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VA backlog frustrates local vet
U.S. veterans continue to struggle with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ current backlog of compensation and pension claims, and some are affected locally.
According to the Veterans Benefits Administration, last week nearly 640,000 claims were pending, including more than 360,000 claims that are backlogged. A backlogged claim is one that has not been processed within the department’s goal timeframe of 125 days.
If a claim is granted, veterans receive monetary benefits.
Claims from Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans make up almost half of the claims made to the VA, although the issue is affecting all generations of veterans.
Veteran Matt Haley of Tiffin served in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps as a military policeman during Operation Desert Storm in the late 1980s and is fighting to get compensation from the VA.
Haley filed a disability claim in November 2011 for back injuries he sustained while in the military. Records indicate he had surgery to hold his spinal cord in place following the injury, yet his claim was denied by the VA, stating his injury occurred prior to service.
Haley also said he had documentation from his primary care provider saying the injury did not occur before service.
The denial also stated that he had been sent to the Cleveland Clinic, although no documentation was provided by the VA or by Haley to that effect.
He said his records were supposed to be reviewed, but he received documentation stating his records were not reviewed before the claim was denied.
Haley filed an appeal to his claim in December 2013. The appeal is being reviewed, but due to a backlog of claims, those who do not need a high level of care are getting pushed back, Haley said.
Documentation from the VA considers him disabled, yet his compensation and pension claim was not approved. Because his claim was denied but he is considered disabled, Haley has no income.
“If they actually considered me disabled, then why didn’t they approve my compensation and pension?” he said.
Haley said the lack of income also affects the amount of care he and his wife Patsy can give their disabled son, Michael.
Now, applicants must meet 80 to 100 percent of the VA’s disability or financial criteria, Haley said.
Due to his son’s income from Social Security, Haley does not meet the financial criteria and cannot apply for more assistance.
He said he also tried to file for Social Security disability, but his application has been held up.
The issue is affecting veterans nationally. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, President Barack Obama proposed a $163.9 billion budget for the department.
In the budget proposal for 2015, elimination of the claims backlog is a priority. The budget provides enough funding to implement the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Transformation Plan in 2015. The plan is intended to reduce the disability claims backlog and process claims quicker and with more accuracy.
The budget includes a 6.5 percent increase from 2014, with the increase intended to be used to expand access to health care and other benefits, eliminate the disability claims backlog and end homelessness among Veterans.
The budget also is to include $95.6 billion in discretionary spending, which would be used for mandatory programs, such as disability compensation and pensions.
Haley said the Seneca County Veterans Service Commission has helped where it could and assisted with appointments, but he would like more assistance with crises such as the one he is experiencing.
Executive Director Mac McAuliffe said many of the issues veterans face stem from the backlog, along with the amount of rules and regulations the national VA must follow to grant claims. He also said hiring more people to complete the claims would not help, as it usually takes up to three years to properly train someone to grant a claim properly.
McAuliffe said the best way to speed up the process was to approve claims faster.
He also said the VA compensates veterans for the residual effects of their injuries (how it affects them in the long-term), not for the specific injuries. Because of this, the longer a veteran waits to file his or her claim, the harder it is to get approved.
The Seneca County Veterans Service Commission does not adjudicate the claims, but workers do their best to push them through, McAuliffe said.
He also said the appeal process can take up to three years.
“No matter who the vet is or their claim, we’ll do what we can to help,” he said.
Haley has spoken to other veterans in the same situation. In some cases, veterans must pay for surgeries that were started under the VA and were incomplete at the time the VA changed its policies.
Many veterans needing assistance, including those who are homeless, are getting pushed aside, he said.
“As a veteran, I served my country, who, along with many other vets are now having to dig into our own pockets,” he said. “They’re supposed to promote the welfare of the vets. There are more out there like me that need better coverage, that need help as much as I do.” | <urn:uuid:f32a76b4-fb05-496f-bc03-c75cf4e9dcb1> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/news/local-news/2014/03/va-backlog-frustrates-local-vet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719079.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00035-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98276 | 1,065 | 1.523438 | 2 |
LTC get students on road to successful auto careers
CLEVELAND, Wis. – Lakeshore Technical College offers two popular programs that prepare students to repair automobiles — both inside and out.
The Automotive Maintenance Technician program is a two-year course of study that trains students as auto technicians or mechanics, while the Auto Collision Repair and Refinish program is currently a one-year program that gets students ready to enter the competitive collision repair industry.
Both programs are constantly adjusting as technology and materials evolve and improve, so much so that in the near future, the Auto Collision program will likely be expanding to a two–year program, officials say.
Jack Charles, auto body/paint instructor, said that if all things go according to plan, fall 2015 will be the first year of the two-year program.
"The change is because the level of complexity of vehicles is growing so we need more time to efficiently train students so they will be work ready," Charles said. "We're offering some advanced skills in the second year to make the students more marketable and maybe earn a little more money.
Charles added that even if the program expands to two years, students will have the option to take just one year of the program, making them ready to enter the field at a lower-level skilled job.
The introduction of different materials, like plastic composites, is a major reason the program is expanding.
"A big thing that we're adding for the second year deals with aluminum," Charles said, adding that aluminum repairs involved a different process than the usual spot and regular steel welding.
There is a high demand for qualified repair technicians, he said.
"Everybody who wants a job can get a job," Charles said. "There's actually more demand from shops than what we can supply."
Currently, the program can handle 16 students, but if it goes to a two-year program that number will double.
Charles said it's a job that is always changing.
"Every repair is a little different because no two cars are damaged in the same way," he said. "This is a career that will never get out sourced, and it provides a good family wage."
Changes in technology have definitely affected the Auto Maintenance program as well, said Ben Adams, Auto Maintenance instructor.
"It's always the computers. There are some cars out there where the only thing left that isn't computer-controlled is the steering," he said. "Cars have become rolling computers." The introduction of hybrid cars has also changed the curriculum of the program in recent years.
Adams teaches the electrical and engine performance part of the program, while Tim Oswald teaches courses dealing with the brakes, suspension, engine repair, transmission rebuilding, air conditioning and everything else on the car.
The program is limited to 15 students. There is usually a waiting list to get in. The program attracts both males and females and high school graduates as well as non-traditional students looking for a new career.
Charles Denny of Sheboygan is just such a student. A 22-year veteran of the military, Denny decided to enroll in the Collision Repair program, primarily because he wanted to fix his own cars.
He was surprisingly pleased with the program.
"I learned a lot," Denny said. "This is a lot more exciting than I expected."
Denny discovered a passion for working with cars, so much so that he's planning to enroll in the Auto Maintenance program next.
"I want to be able to do it all," he said, noting that he now hopes to get a job in the automotive field.
Adams said that both programs start the students on the road to automotive success.
"The students get a real appreciation for what it takes to fix cars when they come through these programs, and sometimes it's an eye-opener. Cars are more complicated than you the think. You'll never know everything in this field. You're never done learning. Every day is a new journey," he said. | <urn:uuid:5e0948d3-2e1f-4d75-ba10-4f1e58098fca> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.sheboyganpress.com/story/money/companies/state-of-opportunity/2015/03/20/ltc-get-students-road-successful-auto-careers/25120137/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571993.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814022847-20220814052847-00669.warc.gz | en | 0.97061 | 827 | 2.015625 | 2 |
SPIP is a publishing system for the Internet in which great importance is attached to collaborative working, to multilingual environments, and to simplicity of use for web authors.
It consists of a collection of files installed on a web server which allow you to take advantage of a number of automated tasks: multi-user management, laying out your articles without the need to use HTML, easily modifying the structure of your site, etc.
Create First Section
List Of Tasks
My SPIP Site
Using the very same application as used to browse a site (Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera…), SPIP enables you to build and update your site thanks to a very simple user interface.
Major Features of SPIP
- Petitions using SPIP
- Image processing
- Creating a multilingual site
- Internationalizing Templates
- Inserting LaTEX mathematical formulae
- Typographical Images
- Automatic image processing
- Content Syndication
- Multimedia and graphical processes
Installing SPIP with Softaculous in cPanel | <urn:uuid:c2f529af-af48-4ba1-a346-ebc6e30f3161> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://secureanycloud.com/spip-technical-support-cloud-help-azure-aws-opensource-cognosys/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00077.warc.gz | en | 0.803199 | 230 | 1.796875 | 2 |
About E. coli Blog
Washington dairy to resume sale of raw milk
The owners of Dee Creek Farm, who operated a cow share program that last December was the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened 18 people in Washington and Oregon in December of 2005, say they will begin selling raw milk again this summer.
Dee Creek Farm faces an $8,000 fine from the Washington Department of Agriculture for selling raw milk without a license, but the farm is appealing the fine, reports The Daily News. Dee Creek Farm owners Anita and Michael Puckett will argue their case in a March administrative hearing run by the state Department of Agriculture.
The Pucketts claim they didn’t violate state milk production and processing laws and shouldn’t have to pay the $8,000 fine assessed in March. The fine is not for the E. coli outbreak itself, but for violations uncovered while officials were investigating the outbreak and its cause.
DNA tests tied milk from the dairy to the bacteria that made 18 people sick in Washington and Oregon; including three children who were in critical condition. | <urn:uuid:ea88bd15-287b-4506-8e18-cb330746cf50> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://about-ecoli.com/blog/washington-dairy-to-resume-sale-of-raw-milk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573399.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818185216-20220818215216-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.967502 | 223 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Insurance Policy Discretionary Clause
Locate a Local Employment Lawyer
What Is an Insurance Policy Discretionary Clause?
When an insurance contract has a discretionary clause, the insurance company retains the right to interpret any unclear terms in the contract, including whether the policyholder is eligible for a payout in certain circumstances.
A discretionary clause gives the insurance company a lot of leeway to deny a benefits claim. If the policyholder goes to court, the discretionary clause in the insurance contract will likely stall and complicate the resolution of the legal claims.
Bans on Discretionary Clauses
Many states prohibit discretionary clauses because they give too much power to the insurance company. As of this article, about half the states ban use of discretionary clauses.
However, many insurance companies still place discretionary clauses in their insurance contracts. They may be just using a form contract meant for all states. The insurance company may also be hoping to enforce the clause before going to court (where it will like be invalidated).
Conflicts with Federal Law
When there is a conflict between state law and federal law, federal law preempts state law. For example, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a federal law that governs retirement benefits, including health and disability benefits. Under ERISA, discretionary clauses may still be valid. So, if there is a discretionary clause in an insurance policy that falls under ERISA, a discretionary clause may be upheld under the federal law, even when it is illegal under state law.
Should I Get an Attorney?
A qualified pensions and benefits lawyer can review your insurance agreement for any discretionary clauses. If a discretionary clause is not valid, an attorney will help you receive the compensation you deserve from your insurance policy.
Consult a Lawyer - Present Your Case Now!
Last Modified: 12-23-2013 03:55 PM PST
Link to this page | <urn:uuid:485d3131-c4bc-44e5-9eb9-5a4f026a249a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/insurance-policy-discretionary-clause.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00273-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923522 | 385 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Every box jump involves a leap of faith. You’ll probably land on top of the box, on your feet, and not make it into one of those box jump fail compilation videos (seriously, do not Google). But how do you convince your brain and body that a solid landing awaits?
Start With a Smaller Box
No, smaller. Find a box in your gym that’s so tiny and cute it doesn’t even scare you. Maybe that’s a 50cm box instead of the 60cm you’ve been attempting — or maybe you aren’t ready for boxes at all and you’re going to start with a 10cm aerobics step. We all have to start somewhere.
If you’re completely psyching yourself out about any height at all, find something visual that doesn’t add height, such as a yoga mat. Jump onto the mat as if it were the world’s tallest box: You go up, you come down, you land right in the middle where you need to be.
This isn’t just for your confidence, but also so you can work on your form. Super high box jumps are impressive, but they have a lot more to do with hip flexion (pulling your knees up to clear the box) than with jumping ability. Better to jump high above the box, alighting softly in the centre on your way down, than to just barely get your toes over the edge.
Visualise Your Landing
Get to know the box. It isn’t enough to know how many centimetres high it is, or to see where the box is — you need to know, in the deepest circuits of your brain, exactly where your landing place will be. Scott Herman, who can jump 132cm, recommends not just touching the box but standing on top of it to really get a feel for where it is in space.
While you’re up there, strike a pose. Find the spot where you’d like to land — right smack in the middle of the box — and stand there as if you’ve just landed. Legs a little bent, weight in the middle of your feet. A good rule of thumb is to land in the same position as you start.
Don’t worry about jumping down, by the way. It’s safest for your joints and tendons if you step down rather than jump, especially if you do a lot of reps or if your box jumps are getting to be really high.
Take a Video
Maybe you worry about bumping your knees on the way up, or scraping your shins if you fall. Take a video of yourself doing your best jump, slow motion if you can. Then see what’s actually going on. I used to worry that my starting position was too far away from the box, but video convinced me that I cover enough forward distance that it isn’t an issue.
If you’re feeling really brave, take a look at some of those box jump fail videos. You’ll notice that each one has a fatal flaw you can avoid, and you’ll start seeing the same warning signs over and over.
If the person’s toe catches on the corner of the box and they fall forward, it’s usually because they’re fatigued from too many jumps, and they can’t jump quite high enough. (Or they chose a too-high box to begin with.) But you know to use a smaller box and keep good form.
Or if somebody falls off the other side of the box, it’s usually because they forgot to stick the landing. You should be landing straight down, dropping from the air into that landing position you visualised, and then standing back up again.
You won’t land on the far side of the box and flip it. You won’t land with a lot of forward momentum that makes you somersault over. You’ll land softly, like a cat, like you practised.
Give Yourself a Pep Talk
That moment before takeoff is an important one. You have an easy box height, you know how to land, and you know what to do. Give yourself a routine: Maybe reposition your right foot, then your left, then inhale, then squat and swing your arms — or whatever works for you.
If the box is solid wood with sharp edges, or rubbery with soft edges, remind yourself that you’re going to fly straight up and land right in the middle, so it does not matter what the edges are like.
If it’s one of those platforms with metal legs, envision a solid wood box underneath the platform. Those metal legs are just a useless skeleton and they are not in your path.
Remember how solid you landed every time you practised before — because you’ve practised a ton of times on easy, low boxes, right? — and lift off. Good luck with the landing. | <urn:uuid:804051c2-4492-4d40-825e-39ddf98da864> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/08/how-to-do-box-jumps-without-freaking-out/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571502.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811194507-20220811224507-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.922723 | 1,048 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers have been guiding travelers for some time, and now they are guiding drivers of many new cars and even pedestrians by means of embedded circuits in cellular telephones. Of course, with this rapid spread of GPS receivers comes a corresponding need for efficient testing of both stand-alone GPS receivers and units embedded into other devices. For that purpose, the NI GPS Toolkit for Labview from National Instruments (www.ni.com) provides an easy-to-use and flexible measurement solution when teamed with software-programmable PXI test instruments. The test system allows newly generated and previously recorded waveforms to be combined to create realistic GPS operating environments for testing new designs in the lab or exercising units on the production line.
The firm has developed a full line of modular test instruments based on the PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PCI) format, an open specification governed by the PXI Systems Alliance (www.pxisa.org). PXI is supported by more than 70 companies with more than 1500 PXI products.
For the purpose of GPS radio and system testing, National Instruments offers its NI PXIe-5672 RF vector signal generator to create test signals from 250 kHz to 2.7 GHz with 16-b resolution, 20-MHz real-time bandwidth, and output range of -145 to +10 dBm; it also supplies the companion NI PXI 5661 RF vector signal analyzer with frequency range of 9 kHz to 2.7 GHz and corresponding 20-MHz realtime bandwidth; the analyzer features 80-dB spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR), 14-b resolution, and sampling rate of 100 MSamples/s. By adding the NI PXI-5690 low-noise two-channel preamplifier (100 kHz to 3 GHz, 30 dB fixed gain on one channel, -10 to +20 dB programmable gain on the other channel), test engineers use the analyzer to capture and record actual GPS signals with natural impairments.
The GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW provides the programmability for these PXI instruments to perform single-satellite and multi-satellite GPS testing (see figure). By using the NI LabVIEW software to create waveforms for simulation of as many as 12 satellites, the GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW when teamed with the appropriate PXI instruments can perform such single-satellite GPS receiver measurements as noise figure and sensitivity, and such multisatellite GPS tests as sensitivity, dynamic position accuracy, and time to first fix (TTFF).
The NI GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW can be combined with the NI Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW, NI TestStand test management software, and modular PXI instruments, to assemble a low-cost production test station. Because software is used to define the functionality of the test system, the same basic PXI setup can be used to test GPS systems as well as other wireless devices, such as GSM and WCDMA cellular telephones, WiFi and Bluetooth wireless networking devices, and digital-video-broadcast (DVB) equipment. P&A: $1999 and up (NI GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW). National Instruments, 11500 North Mopac Expressway, Building B, Austin, TX 78759-3504; (512) 683-0100, (800) 258-7022, Fax: (800) 683-9300, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: www.ni.com. | <urn:uuid:79ace4ea-d385-47b3-b213-33eb630f3159> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://mwrf.com/print/test-and-measurement/software-tools-simplify-gps-testing | 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 | 0.882205 | 730 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Master LEGO craftsman [Baron von Brunk] had the same childhood passions as a lot of us—LEGO (obviously), Transformers, and Nintendo. But he also harbored a passion for traffic lights and road signs. His latest offering, a fully functional LEGO traffic light, is some pretty fantastic plastic. You might recall that we featured [Baron von Brunk]’s LEGO mosaic lamps a few weeks ago. This project is that one on steroids.
The body is made of 1700+ LEGO and Technic pieces. [Baron von Brunk] was kind enough to provide his LDD file, though he says it should be considered a rough guide to construction. The red, yellow, and green 1×1 areas are each lit with a 48-SMD LED floodlight bulb. Colored lights are available, but he used the solid white variety for greater luminescence. The lights are driven by a traffic light controller typically used for model railroads.
[Baron von Brunk] ended up lining the inside with black 1x1s and metallic reflective duct tape to keep the light from leaking out of the masonry. He used some Technic bricks on the rear door to form hinges, and Technic pins to hold the LED lamps. | <urn:uuid:ec838bda-aaa2-42cd-a5d2-03a097357016> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://hackaday.com/2014/01/06/green-light-lego-red-light-stop/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988725470.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183845-00076-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937172 | 260 | 1.53125 | 2 |
By Elizabeth Willoughby on
Ten years after the release of his award-winning “Bowling for Columbine” documentary, which explored the gun culture in the US, Michael Moore is now being asked to comment in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shooting earlier this month, when 12 people were killed while attending a movie theatre.
In an open letter, Moore sounded saddened and discouraged at the lack of progress in America, where, he says, “We have two Auroras that take place every single day of every single year. At least 24 Americans every day (8-9,000 a year) are killed by people with guns, and that doesn’t count the ones accidentally killed by guns or who commit suicide with a gun. Count them and you triple that number to over 25,000.”
Moore criticizes the way America’s Second Amendment (the right to own guns) has been hijacked from the intention of the Founding Fathers, which provided that “a militia could be quickly called up from amongst the farmers and merchants should the Brits decide to return and wreak some havoc.”
He’s also tired of the standard excuses given for gun violence in America, such as the influence of violent movies and video games, and a history and culture of men with guns. Moore says these don’t hold up when compared with other countries whose populations are exposed to the same movies and games, and who have guns in their histories as well, but today they do not suffer similar results on the streets.
The notion that a gun cannot fire itself, that “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, an oft heard slogan of the NRA, would be more honest according to Moore if it said rather, “Guns don’t kill people, Americans kill people.”
“We Americans are incredibly good killers,” says Moore. "We believe in killing as a way of accomplishing our goals. Three quarters of our states execute criminals even though states with lower murder rates are generally the states with no death penalty. We’ve been invaders since we conquered the Wild West.
“We are an easily frightened people and it is easy to manipulate us with fear. What are we so afraid of that we need to have 300 million guns in our homes? Maybe we should fix our race problem and then there would be fewer frustrated, frightened, angry people reaching for the gun in the drawer.”
Copyright © 2012 Look to the Stars | <urn:uuid:21372842-6964-4078-806c-fe94e91213bd> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.looktothestars.org/news/8709-michael-moore-speaks-about-gun-violence-in-america | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285289.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00143-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971038 | 522 | 1.875 | 2 |
Whereas both Thomas and Aristotle would agree that “the ultimate end of man, as of any intellectual substance, is called felicity or happiness” there is a profound difference between them regarding in what that happiness consists. The difference between Thomas and Aristotle’s accounts of the human good boils down to the difference between Thomas’ Christianity (grace and faith) and Aristotle’s virtuous paganism (the integrated intellectual life at its humanly best).
Thomas agrees with Aristotle regarding in what faculty happiness is found. Aristotle limits the state of happiness to those beings which have the capacity for rational thought. He says, “Happiness is an activity of the [rational] soul” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1100a15). Thomas echoes and expands on this when he says “happiness is the proper good of the intellectual nature” (Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings, Penguin Books., London 1998, p 268).
Arriving at the link between ‘happiness,’ ‘the proper good,’ and the ‘intellectual nature’ occurs after discounting the various misconceptions regarding what happiness/the proper good are, namely physical pleasure, honour, wealth and any other pursuits which are not ‘self-sufficient’ but rather transitory and contingent. Also, finding happiness in the intellect involves recognizing that the intellect is our highest faculty. As sight is are our highest sensory faculty by which we are able most accurately to perceive the world around us, so our intellects are our highest faculty, enabling us to understand the world around us. Happiness and the proper good are bound up with our telos. It is the intellectual nature which is the specific difference between humans and all other created compound beings (the imago dei), and thus our happiness is to be found in relation to our intellectual nature. Thus, true happiness for us is to be found in intellectual activities directed towards God. “God is the ultimate end of the intellectual substance and that operation whereby a man first attains God is said to be substantially his happiness or felicity” (Aquinas, Selected Writings, p. 270). This ‘attaining’ is some kind of intellectual sight – the Beatific Vision.
Continue reading “Aquinas studies – happiness is found in an act of the intellect rather than an act of the will.”
The notion that there can be a science of divine things does not negate Thomas’ statements regarding how we are unable to know the essence of God. A science of divine things is possible so long as we are clear regarding what we actually can and cannot know, and how the science of divine things proceeds.
First of all, only God can know his own essence. In fact, he knows himself “through his essence” (Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings, Penguin Books., London 1998. p. 116). In other words, only God can truly know himself, as it is his essence to do so. The science of divine things must proceed from this basic understanding, namely, we cannot essentially know God. This does not mean, however, that we cannot in any way come to know God (as we will see).
Secondly, in terms of human reason, according to Thomas we can approach knowledge of God referring to the fact of his existence (and not of what he is). This can be done in three ways: 1) observing his effects in creation; 2) understanding his causality of “more noble effects” which grants a “better display of his eminence”, and; 3) in a negative sense we understand more clearly how he transcends all things and defies definition (Thomas quotes Dionysius, “he is known as the cause, the excess and negation of all things” – (Aquinas, Selected Writings, p. 117).
Continue reading “Aquinas studies: if we cannot know the essence of God, how can there be a science of divine things?”
It is good and right to direct everything in our being towards God and union with him (including our intellects). However, errors are possible.
1) Presumption: in directing our intellect towards God we should not presume that we can comprehend God as we may be able to comprehend other aspects of creation (Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings, ed. by Ralph McInerny. Penguin Books: New York, 1998. p. 128).
2) Placing reason before faith in the directing of ourselves to God and to union with him. As God is incomprehensible to our intellects, and yet we are to direct everything towards him, we must “Begin by believing” (Aquinas, Selected Writings, p. 128). Believing is to hold something as real and true on the basis of what a knower tells us, so belief is the way we are able to transcend our intellects by receiving from God his self-revelation. This self-revelation is an outflow of God’s love towards us and thus the extent and form of his self-revelation is suited to our capacity. “Every creature is moved as to be made more and more like God insofar as it can be” (Aquinas, Selected Writings, p. 129). This movement happens through “infused faith” (Aquinas, Selected Writings, p. 131).
Continue reading “Aquinas’ view of the possible errors in ‘investigating’ God using natural reason”
Lady Philosophy asks Boethius to “imagine a set of revolving concentric circles” in her effort to explain how Providence and Fate relate to one another. It is extraordinary how Boethius evokes a visual image to try and explain a deep and perennial mystery. The innermost circle is closest to “the simplicity of the centre” which is equated to the “high citadel of oneness” which is Providence or “Divine Reason.” Providence is also equated to the “Primary Intelligence.” Due to it being equated with Divine Reason, Providence does not itself orbit anything. It does not move. It is essentially the Unmoved Mover. The closer an orbit is to the simplicity of the centre, the more that thing which is the circle is freed from Fate (or “above the chain of Fate”). It seems to me this is essentially “rest”.
Continue reading “Boethius’ description of Providence, Fate, and Fortune in Bk IV.”
Chapter II – Of thinking humbly of oneself
There is naturally in every man a desire to know, but what profiteth knowledge without the fear of God? Better of a surety is a lowly peasant who serveth God, than a proud philosopher who watcheth the stars and neglecteth the knowledge of himself. He who knoweth himself well is vile in his own sight; neither regardeth he the praises of men. If I knew all the things that are in the world, and were not in charity, what should it help me before God, who is to judge me according to my deeds?
2. Rest from inordinate desire of knowledge, for therein is found much distraction and deceit. Those who have knowledge desire to appear learned, and to be called wise. Many things there are to know which profiteth little or nothing to the soul. And foolish out of measure is he who attendeth upon other things rather than those which serve to his soul’s health. Many words satisfy not the soul, but a good life refresheth the mind, and a pure conscience giveth great confidence towards God.
3. The greater and more complete thy knowledge, the more severely shalt thou be judged, unless thou hast lived holily. Therefore be not lifted up by any skill or knowledge that thou hast; but rather fear concerning the knowledge which is given to thee. If it seemeth to thee that thou knowest many things, and understandest them well, know also that there are many more things which thou knowest not. Be not high-minded, but rather confess thine ignorance. Why desirest thou to lift thyself above another, when there are found many more learned and more skilled in the Scripture than thou? If thou wilt know and learn anything with profit, love to be thyself unknown and to be counted for nothing. [alternative trans: “If thou wilt know or learn anything profitably, desire to be unknown, and to be little esteemed”].
[Contra ‘social media’, contra various (I suspect) vain and (without question) brand-building church personalities – making much of exploits in order to sell books and speak at conferences etc. Cf the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 – he easily boasts and catalogues various disasters and hardships, but only reluctantly shares the vision and leaves uncatalogued entirely the various “signs of a true Apostle”].
4. That is the highest and most profitable lesson, when a man truly knoweth and judgeth lowly of himself. To account nothing of one’s self, and to think always kindly and highly of others, this is great and perfect wisdom. Even shouldest thou see thy neighbor sin openly and grievously, yet thou oughtest not to reckon thyself better than he, for thou knowest not how long thou shalt keep thine integrity. All of us are weak and frail; hold thou no man more frail than thyself.
H/T The Literature Project http://literatureproject.com/imitation-christ/immitation-christ_chapter_ii_-_of.htm
“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” Leviticus 20.26
[I genuinely wish that great minds from the past were alive now to consider these things. I believe the Church needs an Aquinas, Kierkegaard, Augustine or even a CS Lewis or Chesterton, to think and write about all of this… In the meantime, I want to try and get my mind around some things, so far as I am able, for my own benefit, and for those to whom and with whom I minister…]
Holiness is a vast and well-explored topic, yet often it seems to be misunderstood. What ought to be a glorious and beautiful reality is often mired in preconceived notions of mere religious observance and legalism. To be holy is often confused with ‘living in accordance with Christian values’, or merely ‘doing good things’. A basic definition of holiness is needed for the purpose of this site. It will also put into clearer focus as to why I’m bothering to consider holiness in relation to New Media.
Holiness, simply understood, is the setting aside or devoting of things and actions for some purpose (whether that purpose is oriented towards some deity, or is of local cultural or community importance). For the human being this has involved many forms of worship in all sorts of different religions, and non-theistic worldviews, down through the millennia.[i]
For the Christian, however, holiness is understood primarily in terms of ‘being’. Ontology is the technical word for it, and it is something that Christian theology, philosophy, and any proper understanding of holiness needs to regard as a starting point.
We are commanded to ‘be holy’ because God ‘isholy’. There is a Greek philosopher named Christos Yannaras who has written much about this from an eastern Christian perspective. If we think ‘holiness’ is about conduct that favourably measures up to certain ideals established within a particular religion, this may actually be an evasion of the truth of who we are and how we are to be in the world.[ii] First of all, we need to consider who God is, and then what sort of being we are, as created in his image. Once we have some idea regarding the first two considerations we can think about conduct. However, the initial considerations open up upon vistas of their own. In asking what sort of being a human is, we must ask why we exist at all? What sort of dignity was bestowed upon us in the first place? Is this dignity a gift unrevoked? Is the dignity an ultimate expectation? How did we bring ruin upon ourselves? How does that ruin affect us individually and as a species? What did the Lord do for us in order to restore to us our dignity? These questions about our own being lead us inevitably to questions about ultimate reality, and the source of being. From whom is this gift and mystery of being derived? How does creation relate to God? Who is this God to whom the whole of creation is oriented, ourselves included? What is the final purpose of humanity and creation? An understanding of what holiness is must include these questions.
Curiosity, a desire to learn and discover new things, is a good and necessary part of what it means to be a healthy and active human being. However, if a person is spiritually sick (because of their own actions or the actions of others) this good impulse can become warped and symptomatic of a troubled soul. Ancient and medieval philosophers, mystics, pastors, and theologians gave a lot of thought to diagnosing spiritual ailments and prescribing appropriate treatment for those ailments in the form of spiritual discipline. One philosopher named Josef Pieper is almost unmatched in his ability to distill this ancient and medieval wisdom and present it fresh to the modern world.
Josef Pieper died in 1997 at the ripe old age of 93. New Media would doubtless have been known to him, though it had not yet begun to dominate late-modern life as it now has. However, what he writes seems to anticipate some of the issues that New Media has exasperated in human souls. It seems that New Media, may act as a kind of stimulant for spiritual struggles which have always afflicted Adam’s helpless race in varying degrees.
Pieper outlines a particular kind of spiritual illness which is called accidie, or acedia (Faith, Hope, Love, pp 120-121). Accidie is normally (and unfortunately) translated ‘sloth’. It is regarded as one of the Seven Capital Sins (often referred to as the Seven Deadly Sins – also a misnomer). It is more accurate to understand accidie as a ‘sorrow of the world’ (2 Corinthians 7:10), existential listlessness, a kind of wrath turned inward on the self (shown vividly in Dante’s Inferno, canto 7). Accidie will come up again and again in New Media Holiness, but for now I want to focus upon a couple of the by-products, or symptoms, of accidie. Continue reading “Curiositas killed the New Media cat” | <urn:uuid:2b23d086-a859-462c-8ee9-fc324c2ceefc> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://mindyourmaker.com/category/christianity/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00071.warc.gz | en | 0.957321 | 3,119 | 2.875 | 3 |
Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., university president, was quoted in an Aug. 27 Washington Post article about comments made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding abortion. Her statements were challenged by a number of Catholic bishops. See Father O'Connell's comments in the article below.
Archbishop Disputes Pelosi's Statements
|Abortion Comments Spur Swift Denial|
From: Washington Post
Date: August 27, 2008
Author: Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl and several other U.S. bishops are disputing statements by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a "Meet the Press" appearance about the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion. They say she misrepresented the church's longstanding opposition to the procedure and twisted some church teachings.
On the news show on Sunday, Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic who supports abortion rights, said that the question of when life begins has been a subject of controversy in the church and that over the centuries, "the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition."
But Wuerl and the other bishops swiftly responded, saying that the church has opposed abortion since the first century.
"Abortion is evil," Wuerl said in an interview yesterday. "It's the destruction of a human life . . . this teaching has not changed and remains unchanged."
Wuerl's objections were echoed by two representatives from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, where the Democratic National Convention is being held. Pelosi's speech to the convention Monday made no mention of abortion.
Chaput and Denver Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley called Pelosi "a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills," in a statement posted on the Denver archdiocese's Web site.
"Regrettably," they added, "knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them. . . . [Abortion] is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it."
Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on pro-life activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the bishops' doctrine committee, noted in a statement yesterday that in the Middle Ages, the church distinguished between penalties for very early and later abortions. Yet they said its teachings "never justified or permitted abortion at any stage of development."
But Pelosi refused to back down yesterday. A spokesman said she has studied the matter closely and her views have been influenced by St. Augustine, a leading 4th century theologian, who wrote that "the law does not provide that the act [abortion] pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation . . . "
Observers say the controversy over Pelosi's statement is nowhere near the furor that erupted in 2004 when a dozen bishops threatened to withhold Communion from then-presidential candidate John F. Kerry and other Catholic officials who voted for abortion rights.
Nonetheless, the bishops' emphatic response to Pelosi's statements this week shows that they are willing to speak out when the church's teachings are challenged publicly by high-profile Catholics, according to the very Rev. David M. O'Connell, president of Catholic University of America.
"We're seeing more of that in recent years than perhaps we saw in the past," O'Connell said. "When you have very prominent individuals in the public square who are eager to identify themselves as Catholics . . . the bishops want to make sure that the people understand that quote unquote celebrities don't get a pass when it comes to the teachings or the practices of the church."
For conservative Catholic groups, the fact that Wuerl weighed in on the controversy was welcome news.
He angered some conservatives for refusing to discipline Pelosi and other pro-abortion rights politicians after they received Communion at the Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in the District in April. Wuerl has said that he believes those decisions should be made by the politicians' own bishops.
"We're very, very encouraged by his statements" on Pelosi, said Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, a Catholic organization opposed to abortion that is based in Stafford. "He is her shepherd when she is in Washington, and for him to speak out that way is very meaningful for all of us." | <urn:uuid:3653c70a-69f3-4218-86a0-491d9f616a79> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://inthemedia.cua.edu/WashPostDOCPelosiAbortion.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00264-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978556 | 919 | 1.539063 | 2 |
"Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed" (Preface of Lent 1).
The purpose of Lent is succinctly expressed by this preface. Catechumens prepare for baptism into the paschal mystery. The faithful are reminded of their baptisms, and will renew their baptismal vows at the Easter liturgy.
Baptism and Life
This baptismal focus is a life focus, and is illumined by Lenten readings as well as by the encyclical, The Gospel of Life.
Baptism initiates us into the eternal life Christ gives us. "Eternal" does not only mean it never ends. It also refers to the "quality" of that life, namely, it is a share in the life of the Eternal God.
The baptized, therefore, are sons and daughters of God and are members of the Church, the People of Life (see Evangelium Vitae #79). The baptized have taken hold of the eternal life promised them (see Rom.6:4) and are already living it (Gal 2:19-20; John 6:47).
The choices of the baptized are therefore to be shaped by their new identities (see Rom 6:6; Eph. 4:17-24). We see how Christ calls the Samaritan woman to repent as she accepts the waters of new life (see John 4:15-24). Lenten repentance is necessary so that God's people may more deeply become who they are. They are called to see their sins more clearly. Hence baptism is known as "illumination." The passage about the man born blind (John 9) is therefore a key Lenten passage (4th Sunday of Lent-A and optional Mass for 4th week of Lent).
Anyone who makes the Lenten journey is called to be more alert to the attacks on human life and dignity around them. The people of life are called to reject sin and all the devil's works and empty promises (Renewal of Baptismal Promises, Easter Liturgy). The "pro-choice" and "right to die" mentalities are two of those "empty promises" which are firmly rejected by the baptized. A firm rejection of these positions is integral to repentance. Lent is the perfect time for us to call our congregations to a clearer understanding of why this is true, and to lead them to a deeper affirmation of life, both natural and eternal, in the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.
Repentance, a key theme of Lent, is a changing of the mind, and, with it, one's life, away from the path of sin and toward a life of holiness. It is not possible to repent of a sin which one does not recognize or admit is a sin. During Lent, we ask to be delivered from such blindness, and to be forgiven even our hidden sins. The application to the abortion problem is clear when we consider that the injustice of this act has been proclaimed as a "right" and a legitimate "choice." Because such respectable elements of society as the Supreme Court, many medical associations, and even some Christian denominations continue to call abortion a "right," many find it hard to recognize it as a wrong. Part of the purification of Lent involves the metanoia, the "change of mind," so necessary in this area.
The works of charity that constitute a fundamental form of penance can include reaching out to those in need of concrete assistance in their pregnancies. Volunteering at pregnancy resource centers is a perfect way to do this, as is the effort to make such centers better known in the community. A common fund could be established, for example, to purchase an ad in the paper or the Yellow Pages. Giving to such a fund is, in fact, helping the poorest of the poor.
To stand up in any way for the unborn child can be a penitential act, since it often brings unwarranted criticism, even from fellow worshipers who should be doing more themselves to end abortion.
This Lent, may the whole Church be strengthened in her mission to build the Culture of Life! | <urn:uuid:265731c8-a1e7-4c6c-b2e4-5a9d01be7b22> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://catholicexchange.com/a-joyful-season | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280292.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00342-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959579 | 852 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Sacromonte - a unique and picturesque neighbourhood
Don't miss out on this unique and picturesque neighborhood of the Granadian Gipsies, who settled in Granada after the Christian conquest of the city in 1492. For us, at La Almunia del Valle, it is a must-see.
The lifestyle of the gypsies, their language "Caló", their festivals and dances, and the fact that they excavated their homes on the slopes, made many romantic travelers write about Sacromonte. Poets, novelists, painters, musicians ... all were bewitched by this neighborhood and told and sang its glories throughout the centuries. Since then, many visitors came to this place, increasing even more its legend. What remains of that era are just some cave-houses, which are organized zambras a tourist character. | <urn:uuid:520e2d5d-4272-4290-884f-a35fdf4e03e2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.laalmuniadelvalle.com/en/attraction/sacromonte-neighbourhood/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573623.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819035957-20220819065957-00672.warc.gz | en | 0.967614 | 177 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Smoke alarms are being fitted at traveller homes in a bid to drive down the number of fire incidents.
The Essex Countywide Traveller Unit (ECTU) has carried out 44 site visits over the past two years.
During this time, ECTU has fitted 52 domestic smoke alarms.
Officers assess water supplies, access, safety and separation of caravans during the visits As of January, one quarter of a total 175 site visits across the county had been carried out.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) has set aside £28,000 in its budget for 2014/15 for supporting ECTU, which is a project run by 22 groups and members of gypsy and traveller communities.
Partner organisations include councils, Essex Police, ECFRS and primary care trusts in the county.
As members of the partnership, ECTU meetings and training sessions are held at the fire service’s Kelvedon Park headquarters.
ECTU was established in 2012 with the aim of improving travellers’ lives and saving taxpayers money.
Two of Essex County Council’s authorised permanent traveller sites are located within Braintree district, with sites at Cressing and Ridgewell each providing 12 plots. | <urn:uuid:d9471f77-2872-48c2-aa1f-ac81d8e68176> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/11100800.Fire_service_aiming_to_improve_safety_on_traveller_sites/?ref=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00212-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962246 | 254 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The countless international responsibilities America has assumed in the past thirty years have serenely taxed the country's diplomatic resources. The fact that a number of able diplomats have arisen during this period. Therefore, is a one. Kennan and Acheson are two of the most outstanding products of the period, and their recent publications attest to the thoughtfulness and sensitivity they were able to bring to their work.
Kennan's latest volume, Russia and the West, is really two books, thinly disguised as one. The first deals in great detail with the period of the allied intervention, 1917-81. Based on a lecture series given at Oxford, it is a convenient summary of his two-volume published work on Soviet-American relations during the period.
The second book is already familiar to Cambridge, for it is nearly a verbatim record of lectures gives here last spring on "Soviet foreign policy in the Stalin Era." These lectures covered the broad range of Soviet policy between 1920 and 1945.
In both sections, Kennan pursues one of his favorite themes--that "the standard component for a rousing Soviet diplomatic success" is "one part Soviet resourcefulness and two parts amateurism, complacency and disunity on the part of the West."
Western failures are not due, however, to treason or "give-a ways," but rather to sincere but fuzzy thinking. Punitive war, unconditional surrender, and refusal to negotiate with the Soviets represent one type of business; coalition sentimentality another.
Kennan remains from using the phrase, but there is little doubt that he belongs to the "Realistic School." Foreign policy should not strive to recorder the world, but only to protect a nation's interests and preserve peace. "There is nothing absolute in itself, no friendship without some element of antagonism, no enmity without some rudimentary community of interest."
The West's first great blunder, according to Kennan, was World War I. Following the military deadlock of the fall of 1914, he says, there should have been a compromise peace. For total victory was impossible, due to the fact that modern warfare is too blunt and undiscriminating an instrument for the accomplishment of any aim other than mass destruction.
One of the many prices the West paid for keeping the war going, according to Kennan, was the Bolshevik Revolution. Had the war ended as late as 1917, he suggests, the Kerensky government might have been able to ride out the revolution and maintain itself in power.
The Allied intervention was also a mistake, the result of great confusion in the minds of Western statesmen as to the situation in Russia and as to their own aims. It could never have accomplished its purpose--the overthrow of the Bolsheviks--and it served only to help the Soviet Government rally the forces of nationalism. The Allies also passed up a number of opportunities to retire gracefully from the intervention, thus compounding the blunder.
Postwar treatment of Germany by the Allies not only crippled the Weimar Republic and laid the basis for Hitler's rise, but also prepared the way for the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The West could not afford to treat two Great Powers as outcasts, Kennan says.
World War II was "unwinnable." The Western democracies had allowed themselves to become so weak that they could only defeat Germany with Russian aid. The inevitable price they had to pay was the extension of Soviet powers into Eastern Europe. Kennan thinks, nevertheless, that this extension could have been contained more effectively had the West kept this danger in mind through out the war.
It is difficult to quarrel with Kennan's hindsight. One can however, criticize Kennan for falling to treat in sufficient detail the role of foreign policy in a democracy. Like Lippmann in The Public Philosophy, Kennan moans about democracies liability to pursue an effective foreign policy, but he gives no realistic suggestion as to how this can be corrected.
A subsidiary theme is Kennan's running critique of Russian historiography. In his preface, the author expresses concern over "the image of Soviet Western relations how being cultivated by Soviet historians," which he says, "in an important part of Moscow's contemporary political appeal."
With respect to the intervention, for instance. Kennan points out that the Allies main motive was to before the Eastern Front, even if this necessitated everthrowing the Bolshevik government. But Kennan is somewhat obscure in ex planing why the intervention continued a year and a half after the end of the war. Similarly, Kennan tries to debunk the Soviet contention that the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 was entirely due to the West's failure to stand up to Hitler at Munich. But one is left wondering whether there would have been such a Pact had the West done just that.
Kennan is highly critical of Stalin's foreign policy, and insists that many Soviet moves were due to the director's fears for his personal power. He cites the Communists' failure in China in 1927 and the withdrawal of aid from the Spanish Republican forces in 1936 as examples. At times, however, he may be exaggerrating the significance of the peculiarities of Stalin's personality. | <urn:uuid:7847356c-f414-45c9-9e9f-215e2e6b90f0> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1961/6/2/kennan-surveys-soviet-foreign-policy-calls/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281151.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00112-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971061 | 1,052 | 2.21875 | 2 |
I have Borland JBuilder 9 and we have build a fairly large java based application using it. I cannot find any documentation for the classes that come with the jdsserver.jar library which includes the "com.borland.dx.dataset" namespace. Is there any documentation available for this product as it was released in 2003?
More than 75% of all records are compromised because of the loss or theft of a privileged credential. Experts have been exploring Active Directory infrastructure to identify key threats and establish best practices for keeping data safe. Attend this month’s webinar to learn more.
APEX (Application Express) is used to develop a web application from Oracle. SQL Workshop is one of the tools that comes with Oracle APEX to query or modify the database objects or to make any changes to the structure.
Entity Framework is a powerful tool to help you interact with the DataBase but still doesn't help much when we have a Stored Procedure that returns more than one resultset. The solution takes some of out-of-the-box thinking; read on! | <urn:uuid:e5b007fa-5401-4269-931c-25b0698e8ae1> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26444331/JBuilder-jdsserver-library-documentation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00120-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930758 | 223 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This article in Wired Magazine
is a call for communities to build their own fiber networks,
since only a few can win the "Google lottery".
Here's the link to the Facebook page for Communities
United for Broadband:
Hey, Google Fiber Losers: Build It Yourselves
Craig Settles has an answer for the 1,095 communities that are not
going to get Google to build a next-generation fiber optic network in
their area once Google chooses a few winners in the coming weeks.
Don’t pout, organize.
"We are harnessing the enthusiasm that Google has generated all over
the country for fiber and channeling that into a path to help those
communities to get the broadband they want," Settles said.
Settles, a broadband consultant, has paired with a North Carolina
advocate Jay Ovittore to launch the Communities United for Broadband,
which they propose as a hub for communities who spent untold hours on
their Google-bandwidth application. | <urn:uuid:eec6d864-48a1-4394-9a4f-f03a2b915d25> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://groups.google.com/g/bmorefiber/c/_ZpRdd66B6o | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572870.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817062258-20220817092258-00665.warc.gz | en | 0.914769 | 218 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The L.A. School District has decided to call it quits by next year for the free Apple iPad program to all 640,000 students within the district. What is the reason behind this move that theoretically speaking, would ultimately help students out and hopefully make them learn in a more efficient manner? It seems that some of the students who attend the Theodore Roosevelt High School had already hacked their iPad in just a week, which allows them to surf the Internet. This was deemed to be a security concern by the relevant parties so much so that the L.A. School District has decided to take the step to halt the program.
Originally, this deal by Apple with the educators included the supply of 35,000 iPads, and the rest of the students who were part of the program were supposed to receive their tablet in 2014. It does seem that the $1 billion program is now on shaky ground after students at Roosevelt realized that they could disable security restrictions on the iPad by deleting their personal profile, and this enabled them to visit blocked sites – where among them include the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
L.A. Unified School District Police Chief Steven Zipperman mentioned that there is no better time than now to stop the program before the word continues to spread on social media sites as to how to get around the security of the school issued iPads.
Filed in iPad.. Read more about | <urn:uuid:5acf2e35-bcd2-44e7-a055-d2ccf2f6f8b5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/09/l-a-school-district-stops-free-ipad-program/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281450.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00179-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986591 | 280 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Septuaginta LXX Project aims to produce an online edition of the Septuagint with a comprehensive critical apparatus, and a new English translation. We seek to collate all extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint and make them available at this website.
