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Incoming train HL
Although we thought moles were cute, in a cave on an island nearly fifteen mole trains were being used by moles to take food under a jungle, to feed hundreds of moles. They have a king called “earth”. Some moles are scared but this is very nice, he had made that no one has broken. Most food that moles eat was up trees so they pushed through the earth then token any tree underground. They token many trees but no animal notice. Soddenly a spaceship landed on a train, the moles were shock as a monster appeared…
nuclear worm rampage morgan
It was just a normal day in small Oakwood valley, something fishy was going on. There was a pause then a rumble as “it” was pushing through the earth, the nuclear earth worm was here. It snaffled anything in its path including an old man who had just crossed the road, he had been eaten. The nuclear waste worm was once a normal worm until the toxic waste spilled, it leaked into his body, causing him to grow and become a man-eating worm. He rose and began to search for a restaurant to eat. The people from Oakwood valley began to panic because no one ever caught him.
George 100wc
On one very unusual day in the middle of summer there was a man who decided he wanted to dig as far down as he could. When he started he was going strong but he slowed, every hour he started to slow and soon it was getting dark; if he was to stay he would be eaten by who knows what. That morning when he got up he rushed outside and found that not only was there no one around but a massive hole he must have magically pushed through the earth .
100wc The Threat By Tilly
I was starving. I had been waiting for ages, anxiously trying to hide from the fierce and powerful Germans. All I had was family and my diary named ‘Kitty’ and a wireless. Gradually the wireless was turned on by my mother. Winston Churchill was making one of his long speeches. He softly said that meetings were held across the country to find an answer to the war. Spies were told to go and investigate what was happening. Meanwhile more and more people were creeping into the secret hiding place that me and my family were in. It was starting to get quite full. I then saw a shadow in the distance …..
ww2 by bc
Dear Diary,
All of the villagers fled to the church where the vicar had a wireless. Everyone sat down and listened to the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He said’’ everyone listen meetings are being held all over the country to find answers if we are go to invade the Germans. Everyone was relieved by this news it was amazing finally everyone new they now were safe we all went home and I wanted it to all be over mum and dad where putting up the blackout blinds finally it was tea time for tea it was potatoes and peas. I ate my tea really quickly because I wanted to read my holy bible.
112 word challange !
Dear Diary
Today meetings where held across the country to find an answer to all of the rumours that war was being declared. I was waiting patiently in my room while my mum and dad argued about what was going to happen, I was petrified so much that I was biting my nails and wondering what to do. After what seemed like hours on end, I decided to go downstairs. I picked up the wireless, turned the knobs and started to listen to Neville Chamberlain declaring war.
So that’s what I wrote when my teacher asked me to write a diary and imagine I was a little girl finding out about war.
chased by Germans by oliver
“Run!” shouted Dad, “The Germans are chasing us!” Anxi ously, I ran round the shop corner. It was horrible being chased by the German soldiers who were chasing us because my dad interrupted their meeting about how to invade England. Suddenly Dad held my hand and dragged me down a hole. I saw the Germans run past us. Dad took me to his office then he told me to push a bookcase out of the way. Behind the bookcase was a door. I went inside the dusty old door. ”Get in Dad, I can hear the Germans coming!” We locked the door. Meetings were held all over the country to find us…
world war 2 100wc year 4 Alex
Today we were at war, big war, I am Jewish boy 8 years and my name is jack, and she is my Jewish sister. Called Laura, Laura was 5 years old. Just the mum said “tea time” me and my sister went to the toilet to wash my hands. Just then when me and my sister sat down dad came rushing through the, soaking wet. After dinner we all heard some bangs outside they came closer and closer and closer, then dad looked out then he barked” it’s a German bomber quick into the cellar “everybody got to the cellar, just then the cellar roof broke that was the end of us then.
World war two was a treacherous time nothing but madness, no one was thinking, it was nothing but war! I’ve heard a story of a family who lived in world war two, I can tell you if you like. It was dark times, dark times. Back then the sky was blacker than black and often you couldn’t see the sky, just German aeroplanes. On Tottenham Court somewhere in London there was a small family of Jew’s in a house. They had been hiding away from the Germans in the house so they would not be killed. When they were at the table waiting for their dad to knock on the door there was the knock they had been waiting for. They opened the door to find their dad with his hands up and 20 German soldiers behind him!
The news of war HL
Dear Harris,
There have been meetings held across the country to find an answer about whether we are at war or not. I’m scared because if it does start I would be send to the country side and that spells danger. If this war starts we are going to South America. I have seen a school there that we can go to, however England is the only place that I like. Normally I would be alright but I’m shaking as I ‘m writing this letter for you. See you on the day this war begins. | <urn:uuid:249740cd-7b6d-4d98-b78f-7b7fda90c0f6> | 2 | 1.570313 | 0.338173 | en | 0.990872 | https://stockbridgec.wordpress.com/category/100-word-challenge/ |
Workspace Conversations
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Quite often it is the case that a conversation can turn into a brainstorming session. You can easily convert conversations into tasks if they take on greater importance.
All of the comments from the conversation will appear in the task, but you will have to give your newly created task both an assignee and due dates. You cannot turn a task back into a conversation.
Move a conversation
Any member of a workspace can move a public conversation to another workspace. Just click on the dropdown arrow and choose the Move option. You will be prompted to choose the destination workspace.
Create and reply to conversations by email
All users can create new conversations or reply to existing ones. Every workspace has an identifier located in its settings — send an email to this identifier and a new conversation will be created. You can also send an attachment to the conversation but it must be less then 10MB.
To reply to a conversation by email just click on the drop-down arrow and select the option Reply by email. A message will appear showing the email address to reply to.
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Mouseland (why do people vote against their self-interest?)
“All the laws were good laws. For cats.”—Tommy Douglas
The other day I called Telus to cancel my campaign phones and internet service. Groan. After listening to canned music for 17 minutes I was transferred to a customer service rep. He took my information, argued with me when I wouldn’t give him my email address, and finally transferred me to the cancellation department…where I was put on hold. Groan. After listening to canned music for 6 minutes the cancellation rep came on the line.
She was a lovely woman who follows politics closely. We had a lively discussion about the recent by-elections and the astounding fact that the PCs were elected in all four ridings.
“Why do Albertans continue to vote the PCs into office?” I wondered.
“Ah,” she said, “you should check out Tommy Douglas’ Mouseland speech”. So I did.
Mouseland is a very short (and humorous) speech that is as relevant today as it was when Tommy Douglas first gave it in 1944.
Here’s the link. This is the animated version that’s introduced by Tommy Douglas’ grandson, Kiefer Sutherland. I’ll wait here while you check it out.
…(canned music)…
Did you check it out?
OK here’s the Cole’s Notes version.
Mouseland is a place where all the little mice lived. They had a Parliament and voted every 4 years. On election day all the little mice would go to the polls and elect a government—a government of made up of big, fat, black cats.
The cats passed good laws. Laws that were good for cats; but oh so hard on mice. They made mouseholes big enough for a cat’s paw to fit in and set speed limits on mice so they’d be easier to catch.
Life was hard for the mice and they finally decided to do something about it. They voted the black cats out and replaced them with …. white cats (who said things would be different). But things just got harder.
So the mice voted the white cats out and put the black cats back in, then they tried half white and half black cats (a coalition). But the trouble wasn’t the colour of the cats, it was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they looked after cats, not mice.
Finally a little mouse had an idea…instead of electing a government made up of cats, why don’t we elect a government made up of mice?
If you clicked the link you’ll know the joke comes here. Go ahead, check, I’ll wait.
(…canned music…)
Albertans, unlike the little mice, don’t bother voting in different coloured cats. They continue to vote for the same cats wearing different coloured collars. Redford had a red collar. Prentice has a reddish-blue collar. But anyone who has ever owned a cat knows that unless the collar is so tight it almost strangles the cat, he won’t be wearing it for long.
Okay, enough about cats and mice.
What’s the matter with Kansas?
Why do people continue to support conservative governments bent on deregulation, privatization and subsidization of corporations (and the wealthy) at the expense of public education, public healthcare, the frail, the elderly and the poor?
This question has bedeviled political scientists for decades.
Here are two competing theories:
The duping hypothesis: Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?, argues that the Right dupes voters into voting against their self-interest by “hooking” them with hot-button social issues like abortion, gun control, and gay marriage and then fanning the flames of a “class divide” (Rob Ford vs latte-drinking effetes).
He attributes the remarkable sea change in Kansas politics—the once progressive state voted 80% in favour of George Bush in 2000—to an anti-abortion demonstration held in Wichita in 1990.
The Republicans, ever mindful of opportunity, saw hundreds of anti-abortionists chain themselves to cars and lie down in the road and said: while we admire your courage and conviction, we’ve got something a lot smarter for you to do than lying on the highway. And it worked. People who weren’t the least bit “political” jumped at the chance to work with and vote for the Republicans and it snowballed from there.
It’s about moral vision, stupid: Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind,* says the duping hypothesis is delusional because it lets the Left to absolve itself from blame while avoiding the hard work necessary to develop a successful strategy for the 21st century.
Haidt says what’s really going on is this: the Right aligns itself with lofty moral values like patriotism, social order, strong families, free enterprise and rugged individualism (no nanny state for me!) instead of pedestrian government programs. So a vote for the Right is not a vote against one’s self-interest, but rather a vote in favour of one’s moral ideals.
Do either of these theories ring true in the Alberta context? Or is Mouseland actually Dreamland—a place where we believe that if we leave well enough alone it will all work out in the end?
Over to you Alberta…
(…cannned music…)
33 Responses to Mouseland (why do people vote against their self-interest?)
1. Carlos Beca says:
Susan 17 + 6 = 23 minutes. Not bad for Telus. I am surprised you only waited 23 minutes. Since they implemented the automated systems, which were supposed to offer quicker service, the waiting times are atrocious. On top of that we now get people that think that they have the right to treat you like you should not be calling in the first place. You were lucky that you were not redirected to Costa Rica or India where they have the same fix for every problem – Reboot.
People like Tommy Douglas will probably never be in politics for a long time to come. With the destruction of great Liberal Arts programs around the so called ‘First World’ because it just does not get you a job, it is no surprise that we have people that cannot think – they just repeat over and over what their master tell them to. Without any education in Liberal Arts people are less and less capable of understanding what is going on, make their own minds about difficult issues and try to offer suggestions based on fact, experience and wisdom. The extreme right wing wants them to be consumers and vote for them. Thinking? What is that for? The market will resolve our issues better than we can ever imagine. Just look around.
It is called in my dictionary, self inflicted stupidity and self destruction. The Islamic fundamentalist world does it with human bombs, we are more sophisticated. We guide them so ever gently into an absurd world without any objectives other than having lots of money, do whatever it takes to be a celebrity to ‘make it’ into the elites, and be a consumer.
• Carlos, picking up on your last point, we do indeed “guide them so ever gently into an absurd world without any objectives other than having lots of money, do whatever it takes to be a celebrity to ‘make it’ into the elites, and be a consumer”.
I’ve had this conversation about voting against one’s self-interest with many people. A friend told me that the progressives are asking people to vote against the American Dream. In the US everyone is a millionaire, some of them just haven’t made it yet. So why would they vote in favour of higher taxes and more support for the less fortunate when they don’t see themselves as belonging to that particular demographic for long. Like I said…Dreamland.
And yes, 23 minutes isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. I was once on hold with Air Canada for so long I fell asleep and almost lost my place in line when a real person finally came on the line!
• terry says:
You can look forward to the excitement of being a senior who waits: 16 months from paper application to receipt of first payment of Guaranteed Income Supplement — that’s the government subsidy for seniors living in poverty. The amount you get is another topic. Several wait times over 45 minsutes with Alberta Health Seniors because they only have one staff person. Most seniors don’t have a speaker phone, so that requires sitting for that time holding the receiver to your ear. Any request or attempt to get information, correct information, report not receiving money etc will require many such calls.
• Terry I fear things will only get worse now that oil prices have plummeted and the government has even less revenue to spend on health care, education and seniors care. We need to keep the pressure on our MLAs, it’s really all we can do until we get a chance to vote as many of them out of office as possible in 2016 or sooner.
Take care.
2. jvandervlugt says:
Hi Susan. People are petrified of change and trying something new. We’ve become complacent. I remember when Bush (can’t remember whether it was Bush 1 or Bush 2) used fear tactics during his campaign, I couldn’t believe people were falling for it. Whenever his image came on my TV screen hubby would have to change the channel. People would rather stick with the status quo because of fear that the other guy might be worst. C ‘mon, change it up. I hope this makes sense. I’m trying to respond while sitting on a bus.
• Joanna, the fact that Albertans couldn’t bring themselves to elect even one non-PC politician in the four by-elections proves your point. Albertans said they were steaming mad and were going to send the PCs a message…and yet they replaced all four MLAs with more PCs. They could have elected four Wildrose candidates and not have changed the balance of power one iota. But like the little mice, they fell for Prentice’s “new” message (the party is “under new management”, it needs to earn back the trust of the people, it will be accountable to the electorate, etc, etc, etc).
Prentice’s government, just like the Redford government and the Stelmach government before it, is busy taking care of business. The first official act of Stephen Mandel, the health minister, was to enact regulations banning flavoured cigarettes except menthol-flavoured tobacco which scientists say the most effect at luring young people into smoking. Apparently Hal Danchilla, a tobacco lobbyist, had been involved in Mandel and Prentice’s election campaigns. But that’s not it. According to Mandel he needs to do more consultation on menthol before banning it. Funny, when Redford government decided to drop the legal drinking limit to .05 and give itself the power to suspend drivers’ licences for 3 days and impound vehicles, they didn’t see any reason to consult with anyone at all.
3. Carlos Beca says:
LOL Susan about Air Canada. It seems that it is everywhere. We made our services like most of the rest of the World. Instead of improving them, we jumped on the Globalization band wagon and transformed great services into what I call ‘You only have a problem if you can wait on the phone for longer than 20 minutes’.
Susan I had never heard of your suggestion that ‘…. they do not see themselves as belonging to that particular demographic…..’ but it makes a lot of sense. Frankly, in the US I think that without a revolution they will not change. The money and interests are completely entrenched and I doubt it to be possible to convince a regular American citizen that anything rather than cowboy capitalism works. I remember working in Prudhoe Bay – Alaska for a short period of time and I was one of the very few non-americam citizens there. One night discussing poilitics and the different social/political systems around the world, I mentioned that the Nordic countries did very well with social democracy and high taxes and they did not even think about ‘the American dream’. I believe that there were about 5 of us and at least 3 of them told me almost pointing the gun at me, that the only reason they lived in those countries is because they were not allowed to leave. 🙂
As far as Canada I think that we still have a chance to make it to a more common sense position that the one we are now.
By the way continuing my propaganda I would like to suggest this video that it is already dated but very worth it.
• Carlos, your experience with your American co-workers in Prudoe Bay is quite an eye-opener! Firstly, their belief that the residents of a Nordic country would not be allowed to leave is mindbogglingly stupid. Secondly, their failure to understand the relationship between taxation and the government’s ability to deliver social services is a major stumbling block for all progressive parties. The American Dream appears to be based on quantity, not quality. One can demonstrate “quantity” by how much money/credit/debt one can accumulate in order to buy stuff. Quality doesn’t enter into the equation. A citizen’s quality of life is reflected in his ability to access quality education and quality healthcare so that he can maximize his full potential. A citizen’s ability to care for the frail, elderly and those less fortunate allows others to maximize theirs. Only the well-to-do in the US have “quality” as well as “quantity”. Sadly those who expect to join the millionaires club any day now just don’t seem to understand that.
PS Thanks for the link. I look forward to watching it.
4. susan palmer says:
thanks so much for this Susan – what a treat to hear Tommy Douglas’s own telling of his charming – and all too true story.
• You’re welcome Susan. Tommy Douglas illustrated the problem very well. I wish he’d set out a way for the mice to agree on just one mouse to represent them so that we could stop the vote-splitting problem. We’re going to have to get to this solution sooner rather than later if we hope to put more progressive MLAs and MPs into office.
• Carol Wodak says:
Tommy didn’t go on to talk about spotted or striped cats… how does that chapter unfold?
• Carol: it unfolds as you’d expect, the spotted and striped cats talk a better line–“we’re under new management” is their new slogan–but in the end it’s the same old thing. Oil prices are down and we (who?) need to exercise “caution” and “find new efficiencies in government” in order to balance the budget. Funnily enough, when WR candidate John Fletcher said the WR would pay for schools and hospitals by eliminating “waste” in the system, Gord Dirks, the newly elected education minister, said if the WR expected to balance the budget by eliminating waste they were in “financial fairyland”. And yet, here we are, in PC financial fairyland “looking at different efficiencies throughout the government of Alberta…to make sure that we have a blananced budget moving forward” (Finance Minister Robin Campbell in the Herald Nov 19, 2014 A4).
5. david swann says:
Another insightful and thoughtful brief and excellent public commentary- thankyou! I wonder what Rev. Tommy or Dr Haidt would say about the 1000 students at MRU, many of whom had the opportunity to vote for the first time, on the main floor of their west residence and chose not to. While we would all benefit from a proper study of these young people my assumption is that a third reason for voting against one’s self-interest (in this case, not voting at all!) is the deep (unconscious?) belief – especially after 43 years in a one-party state – that their opinion will not make a difference. This attitude of powerlessness, not far from despair, should be a strong call to re-commit ourselves to revive Alberta’s democracy.
• Carlos Beca says:
David I could not agree more on the attitude of powerlessness that you mention. It really does not surprise me, I just have to look at my frustration trying to stay with the absurd that is going on in our society. What really amazes me is the study after study and the question after question on radio, TV and Facebook and whatever else we use these days, questioning why? Why is our young people so distant from political/social issues? The question should be why are we trying to con young people into accepting the garbage we have created. I do no believe for a second that politicians and some academics do not know the real reason. This attitude of surprise is in itself part of the total disconnection from real democratic values and in the case of some politicians, it is total dishonesty and lack of ethics. The so called Progressive parties in Alberta are not any better. Their inability to work together for the benefit of the public is mind boggling. They are incapable of putting aside their egos in order to save this province from total ruin.
• David and Carlos: you raise two vexing questions.
Why don’t the young vote? They say it’s because we don’t talk to them about issues that interest them. So David and I went to where they live (literally). We knocked on hundreds of doors at Mount Royal University and talked to the students about out of control tuition fees–and yet only a handful came out on election day. While it was good to see 300 students stage a protest on the steps of the Legislature on Monday, a vote for change would have been much more effective.
Powerlessness? What difference does it make? This is something I heard on the doors. It came out as cynicism and distrust of anyone in politics and frustration with all the progressive candidates because they couldn’t find a way to merge or at the very least cooperate in order to stop vote splitting, If we could solve the second concern by finding a way to speak with ONE progressive voice we’d be able to put progressives into government and demonstrate that not all politicians are in it for themselves. This is a huge challenge.
• Ah yes, it would be helpful if there were valid studies on the reasons for poor voter turnout among university students. I agree David that post-secondary students’ voter apathy is partially due to 43 years of a one-party state. As Susan also notes, many students are frustrated with progressive candidates’ and their party leaders’ unwillingness to unite. That would require them to act on the values they promote—open-minded cooperation that could finally win an election and allow them to implement the values that built this country. But they won’t do that. As such, it seems most Liberal, NDP, and Alberta Party politicians value rugged individualism and survival of the fittest (conservative values) more than equality of opportunity and strong social programs (liberal values). If so, they are “in it for themselves.” From a psychological perspective, I think it’s worth considering that university students are at an age when forming meaningful relationships and establishing a successful career path is their main focus, even if it means taking on heavy debt burdens. This is normal in a reasonably stable country, for as one famous economist said, class-consciousness only emerges when enough people suffer. Looks like we’re waiting for that to happen. A united centrist party could do that better than 3 parties vying to outdo each other at the expense of the broader community. It could even put an end to students’ cynical, frustrated, apathetic view of Alberta politics. And lets not forget their parents! And grandparents! I digress…
• Correction–meant to say that a united centrist party could do better than 3 parties…
• Judy, as oil prices continue to hover in the low $70 range I wonder whether Alberta is on the cusp of an era where enough people suffer (to use the words of the economist) to allow class consciousness to emerge. With all his talk about this not being “business as usual” Prentice is making it clear that bad times are just around the corner. Given that Ralph and his successors already burned the furniture, there’s not much more left, is there.
• Carlos Beca says:
Could not agree more Judy. The Liberals, the NDP and the Alberta Party would do exactly the same thing these guys are doing. They are in for themselves not for the province and its people. Any real democrat understands this with his/her eyes closed. The problem is that we have lost the sense of democracy and so the situation becomes a crisis and the paralysis we are already witnessing everywhere.
There is no real difference between the parties because once they get there they just do not have any resilience to do what they preach and the reason being that deeply inside they are all the same. Power, money, prestige, elitism and nothing else.
• Carlos, while I’d agree that many politicians, particularly those who’ve been in power for a long time, are corrupt. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a handful who are doing it because they actually care about democracy and improving the quality of life for those they represent. The PC government fired Dr David Swann from his job as a public health officer for daring to speak out in favour of the Kyoto Protocol. It was only then that David entered politics. He felt strongly that the government should not be allowed to interfere with freedom of speech. Earlier this week when David responded to the Throne Speech in the Leg, he made a number of good points including the comment that if the PC government truly wanted to do the right thing it would move to proportional representation.
The difficulty these “good” politicians face is that they’re powerless to make meaningful change when confronted by a corrupt majority government elected under a “first past the post” system. The fact that the majority of citizens think politics is boring, irrelevant and a waste of time only perpetuates this broken system.
• Carlos Beca says:
Susan I fully agree with you and I know well what David has done and I know that generalizing is obviously wrong. On the other hand I ask the question ‘When was the last time you remember a decent politician in a position of being able to make a difference?’ – The last one I remember with any connection whatsoever with the citizens of this province and obvious crook was Peter Lougheed. So if that is the case, then we have to ask a second question – How can we ever accomplish anything with this kind of government – 1 in half century?
So then we come to the final question – What kind of system brings about this degree of failure and how do we fix this situation?
Well I can at least answer this last question – This is an anti-democratic system that works for the very few.
I know that some people reading this or other comments I made can think ‘Well why don’t you run and fix it?’ – I can answer that one as well. I do not think this system is fixable. The vested interests and the controls are just too entrenched for a possible change. This is the reason why we are stuck.
• Carlos Beca says:
I apologize for the mistake – I just realized this morning that instead of having ‘ Peter Lougheed ,…. and obviously not a crook…’ I, after a stupid editing left exactly what I did not mean. I deeply apologize for this. Sometimes these things happen.
• That’s OK Carlos, I understood what you were getting at. Of course you’re absolutely right about the perils of living in a one-party state, particularly one that is also totally dependent on one industry. Reminds me of song Sixteen Tons — the story of a coal miner who is essentially an indentured servant to the coal company. I first heard it as a child and I still remember the chorus. Here it is:
“You loaded sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store.”
And yes, our existing political system is tilted in favour of the status quo, but unlike the coal miner Albertans do have a choice. For some reason they’re too complacent (or afraid) to take it.
6. Jim Lees says:
I never did trust cats…..
Sent from my iPad
7. GoinFawr says:
One of my favourite T Douglas parables Susan. Have a cartoon that summarizes:
8. Pingback: | On The Soapbox: Susan Wright on why people vote against their self-interest
9. Rose MacKenzie-Kirkwood says:
I must admit I do not know enough about politics to participate in a political debate but I am smart enough to figure out that “better the enemy you know” than the “enemy you don’t” is stupid. Unfortunately people seem to go with the first. I am just going to cross my fingers and hope that people will eventually learn and decide that change is good.
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The Art of Alchemy
The art of alchemy has historically been shrouded in mystery. This ancient art is often believed to be the process of magically turning base metals, such as lead, into gold. Webster’s defines alchemy as 1: a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life 2: a power or process of transforming something common into something special and 3: an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting. I have my own definition of alchemy…the art of personal transformation.
Personal alchemy is most certainly about turning lead into gold, but in this case, we’re referring to emotional lead which is transformed. Through time we become burdened by the lead that accumulates in our system. It can begin even before we’re born depending on the karma with which we come into this life. And then of course there’s all the trauma we face during childhood, because no parents are perfect, and we haven’t even hit adolescence yet. During the tumultuous teen years and beyond life continues to challenge us. Until we begin to awaken from our spiritual slumber, we manage these challenges by taking them on as a part of our very being. Slowly, slowly, our backpack of lead becomes heavier and heavier. We try with all our might to prove we are strong enough to carry it all. All the sadness, disappointment, shame and heartache eventually weigh down our psyche until it is difficult to separate ourselves from our emotions. We become one with our thoughts, feelings and memories and it requires a chemical shift to begin to strip away that which we are not in order to uncover who we really are.
In chemistry, the primary element used to create transmutation in a substance’s chemical composition is fire, i.e. heat. Fire has long been valued for its power to purify; it is the ultimate cleansing agent. Since its discovery, fire has been used for two primary purposes, to destroy and to illuminate.
Fire is also the element used in personal transformation alchemy. Transforming our psychic lead into gold can be extremely uncomfortable. As the pressures of life heat up, we experience what we commonly call a “meltdown.” Our emotional lead literally melts down due to the intensity of the heat in order that it should be transformed into gold.
So the question becomes, when we find ourselves going through an alchemical change and feel ourselves smack dab in the middle of the burning heat and pressure required for the process, will we allow the fire to consume and us, or will we allow it to illuminate? The ultimate cleansing is by fire. Surviving the fire of purification can be our greatest challenge, however, it also holds the key to our greatest awakening. Even in the midst of the hottest heat, insights and understandings begin to emerge. As much as we’d like to believe we are victims of circumstance, a deeper part of us knows better and seeks the illumination the fire promises.
It’s beautiful how the alchemical process puts teachers on our path. It’s in the fire when we are sure to find inspiration for hope through people we meet, books we read, seminars we hear, etc. Because our spirit believes in hope. Our spirit knows there is something more than suffering so it automatically gravitates toward evidence of such. Our spirit knows it can not be destroyed. Wait, doesn’t that sound a little bit like a key to eternal life? Oh yes, another alchemical metaphor. Remember, Webster’s says alchemy is “discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life.” The process of personal transformation inevitably brings us to a place where we realize our full spiritual potential.
And with that realization comes the sure knowing that we are more than this body. Who we really are can never be destroyed. So there is no need to fear the fire any longer. It’s a simple change agent, that’s all. We can begin to walk through the toughest challenges with our eyes wide open, bearing a spirit of “Bring it on!” because we can’t wait to receive the enlightenment waiting on the other side.
Webster’s also says alchemy is “the discovery of a universal cure for disease” and that is absolutely correct. As we begin to embrace more and more our spirits as being our true nature, life becomes an exciting adventure, with cool twists and turns around every corner. But, since we no longer fear being destroyed, our souls are at ease. We are permanently cured of a sense of dis-ease, or a feeling of not being at ease with oneself. What could possibly be better than that?
Alchemy, or personal transformation, doesn’t always feel like fire. Intense joy or gratitude can also transform us, as well as an infinite number of other possibilities.
In his book The Way of the Wizard, Deepak Chopra says, “You know little or nothing about this art, yet you have practiced it every day since you were born. Every baby is born an alchemist, then loses the art, only to gain it again. Each of you mortals come into the world to seek the Grail. Everyone is created to reach freedom and fulfillment.” | <urn:uuid:abb074f6-7a36-4dd9-8e0d-f78b38df8c12> | 2 | 1.984375 | 0.020364 | en | 0.953196 | https://taralrobinson.wordpress.com/tag/difficult/ |
Blue Flower
There should be a number of dentists available in your local area. However, finding the best one might take some of your time. It will all be worth it though. Finding the right dentist would mean you will get the best dental services available. You should keep in mind some qualities that a dentist should possess. It is best that you understand these things before you start your search for one such as an invisalign dentist
Going to a dentist is necessary for anyone. Health also applies to your oral condition. Dentists check your teeth and mouth. Anything that is not functional or normal would be treated by your dentist. Taking care of your teeth and other oral hygienes are necessary for your oral health. There are several tools that can help promote your oral hygiene. Oral hygiene is mostly done at home. Some of it includes brushing your teeth daily, flossing, and others. However, even if you are already doing all the personal oral hygiene you could do at home, it is still necessary for you to visit a dentist for a check-up. There are things that only a dentist can take care of. They are the only ones who could determine the health of your teeth. An orthodontist is also able to provide you advance oral maintenance.
There are several ways to look for a good dentist. Probably the best way to find a good dentist is through the recommendations of your friends or relatives. One of them should have gone to a dentist before. Ask them about their experiences with their dentists. Someone might exclaim that they have a good dentist. It is best that you visit that dentist right away. If ever you cannot get a recommendation, try searching on your own. If you have a local directory available, scan it. There should be names of dentists in your local area. If it is not available, the best option for you to do is to search through the internet. The internet can provide you with the most reliable results. Some dentists and dental associations have their own website. If you ever find one, check on their website and see their available services. The best dentist can provide you with the best dental services. There are different kinds of dental services. Make sure you pick a dentist that can provide a wide variety of dental care including teeth bleaching or whitening.
Please head over to for other relevant information. | <urn:uuid:77e768b0-1420-4500-b455-3b057cf3c1fb> | 2 | 1.601563 | 0.024766 | en | 0.961768 | https://thedentistryinfoguide.joomla.com/2-uncategorised/3-get-to-the-right-dentist-in-your-local-area |
How multiplayer works, and the different modes available
From The HinterLands: Mining Game Wiki
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After selecting multiplayer you will be asked to choose a player (just as you would if you are playing single player). After you have selected or created your character you are brought to the next screen asking if you want to host or join a server.
Joining[edit | edit source]
To join a game, currently you need to either join someone that is on the same wifi /router as you (not over the internet), or they have to host the game over the internet using port forwarding, and give you their IP, port, and password (if required).
Once connected you will be loaded into the world the host is currently playing in.
Hosting[edit | edit source]
If you wish to host a game there a few things you need to consider. When playing on your mobile phone or tablet there are 3 different types of networks. Look at the following list to see what best describes your situation: 1. Local Wifi (Both players are on the same router) 2. Internet via router/wifi (host needs to have port forwarding set up- the next section explains how to do this) 3. Mobile Network (can’t host, but can join a game)
The most common/ easiest situation should be that two people have a phone/ tablet connected through the internet via wifi/ a router. You don't need to do anything special, host the game, click on the inventory button to see what your local IP most likely is in the bottom left corner(or on Android, you have to go to menu->system settings->wifi->click on your wireless routers name, and it will bring up a window with your Internal IP address at the bottom). Then just give someone on the same wifi your IP, password and port (if changed), and they should be able to join.
You can see additional information here:
Hosting a Server on your PC NEW 9/17/14[edit | edit source]
If you want to host a server on your PC that anyone can connect to, you can now download the stand alone server. It requires Java of course, so if you don't already have it, you'll need to install the Java runtime environment/ JRE:
Once you have the JRE installed, you can download The Hinterlands server:
Save it to a folder you want to run the server from (I'll assume you put it in c:\the_hinterlands).
Open a command prompt in windows (start menu->type 'cmd'-> then press enter).
Then navigate to the folder you saved it in (cd \the_hinterlands).
Finally you can run the server with the command 'java -jar the_hinterlands_server.jar', and you should be prompted to enter the information for your server.
The server will attempt to ask your router to open an incoming port for people to connect to you, but if it can't, you'll need to manually open/forward the port on your router.
Port Forwarding[edit | edit source]
Port forwarding is used when you have a router and you wish to let users connect to your server through it. Keep in mind that port forwarding might cause security risks.
The information your router will ask you varies. If you don’t understand what information your router needs, or how to input the information has a more indepth tutorial.
Once you locate your router's admin page, and find the Port Forwarding page; hit add new service or custom service. When you get a page asking to setup the new rule, it should prompt you on what you want to call it. You can name it whatever you want, but if you want something simple ‘hinterlands’ works. Then you want to look for "type". Select TCP. For the ports (internal and external), enter 54555 and a password (this is optional).
You should be ready to host a game now. Make sure when your friend is joining your game to give them the correct IP address, port number, and password (if needed).
Google Play Services Multiplayer[edit | edit source]
You can now also play with anyone over the internet using Google Play Services. It's a little easier than WIFI, but it's also more likely to have more lag. Just select either "Play Game", or "Play Creative", then "Multiplayer", chose or create a character, select "Google Play Services", then either "Invite Friends" to invite a friend to play with you, "See Invites" to see a friends invites, or "Random Game", to play with anyone else looking to play. Once you connect to someone, you have to vote for who will be the host/ be able to pick the world to play in. Then the host can pick the world while the other player waits, and the game will start. | <urn:uuid:2267380b-12d8-442a-8299-50dcca0d7252> | 2 | 1.695313 | 0.045151 | en | 0.921936 | https://thehinterlands.gamepedia.com/How_multiplayer_works,_and_the_different_modes_available |
The confidence factor
Cal Thomas
Posted: Nov 15, 2002 12:00 AM
There is a difference between cockiness and confidence. The one is a character flaw in prideful men, and pride, as the Proverb warns,"goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). The other is an essential ingredient in a leader who not only believes in himself and the worth of his ideas but also that the people he leads will follow him if they know where he is going and why he wants to take us there. President Bush has this new confidence, which increasingly resembles the bold optimism of Ronald Reagan. It has been enhanced by the election results, but it was forged in the adversity of the post-9/11 world, which is entirely different from the one that existed when he took office. This new confidence was seen in full force as he addressed District of Columbia police officers and firefighters last Tuesday (Nov. 12). After praising the reelected Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., Anthony Williams, for doing a"great job" and saying he"appreciated" the service of liberal Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) (confident people can afford to be charitable), he thanked the emergency personnel who keep Washington"buttoned up" so that"I feel safe living here." He praised at length the chief of police, Charles Ramsey, who became a national figure during the Chandra Levy-Gary Condit soap opera two summers ago. Probably none of those he mentioned voted for him (D.C. politics is heavily Democratic), but confidence does not require universal approval. The president made another pitch for a department of homeland security, which the lame-duck Congress is likely to give him. That's because Democrats seem less confident than they were in their preelection hubris. Reading the president's speech makes at least two impressions. One is that the president believes we are going to be attacked again, despite massive efforts to hunt down and root out the terrorists among us. That's partly because our immigration policy has been far too liberal, and we have allowed our enemies to live among us, even permitting them to become U.S. citizens. Citizenship has not changed their evil intent. "The enemy can strike us here at home," said the president, and he warned that"the old ways" of dealing with threats to this country are gone and that America itself is now"a battlefield." It wasn't a complaint so much as a warning against complacency. The second impression made by the speech is that the president hasn't changed his objectives. If anything, he has become more resolved. He pledged a strategy for"hunting these killers down one at a time" and said his post-Sept. 11"doctrines still exist." These include - his black or white statement -"you're either with us or with the enemy." He added,"There is no cave deep enough for these people to hide in .... There's no shadow of the world dark enough for them to kind of slither around in. We're after them, and it's going to take a while .... We're after them one person at a time. We owe that to the American people. We owe that to our children." Reminding us whom we're dealing with, the president said,"This is a war. (Sept. 11) is not a single, isolated incident. We are now in the first war of the 21st century. And it's a different kind of war than we're used to .... Part of the difference is that the battlefield is now here at home. It's also a war where the enemy doesn't show up with airplanes that they own, or tanks or ships. These are suiciders. These are cold-blooded killers." Part of a president's job is to warn the public of threats and then deal with them as best he can. Another part is to motivate and mobilize the country to be on the alert and to be co-combatants against those who would tear down what generations of us have built. President Bush is likely to get far more out of the new Congress than his detractors think possible. That will be due, in part, not only to his slender congressional majority but to a new confidence that will quickly infect his supporters as well as his opponents. | <urn:uuid:c03e4f7f-6aec-4b9b-bdad-f09ade6fd7d2> | 2 | 1.679688 | 0.126192 | en | 0.984503 | https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2002/11/15/the-confidence-factor-n1011127 |
When Ignorance Is Not Bliss
Michael Youssef
Posted: Jan 08, 2012 12:01 AM
On December 13, 2011, Michael Gerson posted “Gingrich’s Embrace of Shallow Ideas” on TownHall.com. In this column, he blasted former Speaker Gingrich for his honest assessment of Sharia law, its implications in the West, in general, and the United States, in particular.
The sad thing about Mr. Gerson is that he was President George W. Bush’s speech writer. Though President Bush is a good man who is respected by so many,including me, his confused and incoherent policies regarding Islamic fundamentalism landed us in two wars – one of which was totally unnecessary. I am referring to the Iraq War, a war that directly gave rise to the current Iranian threat and rise to power.
Mr. Gerson’s incoherent policies were inflicted upon us in conflicting statements made by Mr. Bush regarding Islam when he was president. He once referred to Islam as a “religion of peace,” but soon began calling it Islamofascism. Which one is it Mr. Gerson? He also inaccurately stated that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
Speaker Gingrich has had the courage to call Sharia what it is: “...inherently brutal -- defined by oppression, stonings and beheadings...” For his courage, Speaker Gingrich needs to be praised, not criticized. The evidence of stoning and beheading women for the mere accusation of adultery fills the Saudi landscape. Only a person who decides to deliberately and meditatively place blinders on their eyes can ignore these realities. In fact, the harsh realities of Sharia are not limited to Islamic countries. As I recounted in my recent book, When the Crosses are Gone, Sharia law was upheld in New Jersey family court in 2009 when a woman was denied a restraining order against her Moroccan ex-husband who had repeatedly entered her home and forced her to have sex against her will. The ex-husband and his imam argued that Sharia law did not give her the right to deny him. She lived in fear of being raped by him for a year before the decision was overturned on appeal.
In Mr. Gerson’s most recent column, he bases his assessment regarding Sharia on the writings of a beleaguered, tiny minority of secular Muslims who, to their credit, are trying very hard to reinterpret Islam in the light of the 21st century. This beleaguered, threatened, tiny minority of secular Muslims is not only living under a constant threat by the Muslim majority, but are not even considered to be true Muslims by that same majority.
Had President Bush and his speech writer, Mr. Gerson, understood the realities on the ground in the Middle East, they would have called upon the King of Saudi Arabia to move into the 21st Century and abandon Sharia rather than hold hands with him on Mr. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, TX.
Because I am neither a politician nor affiliated with a political party, it matters very little to me whether it is a Democrat or a Republican muddling the truth. Therefore, I call upon both Democrats and Republicans to face the facts of the danger of Sharia. | <urn:uuid:01dcd653-8abd-41c2-86e0-9194ce591845> | 2 | 1.53125 | 0.023035 | en | 0.97397 | https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelyoussef/2012/01/08/when-ignorance-is-not-bliss-n1253140 |
Boomers' aging casts light on geriatrics shortage
AP News
Posted: Nov 05, 2011 11:42 AM
Boomers' aging casts light on geriatrics shortage
In this sleepy, riverside town in northeast Florida, 86-year-old Betty Wills sees the advertisements of obstetricians and gynecologists on the main road's billboards and has found specialists ranging from cardiologists to surgeons in the phone book.
But there's not a single geriatrician _ a doctor who specializes in treating the elderly _ in all of Putnam County, where a fifth of the county's 74,000 people are seniors.
"I looked," Wills said. "I didn't find one."
It's a nationwide shortage and it's going to get worse as the 70 million members of the baby-boom generation _ those now 46 to 65 _ reach their senior years over the next few decades.
The American Geriatrics Society says today there's roughly one geriatrician for every 2,600 people 75 and older. Without a drastic change in the number of doctors choosing the specialty, the ratio is projected to fall to one geriatrician for every 3,800 older Americans by 2030. Compare that to pediatricians: there is about 1 for every 1,300 Americans under 18.
Geriatricians, at their best, are medicine's unsung heroes. They understand how an older person's body and mind work differently. They listen more but are paid less than their peers. They have the skills to alleviate their patients' ailments and living fuller, more satisfied lives.
Though not every senior needs a geriatrician, their training often makes them the best equipped to respond when an older patient has multiple medical problems. Geriatricians have expertise in areas that general internists don't, including the changes in cognitive ability, mood, gait, balance and continence, as well as the effects of drugs on older individuals.
But with few doctors drawn to the field and some fleeing it, the disparity between the number of geriatricians and the population it serves is destined to grow even starker.
"We're an endangered species," said Dr. Rosanne Leipzig, a renowned geriatrician at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
Just 56 percent of first-year fellowship slots in geriatrics were filled last academic year, according to a University of Cincinnati study, while the number physicians on staff at U.S. medical schools' geriatric programs has generally been trending downward.
Many young doctors aren't receiving even basic training in caring for older patients. Only 56 percent of medical students had clinical rotations in geriatrics in 2008, according to the study.
Various efforts around the country have aimed to increase both those choosing the geriatrics specialty and the level of training all doctors get in treating older patients.
The federal health overhaul law also includes a number of provisions aimed at increasing geriatric care. Last year, under the law, 85 grants totaling $29.5 million funded a range of geriatrics training programs for doctors, dentists, mental health professionals and other medical workers.
For now, though, the shortage continues.
"The shifting demographics is causing other primary care physicians to focus more on frail older adults but they do not have the training or experience to manage complex older adults with multiple chronic diseases," said Dr. Peter DeGolia, director of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.
Karen Roberto, director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech, said doctors who aren't trained in geriatrics might have a tendency to discount an older person's problems as normal symptoms of aging, when in fact they can be treated. She receives calls from people around the state looking for geriatricians, but oftentimes can't offer a recommendation.
"Going from specialist to specialist is not the answer," she said. "Older adults need providers with comprehensive knowledge of their problems and concerns."
For Wills, she moved with speed around the Edgar Johnson Senior Center, cooking lunch and sweeping the floor before her line dancing class began.
Wills joked about having outlived a number of her doctors, and how Jack Daniels sometimes is the best medicine. She wasn't sure a geriatrician would have all the answers, but she thought they might understand a woman of her age better than other doctors. She was unsuccessful finding one in her county.
"They depend on tests, they depend on machines, they depend on pills," she said. "Sometimes listening to you is better than hooking you up to machines." | <urn:uuid:c56b080e-155c-479e-b313-fe575d159b9c> | 2 | 2.234375 | 0.027544 | en | 0.967275 | https://townhall.com/news/us/2011/11/05/boomers-aging-casts-light-on-geriatrics-shortage-n1158076 |
Friday, October 01, 2010
The Science of Science Fiction: Life on Another Planet?
By now, you may have heard about Gliese 581g, a newly discovered extrasolar planet only about 20 light-years from us. What's special about this planet is that it's in the habitable zone (also known as the Goldilocks zone, where water could be liquid) and could possibly support life. It's also a rocky planet with an atmosphere (I haven't seen data on the composition of this) and gravity comparable to Earth's. According to this article on CNN, some scientists think it's a given that there really is life on Gliese 581g. Personally, I think they should confirm first that there really is water on that planet. I haven't seen a report stating that they have detected water on Gliese 581g, so if you've seen one, please provide a link.
(Of course, there may be types of life out there that don't require liquid water, but for purposes of this blog post, let's stick to lifeforms that operate on similar principles to Terran life.)
If there is life on this planet, what would it be like? Let's extrapolate from what we know about this planet so far:
It orbits a red dwarf star which is cooler than our sun but has a much longer life span. I don't know enough about astronomy or physics to state how the light given off by the red dwarf would differ from sunlight, other than to say it would be different. Plants (or plant-like creatures) might have to use a different wavelength of light than they do here. This would mean that they would use some other energy-capturing protein besides chlorophyll, so they might not be green. Also, if the type of light given off by the red dwarf doesn't provide enough energy, life on Gliese 581g might rely on thermal vents or other sources of energy instead.
The planet is tidally locked, with one side always facing its star and the other always facing away. Although the overall temperature of the planet is similar to Earth's (highest average temperature of -12ºC or 10ºF), I don't know what the temperature is on the warm side or what the variation is from equator to pole. Is this planet tilted on its axis? Does it have seasons? Its year is only about 37 Earth days, so seasons would only be a week or so long. Any life on this planet would have to adapt to this short span, suggesting that life might have a shorter life span as well and move at a fast pace.
As you can see, there's still a lot of data missing that would tell us more about what type of life this planet could support. Can anyone think of science fiction books or stories set on a planet orbiting a red dwarf? If so, please share the titles/authors with us. It would be very interesting to see how well science fiction matches science's findings.
Maria Zannini said...
I read this article! I was so excited about the potential. And it's relatively close too. --at least close enough that we might someday send a probe.
I'm looking forward to any future updates they have on this planet.
Arlee Bird said...
You lost me with this stuff. I don't really keep up with it much and don't read much science fiction these days. Back when I did read science fiction a lot (1960s) I don't recall any talk like that, but I will say a lot of what I read about then did come to pass and surpassed the way things are now. Who would have dreamed about the internet and capabilities of computers back then.
Tossing It Out
PK Hrezo said...
Awesome! I hadn't heard of this. SO thanks for posting it. This stuff blows my mind... I love it. But I still can't get used to Pluto being a moon.
The Golden Eagle said...
I'm thinking Nemesis by Isaac Asimov; I'm not positive that it was a red dwarf, but it was something like it.
Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...
