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What exactly does 'It's all academic' mean when referring to the closing moments of a sports game? You'll often hear 'This one's academic!' or 'It's all academic from this point forward' or 'It's all academic.' Does it mean anything, or is it purely meaningless jargon? It's the bottom of the 9th inning, the Yankees are winning 15 to 0, and the other team's at bat. The sportscaster says "It's all academic now" because there's an almost zero probability that the team at bat is going to score 15 or 16 runs and tie or win the game. "Academic" refers to formal study. Formalities are motions that people go through because they have to, whether they want to or not. They're often meaningless. Playing the last three outs at the bottom half of the 9th inning in this game is strictly a formality. The Yankees will certainly win and the other team will certainly lose. But no one can stop the game because the 15-0 gap is too large to overcome. That's why spectators at sporting events frequently leave before the game's over, despite Yogi's wise observation that "It ain't over till it's over". I've seen at least one game in which a team scored 10 runs in the bottom of the 9th and won the game in front of a half-empty stadium. It was a long time ago. It's not meaningless jargon; rather, it's resignation, defeatism, and pessimism. It's understandable, of course. Though the information can be found on the internet, it's not obvious where to find an explanation of the exact sense (polyseme) of academic you mention. My first port of call, googling "academic" + "meaning", then using the link to thefreedictionary.com, wasn't as helpful as it usually is. At the link to dictionary.reference.com, however, one soon finds: (bolding mine) 3. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful: an academic question; an academic discussion of a matter already decided. . There has almost certainly been a drift towards the metaphorical sense from the original, via 'purely academic' and perhaps 'merely academic'. The French say fait accompli to indicate a presumably irreversible deed or fact. Competitors in a sporting event play out a game to the bitter end because the "rules" say they should. Rules--the theory, if you will--comprise the "academic" part of the saying "It's all academic." In our baseball exemplar, you might invoke the tautology "rules are rules," which is a way of saying there is no sense protesting the premature ending of a ninth-inning fiasco, even though it might be the sensible, humanitarian thing to do. Why? Because rules are rules. In other words, it may be obvious at some point as to who is going to win, but the rules say the game ends only after the third strike of the third out of the last batter at the bottom of the ninth. As for academic discussions on a question once considered controversial but considered settled now for years, all such discussions are said to be purely, or merely, academic. Why? Well, despite the question's having become passe, unimportant, or even irrelevant, sometimes people just love to hear the sound of their own voices!
\|scientific name Catocala ultronia (Hbn.)\| common name Dark Red Underwing, Ultronia Underwing Dry woodland edges and tall shrub, especially wild cherry shrublands; urban plantations. Adults are on the wing in early August in Alberta. A medium-sized (4.6-6.0 cm wingspan) moth with dark forewings and red and black hindwings. The forewings are a smooth, dark rich chocolate and grey brown with several fine erratic horizontal lines. A narrow patch along the costa at the apex is lighter brown. The hindwings are deep red-orange, almost scarlet, and are crossed by a complete black median line and a wider black terminal band. The basal area is covered with long black hairs, and the fringes are mostly dark. Both the sexes are similar. The antennae are filiform. Ultronia cannot be mistaken for any other Alberta Catocala. The adults are nocturnal and come to light, but are more likely to be taken at sugar baits. Larvae are solitary defoliators. The egg is the overwintering stage. There is one brood per year. Scarce in Alberta, at the northern edge of its range. No immediate concerns. No Alberta data. Elsewhere reported to use members of the Rosacea, including apple (Malus) and wild cherries (Prunus sp.). Ultronia occurs throughout much of eastern North America, south to Florida and Texas. It ranges west across the southern parts of Canada to extreme southeast British Columbia. In Alberta, it occurs mainly in dry shrubby woodland edge along the river valleys of the plains, north to Dinosaur Provincial Park. Comments are published according to our submission guidelines. The EH Strickland Entomological Museum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed.
Thursday, October 21, 2010 Oct 20: In the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, Case No. 09-2643. Appealed from the District Court of Maine in Bangor. The case is about the Canada lynx. The Endangered Species Act makes it unlawful to "take" a member of an endangered species. By regulation, it is also unlawful to "take" a "threatened" species, i.e. one likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The term "take" means to "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect." The Canada lynx is a wild cat, weighing about 20 pounds, which eats small animals, particularly the snowshoe hare, and is most commonly found in Canada. It is not listed as an endangered species. In 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) of the federal Department of the Interior listed the Canada lynx as a "threatened" species throughout its U.S. range -- certain states contiguous to Canada, as well as certain Western states. In Maine, a listed state, Canada lynx are found primarily in the northern portion of the state, in state Wildlife Management Districts (WMD) 1 through 11. Maine prohibits the trapping of Canada lynx, but allows the regulated trapping of many other furbearing animals. The appeal is from the district court's denial of plaintiffs' motion to enjoin Maine state officials from allowing the use of any foothold traps, which are used to legally trap other species, in WMDs 1 through 11. Plaintiffs argued this relief was necessary to prevent "incidental takes" of lynx in these traps. The district court held that plaintiffs had not shown irreparable injury, even recognizing the special emphasis in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on protecting threatened species. The Appeals Court affirmed the district court decision. In its opinion, the Appeals Court indicated that the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) argues the district court erred in not granting other relief, such as a new working group or new regulations. The Appeals Court said, "This argument fails because AWI expressly disavowed such remedies before the district court. It may well have done so for tactical reasons, preferring to stress the inadequacy of other remedies in order to strengthen its case for injunctive relief against foothold traps. Parties are held to their choices and AWI's bait and switch tactics in the courts are to be deplored, not rewarded. The judgment for defendants is affirmed. Costs are awarded to defendants." Access the complete opinion (click here). Posted by WIMS at 4:12 PM
Brief SummaryRead full entry Species of Abraliopsis are small squids that are most easily recognized by spherical "black" photophores (usually three) at the tip of each Arm IV. The black appearance is due to black chromatophores that tightly cover the photophores but when the latter luminesce, the chromatophores withdraw from the photophores. This feature is shared with Watasenia scintillans from waters around Japan. An enoploteuthid ... - with large, black photophores at the tips of arms IV. - with hooks of manus in two series.
February 14, 2001 The image above was taken on February 26, 2000 with the Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) sensor on the Landsat-7 satellite. It shows the eastern portion of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. The right side or eastern part of this scene is the Avalon Peninsula. Most of the peninsula is snow covered on this image, and, in fact, Newfoundland is one of the snowiest places in North America. The capital city of Newfoundland, St. John's (on the upper, easternmost arm of the Avalon Peninsula), currently has 66 inches of snow on the ground. The reddish hues are forests fringing the coasts. The bay at the upper center is Trinity Bay, and Conception Bay is at the upper right center of the image. With towns on the northern arm of the Avalon Peninsula (separating Trinity and Conception Bay) having names such as Heart's Delight, Heart's Desire, and Hearts's Content, this part of Newfoundland should be pretty popular for the romantically-inclined on Valentine's Day. Cupids, St. Bride's, and Paradise are other appropriately-named small towns on the peninsula to visit on February 14. If you use your imagination, an upside down heart may be discerned at the lower right of the image.
Monk, Daniel (2004) Problematising home education: challenging ‘parental rights’ and 'socialisation'. Legal Studies 24 (4), pp. 568-598. ISSN 0261-3875. Download (233Kb) \| Preview In the UK, Home Education, or home-schooling, is an issue that has attracted very little public, governmental or academic attention. Yet the number of children home educated is steadily increasing and has been referred to as a 'quiet revolution'. This article neither celebrates nor denigrates home educators, its aim, rather, is to identify and critically examine the two dominant discourses that define the way in which the issue is currently understood. First, the legal discourse of parental rights, which forms the basis of the legal framework, and secondly a psychoanalytical/common-sense 'socialisation' discourse within which school attendance is perceived as necessary for healthy child development. Drawing on historical, doctrinal human rights and psychoanalytical sources and post-structural and feminist perspectives, this article suggests that both discourses function as alternative methods of governance and that the conflicting ‘rights claims’ of parents and children obscure public interests and fundamental questions about the purpose of education. \|Additional Information:\|\|Legal Studies was published by Elsevier Science in 2004\| \|School or Research Centre:\|\|Birkbeck Schools and Research Centres > School of Law\| \|Depositing User:\|\|Sandra Plummer\| \|Date Deposited:\|\|01 Feb 2006\| \|Last Modified:\|\|17 Apr 2013 12:32\| Archive Staff Only (login required)
3[Martyn Thayne // Digital Profiling: The Accumulation of Personal Data in the Attention Economy] networked technologies. This paper explores the socio-cultural and economic impact of these multiple formsof digital participation as individuals relay information about themselves across new media networks bothintentionally (through weblogs, status updates, posting personal media content, etc.) and inadvertently(through browser cookies which are assigned to track users online habits and various forms of data mining,etc.).Despite the apparent empowering nature of cultural participation, the traditional values of privacy and theconstruction of self-identity must also be re-examined in greater depth by media scholars. Further qualitativeresearch is needed to address the social and political implications, as previously undisclosed, personalinformation is made public through ephemeral multimedia forms and exchanged within digital communicationnetworks. The analysis of these issues must take into account the evolution of economic systems in the digitalage as new modes of self-expression and social relations are increasingly monitored by market forces. Indeed,Zwick and Knott suggest, the ultimate objective of the deployment of modern surveillance technologies inmarketing has been the disciplining and controlling of behavioural variations (2009: 225). Therefore, as socialsoftware become increasingly embedded within the everyday experiences of the user, the computerinfrastructure of these technologies allows data to be utilised as a means of directly profiling and influencingthe consumer, often in ways which escape recognition. Since the modes of surveillance flow freely throughdomestic spaces, in telephones, televisions, computers, and even in the metering of utilities (Lyon, 2002: 2),personal data produced and transferred in digital cultures may be used to monitor and target an individualuser in a multitude of ways. A more contextualised understanding of such developments must be integratedinto a contemporary media studies discourse, one which commonly engages with concerns voiced by scholarsof the surveillance society (see Poster, 1990; Graham, 1998, 2005; Lyon, 2002; Arvidsson, 2005) by aligningsuch conceptual work to interrogate the social and economic impact of new forms of media production andexhibition.Given the increase of networked technologies that facilitate the regular production and surveillance of personal information, conversations about user generated material must be framed within a more economiccontext as this data is increasingly central to new modes of digital advertising and marketing. This is ultimatelywhere the discourse of Media Studies 2.0 becomes problematic as it largely ignores the commercial strategieswhich have emerged in relation to the technological architecture of participatory media. As Van Dijck suggests,we need to account for the multifarious roles of users in a media environment where the boundaries betweencommerce, content and information are currently being redrawn (2009: 42). As the distinctions betweenmedia producers and consumers continue to blur digital content becomes increasingly decentralised and usergenerated. Dan Tapscott has called this whereby the consumer, in part, defines the end productand content is determined as a result (1999: xxi). The proliferation of personal data transferred within thesenetworks has become central to the development of new social relations alongside innovative businessmodels. The ability to interact directly with users has become a pre-requisite for almost all corporatemarketing in the digital age, with networked technologies allowing companies to implement a two-wayrhetoric between commercial products and potential consumers. Locke, et al. illustrate how the Internet hasradically reframed business approaches in the digital economy by insisting that markets are conversationsand to succeed companies must embrace the customer as an individual and allow them to be a part of the
Using research to inform health policy: barriers and strategies in developing countries Hennink, Monique and Stephenson, R. (2004) Using research to inform health policy: barriers and strategies in developing countries. Southampton, UK, University of Southampton, School of Social Sciences, 37pp. (Opportunities and Choices, (9) ). This paper examines the dissemination and uptake of health research into policy and program delivery in four developing countries. In-depth interviews were conducted with health researchers, policymakers and practitioners at both local and national level. The study highlights the similarities across the study countries in the barriers to effective dissemination and uptake of research results. A fundamental barrier to the uptake of research by decision-makers is the lack of appreciation of the important contribution that research can make to policy and program development. A further barrier is researcher’s lack of appropriate ‘packaging’ of research findings which consider the needs of different policy audiences. Dissemination within academic circles also restricts access by decision-makers and practitioners. Overcoming the barriers requires effort on behalf of researchers, decision-makers and donor agencies. The strong presence of donor agencies in developing countries places them in a position to both enable and to encourage dissemination activities and communication between researchers and policymakers or practitioners. Increased collaboration between all three parties is one of the key strategies towards increasing the uptake of research into health policy and program development. \|Item Type:\|\|Monograph (Working Paper)\| \|Subjects:\|\|H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races R Medicine > R Medicine (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology \|Divisions:\|\|University Structure - Pre August 2011 > School of Social Sciences > Social Statistics \|Date Deposited:\|\|19 May 2006\| \|Last Modified:\|\|27 Mar 2014 18:21\| \|RDF:\|\|RDF+N-Triples, RDF+N3, RDF+XML, Browse.\| Actions (login required)
Sin, Zainal Abidin (2011) Scheduling software as a tool for monitoring and controlling JKR project. Masters thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Civil Engineering. PDF (1st Chapter) PDF (Table of Contents) Official URL: http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manage... Monitoring and controlling project progress is an important role of a project manager. Knowing when and how to intervene underperform project is critical to the overall health of any organization. There are problem faced by many construction player in monitoring and controlling project which lead to low quality of works. Thus in order to enhance effectiveness of monitoring and controlling project, JKR has to use planning and scheduling software and identify the importance features to be incorporated. Even though JKR has implemented scheduling software in their projects but the monitoring and controlling still far from the expectation result. The focus of this study is to investigate scheduling software as an effective tool for monitoring and controlling project at JKR and limited to Microsoft Project software. This was due to the high of percentage of user for this software as compared to other software in JKR. The scope of the study includes identifying aspects of the important features in the software planning / scheduling of projects related to monitoring and controlling in JKR. It also includes an assessment of the effectiveness of these items that are available in Microsoft Project for project monitoring and controlling, further to establish project monitoring and controlling guideline for JKR practice. Data were collected using mixed method approach including document search, interview expertpanel and questionnaire survey to evaluate current practice of management and project team. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Conclusion from this study, level of competency of user just grade “Good” and need more improvement. The finding of this study will facilitate JKR with monitoring and controlling guideline of the projects and the quality of products and services delivered to the client are perceived clients’ expectation and satisfaction. \|Item Type:\|\|Thesis (Masters)\| \|Additional Information:\|\|Thesis (Sarjana Sains (Pengurusan Pembinaan)) - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2011; Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Muhd. Zaimi Abd. Majid\| \|Uncontrolled Keywords:\|\|project management, computer software, development\| \|Subjects:\|\|T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)\| \|Deposited By:\|\|Kamariah Mohamed Jong\| \|Deposited On:\|\|16 Jul 2012 04:36\| \|Last Modified:\|\|17 Mar 2015 08:05\| Repository Staff Only: item control page
Last night I saw the Shotgun Players new production, Love is a Dream House in Lorin, by Marcus Gardley. It is an amazing piece of community-generated theater. The production is important to see, especially if you don’t usually go to theater, because it can turn your whole view of the possibilities of theater as a tool for dialogue within the community. Lorin was the name of a town that was annexed by Berkeley in the early 1900’s. It goes from Dwight to Alcatraz, Sacramento to Telegraph. The neighborhood was one of the only places people of color were allowed to own property — as such this area of South Berkeley developed a complex multiracial composition and was one of the first neighborhoods to voluntarily desegregate its schools. As a student, I am far too ignorant of the environment surrounding where I study — Berkeley is a temporary stopping place for me on my road through life, but this neighborhood, in and around which I have lived my entire time, has a complex history that is not at all apparent from its modern-day incarnation as the ‘hood. The play is centered around a house in the Lorin district and its history. The play’s characters, residents of the Lorin District, are all named after streets in the neighborhood. The story starts with the house being bought by Russell and Adeline Wheeler, a biracial couple ready to start a family in the early ’80s. As we follow their story the history is revealed, from the original Ohlone inhabitants of the area through the building of the first Victorian homes, the internment of the Japanese-Americans who lived there, the black families who made their homes their and on through to Vietnam. The narrative is not linear — although the play is grounded in Adeline’s experience, it is not merely a story being told to her. Each stage of the story is paced differently — the heterogeneity keeps the play breathing and unpredictable. Aaron Davidman has created a physical language for the piece using recurrent physical patterns and motifs that helped the stories maintain their individual consistency while drawing parallels between the different residents of the house (as when a couple in love dances in the living room). The overall effect is hauntingly beautiful but not sentimental. Always looming over the production is the current situation of the neighborhood — drive-by shootings, gang problems, and drug abuse. The play reminds us that everyone who lives here has a story to tell. I could go on rambling about the play and spoil details of the production but I won’t. If you are in the area, you have to see this play — it is probably the most important piece of theater I’ve seen in years.
