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Brain Cancer Study Supports Fluorescence-Guided Surgery
An experimental surgery for brain cancer in which patients take a drug that causes tumor tissue to appear fluorescent during an operation seemed to be superior to conventional surgery in a randomized clinical trial.
The multicenter phase III trial, in Germany, involved 270 patients treated for malignant glioma, the most common brain cancer.
Patients who took the drug were more likely to have their tumors removed completely and to be free of disease 6 months after the procedure than patients who had conventional microsurgery with white light. Read more
Cancer Center Directors Ready to Take on Greater Leadership Role
Last week, NCI's senior leadership hosted our semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C., of the directors of all NCI-designated Cancer Centers. This was the fourth such meeting with NCI, a dialogue I began during my presidency of the Association of American Cancer Institutes. As with the previous meetings, its goal was to encourage frank discussions and gain honest input from the directors on some of the most pressing issues facing NCI - a dialogue never more important than in this period of decreasing NCI budgets. Every aspect of the Center Directors' mission - from core grant support to Center members' R01s - is feeling the pressure of few dollars.
At the meeting, members of a special Cancer Center Directors' Working Group, led by Dr. John Mendelsohn from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, presented draft reports on their recommendations on how the Centers can help NCI reduce the cancer burden by identifying achievable goals and specific milestones, and by defining the opportunities and potential barriers to achieving our goals. They also presented ideas on ways in which the Centers can extend their research beyond their local communities; provide leadership in the wide dissemination of best practices in cancer care and prevention; and develop innovative ways to work in a collaborative, multidisciplinary way on key opportunities in integrating biology. I am confident that this document will become a vital implementation plan to achieve our promise to our patients. Read more | <urn:uuid:fd897e36-5c46-4e5f-9761-1ed9c0445c73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cancer.gov/aboutnci/ncicancerbulletin/archive/2006/050906/page1/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953859 | 417 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Are you ready to enjoy your holidays? Before leaving your home make sure you follow some basic safety tips so you can relax 100% while you are away.
The Chicago Transit Authority’s trains and buses are a great way to reach your summer destinations. But like all big cities, Chicago’s has its share of violence and theft and even the most seasoned commuters can fall prey to pick-pocketing and attacks while using the CTA.
The next time you board your CTA bus or the “L” keep these essential safety tips in mind:
Don’t flaunt it
Break the habit of patting your pockets or purses to make sure if your wallet is there. According to the CTA, this actually lets thieves know the exact location of your valuables.
It sounds like a given, but it needs to be said. Always keep your wallet in a safe location, like the inside of a jacket or the inside pocket of a purse.
Guys, always keep your wallet in a front pocket instead of a back pocket. Ladies, if your purse straps are long enough, wear it diagonally across your body so someone can’t snatch it. If not, keep your hands on your purse at all times. Don’t let it sit idly on your lap.
The CTA is no place to show off your latest tech device or Valentine’s Day present. Try to conceal your expensive belongings. This Chicago Tribune article on CTA smartphone thefts might put things into perspective.
Have a separate holder for your transit card (somewhere other than your wallet). This eliminates the need to take out your wallet whenever you need to use your card.
These chapters may help you get inside the mind of a pick-pocketer.
You snooze, you lose
Don’t sleep! Especially on its slow days, the “L” might seem like a good place to catch some extra z’s, but CTA advises you to be awake and alert.
Don’t get so engrossed in your phone, iPod or book that you tune out the rest of the bus or train. Always pay attention to what’s going on around you.
CTA warns commuters to be wary of noisy passengers arguing or causing a commotion. This could be staged to distract you.
Do your part
According to the CTA website, commuters can help keep buses and trains safe by watching for:
- Someone hiding things on CTA property
- Unattended packages
- People other than authorized CTA employees on the rail tracks
- Someone wearing unusual clothing for the time of year (i.e. a winter parka in the summer)
If you notice anything out of the ordinary, such as smoke, an odd smell, or suspicious activities you should immediately tell the bus driver, rail operator or call 911.
The CTA says, “If it’s unwanted, it’s harassment.” If you feel threatened in any way you should move toward light areas and people, or move to another part of the bus or to another rail car. Tell the rail or bus operator that you are being harassed immediately.
CTA recently announced they will double the number of surveillance cameras at CTA rail stations to about 3,000. There will also be an increased police presence over the next few months to keep violence and theft at bay.
Be sure to bookmark the official CTA website to stay up to date on official safety information (and for all things CTA). For additional coverage of the CTA’s new security plans visit the CTA Tattler blog. | <urn:uuid:ef4cd31d-d258-455a-91dd-efc3a9f8ec54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chicagoloopster.com/tag/safety-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935262 | 761 | 1.648438 | 2 |
venerdì 18 aprile 2008
The Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen are the largest Falls in Europe. With an average flow of 700 m3/sec the water cascades down the cataracts, which are 150 m wide and 23 m high.
Here is a daring thrill, made with greater confidence. The savage violence of millions of litres of water, a few metres away, becomes a gentle touch of steam. | <urn:uuid:4f993d71-2816-4717-a83b-2b617ca48937> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insilenzioviaggiando.blogspot.com/2008/04/into-waterfall.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947696 | 90 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Justin Bieber Compares Bully Documentary To The Hunger Games
Justin Bieber is joining Demi Lovato in fighting the upcoming documentary Bully‘s rating. It was given the rating R for cuss words and not nice topics, which is sometime that kids already deal with on a day to day basis if they are victims of bullies. Demi has been vocal about the rating and wants it lowered, and Justin is echoing her statement. He called TMZ to complain about how the movie The Hunger Games can be rated PG-13 with its violent deaths can be lower rating than a documentary that can help people. You can hear his phone call audio in the video down below.
I have to agree with Justin that they should lower the rating. The truth needs to be seen and heard, and then maybe people will realize just how nasty it is in real life. Let’s hope that he can get the message across and maybe we can get the rating to go down, which they should do since this movie will be something that everyone should see. It should become mandatory for all school ages kids, teachers and parents since the truth has been in the dark for too long. Hopefully between Justin and Demi, they can make the message loud enough for the correction to be made.
How do you feel about Justin’s comments? I whole heartily agree with him on this. I don’t see how they can allow the R rating pass when we clearly see a movie with known scenes that will upset some parents have a lower rating. Now don’t get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with The Hunger Games, but the fact that the twp ratings are different is something that people could find offensive in both movies. Do you hope that Justin can make this message loud and clear enough for our request to be heard? | <urn:uuid:6377e9f7-9d8c-471d-8039-427f5c895c1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bsckids.com/2012/03/justin-bieber-compares-bully-documentary-to-the-hunger-games/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976431 | 372 | 1.578125 | 2 |
In 2005, President Bush articulated a national strategy for Iraq that hinged on successfully advising Iraqi security forces. "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down," he said.
The critical piece of this strategy was the adviser capability itself. Although the military's special operations community had long nurtured the capability to conduct "foreign internal defense," the Army and Marine Corps had largely marginalized this capability by the time of the Iraq war, disdaining it in favor of conventional combat operations. To achieve the president's vision for Iraq, the Army and Marines would need to build this capability from scratch, tearing officers and sergeants out of their existing combat units, assigning them to newly created adviser teams,and embedding them with Iraqi army, police and headquarters units.
In God Willing, Marine Corps Reserve Capt. Eric Navarro tells his story of serving on one of these teams, as an adviser to the Iraqi Army's battalion in the then-violent Anbar province in Western Iraq. Through graphic and colorful stories, Navarro relates the daily struggles of his adviser team, from training his Iraqi officer counterparts to be leaders to figuring out how to feed and house an Iraqi infantry company.
Having served as an embedded adviser with Iraq's police, I could relate to many of his stories, especially his tale of frustration illustrating the difference between command and influence (advisers generally exercise only the latter). Before I deployed, I read everything I could find on combat advising, The Village, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and A Bright Shining Lie, trying to learn as much as I could to help me climb the steep learning curve of a combat adviser. Navarro's book joins this library of knowledge about combat advising and should be on the pre-deployment reading list for anyone heading to Iraq to do this job.
I had lunch with Navarro last month, after he returned from his second tour in Iraq, to talk about his book and his thoughts on Iraq. A transcript of our Q&A follows:
Q. One of the things you talked about in the book is a parent child metaphor between the American army and the Iraqi army. What do you mean by that and how do you think the relationship evolved over time?
NAVARRO: I would say the reason I started thinking of the Iraqis in that way and our relationship in that way is we filled both roles, the father figure and the mother figure. It seemed like the Iraqis could not take care of themselves as far as securing rounds, securing food, traveling, transportation issues, mechanical issues, all that. So there was a motherly role where we are supporting the combat support service, and the father role was like teaching them certain things and then holding on two standards, disciplinarian type stuff. It was really balancing those two things. Now the reason why I call this strategic parenting; I think we should have taken a stronger role in the beginning, instead we had to negotiate. We had to persuade them to do things as appose to we did not have the final say. I would have said in the beginning we should have had the final say and then over time, I would have given more and more lea way to conduct their own operations. We did that a little bit based on the abilities of our own advisors. I did well in that but that was strictly because I think they respected me for some reason more so then some others. For example, there were only three officers our team. The first was a major. They respected him; he held a strong command presence; he got along well with the Battalion Commander. We had a Captain.... a smallish guy, nerdy guy... they would talk behind his back a little bit. I think it's almost because of just his demeanor and his build and his size. I was a bigger guy, and if they ever challenged me, I presented a strong presence and would never take any of that and they respected strength as a result of that. I would translate that to all advisors. Advisor teams that take a strong command presence and present that to the Iraqis and say "no, this is how it has to get done!" They got better results than the people who were wishy washy.
Q. One of the things that you talked about a lot, between the early part of your book and it dealt with the strategic parent concept was bathroom habits and bathroom issues. Why was this so important and why do you think this illustrated some of the larger issues between the team?
NAVARRO: So many different aspects about this. The number one reason was it was that important on a day to day basis to figure out exactly where the Iraqis were going to go to the bathroom. It was a logistical nightmare. Anytime we ever moved to any place that was almost the first logistical calculation we had to make; was where the Iraqis were going to go the bathroom, and it was a problem everywhere we went. "Al Hillah" was just a classic one where we moved the entire battalion there and had to make sure that we had Porta-Johns, enough Porta-Johns to support the whole force. Originally the Army's unit there, who did not have any experience with 500 Iraqis living next to them, just wanted to do these old type bathrooms where you dug a hole in the ground and then moved them. They were called Turkish sh--ters for a lack of better term and it was just a box over the hole, and then when the hole got too filled, you covered it up with earth and then moved the box. Well this was suppose to be a permanent base so how could we? By the end of month three, we had crap hole's all over the base. On top of that it just on several different levels I thought it came to symbolize our experience there. When you talk about Iraq, you go to the bathroom, they don't use toilet paper. For whatever reason me the advisors came to see that as shocking and part of their problem. I don't think the American people realized what we are talking about when we talk about Iraq. I think we are talking about a society that is still developing that is not even close to our standards of what we call a modern society and this is just one example of it.
Q. How else did you experience this cultural gap or this language gap and how did it play out for you as an Advisor?
NAVARRO: There's too many instances. I mean cultural gap was you know, understanding the impact that God or Allah had on their day to day lives and that's why I call the book God willing. Because "Insha Allah" was literally what we heard everyday as an explanation for their actions. they believed that every single thing that they did was controlled by God's will. Therefore, they had no personal responsibility. Well then how can we then hold them responsible for let's say going to the bathroom in an abandoned building where we live?
Q. Or trained to do something like shooting?
NAVARRO: Exactly or train! So if they miss the target, it wasn't because they were poorly trained or did not practice enough. It was because God did not want them to hit the target. Well how do you then construct a modern fighting force out of something some people that hold that as their basic tenet and basic organizing principle? Over time I came to think that it wasn't just a symbol of the larger Iraq war, but even the global war on terrorism. Because I spoke to other Muslims that were not Iraqi that held the same belief or understood the same idea of "Insha Allah" that God runs their lives on a day to day basis. I think it helps explains the vast cultural gulf that exists between the Western world and the Muslim world. Now I'm not saying one is better than the other. But the point is, regardless of what side you are on, until you cross that bridge and until you recognize that the existence of that we're kind of pissing in the wind.
Q. Were there friction points between the American military and the Iraqis that you saw as a result , then there were American units able to work with Iraqi units?
NAVARRO: They were, but there is a mixture of reasons why there were difficulties. Number one at that stage that I was an Advisor, this is right in the heart of when the insurgency was at its fullest. We had just gone through the second battle of Fallujah. Our forces were still in the mindset of killing the enemy. Finding the enemy and killing the enemy. Even though President Bush's Secretary of Defense were saying that training the Iraqis and standing them up was the primary mission now, that mentality had not seeped down to the ground level. We were still focused on just killing the enemy. To them all Iraqis were the enemy, were potential enemies. So when we showed up, we advisors showed up with Iraqis, we were working with potentially the enemy. So obviously there were problems there, we couldn't a lot of support, training, they didn't want to do joint missions at first. They had to be ordered basically from "on high" which were coming from Security of Defense all the way down to us. Combat units had to be ordered to do joint missions. To tell one story, we did a cordon and search with the Army's 1st of the 506th Infantry. The way you are suppose to do a joint mission with the Iraqis is the American leadership is supposed to talk with the Iraqi leadership, give them an idea of the overall plan and then allow the Iraqi leadership to lead their Iraqis through their part of the plan. That's not what happened. All the Americans did was have the Iraqis there say they were there, and they would just direct the Iraqis. They didn't conduct any recon with the the Iraqi squad leader -- just told him "go into that house we need to go question that person." That's not the way you are suppose to do a mission. The Iraqis didn't know really what they were supposed to be doing there.
Q. During your tour what do you think was the main effort? In theory, the advisory effort was the main effort, but what did you perceive on the ground?
NAVARRO: Well, I perceived that we were paying lip service to their advisory effort. From what I saw the main effort was to democratically hold elections in Iraq so we could leave. That's what at least the American main effort seemed to be. We held a very successful election in January of 2005, we were in Fallujah. Fallujans came out and voted, there was very little violence, they seemed to be hopeful of their future. However, the Iraqi army, their main effort seemed to be getting paid and then getting home. A month into our tour, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense decreed that every Iraqi would get at least a week of vacation every month where they would go home take their money that they were paid give it to their families, and spend a week with their families. Now you add two days of travel time on the front and back ends, and that's eleven days off. Plus they took off Friday's for their prayer days, so they basically ended up working half a month on the U.S. dollar. On top of that, they did not wait for the next group to come back before they left. There were 500 in the battalion, so about 125 would go in each leave convoy. They did not wait for the one convoy to come back before they sent the next convoy, it didn't matter. All they cared about was that the next group had to go home on leave. So at any given time, we were down below 50 percent combat power. We were supposed to be defeating the insurgents, but they (Iraqi soldiers) were more concerned with getting paid and then going to see their families.
Q. Who was the enemy? Who was the enemy during your tour?
NAVARRO: A mixture I would say Sunni nationalists probably pissed off once Saddam got toppled and the Al-Qaida in Iraq.
Q. Did you see any of the Sectarian violence or Shiite on Sunni violence while you were at ...?
NAVARRO: Not full on shooting violence, but definitely tensions. And even within their own unit, there were tensions between the Sunnis and Shiites that sometimes would bubble up to fisticuffs.
Q. A lot have been made particularly since General Petraeus came into Iraq in early 2007 about a transition into a new counter-insurgency strategy focused on securing the people, less on killing the enemy, more on political and economic and other lines of operation. What do you think about and is this something we should of tried earlier?
NAVARRO: It definitely should have been tried earlier, I just came back from second tour in which I saw the effects in those lines of operation. General Petraeus... I met him during his first tour and he seemed like a very intelligent general that actually understood how our current strategy was not working. It just wasn't; we were just being too brutal try to kill basically everyone as opposed to trying to turn the Iraqi population against the enemy. Over time we did, but the enemy also did it themselves. The insurgents killed too many of the Iraqis and pissed them off to a level where we were able to exploit that. I believed that's what was the turning point. Eventually we got the Shiites and the Sunni Shiites to switch sides because we portrayed that we were the strongest tribe. Now we should have understood the mentality of the people and the culture from the get go. For whatever reason, I understood it right when I got there. I had been reading about this culture and Islam for many years before I got there. So maybe that prepared me. But I understood as a tribal nation that we had to somehow get the leaders of those tribes on our sides. During my first tour we weren't doing that. We had the Iraqis at the end of our hands and we were helping them but in a haphazard way, not coordinating, and we gave the Sunnis the impression we didn't want to deal with them. I think that had a dramatic effect. Once Petraeus came in and adopted this new strategy, I think that's when things really turned, plus more troops in Iraq.
Q. What role should advisors play in this war? If it's important to develop Iraqi capacity do we also need to develop our own capacity to work as advisors with the Iraqis?
NAVARRO: Absolutely. advisors should be the main effort in our forces right now. We shouldn't be there to just hunt down the enemy. The Iraqis should be the ones doing that. We still protect ourselves obviously but the main bulk of our forces should be focused on advising. I believe there should be larger teams of advisors in the book I write that it should go down to a one on one to at least a platoon level. At least every Platoon Commander, Iraqi Platoon Commander should have an American counterpart there. Plus every member of the primary staff should have an experienced American there to teach him and mentor him through logistics, intelligence, operations, admin all that stuff, plus the Company Commanders. I think the total I came up with is somewhere between 24-28 advisers for a battalion. We later developed a team that looked something like that, taking from different units to do it. But that made no sense, because there was a hodgepodge and a very mixed up command relationship. Also, the training effort should extend not just to military units. We should have advisors all the way through the government of the Iraqis. All the way up the chain of command -- battalion, brigade, division, all the way up expanding into to Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and then all the way to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister should have an American counterpart that is advising him. Now whether we do that on the sly because they're a sovereign nation, so we have to pretend ... whatever at this point, but that's the only way I think it would work. We should be partnered up side by side.
Q. And what's the road ahead?
NAVARRO: The road ahead is either we stay or the place implodes, that's what I believe. In the book I say a minimum of 20 years probably more like forever. My question when people ask well how long do we have to say? When did we leave Japan, Germany and Korea? Well the answer is never we are still there. In Japan and Germany we actually, the U.S. Military governs that place for a period of time before we ever allowed elections and gave it back to the locals. Now we went a little too fast here and we're paying for that. However, we should stay there, we should set up permanent bases in Iraq, there should be a partner and ally forever. We should be able to project our power throughout the region and protect all the interest in that region.
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The comments to this entry are closed. | <urn:uuid:4dae615d-61e2-4f2d-8c18-4b29f294c82e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voices.washingtonpost.com/inteldump/2008/06/inshaallah.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989915 | 3,690 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Artist and sculptor Todd Williams had one of the most kid-pleasing projects of the fair: His "Land Sharks" are 3-D, animated, illuminated robots that zoomed around the darkened Fiesta Hall, looking for all the world like they were swimming through the water.
A welded wire frame holds the shape of the shark, which is then covered with an aluminum screen, papier-mâché and then electroluminescent wire. A modified remote-control monster truck provides the rolling chassis.
Like any movie, the animated sharks make use of persistence of vision to give the appearance of motion.
"It's kind of fun playing with the way the brain corrects your vision," Williams says. | <urn:uuid:e9279b6b-3b35-477c-91fa-3f1a2ecd93c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/maker-faire-highlights/?pid=1947 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950222 | 148 | 1.6875 | 2 |
If you want to be a great connector, you should read this post. The invested time will be pay back, for sure. [note mg]
To succeed, who you know is just as important as what you know. In fact, relationships should be your top priority. The book Never Eat Alone talks about how to apply the timeless principles of relationships in the 21st century. It contains a lot of practical tips on how you could thrive in today’s world through your relationships. It’s one of the best books I read recently.
To give you the only gems, I’ve summarized what I learn from the book into 106 tips. Put these tips into practice and you will be a master connector who live a successful and fulfilling life:
1. Make other people more successful
Real networking is about finding ways to make other people more successful. It is sharing your knowledge and resources, time and energy, friends and associates, and empathy and compassion in a continual effort to provide value to others, while coincidentally increasing your own...
Read more: http://bit.ly/IX0HB4
Via Martin Gysler | <urn:uuid:2ad31074-5cd1-4bf8-8048-f1605f6bad31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scoop.it/t/sm/p/1714578482/106-tips-to-become-a-master-connector?tag=Engagement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94267 | 234 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Emergency physicians are awaiting Congressional action on legislation aimed at addressing one of the most serious aspects of emergency department (ED) overcrowding – inpatient boarding, this despite the hospital industry’s claims that the effort falls short of zeroing in on the real problem faced by hospitals.
Two companion bills were introduced in Congress early last year, HR 882 and S 1003, that attempt to address the boarding issue. If enacted into law, they would require that hospitals report delays in moving already admitted patients from the ED to an inpatient bed.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would collect the data to study the problem and find ways of eliminating or at significantly reducing the amount of boarding in EDs. Hospitals that fail to report the numbers would risk losing their Medicare certification.
The legislation has met with growing support in Congress and the American College of Emergency Physicians, which helped sponsor the bills.
“This legislation will increase access and efficiency, which in turn will lower costs and improve patient satisfaction and safety,” said Nick Jouriles, MD, an Ohio-based EP and ACEP vice president.
The measures require that a bipartisan commission be set up to study the causes of overcrowding and the related problem of obtaining available on-call specialists as well as the economic impact of boarding and the medical liabilities associated with it. The bills also authorize extra Medicare payments to physicians who provide EMTALA-related care.
But the hospital industry has countered that the measures, though well-intentioned, don’t go far enough. “They ignore the problem of why,” said Roslyn Schulman, a senior associate director for policy development at the American Hospital Association in Chicago.
The legislation, Schulman said, doesn’t address the reasons for the back-ups in the first place, including a severe and growing nursing shortage, a persistent on-call specialist problem, and the economic forces that push hospitals to close whole inpatient departments including needed beds.
“It’s a very complex issue. Simply requiring public reporting isn’t going far enough,” Schulman stated.
Sandra Schneider, MD, disagrees. The bills establish for the first time that boarding exists, that it is more expensive, it increases hospital lengths of stay, and jeopardizes patient safety, said Schneider, an ACEP director and an EP at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
“In terms of the legislation not going far enough, it is an important first step,” Schneider stated. As a solution, she recommended altering inpatient discharge schedules to free up more beds and moving patients up to other wards.
It would, Schneider said, free up ED space and provide patients with better care in settings where nurse-to-patient ratios are better and where care in many cases is more specialized.
The recommendations were contained in a report submitted recently to the ACEP executive committee by a special ACEP task force on overcrowding and boarding. The AHA has reportedly opposed such moves but has not yet specified a reason. | <urn:uuid:79cc714a-cefd-43fd-b2d9-9e2607eb9409> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epmonthly.com/subspecialties/management/news-upload-congress-poised-to-address-ed-boarding-but-is-it-enough/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953612 | 635 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Down East 2013 ©
By Virginia M. Wright Photographed by Mark Fleming
With 162,807 jobs, Education and Health Services support more than one-third of all occupations in the state. On the healthcare side, practitioners such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and nurses account for 20 percent of the total. Teachers make up the biggest share of this industry, about 25 percent of its occupations.
There is a student at the state’s first charter school, who arrived on opening day in October with a daunting reputation: Her behavior was such that she would need an adult with her at all times, teachers at her former high school warned. “We weren’t sure we could meet her needs for that kind of one-on-one,” says Emanuel Pariser, co-director of education and developer of the academic program at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Hinckley. “But as a public school, we have to take everyone who applies.”
Five months later, the girl has defied those dire expectations. She is engaged with her coursework, which is centered on the 2,450 acres of forest and farmland that comprise the campus of Good Will-Hinckley, a 123-year-old residential school for troubled youth and the academy’s parent organization. Recently she surprised everyone by being the first to volunteer when a staff member in the main office asked for help. And she requires no adult to trail her as she negotiates her eight-hour school day.
“She has been fabulous,” Pariser says. “There is something about this atmosphere that makes her feel safe. She is putting in a great effort on the work she is doing here. That is my payment.”
By that standard, Pariser, 61, must be a wealthy man. He has spent his entire career educating teenagers who have not fared well in traditional public schools. In 1973, as a newly minted graduate of the University of Chicago, he co-founded what is believed to be the nation’s first alternative high school for dropouts, the Community School in Camden. He guided the school for thirty-three years — one former student recalls him as a “father figure” — before leaving to pursue his doctorate in education and philosophy at University of Maine. He remains involved as an advisor to the institution, now named the Community Schools at Opportunity Farm and Camden, the result of a 2011 merger with a home for at-risk adolescents in New Gloucester.
Pariser began working to bring public charter schools to Maine in the mid-nineties, believing they provide opportunities to reach dropouts, teen parents, substance abusers, and other kids whose needs, interests, or skills get short shrift in public schools, where programs are often pinched by budget cuts or compromised by local politics. “It is not a popular idea in my political circles,” Pariser admits. “In Maine, at least, Democrats and the teachers union have tended not to like it. I liked it because I felt creating small schools that had a specific focus would be great learning communities for kids and their parents.”
Known for small class sizes and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, charter schools are typically founded by teachers, parents, or alternative education advocates and financed with a mix of public funds and private donations. They have more flexibility than traditional public schools when it comes to curriculum, instruction, and scheduling, and some schools specialize in a particular field, such as technology or the arts. In exchange for their independence, the schools must demonstrate that they are meeting public school academic standards, as well as the goals stipulated in their charter, otherwise they will be closed.
Charter school legislation was deliberated more than a dozen times before finally winning approval by a Republican-controlled legislature in June 2011. Pariser was hardly the only voice championing the independent publicly funded institutions over all those years, but he was one of the most persuasive. “He is such a credible advocate for kids,” says Judith Jones, chairman of the board of directors of the Maine Association for Charter Schools. “That comes through whether he’s talking to the politicians, the governor, or people in education. His long history and dedication to kids and alternative education make him a strong and respected advocate.”
For those same reasons, Pariser was the obvious choice when Good Will-Hinckley, which closed most of its programs due to financial problems in 2009, sought to reinvent itself as a high school specializing in agriculture, forestry, and environmental issues, says Glenn Cummings, the institution’s executive director and a former state representative who chaired the Joint Committee of Education and Cultural Affairs. “We wanted to develop a strong program here,” he says, “and there is probably nobody in Maine with greater depth of knowledge and experience in starting and sustaining an alternative school than Emanuel Pariser.”
It is late on a weekday afternoon, and classes are over for the day at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. The halls are empty but for a pair of students, both boys, who are sweeping the floors and emptying trashcans. Teachers linger in some of the classrooms, gathering paperwork to take home for the evening. It will be a few more hours, however, before Emanuel Pariser can call it a day. Taking advantage of some free time between staff meetings, he settles into the faculty break room, a cup of tea cradled in his hands, and reflects on the path that led him to this central Maine school, where he is creating, for a second time in his career, an innovative educational program for teenagers who don’t fit the conventional public school mold.
He was not, he explains, such a student himself. The son of teachers — his father was a biochemist, his mother a linguist — he spent his early childhood in England and Turkey, after which his parents’ careers took the family to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston. “There was a love of learning in my family, so that was natural for me,” he says, “but I never felt I belonged in the big public schools that I attended. There was no community. I never went to any of my graduations — not high school, middle school, or college.” Chuckling, he adds, “Also, it was the sixties, so I was rebelling against everything institutional, but I never pushed it to where I jeopardized my career.”
The kids who did push it, the ones who were always in trouble, intrigued him. “I didn’t understand how they got to be the way they were,” he says. “I wanted to see if I could help create something that worked a little better for them.”
So it was that he and his first wife, Dora Lievow, arrived in Maine in 1972, hired to set up a midcoast branch of a now-defunct experimental high school in Rangeley. Fired when their plans did not mesh with the administrators’ vision, the young couple forged ahead with the Community School, whose first students were an especially tough lot, referred by the state Department of Corrections and the Department of Human Services. The private residential school enrolled eight students for each six-month term, at the end of which they were awarded a high school diploma. It was a round-the-clock education: The teenagers worked at local businesses during the day, received one-to-one academic tutoring at night, and acquired skills in such basics as cooking, paying for room and board, and negotiating differences with their housemates. “We wanted the kids to feel they had meaning in the smaller community of the school and in the larger community of Camden,” Pariser explains.
To be sure, the Community School, with its trouble-prone students, met some initial resistance in Camden, but with time it proved worthy of its name. Not only did students get to know their neighbors by working in town, but residents began coming into the school to share their expertise in subjects like gardening, carpentry, and video production, and to serve on the board of directors, helping to shape the curriculum and raise funds.
In the meantime, Pariser and Lievow honed their approach to teaching. They called their practice “relational education,” and it is a cornerstone of the program Pariser has developed for the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. Simply put, relational education emphasizes a strong personal relationship between teacher and student. “When a student really trusts and enjoys being with a teacher and that relationship has a reciprocal quality to it, it creates a profound foundation for learning,” Pariser explains. “The teacher is really listening, and the student is feeling understood, and, so, even if the topic is something like math, which is a pretty cold, non-relational subject, the teacher can redirect the student’s thinking to a way that is going to work for him.”
He illustrates the concept with an anecdote about a Community School student who was convinced she could not pass her final exam. “We just talked about it,” he recalls. “She said she had thoughts that she was stupid, that she couldn’t do it. I said, ‘When you get into that spiral of thinking, try looking at those thoughts as things that don’t come from you, as something someone else told you, and then let them go, because you are perfectly capable in my eyes. And that worked for her. She allowed me to get close enough to help her unwrap that knot of self-doubt.”
Pariser’s approach works in part because the teacher’s interest is authentic, believes Andy Vaughan, a former Community School student and teacher. “My experience in public school was that teachers talked at you or down to you,” Vaughan recalls. “Emanuel really wants to find out about you. He doesn’t want to change you. He wants you to change yourself.” Pariser’s eclectic interests — film, music, sports — allowed him to find something in common with almost anyone and to teach around those shared activities, Vaughan says.
Glenn Cummings, a former public school teacher himself, agrees. “A lot of American schools are about compliance and control,” he says. “Emanuel’s philosophy is, we know each other and trust each other and we hold ourselves to certain standards. I don’t know an educator who respects teens as much as he does. He gets to know the things that have made them who they are and, more important, he knows what they care about, what is of interest to them. He gives them a tremendous amount of flexibility to show him their best. At times he frustrates fellow teachers who grew up in a fairly traditional teaching model, where if this thing happens, then this is the consequence. Emanuel’s high level of nurturing and relationship-building provides a good counterpoint to our thinking.”
The Maine Academy of Natural Sciences opened as a private school with eighteen day and boarding students in 2011. This year, as a tuition-free charter school, it enrolled forty-six students, who are taught by four full-time teachers and three AmeriCorps interns.
The school’s academic philosophy borrows from both the Community School and Good Will-Hinckley. The curriculum integrates traditional academics and individual and group projects. “A biology project on permaculture will also have elements of English and history in it,” Pariser explains, “or a project involving wreath-making and selling wreaths may have biology, math, and even some economics involved in it.”
In its application to the Maine Charter School Commission, which authorizes charter schools, the academy said it didn’t expect its students to score high averages on the standardized tests that they, like any public school student, must take. “We have some kids supposedly reading on the first-grade level, but, really, the whole instrument is just not valid for them,” Pariser says, recalling how one exasperated boy looked up from a test page of fill-in circles, and said, “Man, I’m not a bubble guy.”
“The whole wave of public education is skewed toward these tests that measure only a thin level of intelligence,” Pariser continues. “But when you have a hands-on student who can build a replica of a barn or make a masterful piece of pottery, how do those tests measure that kind of intelligence?” So, in addition to giving the standardized tests, the academy must demonstrate it is meeting its goals through teacher evaluations, surveys, and tests that better measure its students’ learning styles.
The Maine Charter School Commission can authorize up to ten schools during the first ten years of Maine’s charter school law. Besides the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, it has authorized four other schools to date: the Cornville Regional Charter School, which opened in October, distinguishes itself from traditional public elementary schools with multi-age classrooms and individualized learning plans. The Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland and the Fiddlehead School of Arts and Science in Gray plan to open next fall. Harpswell Coastal Academy, whose curriculum will incorporate marine and natural resources, farms, and forests, was approved in January.
Much to the consternation of Governor Paul LePage, an ardent charter school proponent, the commission recently rejected four charter school applications, citing weaknesses in the financial plan of one and governing boards that lacked the independence required under state law for the others. Two of the rejected charters were for online schools, a concept that Pariser, not surprisingly, says makes him “uncomfortable.”
“They do not have a good reputation at the college level, they do not serve the populations I am most interested in serving, and they do not offer relational opportunities for students to connect with mentors one to one in person,” he says. Better, he suggests, is a program like the Auburn public school’s Projects4Me, which is geared to at-risk teenagers and dropouts.
“I have a bias: To me, the first thing a charter school should do is work with under-served populations,” Pariser says. “For example, there are very few programs for pregnant teens or kids who learn hands-on. I’d like to see something for Native American tribes, who have a huge dropout rate. With arts being cut from public schools, someone could make a good case to me for an arts school, but I wouldn’t want it to be for just the superstar kids, like Fame. I’m much more interested in it serving kids like ours, who are just coming out of their shell and who might find joy expressing themselves through art.”
Pariser suggests that much of the opposition to charter schools is based on misconceptions. Chief among them, he says, is the notion that charter schools threaten public education. “Charters are simply a different form of public school,” he argues, pointing out that Maine’s law doesn’t permit corporate-funded or religious charter schools. “They will bring back students to public education who are now home schooling or who are in private schools.”
By the same token, Pariser contends, some proponents overstate the promise of charter schools’ ability to transform public education as a whole. “No one has made the case that a state was way down in the dumps in terms of test scores and then as soon as charter schools came in, all the scores went up,” he says. “Charter schools are not a panacea.” | <urn:uuid:54a9471d-7ee3-4799-b5b0-a6e5370634e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://downeast.com/print/magazine/2013/march/mentor-emanuel-pariser | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981235 | 3,302 | 1.75 | 2 |
Last week the New Hampshire Insurance Department announced that AIG had reached a settlement with NH and six other states. It agreed to do a better job of trying to find beneficiaries of life insurance policies it had issued.
