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22 April 2012 Beyond calories in, calories out -- look to the Amish What is wrong with "eat less, move more"? Most of us are familiar with this mantra as weight-loss advice. However, a new consensus statement from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) and the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) contends that this energy-in-energy-out framework isn't really so simple. The problem lies in that consuming fewer calories and burning more through physical activity doesn’t always translate well to weight management. That is not to say that the framework of energy balance—negative energy balance for weight loss; positive energy balance for weight—is wrong. At some level, it’s right; however, several factors come into the equation. During a Saturday morning session of Experimental Biology (#EB2012) in San Diego, Calif., researchers discussed the topic of this complexity and promoting a new paradigm on energy balance. Energy balance is not just about addition of diet and exercise; each affects the other, so that changing one changes the others, explained Jim Hill, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, and new recipient of the W.O. Atwater Lectureship awarded by the American Society for Nutrition. What must be appreciated is the body's system of active regulation, he said. "It's not just a little man in your head that," he said, adding that the body may rely on a 'set point' or 'settling point' type of system that attempts to balance energy, energy stores, glucose, glycogen, fat stores, and temperature. "You might argue that up to the 1970s, the system worked pretty well," Hill said. "This whole system is based on inherited factors. If you look at what’s really changed since the 70s, it's really the environmental factors. We don't have to hunt and kill our food anymore. We go to the supermarket and fill our carts. We also sit in some form of fashion every day." Obesity, a problem of overwhelmed "active regulation" Most of these environmental influences are designed to increase energy intake. It becomes more difficult to avoid overeating and underactivity. These influences, summed up, overwhelm active regulation and the body’s energy balance system. Then the body's physiology adjusts. Are there things in the food supply that cause to eat more? Are they influences that affect our brains and nervous system? Hill said that however they may affect us, it is still through energy balance. He said he "laughs every time" he sees studies questioning whether the rise of obesity epidemic is related to energy intake or expenditure. "Diet and physical activity interact," he said. "Please don't ask if it's diet or physical activity. The answer is 'yes'." What wrong with diets? No matter which diet, Hill said, the results are always the same: Body weight may increase, may not change, or may decrease. The inconsistent outcomes may be because of poor compliance, physical activity, metabolic rate differences, or food intake adjustments. Eventually, what goes wrong is that environment affects behavior so strongly that over time that people are gaining a little weight. They don’t gain a lot, but they gain about a pound or two a year with some push back from their active regulation systems. One way to combat the obesity epidemic is by encouraging an environment more like that of a half a century ago, Hill said. How the old order Amish live today is a good example. "The Amish walk 18 thousand steps a day. They don’t have spandex or a gym membership. That explains about 400 to 600 calories a day. A typical person in the U.S. walks only five to six thousand steps a day," Hill said. Hill suggests preventing weight gain with small steps—or, more specifically, 2 thousand steps daily. "We have a poor ability to maintain weight loss, but we have a better ability to prevent weight loss,” he said. “This is why we started a movement to move. Two-thousand steps a day is not going to create weight loss, but might prevent weight gain." What role can small changes play in an environment where we need bigger systemic changes? Hill argues that it will "set the table" for bigger change. Another factor may be that it may help to improve performance or "reset" active regulation. "Our biology works best at high levels of physical activity. Obesity is in the 'unregulated zone.' When physical activity increases, you enter 'regulated zone'. Physical activity may help the 'regulatory system' work better." Until bigger changes can be created in the environment, Hill is a fan of "stealth health" strategies for reducing obesity. That is, finding ways of encouraging better energy in, energy out balance without the public noticing. For example, Hill explains, at Disney parks and at Starbucks, drinks are now made with low-fat milk. Does anyone notice the difference? What about portion sizes? Would anyone notice a 5 percent reduction at restaurants? Another idea Hill proposed was that of regulation of school drop offs—so that they would be 500 steps away from the school. Would it be so far that the children would notice a difference? The implementation of these "stealth health" strategies would increase physical activity and reduce overeating. Combined with teaching children energy balance skills, it could reduce childhood and overall obesity. What also may be important is to combine both diet and physical activity guidelines for society? But how can this be achieved when studies show that energy balance is such a dynamic versus static process? Learn more about the questions raised about energy balance at Experimental Biology from the American Society for Nutrition’s cover page story in Nutrition Notes Daily.
Takashi Uesugi, who says he is an ex-journalist and now a "hyper golf creator" (whatever that means), went inside the no-entry zone in Fukushima (I believe it was in May or June) with his dosimeters to ostensibly visit his favorite golf course in Fukushima. Mr. Uesugi, former New York Times reporter, created the bilingual (Japanese/English) video below, which is on his website, as a teaser for the longer, full version to be released later. In the early days of the Fukushima nuclear accident, he was more active, accusing the government and TEPCO for withholding the information about the accident, particularly about the "meltdown" of the reactors. On his visit to his favorite golf course, Uesugi also dropped by near Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. His dosimeter showed 106.87 microsieverts/hour. What's astonishing to me about the video than the radiation level (yes it is high) is that Uesugi visited a family who continues to live inside the no-entry zone because of the very old mother who is bed-ridden. The daughter, herself in her 60s or 70s, says even the doctors tell them it was a good choice to remain there, because her mother wouldn't have made it in the temporary shelter. But there is no water, no gas, no propane delivery, nothing. How do these people survive? Why should they suffer like this? Because of the arbitrary circle that the inept government marked on the map in March last year. But the daughter is reassuring the mother, "This is your house, you don't need to go anywhere." Many who saw this video are crying "TEPCO lies!" on Twitter because one of the monitoring posts at the plant on July 12 was only 9.3 microsieverts/hour, nowhere near 106 microsieverts/hour that Uesugi measured. That is an unjust accusation, though. TEPCO says on its webpage that summarizes the monitoring post data that the company did the thorough decontamination from February to April this year around the the monitoring posts MP2 through 8 in order to reduce the background radiation levels to better monitor the radiation fluctuations. The radiation level near the Main Building has been extremely stable around 220 microsieverts/hour.
The American P-61 Black Widow nightfighter enjoyed an inauspicious start to its combat operations in the ETO. Some believed the P-61 was too slow to effectively engage in combat with German fighters and medium bombers, a view which the RAF apparently shared, based on the performance of a single P-61 they had received in early May. And in one of the Black Widow’s first engagements over northern Europe during August 1944 a 422 NFS P-61 sustained heavy damage attempting to down a Heinkel He 177 bomber. This incident was the subject of an article in Jet & Prop magazine (issue 6/97) entitled " Schwarze Witwe contra Greif " (‘Black Widow versus Griffon’) written and compiled by Michael Balss. The 422nd Night Fighter Squadron was the first P-61-equipped squadron to ship to England and began flying operational missions over England in mid-July 1944. The first P-61 engagement in the European Theatre occurred on July 15 when a P-61 piloted by Lt. Herman Ernst was directed to intercept a V-1 Doodlebug . Diving from above and behind to match the V-1's 350 mph (560 km/h) speed, the P-61's plastic rear cone imploded under the pressure and the attack was aborted. The tail cones would fail on several early P-61 A models before this problem was corrected. On 16 July, Lt. Ernst was again directed to attack a V-1 and, this time, was successful, giving the 422nd NFS and the European Theatre its first P-61 kill. In early August 1944, the 422nd NFS transferred to Maupertus (near Cherbourg, Normandy) and began to encounter German aircraft for the first time. During the late evening of 14 August 1944 Heinkel He 177 bombers of I./KG 40 took off from Schwäbisch Hall to attack Allied targets in France. One of the ‘Greif’ bombers was the 2. Staffel machine coded F8+AN, Werknummer 550077, flown by Hptm. Stolle. Stolle’s crew reported that the night was ‘clear and light, in fact it was too light..’ The silhouettes of further 2. Staffel He 177s flying in loose formation could be clearly made out from F8+AN. The first part of the mission was uneventful. The flight engineer Fw. R takes up the story; "..it was shortly before half past midnight. I had just carried out my instrument checks and was about to make my report to Hptm. Stolle when our tail gunner Uffz. Fabinger shouted over the EiV (Eigenverständigung - crew intercom), “ Achtung! Lightning at 6 o’clock. Maintain heading, I’m opening fire. ” At the same time we felt the fuselage shudder as Fabinger’s 2 cm cannon opened up. Fabinger was soon reporting “ .I’ve hit him, he’s alight, his starboard engine is on fire, he’s going down. Abschuß!.." The two other He 177s witnessed the downing (Abschußbestätigung) and confirmed it north of Bafleur (sic), France..(Barfleur, Normandy). The rest of the flight was quiet. Over the target there was some flak, but nothing in our direction and it was around 04:00 when we landed back in Schwäbisch Hall and were able to congratulate our gunner on his success.." In fact the ‘Lightning at 6 o’ clock’ was a P 61 A "Black Widow" flown by 2nd Lt Lewis A. Gordon (pilot) and 2nd Lt Creel H. Morrison of the 422nd NFS. The Black Widow pilot wrote an account for his niece Allison Gordon in an unpublished memoir entitled "War in the Night Sky"; "..On my eleventh mission, 14 August 1944, we were doing a night patrol over the English Channel, and we got a bogie. So they put us on a heading to intercept, and pretty soon my RO says, "I got him". And we called GCI, and said, "We have him." We closed in, and my RO would tell me, gentle port, gentle starboard, increase your speed, decrease your speed. And he brought me in..Unfortunately he saw me before I saw him, and his tail gunner cut loose knocking out my starboard engine which immediately caught fire.." The P-61 pilot Al Gordon continued; “ Some of the enemy fire entered the top of my canopy, and lodged in and exploded the hydraulic reservoir just above and behind my head. That knocked out part of the hydraulic system. Fortunately the P-61 controls didn't operate hydraulically; they were operated by cables. So the hydraulic failure didn't affect the ‘flyability’ of the plane. My first reaction was complete shock—they didn’t tell us about this! Then all the training kicked in and I proceeded to function. I was scared, of course. I'd have to be a liar to say I wasn't. But I was so damn busy, trying to fly the aircraft at that point that I really didn't have much time to think about it. But I knew that I was in trouble, and I was trying to work my way out of it. I could communicate with my RO over the radio, but in hindsight I should have talked more, because he didn't know what the hell I was doing, and he was scared to death...So here I am, a flamer, 50 miles out over the English Channel. I feathered the starboard engine right away-- I did the right thing there. And I dove it a little bit to gain speed, and put the fire out. My radio was still somewhat operational, so GCI vectored me back. My guess is that it might have been fifteen minutes before we reached the airfield, but it seemed like a long, long time. I came in on one engine, and I lowered my landing gear, not realizing that my nose wheel had been shot out from under me. Considering everything, it was a good landing, except that when it came time for the nose wheel to drop, there was no nose wheel. So I skidded on the front of the plane to a stop..." Impatient Widow" # 91, tail number 42-5591 had its starboard engine shot out along with oil lines and hydraulics. Arriving back at their base in Maupertus the nose-wheel failed to come down but the crew escaped the ensuing crash-landing unscathed, with damage assessed as CAT B/E. The Widow’s fuselage, engines and other salvageable equipment were used for spares of which the ETO Black Widow squadrons had little during their time in northern Europe. “Nobody was hurt, but I learned a valuable lesson on that mission. Never come in for an attack from the rear, shallow—so the tail gunner can see you. Rather you synchronize speed and heading well below the bogie, then identify, drop back, and shoot. The important thing is to live beyond an experience like this and of course learn from it. One tends to be a little more cautious, increasing one’s chances of lasting through the war.” Back in Germany Fabinger was awarded the EK 1 for his alertness, marksmanship and observational prowess. As the unnamed flight engineer Fw. R reported ; “ Fabinger had almost certainly saved the aircraft and our lives. The pictures were taken two days later and we proudly painted a victory marking on the tail fin of the He 177 which was surmounted with an American star. (photo below) I don’t know what became of Fabinger – the crew was split up towards the end of the war and was dispersed to the four winds..” At that stage of the war the P-61 was a fairly ‘rare’ type, almost certainly completely unknown to the Luftwaffe He 177 crews, so as Balss makes clear, researching the actual circumstances of this incident from the German side posed considerable difficulties. The story was not complete until the discovery of a USAAF photo depicting ‘Impatient Widow’ following its crash landing – the official caption; ‘This P-61 returned home safely after combat with a Heinkel He 177 on the night of 15 August. The He 177 did not escape unscathed..”
Open and generous, Ann Coulter enjoys a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and she thrives on sociability and fellowship. She is adventurous, playful, freedom loving, and always ready for a good time. Coulter rarely allows obstacles or difficulties to keep her down, for no matter how bleak the past or present, Ann always expects a better, brighter future. In fact, she is uncomfortable with her own or other people's problems and emotional pain. Ann Coulter often tries to "cheer up" or offer philosophical advice to those who are hurting, but she unwittingly avoids or ignores the emotions involved. Friendship means a great deal to Coulter, perhaps even more than love relationships or romance. For Ann Coulter to be happy, her mate must be her best friend and encourage Ann's aspirations and ideals. Ann Coulter also needs a great deal of emotional freedom and mobility. Coulter works well with the public and has an instinct for what the public wants and will respond to. Having a "nest" is not especially important to Ann, and she may invest more of her emotional energy into her career or public life than in her private life. Providing and caring for others, in a professional capacity is very likely. She is uninhibited and spontaneous and will often do something unexpected or humorous in order to loosen people up and get them out of their rut. Ann Coulter craves emotional stimulation, excitement, surprises and anything new. Coulter also loves to feel free and unfettered. In love relationships, Ann Coulter seeks companionship and friendship with someone who is fun loving, playful and open to adventure and new experiences. She enjoys traveling together, meeting new people and making new friends. Honeymooning in a distant location appeals to Ann, and she is also attracted to foreigners or people with diametrically different backgrounds than her own. Ann Coulter supports her partner in taking risks and making positive changes, rather than preserving the status quo. She also very much wants a partner who will encourage her own aspirations and dreams. It is very important to Ann that she have a spiritual or intellectual rapport with her love partner, perhaps more important than the emotional/physical aspect. Ann Coulter is not especially sentimental and her love partner may feel that she is too casual and not serious or romantic enough. Ann is attracted to foreigners, exotic places, traveling, and to people who can expand her horizons, teach her something, or show Coulter places and worlds she has never experienced before. Sharing a philosophy or ideal with her love partner is important to her. Also, Ann Coulter feels love and kinship for people everywhere, not only with her own family, nationality, or group. Finding similarities and making links between people from differing backgrounds or with different perspectives is a gift of hers. Ann Coulter loves to laugh, celebrate, and to enjoy herself with her companions. Emotionally open and easygoing, Ann considers just about anyone a friend or potential friend. Her good humor and friendliness make her quite popular and well-liked. At times, Ann Coulter overdoes the festivities, but she rarely regrets this. Her love feelings are easily aroused and her romantic relationships begin with a sudden electric attraction, but they often end abruptly, and Coulter may be in and out of love relationships - especially in her younger years. Ann Coulter craves emotional excitement and needs to feel spontaneous and free, so she may avoid making firm personal commitments. Unusual or nontraditional forms of love and relationships appeal to Coulter, and she is attracted to unique, creative or unstable people. Somewhat over-enthusiastic in matters of love relationships, Ann Coulter could fall in love with the wrong person. She may be too selfless and have the illusion that her only need in relationships is to make the other person happy, leading to disappointments and regrets. It is easy for Ann Coulter to show others the love she feels for them and she talks freely to them about her feelings. Ann likes nice surroundings and wants to beautify her environment as quickly as possible, once she has come up with an idea to do so. Astrological factors in this Astro Profile section: Moon in Sagittarius Moon in 10th house Moon Trine Uranus Venus in Sagittarius Venus in 9th house Venus Sextile Jupiter Venus Square Uranus Venus Conjunct Moon/Neptune Venus Opposition Uranus/Asc.
The Mittelalterliche Burgfestspiele - Medieval Fest was put on by the Ronneburg Castle Preservation Society and the present owners. The Fest was great! There were several shows including medieval music performed by Mosswood, tightrope clowns, a jester's troop, and several skits performed by a traveling theatrical group. We liked the skits the best of all. They had everything; tavern scenes, knights, cannons, sword fights and all. The German fighters were so intense and really seemed to be going after each other. We rooted for a formidable man with a beard that put Blackbeard's to shame. Sparks were flying from his sword blows. One of the fighters' sword point broke off and arced through the air into the spectators. Not to worry, New Mexico Man snatched the projectile from mid-air with his lightning speed. Compared to American safety standards, it seemed quite reckless. However, as observers imaging ourselves back in time we found it to be Super! After the skits, we wandered the grounds, we drank sourmash, and we ate flatbread with dried onions and yogurt sauce. We watched chainmail smiths, blacksmiths, coin smiths, etc., work their trades. I climbed the Central Tower rising high above the castle via endless winding spiral stone steps and wooden ladders up to the crowning dome designed by a Welsh stone mason. Stepping off of the final rung revealed spectacular views of the surrounding country-side. Spent a bit too much time up top to escape notice and were given a replica Medieval coin newly minted at the event. All in all one of our favorite days! Most people are afraid of flying sparks. Admit it, I am Fearless.
[Ffmpeg-devel] FFMpeg as shared library Fri Jun 17 16:14:49 CEST 2005 I wrote a small program that makes use of ffmpeg libavcodec and libavformat. I compiled ffmpeg with but when I compile my program I get an executable around 8-9 MB in size. If I compile ffmpeg with --disable-shared I get the same size for my program. I compile my prog with this flags: -lavcodec -lavformat How can I solve this? do I have to compile ffmpeg with some other flag? More information about the ffmpeg-devel
Chinese Film Funds: A Cookie Without A Fortune Over the past couple of years, a number of sovereign funds have emerged in China, initially to exploit the television arena, and once that proved responsive, a new focus was directed on movie production. The number of theater screens has increased an impressive 50% in the past two years, proving that there are fast-growing outlets available for new content to be seen by Chinese audiences. Unfortunately, the indigenous, government-backed film industry can’t survive on the intermittent successes of its big budget, mega-epic, sword-wielding, martial arts blockbusters, and the Government has therefore been looking to attract foreign productions to the country (the bigger the better). This is seen as mandatory to China’s long-term media success. Providing production services for foreign producers wishing to access cheap labor in China is certainly a win-win that helps satisfy the country’s mandate to provide jobs and training to their local film industry, while also providing a pipeline for mainstream, commercial movies that can fill its quickly multiplying theaters. Recognizing that a reliance on foreign productions is never a good model for sustainability, the Chinese government has taken the extra step of subsidizing investment funds specializing in financing independent films. These sovereign-backed film funds (some which are “managed” by Hollywood insiders) are tasked with structuring Co-Productions with movie producers such that selected projects are provided with early stage, development funding; once the potential for a film’s success becomes tangible to a fund’s directors, additional money is allocated for its production. The country’s largest film studio, China Film Group (CFGC), has a strong hand in the expansion of these programs. The China Film Co-Production Corporation, a subsidiary of CFGC, is responsible for 100% of foreign co-productions (known as Sino-foreign co-productions). According to the CFCC website, a Sino-foreign co-production is defined as a “contractual arrangement between a foreign party and a SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) accredited Chinese party to conduct filming in China.” What’s important to note is that the China Film Group maintains not only the country’s largest studio, but also full control of a wide distribution network that owns a majority of China’s screens. This means that the “private” Chinese studios are forced to compete with the federal government to make the next big blockbuster. SARFT, meanwhile, maintains ultimate control as the governing authority for any Sino-foreign co-production. To facilitate this, SARFT has appointed the China Film Co-Production Corporation as it’s “sole agent to assist in managing and coordinating the applications, conducting preliminary review of the screenplay and completed film, and other logistical matters relating to Sino-foreign co-productions.” Translation: The Chinese government ultimately controls everything. Go back five years, and you’ll recall a time when hedge fund money was pouring into the coffers of studios and fly-by-night film funds. Movies were being made because they could be, not because they should be. Major, Mini-Major, and Independent films flooded the market. Distributors had their pick of the litter, but it wasn’t a very pretty litter at that. After passing on those films that shouldn’t have been made, the distributors were still saturated with films trying to find a market. The bubble popped, the music stopped. In the U.S., many high budget films with recognizable stars ended up going straight to DVD/VOD. Hundreds of millions of investment dollars evaporated almost overnight. Fast forward to today, each week somebody new seems to have a Chinese film fund in their back pocket, looking for films with Chinese themes, that can be partially shot in China. China-centric finance plans are combing the streets, looking for Chinese-esque movies. You can be sure screenplays all over town are being rewritten in order to qualify as Chinese Co-Productions. These new funds all claim to have money in the bank; so why then, despite all the hype and hope, are we not seeing movies actually going into production? Because the scripts can’t pass censorship. It’s no different than the myriad completed films that can’t get Chinese distribution. He who has the gold makes the rules, and in this case the rules are that the screenplays needs to conform with Chinese political ideology (or at least not question, offend or threaten the governing ideology). With some exceptions, films that meet those criteria tend to not engage mainstream audiences. If indeed these films are going into production, then you will soon see a Sino-bubble rising in the East. This is an alluring prospect for the average US producer who’s just looking to close their next deal. I hear so many producers saying: “…as long as there is some sort of relevant Chinese content…” Appealing as that is, I challenge you to not be the average US producer — be the above-average producer. If you have a compelling project that organically checks all the boxes, then take a shot at some Chinese dough, but thoroughly understand that there are many strings attached, they can move the goal posts at will, their paper is generally not bankable, and you have no legal recourse to sue for anything, period. If your project doesn’t check the boxes, then don’t waste your time pursuing a mirage. You’ll never get that time back.
\|Balthier: I'm afraid the jury's still out on that one.\|\|This article is about a location from a game that's still to be released. As such, some of the information might be inaccurate or likely to change. Please look over our policy for updating articles covering upcoming games before editing this page.\| The Kingdom of Lucis (ルシス王国, Rushisu-Ōkoku?) is a nation in Final Fantasy XV, said to keep the last known crystal in the world. It is described as a nation both highly advanced and developed, and culturally intact, with tradition vibrant and still alive with the "songs of swords and sorcery." Its capital city is Insomnia, a sprawling metropolis. Despite this, all trailers to date have depicted the city as being largely deserted. In the January 2011 trailer, toll gates located outside the city were seen stopping incoming traffic. It is unknown as to why the city may have been on lockdown. Locations within or around the city include Vallis Acerba (Latin for "Harsh Valley") and Nihilsomno (Latin for "Sleepless"). Through the power of its crystal, Lucis is an advanced country. Though its vast power bears great influence, allowing its citizens have a high standard of living, its standing has alienated Lucis from the rest of the world, now controlled mostly by the Empire of Niflheim. Niflheim seeks the last crystal, but Lucis is protected by its King, Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII, the crystal's current guardian, who maintains the shield around the kingdom to repel all enemy attacks toward the nation. Lucis is ruled under a monarchy, whose current ruler is King Regis. His only son, Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, is the heir to the kingdom's throne. The royal family has been compared to a mafia crime family, and are said to have reigned and protected over the kingdom since its ancient beginnings. Regis is around fifty years old, but has aged well beyond that due to maintaining the magic barrier around Lucis. The rapid aging is the unfortunate fate of the king, and Noctis could also meet this fate if he inherits the throne. When a Lucian king dies, their wisdom is passed to the next generation, and thus, the royal line lives on. This accumulated wisdom and power is held within the Ring of the Lucii, the heirloom of the dynasty, and the summoned swords each king can wield are also inherited from his predecessors. Lucis is attacked by Niflheim under the ruse of a peace treaty signing, its soldiers clad in medieval armor and wielding guns. Regis, Noctis, as well as the oracle Lunafreya Nox Fleuret of Tenebrae are reported dead, but in truth Luna escaped to the city of Altissia, and Noctis was not in Insomnia when it was invaded. He embarks on a journey to rendezvous with Luna and save the last crystal. Creation and developmentEdit Lucis is based on Shinjuku, a part of the city of Tokyo. The kingdom is associated with the color black and the motif of a Grim Reaper. In old Final Fantasy Versus XIII material a large Grim Reaper statue held a painting of Etro, but the figure also appears in crests, banners and on the throne. Director Hajime Tabata has explained that black has historically been treated as a special color in Lucis. Thus the attire of the royal family, and those in occupations closely tied to it, wear black. Due to age-rating concerns in some countries, the theme of reaper-worship originally present in Final Fantasy Versus XIII had to be toned down for XV; explicit references were replaced by the use of black as a special color. Etymology and symbolismEdit Tenebrae exists in juxtaposition to Lucis, its name meaning "darkness" in Latin. Lucis's capital of Insomnia is an urbanized metropolis with skyscrapers, neon lights, modern society in modern clothes, whose royals use the Crystal's magic and magical summoned weapons. Tenebrae on the other hand represent an "old school" fantasy kingdom overgrown in nature with floating castles and rock formations with giant physical sword-like pillars around the kingdom, and, judging by Luna, physically carried weapons. Luna, from Tenebrae, dresses in white, whereas Noctis, the prince of Lucis, dresses in black. - In a community-driven Q&A, Tabata called Lucis's government "friendly" when compared to the administration of Japan's current prime minister Shinzō Abe, but stopped short of making exact comparisons. - ↑ TGS 2015: New Final Fantasy XV story beats, chocobos, fishing and more in latest ATR (Accessed: September 18, 2016) at Nova Crystallis - ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/20/final-fantasy-xv-tons-details-jump-festa/ - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Luna shows up as a guest party member in Final Fantasy XV (Accessed: September 18, 2016) at Nova Crystallis - ↑ http://www.finalfantasy.net/xv/final-fantasy-xv-director-japan-expo/ - ↑ 5.0 5.1 Why Noctis and his companions are dressed in black? Hajime Tabata's answer (Accessed: September 18, 2016) at Official Final Fantasy XV Forums - ↑ Final Fantasy XV Japanese community questions answered (Accessed: September 18, 2016) at Gematsu
Bend points are the portions of your average income (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings – AIME) in specific dollar amounts that are indexed each year, based upon an obscure table called the Average Wage Index (AWI) Series. They’re called bend points because they represent points on a graph of your AIME graphed by inclusion in calculating the PIA. If you’re interested in how Bend Points are used, you can see the article on Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA. Here, however, we’ll go over how Bend Points are calculated each year. To understand this calculation, you need to go back to 1979, the year of the Three Mile Island disaster, the introduction of the compact disc and the Iranian hostage crisis. According to the AWI Series, in 1979 the Social Security Administration placed the AWI figure for 1977 at $9,779.44 – AWI figures are always two years in arrears, so for example, the AWI figure used to determine the 2016 bend points is from 2014. With the AWI figure for 1977, it was determined that the first bend point for 1979 would be set at $180, and the second bend point at $1,085. I’m not sure how these first figures were calculated – it’s safe to assume that they are part of an indexing formula set forth quite a while ago. At any rate, now that we know these two numbers, we can jump back to 2014’s AWI Series figure, which is $46,481.52. It all becomes a matter of a formula now: Current year’s AWI Series divided by 1977’s AWI figure, times the bend points for 1979 equals your current year bend points So here is the math for 2010’s bend points: $46,481.52 / $9779.44 = 4.7530 4.7530 * $180 = $855.54, which is rounded up to $856 – the first bend point 4.7530 * $1,085 = $5,157.01, rounded to $5,157 – the second bend point And that’s all there is to it. Hope this helps you understand the bend points a little better. Photo by JennyHuang
No shooting until EVERY member of your cast and crew has signed a contract. Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a startling ruling in a case involving an independent film. In the Innocence of Muslims case, the Court ruled that an actress who played a small role in the film, may assert copyright ownership over her performance, and is thus able to require Google/YouTube to take the film down. That's right. The actress owns a copyright interest in the film. You see, she was working without a contract. When an independent contractor creates a work of original authorship, that contractor, rather than the 'employer' will own the copyright in what's created. Unless there's a written agreement specifying that the results and proceeds of the work are “works made for hire”. So, when the actress learned that the film had changed dramatically from what she thought she it was going to be, she was unhappy. And, because she owns what she created… she was able to get it taken down from YouTube. And, presumably, she can obstruct distribution of the film in other ways. Now, this is a case where “bad facts that make bad law”. She didn't have a contract, and the filmmaker decieved her… bad facts. But, now, we have a binding appellate ruling clearly holding that an actor can own her performance, even when others are responsible for the “fixation” of the material, etc. So, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS get a written contract, signed by each member of your cast and crew. And please don't use deception to induce people to sign these contracts. That won't fly either. Just do things by the book.
Re: Clock skew too great / System vs Hardware clock problem? what does the from/till timestamp in the AS_REQ say ? "Michael B Allen" <[email protected]> wrote in message > I'm trying to diagnose a "Clock skew too great" error between a CentOS > 5.1 client and Windows 2003 R2 ADS. > If we date 'date' on the Linux the time is within a few seconds of the > clock on the Windows server. The Linux machine's /etc/localtime is set > to PST8PDT. The AD server is set to Pacific time. > So now what? > Could it be that the hardware clock and system clock are not in sync?[color=green] >>From experience it doesn't matter if the hardware clock is UTC or not.[/color] > I'm stumped. Any ideas? > Michael B Allen > PHP Active Directory SPNEGO SSO > Kerberos mailing list [email][email protected][/email]
This morning, most of the Western world woke up to the news that the Swedish Academy had awarded their countryman Tomas Tranströmer (again, not Bob Dylan) the Nobel Prize for Literature. Minutes earlier, however, Serbian newspaper readers were informed that their very own Dobrica Cosic had won the prize. As Jacket Copy reports, the culprit turns out to be a fake website (www.nobelprizeliterature.org) that was just purchased yesterday and mimicked the design of the real Nobel Prize homepage. The pranksters behind the site also emailed the announcement of his victory to news outlets. Now that nobelprizeliterature.org has been outed as a hoax, the group that created it — which bills itself as a “non-profit, self-organized group of web activists” — has posted a different message, in both Croatian and (somewhat broken) English. Read what they have to say for themselves after the jump. We are a non-profit, self-organized group of web activists. The purpose of our activity is to bring to the attention of the Serbian public dangerous influence of the writer Dobrica Cosic, who has been, again this year, proclaimed by some as a serious contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Dobrica Cosic, author and public political figure, active for decades, always close to the highest political power and those who exercise it, from the Communist Party of former SFRY, inspirators of their manifest of Serbian nationalism, infamous Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of sciences, former president of the Milosevic’s wartime SR Yugoslavia, to present alliance with reactionary and most dangerous Serbian pseudo-democratic circles in the new era. We have registered the domain of this obviously hoax site on the 5th October 2011, as a symbolic reminder of that day eleven years ago, when Serbia missed a historic opportunity to create a different and better world. Today again, Serbia turns to war, terror and deadly kitsch of the nineties, violence towards diversity, nationalist conservatism and dishonest orthodoxy. We believe the political activity of Dobrica Cosic is still deeply intertwined with this hazardous value system, which does not cease to threaten us all. Terrible consequences of decades of Mr. Cosic’s political, literary and public activity are felt to this day, both by his own country and throughout the region. Dobrica Cosic is not a recipient of the Nobel Prize, although the general public in Serbia, and he himself, believed he is for 15 full minutes. We find some solace in that fact.
Economists with The Conference Board are projecting a slow recovery for the global economy next year. Much of the growth will come from emerging and developing countries, while only moderate economic growth is projected for the U.S. in 2010. The group also cautioned that the recovery will remain fragile, as growth in some sectors – such as capital spending by corporations – will be balanced out by continued retraction in others, like commercial real estate. Consumer spending is also likely to remain flat or below previous levels, which could reduce inventory replenishment activity—which is a major source of freight for truckers. “The 3.5% expansion in third quarter U.S. GDP [gross domestic product] shows we have clearly begun to emerge from the trough,” said Bart van Ark, chief economist with The Conference Board. “But there’s still a long way to go, and we still don’t know enough about the sustainability of these recovery signals.” He is, projecting fourth quarter GDP growth of 3.1% for the U.S. However, consumer spending is expected to fall flat during the holiday season, while exports will recover more slowly than in the third quarter this year. Finally, any modest uptick in investments in equipment and software will most likely be offset by continued declines in commercial real estate, van Ark added. With all that being said, van Ark noted that The Conference Board predicts global growth should resume in 2010, with global output per head returning to pre-crisis levels. “Looking further out, emerging and developing economies will account for a much larger share of the global pie; as much as two-thirds by 2016,” van Ark added. “And while China will surely be a major force in the unwinding of the crisis, we'll see other emerging markets increasingly fueling global growth.” He said the advanced economies’ share of world GDP has fallen from two-thirds in 2000 to below 50% today and will hit one-third by 2016, according to The Conference Board’s Global Economic Outlook. China will remain a dominant economic force, but its growth will gradually slow as its transition proceeds to a consumer-driven economy, van Ark added. For the U.S., economic growth is projected to start slow in 2010 and pick up speed in the second half of the year, with GDP climbing 1.2% in the first quarter, 1.8% in the second quarter, 2.1% in the third quarter, and reaching 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010. For all of 2010, van Ark expects U.S. GDP to grow 2%, compared to a projected decline in GDP of 2.4% for 2009 and a meager 0.2% increase in GDP back in 2008. “Though these are not sharp improvements, given the depth of the recession, these are clear indications that we are in a recovery mode,” he stated. “That said, shifts in the drivers of growth raise questions concerning the recovery’s solidity. A less powerful inventory boost with no positive offsetting contributors may well limit GDP growth to 1% in early 2010. [Also], the [consumer] savings rate will remain relatively high at 4.5% to 5% of disposable income, dampening improvements in real consumer spending.” He also noted that consumer expenditures are likely to continue to show weakness as income growth remains slow or even shifts negative – due in part to an unemployment rate that will stay high at 10.5% for several quarters and not begin to decline before the end of 2010. “The U.S. economy continues to look better than expected in the short term, but we have only just begun to emerge from the cycle’s trough and there is still a long way to go,” van Ark added.