Maria--yes, it is exciting. I wonder if they will send a probe soon. I don't know if we'll still around when the probe arrives, though.
Lee--Sorry about that, but since I'm a science geek, I do post stories like this occasionally. Computers sure have come a long way since how they were portrayed on the original Star Trek.
PK--I think Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, not a moon. It is weird that it's not a real planet anymore.
Golden Eagle--Thanks; I'll have to check out that book.
Talli Roland said...
Interesting - how fascinating! I hadn't heard of this!
Carolyn Abiad said...
Very interesting - though I got lost in some of the details for a minute there...
I've posted an award for you over on my blog. Enjoy!
lbdiamond said...
Man, this stuff is so fascintating!!!!
Site Meter | <urn:uuid:b340e614-e396-486d-ad59-2db01ca42276> | 3 | 3.125 | 0.525632 | en | 0.972284 | https://ulbrichalmazan.blogspot.com/2010/10/science-of-science-fiction-life-on.html |
There are few things less exciting than veterinary medical record compliance; one of those is dealing with your veterinary medical board for record NON-COMPLIANCE. The problem is veterinary communication is advancing into the mobile, text and twitter realm, rapidly. Do you know what's in (the medical record) and what's out?
Here are some important highlights (and their importance) from a recently released veterinary telemedicine report (Click Data Compliance Statement if you need a compliance statement for your veterinary practice):
Veterinary Medical Record requirement:
• Information within veterinary medical records is confidential. Client and patient privacy should be maintained by means of data encryption during transmission
• No matter what your practice software or digital x-ray vendor told you, you're likely in violation of client and patient confidentiality every time you email patient records or radiographs for referrals or teleconsulting
• Utilize a service that stores patient information securely and requires a user to login to download patient records and/or images
Veterinary Medical Record requirement:
• Policies and procedures for veterinary medical record privacy and security should be written, periodically reviewed, updated and readily accessible
• Each veterinary practice is responsible to ensure they're using data encryption and have a written policy on-site as to how medical records and radiographs will be transferred confidentially
• Utilize a service that stores patient information securely, requires a user to login to download patient records and/or images and provides you a written policy so you can download for your records
Veterinary Medical Record requirement:
• Veterinary medical records should include, if applicable, copies of all patient-related electronic communications, including client-veterinarian communication...
• If you put it in a text, and it's regarding a patient's condition or care, you need to keep a copy in the medical record
• Only utilize a text service that is somehow integrated with your patient's medical records or don't text anything more than "Please call Main Street Veterinary Clinic @ 555-123-4444" or "Fluffy's non-prescription food is in. Please pick up."
I get it. I've been dealing with this data issue as I've developed Vetology. There's way too much to do in addition to caring for the pets. Plus there's too much misinformation out there that could get you into trouble with your veterinary medical board. My practical advice is, off load as much of the veterinary data compliance as you can before the rapidly growing data mountain buries you.
As veterinarians, we're in this together. If you have any questions you can contact me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.I'm happy to assist where I can. I definitely don't have all the answers but after founding two veterinary data companies, I've met some incredibly talented people who can help.
Click Data Compliance Statement to view a compliance statement for your facility. You are welcome to use the statement if you need one.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Vetology does not have any conflicts of interest to disclose. Vetology is an independent company, run by veterinarians, for veterinarians. Vetology does not have any outside investment or ownership by a company or corporation involved in owning or partial ownership in veterinary hospitals (general or specialty) or veterinary lab services.
(This is the follow-up blog to Pros & Cons of Using Patient Portals for Communication)
Service and satisfaction are critical to today’s veterinary healthcare market success. Use of a portal or secure electronic communications can be an effective way to boost engagement and accountability with your referring veterinarians, achieve positive satisfaction, improve practice efficiency, and minimize the consequences associated with the lack of interoperability between practice electronic health records (EHR) systems at other practices, hospital systems and healthcare services.
But if your rDVMs resist the use of a portal or electronic communication service, unfortunately your process may be the cause. Many rDVMs who would benefit from access to referral information are also the ones who may be expected to use a number of other portals for multiple providers, hospitals, pharmacies, and more.
The following suggestions are geared to ensuring that a practice achieves maximum benefits through portal use.
1. Meet rDVMs, and their priorities!
In speaking with many, many specialty hospital administrators there is one repeated and GLARING mistake. The specialty hospital administrators are following the portal vendor’s recommendations on how to set things up rather than talking with their referring veterinarians. Ask yourself, how many specialty hospitals has your portal vendor run? Are they even a veterinarian? If the answer to both is “NO” then “SHOULD YOU BE LISTENING TO THEM? DO THEY UNDERSTAND VETERINARIAN RELATIONSHIPS?”. If your answer is "NO", in their defense, how could they? Veterinarian interactions are formed beginning day 1 in vet. school and continue through case interactions. If you haven’t experienced this interaction, you WON’T GET IT. EVEN more important, they definitely won’t know your referring veterinarian relationships… but they may pretend to know so they can sell you a product. Don’t let this happen to you.
It cannot be overstated, AVOID this nonsense and build a portal that rDVMs will find useful and that meets their needs by TALKING TO YOUR RDVMS.
• get them involved in the process early
• ask them what they need
• keep them involved throughout the process and acknowledge their involvement
The bottom line is that if rDVMs help build the experience they’re more likely to benefit and will want to continue to use the portal.
2. Integrate your portal into practice workflow
Prior to starting on a portal, verify that the practice workflow will effectively interface with the portal. This is the second biggest mistake I see in talking with so many specialty hospital administrators. Here’s how to avoid being next.
Critically evaluate your hospital’s workflow and decide which areas really can be automated, and which can’t. Also, make sure you have a plan for how the staff will be involved with the portal as information starts flowing. Time and again I speak with hospital administrators who haven’t thought about their workflow. Adapting a portal to your workflow is 100xs easier than retraining your staff. If a portal requires you to change to a new ERH or adjust workflow my recommendation is “RUN AWAY” before you find yourself in retraining hell.
Have a plan from the beginning. For example, assign staff to respond promptly to new appointment requests, upload patient information into the portal on a timely basis if the EHR is not capable of automatically linking the information, and monitor the status of the appointment schedule. Delays in responding over your patient portal is one of the easiest ways to discourage rDVMs from using the service. It will defeat one of the primary reasons to use the portal: the ability to connect directly.
3. Identify rDVMs who will most benefit from portal use
Examine your rDVM list and identify those who can most benefit from communication with the practice through the portal. Then get them involved early (see #1).
• · personally contact each of these rDVMs and ask to spend time with them to discuss building the portal.
• · form an rDVM online group that meets consistently to discuss building the portal as things progress.
Initially this may seem time consuming, but when done correctly, the practice benefits are significant and far outweigh the cost of time spent introducing the portal.
4. Promote the portal
Every encounter your practice has with an rDVM should include outreach on using the portal. To do this, your front-office staff and providers must be on the same page. Practices should also designate at least one employee who is available to meet one-on-one with an rDVM to set up a portal account and help patients navigate and understand the site’s features.
It’s important that every employee who discusses the portal with rDVMs shares a consistent message. It can be helpful to develop a script of important points for employees that cover the benefits of using the portal. It’s critical to include your doctors and other clinical providers in this effort, since their use of the portal will be key to obtaining rDVM buy-in.
5. Constantly evaluate portal usability
The next step is, once these efforts to integrate the portal into the workflow are underway, step back and evaluate how your efforts are working.
Have people outside the practice test the portal’s navigation to ensure it is intuitive and easy to use for rDVMs young and old. Compare the portal system navigation with other patient e-Information systems for payers and hospital systems, and make changes as needed.
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Update on V2 Day:
Feature Request #1: Vetology E-mail Campaigns for specialty hospitals. Imagine one location where all of your RDVM email addresses are stored, where you can create your hospital newsletter and send your emails out, on your timeframe. It's in V2 and it's FREE. It will be SUPER easy! Click here to watch a video.
Feature Request #2 (and it's a BIGGIE): Vetology One Click Referral Magic. See for yourself. Click here to watch a video. And YES! We can really do this.
Very Important Tip #1: If you're currently using the original Vetology platform it is VERY IMPORTANT that you go through the CLINIC MIGRATION PROCESS. DO NOT sign up for the new Vetology system using the map. The CLINIC MIGRATION PROCESS is easy. On the V2 Platform put in your current Vetology username and password. This will start the CLINIC MIGRATION PROCESS. Upon completing the MIGRATION PROCESS you'll now have access to both platforms and data uploaded to one will be visible in both. A true WIN-WIN.
Feature Request #3: Vetology's Flipbook. Watch the video that some are already saying redefines veterinary record presentation and case information sharing.
Important Tip #2: As an account Admin, make sure you invite each team member to create a V2 account using their own email address. This will prevent a MAJOR headaches in the future.
Feature Request #4: ER access to patient records. With owner permission, your ER facility is able to view records from your In-Network RDVMs, even when they're closed. Records consist of blood work, prescriptions, patient history and images. Imagine that! An ER case where you have all the patient info without a single phone call.
Important Tip #3: Be sure to look at the user guides on the website.
Important Tip #4: Watch this video on how to log in to Vetology and go to your clinic worklist.
Together let's CELEBRATE the end of the time wasting faxing, emailing and cd burning nonsense! We need to show everyone there is A BETTER WAYAs V2 users you stand out from the herd and your individuality is now being rewarded. We WILL change the failed way of moving veterinary information that everyone is clinging to. Make no mistake about it, It won't be easy to get those less progressive to adjust, but we must get others to JOIN IN. Welcome to a better tomorrow. Welcome to V2.
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Saturday, February 3, 2007
The Supremes
~Nearly two years ago the Supreme Court ruled on Granholm V. Heald, a case connected to wine that has been reported in the press as some sort of breakthrough. Unfortunately, the ruling was what a lot of the court’s rulings become: a narrow decision with a wide ambiguity running through it.
~In short, the Supreme Court justices said that no state can bar wine shipments direct to consumers from wineries in other states while allowing wine shipments direct to consumers from wineries within that state. To the judges, the legal choice a state has is either to allow every winery to ship direct to consumers within that particular state or to bar every winery from shipping direct to consumers.
~Giving wineries in your state a commercial advantage over wineries out of state is called protectionism.
~Either I’m an idiot, which is always a possibility, or the justices have a blind spot when it comes to alcohol, which is not so impossible, as I will show you later on. In any event, alcohol seems to be the only legal commodity that does not deserve the protection of the Commerce Clause found in Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution.
The Commerce Clause is a legal doctrine in U.S. Constitutional law that limits the power of states to legislate and impact interstate commerce. The U.S. Constitution reserves for Congress the exclusive power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States…”
~The above definition means that individual states are either excluded from, or limited in their ability to legislate on interstate commerce—the bench has often cited the Commerce Clause to restrict states from passing protectionist regulations and to apply undue burdens on interstate commerce.
~ Granholm V. Heald was seemingly about wine shipping. But what it has turned out to be about is the old guard being threatened and state legislators being bought. Not much new there, really.
~What the case should have been about was a conflict between the 21st Amendment to the Constitution and the Commerce Clause.
~The 21st Amendment to the Constitution is the only amendment to have repealed an earlier amendment (the 18th Amendment: Prohibition), which is not an easy thing to do since after an amendment is passed in Congress it must be ratified by the states. In this case, however, the states were handed a veritable cash cow; the real wonder is why any state had to think over ratification.
~ In its wisdom, Congress inserted into the 21st Amendment the right of individual states to regulate and control the sale and distribution of alcohol within state borders. By so doing, Congress opened a floodgate of confusion, not to mention corruption.
~State legislators were quick to see a bonanza revenue source; they imposed taxes, fees, stipulations, restrictions (which always lead to fines) and all kinds of social engineering, like Sunday “Blue Laws,” prescribed hours of operation, wine in or not in grocery stores, and so on.
~Most of all, the states were handed the freedom to create whatever system they wanted in order to provide or withhold access to alcohol. Mostly, the states built individual Byzantine empires known either as Liquor Control or Alcohol Control Boards. The boards are generally made up of political appointees, and you know what that means.
Some states opted for the three-tier system, which builds in not only a mandated middle-merchant, but also a sizable cost to the consumer and a quasi-private monopolized business that is heavily controlled by the state. In some states a retailer can buy certain wines from only one distributor--how's that for creating free competition?
Some states opted for state control. In other words, the state buys and sells alcohol. When the state is involved in commerce you have the potential for corruption, and in states that opted for this choice potential has usually become reality. Yet, at least these states did not offer the illusion that the three-tier states offered, that they were allowing competitive commerce to flourish.
Some states allowed localities to select whether or not they wanted an alcohol business in their community. This option allowed situations where a person could cross an intersection into another county and buy wine that could not be bought in the county across the street. Of course, crossing the street into the “dry” county carrying the wine in a bag might have left the person open to prosecution.
I'm sure there are other choices states could have made, but thinking any further about them gives me agita.
~Notice that through the maze of state legislative restrictions and controls, something American always got lost: free flow of commerce.
~Because the states have such power over the commerce of alcohol, the result of the recent Supreme Court ruling was not exactly an opening of wine shipments across state borders, as the always eager to recite a press release media often reported.
~What really happened is that the states created new legislation that opens shipping, but that usually makes it extremely difficult and more expensive. Imagine owning a small family winery and having to apply for fifty licenses—one for each state—in order to send wine direct to consumers in the rest of the country. That is only one costly hurdle. There are restrictions on volume, on cases shipped, and probably on the color of the box that the winery uses as packaging. I'm not being cynical; in some states a winery that submits certain tax reports on the wrong colored paper risks being cited in violation.
~As predicted, a flurry of court actions are popping up all over the USA—some exploit the glaring Supreme Court ambiguities and some want them fixed.
~In my opinion, the only thing that will definitively end the legal battles is a direct ruling by the court whether or not the 21st Amendment violates the Commerce Clause; if the court were to find that it is a violation, then a whole lot of things regarding access to wine are likely to change. But any winery willing to take on that fight has to be careful. It's not a given that a court ruling would be on the side of the Commerce Clause.
~When the Supreme Court ruled in the wine shipping case Justice Kennedy read the majority opinion. He made a fleeting reference to the Commerce Clause, calling alcohol a “special” commodity that may not deserve the same commercial protections as other legal products.
~Isn’t that great? Free and unfettered commerce is a constitutional right, but for wine it will be a right only so long as legal alcohol fits the majority morality of the Supreme Court justices or the Congress. You can’t ask for anything more beautifully hypocritical than that.
In my view, Congress should free alcohol from its unconstitutional chains.
On the other hand, Congress can pass an amendment to the constitution to make alcohol illegal—now there’s a novel approach…
Read on: commerce, 21st, 21st again, granholm, litigate,
Copyright, Thomas Pellechia
February, 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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Open Access
Zika Virus on a Spreading Spree: what we now know that was unknown in the 1950’s
Virology Journal201613:165
Received: 22 August 2016
Accepted: 26 September 2016
Published: 6 October 2016
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that is transmitted through the bite of Aedes spp mosquitoes and less predominantly, through sexual intercourse. Prior to 2007, ZIKV was associated with only sporadic human infections with minimal or no clinical manifestations. Recently the virus has caused disease outbreaks from the Pacific Islands, the Americas, and off the coast of West Africa with approximately 1.62 million people suspected to be infected in more than 60 countries around the globe. The recent ZIKV outbreaks have been associated with guillain-barré syndrome, congenital syndrome (microcephaly, congenital central nervous system anomalies), miscarriages, and even death. This review summarizes the path of ZIKV outbreak within the last decade, highlights three novel modes of ZIKV transmission associated with recent outbreaks, and points to the hallmarks of congenital syndrome. The review concludes with a summary of challenges facing ZIKV research especially the control of ZIKV infection in the wake of most recent data showing that anti-dengue virus antibodies enhance ZIKV infection.
Zika virus Sexual transmission Neurological development Microcephaly Antibody-dependent enhancement
• ZIKV can be transmitted sexually and during pregnancy from a mother to her fetus.
• In addition to microcephaly, ZIKV causes miscarriage.
• ZIKV persists in whole blood for close to 2 months.
• Dengue viral infections enhance ZIKV infections.
• Anti-ZIKV antibodies in domestic animals suggest that ZIKV can infect domestic animals.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus in the genus Flavivirus. The virus is related to other flaviviruses (dengue viruses-DENVs, yellow fever virus-YFV, Japanese encephalitis virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, Langat virus, Powassan virus, Modoc virus, Rio Bravo virus) in terms of genome size and genome organization [1, 2] (Fig. 1). The genome is ~10.7 kb in length and codes for a single polyprotein (~10.2 kb), which is processed into three structural proteins (Capsid-C, pre-Membrane/Membrane-prM/M and Envelope-E) and seven nonstructural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5) (Fig. 1). The genome is flanked by the 5’ and 3’ untranslated regions (UTRs) [1, 3, 4]. ZIKV has been associated with a lot of disease outbreaks within the last decade. With this in consideration, we searched peer-reviewed articles, government news briefings in Associated Press, and press releases by international organizations for information related to ZIKV. We searched specifically for ZIKV isolation, what was known when the virus was first isolated (clinical manifestations), modes of transmission, the vectors that can transmit the virus, disease outbreaks especially from 2007, and the clinical/pathological manifestations observed in recent outbreaks. The information gathered from these searches was then used to write this review, which summarizes incidences & global distribution of ZIKV infection (within the last decade), modes of transmission, and challenges associated with ZIKV research.
Fig. 1
ZIKV genome. The linear genome is made up of structural proteins, nonstructural proteins, and UTRs. The 5’ and 3’ UTRs are ~107 nucleotides and ~428 nucleotides , respectively
Although ZIKV is closely related to other flaviviruses in terms of genome size and genome organization, the virus is most closely related to DENVs and YFV in terms of mosquito vector transmission. ZIKV is a mosquito-borne virus that is transmitted primarily through the bite of Aedes spp mosquitoes. The virus was first isolated in 1947 from monkeys in Zika forest in Uganda, Africa [5]. Since then, the virus has been isolated from other Aedes mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes africanus, Aedes hensilli, Aedes polynesiensis, Aedes furcifer, Aedes vitattus) [6] and more recently from a domestic mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus [7]. In sylvatic habitats, ZIKV is transmitted in an enzootic cycle between non-human primates by mosquitoes. In an epidemic cycle, the virus is transmitted between humans primarily by infected mosquitoes [5, 8, 9] (Fig. 2). Introduction of the virus to a human community may be initiated by a spillover mosquito from sylvatic habitats; alternatively, the virus may be imported by humans from countries with ZIKV breakout. Antibodies against ZIKV have been detected in domestic animals such as goats, sheep, rodents [10] but it is unknown whether mosquitoes can transmit the virus between domestic animals or between domestic animals and humans.
Fig. 2
ZIKV transmission cycles. ZIKV is transmitted in sylvatic habitats in an enzootic cycle by infected mosquitoes to rhesus monkeys and vice versa. Humans can be infected with the virus in sylvatic habitats following a mosquito bite or if there is a spillover of an infected mosquito from sylvatic habitats (middle dotted black line) to rural/urban areas. An epidemic cycle starts when humans are bitten by an infected mosquito followed by viral replication in humans and viremia. The virus can spread to the reproductive organs and can be transmitted during sexual intercourse. Infected pregnant women can also transmit the virus to the fetus during pregnancy. The virus can then be transmitted from an infected person back to mosquitoes through mosquito bites. The virus then replicates in mosquitoes and it is transmitted back to humans and the cycle continues. It is not known whether the virus can be transmitted by mosquitoes between domestic animals and humans (right dotted gray lines with question mark) or whether the virus can be transmitted sexually between monkeys (left dotted gray line with question mark)
Phylogenetically, ZIKV can be divided into two main lineages—African and Asian—based on geographic origin. The African lineage is further sub-divided into West and East African sub-lineages [11]. ZIKV has been associated with a number of sporadic human infections, based on the detection of anti-ZIKV antibodies in serum, starting from 1952 in Africa [12] and 1954 in Asia [13]. In 2007, the virus caused the first major outbreak in the Pacific Islands [14], which later spread to other countries.
1. a)
ZIKV outbreak path since 2007
From 2007, ZIKV outbreaks have been reported in many islands and continents as follows:
1. i)
Pacific Islands: In 2007, a ZIKV outbreak from autochthonous transmission was reported in Yap Island in the Federated States of Micronesia with 185 people infected (includes confirmed, probable, and suspected cases) [14]. This outbreak was caused by the Asian lineage of ZIKV. Six years later (in 2013), another outbreak was reported ~5000 miles from Yap Island, in French Polynesia (Fig. 3); more than 28,000 people were infected with ZIKV in this outbreak [15, 16]. The ZIKV strain in the French Polynesia outbreak had 99.9 % nucleotide and amino acid identities with the Asian strain outbreak in the Yap Island [1, 3, 15] suggesting that the French Polynesia outbreak originated from Yap Island. Given the distance between the two Islands, it is unlikely that the virus was introduced into French Polynesia my mosquitoes; this suggests that ZIKV was imported into French Polynesia. The French Polynesia outbreak was subsequently spread to other Pacific Islands. Towards the end of 2013, imported cases from French Polynesia were reported in New Caledonia and cases of autochthonous transmission were reported in January 2014 [17, 18] (Fig. 3). At the same time in January, an outbreak was reported in Easter Island, off the coast of Chile [19] and in February, another outbreak was reported in Cook Islands [17, 18], (Fig. 3). The nucleotide sequence of the ZIKV strain in Easter Island was 99.9 % identical to the ZIKV strain in the outbreak in French Polynesia, thus suggesting that the Easter Island outbreak originated from French Polynesia. Then in March 2015, first cases of ZIKV outbreak (from autochthonous transmission) were reported in Bahia, Brazil. Nucleotide sequence analysis from this outbreak showed 99 % identity with the ZIKV strain that caused the 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia [20] thus suggesting that ZIKV was introduced to the Americas from any of the Pacific Islands (French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Easter Island, or Cook Islands). It is likely that the outbreaks in almost all these islands including the one in Brazil were first imported to these islands/country by an infected individual(s), who later served as reservoir host(s) for mosquito transmission to naïve individuals; ZIKV vectors are endemic in the Pacific Islands and in Brazil [21, 22]. Alternatively, the virus could have been transmitted sexually from an infected traveler to a naïve person in any of these countries.
Fig. 3
ZIKV outbreaks and transmission paths in the Pacific Islands. The first ZIKV outbreak in the Islands was reported in Yap Island in Micronesia (2007) and it was later transmitted (indicated as red arrow number 1) to French Polynesia in 2013. From French Polynesia, the virus was then transmitted to New Caledonia, Easter Island, and to Cook Island (in the order listed and indicated as red arrow numbers 2, 3, 4)
2. ii)
The Americas: The first cases of ZIKV outbreak in Latin America were reported in Brazil (March 2015). Since then, more than 1.5 million people are estimated to have been infected in Brazil alone [23]. Mosquito-transmitted cases of the virus have been reported throughout the Americas (except Canada and Chile) [2326], as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (Fig. 4), with more than 65,000 confirmed and suspected cases reported in Colombia alone [27]. Although the number of cases are decreasing in most countries in the Americas and the Caribbean [28], the number of mosquito-transmitted cases are increasing in some countries. For example, as of mid September, more than 85 cases of autochthonous transmissions have been reported in the State of Florida in continental United States [29]. Furthermore, the number of ZIKV imported and sexually transmitted cases continue to increase; more than 3130 imported cases (numbers correct as of mid September) have been reported in the continental United States since the outbreak started in Brazil [30] (Fig. 4). In Cuba, the number of imported cases increased from 1 case in March to 33 cases (3 local transmissions) as of mid September [31]. In summary, an estimated 1.6 million people are suspected to be infected in the Americas.
Fig. 4
Autochthonous and imported cases of ZIKV around the world from 2015. ZIKV was first introduced to the Americas (Brazil) from the Pacific Island (indicated as red dotted circle with red arrow). From Brazil, the virus then spread to countries in South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and off the cost of West Africa (Cape Verde). Countries with only imported ZIKV cases, from the Americas, are shown in purple color. Countries with both mosquito-transmitted and imported cases are shown in different colors with an estimated number of suspected ZIKV cases in the respective countries. Countries with white colors have not reported any imported cases since 2015 (numbers correct as of September)
3. iii)
Off the cost of West Africa, Cape Verde: ZIKV outbreak has also been reported in the Islands of Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa. The first ZIKV cases in the Islands were reported in late September to mid October of 2015 and as of August 2016, more than 7550 people were already infected [32] (Fig. 4). The genetic sequence of the ZIKV strain in Cape Verde has recently been determined and it is identical to the Asian strain in the outbreak in Brazil [32]. The virus was likely imported into the Islands from Brazil by traveler(s) and it was subsequently transmitted from the traveler(s) to naïve individuals through mosquito bites or through sexual contact. Brazil and Cape Verde are close countries (distance-wise) that speak the same language (Portuguese), share almost the same culture and as such, their citizens travel frequently between the two countries. This made it very easy for an asymptomatic ZIKV-infected individual to carry the virus from one country to the other.
It is worth mentioning that since the 2015 outbreak in Brazil, imported cases of ZIKV by travelers from countries with outbreaks have been reported all over the world.
1. b)
Imported cases around the world:
In North America, the number of ZIKV imported cases from Latin America continue to increase. As of mid September 2016, the number of imported ZIKV infections reported in Canada were more than 279 [33] (Fig. 4). The number of imported cases are also increasing in Europe; the number of imported cases increased from 224 in March 2016 to 1265 cases in August 2016. The highest number of imported cases have been reported in France and Spain [34]. In Eurasia/Asia, 6 imported cases have been reported in Russia and more than 21 cases have been reported in China [35, 36]. In Singapore and Thailand, more than 300 and 200 cases have been reported, respectively (numbers correct as of mid September) [37]. In Africa, 1 imported case from Columbia has been reported in South Africa [38]. In-between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, 12 and >44 imported cases have been reported in Hawaii [30] and Australia [39], respectively. Thus, the virus has been imported to at least one country in every continent except Antarctica, making this the first ZIKV pandemic the world has ever experienced.
ZIKV was believed (until less than a decade ago) to be transmitted to humans only through the bites of Aedes spp mosquitoes. Recently, other modes of human transmission have been documented as follows:
1. i)
Sexual transmission. ZIKV has been detected in the urine and semen of ZIKV-infected patients [40, 41] with more than 30 cases of sexual transmission from male to female, 1 case from male to male and 1 from female to a male have been reported [4247]. This observation shows that the virus can be transmitted between both sexes but the highest frequency of transmission is from male to female.
2. ii)
Vertical transmission from mother to fetus. ZIKV has been detected in amniotic fluid, fetal brain, and also in the serum of babies, 4 days after birth [4851], thus demonstrating that the virus can be transmitted to the fetus during pregnancy (Fig. 2).
3. iii)
Blood transfusion. Two cases of ZIKV transmission by blood transfusion have been reported in Brazil [52]. This observation will make ZIKV transmission more complicated given the fact that a majority of ZIKV-infected patients do not show symptoms; in fact, 3 % of ZIKV asymptomatic blood donors have tested positive for ZIKV [53]. This makes it very easy for the virus to be transmitted from blood donors to blood recipients. The situation is also exacerbated by the fact that the virus can persists in whole blood of patients for close to 2 months [46, 54].
Clinical manifestations
When anti-ZIKV antibodies were first detected in human sera in the early 1950s, the authors pointed out that “The effects of this agent in man are quite unknown” [13]. The reason they made this statement was due to the fact that the population sampled at that time did not show any clinical or pathological manifestations, that could be associated with ZIKV infection. As mentioned above, most people infected with ZIKV are asymptomatic. However, 20–25 % of infected patients develop symptoms such as fever, skin rash, joint pains, headache, and conjunctivitis within 1 week after infection; in addition to this, some patients experience hematospermia [43, 46, 55]. Although ZIKV infection is not life threatening in healthy adults, the virus can cause the following debilitating conditions:
1. i)
Neurological problems such as guillain-barré syndrome (GBS; an autoimmune disease) [56]. Ninety-eight to a hundred % of patients diagnosed with GBS during the French Polynesia ZIKV outbreak had anti-ZIKV antibodies, compared to 56 % of patients without GBS [57]. The mechanism(s) underlying the contribution of these anti-ZIKV antibodies to GBS is still unknown.
2. ii)
Miscarriage and congenital syndrome such as microcephaly (a neurodevelopmental disorder whereby babies are born with an abnormally small head) or an abnormally developed congenital central nervous system [48, 56, 58, 59]. ZIKV infects a population of developing brain cells including embryonic forebrain-specific human neural progenitor cells, neurospheres and brain organoids thus causing increased cell death, cell cycle dysregulation and ultimately reduced cell growth [60, 61]. These developmental changes are probably the hallmarks of congenital syndrome. In fact, these observations may explain the reason behind the increase in the number of congenital syndrome cases reported in ZIKV-infected countries in the Americas and Cape Verde; more than 16 countries have reported cases of ZIKV-related congenital syndrome (Fig. 5). In Brazil alone, 1911 cases have been confirmed with 371 neonatal deaths reported; in Columbia and Cape Verde, 40 and 14 cases, respectively, of ZIKV-related congenital syndrome have also been reported (numbers correct as of September) [31, 62]. Additionally, cases of ZIKV-related miscarriages have been reported in other countries [51, 59]. These devastating effects have prompted many countries to advise pregnant women to avoid visiting regions (most recently, Florida in the US, Singapore and Thailand in Asia) with ZIKV outbreaks [42, 63]. Overall, ZIKV infection seems to have the highest morbidity in newborn infants.
Fig. 5
Countries and territories with cases of ZIKV-related congenital syndrome (microcephaly or congenital central nervous system anomalies). ZIKV-related congenital syndrome cases have been reported in Brazil, Colombia, Cape Verde, Martinique, Panama, El Salvador, Paraguay, French Guiana, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Suriname
Challenges associated with ZIKV infections
1. i)
There are no vaccines to protect against ZIKV infection or drugs to treat infected patients. The majority of ZIKV infected patients recover from the infection and do not need treatment. However, as mentioned above, transmission of the virus from pregnant women to fetuses affects normal fetal neurological developments. As such, women, especially those who plan to be become pregnant, need to be immunized. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a vaccine to stop the spread of ZIKV infection, especially from pregnant women to fetuses. The development of an effective ZIKV vaccine will be challenging for the following reasons:
1. a)
although 9 % of anti-dengue virus monoclonal antibodies can cross-neutralize ZIKV infections, a majority of anti-dengue virus antibodies are not neutralizing [64]; instead, they enhance ZIKV and dengue viral infections, a condition known as antibody-dependent enhancement of infection [65, 66]. This observation may complicate ZIKV infections in countries were ZIKV and dengue viral infections co-circulate and especially in countries (Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador, and the Philippines) where dengue virus vaccine (dengvaxia) has been licensed; the effect of the vaccine on ZIKV infection needs to be evaluated. With this in mind, an ideal ZIKV vaccine should not enhance dengue infection and vice versa.
2. b)
a candidate ZIKV vaccine should protect against all ZIKV strains. Additionally, it should lack the propensity to be accidentally transmitted by mosquitoes from vaccinees to unvaccinated population. This will be a big challenge for an attenuated ZIKV vaccine given the fact that the virus is transmitted by mosquito-bites.
3. c)
the vaccine should be safe in pregnant women in order to avoid complications during pregnancy.
4. d)
an effective ZIKV vaccine should elicit a systemic immune response in addition to genital immunity given the fact that the virus can also be transmitted sexually. A ZIKV vaccine that cannot protect against sexual transmission may not be highly valuable.
1. ii)
ZIKV is transmitted by some of the same Aedes mosquitoes (e.g. Aedes aegypti) that transmit DENVs, YFV, and Chikungunya virus (an alphavirus) [18, 67]. To aggravate the situation, the symptoms (fever, skin rash, joint pains, and headache) for ZIKV infection are similar to those caused by these three viruses. As such, most ZIKV infections are clinically misdiagnosed as DENV infections.
2. iii)
Serological tests for ZIKV targeting the envelope glycoprotein domains, EI and EII, are not specific; they cross-react with other flaviviruses such as DENVs and YFV [1, 4, 65, 68]. These domain-cross-reactive antibodies can misdiagnose ZIKV infections as dengue and vice versa.
3. iv)
ZIKV RNA/viral particles have been isolated or detected in nasopharynx [69], saliva [49, 70, 71], and in breast milk [49]. Nevertheless, it is not known if the virus can be transmitted through saliva, nasal secretions, or breast milk. Moreover, it is unknown if anti-ZIKV antibodies are present in these secretions. Studies are needed to assess if the virus can be transmitted through these routes and if anti-ZIKV antibodies are present in body secretions such as saliva and breast milk.
4. v)
Although ZIKV RNA and viral particles have been isolated from saliva, non-invasive methods using saliva to diagnose ZIKV are lacking. As such, there is need for rapid diagnostic kits for detecting ZIKV infection using saliva.
5. vi)
Although we know that ZIKV can be transmitted sexually from male to female, male to male, and female to male, there has been no report on transmission from female to female couples. Studies are required to assess transmission between female-sex partners.
6. vii)
Recent isolation of ZIKV infection from Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes [7] may also make the control of ZIKV infection challenging. Culex quinquefasciatus just like Aedes mosquitoes is a domesticated mosquito that breeds in standing water, is widespread in the Americas (except Canada), Africa, Asia, the United Kingdom, and Pacific Islands [72], and feeds on humans, domestic animals, including birds [73]. Thus, measures to control Aedes mosquitoes also have to take the control of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes into consideration.
7. viii)
It is unknown why some patients (65 %) with anti-ZIKV antibodies do not develop GBS whereas some patients do. Does the genetic make-up of an individual pre-dispose that individual to ZIKV-associated GBS or microcephaly?
ZIKV infection is a major public health problem that has already spread to many countries around the globe, and is likely to spread to more given the fact that the virus can be transmitted sexually and by mosquitoes to humans. Imported ZIKV by asymptomatic travelers will likely be transmitted to sexual partners thus increasing the number of infected people and consequently the availability of ZIKV-infected blood meal for naïve mosquitoes. A blood meal from infected patients, following a mosquito bite, will be all it takes to establish an outbreak in countries with imported cases, as has been demonstrated in the United States. This observation puts China, Singapore, Thailand and Europe, which all have Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, at high risk for mosquito transmission given the fact that ZIKV has already been imported to these regions [21, 22, 37]. An infected mosquito in any of these regions can cross, irrespective of country borders, from one country to another thus increasing the spread of the virus. It is also likely that people moving across country borders will spread the virus to other countries.
We now know, unlike in the 1950s, that ZIKV cannot only be transmitted through mosquito bites; it can also be transmitted sexually, via blood transfusion, and from mother to fetus. We also know that the virus is associated with symptoms such as joint pains, skin rash, and that it causes neurological problems such as GBS, microcephaly and abnormally developed congenital central nervous system. Nevertheless, there are a lot of things we still do not know about ZIKV; we do not know whether the virus can be transmitted through nasal secretions, saliva or breast milk. Also, there are still unanswered questions as to why the outbreak in Brazil spread to almost all of the Americas and why this outbreak had a higher mortality and morbidity compared to sporadic outbreaks prior to 2007. With these in consideration, there is an urgent need to develop vaccines and therapeutics to prevent or stop the spread of ZIKV infections. In addition to this, there is an urgent need to develop robust diagnostic tests that can detect and discriminate ZIKV infections from other flaviviruses (DENVs, Chikungunya, and YFV), 5 days after onset of symptoms. Fortunately, recent studies have shown that antibodies targeting NS1 proteins are ZIKV-specific and can be used to develop ZIKV-specific diagnostic kits [65]. If an antigen diagnostic test targeting ZIKV NS1 is successfully developed, it can be used to diagnose ZIKV infections from the onset of viremia. In fact, a ZIKV antigen diagnostic test will be more valuable because they can detect ZIKV infections prior to the appearance of anti-ZIKV antibodies in serum. Such a test can be used along-side with a specific molecular test, such as reverse transcription (RT) PCR, to confirm ZIKV infection. Until then, specific detection of ZIKV infections has to rely on RT-PCR.
We would like to thank Mr. Lukai Zhai (Michigan Technological University) and Dr. Kathryn Frietze (University of New Mexico School of Medicine) for reading the review and for their critical comments and suggestions.
Start-up fund from Michigan Technological University.
Availability of data and material
Not applicable.
Authors’ contributions
RB and ET wrote the review. RB and ET generated the figures. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Authors’ Affiliations
Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University
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© The Author(s). 2016 | <urn:uuid:bbe19e1f-4cb3-45bf-8f94-528ca52a25cc> | 3 | 3.296875 | 0.048424 | en | 0.868008 | https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-016-0623-2 |
In the second half of the video (0:40), Oprah asks Kevin Hart what makes him different than all of the other aspiring comedians and actors out there. His response: identifying and imitating successful mentors and learning from their triumphs and failures. He constantly surrounds himself with the best (not necessarily “comedians” or “actors”) and strives to imitate them. If you can imitate your mentors, meaning you can adopt their habits, work ethic, and path to success, then you hugely improve your chance to become 220. “Working smart” means adopting lessons learned from those around you- doing what they did right and not doing what they did wrong. What’s awesome is that you don’t have to personally know all of your mentors (although you should know at least one). For example, my basketball mentors were Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan when I was growing up. I would watch the games religiously and then I would go in the back room and try to imitate exactly what they did.
1. What does Kevin Hart mean by “the Blueprint”?
2. Pick 1 mentor you know in person and 2-3 that you do not, but that you can follow through media in some way. Remember, they can be successful and not directly related to your dream (Kevin Hart looking up to Jay-Z).
3. Reach out to the mentor you know in person and ask them to be your mentor. Don’t be shy- people are flattered when they are asked to be a mentor for someone.
4. With your mentor, develop a plan of communication, discuss your goals and how they can hold you accountable, and ask them for advice.
5. For the mentors you don’t personally know, figure out how you are going to learn from them (watch their games/performances/movies, read their book/biography, talk to someone who knows them, etc.). | <urn:uuid:01668777-d2bb-43ca-be39-fc109fb71060> | 2 | 1.984375 | 0.31261 | en | 0.971487 | https://www.220leadership.com/220-blog/2015/2/11/kevin-hart-part-ii-whats-the-difference-working-hard-vs-working-smart |
You've got family at Ancestry.
Find more Hartoebben relatives and grow your tree by exploring billions of historical records. Taken every decade since 1790, the U.S. Federal Census can tell you a lot about your family. For example, from 1930 to 1940 there were 2 less people named Hartoebben in the United States — and some of them are likely related to you.
Start a tree and connect with your family.
Create, build, and explore your family tree.
What if you had a window into the history of your family? With historical records, you do. From home life to career, records help bring your relatives' experiences into focus. There were 13 people named Hartoebben in the 1930 U.S. Census. In 1940, there were 15% less people named Hartoebben in the United States. What was life like for them?
Picture the past for your ancestors.
In 1940, 11 people named Hartoebben were living in the United States. In a snapshot:
• 18% were children
• For 6 females, Helen was the most common name
• 1 owned their homes, valued on average at $3,200
• 91% rented out rooms to boarders
Learn where they came from and where they went.
As Hartoebben families continued to grow, they left more tracks on the map:
• They most commonly lived in Missouri
• 1 were first-generation Americans
• 8% were first-generation Americans
• 18% migrated within the United States from 1935 to 1940 | <urn:uuid:72868180-76a1-4b34-a409-ca742f4e915a> | 3 | 3.25 | 0.314725 | en | 0.985247 | https://www.ancestry.com/family-trees/hartoebben |
Raising Chickens Chicken Coops Join BYC
Could my chickens have too much light?
Discussion in 'Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying' started by ChicksR4Me, Dec 1, 2008.
1. ChicksR4Me
ChicksR4Me Chillin' With My Peeps
Dec 1, 2008
North East Indiana
My chickens are 17 weeks old so I know they are too young to be laying but I've had a light on in the coop to keep the water from freezing. The light has been on all the time otherwise the water freezes over. Can they be getting too much light? The come inside as soon as it gets dark outside and are roosting shortly after. I have 15 Isa Browns, 5 RIR, and 3 Calif Leghorns. 2 of the RIR are Male I'm just not sure if I should be turning the light off at night and just changing the water every morning.
2. Imp
Imp All things share the same breath- Chief Seattle
When I first got hens about 6 years ago, I knew nothing about chickens. I was told by another person with chickens that it was better to provide no light or light 24/7. (Doesn't exactly make sense to me now) I have had a light in the coop ever since except for 1 week in 2006 when I was without power after a storm. I don't think it's ever been a problem.
3. AngelzFyre
AngelzFyre Chillin' With My Peeps
Sep 18, 2007
Pell City, Alabama
I've not had chickens for all that long either but from what I've read you can keep a heat lamp over your waterer to keep it from freezing but it should be the kind that's red and not the white light. They also make heated bases for the metal waterers and have several different heated plastic waterers out now as well as heated buckets used for horses and such.
Keeping lights on 24/7 doesn't let them rest like they should. People do keep lights on them when the shorter days are here so that they are like the longer days when they lay more but other than that the lights are off or very dim so they can roost as usual in nature and it doesn't stress them.
4. SussexInSeattle
SussexInSeattle Chillin' With My Peeps
Oct 6, 2008
One thing that I read in here is that chickens tend to pick when they have constant light and I witnessed this when I have had my shoplight on in the barn after sundown when I have been working on projects for them or loading supplies after dark. Not all will pick but I do have two girls who tend to be nasty in the light, my Buff Brahma and one of my Buff Orpingtons.
5. mrandmrschicken
mrandmrschicken Chillin' With My Peeps
Sep 14, 2008
NW IA
I have a infra red heat bulb in my coop 24/7 to keep them warm. It cost more per month but they also sleep and don't fight and continue laying. I think you can buy them in different wattage.
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Raising Chickens Chicken Coops Join BYC
Crop contents left, bird eaten on the spot
Discussion in 'Predators and Pests' started by EeyoreD, Aug 28, 2014.
1. EeyoreD
EeyoreD Chillin' With My Peeps
Mar 26, 2012
Attica, MI
What killed my duck? I'm used to coons that will behead or at least rip the crop out and eat it. I'm really confused about an Indian runner that, well, was just a bunch of feathers, a bit of bloody outer wing bone and the spilled crop contents.
OK maybe it wasn't entirely eaten on the spot but, as I said, there was a chewed wing bone with just a bit of flesh, the spilled crop contents, TONS of feathers but... no other bones.
What was this?
2. Alaskan
Alaskan The Frosted Flake
interesting puzzle.
It has to be something that can carry the bird off, after having some fun. That narrows down the field, but not enough to make an identification.
I don't think any raptor would do that (at least none of my 10 or so raptor kills have done that, large hawk, bald eagle, and great horned owl).
My first guess would be dog, since that would fulfill the "played with, ate some, then took it home" requirement. However, are you rural enough to include mountain lion and Lynx?
I haven't had a Wolverine eat my livestock yet...but maybe that would qualify, and the same with bear.
I don't think a fox would play with it so much before dragging it home, so I vote against fox, raccoon, or possum.
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Katie Couric's Notebook: Passwords
I bet this happens to you, too. You log onto your bank account to pay a bill and get a message that your password's expired.
Sure, it's annoying, but it only takes a minute - plus picking a new password makes your information safer, right?
Well, maybe not.
According to a study by Microsoft researcher Cormac Herley, changing your password every few months is usually just a waste of time. He argues anyone who steals it will use it right away. So, changing it later is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
Instead, Herley suggests you follow the advice we've heard for years. Pick a password that's hard for someone else to guess. If you go with something common like "ABC123" or the word "password" ... you're just handing hackers a digital key.
Just make sure it's something you can remember. Otherwise by the time you finally memorize it - someone's going to make you change it.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News. | <urn:uuid:886d5cfc-041b-446a-9b37-bc40b06e715c> | 2 | 2.40625 | 0.881676 | en | 0.955823 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/katie-courics-notebook-passwords-26-08-2010/ |
Food for Life
Child eating
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Our Critical Care Paks provide a whole month’s worth of staple foods to a family with no means to support themselves. Each Pak contains staples they can’t afford for themselves like beans, rice, oil and more. Each Critical Care Pak costs $30, and helps a needy family survive. | <urn:uuid:68e8dafc-41b6-4214-a268-50f6bfcda786> | 2 | 2.265625 | 0.03121 | en | 0.932328 | https://www.childcareworldwide.org/impact/food-for-life/ |
Esto también se puede leer en español.
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Pokemon Go got the fanfare for making augmented reality mainstream, but Snapchat -- with Lenses and Spectacles -- was already AR's undercover evangelist.
James Martin/CNET
Who would have thought that augmented reality's best pitch would be puking rainbows and candy-colored camera glasses?
Augmented reality -- and its more advanced cousin mixed reality -- overlay digital information onto the visible world. Typically, this is where I'm supposed to reference Pokemon Go, last year's mobile gaming phenomenon that popularized AR through the digital monsters that popped up on your phone camera.
But before Jigglypuffs and Squirtles started showing up in your bathroom, many more people were already using a different app to play with augmented reality everyday, often without realizing it: Snapchat. With Lenses barfing rainbows from your open mouth, and more recently with the $130 sunglass-camera hybrid Spectacles, Snapchat parent Snap has served up the world's hottest training wheels for AR.