AIG is also known as American International Group, and is one of the world’s biggest insurance companies. It will pay $11 million to the states that sued it, and make changes in its business practices.
The AIG agreement follows similar deals with Prudential and Metlife earlier this year, with $17 million and $40 million in agreed to payments. Another deal is in the making with Nationwide, according to the Insurance Department.
These are some of the biggest companies out there that write life insurance policies. What a relief to know our loved ones won’t be left destitute if we have an insurance policy and die and they didn’t know we meant for them get something.
What’s wrong with this picture?
It harkens back to ethics and business and why the insurance industry is considered sleazy. It’s not the only industry we don’t trust these days, either, for similar reasons.
Here’s what was happening.
Consumers were taking out the kinds of policies that double as retirement plans and are known by various names such as “whole life” plans. At some point such plans made regular investment payments to the policy holder, known as annuities. When that person’s name showed up as having expired on the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File, AIG would stop making annuity payments.
Fair enough. But it did not take the next step, which should have been to pay the policyholder’s named beneficiary the amount remaining in the plan when the policyholder died.
AIG and the other companies just quietly held on to the money unless a beneficiary contacted them.
“It was an industrywide problem and in many cases the beneficiaries were unaware ... what companies are being asked to do is just good business practice,” said Keith Nyhan, director of consumer services at the NH Insurance Department.
Now, the companies will “regularly check” the Death Master File and take “reasonable steps” to pay insurance benefits to named beneficiaries. Good practice indeed, sounds more like honesty to me.
Insurance is an odd business. It deals with intangibles and plays to our fears.
What if a hurricane fells a tree that crushes the car? What will it cost to replace our house if fire strikes? What will my spouse and the kids do if I keel over from a heart attack?
When we take out an insurance policy we agree to pay for piece of mind. In return, we trust that the insurance company will honor the terms if something happens.
Did we really need to have states strong-arm these companies to get them to honor their commitments to policyholders?
Turns out they were operating under the don’t ask-don’t tell policy. We all know what this is, as it’s become common, especially in the cable and wireless business.
This is when your cable TV bill suddenly increases and you finally reach a live person by phone and are told they have changed the rates. You complain and they agree to give you a special reduced rate.
“Would I have gotten this deal if I had not complained?,” you ask them.
The answer invariably is “no.”
Don’t ask, don’t tell.
It’s one thing to be shafted like this by a telecommunications provider. It’s a much bigger violation when we’re dealing with a firm we depend on to take care of our property and loved ones when something goes wrong.
The scariest part is this only pertains to the states that were party to the legal action. This included New Hampshire, Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.
It also only involves the aforementioned big companies.
So what about beneficiaries of policies in other states and those who have policies with all the other insurance companies writing policies out there? They’ll just have to rely on good faith.
Nyhan said the hope is the companies involved will decide it’s good business practice to regularly use the Death Master List and other databases to find people who are owed money. And will do so nationwide, not just in the states such as New Hampshire where they got their hands caught in the ash urn.
Now in this state at least people who pay for life insurance can rest a bit more comfortably.
Under the terms of the settlement, any sums owed where beneficiaries can’t be found will be turned over to the state’s Abandoned Property Unit. This is the place that periodically releases a list of people who have funds coming to them. Eventually, if no one comes forward this goes into state coffers, which is some comfort that it at least will benefit the public.
Nyhan said anyone who thinks they may be one of these life insurance beneficiaries can contact his office at 1-800-852-3416, or go on the department website at www.nh.gov/insurance.
The new due diligence by insurance firms should be evident immediately, he said.
There are many cases where the less-government-is-better crowd can make a case. When it comes to government oversight of the insurance industry, let the buyer beware doesn’t work very well since they’re often dead.
Jeremiah Turner can be reached at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:6e301606-2983-4ba2-bd3b-76d114d50cab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121028/GJBUSINESS_01/121029219/-1/FOSBUSINESS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968204 | 1,176 | 1.710938 | 2 |
How to Play 75 Ball Bingo
How To Play 75 Ball Bingo
75 Ball bingo is the variation that is most enjoyed by the US and Canada, but it is growing in popularity in the UK. This seems to be because it is so readily available online and most UK sites offer members a choice of different versions.
The card is constructed from 5 horizontal and five vertical columns which form a grid of 25 squares. The square in the center of the grid is a free space and it never contains a number. However if this square forms part of a pattern, you are automatically allowed to mark it off as a free space.
How To Play Bingo
How to play bingo is a simple matter and you construct patterns on a grid such as this and many of the patterns used are in line with a particular theme, of either the game in play or of a particular promotion. The patterns on the cards are one of the reason why players like this version, they make it more interesting. There are hundreds of different patterns which may be used on a 75 ball bingo card. The coverall is very popular and in this game all the squares except the free space have numbers, all have to be market off and this provides the largest prize money.
The top of the card has the word B – I – N – G – O printed above each vertical column and a certain series of numbers is allocated to each column, there are 15 for each. The “B” column is 1 – 15, I is 16 – 30, N is 31 – 45 and so on.
The aim is to mark off all the numbers in the pattern as they are called. The range of numbers used as the name of the game suggests is 1 – 75. These numbers are called as they come up from the random number generator, and the first to fill their card is the winner. Traditionally at this point they would shout B-I-N-G-O.
How to play bingo online is exactly the same in land based clubs, the only difference being that with online the numbers are automatically daubed. The word daub means marked off. | <urn:uuid:8af0d12d-9d81-4734-a3b6-aba76126965b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bestbetboulevard.com/main/75-ball-bingo/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964964 | 439 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Base of Operations
An unnamed island in the Bermuda Triangle; (formerly) small town of Dust Bowl, Arkansas; ruins in the Yucatan Jungle, Mexico; underground headquarters in Antarctica
New Mutants #86
The team made their first public appearance by confronting the young mutants Rusty Collins and Skids, who were captured by the government, and were offered membership in the group. The guards, believing this to be a breakout, opened fire, and the young mutants accepted the offer, knowing of no other recourse. Cable, who had taken it upon himself to become the mentor of the original New Mutants, led the youngsters in hunting the MLF. In the confrontation, several New Mutants were captured, and it took teaming up with Sunfire and Wolverine to rescue them, although the MLF escaped. Cable, reshaping the New Mutants into X-Force, hoped to take a proactive, more militant stance with the new team and immediately tracked down the MLF once again to a base in Antarctica. Once again, however, the MLF escaped.
Throughout this time, the Mutant Liberation Front was at its most active, performing acts of terrorism under Stryfe’s command, appearing and escaping with the help of the android Zero. Presumably, they were involved in other criminal activities, too, as they were stumbled onto by Garrison Kane (as Weapon X) when investigating a weapons smuggling operation. Kane managed to follow the MLF agents into Zero’s portal, but was overwhelmed by superior numbers at the Front’s base and was captured, imprisoned for several months. Members of the MLF were also engaged in stealing various artifacts from museums around the world, although Cable managed to thwart their schemes. Kane, somehow escaping the MLF, confronted Cable about the similarity between him and Stryfe, and together the two laid a trap for him. Stryfe, however, turned the tables on the heroes, escaping the Mexican jungle base when Cable sought medical aid for Kane.
Not all members may have believed in all of the Front’s philosophy. Tempo, in particular, was secretly upset at the team’s mission to destroy a clinic where women could test their unborn babies for mutant genes. She tipped off the government-sponsored X-Factor, and the team managed to force the MLF to escape, although unfortunately not before the head doctor was assassinated.
Stryfe eventually launched his biggest gambit thus far, posing as Cable and making an assassination attempt on Professor X during a pro-mutant rights rally. The X-Men and X-Factor track down Cable’s X-Force, briefly battling before teaming up to track down the MLF together. They found the team had taken over a small town in Arkansas. The Mutant Liberation Front was dismantled, its members captured and remanded to custody, although Stryfe would personally battle Cable on the surface of the moon before being defeated.
Reignfire chose to re-form the team, freeing Forearm, Tempo, Reaper, and Wildside from prison and somehow recruiting Moonstar and Locus. Reignfire set himself up as leader, dedicating the team to redressing the oppression of mutantkind. His first mission was to assassinate Henry Peter Gyrich, long a public figure in anti-mutant legislation, and the team succeeded in capturing him only to be confronted by X-Force. During the battle, Moonstone seemed to have pledged herself to the terrorists’ cause, and Gyrich’s comments provoked X-Force’s Feral to defect to the MLF as well. However, Tempo once again betrayed her teammates, as she continued to grow discomforted at terrorist acts, and she sided with X-Force. Ultimately, Sunspot appeared to sacrifice himself to save Gyrich, and the MLF escaped.
A Chinese mutant group, 3-Peace, once sought help from the Mutant Liberation Front to fight the Chinese government over its inhumane treatment of mutants. The MLF at first tried to help, but then Reignfire betrayed the team to China Force. 3-Peace escaped with help of the Moonstar, who was secretly a double agent working for S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, Moonstar often surreptitiously worked against her team. She tipped off X-Force regarding Feral, who was wanted for the murder of her family, enabling her capture. Another time, when the MLF (with one-time member Selby) fought Excalibur on Muir Island over information about the Legacy Virus, she secretly threw the mission so that the team would have to be extracted prematurely.
During a government mutant crackdown known as Operation Zero Tolerance, the MLF happened to have taken over a laboratory that was working on a version of the Legacy Virus. They became trapped inside and forced to take the scientists as hostages. Moonstar hoped to rendevous with X-Force, but she was discovered by Dragoness and thus exposed as a double agent. At the same time, the scientists that were hostages revealed themselves to be Prime Sentinels, mole agents of Operation: Zero Tolerance, and it took the combined forces of the Front and X-Force to fight them. Ultimately, however, the MLF was captured, and Moonstar and Forearm escaped. Moonstar was abandoned by Forearm, and she returned to her friends in X-Force.Although Reignfire, Locus, and Forearm remained at large, the Mutant Liberation Front was never reassembled. | <urn:uuid:01934508-2960-42fa-b192-16dfb2139ff8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marvel.com/universe3zx/index.php?title=Mutant_Liberation_Front&redirect=no | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97818 | 1,134 | 1.789063 | 2 |
This building is restricted to authorized personnel only.
Named after Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of Treasury during the Civil War, it is the largest building at the Academy and serves as the barracks for approximately 1,000 cadets and officer candidates. Emblazoned on its foyer deck are words of RADM Stephen H. Evans, Superintendent of the Academy (1960-1962): "Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty". He implemented what is today known as the "Honor Concept": cadets are of honor. They do not lie, cheat, deceive or steal.
The Cadet Regiment is made up as follows: 1 Regiment, 4 Battalions, and 8 companies of 3 departments, with varying numbers of divisions in those departments. When the Academy was first established, the bulk of training for cadets was done on sailing vessels. The Revenue Cutter CHASE followed the original training ship, DOBBIN, as the focal point for most of the cadets' training experience. Later, the Academy was changed to include more on-land training, and its site was moved from Fort Trumbull (located in downtown New London, CT) to its current location. In keeping with the tradition that the CHASE had served as the cadet barracks at sea, the new on-land barracks were given the name in reverence for the role the cutter CHASE served in preparing cadets for duty as Coast Guard officers. The building also contains the Commandant of Cadets, the Cadet Watch office, the rifle and pistol range, a tailor shop, the Academy Bookstore open M-F 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., dry cleaners, guest quarters, uniform center, the Cadet and Officer Candidate Wardroom (dining facility), and a dining facility for Coast Guard personnel. | <urn:uuid:2b655013-0601-46f2-8335-bc011e829157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uscga.edu/campus2.aspx?id=510 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975069 | 372 | 1.8125 | 2 |
While a native speaker of a foreign language can accurately translate a document into English, a conflict of interest is set up from the beginning. The submitter of a translation of his or her own documentation has a vested interest in translating it to his or her own advantage. This is why government agencies, financial [...]
Let’s say you are a medium-size business. You do most of your business within the United Kingdom. So far, so good. You have a few customers in other countries, but you manage by offering your website in a few different languages. So, why use official translation or a translator who is certified in a specific [...]
If you are doing business on a large scale, you are likely to be dealing with many different countries, cultures and languages. Certified translation can make the difference when it comes to establishing and maintaining business relationships, especially it today’s highly competitive marketplace. An expert translator knows the subtle touches required for
Translations are a delicate matter that needs professionals certified to complete the job working on any translation project. An official translator can guarantee their work will result in correct translation of a document without a message being lost.
Only a company certified in translating documents can guarantee that a project is translated correctly. An official translation means that nothing is lost when writing is translated from one language to another, regardless of the originating or destination language is.
Many companies will claim to be able to translate documents quickly and affordably. But that does not mean that they are certified to do so. If a company is not certified in translating documents, than they cannot guarantee their work.
There are many companies that claim to be professional translation services at affordable rates. However, once a project has been completed, many businesses and individuals who used those services find that their documents have been incorrectly translated.
When you need a document translated into Spanish make sure that you know which kind of Spanish it needs to be in and that the translation provider can do it for you.
If you need translations of your legal documents then you should look for a translation service that offers qualified native speaker translators who specialise in law. They may not be fully-fledged barristers, but they should have taken courses in law and understand the vernacular that is used.
Native speakers of the target language are best for translation work because they know the language and the culture from which it comes. Since they are a translator, they’ll also be fluent in English, or the language of your document, so will be able to understand it and then put it into the right words [...] | <urn:uuid:f94c6641-2fea-4133-bf13-64f97bc4f6c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.certifiedtranslationcompany.co.uk/blog/tag/certified-translation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961764 | 522 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Eleanor Branstone was a witch who started attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1994, and was Sorted into Hufflepuff. Eleanor would share a dormitory with Laura Madley who was also sorted into Hufflepuff that year.
- Eleanor is from the Greek and means "light."
- Branstone is a descriptive name and may mean her ancestors either made grinding stones for mills or lived near a place that made them.
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance) | <urn:uuid:1aac3a97-b091-4a42-b9af-d0a945fb584d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Eleanor_Branstone?interlang=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946562 | 105 | 1.734375 | 2 |
That means I won't have to write any letters to the editor or op-ed pieces explaining why his life should be spared, as I did when convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was set to be executed (as he eventually was). I'll just save my would-be op-ed for this blog, for future reference.
The jury's decision was wise. There were a number of reasons that Moussaoui should have been spared the death penalty, some unique to his case, some part of a common thread running through all potential or actual capital punishment cases.
1. He is likely insane.
This was, in fact, one of the conclusions by some of the jurors who decided Moussaoui's fate. He is paranoid and delusional, though this is not necessarily the case of all who are homicidal. But at any rate, in most Western countries it is now considered cruel and unusual to execute people with a certain diminished mental capacity. My opposition to the death penalty in general (see below) negates this very principle (since it proscribes virtually all death penalty cases), but the fact is that this is what exists in the United States as a guiding principle, and it certainly applied in Moussaoui's case.
2. He did not actually kill anyone.
Ultimately, Moussaoui missed his chance to hijack a plane full of innocent people and crash it into a symbol of American hubris. Had he not been in jail, he likely would have, but we don't know that for sure. There is some evidence, in fact, that some of the 9/11 hijackers did not know, when they hijacked the planes, that they were on what was ultimately a suicide mission. Would they have gone ahead with this, had they known?
It's a hypothetical, to be sure, and maybe not germane to Moussaoui's case, but we don't know what kind of change of heart—due to a glimmer of humanity or a sudden flash of fear of dying or intervention by the hand of God—may have been possible in the minutes, hours, or even days before 9/11, had Moussaoui not been in a Minnesota jail.
Killing someone as punishment for mere conspiracy (i.e., when they have not actually killed anyone themselves) goes beyond proportional punishment. Life imprisonment, as both a punitive and a preventative measure, is far more appropriate.
Here in Korea, in response to a series of particularly bizarre rapes, the National Assembly considered passage of a bill that would have allowed capital punishment in cases of rape where a family member was forced to watch. As cruel and horrific as rape is, execution for that crime goes beyond proportion. Similarly, people in China are executed for economic crimes, such as embezzlement of large sums of money, a punishment that goes even further away from the nature and severity of the crime.
Even if I thought that the death penalty were justifiable, I don't think it should be applied in any case where no one has actually died. There were four planes that were successfully hijacked on which all the passengers and crew died and through which three buildings were targeted and many people killed. Moussaoui was on none of those planes; he hijacked none of them, even if he had planned to be involved in the events of 9/11. The people who actually planned and committed the act of murder are all dead.
3. The death penalty provides no deterrent in a case such as his.
I question the supposed efficacy of the death penalty as a deterrent, but even if it could be demonstrated, how could it apply to someone whose intention is to die as a martyr?
As for the deterrent as a general principle, there are several points to be made. While there may be some would-be killers who might decide not to kill for fear of execution instead of life imprisonment (something that is doubtful, since those who commit crimes tend to do so with the idea that they won't be caught), there could just as easily be those who feel a need to be sure to eliminate all potential witnesses to an already deadly crime as a way to avoid prosecution in a case that would end up getting them executed.
Ultimately, the threat of losing personal liberty for the rest of one's life is deterrent enough against committing a deadly crime. About the only argument* I could think of for retaining capital punishment is as a bargaining chip when getting a likely-guilty suspect to confess, though this is certainly open to abuse.
4. The death penalty is cruel and arbitrary and therefore a tool that should not be used.
A person with fewer resources—typically minorities or the poor—is reportedly more likely to be convicted and sentenced to death than those with more resources. God help you if you are on trial for a deadly offense and you can't afford an effective lawyer. Your public defender will try to plea bargain you down, a travesty of justice if you are actually innocent.
5. An ill-executed decision to execute cannot be reversed once the death sentence is meted out.
Related to #4, this is another glaring reason why capital punishment should be eliminated across the board: juries sometimes convict innocent people. Wrongly convicted people who have been sentenced to life imprison can be let free; wrongly convicted people who have been executed cannot. The uniquely irreversible nature of this type of punishment makes it inappropriate in a system where human error plays no small role.
Modern tools, such as DNA evidence, have led to the reversal of numerous convictions, sometimes for people on death row or those already convicted. In other cases, such as the notorious Central Park jogger case from years ago (though not a capital punishment case), the actual culprit later is found or even confesses.
Some may scoff at this and suggest you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette, but I think the oportunity to exact revenge on a murderer is not worth the price of killing innocent people, which will happen if capital punishment is routinely used. I think one of the most horrific things imaginable would be to be put to death for a crime one didn't commit.
Of course, this doesn't quite apply to Moussaoui's case, since authorities are pretty convinced of the actual conspiracy, which he himself has acknowledged. As well, it didn't apply in the case of Timothy McVeigh, who eventually all but confessed that his conviction was deserved.
But the existence of clear-cut cases of guilt does not negate the fact that not all are cases are clear-cut. A standard must be applied across the board, because the nature of human error in judgement means that we don't always know when it has occurred.
6. Use of the death penalty in democratic countries that generally respect human rights undermines those countries' ability to speak out against a less humane usage of the death penalty in countries that still have human rights issues.
China, a rising economic power that is still grappling with human rights issues, executes quite a few people for non-deadly and even non-violent crimes. This should be appalling to people who respect life at all, but for a country like the United States which allows capital punishment in hundreds of cases, it is hypocritical and arrogant to dictate or suggest when it is okay to kill criminals and when it is not. The only non-hypocritical path is to eliminate the practice altogether. Were democracies like the United States, Korea, and Japan to remove capital punishment from the judicial books, it would be a powerful tool to persuade China to do the same, especially for the non-deadly and non-violent crimes, and perhaps eventually for actual murder.
7. Vengeance is the Lord's.
Admittedly, much of my opposition to capital punishment is rooted in my religious values, values which not everyone shares. But respect for human life, as well as mercy, is a universal value. In the past, this has meant the elimination of cruelty when meting out death sentences—and in some cases it meant meting out the punishment swiftly—but today our recognition of the fallability of a human-based system of judging has caused this universal value to morph into one whereby capital punishment is no longer acceptable in a humane society.
8. Killing Moussaoui means eliminating a potential intelligence asset down the road.
As in the case of Timothy McVeigh, Moussaoui may know more than he has told. Even if he is insane, he may have been privvy to information that could be useful at some future date. Were he to be killed, any potential for obtaining that information is eliminated.
Timothy McVeigh went to the chair knowing more than he let on. As time went on, it is possible his heart may have softened, maybe enough to reveal what he knew, information that might have been useful toward preventing future Oklahoma City-type bombings or in bringing his co-conspirators to justice.
Another case is that of the convicted assasination conspirators who targeted former President George H.W. Bush in Saudi Arabia. As it turned out, their swift execution by Saudi authorities meant the loss of information about activities by Muslim extremists in the region.
9. Killing Moussaoui creates a high-profile martyr.
Like Timothy McVeigh, Moussaoui is a potential symbol for those who would do harm to Americans and other people. Their killing is not seen as a deterrent to such people, but as a rallying cry. Their execution is a symbol of American hubris and unyielding might which is being used as a sledgehammer against them. To paraphrase a common saying, their deaths make a martyr out of an asshole.
Furthermore, their brave countenance in the face of impending death as the executioner's needle is inserted becomes a model for like-minded individuals down the road. Their death by the American government authorities gives one more reason to fight for their cause.
In contrast, the image of an aging killer or would-be killer is a less potent symbol, a pathetic display that almosts evokes pity.
10. Mercy even for the enemy is the moral high road.
Fellow travelers of Zacarias Moussaoui or Timothy McVeigh think that governments like that of America, Spain, Britain, etc., are hell-bent on the destruction of their people. Sparing the life of the killer or would-be killer is the ultimate way of proving that wrong. | <urn:uuid:1bb7b14b-85ef-4709-bb69-30fcf3ae5dc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.monster-island.net/2006/05/sympathy-for-mr-vengeful.html?showComment=1146721500000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974025 | 2,147 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Mutilated tiger carcass at Ranthambhore National Park puts authorities in dock
The mismanagement at the Ranthambhore National Park (RNP) came to the fore as the tiger reserve authorities failed to identify the big cat whose carcass was found on Sunday in the Khandar region of the park.
The authorities also forced wildlife enthusiasts and experts to smell a rat by their hurry to dismiss the tragedy by claiming that the "death was the result of a fight with another big cat" even before the post-mortem and viscera examinations were conducted.
"Badly mutilated carcass suggested that the tiger died some time back, at least 24 hours ago, and the reason for the death could not be ascertained as maggots had eaten up its major body-parts, said district forest officer Y K Sahu. Also the animal's sex couldn't be known in the absence of the rear portion of the body.
The death could be the result of a fight with some other big cat as certain canine marks were found on the neck resulting in penetrating wounds, said Dr Rajiv Garg who performed the post mortem. Even the viscera could not be collected due to the decay of the carcass that must be of at least 72 hours old, he added.
However, the forest department tried people to believe that the animal could be the tiger T-27 as certain indications were of its being old.
Interestingly, T-27 had been missing for more than 2 years and the forest department failed to explain its absence, like the park's three other missing big cats. There seems to be an attempt to hush up the chapter of T-27 by creating a mystery around the carcass, wildlife enthusiasts alleged.Experts contested the forest officials' contentions on more than one counts. Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, a tiger expert with the national tiger conservation authority (NTCA), maintained that in the December-end winter the body could not be mutilated and maggot eaten to such an extent within less than 5 to 7 days.
Singh, who is also a member of the state board for wildlife, wanted that reasons, other than territorial fights, must be looked into. He wondered how without a post mortem or a viscera test one could speculate about a fight. He demanded that viscera test must have been attempted before any opinion on the cause of death was ascertained.
Sources in the park also pointed out that the area-behind Khandar fort - where the carcass was found was not part of any tiger's territory. Therefore a territorial fight was ruled out.
Moreover, a perusal of the picture of the carcass revealed that the animal's neck and other bodies were eaten by the maggots. As such how the authority could claim of a canine mark, they wondered.
Dhirendra Godha, an expert of the RNP tigers, pointed out that on comparison with the pictures of all the adult tigers of the park he found that the carcass didn't belong to any of the big cats who were assigned particular numbers following the exercise of "identification and estimation". The exercise was initiated in 2007, completed in 2008 and report made public in 2009.
Significantly, records of none of the 25 cubs that were born during the past 2 years or so have been kept by giving them a specific number as was done in the case of the adults. Godha pointed out that the numbering of tigers at the time of estimation was not simply giving a particular number to a tiger but it also revealed complete identity of the tiger including its unique features such as stripes from both the flanks - left and right.
Sunayan Sharma, working president of the Sariska Tiger Foundation, an NGO, shared Godha's view and asserted that the system of giving numbers to tigers also helps in keeping track of the animal's movement. After incidents of unnatural death it also helps considerably in ascertaining its causes, he argued.
Rajasthan's former principal chief conservator of forests R N Mehrotra who was responsible for the identification and numbering of the tigers asserted that the incident showed that daily monitoring of the tigers was not done.
In the absence of daily monitoring problem of identifying carcasses would increase. In such problem situation carcasses could be identified by locating other tigers and following the process of elimination. In his opinion the carcass could be one of the sub-adult cubs of the tigress T-26 who were born around May 2011.
More so, because her territory was the closest to the site where carcass was recovered.
The poisoning of the big cat by villagers should not be ruled out and must be ascertained through scientific examination. Moreover, the forest department must locate T-26 as she could also be the victim, he maintained.
Ranthambhore that could ideally accommodate around 30 tigers currently has 52 tigers leading to territorial fights and man-animal conflicts. Authorities should expand the prey area by developing the neighbouring Keladevi sanctuary and Sawai Man Singh sanctuaries. They have failed to do so, experts alleged. | <urn:uuid:5e78ff83-2ecc-45f1-b02a-3a18b4d287db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/tiger-carcass-ranthambhore-national-park-authorities-mismanagement/1/239319.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980917 | 1,048 | 1.84375 | 2 |
But less than 24 hours after arriving at the retreat, she and her spouse were told to leave. The military chaplains who organized the program last month said that the couple was making others uncomfortable. They said they had determined that under federal law the program could serve only heterosexual married couples.
Lieutenant Hardy is a lesbian in a same-sex marriage who had hoped that the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2011 would allow her to fully participate in military life. But she and many other gay and bisexual service members say they continue to encounter a raft of rules and regulations barring them from receiving benefits and privileges routinely accorded to heterosexual service members.
Lieutenant Hardy had been assured by the chaplain’s office in the weeks before the retreat that she and her wife were welcome to attend. The chaplains said in hindsight that those assurances were given in error.
“I felt hurt, humiliated,” said Lieutenant Hardy, 28. “These were people I had been deployed with. And they were telling me I can go to fight the war on terrorism with them, but I can’t attend a seminar with them to keep my marriage healthy.”
Gay marriage is now legal in nine states and in Washington, D.C. But because same-sex marriages are not recognized under federal law, the spouses of gay service members are barred from receiving medical and dental insurance and surviving spouse benefits and are not allowed to receive treatment in military medical facilities. Spouses are also barred from receiving military identification cards, which provide access to many community activities and services on base, including movie theaters, day care centers, gyms and commissaries.
According to the “Government is not God Political Action Committee” the true agenda of President Obama is to…
…Force Christian organizations to pay for abortions
…Force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers
…Force all states to permit same-sex ‘marriages’
…Force military chaplains to perform same-sex ‘marriages’
…Force doctors to assist homosexuals in buying surrogate babies
…Force employers to give illegal immigrants the jobs of U.S. citizens
…Force States to pay the college tuition of illegal immigrants’ children
…Force courts to accept Islamic Sharia Law in domestic disputes
…Force police agencies to allow Muslim brotherhood to select staff
…Force local authorities to allow Occupy protestors to live in parks
…Force creation of a permanent government funded ‘underclass’
Why do they believe this? Well apparently it is because he has…
…deliberately removed the words ‘endowed by their Creator’ when referring to our Declaration of Independence, not once, but several times. Barack Hussein Obama believes human rights come from government, not from God, and that he as President can take those rights away for the ‘social good.’
There you go, case closed, it isn’t anything he said but what he didn’t say that is the proof, anyone can see…err, hear that, right?
This looks like aninteresting interview, unfortunately the audio file that’s available at NPR is not the correct interview and the transcript isn’t available yet. Hopefully, they’ll fix that soon.
There aren’t many comments yet, but a few people seem to be miffed that atheists would dare to ask for such a thing. I suppose that won’t come as any surprise to our atheist lizards.
Update 12/5: The correct audio & transcript is available now.
Retired Army captain and Iraqi war veteran Jason Torpy says the chaplains employed by the U.S. military can’t relate to people like him. He’s an atheist.
He’s also the president of a group that’s trying to get the armed forces to become more inclusive by hiring atheist chaplains. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers wants the military to provide for the estimated 40,000 atheists, agnostics and humanists who serve in U.S. forces.
Military chaplains, most of whom are Protestant Christians, are assigned many secular advising duties, including marriage, family and suicide counseling, Torpy tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. They touch so many parts of service members’ lives, he says, they can help improve what he sees as an environment of exclusion.
“That lack of connection to atheist and humanist communities, the lack of recognition or support for atheists and humanists — that implication can be solved primarily through the chaplains’ corps,” he says. […]
In the military, the chaplain serves as both a religious leader and a listener - ideally one who can assist military personnel of all faiths. A frequent refrain among chaplains is “chaplain to all, pastor to some.”
But according to Department of Defense data, the nation’s corps of chaplains leans heavily toward evangelical Christianity, failing to mirror the military it serves.
While just 3 percent of the military’s enlisted personnel and officers call themselves Southern Baptist, Pentecostal or a member of a denomination that’s part of the National Association of Evangelicals, 33 percent of chaplains in the military are members of one of those groups, according to Pentagon statistics.
And the disparity could soon widen.
Data from the Air Force indicate that 87 percent of those seeking to become chaplains are enrolled at evangelical divinity schools.
The discrepancy is the result of a number of variables, including an aversion by mainline Protestant and Catholic seminary leaders to participate in military culture after the Vietnam War; changes in the military’s chaplain staffing and education policies; and the popularity of online courses for chaplain candidates at evangelical seminaries.
Military officials point out that chaplains are trained to support troops of all faiths, regardless of their own religious affiliation. | <urn:uuid:05e12142-a21f-4afd-9188-dd69d4f5c8a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://littlegreenfootballs.com/pages/tag/Military+Chaplains | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965196 | 1,248 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Recent Rampage Shows Drastically Worsening Plight of India's 285 Million 'Untouchables'
Gospel for Asia Urges Ernest Prayer for Abused Humanity
CARROLLTON, Texas, Nov. 13, 2012 /Christian Newswire
/ -- With almost 300 homes destroyed recently by angry mobs of caste Hindus, the plight of the Dalits, India's "untouchables," is growing more critical daily, according to K. P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia (GFA). An estimated 1,500 homeless Dalits spent the night in fear without shelter before being housed in government schools, he said.
"Christians everywhere are called to urgent prayer for these oppressed people who are crying out to God for hope," said Yohannan. "Only Jesus Christ can offer the ultimate hope and freedom these abused people seek."
The Hindu-caste violence revealed to the world in "The Hindu," a major Indian secular newspaper, is indicative of their silent suffering that almost never receives public attention, Yohannan said.
According to "The Hindu
," the most recent outbreak of violence occurred in three colonies of Dalits of the Adi-Dravida community in western Tamil Nadu.
As many as 268 of their primitive huts and one- or two-room concrete houses were torched by a mob incited by the marriage of a caste Hindu girl to a Dalit boy from Natham Colony. Upon learning of the marriage, the girl's father committed suicide, and mobs took fierce revenge on unsuspecting families in not only the boy's colony, but two adjoining colonies as well.
This kind of violence inflicted by the upper castes is not an isolated incident, said Yohannan. The Dalits, who are considered subhuman, less valuable than farm animals and therefore not even part of the lowest of the caste system, are segregated, treated as slaves and mercilessly abused. In many places, they are denied access to safe water, education and choice of faith and occupation. In their suffering, they are opening their hearts seeking hope.
Of India's 1.2 billion people, one-fourth are "untouchables." Ninety-five percent of all Dalit women are illiterate. The 62 million child laborers from the Dalit and the lowest caste comprise the largest number of working children in the world.
Into this culture, 580 GFA
Bridge of Hope institutions are bringing education, meals and healthcare to 60,000 children in need. In communities where Dalits are not allowed to draw water from public wells, "Jesus Wells" are providing clean water for 800-900 families.
"In spite of all that Gandhi did to fight the caste system, it still exists," said Yohannan. "True hope, liberation and human dignity for 285 million outcast people in India can be found only in Christ. It is imperative that we join in their suffering through prayer."
Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) is a mission organization based in Carrollton, Texas, involved in sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia.
To schedule an interview with K. P. Yohannan, contact Taun Cortado at 972-300-3379 or [email protected] | <urn:uuid:8b161da7-d0f3-4685-b346-8af78439ad98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/8735770888.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947918 | 679 | 1.773438 | 2 |
articles tagged "Prudence Carter"
Wednesday, 17 October 2012 | A Public Affair
On Wednesday October 17th, host Tonya Brito spoke with Sociology professor Prudence Carter about her recent book, “Stubborn Roots, Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools.” “What are the features of the school environment that make students’ of color incorporation greater at some schools than at others? Prudence L. Carter seeks to answer this basic but bedeviling question through a rich comparative analysis of the organizational and group dynamics in eight schools located within four cities in the United States and South Africa-two nations rebounding from centuries of overt practices of racial and social inequality. Stubborn Roots provides insight into how school communities can better incorporate previously disadvantaged groups and engender equity by addressing socio-cultural contexts and promoting “cultural flexibility.” It also raises important and timely questions about the social, political, and philosophical purposes of multiracial schooling that have been greatly ignored by many, and cautions against narrow approaches to education that merely focus on test-scores and resources.” -Oxford University Press Read more about the book: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Education/?view=usa&ci=9780199899654 Listen to the entire program: more » | <urn:uuid:8c9f6045-a1df-4eea-949c-4763017e827b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wortfm.org/tag/prudence-carter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948046 | 284 | 1.804688 | 2 |
My colleague Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future, recently got in touch to share some exciting news. We had discussed our shared interests a while back at Harvard University. It was clear then that his ideas and existing technologies were very closely aligned to those we were pursuing with Ushahidi’s Swift River platform. I’m thrilled that he has been able to accomplish a lot since we last spoke. His exciting update is captured in this excellent co-authored study entitled “Detecting Emergent Conflicts Through Web Mining and Visualization” which is available here as a PDF.