Frost Campus (Lindsay) Frost Campus is located on over 150 acres of land close to downtown Lindsay - a student-friendly community with a population of about 21,000. Lindsay, one of the communities in the City of Kawartha Lakes, is about a one-hour drive north east of Toronto, or four hours south west of Ottawa. Part of the Trent Severn Waterway, this region has over 250 lakes and plenty of green spaces - an ideal location to study and enjoy nature and the environment. The campus is home to one of Canada’s leading environmental education institutions, Fleming College’s School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences - which offers over 20 exclusive programs in this fast-growing sector. For over 40 years, the school has been producing highly skilled graduates who work in the environmental and natural resource industries across Canada and around the world. Student residences are located within steps of the main building. Recreational and athletic activities are available at the Fleming Field House and at the Lindsay Recreation Centre, which is directly adjacent to the campus. Downtown Lindsay is easily accessible via Lindsay Transit buses that stop at the campus entrance. The Frost Sustainable Campus Initiative is a group of students and employees working to make Frost a model sustainable campus community. Recent initiatives include banning the sale of bottled water on campus, hosting a weekly on-campus Farmers’ Market, establishing a community garden and conducting energy audits. Frost Campus is also a member of the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education. Centre for Alternative Wastewater Treatment The CAWT is comprised of a core group of scientists, faculty researchers, and technologists as well as a community of associates from academic, industrial, and private sectors. These professionals continue to expand the CAWT’s project base, research partnerships, and collaborations in the field of alternative wastewater treatment. Visit the CAWT website for more info Frost Loggersports Team Did you know that we are one of only three schools in Ontario with competitive men's and women's Loggersports teams? Find out more about these lumberjack competitions featuring our top notch athletes. Features of the Frost Campus - Environmental technology wing – features a green roof, geothermal heating and cooling and a constructed wetland for waste treatment. Part of the Trans-Canada Trail runs through campus - Centre for Heavy Equipment Technology - sponsored by the Canadian Association of Equipment Distributors (CAED), Ontario Chapter - Centre for Alternative Wastewater Treatment - internationally recognized for its applied research initiatives - Geomatics Institute at Fleming – funded by industry and government partners to provide GIS laboratories, software, servers and data resources - The Frost Campus Respect Campaign promotes respect for people, the environment, and property Featured Programs Offered Lindsay-Peterborough FSA Intercampus Shuttle Bus The Frost Student Association (FSA) Shuttle Bus connects Frost Campus in Lindsay with Sutherland Campus in Peterborough, with stops along the way and in downtown Peterborough. It provides two-way, weekday and weekend service, and runs in conjunction with GO transit and Greyhound schedules from Peterborough to the GTA. See the FSA Intercampus Shuttle page for shuttle schedules, routes and costs. Parking at the Frost Campus Fleming College Campus Locations Revised: November 27, 2015
The Environmental Protection Agency has authorized BP to use chemical dispersants to break up the oil sludge in the Gulf. But now, the agency has informed the company that it has 24 hours to identify a less toxic chemical for the job. Because of its use in unprecedented volumes and because much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants, EPA wants to ensure BP is using the least toxic product authorized for use. We reserve the right to discontinue the use of this dispersant method if any negative impacts on the environment outweigh the benefits. The Washington Post had the scoop: The move is significant, because it suggests federal officials are now concerned that the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants could pose a significant threat to the Gulf of Mexico’s marine life. BP has been using two forms of dispersants, Corexit 9500A and Corexit 9527A, and so far has applied 600,000 gallons on the surface and 55,000 underwater. “Dispersants have never been used in this volume before,” said an administration official spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn’t been formally announced. “This is a large amount of dispersants being used, larger amounts than have ever been used, on a pipe that continues to leak oil and that BP is still trying to cap.” Earlier this week, ProPublica reported that the forms of dispersant currently used by BP are banned in the U.K., and added: BP is using two products from a line of dispersants called Corexit, which EPA data appear to show is more toxic and less effective on South Louisiana crude than other available dispersants, according to Greenwire. The EPA’s addendum to its original directive to BP can be read here:
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When someone thinks of cereal, how the iconic tiger labeled box doesn't pop into one's head almost immediately is beyond me. The sweet frosting covering the crispy corn flakes is like the perfect marriage of sweet and crispy. The only way I anyone could make a similar combination of the two would be to directly wired ones mouth to some type of electrodes which simulate Frosted Flakes. This would probably take longer to set up than to actually just eat Frosted Flakes. That being said, why would anyone ever want to try any cereal that’s not Frosted Flakes? If you don’t what a cereal that’s crispy, you should probably be eating oatmeal with the rest of the denture wearers. If you don’t want a cereal that’s sweet, you should probably be eating a toasted bread crumbs in a bowl of milk. Sounds delightful! Perhaps your thinking some other cereal would provide another equally pleasant experience. You’d be wrong. Wheat and Rice based cereals get soggy far too fast. So all you’re really left with is corn. Yes, we know there are some of you out there that think cereal can be made from other types of grain that most people have never heard of, so, it must be good. But when it comes to food, the reason most people have never of it is because it sucks. The same reasoning behind spotted dick is not popular here in the United States. It’s horrid. To the point that I wonder if the people in the UK actually like it or they’re just making it as an excuse to say the name. End digression. As I was saying, you’re really only left corn. Let’s suppose you want to make a cereal and your smart enough to use corn, but, you’re clueless on what style or shape. One idea to try could be the puffed/popped shape. If that’s the case, you probably like popcorn. And you have to make it sweet. So you’re going to have to make something like caramel or kettle corn. And you’re going to take this pour it in a bowl and add milk? If that’s a good idea, then, I suppose you’d also like the texture and taste of sugar coded Styrofoam. Aside from the possible poisonous side effects, I’m pretty sure it would amount to the same thing. If a cereal maker does figure out how to make edible Styrofoam he’s going to make a fortune off you. Let’s face it, there are very few things in this life that a simple and great. And we as human being should be grateful that we have been lucky enough to find them. Of this short list in our long history, Frosted Flakes is among the top.
PROVO -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be settling what has been a decades-long cultural debate in wards everywhere: caffeine. In a blog post on the LDS Church's mormonnewsroom.org site, the church indicated that caffeine is not explicitly against the church's Word of Wisdom -- a set of guidelines for members that forbids the use of tobacco, alcohol and "hot drinks." The church was responding to a report on Mormonism on NBC's "Rock Center," which claimed that LDS faithful were prohibited from drinking caffeine. The church wrote in response: "Despite what was reported, the Church revelation spelling out health practices (Doctrine and Covenants 89) does not mention the use of caffeine. The Church’s health guidelines prohibits alcoholic drinks, smoking or chewing of tobacco, and “hot drinks” — taught by Church leaders to refer specifically to tea and coffee." That post originally included the sentence: "The restriction does not go beyond this." However, it was later re-worded. A church spokesman did not offer any further comment beyond the post. The post has sparked a debate online and in Mormon neighborhoods about whether the Word of Wisdom ever did forbid caffeine. Many LDS faithful grew up believing caffeine was not to be consumed at all. Others have always consumed Diet Coke and tea, but avoided coffee. "For me it's more of I don't want to get addicted to it. I don't want to be like, 'I need my caffeine today,' " said Dave Rollins, who carried a caffeine-free Diet Coke. Rollins said he has known many Mormon faithful who believe caffeine is forbidden by the LDS Church. "In fact, I baptized a guy who worked for Coke and he was thinking, 'I might have to get a different job!' " Rollins said. "You see people on both sides," said Mary Ellen Robertson, the director of Sunstone, a foundation that studies Mormonism. "The folks who say, like I did, 'I grew up not drinking caffeinated sodas, I was told by my parents it was bad and it was OK to judge people harshly who did.' Then there are folks on the other side of the spectrum, for whom this was never an issue, who say I don't see this as an accurate measure for my religiosity the way it's come to be used." At the LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, caffeinated drinks are not sold. It is not because of a church or university edict, said spokeswoman Carri Jenkins, but customer demand. "Dining Services has made the decision to not sell or serve caffeinated beverages on campus," she told FOX 13. "Simply based on what our customers want or do not want." Jenkins said students would not violate BYU's Honor Code by consuming caffeine, nor would people be forbidden from bringing it on campus. The university would also revisit the sale of caffeine-full soda -- if it became an issue of demand. "It's just something we'll have to look at," Jenkins said.
A federal judge’s decision Friday could fuel heightened tensions in the battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline. The ruling on a Native American tribe’s request for a temporary restraining order on construction comes one day after Gov. Jack Dalrymple activated the state National Guard “in the event they are needed to support law enforcement response efforts,” according to a National Guard spokesman. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed an emergency motion Sunday asking the court “to prevent further destruction of the tribe’s sacred sites by Dakota Access Pipeline.” A federal judge has denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request to temporarily stop construction on the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline near their reservation in North Dakota. Tribal officials challenged the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant permits for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners’ $3.8 billion pipeline that is intended to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Friday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg comes amid growing protests over the pipeline, which would cross the Missouri River less than a mile upstream of the reservation. The tribe argues the pipeline could impact drinking water and that construction has already disturbed ancient sacred sites. A lawyer for the tribe says the ruling will be appealed. The pipeline’s developer, Energy Transfer Partners, has predicted the project would help the United States become less dependent on importing oil from unstable regions of the world. The tribe wants to halt further construction on an area two miles west of North Dakota Highway 1806, near Lake Oahe, until the judge’s ruling. The plaintiffs claim the tribe was not properly consulted before the US Army Corps of Engineers approved the pipeline project, which would run from North Dakota to South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. A US district court judge is expected to make a decision by Friday. The Army Corps of Engineers has declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. On Thursday, a state National Guard statement said the governor had asked it “to support law enforcement and augment public safety efforts, in light of recent activity with the Dakota Access Pipeline protest.” “The Guard members will serve in administrative capacities and assist in providing security at traffic information points,” the statement said. “The Guardsmen will not be going to the actual protest site. The governor also placed additional Guardsmen on standby alert in the event they are needed to support law enforcement response efforts.” Thousands of people from more than 200 Native American tribes have supported the Standing Rock Sioux’s efforts to protect their lands, waters and sacred sites during construction of the pipeline, according to the tribe. If completed, the 1,172-mile pipeline would carry 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois. Energy Transfer said the pipeline would bring an estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes to state and local governments. It would also add 8,000 to 12,000 construction jobs, the developer said. But about 30 environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, have slammed the pipeline project, calling it “yet another example of an oil pipeline project being permitted without public engagement or sufficient environmental review.”‘ Protesters are also worried that digging the pipeline under the Missouri River could affect the drinking water supply if the pipeline breaks. Protests turned violent over the weekend, with some demonstrators breaking down a wire fence and trespassing onto a construction area, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said. “Protesters physically assaulted private security officers hired by Dakota Access Pipeline. The security officers were hit and jabbed with fence posts and flagpoles,” the sheriff’s department said. “According to several reports from security officers, knives were pulled on them or they witnessed protestors with large knives.” The sheriff’s department also said two guard dogs were injured. But protesters disputed that account, CNN affiliate KFYR said. Demonstrators said the guards used pepper spray and tear gas on the activists, and some protesters were injured by the guards’ dogs.
Yes, it’s still true. The basic principles of mathematics and probability have not changed. Thus, it is surprising to read an article saying that requiring extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims doesn’t make sense. At least, it’s surprising until you realize the person making the claim is probably an evangelical Christian with an extraordinary claim to promote. So, how should we respond? I’ll provide a short answer and a long answer. The Short Answer Bayes’ Theorem, which has been proven to be formally valid, tells us that extraordinary claims (things with very low prior probabilities) do indeed require extraordinary evidence. For example, imagine my friend tells me he won the World Series of Poker. I would first be struck by the improbability of such a claim considering the Main Event has over 6,000 entrants and this particular friend isn’t that good at poker. Even so, it’s not impossible and there is evidence which would overcome that initially low probability. Examples of significant probability-raising evidence would include if he had millions of dollars suddenly and if he had a WSOP bracelet. If you want to see this idea demonstrated mathematically, keep reading. The Long Answer This is Bayes’ Theorem: P(h\|e.b) = P(h\|b) x P(e\|h.b) / [ P(h\|b) x P(e\|h.b) ] + [ P(~h\|b) x P(e\|~h.b) ] \|~\|\|Not (or the negation of)\| In English, this says, “The probability that a hypothesis is true, given available evidence and background knowledge is equal to [and then you have the equation].” To understand the equation, let’s dig into the details just a bit. The first term you’ll notice once you read past the = symbol is P(h\|b); this is the prior probability. This term is concerned with the probability that a hypothesis is true given your background knowledge. So, when we say that the virgin birth has an incredibly low prior probability, that means that based on everything we know about the world through science, history, etc. this sort of thing doesn’t generally happen. Quite simply, we understand how babies are made, and this isn’t it. Further, in cases where parthenogenesis does actually occur in other animals, the resulting offspring are always female. So, if true, this would seem to be a one-time thing. I have no idea how many humans have ever existed, but let’s say there have been 100 billion. This would make the prior probability 1/100,000,000,000. Note that this is prior to considering any evidence for the case in question, hence the term prior probability. The second term above is P(e\|h.b), meaning the probability that you would have the available evidence given your hypothesis and background knowledge. In other words, would the available evidence be expected under the hypothesis? For example, say someone claims they’ve been to the beach for the past few hours. You notice they are sunburned and in their car is a beach towel. These things fit the claim well and would merit a high number. On the other hand, the lack of sun kissed skin and a movie ticket stub from two hours earlier would not be the sort of evidence you would expect. This covers the numerator. It is the prior probability multiplied by the likelihood of the evidence. Now, as you keep moving from left to right, you’ll notice that the first term in the denominator is the entire numerator repeated. That’s why the theorem is sometimes shortened to P = A / A + B. So, what is B? It is basically the same as discussed above, only for ~H, rather than H. It is the probability that your hypothesis is false and the likelihood of the available evidence given a false hypothesis. Let’s plug in some numbers using a very low prior probability and see the earlier claim in action. - P = 0.01 x .9 / (0.01 x .9) + (0.99 x .75) = 1.2% Here we see a low probability event where the evidence is almost nearly as well explained by negating hypotheses and the probability is slightly raised, but remains very low. Now, let’s slowly decrease the likelihood that the evidence can be explained by alternative hypotheses and watch what happens to the outcome. - P = 0.01 x .9 / (0.01 x .9) + (0.99 x .50) = 1.8% - P = 0.01 x .9 / (0.01 x .9) + (0.99 x .25) = 3.5% - P = 0.01 x .9 / (0.01 x .9) + (0.99 x .10) = 8.3% - P = 0.01 x .9 / (0.01 x .9) + (0.99 x .01) = 48% We don’t see a substantial increase in probability until we get into very low ranges of likelihood for the same evidence to be observed on alternative hypotheses. In the last example, there is only a 1% chance that the evidence can be explained by alternative hypotheses. In cases of low prior probability, the evidence must be such that it basically rules out alternative hypotheses to a very high degree. In other words, extraordinary claims really do require extraordinary evidence.
The Alaska State Archives has a couple helpful free genealogy resources for those with Alaskan ancestors in their family tree. The archives hold naturalization records 1880-1972, pioneer home residents 1913-1980, probate index 1883-1960, teacher records 1917-1959, World War I veterans 1913-1923 and vital statistics 1816-1998. Only two of these resources are available online at this time. You can submit a research request to the archives for lookups in the other collections. There may be a fee for this service. The Naturalization Records Index offers quite a bit of information, more than you normally expect to find with an index. It gives you the name, alias, country, type, location, date, record type, precinct, case number, residence and occupation. It is a large PDF file so will take a few minutes to fully download. It is organized alphabetically by surname. The Probate Index is also organized alphabetically by surname. It gives you the name of the individual, case number (when available), precinct, case type, date and information where the actual file is located.
F. Burnam Born 1820 Richmond, KY This Biography is at the Kentucky Biography Project. Burnam born 1830 Richmond, KY. This Biography is at the Kentucky Biography Project. C. Burnham of De Calb Co. Mo. From "History of Missouri, Andrew & DeKalb County" Published 1888, Goodspeed Publishing Company S. Burnham of Milford, New Hampshire This Biography is from, The History of Milford, New Hampshire Burnham of Rockingham Co. NH This Biography is on this site From a book called "Life and Times in Hopkinton, N. H. in three parts" by C. C. Lord published 1890 Illinois, History of Cass County, Illinois, ed. William Henry Perrin. O. L. Baskin & Co. Historical Publishers, Chicago, 1882. ALONZO F. BURNHAM, physician and was born in Mason County, Ill. June 29, 1853; son of Henry C. and Angeline(Currier) Burnham. Henry C. Burnham, a farmer by occupation, was born at Hampton,Windham Co., Conn., Jan. 30, 1826, and has, since 1853, resided in Salt Creek Township, Mason Co., Ill.; his wife was born at Canadaigua, Ontario, N.Y. Dec. 16, 1825; they are the parents of seven children. The doctor received his primary education in the country schools, and afterward attended an academy, after which he taught school and worked on the farm.At the age of twenty-two he began the study of medicine with Dr. J. P. Walker, of Mason City, Ill.; and attended the Rush Medical College three winter terms and one summer term, and graduated in 1878. He came to Ashland, April 3, 1878, and entered into partnership with Dr. John Walker; they practiced in company until October, 1880, when, on account of ill health, Dr. Walker retired from the practice of his profession, and Dr. Burnham has since practiced alone, meeting with good success. He was married Oct.29, 1879, in Mason Co., Ill., to Emma Blunt, a native of that county, born Jan. 3, 1859, daughter of A. A. and Martha A.(Trailor) Blunt; he was born in Hart Co., Ky., Feb. 21, 1831; she was born in Springfield, Ill., June 23, 1831; from this union they have had one child, P. Garfield, born April 4, 1881, died Aug. 2, 1881. The doctor is a Republican and a member of the I.O.O.F., the K. of H. and the A.O.F. History of Trigg County, Historical and Biographical, Ed. W. Herrin Battey Pub. Co., Chicago, 1884 P.256 (Rock CastlePrecinet) J.R.Burnam was born in North Carolina, October 4,1823. He is the son of Wilson and Elizabeth (Gambrel) Burnam both natives of North Carolina and of English desent. Wilson emigrated to Kentucky about the year 1830,and settled in Trigg County.He was a carpenter,and worked at his trade along with farming until his death in 1877 J.R. Burnam was educated in Trigg County and remained with his parents until 1850, when he married Sarah J. Holly a native of Kentucky. To them was born two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Burnam died some seventeen years ago and Mr.Burnam next married Lucy Hyden, a native of Tennessee. Two children bless this union,one son and one daughter. Mr Burnam is by trade a bricklayer and works his trade in connection with farming. He is a member of the I.O.O.F. at Rock Castle, also of the Blue Lodge, A,F.&A.M. at Parkersville,Kentucky. He is one of the leading men of the precinet and county. Biographies were taken from the, Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century. All on Page 175 Hiram Burnham, soldier, was born in Maine. At the second battle of Fredericksburg he distinguished hinself for bravery and courage, and again at Gettysburg. In April 1864, he was made brigadier-general, and during the campaign from the Wilderness to Petersburg he bore a conspicuous part. He was killed in battle September 29, 1864. James C. Burnham, soldier, was born about 1820 in New York. After the fall of Colonel Baxter he commmanded the regiment at the storming of Chapultepec, was promated to be lieutenant- colonel Setember 27, 1847, and led the regiment through the several battles around the city of Mexico, distinguishing himself in the attack on the Belen gate. After the war Colonel Burnham was city marshall of New York under Mayor Wood, and was a prominent politician for several years. He died September 2, 1866, in New York. John Howard Burnham, soldier, journalist, bridge builder, was born October 31, 1834, in Essex, Mass. He was captain in company A, thirty-third Illinois volunteer infantry, during the Civil War. In 1864 he was superintendent of public schools at Blomington, Illinois, where for several years he was editor of the Pantagraph. As a bridge contractor he has been instrumental in the building of some of the largest bridges in Illinois and the West. Michael Burnham, clergyman, author, was born June 28, 1839, in Essex, Mass. This eminent congregational clergyman is now pastor of the Pilgrim church of St. Louis, Mo. He is the author of numerous pamplets and orations. Samuel Burnham, author, was born in 1883, in Rindge, N.H. He wrote the history of East Boston, several small volumes for the American tract society on natural history, was one of the editors of the Congregationalist, literary editor of the Watchman and Reflector, a correspondent for peridicals, edited Charles Sumner's works,and at time of his death had nearly completed a history of the Old South church of Boston. He died June 22, 1873, in Boston, Mass. Sarah Maria Burnham, author, was born in 1818, in Chester, Vermont. She is the author of Limestones and Marbles,their History and Uses: Struggles of the Nations, and Pleasant Memories of Foreign Travel: and other works. Sherburne W. Burnham, astronomer, born in 1838, in Vermont. He was astronomer at Lick Observatory its foundation to 1892: and is now connected with Yerkes' Observatory the universty of Chocago. He is the author of a number of scientific and has contributed valuable papers to current magazines. Thomas Brownell Burnham, manufacturer,was born in January 30, 1866, in New York city. He is a director in the Benedict and Burnham Manufacturing Co. Holmes, Booth, and Haydens, brass manufacturers, and the Waterbury Watch Co. all of Waterbury, Conn. He is also a large stockholder and director in the Sixth Avenue railroad of New York city. Victor C. Burnham, farmer, lawyer, public official, was born April 23, 1851, in Wayne county, Mich. He graduated from the university of Michigan. He has served as mayor of Rogers City: has been city attorney: circuit court commissioner: and prosecuting attorney of Alpena county. He has served as city attorney and city judge of Alpena; and is also as United States commossioner. 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There is a surefire way to ensure tyranny – undermine the education of the populace. When the people don’t have the tools required to determine truth from lies or to obtain their information from a variety of sources, they become dependent on the state to tell them “the Truth™”. We can see this currently happening in the Arab world, where state television in Libya is still being used to broadcast misinformation that is (perhaps fatally) undermining the cause of the pro-democracy rebellion. One way to ensure a religious tyranny is to ensure that the populace doesn’t have access to adequate scientific information. Science is inherently hostile to religion, since the two are very different methods at arriving at answers. The scientific method involves testing repeated observations and inferring rules and laws from trends within those observations. The religious method involves arriving at a conclusion and then finding observations that support the a priori position. The problem with the latter method is that it is trivially easy to arrive at false conclusions and then justify them afterward. By ensuring that the public doesn’t have access to scientific knowledge, you can erode the cause of science and replace it with whatever system you like. Enter the Conservative Party of Canada: The public has lost free online access to more than a dozen Canadian science journals as a result of the privatization of the National Research Council’s government-owned publishing arm. Scientists, businesses, consultants, political aides and other people who want to read about new scientific discoveries in the 17 journals published by National Research Council Research Press now either have to pay $10 per article or get access through an institution that has an annual subscription. Now this on its own is an incredibly minor development. The vast majority of people who access the scientific literature are scientists working at institutions that can afford to buy subscriptions. Furthermore, the lay public get most of their scientific information from people who interpret the studies that are now behind a paywall, so most people won’t notice the difference. This is not the straw that breaks the camel’s back by any stretch of the imagination. However, erosion doesn’t work in giant leaps – it occurs gradually over time. One of the strengths of science is the ability of anyone who is curious to go back and investigate the source material. Someone tells you that a drug works to treat diabetes, you can go to the paper and check it for yourself. Someone tells you that homeopathy cures warts, you can go check it out for yourself. Someone tells you that the universe was created in the Big Bang, you can go read the papers. This process encourages skepticism and critical thinking, while increasing the trust that the public has in the scientific community (by increasing transparency). By placing additional barriers between lay Canadians and the products of Canadian scientific researchers, the privatization of the National Research Council is inherently anti-transparent and anti-science. It discourages scientific scrutiny and question-asking, which are two things that the CPC really doesn’t like in the first place. If Harper can’t get a majority right now, at least he can do as much damage as possible with the limited powers he wields. Like this article? Follow me on Twitter!
Frontier Girls as an Alternative to Girl Scouts Girl Scouts have been a part of American life for more than a hundred years. Most women today have wonderful memories of earning badges, going camping, singing Christmas carols, and learning a variety of useful skills within their scout troop. According to the Girl Scout website, "Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low assembled 18 girls from Savannah, Georgia, on March 12, 1912, for a local Girl Scout meeting. She believed that all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually. With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air. Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned how to tell time by the stars, and studied first aid." Over the years the Girl Scouts have consistently changed their program in an attempt to keep up with the times and keep girls involved. Unfortunately, the newest program to evolve, Journeys, is no longer a good fit for many families seeking the traditional Girl Scout experience. For families searching for an alternative to Girl Scouts, we created Frontier Girls Clubs. Frontier Girls is a scout like youth program for girls ages 3 - adult that we offer as an alternative to the Girl Scout program. We focus on patriotism, traditional values, community service and a love of learning. Patriotism is a character trait we take very seriously in Frontier Girls. All meetings begin with a formal flag ceremony and girls are taught a proper respect for both flag and country. We are also a strong supporter of our military personnel and veterans. Frontier Girls Clubs dedicates an entire section of its program to teaching the girls good character traits such as honesty, responsibility, modesty, and joy, and encouraging them not only to participate in community service projects, but to organize their own. Through our youth program for girls, Frontier Girls Clubs offers over 1200 individual badges. With the invention of the Internet, most families, even in rural communities, have access to unlimited information, if not in their own homes, then at least through the public libraries. Because of this access to information, we are able to offer badges on virtually any subject a girl wishes to learn about. Girls today have more opportunities than at any other time in our history. Their interests vary from basic home skills and crafts to cutting edge science and technology. Whether a girl wants to learn about dairying and farming, or about aviation and rocketry, we offer badges for just about anything. Frontier Girls Clubs are very flexible for busy families today. Our program is designed to work with multiple ages in a single troop, all working on the same badge at the same time, but at differing skill levels. Some troops are large with a wide age range, while others are small and may consist of a single age group. Some troops meet every week, some just once a month. Many of our troops work closely with local Boy Scout or Cub Scout troops. Frontier Girls honors the badge requirements of other programs as long as they are age appropriate. Troops can therefore work alongside their local Boy Scouts and use their requirements to earn a badge through Frontier Girls. While Girl Scouts still has a lot to offer the girls of today, each family is different and should research the various scouting style options that are available today. Frontier Girls is just one. Before making a decision for your family, you may also wish to look into: Pilgrims of the Holy Family Keepers of the Faith Good luck and happy hunting!
Carbohydrates are found in a variety of foods including fruits, non-starchy vegetables, starchy vegetables, beans, lentils, legumes, grains, nuts, tofu, soy products and milk. Carbohydrates are also found in added sugars such as refined sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses and high-fructose corn syrup. Cucumbers are considered a non-starchy vegetable. In general, non-starchy vegetables contain very few carbohydrates. CUCUMBER NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION According to the American Diabetes Association, your blood glucose levels are affected by both the amount of carbohydrate that you consume, and the type. In terms of amount of carbohydrate, cucumbers contain very little. A 1/2 cup of sliced raw cucumber with skin intact contains about 1.89 g of carbohydrate. Fiber provides the main source of carbohydrates in cucumbers and other non-starchy vegetables. Fiber, unlike sugar and starch carbohydrates, does not affect your blood glucose levels because it passes through your body without being broken down into sugar molecules. YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS After you eat cucumbers, the food material travels to your stomach in order to be digested. During digestion, the small amounts of sugar and starch carbohydrates in cucumbers get broken down into tiny sugar molecules. The fiber carbohydrates continue to pass through and out of your body without being digested. The carbohydrates that have been converted into sugar molecules go through the lining of your stomach and get absorbed into your bloodstream. Cucumbers and all other non-starchy vegetables are an important part of a healthy, balanced diet. Cucumbers are a type of healthy carbohydrate because they are nutrient-rich, unlike carbohydrate-containing foods that are often filled with empty calories, such as foods made from refined grains and added sugars. The carbohydrates in cucumbers will provide your cells with the energy they need in order to perform their functions, without jeopardizing your blood sugar health. - American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness — Carbohydrates - American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness — Glycemic Index and Diabetes - American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness — Non-Starchy Vegetables - United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database - MayoClinic.com: Nutrition and Healthy Eating — Glycemic Index Diet: Losing Weight with Blood Sugar Control, Nov. 24, 2009 - MayoClinic.com: Nutrition and Healthy Eating — Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork with these Nutrition Guidelines, Feb. 22, 2011
Not all flowers are created equal. We're not just talking about size, shape and color. When it comes to flowers that will stand the test of time, there are only a few that thrive once they're cut for floral arrangements. And come Fall, the pickings are even more slim. But, we've got good news! These eight Fall flowering plants are perfect for any cut flower arrangement and we carry them all at GSCO! If you like gardening, you probably also do your best to bring the outdoors in. On the third week of September, we celebrate National Indoor Plant Week not just because we love plants but because of the many benefits that come from those we bring inside to our homes and offices. Think you need and excuse to add a little green to your indoor world? Check out these four interesting facts about houseplants: Chances are you don't have to dig deep to bring to mind someone in your life who has or has been diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life. Perhaps this person is a co-worker or a neighbor. Perhaps this person is a parent. Perhaps this person is a partner. Or perhaps this person is you. No matter how far or how close your experience with cancer has come, we all can imagine the financial burden this c-word brings with it. It's Labor Day weekend and that's cause for a neighborhood gathering to get your buzz on! Want to impress your neighbors? Try this garden to table (or should we say: bee hive to table) recipe using your own honey. Don't have your own bee hive just yet? Swing by GSCO and pick up a jar of our sweet stuff! Going green has always been about giving back. Around the yard, in the greenhouse and at Garden Supply Company, we tend to think going green has to do with recycling plastic water bottles, planting our own fruits and veggies, saving the bees and collecting water in rain barrels. And it does. But we green thumbs have found another way to go about going green and we're excited to announce that you can be involved in this green project too. There's something special about the path from the garden to the kitchen–picking fresh herbs with your own hands and bringing them inside to the kitchen to cook with right then and there. For many of us, this tradition comes and goes with the summer season. Our summertime herbs, like basil and cilantro, that don't like the cold, won't be with us too much longer. That is, unless we save them for cooler days. While freezing alone tends to yield strange-tasting and browned herbs, there's one simple trick to better preserving your summer yield–oil! There is no greater gift we can give ourselves than the flowers we pick from our gardens. And while we love to gaze at them outdoors, the dog days of summer are here and that means it's time to–snip-snip–take them indoors! Try these simple steps when cutting your fresh floral arrangement for maximum viewing pleasure! Many shade gardens don't get the color they deserve. Need to spice up your shady areas with a boost of color? Coral Bells are the perfect perennial addition for the fully shaded, partially shady and even the partially sunny spaces in your yard. Scroll through our slideshow below to view six gorgeous Coral Bell varieties that might just make your shade garden pop! The dog days of summer are here, the North Carolina humidity is kicking and it's time to get out of the outdoors and off on your vacation. But as your well-awaited time away approaches, perhaps you're thinking you want to bring the outdoors in with an oasis of house plants. No need to sweat it out in the garden and there's no need to wait until after you get back from your week off of work! There are plenty of easy-care, indoor plants that are vacation-proof. Read about these five plants that don't mind if you go: Air plants–or tillandsias–can be found in the wild growing from the branches of trees in rain forests, rocky cliffs of mountain ranges and in the dry sand of deserts. In wild environments such as these, some 650 varieties of the bromeliad family evolved to thrive without soil. Those air plants that have roots, only use them to affix themselves to a host with optimal living conditions like a tree or rock. Tomato (pronounced to-MAY-to)? Or Tomato (pronounced to-MAH-to)? No one really cares how we pronounce the name of our favorite garden veggie (even though, technically, a tomato is a fruit). What everyone really wants to know is how to grow the tastiest tomato for a dreamy summertime BLT. Looking for a few tricks to grow your own ‘maters? Try our tips below.