Just don't look to Snap itself to claim the title, at least for now. You won't find any mention of augmented or mixed reality in the materials leading up to Thursday's initial public offering, which priced higher than expected in what could be the biggest IPO in the US since Alibaba's in 2014. But experts say the popularity of Lenses and Spectacles breaks down two major barriers for AR -- familiarity and social acceptance.
"It is a gateway drug to more AR," said Jim Merrick, chipmaker Qualcomm's marketing director for internet of things products. "It's the wearability of [Spectacles], and it doesn't have the Google Glass creepiness factor."
That could position Snap to be an unexpected leader in a new technology that some, like Apple CEO Tim Cook, predict could be bigger than virtual reality. And that means Snap, down the road, could touch more facets of your life than simply your fascination with its trademark disappearing selfies.
Lenses > Pokemon Go
After introducing Smart Filters in late 2013 to overlay details like the time or temperature on a photo, the company in 2015 launched Lenses to morph your face with interactive animations. Hence, the sparkly rainbow vomit pouring everywhere.
People snapping selfies with Lenses might not know it's one of the most popular mixed-reality technologies in use today.
Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET en Español
Selfies are a big part of Snapchat, so it makes sense that Lenses are one of its most popular features -- more popular than Pokemon Go ever has been.
The viral video game holds the reputation of being AR's breakout hit, but at its absolute peak, Pokemon Go had about 21 million people using it daily, according to app analytics provider Apptopia. By contrast, more than a third of Snapchat's 158 million daily active users play with Lenses every day, or more than 52 million people.
Though vomiting sparkly rainbows seem trivial, smart-glasses maker Osterhout Design Group said that consumer programs are key to familiarizing people with its own augmented-reality glasses. Though designed for technical, on-the-job tasks, ODG's glasses use mundane entertainment apps to acquaint people with the unfamiliar technology, according to Pete Jameson, ODG's chief operating officer.
"When we deliver glasses to new customers, we put consumer applications on the glasses so they can get used to the experience, so email, movies, internet," he said. "We see those applications as a training tool."
ODG unveiled its first consumer smart glasses, the R-8, at CES in January.
Then there's mixed reality, which takes AR a step further by making those digital overlays react to you and the things around you. If Snap dipped its toes into AR with filters, it jumped into mixed reality with its Lenses.
Technical specs
Spectacles, meanwhile, transformed Snap from an app company into a device maker too. In the process, the camera-equipped sunglasses shoved it further down the path toward AR.
To be clear, Specs aren't AR headsets. Unlike dedicated AR and MR devices like Microsoft's HoloLens or ODG's smart glasses, Specs are designed to capture images only. While HoloLens can beam virtual, 3D images into your field of vision, Specs simply have a small camera at the temple that takes 10-second videos at the touch of a button, after which you can view them in the Snapchat app.
People who work in AR note that Spectacles feel like a steppingstone toward AR headsets, whether or not Snap ends up heading in that direction.
Snap's Spectacles aren't AR headsets, but they help break down some of the biggest barriers to AR.
James Martin/CNET
"It's getting people exposed to the concept of having a wearable on that's not some crazy 5-inch-thick piece of glass in front of your face," said Vince Cacace, the CEO of Vertebrae, a startup developing advertising formats for VR and AR. "I could see 6,000 girls wearing this to Coachella."
The devices help erode two hurdles that have crimped AR devices in the past -- awkward, unfamiliar design and "creepiness," as Qualcomm's Merrick put it. Those problems were exemplified by the backlash to Google Glass in 2014, when restaurants, bars and movie theaters banned the device. The product even gave rise to a dismissive slur for people wearing them: glassholes.
Spectacles haven't encountered the same controversy. If anything, the youthful gleam to Snapchat (the majority of people using the app are 18 to 25 years old) and the scarcity of the "bots" that dole out Specs only heightened their appeal. Available via those bots since September, they launched online only last week.
Snap's decision to add a small circle of lights to the frame indicating when the Spectacles camera is running have helped to smooth over privacy jitters of people who don't like the idea of being filmed unawares.
"[Google Glass] gave us some guardrails to be careful about," said Chris Croteau, the general manager of chipmaker Intel's headworn products business, who cited "social awkwardness" as the biggest hurdle to AR that his company has noticed so far. Snap's steppingstone approach to AR, he said, plays into how consumers are most likely to grow accustomed to the technology, much as they got comfortable with mobile phones, initially as devices for calls and messaging and eventually as full-blown computers.
Also, unlike most true AR headsets, Spectacles are actually available. Microsoft's much-ballyhooed device is still in development, while the $1,000 ODG R-8 will launch in the second half for developers only.
"Simply having a gadget, a technology device that I wear as an eyeglass, that's an important barrier to break," said Hugo Swart, Qualcomm's senior director of product management for AR and VR.
Is the future of AR really puking rainbows?
Snap declined to comment on its AR ambitions, but its acquisitions have presaged new product rollouts. Its 2014 purchase of Vergence Labs, which made Google Glass-like eyewear that records video, was the genesis of Spectacles. Its 2015 takeover of startup Looksery, maker of 3D facial tracking masks, became Lenses, and Snapchat followed it up by buying Obvious Engineering, the company behind 3D photo application Seene, in 2016.
The latest acquisition hints that Snap has more AR to come.
In late December, Snapchat reportedly bought an Israeli AR startup called Cimagine Media, which makes programs that help visualize what an item might look like in the user's environment, like a couch in your living room.
So will your sofa be vomiting glitter next? Snap isn't talking but, considering how well the company has promoted AR without even mentioning it, maybe the subtlety of puking rainbows is just right.
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Solar system with Earth-size planet found
Astronomers studying a star 127 light-years away have discovered an intriguing solar system with at least five Neptune-class planets and possibly two more, including an Earth-size world.
After six years of painstaking observations, astronomers have identified a distant solar system with at least five Neptune-class worlds orbiting within 130 million miles or so of the parent star--closer than Mars is to the sun. Two other planets are believed to be present, including one just 1.4 times as massive as Earth.
The presumed Earth-size planet orbits a scant 2 million miles from its star, completing a full orbit, or "year," every 1.18 days. If confirmed with additional observations, this hellish world would be the smallest yet discovered, additional proof that Earth-size planets are falling within the reach of current Earth-based instruments.
An artist's impression of a distant solar system with up to seven planets, including a world just slightly bigger than Earth. European Southern Observatory
"We have probably found the system with the most planets known today, coming close to the solar system," Christophe Lovis of the University of Geneva, lead author of a paper reporting the discovery, told CNET in an e-mail exchange. "This means that we are now able to detect very complex systems of low-mass planets, which will help us a lot [in] understanding their diversity. This a step towards answering long-standing questions, such as, how common are habitable planets in the universe?"
As for the presumed Earth-size planet, Lovis said "it is probable that such a low-mass body cannot retain an atmosphere so close to its star. Most likely, this body is like a big melted-lava ball. Hard to imagine, since this is unknown in our solar system."
Over six years, Lovis and his colleagues used a sensitive spectrograph mounted on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter (11.8-foot) telescope at La Silla, Chile, to measure subtle changes in the light from a sun-like star known as HD 10180 in the southern constellation Hydrus.
Located 127 light-years from Earth, HD 10180 wobbles ever so slightly, as it is tugged this way and that by the gravity of a retinue of unseen planets. Over the course of 190 observations, astronomers were able to confirm the presence of at least five Neptune-like planets between 13 and 25 times as massive as Earth.
All five worlds orbit HD 10180 at distances ranging from 0.06 and 1.4 times the distance between the Earth and the sun, out to about 130 million miles. The much smaller, yet-to-be-confirmed planet orbits inside the five Neptune-class worlds. A seventh Saturn-class planet is believed to be at a range of 3.4 times the Earth-sun distance, taking six Earth years to complete one orbit.
According to the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia maintained by the Paris Observatory, 488 planets beyond Earth's solar system have been discovered to date. Some 15 solar systems feature at least three planets. A star known as 55 Cancri has five confirmed planets, including two Jupiter-class worlds.
The HD 10180 solar system is unique in that its planets circle the parent star in nearly circular orbits and seem to be positioned according to a relatively simple arithmetic rule that may be "a consequence of the various gravitational interactions that occur between the planets during their evolution," Lovis said.
"It is difficult to say at this point how significant this result is, but it will be very interesting to hear what our theoretician colleagues think of it," he added.
Surprisingly, perhaps, it appears the HD 10180 solar system is gravitationally stable over long time scales, despite the effects of five Neptune-class planets orbiting so close to their star.
"This was not an easy question, and answering it required in-depth dynamical analyses," Lovis said. "When modeling all major effects properly (including effects of general relativity), it turns out that the system is indeed stable over long time scales."
He said additional observations will be needed to pin down the orbit and mass of the innermost, Earth-class planet.
"We will dedicate some more telescope nights to observe the improve the coverage of the 1.18-day period," he said of the smaller planet. "At the moment, we are suffering from the fact that we take one single data point per night, which makes it difficult to be sure about a 1.18-day period. I expect that we will make progress on this system within a year or so."
The observations are extremely difficult. The gravitational tug of the low-mass planet amounts to a 1.8 mph wobble in a star 127 light-years away, "which is hard to measure and, if confirmed, would represent a new record in precision," Lovis said.
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Are you in compliance?
How Good Ideas Still Lead to Bad Reporting
Scott Taub | January 27, 2015
A number of different roles go into financial reporting. The Securities and Exchange Commission sets the rules requiring financial statements to be published and overseas the other parts of the process. The Financial Accounting Standards Board writes the accounting standards. Corporate accountants develop policies and procedures to apply those standards, implement systems to gather necessary information, and prepare the financial statements themselves.
Audit committees oversee the preparation of financial statements and hire auditors to certify them. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board writes auditing standards. The auditor applies those standards in performing an audit and issues an audit opinion. The PCAOB inspects the audits. The SEC reviews financial statements and makes inquiries in the interests of identifying opportunities for improvement.
It’s a complicated process, and things can go wrong in many ways; sometimes problems happen even when everybody appears to be doing their job right.
One of those situations has been weighing on me lately. This problem doesn’t result in materially incorrect financial statements, but it does add cost and inefficiency to a process already difficult enough as it is. And because it isn’t clear that anybody is doing anything wrong, it isn’t clear how the problem should be fixed.
To illustrate the problem, I’ll walk through the steps I described above, narrowing in on the inefficiency—to wit, spending time and money on known and immaterial departures from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
As everybody knows, the SEC requires that financial statements be prepared in accordance with GAAP in all material respects, and the Commission looks to FASB to define GAAP. FASB identifies the correct accounting for a particular transaction or arrangement, noting always that its standards need not be applied to immaterial items.
Companies frequently implement policies and procedures designed to ensure that material items are accounted for in accordance with GAAP, while immaterial items are instead handled in a simpler (and cheaper) way. Some of the more common examples of this are: (1) expensing minor fixed assets instead of capitalizing and depreciating them; (2) expensing some overhead costs instead of capitalizing them into inventory; and (3) using straight-line interest expense instead of the effective interest method. Many other examples abound and everybody agrees that these are appropriate ways to make financial reporting more efficient.
In the not-too-distant past, auditors generally accepted these “simplifying” accounting policies after a qualitative evaluation that the policies were unlikely to lead to material departures from GAAP. Times have changed.
When a company follows an accounting policy that is inconsistent with GAAP, it is, of course, possible for the financial statements to wind up with a material error—something immaterial when a policy was adopted could become material over time. SEC questions have resulted in restatements in circumstances when a public company did not consider this possibility. Little surprise, then, that the PCAOB is interested as well.
PCAOB auditing standards require that an auditor accumulate and evaluate all mis-statements in financial statements that aren’t “clearly trivial.” Since these policies are departures from GAAP, it therefore seems appropriate that auditors propose adjusting entries like they would for any other mis-statement.
Because of that, auditors today want to know the size of the error caused by these non-GAAP policies before concluding that no further evaluation need be done, so that they can decide whether to propose an adjustment. The qualitative evaluation is now just a starting point.
If an adjustment is proposed because the mis-statement isn’t “clearly trivial,” it then seems reasonable that the proposed adjustment be treated like any other proposed adjustment. Of course, companies generally decide not to record these proposed adjustments, as long the mis-statement isn’t material. This is perfectly understandable. The policy was adopted to save time and money without materially mis-stating the financial statements, and all the subsequent work confirmed that there was no material error.
Auditing standards, however, require that any unrecorded proposed adjustment be communicated to the audit committee. As such, if management doesn’t record the adjustment, the auditor needs to make the audit committee aware of the GAAP departure.
And there’s the rub: These are all logical, understandable positions and actions. And they are leading to wasted time and money.
Quantifying the effects of these policies requires the company to analyze transactions and events that it believes too small to worry about. Even if you can make reasonable estimates, auditors and companies may have difficulty determining what level of internal controls should be applied to information that is being gathered solely to confirm that something is not material, and therefore not important. Regardless, corporate accountants and auditors alike are spending time (and money) on things that everybody believes are not material in the first place—which, of course, undoes some of the benefit of adopting the simpler policy in the first place.
Further inefficiencies occur because audit committees are bothered with things that aren’t the result of anybody making a mistake and have already been determined to have no material effect on the financial statements.
None of this wasted effort can really be traced to anybody failing in their responsibilities. Everybody has acknowledged that GAAP needn’t be applied to immaterial things. The company has designed policies and processes to focus on material items, while allowing immaterial items to be handled more easily. The SEC has only sought to identify situations where management’s processes failed to detect material errors. The PCAOB has only sought to ensure that auditors don’t miss those material errors and that the audit committee is aware of any identified errors. Auditors are simply following professional standards that require them to evaluate departures from GAAP.
Fortunately, many participants in the process have identified this inefficiency and want to do something about it. Unfortunately, it isn’t clear what should be done.
In some cases, FASB is being asked to add guidance that scopes out small items from accounting standards, instead of relying on the general materiality exception. Where such guidance exists, not applying the requirements of the standard to these small items isn’t a deviation from GAAP at all, so no tracking of the effects is necessary.
For example, constituents have asked FASB to scope out “inconsequential” promises to provide goods or services from the requirements of the new revenue recognition standard, amid concern that without such an explicit exception, auditors (and therefore companies) would need to identify and quantify the effects of promises that seem to have little value, such as sending periodic information statements, or answering installation or operational questions by phone. Of course, nobody believes that accounting for such promises would make a material difference in the first place, but the potential need to prove it every year could be a significant undertaking.
Having FASB deal with these matters through the standards might be an elegant solution, if it could work. FASB board members have been receptive to exploring ways to do it. But it puts FASB in the position of trying to write a standard on identifying material items without the benefit of any information on the transactions the standard might be applied to. It also would invite transaction structuring to take advantage of the scope exceptions, and it would only solve the problem one accounting topic at a time. Thus, even if it worked for “inconsequential” revenue items, the problem would continue to exist in myriad other areas.
Since the problem largely resides in the auditing process, a more effective solution ought to be achievable by focusing there. Perhaps the answer is simply focusing on management’s controls for periodically reviewing these “systemic GAAP departures” to ensure they haven’t gotten material. Such controls wouldn’t necessarily need to include quantitative measures in order to be effective. And if the controls are shown to be effective, it seems we should be able to avoid the non-value-added tracking, quantifying, and reporting that is currently going on. Of course, I oversimplify by describing a solution in just a few sentences, but there must be a way to eliminate work that virtually everybody acknowledges is not addressing a significant risk of material mis-statement.
I should cop to my part in this mess. As an SEC official a decade ago, I was asked whether I believed that GAAP departures resulting from policies like these should be considered mis-statements. The answer seemed easy: if you aren’t doing what GAAP requires, you have a mis-statement, even if you were departing from GAAP for a logical reason. I wasn’t terribly concerned when I answered that question way back then, and I still can’t think of a different answer. But the consequences of treating these departures as errors have been far beyond what I had envisioned. | <urn:uuid:9709ba3b-d47b-4907-9f08-cbf291054b3b> | 2 | 2.3125 | 0.033791 | en | 0.947464 | https://www.complianceweek.com/blogs/scott-taub/how-good-ideas-still-lead-to-bad-reporting |
Justices Rule for Ohio in Mental Impairment Case
(CN) – The double-jeopardy clause does not bar Ohio courts from reconsidering the mental impairment of an Ohio man who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a 10-year-old boy in 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.
A jury convicted Michael Bies of kidnapping, attempted rape and murder. A psychiatrist told jurors that Bies didn’t qualify to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, because he knew the difference between right and wrong when he committed the crime. However, she said Bies was “mildly mentally retarded to borderline mentally retarded” and had an IQ in the 65-75 range.
The jurors weighed Bies’ mental impairment as a mitigating factor, but were ultimately persuaded to recommend capital punishment by the aggravating factors, particularly the brutality of the murder.
The trial court imposed the death sentence, which the state appeals court and high court each reviewed independently and affirmed.
After failing to obtain post-conviction relief, Bies filed a habeas petition in federal court. While it was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court issued Atkins v. Virginia, which prohibited the execution of mentally impaired offenders as a violation of their constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
Bies used the Atkins ruling to argue for a lighter sentence. He said the court record establishes that he’s mentally impaired, so the state is “precluded and estopped” from disputing it.
The state court ordered a full hearing on the Atkins claim, but before it took place, Bies brought his claims directly to the federal court. The district court vacated his death sentence, and the 6th Circuit affirmed.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed the district court and the 6th Circuit’s decisions. Justice Ginsburg said they “fundamentally misperceived the application of the Double Jeopardy Clause and its issue preclusion (collateral estoppel) component.”
Ginsburg explained that Bies was never tried twice for the same crime; he only received one death sentence.
She then rejected Bies’ claim that issue preclusion prevents the state from disputing his mental retardation in the discussion on whether to apply Atkins.
Issue preclusion is a plea reserved for the prevailing party, Ginsburg noted.
“Issue preclusion, in short, does not transform final judgment losers, in civil or criminal proceedings, into partially prevailing parties,” the justice wrote.
The justices unanimously overturned the decision to vacate Bies’ death sentence in light of the Atkins ruling.
Monday’s ruling allows the state to argue that Bies is not mentally retarded, and thus ineligible for life in prison.
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Oil and globalization fuel Al Qaeda terror network
President Obama touts the killing of Osama bin Laden as a major blow to Al Qaeda leadership. Mitt Romney says the terrorist network remains a major threat. They're both right. Middle East oil and the forces of globalization continue to fuel Al Qaeda offshoots around the world.
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President Obama, key cabinet members, and members of the national security team monitor the mission to get Osama bin Laden at the White House, May 1, 2011. Op-ed contributor Steve Yetiv says combating globalized terror 'starts with targeting the circumstances...that fuel terrorism....[T]he next American president must work to decrease world oil dependence by investing in renewable energy.'
Pete Souza/The White House/AP/file
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Mitt Romney has repeatedly argued that even though Osama Bin Laden is dead, Al Qaeda remains a major threat to American security, while President Obama has described Al Qaeda’s leadership as decimated. Who’s right?
In fact, they are both right. Al Qaeda’s leadership is decimated, and the Obama team deserves much credit. But Al Qaeda has also splintered into affiliates and offshoots that keep bouncing back, like a Whac-A-Mole game. Al Qaeda can be repressed as Mr. Obama suggests, but it is hard for any US president to completely eliminate the terror network – and Americans should know why.
A large part of the reason is oil and globalization.
Recommended:Opinion 8 steps to US energy security
Many people have commented on the link between oil and terror, but what is more interesting is how oil and globalization have worked together to abet terrorism. The overlapping oil and globalization eras have produced circumstances that helped create and now still buttress the Al Qaeda phenomenon.
In the Afghanistan war of the 1980s, both private and government monies from oil-rich Persian Gulf countries supported Osama bin Laden’s “Afghan Arabs,” including their recruitment, housing, communications, and training when they were fighting the invading Russians. These revenues also helped bolster the Taliban, which housed Al Qaeda and still cooperates with it, and helped Pakistan build nuclear capabilities that both Mr. Romney and Obama believe could be stolen by terrorists and militants.
But Al Qaeda could not have become a transnational force without the interconnectedness of globalization. Cultural and economic globalization gave Al Qaeda access to the global highways and side roads it needed to spread around the world, set up shop in dozens of countries, communicate at far distances, and plan large-scale terrorist attacks.
Fortunately, there are ways to combat terror networks. This work starts with targeting the circumstances and causes that fuel terrorism in the first place. For one, the next American president must work to decrease world oil dependence by investing in renewable energy.
But terrorism, while fueled by oil and aided by globalization, has other causes as well. America can also take the lead, with its Arab, European, and Asian allies, to support economic development in the Middle East as an anti-terrorism strategy. The US must also continue to help these nations fight poverty, improve employment opportunities, develop civil society, and broaden education.
The next administration will need to remain vigilant in fighting terrorism, but the best defense in this case is a strong offense.
Steve Yetiv is a professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. He is the author of “The Petroleum Triangle: Oil, Globalization, and Terror” and “The Absence of Grand Strategy: The United States in the Persian Gulf.”
| <urn:uuid:e3e6c997-28cc-4487-b226-4a1b9ba5e1be> | 2 | 1.765625 | 0.024722 | en | 0.960086 | https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/1025/Oil-and-globalization-fuel-Al-Qaeda-terror-network |
Spratt Statement on Space Travel to Moon and Mars
For Immediate Release:
January 15, 2004
Contact:Chuck Fant
News from U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC)
Assistant to the Democratic Leader
Ranking Member, Committee on the Budget
US House of Representatives – Washington, DC
www.house.gov/spratt | www.house.gov/budget_democrats
Spratt Statement on Space Travel to Moon and Mars
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) today issued the following statement on the President’s proposal to establish a permanent base on the moon from which to launch human travel to Mars.
“The President has unveiled a plan to send humans to the moon to build an infrastructure that can launch us on to Mars. This will be hugely expensive. It has been 15 years since NASA estimated the cost at $400 billion when the first President Bush proposed the same idea. It is hard to see how we can pay for such an endeavor with a budget deficit already approaching $500 billion.
“Space exploration continues to provide valuable scientific research, but sending humans to the moon — never mind Mars — could not be accomplished without massively increasing NASA’s $15.5 billion annual budget. The President’s claim that this endeavor will require a mere $1 billion more than NASA’s expected funding over the next five years is just another example of hiding the real cost by deferring the payment into the future.
“Even if some of the cost is paid for by reprogramming existing NASA funding, this plan would still require substantial new expenditures beyond the $1 billion the President proposes. This initiative comes at a time when the Administration has announced its intentions to hold domestic appropriations to a three percent increase in its upcoming fiscal year 2005 budget. If the President gives NASA a larger increase, it must come out of other priorities, such as education, medical research, law enforcement, and infrastructure investments in spaceship earth, to list just a few.
“A proposal to colonize the moon and send humans to Mars is exciting, but it has an element of escapism about it, and only confirms that this Administration is not facing fiscal reality, and has no intention of reversing the record-breaking deficits it has created.” | <urn:uuid:4a54f5be-61c5-4cd1-a01b-875329441573> | 2 | 2.046875 | 0.043387 | en | 0.92307 | https://www.democraticwhip.gov/content/spratt-statement-space-travel-moon-and-mars?mini=calendar%2F2014-04 |
Two Important Ways Cloud ERP Enables IIoT in Manufacturing
Your manufacturing processes are producing more than just marketable items that generate revenue. They’re also producing vast amounts of data.
Until recently, manufacturers could only perform the most basic data analysis. Today, however, analytics capabilities combined with more opportunities to capture machine and production data present huge opportunities to drive efficiency. The growth of inexpensive, embedded sensors, the plummeting cost of employee wearable devices, and the availability of analytics platforms give manufacturers the power to connect, collect, and act on data like never before. This is the age of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
The data generated by IIoT can revolutionize the way manufacturers run their business. As McKinsey has observed:
“In manufacturing, operations managers can use advanced analytics to take a deep dive into historical process data, identify patterns and relationships among discrete process steps and inputs, and then optimize the factors that prove to have the greatest effect on yield.”
In other words, data can help you boost your output—but only if you have the right foundation to handle it. And simply implementing technology isn’t enough—you have to make sure it can scale, cost-effectively, to support the even more massive volumes of data your operations will no doubt produce in the future.
Daunted by the thought of building, expanding, and maintaining their own data centers, many manufacturers are turning to the cloud. There’s a good reason for this: the cloud provides unprecedented computing power, scale, and rapid innovation. And cloud ERP systems are the most effective and affordable way to connect massive data stores, mine them for useful insights, and translate these insights into greater operational efficiency. With cloud ERP, you get the connectivity and scalability you need to take full advantage of IIoT and big data.
How Cloud ERP Provides Connectivity
One of the biggest obstacles to data mining is the good old-fashioned data silo. Huge volumes of data are often accessible only to specific teams, but not to everyone in the organization who might need to aggregate them with other data volumes. It is through this aggregation that the best insights are often revealed.
As Cindy Jutras, president of the consulting firm Mint Jutras, points out in her article, IoT and the Connected Manufacturer:
“[T]he concept of collecting massive volumes of data from manufacturing processes is not really new. Manufacturers have had sensors and automated data collection (ADC) devices operating on their plant floors for decades now. But that’s also been the problem. The data never really got off the plant floor. All too often it simply sat out there, disconnected from other enterprise data, not reaching its full potential. It’s time we start connecting all the dots. But of course you can’t do that without the right technology.”
Within the open and connective fabric of the cloud, manufacturers can easily implement applications and data volumes that connect with their machines and sensors. But they’ll still need software that can help them not only find the right data, but also add value to it.
That hub should be a reliable cloud ERP system that lets the company’s brightest minds go in and analyze data from any desktop, laptop, or mobile device they choose. Cloud ERP sits between all entities and centralizes data collection and capture. This eliminates data silos, which create blockades to data mining.
How Cloud ERP Delivers Scalability to Support Data Growth
As we mentioned, your data volumes will only become larger as time passes. Legacy IT infrastructures are struggling to keep pace with today’s rapid increase in data. The cloud embraces it.
Highly elastic cloud technology eliminates concerns about storage and computing limitations by providing the scalability to support and analyze modern manufacturing data. As machines continue to generate staggering amounts of data, you’ll never have to worry about increasing database capacity, building new data centers, or exceeding available storage and computing power.
As you add more machines to your network, the cloud will support your innovation. Cloud systems are designed to adapt quickly to evolving technology. This enables you to connect and test new IIoT technologies at will.
As you collect huge amounts of data from machines, wearables, and computers, a cloud ERP system will keep these massive data stores at your fingertips and help you navigate them to find the insights you’re looking for. Cloud ERP is built to provide the computational power you need—seamlessly—through any browser.
Behind every successful use of big data in the manufacturing sector is a cloud ERP system that can help decision-makers find and analyze data stores to unearth the insights hidden within. Learn more about how the Plex Manufacturing Cloud can increase your manufacturing intelligence and help you make more informed, data-driven decisions. | <urn:uuid:c54a8ee5-5197-4428-bfb1-91f9ff02dc38> | 2 | 1.65625 | 0.018732 | en | 0.918965 | https://www.dynamicsfocus.com/5106/two-important-ways-cloud-erp-enables-iiot-in-manufacturing/ |
Capitalisation of a company
Discussion in 'Strategy Development' started by lovell, Feb 8, 2007.
1. lovell
Hi there :D I was wondering if the capitalisation of a company means anything...
When it has a huge capitalisation, what does it mean? and vice versa.
Hope to hear from the professionals or anyone who knows about it...Opinions are also accepted
2. I am not sure how many type of capitalisation there are in financial accounting. The more common one is Market Capitalisation, in short, Market Cap.
This is:
Number of outstanding shares x share price
As an example, you can get the Market Cap of IBM at this Yahoo link:
Replace the symbol with any that you want to find out. | <urn:uuid:4167dc50-2fbe-4a27-a432-c94740c20efa> | 2 | 2.078125 | 0.604286 | en | 0.948399 | https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/capitalisation-of-a-company.86627/ |
Dead Bodies
Discussion in 'Politics' started by bearice, Jun 2, 2011.
1. When a human being dies, he or she is buried or burned or drowned (Osama) within 24 hours otherwise the dead bodies will decompose and spread disease in the world.
The giant companies died in year 2007 but instead of burying or burning them, USA government donated mutli-Trillions dollars to preserve the dead bodies (companies). Now these dead bodies are spreading "financial diseases" in the whole financial world. Nobody knows what is going on. There is definately a major scare in the financial world. Thanks to USA government and Obama.
Investors are running away. I have received a warning/indication. | <urn:uuid:9551a8f3-5e07-45d3-9889-e0935820acf4> | 2 | 1.960938 | 0.277553 | en | 0.954461 | https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/dead-bodies.221514/ |
In my first article in this series, I got just about as basic as you can get, looking at exactly what investors get when they buy a stock. I know some readers may be itching to get right into it and start figuring out which stocks to buy, but others may not even be convinced that buying stocks is such a good idea. So let's go ahead and take a look at why you would even bother investing in stocks. After all, there's a nice, warm spot under your bed for your cash, right?
3 cheers for stocks
The stock market can seem like a bit of an intimidating beast. Turn on CNBC during market hours and you're met with 15 different rapidly scrolling bars on the screen showing a gibberish-looking array of letters and numbers, while commentators -- sometimes five or more at once -- frantically shout in the middle of the screen. Not exactly a welcoming picture.
But for many investors, it'd be a mistake to exclude stocks as part of their portfolio. While investors will have their individual situations, there are three primary reasons everyone should at least consider stocks.
1. Returns. Over the long term, stocks have delivered impressive returns. According to the 2002 edition of Jeremy Siegel's book Stocks for the Long Run, stocks returned 6.8% per year above inflation between 1871 and 2001. That compares with a loss of 0.1% per year for gold and an average gain of 2.8% per year for bonds. Cash, of course, almost always has a negative return as it earns nothing and simply absorbs the impact of inflation. But over the past 10 years, the stock market has actually fallen more than 6% as measured by the S&P 500, which is a good reminder that the returns from stocks may not always be consistent. However, the stock market's history gives us good reason to think that over longer stretches investors can do very well.
2. Ease. Though at first the stock market can seem intimidating, it's actually one of the easier investments you can make. Once you have an account set up with an online broker, investing in a stock or a stock fund is as easy as clicking a mouse. The same is typically not true of investing in an apartment building, a race horse, a Picasso, or a vineyard.
3. Diversification. Investors with all of their eggs in one basket are betting an awful lot on what happens to that basket. Investing in stocks in general not only gives you exposure to a different asset class, but it also allows you to invest in such disparate areas as multinational software companies, U.S. fast-food restaurants, or Chinese oil companies.
But how should you invest in stocks?
Just because you may be convinced that investing in stocks is a good idea doesn't mean that you have to try to be the next stock-picking genius. In fact, this isn't the ideal approach for most investors. Fortunately, there's a very simple way to figure out which approach to stock investing you should take.
Ask yourself this question: How much time am I willing to dedicate to studying companies, reading financial reports, and doing other work necessary to identify and keep track of top-notch stocks? Now don't just skip over this. Take your eyes away from your computer screen for a moment and really think about it.
Have your answer? While there isn't a specific number that I would say pushes you in one direction or another, the way you thought about that number tells the tale. If you found yourself begrudgingly thinking "Well, I guess I can put X amount of time into it because I know I have to," then we'll call you a Category One investor (more on that in a moment).
If, on the other hand, you're excited enough about stocks and learning to invest that your thought process was, "I'm willing to put in whatever amount of time is needed -- this sounds interesting and fun," then you can take a seat with the Category Two investors.
Category One investors
There's nothing wrong with not being interested in stocks. I love researching companies, I don't enjoy lobster, and I hated the movie Titanic. We all have our individual interests and preferences.
However, as we discussed above, there are good reasons for almost everyone to have some amount of their portfolio in stocks, so we need to discuss options for investors who would rather not spend much time on their investments. One option is to hire a financial advisor to help you out. This can be a great way to handle the situation since it relieves you of the time commitment and puts it in the hands of someone who is presumably well-versed in the field. If you choose this, though, the onus is on you to make sure that you are investing with someone that actually knows what they're doing and, maybe more importantly, will respect your wishes.
Another option is to do it yourself and simply stick with low-cost index funds. Funds such as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (FUND: VFINX) and the Wilshire 5000 Index Fund (FUND: WFIVX) simply match the performance of major stock market indexes and assess very low fees on investors. Returns from index funds will, by definition, never "beat the market," but it's just about the easiest way to invest. For those interested in this type of investing, the works of Vanguard founder Jack Bogle are a great place to start.
Category Two investors
Ben Graham -- who is basically the Yoda to Warren Buffett's Luke Skywalker -- wrote in his book The Intelligent Investor that the investment approach that an investor should take depends largely on "the amount of intelligent effort the investor is willing and able to bring to bear on his task."
For investors willing and able to put in the necessary time and effort for research, investing in individual stocks can be a rewarding experience both financially -- if you're able to find stocks that perform well -- and educationally.
For the investors who fall into this group, be sure to stay tuned -- the remaining articles in this series will be aimed at you and specifically focused on how to invest in individual stocks.
In the meantime, head down to the comment section and feel free to raise questions about this article or offer suggestions for future articles in the series.
| <urn:uuid:ec296c7a-37ab-414a-925a-048261553ed0> | 2 | 1.609375 | 0.06598 | en | 0.964895 | https://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/2011/01/31/back-to-the-basics-why-buy-stocks.aspx |
Kids aren't talking about Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) anymore. It's all about Snapchat, Yik Yak, Vine, Tumblr, and Instagram. But while teens are using Facebook less, it is still the most popular social network in the age group by a wide margin.
According to a recent Pew survey of people aged 13 to 17, 71% of teens use Facebook. What's more, Facebook-owned Instagram is the second most popular, with 52% of teens using the photo-sharing app. And when asked which platform they use most often, 41% of teens named Facebook while another 20% said Instagram. Again, they were the two most popular social networks.
Source: Pew Internet.
About half the number of teens use Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) as use Facebook. And surprisingly, one-third of teens use Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google+.
Worried about teens
During its third-quarter earnings call in 2013, then-Facebook CFO David Ebersman told investors the company had seen a decrease in daily use among teenagers. In response, analysts talked down, and investors sold off, the stock despite an excellent earnings report.
Indeed, the trend shows that teenagers are using Facebook less even if the vast majority of them still use it. Nearly every survey over the past two or three years shows a decline in the percentage of teens using Facebook. Even the Pew Internet group previously found that 77% of teens used Facebook in 2012, compared with the 71% it found in its most recent survey. (Pew says it used two different methodologies for the surveys, so the numbers aren't completely comparable.)
At the same time, we've seen an increase in the popularity of Instagram, which Facebook presciently purchased in 2012. In addition, Snapchat usage among teens has climbed to 41% to be third most popular according to the Pew survey. Facebook reportedly tried to purchase that photo and video messaging app in 2013.
So even as Facebook becomes less popular among teens, it's excellent at identifying the next big thing. And that's extremely important. The platform teens use eventually becomes the platform young adults use, and that eventually becomes the platform older adults use. We saw it with Facebook, we saw it with Tumblr, we saw it with Pinterest, and we're seeing it with Snapchat.
Moreover, Facebook seems to understand that mobile has enabled people to diversify their social networks. The ability to tap phonebook contacts makes it easy for any app to find your friends and create an instant network. Indeed, 71% of teens use multiple social networks.
Giving people more ways to use Facebook
In light of the competition Facebook faces for teenagers' attention, it's done an excellent job of keeping them engaged with its platform. One way it's done so is by creating a constellation of apps that all surround its main network. Instagram feeds its photos into Facebook's News Feed, while Messenger and Groups require a Facebook ID to use. Meanwhile, Facebook's Creative Labs has pushed out a bunch of new apps to see what works. It's most recent effort, Riff, is designed to increase the amount of video uploaded to Facebook while still being able to stand on its own as a video-sharing platform.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlines the success of its major apps. Source: Facebook.
The strategy of producing multiple apps is not unique to Facebook, but it's certainly pulling it off the best. Google has tons of apps for Android and iOS, which all feed data back to the mothership. However, very few of Google's apps encourage its users to download another app or sign up for another service from Google.
Twitter told investors at its analyst day that it plans to release more stand-alone apps. Earlier this year, Twitter purchased live streaming app company Periscope, and it also owns Vine. Those are its only two apps beyond its flagship app.
The value of teens
As mentioned, teens are particularly telling when it comes to what the next big social network will be. That's one reason it's important for investors to monitor the popularity of Facebook among teens.
The second reason is that teens are one of the most valuable demographics in advertising. That's why we've seen apps such as Snapchat monetize its platform without providing much data for advertisers. Keeping teens engaged with Facebook means Facebook's average revenue per user will climb faster than without them.
Facebook has shown it's very good at identifying social apps that are poised to grow significantly. While its efforts to replicate those apps haven't been as successful, it's showing that it understands teens better than its major competitors.
| <urn:uuid:33595d6b-bc00-496c-a4aa-7630a683fea1> | 2 | 1.796875 | 0.038963 | en | 0.955434 | https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/04/18/surprise-facebook-is-still-popular-with-teens.aspx |
Image source:
The 401(k) is a wonderful retirement savings tool. Not only is it common for an employer to offer matching contributions to at least some level, but it's also a way to grow your retirement savings tax free, while also getting a tax break for contributions today. And with the recent advent of the Roth 401(k), you may be able to forgo today's tax savings in order to generate tax-free income in retirement.
But what is your maximum 2016 401(k) deduction? The short answer, is somewhere between $18,000 and $59,000, depending on a number of factors. Let's take a closer look.
Work for someone else? Here's the scoop
The vast majority of people fall in this category, and the maximum 2016 401(k) deduction would be as follows:
• $18,000 for those under age 50, or:
• $24,000 for those 50 and over, which includes $6,000 in extra "catch-up" contributions.
These are the IRS limits for 2016, the same as they were in 2015. However, it's important to consider a few additional things:
• Your employer may have a lower maximum elective deferral limit than the IRS, so check with payroll, human resources, or your manager to confirm the limit at your job.
• Contributions designated as Roth 401(k) contributions are not tax deductible from your 2016 income.
• If you make Roth 401(k) contributions, the benefit is on the backside; distributions in retirement would be tax-free, instead of taxable income.
It's also important to note that these contributions are per person, not per employer or per household. In other words, if you have two jobs with 401(k) plans you contribute to, your combined contributions cannot exceed the IRS limits above. Furthermore, if you're married, your contribution limits and those of your spouse are separate from one another, no matter your tax filing status.
Self-employed? Your deduction may be bigger
If you're self-employed, you (as technically the employer and the employee) make both the elective deferrals which are deductible from your earned income, and the employer contributions, which are deductible expenses.
The short answer here is, it can get a bit complicated, but the max deduction could be as much as the contribution limits of $53,000 for those under 50, or $59,000 for those 50 and above (adds in the $6 grand in "catch-up contributions). However, your maximum contribution (and therefore the maximum deduction you could get) cannot exceed your compensation. The IRS defines your compensation as, "net earnings from self-employment after deducting both one-half of your self-employment tax, and contributions for yourself."
In other words, your maximum deduction would be capped by your net income based on all your business expenses, and the calculation above, not your gross income.
Own an S-corp or similar? There's your deduction, and then there's the business' deduction
If you own a business such as an "S" corp, you'll file separate taxes for yourself, and separate taxes for the business since it's a freestanding legal entity. In other words, you'll make your elective deferrals to your 401(k) just like any other employee of the business, based on the rules of your plan. And unless you have lower limits, you'd be able to contribute (and therefore deduct) up to $18,000 (or $24,000 if you're 50 and above) in 2016.
And then the corporation would be able to deduct its matching contributions to your 401(k) as an expense as part of its corporate tax filing, with the maximum amount it could deduct based on the rules of the plan that determine how much the company can contribute to your plan and that of any other employees.
Take advantage of this deduction
The short answer to the question, "what is my maximum 401(k) deduction?" is, it depends. But it's probably the lower of your maximum contribution limit or your income, depending on your situation based on the things discussed above.
Whether you're employed by someone else, own your own company, or are a self-employed sole proprietor, take full advantage of the 401(k) deduction. Not only will it help you lower your tax bill in 2016 (or in retirement if you make Roth deferrals), but you're also setting yourself up for a better retirement.
Bottom line: Don't skip contributions, and don't skip the tax benefits when you make them.
| <urn:uuid:6268aae5-25fe-49f3-8d74-14d29e67d94b> | 2 | 1.578125 | 0.120774 | en | 0.957524 | https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/26/maximum-2016-401k-deduction.aspx |
Tesla has focused on ramping up Model S in recent years. Image source: Tesla.
With all eyes being on whether or not Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) can successfully ramp up production to 500,000 vehicles per year by 2020, It might be a little premature to talk about ramping down. But it's an important consideration and potential risk factor for long-term investors to think about, even if there are no immediate implications.
Tesla's immediate goal is to significantly ramp up volumes in the years ahead. This is far easier said than done, and whether or not Tesla will be able to execute on that growth is an open debate and precisely why it's such a battleground stock. In no uncertain terms, Tesla's premium valuation depends on Model 3's success.
The downside of ramping up
Let's say that Tesla is able to execute on that growth. That would actually become a double-edged sword in some ways. The auto business is characterized not only by extreme levels of capital intensity associated with scaling production, but also very high levels of fixed costs associated with operating overhead. This is why operating breakeven levels are so important, since if units dip beneath certain volume thresholds, companies begin hemorrhaging cash -- fast.
General Motors estimates that its global breakeven point is 4.5 million wholesale vehicle sales, not including sales made through its joint ventures in China. Ford (NYSE:F) CFO Bob Shanks recently said the company could break even if U.S. auto sales dropped to 11 million. That would be a significant pullback from the 17.5 million total vehicles sold last year in the U.S. Ford could cut costs by $3 billion if needed as it adjusted production levels, of which $1 billion would come from manufacturing operations.
Model 3 could be vulnerable to macro downturns
This is an area where Tesla has no experience. Throughout its history, Tesla has been in growth mode, spending vast sums of money developing its vehicles while building up the infrastructure necessary to produce and service those vehicles. But if and when it scales its production base to its targeted levels, being able to ramp down is an extremely important skill that's critical to surviving in the auto business for the long term.
If investors fast-forward far enough to a possible future where Tesla is mature and consistently churning out hundreds of thousands of vehicles per year, it could become highly susceptible to industrywide downturns. While the 2008 downturn nearly bankrupted the company, Tesla has enjoyed robust demand for the Model S ever since 2012.
Model S is less vulnerable to macro downturns. Image source: Tesla.
However, the luxury segment that Model S is currently dominating is less vulnerable to macroeconomic fluctuations due to the relatively affluent customer base. But the mainstream Model 3, and the related production goals, will significantly raise Tesla's fixed-cost base while the mainstream customer is very much affected by macroeconomic downturns.
The first cut is the deepest
In other words, Tesla needs to show that it can exercise cost discipline if and when the auto market cools off. Tesla just hired Jason Wheeler as its new CFO, and Wheeler does seem promising when it comes to cost discipline. Here's what he said on the last call:
We're also getting to a point where we have operating leverage in the business. We'll continue to aggressively manage our growth and expenses. Finally, and I walk around and I'm on this every day. It's the relentless focus on automotive unit cost reductions. That's my mandate.
While that cost discipline is in the context of managing growth investments, at least investors know that Wheeler is on the right page. Hopefully, if and when the time comes that Tesla needs to focus on ramping down, Wheeler will be able to make the tough cuts.
Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Tesla Motors, and has the following options: long January 2018 $180 calls on Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ford and Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | <urn:uuid:f7cf4ecd-6a82-4d66-8043-995a22dd55e3> | 2 | 1.867188 | 0.220796 | en | 0.951168 | https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/26/forget-ramping-up-can-tesla-motors-ramp-down.aspx |
language arts
posted by .
choose which metaphor, melting pot or salad bowl, you think is best for the united states and explain why.
I said melting pot because:
- people from different cultures marry and have children
- people from different cultures assimilate into our country
- some learn the ways of other cultures
- we mix different aspects of cultures (clothing, food, language, etc.)
I'm not sure if I'm leaving anything out. It has to be about one paragraph... any suggestions please?
• language arts -
I agree.
After a generation or two, with families intermarrying and adapting to other cultural traditions, the U.S. is like a melting pot. It's difficult to separate the mixtures into separate pots.
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posted by .
The question is:
Kelly wants to center the rug in her living room.
The rug is 8 3/4 feet wide. The total width of her
Living room is 12 1/2 feet. How far from each
Wall of her living room should she place her rug?
I did 12 1/2 divided by 8 3/4
So 12 2/4 divided by 8 3/4
50/4 divided by 35/4
1 3/7
So the rug should be 1 3/7 away from each wall
Is this correct ? If not can you please explain
Thank you
• Math -
Try subtracting as your first step.
• Math -
If you subtract and divide by 2 will the answer be
1 7/8
• Math -
• Math -
Thank you
• Math -
You're welcome.