The study combines almost all of my core interests: crisis mapping, conflict early warning, conflict analysis, digital activism, pattern recognition, natural language processing, machine learning, data visualization, etc. The study describes a semi-automatic system which automatically collects information from pre-specified sources and then applies linguistic analysis to user-specified extract events and entities, i.e., structured data for quantitative analysis.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) and event-data extraction applied to crisis monitoring and analysis is of course nothing new. Back in 2004-2005, I worked for a company that was at the cutting edge of this field vis-a-vis conflict early warning. (The company subsequently joined the Integrated Conflict Early Warning System (ICEWS) consortium supported by DARPA). Just a year later, Larry Brilliant told TED 2006 how the Global Public Health Information Net-work (GPHIN) had leveraged NLP and machine learning to detect an outbreak of SARS 3 months before the WHO. I blogged about this, Global Incident Map, European Media Monitor (EMM), Havaria, HealthMap and Crimson Hexagon back in 2008. Most recently, my colleague Kalev Leetaru showed how applying NLP to historical data could have predicted the Arab Spring. Each of these initiatives represents an important effort in leveraging NLP and machine learning for early detection of events of interest.
The RecordedFuture system works as follows. A user first selects a set of data sources (websites, RSS feeds, etc) and determines the rate at which to update the data. Next, the user chooses one or several existing “extractors” to find specific entities and events (or constructs a new type). Finally, a taxonomy is selected to specify exactly how the data is to be grouped. The data is then automatically harvested and passed through a linguistics analyzer which extracts useful information such as event types, names, dates, and places. Finally, the reports are clustered and visualized on a crisis map, in this case using an Ushahidi platform. This allows for all kinds of other datasets to be imported, compared and analyzed, such as high resolution satellite imagery and crowdsourced data.
A key feature of the RecordedFuture system is that extracts and estimates the time for the event described rather than the publication time of the newspaper article parsed, for example. As such, the harvested data can include both historic and future events.
In sum, the RecordedFuture system is composed of the following five features as described in the study:
2. Linguistic analysis: the process in which the retrieved texts are analyzed in order to extract entities, events, time and location, etc. In contrast to other components, the linguistic analysis is language dependent.
3. Refinement: additional information can be obtained in this process by synonym detection, ontology analysis, and sentiment analysis.
4. Data analysis: application of statistical and AI-based models such as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to generate predictions about the future and detect anomalies in the data.
5. User experience: a web interface for ordinary users to interact with, and an API for interfacing to other systems.
The authors ran a pilot that “manually” integrated the RecordedFuture system with the Ushahidi platform. The result is depicted in the figure below. In the future, the authors plan to automate the creation of reports on the Ushahidi platform via the RecordedFuture system. Intriguingly, the authors chose to focus on protest events to demo their Ushahidi-coupled system. Why is this intriguing? Because my dissertation analyzed whether access to new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are statistically significant predictors of protest events in repressive states. Moreover, the protest data I used in my econometric analysis came from an automated NLP algorithm that parsed Reuters Newswires.
Using RecordedFuture, the authors extracted some 6,000 protest event-data for Quarter 1 of 2011. These events were identified and harvested using a “trained protest extractor” constructed using the system’s event extractor frame-work. Note that many of the 6,000 events are duplicates because they are the same events but reported by different forces. Not surprisingly, Christopher and team plan to develop a duplicate detection algorithm that will also double as a triangulation & veracity scoring feature. I would be particularly interested to see them do this kind of triangulation and validation of crowdsourced data on the fly.
Below are the protest events picked up by RecordedFuture for both Tunisia and Egypt. From these two figures, it is possible to see how the Tunisian protests preceded those in Egypt.
The authors argue that if the platform had been set up earlier this year, a user would have seen the sudden rise in the number of protests in Egypt. However, the authors acknowledge that their data is a function of media interest and attention—the same issue I had with my dissertation. One way to overcome this challenge might be by complementing the harvested reports with crowdsourced data from social media and Crowdmap.
In the future, the authors plan to have the system auto-detect major changes in trends and to add support for the analysis of media in languages beyond English. They also plan to test the reliability and accuracy of their conflict early warning algorithm by comparing their forecasts of historical data with existing conflict data sets. I have several ideas of my own about next steps and look forward to speaking with Christopher’s team about ways to collaborate. | <urn:uuid:45bebb2d-b452-468e-bbd8-dbfdf446f403> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://irevolution.net/tag/event/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940796 | 1,265 | 1.695313 | 2 |
|Iran is an important ECO member: ECO secretary general||
TEHRAN – The secretary of Economic Cooperation Organization has said that Iran is an important member of the organization.
Shamil Aleskerov made the remarks during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran on Sunday.
Aleskerov thanked Iran for its contributions to the Tehran-based ECO Secretariat and discussed the organization’s affairs with him.
Salehi said that ECO should expand its relations with other regional and international organizations and make efforts to identify new opportunities for cooperation.
Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader | <urn:uuid:b3c2863e-8b66-4af1-90f5-418a3fd897db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/102155-iran-is-an-important-eco-member-eco-secretary-general | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947593 | 139 | 1.554688 | 2 |
In my view the description ‘white flight’ wrongly ascribes a racial motive for people moving away from areas where ethnic minorities have grown to become a substantial number of people or even a majority. It is not the race or colour of the skin of people living in an area which is driving this phenomenon. It is the pronounced cultural differences between members of the community, that have been encouraged and entrenched by the political class as it pursued its own nefarious agenda to dilute and erode the sense of nationhood as part of a wider political agenda.
Although there are plenty of differences within a population that shares the same race, ethnic characteristics, heritage, values and way of life, these were not sufficient to enable the undermining of the nation state, as part of the political objective of developing a world order, where populations that are bound together by their shared similarities and values have strong enough cohesion to reject and resist what the politicians want.
Whenever I have lived overseas I conformed to the norms of the community I became part of. Many migrants to these shores have done the same thing and where that integration has happened we don’t see this ‘white flight’ phenomenon. We see relaxed people where aspirations, values and language are the same, resulting in cohesion.
Conversely, where people have come here and transplanted their own cultural norms that are alien to the community, we see a lack of cohesion. The politicians are to blame for actively seeking and encouraging this. It comes as no surprise to find the left wing, pro-immigration ‘think tank’ DEMOS claiming that a ‘retreat’ of white Britons from areas where minorities live is limiting cultural integration. As usual, in a cynical effort to distort the findings and perpetuate the political agenda they have actively been in involved in crafting, they deny the reality which is that the refusal of some migrants to integrate culturally coupled with their desire to create a cultural colony, is actually the cause of increasing segregation.
How many times have we been ordered by the political class to ‘embrace’ the changes being forced on the community, with the implicit assertion that failure to do so denotes you as xenophobic or racist? How many times have we witnessed neighbourhoods become fragmented because these differences are being aggressively entrenched by an arriving migrant minority that demands acceptance of their alien culture being transplanted into the community? How many times have we seen the arriving migrants seek out people who share their cultural heritage and values so they do not have to integrate or conform to the societal norms of the host community, resulting in the ghetto phenomenon? How many times, when this has happened, have we then been instructed by the political class to ‘celebrate’ this, despite the lack of consent for the transformation and the unwelcome and undesired impacts this has on the community? Why is it acceptable for an aggressive cultural supremacy to be implemented by an arriving migrant population, yet any attempt to preserve the cultural norms of the host community is considered wrong and unacceptable?
What has never made stood up to any scrutiny is the notion that migrants want to come here for a better life, when on arrival they do all they can to maintain the same life they supposedly sought to leave behind them in their home country. It is entirely understandable that people draw the conclusion the new arrivals have not come to enrich our community and become part of what made this country attractive in the first place, as the political class claims, but only to take economic advantage of what has been built up over generations while rejecting our values, language and norms.
The blame for this ‘white flight’ which is so exercising the politicians, and the breakdown in community cohesion which suits their aims, has to be firmly laid at the door of the concept of multiculturalism, advanced by the likes of DEMOS, the Labour party, and legions of politicians across Europe.
Having a multiethnic community is fine and can work wonderfully well. Often it is integrated migrants who are most vocal alongside us in opposing the contemptible behaviour of the political class as it seeks to dismantle what made this country attractive and proud in the first place. Where people come together as a community regardless of colour and race we do not see the problems that arise in areas where part of the community chooses to emphasise and reinforce pronounced differences and seeks separation from the host community due to a desire for their imported culture to have supremacy – and seeks to strengthen that separation by bringing more people from their country of origin to build a rival community.
It is not a racial or colour issue, it is to do with culture. The political class actively pursued this without seeking the consent of the British people. If I had refused to conform to the cultural norms of my hosts overseas I would not have been welcome and encouraged to leave. So why is it wrong for Britons to apply the same conditions and make clear to migrants that if they will not conform to our norms and be part of an integrated community they have no place living here? Oh yes, because the political class says so, as it doesn’t fit in with their objectives.
Don’t be angry and frustrated with those who have been able to come here and build a rival community steeped in their own culture and values. Be angry and frustrated with the political class that allowed it, encouraged it, stamped on dissent against it, and sought to stigmatise those who refused to compromise their principles – and take action against them.
The real segregation in this country is that between the political class and bureaucrats, and we ordinary people who they abuse and treat with contempt. | <urn:uuid:8fd7ff8e-df55-4299-94b4-2e7aa2b44068> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/tag/immigration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970183 | 1,127 | 1.75 | 2 |
“I hope that these tools will aid our department and the public at large in fighting crime and disorder, especially since they reach out to the younger generation,” said Chief Mark Ott.
Those who wish to send in a tip may now text the keyword “BRIDGETON” followed by a space and the information they wish to give to 847411, otherwise known as TIP411.
Captain Michael Gaimari said this service is powered by CitizenObserver, a St. Paul Minnesota company that provides web-based alerting tools to law enforcement agencies.
Mayor Albert Kelly was quick to praise the new method.
“This new capability will help citizens play an active role in keeping neighborhoods safer, it will engage a younger demographic in the process, and it will hopefully save our police department time and resources,” he said.
Citizens can also now provide anonymous tips to the department’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/bridgetonpd, which was designed by the department’s technical officer, Patrolman Luis Santiago.
The department also brought back the tip line it lost in the move to Fayette Street in 2009. Those who want to call in with information can now call (856) 455-5550, or simply call the department’s main number and access it that way.
Gaimari said that it had become increasingly difficult to get information on crimes, and said that about 75-percent of criminal investigations over the past 10 years start without a suspect and with very few witnesses.
“The information provided through these confidential information sources is essential and will allow investigators to immediately direct their resources to the right direction,” he said. “But we still need the public to step up and report what they see and hear, for their own protection and the protection of the rest of the citizens in the city.”
Contact Stephen Smith at (856) 451-1000, ext. 450 or [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:f60f2e64-17a2-4164-a726-68df10a4c323> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2012/03/bridgeton_pd_introduces_tippin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952611 | 418 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The small village of Nawakille (pop. few thousand) outside the frontier city of Peshawar in Pakistan boasts something that no other in the world can. Over the last half century, the village that does not have a single squash court, has produced six world number ones in the sport. In fact, since 1950 the six between them have won 29 British Opens (the Wimbledon of squash) and 14 World Opens (which started only in 1975).
This is an incredible story that just happens to be a sport story. If the sport of squash had a bigger profile in world sport, there would have been movies made on this subject. For now, a writeup in this blog will have to suffice. While the British whiled away their time guarding the Khyber pass, they decided to relieve their boredom by building a few outdoors roofless squash courts. In the heat and direct sunlight, it was difficult to play a game with one of the highest cardiovascular work rates. But try telling that to the Pathan warriors.
Hashim Khan, the first of the lot, become a ball-boy at the Peshawar British Army Officers club and practiced with the broken balls tossed out by the officers. When the officers would retreat indoors in the 100 degrees heat and the squash court was empty, it would be "Hashim vs Hashim" in the court according to his biography. He got good enough to be the Pakistan champion by 1949 and somehow got enough sponsorship to get to the British Open in 1951. He was 34 years old at the time (Borg retired from Tennis at 26). In the warm up tournament he beat the four time British Open champion Mahmoud El Karim conceding just six points. The British press called it a "flash in the pan", expecting for order to be restored, but Hashim went on to beat Mahmoud in the Open final 9-5, 9-0, 9-0, and then continued to win the tournament six out of the next seven years.
Roshan Khan was a cousin of Hashim and beat him in the 1957 British Open.
Azam Khan was Hashim’s younger brother and practice partner. Sparring with his brother, Azam got good enough to win the British Open 4 times. One of his victories was over Roshan Khan with a dominating 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 scoreline that forced the Squash Rackets Association to introduce a playoff for third place to make it worthwhile for the audience to buy tickets.
Mohibullah Khan was the fourth of the group from Nawakille and won the British Open in 1963 in dramatic fashion, recovering from 8-1 down in the fourth game and saving multiple match points before winning in the fifth.
Then came a fallow period of two decades where Pakistan produced five world number 2′s but no world number won as Jonah Barrington of Great Britain and Geoff Hunt of Australia dominated the game. Maybe it was because Aftab Javed, Gogi Alauddin, Mohammed Yasin and Qamar Zaman were not from Nawakille. But Mohibullah Jr was from the village (Jansher’s elder brother), and he was the closest of all to get to world number 1, but unfortunately got incarcerated for carrying drugs to Britain. That will ruin anyone’s career.
The domination started again in 1979 by perhaps the greatest of all, Jahangir Khan (literally "world conqueror"). He beat the legendary Australian Geoff Hunt in the British Open Final and started surely the longest unbeaten streak in any individual sport. He went 5 years and 8 months or 555 matches without getting beat. Over his career, Jahangir accumulated 10 British Open titles and 6 World Opens.
The last of the line was Jansher Khan who won 8 World Opens and 6 British Opens. The Jahangir-Jansher rivalry over the next few years took on the nature of Sampras-Agassi or Palmer-Nicklaus, elevating the sport to a new level but leaving each wondering how much more successful he would have been without the other. Their rivalry was announced to the world in the 1988 World Open in Amsterdam by "the rally". The first point of the match consisted of 247 strokes and lasted 6 minutes 16 seconds and ended in a let. Jahangir went on to win what would be his last World Open.
No one has ever been able to uncover the secret of Nawakille. Why did a small village produce so many world beaters without the existence of a single squash court. It is easy to come up with explanations of why Kenyans are excellent long distance runners, why Austrians produce world class skiers. But squash and Nawakille? I’m stumped. | <urn:uuid:82c2a586-009f-42d3-a6b5-ab5989763671> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pakistaniat.com/2008/10/16/nawakille-a-squash-town/?cp=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972117 | 974 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Meme This: An Essay for a Day
by Phineas Dash
Blogger has switched to a new system which seems unable or unwilling to publish longer entries. I assume this is a temporary problem, so for now I’ve sliced this essay up into separate posts, but you should be able to follow it easily in the normal way, from top to bottom being from start to finish. Just ignore the time checks.
Something called a "meme" is a highly fashionable idea at the moment. What is it? A meme is a highly fashionable idea.
Richard Dawkins is credited with naming it, as a kind of imitation (from the French meme) as an analogue to genes, because it is copied and transmitted from one person to another. Darwinists like Dawkins sometimes use the term as if memes were genes for ideas or information.
But they also use it as if memes are viruses. People become infected with ideas or information, such as buzz-words, fads, "urban legends," and so on.
In that sense, as Lee Cronk writes, "The idea of the meme is itself a meme, and a successful one at that..." Highly respected thinkers like Daniel Dennett use the term. For the short time I was a consulting editor for them, the folks at Adbusters Magazine swallowed it whole. Perhaps they saw in it an alternate pedigree as well, from William Burroughs and his idea of language as a virus.
Are you confused yet? I am. And I suspect we're supposed to be. This meme stuff has the smell of semiotics and deconstructionism, both perfectly good tools until they became dogmas, with their own clergy and secret language. Memeticists who might chance to read the rest of this commentary might simply dismiss it by saying that I don't understand what they mean by "memes." And they may be right. But rather than saying I'm sorry, I am inclined to get loudly in their faces with the simple retort, THEN YOU DIDN'T EXPLAIN IT VERY WELL, DID YOU?
Summer - Well, there's the immigration bill, President Obama's landmark speech trying to inject some sanity into the overreaction to terrorism, etc. etc. and I find m...
1 day ago | <urn:uuid:cb3f37f5-43f2-4d21-b373-2ad8eb456d06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americandash.blogspot.com/2003_06_29_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971381 | 467 | 1.515625 | 2 |
A senior Israeli official described Egypt’s new government on Friday as a “shocking dictatorial force” and predicted there would be no official, high-level contacts between the two countries, which signed a peace treaty in 1979.
The remarks by Amos Gilad, a top aide to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, were some of the harshest yet about the rise to prominence of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Mursi, who was elected in June.
Speaking at a security conference, Gilad said the liberal forces behind the uprising which ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 had evaporated.
“From this democracy what has sprung is a shocking dictatorial force,” he said in comments broadcast on Israel Radio. “Where are all the young people who were demonstrating in Tahir Square? They have vanished.”
Mursi has faced some criticism at home from non-Islamists concerned about other voices being marginalized in Egypt.
On the whole, however, Egyptians acknowledge he is a democratically elected leader and any disagreements should be resolved in the political arena or at the ballot box.
Despite the peace treaty, relations between Israel and Egypt have never been warm and Israelis watched with consternation as the once-banned Brotherhood rose to prominence.
Mursi resigned from the Brotherhood - which describes Israel as a racist and expansionist state - on taking power and has avoided inflammatory language.
He has said Egypt would continue to abide by international treaties, including the 1979 peace deal.
Gilad, however, said he saw little prospect of talks.
“The President of Egypt, Mursi, cannot utter the words ‘the State of Israel,’” he said. Mursi has tended to avoid direct references to Israel in his speeches or public comments.
“There is no dialogue between our high-ranking political echelon and this president, and I don’t think that there will be,” Gilad said. | <urn:uuid:b73980fd-7f75-471e-a774-313296758079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/02/247302.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975019 | 411 | 1.75 | 2 |
Messaging service offers live help from library staff
Initiative is part of larger project to bring more library services online, accessible to students
Doing research for your next class paper while sitting on your couch at home? This has become easier as the OSU libraries are offering more and more resources online.The latest research publications can be accessed though the hundreds of electronic journals the library has subscribed to. Electronic versions of dissertations, graduate and honors theses from recent OSU graduates will soon be integrated in the catalog as well.With this wealth of information available at library patrons’ fingertips, a computer with Internet access pointing to OASIS, the OSU Library electronic catalog, has become the starting point for most library material searches.This has made it possible for OSU students, faculty and staff to access most of these resources from anywhere in the world, on and off campus. But until recently, there was still one thing you couldn’t get without coming to the library: help from a professional librarian.In 2004, OSU libraries, along with other public libraries in Oregon, set up a system to support its online patrons. The new service, named live reference service or L-Net, is staffed by OSU librarians and accessible online to any library patrons regardless of location.
“The primary target is the OSU community. We want to be able to provide real-time help wherever someone needs it,” said Ruth Vondracek, head of Reference and Instruction at OSU Valley Library.
The live reference service enables patrons to exchange text messages with librarians. The system also enables the user and the librarian to share a common browser window. Librarians can use the window to point to a location from where the resource researched can be accessed. Librarians can also display particular pages on the patron’s computer.
While the service has not been widely publicized yet, this option has proven popular to help patrons navigate through menus to locate the article or resource they are looking for. | <urn:uuid:6d6066cd-9f90-4e25-9578-9d85245b4157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iyne.org/2006/01/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934949 | 416 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Anyone who has worked in a patrol capacity in the last few years will be very aware of the Policing nightmare that is Facebook. While I appreciate that social networking on sites such as Facebook and Twitter have their uses (I have both linked to this blog as well as my own personal accounts) they rely on the user having a modicum of intelligence and common sense. Unfortunately there is no test of this capacity as part of the sign up process.
As a result there are over 800,000,000 Facebook accounts and somewhere around 200,000,000 Twitter accounts running worldwide. Many of these will have been created and are maintained by people who would fail any test that required the user to write using a pen instead of both their thumbs (a la text message) or to write a sentence which contained words written in full rather than a vowel-less bastardised version of English or containing a bizarre mix of numbers and letters.
The implications of this unmonitored access and the anonymity or impersonal contact available to users can be dramatic. I believe that we could easily employ an entire relief in resolving Facebook slanging matches and spurious Threats To Kill complaints that flood in through our contact center or are reported at our tiny number of surviving front counter facilities.
Most of the complaints include some degree of he said, she said nonsense that could easily be solved with two simple steps:
Delete the comment : Block the person
Sadly though, rather than suffering the humiliation of reducing their list of “friends” by any degree, many choose to respond, time and time again, propagating more and more issues with every message and indirectly recruiting friends and relatives who have read the conversation to join in the urban wall-fare. Before you know it there are entire families, gangs, or social groups expressing an interest in the eradication of the opposition by any means and some poor panda driver gets the pleasure of standing in the middle and trying to sort it all out.
Banging on everyone’s front door and delivering a bollocking would be the most practical solution. However, it’s rarely that easy as A has previously had a one night stand with C who is the current girlfriend of D and who has made some vaguely offensive comment about B who is from a minority ethnic group. Cue the big red flashing lights in the Domestic Violence and Hate Crime Review offices and the removal of any degree of practical policing or proportionate response. Before you know it, eight people under the age of 18 have had to be spoken to, statemented and/or interviewed and a forty page file has been passed up the line for review by a succession of risk-averse senior managers and hand-wringing office dwellers.
Eventually, after twenty or thirty officer hours have been expended negating every avenue for negative community opinion the situation gets resolved by a Neighbourhood officer who, ironically, knocks on everyone’s front door and delivers a slightly fluffier and community focused bollocking than would have been delivered two weeks earlier. This less robust delivery of the same information will no doubt be ignored by most who hear it, and by tea time, everyone is back on Facebook accusing everyone else of getting them into trouble with the gavvers!
That is, of course, unless they are too busy trying to get all their mates to go and kick off a riot in Lidl carpark…
In Thailand, a different approach is being taken to those who make inappropriate comments by text or other means. Recently there have been issues with people setting up anti-monarchy pages on the Book of Face, and allowing readers to show their support via the “Like” button. One resident was also found to have made un-supportive comments via text message. This act is a breach of the strict lèse-majesté laws which exist in Thailand, and which even prohibit people discussing offences that have been committed.
Amphon Tangnoppaku, 61 has been convicted of four such offences this week. He sent messages that were considered insulting to the countries Queen and received a twenty year prison sentence as a result. 36 such cases were brought by Thai authorities last year. Facebook users have been given a direct order to delete anything from their accounts that might be seen as insulting to the Monarch or risk prosecution themselves. This tough line has been adopted by Thai authorities following criticism of the government over being too soft on criminals, but is now also being criticised by those who object to the limitations being placed on people’s freedom of expression.
My suggestion is that we consider sending a delegation of PCSO‘s and Neighbourhood officers to the country to oversee negotiations and address the community impact that this is undoubtedly having on the general population. They are, after all, the unwilling experts in such matters.No tags for this post. | <urn:uuid:aaf74930-b8ef-4b15-893a-e38a9e620927> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.riceoweek.com/marketing/thailand-sets-new-standard-for-facebook-crime.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973608 | 985 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Proposition 30's passage last month may have done more than just raise taxes. The PPIC poll suggests it might have shifted the opinions of Californians as well. Forty-four percent say they now believe the state is moving in the right direction. That's up five percent from October and the highest it's been in more than five years. Meanwhile, just under half of all adults - and independent voters - say they're more optimistic about the state budget now that Prop 30's been approved.
Californians are also giving stronger marks to their elected officials. Governor Jerry Brown's approval rating is now at a record high 48 percent. And even the much-maligned state legislature is faring better: Its 34 percent approval rating is up six points from October. The last time it topped 30 percent was 2008.
State Moves Forward with Fire Fee Despite Lawsuit
California's controversial "fire protection fee" on rural property owners is now one step closer to full implementation.
A state board voted Wednesday to make the 150-dollar-a-parcel fee permanent. That's in spite of a pending lawsuit filed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association challenging the fee's legality.
Republican Assemblyman Dan Logue says Wednesday's action by Governor Jerry Brown's administration makes no sense.
Logue: "The courts are gonna make
a decision on this and they're gonna throw it out. So the
best thing they can do is stand down, reverse their votes and let
the courts make this decision before they start or continue to make
this a permanent tax."
The Democratic-controlled legislature passed the fire fee as part of last year's budget package with a majority vote. Republicans say that violates voter-approved Proposition 26, which requires a two-thirds approval on fees.
The state has already started mailing out bills. The court hearing is expected sometime next year. | <urn:uuid:79e17e68-ca6b-4c2b-a35e-d3a6e8400bed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.capradio.org/articles/2012/12/06/capitol-roundup-new-ppic-poll,-fire-fee-update | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957663 | 380 | 1.570313 | 2 |
As a part of the ongoing series of my blogposts (read the earlier post here) on the recent legislation by the government mandating compulsory spending 2% of the company’s net profits in the CSR acitivities, I was in touch with Pavan Sukhdev, the Founder & CEO of GIST advisory and the author of the latest book, Corporation 2020. Here are 4 points that Pavan thinks that this Bill of compulsory 2% spend on CSR is short-sighted and after all not such a great idea:
- Redefining the term CSR: Pavan makes the difference between the old CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and the new CSR (Corporate Sustainability Response) paradigms. A company can spend an x amount of money on socially appealing causes and comply to the regulation. But is it what is actually desired? Pavan takes the example of Sterlite Industries with their core business interests in bauxite mining in Orissa (which inherently is environmentally damaging) and in turn offering to help fund a university or an eye hospital. Instead, it is much more important to Measure, Evaluate and Reduce the actual or net environmental footprint of such corporations.
- Investments v/s Impact: The regulation can mandate the 2% expenditure but doesn’t account for any ways to measure the impact of those invesments. Pavan says, “Isn’t the actual IMPACT worth measuring and reporting in the accounts (i.e. disclosure of externalities)? What is the use of investing in a new university department if all that happens is another building, and no skilled teachers creating human capital?”
- Existing Positive Externalities: Some companies are already creating positive social impacts and externalities from their business operations. For example, Infosys has over a billion dollars of positive externalities through its human capital creation (see its balance sheet published April 2012). GIST advisory worked on those calculations. But will the government’s new 2% CSR rule actually pick that up? Pavan thinks otherwise!
- Accounting Reclassifications: And last but not the least, the age-old methods of ”cooking up balance sheets” via legal methods – aka Creative Accounting and Re-classifications. Companies can spend the 2% on CSR and comply and yet find ways to discount those in their accounting techniques.
The old CSR by its very nature places an ethical burden on the companies. It is an add-on to core business models which are not meant for doing social good. Legislations may ensure compliance…but then, is that what we want? (you can comply and yet not make any positive difference)
Please leave your comments on what you think about the mandatory spending on CSR.
Image: Mr Pavan Sukhdev (Photo credit: theverb.org via flickr)
If you enjoyed reading this, why not share it with someone who might also benefit. Thank You! | <urn:uuid:d0f42398-a271-4eb6-9e6a-46a75b5c17e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://linkingsustainability.com/2013/01/08/why-pavan-sukhdev-thinks-the-mandatory-2-csr-spend-is-short-sighted/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945308 | 612 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Dermatologist or Aesthetician: How Do You Decide Which to See?
While an aesthetician can probably give you a good facial, this skin care practitioner doesn't have the extensive training of a dermatologist — and there are other important differences between the two.
Getting a quick facial while you’re out shopping may seem like an innocent splurge, but do you take the time to learn about the qualifications of the person who’s going to treat your skin ?You should. Mistakes made by inexperienced or poorly trained skin care practitioners can damage, even scar, your skin.
That’s why it’s important to know the difference between a dermatologist and an aesthetician and when it’s best to skip the spa and go to a medical doctor for skin care or a cosmetic procedure
The Different Skills of Dermatologists and Aestheticians
The most obvious difference between a dermatologist and an aesthetician is training. Dermatologists attend college and medical school, and then complete a residency, meaning they have 12 to 14 years or more of advanced education and medical training under their belts, says Peggy Fuller, MD, founder and director of the Esthetic Center for Dermatology, a medical spa in Charlotte, N.C. “Dermatologists are experts in hair, skin, and nails,” Dr. Fuller says.
Aesthetician training varies from state to state, but aestheticians typically take a one- or two-year course that focuses on skin care, facials, and noninvasive procedures, Dr. Fuller says.
Dermatologists practice out of medical offices or medical spas, while aestheticians can be found in spas and salons as well as working under the direction of dermatologists in medical settings.
At Fuller’s center, aestheticians train with dermatologists and are available to give facials and other services to augment some of the products Fuller prescribes for her patients. Fuller has treated patients whose skin was damaged by aestheticians who weren’t qualified to do a certain procedure.
How to Avoid Problems With Skin Care Specialists
In general, it’s best to see a dermatologist before having a procedure done to be sure that what you’re having done is healthy for your skin, Fuller says. For instance, microdermabrasion can contain products such as salicylic acid, which could cause an allergic reaction. “If you’re healthy and you haven’t had complications with facials in the past, it’s okay to see an aesthetician for basic skin care procedures like a facial,” Fuller says.
She also offers the following advice:
Go to at a medical spa. A certified center for dermatology in a spa-like setting will have the best medical oversight. You’ll get the luxury of a spa with the medical expertise and supervision that’s paramount to keeping your skin healthy. And because aestheticians at medical spas are usually trained by dermatologists, they have a better idea of when to call in a doctor for a condition that’s outside their scope, she says, which will go a long way toward avoiding problems.
Avoid “mom and pop” shops. Some spa operators call themselves “skin care specialists” when they actually have very little training. There are also aestheticians who perform procedures in hotel rooms. “That’s a no-no,” says Fuller.
Look for a license. When you go to a spa for a service, always look for a certificate from an aesthetician school and a state license, which is usually hanging on the wall. It’s also a good idea to go to a spa that has a medical director. “It needs to have medical oversight and supervision,” Fuller cautions. If you’re not sure, ask.
Give your full medical history. It’s vital to let your aesthetician know if you’re allergic to anything. Someone who is allergic to aspirin may not know that an anti-aging facial contains aspirin.
It’s also important to let the aesthetician know if you have any health conditions. Someone with a history of herpes simplex who gets laser treatment without taking prophylactic (preventive) medication first could get herpes all over the face as a result. And don’t forget to mention medications you take regularly. If you’re on a blood thinner or a medication that makes you sensitive to light, for instance, getting laser treatment could cause severe bruising and irreparable white or dark spots on your skin, Fuller warns.
Keep treatments simple. When you’re at a spa, go for the basic European facial, says Fuller. It’s not complicated and it’s less likely to cause an allergic reaction.
For more complicated procedures, see a dermatologist. More involved, complex procedures, such as laser hair removal and Botox injections, should be performed by a dermatologist.
The bottom line is to always err on the side of caution. If the cosmetic procedure seems like something the aesthetician doesn’t have knowledge of, says Fuller, “it’s always good to be a healthy skeptic.” | <urn:uuid:1cfa7945-339f-4b22-9e7c-83c4749181ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-and-beauty/cosmetic-procedures/doctor-or-aesthetician.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957125 | 1,100 | 1.695313 | 2 |
William Buckenham was a bombardier in the Royal Artillery and a regular at Woolwich Arsenal for one season.
He enjoyed a goalscoring debut against Bristol City in November 1909 after joining from Army football in the same month.
|Arsenal Career||1909 - 1910|
|Appearances||21 (21 starts, 0 as a sub)|
Buckenham worked in Woolwich Arsenal before joining the Army in 1905.
The centre forward played 21 times in his solitary season at the Club, scoring five goals in the First Division as Arsenal narrowly avoided relegation.
He transferred to Southampton in summer 1910.
WHAT THE FANS SAID:
"William Elijah Buckenham is one of those players from the early years of the club of whom we know little. He played only in the 1909/10 season, and Woolwich Arsenal was his only professional club. He was a serviceman, or working in the military much of his working life being associated with 86th Battallion Royal Artillery and 12th Field Artillery, both of whom he played for as an amateur. In his one season with us he took over the troublesome centre forward position, where we had tried seven different players before his first game in November. In all in this one and only season with Woolwich Arsenal he played 21 games and scored 5 times. He left at the end of the season and signed for Southern League Southampton. But there is one special point to note - he is one of those players who scored on his debut. He got a goal in a 2-2 draw at home to Bristol City on 20 November 1909. He was born in Woolwich in 1888 and died in 1954."
Tony Attwood, Corby, Northants | <urn:uuid:1c5463c9-68c3-4ecc-97d0-8cbb81765682> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arsenal.com/history/profiles/87/william-buckenham | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985684 | 351 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The country’s leading medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) was awarded a permit by the District of Columbia Department of Health last week to implement its compulsory training for cultivators and distributors licensed by the District. ASA Foundation was selected to be the Medical Marijuana Certification Provider based on its longstanding experience providing such trainings across the country. The four-hour long training course, a requirement under the District's Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Amendment Act of 2010, will cover the basics of medical marijuana, including an overview of its clinical applications, safety and operational protocols, as well as participants’ rights and responsibilities under local and federal laws.
"We are excited to bring to the nation’s capitol a training program we’ve worked hard to develop over the past ten years," said ASA executive director Steph Sherer. “Our Patients First Training (PFT) program not only covers the basics of medical cannabis laws, it also prepares the staff of these facilities to work with patient populations.' The PFT program is also offered on a volunteer basis for medical marijuana providers nationally.
The PFT will educate participants on the requirements of District law, and will also educate participants on federal law and strategies for asserting their Constitutional rights in the event of federal law enforcement encounters. PFT participants will learn "good neighbor" practices in order to prevent any adverse impacts to the communities surrounding dispensaries and cultivation centers.