Because business processes are often communicated in an ad hoc and unregulated manner, it can be difficult to standardize processes across organizations, particularly larger ones. TEC analyst PJ Jakovljevic takes you on a guided tour through workflow automation—or business process management (BPM)—and shows how these solutions can help ensure standardized adoption of processes, with highlights on several key BPM vendors. types of business process reengineering triggered, there are many types of actions that can occur, starting with a workflow task (or step), which assigns a task to a user according to a particular template. Just as in Microsoft Outlook , tasks include information about something that needs to be done by a certain time, such as making a telephone call, creating an order, shipping goods, or paying an invoice. Typically, assigned tasks appear in a user's My Tasks related list on their home tab (or page) and generate reminder messages that pop
Your donation makes a difference! Your continued support and the belief in the mission of 3HO helps continue services that bring virtual opportunities for global connection through our website, educational tools such as online webinars and lifestyle support, and transformational events. Growth of our expanding global community is your legacy ̶ you can help people everywhere to be Healthy, Happy, and Holy! Lecture Excerpts by Yogi Bhajan, July 26, 1996 You are born, and you are divine, and you are you. You don't have to become a human. You are human. Being a human is better than being an angel, and better than a sage, and better than any power of God that there is. You are human, therefore, you are in the image of God. But you want to look like your own image, therefore, you are stupid. You are not being like the one who made you. You have "x" amount of prana, and "x" amount of energy called "youth," and in "x" amount of time you can make the best of it, and that's all it is. It's as if there is a bank, and you have ten thousand dollars or one million dollars, whatever your expense account is, and you have a sixty-five year visit in which to spend it. How you'll live, which motel you'll live in, which hotel you'll live in, what you do with life, that's your problem, not God's. Happiness is your birthright. You can't get your birthright, so you start fantasizing and you start romancing. Romance and fantasy take you away from reality. That's why you have no endurance, you have no courage to have endurance, and you fall apart. One opposition, two oppositions, ten oppositions, twenty oppositions. You go down as if you don't exist. Jack and Jill went down the hill. Woosh. Not right, folks. What is not right is left. With the Guru's blessing you earned this life, and you have earned this human body which is worshipped by angels, not only by you. And through this body you can understand Infinity, and with reverence, worship, and understanding, you can understand the totality of God. You know how blissful it is? Have you seen these kids when they take all that (Yogi Bhajan demonstrates a person taking drugs by sniffing some substance through his nose)? "Oh, I'm in ecstasy." Well, you have three hundred dollars less and you are stupid forever. Yes, you are in ecstasy. And under the influence of these drugs you do things. You have wet dreams. You have cold sweats. Sometimes you get the shakes. What is this? It's not you. It is good to get sick and fall apart once in a while. A car does it, why not you? But the problem is, your parts are not replaceable. They don't have a Jiffy lube to lube you up. Once you lose a part of you, folks, you are gone. One part that you are losing these days with drugs is called lmpactuous Sensitivity. This generation, the Sixties generation, has lost it. Drugs may do good to you for a while, it's your money. I'm not asking you not to use them, but you shall never be you again. That's why I started Kundalini Yoga here. I wasn't interested in gaining my leadership or membership. I saw the tragedy of mankind. I saw how damaged they were. We picked up young bodies left on trails, eaten by animals, unrecognizable, and sometimes their identification led us to their homes. You can't believe it. But what is a drug? When you take any drug which makes you hallucinate, it means your brain cells are stretched to the area and extent beyond what they should be. So the chances of developing sensitivity and experiencing Infinity are lost. I remember somebody ate a brownie. For six days he was saying, "I am Yogiji, and I am with Guru Ram Das, and I am having all there is. And I know what it is.” (Yogi Bhajan says all this in a sing-song voice.) “They are all my friends, I am in Heavens. I'm seeing angels. Lord Shiva came yesterday to massage me." For seven days I had to sit by his bed. And this is what I was hearing: "Oh, oh, Yogiji. I am Yogi Bhajan, I'm here. He has gone into my whole body. And my legs are his legs. My hands are...." And I was sitting on the chair, by his side. Seven long days! Finally I got tired of sitting, my buttocks started hurting; I just took care of his temples and he woke up. I said, "Hi, Yogiji. He said, "No, you are Yogiji." I said, "Oh yes? I just wanted you to come back to yourself." There was no self. The self, whether it was great or it was bad, right or wrong, it got stretched. And sometimes when you stretch something, it doesn't come back. So people have acid and cocaine and all these drugs, but the worst of all is marijuana. That's the worst. Every drug has a limited feature and flushes out through the urine. Marijuana does not get out through the urine. Actually marijuana is an herb which is used for stomach ailments. It numbs the internal wound of the digestive system. That's what it was used for. But the moment you smoke it, it hits your pituitary and that's it, you're gone. It freezes the serum in the spine, and you will never have gray matter of the quality that you had, doesn’t matter how you think you may be. You don't want to project you. You want to project somebody else. You are the power. You don't need the power. You are the beauty. You don't need the beauty. You are the success. You don't need the success. You are the sex. You don't need to sex yourself. Infinity cannot be measured. Reverence cannot be explained, because reverence is Infinity. Reverence has such a power that it becomes Infinity, and for you to become Infinity, you have to have self-reverence, not reference. You need fifteen breaths a minute; that's what you normally take. And when you are excited, emotional, drugged, sexual, sensual, excited, whatever, you go up to twenty-four. Sometimes you go to thirty-one, something like that. It's very simple mathematics. Suppose you have enough breath of life at the rate of one breath for one year, so you take one breath a minute, you can live fifteen years. Suppose you have breath of life for one hundred years. At fifteen breaths a minute, at that rate, you can live 1500 years. That's how yogis extend their life—by practicing one breath a minute. When you practice one breath a minute, then you become Pavan Guru—you become the light and knowledge of the prana, and then you know the Universe, the Universe knows you. © 1997 The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan This lecture can be found in The Master’s Touch: On Being a Sacred Teacher for the New Age
European Neandertals were on the verge of extinction even before the arrival of modern humans New findings from an international team of researchers show that most Neanderthals in Europe died off around 50,000 years ago. The previously held view of a Europe populated by a stable Neanderthal population for hundreds of thousands of years up until modern humans arrived must therefore be revised. This new perspective on the Neanderthals comes from a study of ancient DNA published February 25 in Molecular Biology and Evolution. The results indicate that most Neanderthals in Europe died off as early as 50,000 years ago. After that, a small group of Neanderthals recolonised central and western Europe, where they survived for another 10,000 years before modern humans entered the picture. The study is the result of an international project led by Swedish and Spanish researchers in Uppsala, Stockholm and Madrid. “The fact that Neanderthals in Europe were nearly extinct, but then recovered, and that all this took place long before they came into contact with modern humans came as a complete surprise to us. This indicates that the Neanderthals may have been more sensitive to the dramatic climate changes that took place in the last Ice Age than was previously thought”, says Love Dalén, associate professor at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. In connection with work on DNA from Neanderthal fossils in Northern Spain, the researchers noted that the genetic variation among European Neanderthals was extremely limited during the last ten thousand years before the Neanderthals disappeared. Older European Neanderthal fossils, as well as fossils from Asia, had much greater genetic variation, on par with the amount of variation that might be expected from a species that had been abundant in an area for a long period of time. “The amount of genetic variation in geologically older Neanderthals as well as in Asian Neanderthals was just as great as in modern humans as a species, whereas the variation among later European Neanderthals was not even as high as that of modern humans in Iceland”, says Anders Götherström, associate professor at Uppsala University. The results presented in the study are based entirely on severely degraded DNA, and the analyses have therefore required both advanced laboratory and computational methods. The research team has involved experts from a number of countries, including statisticians, experts on modern DNA sequencing and paleoanthropologists from Denmark, Spain and the US. Only when all members of the international research team had reviewed the findings could they feel certain that the available genetic data actually reveals an important and previously unknown part of Neanderthal history. “This type of interdisciplinary study is extremely valuable in advancing research about our evolutionary history. DNA from prehistoric people has led to a number of unexpected findings in recent years, and it will be really exciting to see what further discoveries are made in the coming years”, says Juan Luis Arsuaga, professor of human paleontology at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. Source: Uppsala Universitet - Evidence suggests Neanderthals took to boats before modern humansfrom PhysorgThu, 1 Mar 2012, 11:31:27 EST - Did Neanderthals take to the seas first?from UPIWed, 29 Feb 2012, 18:00:31 EST - Did Neanderthals take to the seas first?from UPIWed, 29 Feb 2012, 17:30:41 EST - New evidence of end of Neanderthals seenfrom UPIMon, 27 Feb 2012, 19:30:33 EST - New evidence of end of Neanderthals seenfrom UPIMon, 27 Feb 2012, 16:31:09 EST - New clue to Neanderthal wipe-outfrom BBC News: Science & NatureMon, 27 Feb 2012, 13:30:33 EST - European neanderthals were on the verge of extinction even before the arrival of modern humans: studyfrom PhysorgSun, 26 Feb 2012, 18:00:29 EST - European Neanderthals were on the verge of extinction even before the arrival of modern humansfrom Science DailySat, 25 Feb 2012, 12:31:15 EST Latest Science NewsletterGet the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free! Learn more about Check out our next project, Biology.Net From other science news sites Popular science news articles - Wearable technology can help with public speaking - Pesticides in fruit and vegetables linked to semen quality - Massive study is first to explore historical ocean response to abrupt climate change - Direct evidence for a positive feedback in climate change - UNH geologist identifies new source of methane for gas hydrates in Arctic
Official CUPS and LPR drivers from Brother They can be found from http://solutions.brother.com/bsc_ph/os/linux/index.html and have been compiled for a variety of distributions (RPM and DEB packages are provided). Note that they only include source code for the CUPS wrappers, which isn't that interesting really. If you want an Open Source driver with full source code then use Arn's CUPS driver below as the one released from Brother is mostly binary. Thanks to Nephi531 for pointing them out. CUPS driver for the P-touch Printer family Version 1.2, updated 22Nov2006: You can download below the work done by Arne John Glenstrup () based on the current protocol findings and the cups driver for the P-Touch 2450 done by Geoffrey Teale. This is, however, a full implementation that extends greatly all previous work. While you can get the latest software from Arne's website, I will include below the latest mirrored version. Please let me know if I'm falling behind. The major update to 1.0 update included much improved support for the PT family of printers (with extensive testing on the PT-2420PC) and a ConcatPages option to scale multi-page into one for those pesky applications that do not support label-sized pages. Minor update to 1.1 doesn't inlcude any new functionality. Just improvements on packaging for Fedora Core 5 and 6. There is no need to install this version if you already have 1.0 working. Minor update to 1.2 allows you to download just the filter or just the foomatic data as needed. Send feedback on this driver directly to Arne John Glenstrup (), with copy to me if you don't mind () so I can follow. Older Versions (FC5) Older Versions (FC4) \| If you build packages for other distributions, please send them and I'll host them here for others to find.\| To install the tar file distribution, run # tar zxf ptouch-driver-1.1.tar.gz # cd ptouch-driver-1.1 # make install If you do not have root access, you will probably need to use the --prefix=... option to ./configure --help to view available options. If you think you have found a bug and want to report it, follow these instructions and report your findings to : - Find a minimal input example PostScript document that elicits the bug. - Set up CUPS for debugging by setting LogLevel debug in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf, and restart CUPS, e.g. by service cups restart. - Redirect the raw printer data to a file by setting print to file in your printer configuration application. If you use http://localhost:631 to do this, click on Modify Printer, Continue, select AppSocket, Continue, and then enter a device URI like - When submitting a bug report, include - A good description of the bug symptoms and circumstances. - The PostScript input example file. - The CUPS error log excerpt from - The raw printer data file. - All possible details about your printer: model number, type of connection, type of tape used. Thomas Seiler () contacted me a few weeks ago with his first shot at a cups driver. His work is based on the original dymo cups filter and requires you to replace the original cups source for rastertodymo.c with his version and then compile cups as usual. While this version is not as extensive as Arne's it may be a useful departure point for other implementations. Tim BoTuesday 07 February 2006, at 22:43 GMT+8 [X] for some reason the printer alwas feeds alot of paper. no matter which paper size i use. things like "negative" work perfect... i use "kprinter helpme.pdf" to print the file. and yes, the file is only as big the text is :) RenaudFriday 10 March 2006, at 00:28 GMT+8 [X] Arne added option ConcatPages to version 1.0 of the driver. This should solve this issue. KCSaturday 12 August 2006, at 05:41 GMT+8 [X] The feeding seems to be related to default 100mm length, so no matter how small a page is, it will always spew out 100mm (about 4 inches) for every print. Is there a way to vary the length instead of always printing 100mm, short of editing the PPD file everytime the length changes? BTW, ptouch driver also works with PT-2300 and PT-2300 is not shown in the hardware list. Arne GlenstrupFriday 08 September 2006, at 14:33 GMT+8 [X] KC: Problem is that foomatic doesn't support fixed-width-variable-height page sizes, only fixed and custom-height-and-width sizes. If custom page size doesn't work with CUPS, you might be able to use the ConcatPages option to get what you desire. What are the options you used for PT-2300? Are they PageSize=24x100mm, Align=center, BytesPerLine=14, LabelPreamble=0, PixelTransfer=RLE, Resolution=180x180, SoftwareMirror=0 Brad TempletonThursday 14 December 2006, at 21:34 GMT+8 [X] It's largely working for m on my new ql-500, but I find that with the standard 29 x 90mm label roll, it always feeds about 1cm too much after doing the label and I have to open the printer and back up the roll before cutting it. It also starts too soon, in that once I have cut the strip between the precut labels, I do need to add about .6cm of margin on the left. Are there places where I can tweak my settings? Brad TempletonFriday 15 December 2006, at 06:37 GMT+8 [X] Ok, I wasn't paying close enough attention -- I was having the same problem. concatpages almost fixes it, I will continue looking at it. Antonio HonThursday 21 December 2006, at 13:19 GMT+8 [X] I have to modify the ppd file (PageSize, PageRegion, ImageableArea, PaperDimension) so whenever you found [82 255] will need to be changed to [82 230]. These numbers are image area. And when creating label in your PDF writer, the page size will need to be 29x80mm, not 29x90mm. So, it should fix the over feeding problem. nephi513Tuesday 13 March 2007, at 00:12 GMT+8 [X] I know this is some what of an old article, but I would like to point out that I have found Offical Brother Test Drivers. I don\'t know for sure if they have anymore as this is the only page I was able to find. With a little copying and paste of the ppd file in the right location for ubuntu I was able to get it to work. (ppd file should go in /usr/share/ppd, copy it form /usr/share/cups/model/brql5*0.ppd). Here is the link. solutions.brother.com/bsc_ph/os/linux/linux_ql500550.html RenaudTuesday 13 March 2007, at 03:16 GMT+8 [X] Thanks al lot Nephi513, I have amended the page to point to them. 22.214.171.124Tuesday 13 March 2007, at 17:57 GMT+8 [X] It's nice that Brother provides Linux drivers now, but where did you get the source code for it? On the download page I only find the source code for the CUPS wrapper, but not for the drivers? RenaudThursday 15 March 2007, at 10:14 GMT+8 [X] You're right, I was a bit too quick: the source code is only for the wrappers, wihch isn't that interesting. There is no source code for the drivers themselves and only some OS are supported. dallerThursday 26 June 2008, at 15:53 GMT+8 [X] To compile in debian / ubuntu you need to install these packages: aptitude install build-essential libcupsys2-dev libcupsys2-dev BenAFriday 23 January 2009, at 08:42 GMT+8 [X] I also had to install libcupsimage2-dev for compiling on Ubuntu8.10. And I added the include limits.h to rastertoptch.c. I also followed the other instructions here; and now I can install the driver. But I can only print a test page which looks a bit weird. When I try to print something from ex gedit I just get line feeds and no text. But when I print a large text I get some characters from the middle of the text. So I guess it's something with the layout. I tried Brothers templates for OpenOffice. But I don't get all the text from them. Is it possible to get the printer to print what I send to it somehow? mungewellThursday 26 March 2009, at 18:49 GMT+8 [X] Using this driver with a QL-570, basic printing works but I had to hack around to get auto-cut working (finally last night at 2.00am!). I need to clean up the code and works out what really makes it work. @BenA: The default margins on Ubuntu are rather large, you can prevent this by edditing ../driver/ptouch.xml to include some margins. IE add: GrantWednesday 01 April 2009, at 02:10 GMT+8 [X] mungewell, I would love to get my QL-570 autocutting. Would you please tell us how you did it? Any info at all? mungewellThursday 09 April 2009, at 06:39 GMT+8 [X] @grant. Here's my changes which probably break every other printer in this pack. It will only cut tape/labels as 'cut after job' so you have to print individual pages and you should set 360dpi. Don't forget to use "./configure --prefix=/usr" if you're on Ubuntu. Herby2Saturday 18 April 2009, at 15:23 GMT+8 [X] Hello, any ideas to get Brother P-Touch 2430PC to work? I tried the drivers but it will not work on my SUSE 11.1 64-bit system. RhoThursday 17 September 2009, at 20:04 GMT+8 [X] @Herby2: Did you succeed in getting the P-touch 2430 PC to print anything? I've bought myself the same model and I'm desperately trying to get it to work. No success so far ... Herby2Saturday 27 February 2010, at 11:40 GMT+8 [X] @Rho: No , no sucsess with PT 2430 RamiroFriday 21 June 2013, at 16:32 GMT+8 [X] Louissi. The number of compeetlly crazy children running around this website screaming, writing long-winded melodromatic posts is seriously ridicoulous.Children, it's a free flash game. It's not Grand Theft Auto 5. It's a FLASH game. It's going to be a small, fun, flash game that you'll be bored of after a few hours.Christ almighty. I hope you're not put off by all the kids Louissi, there are adults out there who look forward to this game too and we know you owe us nothing. Look forward to more original games from you.