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Isaiah 30–32: Trust in the Lord
Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide, (2002), 146–147
Isaiah 30–32 was written when Assyria threatened to attack Israel after having conquered other neighboring countries. Fearful, many in Israel sought Egypt’s help in defending themselves against the Assyrians. But the Lord helped the children of Israel escape wicked Egypt in the days of Moses; He fought their battles and helped them obtain their promised land. To join with Egypt in a treaty instead of relying upon the Lord, who delivered them in the past, showed how little faith the Israelites had in their God. Isaiah’s counsel in chapters 30–32 was to trust the Lord, not Egypt, for deliverance. Isaiah also told the children of Israel of the blessings they would receive if they put their trust in the Lord and warned of the consequences of not trusting Him.How do you decide whether or not to trust someone? Have you ever trusted someone and had him or her take advantage of you? Whom should we trust? Do we fear what others can do more than we trust that the Lord will bless us for being faithful to Him? Do we trust in our own power to solve problems instead of trying the Lord’s way? These may seem like foolish questions, but because many people think the commandments are “too hard” or don’t see the immediate rewards of keeping the commandments, they trust in their own power and judgment, or the power and judgment of others, and disregard the commandments.
Understanding the Scriptures
Isaiah 30:15–21
Pursue (v. 16)Chase
Beacon, ensign (v. 17)Signal
Adversity, affliction (v. 20)Trials and troubles
Studying the Scriptures
Do activity A as you study Isaiah 30–32.
Activity A iconIn Your Own Words
In Isaiah 30:15–21, the Lord explained to the Israelites why they should trust in Him instead of in their own strength, the strength of others, or objects designed to help in battle. After you read these verses, respond to the following questions in your own words:
1. 1.
What did the Lord say would happen if the Israelites trusted in their own strength? (see vv. 16–17).
2. 2.
What should the Israelites trust? (see v. 15).
3. 3.
According to verses 18–21, what did the Lord ask of the people, and then what would the Lord do for them?
4. 4.
In what kind of situation do you think this counsel would be helpful today? | <urn:uuid:8743672b-e1d9-4ad0-833c-49b93f1d3650> | 4 | 3.671875 | 0.132347 | en | 0.961031 | https://www.lds.org/manual/old-testament-seminary-student-study-guide/isaiah-30-32?lang=eng |
Sweet Is the Work
Sweet Is the Work
31243, Hymns, Sweet Is the Work, 147
Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
To praise thy name, give thanks and sing,
To show thy love by morning light,
And talk of all thy truths at night.
Sweet is the day of sacred rest.
No mortal care shall seize my breast.
Oh, may my heart in tune be found,
Like David’s harp of solemn sound!
My heart shall triumph in my Lord
And bless his works and bless his word.
Thy works of grace, how bright they shine!
How deep thy counsels, how divine!
But, oh, what triumph shall I raise
To thy dear name through endless days,
When in the realms of joy I see
Thy face in full felicity!
Sin, my worst enemy before,
Shall vex my eyes and ears no more.
My inward foes shall all be slain,
Nor Satan break my peace again.
Then shall I see and hear and know
All I desired and wished below,
And every pow’r find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy.
Text: Isaac Watts, 1674–1748
Music: John J. McClellan, 1874–1925
Psalm 92:1–5
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Understanding your eDiscovery Index and how it finds (or misses) evidence
How your eDiscovery platform parses and organizes your electronically stored evidence can be the difference between finding or missing that smoking gun. Or worse, unwittingly handing a smoking gun to opposing counsel. Pulling back the curtain on how an eDiscovery platform ingests electronically stored documents and makes the text within documents searchable reveals hidden places where evidence may be hiding. This article explains indexing and breaks down the types of search indexes used in eDiscovery software platforms, discusses the pros and cons of each, and offers solutions to ensure that you never miss crucial evidence.
Indexing occurs during the upload of your documents to your eDiscovery review platform. A number of processes run which separates and organizes your data. The text, in particular, is extracted from your documents and filtered into a database or index. When you enter a search query your software does not review each document searching for the word; that could take hours or days. Rather your software refers to the index (just as you would in a textbook) in order to quickly pull the relevant documents for your review. The process by which the text is extracted from your documents to be placed into that index is critical to the quality of search results.
There are 2 basic indexes used in eDiscovery software platforms, an OCR Index or a Text-based (also called Native extraction) Index.
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. In this process, your electronically stored documents could be originally scanned or saved from a native document through a virtual print driver. Specialty OCR software recognizes alpha-numeric text patterns. For example, a Word doc uploaded would be “printed” within the software engine and the text that appears on that virtual print would be lifted off the page and indexed.
Text-based Indexing is also called Native Extraction Indexing because instead of processing the document as a printed page it rather looks at all of the underlying code and data within a document. Where OCR sees the document as a print, Text-based indexing lifts the hood and extracts all of the computer-embedded text in a file and additionally will capture the data that you do not see, such as comments.
The pros of one indexing approach are the cons of the other and vice versa. Specifically, an OCR-based index may miss hidden fields, such as hidden columns on an Excel spreadsheet, while a text-based index would not. Conversely, a Native extraction-based index will not read (index) the text on an image, including scanned or PDF’d documents, where an OCR index will.
This is an example of a native PowerPoint document. When you receive this doc as a .ppt file an OCR-based index would create a virtual print of each slide and lift any text that appears on that print for indexing. The embedded images with text, like this chart titled “Load Growth Model”, would have all text that appears on the chart indexed. Speaker notes, however, like this one regarding “November Data”, could be missed as notes do not normally show on a print, by default.
Conversely, a native extraction-based index would only recognize the .jpg title of the image of the chart and index that file name as text. It cannot “read” an image (as OCR can) and so none of the text appearing on the chart would be indexed. It would, however, pick up the speaker notes regarding November Data. When you search for the company name “CAISO” an OCR-based Index would retrieve this document but a Native Extraction-based index would not. When you search for “November Data” the Native Index would retrieve this document, but an OCR index would miss it. If you were to perform a Boolean search for “CAISO AND November Data” neither index alone would return this document as responsive as it would only see one term or the other.
Some modern eDiscovery software providers will offer both indexes, however, they are siloed and so you would have to run your entire search twice, once through each index. This not only doubles your search time but still leaves you vulnerable to miss evidence when you are using Boolean searches to narrow results. Some eDiscovery vendors will instruct you to write additional language into your ESI order in an attempt to mitigate the loss of potential evidence. Unfortunately, the more complex an ESI request the more likely that mistakes will be made and evidence missed.
Lexbe has solved this false ‘index dilemma’ by creating the first concatenated eDiscovery search index, our Uber-Index℠. At ingestion, documents are run through both OCR and Native extraction indexing simultaneously. Then the OCR and Native-Extracted indices are compiled into one single, searchable database. All text is captured by these two complementary processes, and all evidence is searchable.
Additionally, Lexbe offers an integrated translation feature which is also included in our Uber Index for seamless search in either language. Whether you opt for Lexbe to perform your document translation or upload your own translated docs, our software will tie the original doc to the English translated one for integrated search and document review.
Finally, Lexbe also performs an advanced metadata extraction at ingestion for precision searches. Details such as the author of a document are extracted and will be searchable.
Features OCR Index Text-Based Index Lexbe Uber Index
Embedded Text
Scanned Docs
Hidden Cells/Sheets
Tracked Changes
BCC Field
Meta-Data Extraction
Translated Text
With the Lexbe eDiscovery platform, your search is faster and more complete than with any other index on the market. For more information on how indexing works watch our webinar Best Practices to Avoid Missing Evidence in Large Document Reviews, part of the Lexbe eDiscovery Webinar Series.
Exploring FRCP Rule 37(e) and Avoiding Spoliation Sanctions
In a recent eDiscovery webinar, Avoiding Spoliation Sanctions in 2017 Under New FRCP Amendments, the Honorable Xavier Rodriguez spoke with Lexbe CEO, Gene Albert regarding the intricacies of Rule 37(e). Judge Rodriguez offered insight into how courts are interpreting Rule 37(e), and how the amendment has changed the landscape for attorneys with regard to data loss and sanctions.
Prior to the FRCP’s 2015 amendments to Rule 37(e) courts were inconsistent in how they imposed sanctions due to lost data. As a result, many attorneys, fearing consequences, opted for a “save it all” approach when a preservation letter landed in their laps. With the growth of data and the high cost of storage, the “save it all” approach became prohibitively expensive.
Given the expense of managing preservation combined with the inconsistent application of sanctions, the FRCP’s 2015 amendments to Rule 37(e) aimed to address the “excessive efforts and money” spent on preservation and also provide a framework in which to evaluate actual damages resulting from lost data.
In the webinar discussion, Judge Rodriguez explained that the FRCP advisory committee suggests that courts consider “proportionality” across the entire spectrum of Rule 37(e). The committee notes for the rule suggest that courts look at the parties’ technical sophistication, their resources, and the weight of the ESI to the claim or defense when considering the appropriate and proportionate remedy.
With proportionality in mind, Judge Rodriguez suggests that a court needs to ask three questions before determining whether there is cause for prejudice (see infographic).
In making this determination, a court will seek to determine how relevant the data loss is to the case and a proportional remedy to the party experiencing prejudice. Remedies could include requiring additional depositions at the spoliating party’s expense or the preclusion of evidence (preventing the spoliating party from entering evidence).
In the webinar, Judge Rodriguez emphasized that intent to deprive must be deliberate. Negligence, even gross negligence, does not necessarily meet the strict requirement of actual intent. If, however, intent is found, the court has three options from which to choose: (A) “presume that the lost information was unfavorable to the party;” (B) “instruct the jury that it may or must presume the information was unfavorable to the party;” or (C) “dismiss the action or enter a default judgment.”
For more information, watch the recorded webinar on-demand: Avoiding Spoliation Sanctions in 2017 Under New FRCP Amendments.
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Dec 01
The making of europe
Written by Christopher Dawson in 1932, this scholarly tome discusses the philosophical, theological and political issues form the end of the Roman empire to the rise of mediaeval unity. It is not a standard history book and assumes a solid knowledge of that period by the reader assisting the reader to better understand why the west drifted into its political and philosphical unity as the basis for the mediaeval era, highlighting the first attempts at the fruition of the renaissence and humanism of the furture.
Hermann Borg Xuerebimage | <urn:uuid:f5cdc942-098e-425e-9491-cbe897b52dfc> | 3 | 2.765625 | 0.031046 | en | 0.889903 | https://www.maltahumanist.org/the-making-of-europe/ |
Revealed: the speed cameras most likely to cause a crash
Research has discovered that 80% of UK speed cameras lead to ‘hard braking activity’ – when drivers slam on their anchors in a bid to avoid a fine.
The analysis by telematics company Wunelli defines ‘hard braking’ as a change of speed of 6.5mph or more over one second. That’s aggressive enough to propel a bag on the passenger seat into the footwell.
The speed camera most likely to result in hard braking is located close to the end of the M4 motorway, heading into central London – followed by one on Rochdale Road in Middleton, Manchester.
In third place is a camera heading north out of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, on the Leighton Buzzard road.
On average, the research found that hard braking increases on average by 689% in locations with speed cameras.
Wunelli founding director, Paul Stacy, said: “These findings question whether speed cameras are serving their purpose as a road safety tool or whether they are instead encouraging poor driving behaviour.
“Driving behaviour analysis is now possible on a range of vehicle factors. If you wanted to identify which car driver is least likely to be involved in an accident based on the driving behaviour we have recorded, they would be the owner of an estate car, gold colour, four-wheel drive and about £10k in value.”
The 10 speed camera sites most likely to trigger hard braking
10: Watergate Bank, Consett Road (A692), Gateshead
9: Western Avenue (A40), Ruislip, west of A4180 junction
8: A4010, High Wycombe
7: Chester Road (A556), Mare, Knutsford, Cheshire
6: Garstang Road, Bilsborrow, Preston
5: Iver Lane (B470), Uxbridge, Middlesex, London
4: B5206, north of Shevington, Wigan
3: Leighton Buzzard Road (A4146), north of Hemel Hempstead
2: Rochdale Road, Middleton, Manchester
1: M4, eastbound, near Boston Manor train station, London | <urn:uuid:a1c60c99-87a9-4b95-8436-85cee9eb627f> | 2 | 1.828125 | 0.027989 | en | 0.931904 | https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/revealed-the-speed-cameras-most-likely-to-cause-a-crash/ |
Apple iPhone
Will the new Apple iPhone 4's antenna design contribute to lower signal reception? According to one antenna consultant and tests, it's all in how you hold the phone – or don't.
Customers who received the Apple iPhone 4 early have begun complaining that simply picking up the iPhone 4 and holding it can send the phone's signal indicator plunging, by several bars. Gizmodo also assembled a number of reader responses that apparently confirmed the signal loss.
The issue, according to industry executives, is that the iPhone 4 places its antenna on the outside of the case, where merely touching it can theoretically limit its ability to pick up a signal. "Antennas are very sensitive; that's just a fact with all antennas," said Michael Rogers, chief engineer at Wi-EX, a maker of cell-phone signal booster equipment, an industry which would stand to benefit from issues with the iPhone 4's antenna.
A slight drop in signal, say from four bars to three, wouldn't be enough to affect a cell-phone call or data coverage, Rogers said. But a sharp drop to a single bar of coverage could be enough to lose the signal altogether. Enough margin is built in with data coverage that users may not see a dramatic effect in an area with a strong signal. "But if you're in a fringe area, anything like this means you'll drop more calls," Rogers said.
At this point, the problem is that most "information" out there is anecdotal, industry sources agreed; the iPhone 4 has just begun shipping, and few if any reviews have examined the specific problem of the external antenna.
Michael Gartenberg, a mobile analyst with The Altimeter Group, said that he believed that the reports were part of an Internet-driven network effect where users blamed poor signal reception on the external antenna. "We have to assume what we're seeing is anecdotal," he said.
"You would be seeing far more reports if you were seeing a major design flaw out there," Gartenberg added.
PCMag tests confirm an issue
However, in an experiment conducted by Thursday, the iPhone 4 reception problem could indeed be replicated, with the so-called "death grip" – where the iPhone 4 was held with fingers touching the three antenna "lines" circling the device – causing the signal to drop.
In our testing, we discovered that the iPhone 4 "death grip" is definitely real. Using the speed testing software, we started a test with the phone sitting on a tabletop. If we picked up the phone with a slightly sweaty hand and purposefully put one finger on each of the three "lines" around the edge of the device, with the corner tucked into the pad of the hand, the speed dropped dramatically and sometimes stalled out. Returning it to the tabletop caused things to speed up again. Adding one of Apple's rubber "bumpers" to the phone negated the death grip, so it clearly has something to do with conductivity.
The "death grip" did not cause us to drop short calls within an area with a strong signal, but it did appear to make it harder to connect calls in very weak signal conditions. To Apple's credit, all phones have weaker signal strength when you cover their antennas. The iPhone seems to have become a cause celebre because the three points showing where you can touch to reduce signal strength are so visually clear.
That hearkens back to the design of the original iPhone, and then the iPad, said Spencer Webb, president of AntennaSys, an independent antenna consultant and designer for mobile and other products.
When the first iPhone came out, Apple placed the antenna in an obvious location, on the back of the device, Webb said. If a user covered with a hand, the cell-phone signal dropped, Webb said, in a phone interview that he said was being conducted on the iPhone. "I'm talking to you now with a well-trained hand," he said.
Webb said that he had recently designed a broadband GSM antenna, which he surrounded with an air gap to minimize interference from the GPS chip and other components, to increase performance. But the design of the iPhone 4 is so compact, and thin, that there wasn't room to include any sort of an air gap, he said.
Part of the reason was that the enlarged battery of the iPhone 4 likely pushed the antenna outside the case, Wi-Ex's Rogers said, based on teardowns of the phone from iFixit.
Over time, cell phone antennas have migrated to the bottom of the phone, to minimize the SAR (specific absorption rate) of radiation that a phone produces, and is absorbed by the head. No study has ever conclusively found – or ruled out – that SAR and cancers are not connected, and the Federal Communications Commission requires phones to be tested and the results published. San Francisco recently became the first city in the nation to propose that SAR data be published alongside the phone.
The Apple iPhone 4 produces a maximum of 1.17 mW/g of SAR radiation at the ear, more than the iPhone 3GS and original iPhone, but less than the 3G, at 1.38 mW/g. Moving the antenna closer to the ear was "unfortunate," Webb said. "And that's the best I can say."
Papool Chaudhari of Reyes Bartolomei Browne, a lawyer representing an inventor of a technology designed to minimize cell-phone radiation, went further. "I think Apple chose to sacrifice safety for better call reception," Chaudhari said in a statement. "By placing the antenna outside the housing, Apple hopes to solve the dropped-calls problem, but at what cost?"
Apple's iPhone 4 antenna design: dumb?
When Apple announced the iPhone 4, Webb said he closely examined the images of the new phone as Apple chief executive Steve Jobs projected them on the screen. (Webb said he had ordered an iPhone 4, but it had yet to arrive.)
Webb said that he arrived at a choice between two conclusions: either the gaps in the band were not really involved with the antenna and the RF current, or that they were. "And if they are…that's one's of the dumbest things I've ever seen," he said. "You can't pick up the iPhone and not interfere with the antenna. It's even harder to pick up the phone and not interfere with the antenna than the first-generation iPhone."
If that's the case, people are probably correctly observing that they're killing that antenna, Webb said.
The problem, Webb said, is that the FCC tests don't include or simulate the presence of a hand, which means that what the FCC tested isn't indicative of real-world use, especially in the case of an iPhone 4 held by a user. "I'm certain that the test worked awesomely well without the presence of a hand," Webb said.
If there is a problem with the iPhone 4 and interference by the user's body, could the problem be solved by placing the phone in a pocket, and using Bluetooth? Webb said he wasn't totally sure, but "would venture to say yes," although placing it in a pocket would still effectively create body contact, he said. Placing it in something like a fanny pack would be more effective, Webb said.
Apple representatives could not be reached for comment.
Complete iPhone Coverage | <urn:uuid:05a40809-636e-4814-9693-e382a80db815> | 2 | 1.820313 | 0.060373 | en | 0.970704 | https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365650,00.asp |
Google Sets
Quick: What do Google Sets, Steve Jobs, and Facebook Deals have in common?
Here's the answer. You could make a Google Set out of all three, provided the topic was, "Things that have left major tech companies this past week." You might have already known about Facebook Deals and Steve Jobs (and yes, we realize he's still on Apple's board). But new to the list is Google Sets, a Google Labs project that's being phased out come September 5. It's just one of the many projects facing the chopping block as a result of Google's decision to shut down its Labs project experiments.
So what, exactly, is Google Sets? If you haven't heard of it, the premise of the tool is pretty simple. When you navigate over to the official Google Sets page, you're given a list of five blank bullet points. Your task is to fill the boxes with a number of related objects. Google's task is to place these entries into either a large or small set of corresponding objects: Essentially, you're asking the search engine to find the relationship between the items and expand upon it.
Google Sets helped create the technological tone for a similar Google Labs project called Google Squared–one that's also being phased out on September 5, we note. In it, a user types a single category that he or she would like more information about: Cats, for example. The page that Google then delivers contains an automatically generated table of characteristics and modifiers related to the original search term. In our example, a list of cat species fills a column on the left-hand side of the page while images, descriptions, and other selectable traits fill columns to the right.
There has been no mention as to whether the functionality in Google Sets or Google Squared will make its way into other Google applications (including Google's primary search). And, sadly, there's no eulogy or Google Blog write-up to send these two projects off into the sunset. Google's last official post on Google Labs came roughly one month ago when Bill Coughran, senior vice president for research and systems infrastructure, made the official death announcement for the entire project.
For more from David, follow him on Twitter @TheDavidMurphy.
| <urn:uuid:d89eaf20-1225-4bf7-ac63-70d9d467f2bc> | 2 | 1.789063 | 0.628308 | en | 0.934936 | https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391989,00.asp |
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Numerical Method Solutions (Please Help)
1. Apr 20, 2006 #1
I have been given the following problem as assignment:
Find a numerical solution for the 1-D heat conduction (using the Explicit Method):
[tex] \left\{\begin{array}U_{xx} = U_{t},\\
U(x,0) = \sin \pi x, \\
U(0,t) = U(1,t) = 0 [/tex]
Use h = 1, k = 0.005125 and M = 200.
Can anyone help by giving me a hint of this problem.
Thank you in advance....
Last edited: Apr 20, 2006
2. jcsd
3. Apr 28, 2006 #2
Similar Discussions: Numerical Method Solutions (Please Help) | <urn:uuid:1f151c24-411c-4325-ae1d-93a21e4573ce> | 2 | 1.765625 | 0.871908 | en | 0.842118 | https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/numerical-method-solutions-please-help.118147/ |
Still Life Photography: 7 Tips and Steps
Shooting still life doesn’t mean the images have to be dull. You can add life and a sense of whimsy to your still lifes with a little creativity. Once again, COOPH delivers the creative goods in this video about shooting awesome still life photography with a few household items and some imagination:
1. Plan Your Concept
Sketch what you’re visualizing before you start. This is a great way to plan your concept. Then you can position everything perfectly when setting up.
2. Build Simple Setups
Find material, like solid color bed sheets, you have at home to create plain backdrops. Or buy inexpensive materials, like plain white acrylic sheeting. Use available light; so if you can, try to shoot near a window with lots of natural light coming in.
simple photography backdrop
3. Play with Light
Use whatever lighting sources you have available. For example, you can use a desk lamp to light your subject from behind or below.
still life lighting tips
4. Shoot Reflections
Photograph against a black tile or shiny acrylic sheet—anything with a reflective surface.
capturing reflections photography
5. Think Abstract
Get creative here! Think outside the box. Anything goes, it’s just a matter of imagination.
“Make the ordinary extraordinary.”
abstract still life photo
6. Enhance Your Props
Make your props come alive. If you’re shooting a beverage, spray the glass or bottle with water to give it a cool, refreshing feeling. Or add steam by simply setting a heated kettle next to the frame.
enhance props still life photography
7. Capture a Message
Use props, draw pictures, find ways to capture a message or tell a story.
photograph message
Do you have any fun, creative ways to shoot still life? Share your ideas and tricks below. Inspire others!
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Turtles Find Themselves in the Middle of Political Rift in Cyprus
Sea turtle (Photo: Terry Ross/Flickr)
Terry K. Ross
Sea turtles on the island of Cyprus are endangered because of politics that divide the island's Greeks and Turks, their governments and their scientists. The turtles nest on both sides of the island, and they're threatened by human activities on both sides of the island as well.
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In a landmark study two Canadian researchers in developmental psychology, Gene Ouellette and Monique Sénéchal (2017), have mapped the powerful beginning reading-writing connection, moved us closer to being successful teachers of reading in first grade, and cleared up decades of confusion. It’s important because reading scores in first grade have flatlined for decades—especially in the United States. This study can move us forward.
As far back as 1982 Marie Clay, the late world-renowned expert in developmental and clinical child psychology who founded Reading Recovery, issued a call for educators to find the writing connection in learning to read (Clay, 1982). Could teachers and parents capitalize on the potential for beginning writing to complement learning to read? Should we be encouraging pencil and paper activity from the very beginning?
Ouellette and Sénéchal have mapped out the way. Counterintuitively, it turns out that allowing and encouraging children’s early “invented spelling”—a much maligned and controversial practice in some quarters—is the key.
What is Invented Spelling?
Before children become conventional readers and spellers at the very beginnings of learning to read—often in preschool, kindergarten, or the beginning of first grade—they use self-directed and spontaneous attempts to represent words in print. If teachers and parents engage beginners in pencil and paper activity by having them draw their picture and write their story or information, beginners will naturally over time “invent” spellings. The emerging spellings demonstrate what the child knows about the sounds in words, along with how he or she thinks letters represent these sounds. As I have written before, one can literally “see” the child’s development—that is, monitor the child’s progress in the process of breaking the complex English code—by looking at his or her spelling (Gentry, 2006, 2000). This doesn’t vitiate the need for teaching correct spellings beginning as early as kindergarten. But what researchers, including myself, and exemplary teachers have found over the last 30+ years of research and practice is that the act of inventing a spelling greatly increases the child’s chances of breaking the code and learning to read by the end of first grade.
When inventing a spelling, the child is engaged in mental reflection and practice with words, not just memorizing. This strategy strengthens neuronal pathways so as the reader/writer becomes more sophisticated with invented spelling, she or he is developing a repertoire of more and more correctly spelled words at the same time. These words are stored in the word form area of the brain where the child can retrieve them automatically as sight words for reading and eventually as correctly spelled words for writing.
Well-educated, exemplary beginning reading teachers know how to provide a conventional model enabling the inventive speller to fluently read back his or her own writing in conventional English without stifling the child’s creativity or desire to make meaning (Feldgus, Cardonick, & Gentry, 2017). Having the child read back his or her own writing in conventional English written by the teacher integrates the child’s invented spelling into a reading and fluency lesson.
The human brain generally gets better at whatever it practices—including invented spelling. Reflection about how to spell a word allows the child to actively practice making decisions, rather than passively memorizing. This active practice likely results in synaptic changes in the child’s brain by strengthening neuronal pathways for long term-retention of spellings to be retrieved for reading and writing.
Eventually a parent or teacher can read what the child has invented. For example, can you read these kindergarten samples?
*(Are you deaf?) (I can write!) (My motorboat goes fast.) (Rico went under the covers.) (One night I was in my bed and the tooth fairy came.)
Importantly, invented spelling outcomes and likely neural development happen in developmental phases (Ehri. 1987; Ehri & Wilce,1987; Gentry 2006, 2000). Over time, a word such as eagle that a child might wish to write will be presented first as random letters, then as E or EG, then as EGL, then as EGUL, and eventually, given teacher scaffolding and appropriate spelling instruction, as eagleLady will likely follow from random letters to L, to LAD with LA for /lā/ and the letter name D for /dē/, to LADE, which is spelled in chunks such as LA for the /lā/ chunk and DE for the /dē/ chunk.
Here are lady samples from the 2017 study:
By Gene Ouellette with permission
Source: By Gene Ouellette with permission
With explicit grade-by-grade spelling instruction, along with vigorous reading and writing, the child will master lady and plant it in his or her brain for eternity. This representation of the spelling lady in the brain will literally be “re-presented” in the person’s mind when the reader needs to match the print on the page to recognize the word for reading or when the writer needs to spell the word for writing. It takes about 250 milliseconds for the spelling representation to connect to sound and meaning in the brain and pop up in the mind’s eye automatically.
When early invented spelling is modeled by a knowledgeable beginning reading teacher and taught in five developmental evidenced-based phases followed by proper feedback along with research-based grade by grade systematic and explicit spelling instruction, children build a dictionary of words in their brains that they can easily retrieve for reading and writing. Thus, both reading and writing words—decoding and encoding respectively—become automatic, leaving the child’s brain free for making meaning. It’s the key to comprehension (along with vocabulary and background knowledge). It is this automaticity in retrieving words that allows us to think about what we are reading or writing.
Over the years detractors, albeit with good intentions, have touted invented spelling as being nonacademic, harmful to traditional values, and a deterrent to conventional spelling. They think it’s best to teach accurate spelling as soon as possible. The Ouellette and Sénéchal study has set the record straight.
The researchers report that “…fears that allowing children to ‘invent’ their own spelling may prevent them from learning conventionally correct spelling can be alleviated.” Rather, the researchers point out, it appears to be just the opposite. The meticulously designed and methodically sound study found “a direct path from kindergarten invented spelling to Grade 1 conventional spelling.” Ouellette and Sénéchal state, “invented spelling attempts do not set children on a path where they will not learn to spell correctly.”
Ouellette and Sénéchal conclude that invented spelling is engaging and analytical and it facilitates literacy growth. It integrates phonological and orthographic growth. In their words it is “…developmentally appropriate and falls naturally within a child’s zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1962); children are not being asked to memorize or reproduce a spelling that may be beyond their current level of development but rather they are creating a spelling that reflects, and potentially increases, their current knowledge” (2017, p. 86).
In the final analysis, here’s what’s most important: Ouellette and Sénéchal found a direct line from invented spelling leading to improved reading scores at the end of first grade. In their carefully crafted longitudinal study, they found invented spelling to be “a unique predictor of growth in early reading skills, over and above children’s alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness.” Now that’s a huge finding! For two decades we have been perseverating on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge alone.
The end of first grade is when the child’s reading brain should work essentially like yours and mine, allowing the child to read easy chapter books and informational texts independently, proficiently, and fluently with joy and comprehension. It’s when beginning literacy learners have enough brain power and spellings stored in their brains to write joyfully and expressively albeit with a few misspellings. If we add grade-by-grade explicit spelling instruction—along with vocabulary, background knowledge, and motivation—it’s when children are on the way to academic success, career readiness, and personal fulfillment.
Don’t underestimate the importance of the 2017 Ouellette and Sénéchal study or of two important studies that preceded it (Ouellette and Sénéchal, 2013, 2008). I’ve been heralding this message for more than thirty years: invented spelling paves the way to literacy.
Dr. J. Richard Gentry is the author of Raising Confident Readers, How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write–From Baby to Age 7. Follow him on FacebookTwitter, and LinkedIn and find out more information about his work on his website.
Clay, M. (1982). Observing young readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
Feldgus, E., Cardonick, I. & Gentry, R. (2017). Kid writing in the 21st century. Los Angeles, CA: Hameray Publishing Group.
Ehri, L. (1997). Learning to read and learning to spell are one and the same, almost. In C. Perfetti, L. Rieben, & M. Fayol (Eds.), Learning to spell: Research, theory and practice across languages (pp. 237–269). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
You are reading
Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers
Why Our Students Can’t Write
Preparing K-1 teachers to teach writing is one effective solution.
Lousy Spelling—Why Americans Can’t Read or Think Well
Spelling is for reading. Teach spelling for better reading test scores!
5 Research-based Practices for Kindergarten and First Grade
Here's what every kindergarten and first grade teacher should be doing. | <urn:uuid:bb14a0d1-6275-48aa-af6f-0568b01dd712> | 3 | 3.28125 | 0.019795 | en | 0.918687 | https://www.psychologytoday.com/comment/911717 |
What are the receptors for vision?
Quick Answer
The receptors for vision are the rods and cones. Rods and cones lie inside the inner layer, or retina, of the eye, according to Dr. Kimball of Kimball's Biology Pages.
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Full Answer
Dr. Kimball further states that the rods have extreme sensitivity to light, but they only provide a coarse picture in black and white tones. Cones, on the other hand, provide sharper images, but they are not as sensitive as rods. Each of the three types of cone receives a different wavelength of light: red, green or blue. Most of the cones are amassed at the fovea, a small area of the retina that gives the sharpest vision.
Learn more about Organs
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Patterns of Anti-Christian Persecution
In light of recent attacks against Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq by the jihadist group ISIS, as well as ongoing attacks against Christian minorities in other regions, Cornerstone has asked respondents to discuss global Christian persecution. Contributors focus on the patterns of persecution and the attitudes informing these human rights violations.
By: Paul Marshall
The contemporary Christian church exists in every country; in most it is growing, and in many it is persecuted. Currently Christians are the most widely persecuted religious group in the world, suffering discrimination, harassment, repression, and violence in approximately 133 countries, and, in some areas, particularly in the Muslim-majority world, this is increasing. This persecution is also often underreported or downplayed.
There are currently five major patterns of anti-Christian persecution: while these do not include all the instances, they cover over 90 percent of them. These patterns are:
1. The remaining self-professed communist countries—China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba. Here the state is the usual persecutor.
2. South Asian religious nationalism—in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, reactionary Hindu and Buddhist elements attack religious minorities. The persecution here is primarily societal rather than state, but states or local governments can be complicit.
3. The Muslim-majority world. This does not involve the most Christians, but is the site of the most widespread persecution, and it is where persecution is increasing.
4. Post-communist, national security, and other authoritarian states, including Burma, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Belarus.
5. Western secularism—this is a milder pattern than elsewhere, but the idea that religion must be excluded from societal life is growing, as are religious hostility and restrictions.
These categories are not precise, since countries themselves do not reduce to simple patterns—for example, Burma has combined a national security state with religious nationalism—but they do indicate the major trends.
The reasons for persecution are varied and do not constitute a unitary ‘war’ on Christians. But one common feature is that in the modern age, the traditional Christian belief that sacerdotium (church) and regnum (state) were two distinct bodies manifests itself practically in a denial that the state is all encompassing or the ultimate arbiter of human life, and hence this belief is a foundation for social and political pluralism. This means that Christians are often subject to persecution by those who have a monistic conception of the social order and the state—that there is one order of authority in society whose reach applies to every person and institution and to which all must submit. Contemporary monisms include communism, other authoritarianisms, radical Islamist conceptions, religious nationalisms, and several contemporary secularisms.
Other factors in the persecution of Christians include the claim that Christians are foreigners, often coupled with opposition to conversion to Christianity, which is often seen as a threat to the political and social order. Finally, the Christian stress on new birth often challenges traditional orders in which social position is ascriptive and inherited from original birth.
While there are still repressive and reactionary forms of Christianity, one of the major contemporary factors in the persecution of Christians is the association of Christianity with freedom.
Paul Marshall is a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom.
This post is the executive summary of Marshall's chapter "Patterns of Contemporary Anti-Christian Persecution" in the forthcoming RFP publication Christianity and Freedom: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. The post in this form was originally published on August 26, 2014 for the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
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4 Reasons To Avoid Chemical Drain Cleaners | Roto-Rooter Austin
Keep your drains clearNo one enjoys dealing with a clogged drain - especially if it's backed up with clumps of hair or old food particles. So rather than digging deep into the drain to unclog it with some elbow grease, it's only natural to reach for a chemical drain cleaner. However, this can actually cause even more damage to your pipes and potentially affect your entire plumbing system. In addition, you may want to switch to environmentally safe products so you can fully enjoy the beautiful scenery that Austin has to offer without damaging it.
Here are four drawbacks of chemical drain cleaners:
1. High in toxicity
Chemical drain cleaners are an extreme health hazard, as they are high in toxicity. They produce hazardous fumes that are released into the air, where they can linger for hours. Inhaling the fumes or touching the liquid can cause irritation and burning in your eyes, nose, throat and skin. Effects from these toxic fumes will hit harder and faster for those who have severe allergies or sensitive skin. Chemical cleaners are just as dangerous for pets, too!
1. Cause damage to your pipes
Although chemical drain cleaners help dissolve the corrosion and buildup that's causing the drain clog, the hydrochloric acid in the cleaner is caustic and so powerful that it also eats away at some pipes. The chance of holes forming in some older metal pipes increases every time you pour a chemical cleaner down the drain. These cleaners also cause the enamel on your sinks or bathtubs to deteriorate, so those will most likely have to be replaced at an additional cost. While you started out with just a minor clog, you may very well end up with a much larger plumbing concern, such as a leak inside the wall that ultimately leads to flooding.
1. Environmentally unsustainable
Residue from chemical cleaners always winds up in landfills and has to be dealt with at the water treatment facility, is extremely harmful to the environment - humans and wildlife included. To keep your water clean and those enchanting Austin maple trees growing, opt for a more eco-friendly drain cleaning regimen such as baking soda and water and a sink plunger or drain snake.
1. Harmful to your septic system
Septic tanks utilize natural bacteria to help break down waste. The caustic chemical cleaners that you're pouring down the drain will completely kill these organic bacteria, preventing your septic tank from performing at its highest potential. It's possible that your entire system may have to be cleaned out to counteract the damage.
Instead of trying to take matters into your own hands, leave it to your local Austin Roto-Rooter professional to assist with all your plumbing needs.
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Some elephants get the point | Science News
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Wild Things
The weird and wonderful in the natural world
Sarah Zielinski
Wild Things
Some elephants get the point
African elephants get the point
African elephants can now be added to the list of animals that understand what it means when a human points.
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Not all animals understand what a human means when he points at something. Dogs get it, as do several other domesticated animals. Now we can add African elephants to that list.
The pointing test, known as the “object-choice” task, is one of the ways that scientists investigate whether animals, including humans, understand social cues. The set-up is simple: A reward, often food, is placed in one of two containers, and then an experimenter points at the container with the reward. If the animal being tested picks the correct container more than 50 percent of the time (the amount they would get through random picks), scientists interpret this as the animal understanding the gesture.
Scientists think that this ability to understand human pointing might be linked to domestication because many domesticated animals pass the test, but nonhuman primates do not. Domesticated animals might have evolved the ability to interpret human actions, or animals inclined to respond to people may have been the ones chosen for domestication. Elephants have never been domesticated, but they make an interesting test case because they can be tamed and trained to work with people.
Anna Smet and Richard Byrne of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland applied the object-choice task to a group of 11 African elephants housed at an organization in South Africa that provides elephant-back safaris. The elephants had been raised in captivity since infancy, and they were trained to understand only verbal cues. The results of the experiment were published October 10 in Current Biology.
When the research team set up the experiment, with Smet as the pointer, the elephants selected the correct container 67.5 percent of the time. That’s more than they would get by chance alone, and 1-year-old kids don’t do much better, only getting it right about 73 percent of the time. And the elephants got it even if Smet was standing closer to the empty container.
But not all elephants have passed this test. In a study published earlier this year by a group of scientists led by the University of Cambridge, Asian elephants given a similar object-choice task failed. The human pointers in this test were the mahouts (caretakers) who worked with the animals every day, and they were actually upset that their animals failed. Unlike the African elephants, these animals encountered both verbal cues and the occasional pointing gesture in their daily work.
Those researchers suggested that the Asian elephants might not have understood the gesticulations because the experimental setup was different from what they encounter every day. Smet and Byrne also point to experimental design and posit that the simpler setup of their experiment might explain the success with African elephants. Perhaps they should test some Asian elephants and see just what happens.
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Janina Gajc-Wolska
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Fruits of transgenic cucumber lines expressing preprothaumatin II gene were evaluated concerning their aroma. Four homozygous lines, that is, 210 06, 212 01, 224 09, and 225 03 with different levels of transgene expression were selected. Recipient line cv. Borszczagowski, which was formed by inbred line of Cucumis sativus L., was used as a control. The(More)
The challenges facing modern plant production involve (i) responding to the demand for food and resources of plant origin from the world's rapidly growing population, (ii) coping with the negative impact of stressful conditions mainly due to anthropopressure, and (iii) meeting consumers' new requirements and preferences for food that is high in nutritive(More)
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Employment Opportunities
• Substitute Teachers
Substitute teachers instruct students in the absence of their regularly appointed teachers. They typically follow the lesson plans of the regular teachers and strive to maintain normal classroom procedures and discipline procedures.
Substitute teachers must be able to easily adopt the instructional strategies of the regular teachers and follow their lesson plans accurately. They also need strong communication skills to instruct students in a clear and understandable manner
A Bachelor’s degree is the minimum education requirement for a substitute teacher at St. Bernadette School. Candidates must also undergo a CORI check and sign an agreement to follow the Diocese of Worcester Code of Ministerial Conduct. In addition, the candidate must participate in Mandated Reporter training which is available on-line through the Diocese of Worcester and provide proof of having been fingerprinted.
Please submit a resume with a cover letter to;
Julianne Morin
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Egypt’s Orwellian Populisms
The ruling establishment claims to defend the people even as its actions target the people.
After the July 2013 coup that removed President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s old-new ruling establishment, centered around military and security generals, depended increasingly on religious populism and nationalistic populism. This allowed Egypt’s rulers to tighten their grip on many aspects of life in the country, under the pretense that they were governing on behalf of ordinary citizens, to whose needs they were attentive.
Religious populism elevates the ruler to the level of a moral paragon who has the right to speak in the name of religion not just in the public and political spheres, but also in terms of its impact on private life and ethics. Nationalistic populism, in turn, is used to justify the ruling establishment’s monopoly over power. It allows the ruling general, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to claim to be aligning himself with national interests and national security, enabling him to undertake the role of “protector of the masses.”
Egypt’s military and security generals use official Islamic and Christian institutions to impose their own interpretations of religion in everyday life. These interpretations appear in three interrelated ways. First, by framing obedience to the ruler and the approval of government policies as a religious duty. Second, by claiming that the government-promoted understanding of religion is moderate, so that anything that goes against this can be labeled extremist. And third, by depicting the ruler as a protector of “dignified morals and values,” so that divergent moral conceptions can be denounced as “inappropriate for Egypt.”
Exploiting the nationalistic strain of populism, the ruling establishment depicts itself as guarantor of stability and a protector of ordinary citizens—as has been the case since officers ascended to power after the Egyptian revolution in 1952, and were somehow considered foster parents to an infant nation. Thus, nationalistic populism opens a door to ridiculing politics and civilian politicians. The latter are characterized by the military and security generals as not having the capacity to provide for the real welfare of the country, or as insular groups that seek only to further their own interests.
As politics and politicians are derided, the ruling establishment justifies filling the void with military and security officers, as representatives of the only institutions capable of safeguarding the nation and providing for the basic needs of citizens.
Nationalistic populism, further, creates a governing framework that is in clear contradiction to the rule of law and good governance. Military institutions, which benefit from such populism, obtain constitutional, legal, and political immunity from all forms of accountability. This undermines the power of the legislative and judicial branches of government, therefore limits the checks and balances in the system and neutralizes monitoring agencies such as the Central Auditing Organization.
The 2014 constitution enshrines a special status for the military. Its budget cannot be discussed in a transparent manner, mechanisms for oversight of the armed forces are eliminated, and civilians are subjected to military courts whenever the generals decide. In the past three years, thousands of Egyptians, including university students, young activists, and workers, have faced trials before military tribunals. Capitalizing on its special status enshrined in the constitution, the military institution has also increased its economic and social role. For example, in 2015 a presidential decree gave the armed forces the power to establish profit-seeking companies and investment firms with both Egyptian and foreign partners.
In the public arena, nationalistic populism silences the free voices that demand democratic change and the social movements that try to defend human rights and freedoms. The ruling establishment has sought to discredit those voices and movements, to break any conceptual link between democracy, human rights, and the interests of ordinary people. Government-controlled media have attacked pro-democracy activists and industrial workers demanding legitimate wage increases, accusing them, without any evidence, of corruption, treason, and conspiring with the “enemies of the nation.” Independent nongovernmental organizations and professional associations, critical of widescale human rights abuses and of economic and social policies, have also been subjected to systematic defamation campaigns in media outlets. The generals’ aim is to put in place an environment that facilitates repressive measures and silencing tactics.
This has created an Orwellian paradox. In the name of the people, the Egyptian regime has effectively engaged in behavior directed primarily against the people. Nationalistic populism has been used by the ruling establishment to dismantle any infrastructure that supports the rule of law. Today in Egypt, legal changes that contradict the principles of justice and equality have been introduced under the guise of defending the nation and bolstering national security. Claiming to wage a “war on terror” with the aim of restoring stability and defending the state’s territorial integrity, the military and security forces have engaged in unlawful surveillance while constantly threatening citizens’ rights and freedoms.
A clear case of undemocratic legal measures is the amendment of Article 78 of the Penal Code. It criminalizes foreign funding for all purposes, and in so doing make pro-democracy activists and independent nongovernmental organizations subject to harsh government retribution.
Furthermore, nationalistic populism often creates an environment allowing for the dismissal of universal standards of rule of law, democracy, and human rights as Western practices that do not apply to Egypt and are not binding on the government. Indeed, in the worldview inspired by nationalistic populism the rule of law and democracy are Trojan horses pushed by internal and external “enemies of the nation” to undermine its stability. Enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, and various rights abuses are all committed under the banner of protecting the nation and defending the interests of ordinary Egyptians.
The ruling establishment controlled by the military and the security forces has not implemented sound public policy, nor laid the foundations for economic growth. Instead, it has exploited nationalistic populism to ignore facts, deny the free flow of information, and belittle the value of knowledge and scientific thinking in public policy matters. Such hostility stems from the ruling establishment’s tendency to deny crises, blame others for the negativity rampant in society today, suggest to citizens that their duty is only to obey, and use its disdain for policy details to propagate haphazard solutions to Egypt’s many hardships. As if the country could be saved while human rights violations, the excessive economic role of the military, and the lukewarm fight against corruption continue.
Against a background of growing economic and social crises, rising political tensions, ineffective public policies, and the dwindling approval ratings of the president, the use of both religious and nationalistic populism has become one of two prime strategies used by the ruling establishment to maintain its control over Egypt. The other is outright repression.
Amr Hamzawy is a professor of political science and public policy at Cairo University and the American University in Cairo. He was a member of the Egyptian parliament in 2012. On Twitter: @HamzawyAmr.
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Once upon a life: Hilary Mantel
For four years, the Booker prize-winner lived in the repressive, claustrophobic kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Until one day in 1986 when she and her husband left Jeddah and rediscovered freedom
Hilary Mantel in 1986
'Uncut for months, my hair hung in a tangle over my eyes' ... Hilary Mantel in 1986
Once upon a life: Hilary Mantel
At five o'clock on the morning of 13 March 1986 I stood with my husband in the half dark outside our house, listening. Nothing in this place was simple, so we thought: what if the car doesn't come? Beyond the contingent sprawl of buildings, the lunar landscape was silent: stars setting, and no birdsong in this parched place. The houses of our neighbours, unlit, seemed to have edged away from us, easing back into their little plots of dust. In the distance you could see the line of the highway: just the odd moving dot of a car, some early or nefarious commuter heading down to the snarled-up city. The grey light was indefinite; you wouldn't know, unless like us you repeatedly checked your watch, if this hour was dawn or dusk. We must have missed the call to prayers, blanked it. An Arab dawn comes, I had been told, when by the first glimmer you can distinguish a black thread from a white.