Participants will receive training on the varied uses for cannabis, emerging clinical data, and potential side effects, and will be able to discuss this information in a peer-support capacity with other dispensary staff. PFT participants will learn skills for working with seriously ill patients and be able to apply those skills in the day-to-day operation of District dispensaries. "By training dispensary staff in effective customer service and cultural sensitivity, patients will be more assured of getting the service they need and deserve," said Sherer. PFT participants will also learn how to care for the safety of patients by being able to easily spot contaminants on the medicine and by generally maintaining sanitary conditions while growing, packaging and distributing it.
Washington, DC is not the only place developing a medical marijuana production and distribution program. In the last two years alone, five states—Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and New Jersey—have passed laws that anticipate such programs. With its Patients First Program, ASA Foundation is focusing on developing and adopting industry standards for the benefit of legislators and regulators; training industry staff; and implementing an independent certification program for laboratories, cultivators, distributors, and product manufacturers. (ASA, Jan. 10)
Graphic: Herbal Remedies | <urn:uuid:1f270944-658e-413a-837f-bb801fa11b10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://globalganjareport.com/content/americans-for-safe-access-gets-dc-contract-to-train-dispensary-cultivation-staff | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946996 | 542 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Farm Craft 2:
Global Vegetable Crisis
OMG it's a vegetable crisis! Ginger, the young and successful head of the Tomato Corporation, used to be a farmer. Her grandparents invite her back to the country for a visit, and when she arrives, she meets a down-and-out businessman who couldn't run a farm if it were automated. Ginger offers to show him the ropes, but she quickly learns of a sinister plot involving giant cucumbers, genetic manipulation, and stereotypically evil flat characters! So begins Farm Craft 2: Global Vegetable Crisis, a time management game that is, believe it or not, story-centric and is perhaps one of the most inventive and engaging time management games on the market today.
Although Farm Craft 2 shares some very basic traits with its sim farm cousins, the similarities end just moments after you notice they're there. Instead of showing you the ropes and then gradually increasing the complexity as levels go by, Farm Craft 2 dares to introduce story-based locations with unique buildings and goals, hired help that can actually do your work for you, and — get this — a nighttime stealth level!
The first level will familiarize you with the basic controls. Use the [arrow] keys to scroll the screen around, but the mouse will accomplish everything else. You control Ginger and must manage the intricate workings of each farm you run. Double click an empty plot of land to till it, then buy some seeds from the menu at the bottom of the screen and sprinkle them on fresh soil. After a while, those seeds grow into plants, at which point you must grab a crate, harvest them, and take them to the barn to get paid. You can queue tons of tasks in a row, so don't hesitate to keep Ginger busy at all times.
Soon, you learn plants will call for fertilizer and water with respective heart and droplet icons. This is easy to take care of, as fertilizer is available from the shop menu, and a watering pump is right there on the screen. Before long you'll also raise animals, a task that requires you to gather food to feed them and build a refrigerated storage unit to hold their products. You can even harvest fruit that grows naturally on trees in the area, a nice touch that makes the game feel a bit more like a sim than a time management game.
After diversifying the types of seeds, equipment, and buildings you can buy, Farm Craft 2 introduces workers. These handy folk can be hired and paid a salary to perform basic tasks on the farm when things get too hectic for one gal to take care of. And yes, things will get pretty busy. You're not working against the clock, though (unless you want a trophy), so workers are there to fulfill level goals and to make your life easier. Hire workers from the shop menu, then click on them to send them about their duties. Watering hands, animal keepers, harvesters and fertilizers are some of the first workers you'll have access to, and they're a huge help by the time they come around.
Analysis: Whew. Farm Craft 2 is intense. The good kind of intense, too. When I first played the game, I burned over an hour before I even thought about taking a break. I was completely absorbed into this sim/time management world, and the promise of something new waiting in the next level had me eager to see more. Some of the levels are long, and the challenge is cranked up to a respectable level, but it's practically impossible to fail, so you won't have to worry about losing anything you worked for. It's that kind of gameplay that makes a casual game so rewarding.
There's a lot to Farm Craft 2, and that's exactly what makes the game so special. Beyond the full battery of seeds, crops, buildings and upgrades you'll have access to, the game also gives you the ability to set items anywhere on the screen, something that doesn't seem like a big deal until you actually get to do it. You can even move buildings and bulldoze bothersome landscape features, allowing you to shape and customize the world to your liking.
Also worth mentioning is the visual style of this game. You'll immediately notice the characters' animations are very fluid, each drawn with soft curves and a sensitive color palette. You know the artists did a great job when you're entranced by watching the watering animation. Seriously, sit and watch Ginger (or anyone) spread water on the ground. You'll be amazed.
Farm Craft 2 builds a crucial bridge between time management and sim genres and crosses it only when it's advantageous to do so. The game looks great, it plays well, and you'll have a difficult time putting it down at any point. This is one of those rare casual games that stand out of the pack for its phenomenal design. If you like it, you should also check out one of developer NevoSoft's other games, My Kingdom for the Princess. | <urn:uuid:99d360f5-f082-4cd1-a0d8-9f4fa5767d41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jayisgames.com/archives/2010/06/farm_craft_2_global_vegetable_crisis.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965543 | 1,021 | 1.585938 | 2 |
So, I left off Friday with the question of where to find Cölpin, or more specifically, in what parish would the church records be found? I came to the library on Friday morning all ready to tackle what I thought would be an easy "find." I knew that the ACPL had The Map Guides to German Parish Records books so all I would need to do was grab the appropriate one - Mecklenburg-Strelitz - and find my answer.
First thing on Friday, I grabbed the book out of the stacks and went back to the table to dive in. Checked the index and NO CÖLPIN! Now I'm a genealogist after all so I don't let a little thing like spelling deter me. I immediately look for Kölpin and find not one but two. The books don't have actual maps - more like general sketches of the area. They are mostly meant to help you figure out in which parish an already-located town would be. So I'm trying to figure out generally where these 2 Kölpin's would be but in reading more carefully I see that they are both in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and neither are in Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The spelling doesn't concern me, but the location does. As I mentioned yesterday, William Eickelberg's passport application is very specific in saying he was born in Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Also, the 1870 census entry that I had recently found shows the birth place of all the members of the family as "Strellitz Mecklenberg." I have to accept that they knew where they lived and it seemed that neither of the Kölpins in the book could be right. After dithering around with google maps (and finding in present day Germany both a Cölpin and a Kölpin) and looking at the book for awhile I decided to seek some council from our "guide."
Michael looks at the google map locations and we look at a big map in the library but are not further enlightened. Finally he says that he wants to look at a map resource online that he thinks might help us. I have to admit that as I am watching him type in "Wisconsin maps German Empire" I'm thinking, "Has he not been listening? - my ancestors were NEVER in Wisconsin, they went to Ohio." He must have caught that look I have because he sort of chuckled and said that the maps are housed at the University of Wisconsin Madison so that's best way to find them. OH!
In pretty short order he found an entry for Kölpin as follows:
Please note that the first entry clearly states it's in "Mecklenb-Strel" - YEAH that's what we want!! So a little more searching and here it is:
That's not the end of the story however. With the help of this wonderful map I begin to narrow down, based on the towns around, exactly which parish is correct. I look up Stargard and some of the others and begin to pinpoint the area. Then, I decide it's so close to the edge of what I'm looking at, that I need to look at the parish bordering to the south. I pick a city and find where that is in the book and what do I find? There, on the page, big as life is listed "Cölpin" the city I was looking for all along!! I recheck the index a few more times, but it's just not there!
Recounting this story at lunch I came to the realization that I was actually GLAD that it hadn't been there. If it had I would have simply noted the parish and the numbers of the films that I could look up and been done. Instead I was introduced to this wonderful map resource. It's beautiful and I'd encourage anyone with German ancestors to check it out. If you remember nothing else, just remember to google "Wisconsin map German Empire" and it will be right at the top!
|All smiles as we find Kölpin|
A big thanks to Wanda Hunter Day, one of the great people I meet on this trip, for capturing the pictures of that fun moment when we spotted Kölpin! | <urn:uuid:2042fc72-d690-4d44-b1cf-fc107a182ae8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://randomrelatives.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-from-acpl-how-we-found-colpin.html?showComment=1282009922898 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982667 | 884 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Well, it's about damn time.
See, when the Academy Awards first aired back in 1927, there were 10 Best Picture nominees. Then in 1944, the Academy decided to lower that to five, and everyone was happy about it until someone had the bright idea in 2009 to change it back to 10. Since that time, pity nominations for 'The Blind Side' and 'District 9' have been doled out en masse regardless of the fact that, no matter how good they were, none of them had a snowflake's chance in hell of winning. No one really knew why the change was made and none of us were very happy about it since it only diminished the honor that came with earning a Best Picture nod, but it seems like someone in charge finally got on the bandwagon.
After voting on June 14, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came to a decision that the Best Picture nominees will no longer be set at a mandatory (and arbitrary) 10, but will now be made up of anywhere from five to 10 movies. After studying the numbers, they also came to the conclusion that in order for a movie to receive a Best Picture nomination, it must receive at least 5 percent of the top vote from Academy voters. But whatever the science behind it, those Academy bigwigs should give themselves a pat on the back for this one.
Hit the jump to see what Bruce Davis (retiring executive director of the Academy) had to say about the change.
In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies. A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn't feel an obligation to round out the number"As much as we're still wondering why they ever changed it back to 10 nominees in the first place, we're just happy to hear the good news that biggest night of the year for all us movie nerds is getting back in touch with itself.
What do you think: A much-needed fix, or still doesn't change how boring the Oscars are? | <urn:uuid:ac7e0a8e-e3e2-45b4-8b88-f78246e4eb98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/06/15/oscar-best-picture-nominees-no-longer-10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976537 | 436 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Now therefore beware, I pray you, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
Treasury of Scripture
Judges 13:14 She may not eat of any thing that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing...
Numbers 6:2,3 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite...
Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink...
Leviticus 11:27,47 And whatever goes on his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean to you...
Acts 10:14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
ContextThe Birth of Samson
1And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bore not. 3And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, you are barren, and bore not: but you shall conceive, and bear a son. 4Now therefore beware, I pray you, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 5For, see, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not from where he was, neither told he me his name: 7But he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. 8Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which you did send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born. 9And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, that came to me the other day. 11And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man that spoke to the woman? And he said, I am. 12And Manoah said, Now let your words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do to him? 13And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 14She may not eat of any thing that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. 15And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, I pray you, let us detain you, until we shall have made ready a kid for you. 16And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your bread: and if you will offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. 17And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, What is your name, that when your sayings come to pass we may do you honor? 18And the angel of the LORD said to him, Why ask you thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 19So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it on a rock to the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 21But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 23But his wife said to him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. 24And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Parallel VersesAmerican Standard Version
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
Now therefore beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.
Darby Bible Translation
Therefore beware, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean,
King James Bible
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
Young's Literal Translation
And, now, take heed, I pray thee, and do not drink wine, and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, | <urn:uuid:38e7cc76-5e53-4fa2-91a3-9008a2f67f70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biblebrowser.com/judges/13-4.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976243 | 1,301 | 1.5625 | 2 |
-- One of the oldest churches in Germany was recently equipped with a new sound reinforcement system
-- Built around equipment from DYNACORD and Electro-Voice, the installation is flexible and designed to accommodate a wide variety of events
-- The acoustic design and its implementation were the work of Barowski AG
The evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saint Jacob in Nuremberg is one of Germany's oldest places of worship.
Sovereign Grace Church in Marlton, NJ is the latest in a growing list of houses of worship to be equipped with loudspeakers from the new installation-dedicated Electro-Voice EV-Innovation family – EVA (Expandable Vertical Array), EVF (front-loaded), and EVH (horn-loaded).
"30 years ago most churches had an organ, a piano, a microphone on the pulpit, and a pair of column loudspeakers," says Chuck Walthall, whose Pensacola, Florida design and consulting practice covers both acoustics and technical systems.
Since launching in 2009, EV-Innovation loudspeakers from Electro-Voice have become among the company’s most in-demand products for permanent installation, thanks to their unique combination of audio quality, versatility, and value. | <urn:uuid:fed0643d-261d-4880-9337-14fe01e40d3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electrovoice.com/news.php?year=2010&application=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93917 | 257 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Well, you found yourself in immigration proceedings because of those shoplifting charges. They said you committed something called a “Crime Involving Moral Turpitude” (CIMT) and that you were removable (deportable). You don’t understand… didn’t you do your time for that crime? Yeah, the judge warned you that there might be immigration consequences, but you basically pleaded guilty in exchange for no jail time… your defense attorney told you that wouldn’t be a problem! And yet, here you are, in immigration court defending your right to stay in the United States.
Please note that what’s written below only touches the surface of the topic of Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude. I am not advising you on what is or what is not a CIMT, and none of what is below should be taken as advice as to what to plead to if you are in criminal proceedings. The point of this post is to explain that there are a lot of complexities regarding CIMTs, criminal dispositions and plea bargains, and you should make sure you or your criminal defense attorney is aware of the possible immigration effects of your crime.
If you have questions about whether your crime is a crime involving moral turpitude and want to ask an immigration attorney about it, contact Law Offices of Jacob D. Geller at 781-462-1346.
Oops. This is not an uncommon situation. The immigration laws are downright medieval when it comes to crimes. But the big question is what exactly is a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude exactly? And why would it have helped if you had known before you made that plea bargain? Here’s the bad news: there is no specific definition of what a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude is, but there have been a lot of cases that have discussed it, and there are certain crimes that have been ruled to clearly be CIMTs. Also, it doesn’t matter if you have a conviction under immigration law if an admission to the elements of the crime has been made (although what constitutes an admission is another issue).
Now, a bit of the law that has been used to define a CIMT. A CIMT has been defined as “an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity, in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellow man or to society.” S. Rpt. No. 1515 (1950). The Board of Immigration Appeals defines it as a crime that “refers generally to conduct which is inherently base, vile, or depraved, and contrary to the accepted rulse of morality and the duties owed between persons or to society in general… Moral turpitude has been defined as an act which is per se morally reprehensible and intrinsically wrong, or malum in se so it is the nature of the act itself and not the statutory prohibition of it which renders a crime one of moral turpitude.” Matter of Franklin, 20 I&N Dec. 867, 868 (BIA 1994) [emphasis added]. The Attorney General notes that a CIMT involves “both reprehensible conduct and some degree of scienter [knowledge], whether specific intent, deliberateness, willfulness, or recklessness.” Matter of Silva-Trevino, 24 I&N Dec. 687, 689 n.1 and 706 n.5 (AG 2008).
What does this mean to you? Probably not much. What it does tell courts is that the usual crimes one would expect, murder, rape, kidnapping, voluntary manslaughter, and robbery are clearly CIMTs. Further, courts have basically decided that anything with fraud or theft involved is a per se CIMT. Drug possession is generally not considered a CIMT, but intent to distribute is likely considered a CIMT (although, a conviction for distribution is a lot worse than just a CIMT).
The biggest issue I see here in Massachusetts is where the client has been given what’s called a Continued Without a Finding, or CWOF for a CIMT. A CWOF in Massachusetts is almost always considered a guilty finding for the sake of immigration. And since the actual penalty for a CIMT is not a consideration in whether or not it is a CIMT, just because you don’t spend any time in jail doesn’t change anything. So it’s important to understand both whether the crime is a CIMT and whether the plea you make is going to be considered by immigration as a conviction.
As mentioned, this only touches the surface of a discussion on CIMTs. A full analysis can, and has, filled books. The moral of the story is: if you’re not sure about whether the crime for which you may be convicted may be a CIMT, contact an immigration attorney. | <urn:uuid:eabf477c-81df-4900-94e4-2a614c426a9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jdgellerlaw.com/wordpress/2012/03/28/crime-involving-moral-turpitude-care/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962494 | 1,016 | 1.75 | 2 |
Image courtesy of Flickr user 'smil under Creative Commons license.
Before we close for the holidays, it’s time to take stock of what transpired in 2010 and look back on the many issues we’ve covered. We can’t tie it all up with a bow, but consider this click-and-find list our gift to you. Happy New Year!
ESEA: We had high hopes that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act would be reauthorized this year. Alas, that was not to be. But when Congress appears willing to take it up again (will it be in 2011?), we’ll be ready. Here’s our page dedicated to ESEA and early learning, including a set of recommendations drafted by 15 national groups and an op-ed published in USA Today.
Head Start study and reform: It’s been a tumultuous year for Head Start, starting with the release of the Impact Study showing that the gains children made after a year in Head Start no longer appeared after two years in elementary school. (To us, this was more evidence of the work still to do in kindergarten and first grade.) In the summer, the Government Accountability Office reported on some cases of fraud in enrollment practices. Then, at the end of the summer, the federal government released a proposal for “re-competition” – a new plan, applauded by some policy experts, that requires poorly performing programs to re-apply for funding. (Comments on the proposal are due tomorrow, Dec. 21.) In the meantime, some smart innovations are taking place in locations like the District of Columbia Public Schools, and Head Start directors continue to prepare for federal triennial reviews.
Obama’s budget and Congress’s (in)action: President Obama requested budget increases for programs that provide early care and education – a welcome note after news of the recession causing states to cut aid to kids and families. But Congress took its sweet time and failed to pass a budget by the end of the fiscal year. For details on appropriations for fiscal year 2011, see our page dedicated to news of the federal budget.
Early Learning Challenge Fund: What looked like a done deal in 2009 became a cliff-hanger in contentious debates over higher education funding, and by the end of March it fizzled, causing disappointment among many early education advocates. The $1-billion-a-year fund, which was designed to spur states to build a more cohesive early childhood system, was left out of a bill the Senate passed as part of health care reform. Senator Tom Harkin vowed to restore it, and a Senate committee included a reduced version in a spending bill for 2010. As of today, no funding has been allocated for the Early Learning Challenge Fund -- a big blow to many supporters of early education. In other news of system-building, nearly all 50 states applied for grants to build early learning advisory councils.
Home visiting and other coverage of infants and toddlers: One program that did become law with passage of health-care reform is the federal home visitation program. This summer and fall, states have been prepping for the grants. New research studies on home visiting are underway. Here at Early Ed Watch, we’ve expanded our coverage of the importance of the early years – including those months in the womb and the need for more flexible leave policies to support parents with young children.
Investing in Innovation, Race to the Top, and Promise Neighborhoods: It was a year of winners and losers for these three new competitive grant programs. Winners of Race To the Top included at least some mention of early learning, and applicants for the Investing in Innovation (i3) grants could gain an extra point by showing their early learning plans. After the i3 winners were announced, we found some inconsistencies in scoring and provided additional analysis of the winning proposals. The U.S. Department of Education also announced grant winners for Promise Neighborhoods planning grants.
Data, data, data: This year, the federal government awarded grants to 20 states that could help them link early childhood data to their K-12 longitudinal data systems. In our issue brief, Many Missing Pieces, you can learn more about those states and discover why, even in states that are making good progress, we are still missing many pieces of data on what kind of childcare experiences children had before entering school. Also see the webcast and recap of our event on this topic, as well as our interactive map.
Literacy: Literacy – including states’ “illusions of proficiency” among their students --was a recurring theme at many conferences this year, and philanthropies are marshalling forces to make a difference. Research continues to show the need for good teachers and interventions, such as more attention to oral language development and the impact of the infant and toddler years. Last month, the U.S. Department of Education collected public input for the birth-to-12th-grade Striving Readers program that it will launch next year. Here at the Early Education Initiative, one of our articles posed the specter of an unfair class-based divide in how reading is being taught in elementary schools.
Math and Science: A group of science educators gathered in Northern Iowa this spring to address the need for better preschool and kindergarten science and engineering instruction and what it should look like. A report on mathematics in pre-k highlighted the dearth of strong math teachers in the early years, though a bright spot emerged in a new program for pre-k teachers that shows them how to integrate math, science and the performing arts.
Play: Concerns over the erosion of playtime in early childhood centers and kindergartens have not abated. Discussions are continuing over how to lift up the importance of entwining play with literacy and other academic pursuits, and a Central Park playfest this September helped to spotlight some areas for continued research.
Common Core standards: More than 40 states and the District of Columbia have now said they will adopt the Common Core State Standards that were released this year. Though the standards have the backing of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, some early childhood advocates expressed strong concerns over the kindergarten standards, and a few changes were made in the final version. This fall, a new tool arrived to help teachers build content-rich lessons using the new standards.
Dual language learners: At least two states found themselves engaged in debates over how to improve education for young students who speak a first language other than English. In Illinois, debate erupted over regulations for bilingual pre-k teachers. In, Arizona, studies about equitable resources stirred controversy, and new research showed how much dual-language learners move from school to school. For more on dual-language learning in the early years, see our blog series and podcast.
Young Kids and Technology: This summer, as the NAEYC considered how to update its position statement on technology, the Early Education Initiative weighed in with some suggestions. Robotic teachers and iPhone apps for young children also made the news.
A vision for transforming early education: In March, the Early Education Initiative published a paper on a new vision for building a high-quality public education system – one that begins earlier than kindergarten (including pre-k starting at age 3) and extends through the early grades of elementary school. The paper -- A Next Social Contract for the Primary Years of Education, by Lisa Guernsey and Sara Mead – was released at an event here in D.C. (see the webcast),covered on television, and adapted for an article in the National Academies of Science journal, Issues in Science and Technology.
(Interested in looking back even further? Here’s our 2009 list.) | <urn:uuid:88fd214c-c5a7-4f58-bbc1-d89e5c8caddc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://earlyed.newamerica.net/node/41668 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960859 | 1,570 | 1.601563 | 2 |
We, as the aPLaNet team had our second project meeting in Athens on June 11-12.
As we shared with you online on the second day of our meeting, we had very productive two days in Athens.
Like the other EU projects, aPLaNet consists of Work Packages and we spent most of our time discussing the progress we made and planning for the Work Packages that we haven’t started yet.
I would like to summarize what we have done so far and what we are planning to do in six months' time.
The first eight months of the project require producing guides and resources about some ICT tools and social networks which will help educators build their Personal Learning Networks and maximize their professional development through collaboration and sharing. In other words, by becoming a member of the global staffroom.
We are approaching the end of this eight-month period and we are almost ready to share these guides and resources with teachers.
After sharing the resources on the aPLaNet Ning and website, the next step will be setting up the mentoring system. At this stage, we will produce a guide for mentors and organize an online mentoring workshop.
These initial stages can be considered as a preparation for the piloting process that will start in April 2012. It is one of the most important phases of our project since it is when language teachers will be testing the resources that we have produced and benefit from them.
On this Ning, we will be updating you about all the stages of the project's life cycle. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and thank you all for becoming a part of our PLN! :-) | <urn:uuid:19e6e4ea-41c0-40e6-8303-cb6e56508519> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aplanet-project.org/profiles/blogs/aplanet-team-met-in-athens?xg_source=activity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952613 | 341 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Welcome to the new year! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break. All of us here at Carlé are very excited to begin this new year.
Science teacher Angie Siegel has begun teaching a hazmat certification class for interested students here at Carlé.
The hazmat class will be learning how to deal with situations where hazardous material and/or chemicals might be involved.
This is a state certification course that Angie is teaching over the course of several days, for free!, including a free copy of the textbook. This is a great opportunity for students and it is especially good looking on a job resume.
For the on the field exercise, Angie and the students will suit up with Captain Will Sepeta of the fire department.
A very special welcome and thanks to substitute teacher Karl Giovacchini whom has stepped in to teach Angie Siegel’s science classes while she is busy teaching the hazmat course. Carl is an exceptional teacher and we all just wanted to thank him for being there for us when we need him.
Thank you once again to Dr. Barry Munitz for his involvement with this school on many levels. Not only has he personally donated money to us here at Carlé for the last many years in a row to fund our senior plaques but he has gotten involved in helping us go about raising the money for our very own Carlé High School van so we can do community service and take students on enrichment trips.
Dr. Munitz recently reached out to the Honorable Willie Brown, former mayor San Francisco, who has responded in the positive with the willingness to help us on our van project.
We look forward to working with these two and others as we go about raising the funds for this much needed vehicle. We greatly appreciate these people's generosity towards us, and want everyone to know that we here at Carlé do not forget about the people that are good to us.
We’ve officially started our new contest run by the designers of the media room. This time around we are having a mouse pad contest. Like always, students come in to design their very own unique mouse pad of their own personal design, while including the symbol or name of Carlé on the art work somewhere to show some support for our school.
Just a few days in and we’re seeing some incredibly great designs already from students Robert Kanoe, Tommy Valdez and Andrew Subjack with more coming each day.
This contest is starting out to be very creative and it’s very exciting to see the students really get into designing.
To end the new year’s very first chronicle, I’d like to leave everyone with a quote about our school from our very own Principal Dr. Burger, “The kids that are here are good students; Just a very great group of kids.”
We hope that all students reach their graduation and find their way to success.
Jesse Harrell is a student at Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake, Calif. | <urn:uuid:638fe67c-2c4f-4258-993e-116b56f91eeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29080:shire-announces-third-annual-scholarship-program-for-individuals-with-adhd&catid=43:education&Itemid=324 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969124 | 620 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Officials from the Ross County Fair say there are currently no cases of swine flu.
Contrary to recent rumors, Ross County Fair Board Member Phil Hurtt said, Tuesday, there have not been any confirmed cases of swine flu at the fair.
"We've had a couple of animals that have gotten sick, but the veterinarian has concluded that these animals had mostly stress."
He said veterinarians check the fair livestock at least twice a day.
As a general precaution, though, Hurtt said fairgoers are encouraged to wash their hands any time they leave the livestock area.
Recently, the Associated Press reported the swine flu virus had been linked to the already concluded Ohio State Fair. A Clark County resident who was at the state fair in Columbus was confirmed as having swine flu.
The other 14 cases in the state have all been tied to last month's Butler County Fair. | <urn:uuid:87e831a2-b1d7-49fd-ad7a-0377284a90a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbex.com/pages/newsarchive.html?feed=106759&article=10327018 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982573 | 182 | 1.75 | 2 |
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Forestry officials are reporting progress being made on the wildfires burning in Oregon, California and Nevada.
Among them- the Barry Point Fire near Lakeview was 30 percent contained at this morning. It has burned 79,000 acres across Oregon and California, and 85-hundred acres in the ODF’s Klamath-Lake District.
The 39-hundred acre Fort Complex Fires is at 23 percent containment.
Officials report “good progress” on the Lick Fire within the complex. It is now 80 percent contained. Crews are now shifting to the Hello Fire that is at 15 percent containment. They are working on securing the final half mile of fire line around the perimeter. Meanwhile, the Goff Fire is burning away from residences along the Highway 96 corridor. Because of the topography, this fire is expected to grow. The fire is 5 percent contained.
Two wildfires in the Umpqua National Forest are prompting the continued closure of a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail and other forest service trails and roads. | <urn:uuid:974fa1aa-f7c5-4f29-9793-3200c59f0f84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedove.us/news/2012/08/16/wildfire-update?page=171 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939051 | 228 | 1.585938 | 2 |
My article on why an author might want to use a Creative Commons license has resulted in some interesting feedback I'd like to share with you. First, I heard from a film maker, Brad Fox, of Rocket Ace Moving Pictures, who used the Creative Commons license on an experimental film, and he did it with a commercial motivation. Here's part of what he told me, reproduced with his permission:
I work in feature film. I do professional work in big-budget fare, but most of my personal work is in small budget/small format projects. I thought his email was so interesting I asked him if he'd explain more to us about why he chose that license, for strictly commercial purposes, and how it worked out. He graciously agreed to do so.
From 2003-2005 I produced a 52-episode zombie comedy series for the Internet called "Dead End Days". And I didn't hesitate to put it under a CC license. The value in serialized content is in a regular audience, and the clearer you can make it to your audience that you don't care about the "mechanics" of building that audience, the easier it is for them to copy/share/perform/remash your work -- and hopefully do some of your work for you in reaching wider audiences.
By the same token, nothing in CC stops you selling your works, or working them into another format - if that's what you so choose. You can even sell your works but not allow anyone else to under certain circumstances.
Then Rick Stanley asked me, if we use a picture of a hog standing in a trough to depict Microsoft's patenting style, what animal should we use for SCO's litigation? He suggests perhaps the hagfish, perhaps because of its habit of "burrowing into dead or dying animals and eating them from the inside out." That link shows a picture of the lovely creature. When threatened, it has two defense mechanisms. It secretes copious amounts of slime from slime glands all along its sides and it can "tie itself into knots and then slide in and out of this knot". Can you think of any better animal to associate with this litigation? If not, maybe the hagfish will enter O'Reilly's Animal Menagerie someday. It's a joke, folks. No huffy emails or comments are needed. Speaking of jokes, you don't want to miss the hagfish slime scone experiment.
Here's what Brad had to say:
When people discuss Creative Commons licenses, it's often from the point of view of the traditional Internet mediums: text and, sometimes, still image. However the CC licenses are equally appealing to artists working in other visual and aural media, and for reasons that can be as commercially motivated as they are altruistic.
I work almost exclusively in feature film. I do professional work on big-budget studio fare, but most of my personal work is in small budget and small format projects. As such I think I’m in a rare position to comment on both "Commercial" and "Art" aspirations having spent a goodly amount of time in both realities. Plus, 100% of my income is dependant on the exploitation of and profit from copyrighted material so I'm the last person in the world who is for "giving away" creative property or "encouraging piracy" or any of the other nonsense that people level against CC.
From 2003-2005 I produced a 52-episode serialized zombie comedy series for the Internet called "Dead End Days" (still available at www.deadenddays.com ) which was also inspired by Scott McCloud (go figure). And I didn't hesitate to license it under Creative Commons because it was the best possible business decision.
Any artistic venture either "high art" or "commercial art" is dependant on exposure to an audience that is receptive to what you are doing. If no one sees it, it can't be either effective art, or make money. CC provides an easy way for artists to accomplish both (or either) goal -- to collaborate, share audiences, and grow exposure without the traditional networking of "knowing someone" and having to make do with the limited resources and contacts at your disposal.
The true value of any creative content, no matter the medium, is in its audience. Period. Without an audience artists who want to make a statement (artistic, political, or otherwise) have no one to speak to. In the other camp, if one is strictly looking to capitalize on their product (their movies, their band, their paintings, their sculpture) they need an audience with whom to sell. No matter the goal of the creator, Creative Commons clarifies to your audience that you don't care about the "mechanics" of distribution with your content, and that you're happy to have their help to assist most artists' primary goal –- speaking to a bigger audience.
Some folk found the Dead End Days website because episodes were available on various P2P services, or their friends burned them CD's, or because they saw a cool fan-made wallpaper. These new audience members bought t-shirts and stickers. They would have looked at advertising (in this case, we had none). They will buy the remastered DVD when it is available. Many of them will follow the creative team to our next experimental project. That's pure commercial potential, gained for next to no cost -- because we told our initial fans that they should feel free to do our PR work for us.
Effectively, the kind folk who burned, ripped, copied, shared, and publicly performed our work made money for us, for no charge, simply because they liked what we did and wanted to share it with others.
Here's the interesting thing. At the beginning of the series I spent several weeks tracking down rights holders of certain pieces of music building up a library of music that the musicians were happy to let us use. Each had their own reasons for agreeing. Some wanted their creations (the music) to outlive a band that had since broken up, some wanted to spread their political philosophy, some just did us a favour, some wanted to shill new albums.
By the end of the series we had thousands of regular fans, and regularly had bands contacting us asking us if to use their music in the show (we used a lot of placed music). Had they been in the CC database as the beginning of the show we certainly would have -- that's where we went first. We knew we could use any of it in a pinch, and then those bands were rewarded for their hard work through exposure (and record sales in many cases) from our viewing audience that discovered them and liked what they are doing.
If more bands licensed their music CC (and many have started in the past year alone) the whole process would require no back and forth. If you want to promote your band using our show -- make your own music video. If it's good, we get free promotional material, if not -- few will see it anyway. Conversely I can find exciting new music to make a better end product next time out -- and those bands will be rewarded (if our product is good) through exposure. Whether that exposure is commercial or political or artistic currency is strictly up to each individual artist to decide. If you want CC to be about altruism or “art demands to be free,” knock yourself out –- but there’s nothing inherent in the license that prevents purely capitalist goals to also be at the heart of a CC licensing decision.
Put another way, Creative Commons licensing lets artists benefit from collaboration without the traditional barriers to "networking" or "licensing". It doesn't matter what your stature is, where you are located geographically, or who you may (or may not) know; Creative Commons lets all artists of all abilities equally reap the benifits of potential cross-media collaborations.
My prime hope for DED was that it would inspire someone, who inspired someone who would create a wildly popular series that makes millions of bucks. Those future series are going to be easier and of a much higher quality with a Creative Commons body of work to drawn on. Artists, with almost no exception, want to share -- because both parties know they have a better chance of advancing through the increased exposure that collaboration can bring. The CC is a flashing light, an indicator from artist to artist that they invite collaboration and creativity and growth. Artists can then spend more time creatively creating, and less time licensing and negotiating.
Hmm, a system in which professionals recognize that through share-alike collaboration, complex systems can be made easier and provide win-win results. Sound familiar?
Open Source Film Making... coming soon, to a multiplex near you? | <urn:uuid:7b93729c-ec88-4ab8-8829-063a610125c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20050725144925538 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968994 | 1,794 | 1.59375 | 2 |
$32.00 donated in past month
Defend Alette* Protect Free Speech* Fight Racism
Alette kendrick, a woman of color who was arrested during the Regents protest of October 18, 2006 is now facing a three year suspension from UCSC! Whereas the white male student arrested with Alette received only one quarter of academic probation, Alette's sentence is essentially an expulsion! This struggle is situated within the longstanding history of institutionalized violence against people of color at the University, as well as an unprecedented attempt to suffocate activism at UCSC through the use of surveillance tactics, the severe increase in police presence on campus, and the escalated use of police violence (batons, pepper-spray) against students. Help defend Alette Kendrick, protect our rights to free speech, and fight racism in Santa Cruz by endorsing this letter! Email ucadsolidarity [at] gmail.com to endorse Alette’s defense (include your name, affiliation [dept/office], and status [undergrad/grad/etc). We’re also really pushing to get organizations to endorse the demands, so if you are a member of an organization, please make a move to sign on in solidarity with Alette, free speech, and racial justice!