High horsepower outputs are all the rage these days; with hatchbacks boasting 300bhp and saloons 500bhp; hearing about supercars with astronomical power outputs is not new. But when you hear the power figure McLaren says its P1 will have, you can’t help but smile. McLaren isn’t messing about with this car, it’s out for blood. Nine-hundred and three. That’s how many. And if you have to ask ‘what’, then you shouldn’t know. Sure, there are cars with more power, like the all-conquering Bugatti Veyron, but there’s something about a McLaren with 903bhp that tickles my senses. It’s probably because of the McLaren F1, that iconic super star of the car world. The P1 is set to be its successor, and in order to succeed, it needs to be outstanding. The world of supercars is in the middle of an incredible shift towards crazier technologies, especially in terms of hybrid power plants. McLaren is no exception to this, and if anything is one of the leaders. Because this beauty is a hybrid, sporting petrol and electric motors combining to form that monster power figure. It really is gorgeous too. It truly embraces a new organic styling. But back to that engine. It uses a version of the McLaren MC4-12C’s twin-turbo 3.8 V8, but significantly reworked for durability and cooling. McLaren also worked very closely with Mobil 1 on bespoke lubricating, cooling and hydraulic fluids for the P1’s petrol engine. The peak figures for the rather small V8 are a very strong 727bhp and 530lb ft of torque, though. Now, that electric motor. Developed by McLaren’s ‘Electronics’ division, it will add a certain character to the McLaren that few cars these days can claim to have: instant power. The great thing about electric motors is the fact that there’s no waiting for the engine to get to speed; the power and torque come immediately — all of it. So the figures of 176bhp and 191lb ft of torque that the motor produces may not sound that big, but in reality it’ll possibly be what sets this engine apart from all the other supercars. Some of the crazy technology that will be found on the P1 will be in the form of its battery packs. It’ll have a 96kg pack located just behind the passenger cell and bolted onto the carbon fibre chassis. Setting it apart are the fact that McLaren say that its energy density is greater than any other car’s. On top of that, will be a system called Instant Power Assist System that will offer all of the electric motor’s power on command acting as a boost function. The system will apparently provide better throttle response, more akin to a naturally aspirated, and here’s where it get’s hectic: employs “instant negative torque at the point of shift” onto the gearbox to get the engine to its required speed to change gears. The electric motor will only do about 10km by itself, but no one will ever do that: fact. The hybrid aspect isn’t only for ultra power figures, it’s ecological too. It only produces 200g/km of CO2 which is good for a supercar, very good. But not as good as that rear wing. No amount of ecological talk can turn my eyes away from wings like that. Especially when it is derived from the F1 style Drag Reduction System (DRS) wings. So with the push of a button the wing opens the aerodynamics and reduces drag by 23 percent. Slippery stuff, considering how much power will be propelling you forward. Looking forward to seeing one of these? Heavens, it’s going to be an occasion.
The Bangs Sisters, Mary "May" E. Bangs and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Snow Bangs, were mediums from Chicago, who made a career out of painting the dead or "Spirit Portraits," without ever have met the fallen. Elizabeth was born around 1860 to mother Meroe and father Edward Bangs while they were living in Atchison, Kansas. They moved to Chicago in 1861, and Mary was born there in 1864. Their mother was a medium herself, and soon got her four children (sons Edward and W.B.) into the act. By the early 1870s the Bangs family were performing seances as described in the August 3rd, 1872, Religio-Philosophical Journal article by Steven Sanborn Jones called, "An Evening with the Bangs Children". People would pay to be entertained at the Bangs home. Messages from the dead would appear on slabs of slate as chairs and furniture would move about the room. The children were tied up in a cabinet, then a guitar inside would strum and hands would wave from within. For the finale, Mary would bring forward a shaved cat that was said to be a "spirit cat" from the afterworld. In the summer of 1881, May and her mother were arrested for "doing business without a license", but this was dismissed because they claimed to be evangelists, and such charges could not be brought against ministers. \| This page incorporated content from Bangs Sisters, a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
The Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient is used to discover the strength of a link between two sets of data. This example looks at the strength of the link between the price of a convenience item (a 50cl bottle of water) and distance from the Contemporary Art Museum in El Raval, Barcelona. Example: The hypothesis tested is that prices should decrease with distance from the key area of gentrification surrounding the Contemporary Art Museum. The line followed is Transect 2 in the map below, with continuous sampling of the price of a 50cl bottle water at every Map to show the location of environmental gradients for transect lines in El Raval, Barcelona We might expect to find that the price of a bottle of water decreases as distance from the Contemporary Art Museum increases. Higher property rents close to the museum should be reflected in higher prices in the The hypothesis might be written like this: The price of a convenience item decreases as distance from the Contemporary Art Museum increases. The more objective scientific research method is always to assume that no such price-distance relationship exists and to express the null hypothesis as: there is no significant relationship between the price of a convenience item and distance from the Contemporary Art Museum. What can go wrong? Having decided upon the wording of the hypothesis, you should consider whether there are any other factors that may influence the study. Some factors that may influence prices may include: The type of retail outlet. You must be consistent in your choice of retail outlet. For example, bars and restaurants often charge significantly more for water than a convenience store. You should decide which type of outlet to use and stick with it for all your data collection. Some shops have different prices for the same item: a high tourist and lower local price, dependent upon the shopkeeper's perception of the customer. Shops near main roads may charge more than shops in less accessible back streets, due to the higher rents demanded for main road retail sites. The positive spread effects from other nearby areas of gentrification or from competing areas of tourist attraction. The negative spread effects from nearby areas of urban decay. Higher prices may be charged during the summer when demand is less flexible, making seasonal comparisons less reliable. Cumulative sampling may distort the expected price-distance gradient if several shops cluster within a short area along the transect line followed by a considerable gap before the next group of retail outlets. You should mention such factors in your investigation. Data collected (see data table below) suggests a fairly strong negative relationship as shown in this scatter graph: Scatter graph to show the change in the price of a convenience item with distance from the Contemporary Art Museum. Roll over image to see trend line. The scatter graph shows the possibility of a negative correlation between the two variables and the Spearman's rank correlation technique should be used to see if there is indeed a correlation, and to test the strength of the relationship. Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient A correlation can easily be drawn as a scatter graph, but the most precise way to compare several pairs of data is to use a statistical test - this establishes whether the correlation is really significant or if it could have been the result of chance alone. Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient is a technique which can be used to summarise the strength and direction (negative or positive) of a relationship between two variables. The result will always be between 1 and minus 1. Method - calculating the coefficient Create a table from your data. Rank the two data sets. Ranking is achieved by giving the ranking '1' to the biggest number in a column, '2' to the second biggest value and so on. The smallest value in the column will get the lowest ranking. This should be done for both sets of measurements. Tied scores are given the mean (average) rank. For example, the three tied scores of 1 euro in the example below are ranked fifth in order of price, but occupy three positions (fifth, sixth and seventh) in a ranking hierarchy of ten. The mean rank in this case is calculated as (5+6+7) ÷ 3 = 6. Find the difference in the ranks (d): This is the difference between the ranks of the two values on each row of the table. The rank of the second value (price) is subtracted from the rank of the first (distance from the museum). Square the differences (d²) To remove negative values and then sum them (d²). Distance from CAM (m) Price of 50cl bottle (€) Difference between ranks d² = 285.5 Data Table: Spearman's Rank Correlation Calculate the coefficient (R) using the formula below. The answer will always be between 1.0 (a perfect positive correlation) and -1.0 (a perfect negative correlation). When written in mathematical notation the Spearman Rank formula looks like this : Now to put all these values into the formula. Find the value of all the d² values by adding up all the values in the Difference² column. In our example this is 285.5. Multiplying this by 6 gives 1713. Now for the bottom line of the equation. The value n is the number of sites at which you took measurements. This, in our example is 10. Substituting these values into n³ - n we get 1000 - 10 We now have the formula: R = 1 - (1713/990) which gives a value for R: 1 - 1.73 = -0.73 What does this R value of -0.73 mean? The closer Ris to +1 or -1, the stronger the likely correlation. A perfect positive correlation is +1 and a perfect negative correlation is -1. The Rvalue of -0.73 suggests a fairly strong negative relationship. A further technique is now required to test the significance of the relationship. The R value of -0.73 must be looked up on the Spearman Rank significance table below as follows: Work out the 'degrees of freedom' you need to use. This is the number of pairs in your sample minus 2 (n-2). In the example it is 8 (10 - 2). Now plot your result on the table. If it is below the line marked 5%, then it is possible your result was the product of chance and you must reject the hypothesis. If it is above the 0.1% significance level, then we can be 99.9% confident the correlation has not occurred by chance. If it is above 1%, but below 0.1%, you can say you are 99% confident. If it is above 5%, but below 1%, you can say you are 95% confident (i.e. statistically there is a 5% likelihood the result occurred by chance). In the example, the value 0.73 gives a significance level of slightly less than 5%. That means that the probability of the relationship you have found being a chance event is about 5 in a 100. You are 95% certain that your hypothesis is correct. The reliability of your sample can be stated in terms of how many researchers completing the same study as yours would obtain the same results: 95 out of 100. The fact two variables correlate cannot prove anything - only further research can actually prove that one thing affects the other. Data reliability is related to the size of the sample. The more data you collect, the more reliable your result.
Drunkeness, thievery and health: the South African soap opera continues The new twist in the tale is that the journalists of the Sunday Times, the Johannesburg newspaper which broke the stories of ministrial drunkness and thievery, are accused of obtaining and publishing Tshabalala-Msimang's medical records without her consent and are threatened with arrest. An alleged represenative of the medical community, speaking on anonymity, states that such uses of medical records are simply unethical, even if what they reveal is itself unethical behavior. Defenders of the journalists cite press freedom, while pointing out that the journalists and the newspaper seem to be subject to special government pressure: the journalists are now being watched by the South African secret service, and the government is threatening to withhold its advertizing from the Sunday Times. Interestingly, the executive director of the Freedom of Expression Institute argues that disclosure of private information can be justified in the light of a significant public health threat, and Tshabalala-Msimang should be considered just such a threat. It is unusual that a Minister of Health is viewed as analogous to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis or a toxic waste spill. But in South Africa, anything is apparently possible.
A recent thread on the NYC Celiac Disease Meetup message board prompted quite a discussion about the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO). GFCO is a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (GIG). Cynthia Kupper, the Executive Director of GIG, took the time to address our thread and thoroughly answer many of our outstanding questions. Please see her Q&A below. "I can only address the GFCO program and FDA. My knowledge of the CSA Seal of Recognition program is limited to the information made public through comments provided by CSA to the FDA." Q: Do you know if GFCO plans to work with other programs, i.e. NFCA's G.R.E.A.T. program, to do trainings and establish standard protocols throughout the collective food industries? A: GIG and GFCO do work in partnership with various members of the food industry already. Many agencies are working within and with the food industries to provide education and training related to gluten intolerances. Some of us are working together in this effort. Q: Is it true that only people who work for the Orthodox Union and have no business conflicts are eligible to be trained to be GFCO inspectors? A: GFCO contracts with third-party auditors, including the Food Services Inc, a part of the OU and other independent auditors who have expertise in manufacturing processes. C: Right now smaller food companies don't have any easy route to certification from anyone. R: GFCO's ultimate target is the raw materials suppliers, supplying ingredients to the companies making GF foods. Our goal is to make the food safe from the beginning of the food chain as well as the end product. GFCO works with companies of all sizes and has a small business package. GFCO works with small businesses and new companies to find a way to provide consumer confidence and assurance in their products. Q: What is the GFCO Process for Certification? A: Companies who certify with GFCO must complete an application. A risk assessment, independent audit and report are completed. If a company qualifies to be certified, a contract which includes: requirements for onsite testing, random testing from a point of sale; and unannounced plant inspections is signed. GFCO also maintains the right to take action to protect the consumer from fraudulent GFCO claims or Standards violations. Q: If the FDA comes out with a definition of gluten-free being < 20 ppm, would we then be able to trust any product that declares itself gluten-free even if it is free of a certification label? A: Yes. Any product labeled GF after the FDA regulation goes into affect will have to meet the standards set by the FDA. 20 ppm is a very safe level for celiacs and it is virtually impossible to consume that level of gluten, based on eating GF products. Q: Would there still be a purpose to having certification by GFCO or CSA? A: Yes. Certification is voluntary, as is labeling a product GF. Companies who certify their products believe in meeting higher standards and welcome third party oversight. External oversight is healthy and provides a higher level of accountability for manufacturers. Let?s face it, the FDA is understaffed and will not be able to provide adequate oversight for all companies. C: The two companies out there CSA and GFCO do not make it convenient, easy, or cost-effective for small companies and almost impossible for non-dedicated facilities. R: GFCO does work with small companies to make certification cost-effective. The challenge is to also make the program cover its own expenses. Companies who understand the value of third-party certification for organic or kosher also understand the value of GF certification. The overall cost of certification is pennies on the dollar. Unfortunately, certification may be out of the reach of small companies just getting started?but call GFCO?you may be surprised what can be done. It is possible to certify non-dedicated facilities! There are a number of factors that go into certifying products in non-dedicated facilities, but it is do-able. GFCO audits and consults with co-packers on a regular basis. Many GF products are safely produced in non-dedicated facilities at no detectible gluten in their products. Q: What about testing methods? A: the Haven Flow-through is just one testing method available. Some are based on Skarrett and others on r-5 sandwich Elisa methodology. It is the r-5 that is being supported by CODEX. At this time we do not know what the FDA will use. There is on-going debate in the analytical community about the need for using both methods rather than just one. Each has its strengths and weaknesses when seeing specific gluten proteins. GFCO uses both methods.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabian Airlines announced that they would not fly anyone with an Israeli passport on any of their flights. In addition, they said that they would not allow anyone with an Israeli stamp in any other countries passport to fly in or out of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation and it is ruled under very strict Muslim laws. They are also an ally of the US so the news of this discrimination was kept somewhat low key by the Obama administration who is also an ally to the Muslim religion. Except for some Jewish residents in New York, I don’t recall hearing very many people, especially any Muslims complain about Saudi Arabian Airlines’ discriminatory process, especially considering the fact that they do fly commercially in and out of the US and will enforce their discriminatory practices here in our country. But when the najdi are on the other foot, things are different. Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul, Islamic imams from Tennessee have filed suit against Delta Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, claiming that they were not allowed to fly because of how they looked and who they are. According to their lawsuit, the two men were wearing traditional Muslim clothing and were on their way to an anti-Muslim bigotry conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. They passed through the TSA security, underwent several extra security checks and pat downs and were approved for boarding. At boarding they were pulled aside and again given another security check and allowed to board. After being seated, they were again asked to provide a photo id, which they did. Then just as the plane began to taxi away from the gate, the pilot announced that they had to return to the gate where the two imams were asked to gather their luggage and disembark. TSA agents again searched their luggage and patted down the men and cleared them to board. At this time, the pilot refused to let the two Islamic clerics back on board the plane. A Delta supervisor was called in and he had a rather heated discussion with the pilot and then tried to smooth things over with the clerics. At this point, a higher ranking Delta supervisor was called in, but by the time he arrived, the plane had left the gate. The plane was order back to the gate where the higher ranking supervisor had another heated discussion with the pilot. The pilot told him that he was uncomfortable with the two men being on his plane and thought that their presence would make other passengers uncomfortable. The passengers were asked and no one responded that they were uncomfortable with the two men on board, but the pilot still expressed his reservations. Finally, the flight was allowed to leave without the two imams on board. I’m sure the pilot is going to have hell to pay for his actions, but we will have to wait and see. I’m not one to favor discrimination, but if a Muslim run airline is allowed to practice ethnic discrimination for their flights here in the US, then hasn’t the legal precedent been set? If action is taken against the pilot of this flight, I hope they use the example of the Saudi Arabian Airlines discriminatory practices as part of their defense. Muslims many want it both ways, but hopefully they can’t have it both ways.
\|Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow\| Nota bene: The following writing will not educate you on a few foundational premises. One of them is that indefinite solitary confinement is torture. Another is that the prison system as practiced in the U.S., and particularly in California, is not only egregiously punitive, it is run by profiteers who benefit from overpopulation, and it is organized in a way that capitalizes on racist narratives of criminality that are as ugly and diseased as any racist beliefs that circulated this country prior to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. If you have any remaining doubt about these premises, I implore you to educate yourself. Alexander, who was bold enough to claim that “we have allowed a human rights nightmare to occur on our watch,” locates herself squarely in the business of educating people about the prison system, but she did not publicly recommend any particular course of action other than the building of a “large-scale social movement” to address the concerns of prisoners and their families. (At least, she didn’t in Los Angeles. I heard from comrades up North that in the Bay Area, she was using the word “revolution.” Hopeful? Maybe. Pandering to audience? Maybe. Who knows.) \|Juan Mendez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture\| Some very well-respected people with heavy media connections are speaking out in public about solitary confinement and mass incarceration! That’s good! Isn’t it? One of the most boring public debates is the one about how much is enough activism. How much work it will take to get any social justice actually visible on the ground. I’m not going to participate in it here. I’m glad that people like Alexander and Mendez are out there doing educational and solidarity projects with people who are making the painful move toward awareness of such injustice as California’s prisons. They both probably work as many hours as they are capable, and are pained by the information they are privy to, and so on. And even if they aren’t, they certainly are doing more to raise consciousness with their access to media than, oh, say, Gov. Jerry Brown. The question I’m posing here is not one of degree. My question is actually about the foundational beliefs that undergird projects of prison reform, and particularly the movement to end solitary confinement. One of those beliefs, which I do not share, is that prison itself could ever be a just and appropriate answer to “crime” as we have conceived of it in this country. I do not believe that putting human beings in cages is a conscionable act. At all. Ever. This makes supporting anti-solitary confinement movement work feel, to me, like offering a self-loathing alcoholic a beer in the morning, out of deference to her hangover. (Which is not to pass moral judgement on self-loving functional addicts of any kind. I’m talking about giving drinks to a trapped, wants-to-stop-but-can’t alcoholic.) In other words, if we can begin to conceive of our country as dependent upon the carceral system, adjusting its severity here and there simply doesn’t satisfy the call for real change. The nationally accepted concept of crime itself, the very category of action against law, is racialized and therefore unjust. Alexander acknowledges this, and reports on American’s racial biases and how they are institutionally supported in The New Jim Crow. Ninety-five percent of survey respondents describe a black person when asked who they imagine as a “drug user,” when consistently the statistics indicate that equal numbers if not more white people both use and sell illegal drugs? Let’s not even begin to head down the racist rabbit hole of why some drugs are legal and some aren’t. Not only do I think cages are wrong, I think that asking a privileged class of people (Congress, lobbyists, policy makers, NGOs, and the like) what to do about crime is like asking the alcoholic what she’d like to do about her headache in the moment it hurts her the most. Oh, she’d prefer to drink more if her choices are drinking or not drinking? Well, yes. That makes sense. Prison reformists would prefer to put people in slightly less disgusting cages, if the choices are more or less disgusting cages? Hm. That seems right...if the choices really are that circumscribed. The fact that our country was built on genocide and slave labor should tip us off that we might require an underclass to perpetuate our function as a superpower, and that our notions of what is possible for reform are defined by that need. California certainly creates, perpetuates, and profits from an underclass. Nationally, that class is made of 2.3 million people who are under the surveillance and bodily control of the state. Inmates are getting paid cents per hour to perform factory work for companies who profit simultaneously from lower wage expenditures AND from their stocks in private prison corporations, which are expanding faster in California than any other private sector is expanding. In Southern California, upon release, men are bused directly to Skid Row and then denied jobs and state aid based on their status as felons, for the rest of their lives. We, as a country, need a huge prison population to support our power structure, and so anyone who wants to incite social justice movements around prison reform is in a terrible position: they must either ignore these facts in favor of continued American exceptionalism, or they must ask Americans to self-critically evaluate their own possessive investment in the continued functioning of the carceral state. Do you know how mass incarceration makes your daily life possible? Have you ever tried to figure it out? Anyone can be against solitary confinement, and everybody should. It takes a much deeper level of self-imposed discomfort to realize that every day, you and I are living on the spoils of slave labor, contributing to the isolation and abuse of prisoners by allowing carceral facilities to operate totally para-legally and without oversight, and, that it is not just the prisoners’ or their families’ who bear the responsibility for upending the system as we know it. Perhaps entering the prison abolition mindset via reformists like Michelle Alexander and Juan Mendez is possible. However, even the powerful reformists of the world are most likely not going to discuss the total dismantling of the neoliberal carceral state on camera, lest they be called socialists, hippies, idiots, or worse. But we will. And we must, or whatever gains the movement makes in ending solitary confinement will silence protest against the foundational and constituitive elements of the carceral state that allow it to function at all. In addition to the terrifying statistics and horrifying anecdotes that illuminate the errors of the California Department of Corrections, there are moments of hopeful action in California that are deeply affecting and radically defiant. Communities are capable of creating real alternatives to incarceration. Self-determination in codes of conduct and self-defense against state-sanctioned fascist policing policies are foundational ethics in multiple communities within this nightmare. More than being anti-solitary reformists, we do have the option to be abolitionists, without all the answers, without all the plans, and with each other, not just the experts I heard over the weekend, as guides. \|Members of Break the Lock and allies at USC's 2013 Conference on Cruelty\| Read up at: www.tideturning/org (And come to the December gala!)
Last night, at the meeting of the Planning Commission, a representative from Hudson Solar presented plans to install a solar electric system at Basilica Hudson. He explained that the original plan was to install the panels on the roof of the main building, an action that did not require site plan review, but the nature of the building's steel and concrete roof made it easier and less costly to erect a new structure to hold the solar array. The new structure being proposed is a covered, open-air car park to be located on part of the "triangle" of land along the railroad tracks, which was purchased from HCDPA by former Basilica owner Patrick Doyle in 2006. The 32 x 116 foot structure would be adjacent to the smaller building at the Basilica, sometimes used as a gallery and now being used by Kite's Nest. The spokesperson for the Basilica suggested that the new structure might be designated for handicapped parking or made available as a rainy day alternative for the farmers' market. Cappy Pierro, Planning Commission member and Fifth Ward alderman, pointed out that the Planning Commission had already given site plan approval to an earlier plan for this space. Cheryl Roberts, counsel to the Planning Commission, indicated that it was "the applicant's responsibility to know if [the current proposal] is an amendment [to the original application] or a new application." When the question of a public hearing on the project arose, Pierro and Planning Commission member Cleveland Samuels expressed the opinion that there didn't need to be a public hearing. Gossips, speaking from the audience on behalf of the public, urged that there be a public hearing, and Planning Commission member Laura Margolis agreed. The public hearing on this project and on the new bar proposed for 702 Columbia Street has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, January 9, at 6:30 p.m.
As GPS vulnerabilities to intentional jamming and unintentional interference become key factors for high-reliability navigation, inertial aiding to coast through outages becomes an important consideration for OEM integrators. Micro-electro-mechnical systems (MEMS) have been seen as offering the most promising, economical way forward for cost-effective, compact inertial and gyro solutions for almost every application going. However, in the past, MEMS gyro and accelerometer components from which inertial and gyro systems are built have not provided performance anywhere near as good as laser gyros (ring laser gyros, or RLG) used in the majority of high-performance inertial systems. Now, as new MEMS inertial systems have begun to hit the market in recent months, the envelope appears to be opening up on achieving pretty high performance. Gladiator Technologies, based in Snoqualmie near Seattle, Washington, is one of several companies currently supplying MEMS-based inertial/gyro systems for a wide range of applications. I came across Gladiator at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) convention in Washington, D.C., last August and decided to take a closer look at them as a typical supplier of new, compact, cost-effective MEMS navigation devices, which are becoming essential compliments to GNSS. Gladiator has been around since 2005 and has continued to innovate each year, growing its product line and gradually improving performance. Right or wrong, as an “inertial layman” I’ve always used drift rates (bias) to assess inertial accuracy, and this is apparently directly related to the noise floor of the sensor device. Now Gladiator has released its latest Landmark 50 INS/GPS with low noise MEMS gyros and accelerometers and it claims 1 degree/hour drift rate in-run — as good as an 8-cm path length ring-laser gyro — something of an achievement for a MEMS-based device. (That’s a 2 Euro coin used in the photo for size reference.) The product line goes all the way from automotive gyros up to the latest high-performance GPS/INS, and includes basic angular rate sensors and accelerometer packages. Applications include automotive testing, agricultural motion sensing, motorsport racing, instrumentation (including robotics and flight testing), rail, marine and energy motion detection, military land-vehicle and marine platform stabilization and navigation, electro-optical/infra-red targeting and stabilization, launcher and missile stabilization/navigation, and unmanned vehicles. Gladiator integrates u-blox GPS receivers in its GPS/INS systems because of good environmental and test performance and good accuracy and navigation update rates. It’s possible in the future that airborne-qualified GPS or higher performance DGPS will find their way into new inertial variants, but for now Gladiator is very satisfied with u-blox receivers. Applications may use a single/dual axis gyro or inertial measurement unit (IMU) where angular attitude outputs are required, such as image, attitude or weapons stabilization, or even packaged accelerometers. And, of course, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one of the target markets for these MEMS products — Gladiator has already had a lot of success in this segment. Its equipment is used on a number of unmanned vehicles, including fixed-wing and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles, as well as ground and underwater unmanned vehicles. These applications range from primary navigation/backup navigation to primary flight control/backup flight control, and include a large number of stabilization applications including electro-optical/infrared, LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and platform stabilization. Gladiator supplies these UAV applications with various inertial sensors (gyros) and inertial systems, including IMUs, vertical gyros (VGs), attitude heading reference systems (AHRS) and GPS-aided inertial systems. Customers in this market segment include Schiebel, U.S. Army, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, ST Aerospace, and others. Gladiator is closely monitoring progress towards UAVs gaining certified access to civil aerospace, and the prospect of expanding civilian applications and markets that that will bring. The company feels that its skills are in and around inertial sensor technology and products, and its efforts towards civil qualification should focus on these elements. Therefore, Gladiator is are looking for a partner who would take on GNSS civil qualification for civil airborne GNSS/INS applications. Gladiator is still a small outfit with around 30 people, with most of its engineering done in-house by a team of nine engineering staff supported by some external consultants. Senior management has more than 100 years’ experience in this field, and Rand Hulsing, the chief scientist, holds 68 patents in MEMS inertial sensors. New patents are currently pending on inertial-grade gyro and accelerometer designs. People on staff have gained significant experience working for companies such as Allied Signal, Sundstrand, Honeywell, L3, Systron Donner and Hughes. I pressed Mark Chamberlain, Gladiator CEO, for details of which (bought out) OEM MEMS devices his company integrates into its systems, and I was quite surprised by his response — Gladiator designs its own high-performance MEMS gyros and accelerometers and uses a fabless model to produce them. Clearly, it is having great success with this approach as its product performance has improved to almost within reach of existing technology high-performance inertial systems. Some of Gladiator’s lower end systems do still use OEM MEMS sensors. Their manufacturing facility in Washington focuses on product assembly and test, including calibration and environmental test. The systems Gladiator supplies are non-ITAR — which is short for saying that they can be exported to most friendly countries, and are not subject to special/restricted U.S. State-Department trade regulations. Gladiator does around $10 million/year currently, and anticipate its growth to continue. It has a number of sales representatives in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, so it is well known around the world, with more than 200 customers in 30 countries. I asked Mark about the possibility of an Initial Public Offering (IPO), but he is currently quite happy with the existing private ownership for the time being. The Gladiator board includes investor-directors from France and Germany, and the external directors also have impressive experience, so presumably board guidance has also helped Gladiator get where it is today. So, we have almost-inertial high-performance products with integrated GPS, attitude-only products and accelerometer packages for almost any application you could imagine, and are quietly inching towards 1 deg/hour total within the next few years — MEMS devices really have come a long way in the last few years.
I haven't seen the Other Boleyn Girl yet, but as an early modernist I suppose I'm obliged to at some point! I do think though that its interesting that its this aspect of Anne's story that we highlight in drama and in movies- the recent Henry VIII series on the BBC was similar. Anne Boleyn for those who don't know successfully managed the transition from being Henry's queen's lady in waiting to Henry's mistress to his wife and queen. But in a way that's the least interesting thing about her: Boleyn was an incredibly interesting woman in her own right, without thinking about her connection with Henry. She was a patron of the careers of many Protestants at Henry's court- and though we don't know how much influence she had on Henry's policy in the Reformation, there is a good case for saying that she was one of the drivers behind the Reformation. She was also an incredibly intelligent woman- Henry was attracted by her intelligence at first but then repulsed by the fact that she refused to bow to him all the time, by her temper and her sharpness. Her fall which flowed from her character and her enthusiasm for Protestantism in some ways is much more interesting than her rise- pretty women attract compliments and royal patrons all the time- but Anne wasn't just a pretty woman, she was an intelligent, skilful player of the court game, with an ideological coterie around her of radical protestants and a strong temper and sense of herself. I doubt we'll see that in the movie (except maybe as a negative and an adjunct to her charm)- and I do think its interesting that whenever you see this queen displayed on screen, her sexiness is emphasized at the expense of her intelligence. Partly that's because cinema likes a pretty body more than an interesting mind- but partly one suspects a residual sexism in the way that we approach Anne. We don't see the intelligent woman, as much as the sexy schemer.
Hyponatremia is a lack of sodium in your blood. Hyponatremia occurs when the sodium levels in your blood are dangerously low. Symptoms include vomiting, headache, confusion, fatigue, appetite loss, seizures, coma, and others. Those who exercise intensely for extended periods of time are at a greater risk for hyponatremia, as the body loses salt through sweating. Drinking plain water is not enough to replenish sodium levels, and the salt to water ratio only gets worse. When levels are too low, excess water causes your cells to swell, which is especially dangerous for your brain. Click here to cancel reply. Sorry,At this time user registration is disabled. We will open registration soon! Don't have an account? Click Here to Signup © Copyright GreenAnswers.com LLC
Peer Review the Asbestos Way Hi. This is a slowly conglomerating monsterpost jumping off of some OMB peer review regulations that are apparently really trendy right now (ref: Chris Mooney, Calpundit). Why? Because they rule out peer review of government research by anyone who wants or has a research grant from the agency to be peer reviewed, narrowing the pool of potential peer reviewers to people who get their money from industry, more or less. And we can all guess what kind of high quality objective science comes out of industry when there’s regulatory capture on the line (yes, kids, tobacco is good for you!). This is not so much an issue in hydrogeology. There are lots of little consulting firms (like the one I work for) that do business with an assortment of local governments, development companies and medium-sized private land owners, that could easily be called in to peer review the Forest Service or the EPA or whoever. But in that respect, it’s kind of a unique field – local governments don’t pay for cancer research. The sticky part is as follows: When selecting reviewers from the pool of qualified external experts, the agency sponsoring the review shall strive to appoint experts who, in addition to possessing the necessary scientific and technical expertise, are independent of the agency, do not possess real or perceived conflicts of interest, and are capable of approaching the subject matter in an open-minded and unbiased manner. Factors relevant to whether an individual satisfies these criteria include whether the individual: - has any financial interests in the matter at issue - has, in recent years, advocated a position on the specific matter at issue - is currently receiving or seeking substantial funding from the agency through a contract or research grant (either directly or indirectly through another entity, such as a university); or - has conducted multiple peer reviews for the same agency in recent years, or has conducted a peer review for the same agency on the same specific matter in recent years. If it is necessary to select a reviewer who is or appears to be biased in order to obtain a panel with appropriate expertise, the agency shall ensure that another reviewer with a contrary bias is appointed to balance the panel. So how worrisome is this? Certainly, there are many areas of research in which a person working in good faith to choose an unbiased review panel will be able to do so under these guidelines. And if we do not trust our Current Administration to work in good faith for the benefit of Science and Sundry, we are obviously Traitors. So, leaving aside the Most Improbable Probability of elected representatives of Democracy tampering with scientific expertise for political gain, we’ll move to a comparison of scientific standards in the executive and judicial branches of government. (more to follow, there is laundry and frivolity to accomplish yet this evening)
\|Photo credit: www.heatingoil.com\| What is the Keystone XL pipeline? A 1,700 mile TransCanada pipeline that would carry 900,000 barrels of oil each day from the tar sands in Canada through the U.S. to refineries in Texas. The pipeline would cut through six states, over seventy rivers and streams, aquifers, farms, and backyards, and disrupt native communities. Extraction of the oil poisons the air and water, requires hundreds of millions of gallons of water each day, and requires deforestation of the boreal forest in Canada. The oil is bitumen, an especially dirty oil whose refinement results in 20% more carbon emissions than does conventional fuel. The jobs the pipeline would create would be mostly temporary. The environmental, social, and public health costs of the pipeline over decades and centuries would outweigh any short-term job creation. This pipeline would only increase our dependence on fossil fuels for energy, at a time when our money would be better invested in safe, renewable sources of energy. Much more after the jump...
The Open Source movement sets another fine example with this superb 2-axis laser cutting/engraving station. This is version 2.0 which has a more compact size measuring 12” x 20” x 4”. The DIY laser cutter/engraver has a manual vertical axis but you can opt-in for a digitally controlled one. - Don’t miss: All of our CNC projects The electronics as well as all moving metal parts have been designed keeping simplicity and strength in mind. The neat thing about this laser cutter and engraver is that it could give commercial CNC machines a run for their money. What’s really handy is that Open Source machine has a large community behind it. Head to the Buildlog.net blog and join the forum to view all drawings, schematics, build instructions, and source files that are available for free.
Taking data deluge in your stride is not a big deal especially when you are successful in finding a suitable analytics platform. However, you must not forget that there’s more to a platform than simply dealing with data deluge or applying data science for the benefit of your business. Furthermore, it is imperative for you to realize that the platform may not be meant for serving the same purpose for your business that it may have served for others. For instance, while some of your competitors may have used the platform increasing their cross-selling revenues, you may be more interested in increasing the site integrity. Similarly, you and others may have different expectations as far as the analytics platform is concerned. While you may be looking forward to get a platform that can provide you with a considerable return on investment, others might be concerned about the speed of analytic processing. Therefore, it is not in your best interest to opt for a platform simply because others are recommending it or have managed to achieve the desired results with its help. However, it is also undeniable that a reliable platform will offer several results and many of these results are likely to match your expectations. For instance, no matter what you are exactly looking for, you can at least expect a reliable platform to take complexity out of MapReduce analytics. Similarly, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong if you assume that the platform is going to benefit your business even if your analysts only have their way with SQL and are not keen on learning programming languages or new interfaces. However, you’ve to crosscheck whether or not your assumption will turn out to be right by determining if the platform makes use of an SQL-MapReduce framework. Meanwhile, it is also worth considering that others may not focus all their energies on integration. However, you may adopt the platform only when you are sure that it will definitely integrate with the rest of your data infrastructure in a seamless manner. Of course, it is possible that despite seemingly integrating with the infrastructure, the platform is unable to harness the power of Map Reduce for whatever reason. So, others who are not paying heed to integration won’t get affected, whereas, you may have to look for another platform at the earliest. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that without finding everything about the platform, if you blindly adopt it, you may be far from leveraging it.