The DIY craze has taken hold, and for many looking to create a healthier living environment, making everything, from their own shampoo to cleaning agents, gives them assurance that only top quality natural ingredients are present in their product. However, although no method of birth control can ever guarantee 100% protection, and you will be able to find plenty of ideas for homemade spermicide online, spermicide is not something we recommend you whip up in the kitchen. Forms of homemade contraception include household substances such as honey, baking soda, aloe vera, lemon juice and soft drinks. While some believe that these methods work as spermicides, its best to use a commercial spermicide. But what is the tree-hugging, nature-loving couple who don't want to be exposed to Nonoxonol-9 and other chemicals? ContraGel Green is your answer. 100% natural and certified vegan, this natural spermicide alternative has been independently tested for quality and effectiveness. Remember, pharmaceutical grade spermicides are not designed to be used on their own, but used in conjunction with a barrier such as a cervical cap or a diaphragm. What Makes Spermicides Effective? The first important property of a spermicide is it has a gel or paste like consistency. This helps it to cling to the barrier device with which it is being used (like a diaphragm or cervical cap) and also plugs any spaces between the barrier that sperm could get through. A spermicides second property is that its sticky and gunky. Well from a sperm's perspective at least! Basically the sperm get stuck to it. In the same way that hair gel might stick to your fingers, sperm and the ejaculate in which it is traveling stick to the spermicide. The final significant property of a spermicide is that it kills sperm. A traditional spermicide will have an active ingredient which acts as the killing agent, most commonly Nonoxynol 9. This works by breaking down the cell walls of the sperm, so as the the sperm get stuck in the gel the Nonoxynol 9 gets t to work breaking down the sperm so they are no longer a threat. However Nonoxynol 9 has a tendency to break down more cells than just in the sperm. It's abrasive nature can cause damage to the skin tissue of both partners! Problems like skin sensitivity and itchiness are one reason why barrier contraceptives such as diaphragms and cervical caps are not used as often as they perhaps could be. Some of the more creative types, desperate not to use hormones, try to cook up their own natural, non abrasive spermicide. Again, we don't recommend it! One of the most popular homemade spermicide recipes involves aloe vera gel and lemon juice. To make it, combine 1 tablespoon of aloe vera gel with 3 drops of lemon juice. You can keep this mixture refrigerated for up to 72 hours. Although this recipe is often used, it has never been clinically tested and should not be considered a serious form of birth control. Soft Drinks as Post-Coital Douches Another popular homemade spermicide method involves using Coca-Cola as an after sex douche. ;Coca-Cola has been considered a wonder cure for everything from colic to hiccups to relieving jelly fish stings. Because of all of its other supposed capabilities, during the 1960s, Americans began to use Coca-Cola as an after-sex spermicide with worrying frequency and many women in third world countries still use Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola method was so popular a research team at Harvard was created to study the spermicidal effects of the soft drink, and what they found was not good. Coca-Cola only immobilizes 30% of ejaculated sperm within an hour after intercourse and Coca-Cola douches actually increase the forward velocity of healthy sperm by almost 18 cm/hour therefore increasing the risk of pregnancy. Need a Natural (But Not Homemade!) Spermicide? One reason some people try to go for a homemade spermicide is because they don't want to use hormonal contraception and the traditional spermicides tend to carry Nonoxynol-9 which can cause some nasty irritations. There is now a safer and more reliable alternative to homemade spermicide for those who would like a more natural solution for their contraception. ContraGel is a natural alternative to spermicide and contains only natural ingredients, with none of the usual nasty chemicals. No chemicals means no rash or irritation. And the reliability of this natural spermicide means that women can use a barrier method of contraception without having to resort to ineffective DIY spermicides. ContraGel: Clinically Tested, Yet Natural Realistically, using a 'Cola duche' or a homemade spermicide is not going to lead to a relaxing and pleasurable sexual experience if one or both partners are worried about the risk of an unwanted pregnancy. Using a clinically controlled yet natural product would seem the logical route to happiness and contraceptive safety. ContraGel is a spermicide alternative that does not contain Nonoxynol 9 at all. Its natural ingredients don't need the overkill of such powerful pharmaceuticals, the barrier is sealed with the ContraGel and the viscosity of the gel and its low pH immobilise the sperm, ensuring no live sperm complete their intended journey to the uterus. The 60 gramme tube of ContraGel typically provides 15-20 applications. These numbers are based on the typical requirements of three to four ml applied to diaphragms and cervical caps for each act of intercourse. Additional ContraGel should be applied to the barrier with a finger or vaginal applicator if more then one act of intercourse occurs. Learn About The 6 -8 Days Each Cycle When Spermicides Are Needed To Prevent Pregnancy The goal of barrier contraception is to prevent perm from reaching and fertilizing an egg — but fertilization is biologically impossible unless a viable egg is present Natural Family Planning (NFP) and Fertility Awareness (FA) identify when there is or is not an egg present, nullifying the need for contraceptives most of the month. Sperm can live inside the womb for up to 5 days, and ovulation releases an egg which is able to be fertilized for one day. That six day span is referred to as the fertility window, and is the only time there is actually a real need for a barrier device. Cyclotest uses Symptothermal fertility charting to identify that fertility window by using a daily basal body temperature (BBT) reading. Changes in the BBT readings help identify ovulation and form the fertility window. With 99% reliability, why not let Cyclotest make your contraceptive decisions for you? Learn more about using Cyclotest to identify your fertility window at our main website EthicalFamilyPlanning.com Check Out ContraGel, Available For Immediate Shipping. Say goodbye to irritation with ContraGel Green, the natural vegan alternative to spermicide. Used in conjunction with a diaphragm or cervical cap for natural and effective non-hormonal birth control. Larger 60ml tube. - Totally Hormone Free - Instantly Reversible Contraception - No Nonoxynol 9 - Compatible with YES Organic Lubricants - Available Over The Counter (OTC Non-Prescription) - Over 35 Years Production History - European Manufactured - CE 0124 Certified Price (Inc. VAT): £15.00
Berresford was AIEE president from 1920 to 1921. In the field of electric motor control, Arthur William Berresford occupies an outstanding place. from observations made in early postgraduate days, Mr. Berresford became convinced that proper control devices would make possible extended use of electric motors and generators, and to the problems of construction and application he bent all his characteristic energy, inventiveness and ability to direct and coordinate the work of others. He was burn in 1872 in Brooklyn, and in 1892 graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic College with the degree of B.S. in electricity; the following year he received the degree M.E. in electricity from Cornell University. His first job was electrician for the Brooklyn City Railroad Co., overhauling motors and assisting in trolley line construction, etc. It was a small beginning, in his opinion, but very probably many of his ideas were forming which materialized later, as the next year, 1894, while employed in sales and installation work for the H.B. Coho Company, he carried on experimental work of a "private nature". Then he was designer for the Riker Electric Company for about a year, going to the Ward-Leonard Electric Company in 1896 to take charge of the detail design of the apparatus and the testing of all material shipped. This company manufactured rheostats and electric controlling devices. In 1898 he organized his own manufacturing business with 2 associates, purchasing the defunct Iron clad Rheostat Company and renaming it the Iron Clad Resistance Company. In 1900 he sold the concern to The Cutler-Hammer Manufacturing Co., entering the engineering department and becoming superintendent in 1901. Later he was made secretary and in 1905 general manager and vice-president. In many problems, the rheostat as such plays merely an incidental part, and the knowledge, application and devising of means for meeting the problems form by far the more important part, and in this phase of the work Mr. Berresford demonstrated his productiveness and ability as a shop manager and director as well as a designer. He was in charge of and responsible for the entire output of the Cutler-Hammer co. and directly in touch with and responsible for the detail engineering and designing as well as the manufacture of such intricate devices as have made possible hoisting and conveying machinery, electrically operated printing presses, steel mill motors, elevators, etc. During the war Mr. Berresford was chairman of the general war service committee of the electrical manufacturing industry. In 1926 he entered the field of electric refrigeration as vice-president of the Nizer Corporation of Detroit, which merged to form the Electric Refrigeration Corporation. Since 1929 he has been managing director of the National Electric Manufacturer's Association. He has given unstintingly of his time to Institute affairs, as manager (1909-12), vice-president (1912-14) and as committeman. He is a member of other technical societies and the recipient of various medals and awards. See also: Papers of A. W. Berresford
Earlier this year Historical & Special Collections acquired a 1571 edition of the Spanish bishop and jurist Diego de Covarrubias y Leyva’s Clementinae, si furiosus, de homicidio, relectio—a treatise on murder published in Salamanca. Title page of Clementinae, si furiosus, de homicidio, relectio, 1571 While cataloging it, I couldn’t help but notice a half-size sheet of paper tipped in following the title page. The wording looked vaguely familiar, one of the preliminaries that readers usually skips over to get to the main text. But the fact that this slip of paper appeared to be a last minute addition caught my eye. What exactly was it anyway? And how was it related to the phrase at the foot of the title page: “Esta tassado en“? Detail of the title page: “Esta tassado en” The slip of paper turns out to be a tasa (or tassa) the maximum retail price allowed for the book. This was established by the powerful Council of Castile and certified by an “escrivanos” (a clerk or notary)–in this case one Domingo de Zavala. The price of books had been regulated by law since the late fifteenth century. This price cap was based on the number and size of sheets of paper used in the production of every book published in Castile, no matter what the topic. In the case of this slender volume of canon law, the maximum price was three maravedis per sheet. The sheets referred to in this book’s tasa (“cada pliego escripto de molde”) are the printed sheets as they came off the press— not the actual pages in the final product. This is because in the hand-press period (approximately 1455 to 1830) a single sheet, folded and cut, could produce anywhere from two to sixty-four pages, depending on the desired size of the finished book. Unlike the tasa inserted into this copy of Covarrubias’ work, most tasas, sometimes combined with licenses, are clearly identified as such: The license and tasa in Capitulos generales de las cortes del año de ochenta y seys, fenecidas y publicadas en el de nouenta (Published in Madrid, 1590) Sometimes the tasa is stated simply at the foot of the title page: Detail from title page of Reportorio de la nueva recopilacion de las leyes del reyno (Published in Alcalá de Henares, 1571) Perhaps the latter option was the original intention in Covarrubias’ 1571 edition … … but for reasons unknown the maximum retail price established for the book was never added so the separate tasa statement needed to be inserted after printing. In addition to capping book prices, the Council of Castile had a firm hand on the business of publishing and printing books in other ways. This included the issuing of licenses to publish, privileges (the right to reprint), censorship, and other forms of governmental oversight. The Spanish book trade continued to be tightly regulated well into the eighteenth century, but the tasa for books was discontinued in 1763, early in the reign of Carlos III, King of Spain.
Mobile Network Management 3GPP™ has developed a comprehensive set of network management specifications covering topics such as: - Fault control - Subscriber/equipment tracing. and has developed XML definitions for most of these. For each domain, solutions sets are provided in Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), etc. The network management specifications can be found in the 3GPP™ 32.-series. The following is a list of recently published and frequently downloaded standards. Please use the ETSI Work Programme to find further related standards. \|Standard No.\|\|Standard Title\| \|TS 132 005\|\|Telecommunications Management; Charging and billing; 3G call and event data for the Circuit Switched (CS) domain\| \|TS 132 015\|\|Telecommunications Management; Charging and billing; 3G call and event data for the Packet Switched (PS) domain\| \|TS 132 101\|\|Telecommunication management; Principles and high level requirements\| \|TS 132 102\|\|Telecommunication management; Architecture\| \|TS 132 104\|\|Telecommunication management; 3G Performance Management\| \|TS 132 106\|\|Telecommunication Management; Configuration Management; Part 1: 3G Configuration Management: Concept and Requirements\| \|TS 132 111\|\|Telecommunication management; Fault Management; Part 1: 3G fault management requirements\|
- fuss (n.) - "trifling bustle," 1701, originally colloquial, perhaps an alteration of force (n.), or "echoic of the sound of something sputtering or bubbling" [OED], or from Danish fjas "foolery, nonsense." First attested in Anglo-Irish writers, but there are no obvious connections to words in Irish. To make a fuss was earlier to keep a fuss (1726). Fuss and feathers "bustle and display" is from 1848, American English, suggestive of a game cock or a peacock, originally of U.S. Army Gen. Winfield Scott (1786-1866) in the Mexican war. Gen. Scott is said to be as particular in matters of etiquette and dress as Gen. Taylor is careless. The soldiers call one "Old Rough and Ready," and the other "Old Fuss and Feathers." ["The Mammoth," Nov. 15, 1848]. - fuss (v.) - 1792, from fuss (n.). Related: Fussed; fussing. Extended form fussify is by 1832.
With all due respect land mines are not a "stupid " weapon at all . Used properly they are a very effective, very cheap and very safe method of defense -- unless you're the enemy, that is. Consider the real-life example of Finland, a sparsely-populated country with a very long land border with Russia. Finland and Russia have had more than their fair share of tussles over the centuries, so most Finnish military doctrine is concerned with the (highly non-trivial) problem of keeping the Russkies at bay. Now, guarding a thousand-kilometer-long border against an invasion is not an easy task. Having learned the hard way that nobody else really gives a rat's ass about the place, Finland cannot rely on and hence does not belong to any military alliances. Finland does not have the luxury of a nuclear deterrent or superior armed forces. Posting guards at 100-meter intervals for the entire length of the border would tie up the entire Finnish army, not that a single guard could even do very much when that column of T-72 MBTs comes rumbling down. Finland's air force is no match for the Russian one, so destroying the tanks from the air (as the US did during the Gulf War) is not an option. There is precisely one effective solution: land mines. A mine large enough to disable a tank doesn't cost much and it will (notoriously) stay primed and ready for decades. It's not necessary to mine the entire border, as the enemy (hopefully?) does not know which places have been mined and thus crossing the border at any point becomes more risky. Clearing a path is a slow and painstaking job, slow enough to allow reinforcements to be brought in. In all, mines increase the cost of an invasion and make its success less likely, reducing the likelihood of war. To put it another way, mines save But what about all those poor innocent children stepping on mines by accident and getting their limbs blown off, I hear you ask? Sure, this happens in places like Cambodia, where mines are used on purpose as a tactic of terror. It does not, and will not, happen in places like Finland. Consider: - The Finnish army is not afraid of Russian guerrillas on foot, it's afraid of tanks and for them it needs anti-tank mines. These requires hundreds of kilograms of pressure to detonate, and a person could safely dance the balalaika on one. - Mines are dangerous only if you don't know where they are. This is why the Finnish army, like all modern militaries, maintains careful maps indicating exactly where every single mine is. Most anti-tank mines can even be detonated by remote control, making the task of mine clearance effortless. - And the biggest reason civilians will not be killed by Finnish mines is that, as far as I know, there are no Finnish mines deployed anywhere at the moment. It is enough that the army has sufficient stockpiles and detailed plans for laying them in, say, 24 hours if things start to heat up. There are plenty of countries that use mines extensively and responsibly, e.g. Israel , the United States , even Russia (although some Chechen s might disagree with me The problem is the countries that use them irresponsibly, and do you think the Khmer Rouge , the Taliban Lord's Resistance Army give a fig about some high-falutin' UN treaty? Mines are trivially easy to assemble on your own, and the types with the highest civilian body counts are usually domestically produced. Wishy-washy feel-good "mines are bhaaaaaaaad" campaigns will do nothing to stop the slaughter, and the same effort would be much better expended in either investing in mine cleanup efforts or, better yet, attempting to convince the guilty parties directly of the error of their ways. 1) Except in the sense of not being so-called "smart weapons", the latest buzzword for horrendously expensive guided weaponry aimed at specific targets. But I think both blubelle and I are referring to an overall strategic perspective here.
Pwnt: (verb-transitive, past tense) 1. To have defeated (as in a video game), beaten or otherwise kicked someone around. D00d, I pwnt j00 (dude, I beat you). 2. Injured or defeated (in the 3-d, non-online world). That anvil totally pwnt that coyote. (adjective) 1. To have been defeated (in either a virtual or a real-world sense) Those n00bz were totally pwnt. (Those inexperienced persons were absolutely pwnt). Although, this might still be a verb ... I'm not sure! (interjection) 1. A cry of victory upon defeating someone or something. im in ur base killin ur d00dz! Pwnt! Also: pwn, pwntage, pwntz Variant forms: pwned, pwn3d, pwnted, pwn'd, pwntorized This peculiar word belongs to the lexicon of l33t sp34k (leet speak), which gained usage among gamers, h4x0rs and other on-line denizens. I encountered it a few times and thought it looked like some bizarre form of pseudo-Welsh, so I found out what it meant. Its origins were so weird and so hotly contended that I felt like it deserved a little more research and a node. For those unfamiliar, (as I was a few months ago) with the whole leet language phenomenon, there are some very good nodes about it. Leet language is essentially a confusing collection of typos and alphanumeric characters which stand in for other words or characters. It is meant to be used by 'elite' (leet) online types. This form of communication was created for two purposes: first, it is always kind of fun to have a specialized language for one’s pastime (however irritating it may be to outsiders), and secondly, people engaging in questionable activities could sneak around word-filters and such traps designed to home in on specific words and phrases. Experienced users could use heavily 'leeted' language around inexperienced users (n00bz), which would act as a sort of hazing for the new users. Some individuals who are interested in such things feel that pwnt is not genuinely 'leet' enough to be classed as leetspeak, as only words with numerals and ASCII characters really qualify. By this theory, pwnt goes into a sort of gamer and chatroom dialect, along with abbreviations as OMG and BRB. I leave the reader to decide on the relative absurdity of the preceding thought. This word owes its origin to the English word own. In the jargon of players, to own someone is to defeat them thoroughly. There is some precedent for this, "I have you," or "you are mine" are common enough ways for sports players (among others) to express "I am about to defeat you." Also, it is not particularly rare to hear of someone "owning" a match. At this point, the story becomes unclear and the linguistic historians among the online types disagree. Many (probably most) people feel that pwned (it became shortened to pwnt only later, as we will see below) was a common typographic error, that is, people meaning to type "I owned you" would often type "I pwned you." This typo was common enough to take its place in the lexicon of online speak (kalen remembers seeing it as far back as the 80s). It can not be argued that typos have, on occasion, made their way into this jargon, take 'teh' for example. This funny misspelling of the word 'the' is so common that it actually has made its way from the online universe to the outside world, usually as a self-conscious reference to the speaker’s actual lack of hipness (not that your humble author would know anything about attempted self-deprecating humour). Another school of thought holds that pwned (or pwn3d) is a synthetic word, self-consciously created from the obvious owned and another word before it. Problem is, no one can agree on what word that letter p came from—pure, player, porn (or pr0n in leet speak—the idea being that it is as good or better than porn—ahem, pr0n), power (powerfully) or personally. I have to say, I like 'porn owned,' but the typo certainly seems like the most likely explanation to me. It has come to my attention that the P may have represented a mouth with a tongue sticking out, as in the emoticon :P —this meaning was popular with the battle.net crowd. Whether this was the absolute original reason for the letter P or not, I have to say, it is probably the funniest reason for the letter to be there! (thanks to Yaldabaoth, who apparently used to play way too much Diablo2 on b.net!) With the word Pwned thus in place, the gamers took the word a step further, mutating it into a (presumably humourous) past tense— ownt, probably from such similar English words as burnt and spelt. The variant ownt exists in some quarters, likely as a result of parallel or retro-evolution, but it does not enjoy the sort of wide usage that this word does. People are even more contentious about how this word should be pronounced than they are about its origins! Seriously! About the only thing that (nearly) all parties agree with about this silly word is the nt—this letter pair is pronounced exactly as in common English words such as want and lent. The vowel sound in this word is the main point of contention. The majority of users seem to be of schools: - W is sounded like a u, making this word an exact homophone of the English word punt. - The w takes on the sound of 'ou' as in shout. Thus 'pount.' - The w takes a u sound, but a very soft one like the 'ou' in could. This one has a lot of favor (and I like it, if I have to pick one), but it suffers from being a little awkward to pronounce for many English-speakers. A better-sounding compromise is 'pwint,' which is probably what I will use when I refer to this word! (thanks to Bitriot for that one). Of course, there are exceptions to the three above vowel sounds. I have heard cases made for 'o' as in bone, 'ai' as in paint. Some feel that, as a typo, pwnt should be pronounced exactly as ownt, that is, just like don't without the d (or, in some cases, exactly like owned). Still another school of thought holds that gamer-speak is to be typed, not spoken. By this reckoning, there is no proper way to pronounce pwnt, as it is never intended to be spoken. As the use of the word pwnt has spread, the clever lads and lasses of the online gamer community have spindled, mutilated and morphed it into about a hundred various usages (you probably think I'm exaggerating, don't you?). So, whether you are a pwnz0r, frequently putting the pwntdown on others, or you are pwnt by life; whether you are a pwntagonist, frequently performing pwntacular feats, or if you yourself have been Al Capwned* and end up ka-pwnt or stealthily WTFpwned; you can say that you know the meaning of pwnt, even if you can't say for sure what the origin or pronunciation are. A word of caution: If you do choose to incorporate this word into your vocabulary, do so sparingly. Otherwise, people are liable to take you for one of those types who overuse such jargon and call you a pwntard—then they may make sure you are Pwnt ITF WAP (Pwnt In The Face With A Pinecone). * Or the exceptionally funny Stallown3d!!! Still laughing about that one, thanks to Myrkabah Thanks to The Custodian for help with the timing of the evolution of this word! and nicnic for further insight into its evolution Urban Dictionary online at: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pwnt Fragmentary writeup on Wikipedia Even more perplexing fragments on various far-flung corners of the web Conversations with a few people who are more savvy in the script kiddie culture than I am (which is not hard!)
Created on Sunday, 12 May 2013 Written by JIM VERTUNO,AP Sports Writer AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A legally blind 15-year-old pole vaulter cleared three heights at the Texas state championship but failed to win a medal. Emory Rains High School's Charlotte Brown, a legally blind pole vault competitor, attempts to clear the bar Saturday during the Class 3A competition at the UIL state track and field championships Saturday, May 11, 2013 at the Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin (AP Photo/Odessa American, Edyta Blaszczyk) Charlotte Brown of rural Emory Rains High School was one of the top qualifiers in girls' Class 3A with a height of 11 feet, 6 inches. Her best vault of Saturday's final was 10-6 and she missed on three chances at 11-0 before leaving the track to a standing ovation from several hundred people watching her event. Brown was born with normal vision but developed problems while an infant. She has no depth perception, sees no color and cannot distinguish shapes. Her range of vision is similar to looking through a tiny straw. She reads Braille and will get a seeing eye dog next month. Also Saturday, 17-year-old legally blind vaulter Aria Ottmueller was scheduled to compete in the Arizona state meet. Brown is able to vault by using intense concentration on her approach to the pit, counting her steps and listening to coach Derek Smith yell when he tells her to launch. She places an 80-foot strip of dark, artificial turf next to the running lane to create a light/dark contrast she can follow to keep her running in a straight line. Brown easily cleared her first three jumps at 9-6, 10-0 and 10-6. The problems began when she clipped the bar with her left elbow on her first attempt at 11-0. After missing her next two jumps, Brown ultimately finished eighth among nine competitors. The winning height was 12-9 by meet favorite Kally Long of Wimberley, last year's silver medalist. After bowing out, Brown slightly slumped her shoulders and got a hug from coach Derek Smith, who had been allowed to stand to the lane to bark out the number of Brown's steps as she approached each jump. Several of her competitors shook her hand or hugged her as she left the track. Brown shrugged off the defeat as simply not being at her best. "I'm still happy because there's a couple of hundred kids who didn't get to be here. It's a privilege to even get to come. I'm one of the top nine in the state, so that's motivation to come back here and win state," Brown said. Brown, whose story attracted national attention in the days before the meet, said she woke up Saturday excited about the meet but wasn't nervous. But she also noted she had never vaulted at the University of Texas track and perhaps wasn't quite comfortable in her first state meet. Although she really couldn't see the crowd of more than 10,000 at the stadium, she could hear them as fans cheered races going on just a few yards away and the announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeakers. At one point, the track announcer told the crowd he would be quiet during Brown's vault attempts to help her concentrate. Each time she prepped to jump, the crowd near the vault would be silent. "They did a good job of keeping it down and helping me. I'm used to blocking stuff out," Brown said. "It's something I'll have to deal with when I come back here." After she was done, Brown's father, Ian, rolled up the strip of artificial turf and packed up the weights used to hold it down. Ian Brown said his daughter will be disappointed by the loss but motivated. "She'll probably want to vault tomorrow and start thinking about the future," Ian Brown said. "I'm not disappointed in the least. She got here." Later Saturday, Brown was scheduled to receive a special spirit award from the National Federation of State High School Associations. Brown said she's aware people are starting to look at her as an inspiration for athletes with disabilities. "If I can inspire people by doing what I think is easy, that's awesome," she said.