On Oct. 18, 2006 Alette Kendrick was racially and politically targeted at a student speak-out on campus, resulting in her arrest. Six months later, on April 25, 2007 the University announced its intention to suspend Alette for a period of 3 years, in essence a sentence of expulsion for the third year student.
We understand this as an assault on the entire community of color by a University rife with systemic racist practices.
We can only see this action in the context of the institutional violence experienced by students of color on this campus—a violence foundational to and perpetuated by the University. This persecution is inextricably linked to the historical silencing of underrepresented voices, including the lack of outreach/retention of students/faculty of color and the failure to follow through on promises to establish an Ethnic Studies program.
We understand this to be an outright attack on our constitutional rights to engage in free speech.
We can only see this action in the context of increased surveillance of students, excessive spending on policing, and the development of new policies to prevent students and workers from effectively voicing their concerns. This unprecedented attempt to suffocate activism is part of a larger, concerted effort to reverse the recent victories of student and worker organizing and prevent further mobilization. The university is using police violence and police brutality to actively target and repress social justice organizing.
By attempting to punish this woman of color on our campus for her participation in the events of October 18, 2006, the university administration is sending a message as clear the racial slurs recently scrawled on the bathroom walls of Baskin Engineering. And to that message we say, NO! We the students, workers, and faculty of this university demand:
1. No academic repercussions for Alette Kendrick! The University should cease all attempts to suspend, expel, or further injure Alette.
2. A formal apology to Alette and the communities of color on campus for the institutionalization of racially motivated targeting, arrest, and assault.
3. Financial restitution to all students who suffered injuries from the police brutality that occurred on October 18, 2006.
4. Ban the police use of pepper spray, tasers, and all forms of chemical weapons on campus
5. Immediately stop surveillance and infiltration of student and worker organizations
6. The immediate resignation of UCPD Officer Brian Hughes, who has a long history of violent and hateful behavior against students and workers
7. Dismiss the Demonstration Response Team and the Demonstration Planning Report
8. Creation of an Ethnic Studies Program and tenure for all faculty of color, both of which have been traditionally denied within the institution
9. Quarterly student town hall meetings with the Chancellor & other administrators beginning Fall 2007
10. Fundamentally rework the University judicial process so as to guarantee due process, a jury of one’s peers, and protection against double jeopardy
Defend Alette. Protect Free Speech. Fight Racism. | <urn:uuid:dd8386b3-c571-4118-9884-4ec0cf861198> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/05/09/18413302.php?show_comments=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933718 | 859 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Online retail sales in the U.K. increased 19% in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period a year ago, according the Interactive Media in Retail Group, an e-retail trade group, and consulting firm Capgemini. The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index says U.K. shoppers spent 31.5 billion pounds ($51.4 billion) online this year through June.
IMRG attributes the growth to several factors, including consumers going online to find money-saving deals, and unusually hot and rainy weather that kept shoppers out of retail stores. It also says consumers celebrating the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April prompted strong online sales of alcohol.
“Many were predicting a tough year for retail in 2011 and in the high street that has proved to be the case, but the online market has actually grown,” says David Smith, chief marketing and communications officer with IMRG. (High street is a generic term for bricks-and-mortar retailing and stores in the center of British towns.)
Online sales in June totaled 5.3 billion pounds ($8.6 billion), up 21% from June 2010. IMRG says this equates to an average online spend of 86 pounds ($140) per person during the month. June online sales of alcohol were up 10% from a year ago, and clothing, footwear and accessories were up 31%.
“A 21% year-on-year increase in June is a perfect way to round off the first half of 2011, as it is consistent with what has been to date a very strong year,” says Chris Webster, head of retail consulting at Capgemini. | <urn:uuid:c54af92e-f37f-48f4-8db1-28e592967b28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/07/22/2011-uk-e-retail-sales-increase-19-through-june | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969028 | 346 | 1.5 | 2 |
While your abilities are still below lifting 160kg on any given weight, and you are performing the major powerlifting movements (squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press) then there isn't a major advantage one over the other.
However, there are reasons why you would opt for Olympic plates:
- Standard bars are roughly 1" diameter, but there is enough variance that there is no guarantee that plates from one manufacturer will fit on a bar from another manufacturer.
- Olympic plates have tolerances that must be met: the hole must be 50mm, the largest disk is 450mm on the outside dimension. This ensures you can mix and match your plates and know you can use it on your Olympic bar.
- Olympic bars also have tolerances that must be met: 20kg bar, sleeves must fit plates with 50mm holes.
- The sleeves on Olympic bars spin allowing you to do cleans and snatches with minimal stress on your elbows.
- Olympic bars can use either less expensive metal plates, or bumper plates which are designed to be dropped without being damaged or damaging the bar. Bumpers are useful for Olympic lifts like cleans and snatches, but don't do a whole lot for powerlifting lifts.
- Standard bars cannot handle much more than 160kg before they permanently bend.
- Olympic bars can be made to handle weights in excess of 500kg.
There are more subtle differences between Olympic style bars that are outside the scope of your question which deal with its suitability for one barbell sport over another.
When you are starting out, it makes sense to use the cheapest weights you can get your hands on. However, if your focus is on strength, there will come a time when you outgrow what the standard set will be able to do for you. At that time you will be forced to upgrade. | <urn:uuid:90295afc-bf1b-423b-915e-d62e2948d90d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/7889/what-is-the-advantage-of-using-olympic-plates-over-standard-ones/7890 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956813 | 377 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Carolina Lookout Tower Challenge
Carolina Mountain Club
Showing Andy Martin's first ascent dates for climbed peaks
Front Runners List: Click here to see list completion progress by climbers that log their climbs using Peakbagger.com.
Compare Climbers: Click here to compare ascents of up to 5 climbers working on this list.
This list shows major summits in western North Carolina that have lookout towers on their summits. Since many peaks in the Southern Appalachians are thickly forested to the very summit, the towers on these peaks offer fine views over the trees. Many of these towers are old fire lookouts, but others were build for the benefit of tourists (including towers on Mount Mitchell and Clingmans Dome).
Note that the Little Snowball fire lookout tower has been removed from the Northeast Peak of Little Snowball Mountain and reconstructed at a valley site, the Big Ivy Historical Campus. To get credit from the Carolina Mountain Club for completing this list, you must hike to the old mountain site, plus drive to the tower in its new location and climb it there.
Links Carolina Lookout Tower Challenge
Selected Guidebook(s) for this List Hiking North Carolina's Lookout Towers (Barr)
Caution: These books feature many of the peaks on this list, but may not have information on all of them.
Map Showing Location of Peaks
= Peaks climbed by Andy Martin = Unclimbed peaksClick on a peak to see its name and a clickable link.
(Map only shows peaks ranked by clean prominence)
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Copyright © 1987-2013 by Peakbagger.com. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:3df09a44-c119-4563-a39c-fadcc96be71e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=5183&cid=682&sort=ascent | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939038 | 368 | 1.75 | 2 |
The most senior House Democrat serving on the committee with jurisdiction over the nation’s debt ceiling says President Obama got it right when he foreclosed on the idea that he could use executive powers to circumvent the limit on the country’s borrowing authority.
At a Tuesday breakfast roundtable with reporters in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) said ideas like ignoring the debt limit by invoking the 14th Amendment or creating new currency to continue meeting financial obligations without resorting to new borrowing are problematic both on the merits and strategically.
“I really think the President had no choice but to essentially say to the Republican Party, ‘You should not dabble with the debt ceiling,’” Levin said in response to a question from TPM. “That ‘it’s something that would have such serious consequences, and I don’t want to essentially see if I can find ways around it. Those ways are very problematic and essentially what we have to do is to face up to the need to address the sequester and then move on and I don’t want you to use as a weapon the debt ceiling because it’s not a weapon against me, it’s the weapon against the full faith and credit of the U.S. and therefore it’s essentially a weapon against the citizens of this country, our economy, and the global economy.’”
That puts Levin at odds with Democratic leaders in the House and Senate who called upon Obama to defuse the threat of breaching the debt limit by executive fiat — making clear that all of the country’s financial obligations would be met even if Republicans fail to increase the Treasury Department’s borrowing authority.
But by taking executive action off the table, Obama has clarified to key interest groups — including seniors, veterans, and military contractors — that if Republicans refuse to increase the debt limit absent controversial policy concessions from Democrats, they’ll be jeopardizing the government’s commitment to meet its obligations, including benefit checks and payments to public and private-sector workers.
“The Republican party really has to decide how much it’s willing to gamble with the economy of the United States,” Levin added. “I think it would be a dangerous gamble, and I think the President was correct to essentially say it straight out.”
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:2a724e9f-38b5-483e-a226-893681404ca7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/top-dem-says-obama-has-it-right-on-the-debt-limit.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957351 | 555 | 1.5 | 2 |
Holiday Enforcement Results in more than 300 Drunk Driving Arrests
More than 300 motorists are starting 2012 with a budget-busting bill after being arrested during a statewide drunk driving crackdown over the holidays. Of those arrested, 38 were charged under the state's high blood alcohol content (BAC) law with having a BAC of .17 or higher.
On average, a drunk driving arrest in Michigan costs about $15,000, including court costs, legal fees, bail, towing, license fees and increased insurance rates.
Law enforcement officers from more than 165 agencies conducted stepped up enforcement aimed at curtailing drunk driving during the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. crackdown Dec. 16-Jan. 2. This resulted in 7,334 traffic stops and more than 3,800 citations or arrests, including 108 for other alcohol- and drug-related charges such as open intoxicants.
The Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) coordinated the effort which was funded with federal highway safety grants in 26 counties. In addition to the 308 drunk driving arrests, 175 other misdemeanor and felony arrests were made. Officers also issued 91 seat belt and child restraint, 649 speeding and 360 uninsured motorist citations. Three stolen vehicles were recovered, 317 drivers were found to be driving on suspended licenses and 171 fugitives were arrested during the enforcement effort. During a similar effort last year that included 35 grant-funded counties, officers made 9,462 traffic stops and arrested 356 drunk drivers.
"Drunk driving is not tolerated in Michigan," said Michael L. Prince, OHSP director. "Those motorists who made the poor decision to drive while impaired will be paying the price in 2012 and beyond."
Preliminary reports from the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center indicate 15 people died in traffic crashes during the recent Christmas and New Year's holidays, with four of those deaths involving alcohol. Three of those killed were pedestrians and one was a snowmobiler. This is an increase over the 2011 holiday periods when 11 people died in traffic crashes. Four of those deaths were also alcohol-related.
Grant-funded counties included: Allegan, Bay, Berrien, Calhoun, Chippewa, Delta, Genesee, Grand Traverse, Houghton, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Marquette, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair, Van Buren, Washtenaw, Wayne and Wexford counties. | <urn:uuid:36572d95-2ff2-4f1e-9da6-e59734cf589d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,4643,7-123--269636--,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967733 | 516 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I saw this on Fox News, and thought I would spread the word a little.
Helping soldiers is girl's calling
NORWELL, Mass. (AP) -- After hearing about the plight of a soldier who ran up $7,000 in cell phone charges, a 13-year-old Norwell girl decided to help out.
Brittany Bergquist and her brother, Robbie, 12, started Cell Phones for Soldiers, a fund to help American soldiers in Iraq call home without breaking the bank.
"They put their lives on the line every day and they deserve a good thing to happen to them once in a while," Brittany told the Patriot Ledger of Quincy.
The plan is to raise money so they can send cell phones along with $25 or $50 calling cards to as many soldiers as possible. They've raised $621 so far.
They got the idea after hearing about Army Reserve Sgt. Bryan Fletcher's bill. The homesick Natick native racked up huge bills calling home from Iraq. T-Mobile agreed to forgive $3,000 of the bill. Fletcher, 25, had paid $3,911 for calls made between Nov. 21 and Dec. 19.
The South Shore Savings Bank, where Brittany and her father, Bob, opened an account, chipped in $500 and waived fees, the Ledger reported.
Bob and Gail Bergquist are helping their children by contacting cell phone companies and U.S. military officials to figure out logistics of distributing phones and calling cards, and getting service. They hope to send packages by the end of the summer.
Brittany is working on ways to raise money. She may enlist help from her classmates at Norwell Middle School to organize a yard sale.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The home page is here. | <urn:uuid:86870c5c-f660-4b2a-bf4f-2def2b9ec1f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=838 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948632 | 377 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Inhofe slams DiCaprio and Laurie David in two-hour Senate floor speech debunking climate fears
October 26, 2007
Posted By Marc Morano - [email protected] - 3:39 PM ET
Inhofe slams DiCaprio and Laurie David for scaring kids in two-hour Senate speech debunking climate fears
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, delivered a more than two-hour floor speech today debunking fears of man-made global warming. Below is an excerpt of his remarks about how Hollywood, led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurie David, has promoted unfounded climate fears to children. Also, watch the video of Inhofe denouncing Hollywood on the Senate floor.
Senator Inhofe Speech Excerpt:
We are currently witnessing an international awakening of scientists who are speaking out in opposition to former Vice President Al Gore, the United Nations, the Hollywood elitists and the media-driven "consensus" on man-made global warming.
We have witnessed Antarctic ice GROW to record levels since satellite monitoring began in the 1970's. We have witnessed NASA temperature data errors that have made 1934 -- not 1998 -- the hottest year on record in the U.S. We have seen global averages temperatures flat line since 1998 and the Southern Hemisphere cool in recent years.
These new developments in just the last six months are but a sample of the new information coming out that continues to debunk climate alarm. (See: New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming Fears )
But before we delve into these dramatic new scientific developments, it is important to take note of our pop culture propaganda campaign aimed at children.
HOLLYWOOD TARGETS CHILDREN WITH CLIMATE FEARS
In addition to Gore's entry last year into Hollywood fictional disaster films, other celebrity figures have attempted to jump into the game.
Hollywood activist Leonardo DiCaprio decided to toss objective scientific truth out the window in his new scarefest "The 11th Hour." DiCaprio refused to interview any scientists who disagreed with his dire vision of the future of the Earth.
In fact, his film reportedly features physicist Stephen Hawking making the unchallenged assertion that "the worst-case scenario is that Earth would become like its sister planet, Venus, with a temperature of 250 [degrees] centigrade."
I guess these "worst-case scenario's" pass for science in Hollywood these days. It also fits perfectly with DiCaprio's stated purpose of the film.
DiCaprio said on May 20th of this year: "I want the public to be very scared by what they see. I want them to see a very bleak future." (LINK)
While those who went to watch DiCaprio's science fiction film may see his intended "bleak future," it is DiCapro who has been scared by the bleak box office numbers, as his film has failed to generate any significant audience interest. (See: "DiCaprio's Eco Movie Bombs" LINK )
Gore's producer to kids: ‘Be activists'
Children are now the number one target of the global warming fear campaign. DiCaprio announced his goal was to recruit young eco-activists to the cause.
"We need to get kids young," DiCaprio said in a September 20 interview with USA Weekend.
Hollywood activist Laurie David, Gore's co-producer of "An Inconvenient Truth" recently co-authored a children's global warming book with Cambria Gordon for Scholastic Books titled, The Down-To-Earth Guide to Global Warming.
David has made it clear that her goal is to influence young minds with her new book when she recently wrote an open letter to her children stating: "We want you to grow up to be activists."
Apparently, David and other activists are getting frustrated by the widespread skepticism on climate as reflected in both the U.S. and the UK according to the latest polls.
It appears the alarmists are failing to convince adults to believe their increasingly shrill and scientifically unfounded rhetoric, so they have decided kids are an easier sell.
But David should worry less about recruiting young activists and more about scientific accuracy. A science group found what it called a major "scientific error" in David's new kid's book on page 18.
According to a Science and Public Policy Institute release on September 13:
"The authors [David and Gordon] present unsuspecting children with an altered temperature and CO2 graph that reverses the relationship found in the scientific literature. The manipulation is critical because David's central premise posits that CO2 drives temperature, yet the peer-reviewed literature is unanimous that CO2 changes have historically followed temperature changes."
David has now been forced to publicly admit this significant scientific error in her book.
Nine year old: ‘I don't want to die' from global warming
A Canadian high school student named McKenzie was shown Gore's climate horror film in four different classes.
"I really don't understand why they keep showing it," McKenzie said on May 19, 2007. (LINK)
In June, a fourth grade class from Portland Maine's East End Community School issued a dire climate report: "Global warming is a huge pending global disaster" read the elementary school kids' report according to an article in the Portland Press Herald on June 14, 2007. Remember, these are fourth graders issuing a dire global warming report. (LINK)
And this agenda of indoctrination and fear aimed at children is having an impact.
Nine year old Alyssa Luz-Ricca was quoted in the Washington Post on April 16, 2007 as saying:
"I worry about [global warming] because I don't want to die." (LINK)
The same article explained: "Psychologists say they're seeing an increasing number of young patients preoccupied by a climactic Armageddon."
I was told by the parent of an elementary school kid last spring who said her daughter was forced to watch "An Inconvenient Truth" once a month at school and had nightmares about drowning in the film's predicted scary sea level rise.
The Hollywood global-warming documentary "Arctic Tale" ends with a child actor telling kids: "If your mom and dad buy a hybrid car, you'll make it easier for polar bears to get around." (LINK)
Unfortunately, children are hearing the scientifically unfounded doomsday message loud and clear. But the message kids are receiving is not a scientific one, it is a political message designed to create fear, nervousness and ultimately recruit them to liberal activism.
There are a few hopeful signs. A judge in England has ruled that schools must issue a warning before they show Gore's film to children because of scientific inaccuracies and "sentimental mush." (LINK)
In addition, there is a new kids book called "The Sky's Not Falling! Why It's OK to Chill About Global Warming." The book counters the propaganda from the pop culture. (LINK)
Objective, Evidence based Science is Beginning to Crush Hysteria
My speech today and these reports reveal that recent peer-reviewed scientific studies are totally refuting the Church of Man-made Global Warming.
Global warming movement ‘falling apart'
Meteorologist Joseph Conklin who launched the skeptical website http://www.climatepolice.com/ in 2007, recently declared the "global warming movement [is] falling apart."
All the while, activists like former Vice President Al Gore repeatedly continue to warn of a fast approaching climate "tipping point."
I agree with Gore. Global warming may have reached a "tipping point."
The man-made global warming fear machine crossed the "tipping point" in 2007.
I am convinced that future climate historians will look back at 2007 as the year the global warming fears began crumbling. The situation we are in now is very similar to where we were in the late 1970's when coming ice age fears began to dismantle.
Remember, it was Newsweek Magazine which in the 1970's proclaimed meteorologists were "almost unanimous" in their view that a coming Ice Age would have negative impacts. It was also Newsweek in 1975 which originated the eerily similar "tipping point" rhetoric of today:
Newsweek wrote on April 28, 1975 about coming ice age fears: "The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality."
Of course Newsweek essentially retracted their coming ice age article 29 years later in October 2006. In addition, a 1975 National Academy of Sciences report addressed coming ice age fears and in 1971, NASA predicted the world "could be as little as 50 or 60 years away from a disastrous new ice age."
Today, the greatest irony is that the UN and the media's climate hysteria grows louder as the case for alarmism fades away. While the scientific case grows weaker, the political and rhetorical proponents of climate fear are ramping up to offer hefty tax and regulatory "solutions" both internationally and domestically to "solve" the so-called "crisis."
Skeptical Climatologist Dr. Timothy Ball formerly of the University of Winnipeg in Canada wrote about the current state of the climate change debate earlier this month:
"Imagine basing a country's energy and economic policy on an incomplete, unproven theory - a theory based entirely on computer models in which one minor variable (CO2) is considered the sole driver for the entire global climate system."
And just how minor is that man-made CO2 variable in the atmosphere?
Meteorologist Joseph D'Aleo, the first Director of Meteorology at The Weather Channel and former chairman of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting, explained in August how miniscule mankind's CO2 emissions are in relation to the Earth's atmosphere.
"If the atmosphere was a 100 story building, our annual anthropogenic CO2 contribution today would be equivalent to the linoleum on the first floor," D'Aleo wrote.
# # #
End Speech Excerpt:
To read Senator Inhofe's Full Speech please click here:
To Read Selected Speech Highlights click here:
To Read Senator Inhofe's speech section about activists who believe global warming has 'co-opted' the environmental movement click here:
To Read Senator Inhofe's views on costly "solutions" to global warming click here:
# # # | <urn:uuid:2958a891-4d37-4208-b901-c244ea4b616b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=dddc4451-802a-23ad-4000-a9b55ed9489a&Issue_id=&IsTextOnly=False | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954303 | 2,175 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Yesterday, the House Education and Labor committee took a look at sick leave policies and their contribution to the spread of the H1N1 virus (swine flu). Public health experts have been voicing concerns that H1N1 is going to be transmitted by ill employees attending work, so Rep. George Miller (D-CA) has crafted a bill that would give employees five paid sick days if their employer sends them home due to H1N1.
Earlier this month, the Chamber of Commerce downplayed the extent to which lack of guaranteed paid sick leave could spread disease, saying that “the problem is not nearly as great as some people say.” And now the rest of the big business community is piling on:
Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Manufacturers Tuesday, A. Bruce Clarke, who runs his own 1,000-member business lobby in North Carolina, told Miller’s committee that most businesses already have comparable or more generous paid leave programs, so why bother? “While some employers may not have taken specific action in response to the H1N1 outbreak, these employers are clearly the exception to the widespread practices taking place today,” Clarke said in his prepared testimony.
And its not only business downplaying the extent of the problem. Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the ranking member on the Ed. and Labor committee, also tried to claim that the “vast majority” of workers have paid sick leave:
“With so many workers already having access to a variety of sick leave options, we need to look very carefully at proposals to add a new layer of federal leave mandates,” the 2nd District Republican said in a prepared statement during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing…According to Kline, the vast majority of workers in the United States already have access to paid sick leave.
Actually, nearly half of private sector workers have no paid sick leave. This includes 78 percent of hotel workers and 85 percent of food service workers, even though they are among the most likely to come in contact with other individuals. 68 percent of workers not eligible for paid sick days say that they have gone to work with a contagious illness.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, an employee with H1N1 will infect one in 10 co-workers if he or she attends work. But without any paid sick leave, many workers can’t afford to take a day off, or fear for their job if they request time off to recover.
Miller’s bill, as it is, would address the immediate threat of swine flu, but would continue to give employers the choice regarding whether or not workers receive sick leave. It also doesn’t provide time off to care for a sick child. The Healthy Families Act, sponsored by Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-CT), would guarantee seven paid sick days to all workers at firms with more than 15 employees. Enacting HFA would be an important step to ensuring that workers don’t have to place their job and their co-workers at risk when they come down with an illness. | <urn:uuid:c6dcd75c-d8a8-4349-beda-bae02fed94bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2009/11/18/173017/sick-leave-downplay/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976932 | 640 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The circular nature of the case illustrates the revolving-door dynamic that has become pervasive at the SEC. A recent study by the Project on Government Oversight found that over the past five years, former SEC personnel filed 789 notices disclosing their intent to represent outside companies before the agency – sometimes within days of their having left the SEC. More than half of the disclosures came from the agency's enforcement division, who went to bat for the financial industry four times more often than ex-staffers from other wings of the SEC.Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes? (via Tim O'Reilly)
Even a cursory glance at a list of the agency's most recent enforcement directors makes it clear that the SEC's top policemen almost always wind up jumping straight to jobs representing the banks they were supposed to regulate. Lynch, who represented Deutsche in the Flynn case, served as the agency's enforcement chief from 1985 to 1989, before moving to the firm of Davis Polk, which boasts many top Wall Street clients. He was succeeded by William McLucas, who left the SEC in 1998 to work for WilmerHale, a Wall Street defense firm so notorious for snatching up top agency veterans that it is sometimes referred to as "SEC West." McLucas was followed by Dick Walker, who defected to Deutsche in 2001, and he was in turn followed by Stephen Cutler, who now serves as general counsel for JP Morgan Chase. Next came Linda Chatman Thomsen, who stepped down to join Davis Polk, only to be succeeded in 2009 by Khuzami, Walker's former protégé at Deutsche Bank.
This merry-go-round of current and former enforcement directors has repeatedly led to accusations of improprieties. In 2008, in a case cited by the SEC inspector general, Thomsen went out of her way to pass along valuable information to Cutler, the former enforcement director who had gone to work for JP Morgan. According to the inspector general, Thomsen signaled Cutler that the SEC was unlikely to take action that would hamper JP Morgan's move to buy up Bear Stearns. In another case, the inspector general found, an assistant director of enforcement was instrumental in slowing down an investigation into the $7 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly run by Texas con artist R. Allen Stanford – and then left the SEC to work for Stanford, despite explicitly being denied permission to do so by the agency's ethics office. "Every lawyer in Texas and beyond is going to get rich on this case, OK?" the official later explained. "I hated being on the sidelines."
...[E]ven if SEC officials manage to dodge criminal charges, it won't change what happened: The nation's top financial police destroyed more than a decade's worth of intelligence they had gathered on some of Wall Street's most egregious offenders. "The SEC not keeping the MUIs – you can see why this would be bad," says Markopolos, the fraud examiner famous for breaking the Madoff case. "The reason you would want to keep them is to build a pattern. That way, if you get five MUIs over a period of 20 years on something similar involving the same company, you should be able to connect five dots and say, 'You know, I've had five MUIs – they're probably doing something. Let's go tear the place apart.'" Destroy the MUIs, and Wall Street banks can commit the exact same crime over and over, without anyone ever knowing."
I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too. | <urn:uuid:044845ad-1ba6-43e2-9707-a5501c2047b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boingboing.net/2011/08/19/matt-taibbi-senior-sec-investigators-order-routine-destruction-of-records-promote-self-policing-take-jobs-with-the-companies-they-investigate.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970375 | 786 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Monday November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day.
The Anonymous-affiliated are planning worldwide protests against government surveillance, as the following video declares:
As always, Anonymous supporters are likely to don masks with the image of their patron saint.
But for the first time, the smiling black and white masks that shield the identity of those protesters will be illegal in Canada (if the protest stops being peaceful).
It's not only the Anonymous-affiliated whose masks will be banned. Canada's House of Commons on Wednesday approved a bill that bans people from hiding their faces at all during riots.
The bill, Bill C-309, was championed by Alberta Conservative Blake Richards, who said it was a response to last year's Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver, during which often-masked vandals smashed and lit fire to the city after their team lost to the Boston Bruins.
Violators will be facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted of covering their face during a riot or other "unlawful assembly."
The bill, which doesn't apply to protesters at peaceful demonstrations, passed 153-126.
Richards said his aim isn't to quash freedom of expression or peaceful protest. Rather, it's to give police a tool to battle riots that have turned vicious, including those in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto:
"The bottom line is that the perpetrators who are criminalized by this legislation are not lawful protestors. We are not talking about giant pandas, Frosty the Snowman, as some members might suggest, or as members of the media talked about, the PETA seal. I am not looking to criminalize pandas, Frosty the Snowman or seals."
In fact, Richards said, this bill will help peaceful protesters:
"It will ensure that those who come to these events to cause trouble can be brought to justice and discouraged from those kinds of behaviours, so that the people who come to a gathering, for whatever peaceful means, whether it be protest or otherwise, have the ability to do their activities safely and freely."
My initial reaction to banning the anonymity bestowed by a mask is that it restrains individual liberty. But the Canadian legislators certainly have due cause, given that masks have been worn by people intent on, well, violence, destruction and mayhem.
So testified Michelle Rempel Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment, in voicing her support for the bill:
"We watched the television coverage of the Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal riots. We saw willful acts of violence. We saw people physically injuring our law enforcement providers, and we also saw the damage it caused to businesses."
There's no doubt that the cited Canadian riots were violent and jeopardized the health and safety of nonviolent protesters, law enforcement personnel and emergency responders, as video and print coverage clearly shows.
- Québécois students in April protested tuition hikes, staging a riot in Montreal in which some set fires, threw rocks and burned pylons.
- During riots [Video] at the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010, some 200 protesters clad in black masks and clothing used hammers, flag poles, umbrellas, chunks of pavement and mailboxes to smash windows. This violent minority of G20 protesters also set a police cruiser on fire. They ultimately changed into civilian clothes and faded away into the crowd, spectators said.
- The 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot [Video] involved stabbings, police cruisers aflame, and hundreds treated for tear gas exposure.
Police should have every means possible to protect themselves, citizens and property from violent thugs and vandals such as these.
But masks don't light fires. Thugs wearing masks light fires.
Masks have also been used to protect protesters who've carried out brave, justifiable protests, such as last year's Anonymous Iberoamerica #OpsCartel operation against the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas.
I'm extremely hesitant to come to the conclusion that the Canadian bill to ban masks amounts to oppression, given the violence mask-clad protesters have carried out under cover of anonymity in these riots.
But it's easy, given ever-increasing government surveillance, to fear the worst will be done with images of protesters who don't shield their identities.
Hopefully, Canadian law enforcement will respect the letter and spirit of the law and arrest only those who commit violent crimes.
As far as the Guy Fawkes mask goes, Anonymous members might bear in mind that every sale of the mask profits Time Warner, which owns the rights to the Guy Fawkes "V for Vendetta" image and collects a licensing fee with the sale of each mask.
Perhaps it's better to make one out of recycled paper.
Better by far to protest peacefully behind that homemade mask.Follow @LisaVaas | <urn:uuid:48b626e8-087f-4945-814d-60870677930d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/11/04/masks-banned-in-canadian-riots-just-in-time-for-anonymous-day-of-action/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958635 | 975 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Better Than MILC?
Jun 17, 2011
The first question producers rightly ask: Would I be better off under current dairy policy or under the Foundation for the Future plan?
Here in the Midwest, elimination of Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) payments has been perhaps the biggest obstacle to acceptance of the National Milk Producer Federation’s “Foundation for the Future” (FFTF) plan.
In MILC’s place, FFTF would establish margin protection insurance for catastrophic losses when income over feed costs drop below $4/cwt. The program would also allow producers to buy additional government-subsidized insurance (with the subsidy decreasing as protection levels increase).
The first question producers rightly ask: Would I be better off under current dairy policy or under FFTF?
Economic modeling, done by economists at the University of Wisconsin and Cal Poly, suggests FFTF would be the slightly better option. Under the model, mid-sized dairy operations with 183 cows would net $5,490 more per year under FFTF. This is despite the fact that the farm would receive no MILC payments.
Part of the reason for increased income: “For the period of 2013-2018, the average All-Milk price would be increased 17¢/cwt. under FFTF,” says Mark Stephenson, director of the Center for Dairy Policy at the University of Wisconsin. (The other reason for increased income is that milk per cow is assumed to continue to grow 2% annually, diluting out maintenance feed costs.)
Over the decade, that’s $55,000 more income over feed costs (IOFC). It’s not a huge amount, given that this same dairy will have $4 million in IOFC for the decade. But it is positive, and it is better than the current program.
Midwest producers would fare slightly better because Class III cheese prices would be higher under FFTF. The reason is that during those times when IOFC fell below $6/cwt. for two consecutive months, FFTF’s Dairy Market Stabilization Program would be activated. Money collected from production penalties would be used to buy cheese off the market, thus increasing cheese prices.
Most producers who compare the current MILC program and FFTF compare MILC to the margin insurance protection component. On its face, that is a reasonable comparison because even National Milk says FFTF uses margin insurance to replace MILC. But in reality, you have to look at the program in its entirety to get to the bottom line. That’s not easy—it takes sophisticated multi-variant economic modeling to do it. The back of an envelope won’t do it, or even partial budgeting that compares MILC to margin insurance.
The other problem is that once in place, the benefits of FFTF might be difficult to document. A 17¢/cwt. All-Milk price bump is going to be very difficult to pick up in the milk check.
Think about the 15¢/cwt. dairy checkoff. Year in and year out, economic models show a huge return on investment benefit. For example, in 2008, USDA estimated that for every $1 invested in generic marketing, dairy farmers received a net of $5.49 to $7.07. Some producers, however, are absolutely convinced the dairy checkoff does them no good.
In the end, dairy producers will have to decide if FFTF provides a better way forward than status quo. The first step in making that decision is to understand what’s in the program. Our June/July issue devotes about 80% of the magazine to FFTF—what it is, what it can and cannot do, what economists and producers think of it, who’s supporting it and who isn’t. Click here for our June/July digital edition. | <urn:uuid:cae50b42-29a4-4b51-90bd-6ffaa2d319d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/blog/Dairy_Talk_199/better_than_milc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953213 | 812 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Plateau Government on Tuesday signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with Stroy Alyans Construction company for the building of six Hydro-Electric Power Stations in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Idi Waziri, the Commissioner for Water Resources, signed on behalf of the State Government while Mr Pastushena Ivanovich, Managing Director of the company signed for the organisation.
Waziri described the MOU as a ``major step toward ending the epileptic power supply suffered in Plateau.
``The power needs of the state stands at 300 megawatts, but the state currently gets only 60 megawatts. That is grossly inadequate.
``To check that, government constituted a Technical Committee on Energy, which came up with what we are witnessing today.''
The official said that the six hydro-electric power substations would be located in River Ngel, River Dep, River Sha and River Dawaki, adding that government had not yet decided on where the remaining two substations would be located.
He explained that the projects would be based on the principle of ``Build, Operate and Transfer’’ upon completion.
Waziri added that the power stations would also supply electricity to neighbouring states, adding
that the projects would be completed before December.
``By 2013, the issue of epileptic power supply will be over on the Plateau,’’ he added.
Waziri commended Gov. Jonah Jang for taking the bold step to end epileptic power supply that had remained a major concern in Plateau, noting that the problem had affected economic growth of the state.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of the company said that the Six Hydro-electric power stations would generate more than 300 megawatts of electricity when completed.
``Plateau will become a major supplier of electricity to surrounding states when the stations are completed,’’ he said.
Ivanovich assured the state government of his company’s commitment toward completing the projects within the given time frame. (NAN) | <urn:uuid:4966cedc-eb7b-4b3d-a9b8-d5a6b53d7297> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/22817/2012/04/24/plateau_signs_mou_building_6_hydro_power_plants.html?quicktabs_2=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962601 | 430 | 1.539063 | 2 |
DETROIT (AP) — An international commuter tunnel connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, was closed for nearly four hours Thursday after a bomb threat was phoned in on the Canadian side. No explosives were found.