Septuaginta Dot Net’s Goals:
- A new critical text of the Septuagint that is as close as possible to the original text.
- A comprehensive critical apparatus.
- A new English translation for the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion.
- Discover or reconstruct the Hebrew vorlage used by the translators of the Septuagint.
- A PDF version of the Septuagint that will be made available for download.
The Importance of the Septuagint For Biblical Studies
Gentlemen, have you a Septuagint? If not, sell all you have, and buy a Septuagint!
Ferdinand Hitzig, a German Bible scholar used to say to his class, “Meine Herren! Haben sie eine Septuaginta? Wenn nicht, so verkaufen Sie Alles, was Sie haben und kaufen Sie eine Septuaginta!”
Why study the Septuagint?
(1) With the exception of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint antedate by many centuries the oldest existing Hebrew manuscripts (Masoretic Text). It was made between two and three centuries, before the Christian era, and that no other version (except the one used by Plato as maintained by Aristobulus) existed before that era. To judge from the prologue to Ecclesiasticus, the Septuagint was substantially completed before 131 B.C.
(2) The Septuagint is very important in textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, because translators of the Septuagint adhered too closely to the Hebrew idiom to be even tolerable Greek. This closeness of rendering generally enables us to decide without difficulty the Hebrew original used by the translators. If we had the original Septuagint before us we could restore the Hebrew text from which it was made with comparatively certainty.
(3) A wide knowledge of the Septuagint is therefore absolutely necessary for any one who would make any pretensions to New Testament scholarship. (Rev. L. W. Batten)
The Septuagint must be read as a translation with constant reference to the
Hebrew which it represents. It would not be of such great value to one who did
not read Hebrew. The student must read the Septuagint and understand all the
time exactly what Hebrew ideas are conveyed by the Greek words. That makes it
so valuable for the understanding of the New Testament. The one who has read
the Septuagint can read the New, seeing in the Greek the original ideas of the
Hebrew mind, or of the mind trained to Hebrew learning.
(4) The use of the Septuagint has been recognized and employed chiefly by
lexicographers of the New Testament. Thayer elucidates many words by giving the corresponding Hebrew word for which they were used in the Septuagint.
It has often struck me as curious that the “Septuagint” (LXX) as been so widely neglected among NT scholars, and so often overlooked by PhD students in the field. So, e.g., when PhD students tackle the meaning of some OT passage cited or alluded to in the NT, or the meaning of some word/expression that seems to be derived from the OT, they often (typically?) conduct an admirably detailed analysis of the Hebrew OT passage, but do little (often nothing) with the Greek OT. (Larry Hurtado, New Testament scholar)
(5) The Septuagint was used by the early Greek-speaking Jews and Christians. It was the Bible of the early Church fathers and the Jews of the Dispersion.
The original text of these Jewish prayers for vengeance, found at Rheneia and now preserved at Athens and Bucharest shows us the Jews of Delos, about the year 100 B.C., in possession of the Greek Old Testament. This single picture is typical. The Old Testament, as you know, had been translated from Hebrew into Greek at different times and by different persons in Egypt, beginning in the third century B.C., and the complete version is known as the Septuagint. We see then that by 100 B.C. the Septuagint Bible had already found its way from its home on the Nile to the remoter Jews of the Dispersion – a book from the Hellenistic world for the Hellenistic world. (Adolf Deissmann, The Philology of the Greek Bible, pp5-6)
What Is The Septuagint?
The English word Septuagint derives its name from Latin Interpretatio septuaginta virorum, “translation of the seventy interpreters” (ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα). It is the name given to the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible. It is frequently abbreviated as LXX, Latin for seventy.
By diffusing for the first time a knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures to the world at large it was a Praeparatio Evangelica paving the way for Christianity; it was the Bible of the early Church and the parent of numerous daughter versions. Its language is a mine of information on Κοινή Greek, the lingua franca of the new era dating from Alexander the Great. (Henry St. John Thackeray)
The Septuagint, or the Greek version of the Old Testament is, written in full, the Interpretatio septuaginta vivorum or seniorum, i.e. the translation of which the first instalment was attributed by Alexandrian tradition to seventy or seventy-two Jewish elders. In the most ancient Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament it is described as the version ‘according to the LXX.’ (κατὰ τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα, παρὰ ἑβδομήκοντα), and quoted by the formula οἱ οʹ or οἱ οβʹ (Greek for 70 or 72). All forms of the name point back to a common source, the story of the origin of the version which is told in the letter entitled Ἀριστέας Φιλοκράτει.
According to the letter of Aristeas, Demetrius Phalereus (Δημήτριος Φαληρεύς), the chief librarian at Alexandria, proposes to Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Πτολεμαῖος Φιλάδελφος) (king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 282-247 B.C.) to enrich his library by having a translation of the Jewish law-book made for it. Ptolemy agrees to this, and sends an embassy consisting of his chief of guards, Andrew, and Aristeas, the author of the letter, to Jerusalem with rich presents to the high priest Eleazar, asking him to send old and worthy and wise men, to Alexandria, where they were to translate the Pentateuch for the royal library. Eleazar sends seventy-two men (six out of each tribe), who take with them a precious manuscript of the Pentateuch. After having been royally entertained by Ptolemy, Demetrius conducts them to the island of Pharos at Alexandria, where they could work undisturbed. When they had come to an agreement on a section, Demetrius wrote down the version. The whole work was completed in seventy-two days. A copy of the translation was given to the Jewish community at Alexandria. The Jews of Alexandria, on hearing the Law read in Greek, request copies and lay a curse on anyone who would change the translation. The king then rewards the translators lavishly and they return home.
A second direct testimony is from Aristobulus, of Alexandria, who wrote a work on the Interpreation of the Sacred Laws, which he dedicated to King Ptolemy Philometor (Πτολεμαῖος Φιλομήτωρ) (reigned from 180-145 B.C.), of which an extract has been preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Praeparatio Evangelica. Eusebius writes, “And I will quote first the words of the Hebrew philosopher Aristobulus, which are as follows:
‘IT is evident that Plato closely followed our legislation, and has carefully studied the several precepts contained in it. For others before Demetrius Phalereus, and prior to the supremacy of Alexander and the Persians, have translated both the narrative of the exodus of the Hebrews our fellow countrymen from Egypt, and the fame of all that had happened to them, and the conquest of the land, and the exposition of the whole Law; so that it is manifest that many things have been borrowed by the aforesaid philosopher, for he is very learned: as also Pythagoras transferred many of our precepts and inserted them in his own system of doctrines.
‘But the entire translation of all the contents of our law was made in the time of the king surnamed Philadelphus, thy ancestor, who brought greater zeal to the work, which was managed by Demetrius Phalereus.’ ” (The Preparation of the Gospel by Eusebius of Caesarea, Book 13, Chapter 12) | <urn:uuid:20b3234c-5788-459b-a306-14d439a5fba9> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://septuaginta.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718285.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00106-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944506 | 2,130 | 2.25 | 2 |
Cantaloupes are annual-growing, fruit-producing vines that just happen to be the most popular melon in the United States, according to the World's Healthiest Foods. Although technically a musk-melon, the cantaloupes that are grown in the United States are a very good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Cantaloupes are both easy and fun to grow in the home garden. For best growth, plan on planting cantaloupes outdoors when the soil temperature remains above 65 degrees Fahrenheit and any danger of spring frost has passed.
Preparing the Planting Area
Choose a planting area for the cantaloupes that will provide them with full sun. Cantaloupes will thrive when provided maximum sunshine.
Turn over the soil in the planting area using a shovel or garden fork. Sift through the soil using a metal rake to remove any sticks, weeds, rocks, clods or roots from the area. Plan on preparing the soil in the planting area about two weeks prior to planting.
Lay out over the planting area a 4-inch layer of organic matter. You can use aged manure, leaf mold, dehydrated compost or other similar material.
Measure out 2 to 3 cups of 16-16-8 or 10-10-10 fertilizer for every 50 square feet of planting area. Broadcast the fertilizer out over the soil in the planting area using your hands or a hand-crank fertilizer spreader. You can purchase fertilizer spreaders at your local garden center or plant nursery.
Incorporate the organic matter and fertilizer into the soil thoroughly using the garden fork, a shovel or a rototiller.
Planting Cantaloupe Seeds
Create 4 to 6-inch high mounds of soil in the planting area that are approximately 12 to 14 inches in diameter. The mounds should be 4 feet apart.
Poke three or four 1-inch deep holes in the mounds that are approximately 4 inches apart. You can use a chopstick or pencil to create the holes.
Drop one or two cantaloupe seeds per hole in each of the mounds. Cover up each of the seeds with approximately 1 inch of soil.
Water the mounds of soil thoroughly using a slow, steady stream of water so as not to displace the cantaloupe seeds. Plan on keeping the mounds moist--provide water as needed, but never allow the soil to become dripping wet. Germination of cantaloupe seeds will begin in about seven to 10 days.
Thin out the seedlings when they have a set of leaves. To do this, use a pair of scissors, and cut off at the soil line the least hardy cantaloupe seedlings, leaving the two hardiest seedlings per mound.
Spread out a 2-inch layer of grass clippings, straw or other like material for mulch around the cantaloupe seedlings once the soil temperature reaches 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Mulch helps to keep precious moisture in and pesky weeds down.
Water the cantaloupe plants when the soil feels dry to the touch a depth of 2 to 3 inches. Provide approximately 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Let the water run slowly so it will sink into the soil to reach the roots.
About this Author
Katelyn Lynn is a certified holistic health practitioner who specializes in orthomolecular medicine and preventative modalities. She also has extensive experience in botany and horticulture. Lynn has been writing articles for various websites relating to health and wellness since 2007. She has been published on gardenguides.com. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in alternative medicine from Everglades University. | <urn:uuid:95428836-3bc1-49c8-bf11-300531e0e838> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.gardenguides.com/117654-plant-cantelope.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719468.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00529-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.880922 | 765 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Written by Edward Smith
Imagine a business run largely by blind people.
Not a little shop or store, but a factory where heavy equipment is involved and the workers produce tons of goods.
It’s happening around the country, with blind people producing office supplies, aircraft parts and even rice to feed U.S. troops, along with businesses with mostly legally blind workforces providing various non-manufacturing services under contracts with federal agencies.
“Most of these [companies] are back East. There’s almost nothing from the Midwest to the West Coast, and I’m figuring to change that. I think the Valley here is ripe with labor pools to do some of these contracts,” said Ken Warkentin, executive director for Valley Center for the Blind in Fresno.
To that end, he’s looking at having the nonprofit center start its own business, a packing house for jasmine rice, with at least three-quarters of the employees — line workers to executives — legally blind.
To do this, the center would have to obtain a contract to supply rice to a federal defense agency under a program run through National Industries for the Blind, an agency under the federal government’s AbilityOne Commission.
The program, dating back to the 1930s, awards federal contracts to nonprofit businesses in which at least 75 percent of workers are disabled or legally blind.
If that sounds outlandish, Warkentin said to consider the first company to get one of the federal contracts was Skillcraft, which started out with legally blind workers making pens for federal agencies. Over the years, the contract has grown to include other office supplies, cleaning and janitorial goods, mattresses, bedding products, medical and food service supplies and equipment, aerosol paints and primers and some painting tools.
He noted that the federal contracts are very precise in describing the product specifications, so the blind workers have to meet strict quality standards.
Last month, Warkentin presented the idea to the Fresno Rotary Club’s monthly downtown meeting, asking the members with businesses if they might want to work with the agency and gain new customers by supplying goods to one or more federal agencies.
“Anybody interested in securing a contract with the federal government, this is a way of doing it, through us. They might be giving up a [profit] point or two, because we’d be their middleman, but we’re their ticket into a larger [customer] source,” Warkentin said in an interview.
Currently, he said, he’s discussing such a proposal with interested rice growers in Northern California, with them supplying the rice and it being packed here and shipped out to federal customers.
Warkentin said the idea to pack rice was inspired by a rice-packing business started by VisionCorps, a Pennsylvania program to help the blind and visually impaired there.
“Organizations like mine, if we can produce a product at a fair-market price and meet the government’s quality standards and delivery standards, then they will purchase it from us,” said Dennis Steiner, president and CEO of the nonprofit, which not only operates the parboiled rice packing house but also operates businesses that install padding into advanced combat helmets for troops and bottled cleaning products under other federal contracts.
He added that his company purchases the rice in bulk from southern states, and the advantage to those rice farmers is an indirect but reliable way to sell their goods to the federal government, which they might not be able to access on their own.
The contracts don’t have to just involve manufacturing, said Steiner, noting that another one of his federal contracts has legally blind people reviewing contracts for the federal government.
He noted that these workers aren’t lawyers, but have been trained to do the work, often using technology that makes words on computer screens more readable and systems that read words out loud to the users.
Warkentin said some employers don’t realize that blind people can be a lot more functional in the workplace than they expect.
For one thing, being “legally blind” doesn’t always mean a complete inability to see, as most people who meet that criteria have some degree of vision, Warkentin said.
“You can be legally blind and still get a drivers license,” in some cases, he noted.
People with severe vision impairments can do a number of jobs, from office work to handling heavy machinery, often with the help of technology, software and training geared to them.
When it comes to getting jobs, partially- and fully-blind adults often are passed over for sighted applicants, usually because employers worry visually challenged employees can’t do the work, or they’ll fall and expose the businesses to liability.
Warkentin, who is sighted, challenges such notions, saying, “Look at my office. Did it look like it was different or set up differently than any other office? Most of my office [staff] is blind or visually impaired.
“We have over 90% unemployment of blind people in this area,” and he estimated that employers here in the 90% range aren’t interested in hiring blind people.
While many legally blind people are unable to work, often due to circumstances beyond just blindness, a lot want to work, and their best bets of doing so may be creating a business geared toward having a largely blind workforce, Warkentin said.
He’s not just looking to start one business. Warkentin noted that being in the Valley makes this an ideal place for the Center for the Blind to start food-related enterprises beyond packing rice, which could include canning peaches, tomato paste and other products or packaging nuts or raisins.
For the moment though, the organization is working on a rice-packing operation.
“It would be us. We do the labor. It would be our company,” Warkentin said, adding that a rice supplier couldn’t be a business partner under the federal rules, but it could provide some of the seed money to develop a plant as part of its supply contract with the center.
“They don’t have to give us money to build a plant. That’s my responsibility. I have to get that from donors or investors or however I need to create that plant,” said Warkentin, adding the current plan is to supply rice to the U.S. military, but that could change or expand to other agencies, possibly FEMA or the federal prison system.
He said he’s already looking at a warehouse in Fresno that could be converted into a rice packing plant in about 12-18 months.
Even though Warkentin used to run a small business making automotive seat covers, which he left after his daughter was blinded in a traffic crash that led to his current job, Warkentin said VisionCorps officials in Pennsylvania have agreed to help him get the business started, and he expects more help from a federal program that makes retired business people available to advise businesses.
Beside the benefit of creating jobs for the legally blind community here, “ the proceeds we will make, which isn’t a ton, will fund our operations here,” providing services and training to blind and visually impaired people, including job training.
“And then I won’t have to go around and beg people to give us money.” | <urn:uuid:aa3e0de1-e124-4b41-a26f-c4205cf44e68> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://thebusinessjournal.com/valley-center-for-the-blind-looking-to-start-business-for-the-blind/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572870.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817062258-20220817092258-00668.warc.gz | en | 0.964699 | 1,557 | 2.125 | 2 |
Counterintuitive facts defy logic!
This Reddit discussion has some fun counterintuitive facts. My favorite is the Monty Hall problem.
It’s a perfect example of a counterintuitive answer to a probability problem:
Also, we see these fun counterintuitive facts:
- Statistically speaking, on average, everyone on Earth has one testicle and one breast.
- If you have a room of 23 people, there is a 50% chance that 2 of them have the same birthday.
- razzle-dazzle camouflage- It’s counterintuitive that loud, bizarre patterns can hide a ship: | <urn:uuid:c118ae6b-f244-4a19-8fcb-f9902a266bd2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://dba-oracle.blogspot.com/2010/02/fun-counterintuitive-facts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280825.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00208-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89466 | 128 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Suppliers’ mobile apps concentrate on basic account functions, while spiralling prices have left consumers looking for more sophisticated tools to help them monitor and control how much energy they are using.
Publicis Sapient’s second Energy Supplier Mobile Experience Barometer report has found that energy retailers have a big opportunity to help customers manage the impact of the energy crisis on their pockets by upgrading their mobile apps to include energy management tools and personalized advice.
Our research shows that many people expect their suppliers to help them manage their energy consumption more effectively. But with a few exceptions, companies have yet to capitalize on the opportunity to use their mobile presence to deliver the smart tools, information and services their consumers are looking for.
The Mobile Experience Barometer 2021
First published in 2020, the UK Mobile Experience Barometer assesses the mobile offering of ten UK suppliers, dividing them into two groups – incumbents such as British Gas and Scottish Power and challengers that have joined the market more recently including Bulb and Octopus. The research assesses these suppliers’ mobile presence under a range of headings and aims to offer timely insights into how customers are using their apps, how they are managing their energy consumption and what features and services they would like to see.
UK consumers are well known for having a highly price-driven and transactional relationship with their energy suppliers. They are heavy users of price comparison websites and switch relatively frequently – 55 per cent of our survey respondents have been with their current supplier for two years or less.
But despite their general lack of engagement with energy suppliers, our research also highlights that the UK’s price-conscious consumers have bought into the idea of actively managing their energy use at home. Some 61 per cent agree that it’s important to do this and another 28 per cent somewhat agree. Many of them also believe that their energy supplier should be helping them to use less energy (45 per cent agree, 36 per cent somewhat agree). Mobile apps, with their ability to facilitate immediate, two-way communication with customers and provide compelling energy management tools, are the natural channel through which to do this.
Conclusion: crisis heightens the mobile opportunity
The results of this year’s Mobile Experience Barometer demonstrate that there is significant scope for most providers to improve their mobile offering.
Given the spiralling cost of energy and the withdrawal of cheap fixed tariffs, most customers no longer have the option to save money by switching. This leaves managing their energy consumption better as they only practical way to reduce bills. Customers are looking to their suppliers to do more to help them, and we see mobile apps as the key enablers.
The winners will be the providers who can equip their customers with information and tools to help them to save money. Customers expect more than generic hints and tips on energy saving. They are seeking features such as time-of-use tariffs and contextual information based on their smart meter data – such as breaking down consumption by appliance (as provided by British Gas) or offering comparisons with similar households – along with timely, actionable advice.
They also want more integrations with third-party apps such as Alexa or Google Home, as well as energy management apps such as Hive or Nest that give them greater control over their energy consumption. With their focus predominantly on basic account-management functionality, most energy suppliers are failing to grasp this opportunity to provide consumers with the intelligent, value-added services they want.
Finally, we believe their generally poor performance on brand personality illustrates a further opportunity: to use more distinctive brand personality to differentiate their offering in a market where switching based on price will be a less powerful trigger for consumer choices, at least until the energy crisis is behind us.
Taken from: https://www.publicissapient.com/insights/mobile_experience_barometer | <urn:uuid:9009b37a-fcd6-4cc7-8bcb-5b607cb2a4a6> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://tomilli.com/europe/energy-customers-want-better-tools-to-manage-their-usage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00275.warc.gz | en | 0.965494 | 783 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Comparing Authoritarian countries vs Adhocracy countries
When we are comparing Authoritarian countries vs Adhocracy countries, it is essential to know whether these countries are the places where these government forms have originated. Authoritarian has originated in Europe and the place/s where Adhocracy has originated is North America. When a country adopts a government form, it means that the ideology of that government form becomes the key principle in running the country. Comparing Authoritarian vs Adhocracy Definition will help you in grasping the meaning of these ideologies. We give you a gist about the presence of Authoritarian and Adhocracy. Authoritarian countries vs Adhocracy countries comparison can be found by its presence in different continents of the world. A list of the Authoritarian and Adhocracy countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, American and other continents is given below:
- Authoritarian countries in Asia are Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam. Adhocracy is not prevalent in Asia.
- The list of European Authoritarian countries comprises of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey. Adhocracy is not present in Europe.
- In North America, countries that have accepted Authoritarian as form of government are Cuba. Adhocracy is not prevalent in North America.
- Venezuela are the countries with Authoritarian as a government form. Adhocracy is not prevalent in South America.
- The list of Authoritarian countries in Africa includes Egypt. Adhocracy is not present in Africa.
- Authoritarian is not present in other continents. Adhocracy is not prevalent in other continents. | <urn:uuid:d018f306-197f-4f79-aec7-16702ccf7c3b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.governmentvs.com/en/authoritarian-countries-vs-adhocracy-countries/comparison-57-72-4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573533.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818215509-20220819005509-00269.warc.gz | en | 0.91757 | 341 | 2.78125 | 3 |
RAVEL Ma mère l’Oye (Ballet version)
RAVEL L’Enfant et les Sortilèges
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Magdalena Kožená l’Enfant
Marie-Nicole Lemieux Maman, la Libellule, un Patre, la Bête
Jane Archibald le Feu, la Princesse, le Rossignol
Anna Stéphany la Bergère, la Chatte, la Tasse Chinoise, l’Ecureuil
Elizabeth Watts la Chouette, la Chauve-Souris, une Pastourelle
Sunnyboy Dladla la Théière, le Petit Vieillard, la Rainette
Gavan Ring l’Horloge, le Chat
David Shipley le Fauteuil, l’Arbre
London Symphony Chorus
Simon Halsey chorus director
London Symphony Orchestra
Tickets: for more information and tickets please visit the Lucerne Festival website.
Please note that finish times are approximate and subject to change.
Maurice Ravel felt most at ease in the society of children. He loved to crouch down and play with them, tell them stories, or track down mechanical puppets at fair stalls to give them. No wonder, then, that in his creative work, several scores have a reference to childhood. In three delicate orchestral songs, for example, he lets the narrator Scheherazade lead us into the fantastic world of the East. In his “pièces enfantines,” Ma mère l’Oye, which he originally wrote as a four-hand piano suite for two children, he sets famous fairy-tales to music. But with his one-act opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ravel may have portrayed himself in the lead role of the stubborn child who has no desire to do his homework and just sticks out his tongue at his mother. However, when the child is left alone as a punishment, remarkable things start happening: all the objects around him begin to come to life and pester him − the furniture, the dishes, even the chimney fire. Maurice at home, on his own. | <urn:uuid:687cbf66-7ab6-449e-b36a-84c1ff9b0bf9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://lso.co.uk/whats-on/icalrepeat.detail/2018/09/10/1418/-/ravel-lucerne-festival.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573876.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820012448-20220820042448-00075.warc.gz | en | 0.882975 | 490 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Obama’s budget announcement today – not a surprise
Proposed 2013 budget would reduce dividend tax break, impose new rules, and raise top marginal rate to almost 40%
The $3.8 trillion budget that President Barack Obama proposed today for 2013 would generate $1.4 trillion in new taxes for the wealthy.
Perhaps the only surprising element of the proposal puts dividends paid by high-income Americans at ordinary income, boosting the rate paid to 39.6% from a current rate of 15%.
The higher rates would apply to couples making $250,000 or more and individuals making $200,000 or more IF they earn significant income from dividends.
Originally, the president had supported continuing to tax dividends at a favorable rate, but administration officials said Mr. Obama decided the nation couldn’t afford it.
“We don’t need to be providing additional tax cuts for folks who are doing really, really, really well,” Obama said today in a speech at Northern Virginia Community College.
This is not news, in 2003, dividends were taxed as ordinary income.
Not surprisingly, Republicans in Congress immediately criticized the president’s budget and predicted failure for the tax increases wanted by the White House. .
The change in dividend taxation would raise $206.4 billion over a decade, according to the administration, which has said the wealthy need to pay more to help the nation control its deficit and spur economic growth.
The president’s proposal would end the Bush era tax cuts and limit tax deductions to 28% for wealthy Americans, again defined as those couples earning $250,000 and individuals making at least $200,000. Limits them to 28% but does not eliminate them. These high-income earners already were set to take a hit in next year when a provision of the 2010 health care law kicks in that will tax their unearned income at 3.8%.
The administration’s proposed budget also would boost the top capital gains tax rate to 20% from today’s top rate of 15% and the income tax rate would max out at 39.6% in 2013 (increased from 35%). As expected, the plan also would tax private-equity managers’ profits-based compensation at ordinary income rates (which it is) instead of the 15% current capital gains rate.
The president’s budget also sets a new rule called the “Buffett rule,” that would set a 30% minimum tax for individuals with $1 million or more of annual income, a proposal that’s been discussed since last year after billionaire Warren E. Buffett said the wealthy weren’t paying enough in taxes. That tax would replace the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which the White House contends hits the middle class instead of its goal of keeping the richest Americans from paying too little. It is great if it replaces AMT.
Republicans do control the House and wield significant influence in the Senate so it’s unlikely that Obama’s budget will make it out of Congress but only time will tell.
Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS | <urn:uuid:23021339-6f0f-4a9f-a405-a429030b51f8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.aikapa.com/Financial_Bites/?m=201202 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573623.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819035957-20220819065957-00672.warc.gz | en | 0.960433 | 646 | 1.914063 | 2 |
What A Personal Loan Is
Personal Loans are finances borrowed from traditional banks, alternative lenders, or credit unions with fixed terms and rates. Much like any other loan, you pay the money back in monthly intervals at a set interest rate. The majority of personal loans are unsecured– meaning there is no collateral involved. We also have options where the funds are structured as a revolving line of credit as well.
What Personal Loans Can Be Used For:
Real Estate Investment
Credit Card Consolidation
Home Improvement Projects
Refinancing Existing Debt
Who Qualifies For A Personal Loan: Credit and Income
You’ll want to have a credit score between 660 and 800 – with an ideal score of 700+ and $35000 or more in annual income.
Ideal Credit Score
700 or better
Time In Business
How To Get Started
Finance Factory has access to the best options in the industry and expertise to obtain the capital you need for your business or investment.
Credit Report (we can conduct a soft pull)
Pay Stubs / W-2s
Personal Tax Return (if self-employed)
Award Letters(if retired or on disability)
Finance Factory Helps You Find Personal Loans For You
Interested in finding funding for your business? Finance Factory would love to help! If you or a spouse or partner has income and a credit score of 650 – 800, let’s chat! Get pre-qualified right now with our quick-step pre-qualification form! And don’t worry, this will not result in a hard credit inquiry of sensitive information. We just want to learn more about you and your business. Click below to get started! | <urn:uuid:c2fc5440-31e6-4bca-8843-384947b76bfa> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://financefactory.com/personal-loans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572212.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815205848-20220815235848-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.902024 | 373 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Weekly study3 hours
Commercial Photography: Still and Moving Image
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This free online course is designed to help current or aspiring commercial photographers get to grips with new media and moving image photography.
Understand why personal work is key to commercial photographic success
We’ll begin by looking at the importance of developing your visual sensibility through personal work, where you’re free to push boundaries, make mistakes, pursue your passions and hone your craft.
You’ll then find out how to create work that is new, exciting and individual – whether in advertising, fashion or editorial photography – in order to secure commissions. You’ll be encouraged to consider the complex interplay between individual approaches to practice and client-led work.
Explore the relationship between still and moving image photography
We’ll then explore the relationship between still and moving image in commercial photography, looking at how you can embrace emerging media and potential markets for your work.
We’ll examine the need for a coherent and consistent visual approach across both disciplines; the differences between narrative filmmaking and moving image photography; and the use of video, CGI, animation, illustration and mobile devices. We’ll also consider sound, as well as image, and the technicalities of using a camera to record.
Learn with expert academics and practising commercial photographers
Based on elements of the Photography courses at Norwich University of the Arts, the course will enable you to learn with expert academics, as well as leading commercial photographers, including Andy Earl and Tim Flach.
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at people who are already working in commercial photography, either as photographers or assistants, and want to develop their skills.
The course would also be of interest to those wanting to work in, or wishing to learn more, about the world of commercial photography. | <urn:uuid:9ca30788-c9ba-4eca-9d89-31d02d022771> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/commercial-photography | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573540.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819005802-20220819035802-00467.warc.gz | en | 0.946492 | 438 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Look at Next Bird Return to Thumb Directory Page 2 Back to Bird Thumbs Page 12 Parc national de Frontenac, Québec Spruce Grouse inhabit northern conifer forests and range as far south as the northern-most Wisconsin... Terre-Neuve, mai 2005 Scientific Classification Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada, June 10, 2006. Another birding group joined us as... Welcome All Images are Available for Licensing at Singular Video&Pix Spruce Grouse Ralph Lieske, of Dundas, Ontario, Canada, has kindly given permission for us to use his photo of the... Status/Protection Global Rank: G5 Key to global and state ranks State Rank: S1S2B, S1S2N WBCI... Spruce Grouse Banff National Park, Canada Spruce Grouse Algonquin Park, Ontario January 1990 About Us Ross Lake Camps is located on beautiful Chemquasabamticook Lake in the North Maine Woods... For hours we drove slowly back and forth in the region that the grouse were known to frequent, but... Male . Photo by ronjames4_ Location: Alaska Contents 1 Identification 2 Distribution 3 Taxonomy 4... Stats and Info Spruce Grouse . Male in Sawtooth Mountain Wilderness, central Idaho. Back to Gallery Custom Greeting Card at CraftyGreet.com Port McNeill And Area July 14th and 15th, 2009 Before we went hiking up to Cape Scott , we... CaptionВ : В Siberian Spruce Grouse does not fear humans and often could be caught by bare hand.... Plain Chachalaca (adult) - Valley Nature Center, Weslaco, Texas - April, 2013 Ring-necked Pheasant... Sept 09 08:00 - Spruce Grouse on the trail Go Back Home Wing-loading © Karen L. Sirna Chipmunk Chess - I Win! | <urn:uuid:0a135770-085d-4ed5-9290-181aa21bdd5f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.picsearch.com/Spruce-Grouse-pictures.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00167-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.873009 | 395 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Researchers find that the same genetic mutation responsible for red hair also promotes a well-known cancer-causing pathway
A person’s skin pigment, which determines hair color and skin tone, is influenced by the melanocortin-1 (MC1R) gene receptor. For the population’s one to two percent of redheads, a mutation in MC1R accounts for their red hair color and typical light skin.
Now researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that the same MC1R mutation responsible for the red hair phenotype also promotes an important cancer-causing pathway. The new findings, reported on-line today in the journal Molecular Cell, help to explain the molecular mechanisms that underlie redheads’ well-known risk of developing melanoma, providing new insights for treating and preventing this dangerous type of skin cancer.
Melanoma is the least common but the most lethal of skin cancers. Accounting for 75 percent of all skin-cancer deaths, melanoma originates in pigment-producing skin cells called melanocytes. Melanoma is believed to be a multi-step process (melanomagenesis) of genetic mutations that increase cell proliferation, cell differentiation and cell death and increase an individual’s susceptibility to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Two types of UV radiation – UVA and UVB – can mutate DNA in skin cells and lead to melanoma.
“In this current study, we have demonstrated that the mutation MC1R-RHC promotes the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway when a red-haired individual is exposed to UV radiation,” explains co-senior author Wenyi Wei, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. PI3K/Akt is a well-known cancer-causing pathway, implicated in breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer.
Previous work by the study’s co-senior author Rutao Cui, MD, PhD, a member of the BUSM Department of Dermatology, had demonstrated that MC1R plays a key role in protecting melanocytes from UV-induced DNA damage. In this current study, Wei and Cui wanted to find out how this was happening.
Led by co-first authors, Lixin Wan, PhD, a member of the Wei laboratory at BIDMC and Juxiang Cao, PhD, a member of the Cui lab at BUSM, the scientific team embarked on a series of experiments in both cell cultures and mouse models. Their experiments showed that in normal circumstances, MC1R was binding to PTEN, a well-known tumor suppressor gene. PTEN acts to safeguard against cancer; without PTEN, the end result is elevated signaling in the cancer-causing P13K/Akt pathway.
The team then went on to demonstrate that MC1R-RHC mutations found in red-haired individuals lacked this protective mechanism. “As a result, upon UVB exposure, we saw an increased destruction of PTEN in the mutated pigment cells,” says Wei. The team additionally found that in these same MC1R-RHC pigment cells, elevated PI3K/Akt activity was boosting cell proliferation and was synchronizing with another well-known cancer mutation in the BRAF gene (found in nearly 70 percent of human melanomas) to further accelerate cancer development. In support of these results, note Wei and Cui, another research group at Massachusetts General Hospital recently demonstrated that expression of the BRAF gene mutation in the melanocytes of mice carrying a mutated MC1R gene led to a high incidence of invasive melanomas.
“Together, our findings provide a possible molecular mechanism as to why red-haired individuals harboring MC1R mutations are much more susceptible to UV-induced skin damage than individuals with darker skin, resulting in a 10-to100-fold higher frequency of melanoma,” says Wei.
The authors note that this newly established link between MC1R and PTEN will be a starting point for future studies, adding that it remains unclear why only MC1R genetic variants linked to the red hair phenotype – but not all MC1R variants – are unable to bind to PTEN following UV exposure.
“We think that MC1R variants, in combination with mutations in the BRAF gene, could be used as markers of an increased risk of developing melanoma,” explains Wei. The authors add that these new findings suggest that drug inhibitors that target the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway might be used in combination with Vemurafenib, a drug that targets the BRAF oncogenic protein, to treat melanoma patients who have both BRAF and MCIR variants. | <urn:uuid:6c65c91a-5581-44a9-b716-fd0f5b6cc520> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.technology.org/2013/08/23/study-helps-explain-increased-melanoma-risk-in-individuals-with-red-hair/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280221.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00235-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926252 | 1,001 | 2.6875 | 3 |
The manager for the Clearwater Traders wants to collect the following data for each order placed by a customer: customer's name and address, item ordered, quantity of each item, item's size or color if applicable and the retail price of each item.
a. Create an entity-relationship model representing the data that the manager wants to store in the database, based on the following assumptions.
? Each customer can place multiple orders.
? Each order can only belong to a single customer.
? Different items can be ordered on the same order.
? Each item on an order can have a different size and or color, and some items may not have a size or color.
b. Based on the data elements the Clearwater Traders' manager wants you to include in the database, assign an appropriate field name to each of the data elements. Make certain the name of each field is descriptive so it will be easily recognizable in the final version of the database.
c. Take the named data elements from the previous step and convert the data to first normal form
e. Convert each of the previously identified entities to third normal form. Make certain that the necessary foreign keys have been added to the final tables to support the relationship shown on your initial ER model.
Entity-relationship model is a graphical representation of entities and their relationships to ...
Entity-relationship model is highlighted. | <urn:uuid:df22e424-64be-46fe-92b5-f2aeae19bead> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://brainmass.com/computer-science/databases/entity-relationship-model-112322 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281649.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00446-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89203 | 284 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Global Volcanism Program | Image GVP-07587
An aerial view from the NE shows the Hengill central shield volcano on the center horizon rising above Thingvallavatn lake. Steam rises from the Nesjavallavirkjun geothermal area in front of the peak. NE-trending fault scarps extend into the lake. Holocene fissure-fed eruptions have occurred from vents both northeast and southwest of the Hengill central volcano, with fissures extending into the lake. Just out of the bottom of the picture (north) is an island where phreatomagmatic activity created a tephra ring called Sandey about 1,900 years ago.
Photo by Oddur Sigurdsson, 1998 (Icelandic National Energy Authority).
This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms. | <urn:uuid:3534b39a-a36c-4cb9-a298-ce1d6d8f761d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://volcano.si.edu/gallery/ShowImage.cfm?photo=GVP-07587 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570913.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809064307-20220809094307-00079.warc.gz | en | 0.864401 | 189 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Today, July 20, is the anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon and his famous proclamation, “That’s one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.”
The success of the Apollo space program required the dedicated effort of thousands of individuals, all of whom are to be congratulated. Armstrong, however, was not only the face of the mission; he was essential to it.
Armstrong earned the job of first stepping foot on the moon in part because of his confident leadership and soft-spoken manner. He also had the perfect background for the role, having studied engineering and pursued a career as a fighter pilot in the Korean War and then as a test pilot—roles that exemplified both courage and spectacular mind-body coordination.
Although Armstrong’s moon walk made him the most famous man on Earth, he never sought publicity but did take pride in his professional accomplishment.
Upon his death, Armstrong’s family suggested a suitable way to remember him: "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
Heroes such as Neil Armstrong inspire us to overcome obstacles that might seem insurmountable. On this historic day, let us dedicate ourselves to reach for our own seemingly impossible dream and to grab hold of it. And, for his powerful inspiration, let us pause, take a look at the moon, and give Armstrong an appreciative wink.
- The Curious Life of Richard Feynman
- SpaceX Founder Musk Envisions Mars Colony: Potential Value is Immense
Image: Wikimedia Commons | <urn:uuid:cef24f20-da06-4765-a2b1-007284b16218> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://theobjectivestandard.com/2013/07/neil-armstrong-demonstrated-man-at-his-best/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571987.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813202507-20220813232507-00273.warc.gz | en | 0.960825 | 375 | 3.421875 | 3 |
|Stephanie age 6|
To generalise, the government doesn't talk publicly about such things. And all Australian intelligence agencies are entirely exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
It's quite a contrast elsewhere, even among most of our 'Five Eyes' partners.
Maybe whistling in a dark corner, but the issue of getting the balance right between secrecy and disclosure deserves more discussion than it has received so far.
Spying and surveillance
So far the public response here to the Snowden leaks is the familiar 'in line with longstanding practice we don't comment on intelligence matters.' With fingers crossed things can't get worse in our relations with Indonesia, and biding our time until the International Court rules on the case brought by Timor Leste.
(Raoul Heinrichs of the ANU writing in The Canberra Times suggests something completely different:"One option may be to pre-emptively come clean on the damaging material we know Snowden possesses. That may sound a bit like committing suicide for fear of death, and it would be painful and embarrassing in the short-term. But the alternative is to cede the initiative, to stay on the back foot while Snowden's leaks are drawn out over months or even years and timed to maximise damage.")
Closer to home the government has had little or nothing to say about PRISM and reports last year about collection of phone and internet data from other countries by the NSA in accordance with deals with organisations like Telstra, as revealed by the Washington Post.
It goes without saying that surveillance and intelligence gathering are both necessary and important and that there are strong and legitimate reasons for not being completely open about such things.
But that doesn't mean silence. As President Obama said:
" ..there is an inevitable bias not only within the intelligence community, but among all of us who are responsible for national security, to collect more information about the world, not less. So in the absence of institutional requirements for regular debate -- and oversight that is public, as well as private or classified -- the danger of government overreach becomes more acute. And this is particularly true when surveillance technology and our reliance on digital information is evolving much faster than our laws."He outlined in that speech steps to rein in some intelligence gathering activities as well.
(US) Director of National Intelligence James Clapper later told the Senate Intelligence Committee
"The major takeaway for us, certainly for me, from the past several months is that we must lean in the direction of transparency, wherever and whenever we can.."In Europe German Chancellor Merkel continues to lead a strong response in public to reports of US activities.
Here, well mostly silence.
Neither major party supported an attempt by The Greens Senator Ludlam in December to establish a Select Committee to inquire into electronic surveillance and governance of the Australian Intelligence Community, thus scuppering that idea. With ALP (but not government) support Senator Ludlam did succeed with a motion for a Senate committee to look into the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, something recommended by the ALRC six years ago but not acted upon previously.
Freedom of information
And while FOI will never likely deliver anything of the Snowden variety, this also is an area of contrast.
In Australia all intelligence agencies are exempt entirely.
In all other 'Five Eyes" countries with the exception of
In the US, the FOI act extends to the NSA and the CIA, the latter proclaiming:
The CIA releases millions of pages of documents each year. Much of this is material of historical significance or personal interest that has been declassified under Executive Order 12958 (a presidential order outlining a uniform system for handling national security information) or the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act (statutes which give US citizens access to US government information or US government information about themselves, respectively). The Agency handles thousands of cases each year and maintains the CIA’s FOIA Electronic Reading Room to release this information to the public and to provide guidance for requesting information. Some released information of significant public interest or historical value is also available at the National Archives and Records Administration.The same goes for Canada and NZ and in the UK for MI5 (Correction-UK security services are exempt-thanks Andrew) but not MI6 and others.
this level of protection is vital and necessary; relying only on other exemptions in the act concerning national security, defence or international relations on a case-by-case basis would involve decisions that are potentially subject to internal and external review; this review process removes the authority for decisions from those responsible for the protection of particular documents; this can have implications for the intelligence that foreign partners are willing to share with Australia; decisions on whether the exemptions in these sections apply may be difficult to take; the disclosure of apparently innocuous pieces of information relating to the activities of the AIC could result in damage to Australia’s security; such information can aid in building a detailed picture of Australia’s security and intelligence agencies and their activities and can alert groups, individuals or hostile intelligence agencies to a specific intelligence interest in them; any change to the existing exemptions could have serious implications for our information-sharing arrangements with allies, several of which are treaty-level; the confidence of our allies in our ability to protect information that they share with us remains fundamental to our intelligence sharing arrangements; we need to maintain this confidence; this could also have a bearing on the level of trust they extend to us and the undertakings we can make; it could diminish the level of access to important intelligence on which we rely for coverage of threats to Australia’s national interest...
You can add quite a few of the rest of us who think blanket exemptions - including for the parliamentary departments - leave large unacceptable holes in the transparency and accountability framework.
The attachment to secrecy isn't just out of concern about current activities.
The government no doubt at the urging of an intelligence agency or two is currently arguing against disclosure of Australian diplomatic papers and intelligence on Indonesian military operations in East Timor more than 32 years ago.
Obviously it is a difficult time to disclose what we knew, when we knew and how we knew about the massacre of several hundred East Timorese civilians.But you have to wonder how long is long enough.
A few suitable topics in all this for Attorney General Brandis' debate about freedoms? | <urn:uuid:7f06cba9-3076-4876-bbb1-eabf3d26de29> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://foi-privacy.blogspot.com/2014/02/transparency-light-in-dark-world-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280364.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00029-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944475 | 1,282 | 2.171875 | 2 |
“Pain is like water,” journalist and historian Richard Brookhiser writes in his new memoir, “it finds every crack in your character and makes it wider.”
The rapidly-rising waters encircling the sinking ship of the conservative movement in the American body politic is revealing cracks and fissures so vast and wide as to elude hyperbolic description. A political and social movement willing to embrace a monosyllabic, moose-killing, Barbie Doll hockey mom as a viable candidate for the office of Vice-President of the United States (okay, maybe it doesn’t defy hyperbole) falls far short of the “the circular pattern of six WASP traits”, as defined by Brookhiser, that form the bedrock of conservatism: “conscience, industry, success, civic-mindedness, use, anti-sensuality.”
Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement in America
US: Jun 2009
As a book about the often contentious relationship between a mentor – conservative columnist, publisher, and television host William F. Buckley Jr. – and his star pupil, Richard Brookhiser’s narrative is hit and miss. The reader doesn’t come away from Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement with a sense that they really know the author and his elitist, Ritalin-popping idol.
In some regards, this is a good thing. A short section of the book, for instance, details Brookhiser’s battle with testicular cancer, a detour that the Yale English major keeps mercifully short because heaven knows that the market is saturated with self-congratulatory cancer survivor memoirs destined for a second life as weepy, feel-good melodramas for the Lifetime television network.
Books ponder the order and structure of events. Putting the weaknesses in Brookhiser’s memoir aside (even the author notes that “memoirs are a dubious genre”), what emerges in the fast-moving pages of this first-person account of over 40 years of moral, social, and political change is the answer to a question that has been haunting pundits for some time now: What has happened to the Republican party and the conservative movement in America?
The answer is as simple as following the Peter Principle of upward failure: Conservatives launched careers in Washington to affect social change rather than selling the force of their ideas through cultural means.
All in the Family
Like Richard Brookhiser, I was raised in a conservative American household, affording me an early inside look into the dysfunctional, paranoid, and unrelentingly bigoted mindset of “the moral majority” that ushered in the so-called Reagan Revolution in 1980 and, by default, its own demise as a power base in American politics almost a decade later.
It’s important that we understand these values-driven people, because the recent hemorrhaging of unregulated free-market economics and the blood of unjust wars and failed banana republic revolutions stains their hands and would most likely plague their conscience—if only they believed in something as quaint and abstract as a human conscience—but their rabidly anti-intellectual stance does not afford them that luxury. Consider the following from page 88 of Brookhiser’s memoir regarding his marriage to psychiatrist Jeanne Safer:
Religion made a bigger problem than where to get married. My parents, particularly my mother, did not want me to marry Jeanne. Ideally, my mother would not have wanted me to marry anyone, not even a younger replica of herself (such a woman would have been too strong willed), But Jeanne’s Jewishness was certainly a bad part of the mix. My father had encountered similar opposition himself, but as he always did in family matters he supported the policy of the administration, which was set by my mother. He never said anything against Jeanne, but he let my mother give the evil eye unchallenged.
Sadly, Brookhiser’s portrait is a dead-on accurate assessment of many conservative American families. When one of the family members steps out of line – as the author’s mother does with her apparent anti-Semitism – the other clan elders remain deaf, dumb, and blind because the offending party is family. This is why, after calling Democratic President Jimmy Carter “the worst ex-President in history… (and) a very bad President: small-minded, moralizing, and incompetent”, Brookhiser, on page 167 of his tome, writes: “Because Reagan was family, we forgave him many sideslips.” The apple never falls too far from the tree, Rick.
My mother, who passed away at age 65 one year ago this month, was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative with family roots burrowed deeply in the rural farm country of Indiana and Virginia. She was also an anti-Semite, but it would probably be more fair and accurate to say that she was against any thought or action that failed to advance the superior White Anglo-Saxon Protestant cause of middle-class America. She adored, in no particular order, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and John McCain.
Like many conservatives, my mother believed in forcing morality down people’s throats, but her own morality was oddly flexible. She had prior convictions for grand larceny and drunk driving. In the early ‘80s, at the beginning of the Reagan Revolution that she so wholeheartedly endorsed (for conservatives, Brookhiser recalls wistfully, the Reagan presidency was “like getting the keys to the kingdom”), my mother was a significant narcotics dealer in the working class West Los Angeles community of Mar Vista.
She sold rock cocaine when she was the manager of a 365-unit apartment building; she had a built-in community of users within the complex, back in the heady days of disco when everybody was snorting or smoking something; eventually she began skimming cash from the rent collections to cover her drug-buying expenses as her network of buyers grew larger. Her larceny was caught by the management company (the apartment complex was owned by Carol Burnett and her husband Joe Hamilton), she was fired, threatened with prosecution, but a PI hired to investigate her revealed that she had neither a pot to piss in or a window to toss it out of so they dropped prosecution because they were seeking recovery of the money my mom stole, not putting her behind bars.