eXtension.org Announces its New On-Line Resource Posted: September 27, 2011 Researchers and Extension educators from several universities have assembled research-based apple production information on www.extension.org/apples. The information will help growers select rootstocks and cultivars, locate tree nurseries, plan and manage a planting, identify and manage diseases and pests and more. Home growers and consumers will find the information easily-accessible and interesting, helping them successfully grow apples and enjoy the right fruit at the right time. Articles and photos of many facets of apple production Rootstock database with traits, descriptions and photos of many widely-available rootstocks and promising rootstocks in research trials Answers to frequently-asked questions Links to regional resources Sources for purchasing trees Videos produced by apple researchers and educators More to come The university researchers and Extension educators are continuing to develop additional resources including a detailed cultivar database, interactive features, self-guided courses and more content for consumers. This core team was funded by a grant from USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) to develop an eXtension Apples community of practice to help increase the productivity, profitability and sustainability of this specialty crop. eXtension, http://www.extension.org, is a network of researchers and educators from Cooperative Extension Services across the United States, government agencies and industry. eXtension is an educational resource that takes university-based research and turns it into practical information people can use to solve today’s problems and develop skills to build a better future. Experts provide unbiased information in more than 40 resource areas including agriculture and animals, community and economics, energy and environment, home and family, and yard and garden. (Source: Emily Tepe, University of Minnesota, [email protected]; Writer: Lynette Spicer, [email protected])
In a front-page article headlined “Is McCain Like Bush? It Depends on the Issue,” the New York Times (6/17/08) managed to locate “striking differences” between Sen. John McCain and George W. Bush on several issues—in spite of contradictory evidence reported in the very same article about the two politicians’ overwhelming similarities on these very issues. In the article, reporter Elisabeth Bumiller writes that “on the environment, American diplomacy and nuclear proliferation, Mr. McCain has strikingly different views from Mr. Bush.” Yet Bumiller offers little evidence for these supposedly striking differences. In fact, on the environment, she points out that while McCain has called for limits on greenhouse gas emissions, he “has a mixed record on the environment in the Senate — he has missed votes on toughening fuel economy standards and has opposed tax breaks meant to encourage alternative energy.” Meanwhile, despite Bumiller’s claim about McCain and Bush’s “strikingly different views” on diplomacy, an accompanying chart includes “Diplomacy with Iran and Syria” as an area where Bush and McCain “mostly agree. ” As the chart observed, “Like the president, Mr. McCain has ruled out direct talks with Iran and Syria for now. Mr. McCain supported Mr. Bush when he likened those who would negotiate with ‘terrorists and radicals’ to appeasers of the Nazis, a remark widely interpreted as a rebuke to Senator Barack Obama.” Bumiller’s claim for “strikingly different views” on diplomacy rests on a quote from McCain: “We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to…. We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new compact.” Does Bumiller really think that Bush speaks out against the need for strengthening alliances, such that rhetoric endorsing such alliances really constitutes a marked break from him? The chart lists “climate change,” “oil and energy,” “federal spending,” “interrogation tactics” and “arms control” as issues on which McCain and Bush “mostly disagree.” Yet on climate change, McCain has joined Bush in opposing the most important international effort to date to tackle the problem—-saying that “America did the right thing by not joining the Kyoto Treaty”–and insisting that any global accord must include China and India, as the chart acknowledges. Some of the Times’ examples of McCain taking a stance different from Bush’s are on issues where McCain has actually flip-flopped, and has come around to Bush ‘s position. While interrogation is identified as an area on which Bush and McCain “mostly disagree,” the chart notes that McCain’s actual voting record has overwhelmingly supported Bush on rationalizing the use of torture techniques like “waterboarding” in interrogations: “He voted against a bill to force the Central Intelligence Agency to abide by the rules set out in the Army Field Manual on interrogation,” and helped pass a 2005 law that “gives the president the last word in establishing specific permissible interrogation techniques.” Similarly, the first example of McCain and Bush “mostly disagreeing” on energy and oil is their alleged differences on drilling. The Times notes that “Mr. McCain opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, once a top goal for Mr. Bush.” Actually , McCain’s position on Alaska drilling has been inconsistent (Extra! 5-6/08); most recently, in 2005, the senator voted to support drilling. Meanwhile, the chart notes that both McCain and Bush support off-shore oil drilling, and “both support development of more nuclear power.” The chart notes that McCain has voted against taxes on windfall oil profits, which are opposed by Bush, but credits him with breaking with Bush for commenting that he is “angry at the oil companies.” It also treats McCain’s call for “energy independence” as evidence that he “mostly disagrees” with Bush on energy policies–even though “energy independence” is a standard part of Bush’s rhetoric. Some issues in the “mostly disagree” category reflect cases where Bush taken more than one position, and McCain agrees with an earlier one: “Last month, Mr. McCain urged Mr. Bush to return to his demand for a complete and irreversible disarmament of North Korea’s nuclear programs.” On federal spending, McCain and Bush are said to “mostly disagree” because McCain takes a somewhat harder line against budget earmarks–without noting that both politicians are united in focusing attention on an aspect of the budget that accounts for only 0.6 percent of federal spending (Center for American Progress, 4/28/08). The rest of the spending item depicts McCain as being in accord with Bush: “Mr. McCain would also put a one-year freeze on discretionary spending, except veterans benefits and the military. Mr. Bush has had a similar freeze in place.” In her article, Bumiller points out that “on balance, the McCain campaign has sought to emphasize the differences between Mr. McCain and the unpopular Mr. Bush rather than the similarities.” That makes sense, given the president’s record low approval ratings. But what is the New York Times‘ interest in doing the same thing? Please ask the New York Times why it exaggerated the differences between McCain and Bush, claiming that they have “strikingly different views” on issues that they mostly agree on. New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt
February 28, 2014 Who Wins if the EPA Reverses Itself on the Write Down of the Renewable Mandate in 2014? There is on-going speculation about the possibility of some adjustment in the EPA's preliminary rule making for 2014 Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS), either in final rule making expected this summer or as a result of a legal challenge. A farmdoc daily post last week noted that the recent rise of D6 ethanol prices relative to D4 biodiesel prices indicates that RINs traders believe the odds of the EPA reversing the proposed write down of the renewable mandate for 2014 in final rulemaking have increased sharply. The purpose of today's post is to examine which biofuel-- ethanol or biodiesel-- would be the big winner if the EPA reverses itself on the write down of the renewable mandate for 2014. We begin by briefly reviewing EPA rulemaking regarding the RFS. The RFS statutes require the EPA to establish biofuel volume requirements in four categories: cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, total advanced biofuel (which includes biomass-based diesel), and renewable fuel (ethanol). Of most interest for 2014 is the requirement for renewable fuel. EPA preliminary rulemaking established that requirement at 13.01 billion gallons, compared to the 2013 requirement of 13.8 billion gallons and the statutory requirement for 2014 of 14.4 billion gallons. The requirement was "rolled back" in recognition of the hurdles to blending quantities of renewable fuel in the domestic motor fuel supply beyond the E10 blend wall, variously estimated to be 13 to 13.2 billion gallons for 2014. The proposal has been the subject of heated debate since it was released and the EPA received over 15,000 comments before the official comment period ended on January 28, 2014. Biofuels groups have sent strong signals that they will mount a legal challenge if the final RFS rulemaking for 2014 includes the write down of the renewable mandate. If the final EPA rulemaking for 2014 is revised to include renewable fuel quantities beyond the E10 blend wall, the additional requirements (referred to here as the "renewable fuel gap") could be met with a combination of increased quantities of higher ethanol blends (E15 or E85) or increased blending of advanced biofuels (particularly biomass-based diesel). For simplicity, we ignore the use of accumulated RINs stocks. Obligated parties under the RFS will seek to minimize the cost of filling the renewable gap by judicious use of these alternatives. The least-cost combination will depend on the blending economics of each alternative. For example, if blending biodiesel with petroleum diesel at the margin involves a smaller loss than blending ethanol with gasoline to make E85 then obligated parties will choose to fill the renewable gap using biodiesel. In the debate surrounding the EPA's controversial proposed rulemaking for 2014, much of the focus has been on the potential role of E85 in meeting higher renewable mandate levels. The issue boils down to the level of D6 ethanol RINs that would incentivize the needed rise in E85 deployment and consumption. A positive D6 RINs price is necessary because E85 has to be priced low enough to compensate consumers for the lower gas mileage of E85 compared to E10 and the time value of more frequent refueling with E85. In addition, blenders need to be compensated for any additional investment in the infrastructure needed to expand E85 use. A recent study by Informa and another by Professors Bruce Babcock and Sebastian Pouliot of Iowa State University estimated the cost of increased deployment of E85 in terms of D6 RINs prices. These studies suggest that a D6 RINs price of $0.75 per gallon is sufficient with E10 pump prices near $3.50 per gallon and the assumption that E85 pump prices would need to be 20 percent below the parity price with E10 to induce consumers to use higher quantities of E85. Different assumptions about E10 prices, ethanol prices, discounts, and infrastructure costs will, of course, lead to different estimates of the required D6 price. We use the $0.75 estimate as representative across a variety of market conditions and assumptions. The analysis of RINs prices and E85 consumption, while interesting and certainly relevant, is incomplete because the alternative of meeting a portion of a larger renewable mandate with biomass-based diesel is not considered (we use the term "biomass-based diesel" for the remainder of the post because both biodiesel and renewable diesel generate D4 RINs). The essential question is whether the blending economics of biomass-based diesel will result in a lower D4 RINs price compared to the assumed D6 RINs price of $0.75. Our analysis of this question starts with the estimation of a biomass-based diesel supply curve for 2014. That is a two-step process most recently discussed in the post found here. The first step is to estimate the response of biomass-based biodiesel supply to returns above variable costs. We use monthly production observations (annualized) and net returns from January through November 2013 (Figure 1). The December 2013 observation is shown, but not included in estimating the supply response. It is believed that production in December was distorted by the impending end to the biomass-based diesel blender tax credits and perhaps by expectations that large quantities of biomass-based biodiesel would be needed to meet the renewable fuel gap in 2014. The outlier designation appears to be verified by the fact that the combination of annualized production (about one billion gallons) and net returns was very near the estimated supply response curve in January 2014 (not shown). The second step is to estimate a biomass-based diesel supply curve for 2014 by assuming a fixed cost of production and the supply response to net returns estimated in Figure 1. With a fixed cost of production, net returns vary according to the price of biodiesel, resulting in the estimated supply curve depicted in Figure 2. The largest cost of production of biomass-based diesel is the cost of the feedstock. Note that we assume the price of biodiesel and renewable diesel are the same for the analysis. That cost is estimated using a price of $0.39 per pound for soybean oil, the primary biomass-based diesel feedstock. That price reflected the cash price to biodiesel plants implied by soybean oil futures prices on February 25, 2014. With the 2014 supply curve estimated, we only need to specify the biomass-based diesel demand curve to compute D4 RINs prices. Under the assumption that biodiesel sells at the same price as ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) and there is no tax credit for biomass-based diesel, the demand curve in Figure 2 is horizontal at the price of ULSD, currently about $3.00 per gallon. If the $1 per gallon tax credit is reinstated for 2014, the biodiesel demand curve is horizontal at $4.00 per gallon. The intersections of the estimated supply and demand curves in Figure 2 yield the following results: 1) with no biodiesel blender tax credit and no biofuels mandate, no biodiesel would be produced in 2014 (curves do not intersect), 2) with no blender tax credit and production at the preliminary mandate of 1.28 billion gallons of biodiesel for 2014, the price of RINs per wet gallon of biodiesel (D4) would be $0.82 per gallon, or $0.55 per gallon of ethanol equivalents ($0.82/1.5), in order to motivate sufficient biodiesel production, 3) with a blender tax credit, 1.56 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel would be produced and the implied D4 RINs price is zero. Under the last outcome, biomass-based diesel production would exceed the preliminary mandate of 1.28 billion gallons by 280 million gallons, or 420 million gallons of ethanol equivalents. In other words, the biomass-based diesel blender credits under the projected market conditions would "unbind" the proposed mandate of 1.28 billion gallons. Those 420 million gallons could be applied to any renewable fuel gap resulting from a change in the 2014 EPA rulemaking, assuming that the undifferentiated advanced biofuels mandate of 280 million gallons was met with other advanced biofuels. The implication is that with a renewable fuel gap of 420 million gallons or less in 2014 and the reinstatement of the biomass-based diesel blenders credits, little or no expansion of E85 would be required to meet the renewable fuels mandate. The analysis also highlights the key role that the biomass-based diesel blenders credits could play in the compliance decisions of obligated parties under the RFS. Another way to examine the potential role of biomass-based diesel in meeting any renewable fuel gap in 2014 is a breakeven analysis. Specifically, how much can the quantity of biomass-based diesel rise before the D4 biomass-based diesel RINs price exceeds the breakeven D6 ethanol RINs price of $0.75 per gallon that others have implied would be needed to incentivize E85 consumption? That outcome is illustrated in Figure 3 under the assumption of no biomass-based diesel blenders tax credits. The estimated biodiesel supply curve is the same as in Figure 2. The demand curve, however, is drawn at $4.13 which is equal to the $3.00 price of ULSD plus the $1.13 per gallon "wet" biodiesel RINs (D4) price implied by a $0.75 per gallon D6 ethanol RINs price ($ 0.75 X 1.5 = $1.13). The outcome is for estimated biomass-based diesel production of 1.72 billion gallons. That exceeds the preliminary mandate of 1.28 billion gallons by 440 million gallons, or 660 million gallons of ethanol equivalents. Those 660 million gallons could be applied to any renewable fuels gap under the same assumption as before about the undifferentiated advanced biofuels mandate. With a renewable fuels gap of 660 million gallons or less and a breakeven D6 ethanol RINs price of $0.75 per gallon, higher blends of ethanol would not be required in 2014 to meet the renewable fuels mandate. Of course, a renewable gap higher than 660 million gallons would be met with a combination of biomass-based diesel and E85. The implications for the breakeven analysis of extending the $1 per gallon blenders tax credits in 2014 are illustrated in Figure 4. The supply curve is the same as in Figures 2 and 3. With the blenders tax credits in place, the D4 RINs price is less than the breakeven D6 RINs price of $0.75 all the way out to 2.21 billion gallons of biomass-based biodiesel production. That quantity would be sufficient to meet the 1.28 billion gallon biodiesel mandate and the maximum 1.4 billion gallon renewable fuels gap implied by the statutory renewable fuels mandate of 14.4 billion gallons and an E10 blend wall of 13 billion gallons. The biodiesel price required to produce 2.21 billion gallons is estimated at $4.68 per gallon, $0.68 above the price of ULSD of $3.00 plus the blenders tax credit of $1.00. The $0.68 per gallon wet RINs price is equivalent to a $0.45 D6 ethanol RINs price. That is well below the estimated $0.75 needed to incentivize E85 consumption so that the entire renewable gap could be easily met with additional biomass-based diesel. There is considerable uncertainty about the magnitude of the RFS biofuels mandates and the fate of the biomass-based diesel blenders tax credits for 2014. However, there are some indications that at least the renewable fuels (ethanol) portion of the mandate may be increased from the preliminary quantity of 13.01 billion gallons in the EPA's proposed rulemaking. If that is the case, then the question becomes one of how the larger renewable mandate is met. Part of any increase could be met with more E10 if motor fuel consumption grows. Larger increases, however, would have to be met with some combination of higher ethanol blends, likely E85, and advanced biofuels, most likely biomass-based diesel. It appears that many believe that the most likely pathway to meet a higher renewable mandate is with E85. As a result, the most vocal advocates for an increase in the renewable mandate are in the ethanol industry. While the outcome of the analysis presented here is subject to changes in the underlying market assumptions and the fate of the blenders tax credits, it certainly may be the case that the big winner from a reversal of the write down of the renewable fuels mandate for 2014 could actually be the biodiesel industry. Posted by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good Permalink
Sacked and facing trial, the British fashion designer has shone a light on the macabre milieu beyond the catwalk, says Justine Picardie . BY Justine Picardie \| 02 March 2011 When John Galliano was sacked from Dior this week for his drunken anti-Semitic outburst, captured and filmed on a phone, the fashion world expressed its shock and surprise. And yes, his slurred declaration that he loved Hitler is shocking - I've watched it many times over, and the impact isn't lessened by his statement yesterday that he completely denies the charges against him, and was the victim of ''verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault'' - but was his downfall a surprise? No. There had been whispers in the fashion industry for over a year about Galliano's increasingly bizarre public appearances. And while I never heard anything to suggest that he was making racist insults - for which he will now stand criminal trial and could even face six months in prison if convicted - the extent of his uninhibited behaviour was already the source of much gossip. Indeed, after the suicide of his contemporary Alexander McQueen just over a year ago, it seemed not entirely implausible that John Galliano's implosion might come next. Galliano and McQueen were both widely recognised as creative visionaries, two British bad boys who had risen to huge prominence in the global fashion industry, on a trajectory that took them from being punk subversives at London art schools to the leadership of mighty Paris brands (with all the contradictions and conflicts such a move might entail). In 1995, Galliano became the first British designer to take over as director of a French haute couture house when he was appointed at Givenchy by Bernard Arnault, the founder and chief executive of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH; less than two years later, as Galliano was promoted to Christian Dior (a crucial element of the LVMH behemoth), McQueen followed in his footsteps to Givenchy. I didn't know either of these designers, but I knew the stories about them, and was fortunate enough to have seen some of their astonishing catwalk shows, including Galliano's last couture collection for Christian Dior in January. It was held in the formal gardens of the Musée Rodin, a temple to French art and the beauty of the female form, and Galliano's show was an exquisitely crafted homage to the legacy of Dior's original New Look, with rippling flurries of rose-pink tulle and clouds of marabou feathers. Afterwards, there were a few murmurs that the collection veered too much towards costume drama, but what left me feeling more uneasy was the appearance on the catwalk of Galliano himself. As was his tradition, he twirled in an outlandish costume of his own design - a black and scarlet ensemble apparently inspired by Nureyev, his hair ironed into a dark bob, his face remade into a heightened version of itself - and there was something of the grotesque about him. The way he looked seemed of a piece with the stories of his retreat from reality, of the dark place that he might be inhabiting. Fashion is too often dismissed as superficial froth, irrelevant to the real world that we live in, and the story of John Galliano will doubtless be used as evidence for this view. But this is an oversimplification - not least because brands such as Christian Dior are immensely powerful businesses, expanding into new markets in China and the Far East, engine rooms of the economy and world markets. On the one hand, they are profitable and pragmatic corporations, employing thousands of people and selling vast quantities of lipstick and scent to millions of customers, but they must also harness the stuff of fantasy, fuelled by the dream that is couture. In this alchemical blend of desire and economics - of artistic creations and industrial commoditisation - there is also a streak of darkness, a manifestation of the ambiguities and misogynies that can be as much a part of fashion as its flights of creativity and delight. Thus fashion becomes as much about what lies beneath as it is about the surface of things. Of course, appearances matter - which is why on a purely practical level, LVMH had to act swiftly to remove Galliano, particularly after Natalie Portman, one of Dior's most visible celebrity pin-ups, dissociated herself from Galliano's anti-Semitic statements. Hollywood stars such as Portman are as important in the profitable formula of selling luxury products as the designers themselves, in an equation that combines the high end of celebrity and status with a broader customer appeal. Her decision not to wear Dior at the Oscars ceremony on Sunday is therefore as significant as Galliano's creative judgments as a designer. But beyond these immediate commercial considerations, there is a debate to be had about the macabre elements of fashion that are mingled with its beauties. It would be very wrong to attribute this impulse to shock and horrify to all designers - a new generation that includes Stella McCartney and Phoebe Philo has built careers and brands on the capacity to make sleek, streamlined clothes that women really want to wear, just as Coco Chanel did when she stripped away corsets and over-embellishment, thereby conferring the same sartorial comfort and dignity to her customers that had previously been available only in men's tailoring. But Galliano and McQueen were among those male designers who employed menace as well as elegance, producing shows that were sometimes bizarre, and occasionally terrifying. When McQueen killed himself last year, it was impossible not to be reminded of the occasions when his imagination seemed as fuelled by an Edgar Allan Poe horror story as the ambition to make marvellously crafted designs; when the models on the catwalk looked as if they had stumbled out of a gothic Bedlam, nightmarish figures whose faces were smeared with blood-red lipstick and bruised black rings around their eyes, wearing shoes that looked like instruments of torture. If there is an element of professional suicide in Galliano's recent performance on an amateur video, spouting theatrically hateful language, then there has also been evidence of that desire to shock in the past, albeit contained within the controlled framework of a staged show. This was embodied in his spring 2005 couture collection, when the models had malignant-looking swellings beneath their ethereal white organza gowns, and although Galliano's vision was hailed by many in the fashion press as wonderfully romantic, I found it disturbing. So what will come next, in the cautionary tale of John Galliano? His statement, issued by his lawyers yesterday, was as mixed a message as the catwalk show just described. He announced that he had "commenced proceedings for defamation and the threats made against me", but added: "I must take responsibility for the circumstances in which I found myself and for allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light. I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people's understanding and compassion. To start this process I am seeking help and all I can hope for in time is to address the personal failure which led to these circumstances and try to earn people's forgiveness. I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself. In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion." Galliano seems likely to go into rehab, and in doing so, may eventually also rehabilitate his career, but not at Christian Dior. The latest Dior catwalk collection will continue without him tomorrow - a billion dollar industry cannot grind to a halt, and the brand existed long before Galliano (it was, after all, established 65 years ago). Yet in an age of anxiety, of uprising in the Middle East and widespread economic uncertainty, the fashion industry can no longer rely on shock value to sell its products. The landscape is shifting, however distantly, from the gilded couture houses of Paris; although as always, the show will go on.