The Halifax Sexual Health Centre doesn’t have “an easy product” but a dedicated team works to build a healthier city. John Britton starts his business day with inventory. In his case, that includes counting condoms, IUDs and other birth control. It’s a regular day at the Halifax Sexual Health Centre. Formerly known as Planned Parenthood Metro Clinic, the HSHC is a highly specialized, non-profit clinic focusing on treatment, testing and counselling around sexual and reproductive health. “The clinic started in direct response to the decriminalization of abortion,” says Britton, HSHC’s executive director. Over time, the clinic began to focus on more than reproductive health. “It soon became very obvious that reproductive and sexual health went hand in hand,” he says. From pregnancy options and counselling to STI testing, including the only anonymous HIV testing clinic east of Montreal, the HSHC has provided all manner of services to people in the Halifax area. The clinic saw 5,665 appointments in 2008, increasing to 7,294 in 2012 with an average of around 28 per day. John Britton started as executive director at the HSHC last December, previously serving on its board of directors. Britton is interested in what he views as social justice issues and inequities, especially when it comes to access to healthcare. For a few months last year, the clinic operated without an executive director, so Britton left his day job working for a large health charity, resigned from the clinic’s board of directors and applied for the vacant position. “The job is perfectly aligned with my skills and it speaks to who I am and what I believe in,” he says. Although it’s common for a non-profit to temporarily operate without an executive director, Britton’s new job was one of many changes at the HSHC, including a recent loss of funding and staffing restructures which eliminated the bookkeeper and community educator positions. Those roles would be the responsibility of its executive director. Britton says that the decisions to do so were made by the board of directors to ensure the longevity of the clinic. “There’s never any danger of this clinic closing its doors but financially it has been a tough few years for the HSHC,” he says. On top of the newly added responsibilities, one of the biggest roles of any executive director at a non-profit is to help bring in revenue to the clinic. But getting people to open up their chequebooks can be a little trying at times. “If you want to think about it in business terms, we don’t have an easy product,” says Britton. “We have a stigma attached to us because a lot of what we deal with are what people perceive to be lifestyle choices. You try asking for money to support emergency contraception, morning after pills, or anon HIV testing. It’s sticky. People don’t want to talk about it and there is a sense of ‘Oh, that’s them.’” But Britton is undeterred by such arguments. “It’s not just about sexual health, it’s about inequity, and that’s the point I am trying to make with people,” he says. “You’re supporting health equity and that’s what it boils down to.” Britton goes on to explain that while people seem to know the HSHC exists, he’d like to see it having more of an impact in the community. “I’d love to have a billboard by the bridge,” he says. “I’d like people to think of us when they’re doing a bake sale at work, like people think of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, or the Canadian Cancer Society. I’d like to get on that radar.” But instead of “shaking the tin” for finding revenue, Britton and his team at the HSHC have been looking at fundraising in a different manner. One of the ways they’ve done this is through the clinic’s youth committee—along with eager students from Dalhousie—by putting on the Sexy Dance Party at Pacifico. Britton acted as steward to the students, who gained valuable public relations and event management skills, while the event raised more than $7,000 dollars on a $300 budget and had more than 700 participants. “I am interested in fundraising where everybody benefits,” says Britton. Leslie Shaw has been involved with the HSHC since its inception in 1971. Shaw says that she was “radicalized” as a teenager in the 1960s. “I remember an acquaintance of mine needed an abortion, and we looked everywhere,” she recalls. “I went to my dad who was a keen guy, and he went around riding in taxis, asking drivers where he should go to get someone an abortion. They directed him to a very well known Halifax madam named Ada MacCallum. But it was so clandestine, so scary and so expensive, and late by the time we got the information.” Although abortions are no longer illegal in Nova Scotia, there’s still stigma around sex and sexuality, says Shaw. She wants to remove that and give people—especially those who are marginalized due to their circumstances in life—the capacity to be their own agents for change. “I think we have more and more people who are marginal than we ever had before,” she says. “They’re not getting all the support that they need to survive as healthy people, sexually and otherwise.” Shaw also wants youth to have access to information and services as well. “There is a lot of sexual activity in younger ages now and we don’t say, ‘No, you can’t do that,’ but we do say, ‘How are you going to protect yourself so you have a healthier life?’” More people are looking to protect and educate themselves. Chantal Caissie is one of them. In her mid-20s, Caissie moved to Halifax from Moncton in 2007 and accesses the HSHC for routine pap tests and STI testing. “A lot of the times women are made to feel ashamed of their sexuality, which in turn makes some women feel uncomfortable discussing sex and sexual health,” she says. “By having access to a welcoming space where you won’t be made to feel ashamed or guilty about your sexual history, I think it helps to remove that stigma and promotes overall better sexual health.” Caissie had originally gone to the HSHC to talk about non-hormonal birth control, as she was unsure about her options. “The doctor I saw was really knowledgeable and helped me decide on a copper IUD,” she says. “She was incredibly reassuring and I’ve had it for about two years now and I’m really happy with it. I’m glad I had somewhere to go to talk about alternative birth control where I felt comfortable, especially with something I wasn’t very familiar with beforehand.” “I’d like to see it be normal for people to get their sexual health in check,” says Britton. “As normal as it is to get their cholesterol tested. But that’s not just a medical shift but also a cultural shift that is required.” Britton and the team of doctors, nurses and volunteers at the HSHC are working hard to bring that shift about. Britton argues that it’s the very stigma around sex and sexuality that keep STI rates steady, if not growing. “People get diagnosed with STIs,” he says. “People respond to it as if their life is over and that makes me sad because it’s part and parcel of sex and the age that we live in. Nobody wants them, but we can treat it. Other than abstinence, which isn’t possible for 99 per cent of the population, there is no other alternative, so…do what you need to do. If you pick up something along the way, understand how to treat it and how to be responsible to yourself and other people.” “I think that’s what I would like to see,” says Britton, “that change in attitude.”
After a lifetime of deprivation diets, many of my clients kind of freak out when they see how much food I want them to eat. The book, The Fast Metabolism Diet, is a result of 20 years of clinical work, translating proven strategies from an office setting to a plan that can work for everyone. We’ve had feedback from plenty of you that the portion guidelines are confusing, so let’s talk about that. It’s actually pretty simple: If your goal is to lose a larger amount of weight, you eat more food. Your basic portion guidelines - If you want to lose less than 20 pounds, follow the standard portions outlined in the book. - If you want to lose more than 20 pounds, add 1/2 portion to that standard portion, so 1.5 portions. - If you want to lose more than 40 pounds, eat 1.5 portions but double the veggies. For those of you who want to lose more than 40 pounds, note that this is a change from the book. The book advises adding another 1/2 portion for every additional 20 pounds of weight you want to lose. But there’s no upper cap in the book. That would mean, for a 100-pound weight-loss goal, the book guides you to eat 3 cups of oatmeal along with three cups of fruit (for Phase 1 breakfast). The problem? That’s too much food for a normal stomach to process in one sitting. This change comes as a result of feedback from hundreds (actually thousands) of you. Double and triple portions are just way too much food – and because you’re trying to eat all your required items, not enough veggies are making it into your menus. So here’s the new rule again: - For a weight loss goal of more than 40 pounds, eat 1.5 portions of all the required meal and snack elements - Go nuts with veggies. Pack ’em in. You should not ever feel hungry. Eat more vegetables than you’ve ever eaten before. Other common portion questions Q. What’s the minimum amount of veggies I should eat? A. I keep saying veggies are unlimited, and they are! Eat lots! Veggies are essential for fat burning and healing your metabolism. At minimum, eat 2 cups of vegetables with meals that require a veggie, and one 1 cup with snacks. Q. I’m hungry on Phase 1. Should I eat more? A. You should not feel hungry, and if you do, eat more veggies, even between meals. Keep in mind your vegetables don’t have to be raw. Try a baked sweet potato, or steamed kale with garlic and lemon. Or the chilled radish salad that was in my newsletter a couple of weeks ago. Q. I’m confused about healthy fats and proteins on Phase 3. Do I need both or just one or the other? A. For meals, you need both. For snacks, focus on the healthy fat plus veggies. This blog post covers that topic: See “Fat, Protein: Why you need both” Q. The app tells me I can have 4.5 tablespoons of oil in Phase 3. Really? A. Yes, that would be the oil portion if you want to lose more than 20 pounds. Do you HAVE to pack in all 4.5 tablespoons? No. Keep in mind that is the full fat serving for an entire meal — if you use no other healthy fats at all. In reality, you can use 2 tablespoons for your veggie stir fry at dinner, and another 2 tablespoons in your salad dressing. Or maybe you’ll use 2 tablespoons for your stir fry, but toss in 1/8 cup of sesame seeds (1/4 cup of seeds would be the full portion). See? That amount of oil doesn’t seem so crazy now, does it? You can and should use your best judgement and use the healthy fats you need for your cooking. And you can mix and match healthy fats appropriately: Use 1/2 portion of hummus plus 1/4 avocado. Or 1/8 cup of raw almonds plus 1/8 cup of olives. Be creative and mix it up! Bottom line: For the standard portion, use anywhere from 2 to 4 tablespoons of oil. For those doing 1.5 portions, aim for between 3 and 5 tablespoons. Q. For fruits you say 1 cup or 1 piece. But what about small fruits like kiwi? A. For fruits that are especially small, eat two. Imagine cutting that fruit up. Would it equal a cup? If not, add another piece (or half of a piece). Q. What are the portion sizes for packaged breads and tortillas? A. Even though the grain portion on Phase 3 is half that of Phase 1 (i.e. 1/2 cup wild rice compared to 1 cup on Phase 1), the standard portions for packaged items on Phase 1 and Phase 3 are the same. Otherwise, we’d get into a situation where the portion size was 3/8 of a tortilla. That’s just too weird. So for both Phase 1 and 3: - 1 slice of phase-appropriate bread - 1 8-inch phase-appropriate tortilla - 1/2 of a phase-appropriate bagel
A new program in Kansas aims to improve conditions in prisons, but it’s not for inmates. The state Department of Corrections is one of many prison and jail systems around the country working to overcome “correctional fatigue” — the mental and physical stress that lead to corrections workers burning out. From Orange Is The New Black to Shawshank Redemption to Cool Hand Luke, prison guards often have gotten a bad rap as some of the worst bullies featured on television and in the movies. And that rankles John Bates. “You never see any correctional officer heroes. All you ever see is the bosses, the Boss Hoggs,” Bates says. Bates has spent more than a decade working as a correctional officer in one of Kansas’s major prisons; he asked that it not be identified. On a recent afternoon off, he said he sees corrections as a way to keep the public safe and improve inmates’ lives. But it’s work that comes with nearly constant stress. “There’s a great deal of distrust by the inmate population towards staff which sometimes ends up in violence, sometimes ends up with nothing more than obscenities. But it is quite difficult dealing with inmates on a daily basis.” Bates says. Not just a job Those challenges aren’t unique to Kansas. “Everyone figures ‘Ah, it’s just a job.’ Well, it isn’t just a job to go to work every day having to wear a raincoat so you don’t get piss and vomit and excrement and semen and mucus thrown at you,” says Brian Dawe, executive director of the American Correctional Officer Information Network, which advocates on behalf of some 400,000 publically employed corrections officers in the United States. The Kansas Department of Corrections is hoping Dr. Caterina Spinaris can help turn things around for its staff, which includes more than 2,000 correctional officers. Spinaris is a psychologist based in southern Colorado who coined the term “correctional fatigue” to describe the detrimental psychological effects of their work. According to her research, 27 percent of corrections officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s comparable to rates seen in combat veterans. Corrections work can trigger anxiety problems, substance abuse and depression, and the toxic work environment of a prison can foster paranoid thinking patterns. “To be mistrusting, cynical. To find fault with things. To blame a lot. Seeing people as good or bad. All-or-nothing kind of thinking where people will say anybody who’s not like me is bad,” says Spinaris, describing the patterns of negative thinking that can result from correctional fatigue. Correctional fatigue can spill over into physical health as well, causing high blood pressure and weight gain. One study shows correctional officers have an average life span of just 59 years Spinaris says correctional fatigue can also influence the treatment of inmates. “It could end up in people being unprofessional, crossing boundary lines and being too harsh and punitive. And bad things can happen as a result of that as time goes on,” Spinaris says. Bandage to treat an infection? About two years ago, the National Institute of Corrections contracted with Spinaris and her company, Desert Waters Correctional Outreach, to work with jails and prison systems around the country. This fall, Spinaris and her team will come to Kansas to work with prison officials and assess how the state system works. That’s all well and good, says Rebecca Proctor, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees. But she says much more needs to be done. “Having a program to reduce stress without addressing the staffing and equipment programs is like putting a bandage and a topical cream on a sore that’s caused by a body-wide infection,” she says. Proctor says that budget cuts have left facilities poorly maintained and wages low. The starting wage of about $13.50 an hour isn’t enough to attract good workers, and wage freezes in recent years have made it harder to retain the workers they have. The twin problems of understaffing and overcrowding have forced officers to take on the duties of multiple employees as well as forced overtime. “If you’re someone who’s working a maximum-security unit, your inmates know how long you’ve been on the job,” Proctor says. “They’re observant. They watch. They see you’re not getting relieved. They see that there’s not the same level of staffing that there needs to be.” Understaffing and overcrowding Proctor says the understaffing problem has left officers unprotected and vulnerable. A rash of attacks against correctional officers over the summer sent shock waves through the system, according to John Bates. “The officers on the inside, they’re not just concerned. They’re scared today,” he says. Officials with the Kansas Department of Corrections insist understaffing is not a problem. “Anytime we have a staffing vacancy, it’s because we’ve had a recent resignation, and just like with any business, it takes time to rehire for that position,” says Jeremy Barclay, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections. Barclay points to an annual turnover rate of about 16 percent for staff and explains that prisons have a “staffing pattern plan” to make up for those frequent holes. The plan involves overtime, but Barclay says it’s voluntary. And the violence, he says, is not a matter of understaffing but rather something that all officers inevitably face working with inmates. “In terms of, do we have the right amount of staff in place? Yes. And do we have the right staff in the right positions? Yes, we do,” Barclay says. That said, officials with the Kansas Department of Corrections are hopeful the program to treat correctional fatigue will yield positive results. Dawe, of the American Correctional Officer Information Network, welcomes the program but says it’s just a start on improving things for a long-misunderstood profession. “We’ve been around for how long? And this is just happening now?” Dawe exclaims. “How long has it been that the police have been dealing with PTSD and that’s been recognized? Decades, they’ve understood it and they’ve dealt with it. Yet because we’re behind the walls, and people don’t see us, they could care less. Fortunately, someone is doing something.”
All-Sky Soft X-Ray Background Data Sets at the HEASARC The last mission to survey the sky in the soft X-ray band was ROSAT, which conducted an all-sky survey from 1990 July 30 to 1991 January 25, and from 1991 August 3 to 13. [eROSITA will be the primary instrument on-board the Russian "Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma" (SRG) satellite which will be launched from Baikonur in 2016 and placed in an L2 orbit. It will perform the first imaging all-sky survey in the medium energy X-ray range (0.3-10 keV) with an unprecedented spectral and angular resolution.] The HEASARC has the following data sets which contain measurements of the X-ray background all-sky intensity and/or spectra obtained with different experiments, listed in inverse chronological order (most recent first): ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) These maps of the diffuse X-ray background in the 0.11 - 2.04 keV energy range ('ROSAT Survey Diffuse Background Maps, Paper II', S. L. Snowden, R. Egger, M. J. Freyberg, D. McCammon, P. P. Plucinsky, W. T. Sanders, J. H. M. M. Schmitt, J. Trümper, and W. Voges, ApJ, Vol. 485 (1997), pp. 125-135) are used by the HEASARC's X-Ray Background Tool (XRBT). This tool calculates for a specified astronomical position and either a circle with a specified radius or an annulus with specified inner and outer radii centered on this position the average X-ray background count rate and statistical uncertainty in each of the six standard bands of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey diffuse background maps (R1, R2, R4, R5, R6, R7). In addition, the average count rates are given for the combined 1/4 keV (R1 + R2), 3/4 keV (R4 + R5), and 1.5 keV (R6 + R7) bands. (The count rates for the combined bands are simply the sum of the count rates for each component band, and the uncertainty in the combined band count rate is the square root of the sum of the squares of the uncertainties of each component band). A full description of the use of these maps is given in the XRBT help Diffuse X-Ray Spectrometer (DXS) The DXS experiment was flown on the space shuttle Endeavour from January 13 through 19, 1993. DXS was developed by the University of Wisconsin and its PI was Dr. Wilt Sanders. The HEASARC has, the so-called DXS level 1 reduced data products stored in this directory in the form of gzipped FITS files. The naming convention of the files is of the form "orbitNN_TYPE_SIDE.fits.gz", where NN = 2-digit orbit number in the range 1 to 91, TYPE = 3 or 4 character type of data file, out of the set: sci - science X-ray event data fast - engineering/housekeeping data (1 record per sec) slow - more engineering/housekeeping data (1 record per 4 secs) time - time records spoc - spoc (shuttle payload of opportunity carrier) information cmd - commands uploaded during this orbit orb - orbit information and SIDE = 1-character indicator of the DXS instrument that the data are p - Port instrument s - Starboard instrument and the final .gz indicates that the file has been gzipped. These files can be read using standard FITS readers such as fdump. The HEASARC also has the DXS spectral products in which were derived from a 2004 reprocessing of the raw telemetry. These spectra are trivially different that those presented in Sanders et al. (2001, ApJ, 554, 694) because of minor bug the processing software. See Sanders et al. (2001) for a detailed discussion of the DXS spectra. Morgenthaler (1998, PhD thesis) has detailed how the spectra and response were derived. The original spectra, response and arf files supplied to the HEASARC were modified in April 2009 in order to be compatible with xspec12 and with the FITS standards for spectra, response and arf. In brief, the clean* spectra represent spectra from different regions along the galactic equator, as indicated by the GAL_LON bin in the FITS headers (see also Sanders et al. figs. 8 and 10). The file clean_Allsky_p.flat contains the summation of all of the sky spectra and clean_HISM_p.flat contains the summation of the regions with the lowest count rate (Crux, Pup, Aur). The file clean_back_p.flat contains the spectrum of the instrument background and the dxsmodel* files contain the instrument response matrix in standard OGIP form. The total instrument count rate varied in time over the duration of the flight, with the first half having a higher count rate than the second half (see Sanders et al. fig. 9). The files prepended with "1_" and "2_" contain the spectra from the first and second half of the flight, respectively. The SAS-3 low-energy detector contains the all-sky image from the SAS-3 low-energy X-ray detector in the C band (0.10-0.28 keV in FITS format. These data were discussed in the paper by Marshall and Clark (1984, ApJ, 287, 633-652: see the ADS abstract appended below). The file sas.fits contains the all-sky intensity map in Galactic coordinates in an Aitoff projection centered on the Galactic Center. Title: SAS 3 survey of the soft X-ray background Authors: Marshall, F. J.; Clark, G. W. Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 287, Dec. 15, 1984, p. Abstract: The results of a survey of the soft X-ray sky in the C band (0.10 - 0.28 keV) are reported. The observations were carried out using two independent flow proportional counters on board the SAS 3 X-ray satellite which had a total angular resolution of 2.9 deg FWHM, and a total exposure of 22,000 cm^2 s sr. It is found that C band counting rates were generally inversely correlated with the column density of the neutral hydrogen on all angular scales down to the lowest angular resolution of the detectors. In the region 90-180 degrees Galactic longitude and 0-90 degrees Galactic latitude, the relation between C-band rates and the column densities of neutral hydrogen was fitted with a residual rms deviation of less than 13% by a two-component numerical model of the X-ray background. For the apparent attenuation column density, a value of 2.7 x 10^20 per sq cm was obtained. On the basis of a computer simulation of the SAS 3 data, it is shown that the observed clumping of interstellar matter was consistent with the magnitude of spatial fluctuations in the C-band map. When the background rates were subtracted from the survey map, the subsequent map showed foreground emission and absorption features with improved sensitivity and clarity. A series of computer-generated maps incorporating the SAS 3 data is given in an appendix. The HEAO 1-A2 experiment contains the spectra (and response matrices) of the X-ray background obtained with the HEAO1 A2 experiment (Marshall et al., 1980, ApJ, 235, 4: see below) in mid-1977. The spectra and responses are all in FITS formats: hed11c.pha h111095c.rsp HED1 M1 hed12c.pha h121095c.rsp HED1 M2 hed31c.pha h31257c.rsp HED3 M1 hed32c.pha h321095c.rsp HED3 M2 med1c.pha m11n.rsp MED M1 med2c.pha m12n.rsp MED M2 Title: The diffuse X-ray background spectrum from 3 to 50 keV Authors: Marshall, F. E.; Boldt, E. A.; Holt, S. S.; Miller, R. B.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Rose, L. A.; Rothschild, R. E.; Serlemitsos, P. J. Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 235, Jan. 1, 1980, p. 4-10. Abstract: The spectrum of the extragalactic diffuse X-ray background has been measured with the GSFC Cosmic X-ray Experiment on HEAO 1 for regions of the sky away from known point sources and more than 20 degrees from the galactic plane. A total exposure of 80 m^2-s-sr is available at present. Free-free emission from an optically thin plasma of 40 +/- 5 keV provides an excellent description of the observed spectrum from 3 to 50 keV. This spectral shape is confirmed by measurements from five separate layers of three independent detectors. With an estimated absolute precision of about 10%, the intensity of the emission at 10 keV is 3.2 keV/keV/cm^2/s/sr, a value consistent with the average of previously reported spectra. A uniform hot intergalactic medium of approximately 36% of the closure density of the universe would produce such a flux, although nonuniform models indicating less total matter are probably led sub-directory contains the A2 LED C-band (0.25 keV) All-Sky map of the soft X-ray diffuse background (Garmire et al. 1992, ApJ, 399, 694) in FITS format. Title: The soft X-ray diffuse background observed with the HEAO 1 low-energy Authors: Garmire, G. P.; Nousek, J. A.; Apparao, K. M. V.; Burrows, D. N.; Fink, R. L.; Kraft, R. P. Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 399, no. 2, Abstract: Results of a study of the diffuse soft-X-ray background as observed by the low-energy detectors of the A-2 experiment aboard the HEAO 1 satellite are reported. The observed sky intensities are presented as maps of the diffuse X-ray background sky in several energy bands covering the energy range 0.15-2.8 keV. It is found that the soft X-ray diffuse background (SXDB) between 1.5 and 2.8 keV, assuming a power law form with photon number index 1.4, has a normalization constant of 10.5 +/- 1.0 photons/cm^2/s/sr/keV. Below 1.5 keV, the spectrum of the SXDB exceeds the extrapolation of this power law. The low-energy excess for the north ecliptic pole (NEP) can be fitted with emission from a two-temperature equilibrium plasma model with the temperatures given by log T1 = 6.16 and log T2 = 6.33. It is found that this model is able to account for the spectrum below 1 keV, but fails to yield the observed Galactic latitude variation. The University of Wisconsin experiments flown on 10 sounding rockets in the period from 1972 to 1980 A compendium of documentation and data from the University of Wisconsin experiments flown on 10 sounding rockets over the period from 1972 to 1980 is available in the HEASARC directory, we have the all-sky images created from these All of the files are in FITS format. These data were discussed in the paper by McCammon et al. (1983, ApJ, 269, 107-135: see the ADS abstract appended below). The 52 files comprise 26 pairs of different visualizations of the soft X-ray diffuse background, corresponding to different energy bands and projections, the rat.fits files containing the intensity maps, and the sig.fits files containing the uncertainty maps. The first part of the file names codes the X-ray band to which it corresponds as follows: Wisconsin Band Energy Range in keV B 0.130 - 0.188 C 0.160 - 0.284 M1 0.440 - 0.930 M2 0.600 - 1.100 I 0.770 - 1.500 J 1.100 - 2.200 2-6 1.800 - 6.300 The second part of the file names codes the all-sky projection used as follows (all maps are in Galactic coordinates): 0 Aitoff centered on Galactic Longitude = 0 degrees 180 Aitoff centered on Galactic Longitude = 180 degrees npol Polar equal-area centered on North Galactic Pole spol Polar equal-area centered on South Galactic Pole Title: The soft X-ray diffuse background Authors: McCammon, D.; Burrows, D. N.; Sanders, W. T.; Kraushaar, W. L. Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 269, June 1, 1983, p. 107-135. Abstract: Maps of the diffuse X-ray background intensity covering essentially the entire sky with approximately 7 degree spatial resolution are presented for seven energy bands. The data were obtained on a series of ten sounding rocket flights conducted over a seven-year period. The different nature of the spatial distributions in different bands implies at least three distinct origins for the diffuse X-rays, none of which is well-understood. At energies of approximately 2000 eV, an isotropic and presumably extragalactic 500 and 1000 eV, an origin which is at least partially galactic seems called for. At energies 284 eV, the observed intensity is anticorrelated with neutral hydrogen column density, but we find it unlikely that this anticorrelation is simply due to absorption of an extragalactic or halo source. Previously announced in STAR as N83-20892.
CHICAGO — A few years ago, 4-year-old Danny was on the verge of being expelled from a Chicago preschool for violent behavior when a woman named Lauren Wiley was called in to help. She met with the boy’s teacher, who thought he needed to be medicated for attention deficit disorder. But as Wiley listened, the teacher admitted she was angry at Danny, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. Her job was to keep her students safe, she said, and the boy’s aggression made her feel like a failure. Next, Wiley and the teacher met with Danny’s mom. As the teacher dropped her judgmental attitude, it came out that Danny had watched his father beat his mother and get taken away in handcuffs. No one had ever talked to the child about what he saw. He did not have ADD. He was reeling from trauma, and he needed his teacher to like him and want to help him, not to be rid of him. That began to happen when she heard his story. Wiley is an early childhood mental health consultant. The job title often evokes an image of a baby on a couch talking to a therapist, but her work is about listening to adults so they can create an emotionally healthy environment for children. She trains teachers and others who work with young children to recognize the trauma that so often causes misbehavior. She supports them in confronting cultural biases and forging relationships with parents. She shows them how to recognize families’ strengths and promote mental wellness before problems develop. This is particularly significant since we know that “adverse childhood experiences” like violence and family dysfunction predict everything from academic failure to cancer to heart disease. In 2005, Yale professor Walter Gilliam shocked the nation with the first research showing that preschoolers are expelled at three times the rate of children in kindergarten through 12th grade. He showed that young African-American boys like Danny are most vulnerable to what he calls “the capital punishment of schools.” Gilliam convened focus groups of teachers to find out why, in mixed-age classes, he was seeing 4-year-olds expelled at higher rates than 3-year-olds in the same rooms. The replies were consistent: The teachers perceived the 4-year-olds as more likely to hurt someone when they misbehave because they are physically bigger. “That’s when it dawned on me that expulsion is not a child behavior. It’s an adult decision,” said Gilliam, who spoke on the topic at a Dec. 10 White House summit on early childhood education. He realized that, for the problem to get better, teachers need help managing challenging behavior. Gilliam has zeroed in on the consultation intervention as a particularly promising and cost-effective approach: In a Connecticut study, he found that it reduces preschool expulsions by half. It also has been shown to improve the emotional well-being of all children in the pivotal years before kindergarten and boost staff retention and job satisfaction in an industry with rampant turnover. With that research base from preschools, consultation now is being tried in home visiting programs, domestic violence shelters, pediatrician’s offices — anywhere that serves young children. There are also early efforts to bring a similar service to older kids. Under the nation’s newly reauthorized child care funding legislation, states must develop plans to reduce preschool expulsions, and consultation is now an allowable expense. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $4 million in December to expand the intervention’s reach. Head Start and Early Head Start programs already require it, and there are about a half-dozen state programs, as well as numerous regional ones. Still, the vast majority of early childhood settings do not have routine access to consultants, according to Georgetown professor Deborah Perry, who directed the National Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. I recently spent two days shadowing Lauren Wiley in Illinois, one of the places with a statewide program. She’s a petite 55-year-old who puts 500 to 700 miles a week on her silver Acura, a distance she says is only possible because her own two kids are grown. One of our stops was in Chicago’s violent North Lawndale neighborhood at an after-school program in an immaculately-kept old building with a “no firearms” sticker on the door. Wiley had made weekly visits there since early 2014 to address the mental health needs of students ages 7 to 11, older than her usual clientele. She had been encouraging the program’s director and two teachers to focus on what the children can do, not what they can’t. This simple strategy led the staff to uncover one troubled 11-year-old’s love of verbal storytelling. By asking him to tell and then illustrate the story of his life — which includes frequent neighborhood shootings, a recent murder on his block and teasing for a minor facial deformity — he took an interest in writing his life story as well. As a result, he is reading for the first time, and mortifying accidents wetting his pants are far fewer. A handmade poster lists his coping strategies: “deep breaths,” “fan myself,” “take a time out,” “sit quietly by myself.” On the day we visited, the teachers watched as Wiley had the eight children present decorate boxes to fill and empty with small bells based on acts of kindness and cruelty. She noticed a few coloring in red and then trying to erase it and perceived the imagery of a blood stain that won’t come out. She prodded a teacher to pull a little girl aside to talk. Early childhood mental health consultation can look like this, with a consultant and teacher working together with children, modeling lessons for each other. Or it can just look like adults sitting around a table, as we saw at a day care, where a conversation about suspected parental drug use led Wiley to a bigger probe: Do all staff members believe the mothers they serve can be good parents? While no one wanted to admit bias, and Wiley never acts like she has all the answers, she had clearly unearthed a problem, and a fundamental one. Child care and preschool expulsions are virtually unheard of when the teacher and parent know and like each other. Sometimes, consultants can offer relatively simple fixes. According to Georgetown’s Perry, teachers make the common mistake of giving directions while standing up; young children, particularly those with concentration difficulty, are more likely to listen to an adult at their eye level. Consultants watch how teachers navigate activity changes — think taking a dozen 3-year-olds to the bathroom — since those are the most common times for behavioral outbursts to occur. They suggest things like signing a clean-up song every day so kids will anticipate and understand routines. More difficult are the situations requiring changes in adult attitudes and habits, and that’s where Wiley spends most of her time. She said it is common for home visitors to pick up and calm fussy babies, alienating mothers who don’t know how to soothe them or have traumatic memories tied to their own childhood cries. In an agency focused on mental wellness, she said, the home visitor might instead put an arm around the insecure mom holding her baby and tell her: “When I’m not here, I want you to remember that I’m with you. My arm is around you. You can do it.” Related: The power of preschool done right The consensus is that effective consultation must include supervisors, both to support staff on the front lines and so that when there is turnover, the work isn’t all lost. Wiley says she needs to be in a place at least a year, and preferably two, to shift an organization’s mindset. Results for individual children and classrooms can happen faster, but Wiley gets incensed when her peers address what she calls the “low-hanging fruit” — a child’s misbehavior — without training the staff what to do. She sees her role as creating a safe space for early childhood professionals to reflect and explore ideas. “The hardest part is sitting with your own discomfort sometimes while people figure it out for themselves,” she said. Wiley is an independent contractor. Many of her assignments come from the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership, an agency the state created in 2003 in response to research showing that more than 20 percent of children have a diagnosable mental health condition, but only one in five of those are treated. The partnership has received $200,000 a year in state money to provide early childhood mental health consultation free to any agency that requests it, as capacity allows, along with $270,000 in federal money to consult in home visitation programs. By conservative estimates, it reached 59 programs last fiscal year with the state funds and used the federal dollars to serve 139 home visitors and supervisors serving 1,490 families. A little money has gone a long way, and other organizations receive government funding for similar services. But with resources few and needs great, the work is not heavily promoted, and many who could benefit don’t know it exists. Regina Le Flore, who owns a Montessori day care and preschool in the western Chicago suburb of Lyons, said she would love for her teachers to have more training in what to do when children develop significant behavior problems. That typically happens once or twice a year and usually results in their withdrawal, often with their parents acting defensive when the staff suggests the child needs counseling. (A consultant would recommend avoiding accusations that can make a parent feel like a failure.) To take consultation to scale, those in the field agree there needs to be a model delineating what quality looks like and a bigger workforce with a rare combination of skills: experience as a mental health professional, knowledge of child development, cultural awareness, and an understanding of families and of trauma. But those things would come if there were steady government funding. Wiley, an Illinois native who lives 60 miles south of Chicago in a small town called Bourbonnais, is one of the most seasoned consultants in the state, with more than a decade of experience. She says her greatest asset is curiosity, a trait she tries to get her clients to adopt in their interactions with families. When Danny’s teacher dropped her assumption about what was wrong and listened receptively to his mother, the whole situation shifted. They worked together to find a classmate he could play with quietly, to let him change activities when he couldn’t focus and to help his mother say goodbye when she dropped him off each morning. Earlier, she would sneak away because she couldn’t handle watching him melt down. And one moment at a time, supportive adult behavior paved the way for a child to remain in school. A version of this story was published by The New York Times on Feb. 20, 2015. Reproduction of this story is not permitted.
This potato dish comes from the state of Gujarat, located in the northwest corner of India. It’s a method used to take the humble boiled potato and elevate it to new levels. Easy to make and an ideal accompaniment to any Indian spread; even with your favourite piece of char-grilled meat. Boil the potatoes until just cooked. Drain and cool for a few minutes and cut into quarters lengthways or 2cm cubes. Put potato, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric and chilli into a bowl and season with salt. Toss quickly to coat the potatoes in the spices. Set aside. Heat a frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil and then follow with the mustard and cumin seeds, fenugreek powder, methi and curry leaves and temper until the seeds start to pop. Add the potato and toss carefully to incorporate the spices well. Add the coconut, sesame seeds and chopped coriander.