Thus, my mother was aiding and abetting the cocaine-smuggling Latin American revolutionaries that Reagan was actively trying to thwart in his battle against communism through overt and covert counter-revolutionary operations that would ultimately lead to the disgraceful Iran-Contra scandal. All of this while Ronald Reagan was beefing up DEA coffers in an attempt to eradicate marijuana cultivation in Central and Northern California. Familial or political, conservatives in America actually have no moral boundaries whatsoever. | <urn:uuid:0b450919-065b-4751-b7d7-abcd2a274e5b> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.popmatters.com/column/110012-rabid-and-rascally-creatures-richard-brookhisers-happy-darkies/P0/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721141.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00415-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968334 | 1,462 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Prominent peaks of the
Misty Mountains Barazinbar Bundushathûr Caradhras Celebdil Cloudyhead Fanuidhol Gundabad Methedras Redhorn Silvertine Zirakzigil The Mountains of Moria Barazinbar Zirakzigil Bundushathûr Baraz Zirak Shathûr Caradhras Celebdil Fanuidhol Redhorn Silvertine Cloudyhead
The name given by the
Dwarves to the northernmost of the three Mountains of Moria in the central reaches of the Misty Mountains. It stood above the Dwarf-city of Khazad-dûm, and below its peak was a difficult and dangerous pass that led from the western side of the Mountains down into the vale of Azanulbizar on the east.
Beneath Barazinbar the
Dwarves mined for precious . It was under Barazinbar, in the year mithril III 1980, that the miners of Khazad-dûm discovered an ancient horror: a Balrog that had been dormant beneath the mountain since the end of the First Age. The Balrog - known as Durin's Bane for King Durin VI, who was among its first victims - drove the Dwarves out of their home and made Moria a place of darkness and dread.
Barazinbar (sometimes shortened to
) derived its name from the Baraz Dwarvish words baraz 'red, ruddy' and inbar 'a horn'. This was the origin of the Elvish name for the mountain, , and also the Caradhras Mannish form ' Redhorn', both of which are direct translations of the original Dwarvish name.
For acknowledgements and references, see the
Disclaimer & Bibliography page.
Website services kindly sponsored by
Axiom Software Ltd.
Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1999, 2001, 2008, 2011. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the | <urn:uuid:3ea0bcdb-7314-4f78-bd0f-7291ac2de842> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/b/barazinbar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285315.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00575-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895095 | 413 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Definition of health and safety
Occupational health and safety - it is a set of general provisions setting out general rules for performing work in a safe and hygienic manner. The Central Institute for Labor Protection defines occupational health and safety as a set of legal standards as well as research, organizational and technical measures aimed at providing the employee with appropriate working conditions so that its performance is as productive as possible. The main goal of OHS is also to create conditions for the employee that exclude all kinds of dangers or excessive mental or physical burden, as well as the neutralization of stimuli that may lead to an occupational disease.
What is OHS?
Occupational health and safety is defined as a fully independent scientific field, the main goal of which is to shape knowledge in the field of appropriate working conditions. This science deals with issues from many related fields, such as: ergonomics, labor economics, occupational medicine, occupational psychology or technical safety.
Health and safety regulations - legal regulations
- Constitution of the Republic of Poland,
- The Labor Code along with the code executive and pre-code regulations,
- Act on fire protection,
- Food and Nutrition Safety Act,
- separate acts in which the provisions on health and safety at work were presented,
- the regulation with a list of dangerous, burdensome or harmful to the health of pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding a child,
- regulation on health and safety for manual transport work,
- a provision having the nature of occupational health and safety contained in the collective labor agreement and work regulations,
- provisions having the nature of occupational health and safety contained in the agreement or the rules of teleworking.
The most important concepts in the field of health and safety
Work safety - it is a set of conditions necessary to be met and adhered to in the workplace in order to guarantee the safety of people working and staying on the premises of the workplace. In Poland, the organization responsible for safety in workplaces is the National Labor Inspectorate.
Occupational hygiene - the concept of hygiene comes from the Greek word hygieinos, translated as "healthy". Currently, the responsibilities of people involved in occupational hygiene include: testing the intensity of factors detrimental to health, determining health hazards in the work environment and prophylaxis in the field of pro-health activities.
The concept of well-being - well-being is made up of the conditions necessary to maintain full health. The lack of at least one element may affect its violation. When problems arise in the workplace, they can induce disease states. Each workplace should take care of the well-being of its employees, because it is only thanks to it that effective work is possible.
Physical well-being - it is responsible for providing the employee with appropriate working conditions that will not adversely affect his physiological life processes. Physical well-being includes, for example: air conditioning in a sunny room, access to a toilet and hygiene products, as well as providing a place where the employee can eat a meal in peace.
Mental well-being - an important issue is to maintain the appropriate mental well-being of the employee. The pleasure of work and the possibility of development and self-fulfillment help in getting rid of stress and the resulting health consequences.
Social well-being - it concerns the sphere of emotions, every person should feel needed and appreciated in their workplace. The employer should have a kind of bond with co-workers. Support in difficult and stressful situations enables efficient problem solving and positive functioning in the professional group.
Necessary information on the OHS course intended for people who perform particularly dangerous work.
Currently, many organizations and companies organize courses in the field of occupational health and safety. Our company decided to organize health and safety course for people who deal with particularly dangerous jobs that endanger their health and life on a daily basis. The training is carried out in the form of instruction, classes are conducted by a specialized team of experts in the field of health and safety and Fire protection. The trainings are open and are conducted every day at a convenient time and place, both for companies and individuals. The main aim of the training is to update, enrich and supplement the knowledge and skills in the field of health and safety. The thematic scope of the course includes:
- legal and organizational requirements for units performing particularly dangerous work,
- identification and assessment of the degree of risk during particularly hazardous work,
- skills in operating the equipment and using personal protective equipment necessary for high-risk works,
- safe organization of particularly hazardous work.
The health and safety training program includes:
- legal regulations concerning occupational health and safety based on regulations related to the performance of particularly dangerous works,
- threats of factors occurring at the time of performing particularly dangerous works,
- use of personal protective equipment,
- rules of conduct in the event of accidents
- first aid rules
- circumstances and causes of accidents during particularly dangerous works
- preventive measures, fire protection during particularly dangerous works.
List of works involving particularly high risks to the safety or health of workers:
- construction, demolition, renovation and assembly works, carried out without stopping the operation of the workplace or its part;
- in tanks, canals, interior of technical devices and other dangerous closed spaces;
- when using hazardous materials;
- On the height;
- inside the furnace chambers of boilers, flue gas ducts, electrostatic precipitators, boiler drums, bunkers, channels and hoppers, and in liquid and gaseous fuel tanks;
- inside the bunkers of coal, coal dust, slag and ash as well as other tanks and rooms where poisonous, corrosive, asphyxiant, flammable or explosive gases or liquids may be present;
- in the coal dust preparation circuits, inside coal mills, at mill fans, cyclones and separators;
- requiring the uncovering of turbine casings, removal of turbine and generator rotors as well as repair and balancing of these rotors;
- in the water circuits of power plants and combined heat and power plants, requiring entry into channels, pipelines, suction pipes and tanks, as well as work on intakes and water discharges from jetties, boats or barges and carried out under the water surface;
- maintenance, modernization and repair of power devices that are under voltage;
- performed in the vicinity of unshielded power devices or their parts that are under voltage;
- with de-energized, but not earthed, power equipment or earthed in such a way that none of the earthing devices - earthing devices is visible from the workplace;
- when lowering and suspending cables on overhead power lines disconnected from voltage in the spans crossing railway, water and road roads;
- related to the identification and cutting of power cables;
- when welding, soldering, replacing racks, as well as individual cells and the entire battery in accumulators. | <urn:uuid:96cce023-96b1-4467-94e4-99acc56f1ae0> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://odk-ergon.pl/en/publikacje/definition-bhp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570921.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809094531-20220809124531-00269.warc.gz | en | 0.956062 | 1,425 | 3.546875 | 4 |
from WhipNet Website
recovered through WayBackMachine Website
Mesopotamia: The First Civilization
Most accept the view that,
In other words, a civilization is a culture capable of sustaining a substantial number of specialists to cope with the economic, social, political, and religious needs of a populous society.
Other characteristics usually present in a civilization include a system of writing to keep records, monumental architecture in place of simple buildings, and an art that is no longer merely decorative, like that on Neolithic pottery, but representative of people and their activities.
All these characteristics of
civilization first appeared in Mesopotamia.
Although this broad plain received insufficient rainfall to support agriculture, the eastern section was watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Known in ancient days as Mesopotamia (Greek for "between the rivers"), the lower reaches of this plain, beginning near the point where the two rivers nearly converge, was called Babylonia.
Babylonia in turn encompassed two geographical areas - Akkad in the north and Sumer, the delta of this river system, in the south.
Broken by river channels teeming with fish and re-fertilized frequently by alluvial silt laid down by uncontrolled floods, Sumer had a splendid agricultural potential if the environmental problems could be solved.
In the course of the several successive cultural phases that followed the arrival of the first Neolithic farmers, these and other related problems were solved by cooperative effort.
Between 3500 B.C. and 3100 B.C. the foundations were laid for a type of economy and social order markedly different from anything previously known.
This far more complex culture, based on large
urban centers rather than simple villages, is what we associate with
Neolithic artisans discovered how to
extract copper from oxide ores by heating them with charcoal. Then
about 3100 B.C., metal workers discovered that copper was improved
by the addition of tin. The resulting alloy, bronze, was harder than
copper and provided a sharper cutting edge.
As a result, farming advanced from the cultivation of small plots to the tilling of extensive fields.
Since the Mesopotamian plain had no stone, no metals, and no timber except its soft palm trees, these materials had to be transported from Syria and Asia Minor.
Water transport down the Tigris and Euphrates solved the problem.
The oldest sailing boat known is
represented by a model found in a Sumerian grave of about 3500 B.C.
Soon after this date wheeled vehicles appear in the form of
ass-drawn war chariots. For the transport of goods overland,
however, people continued to rely on the pack ass.
A pivoted clay disk heavy enough
to revolve of its own momentum, the potter’s wheel has been called
"the first really mechanical device."
Since these included the first evidence of writing, this first phase
of Sumerian civilization, to about 28 B.C., is called the Protoliterate period.
(The original home of the Semitic-speaking peoples
is thought to have been the Arabian peninsula, while the
Indo-Europeans seem to be migrated from the region north of the
Black and Caspian seas. A third, much smaller language family is the
Hamitic, which included the Egyptians and other peoples of
Dominating the flat countryside would be a ziggurat, a platform (later a lofty terrace, built in the shape of a pyramid) crowned by a sanctuary, or "high place."
This was the "holy
of holies," sacred to the local god. Upon entering the city,
visitors would see a large number of specialists pursuing their
appointed tasks as agents of the community and not as private
entrepreneurs - some craftsmen casting bronze tools and weapons,
others fashioning their wares on the potter’s wheel, and merchants
arranging to trade grain and manufactures for the metals, stone,
lumber, and other essentials not available in Sumer.
Examining the clay tablets, the visitors would find that they were memoranda used in administering a temple, which was also a warehouse and workshop. Some of the scribes might be making an inventory of the goats and sheep received that day for sacrificial use; others might be drawing up wage lists. They would be using a system of counting based on the unit 60 - the sexagismal system rather than the decimal system which is based on the unit 10.
It is still used today in computing
divisions of time and angles.
The discovery in Egypt of cylinder seals similar in shape to those used in Sumer attests to contact between the two areas toward the end of the fourth millennium B.C. Certain early Egyptian art motifs and architectural forms are also thought to be of Sumerian origin.
it is probable that the example of Sumerian writing stimulated the
Egyptians to develop a script of their own.
The plain was bordered to the north and east by mountain ranges, in whose foothills, as we have seen, agriculture was first practiced. To the southwest lay the forbidding deserts of Syria and Arabia . Each year the two great rivers were swollen with the winter snows of the northern mountains, and each year at flood stage they spread a thick layer of immensely fertile silt across the flood plain where they approached the Persian Gulf .
This delta, a land of swamp rich in fish, wildlife, and date palms, was the most challenging and rewarding of the three natural units into which the river valleys were divided; and it was here, between 3500 and 3000 B. c., that agricultural settlers created the rich city-states of Sumer , of which the best known is Ur . The delta could only be made habitable by large-scale irrigation and flood control, which was managed first by a priestly class and then by godlike kings.
Except for the period
2370-2230 B. c., when the Sumerian city-states were subdued by the
rulers of Akkad , the region immediately to the north, the Sumerians
remained prosperous and powerful until the beginning of the second
This area, known first as Akkad
, was inhabited by Semitic peoples who subdued the Sumerians in the
middle of the third millennium; but when a new Semitic people called
the Amorites conquered the area about 2000 B. c. and founded a great
new capital city of Babylon; the area henceforth came to be known
as Babylonia . Except for invasions of Hittites and Kassites, who
were Indo-European peoples from Asia , Babylonia continued to
dominate Mesopotamia for a thousand years.
Its rolling hills were watered by a large number of streams flowing from the surrounding mountains as well as by the headwaters of the two great rivers themselves. The Assyrians, a viciously warlike Semitic people, were able to conquer the whole of Mesopotamia in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.
Thus the history of Mesopotamia can be envisaged as a shift of the
center of power northwards, from Sumer to Babylonia and then to
The Sumerians probably moved down into the swamps of the delta under pressure of over-population of the foothills after 3900 B. c. Al- though at first they formed small agricultural villages, they soon found not only that the richness of the alluvial land permitted greater density of settlement but also that the vast engineering works in canals and dikes necessary to harness the annual floods required work forces of hundreds of men.
Moreover, the layout and clearing of the canals required expert
planning, while the division of the irrigated land, the water, and
the crops demanded political control. By 3000 B.C. the Sumerians had
solved this problem by forming "temple-communities," in which a
class of priest-bureaucrats con- trolled the political and economic
life of the city in the name of the city gods.
The gods seemed hopelessly violent and unpredictable, and one’s life a period of slavery to their whims.
The epic poem, The Creation, emphasizes that mortals were created to enable the gods to give up working. Each city moreover had its own god, who was considered literally to inhabit the temple and who was in theory the owner of all property within the city. Hence the priests who interpreted the will of the god and controlled the distribution of the economic produce of the city were venerated for their supernatural and material functions alike.
When, after 3000 B. c., the growing warfare among the cities made military leadership vital, the head of the army who became king assumed an intermediate position between the god, whose agent he was, and the priestly class, whom he had both to use and to conciliate.
Thus, king and priests represented the upper class in a hierarchical society. Below them were the scribes, the secular attendants of the temple, who supervised every aspect of the city’s economic life and who developed a rough judicial system.
Outside the temple officials, society was divided between,
The Sumerian Achievement
Following the invention of cuneiform writing, a rich epic literature was created, of which the three most impressive survivals are the story of the creation, an epic of the flood which parallels in many details the Biblical story of Noah, and the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, is the classic hero of Mesopotamian literature, a majestic, almost overly powerful figure pressing the gods in vain for the secret of immortality. He is also a great lover of his city Uruk; and throughout the poem we find, perhaps for the first time in literature, the celebration of the appeal of the civilized life of a great city.
Gilgamesh, we are told
at the start of the poem, has built the great rampart which still
today runs seven miles around the ruins of his city:
Go up and walk on the walls of Uruk,
Inspect the base terrace, examine the brickwork: Is it not the
brickwork of burnt brick? Did not the Seven Sages lay its
Few portrait busts cast in antiquity rival the expressive dignity of the head of Sargon of Akkad.
Even more demanding in artistic technique were the small cylinder seals used to roll one’s signature into the wet clay of a tablet recording a commercial transaction. Thousands of these tablets have been found in the temple compounds, proving that the bureaucrats of Sumer had developed a complex commercial system, including con- tracts, grants of credit, loans with interest, and business partnerships.
Moreover, the planning of the vast public works under their control led the priests to develop a useful mathematical notation, including both a decimal notation and a system based upon 60, which has given us our sixty-second minute, our sixty-minute hour and our division of the circle into 360 degrees.
They invented mathematical tables and used quadratic equations. Both for religious and agricultural purposes, they studied the heavens, and they created a lunar calendar with a day of 24 hours and a week of seven days. Much of this science was transmitted to the West by the Greeks and later by the Arabs.
not surprising, however, that the achievement which the Sumerians
themselves admired most was the city itself.
tablets on which they wrote were very durable when baked.
Archaeologists have dug up many thousands of them - some dated
earlier than 3000 BC.
This early pictograph writing gave way to phonetic (or syllabic) writing when the scribes realized that a sign could represent a sound as well as an object or idea. Thus, the personal name "Kuraka" could be written by combining the pictographs for mountain (pronounced kur), water (pronounced a), and mouth (pronounced ka).
By 2800 B.C., the use of
syllabic writing had reduced the number of signs from nearly two
thousand to six hundred.
The cuneiform system of writing
was adopted by many other peoples of the Near East, including the
Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, and Persians.
Using a clay tablet as a textbook, the teacher wrote on the left-hand side, and the pupil copied the model on the right. Any mistakes could be smoothed out. The pupil began by making single wedges in various positions and then went on to groups of wedges. Thousands of groups had to be mastered. Finally the pupil was assigned a book to copy, but the work was slow and laborious.
Many first chapters of all the important Sumerian works have been
handed down from students’ tablets, but only fragments of the rest
of the books survive.
The Sumerians also divided the circle into 360
degrees. From these early people came the word dozen (a fifth of 60)
and the division of the clock to measure hours, minutes, and
hands would move fast over a lump of clay, turning the stylus. Then
the contracting parties added their signatures by means of seals.
The usual seal was an engraved cylinder of stone or metal that could
be rolled over wet clay.
Babylonians and Assyrians adapted cuneiform for their own Semitic
languages and spread its use to neighboring Syria, Anatolia,
Armenia, and Iran.
The cities differed from primitive farming settlements. They
were not composed of family-owned farms, but were ringed by large
tracts of land. These tracts were thought to be "owned" by a local
god. A priest organized work groups of farmers to tend the land and
provide barley, beans, wheat, olives, grapes, and flax for the
At a time when only the most
rudimentary forms of transportation and communication were
available, the city-state was the most governable type of human
settlement. City-states were ruled by leaders, called ensis, who
were probably authorized to control the local irrigation systems.
The food surplus provided by the farmers supported these leaders, as
well as priests, artists, craftsmen, and others.
The tablets were used to
keep the accounts of the temple food storehouses. By about 2500 BC
these picture-signs were being refined into an alphabet.
By 2375 BC, most of Sumer was united under one king,
Lugalzaggisi of Umma.
This house, however, was set on a brick platform, which became larger and taller as time progressed until the platform at Ur (built around 2100 BC) was 150 by 200 feet (45 by 60 meters) and 75 feet (23 meters) high. These Mesopotamian temple platforms are called ziggurats, a word derived from the Assyrian ziqquratu, meaning "high."
They were symbols in themselves; the ziggurat at Ur was
planted with trees to make it represent a mountain. There the god
visited Earth, and the priests climbed to its top to worship.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the main temple of Babylon, the famous Tower of Babel, was such a tower divided into seven diminishing stages, each a different color: white, black, purple, blue, orange, silver, and gold.
Each Sumerian city rose up around the shrine of a local god.
As a reflection of a city’s wealth, its temple became an elaborate structure. The temple buildings stood on a spacious raised platform reached by staircases and ramps. From the platform rose the temple tower, called a ziggurat (holy mountain), with a circular staircase or ramp around the outside.
On the temple
grounds were quarters for priests, officials, accountants,
musicians, and singers; treasure chambers; storehouses for grain,
tools, and weapons; and workshops for bakers, pottery makers,
brewers, leatherworkers, spinners and weavers, and jewelers. There
were also pens for keeping the sheep and goats that were destined
for sacrifice to the temple god.
The boats were usually hauled from the banks, but sails
also were in use. Before 3000 BC the Sumerians had learned to make
tools and weapons by smelting copper with tin to make bronze, a much
harder metal than copper alone.
Merchants went out in overland caravans or in ships to exchange the products of Sumerian industry for wood, stone, and metals. There are indications that Sumerian sailing vessels even reached the valley of the Indus River in India. The chief route, however, was around the Fertile Crescent, between the Arabian Desert and the northern mountains.
This route led up the valley of the two
rivers, westward to Syria, and down the Mediterranean coast.
The city rose, inside its brown brick walls, amid well-watered gardens and pastures won from the swamps. In all directions, the high levees of the irrigation canals led to grain and vegetable fields.
The trading class lived and worked in the harbor area, where the river boats brought such goods as stone, copper, and timber from the north. Most citizens lived within the walls in small, one-story houses constructed along narrow alleyways, although the more elaborate homes were colonnaded and built around an inner courtyard.
By far the most impressive section of the city was the temple compound, which was surrounded by its own wall. Here were the workshops and homes of large numbers of temple craftsmen, such as gwiers, jewelers, carpenters, and weavers, the offices and schoolrooms of the scribes, and the commercial and legal offices of the bureaucrat-priests.
The king’s palace and graveyard was located near the temple; and, as Leonard Woolley’s excavations at Ur proved, an increasingly lavish form of ceremonial life was organized here as the kings gained greater control over the city’s surplus.
Woolley himself de- scribed the growing horror his archaeological party felt as they slowly un- covered the royal graves, because they discovered not only elaborate golden daggers, headdresses of gold, lapis lazuli and camelian, fantastically worked heads of bulls, harps and lyres, sledges and chariots, but also lines of elegantly costumed skeletons laid carefully in rows.
In a gigantic mass
suicide, probably through the drinking of a drug, the king’s
courtiers and some of his soldiers had gone to their deaths with
The purpose of these ziggurats is still unclear. We do know that they were not burial chambers like the pyramids of Egypt, nor were they for human sacrifice like the pyramids of Aztec Mexico.
It has been suggested that they were a nostalgic re-creation of the mountains the original settlers had left, or an at- tempt to raise the city’s god above the material life of the streets below, or an attempt to reach closer to heaven. We do know that the creation of a temple was regarded as a god-imposed task for every ruler of any ambition.
Gudea, ruler of Lagash about 2000 B.C., built fifteen large temples with the aid of the gods:
Finally, when the temple was finished, Gudea declared proudly:
Sometimes two or more gods came to be viewed as one. Eventually a ranking order developed among the gods. Anu, a sky god who originally had been the city god of Uruk, came to be regarded as the greatest of them all - the god of the heavens. His closest rival was the storm god of the air, Enlil of Nippur. The great gods were worshiped in the temples.
Each family had little clay figures of its own household
gods and small houses or wall niches for them.
Enlil called the winds to his aid. Tiamat came forward, her mouth wide open. Enlil pushed the winds inside her and she swelled up so that she could not move. Then Enlil split her body open. He laid half of the body flat to form the Earth, with the other half arched over it to form the sky.
The gods then beheaded Tiamat’s husband and created mankind
from his blood, mixed with clay.
Gilgamesh saw the creature cast off its old skin to become young
again, it seemed to him a sign that old age was the fate of humans.
Anu offered him the water of life and the bread of life because he thought that, since Adapa already knew too much, he might as well be a god. Adapa, however, refused and went back to Earth to die, thus losing for himself and for mankind the gift of immortal life. These legends somewhat resemble the Bible story of Adam and Eve.
It is highly probable, in fact, that the ancient
legends and myths of Mesopotamia supplied material that was reworked
by the biblical authors.
Immortal after his escape from the flood, Utnapishtim was also the wise man who told Gilgamesh where to find
the youth-restoring plant.
This first historical age, called the Old Sumerian (or Early Dynastic) period, was characterized by incessant warfare as each city sought to protect or enlarge its land and water rights. Each city-state was a theocracy, for the chief local god was believed to be the real sovereign.
The god’s earthly representative
was the ensi, the high priest and city governor, who acted as the
god’s steward in both religious and secular functions. Though
endowed with divine right by virtue of being the human agent of the
god, the ensi was not considered divine.
That part of
the temple land called ’common’ was worked by all members of the
community, while the remaining land was divided among the citizens
for their support at a rental of from one third to one sixth of the
crop. Priests and temple administrators, however, held rent-free
By 2600 B.C., these clan lands were becoming the private property of great landowners called lugals (literally "great men"). Deeds of sale record the transfer of clan lands to private owners in return for substantial payments in copper to a few clan leaders and insignificant grants of food to the remaining clan members.
private estates were worked by "clients" whose status resembled that
of the dependents of the temples.
Urukagina’s inscriptions describe his many reforms and conclude:
The Amorites from Syria seized control in Akkad , and built a powerful new state around the city of Babylon . The Elamites from Iran took the city of Ur , sacked it, and burnt it down.
When Ur was later rebuilt under Babylonian rule, its inhabitants remembered with terror the Elamite destruction of their beloved city:
According to one of the earliest historical documents, the Sumerian King List, eight kings of Sumer reigned before the famous flood. Afterwards various city-states by turns became the temporary seat of power until about 2800 BC, when they were united under the rule of one king - Etana of Kish.
After Etana, the city-states vied for
domination; this weakened the Sumerians, and they were ripe for
conquest - first by Elamites, then by Akkadians.
Their writing, their business organization,
their scientific knowledge, and their mythology and law were spread
westward by the Babylonians and Assyrians
The first major excavations leading to the discovery of Sumer were conducted (1842-1854) at Assyrian sites such as Nineveh, Dur Sharrukin, and Calah by,
Thousands of tablets and inscriptions dating from the 1st millennium bc, the vast majority written in Akkadian, were uncovered. Thus, scholars assumed at first that all Mesopotamian cuneiform inscriptions were in the Akkadian language.
Rawlinson and the Irish clergyman Edward Hincks
made a study of the inscriptions, however, and discovered that some
were in a non-Semitic language. In 1869 the French archaeologist
Jules Oppert suggested that the name Sumerian, from the royal title
King of Sumer and Akkad appearing in numerous inscriptions, be
applied to the language.
The French excavations at Lagash were conducted:
The excavations at Nippur were conducted (1889-1900) by:
Since 1948, excavations have been conducted by archaeologists working under the direction of the University of Pennsylvania, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and the American Schools of Oriental Research (after 1957 under the sole direction of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago).
Other Sumerian excavations have been conducted at (watch multimedia presentation HERE):
The canalled city of Kish, which was situated 13 km (8 mi) east of Babylon on the Euphrates River, is known to have been one of the most important cities of Sumer.
Extensive excavations since 1922 have uncovered an invaluable sequence of pottery.
Archaeologists also unearthed a temple of Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus (r. 556-539 BC) and the palace of
Sargon of Akkad, ruins that date from the 3rd millennium BC to about
Several centuries later, as the Ubaidian settlers prospered, Semites from Syrian and Arabian deserts began to infiltrate, both as peaceful immigrants and as raiders in quest of booty.
3250 BC, another people migrated from its homeland, located probably
northeast of Mesopotamia, and began to intermarry with the native
population. The newcomers, who became known as Sumerians, spoke an
agglutinative language unrelated apparently to any other known
Art and architecture, crafts, and
religious and ethical thought flourished. The Sumerian language
became the prevailing speech of the land, and the people here
developed the cuneiform script, a system of writing on clay. This
script was to become the basic means of written communication
throughout the Middle East for about 2000 years.
Shortly after his reign ended, a king named Meskiaggasher founded a rival dynasty at Erech (Uruk), far to the south of Kish. Meskiaggasher, who won control of the region extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Zagros Mountains, was succeeded by his son Enmerkar (flourished about 2750 BC).
The latter’s reign was notable for an
expedition against Aratta, a city-state far to the northeast of
Mesopotamia. Enmerkar was succeeded by Lugalbanda, one of his
military leaders. The exploits and conquests of Enmerkar and
Lugalbanda form the subject of a cycle of epic tales constituting
the most important source of information on early Sumerian history.
His outstanding achievements included a victory over
the country of Elam and the construction at Nippur of the
Enlil, the leading deity of the Sumerian pantheon. Nippur gradually
became the spiritual and cultural center of Sumer.
By the end of his reign, Sumer had begun to decline. The Sumerian city-states engaged in constant internecine struggle, exhausting their military resources. Eannatum (fl. about 2425 BC), one of the rulers of Lagash, succeeded in extending his rule throughout Sumer and some of the neighboring lands. His success, however, was short-lived.
of his successors, Uruinimgina (fl. about 2365 BC), who was
noteworthy for instituting many social reforms, was defeated by
Lugalzagesi (reigned about 2370-2347 BC), the governor of the
neighboring city-state of Umma. Thereafter, for about 20 years,
Lugalzagesi was the most powerful ruler in the Middle East.
The people of northern Sumer and the conquering invaders,
fusing gradually, became known ethnically and linguistically as Akkadians. The land of Sumer acquired the composite name Sumer and
After several generations the Sumerians threw off the Gutian yoke.
The city of Lagash again achieved prominence, particularly
during the reign of Gudea (circa 2144-2124 BC), an extraordinarily
pious and capable governor. Because numerous statues of Gudea have
been recovered, he has become the Sumerian best known to the modern
world. The Sumerians achieved complete independence from the Gutians
when Utuhegal, king of Erech (reigned about 2120-2112 BC), won a
decisive victory later celebrated in Sumerian literature.
Sumerian civilization, however, was adopted almost in its entirety by Babylonia. | <urn:uuid:617cdb6d-ae1e-4dc5-a664-2882d0b4f9a4> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sumer_anunnaki/esp_sumer_annunaki04.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280292.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00346-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970746 | 6,113 | 3.8125 | 4 |
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Tip: Try to open the DIAG file using a text-editor such as Notepad, as many file types contain simply contain unformatted plain-text and can viewed correctly using this method. | <urn:uuid:c329ae4f-4b82-4733-9483-9ec519582377> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://dotwhat.net/file/extension/diag/6786 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718309.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00404-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960574 | 312 | 1.6875 | 2 |
MLD May Help to Reduce Long COVID Symptoms
The potential that Covid-19 had to leave behind long-term effects were already discovered during the early days of the pandemic. However, a study conducted regarding the effects of lymphatic drainage massage on patients with long Covid, has led to some surprising results.
Lymphatic drainage massage, when done by a licensed massage therapist, has the capability of alleviating many of the symptoms associated with long Covid.
The Methods Used in the Study
The study of the effects of lymphatic drainage massage on patients with long Covid was done weekly. These treatment sessions were face-to-face. The techniques used include effluerage as well as other articulatory techniques that are manual. The individuals who were provided with the treatment also had to do self-massages on a daily basis.
They were asked to do gentle exercises for mobility as well. The patients were then asked to record what symptoms they had. This was done through a self-report which had 54 items in it. These items were related to profile of fatigue-related states, or PFRS. They had to provide their self-reports twice, once before and once after the treatment.
The Findings of the Study: Long Covid and Lymphatic Drainage Massage
The average age of male patients in the study was around 41.8 years. Male patients were within the ages of 29 as well as 53. The average age of female patients in this study was around 39.3 years. Female patients in this study fell between the ages of 28 and 50. It was also ensured that none of the people participating had any previous diagnosis related to chronic fatigue syndrome.
During the initial assessment, all participants were new to the clinic. When it comes to treatment sessions, the average number of session for men was 9.7, and for women was 9.4. When it comes to PFRS scores, men witnessed a reduction of 41.8%. Women on the other hand, experienced a reduction of 60.5%.
When it comes to subscale scores that were the highest, on average it was seen to be fatigue. The lowest for the same was somatic symptoms. According to the scores of the subscale, a reduction of around 50% was witnessed after the intervention. The reduction in the score also related to a decrease in how severe the symptoms of long Covid were.
These findings suggest that lymphatic drainage massage can help to reduce symptoms related to fatigue. People suffering from long Covid often report feeling tired. With the help of a licensed massage therapist, a lymphatic drainage massage can enable you to feel more energized.
When it comes to dealing with long Covid, early intervention with the help of a licensed massage therapist has shown to have the best results.
Contact Our Mobile Massage Clinic | The Villages, Florida
In Home or In Office Massages by Jacqueline in the Central Florida area. Certified for many different massages and treatments. Specializing in Manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) post surgery recovery massage.
To schedule an appointment with Licensed Massage Therapist and Certified Advanced Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapist, Jacqueline Bosco CMLDT, please call (813) 298-5603. We believe nothing is more important than human touch.
Providing massage services to patients in The Villages, Florida, Ocala, Lady Lake, Fruitland Park, Leesburg, Tavares, Mount Dora, Wildwood, Bushnell, and surrounding areas. | <urn:uuid:a5523fa4-03e6-4f96-9df7-195bcf6d1798> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.orlandomassageclinic.com/manual-lymphatic-drainage-massage-may-help-to-reduce-fatigue-symptoms-related-to-long-covid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572286.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816090541-20220816120541-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.975384 | 727 | 2.375 | 2 |
Sunglasses are the perfect accent to any wardrobe, but when selecting shades it’s important that consideration extend beyond what looks good. The primary focus should be how well they protect your eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Most people understand the importance of guarding their skin against potential damage from UV rays, but many don’t consider overexposure to the sun as a danger to their eyes. According to a survey conducted by the American Optometric Association (www.aoa.org), 40% of Americans do not think that UV protection is an important factor in selecting shades.
“Ultraviolet protection [for the eyes] is very important,” stresses Dr. Daniel Laroche, director of glaucoma services and president of Advanced Eyecare of New York. “The sun has ultraviolet rays A, B, and C that can be harmful to the eye.” Photokeratitis is a type of “sunburn” of the eye characterized by symptoms that include redness, light sensitivity, excessive tearing, and/or a gritty feeling. UV rays, particularly A and B, can contribute to much more serious complications such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, which is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the African American community, says Laroche, who is also a glaucoma specialist at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at the New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York.
Steve M. Davis, co-owner of Omega Optical (www.omegaoptical.net), an optical boutique in Philadelphia, offers several factors to consider:
1. The type or color of lens has nothing to do with UV
protection. Lenses must be treated with a coating that filters out UV rays. A lens can be perfectly clear and offer 100% UV protection; color filters light. Colored lenses that don’t offer proper UV protection actually cause the eyes to absorb more UV rays.
2. Purchase sunglasses and contact lenses (there are brands offering UV protection) that block out 100% of UV rays. Do not buy shades if you cannot verify the
level of protection with the merchant or by the label.
Cost of sunglasses is not an indicator of the level of
3. According to Glaucoma.org, some labels say “UV
absorption up to 400nm,” which is the same thing
as 100% UV absorption.
SOURCE: American Optometric Association | <urn:uuid:0618a522-a6b3-4eba-ba76-eecdd09f4f5f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/not-just-for-looks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285001.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00308-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927174 | 524 | 2.5625 | 3 |
September 28, 2016 Leave a comment
For Whom Wealth Matters
April 23, 2013 Leave a comment
Whether you decide to DIY or hire a financial planner,there is no denying that you can benefit by going through the process of defining yours goals,establishing a time frame,generating numbers to fulfill those goals, focusing on your risk taking appetite and ability,your incomes and expenditures,assets and liabilities etc.
Nowadays its common to get calls from assorted fund houses and advisory businesses offering to draw up a free financial plan for you.You could try them out as long as you can withstand sales pitches and walk away without buying products and services of dubious value which you don’t need.Fee based financial planners too offer a free first consultation and might give you a sketchy plan as an incentive to hire them.
If you are looking for a planner you will be forced to kiss all the frogs around before you find one who will do.Even then as you progress wealth wise and experience wise you will outgrow your planners and advisers For you, going out to meet these advisers is a must.However, if you are upto to do a DIY plan you could just use the link :Here and save yourself a lot of time and hassle.Most free plans are unlikely to be better than this.And this one is a good starting place and will give you some fast answers.
May 30, 2012 7 Comments
The calculator in the post How Wealthy Would You Have Been In America ? puts out median figures of net worth of Americans depending on age and income.The median value is the quantity lying at the midpoint of a set of observed values or quantities.
The figures in the post What Americans Consider Rich are the opinions of the people surveyed by Gallup.
The figures below reveal the ground reality.They show where ,what a person makes puts them on the income pyramid and what a person has salted away puts them on the net worth pyramid. Read more of this post | <urn:uuid:6adba1fa-65bf-4f66-aa35-56397099c756> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://wealthymatters.com/tag/income/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00071-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950274 | 404 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Causes of the Iranian Revolution, 1979 Cold War Video Worksheet for Episode 1 of the CNN Long term roots of the Cold War before 1945 Using Why did the Roman Empire Fall.asics volleyball shoes price CSU's Bachelor of Podiatric Medicine also allows graduates to work in most Commonwealth countries of the world, on application. Adam Dravian and Jessica Safron talk Satan Ninja 198XNext: Overrun #1 4 (Treemondo) Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
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Today, the T in T 28 must stand for treasure as examples found around the world and always gather a crowd. So, if a minority of people have settled for joblessness, so what if there is'nt enough work to go around. Vestibulum facilisis, purus nec pulvinar iaculis, ligula mi congue nunc, vitae euismod ligula urna in dolor.asics volleyball shoes price | <urn:uuid:d8ce7a39-fd51-4b25-bf3a-ae2f0820712a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.barbarahambly.com/emergysc/pBUXR-177114-1nVce.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280791.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00360-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890651 | 336 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Harry Potter And the Half-Blood Prince (1996-1997)
1 Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.
2 We must try not to sink beneath our anguish . . . but battle on.
3 Let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.
4 It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness. Nothing more.
5 People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.
6 And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.
Continue reading these best Harry Potter quotes below
7 He [Voldemort] never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished and whole.
8 It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay though never quite eradicated.
Albus Dumbledore Quotes From Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (1997-1998)
9 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
10 Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living and above all, those who live without love.
11 Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
Share these profound Albus Dumbledore quotes with all your friends
12 It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.
13 Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.
Book Quotes From Harry Potter And the Order of The Phoenix (1995-1996)
14 Youth can not know how age thinks and feels, but old men are guilty if they forget what it is to be young.
15 This pain is part of being human . . . the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength.
Please share these Harry Potter book quotes on social media
16 There is a room in the Department of Mysteries,… that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that resides there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full for the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (1994-1995)
17 It is my belief… that the truth is generally preferable to lies.
18 We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
19 Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.
20 Curiosity is not a sin…. But we should exercise caution with our curiosity.
21 While we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one.
22 Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.
23 You place too much importance… on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!
24 If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you so far, Cornelius, then we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit and I must act as I see fit.
25 Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right, and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good and kind and brave because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort.
26 I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind…. At these times… I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure.
Harry Potter And the Prisoner of Azkaban (1993-1994)
27 Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
28 You think the dead we loved truly ever leave us? You think we don’t recall them more clearly in times of great trouble?
29 For in dreams we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud.
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (1992-1993)
30 The best of us sometimes eat our words.
31 I will only have truly left the school when none here are loyal to me.
32 It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
Albus Dumbledore Quotes From Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone Book (1991-1992)
33 Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here!
34 Fear of a name increases fear of a thing itself.
35 It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
36 To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
37 What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally the whole school knows.
38 The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with caution.
39 It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
40 As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.
Liked these Albus Dumbledore quotes from Harry Potter books? Then share them with everyone you know.
Then why not get our iOS app from Apple App Store? Then you will have the world's biggest collection of jokes and inspiring quotes right in your pocket, and the app will work faster than the site, so it will save you time and keep you entertained.
This post has been created by Roman Marshanski, the founder of this site. He loves film, comedy, innovation, Web Development, and pretty girls. If you also like pretty girls - or are one - follow him on social media. | <urn:uuid:c9149178-5140-4b13-a246-43a7d7a6948b> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://humoropedia.com/albus-dumbledore-quotes-from-harry-potter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00323-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946798 | 1,390 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Exhibition Themes > Art & Architecture > 72. Hendrick Petrus Berlage
72. Hendrick Petrus Berlage (1856-1934). Frank Lloyd Wright. Wendingen vol. 4, no. 11 (November 1921). Amsterdam: "De Hooge Brug," 1922. Avery Library, Classics Collection
This special number of the Dutch art magazine Wendingen testifies to the international reverberations of American architecture in the early twentieth century, as well as the powerful intersection of typography and book design with criticism and the visual arts. It also serves as a fine example of Avery Library's architectural periodicals collection, perhaps the largest in the world.
Under the editorial and design leadership of H. Th. Wijdeveld, the periodical entitled Wendingen–"Upheavals" or "Turnings"–was intended as a medium for creation and not just art journalism. Individual issues were dedicated to a single subject, with writings by noted practitioners. The distinctive format and style of binding echoed Japanese traditions. Covers were conceived as works of art, most being designed by "representative members" of the society sponsoring the publication, Architectura et Amicitia.
For this issue devoted to Frank Lloyd Wright, the artist El Lissitzky (1890-1941) was paid to provide the cover design, among his first commissions upon leaving Russia. In the magazine's fourth year (1921), German-language and English-language editions of issues began to appear, evidence of its appeal beyond the Netherlands. This deluxe copy of the English edition of vol. 4, no. 11, is one of about seventy five produced with heavier paper and hard covers. The text of the influential Dutch modern architect Berlage introduces a selection of photographs and renderings of Wright's work, including Midway Gardens, Taliesin, the Imperial Hotel, and the Barnsdale Theatre. A further seven issues of Wendingen would be devoted to Wright in 1925-1926. | <urn:uuid:7e86c129-d92e-4c4f-be2a-4cc2896f8f2d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/jewels/themes/art/72 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571090.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809215803-20220810005803-00066.warc.gz | en | 0.94172 | 414 | 2.484375 | 2 |
William Norman Grigg
Pro Libertate Blog
June 23, 2010
British officer: You call yourself a patriot, and a loyal subject to King George?
Hawkeye: I don’t call myself “subject” to much of anything.
Hawkeye explains the foundational tenet of the American worldview to a self-important armed government functionary offended by the frontiersman’s principled defiance; from the 1992 version of Last of the Mohicans.
Marilyn Levias, a 19-year-old Seattle girl involved in a jaywalking incident during which a police officer assaulted another 17-year-old girl, displayed “a dangerous refusal to observe a cardinal rule that civilians simply must comply with instructions from police officers,” insists Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.
For this, Miss Levias faces a gross misdemeanor charge of “Obstructing a Police Officer.” During the confrontation, Levias’s 17-year-old friend, Angel L. Rosenthal, intervened on her behalf and was punched in the face by officer Ian P. Walsh. As is typically the case when a Mundane’s face obstructs the trajectory of a police officer’s fist, the victim is the one facing criminal charges.
In announcing the criminal charge against Levias, City Attorney Holmes offered the mildest possible limp-wristed swipe at the Seattle Police Department by saying that the incident illustrates the need “for de-escalation training for officers.” Holmes also cited an observation by Judge Michael Spearman, auditor for the police department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, that “The use of force in a [jaywalking] situation as a best practice is questionable.” | <urn:uuid:ccc76e7c-98ce-4c9b-adbb-e14cfc76d68a> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.infowars.com/the-police-states-cardinal-rule-the-mundane-must-submit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00123-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934361 | 359 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Derivatives market in India is still at the initial stage of development and it is confined only to index numbers. India has a derivatives exchange and it is based on on line screen based trading system. But the derivatives trading is a separate segment in the stock market. There should be a minimum of 50 trading members to start derivative trading. There are two types of members namely, members of a derivative exchange and clearing members. The net worth of a clearing member should be INR 3 corers. The minimum contract size for a derivatives contract should be INR 1 lakh. Both futures and options are required for introducing derivatives market.
Recommendations of Gupta Committee on derivatives market in India:
Gupta Committee was appointed in November 1996 to begin derivatives trading in stock index future by June 2000.
Gupta Committee recommended the following regarding the trading of derivatives contracts in the Indian stock market.
Rules regarding exchange operations:
Derivatives contracts can be traded in a screen based trading system with on line facilities. Existing stock exchanges can carry out derivatives trading as a separate segment.
A minimum of 50 members are required to start derivatives trading exchange in India. The members involved in derivatives trading in India must have certain minimum net worth of Rs. 3 crores.
The derivatives products must be approved by SEBI which consist of securities which should protect the interests of investors.
There should be no restrictions on investment institutions such as mutual funds and other companies in the derivatives market. Margin money will be collected from all the participants.
There should be a clear disclosure of risks on each security which should be supplied by the broker.
Contract note must be duly stamped and timed.
For proper functioning of derivatives market in India, the rules pertaining to clearing arrangements with the clearing corporations should be made. Deposit should also be made with the clearing corporation.
Apart from the above recommendations of the Gupta committee, SEBI also has imposed certain eligibility criteria for derivatives market in India.
Purpose of introducing derivatives market in India:
The purpose of introducing derivatives is to minimize risks arising out of fluctuations in the prices of securities. Derivatives market in India plays a major role in risk management as Hedging is practiced through call option and put option. These measures will strengthen trading in securities as well in various foreign currencies. When the volume and value increase, the magnitude of risks faced by the participants also increases. Increased loss will affect trading in securities as well as currencies. Hence, derivatives market is recommended which provides a cover against fluctuations in the price of securities and currencies. | <urn:uuid:13df8d66-c2c9-417c-ab1e-4d1fad6d8361> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://accountlearning.com/derivatives-market-in-india-gupta-committee-recommendations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280791.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00355-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955447 | 515 | 2.046875 | 2 |
People with diabetes suffer from the condition of hyperglycemia also referred to as high blood sugar. So how can someone with this condition ever suffer from the exact opposite: low blood sugar or hypoglycemia? Believe it or not, this happens with people who have diabetes because their’s an imbalance between their medication, diet, and lifestyle.
Blood Sugar Levels
Hypoglycemia in medical terms is when the body’s blood sugar drops below 70 milligrams per deciliter. For comparison sake, a normal blood sugar level before eating is anywhere between 72 to 108 milligrams per deciliter. People who have high blood sugar or diabetes have a high blood sugar level even when they are not eating because the body is unable to produce enough insulin to break down the sugar in the blood.
How Hypoglycemia Can Occur in Diabetics
In order for diabetics to help break down sugar in the blood, they usually take pills to help stimulate the pancreas to create more insulin (typically type 2 diabetics) or take insulin injections (type 1 or type 2 diabetics). In the event that they inject too much insulin, this can create a drop in blood sugar causing hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia might also occur if a diabetic skips a meal or exercises too hard. Both of these things natural decrease blood sugar and coupled with insulin can cause the blood sugar to drop.