\|Do I Need IRB?\| An Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a federally mandated committee that oversees the ethical conduct of human subjects research at an institution. Florida Atlantic University's IRB serves an important role in the protection of the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in research. The IRB reviews and approves protocols for research involving humans and ensures that appropriate steps are taken to protect their rights and welfare. FAU's IRB is comprised of faculty members representing a variety of backgrounds, training and experience, as well as community members who have no formal connection with the University. Many researchers wonder if their research requires IRB review. If your research meets the following two definitions then you are involved in research with human subjects: "Research" means a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. "Human subject" means a living individual about whom an investigator conducting research obtains: 1.) data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or 2.) identifiable private information. For assistance in determining whether you need to submit an application to the IRB, refer to one of the following resources: Once it is clear that you need to submit an IRB application, click here to begin the electronic submission process. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact the Research Integrity office at 561.297.0777.
\|Description: This is a detail of a map that shows Florida current to 1850. The detail highlights Pensacola. There are streets depicted, as well as a burying ground and public square. There is a legend to detail the major institutions of the township. Minor waterways are shown, such as springs, inlets, and ponds. The land is divided into claims and tracts including the Smith & Ralmsons Tract, the Watson's Tract, and the King& Haines Claim. There is also a road that leads to Camp Clinch.\| Place Names: Escambia, Pensacola, Camp Clinch, Gulf of Mexico, ISO Topic Categories: inlandWaters, oceans, transportation Keywords: Detail - Map of Florida, physical, transportation, physical features, roads, inlandWaters, oceans, transportation, Unknown,1850 Source: , (Philadelphia, PA: Thomas, Cowpwerthwait & Co, 1850) Map Credit: Courtesy of the Special Collections Department, University of South Florida.
The Space Program: No Prize We Must Open New Markets to Space Commerce JANUARY 01, 1994 by FREDERICK GIARRUSSO, GARY C. HUDSON Frederick Giarrusso is a doctoral candidate in Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University; Gary C. Hudson is an entrepreneur engineering non-governmental space launch systems. Science writer Dr. Jerry Pournelle claims, “The three great failures of socialism in the 20th century are Soviet agriculture, U.S. education, and NASA.” A review of NASA’s performance reveals the aptness of the last third of his remark. NASA controls all aspects of the civil space program in the United States. Fifteen billion dollars filter through NASA each year to fund shuttle launches, space station designs, and one of the largest and least cost-effective bureaucracies to grace our land. To most people, NASA is the U.S. space program. The very term “space program” is problematic, however. A program implies a single, concerted effort, usually by government, to perform some task. Typically, this effort is at odds with a capitalist system, in which profit and individual motivations dictate performance. Imagine where California would be if its exploration and settlement had occurred under the federal government’s “Gold Rush Program.” Suffice it to say, San Francisco’s football team might well have been called the “‘98ers.” We have all seen the failures of a command economy in the rest of the world; why is it so difficult to recognize those failures when they occur within our own borders? When a command economy allocates resources, it changes the incentives of the people involved—otherwise there would be no need for the “command”; it would simply be an economy. When a government agency dictates development in a particular industry, it changes the incentive system in that field. The result is profound inefficiency. The lack of an appropriate incentive system can lead to some interesting—and expensive—results. Consider the pressure suits worn by our astronauts. NASA estimated the cost of designing a new space suit for the planned space station at about $350 million—manufacturing costs not included. These suits are expected to withstand 5-8 psi of internal pressure in a relatively innocuous environment. Space suits are similar to the rigid, deep-ocean suits worn by divers. While maintaining a single atmosphere environment for the diver, deep ocean suits must withstand external pressures of over 500 psi, as well as operate in a corrosive environment. In addition, they must be very durable. Minor leaks in an astronaut’s space suit would not necessarily kill the astronaut; such failure in a deep ocean suit would certainly doom the diver. The International Hard Suits company of Vancouver, B.C., manufactures the state-of-the-art one-atmosphere diving suit, the Newtsuit®. The suit is available for approximately $400,000 each, and is presently in full production for military, scientific, and commercial use. NASA, on the other hand, would have to make over 875 space suits at no cost to justify the expense of their own design. Instead, NASA would expect to make only a handful of suits, with significant manufacturing costs. Although such an existing supplier of space suits would have been more cost-effective, NASA chose to contract out for a new design—essentially to reinvent the wheel. This represents a minimum of $345 million down the drain; $1.38 for every man, woman, and child in the United States, thrown away. And that’s just the space suits. Costs Continue to Soar Then there is the story of the Saturn 1B, an expendable rocket. The Saturn 1B cost $3.4 billion to develop and $156 million per flight to operate. It was able to lift about 40,000 pounds into orbit. However, rather than continue to use the Saturn 1B, NASA spent ten times as much money to develop a vehicle that cost twice as much to perform the same job. The Space Shuttle represents no great payload improvement over the Saturn 1B. Like the Saturn, the Shuttle is able to lift 40,000 pounds into orbit. Yet it cost $34.7 billion to develop and, by NASA’s own rather low estimate, $301 million to operate, per flight. As of 1990 the Shuttle had flown 44 flights, for a total cost of $55 billion. For that same $55 billion, the Saturn 1B could have flown 350 flights, placing in orbit ten times the total Shuttle payload to date (all figures are in constant 1986 dollars). But what about all of that valuable research performed on the Shuttle? Put another way, for approximately $5 billion the Saturn 1B could have placed the same amount of payload in orbit as the Space Shuttle has. With the remaining $50 billion, the taxpayers could have purchased outright the top ten laboratories and research universities in the world and performed all the research they wanted. Or funded the National Science Foundation for 25 years. On top of that, the Space Shuttle is considered so unreliable that another branch of the federal government, the Department of Defense, has recently opted to boost its satellites using Titan rockets—a technology developed three decades ago. The problem with NASA is less NASA itself than the mentality that suggests the United States should even have a “space program.” Capitalism works. Free markets work. Command economies fail and they fail in the most expensive manner possible. If we agree that space development is a worthwhile goal, then the question becomes how best to get there. There are at least two options. Assuming a continuing drive for some form of federally funded space effort, the maximum leverage of taxpayer dollars might come from a system of prizes. In combination with this approach, tax incentives for investment and tax breaks for profits earned from commercial space ventures could stimulate the flow of significant private dollars for high- risk projects. We should recognize that the free market has been distorted by tax policy which inhibits investment in high-risk, high-payoff industries. Indexing capital gains, or better still, following the Japanese lead and eliminating all tax on long-term investments would be a useful start. While we prefer a hands-off policy, these options would help to undo the decades-old damage of the present space program. Burt Rutan, designer of Voyager, which circled the globe unrefueled in 1986, has suggested an incentive-based system to develop one NASA/USAF project: the National AeroSpace Plane (NASP). To date, more than a billion dollars has been spent for this plane, with the expectation that ten billion dollars might be spent on the actual manufacturing and flight tests. Rutan’s suggestion is to take out an ad in Aviation Week, at a cost of a few thousand dollars, offering a billion-dollar prize to the first company to fly a plane coast-to-coast in under an hour—NASP’s ultimate goal. This idea is far from new; using just such an incentive system the British Crown established a prize for the means of discovering the longitude of a sailing vessel. A similar competition for $25,000 prompted Charles Lindbergh to make his famous solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Prizes work to stimulate innovation. An incentive would encourage companies to compete in a cost-effective manner and, where appropriate, to team together to overcome common problems and share risks. To date, the conventional attempt to commercialize space activities has been a failure. Most firms participating in this much ballyhooed effort are simply selling their products to the same old buyer: the U.S. government. If there is to be a true industrial revolution in space commerce, we must open new markets. The record of our government in creating such markets is dismal. Which federal government manager would envision, for example, that space tourism might well become a ten billion-dollar annual global market in just fifteen years? Dr. Patrick Collins of the Japanese National Aerospace Laboratory has suggested just that—and you can be certain Japanese firms are listening. A recent visit to Shimizu Corporation, the largest construction company in the world, elicited color brochures depicting space hotels, lunar set tlements, and “space weddings.” Whether such visions are practical or not, this example serves to illustrate that, as with so much else, federal government policies have forced innovation and vision away from our shores. It is past time to change the way we address the promise of the space frontier. We should scrap policies that inhibit our ability to profit from this opportunity. We won’t get to the high frontier with a modern-day “Gold Rush Program.” But we might get there with a modern-day gold rush.
News Release: January 16, 2014 Docket No. RM14-1-000 Item No. E-3 FERC Proposes Reliability Standard on Geomagnetic Disturbances The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today proposed to adopt a new reliability standard intended to mitigate the impacts of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) that can have potentially severe, widespread effects on reliable operation of the nation’s Bulk-Power System. Today’s proposal takes the first step in implementing a May 2013 final rule in which FERC directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to develop new mandatory reliability standards to address GMD vulnerabilities, and it directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop new standards in two stages. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) pertains to a standard offered by NERC to address implementation of operating plans and operating procedures or processes to mitigate effects of GMD. NERC’s proposed standard would apply to reliability coordinators and transmission operators with an operator area that includes certain power transformers with terminal voltage greater than 200 kV. The standard has three requirements: - Reliability coordinators must develop, maintain and implement a GMD operating plan that coordinates the GMD operating procedures or processes within the reliability coordinator area. - Reliability coordinators must disseminate space weather information. - Transmission operators must develop operating procedures or processes to address GMD events. Under the May 2013 final rule, NERC is required to file the second stage reliability standards in January 2015. Those standards would identify “benchmark GMD events” that specify the severity of GMD events that owners and operators must assess for potential impacts on the Bulk-Power System. Responsible entities would be required to conduct initial and ongoing assessments of the potential impact of these events on equipment and the system, and to develop and implement plans to protect against instability, uncontrolled separation or cascading failures. Comments on today’s NOPR are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
I see... a cycle of wrath... a dim light... guided by destiny... that about which our entire future revolves. - —Lukahn, leader of the Circle of Sages The Circle of Sages (12人の賢者, Jūninin no Kenja?) is a group of twelve sages from the original Final Fantasy. They are located in the upper-right corner of the city of Crescent Lake where they stand in a circular pattern. Some of the sages can be more helpful to the Warriors of Light than others, as most of the sages talk about the history of the Four Fiends or beg the Warriors of Light for help. The Circle is presumably led by Lukahn, the sage from Cornelia whose prophecy gave the king and the people of Cornelia hope that Princess Sarah would be rescued. The sage to the right of Lukahn will give the party the canoe, which is required to reach Mount Gulg and the Cavern of Ice. The Circle is well acquainted with Lukahn's prophecy and understands that the Warriors of Light are the ones who will fulfill it. All of the sages provide continuous support and encouragement to the party throughout their quest. At the end of the game, the Circle reveals the secret of the Chaos Shrine and of the bats inside of Garland's chamber, which eventually leads to the Warriors of Light's final confrontation with Chaos.
North Korea: Several South Korea media carried a report this week from a North Korean news outlet that North Korea's newly amended constitution explicitly states for the first time that North Korea is a nuclear-armed state. The Supreme People's Assembly approved the constitutional amendment at last month's session to honor the legacy of the late Kim Chong-Il. The Assembly also appointed Kim Jong Un as First Chairman of the National Defense Commission. The news media carried the following pertinent quote: "National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Cho'ng-il has turned our fatherland into an invincible state of political ideology, a nuclear-armed state and an indomitable military power, paving the ground for the construction of a strong and prosperous nation." Comment: One of the tasks of the Supreme People's Assembly is to approve amendments to the constitution. These are not trivial acts because they invest the amendments with foundational authority. They become part of the definition of North Korea as much as they do any other state that abides by a constitution. Amendments become part of the ideological indoctrination of North Koreans. The implications of the nuclear-armed state language are significant. Now the North cannot agree to eliminate its nuclear weapons in any negotiating forum without a constitutional amendment. This action signifies North Korea's determination to remain nuclear armed. It also means that nuclear disarmament will never be a topic for discussion, even if nuclear talks of some kind resume. The constitutional amendment also represents a face-saving tactic -- plan B, as it were - for not detonating a nuclear device. The condition of being nuclear-armed is now enshrined as a component of North Korean identity, even though the detonations in 2006 and 2009 probably were not successful. Finally, the amendment means that no amount of domestic hardship, international sanctions or external pressure will force North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. To do so would be a constitutional crime, in other words an act of treason. North Korean negotiators can never seriously discuss nuclear disarmament, unless and until the constitution is changed again. They have deliberately tied their own hands. China-North Korea: South Korean news services published statements purportedly from a North Korean cadre of the central party organization about Chinese and Russian pressure on North Korea. Supposedly the cadre said that North Korea is prepared to attempt a second space launch but is concerned about Chinese and Russian reaction as well as the prospect of another failure. The cadre also supposedly said that despite the North's determination to appear subservient to or dependent on no one, it must continue to improve its relations with China in order to survive as a state system. He indicated that Chinese cooperation is essential and that the central party organs have send an instruction to all organs, enterprises and units ordering them absolutely to refrain from doing anything or uttering any remarks that might cause feuds with China. North Korea, he said, is under pressure from the Chinese government to avoid making trouble in the border region over the issue of defectors or conducting any nuclear test. Comment: There is no way to verify the authenticity of the statements, but their themes help explain the political exchanges between China and North Korea since mid-April. China's national economic plans and strategy require stability in Northeast Asia. The Chinese consistently have conveyed that message to North Korea by means of high level emissaries. The North often has asserted its independence by defying Chinese advice. It is now clear the North was acting defiantly when it attempted to execute a space launch. After the failed launch, a senior North Korean delegation was summoned to China, under conditions reminiscent of Imperial China summoning high officials of a tributary state. The North Korean tributaries were instructed to stop making trouble, meaning stop preparing a nuclear detonation. The cadre's comments match the facts as reported in open sources. The episode proves China has and uses clout with North Korea on issues of importance to China. China does not use this clout to advance issues important to the other members of the six party talks. Finally, China's post-space launch diplomacy was an exercise in raw power, without using military force. It is an important lesson about client status in the schooling of Kim Jong Un and the vice marshals on the National Defense Commission, who surround and advise him. Kim Jong Un is young and inexperienced. Most of his advisors have no experience of the world outside of North Korea and are inexperienced as state leaders. They learned the Chinese play hard ball with their tributaries … er …allies. International North South Transport Corridor: Special Report. An Indian news service published an update on the status of an important Asian infrastructure project, encouraged by the United Nations, which ensures Iran will never be isolated again. A multi-national and multi-mode transport corridor from Mumbai to Moscow via Iran and Tajikistan will be completed within the next year, provided final funding is found for one last segment in Iran. The new corridor which involves some new construction to link existing infrastructure will reduce cargo transportation time significantly between India and Russia and points in between. A three-day meeting of experts from 16 countries on 30 May discussed ways to smooth the way for the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and at least six supplementary routes. In contrast with a US-backed Silk Road proposal that would bypass Iran, the INSTC depends on Iran's port of Bandar Abbas as the hub of all north-south cargo shipments. The meeting on the INSTC proposed a joint venture between Iran, India, Russia and Azerbaijan to find solutions to various issues, such as infrastructure and funding. It also suggested a core group on customs -- India, Russia, Iran and Turkey -- consisting of experts from these countries, based in Delhi to sort out issues In stark contrast, Iran plays a crucial role in the multi-modal North-South Corridor because its port Bandar Abbas will be the hub of all activity. Experts proposed the setting up of two four-nation groups to resolve many of the issues. Iran along with Russia and India (all three initiators of the project) will be in both groups. Comment: All that remains for completion of the infrastructure for this corridor is fewer than 150 kms of railroad in northern Iran. That segment should be finished in the next year. The mix of national partners is unprecedented. The route is unprecedented, bypassing Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the Suez Canal. When finished, it will be the shortest high-volume, low cost cargo route between India and Russia. Saudi Arabia: Update. Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia increased oil output to 9.9 million barrels per day in May. This is the highest output since January 1989, according to Bloomberg's monthly data. Comment: The Saudis are keeping their promise to compensate for any loss of Iranian oil. On 1 July, the oil sanctions against Iran become fully effective. Europe: For the record. Today, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, warned that the structure of the eurozone had become 'unsustainable' and criticized political leaders whom he said have been slow to respond to the sovereign debt crisis. 'The configuration we had for 10 years, which was considered sustainable, has been shown now to be unsustainable unless further steps are undertaken,' Draghi told a committee of the European Parliament in Brussels. Comment: European bankers and European Union politicians use coded language to talk around political measures to tie the 17 eurozone states into a single, confederal nation. Centralization and increased central power to coerce compliance are the consistent demands that bankers direct at national politicians. Draghi concluded stating the problems are such that only the member nations' politicians could now solve them, apparently meaning they must surrender more authority to the European Parliament in Brussels. It is not clear that European national voters share the vision of the Brussels-based banking and political clerisy. Spain: Spain should explain how it plans to recapitalize ailing Bankia SA and reveal whether other Spanish banks burdened by toxic real estate assets need assistance, a European Commission spokesman said 31 May. Comment: Prime Minister Rajoy urged the European Central Bank to buy more Spanish sovereign debt while assuring the bankers that Spain does not need a Greek-style bailout by the Bank and the International Monetary Fund. His appeal was rejected by the ECB. The Financial Times reported capital flight from Spain now totals nearly €100 billion in the first quarter of 2012. That signifies extensive loss of confidence as well as the onset of a crisis. Among the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) Spain seems to be emerging as the next country requiring a bailout. As the 13th largest economy in the world, it is considered too big to fail. Its GDP is $1.537 trillion. Per capita GDP is $30,000 for its 47 million people. But unemployment is over 20% for the second year. The budget deficit is 8.5% and sovereign debt is at least 68% of GDP. It cannot pay its bills as they are due without outside help, especially when investors are pulling up stakes. Estimates of low but positive growth in the economy this year -- .08% -- now seem optimistic. The economy has contracted in the past two years and appears likely to do so again. End of NightWatch. NightWatch is brought to readers of Townhall Finance by Kforce Government Solutions, Inc. (KGS), a leader in government problem-solving, Data Confidence® and intelligence. Views and opinions expressed in NightWatch are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of KGS, its management, or affiliates. A Member of AFCEA International
Because most students take a break from classes in the summer, financial aid is awarded for the fall-spring academic year. Summer is considered an additional, optional term except for co-op students. Students attending at least half-time in summer should notify Student Financial Aid. Co-op students, because they most often attend year-round, should alert Student Financial Aid of their co-op rotation. When accepting aid, this alert ensures maximum aid availability during in-class semesters. Aid for summer is extremely limited. Students who know early on that they will be taking summer classes should speak with One Stop staff to determine the availability of aid. Knowing your annual aid limits, you can better plan for expenses throughout the year.