The Crisis of Higher Education in the U.S. The state of higher education in the United States is deplorable; it is extremely costly, but the investment has become decreasingly worthwhile. Students bear the burden of extraordinarily expensive education, which results in massive debt, and they are left with – especially now – mediocre results, to flounder in a job market that leaves much to be desired. Even the left can see this problem, though their prescriptions for change are indubitably different. Indeed, “two-thirds of students who earn undergraduate degrees end up shouldering more than $25,000 in debt, and 1 in 10 owe more than $54,000, a 2012 Center for American Progress report found.” Furthermore, minorities are even more likely to need a loan of this kind “as need-based federal aid for low-income students has become insufficient to cover rising tuitions.” Of course, the federal government is largely to blame for a couple of reasons. First, as the Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke and Stuart M. Butler explain, the accreditation process, “a feature of the traditional education system,” remains an obstacle to innovations that would decrease the costs of receiving an advanced degree. Second, there is a provision buried deep in Obamacare that “effectively nationalized the student loan industry by ending government subsidies to private lenders and putting the federal government in charge of originating and servicing federally backed student loans.” The financial problem is twofold, affecting both students and taxpayers. If you’re a college graduate who had to take out loans, you know what we’re referring to: your debt. It’s probably hovering over your head, and if you’re the average college student, there are five digits after the dollar sign and before the decimal point. Indeed, the average debt of college graduates today is $23,000. If you’re a taxpayer, the effect is less direct, but the truth is that you’re fitting the bill for a flawed higher education system. The total student loan debt in the United States now exceeds $1 trillion. Burke explains: Part of the problem is a system where virtually anyone is eligible for a student loan, regardless of credit history or repayment potential. But unlike other loans, taxpayers are on the hook when students default or incur other losses. Moreover, the cost of attending college has increased 439 percent since 1982. Yet, somehow, President Obama and his administration have insisted on ever increasing subsidies for higher education. To be clear, these subsidies have not decreased the cost of education. Rather than continuing to sink more money into the flawed education system, Heritage has proposed real solutions. Burke suggests: Shifting from debt-based to savings-based college financing, limiting access to federal student loans to four years of undergraduate work, and—with the proliferation of online learning—allowing the free market to work to reduce college costs are all policies that would provide needed relief to both students and taxpayers. The federal government has proved to be incredibly ill-equipped to improve the state of higher education despite taking an ever growing amount of taxpayer money. For decades, the Department of Education — an “inefficient federal agency” through which taxpayer resources are filtered to no avail — has been like a gangrenous infection in our academic institutions.
Email Your Senator to Oppose the Shaheen-Portman Energy Efficiency Bill Next week, the Senate is likely to consider the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013 (S. 2262). Introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) 2% and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) 30% it claims to promote energy savings in industrial and commercial buildings. The bill provides taxpayer-funded federal incentives to make building and manufacturing processes more efficient, but these “incentives” would burden taxpayers and consumers alike while producing no tangible benefits. They are also duplicative of federal and state efforts. This inappropriate intervention comes in the form of ‘voluntary’ federal mandates and taxpayer funded subsidies for energy efficiency updates in state government and tribal buildings. Specifically, Heritage notes, “The bill authorizes $200 million of taxpayer money to “incentivize and assist” states and tribal groups to meet allegedly voluntary building codes.” As Heritage notes, only the free-market has been proven to decrease costs and increase efficiency in energy production. The federal government’s role in energy efficiency should be limited to providing information to consumers make well-informed decisions. This legislation allows the government to overstep its boundaries. Use the POPVOX form below and tell your Senators that the Shaheen-Portman Energy Efficiency Bill is bad policy and should be opposed.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF RICHMOND. THIS town was organized in 1796, under the act of January 27, 1789, and first called Pitstown, in honor of its pioneer Captain Peter Pitts The name was changed to Honeoye, April 6, 1808, and to Richmond, April 11, 1815. A part of Canadice was annexed April 30, 1836, and parts of Bristol and South Bristol in 1848; but the latter were restored in 1852. The town consists of a nearly square portion of land lying near the foot of Honeoye Lake, and a narrow strip extending along the east shore of that lake and its inlet to the south border of the county. This strip was added to the town in consequence of its position, high ridges separating it from the business centers of both Canadice and South Bristol. Negotiations for the purchase of a large tract of land in the Genesee country were begun as early as the year 1787, but not until Phelps and Gorham perfected their title were the arrangements completed. A party was sent into this region to examine the lands, and subsequently the Dighton Company was formed, the agents of which purchased 46,080 acres, a part of which extended over the present town of Richmond, then known, however, as number 9 in range 5. The title to the land was taken by Calvin Jacobs and John Smith, who, after its survey and allotment, conveyed to the respective owners. This survey was made in 1789 by Capt. Peter Pitts and his son William; Deacon and George Codding, father and son; and Calvin Jacobs and John Smith. Captain Pitts became the possessor of 3,000 acres of land near the foot of Honeoye Lake, upon which the first improvement was made in 1790 by Gideon and William Pitts. In December of the same year Captain Pitts and John Codding and their families became permanent settlers of the town, occupying during the following winter the log house built by Captain Pitts's sons, Gideon and William. Later on this primitive structure was replaced with a substantial framed dwelling, supposed by many to have been the famed "Long House," in which the redoubtable pioneer entertained those distinguished traitors Louis Philippe and Duke de Liancourt, their host and entertainer being Capt. Peter Pitts. Referring further to the pioneer and early settlers of this town, there may be recalled the names of others equally worthy of mention. In this connection there may be recalled Elisha Pratt, who lived with Captain Pitts; Eber Sibley, Edward Hazen, Edward Taylor, Silas Whitney, John Pennell, Ebenezer Farrer, Jonathan Rhodes, the date of whose settlement is not accurately preserved. In the center of the town the early residents were Noah Ashley, Joseph and Elias Gilbert, David, William, Sanford and Heman Crooks, Philip Reed and his sons John F., Silas, Wheeler, William and Philip; Whiting Marsh, John and Eleazer Freney, Deacon Harmon, Isaac Bishop, Rhoderick Steele, Cyrus Wells, Isaac and Alden Adams, Daniel H. Goodsell, Orsamus Risden, and possibly others. In the northeast part of the town the early settlers were Lemuel and Cyrus Chipman, Asa Dennison and Levi Blackmer, David Aiken, Thomas Wilson, Mr. Bentley, Wm. Baker, Aaron and John Abbey, Seth Tubbs, David Crawford, Moses, Peter and Nathaniel Allen, James Garlinghouse, Joseph Garlinghouse, Cyrus Wells, Sylvester Curtis, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Jenkins, Hugh Gregg, George Fox, Abram Wiley, Gideon Gates, David Pierpont, Caidwell. Other settlers in the town were Joshua Phillips, Nathan Hicks, Elijah Wheeler, Pierce Chamberlain, Asa Dennison, Levi Blackmer, Roswell Turner, Calvin Ward, Philip Reed, Colonel Lyman Hawes, Geo. McClure, Amos and John Dixon, Oliver Lyon, Wm. Warner, Parley Brown, Parley Drury, Luther Stanley, Mr. Frisbie, James McCrossen, Rufus Bullock, Caleb and Thomas Briggs, James Green, Stephen Frost, Gates Pemberton, Caleb Smith, Nelson Skinner, John Norton, James Parker, Abijah Wright, Wm. Arnold, Amos Jones, Jesse Stephens, A. S. Bushnell, Philip Short, Walter Stephens, Caleb Arnold, Abel Short, Artemas Briggs, John Beecher and Gilbert Kinyon. The early settlers of that part of the town which extends south to the county line were Hugh Hamilton, George Gordon, William Layne, David Knapp, John Parker, Edmund Downs, Wm. Judevine, Job Wood, Jacob Flanders, Colonel John Green, the Skinner family, the Vinals, James Moore, Daniel Smith, Aaron J. Hunt, Andrew Bray, Jacob Bowers. The persons above mentioned, many of whom were heads of families, were the pioneers and early settlers of Richmond, but in naming them no effort has been made to fix date of settlement, place of residence in the town, or to recall any events in connection with their family life, or services in the town. However, in another department of this work will be found detailed mention of many of these pioneers and their descendants, many of whom have largely contributed to the prosperity of the town. From the number of names mentioned it will be seen that the early settlement of the town was quite rapid, although prior to i8oo the inhabitants were few and scattered. However, in 1796 it was deemed advisable to complete the town organization, and a meeting thérefor was held on April 5, at which time these officers were chosen; Supervisor, Lemuel Chipman; town clerk, Gideon Pitts; assessors, Philip Reed, Wm. Pitts, Solomon Woodruff; constable and collector, Jonas Belknap; commissioners of highways, Solomon Woodruff, Gideon Pitts, Elijah Parker; fence viewers, Stiles Parker; Roswell Turner; poundmaster, Edward Hazen; pathmasters, Peter Pitts, Cyrus Chipman, Solomon Woodruff, Aaron Hunt, Roswell Turner; overseers of the poor, Peter Pitts, Philip Reed; commissioners of schools, Philip Reed, Cyrus Chiprnan, Jonas Belknap. In this connection we furnish the names of the supervisors of Richmond who have from time to time represented the town in the county legislature as follows: Lemuel Chipman, 1786-1800, 1806, 1814, 1821; Philip Reed, 1801-4; Gideon Pitts, 1805, 1807-1809, 1818-20; Noah Ashley, 1810, 1813, 1815; James Herendeen, 1811; Peter Allen, 1812; Noah Ashley, 1812, to fill vacancy; Amos Mead, 1816-17; Issacher Frost, 1822-23, 1828; Nathaniel Allen, 1824, 1826; John Dixon, 1825; Philip Short, 1827; Jonathan Mason, 1829; Hiram Pitts, 1830-34; Gilbert Wilson, 1835-38; Wm. F. Reed, 1839-40; Hiram Ashley, 1841-43 ; Robert L. Rose, 1844-45; Zach. Longyor, 1846; David A. Pierpont, 1847-48, 1852, 1855; Thomas Barkley, 1849-50; Lyman Haws, 1851; David L. Hamilton, 1853-54; Zoroaster Paul, 1856; Wm. F. Reed, 1857-58; Willard Doolittle, 1859-60; Evelyn Pierce, 186 r- 68; Spencer D. Short, 1868-72; Chas. E. Reed, 1873-76; Marion P. Worthy, 1887-80; Frederick L.'Ashley, 1881-82; John A. Reed, 1883-86; Edwin W. Gilbert, 1887-88; David A. Pierpont, 1889-91; Charles E. Reed, 1892-93. The Richmond contribution to the Ontario county troops who served in the War of 18 12-15, so far as can be ascertained, comprised these militiamen: Peter Allen, who commanded a regiment; Captains Elijah Clark, Josiah Morehouse, Joel S. Hart, Caleb Harrington; Salma Stanley, Abraham Dox, John Brown, John Bogart, James Bogart; Paymaster Nathaniel Allen; Major James Henderson; Lieutenant Joshua Phillips, and Tilness Bently, Eli Crooks, Henry Hazen, Paul W. Hazen, Thomas Bentley, Riley Crooks, Robert Crawfor, John Wheeler, Sylvester Wheeler, Benj. Leslie, Benj. Downing, David Knapp, Richard Wright, Pitts Phillips, Wm. Lane, John Flanders, Samuel Bently, Lyman Canda, Vincent Conklin, Darius French, Leonard Pemberton, Elijah Risden, Elijah Sibley, Cyrus Booth The greatest number of inhabitants ever attained by the town was about the year 1840, there then being a population of 1,927. Ten years before the number was 1,876. In 1850 it decreased to 1,852; in 1860 to 1,650; in 1870 to 1,622; in 1880 it was increased to 1,772, and during the next ten years decreased to 1,511, as shown by the census reports. The town of Richmond from its early settlement period has possessed a number of small villages, none of which has attained to the character of a corporation The largest and most important of these hamlets is Honeoye, a pretty little village located on the outlet of Honeoye Lake, about half a mile from the main body of the latter. The land in this vicinity to the vast extent of 3,000 acres, was originally owned by pioneer Captain Pitts, though the proprietorship of the village seems to have been credited to Artemas Briggs. The pioneer interests here were the tannery of Moses Risden, succeeded by Danie] Phillips; Gideon Pitts, Mr. Way and Abner Mather were the first blacksmiths; Gideon Pitts also built a saw-mill and grist-mill, the latter being on the site now occupied by the roller process mill of John Quick. In 1815 R. Davids opened a tavern, who was followed in the same occupation by Samuel G. Crooks and Smith Henry. In 1817 John Brown and Linus Giddings put in operation a fulling and cloth mill, which Joseph Blount owned later on. Hiram Pitts and Joseph Savill built the first woolen factory, and in 1822 John Brown started in trade. Erastus Hill, R. Waidron and Hawks & Whipple followed still later. Other, and perhaps later, merchants and business men of the village were as follows: Isaac G. Hazen, dealer; M. M. Gregory, hardware; Lyman Pierce and E. Pierce, ashery; Isaac Seward, tanner and shoemaker; Cornelius Hollenbeck, tanner; Oliver Adams, tanner and shoemaker; Mr. Tubbs, cabinet maker; Artemas Briggs, Ephraim Turner, John Pennell, Gideon Pitts and Erastus Hill, distillers. The present business interests of Honeoye village are the machine shops of Wm. Parks; the planing-mill of Caleb Arnold; the shops of Thos. McKey, Geo. W. Patterson and Frank Hoagland; Baun's photograph gallery; W. H. Bartlett's shoe and wagon shops; T. R. Reed's market; Mrs. Stout's hotel; Julian Tonset's and Geo. McBride's harness shops, and the stores of Frank Watrous, Ira M. Deyo (also postmaster), Rowley Knapp, Edwin W. Gilbert, M. A. Franklin, Litzendorf & Eldredge and Thomas & Plimpton. The public properties at Honeoye are the school house and the Congregational and St. Mary's Roman Catholic churches. The First Congregational Church at Honeoye was organized in November, 1854, by Rev. Cyrus Pitts, assisted by Rev. Fisher, with less than ten original members, most of whom were formerly connected with the mother Congregational Society of the town. The church was built in 1861, and stands at the corner of Main and North streets. The succession of pastors is as follows: Revs. Cyrus Pitts, R. W. Payne, Milton Buttoft,. Isaac N. Ely and S. Mills Day, the latter being the present pastor. St. Mary's Catholic Church at Honeoye is of recent organization and is under the pastoral charge of Rev. J. W. The First Methodist Protestant Church and Society was organized in 1832, and in the same year a church edifice was built. In 1869 the building was destroyed by fire, an accident that so crippled the society that it soon afterward passed out of existence. Richmond Center is a small hamlet situated near the center of the town, the early occupants of which have been mentioned in this chapter, but the place at this time has no business interests worthy of mention. It is the location, however, of the original Congregational Church of the town, organized November 4. 1802, and including in its membership a number of the prominent pioneer families of the vicinity. In 1804 the society purchased land of David Crooks to be used as a burying ground and also a site for a meeting-house. About 1810 the Presbyterian form of government was adopted, but in 1843 the society returned to Congregationalism. The large edifice was built in 1817-18, and the parsonage in 1835. Among the early supplies and pastors of this church were Revs. Joseph Grover, Jacob Cram, Abijah Warren, Samuel Fuller, Aaron C. Collins, Warren Day, Orange Lyman, H. B. Pierpont, Jacob Burbank, L. W. Billington, Lyman Manly, Milton Buttoff. This society is not now in active existence. Richmond Mills is a small village situate in the western part of the town, on the outlet of Hemlock Lake. This was originally the locality of the settlement made by pioneer Asa Dennison, who came to the town in 1795, and for whom the cross roads was given the name of Dennison's Corners. The pioneer built a tavern at the Corners, and in connection with it fitted up a large ball-room. He kept public house here sixty years. The present business interests here are the store of A. B. Hosford, who is also postmaster; A. W. Townsend's saw and stave mill, and Caleb Clow's Allen's Hill is located in the northest part of the town in the locality in which Moses Allen and his sons, Peter and Nathaniel, settled in 1796 and 1797. From this family the hamlet receives its name, although as a business or manufacturing center the village has never gained any prominence. Here are located the Protestant Episcopal and Metlodist Episcopal churches, the school of district No. 2, the store of Charles Simmons (who is also postmaster) and the blacksmith shop of Noah T. Lambert. The Protestant Episcopal Church (St. Paul's) was organized in the town in April, 1813; and during the next two years an edifice was built. The parish organization has always been maintained though the church has experienced many vicissitudes. Its membership is small and there is no resident or regular rector in the parish. The Methodist Episcopal Church of Richmond which is located at Allen's Hill was organized about sixty years ago, and reorganized in January, 1859. The first church edifice was in the eastern part of the town, but after the reorganization a larger and more suitable structurewas built at Allen's Hill, and was dedicated July 6, 1861. The present pastor of this church is Rev. D. C. Nye.. The only church society which has had an active existence in Richmond was the Baptist, organized about 1808, and which built a church house in 1832. The society was dissolved many years ago. Referring briefly to the educational interests of Richmond, it may be stated that the town has ten school districts, eleven frame schoolhouses, which are maintained at an annual expense of about $4,000. The total value of school buildings and sites in the town is estimated at $i 1,825. The number of children of school age in the town in 1892
Set As Default Person \|\|, Yngvi-frey \| \|\|Of Uppsala King of Sweden \| - From Norsk mythology Freyr also spelled Frey, also called YNGVI, in Norse mythology, the ruler of peace and fertility, rain, and sunshine and the son of the sea god Njörd. Although originally one of the Vanir tribe, he was included with the Aesir. Gerd, daughter of the giant Gymir, was his wife. Worshiped especially in Sweden, he was also well-known in Norway and Iceland. His sister and female counterpart, Freyja, was goddess of love, fertility, battle, and death. The boar was sacred to both. Freyr and Freyja figure in many lays and stories of medieval Iceland. Much more is told of Freyr, the son of Njörd. His name means "Lord" (compare Old English Frea), but Freyr had other names as well; he was called Yngvi or Yngvi-Freyr, and this name suggests that he was the eponymous father of the north Germans whom Tacitus calls Ingvæones (Ingævones). The Old English Runic Poem indicates that the god Ing was seen first among the eastern Danes; he departed eastward over a wave and his chariot went after him. It is remarkable how the chariot persists in the cult of the Vanir, Nerthus, Ing, and Freyr. A comparatively late source tells how the idol of Freyr was carried in a chariot to bring fertility to the crops in Sweden. In an early saga of Iceland, where crops were little cultivated, Freyr still appears as the guardian of the sacred wheatfield. Freyr's name often is found as the first element of a place-name, especially in eastern Sweden; the second element often means "wheatfield," or "meadow The Eddic poem Skírnismál ("The Lay of Skírnir") relates the wooing of Freyr's bride, Gerd (Gerðr), a giant-maiden. This story has often been considered as a fertility myth. Gerdr (from garðr, "field") is held fast in the clutches of the frost-giants of winter. Thus, Freyr, as sun-god, would free her. However, this interpretation rests entirely on disputable etymologies. The narrative indicates that Freyr's bride belongs to the otherworld, and her wooing may rather symbolize the affinities of the fertility god with the chthonian powers, dominating the cycle of life and death. Several animals were sacred to Freyr, particularly the horse and, because of his great fertility, the boar. The centre of Freyr's cult was Uppsala, and he was once said to be king of the Swedes. His reign was one of peace and plenty. While Freyr reigned in Sweden, a certain Frodi ruled the Danes, and the Danes attributed this age of prosperity to him. Frodi (Fróði) was also conveyed ceremoniously in a chariot, and some have seen him as no other than a doublet of Freyr. Freyr was said to be ancestor of the Ynglingar, the Swedish royal family. Such myths are connected with the concept of "divine kingship" in the Germanic world, but earlier views on "sacral royalty" are now being challenged. 107) FREYR PROPOSES TO GER?UR One day Freyr was sitting in Hliðskjálf, and saw the giant-maiden Gerður daughter of Gymir. She seemed to him the most beautiful of all maidens, and he was filled with longing and sorrow, but dared not tell the other gods, who worried about him. Of all the Giants Gymir was now the most terrible, and a sworn enemy of Ásgarður, and therefore a bond of matrimony between the Gods and Gymir would be a shameful thing indeed, and most dangerous for all of creation. Nevertheless Freyr's passion became so overwhelming that he felt that he would die unless Gerður become his. He opened his heart to Svipdagur, and it came to pass that Svipdagur went to Gerður in order to propose marriage on Freyr's behalf. He took with him the ring Draupnir and eleven golden apples, but she would only accept the proposal on three conditions: that her father Gymir receive Völundur's sword; that Svipdagur and Freyja fetch her and accompany her into Ásgarður; and that she become one of the Goddesses in Ásgarður. 108) THE SWORD OF REVENGE IN GYMIR'S POWER The Gods accepted unwillingly, and thus forfeited the certain victory, which the sword had ensured. The sword was a great gain for the giants, even if they would never be able to use it without destroying themselves. Gymir gave the sword into the keeping of his kinsman Eggþér, who buried it deep below the earth in the Iron-Wood (Járnviður). 109) BATTLE IN THE HALL OF GYMIR Svipdagur went to Gymir's hall along with Freyja. They planned to betray the Giants. Þórr and Ullur rode secretly to the north, and hid themselves near to Gymir's mountainous abode. Gymir told Svipdagur that he planned to keep Freyja, and proposed that he himself marry Gerður. Thus he would regain the sword of revenge, be able to fulfil the blood vengeance which he had sworn, overthrow the God-powers and himself become Lord of the Universe. Svipdagur pretended to accept this, and now a double wedding was prepared. Just in time Þórr and Ullur burst into the rocky hall. Svipdagur grabbed his weapons, and Freyja fought valiantly by her husband's side. Gymir and all his clan were slaughtered after a violent battle, and the Gods brought Gerður Freyr (fray-er), Frey, Fro - (also Ingve-Frey) Vana-God, brother-consort of Freyja; son of Njord and Njord's sister. "The Lord", fertility and creativity God; "the Lover"; God of Yule. He is the god of wealth and peace and contentment. Blood was not allowed to be spilled through violence, nor where weapons or outlaws allowed on or in his holy places. He owns the boar, Gullinbursti, the ship, Skidbladnir, and a magic sword, that moves by itself through the air. Gerd, a Giantess, is his wife. Sensual love, fertility, growth, abundance, wealth, bravery, horses, boars, protector of ships and sailors, peace, joy happiness, rain, beauty, weather, guarantor of oaths, groves, sunshine, plant growth, sex. He ruled over the land of the light elves, Alfheim. Frey, also known as Fro Ing, is Son to Niord and brother to Freya. Apparently, Frey?s mother is Niord?s sister. He is married to the giantess Gerd and they have a son named Fiolnir. Frey is the god of kings, especially in Denmark and Sweden. Known, as the god of frith (fruitful peace) and of good weather, this ?God of the World? rides a boar named Gullenbursti. It was made out of an ingot of gold and boar skin. He also has a boat called Skidhbladnir. It fits in his pocket and can grow to any size he needs it to be. Fro Ing gave up his horse, Blodhughofi, and his sword to his best friend Skinir. With this sword and steed he went to Muspellheim and convinced Gerd to marry Frey. His hall is Alfheim, world of the elves. At Ragnarok, Frey will fight with a Stag?s horn and be killed by Surt, the fire giant. \|\|16 Sep 2000 \|
Wind Energy: Hereford Wind Farm Phase One Sold; Transmission Line Expansion in Oklahoma and Kansas EDF Renewable Energy agreed to buy the 200MW first phase of the Hereford Wind Project according to a recent ReNews article. The purchase includes an option on the 300MW second phase. The 15,000 acre Hereford Wind Project is located southeast of Hereford, Texas in Deaf Smith County. It interconnects to Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) transmission lines, which move the energy generated in the Panhandle to areas with high electrical demands. A piece in EcoSeed said EDF Renewable Energy is an United States subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles, the renewable division of French electric company, Électricité de France. EDF Energies Nouvelles also closed a deal on a wind farm in Quebec. NewsOK reported Clean Energy Partners is constructing a direct-current line from Guymon, Oklahoma to Memphis, Tennessee. Michael Skelly is the president of Clean Line Energy Partners. He said the Oklahoma Panhandle is, “one of the mother lodes of wind in this country.” Construction on the $2 billion dollar project could begin in 2015. North American Wind Power reported Grain Belt Express Clean Line has proposed a direct-transmission line from the Spearville, Kansas substation in Ford County to the Kansas/Missouri border. The Kansas Corporation Commission is considering the proposed route. A series of meetings will be held to gather public comment. Grain Belt Express Clean Line LLC is an affiliate of Clean Line Energy Partners.
Is the Stigma and Bias against Online Degrees Illegal? The Unfair Bias Against Online Degrees Online degree holders perform as well as, or slightly better than, campus degree holders. Why does a persistent bias continue to exist? Let's explore some comments from those who decry online degrees. In response to an article on Ashford University, a former, self described "online teacher" (who taught a class on "medical terminology"...somewhere), smartchick posted: Also, be wary of the resume impact. As someone who has hired many people over the years, and served on numerous hiring committees, I will tell you that there is a bias. Certain institutions, when appearing on a resume, route it to the trash can. The institutions most likely to land your resume in "File 13" are those perceived to be diploma mills, or rigorless online degree factories. -Smartchick In a thread following a review of DeVry University, a traditional degree holder made this statement: "My school is fully accredited by the AACSB and your degree will always be less respected than mine. I have met many big 4 alumni through Beta Alpha Psi an accounting honor society and not one has been a graduate of any online school! Don't critique my grammar instead of my argument. That just shows you have lost.." -BAP Let us analyze his statement. The most obvious intellectual, philosophical error made is that if someone commented on his grammar, it directly demonstrates having already lost the debate. This is an obvious non-sequitur. The next blunder he makes is his mention of no members of Beta Alpha Psi having an online degree. Is there any wonder that BAP, which requires as prerequisite to membership that a chapter (meaning a building) already exists at your school, would not have any members from online schools? Not all degrees carry the same prestige. However, the nature of a man and his emotional maturity are much better predictors of success than the name on the degree he holds. The above two quotes demonstrate a bias against online degrees. The first sat on a hiring review committee which routinely laughed and trashed applications simply because they had online degrees. (At least, that is the reason she gave, and perhaps believed.) The second is convinced (without citing any studies or sources) that an online degree will "never" be equal to his. So entrenched is his bias that, earlier in his post, he claimed that an earlier poster who claimed to be working for a Big 4 accounting company "is a liar". Note that DeVry accounting graduates pass the CPA exam on the first attempt better than 30% of the time, which beats the performance of many state schools. (42% to 51%, including second time test-takers, pass on any given exam administration. There is a statistical distribution, and some of these brick-and-mortar schools have well below 30% pass rates.) The Reality of Online Degree Holders In 2005, Vault released a survey of hiring managers' practices with reference to online degrees. 34% had seen applicants with online degrees. More than half of these, 20% of respondents, said they had hired an online degree holder. In 2005, 54% said they still prefer traditional degree holders over online degrees. However, one savvy hiring manager had this experience: "The person was tested in all aspects of their field of study with respect to the position and won the position. Great hire it turned out to be!" In 2009, another survey showed that only 40% continued to prefer traditional degrees over online degrees. In 2011, the National Survey of Student Engagement (http://nsse.iub.edu), published results of an annual (self-reported) experience of students in higher education curricula. The NSSE site allows any visitor to generate a report from the data. A report comparing online degree holders vs traditional degree holders shows that online students worked much harder to satisfy instructors, wrote more and longer papers, and felt more confident in most areas. Almost every area showed numbers favoring the online degree holders. The generated report included responses from 355,340 students. - Colorado Study finds “No Significant Difference” in Online Science Courses. A 2012 Colorado study shows that online degree teachers give lower grades (counters bias); and online degree learners who took online science, including lab work, outperformed after they transferred to 4-year schools- in gpa and work load. Why it May Be Illegal to Outright Reject Online Degrees Besides the obvious fact that a selection committee reduces it's pool of potential hires simply because they do not like the name on the banner head of their degree, there may be a legal reason human resources managers should discontinue tossing out all of their online degree applications. Unintentional discrimination, also called "disparate impact" occurs when a recruiting, hiring, or retention practice has the effect of disproportionately excluding a group based on a protected category. Protected categories are defined by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." Online degree holders are not a protected class, not directly. However, consider the following statistics from the 2009 Annual Report of the University of Phoenix. UOPX students are compared with the nationwide institutional average (NIA). And, in the end, what was it that the white woman hiring manager really saw on those resumes that caused her derisive reaction? Was it the institution's name? Or, was it some other name? Perhaps she saw "Latisha" or "Garcia" to set her off. Of course, most people today would not dare say that. But, direct the bias at the same people in the name of their degree, and uninformed people might accept it. Total Enrollment Distribution University of Phoenix (%) National Average (%) Online Degree Holders are More Likely to be Minorities Using the above table from the 2008 UOPX Academic Annual Report, we can see the basis of a Disparate Impact suit. Discriminating against UOPX degree holders means a hiring practice has a negative impact on the hiring of race, color and sex. The unseen applicant of the resume which says "University of Phoenix" at the bottom is 1.36 times as likely to be a minority, 1.18 times as likely to be a female, and 2.31 times as likely to be black. HR Managers should consider the case of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. In recruiting for a coal handler position, Duke Power Co. stipulated that consideration for the position required a high school diploma and meeting the standard in performance on two aptitude tests. In that case, the court ruled that the requirements were discriminatory because the practice had a disparate impact on the hiring of blacks, who were less likely to have high school diplomas. Duke could not establish that the job required a high school degree. Which professions can demonstrate that an on-campus degree is necessary and required for the work, and that an online degree is insufficient? I cannot think of one. Firms allowing HR staff to laugh and trash online degree applicants may be subject to risk of losing suit to a protected group under Title VII. And, there are 355 independent studies showing "No Significant Difference" in online degrees vs traditional degrees. Do You Think an Online Degree in Psychology is Equal to a Campus Psychology Degree? Would you consider an online degree equivalent to a traditional degree in hiring?See results without voting More by this Author What things best predict income success? You might be surprised! Take the poll first, read, then examine the voting results. Lincoln Electric provides an interesting case for analysis of International Human Resource Management (IHRM). Discussed here: Stropki, expansion into China, compensation, and recommendations. This is a collection of dreams and visions from seven different men, three women, and a 9-year-old girl. Each was shown that the 44th president is the last.