Then in the distance, hardly perceptible at first, the hum of a vehicle, coming uphill towards us, hidden at first by the curve of the road. When the car came into sight, the office car, we faced each other and smiled. My husband turned back to the house and locked the door. Our four years of Jeddah were over. We dropped the keys through the letterbox. I had hoped for a satisfying clatter: instead, a soundless tumble to the vinyl tiles.
It has an opulent image, Saudi Arabia, but the city was a building site in those days and everything around us had been provisional, odd or cheap. We had lived for two and a half years in city centre flats. The first was cavernous, bare and white, with acres of oatmeal carpet across which cockroaches sauntered in broad day, as if strolling in the park. It had vast double doors with many keys. To get out of the main door needed more keys. Then came the locked metal gate in the wall. When my husband returned from his office, with the Saudi Gazette and a brown bag of shopping, I could hear him approach, rattling like a gaoler.
The apartment was on the first floor and the windows were made of frosted glass. The Saudis didn't much like windows. If you could see out, someone could see in; a giant, say, might be walking down the street, so better safe than sorry. After a few weeks the company moved us to another place, smaller, better for two. It was dark and the lights had to be kept on all day, as if it were the English winter. Each room had many doors, double doors made of dark wood, so it was like a coffin showroom. We took some of them off, but the impression of death persisted.
Our third move was to a small ramshackle "family compound", which we shared with nine other households. All the men were employed by the mining company my husband worked for; the wives were not employed, and spent their days wistfully plotting the shopping trips they were going to undertake with all the money their husbands were making, walking in their imaginations through the streets of other cities where they were rich and free. Our dwellings were prefabs long past their use-by date, and rats bounced around in the roofs, but I liked my house because behind our bed there was a wide, bright window. Each morning the yellow dawn spilled in, and light, light, that's what I craved; my eye was starved for it, my bones ached for it, my soul had become in its absence a brittle piece of grit or gravel, something you might walk over the threshold on the sole of your shoe.
It was in the coffin-maker's flat that I had finished my first novel. There, I had received a letter from London to say that a publisher had accepted it. My husband brought it home from the office and put it into my hand. When I read its first line my mouth opened but my ribs had stuck fast with astonishment, so I couldn't utter, couldn't breathe in or out; and it seemed to me that in those suspended seconds an era went by, during which every cell in my body was exchanged for a new and better type.
In the house with the window behind the bed I wrote my second book. Then we were moved on again, to a blistering landscape outside the city, an expatriate settlement where you were unwatched, and so it was possible to step out without getting on your Islamic glad rags, your concealing drapes; except, of course, there was nowhere to step out to.
Since my first day in the Kingdom I had kept diaries, and they were in my bags when we locked that fourth house behind us and stood in the dawn waiting for the car. I intended, as soon as I arrived in a safe place, to begin to write a novel about what I or a fictional representative of me had seen and learned in Jeddah. But while I was in the city I couldn't do it and, after all, the story was not over; we might not get out, we weren't out yet. At the airport, the sun rose over the runways and burst through the glass walls, great fistfuls of light. It's too late now, I thought, for the sun to show me how it can shine. Our guts were boiling with agitation as we stood in line with our documents.
One heard of people turned back at this point, their exit visas not in order, some vital stamp or signature lacking; and then, who were they, where were they, with neither leave to go nor leave to remain? It was as hard to get out of the Kingdom as to get into it. In order to be discharged from the government ministry at which he was employed, my husband needed 23 separate signatures on a document; the twist was that they had to be acquired in a certain order. He had managed it with a certain sangfroid, but others had sweated for weeks over it, chasing senior ministry persons as their white thobes whisked into shiny black cars and they purred home to their palaces, their working day merely long enough to take coffee and visit ostentatiously the on-site mosque.
It was 7am; our papers were stamped. Yet even on board, perhaps we could be hauled off for some unexplained and minor infraction of an unknown regulation. We held hands surreptitiously (we were still in Saudi airspace) as the plane lifted into the sky. At Cairo airport they took our passports away. We didn't like that. In Saudi, to be without documents was to be without personhood and without any vestige of human rights you might possess. Not that you were human, really – you were just a bit of international flotsam with a temporary use and a short expiry date.
The passports came back, with a transit stamp. But look, there's our luggage, why is it going that way? My husband vaulted a barrier and firmly, wordlessly, removed the two cases from the fists of the man conveying them to perdition on some distant moving belt. It makes me smile when I look back, to think how lax airport security was in those days. Terrorism was a mere red blink in the collective eye, though in my gaze it loomed large. I had been thoroughly frightened by life in Jeddah, and my conversations with Muslim women, my neighbours in the city, had alerted me to the cavernous gap of understanding between the west and the Islamic world as one saw it in the Kingdom.
Feminism? A confidence trick, a trick that the men of the west had perpetrated on their womenfolk, to make them work both at home and outside. Freedom? A delusion. Democracy? An evil system, a defiance of the natural order. Obedience, deference to authority, reverence for tradition: these were the civic virtues paraded in the Kingdom. It was like travelling back in time. The Enlightenment? When was that?
At the same time, this society was fiercely modernising; technology was harnessed in the service of antique values. Self-appointed vigilantes patrolled the shopping malls, striking out with their sticks at human flesh or even inanimate objects if they saw some breach of the rules; it might be the flashing denim legs of a Filipina girl revealed for a second beneath an abaya gone adrift, or it might be the plate-glass shop front of a business that, as the evening prayer call spiralled through the damp air-conditioned halls, had failed to slam down its metal shutters fast enough.
What were the rules? No one knew. What infringed them? A look or a smile could do it. Sometimes I would step out and know I'd got things wrong. Not even my Muslim women friends could explain how I could get it right. It's legs, one said, that are the objection; you should be covered to your ankle. No, no, said another, it's arms that are the problem; you should be covered to your wrists. I did both. I had no desire to show an unwonted inch of flesh. If you left your husband's side in the supermarket, some sad man followed you and tried to touch you up in the frozen fish. You were western, and they knew you wouldn't scream: just a silent bug-eyed flinch, a squirm out of their reach. You were probably a prostitute anyway. Most European women were. Male desperation, loneliness and need, the misunderstandings they bred: these hung in the refrigerated air, permeating public spaces like dry ice.
I suspect that what I had wrong was the expression on my face. After my good news came from London, after I got changed in every cell, I met the days with a willing smile.
Cairo, then, was an intermediate space, a populous waiting room between phases, as if one were born, or half-born, into the clamour of a crowded maternity ward. "Don't get trampled," a colleague had warned us, "when you get off the plane. All the Saudis stampede to the bar." We sat on stacking chairs placed in a short row of five, above which some wit had taped a sign that said: VIP Lounge.
In time we were conveyed onwards into the padded blandness of a transit area. Now, we said, we have almost done it, almost. But our spines did not unstiffen until the plane rose into the air, out of Cairo, bound for Larnaca. It was now mid-morning. The stewardess gave me a glass of sherry and a newspaper. I folded it to the racecard for the course at Nicosia. "On Sunday," I said, "we can go and bet on a horse." I laughed. What strange shapes liberty takes: some bow-legged parti-coloured jockey, some stumpy pony lumbering towards the winning post, some dusty track measured in furlongs, some holiday crowd in a free state.
CYPRUS WAS A BREATHING space for us, a short holiday. When we got back to England we knew my husband had to find a job and I – well, I had a job; I was a writer now; what I had to find was an income. The advance for my first novel had been £2,000, and even in 1986 it didn't go far. The first book had been a hit with the critics and the reading public had snapped up – oh, all of 500 copies, I supposed; nobody volunteered the exact figure, and I thought it would be tactful not to ask.
That first night, in a hotel in Limassol, I studied myself to assess my fitness for a future. I was ill and had been taking steroids. My face was puffy and, most ludicrously, since there were no hairdressers in Jeddah (or none I found), my hair, which was thin and frizzed by the drugs, had been uncut for nine months and hung in a tangle over my eyes. A telex to an efficient relative had secured me an appointment, one week on, at a salon in Windsor, where in those days we had a small flat; it was the place we were coming home to, with the castle looming in at our window.
I had decided when I was 12 that I would like to live in Windsor, and bought the flat when I was 27, though the size of the deposit cheque unnerved me, and I scrambled the figures and had to write it twice. I had not always been lucky, had not always been blessed; but, illness aside, I had a savage and hidden faculty for managing my desires: for slapping and pounding fate, a rickety raw-faced amateur who should never have stepped into the ring with the hard-fisted likes of me.
In the interim, I rolled through the world like an unkempt pedigree dog. If you were a dog, someone had said to me recently, you'd be a golden retriever. That was me: lolloping towards April, waving my daft tail. My second book would be published a week or two after I arrived home. And that afternoon in Cyprus I had walked along the road by the beach, in the splashy sunshine, on my husband's arm, unmolested, no men shouting at me out of cars or trying to run me over – which procedures were quite usual in the Kingdom. I had walked along the rubbly seafront towards the town, heavy lorries grinding past, exhaust fumes wafting on the warm wind.
In Limassol there is, or there was then, a herb market in a hall like a vast glasshouse. The glass shimmered verdant and we inhaled green, the miasma of plant life, the world of chlorophyll as it shivered and dripped: scent of stem, of shoot, of sap, the air itself sighing with misty fragrance. On the way back we stopped at a tourist bar. We sat at a pavement table in the traffic fumes and drank cold beer.
It was such an easy, ordinary thing to do. In a moment, the constraint of four years eased, the extent of my inner impoverishment became plain and it almost shocked me how fiercely I had slapped my bet on the counter, staked my claim to the future. Now, now, I said – despite the steroids, the sickness, the embarrassing hairdo, despite the job search, the uncertainty, the displacement, now despite everything, despite the fact that I am 34 and just beginning, this is the happiest day of my life.
And it was. It is. Not many people have the good fortune to pinpoint it, to log it, to feel it while it's happening and skewer it down. We drained our glasses, brushed the crisp crumbs from our persons and strolled back to the hotel. 13 March, Limassol, 1986. | <urn:uuid:5c6e478a-bec6-413a-8157-b4adce0f3719> | 2 | 1.632813 | 0.036743 | en | 0.987198 | https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/21/hilary-mantel-saudi-arabia |
What is the real price of cheap air travel?
While the rest of us snap up £1.99 flights to Rome, a small but growing band of conscientious objectors are making a stand by refusing to fly. Is this the beginning of the budget travel backlash, asks Tom Robbins
The Bahamas or the Scilly Isles? ... the difference is about 950kg in carbon emissions.
What is the real price of cheap air travel?
Michael Gibson's new year's resolution was a tough one, but nothing to do with giving up cigarettes, alcohol or junk food. He has decided to stop flying.
'I just realised that all my other efforts to be green - recycling, insulating the house, not driving a giant 4x4 - would be totally wiped out by a couple of holidays by air,' said Gibson, 32, from Manchester. He's not alone. Suddenly and spontaneously, growing numbers of travellers are deciding they must give up, or at least cut back on, their far-flung weekend city breaks and long-haul holidays in the sun.
Melissa Henry, a marketing director from Bristol, quit flying a year ago. 'How could I look my four-year-old daughter in the eye in 20 years' time and say "There was something I could have done but I chose not to"?' she said. 'For too long, I was saying "they must do something about it", then suddenly I realised I can't expect others to change if I'm not prepared to change myself.'
And it's not just the hardcore eco-warriors who are taking a stand. Last week, one of Britain's most influential travellers told Escape he had decided to cut down on flying. Mark Ellingham, founder of Rough Guides, the travel publishing company that played a key role in encouraging the independent travel boom of the last 20 years, said he would be limiting his trips by plane, and taking his summer holiday in Britain.
'Being in the travel business, I've taken more than the average number of flights, and was used to casually flying off to Naples for the weekend or whatever,' he said.
'So I've taken the decision that I should reduce the number of flights I'm taking and take at least part of my holiday in places that you can drive to or take a train.'
Ellingham has just commissioned the Rough Guide to Climate Change and from this summer all Rough Guides will have a section warning readers about the negative effects of flying. 'Of course it's a contradiction, but we are in the unique position of being able to put information about climate change across in exactly the right context.'
What about the danger of damaging his own business, which sells thousands of guidebooks to weekend city break fans? His response is stark: 'If that happens, so be it.'
The arguments against flying are compelling. One return flight to Florida produces the equivalent carbon dioxide to a year's motoring. A return flight to Australia equals the emissions of three average cars for a year. Fly from London to Edinburgh for the weekend and you produce 193kg of CO2, eight times the 23.8kg you produce by taking the train. Moreover, the pollution is released at an altitude where its effect on climate change is more than double that on the ground.
More frightening is the boom in the number of people flying, fuelled by cheap flights with carriers such as Ryanair and Easyjet. In 1970, British airports were used by 32 million people. In 2004, the figure was 216 million. In 2030, according to government forecasts, it will be around 500 million. The trouble is that the people most likely to be aware of these figures, are the ones who probably enjoy popping over to Europe for a weekend. It makes for a large amount of guilt, and a lot of denial.
'Most people seem to say "I should cut back, but I'm not ready to yet",' said Sarah Delfont, an oncology support specialist from Devon, who stopped flying last year. 'It's not an easy decision.'
Now, it seems, we are on the cusp of the guilt turning into action. Next month sees the launch of the first formal campaign to limit flying. Flight Pledge, will focus on a website (www.flightpledge.org.uk) on which people can commit to cutting back on flying. There's a choice of a gold pledge - a promise to take no flights in the coming year - or silver, representing a maximum of two short-haul or one long-haul flight. The idea, says John Valentine, its creator, is to collect enough signatories to press the European Union into taxing aviation fuel, thus increasing air fares and stifling the growth in air travel.
But aren't there less drastic ways of addressing climate change without giving up air travel? What about carbon offsetting, where you pay a small fee per flight which goes towards tree-planting or energy saving schemes? To make your return flight to Rome carbon neutral costs just £5. A small price to pay for a clear conscience.
'It's a way of assuaging middle-class guilt,' says Liz Postlethwaite, 28, a community arts worker in Manchester who gave up flying more than a year ago. 'At the end of the day the carbon is being placed in the environment regardless of the offsetting and, if we are honest about it, the only way we can stop that happening is by reducing the number of flights we take.'
Objectively, offsetting is clearly better than nothing and has already funded some impressive schemes around the world, although environmentalists are beginning to turn against it. Friends of the Earth argues that tree-planting schemes are not reliable because it is hard to guarantee how long the trees will live. 'If there's a fire or they're cut down, you've lost your offset but you've already done the damage,' said Richard Dyer, the group's aviation campaigner.
Campaigners say energy-saving schemes, such as funding solar panels, or low-energy lightbulbs, are laudable, but should be done anyway rather than simply to offset pollution from flights.
This is bad news for the travel industry, which has latched onto offsetting like a drowning man to a life raft. 'Sustainable travel' is one of the tourism industry's favourite phrases, but there is simply no way to reconcile a business encouraging people to fly as often and far as possible, with concerns about the effects on the environment.
The Association of British Travel Agents sets the tone for the industry. It backs offsetting, and pays for its annual conference, which takes place abroad, to be made carbon neutral. At the same time, it is lobbying the government to increase runway space in Britain.
'We need more runways to cater for increased demand,' said Sean Tipton, an Abta spokesman. 'I know environmentalists are calling for a tax on flying, but that would bring about a return to the Fifties when only the well-off could fly.'
There is a positive side to this story, however. Many of those who have given up flying are finding that, far from it being a sacrifice, they actually enjoy travelling more.
'We've had some superb holidays as a result of not flying,' says Alex Smith from Balham, south London. 'Leaving Madrid on the overnight train to Paris, and having a superb meal and glass of wine in the dining car while watching the sun set over the mountains cannot be beaten as a way to finish a holiday.'
Nor is it a bar to long-distance travel. Sarah Delfont's 22-year-old Joe has also quit flying, but that won't stop him setting out in a fortnight's time on a backpacking trip to Thailand - by train. The route, involving the Trans-Siberian railway, will take far longer than a direct flight to Bangkok and probably cost more, but it promises to be much more of an adventure.
Exactly how many people are cutting back on flying is impossible to know. But it seems likely that 2006 will be the year in which the issue finally enters the mainstream. Already there has been a flurry of headlines when members of Transport 2000, the group which campaigns for more train and bus use, raised concerns about whether Michael Palin should continue as their chairman, because of the vast amount of air miles he clocks up on his travels.
The crunch is likely to be the government decision, expected later this year, on whether to allow a third runway at Heathrow. Much as we might like it to, it seems the backlash against bargain flights is not going to go away.
· Do you feel guilty about the number of flights you take each year? Will you be limiting your air travel because you are worried that you are contributing to climate change? Email us at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:57564ce8-e819-4e67-9b3d-ed323e6faed2> | 2 | 1.570313 | 0.055011 | en | 0.963892 | https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2006/jan/29/theairlineindustry.ecotourism.observerescapesection?view=mobile |
NASA's New Robot 'RoboSimian' Moves Just Like a Primate
- Jul 22, 2013
References: & gizmodo
NASA's new robot is the 'RoboSimian,' inspired by the movements of a primate. The agile movements of monkeys inspired this new bot, which will primarily be used in search and rescue missions. This ape-inspired robot has a form that resembles a human or monkey form, with limbs that resemble arms and legs. However, unlike living creatures, this bot has no front or back, making it always oriented in the correct position even if it is accidentally rolled onto its side or knocked over.
The 'RoboSimian' is set to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge, which is designed to spur the creation of robots to provide relief in the event of a man-made or natural disaster. 'RoboSimian' is expected to be able to handle tasks like climbing ladders, stairs and driving vehicles. | <urn:uuid:0c3b08af-a68b-40ca-8ffc-cca65230b917> | 3 | 3 | 0.02134 | en | 0.908734 | https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nasas-new-robot |
An instance is a specific example or case of something. One instance of being chased by a growling dog can make a person spend his whole life being afraid of animals.
It's common to find instance used in the expression "for instance," meaning "for example." Bright colors — for instance, pink, green, and blue — can cheer you up when you're feeling sad. Instance can also mean "occurrence." Several instances of cheating might be reported after a math test, for example. In the sixteenth century, the Medieval Latin word instantia meant "example to the contrary," leading to an early definition of instance as "single objection."
Definitions of instance
example, illustration, representative
show 11 types...
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apology, excuse
a poor example
an instance that does not conform to a rule or generalization
case in point, precedent
the most typical example or representative of a type
a small part of something intended as representative of the whole
an example regarded as typical of its class
a test sample of some substance
cross section
a sample meant to be representative of a whole population
grab sample
random sample
a sample grabbed at random
a small amount (especially of food or wine)
Type of:
knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction
n an occurrence of something
“another instance occurred yesterday”
case, example
humiliation, mortification
bit, piece
an instance of some kind
clip, time
an instance or single occasion for some event
Type of:
happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent
an event that happens
v clarify by giving an example of
exemplify, illustrate
Type of:
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A tirade is a speech, usually consisting of a long string of violent, emotionally charged words. Borrow and lose your roommate’s clothes one too many times, and you can bet you’ll be treated to a heated tirade.
The noun tirade is related to the Italian word tirata, which means "volley." So imagine a very angry person lobbing harsh words and strings of profanity in your direction when you want to remember what tirade means. Although, tirades don't necessarily have to include bad words — any long, drawn out speech or epic declaration can be called a tirade.
Definitions of tirade
n a speech of violent denunciation
broadside, philippic
Type of:
denouncement, denunciation
a public act of denouncing
vehement oratory
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How can we better handle the threat to international security posed by groups who turn new technologies into weapons? To make a change by 2030, Espen Barth Eide, United Nations Special Adviser on Cyprus and co-chair of the Global Future Council on International Security, says we need international cooperation and experts from a wide range of fields to think through the potential dark side of technological advances.
Why do we need a Global Future Council on International Security?
Issues of security and power relations are always there, under the surface. They may seem less pertinent if you live in Switzerland rather than Syria, but a peaceful and predictable daily life doesn’t mean those issues have gone away. It simply says that they are being managed effectively and kept under control - for now.
What are the key trends that could change international security between now and 2030?
Imagine ruling a country 110 years ago and thinking: “I have a powerful army and navy, I don’t need to worry about airplanes.” You wouldn’t have remained powerful for long. Technological change has always shaped the evolution of international security and threatened to upset the balance of power, that’s not new. What is different is the rapid and accelerating pace of technological change.
Our growing reliance on connected services has made cyberspace an entirely new domain of warfare, just as the invention of the plane created the need to defend against attacks from the air, at a time when battles had previously been fought only on land and at sea.
More generally, we’re seeing an undesired democratisation of the capacity to inflict major damage. Even very small groups of people with innovative ideas and access to new technology can now effectively challenge much larger and more organised collectives. Historically, it’s been easier to defend than attack, but that’s now rapidly changing.
What are some examples of potentially game-changing new capabilities?
Get some yeast and a few more easily accessible ingredients. Then, with the help of information found online, you can set up a home microbrewery that’s capable of manufacturing bacteriological weapons. Another example: combine homemade explosives with an off-the-shelf drone, a smartphone, and commercial face recognition and geolocation software, and you could rig up a device that’s capable of autonomously targeting particular types of individual.
Seized plastic handguns which were created using 3D printing technology are displayed at Kanagawa police station in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo May 8, 2014. Yoshimoto Imura became the first man to be arrested in Japan for illegal possession of two guns he created himself using 3D printing technology, Japanese media said on Thursday. The 27-year-old, a college employee in the city of Kawasaki, was arrested after police found video online posted by Imura claiming to have produced his own guns. Gun possession is strictly regulated in Japan. Police raided Imura's home and found five guns, two of which could fire real bullets, Japanese media said. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo (JAPAN - Tags: CRIME LAW SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTR3OA4Z
Image: REUTERS/Kyodo
Such weapons may be less powerful than nuclear weapons, but they are far more difficult to control. We needn’t fear bright college students who understand how to make a nuclear bomb, because they can’t buy fissile material on eBay. As it becomes easier to make weapons with more destructive power, there may come a time when we grow nostalgic for the relative simplicity of the task of preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the wrong hands.
Who are the key players in controlling the spread of new weapons?
Think about a company like Lockheed Martin: they’re obviously aware that they make weapons and know they have to try to follow rules and regulations, sell only to state actors, and so on. But what about the people who are developing drones, face recognition software, 3D printers, gene therapies, or myriad other technologies? Generally they are enthused by the potential for civilian public good or commercial development. The idea that what they’re doing might be weaponized couldn’t be further from their minds.
So we need to get private sector innovators thinking about the potential dark side of what they’re doing without stopping beneficial technologies from being developed. We need expertise from politicians, military, academics and civil society to think through the implications of weaponizing new technologies. In all kinds of areas, from civil liberties to geopolitics, we are identifying questions, but not yet arriving at many answers.
Is non-proliferation of new weapons a task that needs to go beyond the United Nations?
There are pockets of interest in the United Nations in addressing these issues, and the arrival of a new team with the incoming Secretary-General offers some opportunities. But the UN has a strong preference for working through state actors, and member states need to be willing to participate. It can’t be the only place for these discussions – we need platforms that can bring in a wider range of stakeholders, and the Forum is an ideal candidate.
Where could we be by 2030?
In a best case scenario, we would have more widespread awareness and be better at having these discussions. More academic organisations will think like the Korea Institute of Advanced Study, which explicitly encourages its students to reflect on the ethical implications of the scientific fields they are exploring. More innovators will consider the potential dark side of what they’re doing, and if they have concerns will know how to express them responsibly. We will have functioning mechanisms of international cooperation that effectively minimise the dangers of technological advance, without standing in the way of innovation.
In a worst case scenario, none of that happens, and the world by 2030 is unstable and unpredictable, with varied threats coming from many sources. It’s a world we need to do our best to avoid. | <urn:uuid:5a1b7789-1dad-4c13-89e5-2171a8e76a61> | 3 | 2.640625 | 0.094934 | en | 0.944034 | https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/how-do-we-stop-tech-being-turned-into-weapons |
Memory management in mobile apps
Throughout it’s lifetime, an application is allowed to make use of the internal memory, as object instances obtain parts of it for temporary use and then return it. When an objects doesn’t use the memory anymore but refuses to let it go, a memory leak is created.
Common causes of memory leaks
Soon a leak can turn into a flood, as the memory occupation is small, but constant and the gradual loss of memory will make the application unresponsive.
There are a few common causes for which memory leaks happen. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:188cc9a0-90d6-4266-8061-b5b102a475c9> | 2 | 2.0625 | 0.082696 | en | 0.948207 | https://xmonodev.wordpress.com/tag/memory-leaks/ |
5 Most Effective Exercises to Enhance Brain Power and Sharpen Your Mind
Here are some of the most effective exercises to boost memory.
With trillions of neural connections, brain is an extraordinary organ that controls all the other organs and functions of the body. It is one organ that keeps all the organs functioning properly and so, it is important to keep the brain healthy and active. Like the rest of the body, our brain gradually loses its vigor with age. The degeneration of cells in the brain because of the age and other factors can affect our memory and brain power. As working out is important to keep your body healthy and fit, it is important to exercise our brain to sharpen your mind and improve memory. Here is a list of exercises to improve memory and enhance your brain power.
1. Draw a rough map from your memory :-
No, you do not have to look into the Google maps. Visit a new place and after returning home, draw a map of the place. For example, if you visit a new museum tomorrow, draw a map of how you reached the museum after you return home.
2. Do math in your head :-
We use calculator these days but try to do calculations in your mind to challenge your brain and keep it active. Do not use pen or paper. Up the challenge by walking while you do the math.
3. Solve puzzles :-
It may seem childish, but try solving puzzles and challenge your brain. Start with easy puzzles and then gradually proceed to complex ones. It will improve your hand and eye coordination. There are so many online puzzle games. Try jigsaw puzzles and building blocks.
4. Try to identify different smell and taste in your food :-
While eating your meal, don t just gulp it down. Try to identify the taste and smell of the ingredients used in preparing the food. Try this with different types of cuisines. It is a tasty challenge for your brain.
5. Test your memory :-
List down several items in a paper and memorize it. After an hour, try to recall it and write it down in another sheet of paper. See how many items you could recall. Make this exercise challenging by adding random items in the list.
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The ‘Mighty Uke’ is a small stringed, wooden acoustic instrument, whose name translates loosely to “jumping flea.” The ukulele is experiencing a resurgence in popularity with musicians of all ages for its approachability. With a similar shape as a small acoustic guitar, the ukulele has four strings that are tuned like the guitar. The ukelele is a great introduction to stringed instruments for young children with smaller hands, but can be enjoyed by all. Most closely associated with Hawaiian and Portuguese music, the ukulele can be adapted for any genre.
Steve Roy
Carter Logan
Tyler Lienhardt
Jake Hoffman | <urn:uuid:4c34f44e-c1d2-41bf-acc5-2d80c98124b8> | 2 | 2.3125 | 0.035384 | en | 0.943672 | http://317main.org/instruments/ukulele/ |
Thursday, 3 March 2011
How a housewife changed the world!!
This morning I was talking to a colleague of mine about hobby scientists. People at home that buy a microscope, people that find some interesting physical phenomenon and post on youtube using their LCD displayed smartphone, or the many astronomers looking to the sky to find solar bursts. Science can be found everywhere around us like in the night sky, out in our backyard and even in our kitchen sink. What better place to discover science than your kitchen sink?
A German woman and independent scientist, Agnes Pockels, did just that in 1890. Legend has it that doing the dishes in her own kitchen Agnes discovered the influence of impurities on the surface tension of fluids. So she set out to measure these surfactant impurities (different oil from cooking) and started experimenting. To measure the tension she developed the Pockels trough, precursor to the Langmuir scale, and published the first stearine acid. She wrote to Lord Rayleigh a scientist at Cambridge (who discovered Argon which later won him the Nobel Prize) shortly after he published initial suggestions that oil might form a monolayer on water.
In this letter she described an apparatus she had designed to measure the surface tension of monolayers of hydrophobic and amphiphillic substances. Agnes made a simple trough from a tin pan with tin inserts to determine the size of a surface. She had a balance on one side with a 6 mm disk to the measure the force required (e.g. the surface tension) to pull the disk from the surface. With various oils she hand around the house she described the behavior of surface tension. She added to this by calculating the amounts of material required to form a monolayer and commented on the purity and cleanliness required to accurately perform measurements of surface tension. She also reported the thickness of the film of the of various amphiphillic substances on the surface of water. Quite extraordinary for a housewife. The paper was published in Nature!!
Now monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett troughs (they later modified Agnes Pockels' home built trough) are used to uncover many fascinating discoveries. For example they are used to fabricate nanoscale electronics using materials like graphene, understand how drugs permeate into the blood brain barrier, or fabricate LCD (liquid crystalline display) for your smartphone. So the next time you pick up your smartphone think about Agnes Pockels and try not to drop it in the sink. | <urn:uuid:7e181d68-3ed3-4143-815b-5772cc7da9dd> | 3 | 3 | 0.112112 | en | 0.960017 | http://72dynes.blogspot.fi/2011/03/how-housewife-changed-world.html |
Q: Abortion or contraception?
A:The NCBI web site requires JavaScript to function. more...Read More »
Q: Abortion or Contraception, What's your preference.
A:Things have escalated to that state. but contraception was not legal, nor was abortion before 1965. There wasn't a massive overflow, as you predict would happen...Read More »
Q: Abortion and contraception survey?
A:1. does the government have the right to legalize or illegalize abortion in the United States? Yes, they certainly have the right and the power. I think it's a ...Read More »
Q: How do you feel about the "conscience clause" for abortion and co...
A:Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said President Barack Obama supports existing federal laws that prevent federally funded health care provi...Read More »
Q: Abortion & Contraception: What if They Really Were Private?
A:Abortion & Contraception: What if They Really Were Private? Thursday September 21, 2006. Both abortion and contraception take place in a semi-public manner beca...Read More »
abortion and contraception
This page compares the issues of contraception and abortion, which are sometimes treated as the same thing.
CONTEXT: The relationship between levels of contraceptive use and the incidence of induced abortion continues to provoke heated discussion, with some .
Discussion of how emergency contraception do not cause an abortion.
Until 1930, every mainline Protestant church opposed both contraception and abortion. After the Anglicans accepted contraception in their Resolution 15, .
Everyone writes about abortion and contraception: doctors, authors, and do- gooders, fighters, poets, song wrinters, lawyers, scientists, housewives, natural .
Popular Q&A
Where can i buy Mifeprex (early abortion pill)?
Why you don't choose the surgical abortion? There is a at this point unknown risk involved using chemical abortion medication. I attached an article from the FDA, but the German Doctors magazine published a warning as well. April 10, 2006 Update: Since the approval of mifepristone in September...
Do you agree with this point about abortion?
The bible actually does not explicitly forbid abortion, ever. It contains all sorts of specific details about the most personal aspects of life, including food, clothing, and hair, but it never once mentions you can't have an abortion. Then again, the bible does seem to be pretty much okay...
When Christians say, “Abortion is evil because it’s killing a baby,” are they being intentionally dishonest?
Afterbirth is full of their poop...they don't just poop once they're out ya know. They eat through the umbilical cord...which is why they need to poop. Call it whatever you like, but a heart beat is proof of life, and that happens pretty early on. To stop a heart from beating is to take a...
From a strictly physical standpoint, are there any negative health repercussions to having an abortion?
Hemmorage Sometimes women bleed during an abortion or a few days afterwards. With a medical abortion, bleeding lasts 13-15 days or more. Occasionally it is necessary to receive a transfusion to replace the lost blood. Sometimes a second curettage procedure or a hysterectomy is needed to stop...
Which Presidents appointed the Supreme Court Justices that made abortion legal in all 50 states?
There were 7 Justices that voted in the majority: Harry Blackmun - Nominated by Richard Nixon Warren E. Burger - Nominated by Richard Nixon William O. Douglas - Nominated by Franklin Roosevelt William J. Brennan, Jr. - Nominated by Dwight Eisenhower Potter Stewart - Nominated by Dwight Eisenhower... | <urn:uuid:e760a83f-7151-49e9-84c7-f584117195ae> | 2 | 1.84375 | 0.0271 | en | 0.941353 | http://abortiondp.com/abortion/abortion-and-contraception/ |
Sunday, May 4, 2008
When your only food may kill you
Please add contaminated grain as another tangible threat to innocent Afghans. Toxic wheat joins a list that already includes malnutrition, tuberculosis, malaria, civil warfare, female enslavement, Islamic extremism, dire poverty and drought.
In the northwest corner of Afghanistan, bordering Iran and Turkmenistan, sits the district of Gulran, where in 1974 an epidemic of liver disease struck the poorest families in several district villages. More than 20% of these villagers displayed clinical signs of liver toxicity, and the Afghan authorities determined the etiology as bread whose wheat was contaminated with the seeds of the charmac plant (Heliotropium). Charmac is a weed inadvertently harvested with the wheat, and the seeds contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids that inflict severe liver injury. The toxicity leads to a progressive, massive abdominal distention from fluid accumulation in the gut (ascites) as the liver degenerates over several months in a process somewhat similar to accelerated alcoholic cirrhosis.
Some villages in Gulran are suffering another epidemic of liver toxicity. New, dramatic cases of ascites began in November, 2007, again among some of Gulran’s most impoverished families. Many if not all of the victims are chronically malnourished and subsist on a diet of wheat bread that is occasionally supplemented with meat. (Very few fruits or vegetables grow in Gulran.) The cruel irony is that the little food these villagers have available might be killing them.
Health authorities transported several patients with severe disease to Indira Ghandi Hospital in Kabul for treatment. I visited these patients yesterday, and the first I saw were a pair of young siblings whose parents had both died recently from the disease. The next patient was a twelve year-old girl in such an advanced stage of illness that I would be surprised if she is still alive. She had a gaunt, weathered face that was absolutely skeletal, and I thought of the terrible newsreel footage depicting concentration camp victims liberated at the end of World War II. She looked ghastly. Thankfully, blankets covered her massive belly. Her limbs were so emaciated that the skin outlined the contour of her bones.
Initially I wanted to take a photograph of her, but I changed my mind quickly as I thought the attempt would be crass and vulgarly voyeuristic. Instead, I recalled another twelve year-old girl in Kenya whom I watched literally drown to death in a hospital bed over the course of a week due to congestive heart failure. Rheumatic heart disease had shredded her cardiac valves, and the damage had reduced her heart’s pumping capacity so much that blood collected in her lungs and saturated the pulmonary tissue, and eventually the mitigated oxygen exchange couldn’t sustain her. $5 worth of penicillin earlier in her life when she had a case of strep throat might prevented the cardiac disease. At least the Afghan girl had a bed of her own, as the Kenyan patients slept two-to-a-single-bed laying opposite directions on the mattress. If the Kenyan staff expected you to die within the next few hours, they would move your bedmate and place a screen around you, an effort that gave a bit of privacy in a crowded open ward and left the other patients less unnerved.
I haven’t cried over a sick patient since medical school, but I felt my eyes moisten when I saw that dying Afghan girl and the new orphans across the ward from her. The worst of the world’s cruelty seems reserved for the poor, young and defenseless. These children come from an agriculturally barren district, likely have a genetic predisposition for liver failure and suffered malnutrition before they even ate the contaminated wheat. Two of them were treated for tuberculosis the previous year. They are getting delayed but appropriate supportive care now in the Kabul, but they are so sick that they may die alone in the hospital away from any family members who have survived this latest epidemic. Mickey Mantle inexplicably popped to the top of the liver transplant list after years of pickling himself with booze, then he died only a few weeks later and took that precious donated organ into the ground with him. These kids have no prospects for such advanced medical treatment.
The two children in the photographs above are medically stable and the physicians think they might survive the liver toxicity. They still have dramatic abdominal swelling due to ascites. The boy seemed obtunded when we spoke with him. The girl was stationary but playful (look closely at the photograph and you can see that she is all belly under her dress), although at first afraid of a toy we gave her. In fact, all of the children were initially frightened by the stuffed animals we offered them, and one of the physicians told me they probably had never seen such a toy before.
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Sunday, March 8, 2015
Moments of Clarity
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Anyone who writes should read Campbell, and anyone who has read Campbell will agree that writers are the chroniclers of the sentiment in that statement. As writers, we have the ability to look outside ourselves, to pull from our own experiences and values and worldviews, and incorporate them into myths of our own making. The subject matter of these myths is irrelevant, for when you drill down in every tale, you eventually arrive at the same foundation: the hero myth.
This is the basis of every morality tale, of every myth, of every religion in human history. It is constant and everlasting because at its base is the true nature of the human experience. We are born reluctantly, thrown into a life rife with challenges, and must either rise to the occasion to triumph or refuse and condemn ourselves to failure, all with the knowledge that the reward for our sacrifice is certain death. The point here is, it's the not the reward we care about, it's the actual experience of living itself, that is important. Or to put it more simply, it's not the destination, it's the journey that matters.
I recall a conversation I recently had with my sister-in-law. We were in an antique shop, of all things, looking at some Chinese tea sets, and I made a comment about the ritual of tea and how we, as humans, need our rituals. This lead to a discussion on different forms of ritual, which eventually brought us around to religious rituals.
Now anyone who knows me knows I'm not a religious person in the traditional sense. I'm not a joiner. So when I said, "I recall, when I was younger, going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and while I didn't consider myself a Christian, I still couldn't deny that I was moved by the experience," my sister-in-law responded with "I thought you were an atheist."
When I told her no, she asked me what I was, religiously speaking. I had to think about that for a minute. I hate labels. Each of us is a unique collection of experiences, beliefs, and interpretations that makes us different from every other person on the planet. Why should we be pigeon-holed into a rigid spiritual doctrine? I have studied all the major religions of the world, as well as the so-called pagan beliefs of nomadic tribes, agricultural societies, and Native Americans, and when you get past the differences in names and locations, it's all the same story. A way to imply morality on the human experience.
So my answer would have to be, just because I don't believe in religion doesn't mean I'm an atheist. I believe in something, if not a creative spirit, then a creative spark. Science can explain the mechanics of evolution, but something had to light the match to all that kindling. Something had to create the soul. Whether you believe that something is a bearded man sitting on a throne in the sky or a force of nature personified is irrelevant. Like the old saying says, just because you don't believe in it, doesn't mean it isn't real. The important thing isn't what you believe, but how your life reflects that belief. I see too many religious hypocrites forgetting that one golden rule: To thine own self be true.
As I said, I've studied the religions, myths, and folktales of the world and absorbed the truths that fit with my life's experiences, which is, in the end, all any of us can do. These have become my doctrine. My religion, if you will. And the most important thing that has come from this is the belief that we are all here in this particular life for a purpose, and while the purpose may be different for each of us, we are born with the necessary tools to succeed in that purpose. It's up to us whether or not we use them.
A writer has the unique ability to recognize the story and to use his or her imagination to tell it. That may not seem so important in the grand scheme of things, compared to say a police officer or soldier who lays down his life every day, or a doctor who saves lives, but think about this: without the writer--the chronicler--where would we get the myths that define our cultures? Where would we get our religions? Someone had to interpret their experiences into a tale that would resonate with the mass consciousness. Someone had to put to paper the words that inspire faith and define history.
Which beings me to my point. It doesn't matter if what you're writing is considered a timeless literary masterpiece. What matters is that you are using the talents and abilities given to you in this life to create something from nothing. To bring to life a world and a story built from your own experience and honed by the fires of your own imagination. It's a part of you, a story no one can else can tell because no one else has walked in your shoes.
So tell your story. And when you're done...tell the next one. | <urn:uuid:6a0294f9-bd80-44e7-8782-2cb2d61ba843> | 2 | 1.90625 | 0.268146 | en | 0.977624 | http://ajchurch-nytwriter.blogspot.com/2015/03/ |
Life, Death and Chickenpox.
chickenpoxChickenpox under a microscope.
We don’t see chickenpox much anymore, thanks to the varicella vaccine. Chickenpox is highly contagious, airborne and can also spread through contact with infected blisters before they crust over. For most patients it is an itchy annoyance. For other’s, chickenpox is anything but…
When I was a child my older brother brought home the pox. My mom quarantined him to bed with his door shut until he was on the downside of his very high fevers. Then she sighed and told me to take him his dinner tray and “rub his arms and get it over with.” My brother got very angry when I told him I had been instructed to rub his rash, but we complied and sure enough, in three days I had chickenpox too.
For me, it was just the itchy rash and not being allowed to play outside. The death penalty for a kid who played outside, all day, everyday. A very serious annoyance.
For a patient I received out of the Intensive Care Unit to my Med-Surg ward in 1990 it was far more.
In my shift report I was receiving a patient who was being discharged from ICU to our unit with a diagnosis of Chickenpox! This patient was a 32 year-old male who had been in the unit for three weeks on a ventilator.
The lesions in his lungs had finally cleared up, he was off the vent and breathing on his own, but still very weak and in need of supportive nursing care and medications.
I got him settled in to his room, checked that IV site was fine, marked when it would need a site rotation, put his fluids back on a pump all the while chatting with this nice young man.
I was absolutely shocked to find out that he had simply gone to work one day and a co-worker with a sick kid had brought that child to work with her instead of calling out sick.
You guessed it, the kid had chickenpox and this young man never had. Varicella is much worse in an adult than in kids and this man soon had varicella lesions not just in his mouth, but in his lungs, got pneumonia and almost died. The three weeks in ICU and ventilator support had saved his life.
Well, nurses talk. And this good-looking young man who was almost killed by an inconsiderate co-worker was the talk of our nurses station. Unless you work in orthopedic/sports medicine having attractive young men as patients is the exception, not the norm, and we went wild spoiling him during his stay on our floor.
I might know of a few nurses who snuck down the stairs to the pediatric ward to “swipe” ice cream sandwiches out of the freezer for him! But I admit to NOTHING!
We talked. And we judged. How DARE this woman take a kid with an infectious disease to work with her? didn’t she KNOW she may have KILLED someone? How could she have been so STUPID? Or was she just an IDIOT?
We absolutely trashed this woman not a one of us knew.
I regret those foolish words now. As an older woman who now has children I feel terrible for that unknown woman. Now I know what it’s like to be put in an impossible situations.
Why did she take that sick kid to work?
Is it possible that she was a single mother who had been told that one more call-out would cost her job?
Is it possible that her paycheck was the only thing standing between her kids and hunger or homelessness?
Is it possible that she didn’t know her child was still infectious?
Is it possible she simply had no idea how serious chickenpox could actually be? After all, her kid just had an itchy annoying rash.
And it is highly unlikely that as a co-worker she was unaware of what had happened as a result of her bad decision. She had to know how sick this man was after he was hospitalized and missed well over a month of work. I can not imagine her personal guilt and self-condemnation.
It is possible that the boss made the connection between her child and her co-worker and she paid consequences for that action.
And it is possible that other co-workers treated her in person, the same way a floor of nurses did, with judgment and condemnation.
Now interestingly enough, this young man never did. I was changing out his IV one afternoon and asked him if he was angry at this woman. I was expecting a juicy rant but what I got was, “No, why? It was not her fault. How was she supposed to know I had never had chickenpox? Sh*t happens!”
That was all he had to say about the matter.
As I’ve grown over the years from a know-it-all 20 year old, into a woman, a mother, a person who has had to choose between very bad options I remember that nice young man and his attitude.
Yes, STUFF HAPPENS! And it happens to everyone, all the time. Sometimes there is no good choice, sometimes the actions of other people will determine a bad road you get to drive no matter how much you try to steer towards an exit.
But we get to choose our attitude and words. We get to choose to either blame and condemn or not. We get to choose to wallow in misery or “blow it off” with a phrase as this man did.
And I believe this young man’s refusal to give in to blame and bitterness, to shrug off a brush with death and laugh and say, “Sh*t happens!” is why he survived and recovered.
And not just for this situation. I guarantee you that man has survived and thrived! And he probably continues to set a good example for those around him of a positive attitude and good choices.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Mathew 6:14 | <urn:uuid:7cb084d7-e59c-46e1-b2ab-56f532b60a3b> | 2 | 1.695313 | 0.023048 | en | 0.990484 | http://alanakhaase.com/tag/mercy/ |
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
"For awhile I thought I could un-Jew myself. Then I realized that being Jewish is not in the ritual or the action. It is in one's history. I am proud of being Jewish, because I think that's where my indomitable spirit comes from, passed down from ancestors who burned in the fires of persecution because of their blood, their faith."
Some of my fellow agnostic/atheistic Jewish colleagues suggested reading this book as a department and engaging in a group discussion for our final Professional Development day back in May (because what I do love about being Jewish is that we see the humor in life and proceed self-deprecatingly). Well, major #librarianfail on my part--I only got about 20 pages in, and when I realized I wouldn't be able to make it to the book discussion, gave up trying to read the memoir for several months...until the new school year was about to begin, and I gave myself a deadline.
When I did finally attempt reading this memoir for a second time, I had a hard time getting very far. First of all, I found the storyline to be fairly slow-moving in the sense that I wasn't immediately engaged enough to want to open the book again. But more so than that, I compare the experience to how I felt while watching the documentary, Jesus Camp, a documentary about children getting indoctrinated to spread the Christian word (putting that mildly) that is only 87 minutes in length but took me about four hours to complete because I paused it what seemed like every few minutes to call my best friend for her insights. I remember feeling completely exasperated and saying something like, "Is this real life??"