Thank you for the questions. In my experience, for every person that asks a question, there are 10 others thinking the same thing but don't want to ask. If you want more information than I give in the answer or if the answer made you think of another question, don't hesitate to ask. Question: "I don't have a fire extinguisher in my kitchen, but I know I should. What should I look for?" Answer: Hello Mrs. Gamgee. To start with, fires are broken down into one of several types or classes, "A", "B" and "C" being the most common. "A" class fires are your normal combustible materials such as wood, cloth, rubber or some plastics. This is the most common type of fire. Class "B" fires are combustible liquids such as gasoline or grease. Class "C" fires are electrified electrical fires. Shut off the power and it becomes a class "A" fire. Fire extinguishers are rated as to which type of fire they will extinguish. When looking for a fire extinguisher for your kitchen, you want to be sure that you get a fire extinguisher that fights all three classes of fire that you are likely to get in the kitchen (A, B and C). Extinguishers are also rated by their size ( a 5lb extinguisher is a good size for a kitchen) and amount of fire they can extinguish. The fire extinguisher that I have in my kitchen is 5lbs and is rated 2A10BC. As far as which to buy, it's up to you. There are some rather cheap ones that are sold (I don't feel like slamming any particular company) but I try to avoid those. I try to avoid the ones with a plastic head on them. Most extinguishers with a metal head on them are reusable (you have to get them serviced and filled) so it would pay for itself if you ever had to use it. I hope this is helpful. Here's a website that has more information. http://www.fireextinguisher.com/ Question: "Why, at 4 a.m. the other morning, did my smoke detector in the hallway go off? Just three beeps. Then nothing. I paced the house for two hours worried there was a smoldering wire somewhere. The battery appears fine as it blinks once every 45 seconds like it is supposed to. It went off when I hit the test button." Answer: Hey Fiddle1, why is it these things always seem to happen in the middle of the night?! From the research that I have done it sounds like your smoke detector is nearing the end of its life. I didn't know that smoke detectors themselves would go bad. I had always assumed in the past as long as you had a good battery in it and the test function worked that the detector was good. It may also depend if yours is solely battery operated or if it's hard wired into your house. If you have the owners manual (or if you check online) you might be able to find more information specific to your model. Here's one site that I read that was helpful. http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/is-your-smoke-detector-beeping-and-chirping/ Question: "We've had our little fire extinguisher forever. How do we know if it will work should we ever need it? I was going to give it a try, but my husband says you can only use it once then it needs to be refilled. ????" Answer: Anonymous, The best way to make sure your extinguisher is in proper working order is to get it serviced every year. If you have an extinguisher that is not serviceable or are just too busy/lazy to get it done (I fall into that category) there are still a couple of things that you can do. First, check the pressure gauge and make sure that it is still fully pressurized. Second, if it is a dry chemical extinguisher, turn it upside down and smack it with a rubber mallet a few times. The extinguishing agent inside your dry chemical fire extinguishers is very fine and over time it settles. It will eventually become so compact that the extinguisher won't be able to discharge the powder. Turning it upside down and smacking it a few times loosens the powder. It's not the best fix but it's better than nothing. If there are any more questions out there, please feel free to put them in the comments section on the Ask a Firefighter post and my firefighter will be happy to answer them!
There are several arguments about correct bar placement. The two main locations are "high bar" and "low bar". Both pictures you have portray a high bar placement. The trapezius isn't designed for massive loads; however, if you have the bar a couple inches lower so that the load is split across the mid scapula. The low bar position is better suited to bearing larger loads, and once you get used to it is more comfortable than the high bar position. Now, to answer your question, Mark Rippetoe has some good observations whether you agree with his conclusions or not: - At lighter weights, the padding pushes the bar away from your back and changes your balance - At heavier weights, the padding is completely compressed and provides no use - More back muscle provides a more dense and natural platform than the padding. I personally lift with a bare bar. I've worked my way up from squatting just the bar to currently 220lb (100kg) and will be going up tonight. There are other lifts that work to help build the back muscles to comfortably support that kind of weight. It's at this point that padding wouldn't help me anyway. If you want to get rid of the padding, I recommend incorporating overhead presses and deadlifts (pulling the shoulders back) to build up the upper back muscles and create a stronger core. This helps you support the heavier squat weights. I also recommend going to YouTube and watching the Rippetoe videos on how to squat. It answers many questions you may come up with. Also note the depth the woman in the picture I linked to has. Whether you squat high or low bar, you want to get that kind of depth.
Depending on what you have available there are multiple ways to run Flask applications. You can use the builtin server during development, but you should use a full deployment option for production applications. (Do not use the builtin development server in production.) Several options are available and documented here. If you have a different WSGI server look up the server documentation about how to use a WSGI app with it. Just remember that your Flask application object is the actual WSGI application. For hosted options to get up and running quickly, see Deploying to a Web Server in the Quickstart. - mod_wsgi (Apache) - Standalone WSGI Containers
Reading time ( words) FlexTech Alliance has awarded a grant to develop and manufacture an integrated printed sensor system for use in multiple healthcare and product monitoring applications. The project leverages commercial development work currently underway between PARC and Thinfilm Electronics on designing a printed sensor platform and will integrate temperature sensing as well as assess an oxygen sensor being developed at the University of California at Berkeley. Applications made possible at the conclusion of this project may include radiation tags, disposable medical sensors, temperature tracking of pharmaceuticals at the item level, and monitoring of food sources for spoilage and contamination. Although different in application, these types of sensor systems may share similar architectural designs. This project establishes a foundation of building blocks used to design sensor systems, helping accelerate commercial implementation of existing and future components of printed electronic products. "FlexTech Alliance chose to support this project because it will help stimulate market demand, the next step for the growth and success of the printed electronics industry," said Michael Ciesinski, CEO of FlexTech Alliance. "The project participants are key players who will bring together their expertise in printed memory, logic and sensors to create new, cost-effective methods to monitor health, promote food safety, and facilitate item level tracking, among other applications." Specific goals of the project include: - Demonstrate the world's first integrated printed sensor circuitry - the basis for a smart tag including printed temperature sensor and printed nonvolatile rewritable memory, controlled by organic logic. - Provide reference designs for sensor control and integration with other devices and demonstrate that the building blocks of these designs can be manufactured by gravure printing. The market for sensor devices is established and growing. The worldwide market for biosensors alone is expected to grow from US$8.5 billion in 2012 to US$16.8 billion by 2018, according to MarketResearch.com. The inherent advantages printed sensor systems have over those fabricated with conventional electronics methods make them ideal candidates to gain considerable market share. Printed sensors can be produced at fractions of the cost of conventional electronics with the added advantage of thin, flexible form factors - opening up new markets where sensing is currently too expensive but high performance levels are not required.
Afriqiyah Airways restored direct flights from Tripoli to London Gatwick airport on 3 July, bypassing an EU ban on Libyan carriers by wet leasing an Airbus A320 from Air Moldova. Libya’s second flag carrier signed a six-month, sub wet-lease contract with Air Moldova for the aircraft (MSN 0741), which will be deployed three times weekly on the London route. The airline last flew to Gatwick in early 2011, before the uprising that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. "We have started to operate [the route] but not with our own aircraft," a spokesman confirms to Flightglobal, adding that Afriqiyah’s own fleet remains prohibited from EU airspace. All Libyan carriers voluntarily agreed to halt flights to the EU in April 2012, when European air safety regulators voiced concerns about Tripoli’s investigation into the May 2010 crash of an Afriqiyah A330 that claimed 103 lives. At the time, the European Commission identified multiple safety issues concerning pilot training and maintenance work, which it said Libyan regulators had failed to investigate. However, Libya’s civil aviation authority has now taken "positive steps" to address the EU’s concerns, the Afriqiyah spokesman says, adding that he is optimistic the ban will be lifted. Once this happens, Afriqiyah plans to serve Gatwick with its own aircraft. "Very soon there will be corrective action. Every point [raised by the EU] is being taken care of," the spokesman insists, citing recent discussions between the airline and regulators. The 1997-build aircraft on wet lease from Air Moldova is owned by BBAM, according to Flightglobal’s Ascend Online database. It had previously been operated by TACA until 2009, and was also wet leased to RAK Airways for a brief period last year. The EU ban on Libyan carriers runs until at least 22 November, though neither Afriqiyah nor sister flag carrier Libyan Airlines have been formally added to the EU’s blacklist.
Happy (belated) Turkey Day, foodie friends! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The hubs and I had a great time hosting family for dinner this year (my countertops are still crammed with breads and sweets, even after I’ve pawned plates of it off on willing takers)! Anybody else still reheating leftover turkey? Have you noticed a slight “off” flavor developing in the turkey meat? Well…get out the gravy, friends. You’ve got some WOF going on. “Warmed-over flavor,” (WOF) refers to the development of off-flavors in leftover turkey after a few days of refrigerated storage. Turkey meat is high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which makes it susceptible to lipid oxidation and the subsequent off-flavor (and off-aroma) characteristic of WOF. A reaction occurs when turkey is cooked – the meat tissue is disrupted and phospholipids release. When exposed to light, singlet oxygen is generated from triplet oxygen and myoglobin (a photosensitizer in turkey meat). The highly reactive singlet oxygen attacks bonds of unsaturated fatty acids in the phospholipids, producing hydroperoxides. Metal catalysts, like iron, found in muscle foods (like…ahem… turkey) speed the reaction along. Hydroperoxides are unstable, and readily decompose into acids, aldehydes, and keytones which produce off-flavors often described as “rancid,” “stale,” or “cardboard-like.” These off-flavors develop under refrigeration temps, and are amplified after re-heating. If you find WOF development occurring in your kitchen, you can imagine the effect on an industrial scale. Several commercial pre-cooked meat products on the market call for reheating by the consumer. Products like these require food manufacturers to find solutions that fight the quality imperfections brought on by WOF development. In addition to utilizing reliable packaging (materials with low oxygen permeability), many manufacturers turn to antioxidants or nitrites which retards the onset of off-flavor/aroma. So, now you know why you may see additives like BHT (butylated hydroxytolulene), ascorbyl palmitate, tocopherols, and nitrite on the labels of meat products – a mystery no more! WOF development occurs in other types of meat as well – chicken, beef, lamb, etc. However, due to the higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids, poultry meat (especially turkey) is more susceptible to lipid oxidation and off flavor development. A Food Science tid-bite: Want to reduce the WOF susceptibility in your turkey at home? Natural antioxidants such as rosemary, black pepper, and ingredients high in citric acid (like lemons) are known to have a positive effect on WOF development.Source: Genevieve L. Christen, ed and J. Scott Smith, ed. Food Chemistry: Principles and Applications. Science Technology System, 2000 Source: Casimir C. Akoh, ed and David B. Min, ed. Food lipids: chemistry, nutrition, and biotechnology. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, 2008
WATCH THAT SPARK! 2003 Fire Season/Fire Prevention Guidelines for Loggers back, 2002 was a hellacious fire season in the Western U.S., in particular the Pacific Northwest. Close to 1 million acres of timber went up in smoke in Oregon alone the worst fire season since 1987, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. The 500,000-acre Biscuit Fire in Southern Oregon and Northern California was the most massive, followed closely by the 467,000-acre Rodeo/Chediski fire in Arizona, and the 27,000-acre Timbered Rock blaze, also in Southern Oregon. Of course, there is no way of knowing if 2003 will see a replay of 2002. Early indications of a drought have been somewhat modified by sustained accumulations of late-spring snows, and even last year many climatologists were predicting a cyclical return to historically wetter and milder weather conditions. Another variable is the potential for late-season electrical storms, since lightning strikes typically start the majority of fires, particularly in backcountry. Unfortunately, most of the key underlying danger factors still exist in the Pacific Northwest. There is a significant increase in ground fuel loading due to insufficient thinning and passive fire-prevention programs, along with a dramatic change in forest densities and tree species diversity. Put it together and youve got a recipe for even more and bigger monster burns in the future. But there is good news. According to data collected by the ODF, for example, of the approximately 1,200 fires and 100,000 acres burned in 2002 on ODF-protected lands, only about 19 percent of the fires and most importantly only about 3 percent of the acreage were attributed to equipment use and operator fault associated with logging operations. Considering the potential for another ruinous fire season, and with the desire to try to minimize outbreaks and fire-related injuries as much as possible, here is a list of 16 fire-safety tips for Fire Season 2003. Some are taken from the Ten Standard Orders, originally developed in 1957 and equally valid today. Others come from the 18 watch out situations used by firefighters. Others are just plain common sense. To Prevent Fire in the Bush: Make sure all operating machinery is provided with a recently-checked, properly rated, and easy to access fire extinguisher. On hot, dry days, chain saw operators should also carry a small hand extinguisher. Inspect all machinery at the end of each shift for debris that might have become lodged around the radiator, engine compartment, undercarriage, or any other area where heat can build up. Under hot and dry conditions, it is also useful to keep someone around to monitor the equipment for a 30-minute cool down period, just to be safe. Be mindful of spark danger when operating in areas with exposed rocks, particularly when working with a fellerbuncher. Visually inspect the job site when leaving the area each day to check for any possible signs of smoldering debris. When doing a slashburn, take care to locate burn piles away from any structures or other combustible material and make sure they are free of dirt. Build a fire line around all piles to prevent spread. After burning, ensure that the fire is completely out before leaving the area unattended. General Fire Safety: Ensure that all logging crew personnel who might also be called upon to fight a fire have received basic firefighting training as required by OSHA. Also according to OSHA, all logging crew personnel involved in firefighting must be provided with proper personal protective equipment, which includes nomex pants, long-sleeved shirt, leather boots with at least an 8- inch top, leather gloves, and a hard hat. Make sure that all fire equipment on-site is sufficient for the crew size and is in good repair, including axes, shovels, and pulaskis. Pumps and hoses in particular need to be regularly cleaned, checked for damage or deterioration, and repaired or replaced as needed before the fire season begins. Regularly check the industrial fire level and be prepared to accept and work with early shutdowns if called by the State Forester on account of high temperature, low humidity, or high wind conditions. Provide adequate clearings around yarder cable blocks, install spark arresters on chain saws, make sure all workers have appropriate communications gear and that the gear is in proper working order. In Case of Fire: Immediately report it to the proper agency -- even if you are sure you have the fire under control -- so that backup help will be ready if it is needed. Keep all personnel informed of fire weather conditions and forecasts. Know what the fire is doing at all times. Base all actions on current and expected behavior of the fire. Identify escape routes and safety zones and make them known. Post lookouts when there is possible danger. Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively. service is temporarily unavailable
Second Science Symposium January 18 - 21, 2005 The Current Situation with Phytophthora ramorum in England and Wales David Slawson, Charles Lane, Lynne Bennett & Nicola Parry; Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Foss House, York, YO1 7PX, UK; +44 1904 455169; [email protected] Phytophthora ramorum was first found in the UK in April 2002 and emergency EC legislation introduced in November 2002. Since then, official surveys have been conducted and eradication and containment action has been taken against all findings of P. ramorum. The current situation with inspections and surveys is described and data are presented on the impact of the current measures. The pathogen has been found on various ornamental plants and trees in nurseries and retail premises, and in managed (e.g. parks and gardens) and unmanaged land. The non-tree plant species found to be infected in England and Wales include: Camellia spp., Hamamelis spp. Kalmia latifolia, Laurus nobilis, Leucothoe fontanesiana, Pieris spp., Rhododendron spp., Syringa vulgaris, Taxus baccata and Viburnum spp. Mature trees found infected to date include: Aesculus hippocastanum, Castanea sativa, Drimys winterii, Fagus sylvatica, Nothofagus sp., Quercus cerris, Quercus ilex and Quercus falcata. The disease types found on these hosts are reported. The total number of outbreaks to the end of September 2004 was 381, of which 123 are ongoing. Of these, 321 outbreaks were on nursery and retail premises, and 60 were in managed and unmanaged land. When comparing the year 2004 with a comparable period in 2003, the number of inspections by the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate increased by 56% whilst the number of new outbreaks decreased by 39%. For inspections of material moving in commercial trade there was a 32% reduction in the percentage of positive inspections. For material requiring an EC plant passport, there was a 54% reduction in the number of non-passported consignments and a 94% reduction in positive findings on passported material. Of the 60 outbreaks on managed and unmanaged land, 9 were found in 2002, 31 in 2003 and 20 in 2004 to end of September. In total, 11 outbreaks have been eradicated and 49 are on-going. Measures required at infected sites are reported. In conclusion, the import and plant passporting controls appear to have reduced substantially the amount of P.ramorum-infected infected material moving in commercial trade. In contrast, eradication of findings on plants in managed and unmanaged land appears to be a more \| Coordinated by: USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station University of California Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program, Center for Forestry, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and California Oak Mortality Task Force \|© Copyright, 2004. The Regents of the University of California. University of California Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program, UC Berkeley. For questions and comments, contact webmaster.\|
2 displays next to each other on one display the screen is displaying the code correctly, but in doubles... instead of one display it is like i have 2 LCDs in one. The display is copied and displayed next to the initial one 2 displays next to each other on one display. Please enter a valid email to subscribe We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription, please click the link in the email we just sent you. Thank you for subscribing! via Egeo 16
Japanese knotweed flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else is flowering. Japanese knotweed yields a monofloral honey, usually called bamboo honey by northeastern U.S. beekeepers, like a mild-flavored version of buckwheat honey (a related plant also in the Polygonaceae).http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/weeds/aqua015.html Common names: Japanese knotweed, fleeceflower, Mexican bamboo, huzhang Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum or syn. Fallopia japonica) is a perennial species with spreading rhizomes and numerous reddish-brown, freely branched stems. The plant can reach four to eight feet in height and is often shrubby. The petioled leaves are four to six inches long and generally ovate with an abrupt point. The whitish flowers are borne in open, drooping panicles. The plant is dioecious, so male and female versions of the inconspicuous flowers are produced on separate plants. The approximately 1/8 inch long fruits are brown, shiny, triangular achenes, (Hitchcock and Cronquist 1964; Hickman 1993). Japanese knotweed is a very aggressive species (Hitchcock and Cronquist 1964) that is capable of crowding out all other vegetation (Ahrens 1975); Hickman (1993) lists the species as a noxious weed. In addition, the plant can create a fire hazard in the dormant season (Ahrens 1975). Japanese knotweed is an escaped ornamental that is becoming increasingly common along stream corridors and rights-of-way in Washington. The species forms dense stands that crowd out all other vegetation, degrading native plant and animal habitat. This perennial plant is difficult to control because it has extremely vigorous rhizomes that form a deep, dense mat. In addition, the plant can resprout from fragments; along streams, plant parts may fall into the water to create new infestations downstream.