City Year as a Psychic Prison What is a psychic prison? According to Gareth Morgan, author of Images of Organization, "organizations are ultimately created and sustained by conscious and unconscious processes, with the notion that people actually become imprisoned in or confined by the images, ideas, thoughts, and actions to which these processes give rise. The metaphor encourages us to understand that while organizations may be socially constructed realities, these constructions are often attributed an existence and power of their own that allow them to exercise a measure of control over their creators" (p. 207). City Year is an international non-profit organization comprised of people 17 to 24 years of age from different backgrounds who are determined to make a difference in the lives of children. Corps members commit to 10 months of service as tutors and role models to at-risk youth in order to help them stay in school. In addition to addressing the educational needs of students, corps members also organize service projects for the community. In their service, they develop life and leadership skills that they will use in their future endeavors. I. Favored Ways of Thinking While new corps members are selected each year, the management at each City Year site sees low turnover. This supports an established way of thinking that is similar to groupthink. The organization is managed under the established principles and beliefs espoused by the leadership, and while they encourage feedback from the new corps members, the leadership ultimately has the power to quash any ideas or movements that do not align with their values. In general, community service is looked upon favorably by society. Because the corps members are primarily exposed to positive feedback from the community for the projects they organize, they may not recognize areas of inefficiency or ineffectiveness. For instance, at the close of a neighborhood tree planting, the corps members will feel good about their work in the community because they are encouraged by staff and by society to believe that their service will make a difference. A community will rarely question the details of a service project when it is being conducted for free. Societal support and positive reinforcement may impede the organization’s ability to judge whether or not the project was completed skillfully, using only the necessary supplies to preserve resources, or whether the project was the best use of the organization’s resources. Did the neighborhood need those trees to be planted? Would a different project have a greater impact on the community? II. The Unconscious While City Year generally operates with a realistic view of its role within the environment, it occasionally falls into some of the psychological defenses identified by Freud. For instance, the organization practices fixation in its strict, constant adherence to its policies and principles. Many are useful, encouraging members to serve as positive role models in the community; corps members are forbidden from cursing, jaywalking, and spitting on the sidewalk while in uniform. The uniform itself was viewed as a symbol of the unity between corps members, and if any piece of the uniform was out of place or missing (pants, shirt, boots, belt, nametag), the corps member would receive a warning. In a combination of reaction formation and idealization, City Year takes negative or discouraging experiences and uses them to inspire its service and motivate the members. For instance, on the opening day of their youth weekend program, a group of nervous corps members were involved in a car crash where there were no injuries but the car was totaled. The corps members were rattled and contemplated canceling the opening day, but soon after decided to proceed with the events and were even more energized to meet with the students. City Year encourages a focus on the best in every situation, and the organization has a collection of more than 150 inspirational phrases that is entitled “Putting Idealism to Work,” whereas PITW #1 states, “Challenge cynicism – wherever you find it,” and PITW # 109 says, “Take what’s best – and leave the rest.” In a world of abundant social problems and limited resources, non-profit organizations often find that they must fight to survive in a community. What are generally considered to be traditional male values – including dominance and aggression – are promoted as City Year’s leaders delve into the community to network and convince funders that they need grants and donations more than other organizations. Corps members must display strength and fortitude in addressing societal issues, and also demonstrate fatherly qualities in serving as mentors for youth. Corps members may even possess what Morgan referred to as “narcissistic self-admiration” in their pride for the service that they provide to those less fortunate than they may be. City Year, like many non-profit organizations, is comprised of members who may be driven by a fear of death and determined to overcome it by creating a legacy through service; if their sacrifices and contributions to society are great enough, they will not be forgotten when they are gone. Also, many corps members have overcome difficult backgrounds and circumstances and chose to serve through their desire to give back to the community. Their service through City Year may represent their attempt to control their lives and play an active role in the world. Corps members may also demonstrate fight-flight in establishing an organizational scapegoat to help them cope with challenging situations. For instance, they might focus on a difficult teacher or parent in order to release frustration with their service or the organization. Excessive anxiety can be a downfall for organizations, as it can consume the organization and cause it to lose sight of its ultimate goals. For instance, groups of corps members would rotate responsibility for planning a service project around a certain theme (i.e. environment, drug and alcohol abuse). They would have to meet a deadline and secure the necessary in-kind donations for the project. In response to growing apprehension that the deadline would not be met and donations would not be acquired, the group members would plan a service project that would not meet their initial goals, instead using readily available resources to execute the project. The adjustment altered the meaning of the project to the community. Another example involves the Heroes programs, which served middle- and high-school youth through extracurricular weekend mentoring programs. In response to pressure from funders, the programs were eliminated in 2009 with the goal of allowing more focus on school-based programming. However, this created a gap in service for the older age groups, as no other organizations provided services similar to the Heroes programs in the SouthBay. Youth and parents were alarmed and had to seek alternative opportunities. When President Obama was elected in 2008, City Year as an organization breathed a sigh of relief, as he demonstrated strong support for AmeriCorps programs and encouraged the passage of the Serve America Act. City Year must be careful not to fall victim to dependency or pairing by instilling too much blind faith in their new leader, however, because President Obama does not hold absolute power over the nation and cannot solely solve the organization’s problems. While the President has proposed increased funding for AmeriCorps in his Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request to Congress, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, a bill that eliminates funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service and all its service programs. For City Year, its office building was similar to a transitional object. The original office was located at San Pedro and Santa Clara and had been vandalized and covered with graffiti from time to time, each time perceived by corps members as a threat to their presence. The inside was plain and somewhat dirty, and many of the offices were dark without windows. Once the office location moved to another building near St. James Park, the spirit of service changed, for the building was newer, more open and welcoming, and allowed the corps members to better perform their service. Graffiti decreased in this more visible location. To enhance the level and quality of service provided by the corps members (and also to contribute to their personal development), City Year’s staff would encourage the interaction of corps members of various personality types (ST, IT, SF, and IF) with different ways of perceiving and judging their environment. An ST corps member might be more inclined to discipline a student who violated a school or program rule, but working with SF or IT corps members might help open his or her eyes to special circumstances surrounding the situation that could demonstrate how a different reaction might be more suitable. - Organizations as Psychic Prisons - The Eight Metaphors of Organization Gareth Morgans Images of Organization is a must-read for those who want to develop a deeper understanding of a lot of the stuff I talk about here. Though Ive cited the book lots of times, it is one of those - City Year City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world. As tutors, mentors, and role models, these leaders make a difference in the lives of children, and transf Comments 4 comments More by this Author A lot can happen in a few moments- especially in a fast-paced classroom. What if you missed the first few minutes of instruction in a class you are already having difficulty in? Chances are that you won't feel so hot on... Congratulations! You want to make a difference in the world and serve our nation's youth as a Teach for America educator. Now you just have to apply. Learn more about the process by reading about my experience... Have you ever heard of power feminism? Two women, Katie Roiphe and Naomi Wolf, say that society doesn't oppress women because women are powerful enough to control their fates. Women who don't have the mindset of a...
Harvest Home - a Pagan rock song for Summer Solstice and all year round Harvest Home photo How Harvest Home began Harvest Home is a folk rock or acoustic rock song by myself the Bard of Ely but it wasn't always a musical recording. Harvest Home started life as a poem that was published originally in the nineties by Alan Craw in his fanzine Cyrkel Spynn. However, a friend of mine suggested that I should try putting some music to it because it would make great lyrics, so this is what I did, having worked out a chord pattern that fitted the verses. The words make direct reference to the Summer Solstice, a very important time and event in the traditional pagan and Druid calendars. This is the time of a major festival on the pagan calendar, when there is the longest day and shortest night and pagans celebrating this time of year await seeing the rising sun. Stonehenge attracts thousands of people for the Summer Solstice each year. The story of Harvest Home, by the way, illustrates why it can be important to hold on to lyrics and poems if you write them, because you never know where they might end up in future, perhaps having been given a different treatment. The Taffia EP A lot of people liked the song Harvest Home and it was released online on various music sites but I was really delighted, as I am sure you can imagine, when Rhys Mwyn, who signed my controversial song You're a Liar, Nicky Wire to front a release on Crai Records entitled the Taffia EP, gave the go ahead for it also to be included as another of the tracks included on the release. Crai Records, by the way, is part of Sain Records, a leading Welsh record label, and where the band Catatonia first started their career. Catatonia, of course, was the band that gave Cerys Matthews her break that led on to international recognition as a singer, and the band had a string of hits. So Harvest Home was released on a CD EP in 2002. How Harvest Home was recorded I had my new song Harvest Home in its basic form, of a melody I played using a strummed chord-pattern, but wanted to get it recorded properly, and for the song to have a folk-rock treatment, so I asked my good friend and fellow singer-songwriter and rock musician, Nathaniel 'Nat' Shelley, if he could help. Nathaniel, by the way, is the son of bass player Burke Shelley of the legendary Welsh rock band Budgie, so music and talent definitely run in his family. At this point in time, Nat was writing songs for and fronting his own band called Transposer. With a Nod to John Lennon I sent a cassette recording to Nat so he could get an idea of how the song sounded and was structured so when we met up next we could record it using his home studio in Penarth. Both Nat and I are big fans of John Lennon and we thought we could make tribute to the former Beatle by giving it a psychedelic sound with some backward tape playing as the intro. This was done using the actual cassette recording. I can't be sure what was actually being sung on the tape playing normally but reversed it sounds like "Horses can harm you." Much as I love these animals, funnily enough, I once was harmed by one when I got kicked up the backside, literally, by a mare in a field I was walking through as a boy. I sang the vocals for Harvest Home and played acoustic guitar and Nat came up with the rest of the rock song backing and I was very pleased with how it all sounded. Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Iorio was so impressed with Harvest Home that he recorded a cover version of it. Daniel is a John Lennon fan too and his own songs have a distinct Lennon influence so he was just the right person to record a new version of the song. Harvest Home by Bard of Ely Links for this hub - Rhys Mwyn - Biography - daniel iorio \| Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos daniel iorio's official profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates. Harvest Home included on a film soundtrack Alan Craw, who has released two albums by me on DMMG Records - Welsh Wizard and Dive in Deep - is a good friend of Phillip Gardiner, author of the best selling book - The Serpent Grail, and who coincidentally was also in Cyrkel Spynn in the past. Besides being an author, Phillip makes documentaries and films for the major USA film/multi-media label Reality Entertainment. Alan sent my promo pack to Philip last year (at time of writing), and I got in touch with him myself via Facebook, with the result that he was impressed enough with Harvest Home to include it as part of the soundtrack for the horror film Paranormal Haunting: The Curse of the Blue Moon Inn. It has been very pleasurable watching the journey of a song that began life as a poem printed in a fanzine but ended up on a recording released by an established independent label, and later getting used in a film by a much-acclaimed director. Paranormal Haunting: The Curse of the Blue Moon Inn: Official Trailer © 2011 Steve Andrews More by this Author Neil Young is an internationally known singer-songwriter and rock guitarist originally from Canada. He came to fame with the bands Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Hawkwind are a famous rock band who had a hit with Silver Machine. They are known as a Space-rock band. Bard of Ely has a number of links with Hawkwind and has worked with a former member. Benjamin Fulford is a very controversial conspiracy theorist who interviewed David Rockefeller and also worked for Forbes magazine.
Chinese Medicine Remedies Traditional Chinese Medicine takes a holistic approach. Whereas in the West diseases are specific to a certain part of the body, Chinese believe that all the systems of the body are interconnected. If there is a problem with one part of the body, it can affect other areas in the anatomy. Also, changes in the environment can have an affect on the body rhythms and cause illness. My first experience with Chinese Medicine was when I first moved to Hawaii 18 years ago. I went to a Chinese friend's home for dinner. I had just moved here from a third world country and had experienced a few health problems. He brought out an instrument that he told me would give him a diagnosis of anything wrong in my body. He is a school teacher, so I was a bit skeptical about it, but thought it might be fun anyway. He explained that the human ear is just like a reverse fetus. According to the theory of Chinese Traditional medicine, each human organ has a corresponding point on the ear. If a certain organ has any disease or changes, it will emit a bio-electrical current from the corresponding point in the ear. By listening to the instrument carefully, a person can detect if there is a problem in any area of the body. So my Chinese friend moved a little stylus over every part of one of my ears listening intently for any changes in his Hua-han electronic acupuncture device. It tickled a bit, but did not hurt at all. To my amazement and wonder, when he was finished, he asked me if I had liver problems. I told him that I had hepatitis B while I was living in the South Pacific islands and had been very sick with it. I have since been told I have PBC Pulmonary Biliary Cirrhosis. Then he asked if I had trouble with my knee joint. I injured my left knee severely as a young lady and have had trouble with it ever since for which I have been told I need a knee replacement. He further explained that diseases are caused by a block of meridian channels in our body. The block causes pain. If there is no block, then there is no pain. The instrument he used picked up the bio-electric currents and he could hear that those two areas, my liver and knee, were indeed blocked. I was beside myself because I had not mentioned anything about my hepatitis or knee problems before I got there. It seemed magical to me. I have since read quite a bit about Chinese Medicine. They believe that the body's vital energy (chi or qi) circulates through channels called meridians. If there is an imbalance or interruption of this vital energy, illness or disease results. Chinese claim that over 200 kinds of disorders have been treated with ear acupuncture with an 85 percent effectiveness rate. Sometimes they add electrical stimulation to acupuncture needles to treat disease. Chinese commonly practice self massage of the ears on a daily basis to prevent disease which certainly couldn't hurt and may actually work. I have not had acupuncture, but believe it may work according to my experience with my Chinese friend. Acupuncture is used to restore balance of the chi in the body. Of all that I have learned about Chinese medicine, the theory behind auricular acupuncture is the most interesting to me. Too bad it has gotten a bad rap from the Western world. The Chinese have treated disease by using points on the ear for centuries. A Bit of Humor helps your body heal itself too More by this Author Tonga still uses traditional medicine in many families. It has been passed down through the generations. They now export some of their medicines to other countries. Herbal remedies for common ailments. Experience of lady in third world country with herbal remedies. Wise words from Mother Theresa. Christian Living helping orphans.
Subscribe to this RSS feed Exactly How To Successfully Locate An Ideal Car A running vehicle is crucial for everyone who doesn't wish to rely on public transport for their travel to work as well as running all of their errands. Should your automobile is actually getting close to the conclusion of the life-span, it truly is vital that you begin checking out car battery reviews as quickly as possible prior to when you need a whole new car. Auto technological innovation is continually transforming and odds are, the technological innovation available in your outdated car is not going to come near to what's easily obtainable in brand new motor vehicles. Bluetooth capability, backup cameras and pedestrian detection systems make driving a vehicle a lot safer compared to in the past. Other kinds of technology merely help to make driving a car far more pleasant. For example, satellite stereo is actually common within numerous cutting edge cars and trucks nowadays. Prior to deciding to go out to your car dealerships, decide which capabilities are most significant to you. Performing this will save you time while you talk with the salesman and also guarantee you don't need to get a automobile that does not satisfy your preferences. Thankfully, nearly all of this investigation can be done online so it will not be impacted by a salesman that has a vested interest in clients buying the most expensive automobile. When you have a clear notion of the vehicle you would like just before traveling to the dealer, you will certainly be within a far better placement to barter along with the sales person and acquire the automobile that is right for your family with a excellent selling price. Designed by: KDD WEB SOLUTIONS Scroll To Top
IDEA Impact Grants The IDEA Center Awards Inaugural Round of Impact Grants The IDEA Center is proud to announce inaugural Impact Grants totaling more than $45,000 to six higher education institutions implementing projects with a goal to positively impact teaching and learning and student well-being. The schools and their projects, which include five focused on Teaching and Learning and one focused on Campus Climate, are: - Nazareth College, Rochester, NY – Improving Interdisciplinary Integration and Meaningful Assessment Practices through Pedagogical Support - Tufts University, Medford, MA – Documenting the Impact of Inclusive Excellence in Faculty Development Programming - Cameron University, Lawton, OK – Embedded Peer Tutoring Project - University of Massachusetts (Lowell), Lowell, MA – Teaching the Science of Learning - Everett Community College, Everett, WA – Using Formative Feedback to Improve Learning Outcomes - Marian University, Indianapolis, IN – Bridging Faculty Development to Student Learning: Training, Intervention, and Impact. “Improvement of teaching and learning in higher education is why IDEA exists,” said Ken Ryalls, President of The IDEA Center. “We look forward to the positive impact these projects will have on their individual institutions, and on IDEA’s overall understanding of effective pedagogy.” IDEA also celebrates the work of our pilot grantees, Azusa Pacific University and Point Loma Nazarene University both of which received funding for teaching and learning projects in late 2015 and secured the foundation for IDEA’s request for proposals and inaugural Impact Grants program. Learn more about the 2016-2017 IDEA Impact Grants. CALL FOR PROPOSALS The deadline for 2016-2017 proposals has passed. Please check back for information regarding our 2017-2018 Call For Proposals. IDEA is launching a call for proposals to promote new knowledge in higher education in the fields of teaching and learning (IDEA Impact Teaching/Learning Grant) and campus climate (IDEA Impact Campus Climate Grant). The IDEA Impact Teaching/Learning Grant is designed to promote effective student learning by carefully exploring and systematically documenting the efficacy of various teaching practices, learning environments, and institutional policies. Examples of the kinds of projects funded under the IDEA Impact Teaching/Learning Grant include, but are not limited to, the following: - Classroom interventions designed to improve student learning - Investigations of student and course characteristics that are related to learning - Evaluation of innovative teaching methods - Methods for engaging students in online courses - Innovative approaches to faculty development - Comprehensive approaches to teaching evaluation - Use of student ratings to improve teaching effectiveness The IDEA Impact Campus Climate Grant is intended to support increased knowledge and understanding of campus climate issues that impact student learning and the ability of institutions to successfully carry out their mission. Examples of the kinds of projects funded include, but are not limited to, the following: - Innovative approaches to leadership development - Interventions designed to improve institutional, college, or departmental climate - Investigations of methods to improve faculty recruitment, development, and retention - Strategies and approaches that improve student well-being - Both grant opportunities will directly support individual faculty members, professional staff, departments, colleges, or programs. - Each applicant is eligible for one grant in an amount not to exceed $10,000 annually. We are aware that project timeframes might exceed one year, and we will work with you accordingly. - The application and expense budget must be completed and emailed as an attachment to [email protected] before the deadline. No late applications will be accepted for any reason. - If you are awarded a grant, you will be required to work with IDEA to disseminate your findings. Opportunities include posting your research to the IDEA website, conducting workshops or presentations in partnership with IDEA at national conferences and seminars, or writing an original IDEA paper. You will be required to acknowledge IDEA Impact Fund grant funding in any publications that result from IDEA Impact Fund grant funding. All submissions will undergo committee review. All decisions are final. Notification of the outcome will come from IDEA’s Director of Fundraising and Advancement. Selection criteria will be based on a 50-point scale, and will include: - Quality of research questions and hypotheses (5 points) - The originality of the research (5 points) - Quality of data source (5 points) - A clear description of the innovation you propose (10 points) - A description of the measure(s) you will use to assess outcomes (5 points) - Evidence of the reliability and validity of the measure(s) (5 points) - Plan for your collaboration with IDEA and research dissemination plan (15 points)
The Noise Out! Submitted: April 24, 2003 transitioning to a new subject area, the students are sometimes rowdy or sometimes lathargic. If the students are rowdy, I stand in front of the room and wait until I get their attention. Then I point to my eyes as a signal to "watch" and point to my chest to signal "me." I then clap, stomp, or shake a body part in a series of patterns and it is their job to repeat my lead. This is done in complete silence, so they do not clap aloud but would simulate clapping, for example. The last signal I give them is to sit down quietly. I do this by holding my hands out in front of me, palms down, and bringing my hands from my mid-chest to hip level. I then begin teaching in a whisper voice as I walk among days when the students are lethargic, I give out the instructions verbally and with great enthusiasm. I have them stomp, clap, tap, and shake a body part in a pattern that mimics mine with as much noise as they can make. They especially like pounding their desks, with open palms, as hard as they can. Toward the end of the activity, I slowly lower the noise of the clapping, etc., so that the students calm down and are awake and ready to work without being hyped up.
Battery Cage, Ton Meijdam, Thom Snels, Béla Zsigmond, 2009, 00:04:22 Chickens interact in incredibly defined manners and form complicated social structures. Contrary to popular believe, Scientific research at the University of Sidney pointed out that chickens living in a battery cage are happier. Their free range sisters suffer from more stress, constantly living in fear of predators. Read an interview with studio smack
Irregularity is a condition that affects both men and women. For some it can be overactive bowel: for others it can be constipation. Focusing on overactive bowel, the symptoms can be frequent stools or it can be diarrhea. It is very bothersome through the aging process. There are many diseases that cause overactive bowel, for example: Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diverticulitis or diverticulosis, polyps and even constipation. These bowel conditions require careful diagnosis. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can be serious chronic conditions and can develop at very young age. These diseases can be treated or be in remission, but depending on the severity of the illness, and how your health is affected, a colostomy may be necessary. If you notice any symptoms such a mucous- looking stool, blood in the stool, watery stools or even a pattern of diarrhea and constipation you should consult your physician. Gatroenterologists, doctors that specializes in problems of the digestive tract, agree that fiber helps your digestive system function regularly to prevent overactive bowel. There are two types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber slows digestion: it forms a gel when it mixes with water and will make loose stools more solid. In addition, it binds to fat in the digestive system to help eliminate them. Some examples are oatmeal, nuts and seeds, dried beans, peas, lentils, strawberries, blueberries, apples and citrus fruit. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to stools to help food move through your digestive system. It holds water so it softens stool to prevent constipation and promotes regularity. Insoluble fiber is found in foods like seeds, popcorn, wheat bran, whole grains (such as, whole wheat bread and brown rice), and most vegetables including carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. You should include both types of fiber in your diet. However, if you are using fiber to treat overactive bowel symptoms talk to your doctor about how much of each type of fiber you need. Normally, you need 21-38 grams of fiber per day depending on your age and sex. The amount of fiber in foods is listed on the “NUTRITION FACTS” label of all foods. It is part of the carbohydrate category. You should add fiber to your diet gradually increasing a small amount daily to avoid bloating, cramping or gas. You need to give your body time to adjust. It is also important to increase the amount of water you drink as you increase your fiber intake. So there you have it, a way a natural way to treat overactive bowel. As you are adjusting your diet to improve your symptoms remember that DryForLife offers a discreet and completely confidential solution to all your incontinence needs. We are here to help, and we have been providing incontinence products for over forty years. Disclaimer - The research, clinical material and advice provided on this website is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for medical treatment, nor an alternative to medical advice. Any action taken in response to the information given on this website is at the reader's own discretion. Readers should always consult their own Doctor in all health matters. Please read our Terms and conditions. Copyright ©2003-2010 DryForLife®
Recently, Bombay High Court rejected a PIL seeking action by SEBI in respect of gold purchase schemes (Sandeep Agrawal vs. SEBI 39 taxmann.com 139 (Bom.)). In a brief decision of less than half a page, the Court essentially held that contracts are private commercial contracts and do not require interference by SEBI. The Court observed, “If any shop owner is running such a scheme and the consumers are voluntarily taking part in such a scheme, it is purely a commercial transaction between a businessman and a consumer”. It is submitted that this decision requires reconsideration. It also appears that the case was not argued well, since the Court had observed, “If the petitioner so desires to bring it in the nature of public ambit the least that is expected is to point out as to under what statutory provisions or the rules framed thereunder the said scheme is prohibited. Nothing is placed on record in that regard.”. Many of the gold purchase schemes do prima facie appear to be collective investment schemes (CIS). While some recent newspaper reports explain what they are (see here and here), the essentials of some common schemes can be described as under. The entity that sets up such scheme is often a gold-jewellery shop. Customers are invited to pay a certain sum in equal instalments for a period of time. At the end of the period, a sum, often called “bonus” is added to the amount accumulated. The customer is then given gold ornaments at the ruling market price for such total amount. The terms may vary. The period may be longer or shorter. The entity may give some flexibility regarding gold price, either in terms of a fixed selling price or an assured appreciation or even some concession in the making charges of the jewellery. It is difficult to see how most of such schemes are not CISs. Section 11AA of the SEBI Act, which defines CISs widely, seems to be clearly applicable and the conditions specified therein are attracted. While there are many reputed names involved in such schemes, clearly there is no regulation as of now and SEBI seems to be taking no action against them. Such schemes are ripe for misuse, assuming SEBI takes a view that the provisions relating to CIS do not apply. An entity other than a gold-jewellery shop may set up such a scheme. The Scheme may be for a long period of, say, three to five years. There is no control over where the amounts raised would be applied – even existing schemes do not provide for assurance that the amounts raised would be used to buy gold which would be earmarked for the customer. The entity may offer a higher “bonus” (which really seems to be disguised interest) to attract customers. It is easy to provide a cash alternative at time of maturity in form of ruling price of gold, which in any case can be assured, apart from “bonus”. It is arguable that each case would have to be decided on facts and perhaps some of such schemes may not attract the provisions. But regardless of that, the risks of such schemes are too many to be ignored. In the backdrop of recent scams in West Bengal and elsewhere, it is surprising that these schemes have not received closer attention. Ideally, and at the very least, SEBI should have assured the Court that it is looking into the schemes, more so since it was made a party to the petition.
The London Underground, commonly known as the tube, is the quickest and most efficient way of travelling around London. There are twelve lines in total, making up a network that you can travel on all over the city; from east to west, north to south. So, how to use the London Underground? Like this… When travelling by tube, it is best to avoid paying for each ticket individually as this can end up being quite costly. Instead, the cheapest and most cost-effective way of travelling on the tube is to get an Oyster card. An Oyster card is a smartcard that you scan in and out for all journeys, and which ultimately saves you money as well as having the additional benefit of also being valid on the bus and overland rail network within London. After buying a card, you can choose to either purchase a weekly or monthly pass, which will be loaded on to the card, or you can just pay as you go. If you choose to use the pay-as-you-go option, you load money on to the card then touch the card to a machine at the beginning and end of each journey. A certain amount of money will be deducted from the card for each trip; this value depends on the length of journey and where you’re travelling, but it’s always cheaper than the equivalent cash fare. And you’ll never end up paying more in one day than it costs to get a one-day travelcard. One benefit of the pay-as-you-go Oyster card for visitors to London is that the money you load on to the card stays valid for use even if you don’t use it for months or even years. This makes it ideal for users who don’t stay in London on a regular basis, and who don’t want to pay over-the-odds for the tube when they are enjoying a short break in the capital city. One of the most important things to do when you are travelling on the London underground is to check the destination on the front of the train, as not all trains go to the end of the line. In addition, several lines, including the District and Northern Lines, split into two, with trains going on to different destinations. The information boards on the stations should tell you where the trains are going but it is always worth double-checking. If you aren’t a regular visitor to London, it is also worth checking an overland map to see the location of your destinations before getting on the tube. For example, Leicester Square and Piccadilly are a very short walk from one another but each has its own tube stop. You don’t want to go the expense of getting on a tube when you could have walked the distance in half the time, so be aware that it may sometimes be easier and cheaper to walk. Similarly there are some changeovers between stations that are quick and others that require a long walk — if possible try to find out which is which before you travel. For example, try to avoid walking from Mansion House to Bank as this is an extremely long changeover. By contrast, the changeover between the Victoria Line and the Northern Line at Stockwell is just across the platform. London Underground trains run from 5am to midnight Monday to Saturday, with a reduced service on Sundays. As with most public transport systems, there is a rush hour in the morning as people travel into the city to work, and another in the evening when workers return home. The tube system gets extremely busy at rush hour, so you may want to avoid travelling during this period, unless you enjoy the hustle and bustle of the experience. It is worth noting that should you decide to brave rush hour, you might not only struggle to get a seat, you might have to wait for several trains to pass before you can get on to a train at all. The tube system, particularly in the central part of London, does tend to remain busy during most of the day. Like many major cities in built-up areas, it is a good idea to keep firm hold of your valuables as pickpockets are known to operate on the tube system, particularly in areas popular with tourists and during busy periods. When heading to or from the train, there is usually an escalator available for use. If you do use the escalators, always stand on the right hand side so to allow people in a rush to pass on your left. Some stations, such as Covent Garden, also have lifts to carry passengers. Food and rubbish It is forbidden to smoke or drink alcohol on the London Underground and these rules are strictly enforced. If you are looking for a snack or something to keep you going during your travels, you will find that many London Underground stations, particularly those in the central areas, have newsagents operating on the platform who sell drinks and snacks like crisps and chocolate bars. When it comes to throwing your rubbish away however, be warned, as there are no rubbish bins on any London Underground station due to security issues. You will therefore have to keep hold of your litter and throw it away when you go above-ground again. At many London underground stations nowadays, free newspapers are handed out in the morning and evening, which come in handy when the trains are delayed (this happens far too often for many travellers’ liking!) and when you’re waiting for your train to arrive. In addition to the delays, you should be aware that much of the tube engineering work is carried out at the weekends. This maintenance work can result in sections of the line being closed down and replacement buses being in operation, which might make your journey considerably longer. If you’re planning to use the tube at the weekend, check out the Transport For London website for service updates so that you can plan ahead if work is scheduled. In hot weather, temperatures can soar on the tube. It is therefore a good idea to take a bottle of water with you if travelling in this period. In winter, cold temperatures and snow can cause problems with the parts of the network that run above-ground, which can lead to delays or even cancellations in some parts. Many of the stations do not have good facilities for wheelchair users and are also difficult for those travelling with a pushchair. Most tube maps indicate which stations offer disabled facilities and it is a good idea to check this before travelling if do you use a wheelchair. Overall, using the London Underground has more pros than cons. Whilst it doesn’t always run as smoothly as it perhaps could, it is for the most part the fastest and most cost-effective way of getting from A to B when on holiday in London.
Fuel cells could be one of the our cleanest energy sources; they convert hydrogen into electricity, and their only waste byproduct is water. One of the biggest things holding back the technology, however, is the problem that fuel cells require expensive rare earth metals like platinum. Now a team of international researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute is developing a new aerogel-based fuel cell that’s five times more efficient than conventional fuel cells, and it uses a bare minimum of rare earth metals. Typically a fuel cell works by combining oxygen with hydrogen in a chemical bonding process that creates free electrons to power the vehicle, and leaves water coming out of the tail pipe as the only waste material. This reaction happens regularly in nature, but it goes extremely slowly, so a fuel cell needs a catalyst to kick start the chemical reaction and make it all go faster. In these conventional cells, the catalyst is made of a rare metal such as platinum. On top of being scarce and expensive, this catalytic material also needs to be built on top of a high surface area carbon, which is corrosive and can shorten the lifespan of the fuel cell. A team of researchers at PSI and Dresden University overcame these obstacles by replacing the carbon with a three dimensional aerogel block. When combined with a platinum palladium alloy, the scientists discovered that the new material increased the efficiency of a regular fuel cell by five times. This opens up the possibility of creating a new fuel cell using just one-fifth of the the necessary platinum – reducing the costs and environmental impact of the fuel cell. The scientists theorize that the aerogel material works so well because of it’s own inherent qualities as a nano-structured foam. So far, the aerogel material has proven itself and even passed long-term tests in the lab simulating the conditions of an operating vehicle. The scientists meanwhile want to take a closer study at their aerogel block, particularly to investigate the stability that might come with a bimetal material, in a three year study they currently are drafting and proposing for funding now. Images © Paul Scherrer Institute
Welcome back to the place that aims to please the bookish side of you every day of the week...Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers. We've been having a BLAST this week (unlike we usually do? ^_^) in celebration of Children's Book Week and though it may be Friday, the week itself is celebrated through SUNDAY so be prepared for even more bookish wonders...and contests...to behold. Need I say "stay tuned"? Oh but of course, because it's ME after all, but first, let's add a little more learning to our field of vision, shall we? The title I've selected for today's feature stars a gentleman whose name is known worldwide for one thing or another but the most WELL known of the descriptive terms applied to him is....GENIUS. To think, his life started out just like yours or mine, though perhaps with a bit more turmoil given the times, and would blossom into this timeline of achievements respected by scientists and remembered by all. Curious to know of whom I am speaking? Wonder no more...about THAT at least, because WONDER and IMAGINATION are definitely encouraged in this read. Today's book of choice is... A Story of Albert Einstein It's another look at the life of the man that brought us wonders and ideas that the world had yet to see, in a format ready for all ages. The illustrations are brusque but when combined with the text, they create a well rounded display eagerly devoured by minds of all ages. After all, it's not everyday that you're told someone imagined themselves "racing through space on a beam of light"...and it's rather hard not to do so yourself after reading that sentence and seeing young Albert flying high on his bike, the gleam of discovery in his eye. As the tale progresses, we see how Albert prepared himself for a future he had yet to realize and concepts we had yet to grasp. The foundations he laid of reading and learning aided his mind in sorting out the BIGGER thoughts and suppositions he'd tackle down the road. But even with all that learning and problem solving, there are still things we do not understand and a myriad of questions left unanswered. For now... To put it simply, this is certainly a book I'd recommend for all ages; the fact that it's presented in a picture book package need not be a point of worry for older readers. You will still learn many things from both its text AND its images. It tells us just how important asking questions can be and to never stop wondering..but, it also reminds us that silence can in fact be golden. How so? It permits the mind to take in all that it sees, hears, touches, and tastes. It allows it time to ponder the big and small things of life and process it all into something extraordinary; whether they be memories, inventions or more, it matters not. It's the give and take, the exchanging of ideas that's important in the end. Aside from the things I've already mentioned, there is one in particular that I enjoyed even above all the others...the dedication. It simply says..."To the next Einstein, who is probably a child now...". Well put and most likely correct. You may be the proud relation to the next BIG THINKER of the world at large; heck, it might even be YOU! You never know where your next train of thought might take you, but if you always refuse to board...how will you ever find out? as well as their complete collection of books (and other wonders!) for all ages, be sure to stop by their official site, like them on Facebook, pin them on Pinterest, or follow along on Twitter. This title was released a few short weeks ago and should be available now on a bookstore shelf near you. Until next time...happy reading!
I have 8th grade twins in middle school. One is in a combined Collaborative Team-Teaching/SP (honors) class and does not seem to have Regents classes in anything. The other is in a regular SP class and has Regents classes in Earth Science and math. How does whether you take the various Regents exams in 8th grade affect high school curriculums, high school choices, and does it eventually effect the college credit situation too? Can you clarify please? Thank you. - Twins mother Dear Twins mother, If the twin in the CTT class has an IEP, it is crucial that you make sure that the high school he chooses will have the resources and modifications he needs to take the Regents exams. As Insideschools expert Clara Hemphill put it: "I think parents should insist that their child get the most demanding curriculum they can handle. The tendency for the school system is to lower promotional standards for kids with iEPs and as a result they just fall further and further behind. What parents need to do is demand that kids get the extra help they need to meet the higher standards. If the school cannot provide extra help, they can sometimes get the city to pay for private tutoring. If an IEP is not the issue, then you should find out the school’s policy on offering 9th grade courses and Regents exams. Since there is an SP attached to the class name, what is offered to help kids make special progress? If it is Regents courses and exams, by all means question the principal why school policy does not offer Regents-level courses to the CTT class. Policy does vary among schools. Some promote the taking of early Regents exams, others do not. Some offer Regents to only one class. SP aside, while it is nice for some 8th graders to have high school courses and credits, it is not a requirement. Most 8th graders do not go into high school having taken Regents exams. Taking a Regents course and exam in middle school may give a leg up to those who want to take extra science and math courses to qualify for an Advanced Regents diploma, but many students who take all their Regents in high school manage to do that anyway. On the other hand, some students who do take Regents in middle school may be unprepared, do poorly, and be at a disadvantage when applying to high school, or end up taking upper level courses in high school for which they are not prepared. New York State requires passing scores on five Regents exams in order to graduate. There is plenty of time to take the required courses and Regents exams during four years of high school. Taking Regents exams early has absolutely no effect on college admission and credit. Colleges want to see that a student has taken challenging courses, not when he took them. Bottom line: talk to the principal to determine the school policy and make sure both of your twins are getting what they need.