Warning Signs of Hypoglycemia
If diabetic hypoglycemia is untreated it can lead to seizures or unconsciousness. This is why it’s important to monitor your blood sugar regularly as well as know the early warning signs to prevent hospitalization. Early warning signs include:
- Muscle Weakness
- Blurry or double vision
- Difficulty speaking
Please share this information with your friends, family, and coworkers in the event that you ever suffer from hypoglycemia while you are in the workplace. This way they can help you get the proper medical attention. | <urn:uuid:76f546db-dd10-42fc-9de9-16cd9e266a2a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://diabetesatwork.org/hypoglycemia-and-diabetes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571234.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811042804-20220811072804-00073.warc.gz | en | 0.914183 | 439 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Where are the Butterflies?
If you’ve been trying to attract butterflies to your garden but haven’t seen any, you’re not alone. There has been a substantial decrease in butterfly populations this year throughout the Midwest. This hour on Focus, we’ll talk with Mike Jeffords of the Illinois Natural History Survey about why.
Sandy Mason, our resident gardening expert, will also be here to answer your lawn and garden questions. | <urn:uuid:993c33bb-fe2f-4a3e-86b6-c17f075f8104> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://will.illinois.edu/index.php/focus/program/where-are-the-butterflies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720737.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00220-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92606 | 95 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Kaliakra is a beautiful cape close to the Romanian border. Usually, it is the final stop of foreign tourists looking for pretty sights and interesting places to the north of Varna. Close to Kaliakra (12 km.) one can visit the town of Kavarna, which lies 60 km away from Varna.
About this place:
The cape stretches 2km deep into the sea and consists of 60-70m-high limestone rocks, the inaccessibility of which has been the main reason for the construction of an ancient fortress named Tirisis there. The fortress was successively used by Tracians, Romans, Byzantines and Bulgarians. According to legends, the fortress was guarding the treasuries of Lyzimah, successor of Alexander the Great. Today there are quite many remains of those ancient settlements, which can be seen exhibited in a small museum. One can also read there a legend telling the story of several Bulgarian girls who chose to jump from the high cape into the sea but not to be captured and converted to Islam by the Turks. | <urn:uuid:4f8c6579-c40f-4f3b-b17f-0534234ef9fa> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.picturesofbulgaria.com/article/kaliakra_cape.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573118.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817213446-20220818003446-00669.warc.gz | en | 0.958472 | 221 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Posted by Smokey Stover on October 21, 2005
In Reply to: Has any balls posted by JackyChang on October 20, 2005
: : : When one says, if he has any balls, he would ....
: : : What does it mean ?
: Thanks a lot, mate.
: : : Thanks in advance
: : : It means "if he had any guts, courage, grit". It's common in many languages to identify a man's courage with his physical masculinity (that's putting it as decorously as I can). In Spanish the word "cojones" is used in exactly the same way.
The synonym du jour is "stones." Just in case anyone, as seems unlikely, hears it and is baffled. SS | <urn:uuid:50c41c0e-c65e-442d-938d-27a10c4e698f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/43/messages/822.html | 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 | 0.981801 | 159 | 1.601563 | 2 |
|NITAAI-Veda.nyf > Compiled and Imp Scriptures > Krishna Chaitanya Charita Mahakavya > Prakrama 1 > Sarga13|
Gaura Causes Bewilderment
to Shri Sanatana Panita
athavasan ghe ramye / matra sajjana-bandhubhih
mumoda ca suraih sardha / yathaditya
atha - then; avasan - dwelling; ghe - in his
home; ramye - charming; matra - with mother; sajjana-bandhubhih - with friends
and kinsmen; mumoda - enjoyed; ca - and; suraih - with the demigods; sardham -
with; yatha - as; aditya - the Adityas; puram-darah - Lord Indra.
Thereafter Shri Gaura dwelt in His charming
home, enjoying life with His mother, friends and relatives, like Indra amongst
the sons of Aditi.
tatah shaci cintayitva / vivahartha sutasya sa
kashinatha dvija-sretha / praha gacchasva sampratam 2
shrimat-sanatana vipra / pandita dharmina varam
vadasva mama putraya / suta datu yatha-vidhi 3
tatah - then; shaci - Shaci Devi; cintayitva
- thought; vivaha-artham - the purpose of marriage; sutasya - of her son; sa -
she; kashi-natham dvija-sretham - an exalted brahmana of the name Kashinatha;
praha - said; gacchasva - go; sampratam - now; shrimat-sanatanam - Shri
Sanatana; vipram - mystic; panditam - scholar; dharminam - of virtuous men;
varam - best; vadasva - say; mama - my; putraya - to my son; sutam - daughter;
datum - to give; yatha-vidhi - according to scriptural injunctions.
After consideration, Shaci Devi deemed it
necessary that her son marry again. Thus addressing an elevated brahmana named
Kashinatha, she said to him, "Kindly approach the best among dharmic
brahmana-panits Shri Sanatana, and request him to offer his daugher to my son
in sanctified marriage."
tac chrutva vacana tasyah / kashi-natha-dvijottamah
nyavedayat tat sakala / panditaya mahatmane 4
tat - that; shrutva - having heard; vacanam
- words; tasyah - her; kashi-natha-dvija-uttamah - Kashinatha, the excellent
brahmana; nyavedayat - told; tat - that; sakalam - all; panditaya - to the
scholar; mahatmane - to the great soul.
That exalted brahmana, Kashinatha Mishra,
after hearing the instructions of Shaci Devi, went and told all this to that
panit-mahatma, Shri Sanatana.
gaccha tva dvija-sharddula / kartavya yat prayojanam
samaya nirnaya ktva / praheyamo dvijottamam 5
gaccha - go; tvam - you; dvija-sharddula - O
eminent brahmana; kartavyam - ought to be done; yat - what; prayojanam -
necessity; samayam - time; nirnayam - determination; ktva - done; praheyamah -
we shall send; dvija-uttamam - the great brahmana.
Kashinatha Mishra said, "O tiger amongst
the twice-born. Go. Arrange whatever is necessary to be done, and when you fix
the date, we shall send forth dvijottama Shri Gauranga."
tac chrutva sakala patnya / vimya bandhubhih saha
kartavyam etan nishcitya / kashinatham
tat - that; shrutva - hearing; sakalam -
all; patnya - with his wife; vimya - considering; bandhubhih - with his
kinsmen; saha - with; kartavyam - should be done; etat - that; nishcitya -
having determined; kashi-natham - to Kashinatha; atha - then; abravit - said.
Hearing all this, Sanatana deliberated
amongst his wife and kinsmen. After deciding that it was indeed a worthy
proposal, he informed Kashinatha Mishra.
shrutvettha vacana tasya / samagamya yathoditam
shacyai nyavedayat sarva / tatah sa haritabhavat
shrutva - hearing; ittham - thus; vacanam -
words; samagamya - came; yatha - as; uditam - it happened; shacyai - to Shaci
Devi; nyavedayat - told; sarvam - all; tatah - then; sa - she; harita - joyous;
abhavat - became.
Kashinatha heard about the proposed
arrangements, then returned and reported all to Shaci. This news made her very
tatah kalena kiyata / panditah shri-sanatanah
shuddhah svacara-nirato / vainavo loka-palakah
tatah - then; kalena kiyata - after some
time; panditah - the scholar; shri-sanatanah - Shri Sanatana; shuddhah - pure;
su-acara-niratah - attached to good conduct; vainavah - devotee of Vishnu;
loka-palakah - protector of the people.
The learned scholar Shri Sanatana was a man
of pure consciousness, attached to good behavior, and devoted to Lord Vishnu.
He provided charitable maintenance to all people.
dayalur atitheyash ca / sushilah priya-vak shucih
prahinod brahmana kincit / samagatyanamat
dayaluh - merciful; atitheyah - hospitable
to guests who arrived at any hour; ca - and; su-shilah - virtuous; priya-vak -
who spoke in kind words; shucih - clean; prahinot - sent; brahmanam - one who
understands brahman; kincit - a certain; samagatya - having arrived; anamat -
bowed; shacim - to Shaci.
He was mercifully hospitable to guests,
wheher expected or not, no matter what hour they might arrive. He was virtuous,
gentle of speech and clean. After some time he sent a certain brahmana who came
before Shaci Devi and bowed to her.
praha ta tava putraya / panditaya mahatmane
suta sarva-gunair yukta /
datu prarthayate sadhvi / panditah shri-sanatanah
tatah pramudita sadhvi / shaci vakyam athadade
praha - he said; tam - to her; tava - your;
putraya - to your son; panditaya - the scholar; maha-atmane - to the great
soul; sutam - daughter; sarva-gunaih - with all good qualities; yuktam -
endowed; rupa - beauty; audarya - magnanimity; samanvitam - filled with; datum
- to give; prarthayate - prays; sadhvi - O saintly lady; panditah - the
scholar; shri-sanatanah - Shri Sanatana; tatah - then; pramudita - overjoyed;
sadhvi - the saintly lady; shaci - Shaci Mata; vakyam - words; atha - then;
adade - accepted.
That brahmana said to her, "O saintly
lady, the learned scholar named Shri Sanatana prays that he may present his
daughter Shrimati Vinu-priya to your son, the great soul and learned scholar,
Shri Vishvambhara. She is endowed with
all fine qualities, filled with beauty and magnanimity." Then the saintly
Shaci, overjoyed, consented to Shri Sanatana's request.
mamaiva sammato nitya / sambandhah sad-gunashrayah
kartavyam etan niyata / shubha-kalam athaha
mama - my; eva - certainly; sammatah -
approved; nityam - always; sambandhah - relationship; sat-guna-ashrayah - the
shelter of pure qualities; kartavyam - should be done; etat - this; niyatam -
with restraint; shubha-kalam - at an auspicious time; atha - then; aha - she
said; tam - him.
She replied, "This relationship has the
shelter of all divine qualities and will always have my approval. It should be
performed with restraint at an auspicious moment."
tato hto dvija-shretho / 'vadan madhuraya gira
vinu-priya pati prapya / tava putra
tatah - thus; htah - jubilant; dvija-shrethah
- the best of brahmanas; avadat - said; madhuraya - with sweet; gira - words;
vinu-priya - Shrimati Vinu-priya; patim - husband; prapya - getting; tava -
your; putram - son; shriya - with beauty; anvitam - filled.
Then the jubilant and exalted brahmana spoke
sweetly, "By attaining your son as her husband, Vishnu-priya's beauty will
yathartha-namni bhavatu / shrimad-vishvambharah prabhuh
tam uvahya yatha kno / rukmini prapya nirvtah
tatha nirvtim apnotu / satyam etad vadami te
iti dvijendra-vacana / shrutva haranvita shaci
yatha - as it is; artha - meaning; namni -
in the name; bhavatu - it must be; shrimat-vishvambharah - the resplendent
Vishvambhara; prabhuh - Lord; tam - her; uvahya - marrying; yatha - just as;
knah - Shri Krishna; rukminim - Rukmini Devi; prapya - getting; nirvtah -
happy; tatha - so; nirvtim - happiness; apnotu - must get; satyam - truth; etat
- this; vadami - I say; te - to you; iti - thus; dvija-indra - excellent
brahmana; vacanam - words; shrutva - hearing; hara - joy; anvita - filled with;
shaci - Shaci Devi.
"And Vishvambhara will now fulfill His
name's meaning as the sustainer of the universe. Just as Shri Krishna became
content to receive Rukmini as His bride, so will Vishvambhara taste delight. I
assure you that this is the truth!" Shaci Devi became filled with joy to
hear this statement by that great brahmana, .
dvijash ca gatva tat sarvam / panditaya nyavedayat
tato haranvito bhutva / panditah
dvijah - the brahmana; ca - and; gatva -
having departed; tat - that; sarvam - all; panditaya - to the scholar;
nyavedayat - told; tatah - then; hara-anvitah - filled with bliss; bhutva -
became; panditah - the scholar; shri-sanatanah - Shri Sanatana.
The brahmana returned and told all that had
happened to the Panita, who also became filled with delight.
sarva-dravyady-alankaram / aharat satvara kti
tatah sa samaya jnatva / 'dhivasa kartum
sarva-dravya - all materials; adi - and so
forth; alankaram - decorations; aharat - fetched; sa-tvaram - with speed; kti -
who had accomplished his desire; tatah - then; sah - he; samayam - time; jnatva
- knowing; adhivasam - preliminary marriage rituals; kartum - to do; udyate -
Considering that all his desires were fufilled, Sanatana quickly assembled all necessary paraphernalia and ornaments. Then having determined an auspicious moment, he prepared for the adhivasa ceremony.
tato ganaka agatya / provaca vinayanvitah
mayabhyetya pathi muda / shrimad-vishvambharah
dtah ptash ca bhagavan / adhivasas tavanagha
vivahasyadya ki tatra / vilambas tata dshyate
tatah - then; ganakah - the astrologer;
agatya - arriving; provaca - declared; vinaya-anvitah - filled with humility;
maya - by me; abhyetya - coming; pathi - on the path; muda - happily;
shrimat-vishvambharah - beautiful Vishvambhara; prabhuh - Lord; dtah - seen;
ptah - questioned; ca - and; bhagavan - O Lord; adhivasah - household-making;
tava - Your; anagha - O sinless one; vivahasya - of the marriage; adya - today;
kim - why?; tatra - there; vilambah - delay; tata - dear boy; dshyate - it is
Then the astrologer arrived and spoke in a
submissive tone, "As I was coming here, I saw handsome Vishvambhara on the
path and I inquired from him, `O sinless Lord, what of the adhivasa ceremony
today? My dear boy, It appears that You are making some delay.'
tac chrutva praha ma devo / rajat-smera-mukhambujah
kutah kasya vivahas te / viditas tad vadasva
tat - that; shrutva - hearing; praha - He
said; mam - me; devah - the Lord; rajat - shining; smera - Cupid; mukha - face;
ambu-jah - lotus; kutah - where?; kasya - whose?; vivahah - marriage; te -
your; viditah - known; tat - that; vadasva - tell; me - to me.
"Hearing that, He whose shining lotus
face resembles Cupid, replied, `Where will this marriage of which you speak
take place, and with whom? Please tell me if you know.'
iti shrutva maya tasya / vacana tava sannidhau
samagata nishamyaitad / yad yukta tat samacara
iti - thus; shrutva - hearing; maya - by my;
tasya - His; vacanam - words; tava - your; sannidhau - in your presence;
samagatam - come; nishamya - hearing; etat - this; yat - what; yuktam -
appropriate; tat - that; samacara - do.
"After hearing these words of His, I
have come to you. Now that you have heard this, please do what is
iti shrutva vacas tasya / ganakasya su-duhkhitah
shrimat-sanatano dhairyam / avalambyabravid
iti - thus; shrutva - hearing; vacah -
words; tasya - his; ganakasya - of the astrologer; su-duhkhitah - very pained;
shrimat-sanatanah - Shri Sanatana; dhairyam - patience; avalambya - summoning;
abravit - said; vacah - words.
Hearing these words from the astrologer, Shri
Sanatana became very pained. Clinging to his patience, he said:
kta mayaitat sakala / dravyalankaranani ca
tathapi tasya na tatradaro bhu-daiva-doatah 23
ktam - done; maya - by me; etat - this;
sakalam - all; dravya - materials; alankaranani - decorations; ca - and;
tathapi - however; tasya - His; na - not; tatra - there; adarah - respect;
bhu-daiva-doatah - by faults of my brahminical qualities.
"I have arranged all the paraphernalia, ingredients and ornaments. However, it appears that because of some fault in my qualities as a brahmana, the Lord is not honoring His agreement.
mamatra ki maya karya / naparadhyami kutracit
tatah santrasta-hdaya / patni tasya
kulaja vinu-bhakta ca / pati-seva-parayana
abravid duhkhita duhkha-yukta pandita-sattamam
mama - my; atra - here; kim - what?; maya -
by me; karyam - duty; na - not; aparadhyami - I offend; kutracit - in any way;
tatah - then; santrasta-hdaya - frightened heart; patni - wife; tasya - his;
shuci-vrata - devoted to cleanliness; kula-ja - born of a pure family;
vinu-bhakta - devotee of Lord Vishnu; ca - and; pati-seva-parayana - dedicated
to her husband's service; abravit - said; duhkhita - sorrowfully; duhkha-yuktam
- absorbed in grief; pandita - scholar; sattamam - noble.
"What duty have I not performed? Have I
offended Him in some way?" Then trembling with alarm, his wife, who was
virtuous in conduct, born of a pure family, devoted to Lord Vishnu and
dedicated to the service of her husband, spoke sadly to that noble scholar who
was afflicted with grief:
pati pati-vrata vakya / na karoti yada svayam
shrimad-vishvambharo natra / 'paradho me katha
patim - husband; pati-vrata - faithful to
her husband; vakyam - words; na - not; karoti - he does; yada - when; svayam -
of His own accord; shrimat-vishvambhara - the resplendent maintainer of the
universe; na - not; atra - here; aparadhah - offense; me - of me; katham -
how?; bhavan - your good self.
"If Shrimad Vishvambhara does not wish
to marry of His own accord, then there is no offense made on the part of your
duhkhitah kintu nasmabhir / vaktavya kincid anv api
karyam etan na kartavya / tyaja duhkha sukhi
duhkhitah - distressed; kintu - however; na
- not; asmabhih - by us; vaktavyam - to be spoken; kincit - something; anu -
very small; api - even; karyam - proper to be done; etat - this; na - not;
kartavyam - should be done; tyaja - give up; duhkham - sorrow; sukhi - happy;
bhava - become.
"My lord, although we are distressed,
still we should not say even a word in protest. This is not the proper thing to
do. Give up your sorrow and be satisfied."
iti tasya vacah shrutva / priyayah pritim avahan
uvaca bandhubhih sardham / etad eva
nakarod yadi viprendro / na kariyama eva hi
tato 'sau bhagavan jnatva / duhkhitau
roena lajjaya yuktau / vinu-bhaktau vimatsarau
brahmanyo bhagavan devas / tayor duhkham
iti - thus; tasya - her; vacah - words;
shrutva - hearing; priyayah - of his dear wife; pritim - love; avahan - bore;
uvaca - said; bandhubhih - with his kinsmen; sardham - together; etat - this;
eva - surely; su-nishcitam - very clear; na - not; akarot - He did; yadi - if;
vipra-indrah - the best of vipras; na - not; kariyamah - we shall do; eva -
certainly; hi - indeed; tatah - then; asau - He; bhagavan - the Lord; jnatva -
knew; duhkhitau - the sorrowful couple; dvija-dam-pati - brahmana wife and husband;
roena - by anger; lajjaya - by shame; yuktau - engaged; vinu-bhaktau - the two
devotees of Lord Vishnu; vimatsarau - non-envious; brahmanyah - inclined to the
brahmanas; bhagavan - the all-opulent Lord; devah - God; tayoh - of the two;
duhkham - grief; avaharat - took away.
Hearing these words from his dear wife,
which brought him increased love for her, he counseled with his kinsmen,
saying, "It is very clear that if this great vipra does not accept my
daughter in marriage, then we shall certainly not offer her to Him." Then,
knowing that the non-envious vaishnava-brahmana couple were grief-stricken and
afflicted with anger and shame, the all-opulent Personality of Godhead, who is
always favorably inclined toward brahmanas, took away the grief of that devoted
Thus ends the Thirteenth Sarga entitled "Gaura Causes Bewilderment to Shri Sanatana Panita," in the First Prakrama of the great poem Shri Chaitanya Carita. | <urn:uuid:2011ae00-91c4-4d9b-badb-fc5424b1f43d> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://nitaaiveda.com/Compiled_and_Imp_Scriptures/Krishna_Chaitanya_Charita_Mahakavya/Prakrama_1/Sarga13.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283689.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00347-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.77437 | 5,399 | 1.625 | 2 |
Do you ask, “What is Psoriasis?” Psoriasis is curable. It comes from skin quickly piling up on the surface before the skin cells mature. The process of skin rejuvenation usually takes about a month to turnover in a typical healthy person. With psoriasis the process is much accelerated and occurs with a few days. The video that follows below explains psoriasis and provides more details.
To learn more about Psoriasis watch the video. This is a condition that affects abut 3% of the US population. It does seem to run in families and may be an autoimmune condition. The body is attacking healthy mature skin cells and replacing them with new skin cells in a rapid manner. The condition appears with equal prevalence in men and women. It seems to mostly affect adults rather than infants and children. | <urn:uuid:b430d2a2-329a-4d25-967a-9310d7c6412e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://psoriasistreatmentrelief.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279189.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00061-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954276 | 170 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Two kingdoms have been at war for centuries over a single piece of land. A simple hill which housed a magical well. Its waters are said restore health and happiness to those that drink them.
The kings of both kingdoms are both getting old and sick. Both have vowed to never rest until the land is theirs. Both desire some of the waters of this fountain, so their health may be restored and they can continue their fight.
They order their respective children, the prince of east kingdom and the princess of the western kingdom, to secretly undertake the long journey to the front lines to sneak up the hill and retrieve some of the water. Secrecy is a must, lest their enemies move against them.
Alone and in disguise the prince and princess travel their lands. They see the poverty and sadness that the constant war has brought to their kingdom and their people. Their hearts grow cold and hard toward their enemies and the havoc they brought.
In the dark of the night they sneak past the front lines. All alone they climb their respective sides of the hill. Slowly, to not get spotted. Carefully so they dont stumble and fall in the dark.
By the breaking of the dawn they reach the top, and the prince and princess meet each other for the first time.
In their respective disguises, the prince sees this common girl, while the princess sees this common boy. Both declare their need greater, both speak about how their fathers are sick and need the healing power of the water.
As the day approaches they speak of many things as they try to make their case. They speak of their hate for their enemies and the damage the war has brought.
Yet the more they spoke, the more they came to realise many things. Their people are in poverty because of the high taxes their fathers enforced to fund their armies. The people are starving because all the food they grow is sent to feed the soldiers. Homes and villages are in disrepair because every able-bodied young man has been conscripted into the fight. Homes stand empty because family lines have ended on the front lines.
Both come to realise that their enemies are not to blame. The kings are to blame. Their selfish desire to possess and hoard the waters of the well.
How many have died to try and take this land? And if they did take it, how many will die trying to hold it from their enemies?
And would the people, who suffered so much in the name of their king, ever sample any of the sweet waters and see any health and happiness from the magic of the well?
Both conclude that, no, they wouldn't.
And both knew that, as long as the selfish kings were in power, neither kingdom would ever know peace.
Prince Jack of the eastern kingdom turned his back on his father's quest and left the common girl to the water. He would take up a new quest. For the good of his kingdom and all of it's people. The prince would lead the revolution and remove his own father from power.
Princess Jillian of the Western kingdom left the common boy behind to return to her lands, call all of the loyal banners and people to her side that she could. She would not rest until she managed to remove her father from the throne.
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown.
And Jill came tumbling after.
I'm thinking up some amusing curses. Not, like swearing, but more just general inconvenience that you can wish on someone.
You can feel free to add your own if you want to.
May your favourite food always arrive lukewarm.
May the wifi always be spotty around your favourite seat in your home.
May your keys never be in the first place you look for them, even if you know for sure you left them there.
May you be unable to find your preferred instagram filter.
May you always get a pebble in your shoe when you're in a hurry. | <urn:uuid:c7324b7a-18c9-4580-ac9d-e5b0688d7a42> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.tumgir.com/tag/odd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00265.warc.gz | en | 0.9804 | 842 | 2.046875 | 2 |
British Whig (Kingston, ON), March 19, 1884
- Full Text
p.2 Died - On March 18th, Thomas McGrath, residence Gore & Ontario streets. (capt. ?)
p.3 Sailors' Union Meeting - A meeting of the Sailors' Union was held last night in the building on Ontario Street formerly occupied by the Union. The object of the meeting was to nominate officers for the ensuing year. The following was the result:
For President - J. McComb, J. Quarts, and __ Cassidy.
For Vice-President - W. Forbes. No opposition.
Secretary-Treasurer - A. Easton. No opposition.
The election for President will take place next Tuesday. Members of the Union say that McComb will surely be elected.
- Media Type:
- Item Type:
- Date of Original:
- March 19, 1884
- Local identifier:
- Language of Item:
- Rick Neilson
- Copyright Statement:
- Public domain: Copyright has expired according to the applicable Canadian or American laws. No restrictions on use.
Maritime History of the Great Lakes | <urn:uuid:9d14a230-1004-4659-8f2d-151dae5890cd> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/14020/data | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279169.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00219-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917333 | 241 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Bureau of Fecal Forensics?
The Israeli city of Petah Tikva is setting up a DNA database of local dogs so that unscooped poop may be analyzed and traced to its rightful owner.
Dog owners won’t receive the offending — and offensive — matter back, but they will get a ticket.
“My goal is to get the residents involved and tell them that together, we can make our environment clean,” Tika Bar-On, the city’s chief veterinarian, told Reuters news agency.
Owners were reacting positively to the six-month trial program, she told the agency, because they wanted their streets to be clean.
At the moment providing a DNA sample is up to individual dog owners, but the city was considering making it compulsory, she added.
Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is asking dog owners to take their animal to a municipal veterinarian, who then swabs its mouth and collects DNA.
It’s the latest in the worldwide crackdown on unscooped poop (is there a correlation between how unable a country is to end its wars and the amount of time and money they spend fighting poop?) In England, some towns have turned to closed circuit TV and undercover patrols to identify offenders. What’s next, SWAT teams that swoop in at the first sign of a dog squatting?
Even that might be more useful than than what the Israeli town is planning, which seems another case of technology eclipsing common sense.
The news report says that owners who scoop up their dogs’ droppings and place them in specially marked bins on Petah Tikva’s streets will be eligible for rewards of pet food coupons and dog toys.
I’m not sure, but that seems to be implying that the town — in addition to analyzing outlaw poop — will be analyzing law-abiding poop, as well.
How much of a staff will be required to pull this all off — from those who retrieving it (fecal engineers?) to those who are transporting it to the lab (parapoopers?) to those conducting the analyses (certified crapologists?)
And even more interestingly, what will the department that does the work be called?
It may already have a name, but I’m accepting nominations, anyway. (Extra points if it’s also a good acronym.) | <urn:uuid:56a8c622-9794-42c1-9703-fe654a71f588> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.ohmidog.com/2008/09/17/bureau-of-fecal-forensics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281069.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00269-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959118 | 492 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Activity 2.4 – Animal Protection Legislation and Codes of Practice
Do you know enough about areas of care for animals? Before you complete this activity, make sure you have completed the previous topics on animal protection.
Take a few minutes to complete the activity in your module booklet. Note that, unless indicated otherwise by your teacher, this is a graded activity.
Use the links below to help you complete the activities.
AFAC’s webpage on Laws and Regulations.
The Code of Practice for Canadian Cattery Operations (2009).
The Code of Practice for Canadian Kennel Operations (3rd Edition, 2018).
Guidelines for the Standards of Care in Animal Shelters (2013). | <urn:uuid:c24037f4-68b3-4958-b8c9-fb5da03bb701> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.ctsanimals.ca/courses/1040dogsandcats/lessons/module-2-responsible-animal-care-physical-needs/topic/animal-protection-legislation-and-codes-of-practice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571234.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811042804-20220811072804-00075.warc.gz | en | 0.877479 | 141 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Small business owners apparently make for one of the most misunderstood groups in America. Despite apparent overwhelming respect from the American public, Democratic administrations openly use envy and resentment of small-business success to justify enacting legislation that threatens their prosperity.
Periodic polling by Rasmussen and other national polling groups shows that small business owners represent the most respected profession in America -- respected by more than 90% of the American public. This is even higher than pastors and religious leaders, who have a 50% favorability rating. At the bottom of the list are members of Congress, with a 25% favorability rating. Similar polling by The Tarrance Group conducted in 2010 for The Free Alliance, which also includes government bureaucrats and union leaders, gives those professions only a 20% favorability rating.
Since we live in a representative republic, small business owners have always relied on their elected legislators to create an environment where their hard work and personal investment will lead to prosperity for themselves and their employees. For much of America's history, this was true. However, today, the legislative and regulatory process has been hijacked by those on the left who want to use it for their own intellectual and financial gain at the expense of small business owners and taxpayers.
As a rule, small business owners are risk-averse. There is a very good reason for this.
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment | <urn:uuid:c13687cb-2a7c-4f42-9a8f-8cd9be9fc50f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://cornhusker4palin.newsvine.com/_news/2012/06/10/12149344-the-democrats-war-on-small-business | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281151.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00112-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962395 | 284 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Kevin Rudd has added indigenous affairs to this week’s first Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting since he was elected Prime Minister. COAG meets in Melbourne on Thursday. The meeting is shaping up to be a busy one with both the federal government and their state counterparts queuing up to set the agenda. Some have called this pre-Christmas event an example of “Kevin 24/7”.
The COAG meeting will also discuss issues of education, health, infrastructure, business deregulation, housing, water and climate change. But it was Monday's announcement that federal cabinet had decided to add indigenous affairs to that list that caused most media interest. The request to add it to the agenda came from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh following the worldwide media attention about the case of a 10-year-old girl who had sex with nine young males in the Cape York community of Aurukun. Bligh said she did not expect any "miracle cures" would come out of the meeting but she hoped to achieve progress on several matters.
COAG is the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia and meets on an adhoc basis. It comprises the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA). Established by Paul Keating in 1992, its role is to initiate, develop, and monitor nationally significant policy reforms which require cooperative action. Examples include water reform, counter-terrorism arrangements, and environmental regulation.
This is the first COAG meeting in the era of so-called “wall to wall” Labor administrations. COAG’s last meeting in April discussed a range of issues including water reform. The meeting was most notable for Victoria’s refusal http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=372475 to sign up for the national water reform agenda which had at its heart the $10 billion plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin. But while this disagreement captured public attention, the meeting itself made progress on a range of unsexy issues including national rail safety legislation, trade measurement. occupational health and safety standards, and state variations in building codes and business numbers.
The various administrations have different ideas what is the top priority for this week’s meeting. Although Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was the one to put Aboriginal issues on the agenda, she said says Australia’s problematic health systems should take centre stage. "Number one on my agenda will be the health system…and it'll be followed very closely by water, infrastructure and more difficult social issues such as the problems confronting Indigenous communities," she said. "What I hope is that we see out of our first COAG with the new Prime Minister that we see the beginning of a new era in Commonwealth-state relations.”
But Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma says Indigenous affairs shuld be the top priority. He said it was important that it becomes a high priority agenda item to be discussed on an ongoing basis rather than just the standing agenda item. He said COAG should ask the Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to prepare a comprehensive report on the state of indigenous affairs. Without this high level attention, he said “it ultimately results in a lack of sustained attention to the issues”.
The fate of the River Murray is also likely to be a high-profile item for discussion. Victoria was the only state to oppose the $10 billion federal takeover of the Murray-Darling Basin under the Howard administration. South Australia wants to bring the issue up in these talks but the Rudd government is refusing to say if the matter will be resolved this time round.
Others, including The Age have suggested less pressing items (though perhaps more electorally sensitive) such as surgery waiting lists are top of the agenda. They quoted PM Rudd saying that Health Minister Nicola Roxon had hoped to have a plan ready to discuss quickly cut elective surgery waiting lists with her state and territory counterparts.
But Rudd knows it is the Aboriginal issue that is the most sensitive. He has ruled out forcing a Northern Territory-style intervention in Queensland until the effectiveness of the Howard government initiative can be measured. He will look at a Queensland Government initiative to make payments to Aboriginal communities conditional on good behaviour. "I'm looking forward to a very broad-ranging conversation with the premiers and chief ministers on what further actions can profitably, productively and co-operatively be undertaken,” he said. “Let's face it, there are huge challenges out there.” On that point, Rudd has few gainsayers. | <urn:uuid:4ea1d51e-66c9-448b-a34b-ca4304a41bd3> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://nebuchadnezzarwoollyd.blogspot.com/2007/12/pre-christmas-coag-meeting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718423.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00270-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963437 | 948 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Prunes have a range of health benefits, but they could be also an unlikely hero in the fight against bone radiation damage for long-duration space travelers.
Between fixing toiletsand rescuing zinnias
, it turns out that Scott Kelly is a fun astronaut to hang out with. The NASA spaceman is currently spending a year aboard the International Space Station (double the usual stay) and he shared his experiencesin an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session on Reddit last week
. His answers were in part sweet, in part humorous, but all gave a fascinating behind-the-scenes look to the not-so-well known aspects of an astronaut's life in space. Read on to hear about his views on acid pee, Klingon technology and David Bowie.PHOTOS: Astronaut Gets Stunning View of East Coast Blizzard
Paramount Pictures (screengrab from "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" clip)
One of the AMA's youngest interviewers was Simon, who is five years old. He asked: "Could a rogue spaceship sneak up on the space station without being aware, and dock?" Kelly's answer made us worry about Klingons from Star Trek: "Maybe an alien spaceship with a cloaking device. But not your normal spaceship, no. Unless it had a cloaking device, which doesn't exist, the U.S. Air Force would see it coming."PHOTOS: Inside the First 100 Days of a Year in Space
We think of astronauts as brave people, but perhaps their bravery doesn't come from the derring-do we see in movies such as "The Martian" and "Gravity." Kelly said the creepiest thing he ever does on the job "generally ... has to do with the toilet." "Recently I had to clean up a gallon-sized ball of urine mixed with acid," he said, adding, "The acid is added to the urine so the urine doesn't damage the machinery that moves it through the system. It keeps it from clogging up the system."Space Fungus! Mold Attacks Space Station Plants
Photo: The toilet in the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station, as photographed during Expedition 6 in 2002-03. Rotated counterclockwise.
With Kelly having a military background and all, perhaps you'd be forgiven for thinking he crosses his arms so often because he is a stern naval aviator. Turns out, though, that it's a matter of simple physics. And human physiology. "It feels awkward to have them floating in front of me. It is just more comfortable to have them folded," Kelly wrote. Another user responded, "Wow, this is something I legitimately never considered. I just thought you were being gangsta."PHOTOS: An Astronaut's View of the 2015 Hurricane Season
Photo: Scott Kelly hangs out in his personal quarters on the International Space Station, along with the Reddit symbol.
We think of microgravity as being a very gentle environment for astronauts. They can push off walls with a simple touch, do somersaults effortlessly, and simply float in a sleeping bag to go to sleep. But besides hurting muscles and bones, the environment makes you develop weird calluses, Kelly said. "The top of my feet develop rough alligator skin because I use the top of my feet to get around here on space station when using foot rails," he wrote.PHOTOS: How a NASA Astronaut is Paving the Way to Mars
Photo: Scott Kelly with a bunch of carrots, just hanging out in space.
With the passing of David Bowie earlier this month, space fans have been nostalgic about the many space references in his songs, from "Space Oddity" to "Starman". He even had an album with perhaps the neatest space reference of all time ("The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.") But what was Kelly's favorite song from the Brit's award-winning catalog? Turns out it's "Modern Love". The song appears to be about disillusionment with modern-day life, and especially working for a living. But we still think modern days and working would remain ever more awesome in space.Ground Control to David Bowie: You Really Made the Grade
Photo: File photo of David Bowie performing a concert at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany, on Oct. 16, 2003
Astronauts, cancer patients and other people exposed to bone-zapping radiation may want to start eating prunes. Experiments on mice show that a diet including prunes, or dried plums, staved off bone loss after the animals were irradiated.
“We believe our findings are likely to be applicable to humans,” said Ruth Globus, with the Space Biosciences Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
For the first set of experiments, which are detailed in a paper published in this week’s Nature Scientific Reports, mice were fed the equivalent of 25- to 30 prunes per person per day. More work is needed to learn if smaller quantities still protect bones, Globus wrote in an email to Discovery News.
“Other human studies indicate lower amounts (of dried plums), roughly five to 12 per day, are beneficial for the bone health in post-menopausal women,” a group that is particularly susceptible to osteoporosis, she said.
Other foods, including blueberries, have previously been reported to help counter the harmful effects of ionizing radiation, but the new study is the first to find a connection between protecting bones and any fruit.
“Dried plums include a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, polyphenols and other bioactive components. It’s possible that dried plums might have of a unique combination of nutrients that are radio-protective for bone, but more work is needed in this area,” Globus said.
Other mice were fed various antioxidants -- a diet that previous studies found offered some protection against radiation -- but Globus and colleagues determined that they alone did not stem bone loss.
“We suspect antioxidant content alone probably does not account for the protective effects of dried plum that we observed,” Globus said.
“It would be interesting to know whether or not dried plum protects tissues other than bone, such as the gut, and also to compare dried plum side-by-side with other fruits, to see which one is most effective,” she added.
In related studies, researchers also are using mice to determine if dried plums offer protection from colon cancer.
“The polyphonic molecules appear to work in concert with dietary fiber that is present in the plums,” Nancy Turner, a nutritionist researcher with Texas A&M University, told Discovery News.
She suspects the combination promotes a beneficial population of gut microbes that is helping to protect the colon.
Globus’ research was supported by NASA’s National Space Biomedical Research Institute. The authors acknowledge that the California Plum Board donated dried plums for the study. | <urn:uuid:b40940d1-ce5a-46d0-9826-5250ed08777b> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.seeker.com/space-prunes-for-healthy-astronaut-bones-1770879437.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718426.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00137-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953559 | 1,449 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Covid vaccine: WHO warns of 'catastrophic moral failure'
The world faces a "catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal Covid vaccine policies, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was not fair for younger, healthy people in richer nations to get injections before vulnerable people in poorer states.
He said over 39 million vaccine doses had been given in 49 richer states - but one poor nation had only 25 doses.
Meanwhile, both the WHO and China were criticised for their Covid response.
An independent panel commissioned by the WHO said the UN public health body should have declared an international emergency earlier, and also rapped China for not taking public health measures sooner.
So far, China, India, Russia, the UK and the US have all developed Covid vaccines, with others being made by multinational teams - like the American-German Pfizer vaccine.
Almost all of these nations have prioritised distribution to their own populations.
What did the WHO head say?
Speaking at a WHO executive board session on Monday, Dr Tedros said, "I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure - and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world's poorest countries."
Dr Tedros said a "me-first" approach would be self-defeating because it would push up prices and encourage hoarding.
"Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic, the restrictions needed to contain it, and human and economic suffering," he added.
And the WHO head called for a full commitment to the global vaccine-sharing scheme Covax, which is due to start rolling out next month.
"My challenge to all member states is to ensure that by the time World Health Day arrives on 7 April, Covid-19 vaccines are being administered in every country, as a symbol of hope for overcoming both the pandemic and the inequalities that lie at the root of so many global health challenges," Dr Tedros said.
So far, more than 180 countries have signed up to the Covax initiative, which is supported by the WHO and a group of international vaccine advocacy groups. Its aim is to unite countries into one bloc so they have more power to negotiate with drug companies.
Ninety-two countries - all of them low or middle-income - will have their vaccines paid for by a fund sponsored by donors.
"We have secured two billion doses from five producers, with options of more than one billion more doses, and we aim to start deliveries in February," Dr Tedros said.
What has the response been?
Reacting to Dr Tedros' warning, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "The UK is the world's biggest supporter, financial supporter, of the global programme to ensure access to vaccines in all countries in the world."
Mr Hancock said the UK had "put the most financial support in these international efforts to ensure everybody has access to vaccines".
The UK government has provided £548m ($734m) to the Covax programme.
More than four million people in the UK have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to government figures.
People in their 70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable in England are now among those being offered the jab.
Last month, the People's Vaccine Alliance coalition of campaigning bodies said that rich countries were hoarding doses of Covid vaccines and people living in poor countries were set to miss out.
It said that nearly 70 lower-income countries would only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people.
Canada, in particular, came in for criticism, with the coalition saying the North American nation had ordered enough vaccine doses to protect each Canadian five times.
In December, Karina Gould, Canada's minister of international development, denied allegations the country was hoarding vaccines, saying any discussion of a surplus was "hypothetical" as the doses had not been delivered.
She said Canada was providing C$485 million ($380 million; £280 million) to help developing countries cope with Covid-19.
What about the criticism of the WHO and China?
In their interim report, the panel of independent experts said both China and the WHO should have acted faster during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak.
The document said that Beijing should have acted more forcefully to localise the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan first detected in late 2019.
The experts also criticised the WHO for only declaring a global emergency on 30 January 2020.
"The global pandemic alert system is not fit for purpose," the report said. "The World Health Organization has been underpowered to do the job." | <urn:uuid:86f0e477-4dea-451e-a8c6-fc3591f62eb2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://sharing.org/information-centre/news/covid-vaccine-who-warns-catastrophic-moral-failure | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573908.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820043108-20220820073108-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.967589 | 981 | 2.125 | 2 |
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
This article is about the Sangheili shipmaster. For the Sangheili spy, see Ado 'Mortumee.
A leader of few words, Ardo 'Moretumee climbed the ranks of the Covenant's Ministry of Fervent Intercession to the status of shipmaster with a mix of martial prowess and tactical cunning. His family held considerable power in the High Council, though 'Moretumee's personal ambitions were impossible to discern. He eventually served as the shipmaster of the Ceudar-pattern heavy corvette Ardent Prayer, serving the Fleet of Valiant Prudence under Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee. The fleet was tasked by the Ministry of Fervent Intercession with the recovery and research of Forerunner artifacts.
Fall of Reach
On the night of July 23, 2552, the Fleet of Valiant Prudence, including Ardent Prayer, was deployed as an advance force to the human planet Reach. Over the following weeks, the fleet engaged human targets across the planet. After the fleet's flagship, the Sh'wada-pattern supercarrier Long Night of Solace, revealed its location during the Battle at Szurdok Ridge, SPARTAN Catherine-B320 formulated Operation: UPPER CUT, a plan to destroy Long Night of Solace through the use of an improvised "slipspace bomb".
On August 14, SPARTAN-B312, Jorge-052, and several FSS-1000 Sabre pilots, with the assistance of the UNSC Savannah, boarded Ardent Prayer; the UNSC intended to use Ardent Prayer to deliver the improvised bomb to Long Night of Solace while the former was en route to refuel with the supercarrier. As the boarders made their way through the corvette, they assaulted the bridge. The bridge crew were caught unaware; although 'Moretumee and his companions defended themselves, they were killed by the boarders. Ardent Prayer then continued toward Long Night of Solace and the bomb was activated, destroying both vessels.
List of appearances | <urn:uuid:d836bae0-89c5-4130-b94e-c8804259a318> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.halopedia.org/Ardo_%27Moretumee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571538.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812014923-20220812044923-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.947074 | 475 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Warmest January, ever
Europe is freezing and the Eastern U.S. just experienced a snow-pocolypse, so surely the whole global warming thing must be wrong, right?
Sorry, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), but global warming is still happening, even though it snowed in January (of all things). According to the latest satellite data analyzed by climate scientist and IPCC member Neville Nicholls, this last January was hotter than any previously recorded January.
It’s not just January, either – it was the entire decade:
>The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in December that 2000-2009 was the hottest decade since records began in 1850, and that 2009 would likely be the fifth warmest year on record. WMO data show that eight out of the 10 hottest years on record have all been since 2000.
It’s hard, sometimes, to accept pervasive trend data as accurate when personal experience contradicts it. In a similar way, you might be understandably skeptical of your town’s assessment that crime is down if you’ve just been robbed and so has your neighbor. It’s crucial, though, to remember that snow storms in winter are weather events, and global average temperature is a measure of our whole climate. No single weather event – including disastrous ones like Hurricane Katrina or the recent blizzards on the East coast – are directly caused by a changing climate. But scientists are telling us that increased warming of the climate can and will lead to more and stronger weather events, both hot and cold. | <urn:uuid:6a6bb2e2-c85b-4544-b2ca-b1ded9e4c73c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.terrapass.com/warmest-january-ever | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280310.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00183-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966137 | 325 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Gay Hong Kong 香港人加油!
Covid-19 emergency measures:
Two decades since the change in sovereignty, this small enclave of seven million people had, until recently, remained a world apart from the rest of China. When established as a British colony in 1842, the area was just a collection of small fishing villages around a magnificent harbor. Today, with a large foreign working population and an 'East meets West' way of life, Hong Kong's people have had a unique society that borrows from both worlds.
Formerly with a degree of political and legal autonomy under the 'one country, two systems' policy, this city ranked as the third most important international financial center after New York and London, with it's own currency, one of the highest per capita income levels, and a generally high level of civil liberties. However, the national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing, on July 1, 2020, is making people afraid for their future, and many may leave if they can. Foreign visitors also need to be more careful about what they say, or have in their possession, relating to the democracy protests or other opinions or political ideas contrary to the official Chinese Communist Party line.
Almost immediately after the repressive laws were introduced, public libraries began to remove books written by dissidents from their shelves, and the Great Firewall of China, by which people's access to the internet is controlled, descended on Hong Kong. Activists such the publisher of the Apple Daily newspaper and Next Digital, was arrested along with senior staff, and their offices searched. Other journalists and political activists seen to be opposing Chinese government policies, have been arrested and given prison sentences, including young pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam. Legislature Council opposition caucus members have all either been ousted, or resigned in protest.
The UK, Taiwan and Canada have warned their citizens against visiting Hong Kong, Australia has advised its citizens to “reconsider” their need to stay, and American congressional bills have been written to provide refugee status for Hong Kong residents "at risk of persecution." Britain has offered the right to settle in the UK to as many as 3 million residents of its former colony. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, is one of 11 officials sanctioned by the US for their roles in curtailing political freedoms.
Hong Kong had been one of the most gay-friendly cities in Asia in many ways. British courts, using harsh laws against male homosexuality, once imposed sentences of life imprisonment. That changed in 1991 as the Legislative Council decriminalized private, adult, non-commercial, consensual homosexual relations. The age of consent was set at 16 in 2006. While social conservatives, often evangelical Christians or Catholics, still view homosexuality as immoral, the majority of people aren't bothered. As long as organising is not seen as a potential threat, govenment policy appears to be that of "no approval; no disapproval; no promotion." Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, elected in 2012, came out as the first openly gay member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. He heads the 人民力量 People Power pro-democracy group.
The history of same-sex relations in China, before negative Western influences took hold, has been documented since ancient times, and celebrated in the art and literature of many dynasties. Taoism takes no position on the subject, but Confucians did consider having children (especially sons) to be an important family duty. See the Wiki article Homosexuality in China.
In today's gay scene, upscale cocktail lounges and rather dressy dance clubs contrast with the uncomplicated sex and nudity found at private men's saunas and the sensual touches at the many massage establishments. Otherwise, the sex and fetish clubs, erotic strippers and dark rooms so common in the West are absent here, but many attractive young men post online ads with none-too-subtle come-ons and a phone number, often with explicit photos of themselves. Chinese-only websites, far more numerous than those in English, provide a vast array of chat-lines and hook-ups for men. Although gay sex is legal in China, sex-for-pay is (technically) not.