I have a vaporizer and I have used it in my hives. If asked I usually say that I am bleaching my woodenware. I had someone really give me a hard time about using it, After an argument about this I decided to look into it a little further. So I wrote to the EPA Pesticides Department about of label use of Oxalic Acid. Here are the responses they gave me: Ticket #: 23002-490311 Date Created: 2/17/2014 09:09 PM EST Subject: Oxalic Acid for varroa mite Question: I am trying to find out about using Oxalic Acid for the treatment of Varroa Mite in Honey Bee colonies. I understand that it is used safely and effectively in most of the world for controlling varroa mite. I have been told that it is illegal to use in the US. I have been unable to find anyone who can produce any actual code or law to such effect. Can you provide me with more information? 2/21/2014 5:10 PM EST Response Sent Pesticides17 Thank you for writing to ask the Environmental Protection Agency about oxalic acid for varroa mite control in honey bee hives. I apologize for the delay in responding. Federal law requires that before selling or distributing a pesticide in the United States, a person or company must obtain registration, or license, from the EPA. Oxalic acid was previously registered by the EPA for other uses (e.g. a toilet bowl cleaner and disinfectant), and in 1992 the agency determined that oxalic acid was eligible to continue being registered. At that time, there were five EPA-registered products containing oxalic acid. Since that time, all of the manufacturers voluntarily cancelled their registrations. Currently, there are no federally registered products containing oxalic acid as an active ingredient, so it would violate both federal and state laws to manufacture, distribute or sell pesticide products containing oxalic acid. Since there are no registered products containing oxalic acid, the EPA has no health or safety information from which to draw a conclusion. I hope you find this information useful. Please write us again if you have additional questions. 2/21/2014 7:01 PM EST Reopen In reading the information that you provided I am still unclear about using oxalic acid. I do understand clearly that it would be it would violate both federal and state laws to manufacture, distribute or sell pesticide products containing oxalic acid. What I am trying to find out is whether or not I can use it for myself for the purpose of killing mites in my bee hives in my own backyard. So to be clear, I am not talking about selling, packaging, or labeling it for any purpose. What I am trying to find out about is the legality of personal use. 2/25/2014 4:47 PM EST Response Sent Pesticides17 We have responded to your inquiry. Thank you for your follow-up question. While the agency does regulate the sale and distribution of unregistered pesticides, it does not regulate the personal use of unregistered pesticides. There may be unidentified hazards associated with the personal use of products that are not registered pesticides, but it is not a violation of Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act for you to personally use the chemical. However, since bees produce honey, there may be food or other consumer product purity considerations under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act if you sell honey or any other hive products. It is also worth noting that this response only addresses federal laws and regulations. You might consider contacting your state pesticide regulatory agency to ask if any state laws apply. I followed this up by writing to my own state's EPA to see if it was against State law but have not yet received a reply. At this point I would assume that the only problem would be if there were elevated concentrations of it in the Honey. Since I would never use it with supers on I would'nt think that would be a problem. So the way I read it, You can use Oxalic Acid if you want to. What you can't do is PACKAGE or SELL it as a varroa mite treatment.
Here is some more information on railroads in Burkina Faso. Some of this may already have been presented by Peach, I don't remember. The 510-km (317-mi) Mossi Railroad in Burkina Faso is part of the line that begins at Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and ends in Niger, some 1,145 km (710 mi) away. The line serves the towns of Banfora, Bobo-Dioulasso, Koudougou, and Ouagadougou; 25–40% of the railway traffic passes through Burkina Faso, where total rail trackage was 622 km (386 mi) in 2002. Planning for the construction of a railroad from Ouagadougou to Tambao (353 km/219 mi) to exploit the mineral deposits in the area was begun in October 1981. Constructed by volunteers, the line reached Donsin, 33 km (21 mi) from Ouagadougou, in 1987, and the second stage to Kaya (77 km/48 mi) was completed by 1991. Note that the above information is not consistent. If there is only 386 miles of track, the 317 miles which gets from the western border of Burkina Faso to Ouagadougou will only leave 69 miles. That will not come anywehere close to reaching the border with Niger to the east EDITOR's NOTE - Further research indicates that the lien ends in Kaya north of Ouagadougou and does not get anywhere near Niger. Also, that research has turned up this statement from the website of thte holding company that owns SITARAIL: Railway operations has been severely disrupted due to the current political unrest in the Ivory Coast. Various attempts have been made to restore the operations but these proved extremely difficult. The border between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso has also been closed at different intervals depending on stability in the Ivory Coast. The company is confident that operations could return to normal as soon as peace has returned to the region. This totally supports the information PEACH received and presented, but does not mean that some rail services cannot operate within Burkina Faso. The question is where would AR12 want to go?
View Full Version : ANA results 09-22-2006, 04:37 PM I finally got my rheumatologist to tell me what my blood tests results were. Everyone on this site quotes an ANA number, but he only told me that 95% of my white blood cells were lupus cells. How does this relate to all the numbers that everyone else mentions? I get confused alot anyway, so any help would be appreciated. 09-22-2006, 05:43 PM The only thing I can suggest is that your doctor may have been talking about an LE cell test. This is a test that was once used to help diagnose lupus, but has mostly been replaced by the ANA test now. In 1948, a pathologist named Malcolm Hargreaves discovered the LE cell (Lupus Erythematosus cell), which was the first blood test used to help diagnose lupus. He found that 70-80% of patients with active SLE had these cells. An LE or "lupus cell" is a specific cell found in the blood specimens of many lupus patients. The LE cell is a white blood cell that has swallowed the nucleus of another white blood cell. During the 1950s, researchers discovered that the LE cell was part of an antinuclear antibody (or ANA) reaction. This led to the development of other tests for autoantibodies. These are the tests that are primarily used today to diagnose lupus and other auto-immune disorders. When the ANA test is negative but other symptoms indicate SLE, the LE test is still used sometimes to help clarify the diagnosis. This test is considered to come up as positive in 90% of patients with active SLE. However, it can also be positive in other conditions such as scleroderma, RA, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, in liver disease, and in people taking certain prescription medicines such as hydralazine. Since the LE cell test is not specific for SLE, it's rarely used Saysusie or some of the other very knowledgeable folks on the forum may have better information for you, but that's my best guess as to what your doctor meant. 09-28-2006, 03:09 PM Does this mean that it is possible that I don't have lupus or that it isn't serious? My physician suggested that I go to a rheumy after I had a high white blood cell count. The rheumy didn't seem to think I had lupus at first especially when he gave me a strength test and I pulled the little guy over. But when I went back with the tests he gave me and the distortion of my hands from six years back, he seemed to think that I had it. He did say that the tests on my kidneys and other organs were good. So that my main involvement was arthritis and the rash. This last episode my feet grew bunions and several other abnormalities. He is an older doctor so he didn't seem to take in what I consider brain fog. 09-29-2006, 03:12 PM Your doctor will have to run several other tests before he can tell you if you have lupus and, if so, which type of lupus you may have. You could have Cutaneous Lupus: ACLE, SCLE, CCLE, or DLE/ Systemic Lupus: SLE/ Drug- Induced Lupus/ Overlap: RA, Myositis, Sjogren's, Scleroderma. Even within the same type of lupus, each case is unique, symptoms range from mild to severe and no two cases affect us in the same way. The information that Marycain gave you is the closest explanation for LE Cells in the diagnosis of Lupus. The LE cell is a white blood cell that has swallowed the nucleus of another white blood cell. There is a possibility that he might have been referring to Lupus T Cells: Patients with lupus produce antibodies against their own proteins. Patients also have immune T cells that produce a protein called IL-2, which normally usually protects against infection, at lower than typical levels. Sera from lupus patients contains antibodies that bind to T cells and activate a complex cellular signaling cascade that ultimately results in decreased IL-2 production. This deficiency in IL-2 could result in the autoantibody production that occurs in lupus. Lupus T cells increase the production of an enzyme called cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), which helps trigger inflammation. The inflammatory process is a byproduct of the body's immune system, which fights infection and heals wounds and injuries: When an injury or an infection occurs, white blood cells are mobilized to rid the body of any foreign proteins, such as a virus. The masses of blood cells that gather at the injured or infected site produce factors to repair wounds, clot the blood, and fight any infective agents. In the process the surrounding area becomes inflamed and some healthy tissue is injured. Under normal conditions, the immune system has other factors that control and limit this inflammatory process. The Infection Fighters. The primary infection-fighting units are two types of white blood cells: lymphocytes and leukocytes. Lymphocytes include two subtypes known as T-cell s and B-cells. Both types of cells are designed to recognize foreign invaders, antigens, and to launch an offensive or defensive action against them: B-cells produce antibodies when confronted with an antigen coming from outside the cell. Antibodies are separate agents that can either ride along with a B-cell or travel on their own designed to attack the antigen. The B-cell then develops a "memory" to remember that specific antigen and alert the immune system if it detects it again. T-cells also have special receptors attached to their surface that recognize specific antigens. T-cells, however, are further categorized as killer T-cells or helper T-cells (TH cells). Killer T-cells directly attack antigens, such as viruses, that occur in any cells that contains a nucleus. Helper T-cells recognize antigens, but their role is two fold. They stimulate B-cells and other white cells to attack the antigen. They also produce cytokines, powerful immune factors that have an important role in the inflammatory process . Helper T-Cells. The actions of the helper T-cells are of special interest in this process. For some unknown reason, the T-cells become overactive and mistake the body's own cells as an antigen and trigger a series of immune responses to destroy the false enemy. TH-cells stimulate B-cells to produce antibodies. In this case, however they appear to direct the B-cells to produce autoantibodies, which are directed against the body's own cells. Antibodies come in five types: IgM, IgG, IgA, IgD, or IgE. The autoantibody in SLE appears to be derived from IgG. Autoantibodies. In the majority of patients with SLE, antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are the specific autoantibodies that attack the nucleus and DNA of the patient's healthy cells. Experts have identified two subtypes of ANA that are specific only to SLE patients: Anti-DNA. An autoantibody called anti-double stranded DNA (anti-ds DNA) may play a critical role in the process. A 2001 study suggested that these antibodies specifically attack a protein in the kidney called alpha-actinin, which researchers suspect may also occur in other tissues that are affected by SLE, such as in the skin, joints, and brain. A subset of anti-DNA has also been found to target nerve-cell receptors in the brains of SLE patients. Anti-Sm antibodies. Other autoantibodies may also be involved: Anti-Ro (SSA). These autoantibodies may be involved in the sun-sensitivity experienced by SLE patients. Antiphospholipid antibodies. About half of SLE patients also have these antibodies. They attack phospholipids, fatty compounds found in cell membranes throughout the body. Antiphospholipid antibodies increase the risks for blood clots and may be responsible for narrowing of and irregularities in blood vessels and low blood cell counts. Antiphospholipid antibodies are linked with miscarriage, kidney, heart, cerebral, and eye problems in SLE patients. Cytokines. TH-cells also secrete or stimulate the production of powerful immune factors called cytokines. In small amounts, cytokines are indispensable for healing. If overproduced, however, they can cause serious damage, including inflammation and cellular injury. They can cause inflammation that occurs in parts of the body beyond the joints, which can produce fever, shock, and even organ damage, such as the liver. Specific cytokines called interferons and interleukins play a critical role in SLE by regulating the secretion of autoantibodies by B-cells. Researchers are currently interested in interferon alpha; some scientists believe high levels of this cytokine may underlie the autoimmune response in SLE. Complement. Another immune factor of high interest in SLE is complement. This is comprised of more than 30 proteins and is important for defending and regulating the immune response against foreign cells. Inherited deficiencies in certain complement components (C1q, C1r, C1s, C4, and C2) have long been associated with SLE. Deficiencies may contribute to SLE in the following manner: Complement may protect against autoimmune disease by normalizing apoptosis, the natural process by which cells self-destruct. In their absence, then, apoptosis goes awry and leads to the release of nucleosomes (collections of DNA and protein) that, in turn, trigger the destructive SLE antinuclear autoantibodies. Complement components are also necessary for clearing molecular rubble called immune complex. This is the end product of the previous intense immune activity. It consists of autoantibodies and antigens, leftover debris when the battle is over. In the absence of complement, this debris accumulates and is deposited in the kidneys, blood vessels, joints, and other sites where it further incites the immune system to produce inflammation and tissue damage. I hope that this has been helpful Peace and Blessings 09-29-2006, 03:55 PM It might be helpful to see a foot specialist to make sure that what you are describing as bunions actually are. Bunions occur in the joint that connects your big toe to the base of the foot - they can run in families, but are usually caused by poorly fitting shoes. But some people with rheumatoid arthritis can develop joint deformities that affect their toes, so you really should see a specialist to make sure, especially since you have some deformities in your hands. Rheumatoid arthritis can cause symptoms a lot like lupus. If not treated, it can cause joint damage and deformity. If you are not sure what your doctor's diagnosis is, you should schedule an appointment to talk with him. Ask him to explain to you in plain, non-medical language what he thinks is wrong, and what treatment he suggests. It might help to take someone with you, especially if you have a problem with confusion or brain fog. Brain fog is very common in lupus patients, so don't feel like you are alone in this. A lot of us share this problem. 09-30-2006, 06:08 PM Thank you SaySusie, that helps me understand the process better. As far as the bunions are concerned, fifteen years ago I had the bunions removed that I was born with. Those grew off the side of my foot as if I was trying to grow a toe there. One of my daughters inherited that same deformity. These new bunions are bony etrusicians that have occured since the flare that finally was diagnosed as lupus. Six years ago a differant doctor looked at my hands when they became deformed and did a blood test. His diagnosis was that it wasn't rheumatiod arthritis. My concern was that I would lose the use of my hands, and his advise was use it or lose it. Anyway, my middle finger on my left hand, had the upper tip rotate from the knuckle enough to make it look almost as if it is going sideways. Since that time however, my hands only ache when the weather changes or it rains or whenever. What I did then was bind my hands to enable me to keep using them, which is pretty much what I did with my joints this time trying to keep them from going to far out of whack. It wasn't where the bunions occured that hurt this time it was my arch, so it is possible that in the effort to keep using that foot I did create the bunions, but I believe that it also kept my foot from becoming more altered than it did. 10-06-2006, 08:59 AM Is it possible to have negative tests and still have lupus? i have a cousin who experiences malar rash, achy joints, extreme fatigue, weakened immune system, bruising, colitis and she's had pericarditis and a wierd 2-day stroke that shot pains in her head and weakened her left side for about two days. They ruled out leukemia and a ton of other things, but the tests for Lupus came back negative. Our grandma died of kidney failure (back in the 1940's) and had early onsite arthritis, so we figured she died of lupus. Just how accurate are these tests for lupus? 10-06-2006, 09:24 AM But it is possible to have ANA-negative lupus, although it's pretty rare - I think the statistics are fewer than 5% of lupus patients are ANA negative. Part of the problem is that a lot of the symptoms of lupus - pain, fatigue, joint aches, etc. - can be caused by other auto-immune diseases as well as conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Many people with lupus develop pericarditis, but it's also common in people with respiratory problems too. A condition called rosacea can look a lot like a malar rash and sometimes even doctors have trouble telling the difference. That's part of the reason why lupus is so hard to diagnose - many of the symptoms are not specific to lupus. Even when the ANA test is negative, lupus patients can have other antibodies like ds-dna, anti-smith, anti-ro, etc., so it's important to do a complete antibody panel when the symptoms look like lupus. If all the tests for antibody subsets are negative, it's unlikely she has lupus, because autoimmunity is the hallmark of lupus. She should definitely be tested for lyme disease, beause in its late stages it can cause symptoms a lot like lupus, including a rash and neurologic problems. MS is also a condition that can cause lupus-like symptoms. There is a really good book called THE LUPUS BOOK, by Dr. Daniel Wallace, that explains the process of lupus diagnosis, and many of the diseases that mimic lupus. It's available in many public libraries, and also in book stores and Amazon. If there is one book I think every lupus patient should own, that would be it. It has a section on ANA negative lupus. 10-07-2006, 01:15 PM I am not saying that I completely understand what you are saying, but I have two doctors that believe that I have lupus and I guess that will have to do. 10-07-2006, 01:26 PM Hi, oldgal. I think we got our wires crossed - my last post was talking about littlered's cousin, who has symptoms but no diagnosis. I guess we should have started a new topic, sorry for confusing you.
I live in this world 40 years, homo sapiens 400 thousand years, but palm species about 40 million years, and can I manage these bastards with 4 year use tested fertilizer? Who is homosapiens here? Humans are a lot smarter than palms. If something happened that made the whole planet freezing cold (including the tropics), very few palms would manage to survive the cold. Humans would struggle because of lack of food and famine would be a problem, but we are smart enough to keep ourselves warm and to even come up with ways to make crops more cold tolerant and make things artificially more nutritious. It's hard to compare animals with plants, but as far as comparing plants, I do think palms are pretty smart because they are great at reproducing and are great looking plants which means that humans have allowed many species of them to grow in great numbers in cultivation. There are other plants that are a little bit smarter though, like Kudzu (grow over EVERYTHING), poison ivy (just about anything that touches it can get a rash and if an animal eats it, they can die), and many others too. Are you sure about the ivy? I have read that animals are not only immune from the skin problems posed by the stuff for most people, it's commonly eaten by many animals! Oh, the plant is also supposed to be becoming increasingly potent in a warmer world. As far as 'smart' goes, not really sure what is meant here. I wouldn't say plants are smart as you need consciousness for that. Of course if they were, that would mean pose a tricky situation for vegetarians and Buddhists. Feed meeee. Feed meeeee. FEED MEEEEEEE... These species managed to exist 40-60 million years, there were all conditions, cold hot, dynos etc etc, it cannot be ( or at least look like ) just NPK and minors relation to around world, do they have a brain or something similar to brain? And if they do it is obviously more survivor than us humans :). As far as I know they do not have a brain or any collection of cells that communicate infomation in that way. Although i'm sure their cells communicate simple tasks but not complex thinking tasks or out of instinct/basic living tasks. And surviving that long doesn't mean they are smart. It means they are well adapted or can adapt to change well. But an interesting set of questions to ask is this: What if its possible they can think and are just as smart as us by means we don't understand? How would we know? The thing is, we wouldn't. They can't respond to us in anyway or form that we would notice(except for growing happy, ok, bad, or dying). They can't move, speak, let alone hear or see. They sense the world in different ways. So how could you communicate in the first place, or how would you go about testing it? That exactly what I know - no cells looking like a thinking brain - just lucky plants to survive all known kinds of life before and after them, I do no mind until some piece of wood in my backyard drives me nuts guessing how I can make it better looking and spending money for care! Other bacteria, fungi, plants and animals have survived much longer than palms. Just because they are old doesn't mean they are smart, just well evolved/ created whatever... But we define smart with language and reason. So ofcourse we are the smartest of them all. But I don't believe we will live aslong as the organisms that predate us. We are the only organism with the ability to destroy ourselves completely and most likely will. But the true survivors that have seen worse disasters than humanity can create, will. So I guess you can say palms are smart in a refined evolutionary way but not in the way humans define. Most complicated species ever lived on earth per their complexity/existence, tallest, most evergreen, deepest roots plants are palms, 40 million years of adaption survival. I will ask, is there smarter way to live-exist. Who is homo sapiens between me with my x-y-z organic or non organic fertilizer spreader and my backyard palm? Think that award would have to go to the Orchidacea family. At least 30,000 species they are runaway the most numerous and diverse species they occur on every continent except the poles They also hold the record for most number of hybrids at least 40000 Second would be grass at least 25000 species 10000 hybrids?? If you count adaptation as "smart" that award would have to go to ALGAE. There is no place on Earth they don't exist!! they not only seem to be the first but were the only species of life for millions of years.. I'd bet that they will be the first form of life found on another planet? Heck they may have come from another planet?? lol gary I think ALL plants(not just palms) are smart. All my plants talk to me. When they show no deficiencies, that translates to "I love you man." When they have yellow leaves, that translates to "You're watering me too much, please slow down and let me finish what I've got, then give me more." When they go through transplant shock, that translates to "Ooo! New soil. I want to explore. Don't fertilize me yet! Let's see what's new in this soil." When they start growing again, they're saying "YES!!! I love it! It's better than the soil I WAS in!" When the leaves start drying up, that translates to "Water... I need water..." So when people say plants can't talk, laugh at them and say: "They may not be able to talk the way we talk, but they most definitely can communicate their issues better than WE can!" I have been kind of wondering about this myself lately. Not so much about palms, but after watching one of my Passiflora and how it grew, I began contemplating the idea that perhaps they (plants) are smarter than we give them credit for. Perhaps they're just a different kind of intelligent that we haven't figured out yet. The case with my Passiflora (which is grown from seed) was that it started growing 4 vines almost from the start. They grew painfully slow and I was wondering if I was doing something wrong with it. Then, one night, one of those vines managed to touch the trellis and it veritably exploded in new growth. In about two weeks it had gone from a 5 inch length to almost 4 ft. But the other 4 vines were still growing slowly and only about 6-7 inches long. So, out of curiosity, I bent one of those vines so that it was in touch with the trellis. The next morning it had put on close to 4 inches and had sent out it's tendrils to grab the trellis. In my twisted mind, I saw this as some sort of very primitive (or perhaps way too advanced) intelligence that let the plant decide when it wanted to let certain parts of itself grow. It wasn't wanting food, it wasn't wanting water, it wasn't wanting sun or shade, it was just wanting something to grab ahold of. Tab-I am guessing if I understood you I would be laughing pretty hard(-: To me(whatever the word god means to you)plants are god incarnate,they produce,beauty,shelter and food for ALL of us. I think of the Orange tree.....littered with fruit at it's base...loaded with fruit and flowering...... Can you imagine a human...anything doing that? We would b*tch if one piece of fruit spoiled on the ground that we aren't appreciated..... but no,plants do not judge they do not withhold. They produce,ever reaching upward to the sun,gladly to whatever fate awaits and they do it,over and over again. Personally, I think I would love to just stand on a beach somewhere, all day long, feeling the breeze blow across me and waving to all who pass by... I think a trip to the beach is in order for this weekend. Leekle2ManE, that's exactly the point here, tree pieces driving us insane or make us feel good. Who is a homosapiens? Algee always make me feel awful in my pool or deck. There are not a competition to trees. Jimmy, I not sure if that will heart your fillings, but there is no substance of superpower in this world, we all, are micros of existing universe, Just like clowds in the sky, like thunder in air. It is not lightening good, who throws his flashy spears around, it is just megawatts of electrycity in the air; there are no god or super substance! Sorry! You don't have to be sorry for having an opinion...if you think there is no creative intelligence in the universe you may find one day that- your tiny ego was...is eclipsing it..