As I read this book, I kept thinking about how my dad used to make my sister and me watch Fiddler on the Roof on an annual basis and suddenly had a new-found appreciation for the milestones we've evolved. I assumed this book was written by someone much older than me until I got to a page that started with: "It was the 11th day of September, 2001..." What?! Hold the phone. The author is younger than me?! Also, she lived in Brooklyn and had no idea that the towers had been hit by airplanes and subsequently collapsed until her grandfather "sinfully" bought a Wall Street Journal and borrowed a radio to listen to the news about what was happening across the river?!
I gave up on the concept of religion after being told at 12 years old that I would go to hell if I didn't accept Jesus in my heart. This pissed me off. I became an angry, life-questioning, early-menstruating pre-teen. I stopped wearing a Jewish star necklace, and I tried never to pay less than other people so as not to encourage the "cheap" stereotype; I no longer wanted to be identified by the only religion I knew and loved.
As I got older, less hormonal and more political, my anger subsided and was replaced by a desire to understand:
-Why do Christians think they have the answers to everything?
-Why would Christians tell non-believers/gay people that they're going to hell if they're supposed to love everyone?
-Who cares if they tell me I'm going to hell because Jews don't believe in hell's existence and therefore I can't go there because I'm Jewish?
-Also, Jesus was a long-haired Jewish hippie socialist (right?), soooo....what the heck are we all disagreeing about in the first place?
My point being that although I had given up on aligning with monotheistic religious beliefs (I lean mostly towards Buddhism if I have to choose) or this god figure that supposedly "loves everyone" but has all these exceptions to that rule, I remember how significant the mind-shift felt about 20 years ago when the Jewish congregation my family belongs to, albeit of the reformed sector, transformed all of the prayers to be inclusive of the female players of biblical times. Instead of only listing the men in prayers, they added the women, and everyone received a special insert to follow along separate from the ancient prayer book. I remember thinking, "How has recognizing women never been a thing until now?"
(We're weaving our way back to Unorthodox now.) What killed me while reading this book--my boyfriend recounted he would hear me yell, "WHAT!" followed by the sound of a book being angrily slammed shut--is that I never had reason to be exasperated at my own religion until taking the time to read about why one young woman made the decision to leave her Hasidic roots.
As a female librarian, who was brought up by Jewish parents who revered the education of their two daughters above all else, it was mind-boggling to read Deborah's commentary about how secretive she had to be just to get her hands on reading materials:
"His mother has told him not to let me read any more library books, as if my illicit glimpses into their pages were the cause of all our problems."
"In school, I hear hushed rumors about a Jewish library in Williamsburg, hosted once a week in someone's apartment, where you can take out two kosher, censored books, all written by Jewish authors. If I can get books from a kosher library, I won't have to hide them under my mattress."
Judaism is a matrilineal religion, meaning a child is considered Jewish so long as their mother is also Jewish. If the religion itself is being passed down through the woman, how are women treated like second-class citizens and denied the right to education and knowledge? Call me crazy, but none of this makes any sense to me. Although I didn't love the book, I applaud Deborah for taking control of her own life and bringing to light this antiquated, shall I say misogynistic, way of life. I am proud to be a progressive Jew who loves to read and inquire about the world and am even more grateful now more than ever that my parents encouraged me to be a life-long learner.
No comments: | <urn:uuid:a9e235da-6ede-4105-9c30-51b00fc6cc23> | 2 | 1.8125 | 0.062077 | en | 0.98035 | http://alyseliebovich.blogspot.com/2016/01/unorthodox-by-deborah-feldman.html |
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
What Florida means
Florida goes for Mitt
Ambrose Bierce, in The Devil's Dictionary, defined "Presidency" as follows: n., "The greased pig in the field game of American politics." The greased pig has now left the Sunshine state!
Mitt Romney, as predicted by all the polls, won the high stakes winner-take-all primary in Florida yesterday. Even though only 5% of the electorate has had a chance to vote, it seems to me that the Republican nominee is pretty much decided now. Game Over! Super Tuesday goes to the candidate who has the most money and we all know who that is.
The long knives were out for Gingrich last week. An avalanche of editorial criticism swept his campaign. His own self-inflicted wounds were the more grievous though. Two mediocre debate performances and pandering to the Florida Space community with crazy talk about the moon becoming the 51st state (Republican leaning or Democrat) helped to sink his chances. Gingrich was heavily outspent in a large state where media makes a huge difference (Go Lin Broadcasting -- TVL!).
Did the Gingrich challenge make Romney a better more sharply-focussed candidate or merely a more bitter candidate? Romney won the battle but can he win the war against Obama in the fall? Romney is very likely to move swiftly to the center especially as the general election nears. What difference
There are a few major unanswered questions reminding out there for political junkies...
1) Will Obama throw Biden under the bus assuming that Hilary were willing to entertain a VP spot on the ticket?
2) Who will Romney pick for his VP (Rubio perhaps)?
3) How can Romney attract more support than McCain did in 2008? (A VP from a large swing state like FL, OH or PA might help.)
4) Will Romney make policy concessions to Paul (as Gingrich tried to do with the gold standard) that could help attract his younger, passionate supporters in the fall?
5) Will the Senate go Republican, as widely predicted? Will Republicans retain control of the House?
Romney's greatest selling point in the fall is simply that his election means that the US government may finally be able to get something done, particularly on the budget and fiscal issues. If a Republican President and a Republican controlled Congress can't move an agenda forward, then they will be out of excuses and the pendulum may swing back again. An Obama victory in 2012, on the other hand, is a sure recipe for four more years of gridlock with a lame duck President who will never face the voters again.
1 comment:
Adam said...
There is no chance that Romney can attract enough Paul supporters to win the general election. We see no difference between Romney and Obama and we will vote for neither. Independents will recognize that Mitt is merely a whiter Mormon version of Obama and will go with the devil they know versus the devil they don't. Think 2004 - a man who has every Presidential characteristic you could ask for (Kerry), but completely devoid of personality, up against a heavily-criticized but very likable incumbent. Easy win for Obama. That's not a threat or a promise. It's just a fact. | <urn:uuid:c18f674b-13d0-4358-8df4-30f604ee9d62> | 2 | 1.5 | 0.665268 | en | 0.965108 | http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.com/2012/02/romney-wins-florida.html |
Roma Tickets
Well, who shall triumph in the eagerly awaited Champions League match between A.S. Roma and Manchester United? Tickets are fairly easy to come by in Rome, but will Manchster Utd take a large travelling support with them?
Will the Giallorossi be able to exact revenge or will Utd thump them once again?
For those looking for tickets the availability information is available here:
The Republic of Rome
First Period (510-87 BC) from the expulsion of Tarquin to the Dictatorship of Sylla.
Second Period (87-30 BC) from Sylla to Augustus.
496. The Latins and the Tarquins declared was against the Republic and were defeated at Lake Regillus.
477-396. Wars with Veii and Etruscans. Veii taken by Camillus after ten years siege.
390. the guals,under Brennus, won a remarkable victory over the Romans on the banks on the little River Allia, after which the sacked and plundered Rome. However, they eventually returned to their own land and Rome was gradually rebuilt.
264-146. The Punic Wars, which culminated in the destruction of Carthage, the leading naval power in the Mediterranean.
88-86. Fighting between Marius and Sylla.
82-79. Sylla's dictatorship. Delcine of the Republican institutions.
60-53. The first Triumvirate: Caesar, Pompey and Crassus.
58. Caeser's campaigns in Gaul and Britain.
48. Pompey was defeated at Pharsalus. Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 (The Ides of March), during a senate meeting.
43. The Second Triumvirate: Octavian ( the future Augustus), Anthony and Lepidus.
31. Octavian defeated Anthony and Cleopatra at Actium (Greece).
The Kings of Rome
According to the legend, the seven Kings of Rome were : Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostillius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquinius the Proud.
667 BC. Romans and Albans contesting for superiority agreed to choose three champions on each side to decide the question. The three Horatii, Roman knights, overcame the three Curiatii, Alban knights,and unite Alba to Rome.
509BC. Tarquin the Proud and his family expelled for tyranny and licentiousness; royalty abolished; the Patricians established an aristocratic commonwealth. | <urn:uuid:efb66715-7f70-4bb4-906b-cebd4535f5eb> | 2 | 1.515625 | 0.041119 | en | 0.935253 | http://apartmentsinrome.blogspot.com/2008/03/ |
Matthew 21:33-46
There is something in this parable that I haven't noticed before so let's just kind of go through it again. The man has a vineyard that tenants take care of. It comes harvest time and the owner wants the harvest, so he sends a three different servants to collect it. The tenants beat one, kill another, and then beat and throw another out. The landowner isn't phased by this violence and then sends his son to collect the harvest. The tenants then kill the son. Now if this parable represents God as the landowner, us as the tenants and Jesus as the son there are some incredible things to talk about here especially at stewardship time.
One thing that I am struck by is that God willing, abundantly gives everything in to our care, freely. We occupy a spot in the world given to us by God. One year a youth group played a simulation game during something called the 30 hour famine, a retreat where you don't eat for 30 hours. The game was supposed to let them know by the luck of the draw is where you are born. The leaders had eggs filled with beans and depending on how many of these you traded when time was up was your story and whether you lived or died. To add a little interest the leaders said that whoever won this round got to pick which fast food place they would break the fast at. Even though at the end people wanted to make the restaurant a group decision youth were really hit with the unfairness of it all.
This brings to mind a few things, we are given a place to occupy by birth. What we do from then should be focused on giving blessing back, giving freely of our harvests back to God. I think the hardest part of this is with no strings attached. God doesn't give to us and rate how or if we will give back in order to receive God's land, or whether we'll treat one another with love before we receive God's love. It is freely given. Many times we get caught up in turf wars over what we think is rightfully ours because we think it is unfair. Whether it is in giving out food to the hungry, selling off a some of the extra we don't need, giving care to one another, or making time to pray. We all have something that just like the tenants we cling to as ours, not that it is a gift to us. Shouldn't we let God be the judge of the hearts and minds of others, or do we think we know God's mind? Let us remember that all we have is freely given and we should freely give. | <urn:uuid:046eb1f3-ddf7-47e7-8fdb-2b6cc47007ac> | 2 | 1.921875 | 0.025591 | en | 0.967793 | http://arjoseph.blogspot.com/2014/10/stewards.html |
Senate Can Honestly Reject Rehnquist On The Basis Of His Record As A Justice
September 8, 1986|By TOM WICKER, New York Times
William H. Rehnquist, a man of undoubted scholarly attainment, has been a Supreme Court justice since 1971. No one has produced hard enough evidence of unsavory past activities to prevent his confirmation as chief justice.
So, when the Senate reconvenes this week, the only good reason for senators to vote against Rehnquist will be his record on the court; but that`s reason enough.
Rehnquist`s votes and opinions, in fact, so disqualify him for the chief justice`s seat that even the most conscientious senator need not worry, in this case, whether it`s fair or defensible to penalize an otherwise qualified man for the substance of his views.
Ordinarily, that`s a difficult problem. A conscientious liberal would not want to have voted against the nomination of the late, distinguished John Marshall Harlan merely because he was a conservative. Nor would a conservative senator have been justified in opposing, say, Earl Warren only because that senator expected Warren to be a ``liberal`` chief justice.
Rehnquist poses a different problem. His record on the Supreme Court demonstrates not so much that he is a conservative in any traditional sense as that he is unsuited to be the overseer of a federal judiciary ``the irreplaceable value`` of which, in the words of Justice Lewis Powell, ``lies in the protection it has afforded the constitutional rights and liberties of individual citizens and minority groups against oppressive or discriminatory government action.``
Rehnquist disdains that protection, and that profoundly conservative view. Instead, as his votes and opinions leave no doubt, he has regularly, consistently and often singularly voted to subordinate the rights of individual to the power of the state. Perhaps equally important and disqualifying, he has abandoned the Jeffersonian view that the Constitution raises a ``wall of separation`` between church and state, asserting instead the novel doctrine that it only prevents state preference for one church over another.
These are not differences of detail over permissible methods of school desegregation or the admissibility of evidence or the interpretation of the Gramm-Rudman Act. In an article for The Nation of Aug. 16-23, Herman Schwartz of the American University law faculty details what these views have meant in actual cases:
Rehnquist believes that victims of deliberate discrimination who are not members of a racial minority have no constitutional recourse as long as the discrimination ``is not patently arbitrary or irrational.`` So he would allow, for example, illegitimate children to be denied the right to financial support from their fathers, as well as child welfare benefits; and he has no objection if states take such actions as forcing pregnant teachers to go on unpaid leave five months before their due date.
Other examples of how Rehnquist would protect individual rights:
He thinks Texas need provide no education whatever for the children of illegal aliens. He agrees that the federal government can deny food stamps to a household in which one member is not a blood relative of the others. He alone among the justices would not have required Arkansas to improve possibly the worst prison conditions in U.S. history.
Rehnquist voted against virtually every school desegregation order issued by the Supreme Court since 1971; he would permit federal tax exemptions for racially segregated private schools; and he would allow prosecutors to knock all blacks off juries without giving any reason for doing so. He voted alone to allow Indiana to deny unemployment benefits to a Jehovah`s Witness who had refused to work on armaments for religious reasons.
In church-state matters, Rehnquist sees no constitutional reason that the government cannot favor religion over atheism or agnosticism. He would allow the states to provide virtually any kind of financial or other support for parochial schools. Public schools could require, in his opinion, the hanging of religious symbols, such as posters of the Ten Commandments.
Rehnquist is entitled to such views, which he supports with supple arguments; and for the nation`s highest judicial post, senators certainly are entitled to reject anyone who holds them.
Sun Sentinel Articles | <urn:uuid:67e8a817-5c5d-41e6-b076-d708c966930b> | 2 | 1.78125 | 0.039194 | en | 0.963784 | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-09-08/news/8602230276_1_william-h-rehnquist-chief-justice-conservative-senator |
The ASC 606 transition: Recognizing revenue as each performance obligation is satisfied
Authored by: Philip Santarelli
So far in our series, we have discussed four of the five elements of revenue recognition. We have identified a contract, determined the performance obligations, estimated the transaction price, and allocated that transaction price to the various performance obligations. In this article we examine the final element, recognizing revenue as the entity satisfies the performance obligations.
ASC 606 states the following:
An entity shall recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service (i.e., an asset) to a customer. An asset is transferred when (or as) the customer obtains control of that asset.1
A key concept in the determination of “transfer” is that the customer obtains control of the asset, and of course, the entity itself must make a determination as to when it believes its customer obtains control. Control of an asset is demonstrated when an entity has the ability to direct and realize all of the remaining benefits associated with the use of the asset. This concept also covers the benefit of services provided to an entity, even though the benefit may be only momentary. Some indicators (but not the only) of control passing to the customer include:
• Using the asset to produce goods or provide services (including public services)
• Using the asset to enhance the value of other assets
• Using the asset to settle liabilities or reduce expenses
• Selling or exchanging the asset
• Pledging the asset to secure a loan
• Holding the asset
Control passes to a customer in one of two ways: either at a point in time or over time. Both concepts are discussed below.
Performance obligations satisfied at a point in time
This concept is the most basic and applies to many revenue transactions in retail, wholesale, manufacturing, food and beverage, real estate, and other industries. Basically, an entity transfers an asset or service to a customer, thereby completing the performance obligation. However, determining whether control has passed to the customer is not always simple. ASC 606 includes several indicators of the transfer of control, which include, but are not limited to, the following:
• The entity has a present right to payment for the asset—If a customer presently is obliged to pay for an asset, then that may indicate that the customer has obtained the ability to direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, the asset in exchange.
• The customer has legal title to the asset—Legal title may indicate which party to a contract has the ability to direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, an asset or to restrict the access of other entities to those benefits. Therefore, the transfer of legal title of an asset may indicate that the customer has obtained control of the asset. If an entity retains legal title solely as protection against the customer’s failure to pay, those rights of the entity would not preclude the customer from obtaining control of an asset.
• The entity has transferred physical possession of the asset—The customer’s physical possession of an asset may indicate that the customer has the ability to direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, the asset or to restrict the access of other entities to those benefits. However, physical possession may not coincide with control of an asset. For example, in some repurchase agreements and in some consignment arrangements, a customer or consignee may have physical possession of an asset that the entity controls. Conversely, in some bill-and-hold arrangements, the entity may have physical possession of an asset that the customer controls. Paragraphs 606-10-55-66 through 55-78, 606-10-55-79 through 55-80, and 606-10-55-81 through 55-84 provide guidance on accounting for repurchase agreements, consignment arrangements, and bill-and-hold arrangements, respectively.
• The customer has the significant risks and rewards of ownership of the asset—The transfer of the significant risks and rewards of ownership of an asset to the customer may indicate that the customer has obtained the ability to direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, the asset. However, when evaluating the risks and rewards of ownership of a promised asset, an entity shall exclude any risks that give rise to a separate performance obligation in addition to the performance obligation to transfer the asset. For example, an entity may have transferred control of an asset to a customer but not yet satisfied an additional performance obligation to provide maintenance services related to the transferred asset.
• The customer has accepted the asset—The customer’s acceptance of an asset may indicate that it has obtained the ability to direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, the asset. To evaluate the effect of a contractual customer acceptance clause on when control of an asset is transferred, an entity shall consider the guidance in paragraphs 606-10-55-85 through 55-88.2
This is not an all-inclusive list and an entity may determine that specific facts and circumstances enable the conclusion that control has passed to the customer. For example, the existence of a customer acceptance clause in a contract does not necessarily preclude the recognition of revenue for a particular performance obligation until the customer formally accepts the good or service. If the entity can objectively determine that the agreed-upon specifications have been satisfied, the entity may be able to recognize revenue for that particular performance obligation prior to receiving confirmation of the customer’s acceptance.
It is also notable that these indicators provide more indicators of revenue recognition than the current GAAP, which relies on a transfer of risk and reward model for recognition.
Although reasonably straightforward, there may be situations (such as with synthetic shipping terms) that need to be reassessed as to the timing of revenue recognition.
Performance obligations satisfied over time
More complex judgments will be necessary when recognizing revenue from performance obligations satisfied over time. This concept will be commonly applied by contractors, service entities, and professional service organizations. It may also include manufacturing for certain specialized products made to customer specifications without alternative uses, such as in government contracting.
The standard provides that revenue is recognized over time if any of the following criteria are met:
• The customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits provided by the entity’s performance as the entity performs (see paragraphs 606-10-55-5 through 55-6).
• The entity’s performance creates or enhances an asset (for example, work in process) that the customer controls as the asset is created or enhanced (see paragraph 606-10-55-7).
• The entity’s performance does not create an asset with an alternative use to the entity (see paragraph 606-10-25-28), and the entity has an enforceable right to payment for performance completed to date (see paragraph 606-10-25-29).3
The following paragraphs discuss each criterion in more detail.
Criterion (a) – simultaneous receipt and consumption of benefits
The first criterion would typically be applied in many recurring service arrangements. For example, an entity contracts with a cleaning service to have its offices cleaned every working day for a period of one year. This is accounted for as a single performance obligation as it meets one of the definitions of a performance obligation: “A series of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer to the customer.” Since another entity would not need to re-perform the cleaning services that the entity has provided at any point in time, is an indicator that the customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits. The entity recognizes revenue over time as the performance obligation is satisfied.
Criterion (b) – creation or enhancement of an asset that the customer controls
The second criterion would be most applicable to contractor-type activities, such as when an entity agrees to construct an asset and the customer controls the asset as it is created or enhanced. One example would be a contractor constructing a building on land owned by its customer. Here as the building is erected the customer receives and controls the benefit, such that if the entity failed to complete the job, another entity would most likely not need to re-perform the work already provided.
Criterion (c) – creation of an asset with no alternative use and enforceable right to payment for progress
The third criterion would be applicable to many entities that provide customized products or services. As stated in the criterion description above, (i) the entity’s performance does not create an asset with an alternative use to the entity; and (ii) the entity has an enforceable right to payment for performance to date.
For an entity to determine if it is not creating an asset with an alternative use, it should consider whether it is contractually prohibited from redirecting the use of the asset or if there are practical limitations in transferring the asset readily for alternative uses. Practical limitations in the transfer of the asset for an alternative use might include the entity suffering significant economic consequences in order to effect such a transfer, such as significant rework or the necessity to sell the asset at a loss. Accordingly, assets with specific design elements or assets in remote locations may be subject to the practical limitations.
Some examples of contracts that do not create assets with alternative uses to the entity may be design services provided by an engineering firm, a contract to build a custom ocean liner to the customer’s specifications, or legal or accounting services related to the customer. There are many other examples, and it is important to note the assessment of whether an asset has an alternative use must be made at contract inception.
When the entity assesses the enforceable right to payment, it must consider contract terms as well as legal issues. While the standard does not require the right to full payment at all times during the performance period, the right to payment must be at least enough to compensate the entity for its performance to date if the contract is terminated by the customer or another party for reasons other than the entity’s failure to perform as promised. Such compensation is meant to be the cost incurred by the entity to date, plus a reasonable profit margin. As stated in the standard with respect to profit margin, the entity should be entitled to compensation for either of the following amounts:
• A proportion of the expected profit margin in the contract that reasonably reflects the extent of the entity’s performance under the contract before termination by the customer (or another party)
• A reasonable return on the entity’s cost of capital for similar contracts (or the entity’s typical operating margin for similar contracts) if the contract-specific margin is higher than the return the entity usually generates from similar contracts.4
Determining this enforceable right to payment will be complex and subject to significant judgments.
Example: Application of criterion (c)
An entity enters into a contract to construct a specialized machine. The contract requires an upfront payment of 10% of the total, regular progress payment totaling 50% through the construction period and a final payment 40% upon delivery and acceptance by the customer. The payments are non-refundable. If the contract is terminated by the customer the entity is entitled to retain any payments made to date. The entity is not entitled to any further compensation from the customer.
At the inception of the contract, the entity assess its rights to payment and determines that despite the fact that the payments are not refundable, these payments do not meet the requirement that the cumulative amount does not at all times during the contract represent an amount to compensate the entity for performance to date. As such, even though the asset does not have readily alternative use to the entity, because of the lack of an enforceable right to payment for performance to date, the entity cannot recognize performance over time. Instead, the entity must recognize revenue upon delivery and acceptance of the machine by the customer. That is, at a point in time.5
Measuring progress toward completion
To recognize revenue over time, an entity must measure its progress towards completion of the obligation. The objective is that the measure of progress should “depict an entity’s performance in transferring control of goods or services promised to the customer…” The measure used should be consistent with measures used by the entity for similar performance obligations and consistently used throughout the completion of the promise.
Similar to existing GAAP, the standard permits the use of output or input measures of progress. The determination of which to use should be based on the nature of the goods or services being transferred. In the case of a construction project, an input measure such as cost to date as compared to total estimated cost might be an appropriate method. For a contract to deliver a distinct set of similar services over a period of time, such as the cleaning contract noted above, an output method based on the number of cleanings provided to date would be more appropriate.
The measure of progress should be reasonable. If the entity does not have sufficient information to reasonably measure progress, such as not having a reliable estimate of total costs to complete a project, it should defer recognition until more reliable information is determined.
Output methods
Output methods include methods such as units produced, milestones reached, surveys of performance to date, etc. In evaluating whether to apply an output method to measure progress, an entity should consider whether using the output selected is a faithful depiction of the entity’s performance to date in meeting the obligation. One example of an output measure that might not provide a faithful depiction
would be a situation where only using delivered units as a measure of progress may ignore work in progress or finished goods that are controlled by the customer (based on contract terms) but not yet delivered.
Input methods
When using an input method there is an inherent limitation on its usefulness as there may not be a direct relationship between an entity’s input method and the delivery of goods or services to its customer. For example, when using a cost-based input method, an adjustment to the measure of progress may be required in the following circumstances:
• When a cost incurred does not contribute to an entity’s progress in satisfying the performance obligation. For example, an entity would not recognize revenue on the basis of costs incurred that are attributable to significant inefficiencies in the entity’s performance that were not reflected in the price of the contract (for example, the costs of unexpected amounts of wasted materials, labor, or other resources that were incurred to satisfy the performance obligation).
• When a cost incurred is not proportionate to the entity’s progress in satisfying the performance obligation. In those circumstances, the best depiction of the entity’s performance may be to adjust the input method to recognize revenue only to the extent of that cost incurred. For example, a faithful depiction of an entity’s performance might be to recognize revenue at an amount equal to the cost of a good used to satisfy a performance obligation if the entity expects at contract inception that all of the following conditions would be met:
1. The good is not distinct.
2. The customer is expected to obtain control of the good significantly before receiving services related to the good.
4. The entity procures the good from a third party and is not significantly involved in designing and manufacturing the good (but the entity is acting as a principal in accordance with paragraphs 606-10-55-36 through 55-40).6
One typical example from the construction industry would be uninstalled materials. Although the advance purchase of construction materials leads to a cost input and is part of the total costs expected to be incurred, merely purchasing the materials does not faithfully represent the entity’s progress towards fulfilling its performance obligations and, therefore, should not be included in the calculation of measuring progress towards completion.
Example: Adjustment to cost-based input method
An entity contracts to renovate a building including the installation of new elevators. The entity estimates the following with respect to the contract:
Transaction price$5,000,000
Expected costs:
Elevators 1,500,000
Other costs 2,500,000
Total expected costs $4,000,00
The entity purchases the elevators and they are delivered to the site six months before they will be installed. The entity uses an input method based on cost to measure progress towards completion. At the end of the reporting period, the entity has incurred other costs of $500,000; it determines its progress towards completion as 20% (500,000/2,500,000).
The entity calculates revenue to be recognized as 20% * $3,500,000 ($5,000,000-1,500,000) = $700,000 + $1,500,000 = $2,200,000. Its cost of goods sold is $500,000 + $1,500,000 = $2,000,000 for a profit to date of $200,000.7
In the foregoing example, the entity concluded that including the costs to procure the elevators in the measure of progress would overstate the extent of the entity’s performance. Consequently, the entity adjusted its measure of progress to exclude the costs to procure the elevators from the measure of costs incurred and from the transaction price. The entity recognizes revenue for the transfer of the elevators in an amount equal to the costs to procure the elevators (that is, at a zero margin).
This example simply illustrates the need to regularly evaluate estimates and adjust accounting accordingly if warranted.
The process towards recognizing revenue through applying the five elements is now completed. During these last five articles, we have demonstrated that most entities will encounter significantly more complexities in recognizing revenue than under current GAAP. These include the application of more management judgments than previously required. In many cases, the amount billed will not be equal to the amount of revenue recognized. Management will need to establish appropriate processes and internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) to ensure that the integrity of its financial reporting is maintained.
The time to start analyzing contracts and revenue streams is now as the effective date, especially for public entities, is less than 18 months away.
In upcoming articles, we will explore the new disclosures (which are extensive), specialized topics such as cost capitalization, and finish with transition methods.
1 ASC 606-10-25-23
2 ASC 606-10-25-30
3 ASC 606-10-25-27
4 ASC 606-10-55-11
5 ASC-606-10-55-(169-172)
6 ASC-606-10-55-21
7 ASC-606-10-55-(187-192) | <urn:uuid:3b55cdd0-927e-48af-b115-c4b69f0b2c1a> | 2 | 1.742188 | 0.381308 | en | 0.936864 | http://bakertilly.com/insights/the-asc-606-transition-recognizing-revenue-as-each-performance-obligation-i/ |
A Delicate Balance - Scientific documentary that proves animal products damages our health and the environment
A Delicate Balance is a succinct production featuring candid, heartfelt interviews with some of the world's leading experts about several important issues regarding meat, health, environment, animals, society, etc.
It gives you answers to the questions you never thought to ask, and sets you on the path to asking the questions the animal products corporations hoped you never would... Most importantly, it proves that life is a delicate balance - and we can all tip the scales.
* Why don't our medical schools teach doctors about nutrition?
* Can becoming a vegan really lead to worldwide social equity?
* Among other issues...
Nominated for Best Unreleased Documentary by the Australian Film Critics Association this film is a must-see for everyone who cares about their health, their loved ones and their home.
- Phil Kafcaloudes - Breakfast Club ABC RADIO
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Search Yourself
A simple idea to get the ball rolling on a new scene. Pick your favorite search engine - Yahoo, Google, Whatever - Dogpile is a good one because it combines several different search engines - and look up your name. You've done it before, now you are getting permission to do it. Create a character based on the people who share your name, but aren't you. Then build a scene around that character. If you have an unusual name and a search engine doesn't bring up anything not you, then try using variations of your name, such as Bill or Billy instead of William. Still nada? Then use the name of a parent or sibling or use your mother's maiden name. When searching my name, I come up with a professor who's an Internet librarian and another guy who's a jazz musician. I might build a scene using one or the other or combine the two. Good luck.
My brother Don turned me onto this rap genre parody by Jon Lajoie that's pretty funny. I thought at first it was just going to be a pal(er) imitation of "Lazy Sunday," but it stands on its own. Check it out. Contains some harsh language, so crank it up if you are at work.
Every Day Normal Guy Rap Song - Watch more free videos
Yesterday, I asked...
"Due to too little sunshine and exercise, a surprising number of U.S. children are contracting what?"
Nobody thought it was "Gout," "Vapors," or "Gamer's Thumb"
100% nailed it with "Rickets"
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, too little milk, sunshine and exercise is an anti-bone trifecta. For some kids, shockingly, it's leading to rickets, the scourge of the 19th century. But cases of full-blown rickets are just the red flag: Bone specialists say possibly millions of seemingly healthy children aren't building as much strong bone as they should, a gap that may leave them more vulnerable to bone-cracking osteoporosis later. Already there's evidence that U.S. children break their arms more often today than four decades ago, according to a Mayo Clinic study. Of course, I have to stick my two cents in about milk. I edited that part out from the question. I think milk is meant for cows and should only be drank by cows. What kids aren't getting is enough calcium, which is available in ample supply through many leafy green vegetables as well as broccoli, sweet potatoes and oranges. There. I'm off the dairy horse (or cow) now. I only used this question because I like the word "rickets."
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
As a policy, I avoid writing about celebrity gossip. Why? I don't find it interesting and, as a satirical target, it's just too damn easy. Is it really that surprising and jaw-dropping to find out that pop and rock stars have drug problems? That television and film stars have shaky marriages? When I was a kid all the way through my 20's, I dreamed of becoming rich and famous. Now, I just dream of becoming well off and well known. There's no way I would want to be under the scrutiny that today's celebrities have to endure. I, myself, would be easily baited by the paparazzi and you would constantly see short viral videos of me trying to shove a camera up someone's ass. America's obsession with celebrity is morbid. It's what fuels the phenomenon of untalented people becoming famous just for who they are, be they rich socialites or criminals who love the camera. And you can't blame the media on this one. Not entirely. That would be shooting the messenger. It's like the Iraq war. If we didn't fund it, it wouldn't be happening.
Why do I bring this up? Well, Don Hall has turned me into a huge fan of Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It's on MSNBC Monday through Friday at 7pm and at 11pm, Central Time. If you have been needing a Daily Show/Colbert Report fix since the writer's strike started, this is the show to watch. Olbermann is intelligent, cutting, insightful and informative. He is particularly at his best when aiming beautiful and poisonous editorials at the current administration's shredding of the constitution. People we have entrusted with running the country are worthy targets. Not celebrities and their personal lives. Unless they wander into the political arena.
And as much of a supporter and fan that I am of Olbermann, he will, without fail, disappoint me once or twice a week by devoting the number one story to Britney Spears. For the other stories, he often brings in a well-respected journalist or expert to (often) humorously explore the story. With Britney (or Paris, or Lindsay, or fill-in-the-blank), he usually pulls a VH-1 and brings in a sleepy-eyed unshaven comedian who desperately tries to fill the few minutes with their well-rehearsed "off-the-cuff" comments. Barf. It's beneath him. It completely undermines everything Olbermann has done in the hour leading up to it.
So, do watch his show. But if Britney has done something that day kid-related, car-related or underwear-related, skip out on the last five-to-ten minutes. It's painful.
Back from Thankengiving, the Robowriters return tonight at 6:30pm at the Uptown Writer's Space. Stop on by. Hear funny stuff, read funny stuff, say funny stuff, write funny stuff.
Yesterday, I asked...
"US Judge Robert Restaino has been suspended because he did what when a cellphone went off in his courtroom?"
54% said "Answered it"
- Which would have been beautiful, if it had happened. Sigh.
27% "Threw his gavel at the offender"
- No, but that must be very tempting for a judge. I could see one whipping those gavels like ninja stars and having multiple replacements strapped to their arms under those choir robe sleeves.
No one picked "Threw his own cellphone out the window"
- Guess judges don't litter.
18% picked the right answer "Threw everyone in jail"
And I do mean "everyone." According to the BBC, U.S. Judge Robert Restaino has been removed from the bench for jailing an entire courtroom audience after none of them admitted being responsible for a ringing phone. The judge has said he was under stress in his personal life at the time. It didn't help that the culprit's ringtone was "Achy Breaky Heart."
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Clown Wanted
So, I've been looking to bring in extra income over the holidays. "Extra" is not quite the right word. Just plain "income" will suffice. I only get paid when I teach. No classes, no pay. I've been trying to look for prospects beyond the usual Craig's List haunts. Imagine my delight when I ran across this ad...
Charming handsome man with dazzling smile seeks amateur clowns for discreet encounters. No previous sense of humor necessary. Criminal record a plus. Interested? Write to in the full understanding that we have your e-mail address and might send you alarming, disturbing or annoying material at any moment.
Well, without hesitation, I shot them an e-mail from Joe "Skippy the Clown" Janes. Keep your fingers crossed. I found the ad at The Gotham Times.
Yesterday, I asked...
"An Indonesian fisherman named Dede has been suffering from a skin condition that has earned him what nickname?"
30% said "The Chicken Man"
- He's everywhere, he's everywhere!
20% "The Fish Man"
- A fisherman who grew scales. Oh, the sweet, delicious irony!
10% "Lumpy"
- Yes. And he's good friends with Wally and The Beave.
40% got it right with "The Tree Man"
According to the Telegraph, Tree man 'who grew roots' may be cured. Dede, now 35, baffled medical experts when warty "roots" began growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident. Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, to make ends meet Dede even joined a local "freak show." Fortunately, an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede's home village south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life. I've decided to throw all the tree puns aside for this story. It's quite horrifying and Dede has raised two children on his own in poverty while struggling with his condition. Click on the Telegraph link for the rest of the story, pictures and video.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Killing Time
Sometimes after teaching at Columbia, I'll teach a class in the evening at Second City. My Columbia classes end at 4pm and the SC class starts at 7pm. A three hour break. Sounds great, right? It's really not. It's turned into an exercise in killing time without burning through money.
So, yesterday, I took my time getting my body from Point A to Point B. Waiting for the train at the Roosevelt subway platform, I overheard this from a deep, resonant voice about 20 feet away...
"King... Call me 'King'... 'King.' In a deeper tone...There you go..."
I couldn't see the guy and didn't really want to gawk at "King." Later, in the same soothing dulcet tones, he said, "I'm going to punch you in the mouth and knock out all your teeth."
I'm still not sure if this was foreplay or business.
Pre-Second City, I made it to a coffee shop and sat and slowly sipped a small black coffee while I took another chunk out of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I have been reading this book in fits and starts for about six months now. It's a great book. Everyone should read it. It should be required reading for politicians, although they might pull the wrong ideas from the material. I read it so inconsistently because it's so darned depressing. Every time I crack it open, there's something that makes my jaw drop to the ground and I end up scraping my chin along the sidewalk for about an hour. I now have a prickly beard made out of scabs and gravel.
Yesterday, I finished the chapter titled The Other Civil War about the class struggles going on in the North and in the South. I was particularly taken with a paragraph about how greedy millionaires were finding ways to profit from the war. One lesson I thought most politicians and businessmen sadly took from WWII is that war is good for business. It's a lesson our current administration knows too well. That's why they are jockeying to make Iraq a perennial cash cow for "American interests." Those "American interests" don't include you and me, by the way. We won't see a dime of it, but we will probably have to give up our social security, welfare and Medicaid to help pay for Bush's war. Turns out that lesson of turning blood into gold goes back much farther than I thought.
Here's the paragraph I read...
White workers of the North were not enthusiastic about a war which seemed to be fought for the black slave, or for the capitalist, for anyone but them. They worked in semislave conditions themselves. They thought the war was profiting the new millionaires. They saw defective guns sold to the army by contractors, sand sold as sugar, rye sold as coffee, shop sweepings made into clothing and blankets, papersoled shoes produced for soldiers at the front, navy ships made of rotting timbers, soldier's uniforms that fell apart in the rain.
No wonder Lincoln was depressed. I'm sure none of that sort of thing happens today. Unless you include things like Hummers lacking armor and soldiers having to rely on their parents to send them adequate bullet-proof vests. That's just the stuff we've heard about.
Yesterday, I asked...
"Tony Vernelli of England had herself sterilized at 27 because she believes babies do what?"
40% said "Suck the life out of you"
- It's true. They do. The little parasites start in the womb and continue through college. Sometimes longer. Right, Dad?
No one picked "Are too expensive" or "Take up too much space"
- Again, both of which are true. The little bastards eat money and just keep growing. If we can have pocket puppies, why can't we have pocket people? Sure would make the birthing process easier.
60% got it right on with "Pollute the environment"
According to the Daily Mail, Toni Vernelli - who works for an environmental charity - had one pregnancy terminated and then had herself sterilized, all to save the planet.
"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," says Toni. "Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population."
Again, I think this calls for the "Pocket People" idea. If humans were smaller, we'd consume less. More for everybody!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Nobel Peace Surprise!
Bush to Welcome Gore to White House
Nov. 25, 2007
A lot has happened to both men in the seven years since the 2000 election.
The president has faced terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and war; the former vice president left politics to campaign against global warming.
But while Bush saw his popularity plummet, Gore's star has been rising of late — with his Oscar-winning movie "An Inconvenient Truth," and the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change.
You can read the rest of the story from ABC News HERE.
So, how is the exchange between the two men going to go? I think it will go something like this...
Hey, Al. Things didn't turn out so bad for us. I was elected president twice and you won a Noble Peace Prize.
Well, George, you really were only elected once, maybe. And it's Nobel.
That's what I said. Didn't know we were serving sour grapes at our little soiree today. You know, that little trophy of yours would look good on my mantle.
It's a medallion, George. See?
A medallion? Doesn't even have your picture on it. Looks like a big token. Do you redeem it for a prize, like at Chuck E. Cheese?
No, George, the medallion is the prize. And the thing about a Peace Prize is that you have to do something that promotes peace on the planet to get it.
I promote peace. I'm all about peace. My war on terror is so we can have peace.
War makes war, George, not peace.
Yeah, well, I betcha a few well placed phone calls will get me one of those. Who would I be up against for one of those next year? I'll bet Dick's got some dirt on 'em.
The Supreme Court and the entire state of Florida won't be able to get you one of these.
Then I'll make my own. I'm the president. I'm The Decider. I decided I was The Decider. I've decided to give myself the George W. Bush Nobler Peace Prize. And it'll be big. Like a bowling trophy. With a little statue of me on top in my flight suit giving the peace sign or holding a gun or something.
I have to go. Thanks for lunch.
You going to eat that potato?
Al Gore shares his prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I don't know who is going to be there representing them, but I can't imagine this being a lot of fun for them. Then, again, given that both parties are pro-environment and meeting the worst president in the history of the United States who puts blood and money before clean air and water, maybe they can gang up on him a bit.
Everyone thinks Gore will be prickly to Bush over the election, but there's a lot more to be prickly about. Al Gore was one of the most active vice-presidents in history (minus a bunker in an undisclosed location). Bill Clinton used him well in trimming a lot of fat in government spending and in beefing up the powers of the EPA. Together, they reduced the deficit to an all time low. Bush has squandered all that and pushed the deficit to a record-breaking high while getting us into a war that will cost America, as of now, three trillion dollars. He could very well bankrupt this country. If Al hasn't picked out a spot yet to display his Peace Prize, I think a lovely place would be up GW's arse.
On Friday, I asked...
"A man in Michigan shot his neighbor's pregnant cow because it looked like what?"
57% said "A polar bear."
- Ah, but that would be too logical.
28% said "His mother-in-law."
- Boo-yah! My first mother-in-law joke! I am on fire, folks!
No one thought is was "A bunny." Sniff.
15% got the correct answer, "A coyote."
According to the Associated Press, in Colfax, Michigan, a man says he shot and killed a neighbor's cow after mistaking it for a coyote. Authorities and the owner are skeptical. Undersheriff Rory Heckman said the man then tried to drag the cow home. Not sure if he still thought it was a coyote while he was trying to drag 1,400 pounds of dead meat. I'm thinking he had a year's supply of coyote burgers - and steak, and ribs - on his mind.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Saturday Morning Cartoons!
Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space (1972-1974)
Oh, hell, yes! What do you do with a cartoon that's only doing so-so one year? You put it in outer space the next! With only the thinnest of justifications - the gang is invited to play at a space launch and accidentally fall into a space hatch - the core cast of Josie and the Pussycats are transplanted to the outer realms of the galaxy. The lyrics to the catchy theme song are clunkily rehashed to insert the word "outer space" and other space references.
"Josie and the Pussycats" was produced by Hanna-Barbara in 1970 and looks like a smash-up of The Archies and Scooby-Doo. In fact, Josie is a character spun off of The Archies cartoon. The "gang" strongly resembles the Scoobies and Alexandra is just Veronica with a widow's peak. They thwarted bad guys and played original Josie and the Pussycats pop tunes over the credits. On a very strong plus side, one of the Pussycats was African-American and she was often the sharpest knife in the drawer. Hard to say if she was the first major African-American regular cartoon character on Saturday morning, but she is most likely the first black female.
Some trivia, a pre-Charlie's Angels Cheryl Ladd sang and provided voices for the show.
Here are the opening credits...
I'm not sure which episode this is from, but here's a scene where some of the gang have been turned into children and Valerie, the smart black chick, tries to turn them back to their right age. It features one of my pet peeves, a young person playing an older person and using the word "whipper-snapper."
As in Scooby-Doo, chase scenes were often accompanied by songs that were completely unrelated to the action. Unfortunately, I could not find any chase scenes from the outer space version of the show. So, here's one from the original...
Friday, November 23, 2007
Blech Friday
(No Robowriters assignment today as we did not meet last night. It will return next week.)
Americans love to be distracted. We really are just killing time until time kills us. So, of course we want to do that with as much comfort and entertainment as possible. This is why the news is chock full of celebrity meltdowns and missing white suburban wives. We only hear about presidential candidates when they say something catty about an opponent or some dirt is unearthed about them. Natural disasters, when the footage is awesome. Horrible, horrible things for those immediately involved, but most of us aren't involved and devour the latest tidbits with glee.
Today is Black Friday. The newspapers and news shows will be choking us with shopping tips and updates on how the holiday season is shaping for up for the merchants. Look for reporters on the scene at shopping malls that opened at 4am interviewing the boneheads who camped out all night so they can be the first to stampede into the store and grab up the latest Prozackean Elmo toy. Look for the news shows to repeat ad nauseam shots of shoppers running into the stores like its the running of the bulls, especially if someone gets trampled or a fist fight breaks out. This will all be the lead news and the front page headlines.
While the media conglomerates dangle this shiny bauble of "news" in front of us, other news might go unnoticed. Here are a few headlines I plucked out unrelated to shopping that you might find interesting...
From the Chicago Sun-Times, whose main front page headline is about ex-cop Drew Peterson and his missing wife, there's this news article about how the Jose de Diego Community Academy in Chicago has had to ration its drinking water since the middle of September when a main waterline broke there. The break has been fixed, but the city Water Management Department has yet to give them a clean bill of health of health. Students are only allowed four ounces of drinking water a day! It's a bureaucratic mess. You can read the whole article HERE.
From the Chicago Tribune, 23 civilians were killed in Iraq in two separate bombings. One of the bombs was at a pet market, so tally up an untold number of adorable critters with that number, too. And among the fatalities were over 60 wounded. It's easy to file these numbers in the "Blah-Blah-Blah Crazy People Blowing Each Other Up" folder and forget about it. But these are human beings. Our foreign policy ineptitude has a lot to do with why they are now dead. If you have a hard time putting a face to the numbers, I recommend reading the article. The reporter interviewed some people at the market and paints a good picture of their lives. You can read the whole article HERE.
It's not all bad news that gets buried, but it mostly is. I had to dig around on the Internet for about 20 minutes to find this on CNN... The Queen (you know, THE Queen) is giving some lovin' to Uganda for their peace-keeping efforts. You can read about it HERE.
But, hey, it's a holiday weekend. Enjoy yourself. You deserve it. I just ask that we not turn a blind eye to what's really going on out there. Banking on us not wanting to really know what's going on and not caring is how the assholes got in charge in the first place.
On Wednesday, I asked...
"British scientists have found the fossil of an insect with what unusual feature?"
30% said "It has male pattern baldness."
- And next to it, a fossilized comb and tube of hair gel. Sadly, it's the first evidence of a comb over.
15% said "It's already been in a Jurassic Park sequel."
- Not yet. But it will be.
No one fell for "It ate a human."
55% nailed it with "It's as big as a Buick."