Many people would argue that poster advertising is a dying art form, but it can be very effective in some industries. Poster advertising is most commonly used in entertainment to inform the public of the latest act or event held at a popular arena. Grocery stores and politicians may also use posters to advertise. Poster advertising is effective in attracting visitors walking or driving in a high-traffic area. How do you make your poster stand out in the crowd? Here are some techniques that professional designers use to make posters “pop.” 1. Simple Designs are Best People who are unfamiliar with marketing often think that they should include as much information as possible on a poster. The key to an effective poster design is large font and only basic information. In marketing it is often said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” If advertising for an artist, the artist’s photograph, name, date, location of the event and maybe one other piece of information will suffice for an effective poster design. If advertising for a grocery store, the item and price will be the main items displayed on the poster. Designers should keep the designs simple and the wording minimal for the best poster designs. In this case, less truly is more. Make it simple with two typefaces, and align items to a grid. Your page layout program will provide non-printing guidelines. Use the “snap to guidelines” function to align items easily to the grid. 2. Large Fonts are Recommended Large fonts are recommended. Large fonts allow the advertisements to be seen from a considerable distance. When posters can be seen from a distance, more people are exposed to the advertisement and can determine their interest in the event or item advertised. The fonts should be easy to read. Ornate fonts may be attractive, but many people may not be able to decipher ornate fonts from a distance. Consider large and simple fonts for the best results. Make it memorable, unusual or provocative using a few carefully chosen powerful words. 3. Use a Single Point of Contact If a phone number is used on the poster, establish one point of contact. This will eliminate confusion to viewers walking by the poster. When the number is called, anyone can field the call as long as only one phone number is listed. Prior to designing a poster, select a number that can handle numerous calls from the viewing public. A number which cannot handle the call volume will be ineffective and detract from sales. One large image will have more impact than many smaller images. A stunning photo or illustration grabs attention, creates a mood, and supports your story. This image is your “focal point” and will draw your readers in. 4. Identify a Unified Message for the Poster A unified message is important for the poster. Otherwise, viewers may become confused. Keep in mind that a poster may be large, but the font also has to be large to communicate the message from a distance. The unified message for the poster must be succinct. Most poster designers only manage to include a simple one-liner. The one-liner should contain a powerful message to capture the audience’s attention. Careful thought and planning must go into this one-liner message to be effective. Your prospects will ask the question, “What’s in it for me?” Write from the their perspective using the words “you” and “your.” Avoid using the following words: we, us, I and our. Be sure to keep your text short and to the point. Consider Poster Advertising to Improve Exposure to a Company Poster advertising can be effective in some industries but will not work in every sphere. Consider how poster advertising can help improve visibility for a company. You don’t need to fill your poster with wall-to-wall text and graphics. Incorporate some white space to make certain elements stand out and to make the flyer easy to read. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel when creating your poster. Use these proven techniques and you will see big results in your marketing efforts. For inspirational purposes, check out our previous articles: - 25 Impressive Examples of QR Code Business Cards - 25 Creative Keep Calm and Carry On Posters - 15 Movie Posters from an Alternate Universe - The Perky Side of Food Advertising: 20 Creative and Eye-Catching Restaurant Ads - 40 Exciting Occupy Movement Poster Designs Did you enjoy this article? We would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!
curses_version, use_extended_names - miscellaneous curses extensions #include <curses.h> const char * curses_version(void); int use_extended_names(bool enable); These functions are extensions to the curses library which do not fit easily into other categories. Use curses_version() to get the version number, including patch level of the library, e.g., 5.0.19991023 The use_extended_names() function controls whether the calling application is able to use user-defined or non- standard names which may be compiled into the terminfo description, i.e., via the terminfo or termcap interfaces. Normally these names are available for use, since the essential decision is made by using the -x option of tic to compile extended terminal definitions. However you can disable this feature to ensure compatibility with other implementations of curses. curses_version returns a pointer to static memory; you should not free this in your application. use_extended_names returns the previous state, allowing you to save this and restore it. These routines are specific to ncurses. They were not supported on Version 7, BSD or System V implementations. It is recommended that any code depending on them be con- ditioned using NCURSES_VERSION. curs_getch(3x), curs_mouse(3x), curs_print(3x), curs_util(3x), default_colors(3x), define_key(3x), key- bound(3x), keyok(3x), resizeterm(3x), wresize(3x). Thomas Dickey. curs_extend(3x)
When you go to see Star Trek Into Darkness in May, you'll be watching a lot of trailers for action movies and summer tentpoles. But what if you could be watching a video that shows the dream that launched Star Trek is still alive today? NASA released this video, called "We Are the Explorers," last year. Narrated by Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, it explains how NASA is still at the forefront of space exploration, even in the post-space shuttle era. And it fills you with hope for our future as a spacefaring species. Now the Aerospace Industries Association is trying to raise $33,000 to have a 30-second edit of this video shown in 50 theaters before STID. They're almost at their goal already, but let's make sure they get more than enough money — and then maybe they can run a longer version in more theaters. [Indie Gogo via The Escapist]
subscribe: Daily Newsletter search the site Voice technology used in the supply chain Voice technology is rapidly being adopted throughout South African warehousing and distribution environments to help organisations drive efficiencies and productivity across their supply chains. According to Andrew Fosbrook, director of MakeMeMobile, a leading provider of mobile enterprise solutions, voice-directed work is seeing many benefits in the FMCG and retail sectors, due to the ease of use and accuracy. “Voice-directed workflows enable hands-free, eyes-free work and provide the most natural and effective method for workers to complete their jobs. This works well in South Africa where literacy levels are not high, as training and implementation is very quick. We see immediate increased levels of worker satisfaction and productivity compared to other technologies,” he says. MakeMeMobile, which supports multiple customers across many industries, recently implemented a SAP-integrated voice solution for a leading third party logistics (3PL) company that immediately experienced productivity benefits by reducing the time to pick daily shipments by over 20%. Fosbrook says that voice solutions can either stand-alone or complement existing solutions, such as RF barcode scanning and pick-to-light technologies. MakeMeMobile recently assisted one’s of Africa’s largest retailers to improve efficiency and productivity by implementing a voice-directed system for picking applications at its distribution centres throughout the country. “We are finding that voice technology is expanding into more diverse industries and applications, such as inspection and maintenance for aviation, automotive, fleet & truck and longhaul industries. Wherever there’s a requirement to interact hands-free and eyes-free with back-end enterprise IT systems, voice technology provides an efficient and user-friendly way of driving productivity and accuracy,” concludes Fosbrook.
Dell has unveiled sweeping advancements to its industry-leading high performance computing (HPC) portfolio. These advances include innovative new systems designed to simplify mainstream adoption of HPC and data analytics in research, manufacturing and genomics. Dell also unveiled expansions to its HPC Innovation Lab and showcased next-generation technologies including the Intel Omni-Path Fabric. HPC is becoming increasingly critical to how organisations of all sizes innovate and compete. Many organisations lack the in-house expertise to configure, build and deploy an HPC system without losing focus on their core science, engineering and analytic missions. As an example, according to the National Centre for Manufacturing Sciences, 98 percent of all products will be designed digitally by 2020, yet 95% of the centre’s 300 000 manufacturing companies have little or no HPC expertise. “HPC is no longer a tool only for the most sophisticated researchers. We’re taking what we’ve learned from working with some of the most advanced, sophisticated universities and research institutions and customising that for delivery to mainstream enterprises,” says Jim Ganthier, vice-president and GM: Engineered Solutions and Cloud at Dell. “As the leading provider of systems in this space, Dell continues to break down barriers and democratise HPC. We’re seeing customers in even more industry verticals embrace its power.” Dell announced the new Dell HPC System Portfolio, a family of HPC and data analytics solutions combining the flexibility of custom systems with the simplicity, reliability and value of a preconfigured, factory-built system that includes: * Simplified design, configuration, and ordering in a matter of hours instead of weeks; * Domain-specific design that’s designed and tuned by Dell engineers and domain experts for specific science, engineering and analytics workloads using flexible industry-standard building blocks; and * Fully tested and validated systems by Dell engineering with a single point of hardware support and a wide range of additional service options. New application-specific Dell HPC System Portfolio offerings include: * Dell HPC System for Genomic Data Analysis is designed to meet the needs of genomic research organisations to enable cost-effective bioinformatics centres delivering results and identifying treatments in clinically relevant timeframes while maintaining compliance and protecting confidential data. The platform is a result of key learnings from Dell’s relationship with Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to help clinical researchers and doctors expand the reach and impact of the world’s first Food and Drug Administration-approved precision medicine trial for paediatric cancer. TGen has been able to improve outcomes for more patients by creating targeted treatments at least one week faster than they could be accomplished previously. * Dell HPC System for Manufacturing is designed for customers running complex manufacturing design simulations using workstations, clusters or both. Applicable use cases include Finite Element Analysis for structural analysis using ANSYS Mechanical & Computational Fluid Dynamics for predicting fluid behaviour in designs utilising ANSYS Fluent or CD-adapco STAR-CCM+. * Dell HPC System for Research is designed as a foundation, or reference architecture, for baseline research systems and numerous applications involving complex scientific analysis. This standard cluster configuration can be used as a starting point for Dell’s customers and systems engineers to quickly develop research systems that match the unique needs of research customers requiring systems for a wide variety of research agendas.
This individual founded a Black newspaper, The Chicago Defender: Despite receiving a law degree from the Kent College of Law in 1898, Robert S. Abbott (1870-1940) could not practice his profession because of racial barriers, but he could still defend people. The son of former slaves founded the Chicago Defender newspaper in 1905. His paper famously waged war against racial prejudice and injustice. Listing jobs and even train schedules, the Defender became a primary figure in the Great Migration of blacks to the northern states. With an initial investment of 25 cents, Abbott became one of the first African-American self-made millionaires. The Defender was carried by Pullman porters throughout the South. Its paid circulation reached 130,000 by 1919. Abbott co-founded the Bud Billiken Club with Defender managing editor Lucius Harper. He also launched and led the annual parade. On Feb. 29, 1940, Abbott died as a result of Bright’s disease. Sources: Chicago Sun-Times, Metro Chicago Almanac, the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, PBS.org and ChicagoDefender.com
I am a crustacean. Crabs and lobsters are also crustaceans. Like them, I have a hard shell, called an exoskeleton. My exoskeleton is much thinner than their thick ones. I live in a very close, or symbiotic, relationship with a fish called a goby. I build our home (a small hole in the sand) and we share it. I keep the burrow clean; the goby stands guard and protects the burrow so that other animals don't steal it. The goby also protects me from my predators. We both benefit from this relationship, so it is a mutualistic relationship. I get my name from the snapping sound that I make. I have two large claws that I use to trap small bubbles of air. When I close my claws, I break the bubbles, and that is what makes the loud snapping sound. If you are diving near the sandy part of the reef, listen carefully and you will hear the bubbles popping! Scientists think I make this sound to surprise my prey and make catching them easier. I like to eat algae and tiny animals that live in the sea called zooplankton. I eat both plants and animals, so I'm an omnivore. Reefs are in danger, and that means so is my home!
Duncan Amendment Protects American Sovereignty Washington, DC—The United States House of Representatives adopted an amendment today by a vote of 229-193 authored by South Carolina Congressman Jeff Duncan to the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act to block all funding for organizations established by the United Nation’s Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). The Law of the Sea Treaty was last submitted to the Senate in 1994 but has never been ratified. However, President Obama requested in 2009 and 2010 that American tax dollars be spent on two organizations created by LOST (the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea). “The Law of the Sea Treaty threatens US national security and economic interests, and surrenders American sovereignty over to the United Nations. The Senate is poised to consider this treaty during a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee next week, and I’m proud of my colleagues in the House for sending a strong message to the Senate on this issue,” said Duncan. The US ratification of LOST would weaken our sovereignty and threaten key US foreign policy and military priorities.” “Specifically, the treaty requires that the United Nations place a priority on developing countries as recipients of funding. No transparency exists on how countries use funds, and nothing prevents a redistribution of US revenue to state sponsors of terrorism and undemocratic regimes with human rights abuses. Our Navy could also be subject to legal action for its military activities from international courts.” “Further, LOST would harm US economic interests by subjecting US companies to costly lawsuits from an unaccountable foreign entity. It would also require the United States to pay royalties on natural resources harvested during deep-sea production. US law claims the entire extended continental shelf and states that the resources belong to the American people, so this treaty would require changes to US law before it could be implemented.” “One of my motivations for running for Congress was to stop the federal government from interfering in our daily lives. But what the Law of the Sea Treaty does is even worse; it values international law over American law.” “The United States is the greatest country in the history of the world, and we must remain vigilant to protect Americans from the hardship created by an international unelected bureaucracy.” “American tax dollars have no business being used to support a treaty that the Senate hasn’t even ratified. I hope this amendment sends a strong signal that this Republican controlled House will do everything in its power to protect American independence and preserve our sovereignty.”
Greetings from the tundra! A big cold front is sweeping through Austin as I type, and we’re going to have lows around 25° F (-4° C), and maybe even a little snow! Sure, this might sound like nothing compared to what people in Canada and other parts of the US experience. However, when you calculate the Texas Adjusted Temperature, it’s quite shocking. Here’s how it works: For any temperatures below 60 degrees: - Subtract one degree for every time the temperature was over 100 this year. - Subtract two degrees for every time you found a scorpion in your house this year. - Subtract 30 degrees for every time you have ever found a scorpion in your bed (lifetime applicability here). - Subtract five degrees for every rattlesnake sighting in your neighborhood this year. Based on this extremely scientific calculation, when I am walking around in 45-degree weather tomorrow afternoon, the Texas Adjusted Temp is actually -5. I should note that a similar system works for you folks up north during the summer as well. For any temperature above 80 degrees: - Add two degrees for every time you had to run errands in a snowstorm. - Add three degree for every hour you spent shoveling snow this winter. - Add five degrees for every time the wind chill was below zero. - Add ten degrees for every time you were snowed in. So when I snicker at you referring to 92° F (33° C) as “hot” this summer, you can remind me that your adjusted temp is more like 120. Given how much of a weather nerd I am, you can imagine how much it has brought my life to a standstill to have discovered the InstaWeather app. Combining weather with Instagram is like dropping a nuclear bomb on my productivity. When I realized that you can also post the forecast, I almost announced that I am withdrawing from society. After all, there is no more worthy endeavor that one could undertake than superimposing atmospheric metrics onto pictures. And now that I have realized that I can see other people’s weather pics through the #instaweather hash tag, my new goal is to look up from my phone at least twice a day. I don’t know when exactly this happened, but I can no longer deal with cold weather. I did fine living in Denver and Bismarck, so I must have had some sort of tolerance for cold at some point in my life — heck, at my North Dakota elementary school there was a rule that we kids had to go out on the playground as long as the wind chill was above -30. I don’t recall hating my life while I was playing hopscotch in below-zero temperatures, but these days I try to go to the grocery store when it’s 48 degrees and you’d think I’m Dr. Zhivago slogging through the tundra. I can never seem to put on enough layers to experience actual warmth, and I stew in misery for every moment that I am outdoors. I keep trying to think of what would happen if we had to move to some place that had real winters. I guess I would do one of two things: A. Toughen up and learn to accept the cold I’m really on the fence about which it would be. Joe and I have been toying with the idea of doing Christmas presents on Epiphany (the 12th day after Christmas), instead of on Christmas day. That’s how my dad’s Mexican friends did it when he was growing up in Mexico, and the bigger our family gets, the more that starts to seem like a great idea. With our six kids and me and Joe and the grandparents and my grandfather and an occasional guest all gathered around the tree on Christmas, we end up drowning in boxes and wrapping paper, and the resulting chaos makes it difficult to focus on anything but the fact that it looks like a toy store exploded in our living room. In theory I’d be fine with limiting the number of presents each person gets, but that’s pretty much impossible given the number of extended family members who like to shop for the kids. The most surprising part is that when I floated the idea to the kids, they were fine with it. At first they recoiled at the idea of just opening one or two things on Christmas morning and saving the rest for later, but when I explained the vision of having a peaceful and simple Christmas day, then receiving our gifts on the same day that Jesus received his, they were surprisingly enthusiastic about it. We’re not ready to make the switch yet, but we may do it one of these years. One of the things I’ve realized this year is that I need to practice a different kind of generosity at Christmas: being generous in receiving gifts. I’m a big believer in not having too much “stuff” junking up our living space — and, frankly, the fight against clutter is a matter of survival when you’re trying to raise six children in a small three-bedroom house. Because of this, in past years I’ve been really uptight about the kind and number of gifts we receive. I’d pour a lot of energy into figuring out how to stop the seemingly endless inflow of trinkets and toys to the house without hurting feelings, and the main result was that it made me stressed and frustrated and the kids still received a lot of presents. This year I’ve felt drawn to consider the fact that some people love shopping for kids and don’t have many young children in their lives to shop for, and that getting something for our kids is fun and pleasurable for them. It’s a new approach to Christmas to remember that being a good gift receiver can be as important as being a good gift giver. I’m going to make sure that nobody feels obliged to get things for us, and leave it at that. If I end up running out of space to put all the new stuff at the end of the Christmas season, it’ll be an opportunity to get rid of old things we don’t need anymore, and to be thankful for generous loved-ones. I wasn’t sure if everyone would see the beauty of this gem from my Best of Comments folder. But if you find this comment to be a subtle yet perfect encapsulation of all that is funny, then we are the same person. In response to the Netflix post: I had the pleasure of hearing Patrick Madrid speak at the benefit dinner for the John Paul II Life Center last night. At the end of his speech about the fight that faithful Christians may endure against an increasingly secular culture, he read a beautiful piece of writing called The Fellowship of the Unashamed. It begins: I AM A PART of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God’s hands. I am finished and done with low living, small planning, the bare minimum, smooth knees, mundane talking, frivolous living, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, applause, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, the best, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith. I lean on Christ’s presence. I love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with the power of God’s grace.
Background: In HIV-negative patients, radiotherapy (RT) decreases CD4+ T-cell counts. We studied the effects of RT in HIV-1 positive patients. Methods: HIV-1 positive patients with a subsequent diagnosis of a solid tumor were selected from the Dutch national observational HIV cohort, Aids Therapy Evaluation in the Netherlands (ATHENA). The patients were grouped according to whether they had received RT or not. Primary endpoint of the study was the time from baseline to reaching CD4 cell counts higher than those at baseline. Kaplan–Meier estimates of the percentage of patients reaching the endpoint were calculated. Results: Ninety patients were included of whom 36 received RT and 54 did not. Median duration of RT was 46 [interquartile range (IQR) 30–63] days. Median first CD4 cell count after stopping RT was 150 (IQR 30–270) × 106/L lower compared with baseline. In 13 of the 36 patients receiving RT, CD4 cell counts recovered to baseline, after a median of 469 (IQR 345–595) days. In 35 of the 54 patients without RT, the CD4 cell count recovered to baseline or higher, after a median of 112 (IQR 42–182) days. After 3 years, in 39% of patients who had RT compared with 71% of patients without RT, CD4 cell counts recovered to baseline or higher (P < 0.0001). In a Cox regression adjusted for potential confounders, RT was associated with a longer (hazard ratio 0.29; 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.63) and combination antiretroviral therapy use with a shorter time to return to baseline [hazard ratio 2.46 (95% confidence interval 1.11 to 5.48)]. Conclusions: RT resulted in a significant and prolonged decrease in CD4 cell counts.
Getting Started Cheesemaking So how do you make your own cheese at home? Cheesemaking is the process of turning liquid milk into a solid cheese. Milk is about 87% water, and much of this water needs to be removed. During cheesemaking the proteins in milk are coagulated in a way that they capture the milk fats and milk solids in a protein mesh. These coagulated proteins, along with their captured content, form into what are called curds. The liquid portion of the milk that remains is called whey. Curds and whey are what Miss Muffet ate while sitting on her tuffet in the Mother Goose rhyme. Cheese is made by manipulating the curds so that they shrink, expelling they right amount of whey, and straining them out. The most simple cheeses to make require only a pot large enough to hold the 1 to 2 gallons of milk, a kitchen thermometer, cheesecloth, colander, milk and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. For the beginning cheesemaker, I suggest trying one or two of the following easy recipes to get a feel for what cheesemaking is all about. In all of these recipes the milk is brought to a relatively high temperature, in the 180° to 190° F range, and induced to coagulate by the addition of an acid. The resulting cheeses are simple, but satisfying to create. They are a great place to start.
Springs of Living Water By Keith Graff 22 Apr 2008 In the Okinawan religion there are three things that are considered, for lack of a better word, Holy. They make up the trinity of the faith and are represented by a high place or grove of trees, a cave and a natural spring. They represent heaven, earth and the ocean. It's also interesting to note they also make up the three necessary ingredients for survival. That being food, shelter and water. Natural springs here are life giving forces of nature that are also symbols of creation and carry with them religious significance of a blessing from heaven. As the society developed, many local communities literally sprung up "pun intended" around the many fresh water springs scattered throughout the island. The village spring became the center piece of this development. In the mornings people would come to the spring to gather water for cooking and drinking. Later in the day, the water from the springs was used again to wash the days gathering of vegetables. In the evening people bathed and washed their clothes there. What wasn't used by the people for direct use and consumption was channeled off for agricultural use. Water was precious and very little was wasted. As it was a frequent gathering place, the spring became the social center of the village. In the past, the many springs and wells found throughout Okinawa were more than sufficient to support the local population. But after the war, many springs were damaged beyond repair. Okinawa also experienced a population explosion. As a result of Japan's steady economic growth, Okinawa's pleasant climate and lower cost of living, this island paradise has now become a haven for an ever growing number of retirees. Throw in five million tourists annually and now you've got a problem on your hands. The need to find new water sources used to be just a challenge, out of necessity it became an obsession. Okinawa seems to get more than its fair share of annual rainfall so you wouldn't think a potential water shortage would present such a dilemma. Throw in an occasional typhoon or two and the point would seem to be moot. However, the rugged terrain and the few short steep rivers don't allow for adequate water collection and storage. The majority runs straight off and into the sea. The river basins are very small and the annual rainfall, even with a few typhoons thrown in for good measure are not be sufficient to replenish the water table given the growing population. Dam construction on Okinawa began in earnest during the American Administration years. While these were originally planned to supply the many American bases with water, plans were expanded to include the civilian population and their needs. In order to solve the problem of keeping one dam sufficiently filled with water, engineers paradoxically built several and used the natural force of gravity to connect them into a single network. As water is pulled from the dam, at the lowest level, the reservoir is then replenished from several other dams, all of which are located at higher elevations. The problem of water for tiny Okinawa would seem to be solved for the moment. Still, it's nice to see that people return to the roots that bind them together. The natural springs of Okinawa are now mostly tourist attractions but many are still used the old fashioned way. Many in the older generations still gather there to socialize. To this day it's not uncommon to see people filling containers with fresh spring drinking water, washing off their freshly picked vegetables and diverting the rest for agricultural use. Don't forget to click on the individual pictures for additional descriptions and information!
Samsung has unveiled its 32TB SSD in a 2.5-inch form factor for the enterprise, and thinks it can attain 100TB capacity within the next four years. The Korean company's 32TB Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) SSD doubles the capacity of its PM1633a, which was billed by Samsung last year as the world's largest SSD. It held the crown until this week when Seagate showed off its gigantic 60TB SSD in a 3.5-inch form factor, although Seagate hasn't confirmed whether it will be commercially available. Vendors are cramming more capacity into SSDs to support growing demand for high-performance computing and analytics in the datacenter. Samsung expects its new 32TB SSD to be produced in 2017, setting the stage for a threefold increase by 2020 when Samsung plans to be making SSDs with a 100TB capacity. The 32TB SSD consists of 32 1TB packages, each of which contains 512 V-NAND chips stacked in 16 layers. The 32TB SSD uses Samsung's fourth-generation 3D V-NAND flash memory, which stacks 64 layers of cell arrays, offering a boost on its previous generation 48-layer V-NAND. The new flash memory features a 64GB chip with an IO speed of 800Mbps. Samsung says it will begin mass-producing its fourth-generation V-NAND flash-memory products in the fourth quarter, which should help portable-device manufacturers. The Korean company also revealed a 1TB ball grid array design SSD, which at 1g in weight, is aimed at compact laptops, tablets, and convertible devices. The package delivers sequential read speeds of 1,500MBps and write speeds of 900MBps. Click here to read the rest of the article
I was waiting for the Caribbean Blobette to be upgraded to Tropical Storm Paula ... and here she is. Yay! 16th named storm of the season. I think this has been a Tropical Depression for a day or two, so going to a named Tropical Storm is not a big surprise because she didn't stay over land. It looks like the center just clipped the Nicaragua/Honduras corner earlier today (convection decreased, as did vorticity) and is back over water with low wind shear, so the convection is improving again. The vorticity isn't very strong at the moment, mostly in the lowest part of the troposphere. It is not as elongated as it was yesterday and looks like a TS. As it gets just north of Honduras I expect convection to improve because it is over warm water (temps >29 deg C) and deep warm water (warmer than 26.5 deg C in the upper 100m). The upper level divergence and lower level convergence have also improved. Oooh... what the heck is she talking about now, I hear you say. <(New) SCIENCE ALERT!!! (how thrilling!! :-) )> Here's a rare attempt in these updates at a simple explanation of convergence and divergence! A tropical storm has low pressure in the center, near the surface. That's why we all keep mentioning the central pressure - the lower it is, the stronger the winds (usually). A low pressure is an area that the air is 'pulled' towards. By extending that image to a circular storm, you can imagine the winds are pulled in from all around - i.e., they converge. So we have Low Level Convergence. Now the problem is that if you keep pulling winds in at the low levels, they have to go somewhere. It might come as a surprise to you, but they don't just gather around the center and have a game of poker. ;-) The ground is underneath, so the only way the air can go is up. And when the air reaches the top of the storm the only way the winds can flow is out and away from the center. So at the top we have Upper Level Divergence. The stronger the convergence/divergence of a storm, the better the formed it is. Ta-da. <End of (new) SCIENCE ALERT> Phew. Time for some wine-convergence now I think. A plane was sent into the system earlier today and found evidence that this was close to being a Tropical Storm. And there were other data and stuff (obvious technical jargon) that showed this too. She's heading towards the Belize/Yucatan area... moving NW at 10mph. Current center I'm estimating is around 16N, 84W, so she's just north of Honduras. Convection is strong near the center and Honduras (and bits of Nicaragua) are getting a few bucket-fulls of rain and some thundery weather. Oh, NHC just posted the official info. They agree with my center (good good). Winds are 60mph, making her a mid-size TS (range: 39-73mph). Central pressure is 1000mb. Track looks a little interesting... it doesn't quite make it to the Yucatan coast, but hangs out in the Caribbean as a hurricane. Oh dear. If that really is the track then we might have a big hurricane in a few days... that's the warmest (deepest warm) part of the waters out there. We'll see. I'll have a look tomorrow. For now... ...I got things to do. Wine to drink. Forms to fill in. Oh... and don't forget, I am giving a live twitter interview on Weds. afternoon! My first ever. For my fellow Twits (hahaha... I'll always get a chuckle out of that one), details have been posted on the internet: "To see the full interview you will need to follow www.twitter.com/metoffice (@metoffice) and www.twitter.com/metofficestorms (@metofficestorms)". Or use the hashtag #metqt. I'll also tweet the hashtag etc info @JyovianStorm. It's a Brave New World!! p.s.... in case you didn't know... I work at the MetOffice over here. But this blog are my own views entirely, as I started this little hobby before joining them. And also, in case you didn't know... I'm moving back to the US. In just about 2 weeks - in time for Halloween... how scary for you! ;-) Blog archives at http://jyotikastorms.blogspot.com/ These remarks are just what I think/see regarding tropical storms - not the opinion of any organization I represent. If you are making an evacuation decision, please heed your local emergency management and the National Hurricane Center's official forecast and the National Weather Service announcements. This is not an official forecast. If I was there and was going to "run away, run away" (Monty Python), I'll let you know.
Emerald Ash Borer Threatens 8 Billion Trees A tiny green beetle from China called the Emerald Ash Borer has devastated ash forests since it was first discovered in Michigan nine years ago. It has spread to 15 states. The economic impact has hit homeowners, cities and the timber industry. Our story comes from David Chanatry with the New York Reporting Project at Utica College.
Kyogi Karuta is a Japanese game Ogura Hyakunin-isshu "karuta" cards. card has an ancient poem on it. It is a card game--however, it does not look like any other card games such as poker, contract bridge, etc... It is the game of speed, memorization and concentration. Photo: Kyogi Karuta game demonstrated by Shin-ichi Nagaoka (4-dan degree,left) and Yoshimasa Kobayashi (6-dan degree). January 2007, Bangkok Washington DC Sakura Matsuri April 11,2015 (You Tube click here) What is Kimari-ji? Kyogi Karuta Handbook(PDF) (Free Download) (Japanese, English, Thai,Chinese, French and Portuguese versions are available.) Reciting software(free) 読み上げソフト Wasura Mochi わすらもち Naniwa zu Inaba kun 難波津いなばくん Karuta in Beijing CHINA May 2014 (you tube) Karuta at Washington, D. C. Sakura Matsuri April 2014 (you tube) How and where should I measure my body when buying a Kimono and Hakama? I don't live in Japan. Where can I buy Karuta cards? Are there any Karuta club in my town or country outside Japan? For Karuta clubs information around the world, please contact karutastone★gmail.com (Please change ★ to @) For Karuta clubs information in Japan, please contact to All Japan Karuta Association All Rights Reserved. Please contact to karutastone★gmail.com (←please replace ★ to @) to distribute or duplicate the contents in this website.
President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address in full, as prepared for delivery: VicePresident Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress,distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Eachtime we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduringstrength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of ourdemocracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not thecolors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of ournames. What makes us exceptional - what makes us American - is ourallegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than twocenturies ago: "Wehold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that theyare endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among theseare Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Todaywe continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words withthe realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truthsmay be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom isa gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. Thepatriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with theprivileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, agovernment of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keepsafe our founding creed. Formore than two hundred years, we have. Throughblood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union foundedon the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave andhalf-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forwardtogether. Together,we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speedtravel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers. Together,we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensurecompetition and fair play. Together,we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect itspeople from life's worst hazards and misfortune. Throughit all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, norhave we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured throughgovernment alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; ourinsistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in ourcharacter. Butwe have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity toour founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; thatpreserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today's world by actingalone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communismwith muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math andscience teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or build theroads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses toour shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as onenation, and one people. Thisgeneration of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve andproved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economicrecovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possessall the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth anddrive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift forreinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, andwe will seize it - so long as we seize it together. Forwe, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking fewdo very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America'sprosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pridein their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brinkof hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into thebleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else,because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyesof God but also in our own. Weunderstand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp ourtax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills theyneed to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the meanswill change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort anddetermination of every single American. That is what this momentrequires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed. We,the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure ofsecurity and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost ofhealth care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief thatAmerica must choose between caring for the generation that built this countryand investing in the generation that will build its future. For weremember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty,and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do notbelieve that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happinessfor the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live ourlives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, ora home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other -through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security - these things do not sapour initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation oftakers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. We,the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just toourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climatechange, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and futuregenerations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science,but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and cripplingdrought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energysources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resistthis transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations thetechnology that will power new jobs and new industries - we must claim itspromise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and ournational treasure - our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcappedpeaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care byGod. That's what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers oncedeclared. We,the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not requireperpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flamesof battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared bythe memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid forliberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilantagainst those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those whowon the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest offriends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well. Wewill defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and ruleof law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences withother nations peacefully - not because we are naive about the dangers we face,but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. Americawill remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and wewill renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad,for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerfulnation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americasto the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to acton behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hopeto the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice - not out ofmere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance ofthose principles that our common creed describes: tolerance andopportunity; human dignity and justice. We,the people, declare today that the most evident of truths - that all of us arecreated equal - is the star that guides us still; just as it guided ourforebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided allthose men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this greatMall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaimthat our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soulon Earth. Itis now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began. Forour journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters canearn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete untilour gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law - forif we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one anothermust be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen isforced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is notcomplete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrantswho still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students andengineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from ourcountry. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from thestreets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown,know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm. Thatis our generation's task - to make these words, these rights, these values - ofLife, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness - real for everyAmerican. Being true to our founding documents does not require us toagree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty inexactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role ofgovernment for all time - but it does require us to act in our time. Fornow decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistakeabsolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treatname-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work willbe imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories will be onlypartial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, andforty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit onceconferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall. Myfellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recitedby others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not partyor faction - and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration ofour service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from theoath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrantrealizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we allmake to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride. Theyare the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope. Youand I, as citizens, have the power to set this country's course. Youand I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time - notonly with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our mostancient values and enduring ideals. Leteach of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lastingbirthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion anddedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertainfuture that precious light of freedom. Thankyou, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.