The Detroit Windsor Tunnel, a busy border crossing beneath the Detroit River, was shut down after a duty free shop employee on the tunnel's Canadian plaza reported receiving a call about a bomb threat shortly after 12:30 p.m.
The tunnel was eventually closed and traffic on both sides of the river was directed to the nearby Ambassador Bridge, which spans the river, tunnel executive vice president Carolyn Brown said.
Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Detroit police and other agencies flooded the plaza and entrance on the tunnel's American side.
Bomb-sniffing dogs from a number of federal and local agencies were called in, said Donald E. Johnson, head of Homeland Security for Detroit police.
"What we actually did was the actual sweep of the entire tunnel for any type of explosives," Johnson said.
Cars and buses were allowed back through the tunnel shortly after 4:30 p.m. Traffic from Canada resumed a few minutes later.
The 82-year-old tunnel stretches about a mile across the Detroit River, which is one of North America's busiest trade crossings.
Cars and buses make up most of the traffic. About 4.5 million cars crossed in 2011.
The bomb threat also resulted in heightened security along the Ambassador Bridge, just west of downtown Detroit. Continued...
"As security concerns were made, customs became a little more thorough at the bridge," said Ambassador Bridge spokesman Mickey Blashfield.
Brown said the security steps appeared to run smoothly.
After the call came in, officials at the tunnel followed protocol that's established between the tunnel operators and local emergency services officials in consultation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, tunnel officials said.
"We practice this," Brown said. "Once a year we do a full-blown exercise. We shut it down on a Sunday morning and we have all the first responders in. We simulate an accident or an incident."
Since 1998, there have been nearly $50 million in facility, safety and security upgrades at the tunnel, said Neal Belitsky, tunnel chief executive.
The video surveillance system at the tunnel was replaced about two years ago, he said, and it's enhanced each year with additional cameras.
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Informs on and discusses current matters of legal interest to readers of The Oakland Press and to consumers of legal services in the community.
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Join Jonathan Schechter as he shares thoughts on our natural world in Oakland County and beyond. | <urn:uuid:bc4fa59e-8b46-4ea2-a689-0e8c33c0e2dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2012/07/12/news/state/doc4fff3ad374c10018488526.txt?viewmode=default | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957263 | 973 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Developers’ rush triggers 20-fold land price surge.
Jaitapur, site of a proposed 10,000-Mw nuclear power project, and surrounding villages in coastal Ratnagiri and adjoining Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, are emerging as favoured destinations for land deals.
Information gathered from the state revenue department and local farmers reveal prices have escalated to Rs 40 lakh per acre from Rs 2-5 lakh in 2005-06. They expect this trend to accelerate as state-run Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) kicks off project development.
The immediate trigger is NPC’s intention to provide a per-acre land compensation of Rs 10 lakh for project affected persons. In addition, there is other development on or planned. Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Group has commissioned 600 Mw of a 1,200-Mw imported coal-based power project and a jetty is being commissioned for captive use. And, there are at least 10 minor and medium-sized ports being planned by the state government.
A revenue department official, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard, “Jaitapur and villages in its vicinity are hot destinations, as they are situated along the coast. There are ample opportunities for tourism development, such as hotels and resorts and holiday homes in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, which are famous for mango and cashew cultivation. Nearly 110,000 tonnes of mangoes are produced annually from these two districts. Further, Jaitapur and surrounding villages can house non-polluting small and medium industries and units from the services sector.”
He said one guntha (1,000 sq ft) was fetching a paltry Rs 10,000-20,000 in 2005-06. The same unit now costs Rs 2-3 lakh.
The official said the entire region was in demand. “Land is currently being acquired by developers and individuals from Mumbai, Thane, Pune and even from other parts of India. The trend is to go for mango plantation or construction of small hotels and resorts. Some have also expressed intentions to develop container yards in view of the development of exsiting ports and those in the pipeline,” the official said.
An NPC official, engaged in the planning and implementation of the Jaitapur project, explained: “The development (of the project) will ensure well-developed road infrastructure and assured power supply, apart from promotion of services. This is similar to what has happened in the Tarapur area in Thane district where Nuclear Power Corporation launched power generation in the 1960s. The entire region has transformed and so will be the case of Jaitapur and surrounding areas in the next few years.”
Vivek Bhinde, president of the Ratnagiri Zilla Jagruk Manch and a leading mango cultivator, admitted land prices were soaring and there was a mad rush for acquisition. “This is quite interesting, as locals are still opposing the project, mainly on environment grounds, despite clearance given by the ministry of environment and forests. Some of the buyers are keen to develop a land bank and make fortunes in the future,” he added.
Amar Desai, entrepreneur in the agriculture and horticulture sectors, said, “There were hardly any deals just five years ago. The per-acre land was priced below Rs 1 lakh or even at Rs 50,000 in some deals. But the ongoing debate over Jaitapur has attracted global attention and people are coming forward in big numbers to purchase land, preferrably along the coast.” | <urn:uuid:a6bcbae7-ca34-4b2a-b67d-2234591411ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/jaitapur-hot-destination-for-land-deal-111022500076_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961087 | 751 | 1.53125 | 2 |
51% of its capital working on the market, 31,5% is held by the public holding of the participations of the Austrian State, 17,5% by IPIC, the public office of the oil participations of the State of Abou Dhabi.
In 1955, the OMV takes form by the meeting in its center of all the Austrian companies of the sector of the hydrocarbons (Rohöl-Aufsuchungs AG put aside, cofondée at the time by Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell), after being nationalized with the Release by the Soviet troops, in order to create a single actor. It then ensures the importation, storage, the refining, the distribution, but also the production on the national territory since the Austria has some oil-bearing fields, currently accounting for 30% of its yearly consumption. Concerning the hydrocarbon importation, OMV was the first Western company signed with long-term a natural gas supply agreement with the Soviet Union in 1968, in order to guarantee its provisioning.
The process of Privatization is started step by step, with 15% of the capital yielded to private in 1987, then 10% into 1989,15% in 1996. In 2005, with the transformation into actions of convertible bonds, OMV is definitively privatisé, since more than 50% of the capital is held by not-official actors.
Today, OMV remains the only Austrian hydrocarbon company of national and international scale. It is besides the most important company of Austria.
Its most important participations abroad are in Hungary with 18,6% of MOL, in Germany with 45% of the joint venture Bayernoil, in Romania with 51% of Petrom, in Turkey with 35,2% Petrol Ofisi, as Slovenia with 100% of Istrabenz, and in Australia with Cultus Petroleum. Except Germany and Australia, these acquisitions of a holding were possible thanks to the recent processes of privatizations, and made it possible OMV in particular to reinforce its presence in Central Europe.
In May 2006, it amalgamates with Verbund, another Austrian company working in the energy sector.
- Official site
- Official site
- Project of resistance of the Eastern-European oil companies vis-a-vis the Russian interests
|Random links:||-324 | 1818 | Duisbourg | Barty Croupton Jr. | Michael Latz | Laura Dern | Cour_générale_du_Massachusetts| | <urn:uuid:4d41af55-670c-46c9-ad4c-0645a8c2324b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.speedylook.com/OMV.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934602 | 515 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Junta is hated by the people in the village where she lives, especially by the women, who suspect her of being a witch. Only she can climb the nearby mountains to a cave high up, whence a mysterious blue light glows when the moon is full. Many young men of the village have died trying to follow her. She is driven out of town, and takes to living in the mountains. Eventually she shares the secret of the blue light with one man, and he betrays it. Written by
John Oswalt <[email protected]>
Did You Know?
Adolf Hitler counted this film among his favorites. It prompted him to ask director Leni Riefenstahl
to shoot _Triumph des Willens (1934)_, the famous documentary of the Sixth Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. See more
Referenced in Film Geek | <urn:uuid:4ebaefaa-4229-4be7-95c6-c9cd6a54a098> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022694/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943673 | 182 | 1.734375 | 2 |
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In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.
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From the book's foreword by Gary Gygax:
As the original volumes of the game system (Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and Dungeon Masters Guide) have altered from their first editions, so the game has changed in form and substance. This new material grew from my own campaign, articles published in Dragon Magazine, and input from many Dungeon Masters and players also. The book has a single purpose: Unearthed Arcana brings new dimensions to the AD&D game system. The compiled material which lies herein offers fresh new approaches to play without materially affecting any ongoing campaign adversely. This work does not alter former “laws of the multiverse,” but it does open insights and vistas beyond those previously understood and seen. . . .
Every Dungeon Master who has created a campaign milieu out of whole cloth, so to speak, can certainly understand that the more one learns, the more one comes to understand how little he knows. So too the multiverse of this game system. The farther afield one goes in exploration and discovery, the greater the realization of how vast is the realm of unknown knowledge which awaits discovery, as it were. However, such as with our actual world, the expanses of the game multiverse will always have frontiers and unexplored territories. This fact, indeed, is what makes the AD&D game system so wonderful and appealing. | <urn:uuid:b4f55e6c-f45c-4f98-adef-8c21cd71e86d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/1Eunearthedarcana | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950623 | 415 | 1.632813 | 2 |
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Re: Stratigraphy, biogeography & cladograms
--Original Message-- From: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. <[email protected]>:
Wednesday, January 20, 1999 04:38 PM
>Time for some rhetorical devices...
>At 11:38 PM 1/19/99 -0000, John Jackson wrote:
>>Have you ever written a system with a theoretical justification this
>>(though the process itself may be fairly straightforward) that someone's
>>life or livelihood depended on?
>Have you ever picked up a fossil theropod bone? Have you ever collected
>fossils through various stratigraphic sections? Funny, because I would
>think that these might have a LOT more to do with understanding bird
>Yeah, cheap shot, but it still makes me wonder about the relevence of your
>interlude on the subject.
Once you get into the theoreticals, its surprising how relevent quite
distant fields can become to each other. Any complex system - doesn't have
to be a conventional information processing system, could just be a big
hospital - has effects due to its complexity which tend to impress
themselves on those who have struggled to make them work.
>In his response to Chris Brochu:
>>Why do you never consider any use of stratigraphic
>>information for the maniraptoran problem?
>See Brochu, C.A. & M.A. Norell. 1998. There is no temporal paradox in
>origins. JVP 18(3):29A-30A. Chris has explicitly dealt with the use (and
>abuse) of stratigraphic info in looking at the "maniraptoran problem".
So "There is no temporal paradox in bird origins"? I'm sorry but they're
wrong, period. I could spend my entire life arguing this one but they are
expert foresters in the Great Wood of Clad, obfuscating, diverting and
sapping one's energy. They would never admit defeat. Frankly, I would
rather spend my time reading Newton's works discussing the categories of
angels and the structure of heaven. Don't think lying with statistics is
beyond me, I've just got more worthwhile and much less boring things to do.
>>Perhaps you would like to answer this question now: Why did Archaeopteryx
>>give rise to no flightless forms in the Cretaceous except Mononykus and
>Invalid question. See:
>_Gargantuavis_ (if it is indeed avian).
>The first two lineages of these known before _Mononykus_, and the
>hesperornithiforms known LONG before.
Not very many really I'd say but alright, I suppose it's a matter of
>Okay, now a suggestion. In his companion posting "Selling Science", John
>Jackson sings his own praises about fighting the good fight along with Greg
>Paul against the mainstream.
>Might I suggest (as others have before) that you allow Greg Paul to speak
>for himself? Greg is an articulate writer and can and does post when he
I do try to leave him out of all this as much as possible, referring to the
theory rather than to him. I'll continue to try but it's hard to avoid
mentioning him entirely.
But have you considered the possibility that he might appreciate someone
speaking up for his theory? Perhaps he has reasons of his own - I would in
his position - to go easy on it.
>Is he marginalized by the scientific community? Funny, it seems to me he
>an invited participant to the Ostrom Symposium (the primary organizer of
>which is Jacques Gauthier). He presents papers on his various hypotheses
>SVP, DinoFest, and elsewhere. I know he presented a paper on bird origins
>at the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution here in Washington some
>years ago, and look forward to his chapter in the symposium volume when it
>comes out. He has other works on the same subject forthcoming, about which
>I (and others) hope to hear about soon.
Look, this theory deserves to be mentioned EVERY TIME the alternatives are
covered, not "at the SVP" here and "some years ago" there. Even if *no-one*
supported it, the fact that the relationship between Ax and Vel could at
first glance quite easily be one way or the other surely requires in a
proper scientific appraisal the formal consideration of the possibility
suggested by the temporal occurence in the fossil record, before completely
submerging everybody in that vile Byzantine alchemy.
>If you want to speak for yourself, go ahead. If you have Greg's
>then speak for him. If not, then please do not.
As you say, he can speak for himself. But he is a historical figure, and
besides, any honest person would agree that I am doing him more justice than | <urn:uuid:4ea86321-f229-441e-ab3b-4a8c73e81e50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dml.cmnh.org/1999Jan/msg00439.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950387 | 1,099 | 1.726563 | 2 |
[ Synopsis ]
In this compelling and often funny tale of recovery and renewal, author and activist Linda G. Mills is propelled by her family's life-threatening experience of September 11, 2001 to return to the site of her mother's flight from Vienna, Austria in 1939. Accompanied by her comically bored ten-year-old son, Ronnie, her highly opinionated and wholly engaging mother Annie and Aunt Rita, Linda discovers unsettling truths that upend a series of familial and historical myths.
In rarely filmed archives in the Jewish Community Vienna, a new generation of archivists and historians, some of whom are themselves descendants of Nazis, painstakingly reconstruct the records of the Jewish exodus. In her family's files, Linda discovers a complicated story of escape, deception, and complicity.
Auf Wiedersehen is an unconventional documentary that brings the lessons of history into the present day through the eyes of an irreverent ten year-old-boy. Along the way, the family discovers an astonishing array of collaborators, victims, perpetrators, and unlikely heroes in a startlingly humorous adventure spanning five generations.
[ Featured in the Film ]
Peter Goodrich, LL. B., Ph.D., (Producer/Writer/Camera/Boom Operator) is a professor of Law and Director of Law and Humanities at the Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University. He also teaches a course on film and the law at New York University. He was the founding dean of the department of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London, where he was also the Corporation of London Professor of Law. He has written extensively in legal history and theory in the areas of law, literature and semiotics and has authored 10 books. He is managing editor of Law and Literature, and on the editorial board of Law and Critique. Recent books include (with Mariana Valverde) Nietzsche and Legal Theory: Half-Written Laws (Routledge, 2006); and (with Lior Barshack and Anton Schutz) Law, Text, Terror (Routledge, 2006). His most recent book is Laws of Love: A Brief Historical and Practical Manual (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006).
Lothar Hoelbling was born in Vienna in 1970. After graduating from the Lycée Français de Vienne, he studied history and numismatics at the University of Vienna. After receiving his degree in 1996, Hoelbling worked on several research projects in cooperation with the Archive of the University of Vienna. As part of his military service, Hoelbling worked at the Austrian Military History Museum where he conducted research pertaining to the provenance of artifacts and militaria in the collection of the Museum that had been expropriated from their Jewish owners during the Nazi period. In 1999, Hoelbling began working as a historian for the Holocaust Victims' Information and Support Center of the Jewish Community Vienna where he played an active role in the discovery of the community's archival holdings in 2000 in a vacant apartment. From 2001 to 2003 he served as the Head of the Department of the Holocaust Victims' Information and Support Center. From 2004 to 2009 he led the Archive of the Jewish Community Vienna and in this capacity was responsible for the reconstruction of the entire archive that was forced shut by Adolf Eichmann in 1938.
Hannah Lessing is the Secretary General of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism and the General Settlement Fund of Austria (www.nationalfonds.org), is also head of the Austrian delegation to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. Lessing participated in the negotiations on compensation topics conducted by Under-Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, member of the Austrian delegation headed by Ambassador Sucharipa for the Joint Statement signed in Washington in January 2001 and has lectured extensively on the National Fund and the General Settlement Fund, as well as in connection with international commemoration activities regarding the Holocaust. Lessing is Austrian and Jewish, the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor from Austria. She grew up in this country at a time when the general teaching and political view of Austria's role during WWII was of first victim. For the last 15 years she has tried to find a sensible way to confront Austrian history, to educate the young Austrians and to build a bridge to the survivors 60 years later, at a point where they thought that nobody will ever care.
Klaus Maurer works at Volkshilfe Österreich - People's Aid Austria. Born 1969 in Austria, Klaus has a Master's degree in political science and cultural anthropology at the University of Vienna. In addition to his studies in post-colonialism, third-world topics, and the history of Latin American indigenous peoples, Maurer has done anthropological field studies and social work with refugees in Guatemala, and travelled through South America and India. His years of social work in Vienna, guiding and accompanying refugees in their daily life and through the asylum process influence his current position lobbying for asylum, migration, and integration within one of the big NGOs in Austria. "It's important to bring together academic theory and social practice."
Anne Meisler Mills fled the Nazis in 1939 when she received a visa from a distant cousin, Martin Gang, living in Los Angeles. Anne was just 13 years old when she traveled from Vienna to England, by train, and took the Cunard Line's Samaria ship to New York City. Eventually, she made her way across the United States to Hollywood. Her sister, Rita Meisler Sinder, took the Kindertransport to England when she was 9. Naftali Meisler, their father, was picked up on Kristallnacht in Vienna and transported to Poland, where he escaped from a transport train. Their mother, Chawe Meisler, traveled to Poland to meet her husband, once her children were bound for the US and England. The Meisler parents arrived safely in Los Angeles in January 1941, where they re-opened their factory called NaMa Blouse; they also went into real estate. Naftali died at 89 and Chawe at 88, after living a successful and fulfilling life. Anne Meisler Mills continues to work in Anne Mills Property Management. Anne is married to Dr. Harold Mills and has two children, Adele and Linda.
Linda G. Mills, (Producer/Co-Director/Writer/Subject) is Professor of Social Work, Public Policy and Law at New York University where she teaches a course on film and advocacy. As producer, her projects have included The Reality Show: NYU and The Heart of Intimate Abuse, for which she received a Telly Award. Auf Wiedersehen, 'Til We Meet Again is her first feature film and directorial debut. She is the author of numerous articles and books on intimate abuse and trauma. Her work has been published by Basic Books, Princeton University Press and Harvard Law Review. She has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times, People, USA Today, Harpers and Queen, and Glamour.
Herbert Posch of the University of Vienna's Institute for Contemporary History and the University of Klagenfurt's Institute for Science Communications and Higher Education Research is a historian and museologist. Recent focuses include Intellectual Migration and Exile Studies history of universities and students in the 20th Century (focus National Socialism) and Art loss and restitution in Austria. Recent publications include "Anschluß" und Ausschluss 1938. Vertriebene und verbliebene Studierende der Universität Wien. ["Connection" and exclusion 1938. Displaced and remaining students at the University of Vienna.] (with Doris Ingrisch and Gert Dressel) and inventARISIERT [Inventoried: Provenance Research Aryanised Restitution and housing facilities in moveable collections of the Federal Administrative] in Gabriele Anderl et al (eds.): significantly more cases than expected, 10 years Commission for Provenance Research (Library of the Commission for Provenance Research 1).
Doron Rabinovici, born in Tel Aviv, lives in Vienna, is a writer, essayist and an historian. His thesis (doctorate) and scientific study “Instanzen der Ohnmacht”, published in 2000, is a reconstruction of Vienna's Jewish administration during the Third Reich. As the writer of the short story collection, Papirnik, novels such as Ohnehin and Suche nach M. Roman, the collection of essays Credo und Credit, and others, Rabinovici has won awards such as Mörike-Förderpreis of the city of Fellbach (literary award), Heimito-von-Doderer-Förderpreis of the city of Cologne (literary award) and Cultural award of the city of Vienna, Clemens-Brentano-award of the city of Heidelberg and Jean-Améry-award, Author of the year of the literary journal Buchkultur, and the Willy und Helga Verkauf-Verlon award of the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) for Austrian anti-fascist publicist. His new novel, Andernorts will be published in the Fall of 2010.
Rita Meisler Sinder was born in Vienna, Austria where life was "gemuetlich." Life changed, when the Nazi's marched in. In November 1938, on a late Saturday afternoon, the SS ripped off the Mezuzzah from their home and dragged her father, in his night clothes and bare feet, down the stairs. He was taken on a cattle train to the border of Poland. Rita's mother, now alone in Vienna, searched for ways to save her daughters. She sent Rita on a Kindertransport to London, England and Anne to the U.S. Rita lived with a loving family in London for one year and then crossed the Atlantic by herself. She was greeted in Los Angeles by her parents and sister, who had miraculously survived. Rita graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS degree. She is Vice President of the Jasin Co. in Encino and continues working in Real Estate and Property Management. She is a community and Israeli activist, and is past president of SFV Israel Bonds, and its Golda Meir Club, as well as past president of WAIPAC. At present, she serves on the National Council of AIPAC and on the Board of World Alliance for Israel and Valley Beth Shalom. She and her husband, Jack Sinder, are involved in the Jewish Federation, the American Jewish University, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Rita and Jack have two children, Sheri and Alan. Sheri is married to Jim and they have two children, Cara and Jeanna, and Alan is married to Hiromi and they have one child, Satomi. Rita believes her grandchildren are the light of her life. | <urn:uuid:06cf74fb-e54f-4ed4-afd2-808d232b0346> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tilwemeetagainfilm.com/film.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954848 | 2,274 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Mohammed Morsi officially became the president of Egypt on Saturday, as a new era of government takes shape. NBC's Kate Snow reports.
CAIRO -- Egypt, lovingly called the “Mother of the World” by its people, turned a new page in its fabled history Saturday.
It saw the first ever democratically elected civilian president take the oath of office, not once but twice.
After President Mohammed Morsi swore in officially before the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court, he addressed the nation from Cairo University and swore his oath of office a second time before the currently dissolved parliament. He then attended an official military ceremony celebrating his inauguration.
The nation watched and this is what its citizens had to say.
“The speech was beautiful but the most important thing to us is carrying it out,” said Sayed Mohamed, taxi driver. “The most important thing we need is work. Security brings work, work brings money, money brings tourism. Morsi is trying to gather all the Muslims, all the Christians, all the institutions. He came through the ballot box, we have to stand by him and have patience.”
Ever pragmatic, most Egyptians prefer action to words.
“It’s a new era for all Egyptians," said Mohamed Sayed, 42, a bank employee. “The government’s character will appear in time, whether they are good or bad. We want them to be just. We want them to change the image of the old days that everybody had. When I hear the words (Morsi) says, will he carry them out? For how many thousands of years have people have been talking, but what do they do?”
Egyptian Presidency / EPA
The head of the military council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantaw, left, presents the 'shield of the Armed Forces,' the Egyptian military's highest honor, to Egyptian President President Mohammed Morsi during a ceremony Saturday at a military base in Cairo.
Hiba al Bandari, a fashionably dressed middle-age Egyptian woman, found in Morsi’s populist message a sign of hope and change.
“Today is a great day in Egypt,” said Hiba al Bandari. “Most Egyptians are happy about practicing democracy and I hope it will be much better in the future. We are expecting much from this president. He gave Egyptians and himself a chance of one hundred days to see what will happen. He promised to work with all people and movements. This is the first time in Egypt. In the past, nobody has done this. All the past rulers governed alone. But today he is talking to the people from those on the bottom to those on top. His speech was democratic.”
Others expressed deep concern about Morsi’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Miyvin Sedqi, a 29-year-old software engineer, worried, “I don’t feel they are ones who can represent all the different trends in Egypt, they don’t believe in democracy and are not open to different opinions. I’m kind of skeptical of what they are going to do. I don’t want them to succeed, because they are mixing religion with politics, but I don’t want them to fail as well because it would be bad for the revolution.”
Mona al Tahawy, columnist, found no reason for jubilation in today’s transfer of power.
“I think today was a big charade. I don’t think it was a historical day at all. I think it was the culmination of weeks of negotiation between (the ruling military council) and the Muslim Brotherhood. I’ve seen no reason to celebrate whatsoever today.”
Al Tahawy says Morsi’s presidency is a speed bump on the road to fulfilling the goals of the revolution.
“He took an oath today to respect institutions that have curbed his power, so I don’t know what he can do without a constitution, without a parliament and without clear delineation of what his powers are. Many of us are continuing as if the revolution is continuing and this is just an obstacle in the way.
Charlene Gubash is NBC News' producer in Cairo.
Newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was sworn into power on Saturday, leaving many across the country to wonder what will be included in a new constitution. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Major powers back Syria transition plan leaving question of Assad open
- Deep impact for many Germans as US troops downsize
- UK won't extradite sex offender accused of raping, molesting girls in US
- US student fighting for life after chimps attack at South Africa
- Family moves from the Bronx to Jerusalem, but US remains land of 'liberty and freedom'
- Palestinian: US supports 'an apartheid system that is suffocating us' | <urn:uuid:7fe889d7-a987-4dba-becd-d00141ef7602> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/30/12500293-egypt-mother-of-the-world-turns-new-page-citizens-await-results?lite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96733 | 1,032 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Want to earn an in-demand degree, but need some flexibility to make it happen? Check out these five online degree programs...
Let's face it: Juggling a job, family - plus that reality TV show obsession - is hard. Add school into the mix, and things could just get a little crazy.
The good news: You have options.
Online education, for example, provides the opportunity to study whenever and wherever it's most convenient - whether that's after your 9-to-5 gig or the latest "American Idol" episode.
More and more students are beginning to take advantage of this flexibility, too.
In fact, in the fall of 2010, over 6.1 million students - that's 31 percent of all higher education students - were taking at least one online course, according to "Going the Distance," a 2011 study by Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board.
Of course, if you're going to earn a degree, you want to think about its relevance - and potential payback, too.
To help, we looked to the National Association of Colleges and Employer's (NACE) "Job Outlook 2012 Survey," a forecast of employers' intentions to hire new college graduates.
With a total of 244 surveys returned by employers, the NACE was able to determine which degrees will be in-demand in 2012.
Keep reading to learn more...
Starting up a new company, running a business, or managing a team definitely has its perks. But before you can take the reins, you might find it helpful to pick up some leadership and problem-solving skills from an online business program.
A bachelor's in business administration program, for example, can teach students how "to plan, organize, direct, and control an organization's activities," notes the College Board, an organization that administers academic aptitude tests. And if you earn this degree online, you could take commonly offered courses like operations management, accounting, and business ethics in the comfort of your home and pajamas...if that's your style, of course.
Payoff Potential: Financial analyst, insurance underwriter, and personal financial advisor, to name a few examples, are potential career paths that a bachelor's in business administration grad could pursue, says the U.S. Department of Labor.* According to the NACE report, 48.5 percent of the surveyed employers said they have their sights on business grads when it comes time to hire this year.
Do you wear your nickname "tech geek" or "computer nerd" with pride? Great news: there's a flexible way for you to fine-tune your skills and interest in the field - and it goes by the name of an online computer and information sciences bachelor's degree.
"Students in this major study a broad range of computer topics," notes the College Board. This means you'll likely get a peek into the various fields within the tech-industry, like computer science, informatics, and computer programming - which could allow you to pick and choose areas that best align with your interests.
Payoff Potential: Despite what teenybopper movies may say, computer geeks are becoming increasingly popular - at least according to the 59.3 percent of surveyed employers who plan to hire computer and information sciences majors in 2012, notes the NACE report. And with a bachelor's degree in computer and information sciences, you could prepare to pursue techie careers such as network and computer systems administrators, computer programmer, and computer systems analyst.*
Getting into people's heads to try and understand their thoughts can get a bit confusing and scary at times. But, it could also be extremely exciting - especially if you acquire the right skills to do so from an online bachelor's degree in psychology. Even better, you can earn this flexible degree in bed, or on the couch, or in the kitchen, or...you get the point, right?
And with commonly offered courses like social psychology, personality, and perception and sensation, "psychology majors study the way humans and animals act, feel, think, and learn," notes the College Board.
Payoff Potential: Apparently, the need to get into people's heads is on the rise, with 71.4 percent of surveyed employers planning to hire psychology grads in 2012, notes the NACE report. Social worker, probation officer, and correctional treatment officer are just some of the "mind-boggling" career path options that bachelor's in psychology majors can prep to pursue.*
Numbers: some of us are good with them and others are not. If you fall in with the crowd that doesn't need a calculator to figure out your group's dinner bill, then you might find the flexibility and convenience of an online bachelor's degree in accounting to be a great option for you.
And not to worry, an online accounting degree could teach you more than just how to figure out the tip. In fact, "accounting majors learn how to gather, record, analyze, interpret, and communicate information about an individual's or organization's financial performance and risks," says the College Board.
Payoff Potential: This all-about-numbers degree could help you prepare to pursue a career as an accountant, auditor, or budget analyst.* And according to the NACE report, 71.4 percent of the surveyed employers plan to hire accounting grads in 2012.
If you're a chatter-box who's looking for a way to go to school on your own time, then an online degree in communications might be calling your name. Often offered at the bachelor's degree level, an online communications degree could teach you how to translate your "talkative" skills into the business sector.
According to the College Board, common courses like the power of communication, rhetorical criticism, and research methods can help hone your communications skills, as well as help you better understand how messages are exchanged on television, the Internet, and through mass media.
Payoff Potential: You could use your knowledge and skills from a bachelor's in communications to help you prepare to pursue a career as a public relations specialist, market research analyst, or broadcast news analyst.* According to the NACE report, 95.7 percent of surveyed respondents plan to hire graduates with a communications major in 2012. Being chatty never sounded so good...
*All career options come from the U.S. Department of Labor, May 2011 statistics.
Next Article: Earn an Online Degree in Your Spare Time » | <urn:uuid:07e48794-2ec8-4a46-ad3f-a0419c68631f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education.yahoo.net/articles/online_degrees_that_could_pay_you_back.htm?wid=1004&svkid=1I4CF | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950608 | 1,320 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Patrick Joseph Kennedy was born on Friday, July 14, 1967 in Brighton and he is a famous politician from United States of Roman Catholic religion.
Life in Brief:
- Being born on Jul 14, Patrick Joseph is a Cancer. - his ethnicity: White. - his mother's name: Joan Kennedy. - his father's name: Ted Kennedy. - Brother : Edward Moore Kennedy. - Sister : Kara Kennedy Allen.
Patrick Joseph Kennedy had studied at Phillips Academy Andover (in 1986) and then he attended the Georgetown University. | <urn:uuid:24e75f0c-8a39-410f-98bb-353c0856d8b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://people.famouswhy.com/patrick_joseph_kennedy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983536 | 108 | 1.609375 | 2 |
I've written several times about the "Business of Art" seminar series from the Small Business Development Center, but here's a new twist. Queen of social marketing and online media,
Karen Kefauver, is teaching a new class that I think artists might really benefit from: "Leveraging Social Media for Your Art." The class will go from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 27. (Visit centralcoastsbdc.org and check out the "Business of Art 101" section for registration details.)
"I believe that social media is a great way to spread the word about artists' talents because it's a very visual format and less expensive than traditional forms of advertising," Kefauver says.
But, she notes that partaking in and reaping the benefits of social media is not automatic and takes a certain amount of time and training. And that's where Kefauver comes in. "I think there is a particular challenge for artists to be effective as business people, so I want to help," she says.
Although it takes some work, Kefauver believes that taking that plunge into using social media as a promotion tool really pans out. She explains that doing so spreads awareness about one's artwork as well as helps to boost sales. Here are five tips she's offering to artists:
1. Get help setting up your social media networks correctly. Take a look at what other artists in your medium
2. Have a collection of photos of your work and a photo of yourself that you can upload to social media sites. Strive to put a copyright or watermark on each photo.
3. Post regularly on social media and write short posts that inspire, educate or entertain people who visit your page.
4. Always respond to people's comments; don't ignore a negative comment.
5. Be patient: Social media networks are free to join but do take time to maintain and develop a following.
The Digital Arts and New Media graduate program at UC Santa Cruz is always turning out remarkable artists who are creating noteworthy projects. Case in point -- artist
Eve Warnock, who will graduate from the esteemed program in June. As a multimedia and interdisciplinary artist, she is a director, designer, performer and storyteller. Her media of choice include experimental films and installation projects.
Currently she's serving as an art designer and an art director on an installation performance of "Peer Gynt," written by Henrik Ibsen and directed by Kimberly Jannarone at UCSC. The performance is a culmination of a yearlong project and will offer various showings in the beginning of March. (Visit thegyntproject.com to learn more.)
As the 34-year-old prepares to graduate, she will teach a course this summer hosted by the Museum of Art & History at UC Santa Cruz titled "Procession." The final project will consist of "processing through downtown Santa Cruz and ending with an open critique and question and answer," says Warnock.
Learn more about this multitalented artist at evewarnock.wordpress.com.
I'm the type of person who throws everything away. I've never been good at looking for the inherent value in used paper or recyclables. But a collage artist like
Lisa Hochstein? She has a good eye. "Finished collages are reminders of time passing and the shifting value of the objects we live with and leave behind," she says. "Collage places me face-to-face with sorting out what to save and what to destroy."
Hochstein's particular creative inspiration comes by way of vintage sheet music covers which she uses as the foundation for her collages. "Most of this music is from the early- to mid-1900s," she says. "I don't use the musical scores, just the covers, which have beautiful, rich color and lettering that is unlike contemporary published material. Working with material that is imbued with somebody else's history is a way for me to find a starting point and not get involved with storytelling."
She found her way into collage as an art student in college when she often ran out of money for art materials. So, she would use her old paintings as material for new work. The idea of salvaging and repurposing her work was appealing to Hochstein, and thus, a collage artist was born.
Discover more at lisahochstein.com.
Contact Christa Martin at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:b84cd415-e5da-4b20-9e01-e0c198f36e19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/entertainment/ci_22783692/christa-martin-karen-kefauver-helps-artists-navigate-social | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964804 | 932 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The role of a fiduciary - an executor, an administrator, a trustee, and even a guardian - brings with it essential duties and responsibilities of loyalty, honesty, and good faith. Through the decision in In re Brissett, 7/26/2010 NYLJ 26 (col 6) (Sur Ct, Bronx County) we learn that a fiduciary who fails to fulfill this role can be removed from office, or worse yet, held in contempt of court and face imprisonment.