According to the Associated Press, British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some cars. These scientist are too easily impressed. They obviously haven't seen some of the cockroaches I've encountered here in Chicago.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
The First Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Julie and I are off to Michigan to spend it with her grandmother, parents and, apparently, someone named Maurice who thinks Julie is an alcoholic because he saw her drink a glass of wine, once. My turkey alternative will be acorn squash stuffed with brown rice, fake ground beef, onions, celery and other savory goodies.
Here's a scene from Addams Family Values depicting the first Thanksgiving. Satirical, sharp, and hee-larious.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Waiting
Two weeks ago, I posted about doing writing auditions. I did so because I had one. Yay, me! I won't give the particulars, because it doesn't seem cool to do so while in the process of it all. I will say that it is a fun project that would allow me to use my satirical skills and could lead to a weekly gig. The part that bugs me is that I submitted my audition material a week and a half ago and haven't heard anything. Not even a response to let me know my materials were received. Argh! Don't these people realize how brilliant I am!
My fiancee tells me to be patient and that this is pretty common in the business world. My inclination is to chalk it up to small companies with an artistic bent where people are wearing multiple hats and no one has time to deal with the simple "Hey, thanks, got it, we'll be in touch" stuff. But according to Julie, she ran into that all the time while she was job hunting. She would submit a resume and cover letter and months would go by before being asked to come in for an interview. Then maybe a few more months before a second interview. All the while not hearing anything from them in between. And this is from companies that are worldwide and have been around a hundred years or so.
The lesson for me to re-apply here is the lesson I learned as an actor auditioning for commercials. Once the audition is over, pat yourself on the back for doing the best you could do and then move one. Focus on the next audition. Even though you know you nailed it and they would be crazy NOT to call you and you really, really need the money, it's over and it's out of your hands. The more I find and generate other opportunities, the less stressed I'll be about "that one" and why haven't they called or e-mailed? It's that unattractive air of desperation one gets after a first date that they hope quickly leads to marriage. Chill. Relax. They'll call you if they want you and, if they do, wouldn't it be nice if you had a few different offers to choose from any way?
So, the key to waiting after submitting your material for a writing audition is not to wait. Get working on a new project, find a new opportunity to submit material to, polish that material you know needs a rewrite, keep getting your work out there.
Yesterday, I asked...
"Rapper Jay-Z's new video 'Blue Magic' features him carrying a briefcase full of what?"
55% said "iPhones"
- Nothing says street cred like an iPhone, homie.
10% said "Shell Gas Cards"
- Now that oil is $100 a barrel, this could be the new bling.
No one, much to my dismay, thought it was "Starbucks Coffee"
35% got it right with "Euro Notes"
According to the BBC, wads of dollar bills are usually as much a part of rap videos as fast cars, diamond-encrusted jewellery and scantily-clad models. But in an apparent nod to the low value of the dollar, rapper Jay-Z's new video "Blue Magic" features another currency. He is seen cruising the streets of New York in Bentleys and Rolls Royces (now owned by Germany's Volkswagen and BMW) with a briefcase of 500 euro notes. Well, that's finally the last nail in the coffin of America, isn't it folks? What's next? Are gangsta rappers going to stop buying their bullets at Wal-Mart and start buying them at Ikea? American Gangster, my butt.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Effingham, Baby
Here, briefly, is the story of asking Julie to marry me.
Wanting to keep it a small, intimate affair, I hired a dancing elephant. The elephant, named Salted, was trained to do a little tap dance to the tune of "Tea for Two" while dressed like a pirate and at the very end, present Julie with the ring on the end of his trunk. I picked up the elephant on Friday afternoon and put it in the backseat of the car under a blanket. Then I picked up Julie from her workplace and we headed to Clarksville.
My dad lives in Clarksville, Tennessee. Saturday night was a celebration for his 75th year of plodding around the planet in his underwear on Saturday mornings making grunting sounds. Not wishing to steal the thunder away from his 3/4 century marker, my plan was to propose to Julie on Friday evening in Effingham, Illinois. Effingham (say it out loud, it sounds like you are swearing at pork) is the halfway point between Chicago and Clarksville. I didn't know when I was going to ask her, but the elephant and I were ready to go when the perfect moment presented itself.
We arrived in Effingham at 7:30pm and got a room at the Paradise-On-A-Budget Motel. Not to skimp on such a special evening, I booked us The Luv Room. The Luv Room featured a round bed with a vibrating feature known as "magic fingers." Basically, this is a man named Chet who slept under the bed and would shake it for fifteen minutes at a time for a quarter. Yes, it's a little creepy to have a man named Chet under your bed, but you cannot argue the value we got per quarter. That was really the only feature that qualified it as a Luv Room. That and the broken lava lamp on the nightstand that had one long, snaking purple turd-like lava thing floating in it.
While one could not deny the electricity that was The Luv Room, it seemed more like a destination after proposing than the place to propose. So, we went to dinner.
If you are ever in Effingham, you must go to the Firefly Grill. It is a culinary sanctuary just off a strip choked with chain restaurants and gas stations. The space was warm, open and inviting. The staff friendly. The food excellent. They sat us at an intimate table for two near the bar and a magazine rack. Amanda, our server, had a great smile and demeanor. We felt welcomed and she was honest in her recommendations. She told us to make sure we saved room for the Firefly Grill's special dessert, caramel apple pecan cake! We ordered wine and a few appetizers. The spicy hummus is to die for!
As we took in the atmosphere, I decided that this was the perfect moment. I signaled to Salted, who entered after us and sat at the bar reading Us magazine, that it was "go" time. That was when all hell broke loose. Salted had a weakness for frozen strawberry margaritas and had been throwing them back like a middle-aged divorcee on ladies night. Salted broke out his boom box and, instead of playing "Tea for Two," cranked up the wobbly speakers and filled the room with "Here I Go Again." His dainty pirate tap dance became a cross between the Curly Shuffle and Godzilla stomping on Tokyo. Salted threw his weight around the room, knocking over tables, banging into servers with trays of food, and, most tragically, crushing a busboy. One could forgive the one crunchy accidental step that crushed his chest cavity, but it was when Salted did a breakdance spin on Pedro's limp body that the restaurant filled with a horrified silence.
Fortunately, no one saw me signal to Salted and assumed he was just another drunk pirate elephant on a bender in Effingham. Feigning inconsolability over Pedro's pulpy remains, I threw myself at Salted, who just laid there on his back, lamely trumpeting along to the Whitesnake tune that had already ended. There I palmed the engagement ring from Salted's nose and put it in my pocket. Julie and I grabbed our jackets and rushed towards the door making sure that we also grabbed the amazing caramel apple pecan cake to go.
If there's one thing I have learned in life and love and theater, it's always have a back-up plan. In the parking lot of the restaurant, I shot off the flare gun I keep strapped to my ankle. Within seconds, the U.S. Air Force sent the Thunderbirds air demonstration squadron flying overhead in formation. After a twisting-turning loopdeloo executed with split-second timing, the jets all released incendiary devices that lit up the sky. And when you stood right underneath them and looked up, the falling balls of fire spelled out "Marry Me." And Julie said yes. I slipped the ring on her finger and we held each other and the dessert tight as fire rained down around us.
The "-y Me" part of the proposal landed on the roof of the Firefly Grill and quickly reduced it to a pile of ashes and burnt elephant. They seemed like a pretty together outfit, so I'm sure they are insured and should be rebuilt by the time we're ready to celebrate our first anniversary.
Last Friday, I asked...
"Disneyland workers recently shut down the 'Pirates of the Caribbean" ride when cameras caught a woman doing what?"
31% said "Flashing Jack Sparrow"
- Nope. She kept her booty to herself.
18% said "Robbing the other people in her boat"
- Nope. Nor did she make anyone walk the plank.
12% said "Drinking rum and screaming "Yo-ho-HO!""
- Hey, now. That's really degrading to women. Even the pirates on the ride have been reprogrammed to say "Yee-hee-hee" and titter like little girls.
39% got it right with "Dumping human remains"
According to Orlando's Local 6 News, Disneyland workers were recently forced to close the "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction after a ride security camera caught a woman apparently dumping human remains, in what may be a growing trend. Some Disney watchers said park-goers tell them that people smuggling in the cremated remains of their loved ones and then sprinkling ashes on rides has been going on for a while. They said it started at the "Haunted Mansion," but now the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride is growing in popularity. That's awesome! Who wouldn't want to spend eternity at the happiest place on earth? Just don't sprinkle my ashes on the tea cup ride. I don't want to spend the afterlife spinning and hurling ectoplasm.
Monday, November 19, 2007
A Decent Proposal
Will you marry me?
(please post your response in the comment section)
Friday, November 16, 2007
We Need to Talk
Most scenes start with a very recognizable situation; a couple having dinner, a father and son playing catch, two co-workers sitting next to one another clacking away at keyboards, etc. This is good, because the audience needs to be able to connect with what is happening. But if continued to just be about a couple eating soup or a father and son tossing a softball or co-workers inputting data, our interest would wain, to say the least. Even "reality" shows know that something's got to happen.
This week's assignment is to have one of the characters in a familiar situation reveal significant information about themselves.
To prepare, whip up a list of ten things you might normally do during the course of a week or two that involves at least one other person. Here's mine...
1) Buy coffee at Dunkin Donuts
2) Cook dinner with my girlfriend
3) Tutor a student
4) See a play
5) Have a beer with friends
6) Shop for groceries
7) Chat with teachers in the teachers lounge
8) Shop for a gift
9) Go to the bank
10) Ride the El to work
Now, try to forget about this list as you create a second list. This is a list of the worst or most surprising things one person could reveal about themselves to another person. Use your imagination. This is NOT based on your own life. Unless it is.
1) I'm an assassin (That's for Jen)
2) I'm secretly Jewish.
3) I have a second job as a pimp.
4) I'm a serial killer.
5) I've been having an affair.
6) Your father has been hitting on me. And I like it.
7) I'm broke.
8) I got a new job and have to relocate to Ohio.
9) I'm Santa. And I suck at the job.
10) I've been studying ballet.
Now, see if you can pair up items from the first list with items from the second list. Be on the lookout for the match-up that will give you the most bang for your comedy buck. For example, telling the counter person at Dunkin Donuts that I am secretly Jewish probably doesn't have a lot at stake. But telling my girlfriend, or wife, while we cook dinner together might be interesting. Then the scene becomes about justifying the secret, revealing the depth of the secret, and finding a solution for moving forward with that person. I also like a tutor telling his student that he's an assassin. Could be because he's from the future trying to prevent a tragedy or that the student is an heir to the throne of an obscure country. And for some reason I imagine the tutoring lesson being with a piano. Makes it more active and adds a little class.
So, that's the assignment. Write a scene where someone drops an informational bomb on another person. Entertain different ways to reveal the info rather than just "I have to tell you something." In the dinner scene, the wife can find kosher salt in the pantry. In the piano lesson scene, the student can find an unassembled sniper rifle in the piano bench. Have fun.
Adam Felber writes for Real Time with Bill Maher and is a regular panelist on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! While currently on strike, he has been spending more time at Fantacial Apathy, his website where he often has brilliant satirical takes on current events. I am envious of this guy. His take on the Blackwater investigation is priceless. Check it out by clicking HERE.
Saturday Morning Cartoons might be taking the weekend off. I leave for Clarksville, Tennessee today for my dad's 75th birthday. My girlfriend and I will be spending the night mid-state in Effingham, Illinois. We here at the Bite and Smile regional corporate office are understaffed and I don't trust any of the interns to do this job properly. A posting tomorrow is unlikely.
Yesterday, I asked...
"A poll of NYU students revealed that 50% of them would give up the right to vote forever for what?"
30% said "An iPod"
- Nope. Sorry. An iPod will only buy you giving up one vote. You'll have to pony up more to get someone to give up the right to vote forever. At least an iPhone.
No one said "Unlimited party supplies"
- Which is my fault. I meant stuff like free kegs of beer and pizza puffs, but I think people thought I meant cocktail napkins.
No one went for "A job working for Donald Trump"
- The only thing people will give up for that is their dignity.
70% got it right with "$1 million"
According to Washington Square News, a recent survey by an NYU journalism class found that NYU students would exchange for their right to vote in the next presidential election for cash and prizes. 20 percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPod touch. 66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million. Clearly, these were not math majors. After Uncle Sam takes out taxes, that leaves approximately $600,000. If they are frugal, that spreads out to about $10k a year if they live to be 75. But they are students. They live in New York. In all likelihood, that will buy them candy for five years and then they have to live out the rest of their life bitching about who's in office. Wait a minute. I voted and I'm bitching about whose in office. I'm older. That one million will be more for me annually. Okay, suckers! My vote is for sale. Let the bidding begin! I'd love a million dollars, but I'll settle for a new sofa.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
A Colossal Dick Move
Television and film writers are the quirky weirdos that the producers tolerate. Producers, generally speaking, don't get them and don't understand why they just can't re-type the script they way they want it to be. As opposed to theater, where the playwright tends to be revered as a mad genius architect, in film and television they are regarded as immigrant laborers doing creative bricklaying. They should just be happy they have a job. If not, the producer can easily drive his pick-up over to the Home Depot parking lot and find a dozen more for cheap.
When a film or TV series is bad, people seldom blame the writers. If a film fails to be a huge blockbuster in its opening week, it's not because of a bad script, it's because the star's shine is fading. And if it is a hit, it, again, is because of the star power, not the great writing.
That's not to say there aren't bad scripts out there. Oh, there are. But film and television has such a system of hurdles, that when a project gets the go ahead, it's usually in pretty good shape. It becomes a bad script with the interference of producers and directors imposing an artistic vision. For more on this, read the classic Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman or check out this article, Building the Bomb by Terry Rossio (Thanks Avella!), about the writers who adapted the great Heinlein sci-fi novel The Puppet Masters into one of the biggest turkeys of all time.
You might think I am overstating things. Surely there are producers out there who appreciate and even cherish the originators and caretakers of their many hit television shows and franchise films. And I have faith that there are a few out there, too. However, the writer's strike has been going on for a week and a half. We quickly saw the effect on the late night shows. The producers know what's coming and haven't, at least publicly, shown any signs of compromise.
Even though it's clearly about to get worse...
Fox's Family Sans Guy
The overlords at Fox have announced plans to air an original episode Family Guy this Sunday and move forward on three more without the participation of mastermind Seth MacFarlane, who not only serves as the showrunner but supplies many of the key voices.
The move has angered MacFarlane, who stopped work on the series last week to join the picket lines with other WGA members.
"It would just be a colossal dick move if they did that," Family Guy's creator told Variety, noting that the next three episodes of the animated comedy are "relatively close to completion, but they have not had a final pass."
MacFarlane acknowledged that both the network and producer 20th Century Fox TV are "legally within their rights" to finish new episodes without his input, but doing so, he said, could not only affect the show's creative direction and thus alienate viewers, but also harm the successful partnership MacFarlane and Fox have built up over the years.
Read the full story HERE.
This is such a colossal dick move by the company to keep their ratings and advertiser money at the expense of the quality of a show. They are killing the goose to get to the golden eggs. Expect more dickery from the producers as they move to film scripts that are just first drafts.
For more on the writer's strike, go to the United Hollywood website and sign their petition.
6:30pm. The Uptown Writer's Space. 4802 North Broadway. $5. Plus snacks! Word on the street is that Chris Othic and I will both be there to spew gutteral noises that pass for genius feedback on your work. Stop on by!
Yesterday, I wrote...
"Chilo, a small town of 97 in southwest Ohio, can't get anyone to run for mayor, but did have seven people sign up for what?"
50% said "An anti-immigration group"
- They are going to build a fence around Chilo to keep their population from breaking 100.
28% said "A mayor search committee"
- That would leave 90 people to "search" for mayor material. You don't need a committee for that. You just need one person able to turn his or her neck to the left and right and have vision in at least one eye.
7% said "A terrorism watchdog patrol"
- Yes, because if they infiltrate Chilo, we lose all of Clermont County!
14% got it right, sadly, with "A pie wrestling contest"
According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, last week's election in Chilo didn't attract any candidates for mayor. There were no names on the ballot for clerk/treasurer, either, or two open spots on village council. However, seven women have signed up for a Nov. 21 wrestling match in pie filling at Everybody's Sports Lounge, one of three businesses in the village about 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati. Village council members get paid $5 per meeting, while the winner of a wrestling match staged in a wading pool filled with pie filling gets $100. Now, if they would just combine the two...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Ye Olde People
In improvisation and in writing, it's usually wisest to craft characters close to your age so that they operate from a field of experience similar to yours. This tends to lend itself to more believable characters and situations. Unfortunately, the world just ain't made up that way. We weren't all born at the same time and we're all on a different path with a different time schedule.
When it comes to portraying senior citizens, I often see people quickly embrace stereotypes. The character is hunched over, has a cane, is hard of hearing, can't remember names or much of anything else, and is likely senile. Worst of all, they use words like "whipper-snapper." I have never, EVER, heard anyone of any age, let alone someone over 70, use the term "whipper-snapper." When it comes to older people, we tend to imitate what we have seen imitated rather than flesh out the character. Even if that flesh is a little loose and dry.
I have what may be sobering news for some. The elderly are human beings, too. They have the basic human wants and desires to be seen, heard, touched and loved. Sure, they might be a bit crotchety. Their body's like a car that keeps breaking down and simply walking down a short set of stairs can be a life or death situation. They are in their autumn years and perhaps struggling with being relevant in today's world. They may be very disappointed in how things have turned out for themselves. They may also be very happy and very appreciative or where they are and who they are with.
My father is celebrating his 75th birthday this weekend. He sounds okay upstairs, but his health is failing. He has poor circulation in his legs and has had problems with his heart. My mother is almost 70 and has Alzheimer's. Her life is a near constant state of walking into a room and forgetting what you went in there for. She knows who she is, she knows who her family is, and she knows she has Alzheimer's. But once those bolts are gone, she's gone. Still, for now, they are both very capable of having a normal conversation.
So, when dealing with creating a senior citizen character, put yourself in their skid-free slippers. There are some who have canes and walkers and some that don't. There are some that are hard of hearing and some that aren't. They deal with their pain and, for the most part, are just trying to reach the exit of their life with as much dignity as possible. How will you behave at that age? What will you want from your family and your friends?
Yesterday, I asked...
"13-year-old Megan Coulter was recently given two detentions at her school for doing what?"
13% "Writing a poem about beheadings"
- Only if those heads came off because she squeezed to hard.
No one went for "Bringing a kitchen knife to Home Ec" or "Stalking her teacher," probably with said knife.
87% got the right answer with "Hugging her friends"
According to The Associated Press, Melissa and Dean Coulter met with officials of the Mascoutah School District 19 to discuss the two detentions given their daughter, Megan, for hugging friends goodbye for the weekend. School officials said the eighth grader violated a policy banning public displays of affection. C'mon, America! The school is dead on right. The last thing this country needs are little pervy punks learning about affection in school!
Support the troops.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
It's Really Okay With Me If You Don't Write
Walking up Broadway last night towards The Uptown Writer's Space, I caught a glimpse of a flyer in a window from a woman who promises to make you write. Sorry I didn't catch her name or the name of her business, but in very bold font on a bright green flyer, she did make the claim, "I will make you write!"
This is either a stern teacher in leather hotpants looking for "naughty boys" who need to be punished, or it is someone willing to whip you into shape in another way and pry that great American novel out of your guts. I suspect the latter, but will spend a lot of time today entertaining the former in my imagination. But I digress.
You should be able to write. It's your duty as an earthling to be able to communicate clearly and effectively via the written word in at least one language. However, when it comes to novels, plays, movies, poems and comedy sketches, I do not care that you write. Even in my writing classes, I do not care that you write. I care that you have written and we have something to work with to develop. If you didn't write anything, that's too bad. More time for me to spend with the people who did. Thanks for your money.
During my stand-up days, I was often approached by people who said, "Man, all my friends tell me I'm funny. I want to get up there and give it a try, but I don't think I have what it takes." You're probably right. Don't do it. There's enough of us carrying the workload. We've got the whole supply and demand thing covered. Keep being the funny guy at the office party. That's where we need you. Enjoy the show.
I want to be a rock star. I want to be up on a stage in front of thousands of people in an overcrowded sports arena and have everyone up on their feet rocking out to one of my tunes as I sing and play lead guitar. I want all the ladies to get all melty and cry when I switch to the acoustic guitar and play that ballad about how tender I am and how much I want to hold all of them in my sweaty rock star arms. I want my long, curly bangs to be plastered to my forehead as I work the crowd in my tight faux leather pants and vest (no shirt, got to show off these abs!) while my drummer, Jaws, does her obligatory drum solo. The only problem is, I know absolutely nothing about music, can't sing or play guitar, and my washboard stomach wouldn't clean a coffee cup. I also don't know any female drummers named Jaws. Man, if only I had someone to make me learn, write and perform music!
I love listening to music and will continue to seek out new music from old favorites while seeking out new, exciting stuff. If you enjoy reading, awesome. The world needs more people who enjoy reading. Read like the wind! Writers need people who appreciate and support them.
If you still feel you must write, take a class. That's the best place to find out if you have what it takes to be a writer. Believe me, there's a class out there for whatever you want to write - poetry, short stories, blogs, comedy sketches, etc. But if you sign up for a class and still find yourself not writing. It's okay. The world will not mourn the loss of never reading your words. Just like it won't weep over me not putting on tight pants and trying to sing.
Yesterday, I wrote...
"A 67-year-old Hong Kong politican answered accusations of not being patriotic by doing what?"
30% said "Tattooing the national flag on her behind"
- Well, at least at 67, the wrinkles in her butt will make it look like it's waving.
30% said "Eating Chinese food with Jackie Chan"
- It's only patriotic if the food is laced with lead and date rape drugs.
10% said "Riding through town on a horse nude"
- Sure, embarrass a horse to prove your point.
30% got it right with "Recording a rap music video"
According to The Associated Press, a 67-year-old Hong Kong politician responded to accusations of being unpatriotic by lip-synching to Cantopop star Scott Hui's "Proud to be Chinese" in a rap music video on Youtube. Anson Chan, a prominent pro-Democracy reformer, was criticized for suggesting that she and other contenders for a legislative seat hold a debate in English. She's actually barely in the video and I don't think it helps her case much. It's in English. But if it helps her, maybe Barrack can lay down some tracks the next time his patriotism comes into question.
Fun video, though. Check it out. | <urn:uuid:88b7a003-e4c6-4c85-9fa8-7536a5414503> | 2 | 1.867188 | 0.037228 | en | 0.972746 | http://biteandsmile.blogspot.com/2007/11/ |
Thursday, March 31, 2011
8 Questions to Help Teens Avoid Impulse Spending
“That money is burning a hole in your pocket.” This timeless phrase was uttered to me many times as I was growing up and I have found myself saying the same thing to my kids. It is no surprise that young kids want to spend their money immediately. To them, owning a dollar makes them rich! However, as kids get older, the amount of money that they may be handling is significantly more than just a dollar. Monetary gifts for birthdays and holidays, paychecks from jobs and even gift cards can add up to a sizable amount of money for a teen. Many families have their teens save a portion of their money and allow them to spend the remaining amount.
Teens are bombarded daily with marketing campaigns in magazines, on TV, on the radio and on the internet. It is easy to be tempted to buy the latest, greatest item. Being able to thoughtfully utilize spending money is a skill that can be learned. My 14 year old spent $45 on a new video game, only to discover later that the game really wasn’t that fun. He recently resold the game for $12. Not a great financial transaction but it was a great learning experience for him. Based upon his experience, here are 8 questions teens should ask themselves before making a big purchase:
1. Why do you want the item? Is this a new item that looks really cool? Do any of your friends have it or have you just seen a commercial about it? Is this something that you have been interested in for a long time or is it the “cool thing of the moment?”
2. Can you afford it? Find out the cost. Different stores may have different prices so do your research. Then think about how long it will take you to save enough to buy it. Will it use all of your spending money? Is it worth it?
3. What are the practical issues? How often will you use it? Does it require accessories? If so, how much do they cost? Does the item require special storage? A drum set may be really cool, but not if it takes up most of your bedroom.
4. How long will it last? Is it a video game that you will win and be tired of in two weeks? Is it something that you can use for years? Again, is it worth it?
5. Can you try it out before you buy it? See if a friend has the same item. Maybe you can try it out when you are visiting them to see if you really like this item.
6. Does the item have a resell value? More expensive items, like iPods, musical instruments, etc. have a decent resell value. Knowing that you might be able to recover some of your money at a later point could help you with your initial purchasing decision.
7. Can you get a good deal? Look around for coupons or rebates. Important ---- do not be lured into buying something just because you have a coupon. Make the decision first and then look for the deals!
8. And….most importantly….Can you wait? Make yourself wait a week or two to see if you still want the item. If you have done your research, waited a week and still want the item, then go for it. But….if after a week, you really aren't that jazzed about the item, you probably will be fine without it and can use your money elsewhere.
I am sure there are many more tips to help teens make good spending decisions, enabling them to walk away from a purchase feeling satisfied and confident. How do you help your teen make smart choices?
Post a Comment | <urn:uuid:e628933c-ae3f-4a14-b3a1-37cc2a9f9ef8> | 2 | 2.203125 | 0.223861 | en | 0.942779 | http://blog.moneytrail.net/2011/03/8-questions-to-help-teens-avoid-impulse.html |
Accurate Rhythm – Games to Improve Upbeats
May 29th, 2014
Why we should use video games to get students to play in more accurate rhythm.
my Dr. Beat
Any music educator will tell you that getting kids to practice with a metronome is a never ending battle. There are always exceptions, but most kids (and adults too) that I have taught lessons to claim that they have more accurate rhythm when they’re not using a metronome. Us educators know better. But it’s hard to explain the importance of something when the student doesn’t understand it. Particularly something that is as frustrating to learn how to do as playing in accurate rhythm.
I don’t like telling my students to do something they hate. There’s a great book called The Element by Ken Robinson that has convinced me of the importance of education being engaging. None of this “sit in this chair and bang on this drum to this monotonous click until you get it right.” There needs to be enough instant gratification to keep the student interested. Not because we’re entertainers (we’re not). Rather we need to make sure the student is receptive to teaching when being taught something new. Simply forcing a student into the discipline of metronome use is ineffective and as soon as your back is turned they will stop.
Download Upbeat Bird
Why not a game? Everyone loves games. But it has to be a game that interacts with the person. It also has to be a game that is able to create the accurate rhythm required to build the skill. Our recent release,
Upbeat Bird, is just that. It’s an iPhone game designed to build the skill of accurate rhythm. At the same time, the user also learns about upbeats and how to play them accurately. They will not understand the importance of a metronome until they are skilled at using one. They will not become skilled at using a metronome or at accurate rhythm until they use the device. A vicious cycle that must be broken.
Check out Upbeat Bird, and urge your students to play it too. It will make for more accurate rhythm no matter the skill level, and it will be fun for them and less frustrating for you. | <urn:uuid:5f071bb6-3e67-47ff-b1e8-5a0cd8cf86b9> | 2 | 2.46875 | 0.066665 | en | 0.965792 | http://calebhugo.com/accurate-rhythm-games-improve-upbeats/ |
“Canada Will Experiment With Basic Income — Giving Out Salaries Just for Being Human” (Mic.com)
Jack Smith IV (Mic.com):
When robots come to take our jobs — not just assembly-line work, but truly every kind of job — humans will still need a paycheck to survive. Canada has a solution, and that solution is to simply hand out money for nothing. The idea is called basic income.
Buried away in Ontario’s 2016 budget documents are unspecific plans for the Canadian government to start giving a guaranteed, unconditional salary away to a few people just for being alive.
Canada isn’t first in line to give basic income a try. In June, Switzerland will vote on a referendum to give out a basic salary of $2,500 a month, and pilot programs similar to Ontario’s proposed test are popping up in Germany and Finland.
Welfare for everyone: Basic income has been around for about a century as a radical vision for welfare reform. It could allow people a safety net to pursue meaningful work, give control to people who have restricted welfare programs and compensate homemakers for their historically unpaid labor.
Critics of basic income question where the money will come from. Popular suggestions for funding the service involve progressive taxation and cutting other welfare programs. But there are bigger concerns about the recipients of those paychecks: Namely, what will people do if they don’t have to work to survive?
Reagan-era capitalists will tell you that without incentive to work, everyone will sit back and mooch off the government. But economists and futurists will tell you that there’s no body of evidence that supports the idea that welfare programs make you lazy.
The only way we’ll know if basic income is our future is by dipping our toes in the water.
Full article here | <urn:uuid:d2f95cf7-6f90-4344-8656-f657f6a13ea2> | 3 | 2.734375 | 0.029061 | en | 0.937194 | http://canadianmediareview.ca/2016/03/canada-will-experiment-with-basic-income-giving-out-salaries-just-for-being-human-mic-com/ |
A sense of necessity drew Omar El Akkad to war reporting, until another sense of necessity compelled him to write his stunning debut novel, American War.
For 10 years El Akkad led a double life, working as an international war reporter for Canada’s The Globe and Mail and writing fiction between midnight and 5:00 a.m., squeezing in sleep here and there. The grueling schedule allowed him to write three draft novels that never left his hard drive, but his fourth, American War, is not only being published by Knopf, and agented by a Toronto literary agent, but creating significant and well-deserved buzz by fervent evangelists.
El Akkad’s future dystopian tale begins in 2075 during the second American Civil War, in which Red and Blue states clash over the need for sustainable energy. Climate change has wreaked havoc, with water swallowing Washington, D.C., and Florida, while a new Middle Eastern and North African superpower has emerged: the Bouazizi Empire.
To keep track of all of this devastation and conflict, the author peppered his upstairs office walls with invented maps, timelines and drawings.
“I didn’t get many visitors up there, but the ones who did visit certainly had a few questions about what the hell was going on in that room,” he remembers.
Occasionally, during moments of early morning fog, El Akkad himself momentarily confused fact and fiction. “I’d be groggy because I was up until 5:00 writing,” he says, “and I would mention something stupid and have to catch myself and say nope, South Carolina still exists. Not a real thing.”
Born in Egypt, raised in Qatar and Canada, El Akkad now writes fiction full time from the home he shares with his American wife near Portland, Oregon. In a multitude of ways, he seems uniquely qualified to have written this remarkable novel.
American War chronicles the life of Sarat Chestnut, who metamorphoses from an inquisitive 6-year-old living with her family in a shipping container in Louisiana into a radicalized, head-shaven warrior on the prowl in the refugee camp where she and her family end up. El Akkad peppers his page-turning narrative with short excerpts from history books, eyewitness accounts and other imagined documents.
“[Their inclusion] started as a bit of a crutch,” El Akkad admits. “I didn’t think I had the talent to tell the kind of story that I wanted without making it horribly clunky. So I would write the main narrative and then dream up a document that I thought would be left as sort of an archival echo of what had happened. As I progressed, I found that [these documents] had added an element of texture that I didn’t anticipate.”
Although set in America, Sarat’s riveting story in many ways transcends politics, with details so impeccable and a plot so tightly woven that the events indeed feel factual. How, I wondered, did El Akkad pull off this feat?
“The short answer is outright thievery,” he says, laughing. “I stole much of it from my experiences growing up in the Middle East and also from my experiences as a journalist.”
After moving with his parents from Egypt to Qatar at age 5, and from Qatar to Canada at age 16, El Akkad finished high school in Montreal and studied computer science at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. “I can’t program my way out of a paper bag for reasons that still baffle me,” he admits, “but I earned a computer science degree.”
His real passion, however, was the college newspaper, where he spent most of his time. Later, at The Globe and Mail, he covered the war in Afghanistan, military trials at Guantánamo Bay, the Arab Spring protests in Egypt, the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri, and the effects of climate change in places like Florida and Louisiana.
“A lot of the world of the book is based on the things I saw while on those assignments,” El Akkad says. “I like to say that a lot of what happened in this book happened; it just happened to people far away.”
He points out that Camp Patience, the refugee camp where Sarat’s family lives, is modeled on the NATO airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and on Guantánamo Bay. “A lot of tents in wartime look exactly the same,” he notes.
The journalist was drawn to war reporting after reading Dispatches, Michael Herr’s classic account of frontline reporting on the Vietnam War. “It seemed to me that war zones combine the ability to write stories that otherwise wouldn’t be told with a sense of necessity—the idea that wars are among the most significant things we do as human beings and deserve the most coverage.”
On the front lines of Afghanistan in 2007, El Akkad discovered that the adrenaline rush he anticipated never materialized—even though he was in the line of fire during nightly RPG attacks.
“I never got that sort of strange Hemingway-like fascination with the kinetics of war,” he explains. “I was mostly interested in its effects on the losing side, the way that it moved the losing side backward in time.” In Afghanistan he saw people living in mud huts that “you wouldn’t be particularly surprised to see Jesus walk out of.”
The tragedies he witnessed as a reporter ultimately drew him back to his first love, fiction. He had no intention of writing a political future dystopian tale; that’s simply what unfolded.
“It’s called American War,” he says of the novel, “but I never intended to write a book about America or war; I intended to write a book about the universality of revenge. I wanted to explore the idea that when people are broken by war, broken by injustice, broken by mistreatment, they become broken in the same way.”
He continues: “The notion was to take all of these wars that I’d grown up seeing—the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wars on terror, even cultural events like the Arab Spring—and recast them as something very direct and near to America. The idea being to explore this notion that if it had been you, you’d have done no different.”
Portlander Omar El Akkad’s Debut Novel Is a Dystopian, Antiwar Tale
Omar El Akkad, an award-winning journalist born in Egypt and raised in Qatar, has filed dispatches from Afghanistan, the military trials at Guantánamo Bay, the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt, and the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri.
Now living in Portland, El Akkad turns to fiction with American War, a dystopian tale that begins in 2075.
El Akkad’s debut novel features disaffected Southern states that secede after a ban on fossil fuels, amid rising sea levels. The author says he hopes it’s an antiwar book.
Why did you decide to overlay North-South historical tensions with our accelerating environmental calamity and an imagined future energy crisis?
I went looking for an analogy to the cause of the first Civil War. I knew I wouldn’t find anything that compares with the sheer human cruelty of slavery. But as something many people are happy to accept today because it makes life easier and powers a massive commercial empire, fossil fuel seemed a fitting analog.
The book does contain disturbingly familiar trappings—combat drones, suicide bombings, and a Guantanamo-esque base. What happens when all this moves to US soil?
I knew from the beginning that the only way to write the novel I wanted to write was to take the conflicts the United States has been involved in, indirectly or from a great distance, and recast them as elements of something immediate. I think a lot about a news interview I saw a few years ago with a foreign policy expert discussing how American soldiers conduct nighttime raids in Afghanistan—they often barge into villagers’ homes and hold women and children at gunpoint. In Afghan culture, the expert helpfully noted, this sort of thing is considered offensive—as if there exists a single culture on earth that wouldn’t consider this sort of thing offensive. That’s why I had to bring these things here. Most everything in this book is based on something that really happened. It just happened to someone voiceless, someone very far away.
Your protagonist, Sarat, becomes radicalized over the course of the book. Do you think your novel’s depiction of an America rent by war might restrain readers flirting with zealotry in today’s politically charged atmosphere?
I hope so, but I doubt it. My intent was to show that there exists no such thing as a “foreign” kind of suffering. Regardless of ethnicity or culture or religion, war makes us all angry and bitter and vengeful in the same way. The story of Sarat’s transition from a curious, loving young girl to an instrument of violence is, in my mind, the story of how all forms of weaponized hatred end up creating more of the evil they claim to oppose. But will anyone read my novel and decide to change course? I honestly don’t know. I hope I’ve written an antiwar novel, and I hope it resonates.
No foreign kind of suffering—is that what one character means by saying “the misery of war represented the world’s only truly universal language”?
That is the closest thing to a thesis statement in the whole book. I don’t care where you’re from, nobody reacts any differently to a bomb falling on their house. The privilege to believe otherwise is just that—privilege.
Image may contain: 2 people | <urn:uuid:cde0dbbe-c60c-41d3-8f91-98e937b1bb00> | 2 | 1.523438 | 0.019456 | en | 0.963371 | http://cli-fi-books.blogspot.com/2017/03/american-war-novel-by-omar-el-akkad.html |
Friday, December 29, 2006
Daf Yomi - Roshn Hashana 25 - Highlights
The Mishna cites a dispute regarding a set of witnesses who testify that in the morning they saw the old moon in the East and later that evening, they saw the new moon in the west. Rabban Yochanan ben Nuri states that these witnesses are false since it there is a twenty-four hour period between the time that the old moon disappears from sight and the time that the new moon appears. It is impossible to see the moon during this time span. Rabban Gamliel disagreed and he accepted these witnesses.
The Mishna cites another case. The witnesses testified that they saw the moon in its appropriate time on the thirtieth but the facts are that on the night of the thirty-first, the moon was not visible at all. Rabban Gamliel accepted these witnesses but Rabbi Dosa ruled that these are false witnesses. Rabbi Dosa compared this case to a case where witnesses testified that a woman gave birth to a child and the following day, she is seen indisputably pregnant. If the new moon cannot be seen now when it should be growing larger, it most certainly could not have been seen previously. Rabbi Yehoshua concurred with Rabbi Dosa that these are false witnesses. Rabban Gamliel, the Nasi, ordered Rabbi Yehoshua to come to him with his walking stick and money on the day that according to Rabbi Yehoshua’s calculation was Yom Kippur. Rabbi Akiva found Rabbi Yehoshua distressed over the situation that he would be compelled to desecrate Yom Kippur. Rabbi Akiva cited Scriptural proof that whatever the Beis din decrees regarding the new month has validity and therefore he should not be concerned. The day that Rabbi Yehoshua thought was Yom Kippur would in fact be the eleventh of Tishrei since the new month is dependent on Rabban Gamliel’s declaration. Rabbi Dosa cited Scriptural proof to Rabbi Yehoshua that w the ruling of Rabban Gamliel cannot be reconsidered. Rabbi Yehoshua came to Rabban Gamliel in Yavneh with his walking stick and his money. Rabban Gamliel stood up, kissed him on his forehead and told him “Come in peace my Rebbe and my student. You are my Rebbe in wisdom and my student that you accepted my words.” (24b – 25a)
The Gemora cites a braisa where Rabban Gamliel answered the Chachamim that there is times that the moon takes a long route and there are times that it takes a short route. This was said in order to explain why he could accept the witnesses when they testified that they saw the new moon in the evening less than twenty-four hours after the moon was seen in the morning. (25a)
The Gemora relates that Rebbe Chiya once saw the old moon standing in the sky on the twenty-ninth of the month in the morning. He grabbed a clump of earth and threw it at the moon. He spoke to the moon and said “We are required to sanctify you tonight and you are just standing there. Go and disappear!” Rebbe told Rebbe Chiya to go to the city of Ein Tav, where they did not see the old moon during the day, and sanctify the new month on the thirtieth. After you have completed this task, send me back a message “Dovid, the King of Israel lives and persists,” indicating that the new month has been sanctified. (25a)
The Gemora cites a braisa which elaborates on the incident involving Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Yehoshua was distressed and he told Rabbi Akiva that he would accept to be compelled to lie in bed for twelve months rather than being forced to fulfill Rabban Gamliel’s decree of desecrating Yom Kippur (according to his calculation). Rabbi Akiva told Rabbi Yehoshua that he had leaned from Rabbi Yehoshua, his teacher, that the Torah teaches us that if Beis Din chooses the incorrect date for Rosh Chodesh by mistake, deliberately or if they were misled, nevertheless the sanctification is valid. Rabbi Yehoshua felt comforted by Rabbi Akiva’s words. (25a)
The Gemora brings a braisa which elaborates in further detail on the encounter between Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabban Gamliel. Rabban Gamliel stood up from his seat, kissed him on his forehead and told him “Peace onto you my Rebbe and my student. You are my Rebbe since you taught me Torah in public and you are my student since you fulfilled the decree just like a student would. Praiseworthy is the generation in which the greater people listen to the authority of the lesser people and certainly when the lesser listen to the greater.” (25b) | <urn:uuid:1b7d235a-1eca-46be-86f5-e41d01940197> | 2 | 1.921875 | 0.435793 | en | 0.968653 | http://dafnotes.blogspot.com/2006/12/daf-yomi-roshn-hashana-25-highlights.html |
[guhn-ter] /ˈgʌn tər/
noun, Nautical.
a jib-headed sail fastened to a vertical spar that is attached to a short mast, usually by two rings, in such a way that the spar can slide up the mast to spread the sail.
[guhn-ter] /ˈgʌn tər/
Edmund, 1581–1626, English mathematician and astronomer: inventor of various measuring instruments and scales.
Edmund. 1581–1626, English mathematician and astronomer, who invented various measuring instruments, including Gunter’s chain
Read Also:
• Gunter grass
[grahs; German grahs] /grɑs; German grɑs/ noun 1. Günter (Wilhelm) [goo n-ter wil-helm;; German gyn-tuh r vil-helm] /ˈgʊn tər ˈwɪl hɛlm;; German ˈgün tər ˈvɪl hɛlm/ (Show IPA), 1927–2015, German novelist, poet, and playwright. /ɡrɑːs/ noun 1. any monocotyledonous plant of the family Poaceae (formerly Gramineae), having jointed stems sheathed by long narrow leaves, flowers […]
• Gunter rig
/ˈɡʌntə/ noun 1. (nautical) a type of gaffing in which the gaff is hoisted parallel to the mast
• Gunters-chain
noun 1. See under (def 8a). [cheyn] /tʃeɪn/ noun 1. a series of objects connected one after the other, usually in the form of a series of metal rings passing through one another, used either for various purposes requiring a flexible tie with high tensile strength, as for hauling, supporting, or confining, or in various […]
• Gunther
[guhn-ther for 1, 3; goo n-ter for 2] /ˈgʌn θər for 1, 3; ˈgʊn tər for 2/ noun 1. John, 1901–1970, U.S. journalist and author. 2. (in the Nibelungenlied) a king of Burgundy and the husband of Brunhild, beheaded by Kriemhild in her revenge for the murder of Siegfried. Compare . 3. a male given […]
| <urn:uuid:bcd2d635-87a7-46e1-be33-65d73e1a7772> | 3 | 2.765625 | 0.051071 | en | 0.851478 | http://definithing.com/define-dictionary/gunter/ |
[spawrt-fish-er-muh n, spohrt-] /ˈspɔrtˌfɪʃ ər mən, ˈspoʊrt-/
a motorboat fitted out for sportfishing.
Read Also:
• Sportfishing
[spawrt-fish-ing] /ˈspɔrtˌfɪʃ ɪŋ/ noun 1. fishing with a rod and reel for sport, especially for saltwater sport fish from a motorboat.
• Sportiness
adjective, sportier, sportiest. Informal. 1. flashy; showy. 2. smart in dress, behavior, etc. 3. like or befitting a sportsman. 4. dissipated; fast: a sporty crowd. 5. designed for or suitable for sport. adjective sportier, sportiest 1. (of a person) fond of sport or outdoor activities 2. (of clothes) having the appearance of sportswear 3. (of […]
• Sporting
• Sporting-chance
noun 1. an even or fair opportunity for a favorable outcome in an enterprise, as winning in a game of chance or in any kind of contest: They gave the less experienced players a sporting chance by handicapping the experts.
| <urn:uuid:f20d9723-dace-4f66-bcae-c7d45ff2f8ce> | 2 | 1.539063 | 0.276358 | en | 0.838669 | http://definithing.com/define-dictionary/sportfisherman/ |
Dr. Sharif recommends various hydrotherapy (water therapy) exercises to his patients to address just about any condition. For example, to help improve men’s prostate health, he recommends sitz baths. Or, to improve with a person’s sleep quality, he recommends taking warm showers before going to bed, followed by a cooler (or room temperate) rinse for a minute.
“Our job is to make over the blood. Until we do, we’re just spinning our wheels.” Dr. Harold Dick, N.D.
The working hypothesis of naturopathic hydrotherapy is that health, and therefore healing, is proportional to normal flow of healthy blood. Hydrotherapy makes use of the body’s response to heat and cold. The primary reaction of the body to cold is stimulation, and its secondary reaction is invigorating, restorative, and tonic. The primary effect of heat on the body is as a stimulant, and its secondary reaction is depression, sedation, and atony.
Hydrotherapy enhances the circulation of blood and lymph, cleans the skin and removes impurities. By enhancing blood flow through the organs of elimination, such as the skin, liver, kidney and bowels, detoxification, and thereby improvement, of the blood takes place. In addition to improving blood by eliminating undesirable elements such as waste products, naturopathic hydrotherapists believe that water treatments can also help build the blood up by increasing desirable elements such as oxygen, nutrients, red cells, and white cells, etc. This is done primarily through treatments which tonify the digestive organs and thereby improve the nutrition received by the blood.
Blood is the conveyer of life. Hydrotherapy is the manipulation of circulation to maximize the life-giving properties of blood. Naturopathic hydrotherapy works because it optimizes the quality of blood while improving the efficiency of its circulation.
Are there different types of hydrotherapy?
Yes. Baths, including sitz, full immersion, local, vapor baths, foot baths, and sweating baths are used. Compresses are another type of hydrotherapy. Full-body wet sheet packs are used cold, but blankets are used on top to make the patient sweat. Douches, strong jets of water directed at a local or general area, are also used.
What kind of hydrotherapy treatments are offered at Dr. Sharif’s office?