There are gay business clusters in several districts, including around Hollywood Road area in Central and Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island, and around Nathan Road in Kowloon across the harbor. Middle Bay, a small area next to Repulse Bay on Hong Kong Island, the most popular gay beach, is accessible by taxi or a short walk from Repulse. Walk a little further to find another gay section at South Bay Beach. Lantau Island's south coast has a beautiful long stretch of sand called Cheung Sha Beach, where gay sunbathers spread their towels next to a rocky outcrop bisecting the beach.
See an overview of gay places of interest to visitors, with locations and website links, in our map & listings section. For a little networking while in town, check out the Fruits in Suits business group with mixers once a month.
Many of the gayest events of the year take place at the end of the year, during Pink Season. Check out the September Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, one of the biggest gay events of the year, and the Hong Kong Pride Parade in November. Previous Pink Seasons have included a Gay Day at Hong Kong Disneyland and a Mr. Gay Hong Kong contest -- with the winner representing Hong Kong in the Mr. Gay World Pageant.
As one of the world's powerhouse cities of commerce, Hong Kong has few equals for shopping opportunities. A local penchant for bargaining and the lack of sales tax only add to the incentives at the vast selection of shops of all kinds. Canton Road is home to many upscale brand-name stores, and Harbour City has hundreds of shops. The nearby 1881 Heritage, a former colonial police station, is a luxury shopping center. Elements, above the Kowloon MTR Station, has five levels of stores, each representing one of the five elements of nature, plus a ice skating rink and huge cinema.
Big spenders might consider staying at the new five-star Ritz-Carlton Hotel which occupies the upper floors of the International Commerce Centre, towering above Kowloon MTR Station in the world's fourth tallest building by height. Their Ozone bar has tapas and great views of the city and Victoria Harbour from the top floor, but allows no sandals, teeshirts or shorts. For some other lodgings options see our map & listings section.
Noodles, dim sum, and other Cantonese favorites characterize traditional Hong Kong cuisine, but this international city also offers a wide variety of other foods from elsewhere in China, East Asia, and around the world. For gay-friendly restaurant listings, see the food sections of Dim Sum Magazine and Time Out.
Hong Kong International Airport is the main international gateway. The MTR Airport Express train is the best and quickest way to get into the city, costing 350 HKD round trip (around US$45), including 3 consecutive days of unlimited travel on MTR lines, Light Rail and MTR Bus services. You get a 50 HKD ($6.50) refund if you return the card. There are also buses and taxis.
Within such a densely packed area the public transportation of this city is highly developed, and has one of the highest levels of usage anywhere. A Single Journey Ticket entitles you to one ride to a pre-selected destination on the day of purchase. The fare is based on the distance travelled. Normal adult fares range between 4.5 HKD and 14.5 HKD per trip for most destinations throughout the system, not including outlying lines, the Disneyland station or the airport and checkpoint (China) terminuses.
An Octopus rechargeable smart card can make per-trip costs even cheaper, and a Tourist Day Pass is available for unlimited rides on most types of MTR and Light Rail for 65 HKD (around US$8). A variety of other passes, including trips to Hong Kong Disneyland, are also offered.
The five subway lines are the speediest way to get around Hong Kong. On the surface there are double-decker trams, buses, and taxis. Wi-Fi coverage is available at 32 stations along the MTR network. For all public transportation info see the MTR website.
Star Ferry carries passengers across Victoria Harbour, providing great views as well as transportation. They also offer harbor tours on their re-creation of a classic ferry of old Hong Kong, with cafe on board. A number of other ferry companies also provide connections around the harbor - see the ferry pages of Discover Hong Kong for more on these.
The Peak Tramway funicular railway carries tourists and residents to upper levels of Hong Kong Island, from Central district to Victoria Peak via the Mid-Levels. The Mid-Levels escalator, the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, is one of several escalators and moving pavements in the steep and hilly terrain of the Central and Western districts. Mid-Levels travel time is about 25 minutes for 800 metres, and a climb of 135 metres -- quicker if you walk at the same time. Note "SoHo" means "above Hollywood Road" in the escalator system landscape.
Unlike elsewhere in China, vehicles in Hong Kong and Macau are driven on the left-hand side of the road, as in Britain, Australia and Japan (among others). Pedestrians from elsewhere should look for cars and buses in unexpected places; but with jaywalking laws strictly enforced, few cross against the light.
Cantonese, the de facto official language spoken by most people here, is mutually unintelligible with other spoken Chinese varieties, but somewhat similar when written. Lessons in Mandarin, China's national language, are encouraged, but Cantonese lyrics in popular music make it fashionable far beyond the home area. English, another official language, is understood by about 35 percent of people in Hong Kong, mostly as a second language. Signs in both Chinese and English are commonplace, with many roads retaining their colonial names in English.
What to do
Main sights on your to-see list should include the Chi Lin Nunnery, a peaceful retreat in a sprawling suburb; the Hong Kong Museum of Art; and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Check out the skyline view seen on the postcards, from Victoria Peak, by way of the Peak Tramway. You’ll also want to see the Tian Tan Buddha, a 202-ton statue said to be the world’s largest, overlooking Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. For more suggestions see our activities listings.
Currency and Money
The local currency is the Hong Kong dollar, the ninth most traded currency in the world. Credit cards are accepted everywhere in this cosmopolitan city. ATMs can be found all over, and some HSBC machines provide 24-hour HKD cash withdrawals for Visa and Mastercard holders. Consult your home bank before departure for more details. The Hong Kong Tourism Board has a useful section at Money.
Media and Resources
DimSung Magazine is Hong Kong's free gay lifestyle magazine.
Element Magazine is an Asian app for all platforms, about men's fashions, groomig, entertainment and travel. Fruits & Suits, or FinS, is an LGBT informal monthly professional networking event. Check their facebook page for their social events venue of the month.
Plug Magazine, with glossy print pages and a website, promotes community, culture, and creativity in Hong Kong, from a gay perspective.
Utopia, the gay guide to Asia, also has listings for Hong Kong. Travel Gay Asia also has listings for SE Asia, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Sydney Australia, with good coverage of the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Hong Kong.
GagaOOLala, the first Asian LGBTI streaming platform, offers over 400 film/video titles from around the world, with service to Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival takes place across two weeks in November-December, with feature films and shorts from around the world.
Rainbow HK operates the LGBT Community Centre in Hong Kong with over 100 annual activities including discussion groups, forums, workshops, art shows, movies, sports, camping, BBQs, picnics, karaoke events and music concerts. Services include blood testing, counseling, hotline, education, outreach, HIV intervention, legal support, and emergency domestic violence support.
GayHK is a local website portal for saunas, and massage services, in Chinese and English. Some outfits have out-services only.
Discover Hong Kong is the website of the HK Tourism Board. For information about public swimming pools and beaches, museums, libraries and parks, see the Beaches & Pools, Leisure & Cultural Services, Libraries, Performing Arts, or Public Museums website pages.
The South China Morning Post, founded in 1903, is the city's main English-language newspaper. The Hong Kong Free Press is another English language source for local news. The Apple Daily print edition is in Chinese, with online news in English. However, following the imposition of the National Security Law by Beijing in July, and the arrests of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai and executives in August, people are worried for the future of a free and independent press in Hong Kong.
Victoria Tin-bor Hui, a Hong Kong native and associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, has a blog on recent political developments in this city.
See Tweets from Hong Kong pro-democracy activists/ politicians Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow, harassed and sentenced to imprisonment for their work in The Umbrella Movement and subsequent protests against government policies.
For map locations and website links to the businesses below, and more, see our gay Hong Kong listings pages.
Going Out, bars
Boo Bar (225 Nathan Rd, Jordan), karaoke bar, early crowd of bears, DJs until 4am on weekends.
LinQ (35 Pottinger St, Central), casual gay/mixed bar, Wednesday Guy’s Nights, Saturday LIT, DJ music, terrace, international mix.
L’Paradis (57-59 Chatham Rd S, Cameron Centre 5/F, Tsim Sha Tsui), nightly lesbian bar, games, karaoke, dancing, theme party nights.
New Wally Matt Lounge (152 Austin Rd, Kowloon), gay bar/lounge, restaurant, internet WiFi, happy hours, mixed international older crowd.
T:me (65 Hollywood Rd, Central), trendy, gay-friendly Soho mixed bar, soft jazz, quality wines.
Virus (447-449 Lockhart Rd, Chung Wai Commercial Bldg, 21/F, Causeway Bay), long-time lesbian bar, new location, karaoke, BBQ/food, make your own drinks specials.
Wink (79 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan), chic gay bar, all black, minimal decor, all-day breakfast, cocktail menu.
ZerOne (Shop 17 Hang Fook Bldg, 17-23 Shanghai St, Jordan), small locals' gay pub in Kowloon, karaoke, men/women, snacks.
CLOSED: Adonis Bar (468 Jaffe Rd, Causeway Bay); Bauhinia Beach Club (South Bay Rd, Middle Bay Beach); Cafe Queen (237 Queens Rd W, Sheung Wan; Deja Vu (41 Staunton St, Central); Lab (468 Jaffe Rd, Causeway Bay); Midnight & Co (79 Wyndham, Central); Tony's Bar (5A, Chatham Rd, S, Kowloon); Volume HEAT (83-85 Hollywood Rd, Central); X Bar (50 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay).
Going Out, clubs
Bing Bing (15 Sharp St East, Causeway Bay), popular gay craft cocktail lounge on the 22nd floor, good sound, special parties, shows, go-go boys, mostly young local guys; formerly Circo.
FLM (62 Jervois St, Central), gay two-floor nightclub dancing, drag shows, theme parties; the former Volume | BEAT location.
Guerrilla Hong Kong sponsored gay take-over nights at straight clubs around town each month; inactive since Oct 2017.
Ophelia (200 Queen's Rd E/ 1/F, Lee Tung Ave, Wan Chai), opulent dance club/ cocktail lounge cabaret entertainment, friendly all week, gayest Tuesdays with drag diva and male dancers; dress smart.
Petticoat Lane (57-59 Wyndham St, Central), Wednesday-Sunday basement LGBT/ mixed "no-labels" dancing/clubbing, bartender hunks, outdoor area, male & female pole dancers.
PLAY Club (1 On Hing Ter, Central), gay-friendly mixed dance club, international vibe, shows, special events.
Volar (38-44 D'Aguilar St, Central), serious dance club, mixed crowd, guest DJs from around the world.
Zoo (33 Jervois St, Sheung Wan), jungle decor, mixed dance crowd, jazz & Latin music nights.
CLOSED: Club 97 (9 Lan Kwai Fong, Central); Propaganda (1 Hollywood Rd, Central); Volume BEAT (62 Jervois St, Sheung Wan).
Saunas & Cruise Clubs
Hong Kong has a lot of gay saunas; places where gay men go for "release" and relaxation, as opposed to the clubs, where they go to socialize, dress up, see-and-be-seen. We list the 14 most accessible for visitors below and in our map & listings/saunas page.
Most have all the amenities you'd expect: dry sauna, steam room, Jacuzzis, cabins, video lounges and dark room cruising; some also have pools, bars, karaoke nights and/or cafes. Some are favored by bears, others by younger crowds, with varying proportions of East/West mixing. Others not listed, mostly locals' bathhouses, can be found by anyone adventurous enough (and Cantonese speaking) by searching the local listings.
Among the most welcoming saunas to gay foreigners:
Base Sauna (16 Granville Circuit, Tsim Sha Tsui), 24-hour sauna, dark room, hot tub, nude days, theme nights, cabins; formerly Arena & ABC Sauna.
Central Escalator (37 Cochrane St, Cheung Hing Commercial Bldg, Central), small but central men's steam and dry sauna, Jacuzzi, cabins, snacks, international mix.
Colony Sauna (177 Prince Edward Rd West, Kowloon), 24-hour steam room, Jacuzzi, dark room, cabins, locals/visitors, TV lounge and garden terrace, WiFi, nude nights.
Soda Sauna (417-421 Hennessy Rd, Causeway Bay), 24-hour steam and dry saunas, tanning, dark room, cabins, videos, WiFi, and snacks; formerly Action.
Gong Guan (30 Jordan Rd, Vincent House 3/F, Kowloon) -CLOSED- modern new steam and dry saunas, dark room, cabins, open 24-hours over weekends.
HuTong (639-645 Shanghai St, Kar Wong Bldg 2/F, Mong Kok), 24-hour steam and dry sauna, locals/visitor mix, Jacuzzi, dark maze, nude and muscular nights, suite rooms.
CLOSED: Alexander 24 (404 Reclamation St, Mong Kok); Galaxy (81 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui); Jungle (577 Nathan Rd, Mong Kok); and KK Fitness Club (19-21 Jordan Rd,Tsim Sha Tsui).
Men's cruise venues include: Bird's Men's Club (90 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui), Kowloon foreigner-welcoming nude afternoon-evening facility with video lounge, private cabins and shower; and Rainbow Bear Paradise (687 Nathan Rd, Kowloon), bears' club with cafe and private cabins.
Always Spa (395 Shanghai St, 18/F, Mong Kok, Kowloon), Men's Spa and Beauty Services, offers massages, aromatherapy, facials and peels.
See Services on the map page for our listings of 20 massage spas. All provide in-house services and some will come to a home residence or hotel room. In addition, Gym Spa HK, MM Club, and V-Club provide out-call services only. There are others if you look around, and/or speak the language. See the GayHK website for more local online listings of saunas, spas, and massage service providers - with websites mostly in Chinese, but many in English as well.
Accommodations & Restaurants
You can find lodgings most anywhere in the city, at rates from cheap and basic to world-class luxury suites with fantastic city views and regal pampering, if price isn't an issue.
We list a sample ranging from the Y-Loft Hostel to the Ritz-Carlton atop the ICC Tower (the world's highest hotel rooms), in Kowloon, Central and nearby areas. The Butterfly group of hotels, along with Mini Hotel Central are each well-located and full-service, at affordable prices.
See a list of 50 of the favourite restaurants of the moment by Vogue HK - updated each week. Open Rice lists a wide variety of local eateries, and Foodpanda lists, takes orders and delivers food from hundreds of restaurants within 30 minutes time. Deliveroo and UberEats offer similar services. TimeOut has a list of Hong Kongs oldest, most authentic restaurants. | <urn:uuid:dc7f2e1f-3e1d-40f2-8789-6579891598f5> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.dailyxtratravel.com/(X(1)S(wgt3vaei3452fn55vlfd5r55))/china/hong-kong/hong-kong | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573029.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817153027-20220817183027-00275.warc.gz | en | 0.927743 | 4,599 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Research Scientist and Microscope Facilities Manager
Ms. Pitts has been a researcher in the field of microbial biofilms for twenty years and she has managed the CBE Microscopy Facility for the past fifteen. In her capacity as facilities manager, she has directed daily operations and long-term planning for the facility, trained and worked with all users of the facility instrumentation, and directed technical and equipment funding and expenditures. Ms. Pitts has identified collaboration, and facilitation of cutting edge research via microscopy as the goals of the facility. With these goals in mind, she has made it a priority to adapt the facility instrumentation to suit the myriad research requirements encountered in a multi-disciplinary Core facility. She has instituted microscope users group meetings which assist researchers with problem solving in both imaging and analysis, and facilitate valuable technique transfer among disciplines. She has collaborated with the world’s largest producer of fluorescent stains (Invitrogen) to develop fluorescent dyes specifically for biofilms, and is an expert on the subject of fluorescence microscopy of biofilms. Ms. Pitts has attended numerous courses on image analysis and imaging, including a week-long course on Live Cell Imaging offered by the Royal Microscopical Society at Oxford-Brookes University, Oxford, UK. | <urn:uuid:9097ee2a-1e3a-4539-beeb-fdf73b271c6b> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.biofilm.montana.edu/people/staff/pitts-betsey.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719273.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00064-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96523 | 261 | 1.75 | 2 |
E-Published 3/31/2020 Author Manuscript
Claims of the efficacy of the compound N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in improving Covid-19 outcomes have been circulating of late in health and wellness circles. When asked of my own personal opinion with NAC in supplement form, I replied that I had ceased taking or recommending its use because of the risk for cancer initiation often accompanying protein isolate or amino acid supplementation (1,2,3,4). However, since very recently being challenged on this hypothesis, I have looked deeper into the voluminous amount of research surrounding this substance. The purpose of this report is to share some of my findings. If you are currently taking this as a dietary supplement I strongly encourage you to read this article in its entirety.
NAC - A little hairy?
Here’s a little background info I found surprising… L-cysteine, the main ingredient in N-Acetylcysteine, has been historically manufactured in foreign countries (in particular China) from human hair (a potent source of the amino acid). Other sources may include bird feathers or even synthetic derivation (5). One of the more popular processes in which L-cysteine is then “acetylated" into NAC is described as follows: “we have prepared […NAC…] using 1 equiv. of acetic anhydride [which is basically vinegar without moisture] and a variety of acid acceptors in aqueous tetrahydrofuran)” (6). Furthermore, undesired byproducts (from 35-20%) will need to be removed although even higher purity varieties may contain some degree of contaminants (7).
There are many studies showing benefit in vitro (outside the body) and vivo (inside the body), of the indirect free radical scavenging effects of NAC (8). However as one researcher wrote: “NAC should not be considered to be a powerful antioxidant in its own right: its strength is the targeted replenishment of GSH [Glutathione] in deficient cells and it is likely to be ineffective in cells replete in GSH” (9).
The role of NAC in the treatment of many diseases is still unclear and controversial. Therapeutically, it has been shown to possess strong mucolytic properties (by breaking the disulfide bonds in mucus) and is frequently given in cases of acetaminophen overdose to decrease liver toxicity (10). However, one article, reviewing over one hundred and three research studies related to the clinical use of this compound, found that “numerous, mainly small clinical trials with variable doses have yielded inconsistent results in a wide variety of diseases” (11). Furthermore, some of the reported benefits of NAC were shown to be due to dosages that would be difficult to achieve in the clinical setting, in particular with oral supplementation (12).
Unexpected side effects:
Besides potentially increasing the risk of cancer (1,2,3,4), NAC has been found to decrease the cancer-fighting effectiveness of a large class of naturally medicinal substances, such as curcumin (13), berberine (14), vitamin D (15), melatonin (16), selenium (17), and cucurbitacin (18). This is due to the fact that these compounds utilize oxidation (aka production of free radicals) to initiate cancer cell death (apoptosis) (13,14,15,16,17,18) and the robust and persistent repletion of glutathione by NAC neutralizes this effect.
This point deserves further elaboration due to the misconception that antioxidants are usually seen as “good” and free radicals “bad.” While persistently disarming free radicals (aka reactive oxygen species or R.O.S.) is a great idea in many disease processes it can be dangerous in others. In the case of pulmonary disease: “based on this knowledge, some researchers suggested that a faster clearance of ROS could reduce lung damage and improve lung function.” (19) However, “ROS generation by […] pathogens has also been established in respiratory epithelial cells, and the modulation of ROS was reported to be important for respiratory virus–induced innate immune mechanisms” (ibid).
An example of the positive effects of NAC’s action are the studies showing significant reduction of the severity of some influenza infections (20, 21, 22). This may be due largely to the fact that the virus is spread readily through replication (multiplication inside the cell) and consequent rupture of the cell membrane (apoptosis) (23). According to one study: “apoptosis induction is an antiviral host response, however, influenza A virus (IAV) infection promotes host cell death” (ibid). This allows the virus, after sufficient intracellular replication, to exit the cell in masse. Apoptosis is triggered by the overwork of the virus-hijacked cell’s organelles (mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum) and production of large amounts of oxidative stress. NAC can suppress these free radicals and reverse the trend toward apoptosis and subsequent release of virons, thus slowing the spread of the Influenza virus.
While this process may be potentially beneficial in influenza infection, it may actually be dangerous in human coronavirus infection. One reason is that the coronavirus can efficiently exit the host cell via the process of viral budding instead of apoptosis (24). In fact, cells infected with coronavirus can even adhere and fuse with neighboring cells “..lead[ing] to the formation of giant, multinucleated cells, which allows the virus to spread within an infected organism without being detected or neutralized by virus-specific antibodies” (Ibid). In theory, this could lead to a much greater risk of asymptomatic transmission of the virus.
During the replication of coronaviruses "massive amount[s] of structural proteins [are] synthesized to assembly progeny virions. The production, folding, and modification of these proteins undoubtedly increase the workload of the ER [endoplasmic reticulum]” (24). However, coronaviruses naturally block a critical pathway (the integrated stress response) that would normally trigger a decrease of viral replication and apoptosis of the infected cell. This is at least in part by limiting the secretion of the cell’s red alert compounds known as “interferons” (Ibid). However, interferon (alpha) production can still occur (leading to apoptosis) due to the massive amount of oxidative stress generated by viral production (ibid). Thus, production of functional interferon after infection with SARS-CoV-1 is purported to be "essential for the control of potentially lethal coronavirus infections” (25, 26).
NAC and coronavirus replication:
Reducing the free radical generation by stressed organelles with N-acetylsysteine (a potent and persistent replenisher of intracellular glutathione) has been shown to potentially encourage an environment supporting enhanced viral replication in human coronavirus infection (resulting in enhanced endoplasmic reticulum folding capacity) (27). To make matters worse, NAC may alter the profile of the normal production of cytokines (chemical messengers mediating the inflammatory response) (19, 27). The latter is concerning seeing that immune dysregulation is already a hallmark of coronavirus infection. A study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases “observed leukopenia in 47% of patients, lymphopenia in 84%, and T lymphopenia in 95%. CD4(+) T lymphocyte levels were reduced in 100% of patients, CD8(+) T lymphocyte levels were reduced in 87%, B lymphocyte levels were reduced in 76%, and natural killer cell levels were reduced in 55%” (28).
Also of interest, in HIV infection, dosages of NAC typical of oral administration, but not intravenously, caused an increase in the infection rate of monocytes (27). After viral infection these giant immune cells are themselves at increased risk for aberrant behavior, potentially letting go of their munitions in the lungs and causing a devastating condition known as cytokine storm- the single most deadly end result of Covid-19 infection (29, 30)
Ultimately we will need to weigh the evidence ourselves and make an educated decision. The good news is that we can safely enjoy the benefits of dietary bioavailable cysteine and thereby ensure healthy normalization of glutathione levels. For example, raw garlic contains natural forms of this amino acid, such as S-allyl-cysteine, which also shows potent anti-cancer effects (31, 32, 33). Furthermore, adequate amounts of vitamin D have been shown to safely regulate levels of glutathione (34).
The Biblical concept of temperance is shown to apply even at the molecular level: moderate use of that which is good, and abstinence of that which is harmful. Normal levels of intracellular glutathione have a positive effect upon our health, however, given the raw materials, the body can do a better job of managing the fine line of production so that the compound is not used as a cloak for cancer or viral development.
1) JCI Insight. 2019 Oct 3;4(19). pii: 127647. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.127647.
2) Sci Transl Med. 2014 Jan 29;6(221):221ra15. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3007653.
3) Rejuvenation Res. 2014 Jun;17(3):306-11. doi: 10.1089/rej.2014.1577.
4) Sci Transl Med. 2015 Oct 7;7(308):308re8. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aad3740.
6) N-Acylation of Cysteine Tellis A. Martin, John R. Corrigan, and Coy W. Waller
The Journal of Organic Chemistry 1965 30 (8), 2839-2840 DOI: 10.1021/jo01019a509
8) Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2018; 2018: 2835787.
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10) Sci Transl Med. 2015 Feb 25; 7(276): 276ra27. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3010525
11) Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Jan; 61(1): 5–15.
12) J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2009 Oct;54(4):319-26. doi: 10.1097/FJC.0b013e3181b6e77b.
13) Korean J Physiol Pharmacol. 2010 Dec;14(6):391-7. doi: 10.4196/kjpp.2010.14.6.391.
14) Int J Oncol. 2011 Feb;38(2):485-92. doi: 10.3892/ijo.2010.878.
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21) J Negat Results Biomed. 2011 May 9;10:5. doi: 10.1186/1477-5751-10-5.
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Published online 2014 Jun 17. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00296.
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28) Clin Infect Dis. 2003 Sep 15;37(6):857-9. Epub 2003 Aug 28.
29) Intensive Care Med. 2020 Mar 3. doi: 10.1007/s00134-020-05991-x. [Epub ahead of print].
30) Semin Immunopathol. 2017; 39(5): 529–539.
31) Exp Ther Med. 2020 Feb;19(2):1511-1521. doi: 10.3892/etm.2019.8383.
32) Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 6;21(3). pii: E1090. doi: 10.3390/ijms21031090.
33) Int Immunopharmacol. 2019 Apr;69:19-26. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2019.01.026. Epub 2019 Jan 18.
34) J Neurochem. 1999 Aug;73(2):859-66. | <urn:uuid:2e0d3c99-7047-4a35-94df-d4e0af19a5bd> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.healthislife.org/blog/archives/04-2020 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571692.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812105810-20220812135810-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.866412 | 3,041 | 2.015625 | 2 |
If you are extravagantly entering the current year movement composing rivalry or simply need to improve the work, look at these helpful hints. Write in the main individual, past tense and present if the activity truly legitimizes it, and make the story an individual record, entwined with actualities, portrayal, and perception. Numerous authors begin their piece in lifestyle writing travel design story with a solid, however concise account.
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On the bad chance that there is a snare, another pattern, disclosure or edge, make that unmistakable inside an initial couple of sections. Attempt to concoct an account string that will keep running all through the piece, connecting the start and finish, a point you were making. The part should stream, yet do not tell the whole excursion sequentially, carefully select the best.
Statements from individuals you met can breathe life into the piece, give local people a voice and create a point it will take more time to account for yourself. Statement individuals precisely and distinguish them, who were they, where you met them? Keep away from buzzwords. Attempt to think of unique portrayals that define something. Our pet abhors include clamoring markets.
The effort not to utilize expressions and words you would not use in the discourse, for example, restaurants or dwelling places. Do not try to be excessively smart and formal. The best composition sounds common and has character. It must sound like you. Try not putting effort to be gonzo and extremely humorous, except if you are certain it is working. Check your realities. It is great to labor in some.
Maybe things you have gained from conversing with individuals, or in books and other research, yet utilize solid sources and twofold check they are right. Compose financially, do not waste words on verdicts that could be dense. Minutes that influenced you actually do not really make fascinating perusing. Keep away from stories of individual setbacks except if appropriate.
It can be about an encounter that they may have as well if they somehow managed to rehash the trek. Travel composing profits by a true to life approach, inside that you have to shift the center, the wide focal point for setting and scene, medium principal point for setting and shading, long range focal point for detail and account, and switch amid the perspectives in a piece to the story.
Travel reporting should add towards the abundance of data officially out there in manuals and on sites, so attempt to search out the further off the beaten path spots to eat, drink, stay, regularly the spots local people may visit. Uncovering another or diverse side to a goal would give your story an extravagance that you would not get with a depiction of any visit to the visitor bistro.
It might sound somewhat valuable. However, it is a convenient tip for the pace of the article in the principal square to the story. Concentrate on educating the pursuer something regarding the spot purplish blue or cobalt sea, settling among, generous passage, or a buffet of fascinating chunks of data there and why bits, stories, and depictions, that will recount for you. | <urn:uuid:a9554c0a-64e0-47f8-8758-cd5a3ee38a25> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.buyprintedgifts.com/tips-on-lifestyle-writing-travel-design-story/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571150.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810070501-20220810100501-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.945895 | 714 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Between fast food, reality tv and jazz music, American innovations have surely made their mark on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. But U.S.-style litigation? The thorough document discovery and retention tactics that define U.S.-style litigation had never caught on beyond the country's borders, and multinational corporations have had to play by a host of different rules depending on the forum.
Now, though, that paradigm is shifting. From Dubai to Beijing, more countries are adopting U.S.-style litigation. According to Tara Lee, partner and global chair of cross border litigation for DLA Piper, this change is a recent one, not even imaginable at the turn of the century.
“There is an increased awareness about document retention, document collation and document discovery sensitivity from overseas clients and foreign corporations to a degree that I haven't seen since I’ve been practicing law,” Lee says.
The reason, she says, is the extraterritorial reach of those companies practicing U.S.-style litigation. Thanks to the rise in prominence of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and U.K. Bribery Act, companies in all corners of the globe are now subject to potential investigations, resulting in more documents being produced. “Every corner of the globe, every corporation everywhere probably has at least had training—and might have found itself caught up in the net of—those two particular statutes,” Lee explains.
The numbers back up her assertions. According to statistics provided by Scott Paczosa of Navigant Consulting, 39 percent of companies with disclosed active FCPA investigations are headquartered outside the U.S. In addition, 99 percent of all disclosed FCPA investigations are located outside North America, with 47 percent of those investigations taking place in Asia.
Reaching across the world
When you’re dealing with the United States, according to Marcus Asner, a partner at Arnold & Porter who focuses on anti-corruption investigations, then you’re likely dealing with other foreign governments as well.
“Companies and lawyers like me are recognizing that these countries are talking to each other,” Asner says. “Even if you decide not to go to the authorities in Country X, they may come to you because the Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached out to them.”
But why would other countries listen to the U.S.? Because, as Asner explains, the benefits of this type of litigation are numerous for the government. “To actually do an FCPA investigation for the DOJ would be incredibly resource-intensive,” Asner says. “So, what they rely upon is people not knowing when they’re going to focus on a case. As a practical matter, if you are an American company and you’re publicly listed, what you’ll end up doing is saying, ‘I’m not going to risk it.’”
The cases that the DOJ has pursued have proven to multinational corporations that internal investigations are worth the trouble, explains Roger Burlingame of global litigation boutique Kobre & Kim LLP. “Companies certainly noticed the surge in enforcement, but initially there was some disbelief since the ties to the U.S. were often so remote,” Burlingame says. “Now, sophisticated global actors take U.S. global enforcement as a given. The reason is simple: Even if the U.S. hasn't surfaced, the threat of U.S. action is ever-present and if it is ignored, the consequences can be devastating.”
Five years ago, Lee said she believed she was “going to remain unconcerned about” U.S. style-litigation reaching a location with a radically different judicial system such as the Middle East. Now, however, U.S.-style litigation has reached even that corner of the globe. Paczosa found that Iraq ranked third among countries most frequently implicated in FCPA enforcement actions between 2010 and 2013, with 20 distinct actions within the country. Only Nigeria (30) and China (28) were implicated more often.
Litigation with benefits
With U.S.-style litigation spreading, in-house counsel are often forced to undertake more discovery and document retention initiatives than ever before. However, Lee says there may be some benefits to the spread of this type of litigation for those in house.
“I think for a lot of general counsel, it's a big burden when you have to reach out and get qualified, reliable, high-level counsel in, say, 16 countries. That's a lot to manage,” adds Lee. “The idea that any time they can consolidate that management, with one point of contact, is something that we were talking about five years ago a lot.”
Asner agrees and says that American businesses will ultimately benefit from this worldwide trend in litigation—but not without a few hiccups. “While there are growing pains now and instances where companies are having trouble competing because other companies are dirty, in the long-run, it's going to be good for American business, because American business is at the forefront of getting clean first,” Asner says.
Charting the spread
While the FCPA is the regulation du jour worldwide, Lee says that the real statute that litigators need to watch in reaagrds to the spread of U.S.-style litigation may not come from the U.S. at all.
“The U.K.'s Bribery Act is an incredibly broad and far-reaching statute, even more than the FCPA,” Lee explains. “It reaches out and touches everybody almost everywhere.”
As a result, adds Asner, the U.K. statute may be the one that in-house counsel should follow to guarantee the best compliance program possible. “I tend to advise companies that are working internationally that it's better to just go ahead and follow the Bribery Act, because that sets the highest possible standard,” Asner says. “You try and get the companies to meet an international standard of best practices so that if anybody comes knocking at your door, they can say, ‘Look, we’ve got this compliance program.’”
However, Burlingame notes, it's important to remember that the Bribery Act is a recent statute, having just received Royal Assent in April 2010. As a result, the U.S. is still the undisputed litigation leader until something changes. “The U.S. Department of Justice devotes tremendous resources to investigating and prosecuting FCPA cases around the world and is the undisputed global bribery enforcer,” Burlingame says. “Even though the Bribery Act gives the U.K. authorities more power, that power will remain largely theoretical until the Serious Fraud Office proves that it can bring (and win) these cases.”
Already, some corners of the globe are beginning to push back against the spread of U.S.-style litigation. In the U.K., the Jackson Reforms, enacted in 2013, attempt to limit discovery costs and encourage settlements. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court's January 2014 ruling in Daimler AG v. Bauman reaffirmed that general jurisdiction over a corporation is only proper if the corporation is “at home” in the state where legislation is pending, meaning that foreign companies cannot face legislation in state court simply for conducting business in that state if the incident occurs elsewhere.
But even those rulings may not stop the overall spread of U.S.-style litigation. As Asner says, “The efficiency of doing it this way is that you effectively enlist the corporation to self-examine. Efficiency is huge, and given that corporate footprints worldwide are increasingly important, I think the trend will be that the U.S. style of these investigations will continue.”
For in-house counsel, the days of dealing with U.S.-style litigation are not numbered. Just as companies are becoming more globalized, so are the regulatory rules governing their actions. | <urn:uuid:6d45cc49-e58f-4dd3-962e-2e69433ce7c5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.insidecounsel.com/2014/05/22/the-new-global-system-us-style-litigation-is-sprea?t=department-management | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560285315.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095125-00571-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962955 | 1,689 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Building software that fuels a generation comes with a social responsibility.
Getting software finished and working, with deadlines met and on budget is a small miracle in any development project. However, how often do you or your team look down the path of the future use and lifespan of the software you are developing?
Software developers build the software that society relies on, and will continue to do so as we become more and more dependent on technology and the software that runs it for survival. I don’t believe this to be science fiction.
It is quite clear that hardware will continue to get better–processors for example are expected to continue to get faster according to Moore’s law for only up to 15-20 years from now according to some conservative study estimates.
This view of taking more time to think about the future of the technology and software we create is something many luminaries in the world of IT are promoting. Project management guru Tom DeMarco came out to Australia early this year and told delegates at a conference in Sydney that companies were obsessed with processes and getting things done with little time to think about the impact of their work.
A group based in the United States named the Long Now Foundation is attempting to change the way people think from faster/cheaper to slower/better. The group has been responsible for the Rosetta Project, Long Server and most notably the building of a 10,000 year clock envisioned by Danny Hillis, a famous computer scientist working on supercomputers.
Okay, I’m the first to say a 10,000 year clock sounds like another crackpot idea from the US, but if you do stop and think about it, projects like this that are thinking further than a generation ahead should prompt us to do the same. This project might be one extreme but if we are going to depend on technology, it will have to be built rock-solid, otherwise poor quality software could end up being extremely costly, quite possibly costing environmental damage and human life.
There is always going to be money in the faster/cheaper model. Why? There is a demand for products that we don’t need. The mobile phone and gadget space is a prime example with so many promises but delivering so little. On top of this you have a market pushing incompatible solutions onto end-users.
Understandably, this is not all the work and responsibility of software developers, but if there is to be a change in making quality, long-lasting technology there will have to be an industry-wide drive to make it happen. | <urn:uuid:c571ed5b-9fe8-4543-a4da-84e7be2b685c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.techrepublic.com/article/making-software-last/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572215.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815235954-20220816025954-00665.warc.gz | en | 0.957055 | 519 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Fighting the Supermarket Flora
Number 20 - July 2000
B. Locoro & L. Minuto
New generations are technologically advanced; they watch television, they play with computers, and they navigate on the Internet. But in the multimedia age, society is loosing its culture day by day; popular traditions and nature’s culture are no longer a part of modern life. If you ask a child ‘What is a tomato?’ they will probably reply that a tomato is a red sauce that is generally put on fries when having a meal in a fast-food restaurant.
Taking this into consideration, the University Botanic Garden of Genoa has developed an education programme to fight the loss of traditional knowledge and uses of wild herbs for medicinal and cooking purposes. The main task of the data collection work was the conservation of a very old Mediterranean culture. Local experiences, many centuries old, have built up popular belief in using plants for life; herbs were used for everyday meals and also had important medicinal value. During a themed tour of the garden, comparisons are made between old uses of medicinal plants and the new chemical analysis of them, in order to increase participants' understanding of how often they are strongly related. In addition, special practical workshops are organised that focus on the identification of edible plants and participants are shown how to use them in simple but nice recipes.
Italy is commonly considered to be one of the most cultural countries in the world. Wherever you go in Italy you can find a cultural link, an historical monument, or a sample of art. Our nation is regarded as being one of the most important milestones in the development of world culture.
When evaluating the Italian culture in such a way one might even think of it as one of the most complete in the world. In reality, however, a deeper analysis shows that its main feature has been and still is the humanistic element. Poetry, literature, music, science and art are mainly referred to by using metaphors from the animal kingdom and very few elements are linked to plants and the plant kingdom.
Considering this, it is easy to understand why nowadays, in our modern way of life, people don’t care for wild life in the form of plants. The best examples we can use are feature films on nature; they show animals and threatened species from all over the world, but threats to plants are rarely presented. Examples of conservation slogans include: ‘Save the Panda in China’ and ‘We Protect the Honey from Sardinia’, but rarely do you hear about problems of the Italian flora and vegetation. Conservation groups consider general problems such as pollution, the increasing number of houses on the territory and promotion of nature reserves, some of which are important animal habitats (e.g. for eagles, seals, and ibex’s). These groups are generally unaware of, or not interested in, the presence of rare plants. They don’t know where the rare Saxifraga species occur, or in which location some rare alpine species tries to survive. This kind of information is only known to a handful of specialists and it is therefore difficult to raise awareness of these threatened plants because they don’t have a widespread impact on public opinion. This fact is related to a general lack of awareness about the plant kingdom.
Modern Cultural Reality
New generations are technologically advanced and culturally developed. Two out of three children have a computer to play video-games and one out of five boys has a computer to surf the Internet. Children have the opportunity to travel all over the world sitting comfortably in their chair at home. They receive input from a large number of people and places that raises the question: do they really have a greater culture?
This cultural development has brought a large quantity of innovations; new things and actions exist now that a few years ago were inconceivable. However, what do the children learn? Are they confused? Have children the right vision of reality? The multimedia age society is losing its culture day by day. We believe that a culture is growing up aided by the quantity of information, not by the quality. Nowadays children are bombarded with new terms, images, news, and links everyday, but they don’t appear to have the opportunity to connect all the data they receive. To use a computer seems easier than reading a book and understanding its message. We are giving a fast-culture with immediate results, but all rapid information and learning elements are forgotten in such a short time.
The truth is that after a few days children remember only about 20% of what they saw or heard. This new generation lives in an unreal world where they know how to navigate the Internet but they never find a POP account. They rarely know the origin of the everyday world, nor the origin of each object they touch or use. By increasingly using computers in our modern culture we produce a reality that more and more resembles that of a virtual culture.
Modern life teaches us to run and run: do we always realise what we are doing? On the other hand the old education system is considered out of date and needs to be discarded and forgotten. This idea allows children to forget what the past actually was and it also means that they can’t relate to the troubles humankind has encountered through the centuries - before we arrived where we are today, namely at an age where we use the computer as an instrument to work with. Pupils now believe in a new God, the God of technology. They are no longer interested in knowing popular traditions and nature culture linked to their living area and ancestors.
Children are taught to have everything in abundance. When anyone needs anything, they can buy the finished product – sometimes made through a complex industrial process - without taking into consideration the many and different natural elements involved in the production.
Ask a child what a tomato is, they might answer that 'tomato is a red sauce generally used upon fries when having a meal in a fast-food restaurant'; or a typical answer of a child might be something like: ‘tomato is a fruit usually collected in a supermarket’. A large proportion of children have never seen a tomato plant, a potato plant nor any other edible plant and therefore they are not able to recognise those plants in a kitchen garden.
We don’t want to condemn the computer as a demon, we need to realise that it is an instrument we use to communicate and explain this to the next generation. At the same time, it is important to remember that the computer is supposed to work for us and that we don’t work for the computer!
The Supermarket Flora
What do we mean by the supermarket flora? According to the results of a quiz with primary school children, we realised that their knowledge about plant nature is linked to a specific idea: their plant kingdom does not contain roots, leaves, flowers and fruits or even trees, shrubs and herbs but mainly tins, bottles, packages, bags, and boxes within the industrial product of some plants (it doesn’t matter which they are!).
On this basis we can define a multicoloured flora of different shapes and materials which usually live in a very special habitat indeed: the supermarket. These plants love shelves and stands, they need neon light, they grow very strictly next to each other, during some seasons they are discounted, they are collectable everyday during a year, and they need neither a water supply nor pollinator insects. In a way, all of them could be considered to be threatened plants since if they don’t satisfy common taste they are taken off the market!
The tomato, for example, is a plant with different morphological shapes such as metal boxes, square tetra-packs, long or short bottles, with many subspecies if you consider all the different types of sauces you can find: ketchup, bolognese sauce, mushroom sauce, Mediterranean sauce and so on.
We posed questions to different classrooms and to a number of boys that we met on the street. We asked them what they might need in order to prepare a red sauce for spaghetti or a pizza. We found that they knew all the correct ingredients of the recipe (they will be marvellous cooks!), but when we asked where they could find the products, they answered: ‘…at the supermarket!’, and when we asked if there are any other possibilities to get them, they replied that they didn’t know.
The School Curriculum
The teaching of natural science and biology in Italian schools generally happens according to the same framework, and has been taught using the same methods for several years. The ministerial programmes are followed in a pedantic way, without outside excursions and laboratory activities in the majority of classrooms and schools. The reason for this inactivity seems to be mainly due to the teachers and their style and/or willingness to use innovative methods.
The teachers of primary schools do not seem to be sufficiently prepared: their styles are formed from pedagogic and literary points of view, leaving out the importance of science. On the other hand, a teacher of science at high school level might have achieved a degree in biology, but knowledge (at university level) of botany or other disciplines linked to the plant kingdom may be considered of little importance.
In general we have found that teachers focus their lesson preparation on what they studied at university and year after year they repeat the same lessons, sometimes with great monotony. To find any up-to-date courses where teachers can verify their preparation in the Italian school curriculum is a difficult task indeed.
We have also found an issue with the communication techniques of teachers and their lack of understanding of what interpretation is. A type of recycling system exists amongst school educators, meaning they often copy and re-use their own limited experiences over and over again. Very few manage to communicate their subjects to their students transforming their discipline in a loving way. Perhaps this is because they don't actually love their job.
Generally one can assume that teachers have good will and perhaps even good ideas with regard to teaching their subjects, but in some cases they don’t appear to put enough effort into showing their initiative and they often have neither the relevant information, nor sufficient training, and therefore not enough competence in this area.
Looking to the example of Genoa, one can point out the fact that teachers who have the intention to teach about environmental education appear to have to fight against the lack of awareness of their institutions and their pupils’ parents. They therefore have to fight to get funds from their school budget, and for spaces available in the schools, as well as for the amount of time they have to spend with pupils per week (science is a secondary subject in Italian ministerial programmes). They must overcome these obstacles and unfortunately are only able to achieve limited results.
The teachers who are able to offer something a little different are rare. In Italy there is no initiative to teach educators how they can motivate children to learn about science, nature and the environment. The few initiative schemes that do exist have only been around for a short time. The teachers often ask outside education agencies to collaborate and help them with environmental education activities, but these agencies must be paid and not all schools can afford to do this. Few school books have new ideas. They often propose the same ideas and rarely suggest new activities! In the libraries one can find books about new laboratory experiences, but teachers are rarely informed about such books or perhaps they can’t access them due to administrative problems or because of insufficient structures within the schools. These complications regarding scientific and botanic education, give an important and responsible role to botanic gardens in our day and age (and in this case in our town).
The Education Mission of a Botanic Garden
The botanic garden has an enormous potential in science education: it contains a great variety of botanical species and it is a place where people can come to learn about different natural environments. Moreover, it can be seen as a kind of photograph of the plant biodiversity of the world, and it offers the best material for the diffusion of a scientific culture and the promotion of the importance of the plant kingdom in our modern life.
We don't need to emphasise the didactic importance of a botanic garden, but educators all over the world should consider its importance and remember that in a botanic garden there is the opportunity to look, observe, explore, and even play with plants.
In some nations, mainly in places with a Latin culture, there is the potential for botanic gardens to focus schools in what is lacking in teaching of subjects such as botany and environmental and biodiversity conservation.
In Italy the education system needs to increase awareness of the role of the plant kingdom in our daily lives. Italians are not yet informed enough to understand this strong link, and education is the first and necessary step before one can address the subject of conservation. However, at present this model is not adhered to, neither by schools, not the media nor is it in line with popular opinion. The result is that a lot of well meaning words are spoken in favour of nature conservation but the real issue is not understood: namely that we all are involved in this mission and it’s important to incorporate this kind of thinking into each and every action in order to raise the awareness of the dangers that exist with regard to nature conservation. This idea could also be called ‘sustainability education’.
Sustainable education in a developed country means to help everybody to develop a new form of sensitivity on sustainable development, ethical and environmental problems. The environmental education must incorporate responsibility and care for our environment. The paper of principles says that the renewal of education structures and formative systems is a very important part of the project. This is important for administrations, common people, workers and companies, schools and education agencies.
Environmental education is not easy to deliver. It is not sufficient to declare the ideas in which we believe, they also need to be presented in a particular way. In any case we need innovative modifications with regard to teaching and learning of traditional systems. The educational intention might be inoperative if it is not supported by a realistic demonstration of what we want to teach.
In summary, the Italian botanic gardens could change opinions using their living collections and help to develop a new generation that love plants.
What Does Genoa Botanic Garden Do?
Taking this into consideration, the University Botanic Garden of Genoa developed an education programme to fight the ‘supermarket flora’.
The Botanic Garden has an Education Unit that is composed of members belonging to the University and to a private education agency operating in the garden. Last year the University defined the education and cultural strategies for its botanic garden and it issued a complete plan of action. The Education Unit transformed the plan into an annual education programme for pupils of any age.
The two main areas of focus are teacher training and developing a relationship with public education organisations. The overall aims of the programme are to:
- Provide an understanding of the plant kingdom to the general public.
- Raise awareness of issues related to plant conservation and biodiversity management.
Fighting the Store Flora
How is possible to fight the supermarket flora in reality? The botanic garden is elaborating on this new issue and all new activities and games will be developed with this aim in mind. As it is neither possible, nor possibly desirable, to change modern society and life in a developed country like Italy, we can only try to increase the awareness of how the plant kingdom effects and takes part in our everyday life. Increasing knowledge and awareness is the goal we would like to achieve. This is part of a new way of thinking and in order to pass it on we have come up with some new games and activities. Here are few examples:
The Courier of Alimentary Products
Children presumably associate supermarket products with natural alimentary products.