In In re Brissett, the Surrogate’s Court, Bronx County, held the executrix of the estate in contempt for failing to timely file an accounting. The record revealed that the decedent died in 2004 survived by her spouse, who post-deceased her. Her Will was admitted to probate several years after her death, and letters testamentary issued to her niece, as the named executrix.
Following the issuance of letters testamentary, a proceeding was instituted to compel the executrix to account. The application was granted, and the executrix was ordered to account within thirty days of service upon her of a certified copy of the court’s order. When no account was filed, a petition was filed requesting that the executrix be held in contempt. The application was granted upon the default of the executrix, and the court authorized the issuance of a warrant of commitment without further notice in the event the executrix failed to account within thirty days of service upon her of the court’s order with notice of entry.
Thereafter, a warrant of commitment issued and the executrix was brought before the court by the Sheriff of the City of New York. At that time, counsel for the executrix stated that the their client’s failure to account was attributable to their law office failure rather than her willful disregard of the court’s order. Based on counsel’s representations, the court temporarily vacated the order of commitment, provided that in the event the executrix failed to account by a date certain, the warrant would once again issue. A warrant of commitment was again issued as a result of the executrix’s failure to account, and yet another stay was granted until a date certain.
However, in lieu of filing her account, the executrix moved for an extension of time to file her account and for another stay of the warrant of commitment pending the outcome of the application.
In opposition to the relief requested by the executrix, the respondents maintained that she transferred to herself all estate assets, contrary to the provisions of the decedent’s Will, and requested that the court, inter alia, issue an order revoking the letters testamentary of the executrix, appointing one of them as the fiduciary of the estate, and imposing sanctions.
The court opined that although a warrant of commitment remained outstanding, the remedies afforded by the provisions of SCPA §2205 were likely to prove more fruitful than the imprisonment of the executrix for failure to comply with the court’s directives. Accordingly, the court denied the request by the executrix for another extension of time to account, suspended the letters testamentary issued to her, directed that a hearing be held on the issue of whether the executrix’s letters testamentary should be revoked and one of the respondents be appointed in her place and stead, and ordered that on the hearing date the parties be prepared to discuss a turnover of the books and records of the estate, and whether a trial date should be fixed for the successor fiduciary to take and state the account of the suspended executrix.
Practice Tip: Absent grounds for disqualification, a duly nominated executor is entitled to preliminary letters testamentary to provide for the immediate administration and protection of the assets of the estate in instances where there may be a delay in probate. See In re Rullan, 11/15/2010 NYLJ.19 (col 2) (Sur. Ct. Bronx County). | <urn:uuid:cd1b9426-6c96-49aa-9a9b-a7999ce6c018> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nyestatelitigationblog.com/2011/02/articles/fiduciaries/lessons-from-the-bench-remedies-for-breach-of-fiduciary-duty/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958866 | 818 | 1.75 | 2 |
I have long argued that home prices are elevated, and until they normalize, the economy will be stuck in the doldrums. I even wrote a chapter of Bailout Nation, titled “The Virtue of Foreclosure.” I make a basic economic argument that the excess credit of the 2001-07 era is unwinding, and foreclosures are part of that process.He concludes:
The simple premise is that the abdication of lending standards by both bank and nonbank lenders created an enormous credit bubble. Easy money drove home prices to unsustainable and unaffordable levels. People bought homes far more expensive than they could reasonably afford. Many assumed they would be able to refinance, paying for the excess costs by cashing out the price appreciation everyone knew was sure to follow.
Of course, we know what happened next. Prices rose unsustainably, credit tightened up, and the supply of greater fools abated. So much for the real estate perpetual motion machine.
Its one thing to argue as to whether the government should be so brazenly intervening into the housing market, and I can understand reasonable people disagreeing. But the subsidy — whether its $133,000 or $292,000 — is absurd. | <urn:uuid:d2206507-d642-48f6-9cee-26db4ffb6714> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westside-bubble.blogspot.com/2009/10/15000-home-buyers-credit-costs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97008 | 250 | 1.625 | 2 |
Segment of a sermon Jennifer wrote for a prayer service centered on Christian unity. Her sermon was chosen to be given in Oklahoma City this past spring.
Text: I Cor. 15:51-58.
“Listen! I will tell you a mystery.” A mystery that will happen in the twinkling of an eye, a mystery filled with trumpet blasts and the raising of the dead to immortality, a mystery filled with the transformation of the living, when corrupted flesh is made incorruptible and the power of death, sin, is broken forever. In that moment God will fully reveal Godself, and we will eternally live out our new identity in Christ. This mystery contains an ending that is so wonderful it is beyond our wildest imaginings! BUT, while we are caught up in our contemplation of this future moment we must not forget that our mystery, just like all mysteries, begins with a death, the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death is the key to our future transformation and our starting point when speaking of Christian unity.
I recently had an opportunity to visit Taize, France, a community that invites young people, year round, from all around the globe, to partake in worship, reflection, and work. Take, for instance, the story of Sebastian, a 17 year old boy from Chile who is studying abroad in Prague, and decided to visit Taize. One evening I found myself discussing with Sebastian the similarities and differences between the Lutheran and Evangelical churches. For Sebastian, this was a sensitive subject because in Chile there is a great divide between the two and tensions are high. He constantly finds himself put down by his family and friends because he enjoys worshipping at both churches while they do not. When I asked him if Prague was any better, he said it was worse. Beautiful churches sit virtually empty on almost every corner because most of the population is atheist. According to Sebastian, the people of Prague become very angry when you try to speak with them about God. In fact, the other young people he goes to school with in Prague spent the better part of a month calling him dirty names because of his Christian beliefs and his desire to talk about them.
It was at Taize that Sebastian experienced peace, love, and reconciliation, and he felt renewed. No one at Taize cared what church he attended. No one refused to speak with him about faith and God, nor did they avoid his questions. He found himself surrounded by young people whose primary concern was living for a short time in community with other Christians, other seekers, and other young people searching for a place where they were accepted without question. All that was asked of him was to help keep the bathrooms clean. Sebastian was content to join in the prayer of the brothers and found joy living in communion, united with his brothers and sisters in Christ.
After visiting Taize, I found myself asking the question, why is ecumenism so easy at Taize, and so hard for the rest of us? Especially when you consider that all Christian denominations recognize the importance of Christ’s actions: his life, death, and resurrection. We agree that it is through Christ that we will undergo this mystery of transformation that Paul speaks of. We trust in Christ. I wonder, however, if we have a tendency to put our trust in our own traditions and denominations over and above the Word of Jesus Christ. In today’s text, Paul claims that “the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” Our persistence in creating distinctions amongst ourselves can take our attention from God and hinder the unity that God wants us to embrace.
A man I spoke with at the World Council of Churches in Geneva said that it is our job as churches, in terms of creating unity, to “plant the seeds of the trees under whose shade we may never sit.” We work together now for justice and peace, all the while knowing that “nothing we do here on earth affects what God has already done for us.”
God gives us victory through Christ. We don’t earn it and we definitely don’t deserve it, but we are free. Free to serve the Lord who is in the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the oppressed. We are free to live in community with each other. This is the good news. God loves us in spite of ourselves, and continues to work in us and through us. The incarnate Jesus Christ disrupts and ultimately breaks the power of sin and death on our behalf. This truth is what we keep at the center of our prayer for unity as we follow our call to move forward, to be in communion with each other, and to seek Jesus in the broken places of this world, as he seeks us. | <urn:uuid:18b43484-2655-43de-b7c5-4197a5191290> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thepersistentvoice.wordpress.com/tag/power-of-sin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975224 | 979 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Amato (baritone) was born in Naples in 1878. Though
originally intended by his parents to become a Civil
Engineer he studied music at the Naples Conservatory. His
debut was in 1900, at the Bellini Theatre, as Germont in
La Traviata. He subsequently sang at Covent Garden in
the autumn of 1904 with the San Carlo Opera Company, and
after singing in South America and Milan joined the new York
Metropolitan Opera Company in 1908. Roles that he created
included Jack Rance in Puccini's La Fanciulla del
West, and in two forgotten operas, Cyrano de
Bergerac (Damrosch) and Madame Sans-Gene
(Giordano). He established himself as a fine character
singer, remaining with the company until 1921. He recorded
extensively, initially for the Italian firm Fonotipia, then
for Victor in America and for Homochord. He died in
AL FACTOTUM' (Il Barbiere di Siviglia)(Rossini): HMV
DB156(2-052051) rec. 1911 (2.3MB)
This recording shows his abilities off well. With the
exception of Chaliapine, most singers of the era
concentrated on beauty of tone rather than characterization.
On the evidence of this recording Amato was another
exception: his Figaro comes over strongly as a character.
The recording, which was made in the USA for Victor, has
been transferred at 78rpm.
If you would like to download
this recording you can do so from this page.
CDs of Amato's recordings have been issued on Pearl
GEMMCD9104 and Preiser
I have not heard these transfers and list them here
simply for information. I can't guarantee they are still | <urn:uuid:240a4bb2-d4f6-4ef3-b168-43bfc99e5d6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://home.clara.net/rfwilmut/opera/amato.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959761 | 398 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Invest 91L reorganizing; The heat is on (again)
Invest 91L, which is located near 14°N, 57°W, is showing signs of reorganization after a pretty rough weekend. On Saturday, the wave looked ripe to develop with organized convection and the hint of a surface circulation. On Sunday a Hurricane Hunter and NOAA G9 flew into the system only to find it disorganized and negatively influenced by the burst of convection that sprouted on its western edge. Since then, low-level circulation has at least strengthened, if not consolidated, and residents of the Lesser Antilles should be prepared for tropical storm advisories to be posted on short notice. Satellite loops show decent thunderstorm activity and some mid-level circulation, and continued bursts of thunderstorms to the southwest of the invest region. The wave is surrounded by moderately strong wind shear (30-40 knots) on both the north and the south sides, which could delay development. Also, a large mass of dry, Saharan air continues to linger to 91L's north. In a mission this morning, Hurricane Hunters found winds close to tropical storm strength, but no signs of a closed surface circulation—just plenty of winds from the east or southeast. The next mission is scheduled for 2pm EDT, and they will continue every six hours if the system remains a threat.
Figure 1. Visible satellite of Invest 91L at 10:30am EDT as it moves west toward the Lesser Antilles.
Forecast For 91L
Development will probably occur in the next day or two, and the National Hurricane Center is giving the wave a 90% chance in the next 48 hours. The question now is where will it go, and how long will it remain a tropical cyclone. Models are split today, although still leaning toward an Atlantic recurving solution. In the camp of a Gulf of Mexico track are the CMC and the UKMET models. The GFS and the ECMWF are still in favor of the system tracking northwest toward Florida (and coming close) before taking a turn to the northeast. The NOGAPS model is resolving a Florida landfall in this morning's run, and the HWRF hints that it might like that solution, as well, at the end of its run. The GFDL remains conservative and forecasts that the system will turn north and northeast well before making any connection with the U.S. coast. It is notable that although there is still much disagreement on where this system will go, the models have been trending west in their tracks over the past few days. However, it is extremely difficult to nail down a track before a cyclone has even developed. Something we know for sure is that 91L is a threat to the Lesser Antilles and the Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the Bahamas.
In terms of intensity, both the GFDL and the HWRF are thinking this will eventually get to hurricane strength once it develops, although neither are forecasting it to become stronger than a category 1. SHIPS (which tracks 91L into the far eastern Gulf of Mexico) brings the system up to a category 1 hurricane, and the LGEM does as well, but is slower in its intensification. General consensus this morning is that 91L will max out somewhere between a moderate tropical cyclone and a moderate category 1 hurricane. Again, this is something that is difficult to predict before development itself occurs.
The Heat Is On (Again)
Someone turned the furnace on again in the central U.S., although many would argue that it was never actually turned off after the last heat wave. Heat advisories have been issued from southern Louisiana to North Dakota. Temperatures are expected to climb to 115°F in the central Plains through Wednesday, and heat index values will soar again. Oklahoma has now seen over a month of high temperatures hitting at least 100°. Some reprieve could come later this week.
Figure 2. Weather advisories issued by the National Weather Service. Heat-related advisories are pink. | <urn:uuid:e493f9f4-1867-46a1-8463-6ed63b8b43d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://espanol.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1864&page=34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965366 | 824 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Saturday, January 12, 2013
A Great Investment
The numbers are in: we are doing way better on the return from our solar PV system than we are at the bank.
Here are the results in Steve's own words:
"We used 4638.92 kWh of electricity for the 12 months November 2011 through November 2012. We produced 5261.92 kWh in the same time period, meaning that our solar system covered all of our electrical needs.
If we had needed to buy the 4638.92 kWh from PGE at 13.56 cents/kWh, it would have cost $628.81. Subtracting out our connection fees and taxes for using PGE as our battery, the value to us is $505.69.
Our return on investment is the value of the electricity divided by the cost to us of the system. $505.69 / 7492.5 = 6.75%
We will not truly know if our system was sized correctly until the end of March when any excess credits are transferred to the low income assistance fund."
We could have opted for the program whereby our local utility would cut us a check for the excess of what we produce, but that would have meant a minimum of a 6 kWh system, and we would have needed a larger roof for that which would mean a bigger house, which would have resulted in a higher mortgage payment, which would have pretty much defeated the purpose. I am just fine with what we have- we pay $10.26 a month to be hooked up to PGE, which we use as a giant battery, and any excess produced will be donated to the low income assistance fund at the end of PGE's period in March. I doubt we would go off grid until we're out in the country (which is back on the table - Yay!) at which point we'd be working with a low-voltage system anyway.
As it is, our electricity costs for the entire year is only $123.12. If we're careful and continue to at least use the same or less electricity than we produce, they will always be only $123.12 for the entire year, until such time as PGE sees fit to raise the cost of being connected to the grid, of course, which will reduce what goes to the low income assistance fund.
I wish I could do that well with the natural gas bill. The only thing that makes that spike is if Steve brews beer. Last month's gas bill was a whopping $31.13 and I'm sincere about whopping because the month previous it was in the $25 range. In the summer we use almost zero natural gas because we don't cook indoors and that is the period when the solar water heater is rockin' the hot water.
By the way, this is all happening in the Pacific Northwest, where the only thing thicker than the persistent mist that falls almost three quarters of the year is the abundant moss growing on everything.
If we can do it, you can do it, so if you're thinking about solar and can afford it, do it. Part of what made this work for us is the fact that we saved up and paid cash for it, but if your results were the same as ours and you borrowed at 3% for it, you'd still be ahead.
It would still be a great investment. | <urn:uuid:fb1e6199-494f-42c8-bf64-37830a5bfb43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weedingforgodot.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-great-investment.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97751 | 689 | 1.75 | 2 |
TEWKSBURY -- Jenny Nagle knocked on the wood of the picnic table she was standing behind as she explained why Krochmal Farms had a good pumpkin harvest this year.
"Luck," she said. "That's what it is."
But in terms of size, weight and overall numbers, this year's pumpkin crop was a mixed bag for other area farmers, some of whom said it was a matter of chance how they fared in a hot, dry growing season.
"There can be years where our neighboring farms have a great crop and we don't," Nagle said, as she manned the information booth Monday at Krochmal Farm's annual Pumpkin Festival. "It all depends on exactly where you are and how the weather hits you."
Doug Times of Tyngsboro's Lawndale Farm also attributes his productive pumpkin patches to good luck.
Times said his fields yielded so many pumpkins that to help clear stock, the roadside stand is offering a 15-cent-per-pound discount on purchases totaling more than 100 pounds.
"We were fortunate," he said. "We plant some early and some a little bit late, so we got a good set this year," he said.
The staggered timing makes it less likely that a dry spell or bout of severe heat will hurt the entire crop, said Times.
At Chelmsford's Jones Farm, owner Phil Jones said the timing wasn't quite right for pumpkins hit hard by summer heat.
"We got quite a few pumpkins, but size wasn't great," he said. "A lot of it was because they set late and they didn't have the whole season to
Jones said he grew pumpkins this year at a new field in North Chelmsford, where the land gave off more heat than he'd expected, and, he thinks, more heat than the pumpkins could handle.
"It was so blistering hot above the ground that I think it was just a shock, because the vines are growing beautifully now that it's cooler," said Jones. "But it's too late. We'll have a frost next week or so, and they'll never make it."
Jones said the heat led to a lot of blossom drop on his pumpkins over the summer, with blooms appearing on the vine but then falling off before developing into full fruits.
As a safeguard against harsh conditions, Jones said he might consider irrigating his fields next year.
Dave Dumaresq -- Dracut's "Farmer Dave" who runs stands in Dracut and Tewksbury -- said his drip- irrigation system prevented a bad year for pumpkins.
"It was a summer of pure sun," he said. "As long as we kept the crops irrigated, they were growing like crazy."
With irrigation, Dumaresq said, his pumpkins were a good size. But he still didn't see the numbers he'd expect from such a sunny season.
In Bedford, Chip-In Farm owner Neil Couvee said his problem wasn't with numbers, but with rot that struck some of his pumpkins.
Couvee thinks the plants were stressed and absorbed too much water.
"People either got too much rain or not enough rain," he said. "It was either feast or famine."
Follow Katie Lannan on Twitter @katielannan. | <urn:uuid:96009969-f525-40d9-b028-8f8316cc8364> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lowellsun.com/autos/ci_21730809/hot-summer-spurs-patchy-pumpkin-production | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988371 | 693 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Investigators know roughly where the flames erupted in the engine room of the Carnival Triumph, but it could be a year before they learn what caused the fire, which left the massive ship adrift for days in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We know that the fire originated in front of a generator," Patrick Cuty, a senior marine investigator for the U.S. Coast Guard, told CNN on Sunday.
"You can see the ignition marks on the wall."
There are three generators in the engine room where the fire broke out. Three other generators are in a second engine room that wasn't involved in the fire, Cuty said.
The same ship encountered a problem in January with its propulsion system, according to a notice posted on the website of Carnival senior cruise director John Heald.
"We'll know by end of the next week whether the generator is the same one that was having an issue, an anomaly, in January, according to passengers we interviewed from previous cruises," Cuty said.
It could take up to a year to determine the cause of the fire, however, because of the amount of work involved. It includes a painstaking analysis of the ship's records, automated data and wiring.
The Triumph was on the third day of a planned four-day cruise from Galveston, Texas, to Mexico when the fire broke out and brought the trip to a halt. It was carrying more than 4,200 people, including 3,100 passengers.
The loss of power not only crippled the ship but also created smelly conditions. Toilets stopped working, and waste spilled onto floors and into hallways. Passengers had to use plastic bags to collect their waste.
Passenger Cassie Terry described the ship as "a floating toilet, a floating Petri dish, a floating hell" in a lawsuit filed Friday against Carnival for unspecified damages related to the cruise. | <urn:uuid:76ac0ba2-5d4e-4612-8486-6a23b9f3bbe8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcci.com/news/project-economy/travel/Investigators-find-fire-clues-aboard-crippled-Triumph/-/9356812/18585170/-/vxb7hwz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973109 | 384 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Information about mental health and wellbeing
Commencing a course at university is an exciting and challenging experience for anyone. There are many things to consider and many unknown factors that could cause anxiety, such as: Am I doing the right course? Where will I live? Will I make friends? How will I manage my finances?
For students who have experienced mental health difficulties such anxieties can seem daunting. Coping with the rigours of university whilst dealing with the reality of living with mental health issues can be extra challenging. It is therefore important that before you choose a university and commence your studies you consider the support and structures that will be in place to ensure that your time at university is a positive experience.
To help you with this process, this website attempts general answers to frequently asked questions. We would also encourage you to contact the university of your choice direct, and make further enquiries about services offered at that particular institution. | <urn:uuid:5c7fcfb3-4282-44f4-9ec1-012b898ca3d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/student-support-mental-wellbeing/information-for-students/prospective-students | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966563 | 186 | 1.703125 | 2 |
It follows on from and complements the recently published UK Club "Tanker Contamination Claims Checklist".
It identifies the main causes of cargo loss, the discrepancy between what was loaded and what was discharged, arising from both on board and shoreside failings and compiles the key points to consider in several distinct sections running from the pre-loading phase through to discharge.
The checklist begins by considering whether the ship is suitable for the nominated cargo(es) to be loaded. Ensuring so far as practical whether the charterers have provided you with adequate information, cargo planning and maintaining records during loading and on passage are all detailed.
Any meeting with terminal staff should not be limited to filling out cargo and safety checklists, says the Club. It is in the ship's interest for the chief officer to take these opportunities to build a strong working relationship with shore personnel. Likewise a good relationship should be developed with the cargo inspector.
Establishing the amount of cargo loaded is critical. Claims for alleged shortages after completion of discharge are always based on the difference between the net bill of lading and outturn quantities in the first instance.
Even if both terminals carry out their measurements diligently, each will (quite legally) round off temperature and ullage readings in its favor, so differences are only to be expected. In general the bill of lading quantity may be overstated and the outturn quantity may be understated.
In the absence of a like for like comparison, the ship is the only common factor and therefore the measurements taken on board are extremely important.
The checklist also points out that cargo inspectors are human and from time to time make errors. Causes of errors and how to avoid them are detailed.
When unloading, again a good relationship with the cargo inspector at the discharge port is essential.
The checklist, which comes in an easy to carry form, was produced by the UK P&I Club with the assistance of Captain David Payne of Associated Petroleum Consultants Ltd.
The club also reminds owners of the existence of a DVD, "Tanker Matters". This is one of a series of Cargo Matters videos/DVDs that aim to increase awareness of the causes of P&I claims for cargo damage and loss. Tanker Matters focuses on some of the most frequent causes of tanker cargo claims and how to avoid them. The DVD can be viewed continuously, or scene by scene.
December 15, 2011 | <urn:uuid:f01948b6-fc9a-49bc-975e-7162de0443a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marinelog.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1819:2011dec00151&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=195 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950362 | 491 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Home > Article
VOL. 36 | NO. 46 | Friday, November 16, 2012
Sunscreen, other bits of wisdom for graduates
“Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.” Thus wrote Mary Schmich in her Chicago Tribune column, June 1, 1997.
A confessed graduation speaker wannabe, Schmich was “eager to pontificate on life to young people who’d rather be rollerblading.” Thus, she composed what has become a classic that bears revisiting from time to time: Guide to Life for Graduates.
“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth …You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….
“[W]orrying [about the future] is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
“Do one thing every day that scares you.
“Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
“Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.
“Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults….
“Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
“Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t….
“Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. [D]on’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s….
“Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
“Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them….
“Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future….
“Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
“…Don’t expect anyone else to support you….
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
“But trust me on the sunscreen.”
As a direct result of Schmick’s column, I sunscreen my face each day after shaving. And I’ve thrown away all bank statements more than three years old. But then, I always was a sucker for what seems like good advice.
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Ark., where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:7b1a1263-1563-4fd5-9895-e128240a9b4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nashvilleledger.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=62658 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936116 | 874 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Some treatment centers have survivorship or follow-up cancer care clinics, which provide a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to monitoring and supporting cancer survivors. Most of these clinics specialize in helping pediatric cancer survivors, but some work with adult cancer survivors.
It is helpful for a patient to be seen yearly at a long-term survivorship clinic specifically for cancer survivors, along with regular visits to a primary care doctor. Coordination between oncologists and primary care doctors is important to provide the best care possible.
You can find information about survivorship clinics for survivors of cancer by visiting the Resources section in | <urn:uuid:d30770a9-d8ec-429f-aac8-968e821e79e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lls.org/diseaseinformation/managingyourcancer/survivorship/survivorshipclinics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930584 | 121 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Born Martha Kostyra on August 3, 1941 into a large Polish-American working class family in Nutley, New Jersey, Stewart's parents raised her to be self-sufficient. Both of her parents were teachers, and they were strict and disciplined at home. These values instilled a strong work ethic in the Kostyra children. At an early age, Stewart helped her three brothers and two sisters trap muskrats and sell the skins for extra money. Stewart's first thoughts about entertaining can be traced to the large Sunday dinners the Kostyras held each week with friends and family. Other chores performed under the watchful eyes of her parents, such as gardening, cooking, and sewing, were necessities to make ends meet in the lean years of her youth.
An excellent student, Stewart began modeling while in high school. In an interview with Morley Safer of 60 Minutes, Stewart recalled those years: "Instead of going to the football games with my friends, I spent my time modeling clothes at Bonwit Teller on 57th Street. I was making, at first, $15 an hour, which was a lot better than the $1 an hour we were getting babysitting." Her girl-next-door appearance and photogenic face made her a favorite with photographers. The money she earned modeling helped Stewart make her way through Barnard College in New York, one of the nations top women's colleges.
While at Barnard, Stewart studied art history. Driven to succeed, she continued modeling, and eventually began appearing in major national and international magazines. Stewart was named one of the ten best-dressed college women in America by Glamour magazine, in 1961. Modeling helped pay her tuition, but she was constantly strapped for money, nonetheless. Stewart took a live-in maid position for two elderly widowed sisters on Fifth Avenue so she could move away from home.
Marriage and Wall Street
Andy Stewart, a young Yale Law School student, entered Stewart's life early in her college years. Described as "love at first sight," the whirlwind courtship ended in marriage on July 1, 1961. They began life as penniless newlyweds living in New York City. Soon, Stewart interrupted her education at Barnard to help support her husband as he finished up at Yale.
By early 1965, Stewart was pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Alexis Gilbert, in September. A month later, the Stewarts bought a rundown 19th century schoolhouse in Middlefield, Massachusetts that had no running water or plumbing. Stewart would later recall planting gardens in front of the little house and in Martha Stewart's New Old House,she wrote about "lugging water in large pails from the stream to cook with, wash up with, and drink." It took the Stewarts five years to renovate the house. After her daughter's birth, Stewart's modeling career tapered off. She began looking for other moneymaking ventures.
One evening in 1968, Stewart brought up her career search with some friends and one suggested she call one of his stockbroker friends in New York. Stewart's mix of beauty and brains impressed Andy Monness, a partner in the firm. He hired her on the spot because she was bright, aggressive, and hungry for success. Stewart passed the broker's exam easily and was registered with the New York Stock Exchange in 1968, right after her 27th birthday.
Stewart was successful and soon made a six-figure salary. She traveled to both coasts and led a celebrity lifestyle. Eventually tiring of the city life in New York, the Stewarts bought an old farmhouse in Westport, Connecticut that required more renovation. The house, dubbed Turkey Hill Farm by Stewart, would play a major role in her later career as a caterer and budding lifestyle expert.
Into the early 1970s, Stewart continued her string of successes on Wall Street, while her husband worked as a high-powered corporate attorney. However, the heightening Watergate scandal and uneasiness it caused on Wall Street led to problems for Stewart and the upstart firm where she worked. Unable to deal with the fluctuating market and unhappy that her accounts began losing money, Stewart resigned in 1973.
At age 32, Stewart once again found herself without a career. She retreated to Turkey Hill to decide what she should do next. Turkey Hill proved to be her inspiration. She threw herself into remodeling efforts and ways to improve the old farmhouse. Obsessive cleaning and home improvement projects served as a therapeutic escape for Stewart after the wild years spent on Wall Street.
No one had any idea at the time that Stewart's next move would launch her into the living rooms of millions of people and land her atop a $200 million multimedia empire. The accounts differ regarding Stewart's entry into the catering business: she has said that it grew out of cooking classes held for Alexis and her school friends, while others said it happened after long discussions with friends from Westport. Regardless, catering was an ideal choice for Stewart, ever the perfectionist and very concerned with details.
With partner Norma Collier, the catering company named "Uncatered Affair" was born. For several years, the two friends catered parties and taught cooking classes around Westport. The relationship soured, however, when Stewart's controlling instincts dominated the business. Her need to reign over everything around her proved the old adage about too many cooks in the kitchen.
Stewart's next effort was at the Westport Common Market, which combined an upscale mall and food court. Stewart approached the owners of the mall about running the area and serving freshly prepared food. After charming the owners over lunch at Turkey Hill, Stewart was given the job and a $250 a week salary. She renamed the food area the "Market Basket," and turned the store into a moneymaker. She hired women to cook the food at home and then resold it at the store. Stewart went too far, however, when she told a New York Times reporter that she was the "proprietor" of the shop. The owners fired her shortly after the story ran. Stewart kept this a secret and let people believe she left on her own to spend more time running her catering business.
Stewart got her first taste of national media exposure when People magazine ran a story on her and Andy, who had left legal work to become a publishing executive. The article mentioned how she catered parties for famous Westport residents like Robert Redford and Paul Newman. As her reputation spread, Stewart began getting further national press from Mademoiselle, Bon Appetit, Good Housekeeping, and Country Living. Stewart was hired to be the free-lance food editor for House Beautiful, a national magazine that helped solidify her growing reputation.
Alan Mirken, president of Crown Publishing Group, attended several parties Stewart arranged and was taken by her style, good looks, and talent. After several attempts, Mirken convinced Stewart to write a book and paid her an advance of $35,000, a sum her husband negotiated using his knowledge of the book industry. The resulting book,Entertaining, became a bestseller and propelled Stewart to dizzying heights.
No longer just a successful caterer, she was on her way to becoming a national symbol of good taste and style. With the publication of her second book, Quick Cook, Jerry Oppenheimer wrote in his unauthorized biography Just Desserts, her publisher's goal "was to make her as recognizable as Betty Crocker." Putting out a book a year, Stewart's reputation spread across the nation.
Stewart's first national television appearances were with Willard Scott on the Today show. Scott visited Turkey Hill and viewers saw the Stewarts as they prepared for Thanksgiving. Stewart's true goal, however, was to have her own television show, like her idol, Julia Child. Her first television special and mail-order video appeared in 1986, calledHoliday Entertaining with Martha Stewart. Several years later, Stewart would have her own television show, estimated to reach 97 percent of the country.
Stewart's seemingly perfect life has included some sour moments. In early 1987, Andy left her and began divorce proceedings. Years later, recalling the painful split on 60 Minutes, Stewart said, "I know a lot of successful women who are not, at the present time, married. I hope that we could all find a balance, that you could balance a career, you can balance success, you can balance having a garden and having a husband at the same time."
Regardless of her personal situation, Stewart continued to build her business empire. She made a deal with media conglomerate Time Warner to produce her own magazine, Martha Stewart Living, which first appeared in late 1990. The company tied in appearances on the highly popular Today show. Stewart stayed with the program until January 1997 when she left to join CBS's This Morning as part of a package deal with CBS.
Martha Stewart Omnimedia
Always demanding to take full control of her own destiny, Stewart left Time Warner in 1997 to form her own multimedia company. As a result, Stewart was Chairman and CEO of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, a $200 million dollar company. The cornerstone of the company was Stewart herself. Her television show, which appeared on 185 stations, and her radio show, which was carried on 260 stations, were both produced by Omnimedia.
Stewart achieved every goal she has set. Arguably, she was more recognizable than Betty Crocker. Martha Stewart Living magazine had a circulation of 2.1 million. She got 925,000 visitors to her web site every week. Revenues for her K-Mart-sponsored Martha Stewart Everyday collection reached $1 billion. In her free time, Stewart continued to write books (also released in several foreign languages) and had more than 25 bestsellers to her credit.
Like most popular culture icons, Stewart had her supporters and detractors. She was parodied relentlessly on Saturday Night Live and inspired the farcical magazine, Is Martha Stewart Living? However, the number of viewers, readers, and listeners do not lie. Stewart told MSNBC's Matt Lauer, "My whole business has been based on the pursuit of perfection and the pursuit of accuracy and good information and good inspiration. So if I am ever, you know, called difficult to work for, it's by people who really don't care about those qualities in work. But my whole life is based on those qualities."
Labeled "the world's No. 1 living mega-brand" by Fortune magazine, Stewart sits atop an empire built on the simple premise that domesticity is good and should play an important role in society. Perhaps Stewart's entire life can be summed up by the assertion she wrote in her high school yearbook, "I do what I please and I do it with ease."
After the grand recession of 1973, Martha left Wall Street for Mulberry Street, purchasing an antique farmhouse in New England and starting a catering business. It was also around this time that she also began to write columns on a wide variety of subjects, including cooking, decorating, and interior design. This fame led to positions at magazines and a contract with Kmart, a relationship doubtlessly just as tumultuous as her marriage. As the '90s arrived, so did Martha's acceleration to the top of the happy housewife pile. Her syndicated program was so successful it spawned several spinoff shows, her own Kmart product line, and earned her a spot next to Busta Rhymes at the MTV Music Awards.
But it was her appearance on Conan O'Brien sipping a 40-ounce of Old English that earned her a spot in the hearts of millions, proving that she was equally adept at self-mockery and making a mean plate of spaghetti. She became a predictable target for jealous late-night talk-show hosts, but it was Stewart who would have the last laugh: she went public with her company Martha Stewart Omnimedia and raked in more money than the GNP of many small third-world nations combined. But the shining light of success wasn't to last for long.
In 2002, Stewart was investigated for insider trading and was found guilty, even though no concrete evidence was ever found. This led to a massive fallout of support from many of her colleagues and led to the inevitable cancellation of her television shows. This eventually turned into a three-year paper chase of endless trials and lawsuits, ending in Stewart being sentenced to five months in federal prison for conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Prison life was a bit of a change for Martha, but like the hardest of hip-hop artists, M. Diddy couldn't be held back for long.
After her release from prison in March 2005, her relationship with Kmart improved, no doubt in small part to the merger of Kmart with Sears, ensuring her products greater exposure to millions of mall shoppers worldwide. She also made a triumphant return to television with a daytime talk show and her own edition of the wildly successful The Apprentice. Once again redefining the line between reality and television, Stewart berates and humiliates potential employees while they take on tasks in order to please her and win a spot at one of her coveted companies. In 2005, she launched her own station on the Sirius radio network, released a line of DVDs from some of her favorite television episodes, and curated a series of compact discs designed to serve as background music for all occasion............................... | <urn:uuid:02ac3146-0339-4982-99ec-db0516d40be3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/bostons-big-dig-project-was-plagued-with-mistakes-and-problems-review-documents-and-articl-q3256096 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978851 | 2,748 | 1.71875 | 2 |
At 4:15 pm firefighters from Portland Fire & Rescue and Gresham Fire & Emergency Services were dispatched to reports of a single car accident at NE 162nd Avenue and NE Fargo Street. Witnesses reported seeing a vehicle crash into a large tree before coming to rest in a deep ditch filled with water on the side of the road.