1) Constitutional Hydrotherapy
This application involves the use of hot and cold towels on the trunk, while lying down on a table. An electrical stimulation machine is used to stimulate the peristalsis of the intestines. This can be extremely useful in the treatment of constipation and other gut problems. The entire procedure takes approximately 40 minutes. Individuals with metal implants can receive the hydrotherapy treatment without the use of electrical stimulation, and still experience many of the benefits of constitutional hydrotherapy.
2) Peat Hyperthermia Therapy:
Peat contains a variety of essential natural minerals, trace minerals, and herbs. Peat therapy uses peat plus heat, usually applied in a bath, to promote local and systemic healing. An example of a use for peat therapy would be immersion of feet in a warm peat solution to treat a sore Achilles tendon.
Can I do hydrotherapy at home?
Yes. And, it is free. Dr. Sharif recommends a variety of cold water hydrotherapy applications as prescribed by Father Kneipp, the father of hydrotherapy. These applications can be as simple as walking in a cold tub of water, or better yet, any natural body of water, for a few minutes daily.
Can water cause harm to me?
Yes. The duration and temperature of hydrotherapy applications must be adjusted to the individual. | <urn:uuid:ddd35449-3990-404b-a095-84f056c50c8b> | 2 | 2.375 | 0.26491 | en | 0.925897 | http://drsharif.com/services/2-physical-medicine-2/a-hydrotherapy-2/ |
OT Revealed--Gospel of Luke
1. Luke 1:1-44—Gabriel Announces Two Pregnancies
Why did Luke write his gospel? Who was Theophilus? Luke begins his gospel telling us about Zacharias, who was a priest in the division of Abijah. What does this mean? Who can be a priest, according to the Bible? What message did the angel bring Zacharias and why did Zacharias lose his voice? After answering these questions, Dr. Bramson discusses the conception of Jesus. Finally, after looking at John 3:16 and John 1:1, Dr. Bramson answers the question of what exactly God gave up for us. What does this have to do with the conception of Jesus?
Listen here
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Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Just in case you are wondering how Emergency Medical Service works in the war zones, here is my personal review…..so enjoy it.
War emergency medicine means just a simple foundation concept:
10: Immediate life saving procedures must be applied within 10 minutes of wounding.
1: advanced stabilization manouvres must commenced within 1 hour of wounding (Enhanced field care).
2: if necessary Emergency war surgery must be performed within 1 hour but not later 2 hours of wounding.
How these numbers are fulfilled??!!
As in every military sector even war medicine requires a meticulous tactical planning, defining means and professional figures to be employed in specific theatres of operation.
This is how it works in Afghanistan:
Everything starts in the HOT ZONE (zone of fightings) where usually the wounding happens;
What can be done?!
Very few things!!!
This is what we call “Care under fire”:
1) Respond to fire and search for fire cover; reach for the wounded only when possible… Heroism could be rewarded just with two wounded instead of one!!!!
2)Stop bleedings with combat tourniquet or compressive dressings, mantained by self aid if able.
3)Airway management is generally best deferred until Enhanced field care (EFC) phase.
4)Bring the wounded ASAP in the WARM ZONE for Enhanced field care(EFC).
Who perform these manouvres??!!
Bleeding control can be performed by the wounded himself; if uncounscious could be performed by a buddy ("Buddy to Buddy Aid") or the combat medic (a soldier trained in Immediate life support techniques, if present); usually there is one in every company.
In the WARM ZONE or semipermissive zone:
Personnel could be still threatened by indirect fire but Enhanced field care (EFC) manouvres can be put in place under cover;
What I mean for under cover:
The ideal would be a true Company Aid Post, in reality EFC is performed on the back of a tank or everything can provide protection from fire.
Who perform EFC:
It depends on the Nation: US army has specifically trained Medics and Paramedics, EUropean forces often have a nurse or a doctor on the field;
Italian Army itself is implementing a new strategy: A rescue helicopter with a critical care Physician and nurse on board, already on area of operations; the aim of this strategy is to save the time between the call for a MEDEVAC and the MEDEVAC itself, that,I guarantee,in Afghanistan could be very long; furthermore it allow advanced stabilization manouvres right on the field or straight during flight.
What does it mean Enanched field care (EFC)??!!
In small words what we call Damage control resuscitation in the civilian setting;
anyway battlefield is very different from an Highway or every other possible civilian scenario so also life support techniques allowed are different;
On the field (Tactical Field Care):
<C> catastrophic haemorragy control: If not yet performed bleeding control is essential: Combat Tourniquet and compressive dressings.
A: open airways ; If the wounded is unconscious: naso-orofaringeal cannula or recovery position or SGA (Supraglottic airways - Usually the iGel) if airway obstruction.
What about the Neck Collar??
In military setting Neck collar is kept just for victims of Blasts and vehicles accidents.
B: Breathing problems and torso trauma??... we go straight to needle decompression and occlusive medication in case of of open or sucking chest wounds; SGA if necessary.
C: IV (Intravenous infusion line) or IO (Intraosseous infusione line), (In the last times we tend to go straight by IO); Thus TXA (Tranexamic Acid) and start Normal Saline infusion,following damage control resuscitation guidelines.
Every nurse or physiscan present on the field are trained to perform those manouvres;
Anyway More advanced techniques could be performed whereas critical care trained personnel is available and this usually happens just before or during trasport on MEDEVAC helicopters.
These advanced techniques usually are Emergency CRIC to control airways, finger thoracostomy for PNX; Italian MEDEVAC is implementing PENTAX VL intubation instead of CRIC, but evidences are still very few…
Some MEDEVAC service such the US one have 0-neg on board and can even start blood transfusions…..this is great stuff!!!!!
Surgical treatment:
Definitive surgical treatment not always can be performed between 2 hours of wounding in an advanced medical facility (a role 3 Field Hospital)…To obviate this problem NATO forces invented FST (Forward surgical teams): Highly versatile operating rooms deployed in advanced military outpost, able to perform just damage control surgery; this strategy permits to gain time and transport patient to an AMF (Advanced Medical Facility) for definitive treatment in a following time.
Usually an FST is manned by 20 - person team: 1 Orthopedic surgeon, 3 General surgeons,2 Anaesthetists or certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) 3 Registered Nurses, 1 administrative officer, 1 detachment sergeant, 3 licensed practical nurses (LPN)'s, 3 surgical techs and 3 medics.
To sum up current War EMS organization is the result of experiences gained during the most recent conflicts: IRAQ and Afghanistan and is constantly evolving;
endeed in next combat operations could become obsolete……Just Think to a war in a place where the enemy has air supremacy……Helicopter MEDEVAC that now is so important, in a moment could become useless…………..
…..Have a good day on the Edge and Bye Bye……..
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Title: Some effects of magnetic fields on energy deposition in tissue for low-let radiations
Author: Ismail, A. K. A. A.
Awarding Body: University of Aberdeen
Current Institution: University of Aberdeen
Date of Award: 1986
Availability of Full Text:
Access through EThOS:
The presence of a moderately strong magnetic field, uniform and static, in the irradiated medium modifies the spatial distribution of events. The imposition of a magnetic field produces elecron helices, characterised by their radii and pitches. The differential and integral distribution of track lengths, corresponding to electrons slowing down in water in a magnetic field, have been computed as function of radii and pitches for 200 kVp X-rays and for 60 Co gamma-rays. Theoretical work has shown that the probability of energy deposition in a smaller volume of the absorbing medium has been significantly increased as a result of the presence of a magnetic field during photon irradiation. The distributions of track lengths as function of electron radii and pitches have been studied in strong magnetic fields (1 - 20 Tesla). The trajectories of an electron moving in water for different emission angles (up to π/2) and for magnetic fields of 5 and 10 Tesla, have been computed. The data for stopping powers used in this study, cover electron energies of 30 eV to 1200 keV (initial energy). In the presence of a magnetic field, each electron spiral has enclosed a conical volume. As the magnetic field increases, so the volume enclosed by the spiral decrease resulting in a substantial increase in the number of hits (events) compared with events in the same volume in the absence of a magnetic field. The experimental work started with the study of the characteristics of a spherical walled proportional counter. The frequency density, y.f(y), energy probability density, y^2f(y), distributions and their averages overline Y_F and overline YD respectively, have been computed on the basis of the pulse height distribution of low-LET radiation. Gamma rays from 137Cs and 60Co have been used with and without a magnetic field. Transverse magnetic fields of 0.0304, 0.13, 0.24 and 0.34 Tesla as well as a longitudinal magnetic field of 0.0304 Tesla have been used in microdosimetric measurements. An average sphere diameter of 2 μm has been simulated for the purpose. In the presence of the transverse magnetic fields, an increase of up to ~ 45% and ~ 78% has been obtained in the values of overline Y_F and overline Y_D respectively for ^137Cs gamma rays. For ^60Co gamma rays the values of both overline Y_F and overline Y_D increase by up to about 97%. For the longitudinal magnetic field when compared with the corresponding transversal magnetic field, a substantial increase in the value of overline Y_F has been found for ^137Cs gamma rays and a less significant increase for ^60Co gamma rays. Also, a significant increase in overline Y_D has been obtained for both indirectly ionizing radiations.
Supervisor: Not available Sponsor: Not available
Qualification Name: Thesis (Ph.D.) Qualification Level: Doctoral
EThOS ID: DOI: Not available
Keywords: Radiotherapy in magnetic field Radiobiology Nuclear physics | <urn:uuid:48726b1e-0379-46a9-9267-82450735e06c> | 2 | 1.53125 | 0.054358 | en | 0.899279 | http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.377616 |
Title: Optimal dynamic pricing strategies for mobile communication networks
Author: Fitkov-Norris, Elena Dimitrova
ISNI: 0000 0001 3467 7720
Awarding Body: University of London
Current Institution: University College London (University of London)
Date of Award: 2003
Availability of Full Text:
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Techniques from engineering, economics and control theory are used in this thesis to investigate the effectiveness of dynamic pricing for demand control and capacity optimisation in cellular mobile networks. The scope is extended to include pricing strategies that can provide a certain target revenue for the network operator. Algorithms for the application of dynamic pricing in voice and data networks are suggested. Mathematical models are developed to predict the effect of dynamic pricing on the network operator's market share and the overall user demand, including the effect of variable tariffs on user mobility. The question of setting the optimal tariff for a given system load is addressed and three dynamic price setting methods suggested. The first, competition driven ad hoc pricing, is used to identify the most sensitive parameters in the model, namely the revenue generated and the level of call blocking in the network. Two further tariffs (linear revenue attainment and optimal revenue attainment) are then developed for controlling the system and ensuring optimal behaviour. The tariffs are tested using a seven-cell cellular model developed with OPNET TM. Simulation results show that the performance of the competition driven ad hoc and linear revenue attainment linear pricing strategies is varied and they lead to either a significant reduction in the revenue of the network operator or the welfare of users. The optimal revenue attainment price setting strategy, on the other hand, is shown to be an effective tool for generating the desired revenue, while decreasing the average price in the network and increasing the number of successful calls. In addition, it is suggested that the optimal dynamic pricing strategy could potentially increase a network operator's market share by up to 10% compared to traditional pricing policies, thus offering a viable pricing alternative.
Supervisor: Not available Sponsor: Not available
Qualification Name: Thesis (Ph.D.) Qualification Level: Doctoral
EThOS ID: DOI: Not available | <urn:uuid:429e898d-8290-41bd-8e27-689c42d6d4e8> | 2 | 1.5 | 0.1077 | en | 0.878421 | http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.397218 |
America's Choice
by Pastor Don Elmore
What about this everlasting, unconditional covenant that our GOD made with our fathers that is mentioned so much in the Bible? GOD walked between the slain animals (a 3 year-old heifer, a she-goat also 3 year-old, and a ram also 3 years-old; plus a pigeon and a turtledove) while Abram was in a deep sleep. Abram did not walk between the animals; only God walked between the path of them. Thus, the covenant was one-sided--unconditional; and only our GOD could break it. Abram could not break this covenant; only GOD could (Genesis 15).
When the everlasting, unconditional covenant was promised to Abram that this would be God’s gift to him after he left his country (Iraq) and would go to the land of Canaan (full of giants) that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him (Genesis 12:3).
When this promise was made to Abram, there were Cainites and Canaanites in the world; but there were no “Jews” in the world. The Jews didn’t come onto the scene until after the birth of Esau. Esau was the grandson of Abram; so those who cursed Abram could not be the ones equated with those who cursed the Jews.
Why do I mention what should be an obvious statement? Because the Scofield Bible has this note for Genesis 12:3: “…This was a warning literally fulfilled in the history of Israel’s persecutions. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted THE JEW—well with those who have protected him. For a nation to commit the sin of ANTI-SEMITISM brings inevitable judgment….” (capital and underline words mine).
But Abraham was not a Jew! It was several generations too early until Esau was born; but almost 1500 years until Judaism and another 1000 years until the kingdom of Kharzia (descendants of Japheth, not Shem) converted to the religion of the Jews. So the criminal, fraudulent Cyrus Scofield is dead wrong about equating Abram and the Jews.
Hagar Sarah Keturah
1. Ishmael 1. ISAAC 1. Zimran
/ \
1. Esau 2. JACOB
2. Jokshan
3. Medan
4. Midian
5. Ishbak
6. Shuah
Abraham and Sarah had only one child. It was a miracle birth. Abraham was about a century old and Sarah around ninety years old when Isaac was conceived and born; she never had and couldn’t have a child, but she did!
For this was the reason for the unconditional, everlasting covenant; for Abram had no child to give his vast wealth to, only a servant (Genesis 15:3). “And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.” Shortly after Abram said these words, God made the promised covenant with him.
Abraham was the father of eight sons. Who was GOD going to establish the covenant with? Abraham loved Ishmael and asked GOD that “…Ishmael might live before thee.
Who was Isaac’s seed? Isaac had two sons (twins). The first-born was Esau who was entitled to be the recipient of the covenant; but he despised and lost it. When Esau was forty years old “…he took as his wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, who were a grief of mind unto Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 26:34b, 35). Esau had two wives taken from the Canaanites.
The parents of Esau and Jacob, sent Jacob to his mother’s brother’s family to get a wife, “…when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take himself a wife from there; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
And Esau, seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac, his father;
Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nibajoth, to be his wife” (Genesis 28:6-9).
So far, the Bible tells us of three wives that Esau had and later in Genesis 36:2 it tells us of his fourth wife: Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite; another Canaanite wife. Esau married three (3) Canaanite and one (1) Ishmaelite women. And in between these four wives he sold his blessing and covenant to his twin brother.
The covenant was fulfilled in Jacob, not Esau. The Bible (in both testaments) tells us that Esau married non-covenant people and God hated him. Esau despised and lost the everlasting, unconditional covenant for his seed forever; he even wept in an attempt to get it back. But God would not give it back to them.
Is this covenant important? The descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, later in history became primarily the believers in Islam and its god Allah. The descendants of Esau and the descendants of Japheth of the kingdom of Khazaria, are believers in the Talmud and/or the Kabbalah, the religion of Judaism. The Bible tells about their rejection of being the covenant people.
God is referred to hundreds of times as being the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his seed as being the covenant people. He is never called the GOD of Abraham and Ishmael or the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Esau! He instructed His covenant people that they would be His people and He would be their God.
Deuteronomy 29:9, 12, 13: “Keep, therefore, the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into His oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day;
That he may establish thee today for A PEOPLE UNTO HIMSELF, and that he may be UNTO THEE A GOD, as He hath said unto thee, and as He hath sworn unto thy fathers, TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND TO JACOB.”
This is the message that is all through the Bible: the elect of GOD is the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Notice it did not say Abraham and Ishmael; or Abraham, Isaac and Esau! The covenant people of GOD are the people that the LORD is God to. It is the descendants of the Scandinavian’s, Germanic’s, Anglo-Saxon’s, Slavic’s, Nordic’s and etc. people.
“Jesus publicly exposed the evil Jewish leaders of His day, the Pharisees, who held a similar political and religious death grip on the Jewish nation. He expects every Christian to follow His example and speak out against evil Jewish leadership” Ted Pike.
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant…” (Hebrews 13:20).
It was through His blood that all of our sins were atoned for approximately 2000 years ago. What a marvelous Savior we have.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel. | <urn:uuid:47ec6509-90e9-488c-8525-63f4279a2df5> | 2 | 1.859375 | 0.041653 | en | 0.966381 | http://fgcp.org/content/americas-choice |
Free State of Jones
A grim historical drama featuring life in the American South in the 1860s and 1870s.
Free State of Jones
American audiences familiar with the historical figure of Newton Knight, a Southern farmer who played a key role in Jones County, Mississippi during the American Civil War, may have the advantage of knowing what to expect here. For others the material is decidedly unwieldy, so that what is a long film (139 minutes) undoubtedly feels its length. At the outset Knight (Matthew McConaughey) is with the Confederate Army and the film's brutal depiction of war's violence suggests that this will essentially be an anti-war movie. That's so even if we are informed that it will deal with actual events that occurred between 1862 and 1876. When Knight deserts he shows his support for the black slaves and sets up an independent group that will ultimately declare the Free State of Jones and embrace equality, but much of what we see does indeed play as a reaction against war.
The subject matter of this film by Gary Ross invites a comparison with the best historical drama set in America to have appeared in recent years, 12 Years a Slave. But with that film all audiences were alerted to what to expect, whereas Free State of Jones only gradually reveals what a catalogue of suffering it will be. It is competently directed, but the characters lack real depth: Knight's big speeches which give him heroic status are long delayed, while his long lasting love for the slave Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is no more than sketched in. This is surprising since, despite their relationship, Knight retained a bond with his wife Serena (Keri Russell) and interestingly this led to some kind of menage-à-trois. Prior to that, the way that Rachel, abused by her master in a nearby big house, freely comes and goes to aid Knight and his companions who are living in the swamps is typical of the film's lack of persuasive detail despite its length. Mbatha Raw, such an engaging actress, deserves better than this.
In the event there is considerably more footage still to come after the Civil War scenes end. This turns the spotlight on the continuing suffering of former slaves living in the South (these were the days of the Ku Klux Klan). This is all worthwhile stuff, of course. However, this meandering film, complete with a fictional villainous figure in Lt. Barbour (Bill Tangradi) and the equally fictional death scene of his commander Colonel McLenore (Thomas Francis Murphy), never finds the right format for it. Furthermore, while it is appropriate to underline racial problems beyond the 19th century, it is downright clumsy when the film cuts away briefly at intervals to the 1948 trial of a descendant of Knight accused of breaking segregation laws. The story, which would have gained from greater authenticity and from more detailed characterisations, would surely have had the impact it deserves if presented on television in a drama series. That would have enabled the narrative to proceed step by step with fuller investigation at each and every stage.
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell, Christopher Berry, Thomas Francis Murphy, Bill Tangradi, Sean Bridgers, Jacob Lofland, Brian Lee Franklin.
Dir Gary Ross, Pro Scott Stuber, Jon Kilik and Ross, Screenplay (from a story by Leonard Hartman and himself) Gary Ross, Ph Benoît Delhomme, Pro Des Philip Messina, Ed Juliette Welfling and Pamela Martin, Music Nicholas Britell, Costumes Louise Frogley.
Bluegrass Films/Rahway Road/Larger than Life/STX Entertainment/Huayi Brothers Pictures-StudioCanal.
139 mins. USA/People's Republic of China/Republic of Korea. 2016. Rel: 30 September 2016. Cert. 15 | <urn:uuid:055e2962-a080-4adb-93db-ebbaf67a58b2> | 2 | 1.742188 | 0.026626 | en | 0.949585 | http://filmreviewdaily.com/Reviews/Free%20State%20of%20Jones.html |
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Arvi sabzi
Arvi is an Indian vegetable that looks almost like jerusalem artichoke. It's not the most attractive looking vegetable and I'm afraid I have tended to ignore it somewhat. Mainly because I just didn't know what to do with it or how to cook it and then, a big thanks to my husband, I
started enjoying it when he cooked it using a simple north Indian recipe.[Yes, he has a wicked way with the veg!]
This is a dryish, stir-fried kind of dish. Apparently you can make it with gravy but that's a little tricky as the arvi tends to go all glutenous and gooey in the company of any liquid. The gujerati community of India use the large, green arvi leaves to make a lovely snack dish called 'patra'. This dish uses the actual root arvi. It tastes a little potato-like, a little on the bland side and therefore easily takes on outside flavours. It has less carbohydrates than potato and will not lead to spikes in blood sugar levels like the potato.
250gm arvi
1 tspn caraway seeds [ajwain]
2 tbsn sunflower oil
salt to taste
1-2 whole dry red chillies
0.5 tspn dry red chilli flakes
0.25 tspn turmeric powder
black pepper to taste
chopped coriander for garnish
1. Prepare the arvi first. Boil it in a pan of water until it is just cooked through but not squishy. Drain, peel the arvi and chop in half-inch rounds.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan or wok. When the oil is hot add the whole dry red chillies and when they begin to turn dark add the caraway seeds [ajwain]. The seeds will begin to splutter and crackle.
3. Add the prepared arvi, turmeric and chilli flakes, stir and let it cook over low to medium heat, stirring frequently. Ideally you want to keep stirring it to ensure the arvi doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan but should begin to crispen up and brown gently. This should take no more than 4-5 minutes.
4. Add the salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir, garnish with chopped fresh coriander and tuck in.
Arvi is a root vegetable and I'm sure there must be some nutritional benefit there [need to research that a bit]. The caraway seeds have a lovely, distinct flavour and goes very well with the bland arvi and has good digestive properties.
Next time you are making a side dish of potatoes to go with the other indian dishes on the menu, try this arvi dish instead and add a new flavour to your usual repertoire.
If you've got some recipes using this unusual vegetable do please share it here.
1. I'll have to look out for this veg at the supermarket. Looking forward to the beetroot sabzi recipe... still can't figure out how to make it.
2. Dhruti,
Fret no asked and here it is:
Apologies for not getting it to you earlier. You must let us know how it turned out. | <urn:uuid:01f9c839-1a7c-4db4-9a92-0ba226347826> | 2 | 1.5 | 0.070619 | en | 0.935391 | http://foodwiz4u.blogspot.com/2009/02/arvi-sabzi.html?showComment=1234903140000 |
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Whenever you learn a French word, don't forget to learn the gender. It is either masculine or feminine. It is le or la. It is un or une. When a child grows up in France they are told to put something on the table. The word 'the' naturally occurs and the French child knows it is la table not le table.
One simple way in which you can improve your confidence in speaking French is to learn the difference in pronunciation between un and une. Un is pronounced with just a hint of an N, whereas the N is definitely pronounced with une. Use the internet. There are many sites where you can hear these words. Very often people find speaking the hardest of the language skills so get these words right and you will get a few words right in every sentence that you say.
A common question is why do the French make their language so complicated with two genders? The question should be why has English lost its gender? Old English words had gender which was lost in the Middle Ages. We are lucky that we don't have to learn different words for the or a, but English is complicated enough. Be grateful that you speak English already and don't knock the French for any complications, as French is relatively easy.
A bientôt
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more: math take on metropolis and question for the class
2009 March 16
by aaclh
I want to build a little more off of what Eva (sp?) said in class today.
Metropolis seemed to set up or suggest a lot of dichotomies, for example above and below ground, head and hand(s), ladylike and unladylike behavior, human and robot, good and evil, etc. The moral (stated at least three times) of the movie was that the head and the hand(s) need a mediator. I am not really sure how this was supposed to work. Was the mediator another thing? Was the mediator a head and a hand? Or, what seems more plausible from the movie, was the mediator a relationship between the head and the hand? (Thinking in terms of math (category theory in particular) – head and hands are objects and mediator is a morphism).
Supposing this is the case, that the mediator relates the head and hands together – why were the other dichotomies not similarly resolved with appropriate relationships? Were they, and I just missed it? Why this particular dichotomy?
2 Responses
1. Anne Dalke permalink*
March 16, 2009
what’s a “morphism”?
still waiting also for an explanation of “the ultimate answer is 42”…?
2. aaclh permalink
March 16, 2009
“The ultimate answer is 42” is a reference to the radio program (or series of books if you like) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. (NB: the following might spoil the storyline.)
In the story: Earth is a computer program so complicated it requires organic matter. The program was set in motion to find the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe and Everything. Basically, mice wanted an answer to Life, the Universe and Everything and so they made a computer who would compute this. The computer (called Deep Thought), did so and found the Ultimate Answer to be 42. Everyone was so upset about this answer (because it didn’t make sense), until Deep Thought told them that it could make a computer that could compute the Ultimate Question so that they could understand the Ultimate Answer. (Ironically Earth was destroyed shortly before it finished running to create a hyperspace bypass – so they never got the Ultimate Question).
The reason I brought this up was because I was thinking that perhaps we are too fixated on understanding things – so then having the Ultimate Answer be 42 (ie incomprehensible) could really be telling us to worry about something besides understanding life.
A morphism is a bit harder to explain. Perhaps it would be easier to explain in terms of functions. (So just pretend I said function instead of morphism) So, in this case you can just think of a function (called the mediator) whose domain, is just the one thing: a head, and whose range (or image) is all of the hands. In this sense, a function might relate a head to the hands (or things it its domain to things in its range). Thus you can think of a function as a relation between objects. Is that clear?
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Friday, November 5, 2010
Proposition 19
In the most recent elections, mostly everyone has heard of Prop. 19. Proposition 19 was introduced in California and presented the state with the chance to legalize the use of marijuana for recreational use. The Proposition only won in 11 out of 58 counties, and ultimately it was shot down.
First lets see why marijuana is illegal? Marijuana is illegal because... because it's bad, and it's bad because the government said so. No. It was banned because of racism in the 1930's and due to ignorant and incompetent legislators.
I'm sure everyone knows that alcohol is worse than marijuana. Marijuana has no right being illegal. I'm not saying it doesn't hinder people or anything, if it was legalized I'm sure companies would sprout up and add chemicals making it just like cigarettes.
Making marijuana legal would bring extra tax revenue and save money tons of government money on the "war on drugs", think about it, how much money has our government wasted on fighting the war on drugs, which centers around marijuana.
I'm just saying that I'm very disappointed in California and America for being extremely hypocritical. | <urn:uuid:3cee4571-fbc8-4d8e-aefd-3412c6317df7> | 2 | 1.890625 | 0.897355 | en | 0.979454 | http://h8rsgonnah8.blogspot.com/2010_10_31_archive.html |
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Unique Content Article: Organic Research Engine SEO Yesterday and These days
Organic Research Engine SEO Yesterday and These days
by Ganesh Hardy
Organic search engine SEO or optimization has been referred to as a "talent" by some. It merely involves writing copy to your internet site or webpage that's formulated to consume advantage of what we know around the search engines.
Of course, nobody knows everything about them. The way that they rank sites and pages changes in accordance with some strange algorithm that no one seems to understand. But, we do know some things.
We know that as soon as a net visitor types in a term or phrase into the research box, a list of websites that include that word or phrase will arrive up. These days, you'll find often millions of results. Years ago, there was a tiny a smaller amount competition.
In order to acquire an "edge" on the competition, with out truly paying for outside or world-wide-web advertising, we study what phrases persons are looking for. There are several various methods to try and do the keyword research. A single is wordtracker.com
Let's say that you just sell leashes for dogs and you've a website, but you are not attracting significantly business. You possibly can go to wordtracker.com and kind in "dogs".
That, including a list of related phrases, would pop up in about a minute. After a bit of research, you will end up using a list of ten phrase sets, all related to dogs and their leashes. You would use that list to begin using look for engine SEO to increase your website's page ranking.
In order to complete that, you'd write copy that includes the ten phrases. You could include all ten on one page or include 10 pages, each containing one on the phrases. If the phrases are included many times, you improve your chances of owning a greater page ranking, hopefully near the top from the list, before the other million corporations that sell dog leashes.
That was basically all that was needed for organic look for engine SEO until recently. Over the years, the research engines have "learned" to identify spam sites. If your site has no true content, but includes the exact same key phrase dozens of times, it'll be recognized as spam and will not rank high from the engines.
So, you can't go overboard in the keywords any additional and your site have to contain some true content. Very big websites, like Wikipedia, get some of the highest rankings per page, since they are regarded as "expert" websites by the engines.
Many enterprise persons take in advantage from the rankings earned by older sites with plenty of pages, such as ezinearticles.com, by publishing articles or blog posts related towards solutions that they sell. The content adhere towards old and new research engine SEO guidelines, by for example the key phrase several times, but not virtually adequate to qualify as spam. So, now you know the basics, but we continue to learn, as time goes by.
Organic Look for Engine SEO Yesterday and These days - Check Out <a href="http://seodestiny.com/">search engine seo</a> and <a href="http://seodestiny.com/">seo reseller</a>
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New Unique Article!
Title: Organic Research Engine SEO Yesterday and These days
Author: Ganesh Hardy
Email: [email protected]
Keywords: search engine seo,seo reseller,seo,search engine optimization,internet marketing,internet,ecommerce,marketing,entertainment,education,blogs websites,internet,article
Word Count: 489
Category: SEO
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Thursday, August 16, 2012
The Queen's Vow: A Novel of Isabella of Castile
C.W. Gortner is a friend of mine on Facebook and I was pleased to make his acquaintance. I have already reviewed The Last Queen and The Tudor Secret. He also wrote The Confessions of Catherine de Medici which is also fabulous. It has been a little bit since my last entry, I was re reading Madame Tussuad by Michelle Moran. This book is a novel about Isabella of Castile; I was first familiar with her because of her daughter Catelina who married Arthur and then King Henry VIII. Since I am quite familiar with The Tudor period I first heard of her and Fernando of Aragon. My first impression of her was a warrior queen, which isn't far off.
The book starts out with the death of her father, King John II of Castile. Her mother, the Queen Isabella of Portugal, takes her two children Isabella and Alfonso with her to Arevalo. They live there in seclusion and peace while their half brother Enrique is king. They know one day their peace will be shattered and he will come for them. Their mother has to be cared for as she is prone to despair and depression and often goes into a deep melancholy that only Isabella can get her out of. Archbishop Carrillo of Toledo helped her mother escape with the children and has worked for them tirelessly. Isabella's friend and lady in waiting Beatriz is with her all the time. Soon a letter comes announcing the birth of a daughter to King Enrique and his wife Queen Juana. They were invited without their mother to be at the babe's baptism. While at court, Isabella quickly realizes how her whole world has changed. She was used to just one woman waiting on her and the privacy and seclusion of her old home. There she runs into Fernando from Aragon. Both families shared Trastamara blood, but as enemies Castile and Aragon waged war against one another. The hope was one day to put an Aragonese prince on Castile's throne.
Enrique is painfully obvious that he is not as good a king as his father was, and soon rumors are spread about that his sole child is illegitimate. Soon Castile is involved in civil war between her brother Alfonso who has disappeared, and her half brother Enrique. Isabella is watched closely while the war goes on. Queen Juana is so hateful towards her believing she knew about this and was helping her brother. Carrillo had gone with Alfonso, and Isabella had no doubt he put him up to this. Forced to grow up fast, Isabella realizes during these times that she will have to take her destiny into her own hands. Enrique is being poisoned by those around him and she worries for her brother's life should he be found and her own. They try marrying her off to Queen Juana's brother King Afonso to get her out of the way and basically deserted. Her father had put in his will that her marriage had to be approved by the Cortes before her marriage, and this is what saved her momentarily. A proposed alliance between the heir Joanna and Alfonso fell apart, while Alfonso's supporters seized numerous provinces. The King didn't have much left; the land was devastated and the people suffering. Alfonso's army is spotted and he is victorious. They return to Arevalo to see their mother first before doing anything else. On their way back to Segovia, Alfonso dies they believe from poisoning.
Isabella is now the heir to the throne. She hides in a convent to process everything that is going on while the grandees wait to approach her. She wishes for peace and desires for her half brother Enrique to still rule and would be content to be named his heir until his death. Then she would be queen of Castile. In the meantime she had been in correspondence with Fernando and set in motions their betrothal. This way she could unite the two countries and claim her right to Castile. It is not long before Enrique tries to betray her again and goes against his word. Isabella is taken to Ocana where she is armed with 200 men to keep her from escaping. She gave her word to Enrique that she wouldn't. With the help of Beatriz, Carrillo among others she is able to escape to Valladolid. While waiting for Fernando to come Isabella tried to keep her wits about her. Their dispensation arrives from the pope just in time for them to wed as they are second cousins. After giving birth to a daughter, Enrique disinherits her. The people everywhere were in an uproar. By 1472 more than half of Castile's fourteen major townships were in their grasp, thanks to Fernando; by now most the grandees were in support of Isabella and Fernando. Isabel is four years old when she finally meets with Enrique again.
The king's lover had passed away and it looked like he wasn't faring too well himself. Not long after their meeting he dies of a stomach pain. Isabella still has to contend with the dead king's latest lover, who was also the son of Villena. Joanna she will also have to contend with as well one day, the child still believed she was her father's true daughter. Juana was put in a convent with another bastard child where she could no longer wreak her havoc. Together Isabella and Fernando rule and are best known for helping the cause of Christopher Columbus. Isabella was known for being deeply religious and believing she did the work of God. As Christians, she tried to purge Spain of conversos that weren't true to the faith. A converso is one that pretended obedience to Christianity when they really were Jews. The Spanish Inquisition came and many were killed. She was also responsible for expelling the Jews unless they converted. Her goal was to expel the infidels and bring Spain under one crown, one country and one faith. They were at war for over 10 years and finally captured Granada.
Queen Isabella had five children- Isabel, much later her only son Juan, Joanna, then Maria and Catelina or Catherine. In Castile she made her husband Fernando equal to her; they just recognized her as queen and him as consort. It would haunt her husband after her death that he was not equal to his wife, if you read The Last Queen. They were very much in love and together made a kind of Renaissance state. She believed in education even of women; female scholars in Spain were allowed to teach. When she came to the throne, which was not expected being the third child, it was impoverished and divided. Some of her actions such as expelling the Jews she is widely criticized for having done so. It is said she didn't attend a single burning of a heretic. Being so religious no doubt led her to her actions, believing she was God's annointed and therefore owed him her very best.
As usual it is hard for me to review a book with so much depth and information. I think the author did a good job but it almost seemed to fall short or end too quickly. When I don't personally feel like I like the main character it can also be hard to get really into it. I wasn't particularly drawn to this character because of her religious beliefs and how she persecuted so many because of it. The book did show her trying to go back and forth so it makes you wonder if she made those decisions lightly or was persuaded to. Her daughter 'Juana the Mad' can be read about in The Last Queen. I recommend if you are a fan of the author and/or this time period.
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
`Cosby' equals Obama election? Cosby mulls it over
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer AP - Thursday, November 13
"I pulled out the pictures, pulled the curtain shut. And I said, `You guys are gonna vote.' And they did, on one piece of paper," Cosby said.
He couldn't resist delivering a punch line for fellow voters in Shelburne Falls, Mass. _ "I yelled out, `How do you spell plumber?'" _ even as he exulted in casting his ballot for the first African-American president.
There's an argument circulating that "The Cosby Show" laid the groundwork for President-elect Barack Obama by presenting an appealing black family, the Huxtables, to young TV viewers who grew up equipped to thwart stereotypes and barriers.
Writer Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez called her theory "the Huxtable effect," a counter to the so-called Bradley effect (named for failed black California gubernatorial hopeful Tom Bradley) of possible hidden racism among white voters.
"I was amazed when the young woman's theory came through," said Cosby. It sounds plausible, he mused, recalling the show's immense popularity and the many times that fans said Cliff Huxtable reminded them of their dad _ their white dad.
But he chafes at what he calls the "Karl Rovian" interpretation, referring to the Republican strategist's Election Night comment on Fox News that viewers embraced the Huxtables as "America's family" and not a black one.
"The reason why he's in the White House is Cosby? No, no, no," Cosby said.
He cites Obama's account of being woken early to do his homework and his mother's refusal to brook any complaints. Cosby bows as well to Michelle Obama and her father, who refused special treatment despite multiple sclerosis.
"This is what Michelle and Barack are made of, the things they see" in their parents, he said.
It was Cosby's firm belief in parental responsibility _ and aggravation over '80s programs _ that shaped the creation of "The Cosby Show," out this week in a boxed DVD set of the complete series.
"I was not happy with what we used to call family TV in those days. ... They had all these shows where you just dropped to one knee and fired, then a car blew up or a plant blew up _ all this dopamine-raising violence," he said.
"The situation comedies were failing because they had children seemingly who had taken over the house. In a sense, TV comedy writers and producers had decided they would no longer have a family where grown people were making corrections and kids were going through ... `Leave It to Beaver' type things," he said.
The idea for a show where "the parents weren't losing to the kids" was rejected by other networks before NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff bought a revamped version of it, with the original blue-collar family now morphed into affluent professionals.
"The Cosby Show" starred the comedian as a mellow physician who, with his lawyer-wife Clair (Phylicia Rashad), kept a loving, firm hand on their five children.
Tartikoff knew that Cosby, a recording, movie and TV star (with shows including the 1960s "I Spy," in which he was the first black star of a drama series), was funny and likable.
"And Tartikoff also said, `What I like about this show is dignity. The family has dignity,'" Cosby recalled. "And what's odd about it is it was just natural for me. Because what I wanted, the only thing I wanted, was to stop these children on TV from running the house."
Wasn't he also intent on shattering racial stereotypes?
"Look, I'm already black," Cosby said, so pressing the race issue "gets to be stupid after all."
But, he adds, "What I did have in mind was that the images that you see on television are not the behaviors of Americans who are black. Racism is so stupid, but it is and it does exist. Period."
Its many fans had no reservations about embracing the story of a modern family with bedrock traditions, always infused with Cosby's droll humor and indelibly puckish grin. "The Cosby Show" was the nation's top-rated prime-time program for five years.
And then there's the tantalizing suggestion that the echoes of a sitcom long in reruns changed presidential history _ an idea that Cosby can't resist playing with.
"I'm just waiting to see what Bart Simpson's people are going to do at the next election," he said.
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Month: January 2014
Norovirus Outbreak- What You Need to Know
What is it? Virus that causes acute gastroenteritis in humans. How would I get Infected? You ingest (swallow) the virus by viral particles from feces or vomit entering your mouth. The virus incubates for 24-48 hours after ingestion, depending partially
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What Hammer Do I Use to Build a Fence?
A fence-building hammer is medium weight and can pull nails.
If you think that a hammer is a hammer, you'll probably be surprised at the variety of manifestations of this indispensable carpentry tool. You don't need the same hammer for fence building that you do for framing, but you wouldn't use a tap hammer, either. A fence-building hammer is between these extremes.
What You Don't Need
The large variety of hammer styles bespeaks the multiple uses people have for this tool. When it comes to large-scale woodwork projects, the choices narrow to framing hammers, rip hammers and nailing hammers. Framing and rip hammers are typically heavy -- as much as 24 ounces -- and have long handles and checkered faces. They allow you to drive nails quickly with the understanding that damaging the surface of the wood is acceptable. They aren't the type of hammer you need for building a fence.
What You Do Need
Nailing hammers have smooth faces and weigh in the neighborhood of 16 to 20 ounces. They have claws, which is a necessity when fence building because you have many opportunities to pull nails. The handle isn't as long as that of a framing hammer, which makes a nailing hammer easier to swing. Any type of nailing hammer, whether it has a curved or straight claw, is suitable for fence building. Choose the weight that is most comfortable for you to handle.
About the Author
Photo Credits
• Ryan McVay/Stockbyte/Getty Images
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Using Feelings Glasses to Teach Kids About Emotions
Feelings Glasses
Feelings Glasses is a great game to use to teach a group of kids, teens or adults what it looks like when we express emotions. In fact. one of the keys to teaching kids about emotions is helping them to recognize how those emotions make them look and act. Like any good “role-playing” exercises, Feelings Glasses mixes exaggeration and fun with learning. Here’s how it works:
1. Buy a few pairs of different colored glasses. I got mine at a party store around Halloween for a couple of dollars each, but I’ve also seen them at various dollar stores and Hobby Lobby in a variety of colors. I purchased six different colors (orange, blue, green, red, yellow and purple). You can definitely get by with fewer pairs, but if you want to do the exercise with more kids or multiple groups, it’s nice to have more choices.
2. Select kids to come up on put on each pair of glasses. You may want to participate as well to “keep things moving along.”
3. Explain to the kids that each pair of glasses represents a different emotion (start with basic emotions, but feel free to mix it up as the kids get older and as they learn more emotions). Sticking with the theme of the movie Inside Out, let’s make
• Blue represent sadness.
• Yellow equals joy.
• Red for anger.
• Green can be disgust.
• Purple equates to fear.
• We’ll leave orange out for purposes of this example, but you could keep it for yourself and let it represent sarcasm (which is not an emotion but can be helpful for keeping the exercise moving). Other ideas include, “Orange has to copy whatever emotion the last person who spoke had.” or “Orange is not allowed to speak but has to physically express the emotions of the person who is speaking.” Use your imagination!
4. Explain the rules of the game
• You will give the kids a scenario.
• They have to act out the scenario.
• They can only express things using the emotion represented by their glasses.
5. Lay out a scenario for the kids. Try to be specific enough to get the ball rolling but not so detailed that you stifle creativity.
6. After the exercise is over, talk about each emotion and what the kids noticed.
Alternate Ways to Play
Some kids have trouble improvising a scene. You may need to help them along. Alternatively, you can propose an individual situation (rather than something to the group), and each person has to react to that prompt using their emotions. Play with the idea and figure out what works best with your group.
Feelings Glasses are a great way for a group of kids to have fun together and learn at the same time!
This idea was adapted from a game originally found on Their version, which is geared specifically at school teachers, is great too if you want to give it a try.
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Futomaki with mushrooms How to make Sushi
Step 1: Ingredients:
- pre-cooked sushi rice
- mushrooms
- 1 avocado
- 1 cucumber
- 1 nori sheet
Step 2: Slice the cucumber into thin stripes.
Step 3: Cut the avocado lengthwise into half, peel it and remove the seed.
Step 4: Slice each half into thin strips.
Step 5: Cut the mushrooms into 2 or 3 parts.
Step 7: Put cucumber strip on the rice layer.
Step 8: Then put several avocado strips.
Step 9: Put mushrooms along the entire length.
Step 10: Roll to the end of rice layer.
Step 11: Moisture the nori edge so that it becomes sticky. Instead of that you can flatten 4-5 rice grains on it.
Step 13: Cut both halves into four parts so that there are 8 pieces. You should use wet knife for each cut.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009
UNCG and the Big Picture (part 2)
For the next part, we went up Walker Avenue to the Stone Building, McIver Building, and (our big topic right now) the Sullivan Science Building. Now, we will return to the Stone Building for the final part because there's a mystery behind this building and Walker Avenue that we shall explore later. Now, the Science Building is a special building to UNCG. It was built in 2005 and named for Patricia Sullivan. This sideview of the building shows that UNCG must love their history because this building is a powerful part of the building! Now, it's a little hard to tell with this picture, but this combines the future and the past together. The building shows it all! On one side, you see a white wall with the futuristic part. Can you guess what it is? It's the glass windows that makeshifts for walls too! Still, the building goes back to its roots with the pitch roof and the brick building. It's very interesting to see because I believe that this building represents the value changes in UNCG from a small, isolated university to a diverse, historic campus that believes in the history of a university.
Now, we move on to one of the most popular buildings on the UNCG campus, the Music Building. The Music Building is the building that took the music curriculum away from the Brown Building, hence the name. The building is a more recent building, but not as young as the Science building. Now, this building defies all the rules of the UNCG buildings. For one thing, this building has round areas unlike the rest of the buildings. The inside will explain more of this. As you can already see, this building truly represents the switch in values. The columns turn from the round, old-fashioned style of Brown and changes into a cartoonish style of columns. It's almost as if the columns could blend in with the wall. Now, we'll move inside and see the big differences and why I have a theory about the structure of this building.
First, this is where we came in. This is the top of a column that was a bulletin board. Now, there's nothing out of the ordinary here really. The design, though, is very interesting. Ity's a very artistic piece that shows a interest in the arts. Now, the reaosn why I brought this up is because this column with a bulletin board and the statue on top is what we call a beat. If you remember from my last blog, a beat is a place where many people cross and use this area. Also, it leads to a theory that maybe the university is trying to be funny with this building, which I'll explain in due time.
The floor of the Music Building is a funny factor in the theory of the non-uniformity. I wish I had a better picture of the floor because this is amazing in itself. It's all not the same color or the same design. It has lines that look like vibrations that come off the columns and other objects on the floor. Also, there's a special hallway that fits the bill perfectly. The hall has blocks on the floor right beside displays on the walls. Now, I thought that this would be like the Foust building windows and it made a puzzle, but something was missing. Now, in order for this to fit the bill of a puzzle, it has to be on all parts of the hall, wall or ceiling. This case, there was nothing on the ceiling. So, all this has led me to believe that for this building, all rules of UNCG building were thrown out the window. Non-uniformity was the key for this building. Why? I believe that it is to show that music and the arts are becoming a bigger part of the UNCG community and society. Also, UNCg wanted to show that they're grasping the future by this one building. So, if there is a bigger expansion, then will the buildings look more like this or the Science Building? Only time will tell. To be Continued in the mystery of Walker Avenue!! Onward we go!!
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