Objective: children will realise that everything they eat derives from plants directly or indirectly. They then can observe the strict linkage between the products desired in daily life and plants these products derive from.
Instructions: There are some fruits/vegetables (tomatoes, pineapples, potatoes, oranges, coffee beans, olives), and some alimentary products (ketchup, spaghetti, chips, flour, jam, pizza, coffee, oil, pineapple tin). The products are kept in random order in the glasshouse. Children are asked to form two squads, each with a different coloured flower, and they begin by associating products with fruits. Every couple gain one point and the winner is the group that has the most points. Then the children must find another partner and we ask them to observe supermarket stands and try to associate the ready made product with its natural ingredients.
During the year we will organise several courses for teachers and we have also prepared a working week called ‘At school in the Botanic Garden’ to show teachers a new way of looking at, teaching of and playing with science.
Objective: teachers revise their knowledge and learn new didactics of science lessons that are more pleasant and stimulating.
The subjects are: plants and their earth environments, flower leaf and fruit, plants used in every day life - in particular spices.
Children colour and compose artistic drawings.
Objective: children gain confidence with the plant environment.
Instructions: children associate different colours, play with different materials, observe different forms, use plant pieces in a creative way. They express their creativity, fantasy and their communicative capacity with plants without limits.
Save a Flower
Very young children help a flower in a difficult moment of its life: they help the flower to survive, to pollinate and to carry fruits.
Objective: to raise awareness of the life, importance and purpose of a flower and other natural elements; to observe an entire cycle of a flower life.
Instructions: a story is narrated about a forest that experiences a drought: many animals and plants experience difficulties, but the mowha flower (referred to in the Kipling story), in particular, is the most important because its death would mean that the water supplies would cease to exist. So this plant would appear to the children and ask them for help. They will then (hopefully) understand that they must look for water and they would be taught that the plant needs an insect for pollination. They might then look for a bee and for another flower in the glasshouse. They succeed, with our help, to obtain some fruits and sow the seeds.
Young children are dressed up as flowers with pistils and stamens, and they learn how an insect can pollinate them.
Objective: learning through enjoyment about the ways in which pollination occurs and to consider different problems that can and might occur in nature.
Materials: different leaves, woods, fruits, paper, colours, fingers and fantasy. We also give them cards of insects and animals.
We play with nature. Children create flowers.
Objective: to learn about flower structures and all their parts.
Materials: coloured paper (origami), wrinkle paper, straws, elastics and flowers pictures.
The Preboggion School
In this activity people learn to identify and cook a mixture of wild edible herbs (Preboggion) that grow in Liguria. Since the Crusaders’ period the Preboggion had been one of the most important elements in the regional alimentation.
The main task of collecting the data was to conserve a very old Mediterranean culture. Local experiences, many centuries old, built up popular beliefs in using plants for life. Poor herbs were used for every day meals but sometimes they also played the role of the doctor in healing situations.
Objective: nowadays is very important to show the general public, especially the younger generation, which plant could be named ‘good doctor’ or how to prepare a nice soup with herbs otherwise considered as weeds.
Instructions: for medicinal plants the comparison between old uses and new chemical analysis of these plants is shown during a tour of the garden, in order for participants to understand how often they are still strongly related.
Special practical workshops are organised for the identification of edible plants with demonstrations on how to use them in simple but tasty recipes.
Combattre la Flore du Supermarché
Les nouvelles générations sont technologiquement avancées. Elles regardent la télévision, jouent avec les ordinateurs et naviguent sur internet. Mais à l’ère du multimédia, la société perd sa culture jour après jour. Les traditions populaires et la culture de la nature ne font pas partie de la vie moderne. Si vous demandez à des enfants ‘qu’est-ce qu’une tomate?’ ils vous répondront probablement que c’est une sauce rouge que l’on met généralement sur les frites quand on va au restaurant fast food.
Partant de ce constat, le jardin botanique de l’Université de Gênes a développé un programme éducatif pour combattre la perte des savoirs traditionnels en se servant des plantes sauvages pour illustrer l’aspect médicinal et culinaire de la flore. La principale tâche assignée aux informations tirées de la collection est la conservation d’une culture méditerranéenne très ancienne. Des expériences locales, vieilles de plusieurs siècles, ont établi une confiance populaire dans l’usage des plantes. Les plantes étaient utilisées dans la nourriture de tous les jours et leur importance médicinale était reconnue. Au cours d’une visite thématique du jardin, on fait des comparaisons entre les usages anciens des plantes médicinales et leurs composés chimiques analysés pour aider les visiteurs à comprendre combien les deux sont liés. Des ateliers pratiques spéciaux sont organisés. Ils ont pour thème l’identification des plantes comestibles et les participants peuvent voir comment il est possible de les utiliser grâce à des recettes simples et agréables.
Batallando Contra la Flora del Supermercardo
Las nuevas generaciones están avanzadas tecnologicamente; miran la televisión, juegan con los ordenadores, navegan por el Internet. Pero en la edad del Multimedia, la sociedad pierde su cultura dia a dia; las tradiciones populares y la cultura de la naturaleza ya no son parte de la vida moderna. Si le preguntas a un nino, - Que es el tomate ? – probablemente conteste que el tomate es una salsa roja que se le pone a las patatas fritas cuando se come en un restaurante de ‘fast-food’.
Partiendo de este punto de vista, el Jardín Botánico de la Universidad de Genoa ha desarrollado un programa educativo para contrarrestar la pérdida del tradicional conocimiento y usos de las plantas silvestres de valor medicinal y culinario. El mayor objetivo del trabajo de recolección de datos era la conservación de una cultura Mediterranea muy antigua. La experiencia local, a veces a traves de muchos siglos, ha reforzado las tradiciones populares del uso de las plantas en la vida cotidiana; las hierbas se usaban en la alimentación diaria y también tenían un importante valor medicinal. Durante una visita temática al jardín, se comparan los antiguos usos medicinales de las plantas con análises químicos recientes para que los participantes comprendan mejor como muy frecuentemente estas características están aun relacionadas. Se organizan talleres especiales sobre la identificación de plantas comestibles y se le demuestra a los participantes como se pueden usar en recetas simples pero apetitosas. | <urn:uuid:a70cb70c-fb33-4bae-a01c-3a6f8fb17f9e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.bgci.org/education/article/0288/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282202.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00553-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90457 | 5,143 | 2.875 | 3 |
When annotating books, readers have several different highlighting color options (pink, blue, yellow, green, etc.), but the reader is unable to assign specific meaning to them. As a diligent color coder, I believe very strongly in the organization that color coding provides. That organization is meaningless, however, without a legend defining what each color means. For instance a user could set the pink color to mean that the highlighted passage is romantic in nature, the yellow indicated an important plot development, and the blue is a passage that speaks to the reader in a personal way. Being able to customize what each highlight color option means would be one way that kindle could take the user’s annotating ability to the next level. This could be done by putting the first letter of that category name in the circle of the highlights color. For instance, if I set pink as romantic, then the pink circle would have an "R" inside. This would also allow users to filter all of their highlights more efficiently by being able to skip down to that category of highlights. This would be especially helpful for students who need to do close reading for literature assignments, or PhD students reading up for dissertations and other persons who need an enhanced note-taking ability. | <urn:uuid:622fbfcc-4b2f-4ec4-85be-cacf62da473d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://amazon.developer.forums.answerhub.com:443/content/idea/88316/allow-readers-to-color-code-the-highlight-colors-i.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571758.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812200804-20220812230804-00676.warc.gz | en | 0.95121 | 253 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Army Beach Golf Statistieken, Lente: Golven met Licht of Offshore Winden
This image shows only the swells directed at Army Beach that coincided with light winds or offshore conditions through a typical northern hemisphere spring and is based upon 6580 predictions, one every 3 hours. The direction of the spokes show where quality surf generating swell comes from. Five colours represent increasing wave sizes. Very small swells of less than 0.5m (1.5 feet) high are shown in blue. Green and yellow represent increasing swell sizes and red illustrates largest swells greater than >3m (>10ft). In each graph, the area of any colour is proportional to how commonly that size swell was forecast.
The diagram implies that the prevailing swell direction, shown by the biggest spokes, was NW, whereas the the most common wind blows from the ENE. The chart at the bottom shows the same thing but without direction information. For example, swells larger than 1.5 feet (0.5m) coincided with good wind conditions 12% of the time, equivalent to 11 days. Open sea swells exceeding >3m (>10ft) are unlikely to occur in a normal northern hemisphere spring but 3% of the time we expect swell in the range 2-3m (6.5-10ft) 3%, equivalent to (3 days). Taking into account the ratio of these swells that coincided with predicted offshore winds, and given the fact that Army Beach is exposed to open water swells, we think that that clean surf can be found at Army Beach about 12% of the time and that surf is spoilt by onshore wind 42% of the time. This is means that we expect 49 days with waves in a typical northern hemisphere spring, of which 11 days should be surfable.
IMPORTANT: Beta version feature! Swell heights are open water values from NWW3. There is no attempt to model near-shore effects. Coastal wave heights will generally be less, especially if the break does not have unobstructed exposure to the open ocean. | <urn:uuid:d33e69ab-88ea-46da-ae1e-a5be4bd31080> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://nl.surf-forecast.com/charts/Army-Beach/surf/consistency/spring | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280791.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00366-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934467 | 424 | 2.171875 | 2 |
November 25 - Athletics has had the number of competitors allowed to take part in the Olympics at Rio 2016 reduced by more than 200, it has been revealed.
A record 2,231 athletes competed at London 2012 but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has capped the figure for Rio 2016 at 2,000.
Athletics will be the only sport to have its numbers for Rio 2016 cut from London 2012.
"It is no problem for us and this has been done in consultation with us and with our full support," International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) deputy general secretary Nick Davies told insidethegames.
"London was an aberration as the AAF has always accepted 2,000 as our Olympic quota."
Sebastian Coe, vice-president of the IAAF and former chairman of London 2012, also claimed that he understood the IOC's decision even it means that, if they stick it to strictly, it will be the lowest number of athletes to take in an Olympics since Barcelona 1992 when there were 1,725.
"If I'm being honest, we were over-quoted in London, so it's back to what it should have been really so I think we are fairly relaxed about it," he told insidethegames.
But the cut in the number of athletes able to compete at Rio 2016 will reinforce fears that athletics' status as the Olympics number one sport is slowly being eroded.
Earlier this year the IOC's ruling Executive Board drew up a new revenue sharing scheme for the 28 sports that will make up the Olympic programme in Rio 2016 that saw aquatics and gymnastics promoted to the top tier alongside athletics.
Previously, the IAAF was ranked alone in the highest of four groups and received the biggest share of the hundreds of millions of dollars generated from television rights and other deals from each Summer Games.
Under the revised formula announced by then IOC President Jacques Rogge, swimming's world governing body FINA and the World Gymnastics Federation join the IAAF in Group A.
The IAAF received about $45 million (£28 million/€33 million) from the total of $520 million (£321 million/€384 million) in revenues shared among the Federations from London 2012 but will earn less from Rio 2016.
Coe, though, insisted that athletics remains the number one Olympic sport.
"There are some philosophical issues about sharing number one status that we need to establish," he told insidethegames.
"I'm from athletics and that is something that we hold dear."
Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]
May 2013: Aquatics and gymnastics set for major financial boost at Rio 2016 after IOC announces new groupings | <urn:uuid:46db9a7b-c4a3-4801-9212-cb2975528558> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1017133/exclusive-athletics-has-number-of-competitors-cut-for-rio-2016 | 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 | 0.971485 | 557 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A few years ago I was working Five-Star and got involved in a discussion regarding footwork off the catch and off the dribble. For a few years I went back and forth between the 1-2 step (stride stop) and slide stop until about a year ago I decided that players need to know both.
Here is why: The quickest way to stop off the dribble is a stride stop. Almost always the quickest way to get squared to the basket off the catch is by using a slide stop. While I do agree that a 1-2 step is quicker than a jump stop, a slide stop is not a jump stop. It is a short, low to the ground slide to square your feet. The best term to describe this concept is "square in the air".
The argument I heard for 20 years was that "you should use a 1-2 step so that your feet are the same every time." Well what about the situation where you need to get a shot off and the quickest way is "square in the air"? Do you teach your kids to play comfortable or to be as quick as possible without hurrying? You need to train your feet to play in specific situations.
So, to summarize:
Quickest way to get perfect feet off the dribble: Stride Stop (1-2 step off the dribble)
Ideal Situation: You are driving hard to the bucket with the defender on your hip or out of the triple threat.
Quickest Way to get perfect feet off the catch: Slide Stop (A short, low-to-the-ground slide to square to get "10 Toes to the Rim")
Ideal Situations: Coming off a stagger or anytime you need to square to the rim. Also, off a post kick-out, dribble fill, middle wrap or baseline drift.
Please remember that a slide stop is not the traditional jump stop. If you are jumping too far off the floor to "square in the air" it will be slower than the 1-2 step. | <urn:uuid:73bcf1a6-c397-417b-9c96-59dd25b74131> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.active.com/basketball/articles/the-slide-stop-versus-the-1-2-step | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281424.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00333-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945139 | 419 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The 2011 NFL season is scheduled to begin September 8th. However, with a possible lockout on the horizon, football fans are anxiously consulting their calendars in anticipation of a much more imminent date, March 12.
The collective bargaining agreement that league owners and the National Football League Players Association have had a in place for six years recently expired, and if the parties can’t agree to a new one by March 12, 2011, a lockout goes into effect.
Depending on how long it lasts, the lockout could result in cancelled games , or even threaten the entire season. It’s happened before -- professional sports leagues have experienced labor disputes, and apart from the financial havoc they caus e owners and players, the communities that host teams lose revenue . Worse, if the stoppage lasts long enough, an entire spectator sport can lose its fan base for years.
Click ahead to see the most notable lockouts and strikes in recent sports history.
By Daniel Bukszpan, Special to CNBC.com
Posted 8 Mar 2011 | <urn:uuid:7232d723-d18d-4995-beb5-4df92931ddb0> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.cnbc.com/2011/03/08/10-Game-Changing-Pro-Sports-Lockouts-and-Strikes.html?page=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719273.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00064-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953953 | 209 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Objectives: To describe a project that used mini-grants plus technical assistance to disseminate evidence-based programs, to understand how the project worked in different settings, and to generate recommendations for future programming and evaluation.
Design: Process evaluation using program records, activity forms completed by grantees, interviews, and focus groups.
Setting: Churches and worksites in rural, southwest Georgia.
Participants: Site coordinators (n = 10), organizational leaders (n = 7), and project committee members (n = 25) involved in program implementation at 7 funded organizations.
Intervention: The Emory Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network solicited applications from churches and worksites to implement one of 2 evidence-based nutrition programs: Body & Soul for churches and Treatwell 5-a-Day for worksites. Successful applicants (n = 7) received funding and technical assistance from Emory and agreed to conduct all required elements of the evidence-based program.
Main Outcome Measures: We assessed adoption, reach, implementation, and maintenance of specific programs and their core elements, as well as contextual influences and the resources required to implement the mini-grants program.
Results: Four of the 7 funded organizations conducted all programmatic core elements; all 7 sites conducted at least 6 of 8 core elements, including at least 1 food-related policy or environmental change as a result of the program. Program reach varied widely across sites and core elements. All site coordinators stated that they intend to continue at least some of the activities conducted under the project. Sites reported that contextual factors such as the program's fit with the organization's mission, leadership support, and leadership or staffing transitions influenced program implementation. Over 18 months, Emory staff spent 47.7 hours providing technical assistance to grantees.
Conclusions: A mini-grants and technical assistance model has the potential to be an effective mechanism for disseminating evidence-based programs to community organizations, and further study of this method is warranted. | <urn:uuid:6efc7dbb-86ef-4bdd-bfe8-35f164c2d288> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://journals.lww.com/jphmp/Abstract/2012/09000/Research_to_Reality___A_Process_Evaluation_of_a.7.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00172-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929212 | 403 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The Vehicle Assembly Building was used to stack the Saturn V moon rockets and the Space Shuttle.
Every baseball career comes to an end.
Most players, coaches, and other personnel leave involuntarily. They’re fired, released, traded or simply shown the door.
A few have the privilege of choosing the time and place where they depart from the game.
After thirteen seasons of Angels minor league baseball, I’m going to exercise that privilege.
When I moved to Florida in June 2009 from Orange County, I knew it would be hard to continue covering the Angels’ minor leagues. But I tried.
In recent months, it’s become clear that my Angels life is behind me and a new adventure is about to begin.
In April, I was hired as a “communicator” at the Kennedy Space Center. I lead tours, but also lecture to the public about the NASA space program. My job, essentially, is to tell the world about the next chapter of human history.
That’s a great and humbling responsibility, one I sought when I moved here.
We’ve been training to soon take the public into the historic Vehicle Assembly Building, where the Apollo moon rockets and Space Shuttles were stacked for launch. It’s the first time since 1976 that public tours will be allowed inside the VAB.
Tours may soon go to other famous and historic locations long off-limits to the public.
The Space Shuttle program has ended, but several new human space flight programs are in the pipeline. NASA will operate the International Space Station with its partners through at least 2020, probably through 2028. New commercial cargo delivery flights to the ISS begin next year, and commercial crew flights in 2015. NASA announced on September 14 its design for the new Space Launch System that will take astronauts out into the solar system, possibly as soon as 2016. And the space center itself is about to begin a $300 million renovation to prepare for 21st Century demands.
It’s my job to tell the world about all this.
So it’s time to put baseball on the shelf, at least for now.
When FutureAngels.com began in 1998, the Internet as we know it today was only in its infancy. I began the web site to support the Angels’ minor league affiliates. Most of them didn’t even have web sites. In the early days, I posted their schedules, rosters, press releases.
I travelled to the affiliates, shot photos, recorded interviews, and as broadband became more common started to videotape player highlights.
All of that was unprecedented, not only within Angels fandom but probably minor league baseball.
It was copied, it was imitated, and a few times it was even ripped off. But it was, and always will be, the first.
But it’s no longer unique, at least in fulfilling its original purpose. Major League Baseball Advanced Media manages web sites and statistics for all minor league teams. You can find videos on YouTube of minor leaguers. Fan sites score interviews. The players themselves have Twitter and Facebook accounts. So the original need no longer exists.
FutureAngels.com will continue to operate as an historical archive. That was always an original intent — to preserve Angels’ minor league history — and that is still a unique service.
You may be aware of my ongoing project with the surviving members of the 1961 Statesville Owls, a Class D team in the now-defunct Western Carolina League, one of two Angels affiliates in that inaugural season.
Fifty years later, the 1961 Owls reunited in Statesville, at the site of their ballpark. It was the culmination of four years’ work tracking them down, conducting interviews, doing research, and finally staging a reunion at the Angels’ Tempe Diablo minor league complex in October 2009.
After watching those players throw out the ceremonial first pitch at their old ballpark, I realized I could never top that and it was time to move on.
I may write here on the blog from time to time. If and when I publish an article, I’ll send out a message on my Twitter account. Click here to sign up for my “tweets” if you want to be notified of a new article.
I also want to complete the FutureAngels.com Database, which would be a searchable database of Angels’ minor league statistics. It’s always been a low priority, but it’s one I want to finish.
All that’s really changing is that I will no longer pay attention to Angels’ baseball on a daily basis. FutureAngels.com will no longer have daily updates, nor will it have links to stories from around baseball. The archives will remain — photos, audio, video — and you can still order reprints of the photos.
One continuing feature will be the popular “game of the week” audio archives. I’ve archived Angels minor league webcasts since 2003. I’ll post a new one every week during the off-season, and certain historic games will be permanently available in the Audio Gallery. Sign up for the Twitter account and you’ll be notified when a new game is online.
FutureAngels.com will also continue to be the “unofficial” web site for the Tempe Diablo minor league complex. I will continue to post schedules and rosters for minor league and extended spring training, the summer league, and fall instructional league. That doesn’t require “daily” attention, and I know it’s still the only place on the Internet where you can find that information.
So many people and so many memories from the last thirteen years will be a part of me for the rest of my life. I am indebted to the Angels for the special privilege and trust they gave me over the years, allowing me to go places where no outsider is permitted.
Many places exist on the Internet to find the coverage that was once unique to FutureAngels.com, including the web sites of the minor league affiliates. In particular, I recommend the Orange County Register Angels Blog. The sportswriters have embraced covering the “future Angels,” Sam Miller in particular.
On October 1, I’ll make a permanent change to the FutureAngels.com home page to reflect the new format.
If you find yourself out Florida way and want to visit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, please send me an e-mail at [email protected]. I’ll let you know when I’m working and how to get on one of my tours.
The future is about to begin. And I want to show it to you.
Follow Stephen’s writings about space exploration at SpaceKSC.com.
A photo of Alan Flitcraft in the August 28, 1961 Statesville Record & Landmark.
The first no-hitter in the history of the Angels organization was thrown fifty years ago today, August 26, 2011.
Angels fans have been raised to believe that Bo Belinsky threw the first Angels’ no-hitter. That was on May 5, 1962, for the Angels against Baltimore at Chavez Ravine (AKA Dodger Stadium).
But Alan Flitcraft beat him by 252 days.
Flitcraft pitched the no-hitter for the Statesville Owls, a team in the Class D Western Carolina League. Statesville was one of two affiliates the Angels had in their inaugural season, the other being the Triple-A Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers.
It was the final day of the 1961 regular season, and Statesville was playing a makeup doubleheader at home against Newton-Conover.
Flitcraft joined the Owls in June that year after completing his college season at Manatee Junior College in Bradenton, Florida. He was 19 when he arrived in Stateville. Alan would appear in 11 games for the Owls, finishing with a 5-1 record and a 2.55 ERA in 60 innings.
As it is today, back in 1961 minor-league doubleheader games were seven innings each, so Flitcraft’s gem was not a “full-length” nine-inning no-hitter. But it went in the record games as a complete game and a no-hitter.
Here’s the box score:
The last Angels’ no-hitter was thrown on July 27, 2011 by Ervin Santana. You might think there’s no possible connection between Flitcraft and Santana, but there is.
Flitcraft went on to become the baseball coach at Northern Arizona University from 1966 to 1981. One of his players in 1980-1981 was Kernan Ronan, who went on to a five-year professional career in the San Francisco Giants minor league system. Ronan was hired by the Angels in 1989 as the pitching coach for Palm Springs in the California League. In 2004, he was Santana’s pitching coach at Double-A Arkansas.
Angels’ minor league pitching coordinator Kernan Ronan reunites with his college coach Alan Flitcraft at Tempe Diablo Stadium in October 2009.
Might there have been some wisdom from Alan Flitcraft passed along to Ervin Santana through Kernan Ronan? Who knows, but at least indirectly the man who threw the first Angels’ no-hitter had a tangential influence on the man who threw the last one.
Alan and Kernan reunited at the Angels’ minor league complex in Tempe, Arizona in October 2009 during a reunion of the 1961 Owls. They decided that they would like to reunite again, in 2011 at Statesville for their 50th anniversary.
That pledge was honored on June 18, when eight surviving members of the 1961 Owls gathered on the Statesville Stadium field to be honored by throwing out the first pitch.
Alan Flitcraft warms up at Statesville Stadium on June 18, 2011 — the same field where he threw a no-hitter fifty years ago.
Alan was wise enough to warm up in the bullpen before the first pitch ceremony. His toss was straight and true for a strike.
With him were five teammates who were in the lineup on August 26, 1961. Those present were:
1. Dave Best 2B
3. Jerry Fox LF
4. Dick Simpson CF
5. Vito Porta 3B
8. George Bryson SS
9. Alan Flitcraft P
Ed Thomas and Bob Lucas also attended the reunion but were not in the lineup for the no-hitter. Jack Hiatt played right field that day, but was unable to attend as he was representing the Giants at an event in Spokane, Washington.
The 1961 doubleheader was played on a Saturday night. The Statesville Record & Landmark did not publish on Sunday, so the story about the no-hitter didn’t appear in the paper until Monday, August 28.
According to sports editor Jerry Josey:
Only three balls were hit to the outfield as Flitcraft hung his gem on Newton-Conover in the opener. The righthander from Bradenton, Fla., received 10-hit backing and errorless support afield from the Owls, with a doubleplay erasing one of the four runners he walked. Flitcraft issued a pair of walks to open the fourth and didn’t allow a runner past second. One walk in the second was eliminated by a George Bryson-Bob Johnson doubleplay and he walked another in the fifth.
“Errorless support afield” was rare in those days, as the Statesville infield was all dirt and strewn with rocks.
Outside of Alan and his teammates, only those of us who research the obscure history of minor league baseball will note the passing of this date. But I suspect that somewhere within Alan Flitcraft still dwells that 19-year old who can forever claim to have thrown the first Angels’ no-hitter.
Casey Kotchman played for his father Tom with the Provo Angels for about a week before spraining his wrist and missing the rest of the 2001 season.
Baseball analysts recall the 2001 amateur draft as one of the deepest talent pools in recent history. The first two players chosen were Joe Mauer (Twins) and Mark Prior (Cubs). Mark Teixeira (Rangers) went #5 overall.
Drafts are more art than science — remember Colt Griffin? The Royals chose him at #9. All velocity and no control, he played five minor league seasons, never higher than Double-A. In 373 2/3 innings, his strikeout-to-walk ratio was 271:278. That’s not a typo.
The Angels had two extra picks in early rounds as compensation for the Rangers signing reliever Mark Petkovsek — a supplemental pick after the 1st round (#33 overall), and the Rangers’ third-round pick.
In a talent-rich year, it was thought this might be the Angels’ best draft ever. In the immediate years that followed, it seemed likely that would be a reality.
Such judgments in retrospect are, of course, strictly subjective. But although none of the players chosen by the Angels in the draft became superstars, many went on to play in the majors.
Who were the major leaguers? By round:
Casey Kotchman 1B (1st)
Jeff Mathis C (1st, supplemental)
Dallas McPherson 3B (2nd)
Steven Shell RHP (3rd, compensation)
Jake Woods LHP (3rd)
Matt Brown 3B (10th)
Ryan Budde C (12th)
Nick Gorneault OF (19th)
Stephen Andrade RHP (32nd)
Two didn’t play in the majors, but are now coaches in the Angels’ minor league system. Catcher Brent Del Chiaro manages Cedar Rapids, and Mike Eylward is their hitting coach.
Sixth rounder Quan Cosby never made it above Low-A, but went on play wide receiver for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
Kotchman, Mathis and McPherson were considered top prospects, and it would be fair to say none of them achieved expectations.
Casey Kotchman reached the majors in 2004, called up from Double-A Arkansas after Darin Erstad was injured. He was eventually packaged with minor league pitcher Stephen Marek in a trade to the Braves for Teixeira. Casey went on to Boston and Seattle but never achieved his potential. This year at age 28, he’s having a career year with his home town team, the Tampa Bay Rays. In 328 at-bats, his AVG/OBP/SLG are .332/.394/.457.
Jeff Mathis has started 59 of the Angels’ 113 games to date. Manager Mike Scioscia values him for his defense and game-calling. Jeff never manifested in the majors the offense he showed in the lower minors, and many fans question why Scioscia continues to play a catcher whose AVG/OBP/SLG are .181/.226/.259.
Dallas McPherson reached the majors in 2004 but was never healthy. A lower back injury that began in spring training 2003 grew worse over the years, eventually resulting in a series of increasingly invasive surgeries. The Angels granted him free agency after the 2007 season, and since then Dallas has led a nomadic baseball existence. He played briefly for the Marlins in 2008 and was called up earlier this year by the White Sox, where he was 2 for 15. He currently plays third base for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.
Was it the Angels’ best draft ever?
Probably not. But of the thirty drafted players who signed, nine appeared in the major leagues. And that’s not bad.
Ervin Santana in fall instructional league, October 5, 2000.
(Windows Media Player and a broadband Internet connection required to watch the videos linked in this article.)
Anaheim’s most significant international signing in recent years was Venezuelan Francisco Rodriguez. Santana is No. 2 with a bullet after agreeing to an undisclosed six-figure bonus last September. At 6-foot-2 with extremely long arms and fingers, Santana oozes the projectability the Angels covet. If his fastball gets any quicker he’ll be truly overpowering, because he already throws 90-93 mph with a peak of 95. His breaking ball and changeup are still works in progress. He flies open with his delivery and drags his arm when he throws his slider, but both it and his change should become at least average pitches. He’s more advanced than fellow Dominican Ramon Ortiz was when he joined the organization, and Ortiz was 19 to Santana’s 16. In 2001, Santana could pitch in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League or make his U.S. debut in the Pioneer League.
— Baseball America 2001 Prospect Handbook
When he signed on September 2, 2000, Ervin Santana was neither Ervin nor 16.
Santana used the birth certificate of a relative to make the Angels think he was younger than he was. It was not an uncommon practice at the time. The name he gave was Johan Quezada Santana, with a date of birth of November 28, 1983. His real name was Ervin Ramon Santana, and he was born on December 12, 1982 — eleven months earlier than he claimed.
The discrepancy was discovered during the winter of 2002-2003, as part of an industry-wide investigation. Some Dominicans were found to be years older than they claimed, so eleven months wasn’t that big a deal.
I saw Ervin pitch for the Angels in fall instructional league on October 5, 2000. It was at the Angels’ old minor league complex, Gene Autry Park, in Mesa, Arizona. If it wasn’t his first start in the U.S., it was one of his first.
Look at his photo above. He was reed-thin. The Angels’ media guide next spring listed him as 6’2″, 150 lbs. That sounds about right.
He was very raw. BA analyst Jim Callis was correct about his mechanics. Ervin flew so wide open that I thought his head might snap off his neck. But that would be fixed with time.
Ervin Santana at Rookie-A Provo, August 27, 2001. That’s Pedro Liriano on the right.
Regardless of age or language barriers, I learned quickly that Ervin wasn’t shy. He was playful and outgoing. In the above photo, he and Pedro Liriano asked that I take their picture together. As I started to snap the photo, Ervin tipped his cap. Typical Ervin.
2002 at Low-A Cedar Rapids was his first full season. His ERA wasn’t all that great at 4.16, but he won 14 games and struck out 146 in 147 innings.
It was that winter we found out his real name was Ervin. Assigned in the spring of 2003 to High-A Rancho Cucamonga, the host parents hung the nickname “Magic” on him, a play on Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson. He had his glove inscribed “El Magic.”
The 2003 Quakes were predicted to be an historic team. Most of the Angels’ top prospects had converged on the opening day roster — Santana, Joe Torres, Casey Kotchman and Jeff Mathis. Dallas McPherson would arrive about a month later after a back injury in spring training that would ultimately derail his career. Mike Napoli was there too, although at the time we didn’t know he would work his way into prospect status from backup catcher and first baseman.
Others who played on the 2003 Quakes that eventually made it to the majors were Ryan Budde, Brian Esposito, Nick Gorneault, Tommy Murphy, Stephen Andrade, Edwar Ramirez, Steven Shell, Rich Thompson, and Jake Woods.
I videotaped a lot of raw footage that year, hoping to one day produce a documentary about that group once enough time had passed to give us a perspective on their careers. I still have the videos; perhaps 2013, their ten-year anniversary, would be a good time.
If you want to see Ervin pitching for Rancho in 2003, click here to watch a clip of him pitching at Inland Empire on April 20, 2003. That was his breakout season; Ervin was 10-2 with a 2.53 ERA in 20 starts. He struck out 130 in 124 2/3 innings. His opponents’ average of .212 was the lowest in the California League. Ervin finished 2003 with six starts at Double-A Arkansas.
By 2005, Santana was in the majors. His big-league debut was on May 17 at Cleveland. The game was forgettable. The first four batters hit for the cycle against him. But he was only 22, and had years of growth and maturity ahead of him.
We crossed paths for the first time in many years when I visited extended spring training in April 2009 at the Angels’ new minor league complex at Tempe Diablo. Ervin and John Lackey were there on rehab assignment. I filmed his bullpen session; click here to watch.
A week later, he pitched a rehab start at Rancho Cucamonga (click here to watch), six years after his All-Star year with the Quakes. His glove was still inscribed, “El Magic.”
May 4, 2009 … Ervin Santana wearing the “El Magic” glove during a rehab assignment at Rancho Cucamonga.
That was one of my last games at Rancho Cucamonga, as I moved to Florida a few weeks later.
Wednesday July 27, 2011 happened to be my off-day from work. The Angels were at Cleveland playing a day game. Santana was the starting pitcher.
By chance, I visited the Angels’ web site and saw Ervin had a no-hitter through five innings. It wasn’t available here on TV or radio, so I checked back on the web site once in a while.
As Ervin went into the 9th, MLB Network went live to Cleveland, picking up the Angels’ TV feed.
I got to see the final three outs, as Ervin pitched the first Angels’ no-hitter since 1990, and the first complete-game no-hitter since 1984.
Erick Aybar, one of this Dominican teammates, dumped the Gatorade bucket over Ervin’s head in the middle of a post-game interview with analyst Jose Mota. Their careers didn’t quite parallel in the Angels’ system, as Erick was usually a year or two behind Ervin. But no teammate was better suited for that prank than Erick.
Ervin Santana is now the toast of baseball, at least until his next start.
I began FutureAngels.com in 1998, so I “grew up” so to speak with many of the homegrown Angels on the parent club roster. With some, a special relationship develops, and you know that even though you’re separated by time and space you still have that special relationship. Around our house, he was always known as the “Ervin Baby,” one of the kids you really did feel like he was your son. I suspect at least two host families who once housed Ervin got a phone call last night from him.
Ervin always had a big heart — which is why he had room for so many of us.
John Lackey and Jerome Williams face off at Salem-Keizer two months after they were selected in the June 1999 draft.
August 20, 1999.
Tom Kotchman and the Boise Hawks were in Oregon to play the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the San Francisco Giants’ affiliate in the Short-A Northwest League.
I’d flown up to visit nearby friends and see the Anaheim Angels’ affiliate on the road. The game that night was billed as a match of top pitching prospects.
Jerome Williams was the Giants’ first round supplemental pick that June, #39 overall. John Lackey was chosen in the second round by the Angels, #68 overall.
Williams was considered the more polished product. Lackey had converted to the mound that year in his junior college season while not playing first base.
The next winter, Baseball America ranked Williams the Giants’ #4 prospect. They wrote:
Williams is a classic projection draft with a loose, wide-shouldered body that has been compared to that of Dwight Gooden. His fastball is in the 89-92 mph range now, and the Giants expect his velocity to go up as he fills out. Williams has a fluid, easy delivery and arm action.
BA concluded that “Williams might have the highest ceiling in the organization if he physically matures as the Giants think he will.”
A few weeks later, BA published the Angels’ Top 10 prospects list. Lackey wasn’t on it. Under “Newcomer Report,” David Rawnsley included Lackey in a list of Boise pitchers who “flashed above-average stuff.”
When they met on August 20, Williams had the better night. He worked four innings, gave up two runs on five hits in four innings with three strikeouts and three walks. Lackey took the loss. In six innings, he gave up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts and five walks.
History, of course, shows that Lackey went on to a far better career. He won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series and hit the jackpot when he signed a free-agent contract in December 2009 with the Boston Red Sox for five years totalling $82.5 million.
Williams reached San Francisco in 2003 at age 21 and posted a 3.30 ERA in 21 starts (131 innings). He was traded to the Cubs in 2005, claimed by the A’s on waivers in late 2006 and released, then signed with the Nationals but suffered a rotator cuff injury and was released. His nomadic career took him into independent ball, the Puerto Rico winter league and even Taiwan in 2010.
Jerome began 2011 with the Lancaster Barnstormers in the independent Atlantic League. The Angels acquired him on June 16 after he posted a 6-0 record with a 2.91 ERA.
Williams made his Triple-A Salt Lake debut last night. In six innings, he gave up three runs (one earned) on eight hits in six innings, with six strikeouts and no walks. The Bees won 6-5 — at Fresno, a Giants affiliate, and Jerome’s home team in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
The right-hander, a first-round pick in the 1999 draft, worked in and out of trouble for six innings and left with a 5-3 lead. He allowed eight hits and fanned six.
“It was awesome, amazing. I felt great,” he said, standing by the Grizzlies dugout. “I got some balls up, but for the most part kept them down and got groundballs.”
It was home-sweet-home for Williams, who has lived in Fresno since 2002 when he met his future wife, Sarah, a Fresno City student and Central High graduate. They married in 2004, have three children and he’s part-owner of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue that has restaurants in Fresno, Crescent City and New York.
Last night was only one start, but if Jerome should resuscitate his career at age 29 and contribute to the Angels in the major leagues, it will be a feel-good year in a season desperately in need of one.
The 1961 Statesville Owls team photo. Nine surviving players reunited fifty years later on the same field.
It all began when the Los Angeles Angels, one of two American League expansion teams in 1961, desperately needed minor league affiliates.
Roland Hemond, the Angels’ newly appointed farm and scouting director, had only three months to find affiliates. He signed working agreements with a Triple-A team in Dallas-Ft. Worth that was already affiliated with the Phillies, and with a Class D team in Statesville, North Carolina whose players were mostly signed independently.
The Statesville Owls were part of the Western Carolina League, a circuit created to feed talent into the Contintental League, a proposed third major league. But when the Continental League folded — in part because the A.L. expanded into the Los Angeles market — the WCL scrambled to find its own talent.
“Affiliation” had a much looser connotation in 1961. A minor league club could still sign, trade and release its own players. But they could also get players from an affiliated major league club. Some got them from more than one.
The 1961 Owls had indy players from North Carolina and across the South, but added Angels players to their roster as soon as they arrived. Most Angels were from Southern California, although a few came from Florida and elsewhere. One player, Gaetan Boudreau, came from Quebec and spoke very little English.
Despite their disparate backgrounds, and the Jim Crow culture that still permeated the Southern culture, the team became a true band of brothers. White, black, Western, Southern or Québécois. It didn’t matter.
Three went on to major league careers. The rest went on to other lives, their playing careers forgotten except for the arcane world of minor league historical archives, and in their own memories.
But after four years of research, phone calls, letters, e-mails and an October 2009 gathering at the Angels’ minor league complex in Tempe, the 1961 Statesville Owls have finally returned to their home ballpark.
On June 17 and 18, the city of Statesville hosted a reunion of nine surviving Owls. The attendees were Dave Best, George Bryson, Walter Darton, Alan Flitcraft, Jerry Fox, Bob Lucas, Vito Porta, Richard Simpson, and Ed Thomas. Fox and Thomas, two of the 1961 indy players, still live in Statesville and helped organize the reunion.
The 1961 Owls pose with City of Statesville mayor Costi Kutteh. Left to right: Jerry Fox, George Bryson, Richard Simpson, Mayor Kutteh, Ed Thomas, Dave Best, Walter Darton, Alan Flitcraft (partially obscured), and Vito Porta.
The Owls were hosted by a new college team that has adopted the original name. The new Statesville Owls are part of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League. The team set up a tent at a Friday night street fair where the players signed autographs on photos created from 1961 images. Later that evening, the 1961 Owls and invited guests gathered at a local restaurant for dinner and storytelling.
The next day, the players were treated to a barbecue at Jerry Fox’s farm. The players posed for a “Field of Dreams” photo in the corn field. They also called former teammate Jack Hiatt, recently retired as the San Francisco Giants’ farm director but still on the road as a special assignment scout.
And then it was on to their onetime home field.
The park looks much different than 1961. It’s used today as the home field not just for the college Owls but also Statesville High School. It’s in much better condition than 1961. The old infield was all dirt! The current infield is grass. One player joked that in 1961 they’d have been better off playing in the street than on that old rock-strewn infield.
The college Owls scheduled a fan fest before the doubleheader, but a thunderstorm passed through and the tents were gone with the wind, which seemed to affect attendance.
George Bryson, Alan Flitcraft and Vito Porta threw out the first pitches before the first game. Flitcraft went down to the bullpen to throw beforehand. He threw the first Angels’ organizational no-hitter on this field on August 26, 1961. When it came time to throw the first pitch, Alan threw a perfect strike.
Between games, the 1961 Owls were honored on the field with a City of Statesville proclamation, and a congratulatory statement from today’s Angels director of Player Development Abe Flores.
Five more alumni threw out the first pitch before the second game — Ed Thomas, Jerry Fox, Richard Simpson, Dave Best and George Bryson.
After the ceremony, they sat behind the third base dugout in an area set aside for them.
I filmed the weekend’s events. The, um, family-friendly version is available to watch online. Click here to watch the reunion video. Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection required. Photos from the weekend are below.
The Statesville Record & Landmark published a June 19 article about the reunion. In the print edition, the article was on Page 1 with a color photo of Flitcraft’s bullpen.
To put this event in perspective, it would be the equivalent of the 2011 Orem Owlz having a reunion in 2061. It’s a tribute to their camaraderie that the 1961 Owls were willing to return to this town of 27,000 people just so they could reunite their band of brothers and walk on that field one more time.
On a personal note … This ended my four-year odyssey to uncover the history of the Angels’ first minor league team. I walked on that field, met those players, and became one of them when they asked me to autograph their first-pitch baseballs. I have new friends in Statesville simply because we share a common love for baseball.
Fifty years later, the 1961 Statesville Owls are still a family.
At the street fair … Left to right — Walter Darton, Alan Flitcraft and Ed Thomas.
George Bryson discovers a photo of himself in 1961.
Statesville baseball historian Steve Hill (left) meets Alan Flitcraft.
The college Statesville Owls’ president Brian Suarez (left) with Bob Lucas.
George Bryson’s punch line gets a reaction at the reunion dinner.
The “Field of Dreams” photo at Jerry Fox’s farm. Left to right — Vito Porta, George Bryson, Alan Flitcraft, Dave Best, Jerry Fox, Walter Darton, Dick Simpson and Ed Thomas.
Vito Porta is interviewed by Statesville Record & Landmark reporter Jim McNally.
Alan Flitcraft throws on the sidelines at Statesville Stadium.
Alan Flitcraft (left) and George Bryson watch the college Owls play.
Dave Best (left) and Walter Darton discuss action on the field. Richard Simpson watches to the right.
The 2011 edition of the Statesville Owls. Is a 2061 reunion in their future?
Seven Angels minor leaguers from 1961 reunited September 25, 2009 at Tempe Diablo. Left to right — Alan Flitcraft, Dick Simpson, Dan Ardell, Walter Darton, Ed Thomas, Jerry Fox, and Dave Best. Bobby Lucas arrived shortly after the photo was taken.
If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, you know that an ongoing project has been to reunite the 1961 Statesville Owls, one of two minor league teams the Angels had in their inaugural season. Statesville, North Carolina was Class D, a rough equivalent to today’s Low Class-A. The other affiliate was the Triple-A Dalls-Ft. Worth Rangers, an affiliation shared with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Angels are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, which means it’s the 50th anniversary of the Statesville Owls.
We staged a reunion in September 2009, held at the Angels’ minor league complex in Tempe, Arizona. Today’s future Angels had an opportunity to meet the original Angels minor leaguers. Click here to watch a video of excerpts from the reunion. Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection required.
As the almuni departed, they tasked me with a solemn responsibility — to reunite them in Statesville for their 50th anniversary.
My wife and I moved from California to Florida in June 2009, so in March 2010 we drove 600 miles to Statesville. We met with Ed Thomas and Jerry Fox, two 1961 Owls who still live in Statesville. They took me to stand on the very field where Angels minor league baseball began. Click here to watch video of the Statesville ballpark visit. We established the initial contacts to make possible that 50th anniversary reunion.
Circumstances required me to bow out, so the locals took over planning, led by the new Southern Collegiate Baseball League Statesville Owls. They’ve arranged for a two-day celebration of the 1961 Owls, starting with a street concert in downtown Statesville the evening of June 17. The next day, as part of their FanFest, the Owls will play a doubleheader and honor the alumni. The first pitch in each game will be thrown out by the alumni, and between games they’ll be honored with a ceremony.
I didn’t think I’d be able to make it, but circumstances have changed so I’ll be heading north next week to record the events for posting on FutureAngels.com and this blog.
I do believe I’ll wear my 1961 Los Angeles Angels cap …
Ed Thomas, FutureAngels.com publisher Stephen Smith, and Jerry Fox in Statesville in March 2010. Thomas and Fox played on the 1961 Statesville Owls. Photo courtesy Steve Hill.
|Mike Trout remains one of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball.|
Last November I published the 2010 FutureAngels.com Top 10 Prospects report. These are published at the end of every season as a review of the year just concluded.
We’re two months into the 2011 season, so let’s take a look at how those prospects are doing so far this year.
1. Mike Trout OF — Considered one of the top prospects in all the minor leagues, Trout remains on course. His AVG/OBP/SLG as of May 31 were .305/.413/.512 (164 AB) with 13 stolen bases in 18 attempts. With Double-A Arkansas players, it’s always important to look at their home/away splits because Dickey-Stephens Park is one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the Texas League. Trout’s splits (AVG/OBP/SLG):
Overall: .305/.413/.512 (164 AB)
Home: .268/.360/.423 (97 AB)
Away: .358/.482/.642 (67 AB)
That split suggests the 19-year old wunderkind is having a much better year than the overall numbers tell us.
I won’t be surprised if Trout moves up to Triple-A Salt Lake after the Texas League All-Star Game (which is June 29 at San Antonio).
2. Hank Conger C — Last November I wrote:
Hank has Jeff Mathis, Mike Napoli and Bobby Wilson ahead of him, but it’s expected that the Angels may move at least one of them this winter. Conger most likely will get more Triple-A seasoning in 2011 as he needs more catching experience and to clean up his throwing mechanics. Absent a setback, it’s reasonable to assume Hank will be the Angels’ starting catcher by the end of 2011.
That was pretty much on target. Mike Napoli was traded to the Blue Jays along with Juan Rivera for Vernon Wells. (The Blue Jays then flipped Napoli to the Rangers.) I didn’t think the Angels would carry three catchers, but they have, with Bobby Wilson having the least playing time.
The Angels have played 57 games to date, and Conger has appeared in 31 of them, 26 as the starting catcher. He’s thrown out only 7 of 31 runners (22.6%), but that’s often a misleading stat as it doesn’t reflect how well his pitchers have held on runners. He’s been charged with only one passed ball in 200 total chances; last November I noted he had allowed no passed balls in 2010.
Hank’s offense has been what you’d expect from a 23-year old rookie going through his first 100 at-bats. His overall AVG/OBP/SLG are .233/.288/.369 (103 AB), but Hank’s a switch-hitter. Mike Scioscia has given Conger only eight at-bats against left-handed pitchers (he’s 2 for 8, both singles), so most of his at-bats have been left-handed.