(KCPW News) In an annual state policy report card, Utah wasn’t given much to be proud of. The state received an overall grade of D+. StudentsFirst, an organization led by former Washington D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, looked at issues such as teaching quality, parental choice, and wise management of schools. While a D+ sounds pretty bad, Utah certainly would benefit if StudentsFirst graded on a curve: Utah was ranked 16th in the nation, with the national average also being a D+. “Unfortunately, most of the states in the country were in the D-range, and that’s about what we saw last year,” said StudentsFirst VP of National Policy Eric Lerum. Lerum noted that, despite the bad grades, many states improved. “I think you see that with Utah’s grade as well. It was a D last year, with a GPA of 1.21, and it went up to a D+ this year (1.58 GPA),” Lerum said. “So not a huge shift, but definitely improvement.” The report card identified two specific areas where Utah could improve: making teacher performance more integral to the decision-making process, and giving parents more and better choices for their children’s education. StudentsFirst pointed to the state’s school grading system as a positive step forward. Lerum said that gives parents a sense of the quality of education their children are receiving. “If you start with that premise that you’ve got to get information to the parents, then it’s really incumbent on the state to do so,” he said. “We think A to F provides a really good way of doing it. It’s easy to understand.” “And then what you get into are questions about, ‘OK, what do you do with it?’ Because parents are going to be making these decisions. They’re going to be making choices,” Lerum continued. “But at the end of the day, if a school isn’t performing, that’s not a place we should want to send kids. We want to see growth in our schools, we want to see them improving, and we want to see them meeting the needs of all their learners. If they’re not doing that, we think parents need that information so that they can either make a different choice, or they can demand change and force school leaders and administrators to do something different.” Still, by its own A-F scale, Utah’s D+ is nothing to write home about. But Mark Peterson of the Utah State Office of Education says he doesn’t put much weight in the Students First analysis. “Certainly Utah collects all that data. We have all the data on teacher effectiveness. We have classroom-level details, student-level details, on all of our CRT exams, and that is stuff that is all being evaluated by principals, superintendents, and charter school directors,” Peterson said. “It’s all being done at the local level. It is not written into official state policy. Therefore, we get a bad grade on it.” One area where Utah did well was spending funds wisely. Peterson agreed with that assessment. “We are the lowest per-pupil-funded system in the country, yet our ACT scores—we have a hundred percent of our students take ACTs,” he pointed out. “There are 19 states where that happens. Utah is one of them. Utah has the highest scores of the hundred-percent states. To me, this says that our money is being spent effectively because it’s producing academic results.” While the report card did look at how well money was spent by school systems, Lerum notes that whether or not schools are well-funded is not included in the group’s analysis. Podcast: Play in new window \| Download (2.9MB) Subscribe: iTunes \| Android \|
By Audrey Spencer Harker Heights Herald With many libraries focusing on encouraging children to read during the summer, adults have just as much to gain from sticking their noses into books. Local libraries are more than willing to help grown-ups get started or get back into reading, some offering programs and others offering a slew of suggestions. Harker Heights Public Library is hosting a "just for fun" contest pitting children against adults and teens to see which team can read or listen to the most books, said Lisa Youngblood, library director. "We have the Get a Clue READ Summer Reading Club for adults as well as teens and kids," said Youngblood. "Adults who join the club enjoy reading on their own. As an added bonus, they model reading appreciation for the teens and children who are also in the club." Adults may sign up at the library or on the library's website, ci.harker-heights.tx.us/library. The library also offers programs aimed toward its adult readers, such as a one-man Edgar Allen Poe performance by Broadway veteran Duffy Hudson beginning at 7 p.m. Aug. 3, an afternoon of Edgar Allen Poe movies set for Aug. 4 and Moonlight Yoga events at 9 p.m. today and Aug. 4. Readers who are looking to get into the e-book scene, but are unsure of how to approach the technology, can also attend training sessions, available by appointment at the library. Adults looking to read more on their own may also consider looking up a reading list to tackle. A page of the Harker Heights Public Library's website under the AdultSpace tab (under "Reference and Readers Advisory") links to different book clubs, reading lists and websites for adults looking for their next read. Youngblood also suggested the American Library Association's website for lists and book suggestions. Deanna Frazee, director of library services in Killeen, suggests www.goodreads.com, a community website where users can look up books based on their interests, get suggestions for new reads based on titles they've enjoyed in the past and read reviews of books they're considering checking out. "It's a vacation you don't have to pay for," said Frazee about reading. "You're always expanding your horizons. It's relaxing and it does enrich you." Frazee also encourages busy adults to consider audiobooks. "An audiobook is a great way to pass the time," she said. "I've had young mothers say they put the baby down for a nap and listen to an audio book as they're cleaning the house." Harker Heights, Killeen, Copperas Cove and Lampasas public libraries all have audio and downloadable book services available for patrons to use. "You can download audiobooks, which are wonderful when you want to listen to something on a long drive," said Frazee. For readers who prefer to discuss books and get their title recommendations through the grapevine, library staff members are also a good resource, said Frazee. "Our staff, and Harker Heights and Cove staff, we all love these books and the authors," she said. "I'm willing to bet you can tell any staff about a book you liked and they'll say 'have you tried...?'" For parents, reading for recreation also provides a model for children to follow. Numerous studies, such as those performed by the New York State Library, conclude that children who don't read during the summer have a harder time getting back up to speed once school starts again. "You can't say 'you need to read' and never have them see you read," said Frazee. "If children read through the summer, they don't lose as much of what they learned in the past school year. If they see their parents modeling that, it just becomes an accepted part of the routine." Contact Audrey Spencer at [email protected] or (254) 501-7476. Pick up a good book To jump-start a reading venture, check out these websites for reading lists, book suggestions and more: www.txla.org/lariat — The Lariat Reading List includes 25 fiction titles for grown-up readers. www.goodreads.com — An online community where you can enter your interests and get personalized book suggestions, as well as leave reviews for books you enjoyed or didn't. http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet23 — The American Library Association list of links to various lists and titles for readers of all ages.
Around the garden... Potatoes are growing rightly in bags. This year I've planted up several bags and also have two varieties in the ground - Maris Peer and Pentland Javelin. \|Most seeds were sown in April this year. Kale and calendula seem to be better on than many others. Many seed haven't germinated (yet) and many seedling are so tiny I can't imagine planting them out in early June.\| \|Above: Soloman's Seal - an old cottage garden style plant often seen in Northern Ireland gardens.\| Below: variegated hostas are coming up. \|The pot grow, self fertilising apple tree is starting to bloom. I'm still finding some worms. I've been researching on the internet but can't quite find any leads on the black worms (pictured below).\| \|Above: Poppies will soon be in flower and if deadheaded will flower all summer. I really enjoy poppies in the garden. I think this one is a California poppy that has self seeded.\| \|Above and below: Aquilegia / Columbine - the foliage on the purple one doesn't look very healthy. After I took the photo I noticed a large family of green fly (far right below).\| \|One of my favourite flowering plants - Armeria maritime / sea thrift with some black mondo grass starting to invade it!\| Copyright: All words and photos are property of "Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden".
How You Can Help Typhoon Haiyan Victims Millions of people in the Philippines need help after Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the country -- and relief organizations are already on the ground. (A U.S. military commander told NPR that it "looks like a 50-mile-wide tornado" flattened everything in one city.) Here's a listing of groups that are assisting with the typhoon relief effort: UNICEF says that as many as 4 million children could be affected by the disaster. Children need shelter, clean water, medicine and food. UNICEF staff in the Philippines are working to help. In Copenhagen, 60 metric tons of emergency supplies — for children's health, medical and shelter needs — have been prepared for an emergency airlift. To donate, click here. Or call 1-800-FOR-KIDS. American Red Cross The American Red Cross is also helping in the Philippines. The Red Cross said it deployed two disaster relief specialists over the weekend to assist in the assessment and relief efforts. The Red Cross is also sending telecommunication specialists and a satellite system. Philippine Red Cross volunteer rescue and relief teams are assisting in search and rescue efforts and distributing food and relief supplies to survivors. Currently, 1,200 evacuation centers are housing more than 330,000 people left homeless by the storm, the Red Cross reports. To donate, click here.
- view as grid - view as list This month’s Health Policy News Index finds more than six in 10 say they followed news about long waiting lists for those seeking care at Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities closely. That makes the VA story the most closely followed health story in the first half of 2014, with slightly more people following it than followed several ACA enrollment stories earlier this year. Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, discusses how the Department of Veterans Affairs health system scandal creates an opportunity for a fix, maybe with bipartisan support. Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, discusses “what lessons NOT to learn” from the recent healthcare.gov and VA health care failures. This partnership poll from The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation explores the views and experiences of adults who served in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars as members of the U.S. military in the period after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The majority of veterans of these conflicts say that Americans appreciate their service and that gestures of support are genuine, but many report a number of challenges, including economic struggles, worse physical and mental health than prior to their engagement, and feeling disconnected from civilian life. This report provides an overview of the Department of Defense’s infectious disease efforts related to global health. The report looks at how DoD’s infectious disease activities are organized internally and coordinated with other U.S. government agencies and partners. The Department of Defense’s Role in U.S. Global Health Policy and Programs: Briefing and Panel Discussion This event examines the role of the Department of Defense (DoD) in global health and how it intersects with the global health efforts of the U.S. government (USG) and other organizations. This report provides the first comprehensive look at the role of the Department of Defense (DoD) in global health, examining its organizational structure, activities, strategy, policy, and budget for activities related to global health.
Randy Neugebauer talked Farm Bill, Unemployment, and Other Hot Topics [Audio] Monday on Lubbock’s First News, Congressman Randy Neugebauer talked about the efforts to decide on a Farm Bill and Budget agreement, along with the unemployment benefits, and the Affordable Care Act. He said that farmers are hoping for progress so they can begin planning for the 2014 crop. Farm Bill and a provision for unemployment benefits together. He said the idea is that the savings of the Farm Bill can make up for the costs of extending the benefits. Neugebauer believes combining the issues is bad policy and should not be placed together for voting. “The unemployment benefits is a different issue and we need to take that issue and address it separately.” Neugebauer noted the progress toward approving a budget. He discussed the necessity of forming a bill that can be approved by the January 15 deadline. He also discussed the negative effects of the Affordable Care Act and how that might affect the November elections. Listen to the full interview: Or listen on your mobile device: KFYO LFN Randy Neugebauer January 06 2014 // KFYO.com
When it comes to investing, if you have no idea what you’re doing, you’re very well may end up losing a lot of money. Becoming successful with investments isn’t an overnight thing; it takes a great deal of studying the market and understanding how everything works. For those first time investors out there, here are a few tips. Understand the Market and Stick to What You Know It’s important that you take business classes to help you understand how things work. This will require at least a semester of studying. The University of the Potomac has a wide selection of business classes that will help when it comes time to invest. There’s also a ton of articles and books dedicated to investing. When you invest your money, stick with what you know. For example, if you work with technology, stick with technology companies. Never invest in something that you know nothing about just because you think it’ll surge. Blindly investing in things will get you nowhere. View Things Long-Term There’s a lot of risks associated with investing, and if you’re in this for pure profit, you’ll be sorely disappointed. That being said, if you invest in things for the long haul, you will likely see better results. Things take a while to grow, and investments are no different. You should be prepared to hold on to your investments for at least five years. Diversify and Globalize Your Portfolio Rather than placing all of your proverbial eggs in one basket, spread out your investment. By diversifying your portfolio, you’re strengthening your investments. If one fails, the other will make up for it. A great balance to your investments is crucial, and you’re more likely to have success. Also consider investing in multiple asset classes. Diversifying your portfolio is the best option, but globally diversifying it is ideal. Different countries have different economic strengths, so you may have more luck with an investment in an emerging economy versus an investment domestically. There’s a number of technology based specialist funds that you can invest in, such as AXA Framlington Global Technology Funds. Freeze Your Emotions This one is extremely important. When it comes to investments, you have to understand that things will go up and down. They’ll reach new highs, and they’ll dip to new lows, but the important thing is that you don’t have a knee-jerk reaction to it. React with what you know, not with how you feel. Reacting based purely on emotion is a great way to lose a lot of money. Avoid Popular Choices and Don’t Pay Attention to History Just because a ton of people are investing in a certain thing doesn’t mean it’s a great choice. Remember the dot com crash around the year 2000? Use your training and knowledge and invest for the long haul. Stick with what you know and invest in things that you feel will turn a profit in a few years. The performance of the thing you’re investing is not an indicator of how the investment will perform in the future. Researching the history of an investment and investing based on the history alone is an extremely risky move and will likely make you lose a lot of money. You should invest with no expectations of future performance based on history. Even if you’ve had all the training in the world, getting help from a professional would be a great idea. Stockbrokers or certified financial planners will be able to solve any issues that you have and can assist you in building up your portfolio. Investing isn’t easy. It’s extremely unlikely that you put your money in something and see an immediate return. If you use these tips, however, you’re going to be infinitely more ready than a lot of other first-time investors. Can you think of any other tips you’d give to first-time investors? Did you have any luck the first time you invested? Leave a comment below and let us know.
By Kyle Barry (I possess the sole rights to all the photo's in this post and do not permit any use what so ever with out my sole consent) Landscape photography is among the favourite choices for a great number of enthusiast photographers. No matter where you live you will always be surrounded by landscapes begging to be captured. Landscapes are ever changing from dusk til dawn and season to season making each shot unique by nature. For landscapes you should ensure you have the following gear: - Spare batteries: for your camera and flash gun (you don't know how long you'll be waiting for that right moment and how many photo's you'll take to get there) - Lenses: The lens of choice is a wide angle lens (in the 16-85mm range) if your kit allows it an ultra wide angle lens (12-24mm) should also accompany you. Fish eye lenses make for interesting shots but are not essential as well as a short telephoto lens. - Camera body: this goes without saying. - Filters: Neutral density (ND) filters are a favourite as they allow for long exposures and eliminate over-exposure. UV filters and polarizing filters should always be in your kit bag as it increases colour saturation and limits reflections on surfaces such as water. Colour filters are nice to have but not essential as you can just retouch and apply in the post-processing stage. - Tripod: Tripods work great for steady shots and opt for a a lightweight tripod as you'll be carrying it a lot. If you are worried that a lightweight tripod may not be stable ensure that the center column has a hook for you to hang your kit bag, this will ensure balance and sturdiness. - Remote release: this is not essential but great to have for long exposures to minimise camera shake. If you do not have one set your camera's timer and take it from there. Always be aware of the rule of thirds this will result in balanced shots, look at lines running through your shot specifically the horizon which should be in the upper or lower third of the frame. look at where the sun is in your frame, try having it on the side as you'll get interesting shadows and often favourable lens flare. Always find something that leads you into the shot for example a walkway, river, road etc. Make use of the foreground Taking pictures with your camera in portrait orientation will result in strong images especially where there is detailed foreground. In portrait orientation you can create a sense of distance and scale making images look more dramatic. Try shooting at low angles to get close to the foreground and bring out the textures that it possesses. Look to find rocks, water, flowers etc. Even though blue skies might sound like the ideal weather conditions for landscape photography bad weather boasts the most exciting shots. Thick grey clouds and stormy weather creates amazing textures and really tells stories when you look at the picture. It's all about waiting as you never know what the weather will do next, one moment the skies may be dull and lifeless the next moment clouds may part and rays of light might create an eloquent backdrop! So bad weather is not always bad news, be patient! I'll leave you with this final thought, photography is an art, not a science! There is no right and wrong there are only guidelines! Don't be afraid to bend or break the rules and always challenge yourself and experiment with what you are doing!
Curtain Call: A deaf in the family \|By Mary C. Cusack\| Peppermint Creek drama explores family communication in a different wayFor those who have wished they could tune out their family during a Christmas fight over who ruined the childhood of whom, Peppermint Creek Theatre Co.’s “Tribes” will serve as a cautionary tale. There is a fate worse than suffering petty familial bickering: Sitting on the sidelines in silence. “Tribes” is a tightly written, multi-layered story about a person’s role in various social structures. Billy (Devin Fraught) was born deaf to a hearing family. They raised him to read lips and speak instead of learning sign language. His well-meaning parents believed this would give him a more normal life. As the play opens, all of the adult children have returned to the nest, lorded over by former professor Christopher (Michael Hays) and aspiring novelist Beth (Jackie Payne). Eldest son Daniel (Chad Badgero) is in the throes of a break-up, and vacillates between writing a dissertation and smoking pot. Daughter Ruth (Crysta Harper) is trying to build a career as a singer. Billy comes home from college and is thrust into the non-stop chaos of a family of creative types who are constantly trying to hoard all of the attention. Their fast-paced patter is more than even a hearing person can process, so Billy has no chance of keeping up. Instead he sits quietly, waiting for someone to fill him in on the goings-on. Billy meets Sylvia (Meghan Malusek), a woman born to deaf parents who is gradually losing her hearing. She teaches Billy to sign, and he soon embraces the deaf community and culture. He finally feels a sense of belonging, which leads him to perceive that he’s been a mascot for, not a member of, his family. Although the script investigates relationships in multiple configurations, the most fascinating is that between Daniel and Billy. In the beginning, Daniel is too wrapped up in his own melodrama to pay attention to Billy, and at times seems either jealous or resentful of his brother’s presence. But as Billy pursues his independence, it becomes apparent that Billy provides a sense of security and stability for Daniel that is critical to his well-being. Badgero is excellent in this role. His vicious sibling rivalry with Ruth rings true, as does the tender need he projects upon Billy. Faught’s performance as Billy is amazing, from the vocal control he exhibits as a deaf speaker to the range of emotion he expresses. At first quiet and seemingly content in his silent world, when he finally explodes in resentment it is cathartic, if not a bit misplaced. Malusek brings grace to her role, especially when showing the poetic beauty of sign language. She also reflects the vulnerability of a young woman facing her impending disability realistically with fear, anger and acceptance. As with real life, the denouement lacks a clear resolution. The end signifies the beginning of the next phase in the evolution of this family unit who will face what comes with newfound solidarity. Peppermint Creek Theatre Co. 8 p.m. Thursday– Saturday, April 3-5 $15/$10 students & seniors 6025 Curry Lane, Lansing (517) 372-0945, peppermintcreek.org
Team figure skating in the Olympics: How would it work? The International Olympic Committee's executive board announced Monday it is "looking favorably'' at the addition of seven events for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and it has given President Jacques Rogge the final say in the matter. Rogge is expected to make his decision at the end of April. Among the seven is a team event in figure skating. "I am 99.9% sure this will happen,'' International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta said Tuesday. And one of the drawing cards to the event, in Cinquanta's eyes, is the opportunity for lineup discussions to become a hot topic, just as they are in other sports. "This would be something spicy,'' Cinquanta said. How would a team figure-skating event be structured and scored? Philip Hersh has the answers in his Globetrotting blog.
Sudan and South Sudan inch back from the brink of war JOHANNESBURG -- Sudan claimed Friday it had driven South Sudan forces out of the strategic Sudanese oil town of Heglig, while South Sudan President Salva Kiir -- facing international condemnation -- ordered his troops to withdraw. The withdrawal saw the fractious neighbors step back from the brink of war after a sudden escalation in tensions following South Sudan’s seizure last week of Heglig, Sudan’s most important oil producing area. It wasn't clear whether South Sudan withdrew under international pressure, prompting Sudan to claim victory, or whether its forces were driven out, as Khartoum claimed. South Sudan had been under enormous international pressure to pull its troops out of Heglig, an occupation U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called “illegal” Thursday. He also condemned Sudan’s bombings of South Sudan. Sudan President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir claimed Friday to have retaken Heglig by force after a fierce battle. South Sudan didn’t clarify its position on the northern claim it had forced a retreat. Both sides often provide blustering, contradictory versions of events on the disputed border. South Sudan separated peacefully from Sudan in July. The two sides had fought a 22-year civil war that resulted in 2 million deaths but agreed to a 2005 peace deal that allowed the south to secede in 2011 if it wished. The peace deal left many of the most intractable differences unresolved between the neighbors, including the border, now in serious dispute, and shares of oil revenues, another major source of tension. Last week’s escalation of hostilities and rhetoric sparked fears the two countries were headed back into a ruinous civil war that would destroy the oil sector both countries depend on, and cost many civilian lives. In Khartoum, Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Hussein issued a statement Friday saying that his forces had defeated the opposition in Heglig in time for Friday prayers. “Your victorious Armed Forces have managed to liberate Heglig city by force from the remnants of the South Sudan army and its mercenaries. Your armed forces have entered at 2:20 p.m. and held Friday prayers inside the city, " he said in a statement, the Sudan official news agency reported. A military spokesman for the South Sudan government, Philip Aguer, said Friday’s withdrawal did not mean his country had abandoned the area. “It doesn't mean we are abandoning the area. If our territory is being occupied we will not wait for the international community," Aguer said. He said the southern army was ready to react to any Sudanese incursions and respond if Sudan did not cease bombing in South Sudan. Both sides claim Heglig, but the international community sees it as part of Sudan. Sudan occupies another disputed border area, Abyei. -- Robyn Dixon Photo: People cheer Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir in Khartoum on Friday Credit: Abd Raouf / Associated Press
Friday, March 28, 2008 News agencies all over the world are reporting on the historic U.S./EU Air Transport Agreement, dubbed "Open Skies," which goes into effect this Sunday. Under the Agreement, the old restrictions on which airlines have access to the lucrative transatlantic route between the United States and Europe have been abolished. Many commentators are hopeful that the Agreement will bring about greater choice for consumers and result in lower airline costs. However, as the BBC News has correctly reported, the current cost of fuel is likely to offset these anticipated price reductions. What the BBC failed to get right-and what should be made perfectly clear-is that the Agreement still maintains the old strictures on foreign investment. Contrary to the BBC's claim that U.S. airlines will be able to buy up to 49% shares in their European rivals while foreign investment in U.S. airlines is capped at 25%, the Agreement provides that European investors can acquire 49% equity stock in U.S. carrier with the possibility of gaining more, subject to Department of Transportation approval. The 25% limit applies only to voting stock. Under the Agreement, the EU is permitted to impose a reciprocal 25% voting stock on U.S. investment-a much tighter cap than what existed prior to the Agreement. News agencies have also picked up on the fact that a "second stage" of negotiations between the U.S. and EU is set to begin on May 15. One of the key issues for those talks will be opening up foreign investment. Jacques Barrot, the EU Transport Commissioner, has already vowed to suspend rights under the current Agreement if a satisfactory outcome on the matter is not reached by 2010. According to Barrot, the next stage of negotiations "will aim to achieve full liberalisation in traffic rights, new possibilities for investments by European companies in the United States and for U.S. companies in Europe, measuring the effect on the environment and constraints on exercising traffic rights, access to transport programs financed by the U.S. government, and leasing aircrafts with crew." As readers of the blog may recall, the International Aviation Law Institute, in cooperation with the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University, convened an experts' Working Group in Dublin, Ireland last November to begin discussing the "second stage" issues. This fall, the Institute will provide a full treatment of the evolution, implications, and future of the new U.S./EU open skies agreement in Professor Brian Havel's new book, Beyond Open Skies. Wednesday, March 26, 2008 American Airlines announced today that it has grounded two-thirds of its MD-80 fleet, prompting 171 of its 2,200 daily flights to be canceled. Concerns over the connection of wiring within the aircraft spurred American to action. American Airlines is hopeful that the inspections, which only take a matter of hours, will be prompt and allow them to put the MD-80’s back into service. In an official statement, American noted that a Federal Aviation Administration audit led to concerns over the wiring. However, the decision to ground the planes was American's. This matter comes on the heels of public backlash against the FAA for lax inspections of Southwest Airline’s fleet. While that incident ultimately led to FAA issuing a stiff $10.2 million fine against Southwest, a Congressional investigation of the incident and the FAA’s handling of the situation is still on the horizon. In addition to the current American Airlines situation, the FAA has also ordered the inspection of hundreds of Boeing 737 aircraft after concerns that a faulty bolt may be causing fuel leaks. The order includes both older and newer models of the aircraft, though at this time no action has been taken to ground any of the aircraft under inspection. Airlines have ninety days following the order’s effective date of April 8 to complete the inspections. While the FAA only has direct authority over U.S. airlines, it is likely that the order will be followed in other countries whose airlines utilize the Boeing 737. Tuesday, March 25, 2008 As expected, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals struck down New York State's Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act. In a unanimous decision, the court found the act expressly preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Also of concern to the court was the potential of giving free reign to state regulation of the airline industry. "If New York's view regarding the scope of regularity authority carried the day," so the court observed, "another state could be free to enact a law prohibiting the service of soda on flights departing from its airports, while another could require allergen-free food options on all outbound flights, unraveling the centralized federal framework for air travel." The court was not unsympathetic to the aims of the New York statute: "Although the goals of the [statute] are laudable and circumstances motivating its enactment deplorable, only the federal government has the authority to enact such a law." It remains to be seen what the next course of action may be on the part of New York State or consumer advocacy groups. News outlets are already reporting that New York State attorney Andrew M. Cuomo is contemplating an appeal to the Supreme Court. So far there is no word on what, if any, action federal legislators may attempt to take. Readers of the Aviation Law Blog may recall Frans Vreede’s guest post from February 5 on the Dutch Ticket Tax. In that post, Mr. Vreede set down an argument against the Netherlands’ imposition of a $67 per ticket tax on all departures bound for outside the territory of the European Union ($17 for those within). As Mr. Vreede’s post made clear, the tax may be in violation of Article 15 of the Chicago Convention and may also run afoul of the U.S./EU Air Transport Agreement. Despite this, a Dutch court in the Hague has rejected claims of the tax’s illegality. Led by the Amsterdam airport Schiphol Group, the challenge to the new ticket tax fell to a narrow reading by the court. On a first sight reading of the case, the judge took Article 15’s omission of the word "tax" from the list of impermissible charges to be indicative of its inapplicability. The court failed to consider the purpose behind the article itself, i.e., as a prohibition to setting charges which have no relationship to the use of airports or their facilities. While the court’s decision marks an obvious setback for civil aviation in the Netherlands, an appeal to the country’s Supreme Court to review the decision’s merits is likely.
Friday, November 1, 2013 Marie Boyd (South Carolina) has posted Zoning for Apartments: A Study of the Role of Law in the Control of Apartment Houses in New Haven, Connecticut 1912-1932, 33 Pace L. Rev. 600 (2013). In it, she reviews building records and Sanborn maps to give her reader a complete picture of the restrictions placed on apartment development before and after New Haven's first zoning ordinance in 1926. Here's the abstract: This article seeks to contribute to the legal and policy debates over zoning by providing a more detailed examination of the impact of apartments on both pre-zoning land use patterns and the zoning process during the formative initial stages of zoning in the United States than has been provided in the literature to date. Specifically, this Article analyzes the impact of apartments on both pre-zoning land use patterns and the zoning process in New Haven, Connecticut. It focuses on the period beginning with the selection of New Haven’s first Zoning Commission in 1922, and concluding with the passage of New Haven’s first zoning ordinance in 1926. Through this detailed historical account of the realities of zoning, this Article demonstrates how — due to delays in the enactment of zoning — New Haven’s first zoning ordinance, rather than shaping the future growth of the regulated area, was instead shaped by existing land use patterns and political considerations.
The Russian dance group Berezka Ensemble, aka the Little Birch Tree Choreographic Group has perfected a dance step which when combined with their folk dress costume, creates the illusion of the dancers gliding across the floor as if on ice. The effect is quite mesmerizing and captivating. “Берёзка” (“Beryozka” or “Berezka”) means “Birch” in Russian. More info, including vintage versions of the dance, a version featuring costumes with LED lights, and video of rehearsals illustrating the “secret” of the dance step on the Open Culture website. (h/t to AGD and boingboing) We at San Diego Free Press love watching all kinds of video. Those short visual stories entertain, inform, and agitate in a way completely different from the written word. Since our platform is about expressing ideas and ideals instead of cash flow, clicks, or fundraising, we have the freedom to include a wide range of topics and formats that might not work elsewhere. We don’t need or want paid content, promotional materials, or story lines designed to please donors. So the idea here is to present videos one or more of the editors feel speaks to them. Sometimes it will be news. Sometimes it will be history. And a lot of the time it will be culture. You can not and should not separate these things: it is diversity and intersectionality that makes our movement strong. Feel free to suggest videos at [email protected]
The waste management campaign that was started by the SPED III team in Thrikkadavoor Panchayath, Quilon, Kerala, is aimed at promoting systematic waste management and reducing the use of plastic products. To sustain the campaign, the team realized that it was critical to introduce the manufacturing and marketing of various paper products into the community. They got the idea that if the production and sales of paper products became a part of people’s livelihoods, they would have more incentive to use paper and avoid plastic. A large number of the women in the community were unemployed and eager to find a source of income, so they worked together with the SPED III team to find an alternative livelihood that would change the entire ambiance of the community. Mrs. Felsy in Pallivettachira village said that, “We were unaware about the possibilities and opportunities that are available in the community. Once we came to recognize it, we were filled with great confidence and immense enthusiasm”. Exploring the options SPED III team was eagerly searching for an alternative livelihood to support the group of women who are actively propagating the systematic waste management and anti-plastic campaign. The team felt strongly that the livelihood project should be sustainable and ecofriendly. The leader of opposition in Thrikkadavoor Panchayath stated that “the Panchayath committee and VAT committees in various villages suggested for paper bag, paper plate products, paper cups and other paper based product manufacturing. But when we think about its feasibility we realize that it needs huge investment and risk”. The SPED III team identified some companies that are encouraging home-based production of paper stars. These stars are used in India to decorate homes and communities during celebrations, especially Christmas. The companies provide free training and supply raw material at a low cost, then purchase the finished products at a reasonable margin. After receiving the necessary training to make the stars, the SPED III team and the beneficiaries began to network with star making companies. They were also provided with training to market their product and negotiate and bargain with the companies. The training was a blessing and opened up new opportunities to the poor and unemployed women. Now it has becomes a sustainable and regular source of income to 400 women. Mrs. Moly Babu, Ward member, Venkekkara village shared that “when we came to experience the star making, we did not believe that it would becomes sure source of income, but now we realized that it is a less expensive and marketable product and it is providing a sustainable and remarkable income to us”. The entire community whole heartedly agreed that the star making training was lighting the lamps of change for many lives and families. Mr .Prasanth. B, the Grama Panchayath president also expressed that they were doubtful about the success of star making as a livelihood, but the community and the SPED III team proved that it could be a lucrative project for the women. “I would like to appreciate the SPED III team for their sincere efforts and innovative ideas.” Now the women are manufacturing two kinds of stars at different rates. The raw materials are purchased by the workers themselves and they sell the finished product to various star making companies in Kollam town. They were earning a reasonable income ranging from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 6500 ($30-$130) in a month. According to Mrs. Jincy from Pallivaettachiara village, “The training was a blessing to me. Prior to the star making training, I was an unemployed house wife without income. But now I am very proud to be an earning member in my family and happy to be economically self-reliant. I am living in a rented house with my husband and two children. My husband is an alcoholic and completely ignored the family. Prior to the star making training I didn’t have any means of living. But now I am able to achieve nearly Rs.5000 ($100) as my monthly income and to ensure decent standards of living to my children.” A big thanks to Quilon Social Service Society for providing us with this case study!
From the stories I've read, it looks like Asimov did a great job at skirting the details of how the positronic brain really works. This is what has spawned the same question, namely how to implement the three laws in an artificial brain. NHL did a great job at summarizing the robots as computer entities with a bunch of sensors and actuators attached to them. But then he took the usual way of seeing the computer as a mega-computing machine in some way. We don't have this kind of mega-computing abilities as human beings, though we are able to assess risks ourselves, and are able to take action. However, as common sense may fail us (quite often actually), it would be a very good augmentation and should be seen as an additional independent module if you will. That module, when fed with memories or some facts extracted from the senses, would give even more information in the form of usable outputs to other parts of an artificial brain. Jeff Hawkins said in his book On Intelligence, we should maybe not talk about "artificial intelligence," but rather "true intelligence induced by an artificial device." I would suggest anyone interested in this kind of stuff to read this very interesting book. For me it was an inspiring one. As I'm "working" in the Machine Learning field, I was rather frustrated by the directions taken so far in this field, as was Hawkins some time ago. Maybe we should tackle the problem from the perspective of mimicking biology more closely, as his work suggests, by using a so-called "hierarchical temporal memory." Intelligence (and therefore memory) is actually made of a hierarchy of associations of a multitude of stimuli (including action's feedbacks) encoded in the form of circuits in the brain. If some behaviors are deeply rooted in us, this is in part because of some kinds of rewards our brain releases from time to time in the form of hormones. Hormones facilitate (or inhibits) the building of particular associations the brain deems good (bad) for us (which are not necessarily good (bad) in the absolute... unfortunately). In this sense and with regard to the three laws, I think that for it to be really adapted to our societies, a robot should have limited means of action first (fewer actuators for instance), and should be exposed to society and its environment as much as possible before being allowed to fully interact with them. Some desired behaviors and associations could be enforced with facilitated fixed stimuli to give strong hints at what is good or bad in a particular context. These fixed stimuli are the closest things I can come up with to encode the three laws in practice. These associations should be frozen in some way in order for them to be sufficiently effective. Humans could develop bad or good habits that can be hard to change after all. By making that ones particularly hard to change we should be okay. I don't think perfection will ever be attained with this kind of architecture. In some cases it would fail, as humans themselves do, but with the information provided by some extra modules, like the "mega-computing" one, this could be somewhat alleviated. I'm willing to bet that an artificial brain in the sense of a computing machine alone will never go as far as that either. In fact, the human brain intelligence itself could largely be surpassed by intelligence induced by those kind of devices. It could build up instead of being lost at some point (like at the end of a human subject's life). All a human being is left with is language to extract their intelligence or knowledge out of their own brain. Unfortunately, it takes time to transfer that knowledge to another brain in this way. Further, no matter how hard you try, it is often altered in the process. Another issue is that sometimes we never make crucial associations that are, however, latent and at the verge of being made if given a little more time. Conclusion, a lot of time is lost. You never see more than the tip of the intelligence iceberg within a single brain in such a short lifetime as ours. Maybe a solution to our limitations would be to find a way for our brains to communicate with such a device. It would be a lot harder I think but not impossible. Ethics would also be pointing its nose I suppose. I would appreciate if this were on a forum where I could talk more about it because I digress a lot. I'm not the one who came up with that by the way... Hawkins transferred it to my brain through his book. And for him we should maybe consider forms of intelligent agents in a broader sense, not necessarily human- or animal-like entities. Also feel free to stole these ideas for you next book :).

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