Gresham Fire Engine 74 arrived first on scene and encountered the vehicle submerged in over a foot of standing water with multiple victims trapped inside. Firefighters quickly determined that because of the severity of the crash, location of the vehicle, number of occupants pinned-in, and the steep terrain, they needed additional resources at the scene. In total, four fire engines, two ladder trucks, and three ambulances responded.
Truck firefighters from Portland Fire Station 7 (Mill Park) and Gresham Fire Truck 71 worked together using extrication tools, including the Jaws of Life, to cut two patients out of the wreckage of the car. Meanwhile, firefighters from the three Portland and one Gresham fire engines administered patient care and maintained safety at the scene. Because of the depth of the ditch and steep incline, firefighters used low angle rope rescue techniques to get the patients up to the road to the awaiting ambulances.
According to Portland Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Kevin Shanders, "This was a very severe crash requiring multiple resources and specialty technical rescue techniques. The great teamwork and communication between both fire departments achieved the best possible outcome in a difficult situation."
Two patients were transported in critical condition to an area hospital and two victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The Portland Police Bureau's Major Crash Team is investigating the cause of the accident.
Portland Fire & Rescue reminds citizens to take extra precautions when driving in inclement weather. Give yourself extra commute time, drive cautiously, adhere to speed limits and traffic laws, and increase your following distance between cars. In weather like today's, both visibility and stopping ability may be greatly decreased. | <urn:uuid:9a6150fd-6731-4355-8888-135b96bf8d2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandoregon.gov/fire/article/388993 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939713 | 399 | 1.515625 | 2 |
How to repair loud sound of system fans and cpu?
Buy some graphite powder and some oil at an auto or hardware store. They come in different packages. For oil, the best is the pen-type as they are easy to handle and only give a small amount at a time. Just about any oil in a pen format will work fine. The graphite powder comes in small plastic tubes. But make sure you get graphite powder, not graphite oil, its too thin for this job! So you need graphite powder in a small tube and oil in a round "pen" that can be squeezed out and placed just where you need it. Also, when the oil is used up in the "pen" you can open it and add your own oil.
First, clean the fan blades off real well. If you have a heatsink with the fan then clean the heatsink off as well. You can even use a bit of your oil and some q-tips for cleaning if needed. Then, take the small circle, it usually has a name on it, but its in the middle of the fan. Peel one edge up carefully and put a very small amount of oil in where you lifted the label up. Now add some graphite powder in the same place where you put the oil, add as much or a bit more of the graphite powder than the oil. Clean off excess oil and graphite and push the label back where it was. You may need a very small amount of duct tape to hold the label in position and to prevent leakage. This is important if the fan is going to "sit up" as opposed to lying flat.
Now put the fan back where you want it and when it starts spinning it may be noisy for a few seconds until the graphite\oil works its way in. Then it will stop and it will stay stopped for many years and you may very well not need to buy a new fan after all!
I experimented a lot with this and this is the very best way to quiet all those fans and have them work well. I have always been a big fan of those removable ide hard drive trays that you can buy. But the fans are the pits, they get noisy real fast. So i had to find a way to fix them as they are very expensive and hard to replace. Now i dont have to. Combo of oil and graphite is the very best, by far. One caution, graphite stains worse than
oil, so be careful! Im talking about staining your clothes and hands.
You can use this system with all cpu fans, video card fans, system fans, and even fans inside power supplies. But one word of caution, its easy to open a power supply and take out the fan, but do be careful as there are voltages there can can hurt you badly. If you dont know what you are doing then wear rubber gloves to get the fan out and to put the fan back in after the
Trust me, this will work. If the fan spins my method will work for years and I have even fixed fans that were stuck and wouldnt spin! This is better done with the fan on the table but in those cases where you cant or dont want
to take the fan out of the system, thats where the "pen" with the needle comes in again, but i still find a way to get some graphite in as well, graphite is what makes the oil last a long time! And graphite is also an oil, but you need both together for maximum effectiveness. Oil by itself will only last a few weeks or so and then evaporate, and the fan will get noisy again. Its the graphite powder that does the long term job. The oil really only helps to spread the graphite powder around really well so the graphite can do the job!
Hope you do as well as i have with this info!
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A tour through the wine country of sunny Burgenland is a true pleasure – for oenophiles as well as architecture fans. Over the past years more and more Burgenland vintners have favoured a building style that presents the centuries-old art of viticulture in a modern, aesthetically appealing way, demonstrating how successful the symbiosis of wine and architecture can be.
The Hillinger Winery, for example, charms visitors with its spectacular architectural style, yet is quite literally integrated into its environment. Taking advantage of the earth’s climate, most of the building is buried into a slope, which is planted with grapes. The visible part of the structure, with the cube-shaped tasting lounge, rests on slender columns, seeming to virtually hover above the ground. The large panorama window affords views far across the vineyards and the Leitha Mountains. Wherever possible, nature was incorporated into the planning process. An example of this would be the natural light for the underground production facility, which is among the most modern in Europe, that is supplied by eight pyramid-shaped skylights protruding from the ground.
Many traditional wine estates have not been rebuilt but expanded in an aesthetic manner, such as the Heinrich Winery in Gols. Despite its large dimensions, the wine-production hall gives off an unmistakable feeling of lightness. The structure is also remarkable for a number of well planned details. The large overhang of the roof provides additional open-air storage and work space that is protected from the elements, while the natural transverse ventilation moderates the temperature in the interior.
The wineries are not the only place to sample the internationally acclaimed Burgenland wines. There are plenty of tempting alternatives – although contemporary architecture remains a constant companion. The cube-like, glass-walled Mole West, for example, located literally on top of Lake Neusiedl, is completely surrounded by water. Here guests can bask in the warm sun not only on the large terrace, but also in the restaurant’s interior, which faces south and can be shaded if necessary by a membrane construction on the outside of the building. From inside as well as out, guests can enjoy spectacular views across the enormous steppe lake as far as the horizon.
At the end of an eventful day, the time comes to think about lodgings for the night – and this is another area where a traveller is spoiled for choice in Burgenland. Some prefer accommodation with a modern design, such as the Wohnothek am Ratschen, while others wish to experience typical Pannonian architecture, like a traditional Burgenland farmhouse or an overnight stay in a castle. Both have their charm: one offers lodgings in modernistic cottages with loft-like interiors and a great deal of wood, while the other is delightfully nostalgic, with massive ceiling beams, walls full of nooks and crannies and white-washed surfaces. Incidentally, a particularly good example of modern architecture surrounded by traditional Pannonian buildings is the Franz Liszt concert hall in Raiding. Like the farmhouses around it, the restrained, symmetrical structure is characterized by white walls and wood floors, but the large windows in the foyer offer a view of Liszt’s birthplace and blur the boundary between interior and exterior.
While Burgenland offers many exciting and impressive examples of contemporary architecture, one should by all means visit the historic castles of the region as well, such as Forchtenstein Castle, Lockenhaus Castle and Güssing Castle. Esterházy Palace is one of Austria’s loveliest Baroque palaces and – it nearly goes without saying – also operates its own winery. Which brings us back to our original topic: wine. So this would be a good time to relax with a fine glass of Blaufränkisch – a typical variety of the region – and relive the experiences of an eventful day spent exploring the Burgenland countryside. | <urn:uuid:bca22a19-def8-41c1-b777-bf3dca3d1551> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.austria.info/uk/architectural-highlights-austria/architectural-highlights-burgenland-1789228.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948937 | 829 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Was the killing of Madame Anne-Marie Buemondi on a hillside in Provence a few days before Christmas 1942 personal or political? Her husband, assistant director of the fine arts school in Cannes, not only had access to the antique crossbow that killed his wife but was sleeping with her latest lover, young Angelique; her former lover, weaver Viviane Darnot, was consumed with jealousy; and one of her twin daughters, an epileptic, needed restraints to keep her from violence. In addition, Jean-Paul Delphane, a member of the Deuxième Bureau now colluding with the Nazis, drops manipulative hints that Madame had been part of a Resistance escape route and that her killer might have been someone averse to the work of the maquis. While Gestapo Haupsturmführer Hermann Kohler toils under a Nazi ultimatum that he uncover the Resistance fighters within four days or every man and boy in the village will be executed, his wartime investigating partner, Sûreté Chief Inspector Jean-Louis St-Cyr, must reconsider his own and Delphane’s prewar links to the death of a Chamonix financier with ties to Viviane, the twins’ birth, and Madame’s desperate need for cash just before her death. Only after many more fatalities will a bleeding Kohler and an exhausted St-Cyr meet on the hillside with the collaborator, the weaver, and one of the twins to learn of more deaths and cause still another.
A kaleidoscope of brutal, constantly shifting patterns and alliances, with no easy relief for St-Cyr and Kohler, who are immediately packed off to another case in Lyon when this one ends. First published, like Mannequin (1998), in Great Britain (1993). | <urn:uuid:f4deb47a-08c4-41cf-93b3-4f0b040e4fca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/j-robert-janes/kaleidoscope/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948416 | 381 | 1.507813 | 2 |
There might be many ways of treating bipolar disorder. The best result would be that the person affected feel better and have a well functioning life. Even though there are standards, treatment will always be based on a complex set of personal factors - what works for me might not work for you, and vice verse.
On a regular basis we get posts here in r/bipolarreddit about alternative ways of treating bipolar disorder. Some think that we are the new branch of evolution and that medicine only disturbs our natural abilities. Others think that the moderators of the forum are representatives of “big pharma” and that this causes us to block all posts about alternative treatments. Others again feel that everybody should smoke a lot of weed and that this will fix all our problems. After a discussion, the moderators have decided to make a stand against alternative medicine as a treatment for bipolar disorder.
We wish to address suggestions to treatment of bipolar disorder through various supplements that can be defined as alternative medicine. We, the moderators, believe this forum should try to be based around reason, science and facts. If there are activities, food, herbs or other things people believe people can benefit from - we will accept a debate around this as long as these posts can be backed up by science. If yoga helps you - good! If exercise helps you - great. If smoking weed helps you - ok - but for all cases – if you suggest it as treatment you need to show us some proof that it might help others. This proof should be delivered through references too peer reviewed
articles. But – in the case you suggest that people switch their Lithium with vitamins or sugar pills - your post will be moderated and your account will be followed by the moderators. Why? We think Bluesatin said it well: “If your bipolar was suppressed with multi-vitamins, as far as I'm concerned you were misdiagnosed.” And if you are not even bipolar you should surely not be giving any advice about treatment here in r/bipolarreddit.
“Public acceptance of alternative medicine has been fuelled by a sense of disillusionment many have come to feel toward all authority figures in these troubled times. The rush to dethrone physicians is born of an odd mix of social envy, nostalgia, and disappointment, the latter arising from a number of admittedly over-reaching promises upon which biomedicine has yet to make good. Disaffection has also been prompted by a growing feeling that medical care has become too rushed, overly-technical, and depersonalized. Other detractors are unhappy at the lack of cures for certain chronic conditions which biomedicine does not always manage as well as sufferers might wish. This disenchantment has been intensified in some quarters by a renewed willingness to entertain grand conspiracy theories. An anti-science and anti-physician backlash has resulted from this need to believe that secret plotting on the part of powerful self-serving cabals underlies society’s shortcomings. As a powerful institution with political aims of its own, medicine has filled the role of villain for various conspiracy mongers. Proponents of alternative medicine have been quick to capitalize on this climate of suspicion because it supports their claim that their rejection by orthodox practitioners is merely a ploy to protect the influence and earnings of the medical establishment. Unfortunately, many in their audience seem incapable of separating whatever misgivings they might have about the socio-political activities of doctors as a powerful, self-regulating profession from the question of whether the treatments biomedicine has at its command are genuinely better than those of the “alternatives.” Barry L. Beyerstein, Ph.D.
“Holistic medicine tends to fill the void some feel has been created by the technocratization and depersonalization of orthodox medicine. Alternative healers provide comfort and possibly add to the quality of life for those for whom neither they nor orthodox physicians can offer a cure. Its emphasis on interpersonal relations, healthy lifestyle and disease prevention, and its advocacy of using the least invasive effective remedy are worth encouraging. Alternative practices should continue to be carefully combed for those that can pass scientific scrutiny. However, the “alternatives’” tendency to divert patients from more effective, scientifically proven therapies are costs to them, and its popularization of pseudoscience and magical thinking are costs to us all. The burden of proof remains on the proponents—our demand should always be for objective evidence, for as Francis Bacon warned, “...what a man had rather were true he more readily believes.” Barry L. Beyerstein, Ph.D.
TL:DR r/bipolarreddit demands that you post links to peer reviewed articles if you are suggesting some way of treating bipolar disorder. Any suggestions that the moderators define as “alternative medicine” will be deleted and the user posting this will be banned.
(Please excuse any bad language as I am not from an English speaking country) | <urn:uuid:15c91eb7-780a-43d4-b786-b6915da40fe1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reddit.com/r/BipolarReddit/comments/m4pm2/psa_references_to_alternative_medicine_as/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963518 | 1,017 | 1.625 | 2 |
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
This essay reports the results of a survey of financial executives. Twenty-four percent of them said rule-breaking was an essential part of being successful. That included illegal and unethical conduct such as insider trading. If this is a true reflection of the industry, CEOs of financial firms should be concerned. They know already the perils of being caught, the enormous fines and harm to the reputations of individuals and organizations. How is it that financial executives could be so short-sighted? It seems that winning day-to-day is more important to them than success in the long run. Unfortunately for them, they will be judged by their actions and more will go to prison. From a PR perspective, such conduct is dumb, and corporations should get rid of these people sooner rather than later. It is difficult enough to work in financial markets with intensified regulation. One doesn't need to battle regulators at the same time. | <urn:uuid:d0195d17-ea88-418a-a032-3746b92876ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online-pr.blogspot.com/2012/07/chilling-if-true.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979903 | 190 | 1.539063 | 2 |
An Introduction to Stock & Options for the Tech Entrepreneur or Startup Employee Authors: Mike Sullivan, David Weekly (edited by Mike Sullivan)"You'd like to start a company or join a tech startup? You didn't go to business school? Frankly, most MBA programs won't teach you much about what goes in to actually making a startup. Most of what you need to know you learn "on the job" as you're founding your first business, which can be downright scary when you're in an environment with people who have seen a thousand people just like you and understand all the subtleties and lingo and incentives and laws."
To read this article in its entirety, click here. | <urn:uuid:d73317e0-edc3-4aa8-9f99-1f264c3a1989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pillsburylaw.com/publications/an-introduction-to-stock-andamp-options-for-the-tech-entrepreneur-or-startup-employee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971051 | 140 | 1.679688 | 2 |
1) How does buddhism explain demonic possession, since buddhism says that there is not a soul?
2) How is performed a ritual for expulse the demon? Who can do that?
3) As a normal person (i mean, a person that is not a master or a monk), what can i do to protect myself from demons or even to make them flew away from my life?
4) Could it be possible that doing nienfo/amitabha recitations protects me from demons?
Thank you for reading this and answer.
Any Buddhist mantra that you have confidence in, will protect you from demons. NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA is a good one. Also GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA from the Heart Sutra is very effective. Another mantra is from the Shurangama Sutra, but it is very long. So I would suggest the 11 line heart of the long mantra. See it in my post at the end of the Shurangama Dharani thread here at Dharma Wheel.
So, the Shurangama Mantra was not spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha himself in the flesh, but rather it was proclaimed by the transformation-body Buddha he sent out into empty space. As to the mantra, no one understands it. Nor is it possible to explain it syllable by syllable and line by line. But if you want to understand it, I can try to explain it for you. However, this is not the time for that, because we are in the middle of the explanation of the Shurangama Sutra, and the mantra alone couldn't be completely explained in a year, or even in three years, or even ten years. So, at this point it cannot be explained thoroughly. I will simply explain the general meaning of the mantra.
The mantra has five divisions which correspond to the five directions : north, south, east, west, and the middle. The eastern division is the Vajra division, with Akshobhya Buddha as the teaching host. The southern division is the Production-of-Jewels division, with Production-of-Jewels Buddha as the teaching host. The central division is the Buddha division, with Shakyamuni Buddha as the teaching host. The western division is the Lotus division, with Amitabha Buddha as the teaching host. The northern division is the Karma division, with Accomplishment Buddha as the teaching host. There are five divisions, because there are five huge demonic armies in this world. There are demons to the east, south, west, north, and in the center. Since there are these five demon armies, not just five demons, the Buddhas also cover the five directions to suppress the demons. If there were no Buddhas, the demons could appear openly in the world.
Within the five divisions of the mantra there are, in general, more than thirty dharmas, and it has more than a hundred dharmas that can be discussed in detail. There are five major kinds of dharmas:
1) Dharmas of accomplishment. This means that with this dharma, you will be successful in what you seek or in what you vow or wish for.
2) Dharmas of increasing benefit. This means that when you recite this mantra, you can increase benefits which you yourself seek and you can also increase benefits for other people.
3) Dharmas of hooking and summoning. This means, literally, to "hook in" and catch and to call with a command all the weird beings, demons, and ghosts. No matter how far away they might be from you, you can bring them in and capture them. For instance, suppose one of them is harming someone, and when they finish they run away. If one knows how to use the dharma of hooking and summoning, then no matter how far that being may have run, you can arrest him.
4) Dharmas of subduing. Demons also have spiritual penetrations and mantras which they use. When you recite your mantras, they recite their mantras. But if you can use the Shurangama Mantra, you can smash through all their mantras. I've told you before about the section of the mantra which is for smashing the demon kings. It also is effective in destroying their mantras and spells. Although I've taught you this already, it bears repeating here. Those who have not studied this yet can take note of it. Why was it that as soon as the Shurangama Mantra was recited the former Brahma Heaven mantra lost its effectiveness? It was because of the "Five Great Heart Mantras."
Chr Two Ni
E Jya La
Mi Li Ju
Bwo Li Dan La Ye
Ning Jye Li
These five lines are called the "Five Great Heart Mantras." It is the fundamental mantra for destroying the mantras and spells of the heavenly demons and adherents of externalist ways. It doesn't matter what kind of mantra they come up with; you can destroy it with this one. Their mantras will lose their effectiveness. This dharma I've just transmitted could sell for several million dollars, but I do not sell it. Seeing that you have a certain amount of sincerity, I transmit it to you absolutely free.
Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 8 guests | <urn:uuid:5223a750-ec3a-4ce4-b19e-d4b03ab5d637> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=13707 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963648 | 1,121 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Hattie The Bad : Hattie was bad - from frogs in the fridge, to paint everywhere, to the occasional sale of her little brother at the yard sale. Yes, Hattie was SO bad, no one was allowed to play with her. And let's face it: Being bad by yourself is no fun. So Hattie decides to become good. Hattie the Good cleans her room, goes to bed early, and is an angel at school. Now everyone is allowed to play with her - but no one wants to. After all, what fun is a girl SO good that she makes everyone else look bad? Hattie is in a fix. What's a good, bad little girl to do?
|Ficción para Niños||Social Situations| | <urn:uuid:40b31c7e-cde7-4f3a-ac41-20763573ea5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ofertondelibros.com/Libreria/Libro/Hattie-The-Bad/_/R-9780803734470B | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935218 | 159 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Government Audit Accuses Energy Dept. of Ignoring Own Guidelines for Green Energy Loans
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
While operating its $34 billion loan guarantee program, the Department of Energy has sometimes ignored its own rules for properly approving green energy financing. The program is supposed to support projects that deal with solar power, wind energy, geothermal power and biomass, as well those that advance nuclear power and fossil fuels.
After conducting an audit of the program, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Energy Department “in some cases deviated from the process without a clear explanation why,” Frank Rusco, the GAO auditor who wrote the report, told iWatch News. “This has gotten the program in trouble in the past and certainly raises questions that are hard for them to answer.” Some private energy analysts say that the department’s guidelines are fine…it’s just that they aren’t followed.
The GAO reviewed 13 winning applications and discovered that the department failed to adhere to written procedures at least once in 11 of the cases. In addition, the audit “identified more than 80 instances of deficiencies in documentation,” including missing signatures and dates. In six of the thirteen cases studied, the Energy Department failed to obtain a final independent engineering report before committing to the loan guarantee.
At least four of businesses who were approved for loan guarantees have filed for bankruptcy, including the high-profile cases of Solyndra Inc. and Beacon Power.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
To Learn More:
Audit Cites Risk In DOE Loan Program (by Ronnie Greene, iWatch News)
DOE Loan Guarantees: Further Actions Are Needed to Improve Tracking and Review of Applications (Government Accountability Office) (pdf)
Green Energy Firms Took Government Money, Awarded Bonuses, Filed for Bankruptcy (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Obama Administration Ignored Accurate Warnings about Failed Solar Company (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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- United States Trade Representative: Who Is Michael Froman? | <urn:uuid:53e389b4-478e-47d4-b5a8-2397cccc97e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/government-audit-accuses-energy-dept-of-ignoring-own-guidelines-for-green-energy-loans?news=844172 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930799 | 558 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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UTSA student government members learn about green efforts at national institute
(July 19, 2011)--UTSA Student Government Association officers learned about sustainability efforts at campuses around the country this month when they attended the National Association of Campus Activities Student Government Institute at the University of Denver. They met with student government officers from schools including Washington State, Virginia Tech and University of San Francisco.
"It was inspiring to see so many active student leaders from across the country, all in one location, working towards a common goal of improving campus life and sustainability," said Xavier Johnson, SGA president at UTSA.
The student government institute provides the opportunity to learn about best practices, receive training in specific areas, and network with other student leaders and student affairs professionals. In addition to sustainability, the officers attended sessions on ethics, strategic planning and creative problem solving.
After the conference, the UTSA students explored the environment and did team building by hiking and rock climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park. | <urn:uuid:750816c3-d856-4935-9ad4-b2a555aaba34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://utsa.edu/today/2011/07/denverinstitute.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94198 | 229 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Financial data has been released by SSE.
A new visitor centre has been opened by EDF.
Several UK local authorities are at risk of breaching energy efficiency laws, it has emerged.
The number of people affected by fuel poverty in Oxford is rising, it has emerged.
The government must take action to cut fuel poverty.
The government has launched the Big Energy Saving Network.
Rural households are hit the hardest by fuel poverty in the UK, new research has shown.
Vulnerable households are parting with £250 more per year for gas and electricity in the current economic climate.
British Gas has announced the launch of its Green Deal Finance Plans scheme in England and Wales.
The government has unveiled plans that aim to encourage more consumers to switch energy suppliers. | <urn:uuid:b7caa788-9168-4051-b5c1-1ed9d16db2aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energyhelpline.com/rspb/fri/domesticenergy/news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972349 | 157 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Vakit, May 25-2008
Adnan Oktar: Everything goes in a good and promising way insha’Allah. LET THE MUSLIMS LOVE EACH OTHER PRETTY MUCH AND WATCH OVER EACH OTHER, SAFEGUARD EACH OTHER. Let there be no divisions as different congregations, different groups. Especially it is significant that excessive behaviours should be avoided among different congregations and groups. IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO GET TOGETHER IN ONE THOUGHT. The Muslims who believe in the Sunnah of our Prophet (saas) should come together, EVENT IF THEY ARE SHIA OR JAFARIYA. IT IS VITAL TO COME TOGETHER AROUND THE QUR’AN AND THE SUNNAH OF OUR PROPHET (SAAS) AND BECOME ONE BODY, INSHA’ALLAH.
Azerbaycan Public Newspaper, October 6-2008
Adnan Oktar: The Caucasian people will be asked under which country’s flag or leadership they would prefer to unite? Which country do they like best? And they will say they like Turkey. They will say that let the Turkish State become our big brother, guide us, band us together. Let each state preserve a seperate, free and independent body in its own right but let Turkey be their big brother, be their spiritual leader. They will give neither the name of America nor Russia but they will say the salvation is Turkey insha’Allah. But indeed we are a friend of America and also a friend of Russia. Russia is our good old friend. It is a noble nation. The people are beautiful and the country is beautiful indeed. We love Russian people. In fact it is a Turkish country as well. Wherever you go in Russia, you come across a Turk, come across a Muslim. As a matter of fact, as you may know, they have also offered to become a member of Islamic Union. So we should approach the Russian people with great love and respect. And Americans are already the people of the Book. They fear Allah, they believe in Allah. American people are cheerful and kind-hearted. The general public can never be blamed for anything. The problem is always with the ruling people. The freemasonry is the problem. Therefore the public is always innocent, good natured, and ethic. We will look after these people, the nations in such countries insha’Allah.
Haberturk, February 4-2010
After 18 years of separation, the Russian Muslims prepare to unite under one frame.
Yeni Asya, February 4-2010 | <urn:uuid:ee22774d-846f-47ce-a652-7ea5d998d8df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.harunyahya.com/en/What-he-said-What-happened/22151/A-friendly-hand-from-Russia-to-Islam | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93726 | 544 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Higher Alcohol Screening Scores Lead To More Post-Op Care
According to the results of a new study published in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, patients who score highest on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test–Consumption (AUDIT-C) experience longer post-operative hospital stays and more days in the intensive care unit (ICU). They are also more likely to return to the operating room within 30 days of a surgical procedure than patients with low AUDIT-C scores. As a result, study authors determined alcohol screening could be used to identify patients at risk for increased post-operative use of healthcare resources.
Alcohol misuse is a risk factor for post-operative complications and scores from the AUDIT-C can identify surgical patients who are at increased risk. Little is known about whether pre-operative alcohol screening can also identify patients who will use more healthcare resources after a surgical procedure. The AUDIT-C is a validated three-item alcohol screening questionnaire scored on a scale of 0 to 12 points, with higher scores indicating heavier drinking and greater risk of alcohol-related health problems. The results of this study showed that high-risk drinkers (AUDIT-C scores 9 to 12) experienced increased inpatient healthcare use relative to low-risk drinkers (AUDIT-C scores 1 to 4) in all areas except hospital readmissions. Specifically, men with high-risk drinking spent nearly a day longer in the hospital and 1.5 more days in the ICU, and they were twice as likely to return to the OR when compared with low-risk drinkers (10 percent versus five percent, respectively).
“The findings from this study indicate that pre-operative alcohol screening might serve as an effective tool to identify patients at risk for increased post-operative care,” said Anna D. Rubinsky, PhC, lead author of the study and a researcher at Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington. “Implementing pre-operative alcohol screening and providing proactive interventions could potentially decrease the need for costly post-operative resources and improve patient outcomes.”
The new study, conducted by researchers at VA Health Services Research and Development (K. Bradley, Principal Investigator, now at Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA), examined the association between AUDIT-C scores from up to one year before an operation and post-operative hospital length-of-stay (LOS), total ICU days, return to the OR, and hospital readmission among men admitted to VA hospitals nationwide for major surgical procedures.
Other studies have found that 16 percent of men undergoing major surgical procedures screen positive for alcohol misuse in the year prior to operations, and have AUDIT-C scores associated with increased complications (scores 5 to 12). More than one-quarter of these patients have scores also associated with increased post-operative healthcare resource usage (scores 9 to 12.)
Moreover, evidence suggests that pre-operative interventions for heavy drinkers could help. A previous randomized, controlled trial among patients scheduled for elective colorectal surgery who reported drinking more than four drinks daily found that patients who stopped drinking for one month prior to the procedure reduced their risk for post-operative complications by as much as 50 percent.
Many factors can contribute to increased post-operative healthcare use, including surgical complications, more complex procedures and pre-operative morbidity, all of which are more common among heavy drinkers. The study’s findings factored in differences in socio-demographic variables such as age, race, marital status and disability due to military service; smoking status; type of surgical procedure; and surgical complexity. Additionally, the study found post-operative complications accounted for much of the increased health care utilization.
Interestingly, the study used low-risk drinkers as a reference point because previous studies have shown that non-drinkers have poorer health and are at greater risk of post-operative complications than low-risk drinkers, possibly because non-drinkers may have stopped due to previous complications related to drinking.
The study included 5,171 male VA patients who completed the AUDIT-C on mailed surveys and were hospitalized for non-emergency, non-cardiac operations in the following year. Women were excluded due to low numbers with high AUDIT-C scores. Of the 280 eligible women, only five percent had scores in the highest AUDIT-C risk groups. | <urn:uuid:4d1a9679-d882-44a7-b98b-9b348ee4e4a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surgicalproductsmag.com/print/news/2012/03/higher-alcohol-screening-scores-lead-more-post-op-care?qt-recent_blogs_articles=0&qt-recent_videos=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956075 | 904 | 1.65625 | 2 |
More than 1,500 New Yorkers gathered today in Manhattan to mourn the death of a 32 year-old gay man, who was shot down on Friday just blocks away from the historic Stonewall Inn in an apparent act of anti-gay bias.
Community Mourns Loss of Transgender Teen Shelley Hilliard
Family, friends and community members are mourning the loss of Shelley Hilliard, a 19-year-old transgender woman who was reported missing several weeks ago. Last week, police were able to identify a burned torso found on Detroit's east side as belonging to Shelley, who was also known as Treasure.
"She was loved by a lot of people, a lot of friends, a lot of family," Shelley’s mother Lyniece Nelson (pictured right holding a photo of Shelley) told The Detroit News. "She just brought joy to everyone that she came in contact with. She was always there for her family.”
Shelley was last seen at 1:20 a.m. on October 23, reported the Detroit Free Press. According to her mother, a cab driver Shelley often relied on for rides dropped her off at a home that night where three men were waiting for her. When Shelley called the driver back, he heard screams and muffling before the phone went dead. By the time he got back around the corner, there was no one in sight, Lyniece said.
Police are investigating Shelley’s death as a homicide. While it’s unclear whether Shelley’s murder was motivated by anti-transgender bias, research shows that transgender women are devastatingly impacted by bias-motivated crime. A recent report released by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that transgender women constituted 44% of LGBT hate crime victims in the past year, and people of color constituted 70% of the victims.
The Detroit Free Press also reported that Shelley will be recognized during a Detroit event that will be held in observance of the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to honor the memory of those whose lives were lost due to anti-transgender violence.
The event is scheduled to be held on Friday, November 18, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., at Central United Methodist Church, on the corner of Woodward and Adams in Detroit.
GLAAD has been closely monitoring the media’s coverage of Shelley’s tragic death and reached out to various media outlets that inaccurately used her given name. Often transgender people cannot afford a legal name change or are not yet old enough to change their name legally. They should be afforded the same respect for their chosen name as anyone else who lives by a name other than their birth name. The Huffington Post and Detroit Crime Examiner were among the media outlets that updated their stories to honor Shelley’s life and memory. GLAAD is continuing to work with community partners, including Equality Michigan and the Ruth Ellis Center, to ensure that the media is accurately and fairly reporting this story.
GLAAD mourns Shelley’s death and wishes all the best to her friends, family, and loved ones during this difficult time. | <urn:uuid:c5d6613e-f4db-452e-97e9-18453043d5d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.glaad.org/comment/11068 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98136 | 641 | 1.773438 | 2 |
- When is the election?
- Who will be able to vote for Pam?
- Am I in the 11th judicial subcircuit?
- What’s the difference between subcircuit judges and judges elected countywide?
- Am I eligible to vote?
- When is the deadline to register to vote?
- How do I register to vote?
- Where do I vote?
- Can I vote early?
- Can I vote absentee?
- How can I help Pam get elected?
The primary election is Tuesday, March 20, 2012. Pam is running in the Democratic primary. The general election is November 6, 2012.
Anyone who is registered to vote in the 11th judicial subcircuit of Cook County. See the map below.
This map shows the boundaries of the 11th judicial subcircuit. Roughly half the voters in the subcircuit live in the City of Chicago, half in suburban Cook County.
Once elected, there is no difference. Both types of judge serve all Cook County residents and can be assigned to any courtroom in the county.
Before 1992, all Cook County judicial elections were held countywide. For the 1992 election, Cook County was divided into 15 judicial subcircuits to give communities the chance to elect judges from their own areas. Now, every two years some judges are elected countywide and some are elected from subcircuits. Pam is running from the 11th subcircuit, where she lives.
To vote, you must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old by Election Day, and a resident of your precinct at least 30 days prior to Election Day.
To vote in the March 20, 2012 primary, you must register by Tuesday, February 21. After that, there is a 14-day “grace period” during which you may register and vote immediately by touch-screen ballot. See http://voterinfonet.com/sub/register.asp#gpv for details.
You can register at various government offices, Secretary of State facilities, by mail, or at other locations by a deputy election registrar. For locations and details, see http://voterinfonet.com if you live in suburban Cook County and http://chicagoelections.com if you live in the City of Chicago.
If you live in suburban Cook County, go to http://voterinfonet.com. Enter your address to find out where to vote and what races will be on your ballot. If you live in the City of Chicago, go to http://chicagoelections.com
Yes, you can vote early for the March primary -- for any reason -- between Monday, February 27 and Thursday, March 15, 2012. Early voting takes place in person (not by mail) at designated sites. See http://voterinfonet.com (suburban Cook County) or http://chicagoelections.com (City of Chicago) for locations, times and other details for early voting.
Yes, you can vote absentee by mail. It is no longer necessary to give an excuse to get an absentee ballot. You may apply for an absentee ballot starting February 9, 2012 for the March 20 election. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot by mail is March 15. For your ballot to count, you must return it postmarked on or before March 19, the day before the election. See http://voterinfonet.com (suburban Cook County) or http://chicagoelections.com (City of Chicago) for eligibility rules and other details and to download an application.
You can help get the word out to voters. Since Pam would serve as judge for all of Cook County, anyone who wants to elect qualified Cook County judges should take an interest in the race--whether they live in the 11th subcircuit or not. You can spread the word to voters through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other networks. You can help the campaign reach voters by making a donation to help pay for mailings, lawn signs and buttons. You can attend a campaign event or volunteer for the campaign. Join our e-mail list to keep up to date on the campaign’s progress. | <urn:uuid:82b51f06-23ce-4077-9aeb-4e9467345bb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.votemeyerson.com/frequently-asked-questions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952735 | 875 | 1.523438 | 2 |
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