For now it looks like Conger will continue to split time with Mathis, although he may be on track to fulfill my predication that he’ll be the starting catcher by the end of 2011.
3. Jean Segura 2B — I wrote last November that the Angels had tested Segura at shortstop during fall instructional league and might move him to that position with Inland Empire in 2011. That turned out to be accurate, but he’s in the middle of his second stint on the disabled list with a left hamstring strain. The injury began in mid-April when he was hitting .412 twelve games into the season; since then, his AVG has dropped to .276. Even with the injury, he’s managed to swipe 18 bases in 23 attempts over 37 games. We’ll have to wait until the injury fully heals and Jean is back to his aggressive self to get a handle on his progress; the California League All-Star Game may be out of the picture.
It should also be noted that Arrowhead Credit Union Park is one of the few pitcher-friendly parks in the league. Let’s look at his home/away splits:
Overall: .276/.343/.428 (152 AB)
Home: .205/.284/.329 (73 AB)
Away: .342/.398/.519 (79 AB)
Hmmm … As with Trout, it looks like Jean’s home park is masking an overall better performance.
4. Garrett Richards RHP — Here’s what I wrote in conclusion about Richards:
It’s likely that Garrett will start 2011 with Double-A Arkansas, where he’ll find pitcher-friendly Dickey-Stephens Park to his liking. The key will be to look at his Texas League road numbers to get a more accurate gauge of his progress.
Okay, so let’s go to the splits:
Overall: 5-1, 3.90 ERA, 9 Games Started (57.2 IP), 40:23 SO:BB Ratio, .232 AVG.
Home: 3-0, 1.86 ERA, 4 Games Started (29.0 IP), 18:7 SO:BB Ratio, .198 AVG
Road: 2-1, 5.97 ERA, 5 Games Started (28.2 IP), 22:16 SO:BB Ratio, .264 AVG
So it looks like the home field is masking some overall mediocre starts by Garrett. A particularly stark contrast can be found in GO/AO, which is Ground Outs to All Other Outs. At home it’s an outstanding 2.12. On the road it’s 1.21.
The Texas League a decade ago had a reputation as a hitter’s league, but most of the franchises have new ballparks so it’s now considered fairly neutral.
Garrett just turned 23 on May 27, so plenty of time to adjust to Double-A.
5. Randal Grichuk OF — Randal is becoming a real-life incarnation of Joe Btfsplk, the Li’l Abner character described as “the world’s worst jinx.” In 2010 he broke first his left thumb and then his right thumb. He was recovering from the latter injury in extended spring training when he fractured his knee cap on a foul ball. It’s expected that he’ll report to Cedar Rapids once he’s healthy.
|Mark Trumbo has taken over the Angels’ first base job and leads all major league rookie with ten home runs.|
6. Mark Trumbo 1B-OF — The common expectation over the winter was that Kendrys Morales would be ready for Opening Day, so Mark Trumbo would probably head for Triple-A Salt Lake. Morales failed to heal as expected and eventually underwent a second surgery that shelved him for 2011, so Trumbo has started at first base for most of the Angels’ games.
In 180 at-bats, Trumbo’s line is .256/.306/.472. Recent media reports note that Trumbo has changed his hitting mechanics, adding a higher leg kick with his front foot. Compare that to this April 6, 2008 video of a Trumbo home run for Rancho Cucamonga, where he barely lifts his front foot.
In their spring 2007 Prospect Handbook, Baseball America wrote of Mark’s hitting mechanics, “He doesn’t have much of a load and his hands are slow.” That was a common criticism in his early years, that he was largely immobile below the waist on his swings. But he’s worked to correct that and cites the leg kick for a recent increase in home run production.
With Trumbo’s 2010 Salt Lake numbers, I noted that five parks in the PCL are super-hitter friendly, including the Bees’ Spring Mobile Ballpark. At neutral and pitcher-friendly fields, his line was .236/.300/.505. That’s not too far off from his .256/.306/.472 with the Angels in 2011. He’s trending in the right direction so hopefully he’ll continue to improve. His defense has been better than many critics claimed in the past.
7. Fabio Martinez RHP — Last November I wrote about Fabio:
Martinez was shut down after a July 30 start due to shoulder stiffness, probably due to his bad mechanics, and missed the Kernels’ post-season run. He spent the rest of the season on rehab assignment at the Angels’ minor league complex in Tempe. He pitched again in fall instructional league; I was there for his October 15 start, and he was back to his old bad habits.
Well, Fabio is still at the minor league complex, technically on rehab assignment. The official word is that he’s suffering from shoulder weakness. It’s hoped that he’ll be assigned to an affiliate by July. My guess is it’s either Cedar Rapids or Inland Empire.
8. Alexi Amarista 2B — With Brandon Wood waived to Pittsburgh and various injuries to other players, Alexi found himself in Anaheim after just 55 at-bats with Salt Lake in 2011 (.455/.483/.673). At only 22, he’s overmatched in the majors for now (.136/.170/.227 in 44 AB) and should return to the Bees once Vernon Wells comes off the disabled list, assuming no one else gets hurt. Mike Scioscia showed enough faith in his versatility to give him four starts in left field; he’s not a total stranger to the outfield, appearing there in 34 games with Rookie-A Tempe in 2008, but he’s best-suited for second base.
9. Trevor Reckling LHP — Trevor was the Angels’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2009, but derailed in 2010 when he struggled at the Triple-A level. The Angels sent him back to Double-A for the second half of 2010, and that’s where he began 2011. In nine starts, he’s 1-6 with a 3.78 ERA, and a 38:18 SO:BB ratio in 52.1 IP. Looking at his home/away splits, it’s interesting to note that he’s been more successful away from Dickey-Stephens Park — a 4.28 ERA at home (27.1 IP), a 3.24 ERA on the road (25.0 IP). A recent MLB.com article suggests Trevor is pitching better than his record suggests. He just turned 22 on May 22, still quite young for Double-A.
10. Jeremy Moore OF — J-Mo ended May with an AVG/OBP/SLG of .269/.299/.451. As mentioned upstream, a more accurate analysis of PCL numbers would filter out the super-hitter friendly parks, but that sample size so far is too small, so let’s look at Moore’s home/away splits:
Overall: .269/.299/.451 (193 AB)
Home: .280/.314/.500 (100 AB)
Away: .258/.283/.398 (93 AB)
His AVG from April to May dropped from .321 to .236, although on May 28 he had a 5-for-5 game at Tucson (one of those hitter-friendly parks).
Moore will turn 24 on June 29. He’s always been a raw toolsy project. Patience is a virtue when it comes to J-Mo, so let’s see where the rest of the year takes him.
|Tyler Chatwood has a 3.64 ERA in the major leagues after 11 starts.|
In closing … I didn’t include RHP Tyler Chatwood in the 2010 list for a couple reasons. One was the way I weigh who ranks on the annual list. I give consideration to the parent club’s needs, and coming into 2011 the Angels seemed to need left-handed pitching prospects (such as Reckling) and power-hitting outfielders (such as Moore) more than another right-handed pitching prospect (such as Chatwood). I was well aware that internally the Angels were very high on how Chatwood ended 2010, but I was concerned about his drop in strikeout rate when he was promoted to Double-A last year as well as his high walk rate.
That concern didn’t bother the Angels, who sent him to Triple-A to start 2011. After Joel Piniero and Scott Kazmir were injured and Matt Palmer faltered, Chatwood found himself called up to Anaheim at age 22. He’s managed to survive, posting a 3.64 ERA in 11 starts (64.1 IP) despite a SO:BB ratio of 29:34. How does he survive despite his poor SO:BB ratio? Double play ground balls. He has 13 so far.
With Palmer inconsistent at Triple-A and Kazmir’s career in free fall, it looks like Chatwood may spend the rest of 2011 in the majors. Tonight he pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings at Kansas City, giving up five hits while striking out two and walking two.
I knew when I wrote the article last November that I was taking a risk by leaving Chat off the list. If he proves me wrong, it’s all the better for the Angels.
No, it’s not me in the suit. But I do lead tours in the Rocket Garden behind him.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know (1) my wife and I moved to Florida almost two years ago, and (2) I’ve posted less and less in recent months.
I’ve posted occasional updates about our Florida adventure, which was motivated mainly by our desire to live in the “Space Coast” which is the local nickname for Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island and nearby locales.
One major objective was to be hired as a Communicator at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. And after nearly two years of waiting for a position to open, I was hired last month.
A Communicator is a tour guide, but also much more.
We’ve been described as “NASA experts” and “NASA ambassadors.” Technically we don’t work for NASA. We work for Delaware North Parks & Resorts, which has the contract to run KSCVC for NASA. But the public doesn’t know any different, and of all the NASA contractors we’re the only ones allowed to wear the NASA logo.
I suspect that not all the Communicators are passionate about space exploration, but it helps.
Two positions were open, so when called for an interview I figured I had to do something to stand out. We were told to prepare a brief presentation about the next Space Shuttle launch, so I brought from my collection a Shuttle model to use as a reference.
When I walked into the interview, four people sat on the panel. One was a former astronaut — in uniform — who’s now an executive at the park. I’m sure that was to see if we could be intimidated.
Having been around pro ball players and other celebrities for many years, I’m not easily intimidated. But when I saw the “blue suit” as they call astronauts around here, I thought, “If I screw up with any technical details in this presentation, I’m not bluffing my way out of it.”
Well, I got the job, so I must have done well enough.
I was told later by one interviewer that when I came through the door with the model, he thought, “This guy knows what he’s doing.”
Most of my days are filled by leading the Discover KSC tours, which take guests to visit historic locations, including within about a mile of the Shuttle pad.
We’re also assigned as “pathfinders,” meaning we wander the facilities encountering guests to answer their questions (the most common being, “Where is the bathroom?”) and interpret the exhibits. NASA likes the pathfinder roles so much that we’re being assigned more locations.
Obviously I have a lot to learn, so it’s eating up all my free time. I update FutureAngels.com in the morning, then it’s off to KSCVC for the day, and evenings are spent reading books or researching NASA technology on the Internet.
As much as I love the Angels and their minor leaguers, I feel like I’ve been given a higher calling. People from all over the world come to visit KSCVC, especially near launch time. We are ambassadors not just for NASA, but for the United States.
I gave serious thought to shelving FutureAngels.com this spring, but finally decided it was too important for those of you who follow the Angels’ minor leaguers to shut it down. For now, though, it’s in second place in my life. Hopefully you understand.
Tyler Chatwood pitches for the Rookie-A Tempe Angels in July 2008.
I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic about Tyler Chatwood.
He has talent. No quarrel there.
But he’s never made a FutureAngels.com Top 10 Prospects list since he was selected in the second round of the June 2008 draft and signed shortly thereafter.
Baseball America ranked Chatwood among Angels top prospects at #11 in the spring of 2009, #14 in 2010, and #2 in 2011 behind Mike Trout.
I’ve always had two concerns with Chat.
One has to do with his height. Tyler is listed at 6’0″. There’s a perception among both baseball professionals and some sabermetricians that the best starting pitchers are tall and lanky.
Personally, that doesn’t concern me much, as I’ve always believed that if Chatwood pitched effectively then “size matters not,” to quote Yoda.
My main concern was with Tyler’s high walk rate.
Take for example the game depicted in the above photo. July 22, 2008. The Tempe Angels hosted the Peoria Padres. It was about a month after Chatwood signed. In four innings, he struck out five, walked four, and gave up four runs on three hits.
It’s foolish to judge a player by one game, but that performance has always stuck in my mind because it was somewhat typical of what happens when Tyler loses his control.
From behind home plate, I could see that killer 12-6 curve. The problem was he struggled to throw it accurately.
A high walk rate has plagued Chatwood throughout his career.
In his first three minor league seasons, he averaged 7.6 strikeouts and 4.8 walks per 9 innings. Promoted to Double-A Arkansas for the second half of 2010, in 12 starts he averaged only 3.6 walks per 9 IP but his strikeout rate also dropped to 4.7. I was told that he was being very efficient, getting a lot of groundball outs early in counts.
I knew that, internally, the Angels this last winter were very high on Chatwood, and there were whispers he was on the fast track to the big leagues even though he just turned 21 last December.
He began 2011 with Triple-A Salt Lake. With Joel Piniero injured and Scott Kazmir ineffective, Tyler found himself in the big leagues for his debut on April 11.
After six starts, he’s walked more than he’s struck out — 4.9 strikeouts and 5.6 walks per 9 IP. Yet he’s survived. His ERA is 4.08. He’s getting his groundouts, having thrown eight double-plays in 35 1/3 innings.
I keep wondering how long his luck will hold out, yet last night against the 21-9 Cleveland Indians he went eight innings, allowing one run on two hits, striking out five while walking five. He threw 111 pitches, about 13.9 per inning, and pitching coaches like to see a pitcher average 10-15 pitches per inning. He may be walking a lot, but he makes up for it elsewhere.
How long can his luck hold out before the walks catch up with him?
Or the more optimistic question would be, how long before the walk rate tails off and Chatwood establishes himself as a reliable major league pitcher?
The Angels sent Matt Palmer to Salt Lake in late May, so clearly management has decided that Chatwood is in the majors until further notice.
Even with the high walk rate, Tyler is really making me wish I’d included him on that Top 10 list last November. | <urn:uuid:cdf3a712-6cb7-429a-b4e7-e148c50c0f1a> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://futureangels.mlblogs.com/author/mlblogsfutureangels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721555.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00180-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969214 | 12,359 | 2.125 | 2 |
Kamalaksha is a boy name for hindu.
In this post, you may find the splendid one and only name for your baby girl or boy and get its value, source, and fame.
Various names, including Kamalaksha are an incredibly important part of character.
Kamalaksha bring meaningful special, cultural, genetic, and historical connections for Hindu nation
They also give us a feel of who Hindu are, the Hindi in which they belong, and their neighborhood in the world.
Kamalaksha meaning is lotus eyed. It has 10 letters and 1 word.
Not only the meaning of Kamalaksha you can also find out this site for history and popularity of given names from around the world.
Pick info for baby names or identify your own name’s root.
All about Kamalaksha
- Name: Kamalaksha
- Meaning: Lotus Eyed
- Gender: Boy
- Origin: Hindi
- Religion: Hindu | <urn:uuid:11c01489-d9be-4cc6-844c-85277d0e2348> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://babynamemap.com/kamalaksha-boy-baby-name-meaning-and-definition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570868.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808152744-20220808182744-00078.warc.gz | en | 0.930732 | 208 | 1.710938 | 2 |
According to a study from SmartAsset, residents in Dare County rank among the wealthiest in North Carolina.
The study assessed wealth by comparing counties across three categories: the amount of investment income residents receive, total per capita income and the median home value.
Dare County ranks #5 in the list of #10 wealthiest counties in the Tar Heel State with a per capita investment income of $11,257, median home value of $366,612, per capita income of $59,240, and overall wealth index of 21.26.
The accompanying table of the 10 Wealthiest Counties in North Carolina can be found below:
This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here. | <urn:uuid:f2923f9f-2cbd-4d3b-9122-e55bfb8cfe6c> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.beach104.com/2022/07/27/study-dare-county-residents-among-wealthiest-in-north-carolina/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571190.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810131127-20220810161127-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.927714 | 147 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Series: Guide per il Reconoscimiento delle Specie Animali delle Acque Interne Volume: 22
By: Fiorenza Margaritora (Author)
169 pages, 106 b/w line drawings
Volume 22 of this fauna deals with the Italian freshwater Cladocera, an order of small crustaceans commonly called water fleas.
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Wildlife, science and conservation since 1985 | <urn:uuid:8a7bbc32-7a0e-4c60-968a-9bfb0e249680> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.nhbs.com/title/66320?title=cladoceri-crustacea-cladocera-italian | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00163-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.830373 | 141 | 1.90625 | 2 |
You've got an idea for a project brewing in your head, but you don't want to discuss it with anyone because you're afraid someone might steal it. Here's the truth: no one who matters is going to steal your idea. Photo by Andrés Nieto Porras.
As product designer Tony Larsson explains on his site, the fear that someone's going to steal your big idea before you can execute it is, in most cases, unfounded. For starters, anyone who wants to steal your idea for a business, major project or creative endeavour would have to make some major life changes to be able to execute it:
Bringing a product to market takes a huge investment of time, energy and money. This means that if a person wanted to capitalise on your idea, they would need to stop current endeavours and refocus their life on this new task.
It is highly unlikely that the person you are sharing your idea with would want to do that. Also the type of person that would completely change their life course on a whim, probably lacks the focus necessary for executing the idea in the first place.
On top of all this, having an idea isn't the same as being able to execute it. I can have an objectively brilliant idea for an invention, but that doesn't mean I have the ability to make it. Similarly, if you have an idea for a project and the ability to pull it off, the people you discuss your ideas with may not have that same capability. Even if they do, they may not have the desire.
We like the notion that someone wants to steal our ideas because that makes them seem important. If an idea is worth stealing, that means it's valuable. In some rare cases in history, this has happened. But most of the time, no one's gunning for your idea so the best thing to do isn't to sign a bunch of NDAs and play it close to the chest. The best thing to do is get started.
The Common Fear [Tony Things] | <urn:uuid:32389d82-5164-4892-a2dc-950b6d6abace> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/03/no-one-is-going-to-steal-your-big-idea/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281419.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00482-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979765 | 413 | 1.710938 | 2 |
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Far From the Madding Crowd is the second novel by Thomas Hardy I read. It was selected by my book club as the book for our July meeting. I was reluctant as I'd found Tess of the D'Ubervilles quite hard work. I was reassured by other members that this book was better as it wasn't so depressing!
Published in 1874 this novel is a type of romance, but is mostly about people and relationship dynamics. In the beginning we meet Shepherd Gabriel Oak who has fallen for local maiden Bathsheba Everdene. After Bathsheba leaves the village, by a turn of events Gabriel ends up being employed by her at the farm she inherited from her late uncle. He still feels an attachment to her. Meanwhile Bathsheba unwittingly attracts an neighbour, an older farmer by the name of Boldwood, who proposes. Bathsheba feels guilty for leading him on and tells him she will consider his proposal. Meanwhile she meets the exciting and dashing Sergeant Troy....
The rest of the book is taken up with the dynamics of the love 'rectangle'(?!) Bathsheba's feelings for each man and the feelings the man have, that drive them to behave as they do for the remainder of the book.
I have to admit I struggled with this book and come our club meeting I was not the only one who hadn't finished it! Usually I can get used to the old fashioned language after a few chapters, but it took a lot longer here. I guess it took me until at least half-way into the book for me to engage with the story and get into it. While Tess is indeed more depressing, I still found it an easier read!
After all this book is a classic, and I would hesitate to say to people not to read it, I think people need to try this author and see how they get on, as many people seem to love it much more than I did, and the premise is interesting.
A bit about the author Thomas Hardy.
Hardy was born in 1840 near the county town of Dorset. His mother came from an impoverished background but with a love for literature and education. She taught him to read by the age of four and then instilled in him a great love for reading. His father (a keen violinist) gave him a love of music. Two other main influences on his life were that of the church and the natural countryside.
After his schooling he was apprenticed with an architect but still kept up with his reading of great literature including Alfred Tennyson, George Eliot, Shakespeare, and Alexander Dumas. "The Origin of Species" is said to have had a profound effect on him too.
For more detailed accounts of his life please visit http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/hardy/ it is not too heavy-going and quite informative.
"Far from the Madding Crowd" was one of Hardy's earlier novels, written in 1874. The title is said to be taken from a line in Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" - 'Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife'. It is possibly his most pastoral of all his novels and concentrates a lot on character and setting.
An outline of the story.
Gabriel Oak, a down-to-earth shepherd proposes to Bathsheba Everdene, a forthright and independant but vain young woman. She declines. Oak falls upon hard times and in searching for work, inadvertantly finds work on a farm that has fallen recently into the hands of Miss Everdene.
Miss Everdene is what would nowadays be described as a 'livewire' and throughout the novel, learns the hard way in lessons of love and life. She infatuates an older gentleman Mr Boldwood who owns a neighbouring farm with dire consequences and repeatedly casts aside and then repents with Oak. After a whirlwind romance and unsuccessful marriage with Sergeant Troy (very much her match in being confused about love), Bathsheba starts to change as a person.
The imagery and scenery.
Hardy is very descriptive in this novel and leaves no bit of weather, land, farm animal or labourer to the imagination. From the first chapter, you are transported to hills of lush pastures, and the hard but ultimately fulfilling life of the simple country folk that worked the land.
The characters are very complex and no one character is purely evil or saintly which instantly makes the story more believable and somehow more human. The names are certainly not chosen at random: from Gabriel Oak who is the reliable, strong, unfaltering character; to Sergeant 'Frank' Troy - exotic, charming and deceptive (one imagines Trojan horses amongst other Homer references).
And (as is also the case in "Tess of the D'Urbervilles"), the colour red is used as subtle warning to the reader of impending doom to one of the heros of the novel - whether it be from the colour of a character's clothing or blood or ink. This creates a sense of suspense and transforms an already amazing story into a gripping page-turner.
I could write reems more about the detail and structure of the book but am reluctant to scare any would-be Hardy readers away!
After reading this novel, I was left with a thirst for more - more of Hardy's novels, to explore the 'Wessex' countryside further, and to learn about the history of the time. This is truly a classic that should be on a every good home's bookshelves without exception.
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, the most pastoral and famous of his Wessex novels, was first published in 1874. The story concerns the elusive, beautiful and wayward young Bathsheba Everdene and the various men who develop a romantic interest in her over the course of the novel. Bathsheba arrives in the country to live with her aunt, Mrs Hurst, at the start of the book and soon attracts the attentions of local shepherd Gabriel Oak, who surprises Bathsheba by proposing marriage. 'His Christian name was Gabriel, and on working days he was a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character,' writes Hardy. 'On Sundays he was a man of misty views, rather given to postponing, and hampered by his best clothes and umbrella: upon the whole, one who felt himself to occupy morally that vast middle space of Laodicean neutrality which lay between the Communion people and the drunken section.' Oak's offer of marriage is gently rejected (she advises him to find someone rich to marry) by the independent and thoroughly modern Bathsheba - who then moves away to the village of Weatherbury.
Their paths are destined to cross again though when Gabriel loses his prized flock of sheep in an accident and is forced to travel around the area looking for some work to make ends meet. After he stumbles across a fire at a farm and helps to put it out, he decides to ask the owner of the land for work. The veiled owner turns out to be Bathsheba - having recently inherited the estate from her late Uncle. Bathsheba, despite an initial awkwardness at meeting him again, allows Gabriel to work as her shepherd on the land and he soon becomes her faithful friend and an invaluable employee with his knowledge of the countryside. As Gabriel, who still has strong feelings for Bathsheba, bides his time, she inadvertently attracts the attentions of the reclusive Farmer Boldwood after a childish Valentine prank backfires. His love for Bathsheba fills Boldwood with 'a fearful sense of exposure' and he too proposes marriage. Adding to the complications even further are expert swordsman and all round rakish rogue, the handsome and dashing Sergeant Francis Troy, who Bathsheba herself becomes smitten with after a chance encounter one night.
Far from the Madding Crowd, a charming rural idyll, becomes increasingly engrossing as we follow the knotty personal life and ups and downs of Bathsheba Everdene and the three very different men who all attempt to win her for themselves. Possibly, Far from the Madding Crowd takes a few pages to get into fully but for me this book is like The Moonstone in that once you get into it you can't put it down. Bathsheba is an appealingly vivid character and is given a memorable entrance into the book, admiring herself in a looking-glass on a carriage as Gabriel looks on. 'What Possessed her to indulge in such a performance in the sight of the sparrows, blackbirds, and unperceived farmer who were alone its spectators, - whether the smile began as a factitious one, to test her capacity in that art, - nobody knows; it ended certainly in a real smile. She blushed at herself, and seeing her reflection blush, blushed the more.' Bathsheba's beauty and independent nature soon stirs up local interest and a vague - sometimes unrequited - love triangle (or even quadrilateral) ensues.
The feisty Bathsheba is generally held up to be a character slightly ahead of her time in that she operates in what was still largely seen to be a male province with her farming and land interests. Hardy sometimes includes passages and scenes where Bathsheba is the only woman at some country event or sale and we get a real sense of her standing apart from everyone slightly but not letting it get to her. My favourite line in the book is Bathsheba's wonderfully defiant - 'I shall be breakfasted before you are afield. In short, I shall astonish you all.' The story is essentially Bathsheba's road to finding her true love and filled with tragedy, flirtations, biblical references, misunderstandings, incident, and ruminations on the differences between men and women and different types of people. 'It is difficult,' says Bathsheba. 'For a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.'
Each of Bathsheba's potential suitors has their distinct strengths and the sweep of the story always makes you curious to see what will happen. Boldwood offers money and security, Oak has good character and kindness, and the dashing and caddish Troy is exciting. 'IDIOSYNCRASY and vicissitude,' writes Hardy. 'Had combined to stamp Sergeant Troy as an exceptional being. He was a man to whom memories were an encumbrance, and anticipations a superfluity. Simply feeling, considering, and caring for what was before his eyes, he was vulnerable only in the present. His outlook upon time was as a transient flash of the eye now and then: that projection of consciousness into days gone by and to come, which makes the past a synonym for the pathetic and the future a word for circumspection, was foreign to Troy. With him the past was yesterday; the future, to-morrow; never, the day after.' You do find yourself hoping for a particular outcome which adds to the readability of the book a great deal.
There might be a tad too much farming detail in Far from the Madding Crowd for some tastes but these elements do add greatly to the overall atmosphere of the story and Hardy's descriptions of nature, ancient rural traditions, stars in the night sky and the countryside in general are always enjoyable. 'The fields and sky were so much of one colour by the snow, that it was difficult in a hasty glance to tell whereabouts the horizon occurred; and in general there was here, too, that before-mentioned preternatural inversion of light and shade which attends the prospect when the garish brightness commonly in the sky is found on the earth, and the shades of earth are in the sky. Over the west hung the wasting moon, now dull and greenish-yellow, like tarnished brass.' Hardy's almost nostalgic feelings for the countryside and its ways are a major theme of the novel although the main absorbing appeal of the book lies in the great characters and their intertwining relationships and interactions.
Far from the Madding Crowd is a compelling and classic story with the majestic backdrop of Hardy's Wessex countryside in all its glory and different moods.
---Introduction--- It was on holiday in Scotland that I chose to read the bulk of this particular book. Whether it was the magnificent Highland scenery that inspired the read (albeit the rugged mountainous terrain would hardly substitute for the fictional lowlands of *Wessex) or the more than common flock of sheep that put me in mind of the characters, I'm not sure; but having spanned a gap of some 24 years since the first time I read the book, this is an account of my experience. ---Thomas Hardy--- Thomas Hardy was born in June 1840 in Higher Bockhampton, just outside Dorchester. In 1874 ?Far From the Madding Crowd? was published in serial form in the Cornhill Magazine in twelve numbers, illustrated by H. P. Allingham. Hardy went on to write and publish much loved works such as ?The Mayor of Castorbridge? and ?Tess of the D?Urbervilles? that caught the public imagination and are still read in vast numbers today. ---Far From The Madding Crowd--- Far from the Madding Crowd is set in rural 19th century England. Based in Wessex, the story is established in and around the south of England approximating to the New Forest region of Hampshire in the main. Gabriel Oak is a shepherd who has made his own way in the world. Having built up his own flock based on hard work and a soon to be paid loan, he is doing well as a reputed expert in his trade. On a particularly unremarkable day, he encounters the beautiful and daring Bathsheba Everdean. Headstrong and flamboyant, Bashsheba saves Oak from suffocating in his Shepherd?s tent triggering a longing for ?..The young girl with the remarkably pleasant lips and white teeth?. Before long, Gabriel asks for Bathsheba?s
hand in marriage but she declines as she doesn?t love him. Following an unfortunate accident resulting in the loss of Oak?s flock, their paths cross again in the nearby village of Weatherbury. Down on his luck, Gabriel is hired by the now mistress of her own farm, Bathsheba in a twist of fate not lost on the young woman. Ensconced as the closest thing to nobility in the district, Farmer Boldwood is the perennial Bachelor who takes life all too seriously. With a bad experience in love at an earlier age colouring his outlook, a misguided prank involving the mischievous sending of a Valentine to Boldwood leads to a dangerous obsession with the naïve sender, Bathsheba that ultimately ends in tragedy. Meanwhile, the dashing romantic military figure of Sargent Troy is stood up at the alter by the unfortunate Fanny Robin. With a rogue?s eye for adventure and more than a hint of cynicism, Troy finds his way into all of the main character?s lives but, in the main, Bathsheba?s to set the metaphorical cat among the pigeons and give the story it?s catalyst for melodrama and disaster. ---My Thoughts--- Far From The Madding Crowd has been an established part of the school curriculum for many years and it?s easy to see why. At 318 pages long, it's a reasonable length and, unusually, not written from any one perspective. Adopting the position of several different characters at alternate times, there's more of a narrative feel to the telling than anything else. In terms of a pure reading experience then the book is a relative page turner. With short, punchy chapters, the magazine format is clear for all to see with chapter?s headed up by the main events of the sequence. For example, chapter 2 is entitled "Night-The Flock-An Interior-Another Interior
"and only lasts for 6 pages. As to the actual construction of the work then it?s hard to fault Hardy. Technically, the writing is exemplary and the label of genius has been used in Hardy?s case by many over the years. An absolute pleasure to read, Hardy builds on his great skill with the ability to paint mental pictures in the reader?s mind that places the audience squarely in the middle of a vista that would not be out of place in a Constable painting. For me, the title of this piece speaks volumes. There?s more than a suggestion of subversion in the notion that life revolves around the towns and cities of the time and that the country is a pastoral existence of peace and loving. Clearly, Hardy refutes this through pot-boilers like this one and the carefully constructed soap opera eschews the idea in an overly dramatised plot intended to shock and entertain. There is a clue on p.113 as to where the author is coming from ??.In comparison with cities, Weatherbury was immutable. The Citizen?s Then is the rustic?s Now. In London, twenty or thirty years ago are old times; in Paris ten years, or five; in Weatherbury three or four score years were included in the mere present, and nothing less than a century set a mark on it?s face or tone.? Hardy has a wonderful talent for drafting pen-pictures of his main characters. Of Boldwood, that stoicism is captured succinctly on page 94 after having received the Valentine?s card. ??His equilibrium disturbed, he was in extremity at once. If an emotion possessed him at all, it ruled him; a feeling not mastering him was entirely latent. He was always hit mortally, or he was missed.? It does appear that Hardy uses the rustic characters as a way of lending a sense normality to proceedings allowing the principal characters to play out their excesses. I guess it?s th
is aspect that struck me the most; the way the book reads more like a play. It wouldn?t be unkind to compare the goings on to those most over the top of operas or an overblown Greek tragedy. Perhaps more up to date, today?s soap operas would show a strong resemblance to the twists and turns of the events included in a Hardy production. It?s easy to see why the Victorians of the day would have revelled in the scandal included in a Hardy story whilst at the same time sharing an outrage at Hardy?s oblique handing of sensitive social issues such as divorce. Of course, not everything is plain sailing with a classic like this. There were passages that I found hard work at times usually involving the conversations in the Inns and the like as the text and subtext was often mundane in today?s terms. The apparent religious undertones of a still worshipful rural population seemed dated by today?s standards although it?s that gentle dogma that gives a gentle balance to the overriding morals that Hardy chews over in his plot. With something of a chequered love life himself, maybe it is no surprise that the writer ponders the inner workings of love and lust and eventually appears to conclude that a mutual respect in a form of loving seems to make more sense than a passionate love affair that will serve only to disrupt all of those around (this point becomes much clearer towards the end of the book). ---Conclusion--- Like any other story, books like this stand all fall by the characters involved. Compared by some to a Shakespearean comedy, I would have to disagree, if only that I couldn't really detect a comedic aspect in the story. What I do know is that I empathised with the flighty Bathsheba; I admired the stoical Gabriel Oak and I wanted to shake the vulnerable Boldwood. As for Sargent Troy then a few hisses would
have been at home as the villain of the piece strutted the literary boards. Hardy?s realism and literal pragmatism stirred many an emotion in the Victorian arena of the day. It?s hard to imagine these days unless you chose something particularly emotive such as the ordination of Gay clerics or the social acceptance of minority groups in general (merely examples, mind) Hardy stands astride English literature of his time and stands amongst the greats of his era. He deserves the respect that other similar writers deserve (Cookson, Bronte etc) but if I had to draw a comparison in terms of style then it would be with a writer I am very fond of i.e. Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes stories. Both wrote in a magazine format, both could tell a mean story, both are well worth discovering if you?ve never tried them before. Of course, there will be those who might find this too staid bearing in mind when it was written or even put off by having been force-fed the book at school. All I can say is try again on your own terms. I did and I?m very glad I returned to Wessex. Thanks for reading Marandina *Wessex did exist at one time. Hardy himself confirms that, in his case, the counties included were: Berkshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Hampshire, Dorset, and Devon ISBN: 1 84022 466 5 Available to buy online at Amazon for just £1.50 in paperback format.
This is a tale set in the countryside of Thomas Hardys Wessex. The story is about a young and beautiful woman who inherits a farm, and the men who fall in love with her. The main characters are.. Gabriel Oak.... Trained as a shepherd his social status varies during the book, but his farming skills are the ones that gain him the respect of others in the main. He is 28 years old well built and mild mannered. His features are unremarkable, Hardy describes them like this....' Gabriel's features adhered throughout their form so exactly to the middle line between the beauty of St. John and the ugliness of Judas Iscariot, as represented in a window of the church he attended, that not a single lineament could be selected and called worthy either of distinction or notoriety.' Although confident with sheep and farm work he was awkward and prone to blushing when in the company of an attractive woman. Bathsheba Everdene... A young and attractive woman with black hair. She is aware of her beauty and likes men to notice her , but she also inexperienced and lacks judgement in these matters. She also has the difficult task of running the farm that she inherited from her uncle, it being unusual in those times for a woman to be in cahrge of such a business. Mr Boldwood.... A gentleman farmer , middle aged, and rumoured to have been jilted when younger. The gossips think that he is likely to remain a bachelor as many women have attempted to court him and failed. Sergeant Troy...A dashing young cavalry officer. He is clever and confident with words, his looks and flair for flatttery make him very attactive to women. He first meets Bathsheba while walking along a path at night, his spurs get entangled in the hem of her dress and he makes the most of freeing the dress. 'You are a prisoner , miss; it is no use blinking the matter,' said the soldier drily. 'I must cut your dress if you are in such a hurry.' 'Y
es-please do!' she exclaimed helplessly. 'It wouldn't be necessary if you could wait a moment'; and he unwound a cord from the little wheel. She withdrew her own hand, but, whether by accident or design, he touched it. Bathsheba was vexed; she hardly knew why.' Fanny Robin... A pretty young woman who worked as a maid. She only makes a few short appearances in the book but is vital to the outcome. The estate workers and local malthouse owner. Hardy sometimes refers to them as 'natives'. These serve two purposes, one is a touch of comedy and the second allows Hardy to pass on information and histories of the gossiping of the workers. One of my favourite lighter moments is in Warrens Malthouse. Gabriel Oak is drinking there after putting out a fire and the maltster offers him some food... 'The cider will go down better with a bit of victuals. Don't chaw quite close, shepherd, for I let the bacon fall in the road outside as I was bringing it along, and maybe 'tis rather gritty. There 'tis clane dirt, and we all know what that, is as you say, and you bain't a particular man we see, shepherd.' 'True, true-not at all,' said the friendly Oak. 'Don't let your teeth quite meet, and you won't feel the sandiness at all. Ah! 'tis wonderful what can be done by contrivance.' The setting .... Hardy set his novels in an area he called Wessex which was centered around Dorset. He didn't want a completely ficticious area so he revived an old one, he based his towns on real places but gave them his own names ie. Casterbridge was actually Dorchester. Describing the countyside and buildings in great detail was very important to Hardy, and this can slow the book down at times. I find Hardy's books to be slighlty less melodramatic than Dickens, the fate of the characters being brought about by nature and coincidence rather than planned by unworthy c
haracters. Some of the key events in this book are brought about by ... a young sheepdog, an inheritance, a valentines card, mistaking a church name and a storm. I first read this book at school and detested it as we slowly picked it to pieces. Picking it up again some years later, I can enjoy it for what it is, a good love story set in the countryside. My copy is part of a specially bound collection, but Hardy's books are widely available in paperback from any bookshop.
This novel tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene and her three suitors; Gabrial Oak, Sergeant Troy and Farmer Boldwood. They are three very different men, Farmer Oak as his name suggests is strong and dependable, Farmer Boldwood has hidden depths and Sergeant Troy is a dahing, handsome but faithless soldier. Bathesheba is beautiful and independent and this is what attracts the three men. It isn't however simply a love story the characters are well drawn and strong. They belong to a different age, but we can still identify with them. They share the same universal emotions of love, fear, pain and joy. The backdrop to the story is beautifully drawn it illustrates a bygone age where the pace of life was slower, people walked from place to place, the malthouse was the centre of village life and a time when silence could easily be found. One of my favourite passages illustrates this: "To persons standing on a hill during a clear midnight such as this, the roll of the world eastward is almost a palpable movement...it is necessary to stand on a hill at a small hour of the night...long and quietly watch your progress through the stars." The story moves at a sedate pace, but it has the same mix of tragedy and joy found in more modern fast-paced stories. A lot of the comments in this book won't make much sense to a modern audience, some books explain them but they don't detract from the story and they add to the olde worlde ambience. I recommend this book, let yourself be immersed in a 'living' history and realise that we humans haven't changed much!
Far from the Madding Crowd is the story of a woman who inherits property, struggles to be accepted as a person in her own right despite the attitudes and social etiquette of the time. She is pursued by various admirers and acting upon not-so-sound advice finds herself in many amusing situations, only to find that the person she least expects is her Knight in Shining Armour. This is a thoroughly modern read and most enjoyable. Iwould recommend it to anyone. Not the typical "Classic" ie Heavy, but light and humorous.
I first read a Hardy book about a year ago - the mayor of casterbridge - just because there happened to be a copy in the house so hey, I read it. I really enjoyed it and didn't find it at all hard work like i have done with other 'classic'. anyway, that is why i bought Far from the madding crowd..... The book is about a girl, or should i say woman? who seems to attract all sorts of admirers and who rather enjoys the complications that it causes and the stress for those poor blokes!!! The way it is written makes you want to keep on reading and i don't know how anyone coped when this was orginally serialised in a magazine because i would never be able to wait for the next chapter. Hardy's work is so easy to read and is really funny when you wouldn't expect it to be. I know that Hardy is not really oldy worldy but i really hadn't expected to laugh at this stuff!!!!!! Also, the book is incredibly risque as Hardy's work often hints at sexy stuff (into which i will not delve right now) and at unconventional relationships for the time. If you feel that you should be reading stuff that is 'good for you' try Hardy because it is surprisingly entertaining. | <urn:uuid:ed0d8ac3-dd26-4994-83d3-d7653710f597> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/far-from-the-madding-crowd-thomas-hardy/ | 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 | 0.973294 | 6,057 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Oleander: a poisonous plant or not
Oleander is a decorative perennial shrub that belongs to the family kutrovyh. With the Oleander is associated with many different legends. On one of them ancient warriors made long and smooth twigs of this plant dinner, and the next morning none of them woke up. A poisonous plant the oleander is often seen in dwellings and public institutions. This vegetation is blooming beautifully, therefore, becomes a unique decoration of any interior. Few people know that all parts of this flower are poisonous, and this property persists even in the dried raw material.
Of common oleander may look like a tree, height up to 4 meters, but most of the larger bushes that have shoots coming from the root. It is evergreen, in that period, when not in flower, resembles a young willow shoots. The bark on twigs stiff, brown or dark olive color.
Potted oleanders can reach a height of 2 metres. This large room the flower requires a large tub and not a flower pot. This plant grows fairly quickly, and with proper pruning has a very short time the lush Bush begins to bloom, delighting in its color family members and guests.
The plant has large leaves dark green, with petioles attached to the stems in groups of 3 pieces, Oleander comes in white, yellow and even red, but the most frequent colors are pink. The smell of the flower is very nice and unusual.
Oleander is considered a very poisonous plant, in all parts of this flower are poisonous substances – glycosides, oleandrin and inarian.
Room oleander lives no more than 15 years, but at a constant transplanting and rejuvenation of the plant, period of life can be significantly increased.
In what cases may a poisoning oleander
Of poisoning with this beautiful potted flower often occur out of ignorance. So you can suffer in such cases:
- in case of accidental consumption of plant parts. This often happens with younger children who due to natural curiosity all pulling in the mouth;
- improper care of the plant. If the juice gets on your hands, and then the man took his hands in his mouth or dirty hands food.
In addition, all the symptoms of intoxication can occur and in that case, if the tub is in a small room and on the plant already has flowers. A sickly sweet smell may result in persistent headache, confusion and blurred vision.
It is worth remembering that severe poisoning can be the case even if the chew just a few leaves of oleander.
The signs of poisoning
Poisonous flower oleander in case of accidental ingestion causing these symptoms of intoxication:
- Person concerned about severe nausea that almost always ends with profuse vomiting.
- Slows the heartbeat and the person has shortness of breath.
- The consciousness of the victim confused, sometimes there is delirium.
- Eyesight and hearing deteriorate markedly.
Especially hard poisonings of this type occur at younger childrenwho have a weak immune system and not yet fully formed digestive organs and the nervous system.
If the person who ate parts of the oleander, getting worse with every minute, it is urgent to call a doctor.
To avoid severe consequences, it is necessary to the victim to provide first aid rendered by this algorithm:
- The stomach is washed. For this purpose it is better to use boiled, cooled water to which you added a powder of activated charcoal or potassium permanganate. The procedure can be performed as long as the waste from the stomach water is clean.
- Patient give any adsorbents.
- Before the arrival of the doctor to the victim give plenty to drink and monitor his condition.
People who are prone to allergic reactions, can be angioedema, so they immediately give protivogistaminnye drugs.
The victim is desirable in any case show the physician, as there may be late complications. If poisoned child and his doctor insists on hospitalization, you should not give up, baby should always be under the control of the medical staff.
If the juice gets on skin or mucous membranes, wash them a large amount of running water.
It is not necessary to wash the stomach young children at home, it can lead to severe dehydration.
The beneficial properties of plants
On the question of poisonous oleander or not, it is possible to give a precise answer that the plant is poisonous. However, despite the strong toxicity of plant raw oleander is used for the preparation of drugs cardiac group, which include cornering and nerilyn.
In addition, oleander has a pronounced antimicrobial action, in the room where the barrel with flower, greatly reduced the number of pathogenic microbes, particularly Escherichia coli and staphylococci.
The oleander is a flower with strong energy, therefore, it is desirable to put in the offices of large companies which to address important issues.
How to prevent poisoning
To warnpoisoning by oleander, you should follow some simple rules:
- It is not advisable to put this flower in the children's rooms, and also within the reach of small children.
- To take care of poisonous vegetation need gloves after pruning or transplanting flower be sure to wash your hands with soap under running water.
- Don't bet the pot with this plant in small rooms where there is no proper ventilation.
Oleander, undoubtedly, will decorate any home, but it is not necessary to forget that the plant is very poisonous and can severely hurt your health. If you follow all the rules for the care, the oleander will delight the eye and bring aesthetic pleasure. | <urn:uuid:9b135831-0977-48b5-b818-b115776ccb4f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://poisoning.vsebolezni.com/yady/rastitelnye/oleandr-yadovityj-ili-net.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572833.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817032054-20220817062054-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.943156 | 1,192 | 2.765625 | 3 |
From the publisher:
From the silent era into the early days of television, hundreds of small production companies turned out low-budget films that were played as second features in this country and abroad. As might be expected, a high percentage of these films were Westerns. The people who made these films-producers, directors, writers, actors, and technicians-inhabited what came to be known as Poverty Row, eking out a living doing a job they loved. Author C. Jack Lewis spent 25 years in this world of low-budget Westerns, and here he portrays the human side of the industry through the many people with whom he came into contact as he worked his way from film to film. Highly personal, filled with rare glimpses of a life that lives only in the memory of a few, this narrative is a nostalgic memoir of a bygone time, of those who shared life on Poverty Row-and of the hard work, failures, successes, and dreams made or broken. Liberal use of photos helps readers identify the faces they have seen on their television screens in the reruns of these pictures still making the rounds. A must-read for students of film and popular culture-great for fans of Westerns as well.
This came from the collection of Steve Sherman, a writer,artist, puppet-maker, puppet-performer, and avid collector. Steve worked as Jack Kirby's assistant, at Filmation, and Sid and Marty Krofft, before forming his own company Puppet Studio in 1984 contributing to "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", "Men in Black 1 & 2", "Mighty Joe Young", "Muppets" and numerous other TV series and feature films. | <urn:uuid:1f776f9b-c25e-455b-a947-7e55aeb3f7bd> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://stuartngbooks.com/white-horse-black-hat-a-quarter-century-on-hollywoods-poverty-row.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573540.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819005802-20220819035802-00466.warc.gz | en | 0.972279 | 348 | 2.171875 | 2 |
In 2001 the WHO issued a global recommendation that mothers should exclusively breastfeed their babies up to the age of six months. It is therefore recommended that healthcare professionals promote and offer support to facilitate breastfeeding as part of the WHO/UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative.1
Weaning refers to the introduction of solid feeding and the replacement of milk with solid food as the major nutritional source.2 The WHO recommends that the term weaning should be replaced by the phrase 'complementary feeding' as the former usually refers to stopping breastfeeding.3
In developing countries, malnutrition is a major cause of infant mortality and morbidity, and early weaning may be contributory. For example, other foods may be less nutritious when compared with breast milk. Formula milk may be less readily available and may be mixed with contaminated water which increases the risk of gastrointestinal infections.1
Low weight at 12 months of age in addition to low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in later life.1
Furthermore, in the developing world, another consideration is the return to fertility when breastfeeding is discontinued. The aforementioned factors are far less of an issue in the developed world where formula feeding may be considered out of personal preference or where breastfeeding is not possible. | <urn:uuid:cda39537-2f2c-4136-a939-889d4a07f13d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.independentnurse.co.uk/clinical-article/practical-advice-and-support-for-the-infant-weaning-process/63483 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20220808213349-20220809003349-00478.warc.gz | en | 0.944902 | 254 | 3.40625 | 3 |
A Meek Departure From the War Cabinet
Thursday, November 9, 2006
With a wry smile, Donald H. Rumsfeld gently alluded to the controversies of his tenure as defense secretary, perhaps the most consequential since that of Robert S. McNamara during the Vietnam War.
