, and address inequality in a whole new way. Crawford shifts effortlessly from the heights of policy to the literal ground level and shows us the way.”
—Anthony Marx, President, New York Public Library
Susan Crawford is a professor at Harvard Law School and an expert in tech, public policy, and how they affect our lives. She is the author of three books on the subject and a columnist for WIRED.
Cities and citizens around the world are using data around the world to thicken democratic engagement. In her recent talk at MIT, Susan Crawford expands on themes from her new book, "The Responsive City," co-authored with Stephen Goldsmith, and the heroism it describes—together with the many open policy questions it raises.
"The Responsive City", MIT Center for Civic Media
Susan Crawford maintains a biweekly Ideas column for WIRED. Check out her latest article below for up-to-the-minute thinking on technology and public policy. | <urn:uuid:f3507068-1750-46dc-bc4c-c40864d96eeb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.scrawford.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570767.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808061828-20220808091828-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.929964 | 255 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Subsets and Splits