Thanking the president for the opportunity to serve, Rumsfeld said in a brief Oval Office session yesterday afternoon that the experience brought to mind the words of Winston Churchill -- "something to the effect," he quipped, "that I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof."
It was a rare melancholy moment for the alpha male and onetime Princeton wrestler who ran roughshod over the military brass, sparred bitterly with the media and mounted fierce rear-guard battles against the State Department during a six-year run that saw him become, first, an unlikely television celebrity and then the face of an unpopular war.
Though Bush affectionately patted Rumsfeld on the shoulder as he ushered him out of the Oval Office, there was little sugarcoating the reality that the defense chief, 74, was being offered as a sacrificial lamb amid the repudiation of Bush and his Iraq policy that the American electorate delivered on Tuesday.
Andrew H. Card Jr., then the White House chief of staff, had actually recommended this course of action to Bush two years ago. The fact that the defense chief lasted so long in the job was essentially a reflection of the fact that, in firing Rumsfeld, "you are basically admitting you made some serious mistakes in the conduct of the war," observed former White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta.
What is certain to be long debated is Rumsfeld's legacy at the Pentagon, which involved two tours. The first lasted 14 months in 1975 and 1976, when, at just 43, he served as the youngest defense secretary ever under President Gerald R. Ford and as a close ally of then-White House chief of staff Dick Cheney. (It was Rumsfeld who first recruited Cheney into the Nixon administration.)
Admirers and detractors alike credit Rumsfeld with an unusual willingness to question prevailing assumptions, such as where U.S. troops should be deployed overseas, and to shake up a Pentagon bureaucracy that he regarded as an impediment to making changes necessary to confront new and evolving threats to the United States.
Where they split is over whether Rumsfeld had the capacity to carry out true institutional change at the Pentagon, since from Day One he alienated top military brass and powerful congressional figures with his brusque manner and confusing decision-making process.
On Iraq, Rumsfeld found himself increasingly questioned by generals, lawmakers and others over miscalculations that included not planning adequately for the post-invasion occupation and failing to recognize soon enough the nature of the insurgency, as well as what they regarded as his derelict handling over the past five years of the detainee and interrogation controversies at the Pentagon.
With Rumsfeld's departure, most of the top Pentagon civilians responsible for planning the invasion and early occupation of Iraq are gone.
Early into the Iraq occupation, Rumsfeld was being compared by many military men to McNamara, resented by the military for the perception that he micromanaged matters during the Vietnam War.
"McNamara, for four years of Vietnam going down the toilet, was absolutely convinced with a religious zeal that what he was doing was the right thing," Thomas E. White, who was Rumsfeld's first Army secretary, once said. "It wasn't until 30 years later that it dawned on him that he was dead wrong. And I think you have the same thing with Don Rumsfeld." | <urn:uuid:66352942-c4ee-463f-8c2e-72bc48511f11> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802604.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281353.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00064-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978894 | 761 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Other actors and initiatives
intergovernmental agreements and actors
Sea Environment Programme
The Caspian Environment Program (CEP) was launched in April 1995
as a regional seas program by the five littoral states (Azerbaijan,
Iran, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Turkmenistan) in co-operation
with the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP. The program supports measures
to improve environmental quality and to efficiently manage the bioresources
of the Caspian Sea. Programme
components will focus on developing national policies to reduce
the pollution load of the Caspian Basin by clearly defining priorities
and preparing investment projects, establishing a system of monitoring
regional pollution with data banks, developing a strategy for a
sustainable sturgeon yield, improving the management of coastal
zone and wetland areas, protecting marine mammals, and strengthening
institutional capacity at the local, national, and regional levels.
on the Caspian Sea and the programme (and other projects), general
information on the Caspian
Sea as well as on governance, national
focal points, and stakeholders.
Economic Commission for Europe, ECE
The Environment and Human Settlements Division is part of the secretariat
of the UN ECE. It brings together economists, scientists, urban
planners and other experts, and organizes the regular intergovernmental
meetings of the Committee on Environmental Policy, the Executive
Body for the Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, the Meeting of the
Parties to the Convention
on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International
Lakes and the Committee on Human Settlements. At these meetings,
government representatives from Europe, North America, Central Asia
and Israel address environmental and human settlements issues, such
as environmental impact assessment, air and water pollution, urban
renewal or land registration.
Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
The bank finances projects in three country groups (Central Europe;
Russia and Central Asia; Southern and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus)
and three sectors:
Financial Institutions; Infrastructure; and Industry and Commerce.
The infrastructure group of projects contains four issues: Municipal
and environmental infrastructure; Transport;
and energy utilities; and Energy
efficiency. The EBRD is directed by its Agreement to "promote
in the full range of its activities environmentally
sound and sustainable development", thereby being the first
international financial institution to have been given such a proactive
environmental mandate by its founders.
The European Union's financing and long-term lending institution.
The EIB is mandated to conduct operations in: the Central and Eastern
European Countries and certain Mediterranean Countries which have
applied for membership of the EU; the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
Countries; the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), South
Africa and the OCT; Asia and Latin America; the Western Balkans.
Within the European Union, projects considered for EIB financing
must contribute to a number of set objectives, including the preservation
of the natural and urban environment.
Outside the Union, the Bank participates in implementing the Union's
development aid and cooperation policies through long-term loans
from own resources or subordinated loans and risk capital from EU
or Member States' budgetary funds.
programmes, strategies and research
Regional Thematic Centre (CRTC): Biodiversity
Thematic Centres were developed within existing institutions
having the best available regional expertise in selected thematic
areas. They are responsible for: development of a work plan and
implementation of activities in their respective thematic area,
regional coordination within area of competency, relevant regional
recommendation development, guidance and strategy within area of
competency, assistance in development of the TDA and PIP, and assistance
in development of the National Caspian Action Plans (NCAP) and the
Strategic Action Programme (SAP). One of the CRTCs work with biodiversity
issues.See for example the Caspian
The principal objectives of the CASPAS programme, endorsed by the
Hydrometeorological Departments of all countries of the region,
To set up a regional system for collection and exchange of information
on air and water conditions and on environmental pollution and other
environmental parameters in the Caspian Region;
To carry out a comprehensive investigation of changes in the level
of the Caspian Sea, as well as of environmental pollution in the region,
and to assess and forecast the impact of those two factors on the
Regional Seas Programme
Tacis Regional Seas Programme supports the Black Sea Environment Programme,
the Caspian Sea Environment Programme and the Danube River Basin
Programme. Caspian Sea partner organisation include Ministries of Environment
in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and their nominated Regional
Caspian Advisory Groups. The Tacis Caspian Sea Environment Programme has
been developed in close cooperation with the World Bank. It is planned
to support the bio-resources network, and catalyse urgent investment into
the region by the World Bank, other international financial institutions
and donors. Given the devastating oil pollution (particularly in Azerbaijan,
and flooded areas) and the threat of sturgeon becoming extinct, action
is all the more important and concomitant with the need to ensure the
sustainable development of Caspian Sea fossil fuel resource production
and enhance TRACECA. Tacis will provide specific logistical, management
and marketing support to set up four Regional thematic advisory groups,
one centred in each littoral country. The GEF is financing the participation
of the group in Iran, and the PCU. Focal areas are expected to cover coping
with the fluctuating sea level, biodiversity, pollution monitoring, and
sustainable sturgeon/fisheries management.
of the regional environment
Reports on the State of the Caspian Environment
These reports are available and can be downloaded in zipped or .doc
form for all Caspian countries:
oil, and sustainable development in Azerbaijan
Article about "ecocide of the Caspian Sea" by scientists at
College of Geosciences, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University.
Web site compiled by the University of Washington, Evan School of Public
Affairs. Contains articles on, e.g., "Challenges of environmental
protection" and "Sustainability issues".
Sea Region: Environmental Issues
General information on the Caspian Sea environment, compiled by the US
Energy Information Administration.
2000 State of the Environment: Europe and Central Asia
Outlook 2000. GEO is:
- a global
environmental assessment process, the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral
and participatory. It incorporates regional views and perceptions, and
builds consensus on priority issues and actions through dialogue among
policy-makers and scientists at regional and global levels.
- GEO outputs,
in printed and electronic formats, including the GEO Report series.
This series makes periodic reviews of the state of the world's environment,
and provides guidance for decision-making processes such as the formulation
of environmental policies, action planning and resource allocation.
Other outputs include technical reports, a
web site and a publication for young people.
Projects in the region
- GEF - International waters:
of Shared Water Management in full Strategic Action Programmes (SAP)
for the Caspian Sea
This project represents the GEF contribution to the Caspian Environment
Programme (CEP), a regional programme funded by the five riparian
countries, GEF,UNEP, and others. The goals of this GEF project are
the development of a regional coordination mechanism, completion
of a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis of priority water-related
environmental issues, formulation of a Strategic Action Programme
and National Action Plans for sustaining the Caspian and its associated
Bank - GEF - International waters:
Transboundary Environmental Issues in the Caspian Environment Programme
The project would identify priority transboundary issues and country-specific
actions to address those issues as part of the Caspian Environment
Programme (CEP). The CEP is a regional program funded by riparian
countries, GEF, UNEP, The World Bank, and other donors and the project
represents a joint, collaborative effort among the three implementing
agencies and the participating countries. The overall goal of the
CEP is environmentally sustainable development and management of
the Caspian environment, including living resources and water quality.
The ultimate goals of the proposed initiative are: (a) the development
of a regional coordination mechanism through institutional framework,
capacity building, public awareness, stakeholder involvement; (b)
completion of a Transboundary Diagnosis Analysis (TDA) of priority
transboundary water-related environmental issues to guide prioritization
for actions and investments; (c) formulation and endorsement of
a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) and National Action Plans as
the basis for prioritizing actions to be taken.
actors, initiatives and resources | <urn:uuid:4782208d-50be-4770-ad7b-be6d8accdfd6> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.unep.org/dewa/giwa/areas/area23.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281649.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00445-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.865925 | 1,919 | 2.46875 | 2 |
How many is enough? How do you know which ones will work? Why do I get such different search counts? These are just three of the dozens of questions I get about keyword research. So, at the prompting of one of my newsletter subscribers, I decided to create a mini-tutorial of sorts for you to follow when doing keyword research, analysis and selection.
The first step in the overall process of finding keywords and phrases to use on your websites (or the sites of your clients) is to conduct the initial research. Basically this is the act of creating a list of possibilities. We’ll get to analysis and selection a bit later.
Regardless of which tool you use you’ll want to educate yourself about where that tool’s data comes from and whether it is clean. For instance, Google’s search tool is for its AdWords paid search program. And, as might be obvious, it comes strictly from Google and no other search engines. (They also have a search tool for YouTube searches.)
Their data is not clean… that is to say, automated searches are included in the results. Not good, in my opinion. Why would I care about the keywords automated software programs are searching for? I only care about humans.
Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery both offer clean data. They filter out the automated searches so your results only contain queries typed in by real people. Also, Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery both pull data from a variety of sources, not just Google.
When conducting my initial research, I start with a list of seed phrases. These are ones I get from a variety of sources including:
- The clients’ analytics program
- Keywords I would personally type in to find a site like theirs
- Google Insights
- The client
Make sure to have your settings geared toward people in the area you want to serve/sell. You also want to click “phrase match.” Do not conduct keyword research using the default settings of the tool (which are usually “global” and “broad match”). That will bring you search and competition counts that are far too bloated. (Check out this horror story of keyword research gone wrong.)
As I enter these terms into the keyword research tool, I’m looking at the suggestions it throws back at me. At this point I’m not too picky about what I’m adding to the list. Weeding through everything will come during the analyzing phase. If the suggestions are somewhere in the ballpark, they get put on my list.
Once I’ve gone down every rabbit trail I think might lead me to useful keywords, it’s time to turn a keen eye and narrow things down.
Typically what I’m looking for when I analyze keyword research is balance. Competition, search count and relevance/purpose have to combine in such a way that you end up with terms that bring in qualified traffic in enough quantities to make a positive difference on your site. It is unlikely (depending on several factors) that you’ll rank both highly and quickly for terms with a lot of competition.
In my opinion, relevance is almost always the priority.
In Wordtracker, you have the benefit of looking at their new and improved KEI formula. This, along with two other competition metrics, makes it a lot easier to determine the viability of each search term. Google and Keyword Discovery also offer their own versions of competition metrics, but they aren’t as detailed as Wordtracker.
After I’ve weeded through the initial list and removed any obviously irrelevant terms, I ask the client to go behind me and rank the relevance of each keyword from one to 10 (with 10 being the most relevant).
With this information in hand, I head to the keyword selection process.
Once the list is sorted by relevance, I look at the search counts and competition levels to determine which terms will work best on which pages. This, my friends, is a judgment call. Keyword research is enormously personal to each project. There is no way for me to give you guidelines that consist of suggestions like, “If the term has less than 100 searches per month, ignore it” or “If the competition level is above 65 look for another term.”
All of this depends on the page of your site the term will be on, your business model, where in the buying process the terms will be used and more. But you can use this as a guideline:
- Aim for the highest search count possible while taking relevance and competition into consideration. (EXCEPTION: niche marketing)
- Check for relevancy to: your website, your business model, the type of page, the buying process
A keyphrase may be relevant to your website as a whole, but not make a good choice for a Services page or a Category page because of the type of term. Or the keyword may be at the wrong point in the buying process and attract visitors who aren’t qualified yet.
If you have an advertising business model you might be looking for different types of keyphrases than if you have an ecommerce site. One is geared toward providing information and drawing people in who, perhaps, are looking for comparisons and reviews while and the other is geared strictly toward sales.
Balance, balance, balance. Aiming strictly for the highest search-count terms will lead you astray almost every time. When you give due consideration to all the pieces of the puzzle, you stand a better chance of creating a final list of phrases for each web page that work to bring in qualified traffic at the right point in the buying process. And that gets you one step closer to making the sale.
If you found this post valuable, others might, too. Please share (below) on your favorite social media sites. Thanks! | <urn:uuid:77109fe5-b6f6-4c41-9294-1f27ba1f1b06> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://www.marketingwords.com/blog/professional-tips-for-accurate-keyword-research-analysis-and-selection/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560283689.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095123-00349-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943219 | 1,212 | 1.640625 | 2 |
BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan urged residents in the city to strictly observe waste disposal rules to avoid contributing to the city’s flooding problem especially at the City Camp basin.
The mayor tasked the heads of the barangays surrounding the major drainage canals at City Camp and San Roque to educate and repeatedly remind their constituents to dispose their garbage properly after noting that the indiscriminate throwing of refuse continues to cause the clogging of the drainage openings and canals which if unchecked will result to flooding during heavy rains and typhoons.
The mayor said the city has made a big headway in dredging the City Camp drainage passageway to minimize the flooding in the area while the city engineer’s office has been maintaining the declogging of waterways, canals and drainage system all over the city.
He however warned that if the residents will not cooperate and will not mind their waste disposal habits then the efforts of the city will be wasted and flooding will remain to be a problem.
At the same time, the mayor called on the contractors undertaking road improvement projects in the city to ensure that safety measures are always in place to avoid any danger and inconvenience to the public.
He said he particularly asked the city engineering office and the Baguio City District Engineering Office to make sure that contractors provide at all times safety warning signs, flag men to help in ensuring smooth traffic flow and most importantly to follow their time table.
As to the city’s general preparations for the typhoon season, the mayor said the different offices have their usual contingency measures to minimize if not prevent casualties and damages.
According to the mayor, these offices should by now be ready with their emergency measures in the event of massive devastation and the city’s isolation due to typhoons to ensure enough food supply, evacuation centers, effective rescue operations, infrastructure restoration and other needs.
The mayor again reminded residents living in landslide-prone and critical areas to exercise precaution and evacuate the area before the calamity strikes for their own safety.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council operations center will be on hand to respond to emergency situations. Their hotlines are 442-1900-1905.
The evacuation and relief operations will be spearheaded by the city social welfare and development office under officer Betty Fangasan.
The city health office under Dr. Rowena Galpo is also on guard for the outbreak of rainy day-related diseases.
For the suspension of classes, the Department of Education rules remain in which classes in the kindergarten level will be suspended upon the lowering of storm signal number 1. Storm signal number 2 would mean suspension of classes in kindergarten, elementary and high schools and signal number 3 would mean no classes in all levels.
The mayor has the discretion of suspending classes in any level regardless of typhoon signals during inclement weather that poses health and safety risks to students. /Aileen P. Refuerzo | <urn:uuid:37c2bb2d-5b37-4fe9-af94-65f3137f6d84> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://ph.junctionnews.com/residents-urged-to-mind-waste-disposal-to-prevent-flooding/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572908.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817122626-20220817152626-00071.warc.gz | en | 0.939341 | 592 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Anarchy and Alcohol
This is some pretty heavy stuff. The two essays* within are, more or less, on the dangers of alcohol, and how it is destroying both the punk scene and society.
Punk and alcohol have a history. The stereotypical punk is probably blitzed out of his (or her) mind on the cheapest alcohol around, and throwing bottles at people. And while some of them are, you could say the same about any sub group of people. Plus there’s the straight edgers (no drugs, no drink), who is a significant part of the punk scene in some cities.**
I think it’s important for zines on topics like this to exist. For many people alcohol is a problem, and creating dialogues within communities where it is frequently abused is important. When the major programs that exist for dealing with addiction are based around religion, the need for alternatives is incredibly important.
Despite all this, the first essay seems kind of crazy until the postscript where it says that it was written from an extreme “no alcohol ever” position to hopefully create acceptance of a “moderate” position somewhere between "no alcohol" and "alcohol alwa"ys. Viewed as such it’s a far more reasonable piece of writing; the writer doesn't expect people to do what they say in the piece, in fact they come right out and say that it’s okay to drink (and be drunk).
Without that disclaimer it’s somewhat hard for anyone who drinks alcohol in moderation (though I suppose even alcoholics generally don’t think they drink too much) to take it seriously. The idea that all anarchists are drunken louts who never get anything done is hard to take serious because, well, I know some who aren’t. And no, they’re not drunken louts who get things done, or sober people who get nothing done either.
The second essay is written from an anarcho-primitivist viewpoint, and while I found the history of brewing and alcohol it contained interesting and worth reading, even if you have absolutely no intention of changing your alcohol consumption (they drank how much beer in the olden days? Woah), I really have to take issue with one point.
The piece claims to be a case for straight edge, yet my understanding of that philosophy is that it is against all forms of recreational drugs, not just those created by capitalism. Claiming that hunter gatherers didn’t drink alcohol, and thus were free from outside affections, is just, um, lies. There are many drugs that occur naturally and require no preparation to be consumed, and can cause an alteration of the mind. To ignore these, and the idea that our ancestors didn’t do them, seems to be ignoring a fairly major fact.
Still, over all this is worth reading, as it contains thought provoking material, interesting history, and it looks pretty nice.
*And essays they are, the only thing really differentiating them from university papers are a lack of footnotes. Though I sort of wish they had footnotes, or at least some references for further reading.
**I think there’s a really interesting documentary to be made about the global straight edge movement. I’ve had straight edge friends who have come from different cultures and it’s interesting to see how in some places it's really tied to religion (in Malaysia some of my friends didn't like straight edgers because they were being "good Muslims"), while in other places it's not.
Another example is how in South Korea there are no illegal drugs available (or at least they are incredibly hard to acquire), so straight edge is just about the alcohol. However that can be a really big deal in a culture were drinking is so important.
Here’s links to an article about and an interview with a Korean straight edge band I wrote for a magazine. | <urn:uuid:50cfc655-8471-4c64-820b-407294e875a2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://365zines.blogspot.com/2010/01/anarchy-and-alcohol.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281151.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00116-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967562 | 813 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Annette Hacker, director,
Office: (515) 294-4777
Brian Monahan, Sociology, (515) 294-8379, [email protected]
Mike Ferlazzo, News Service, (515) 294-8986, [email protected]
ISU sociologist studies social construction of 9/11 and its use as political, social resource
AMES, Iowa -- Monday's lead headline in USA Today read "Is 9/11 becoming just another calendar date?" The story by Rick Hampson went on to detail how today's sixth anniversary is "unlikely to pack the same emotional clout, generate the same media attention or command the same public focus as the fifth anniversary."
But that's not really a surprise according to Brian Monahan, an assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State University who has been researching the social construction of 9/11 and its use as a political and social resource.
"In our culture, we have what you might call dominant anniversaries, and number six is not really one that tends to resonate," Monahan said.
"The first anniversary of a major event is often marked as a very important occasion, and the fifth and tenth anniversaries tend to bring about a spike in attention, but the anniversaries in between, while significant for many folks, do not tend to draw the same level of media or public attention," he said.
Monahan, who is working on a book tentatively titled "Constructing 9/11: Media Coverage and the Making of Public Drama," which will be published in the future by New York University Press, argues that we should not measure the ongoing significance of an event like 9/11 solely by the number or size of ceremonial occasions and public memorials.
"The fact is, the dominant notion of 9/11 as it was created in the years after the attacks continues to serve as a well-stocked reservoir of images, symbols, and rhetoric from which our political leaders, public officials, media personnel and others continue to draw," he said. "It's used to evoke certain sentiments or assumptions in their audiences, promote a particular version of reality, and buttress or advance agendas and ideologies."
And because the horror of the 9/11 terrorist attacks understandably captivated the media and the world for such a long time, the words "9/11" still carry an iconic value today -- one that is frequently used in political and social forums, according to Monahan.
"We can see the continued symbolic value of 9/11 being put to use in a number of ongoing political matters, from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to various domestic policies, to the ongoing campaign for the U.S. presidency," he said.
In fact, Monahan considers the GOP presidential candidacy of Rudy Giuliani -- the mayor of New York City during the attacks -- to be one of the more visible examples of 9/11's continuing political impact.
"When Giuliani repeatedly references his role in the aftermath of the attacks and invokes his standing as a 'hero of 9/11' -- which he seems to do quite often -- during his campaign appearances, he is, indeed, trying to draw upon the continued significance of 9/11."
Rememberance of 9/11 has not faded, Monahan says. (35 sec.)
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Brian Monahan, an assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State, has been researching the social construction of 9/11 and its use as a political and social resource. He is working on a book tentatively titled "Constructing 9/11: Media Coverage and the Making of Public Drama," which will be published in the future by New York University Press. | <urn:uuid:85d084c5-7a35-4881-b8f9-dee4d0287e82> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2007/sep/9-11.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719784.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00427-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956988 | 794 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Many scientists are concerned that plant and animal species may face extinction due to global warming, but biologists at Washington University in St. Louis are trying to predict exactly what will happen to them. Which species will migrate? Which evolve? Which change their behavior? Which become extinct?
Rather than peer into the future, they are looking backward, exploring how species alive today survived global warming at the end of the Pleistocene and asking whether their responses provide any guidance for us today.
For his dissertation Brad Oberle, a doctoral candidate in biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, delved into the post-Pleistocene history of three species of shootingstars (Dodecatheon).
Dodecatheon is a genus of flowering plant in the Primrose family, the petals of whose nodding flowers flex upward, giving the flowers the appearance of a star falling to earth, trailing flames behind it.
Two of the species, the jeweled shootingstar (D. amethystinum), and French's shootingstar (D. frenchii), are rare and grow only in cliff habitats.
Are the rare species glacial relicts, species adapted to the cool wet conditions during the Pleistocene that gradually retreated to smaller and smaller refuges as the climate warmed? Or were they ecotypes, local variants of a widespread species, Mead's shootingstar (D. meadia), that had adapted to cliff microclimates but were genetically similar to Mead's shootingstar.
"As is typical of science," says Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, Oberle's dissertation advisor, and his co-author, "the result was mixed. One species is probably a relict species, and the other is probably an ecotype. Some species responded to warming by migrating but other populations apparently adapted in place."
The article was published in the April 5th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).
"It's a lovely piece of work," Schaal says.
"On hikes I took as a kid," says Oberle, who grew up in Missouri, "I noticed it felt very different if you were out in a glade, an open habitat with intense sunshine and high temperatures, than if you were down in a hollow, where it's more sheltered, cooler and tends to be a lot more moist. I also noticed that the plant communities in these two places also differed a lot."
"When I was just getting started on my Ph, I read a book called The Terrestrial Natural Communities of Missouri by Paul Nelson.
"One species I learned about, French's shootingstar, specializes in habitats that occur where ledges overhang the bottom of cliffs. These rock houses, as they're called, tend to form in sandstone cliffs because of the way sandstone weathers. The cliff habitats are typically damp and shelter other interesting plants, as well.
"And then, flipping through the book, I found the jeweled shootingstar, another rare species, but one that specializes on limestone cliffs. It usually grows on slopes at the top of the cliffs right before the rock face becomes vertical.
"It also tends to grow in little patches on the rock face itself," says Oberle, who admits both to learning technical climbing to prepare for his fieldwork and to twice falling off cliffs in the field.
"The widespread species, D. meadia, is a real mess," he says. "It's a beautiful plant and one that tends to catch a botanist's eye. And almost every botanist that looks at a population of this plant feels that population is special and unique. When botanists have that reaction, they tend to slap a name on the population and call it a new species. Fifty to 100 names have been thrown onto this one species of shootingstar because it's so beautiful, and comes up in the spring when everybody wants to go out and botanize," he says laughing.
"The number of species in the genus is still an open question," Oberle says, "but a revision of this genus published a few years ago named 18 species of Dodecatheon in the United States. The revision identified three species in the eastern U.S. and those are the species I worked with."
The relict hypothesis and the ecotype hypothesis
Botanists who believe the rare species of shootingstar are distinct species explain their distribution and ecology as a response to historical climate change.
These species really like cold and moist conditions. They throve throughout the last glacial period.
"If you roll the clock back to 20,000 years ago, St. Louis was 50 to 100 miles from a glacier that was about a mile thick," Oberle says.
These species were widespread at the last glacial maximum when conditions were cooler, but when the climate started to warm up, they couldn't adapt, so their ranges shrank and they became stuck i solated in these cliff habitats.
Other botanists, however, think that the shootingstars are just one big jumbled species. If you find an odd-looking shootingstar in a cliff habitat, it isn't because it had some special history, but instead because the cliff habitat has unusual characteristics and the process of natural selection produces local variants that are adapted to those characteristics. So the rare species are ecotypes, plants specialized for a particular habitat, not relicts.
What the hypotheses predict
As Oberle realized, these hypotheses make specific predictions that could be falsified by research.
The relict hypothesis predicts that the relict species will be genetically distinct from any other species in the area. It's doing its own thing and it has its own history and it should be possible to detect that history by looking at patterns of genetic variation.
The relict hypothesis also predicts that far flung populations of the relict species will occur in the same kind of habitat and be genetically more similar to one another than to plants that occur in different habitats, even if those plants are nearby.
The ecotype hypothesis makes a contrasting set of predictions. If the rare species are ecotypes, just local variants of the widespread species, their genomes should not vary markedly from that of another random population of the widespread species.
Further, if the rare populations are ecotypes, they should be more similar genetically to nearby ecotypes than they are to distant ones.
To distinguish between these hypothesesm Oberle collected shootingstars across the eadtern United States, from Pennsylvania to Texas, and from Georgia up to Minnesota.
"One of the ironies of this project," he says ruefully, "was that I was doing this research about global warming and I was driving all over the country to do it. But it was a fantastic trip, and I got to see amazing places and meet very generous people.
"At every location, I'd take GPS coordinates, try to get a sense for how big the population of plants was, and then sample the plants in a consistent way.
"I measured a trait called specific leaf area, or the fresh leaf area per unit mass, because it gave me insight into how well the plants were adapted to the habitats where I found them.
"I also grabbed leaves for genetic analysis. I sequenced some DNA from all of the plants, but because DNA sequences don't vary much between plants, I turned to a technique called amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP). That technique tends to be very sensitive; closely related individuals often have very different AFLP banding patterns.
"And finally, I collected a voucher specimen from every population for the herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden," Oberle says.
Some relicts, some ecotypes
The results, which ultimately emerged from the genetic work, depended on the species.
"Populations of jeweled shootingstar from Wisconsin and from Pennsylvania are genetically distinct from all other shootingstars in North America and very similar to one another even though they are so far apart," Oberle says.
This suggests the jeweled shootingstar is a relict, a plant that was widespread in the past but whose range has become fragmented and that that now survives only in refuge habitats.
French's shootingstar, on the other hand, is not genetically distinct from D. meadia at all, even though these plants look different and grow in different habitats. Although earlier work has showed they were genetically adapted to different circumstances, overall their genomes are very much alike. So French's shootingstar is probably just a simple ecotype of D. meadia.
The results suggest that the two rare "species" of shootingstar in the eastern United States should be managed quite differently. Because the jeweled shootingstar is a relict, it's probably hanging on by a thread. If climate continues to warm, it is likely to go extinct.
"Because we know this species is genetically distinctive, the jeweled shootingstar should be a priority for conservation as climate continues to warm," Oberle says.
On the other hand, since French's shootingstar is an ecotype, that suggests that it's capable of adapting to changing climate.
And, because it isn't genetically distinctive, a population of French's shootingstar has the same conservation value as any other random population of D. meadia.
But, Oberle cautions, shootingstars may not respond to human-caused global warming as they did to the warming at the end of the last ice age, both because the warming is more rapid and because the habitat is now fragmented.
The sad part
"I was sad to come to the conclusion that D. frenchii wasn't really a distinct species, because it is a beautiful plant and it grows in a beautiful habitat, so part of me wanted to recognize the beautiful distinction of it, too.
"My family has owned a farm since the 1860s that is near one of these sandstone cliff habitats. My grandparents and my great-grandparents used to go there in the summertime to rest under the waterfall after working in the fields. And this cliff has a population of D. frenchii, one of the few populations in Missouri. So I have a family connection to this beautiful rare plant, and my research showed it is not as special as we thought it was.
"I felt almost as though I had caused an extinction, although the extinction was just an extinction on paper."
|Contact: Diana Lutz|
Washington University in St. Louis | <urn:uuid:32c36d0f-bccc-4984-a3b5-19aa14f081aa> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Shootingstars-provide-clues-to-likely-response-of-plants-to-global-warming--18765-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280835.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00467-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969851 | 2,159 | 4.0625 | 4 |
Posted BY: Eileen F. Toplansky
Returning the abortion question to the states is a constitutional victory. It is a beginning of restoring the separation of powers that is vital to the country. Even the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that the manner in which Roe was determined was a judicial error. The major legal sticking point has always been that the Court is not supposed to make law, only interpret it. That has now been remedied.
But the devil is always in the details and the following issues will need to be seriously addressed for there to be a modicum of peace in the land.
- If a state prohibits abortions altogether, will a licensed doctor go to jail if s(he) performs an abortion?
- Will there be an exodus of Ob/Gyn doctors from a state that bans abortion thus leaving pregnant women without proper medical care?
- Will women who obtain an abortion in a non-abortion state be jailed?
Tamia Perez explains that
Abortion is now illegal, soon to be illegal, or potentially illegal in as many as 20 states.
In Alabama, a near-total ban on abortion could be enjoined in which abortion is only legalized to save the life of the pregnant person.
In Idaho, abortions are temporarily legal. However, all abortions will become illegal… except in cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the pregnant person.
In Kentucky, Louisiana, South Dakota and Texas all abortions are now illegal except to save the life of the pregnant person.
Will there be a return to the backroom abortions that existed before abortion was legalized?
Will religious communities be at odds with a state’s ruling on abortion? Will anti-choice laws collide with Jewish law, for example?
Rabbi Rachael Pass asserts that “[i]f anyone tries to argue that abortion restrictions are justified under the prerogative of religious freedom, we can explain that our religious freedom demands that we have access to abortion care when it is needed and wanted.’
In fact, according to Rabbi Rob Scheinberg of Hoboken, N.J.
In Judaism, the fetus does not have the same rights of personhood as the mother, at ANY point during pregnancy. The idea that full rights of personhood kick in at the moment of conception is an idea that can be found in Christian writings… but it is not an idea that you can find in traditional Jewish texts.
The Orthodox Union. has written that “Jewish law prioritizes the life of the pregnant mother over the life of the fetus such that where the pregnancy critically endangers the physical health or mental health of the mother, an abortion may be authorized, if not mandated, by Halacha [Jewish law] and should be available to all women irrespective of their economic status. Legislation and court rulings — federally or in any state — that absolutely ban abortion without regard for the health of the mother would literally limit the ability for Orthodox Jews to live in accordance with the responsibility to preserve life.”
Moreover, some states are only considering physical health and are specifically excluding mental health. However, the mental anguish of the pregnant woman has been considered as part of the decision-making criteria for abortion in Jewish law.
How will this affect the treatment of and religious freedom of the Orthodox Jewish community as they grapple with new laws that restrict and bar them from following Jewish law? Will pregnant women now avoid prenatal care where “every miscarriage is treated as a potential criminal investigation?”
In Islam, “Muslim scholars have categorized the permissibility of abortion or lack thereof based on the time period and circumstances. They divided the pregnancy into three main periods.
Abortion during the first 40 days after conception is quite flexible. Additionally, abortion is allowed in cases of rape or if the parents are physically or mentally unable to raise a child. However, fear of poverty is not a legitimate reason to abort a child.
After 40 days Muslim scholars have differed on the permissibility of abortion. After the first 120 days, it is believed that the child is given a soul. It is therefore categorically forbidden to abort the child unless the mother’s life is in danger. Abortion is also allowed if the fetus passes away in the mother’s womb.
Will one religious view create secular law that prohibits permissible abortions within other religions?
Depending upon a state’s laws, will liberal Christians flock to one state over another, thus further polarizing Christians? On the other hand, how will the return to the sanctity of the preborn affect religious institutions and the culture as a whole? Will the decision strengthen traditional Church and church-affiliated schools as they pit themselves against churches that have swung Left over the years?
In a completely different vein, will the Supreme Court decision usher in a new approach to relationships? Emily Jashinsky asserts that “whether you’re religious or not, sex reserved for loving and committed relationships is the healthiest norm for women. But with easy abortion access, casual sex increased, leaving more women pregnant outside of marriage or other committed relationships.”
Moreover, what, if any, effects will this new decision have on the demographics and economics of the country?
Americans are having fewer and fewer babies, a new government report finds. In fact, we now aren’t making enough babies to replace ourselves.
In fact, “the latest data show a current rate of… 16 percent below the number needed to keep the population stable without additions through immigration.”
How will the new decision affect the economic wherewithal of individual states and of the country as a whole?
How will the militant Left use the decision to further divide the country? Will the culture wars afflicting the nation be reduced? Will children “perceive that they are growing up in a society that tells them life has value and deserves protection?”
- Will more babies be available for adoption?
- Will more babies need to be placed in orphanages?
Yet, as the states enact their own decisions, will there be a movement for Congress to enact a law legalizing abortion again throughout America?
Ultimately, as explained here in this Dallas News editorial “it is possible to imagine a history wherein the nation’s political process could move toward a federal law that recognizes both a woman’s right to electively end a pregnancy in its early stages and that strikes the intuitive moral balance that so many people have come to accept.”
Note that Roe… and Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act — the law that led to Roe’s undoing – both accept that abortion at some stage should be legal.
And they both identify a stage in pregnancy after which elective abortion can be or will be prohibited.
It will “require genuine democratic consideration of a federal standard that places clear limits on elective abortion but does not prohibit it in the first trimester.”
Wholesale prohibitions on abortion would force rape victims to carry their attacker’s child. Yet, “the idea of abortion as simply another medical procedure between a woman and her doctor, as routine as any other procedure, is untenable.”
For many, the idea of a “federal standard” hearkens back to too much control over states rights. For others, it sounds enticing: would it prohibit late-stage abortions that seem to animate many Democrat-controlled states?
The law… must arise from a democratic process at the federal level. It will not resolve every difference. But leaving the question to the states will only divide our nation further.
Ultimately, how will America balance this “most serious moral concern?” | <urn:uuid:e1d627fe-b0a0-4197-b09e-d63397b70378> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://nworeport.me/2022/06/29/the-abortion-conundrum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571719.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220812140019-20220812170019-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.947067 | 1,584 | 1.742188 | 2 |
|This article on an author is a stub. You can help Wikiquote by expanding it.|
- Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
- "The Star," from Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804).
- I thank the goodness and the grace
Which on my birth have smiled,
And made me in these Christian days,
A happy English child.
- "A Child's Hymn of Praise," from Hymns for Infant Minds (1810).
- Though man a thinking being is defined,
Few use the grand prerogative of mind.
How few think justly of the thinking few!
How many never think, who think they do!
- "Essays in Rhyme" from On Morals and Manners, Prejudice, Essay i. Stanza 45, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
- Far from mortal cares retreating,
Sordid hopes and vain desires,
Here, our willing footsteps meeting,
Every heart to heaven aspires.
- Hymn, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
- Oh that it were my chief delight
To do the things I ought!
Then let me try with all my might
To mind what I am taught.
- For a Very Little Child, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Bartlett's notes this work to be written by Ann Taylor. | <urn:uuid:b7e3ca22-f912-4d35-aa5d-e3a727520ed2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Taylor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280221.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00228-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884274 | 357 | 2.484375 | 2 |
What is believed to be the first traditional African gay wedding took place in KwaDukuza, South Africa, on the weekend.
Tshepo Modisane and Thoba Sithole, both 27 years old, married in front of 200 guests at the Stanger Siva Sungam community hall, fully dressed in traditional costumes and following a Zulu rite.
Gay marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2006 and the country is generally considered to be the most advanced in the continent on LGBT issues, despite widespread discrimination and violence against gay and trans people.
Tshepo, an audit manager, and Thoba, an IT specialist, now are thinking about having a child with a surrogate mother.
They told News 24: ‘It is important that we have children as want to have a build a family together.
‘Family is important to us and that is the number one reason why we want to have children.
‘We also want our children to grow up in an environment where they are loved greatly by both parents who appreciate them.’
The video of their traditional marriage is going viral on YouTube. The couple has been interviewed by the national and international press.
The couple highlighted that ‘we’ve been supported by our families, but we want to inspire people out there who are still struggling to come to terms with their sexuality.’
Watch the video: | <urn:uuid:07a2c3ea-d5d4-4658-adff-075ad788b04f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/first-traditional-same-sex-zulu-marriage-south-africa090413/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573623.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819035957-20220819065957-00665.warc.gz | en | 0.976342 | 287 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Nvidia to change materials used in G92 chips
Affected by this change are popular GPUs such as G92 and G92b (55nm). Changes include replacement of a High-Pb solder (95% Pb / 5% Sn) bump material with Eutectic Solder (63% Sn / 37% Pb). Bumps are those parts of the die that establish electrical contact with the leads/pins of the FC-BGA package. Failures of these bumps are irreparable leading to permanent damage. This follows several events that lead to NVIDIA owning up defects in certain mobile graphics and MCP parts.
A list of affected products, according to the PCN is provided. It carries the PCN number of PCN0346A. It has the “PCN Submit Date” of June 13, 2008, “Planned Implementation Date” of July 28, 2008, and a “Proposed First Ship Date for change” of August 17, 2008 which makes it likely that none of the products available in the market as of now use this “robust” silicon packaging material. The G92 and G92b processors go into making popular graphics cards such as GeForce 8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512M, 9800 GT, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, etc. | <urn:uuid:6b6cb252-f8ba-4eae-8b82-f8e131425104> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.pureoverclock.com/2008/09/nvidia-to-change-materials-used-in-g92-chips/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00124-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940339 | 276 | 1.992188 | 2 |
||Use: Remote operation of air switches. This pneumatic switching technology safely isolates the user from the electrical current. The air transmitters provide the pulse air pressure needed to operate a remote air switch
Typical applications: Spas , swimming pools, electrical equipment remote operating of electrical devices on/off including motors, lights, pumps, air blowers, or other associated equipment.
Operating distance: With appropriate tubing, these hand actuation transmitters can operate air switches from distances of up to 30 meters (100 feet.)
Air volume: 11 cm3
Button and bezels: ABS, Ozone and UV resistant, low profile dome design, interchangeable.
Standard Color: Black, White (Bone) and nickel plated. Any other color and finish can be made with MOQ (consult factory).
Mounting: Through tub wall, with 1”1/4-12 UNF nut and flat NBR gasket.
Mounting hole: Drill a dia. 32+1/-0 mm (1”1/4) hole. The 1”1/4 nut is staggered to allow using this button for replacement into preexisting dia. 37.3+/-1 mm holes.
Wall thickness: From2 mm to 45 mm (1/16” to 1-5/8”).
Cylinder material: ABS; ozone and UV resistant.
Bellow: EPDM, impervious to ozone and chemically treated swimming pool and spa water. No micro leak to avoid pumping action with air switches. Stainless steel spring.
Tube connection: Spout for 3 mm or 1.7 mm (1/8” or 1/16” I.D) flexible PVC or rubber tubing. We recommend tube securing nut to avoid accidental tubing disconnection.
Mechanical life: > 100.000 cycles.
Ambient temperature: -20+85°C
Spare parts: Cylinder assembly, button and bezel kit are available separately.
Options: Custom buttons with logo.
|With tube securing nut
|Without tube securing nut | <urn:uuid:679219ea-5707-455c-9e9e-93c715c36640> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.ultimheat.com/Air%20buttons%2066ZM5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571950.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813111851-20220813141851-00676.warc.gz | en | 0.771632 | 548 | 1.648438 | 2 |
What are the best jobs in insurance? That depends on how you define "the best." For some people, the best insurance job is one that provides the most financial security. For others, it's one that provides many personal growth opportunities or a chance to move within the field. How can you tell what job is the ideal fit for you?
Working in Sales
If you love to engage with people in a meaningful way, becoming an insurance agent might be the right career opportunity. You'll need to know the ins and outs of each specific plan. Your goal is to fit each client with a plan that is right for his or her particular situation. According to Salary.com, insurance agents make between $41.9K and $62.5K per year. The US Department of Labor states that these positions are growing at 10 percent, faster than average, so there are lots of opportunities to find a position.
Research and Customer Service
If you'd prefer to have a more research-focused position, consider becoming a claims processor. Claims processors investigate whether claims are legitimate and work with a wide variety of professionals such as brokers, risk analysts, and other policymakers to ensure that clients get fair payouts. While this position involves research, it also involves a lot of customer service. Claims processors generally make a little over $30K per year.
If you prefer to have less client contact and more research, you could become an insurance investigator. Investigators follow up on claims that may not have been portrayed accurately. As an investigator, you will interview people and look at other evidence such as the accident site to see who is liable and how much should be paid as part of the claims process. While you are working with people, your primary goal is to establish what happened. Investigators usually make around $65K per year.
You could also become a risk management analyst. As an analyst, you work on the front end of the insurance process, visiting sites that are seeking insurance and creating reports for companies and customers regarding the level of risk involved and how it's possible to mitigate that risk. This position involves a deep understanding of codes and legislation, travel to different locations, and meetings with clients. Risk management analysts usually make about $59K per year.
An underwriter does the same job but with a focus on individuals who would like to secure insurance. Underwriters perform background checks on applicants and determine the premium. Underwriter salaries depend a lot on seniority. An underwriter can make between $60 and $90+K per year. The US Department of Labor says that these positions have experienced a 5 percent reduction, a slight decline.
Work Opportunities in the Insurance Field
Overall, insurance is a steady industry with excellent career prospects. There are many professionals in the industry who are expected to retire in the next two to six years. This means that new professionals entering the field will have abundant work opportunities.
Are you ready to network and to learn about insurance job opportunities? Contact American Agents Alliance. With our many membership benefits and our annual Alliance Convention, we have multiple opportunities that will help your insurance career flourish. | <urn:uuid:601076c3-02ef-4e1a-9f6f-1a2d614da149> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://agentsalliance.com/what-are-the-best-jobs-in-insurance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572161.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815054743-20220815084743-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.967498 | 634 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Stockholm, September 21, AZERTC
The Swedish government announced the plans for increase in number of refugees in the territory of the country according to the United Nations quota.
The information was distributed by local media, referring to the new data of the country’s budget for the next year. The authorities of the kingdom in particular want to realize new plans, partially using the funds allocated for the international programs of cooperation.
According to the plans, number of refugees is planned to increase from the present 1900 to 3400 people in 2017 and to reach 5000 in 2018. Meanwhile, in connection with reducing of flow of other category of the forced migrants who got to Sweden not on the UN quota, the government receives additional resources to direct for work within programs of international cooperation.
According to migratory service of Sweden, the last five years the country annually accepted 1900 refugees on the UN quota. With acceptance of such number of refugees, Sweden will become one of the largest donors of the UN Agency on Affairs of Refugees.
Along with Sweden, 26 more countries are engaged in placement in their territory of the refugees distributed by the United Nations. | <urn:uuid:f3d5590b-63ef-4827-9e33-c1fe1d3d8c2e> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://azertag.az/en/xeber/Sweden_agreed_to_receive_more_refugees_on_UN_quota-994219 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280891.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00156-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942535 | 229 | 2.171875 | 2 |
In recognition of National Crime Prevention Month and Fire Prevention Month in October, the Village of Skokie is hosting a Home and Family Safety Fair on Sunday, October 13, 2013 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Skokie Campus of Oakton Community College, 7701 Lincoln Avenue, Skokie. This event is free and open to the public.
Exhibitors from public agencies and private businesses will provide information on a wide range of topics from home alarm and automation services, exterior lighting, identity theft services and more. Attendees also will learn about the essentials of preparing a home emergency preparedness kit and other home safety techniques and enjoy an overview of home security technologies. The Skokie Police Department’s booth will feature information on Crime Prevention, the Neighborhood Block Watch Program and the Citizens Police Academy. Additionally, the event also will feature a Touch a Fire Truck display, courtesy of the Skokie Fire Department. Check out the very trucks used to put out fires in the community.
Topics of presentations and activities at this free event include:
• Illinois Attorney General’s Office - Identity Theft Prevention and Cyber Bullying Prevention
• Cook County Sheriff - Home and Personal Safety
• Skokie Fire Department - Home Fire Safety
• Active Transportation Alliance - Bicycling Safety in Skokie
• Skokie Police Department – Senior Safety and Scam Prevention
• Home Security Technology Session
This free event is co-sponsored by the Skokie Telecommunications and Technology and Public Safety Commissions. Limited opportunities remain for vendors to sign up for the exhibition. To request an exhibitor application or for more information about the fair, contact Assistant to the Village Manager Peter Vadopalas at 847/933-8258 or for event updates and details visit www.skokie.org. | <urn:uuid:bf8b6851-546e-4851-9656-2f4cd8165f0c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/evanston/community/chi-ugc-article-village-of-skokie-hosts-a-home-and-family-saf-2-2013-10-03-story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280718.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00407-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900573 | 372 | 1.539063 | 2 |
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