Planning for spring with the kids. We are allready planning for spring here in our S IL home. My oldest daughter is planning veggies mixed with flowers for her garden, and my youngest daughter is planning a flower garden with flowrs that spell out her name. She would like several differnt flowers in her favorite colors for each letter. So she has been searching the seed catalogs for a flower that starts with her letters, then looking for it in her colors. I personally cannot wait to see her purple, pink, white flower garden. She understood quite quickly about staggering the sizes, and has had great fun planning for tall, medium and small plants. She is having a bit more trouble with understanding the flowering times. My oldest wants to plant it all, she is so like me in this way. She wants huge drifts, lots of colors, and flowers that bloom non stop. She has choosen at least five different cukes, and thinks she should get more room for squash. I would love to see more people posting about how their children are planning. This forum is one of my favorites, but seems to not get alot of traffic. Becky
I happen to work for one of the largest meter producers and also happen to know how these things are designed. The R/F component of the meter is typically customer specified (i.e. whatever they want we slap it on the meter, LPR, ZigBee, WiFi, EDGE, GPRS, 3G, PLC, you name it). So this option is what the utility thought would work best for their usage scenario. WRT the disconnect part, you can't work on a "keep-alive" signal. That is by law. All error states (interference would be one them, age-related inaccuracies is another) must work in favour of the user. Hence in a case of a meter being "offline"/unreachable the meter will continue to allow power. In such a case a manual disconnect would be required, if warranted. However, the basic premise still holds, ie most meters can be managed remotely. So while on-site engines will not be removed from the picture they will now manage much fewer incidents. Anon for obvious reasons
John D. Zuccarino wrote:It seems that apparently over 30 years of independent testing has been done. Some testing has been done very secretly by the French, sneaky French. Who knew? Very few people obviously. I'm not surprised about this. From the History and Revival of Screwcaps written in 2001 from www.wineoftheweek.com "On 10th August 1889, Dan Rylands of Barnsley in the UK patented the screwcap. It was some time, however, before this advance in bottle and jar closures was used on wine bottles ........ It wasn't until the introduction of the Stelvin screwcap, developed in the late fifties by the French manufacturer, La Bouchage Mecanique and now the registered trademark of Pea-Pechiney, a French manufacturer of bottle seals, that the seal became to be recognised as a quality product". Laboratory trials started in the 1960's and in the early 1970's even Haut Brion trialled the screwcap.
Four years later, it's clear that the Arab Spring didn’t stop U.S. support for friendly despots. Posts Tagged: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi It's been a year since the Egyptian military committed the worst massacre in modern Egypt's history. Why does the U.S. continue to fund it? With secular autocrats and rigid Islamists equally discredited in the Arab world, the space is wide open for progressive democrats to save the Arab spring. As Post-Mubarak Egypt continues its turbulent transition, the United States has been sidelined by Egypt's generals. Events since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi have been ominous for democracy and for Egypt.
Diabetes Complications and Impact of Diabetes for Women Impact of diabetes is much greater on women than men. The number of diabetics according to the 2011, diabetes statistics is 25.8 Billions in USA. Where as this number was only 6 million in 1978. Every 17 seconds a person is diagnosed with diabetes. Number of female diabetics is constantly higher than the number of male diabetics. This trend of more women with diabetes is the current situation where number of women diabetes diagnosis is more than men. According to the US Gov. publications number of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetics in US all ages in 2007 is as follows. - A total of 23.6 million were diagnosed with diabetes that is 7.8% of the population - Diagnosed 17.9 millions - Undiagnosed 5.7 millions - Women that have diabetes is 11.5 millions or 10.7 % 2. Gestational diabetes In this type of diabetes women are carrying all the burden. Gestational diabetes starts during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes occur to women who do not have diabetes before pregnancy and is completely gone after the baby is born. The estimated number of of gestational diabetes and pregnancy is 18% percent of females in USA. Females who get gestational diabetes during pregnancy are most likely to have diabetes 2 later in life. Especially those women who have given birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds will most likely have diabetes 2 in the near future. Babies that are born when the mother has gestational diabetes will most likely develop diabetes sometimes in their life. On June 16, 2011 “the Gestational diabetes Act of 2011” was announced by Jean Shaheen as a legislative policy to promote gestational diabetes information with multi sites online. Diabetes prevention during pregnancy and cures for diabetes was the main the objective. At this point while I am writing this post I feel very concerned about all young women to be mothers to know this information so they may prevent gestational diabetes occurrence. Please let this be known to as many as possible as it is saving two people from diabetes which is a great reason. This is going to be an addition to the list of noble dead in your life. 3. Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in women Diabetes complication brings changes in the physical condition for heart risk factors. High blood Cholesterol levels and elevated triglycerides bring peripheral disease that clogs the arteries of the heart and hardening of the blood vessels causes severe heart problem and somehow causes more death in women. Statistics prove that one in three women with diabetes will die because of the heart disease. This is the highest rate of mortality in women due to diabetes complication. Marianne Legato, director of partnership for gender specific medicine, says that cardiovascular risk factors to men from diabetes are two to three times more where as, women face this risk six times higher than men. It is much harder for a women to control blood sugar levels to normal range than men. A research study proves that a heart attack with diabetes is much stronger in women than men. 4. Diabetes complication kidney function and women When it comes to kidney issues in general men have a higher degree of complications. But when it comes to diabetes and signs of kidney problems, women get hit same as men. So as a diabetic it hits harder to women. 5. Stress and Depression with diabetes Men usually don’t get depression due to diabetes where as women get depression twice more than men. Women are to die early because of deep depression with diabetes. A research study in 2006 proved these results. 6. Gender bias for women is also a factor It is said that a women sitting in front of a doctor does not present health risks like heart disease and similar diabetes complications but a man does. This was proved in a 2005 study for the difference between men and women in diabetes treatment. Women tend to be treated as a diabetic patient who does not need aggressive treatment. Diabetes education is very important along with diabetes support. A support group is a big help to know and follow more more about diabetes. So,In the end I will like to add that it is equally important for men and women to pay attention to their diabetes and try best to keep blood sugar levels closer to normal sugar range which will keep all complication to a minimum. Make better lifestyle changes like healthy meal planning and exercise workout plans for daily exercises. Communicate with your doctor and express all your concerns regarding diabetes and any new changes that may help your doctor to know physical condition. In case your doctor is not able to provide treatment to your personal satisfaction get a second opinion or change the doctor. Taking good care of your diabetes is only possible when you know all information on diabetes. Keeping a diabetes journal is also very effective. The sole purpose of this information is health awareness. This information is real and based on facts. It is not a substitute for medical care from your doctor or health care provider. Please check with your doctor on any related matter that concerns you for your health and well being.
This message was waiting in my inbox this morning. It may actually be one of the best examples of social engineering I’ve yet come across: This is a personal email directed to you. I and my wife won a Jackpot Lottery of $11.3 million in July and have voluntarily decided to donate the sum of $500,000.00 USD to you as part of our own charity project to improve the lot of 10 lucky individuals all over the world. If you have received this email then you are one of the lucky recipients and all you have to do is get back with us so that we can send your details to the payout bank. Please you have to help me in prayer for my wife, You can verify this by visiting the web pages below.([email protected]) Note: YOU HAVE TO CONTACT MY PRIVATE EMAIL ( [email protected] ) FOR MORE INFO Allen and Violet Large Here’s what was so brilliant about it: you know how these scam email messages always contain disguised links (e.g., the link says “chase.com” but really takes you to some spyware-infested website with a .ru domain)? The website shown in the message wasn’t disguised at all. Furthermore, it really takes you to an MSNBC article. Further furthermore, there really was an elderly couple from Nova Scotia named Allen and Violet Large, who really won $11 million playing the lottery, and who really did give it all away. I didn’t remove the link from the message quoted aboveâ€”it’s safe to go ahead and click on it (it’s actually kind of a neat story). So how do I know it’s not real, and is in fact just another Nigerian 419-style scam? First off, it arrived via email. To me, it’s already suspicious. Secondly, it’s an email that’s telling me I’m going to get a large amount of cash for doing nothing. At this point, I’m alreadyÂ one thousand percentÂ sure it’s fraudulent. But let’s really make a case against it, shall we? Read the first paragraph of the MSNBC article (emphasis mine): An elderly couple who won around $11 million from a lottery ticket in Canada have given the money away to good causes and family, according to media reports. Have given.Â Not “are giving.” It’s a done deal, dude; if you’re not a good cause or related to the Larges, and if you haven’t already received money from them, you’re not getting any ’cause there ain’t no more. Finally, the senders made a rookie mistake: the “from” line didn’t say Allen Large or Violet Large, nor did it contain the “filipinos.ca” email address; instead the message appeared to come from a completely different name with a scasd.us email address (it’s that of a real person, so I won’t give any more details than that). I don’t know where this scam is coming from, so I can’t say if it’s just a plain old Nigerian 419-style scam or a NigerianÂ Nigerian 419 scam, but I noticed the signature at the end uses the word “Goodluck” instead of “good luck,” and it only stood out to me because I know that the President of Nigeria is actually named Goodluck Jonathan. Then again, that could just be a typo; since we already know it’s a scam, we’re really justÂ sort of nitpicking at this point.
The Arrival of the Marlborough as reported in the Otago Daily Times on January 10th 1880. On the afternoon of January 7th the signals at the heads announced the arrival of the Albion Company's ship Marlborough, Captain Anderson, after a passage of 75 days from Greenock. Shortly afterwards the tug Koputai steamed down and took her in tow, crossing the bar at 7pm and bringing her up as far as the Quarantine ground where she anchored at 7.45. The customs launch, having on board Dr Dysdale, medical officer to the Board of health; Mr Monson, emigration officer; Captain McCallum, health officer; and Captain Logan, marine superintendent to the Albion Shipping Company, proceeded down, and upon getting close to the vessel ascertained from captain Anderson that there were some eight or 10 cases of measles on board. After receiving the bill of health from the surgeon of the ship, the officials ordered the yellow flag to be hoisted, and returned on shore, when we were kindly shown by the Health Officer the bill of health, from which it appears there are on board 385 souls, in addition to 48 of a crew. Once during the passage there had been 45 cases of measles, and only in the first cases were the patients isolated and their clothes and bedding destroyed, disinfectants being freely used. There have been six deaths, all children, the eldest being 10 years; four from measles, one from suppurating sore throat, and one from acute bronchitis - the last death occurring on the 7th, when rounding cape Saunders, the body being still on board the vessel. there have been three births. It has been decided that the steerage passengers shall be landed on the island this afternoon, while the saloon passengers will remain on board. The ship will be thoroughly cleaned and fumigated before being admitted to pratique. We are unable to publish a report of her passage out, but must congratulate Captain Anderson on making the best passage of the season. The Report of the voyage was later printed in the newspaper:- We are indebted to Mr Colin Allan, the immigration officer at the port, for his courtesy in supplying our representative with the following details respecting the passengers of the Marlborough:- The majority of the cases of illnesses which have occurred have arisen from measles, which first broke out on November 4th, 12 days after the ship left Greenock. The case was immediately isolated and every precaution observed in order to stamp out the disease. This apparently succeeded, for on November 22nd the patient was discharged in what appeared to be perfect health. The disease, however broke out again on December 1st in another family, and rapidly spread on both sides of the 'tween-decks, and as there were no less than 113 children located there, the number of cases which occurred is very easily accounted for. However, every possible care and attention was bestowed upon the sufferers, and all things considered, the mortality has been slight. Dr Pinkerton, the medical officer in charge, speaks highly of the conduct of the passengers, especially the single females, who appear to be a most respectable class of young women. Boat and fire drill were constantly kept up, and everything that could conduce to the amusement of the passengers was carried out with the greatest of spirit. The following are the vital statistics:- Births: On November 15th, Mrs Mary Ann Leggatt of a daughter; November 24th, Mrs Margaret Crowther of a son; November 25th, Mrs Margaret Stewart of a daughter. Deaths: December 22nd Robert lees, aged 8 years of suppurated sore throat; December 24th Mary Smith, aged 3 years, of measles; December 29th Elizabeth Thwaites, aged 11 years of measles; January 3rd Mary M Wilson aged 2 years of acute bronchitis; January 4th Mary Hydman aged 4 years of acute bronchitis; January 7th Sarah Baty aged 4 years of measles. One cabin passenger was attacked with pleurisy and one steerage with pneumonia during the voyage. Both have recovered, and are now in good health. The following report of the passage out has been furnished us by Captain Anderson:- Left Greenock on October 23rd, and proceeded to sea by the South Channel; experienced favourable winds and fine weather across the Bay of Biscay, and picked up the N.E. trades in latitude 23N; they were moderate and gave out in latitude 8N, where the first of the S.E. trades began. She crossed the equator in longitude 30W on November 11th after a smart run of 19 days from Greenock. The S.E. trades were moderate and failed her in latitude 12S; thence she encountered baffling winds until she passed the latitude of 30S. The meridian of Greenwich was crossed on December 7th, 45 days out, and that of the cape of Good Hope on the 50th day out. On December 15th, three days after she rounded the cape, the steady westerly winds set in; they were moderate and studded with fine weather, and some excellent running was made one weeks work giving as its result a total of 1026 knots. She made the Snares at 2pm on January 6th, and stood in to the Point on the next day, arriving off Tairoa Heads on the 7th, and being towed into port as above. NOTE: Due to very bad copy it was hard to type the above accurately and some words have been inserted where I could not make out the correct text. On board the Marlborough were the Gilchrist family:- John aged 36 years a Labourer from Dunbartonshire and his wife Elizabeth aged 37 years. William, aged 5; Thomas, aged 3; Robert, aged 1 and George aged 1 month shared the family quarters with their parents while the older boys, Alexander, aged 18; John, aged 15; and James, aged 12 were all in the single men's quarters From "White Wings" by Henry Brett Lost with all hands - A Remarkable Story. And she is gone, the ship! His last command! Whereon remembrance, tantalising falls Like shadows from her sails. No use to search The worlds reef-ridges for her rusting ribs; Her wreckage strewed no coastline; homeward bound! She mustered on the roll of missing ships, And bore her famous English soldier’s name To grace the gallery in Neptune’s halls. And greybeards wagged their heads and talked of ice! Of berg and floe! Of fire! Of broaching-to! But my heart whispered, "No, ‘twas none of these! ‘Twas love of gain the wrought the vessel’s doom." From "Shadows of Sails." By John Anderson, a relative of Capt. Herd. The actual fate of this beautiful ship will never be known. After making fourteen rapid and successful passages to new Zealand she sailed from Lyttleton for London on January 11,1890, with a cargo comprised of frozen meat and wool. She had a crew of twenty-nine men and one passenger. The Marlborough was a handsome ship of 1124 tons, and was built by Robert Duncan, of Glasgow, and launched in June, 1876, for her owner, Mr j Leslie, who subsequently sold her to the Shaw Savill Co. Captain Anderson commanded the ship from 1876 until 1883, making some remarkable runs to Lyttleton and Dunedin. He also made several rapid passages home, on one occasion, in 1880, being credited with covering the distance from Lyttleton to the Lizard in 71 days. In 1884 Captain W Herd succeeded Captain Anderson, and he was on the ship when she went missing on her homeward journey in 1890. As already stated, the ship sailed from Lyttleton on January 11. Two days later she was spoken to by a passing vessel and she was never heard of afterwards. One of the cadets on board was young Crombie, a stepson of Captain William Ashby, so well known in Auckland. When no tidings came after long waiting an inquiry was made as to her condition when sailing, and it was proved that the cargo was properly stowed and the ship was well founded and manned in thorough good trim for the voyage. After many months had passed the ship was posted at Lloyds as "missing" and the general opinion was that the ship had been sunk by icebergs, so frequently met with near Cape Horn. The Marlborough Mystery After the ship had been missing for over twenty years a remarkable story was published in a Glasgow paper in 1919. According to this report, the Marlborough had been discovered near cape Horn with the skeletons of her crew on board. This is the story as it appeared:- "It is stated that the crew of a passing ship in 1891 saw men, whom they believed to be British seamen, signalling off one of the islands near Cape Horn, but it was not possible to get near them owing to bad weather. "Further details of the discovery of the missing ship come via London. It appears that some considerable time back the sad truth was learned by a British vessel bound home from Lyttleton after rounding cape Horn. The story told by the captain is intensely dramatic. He says: ‘We were off the rocky coves near Punta Arenas, keeping near the land for shelter. The coves are deep and silent, the sailing is difficult and dangerous. It was a weirdly wild evening, with the red orb of the sun setting on the horizon. The stillness was uncanny. There was a shining green light reflected on the jagged rocks on our right. We rounded a point into a deep cleft rock. Before us, a mile or more across the water, stood a vessel, with the barest shreds of canvas fluttering in the breeze. We signalled and hove to. No answer came. We searched the "stranger" with our glasses. Not a soul could we see; not a movement of any sort. Masts and yards were picked out in green - the green of decay. The vessel lay as if in a cradle. It recalled the "Frozen Pirate" a novel that I read years ago. I conjured up the vessel of the novel, with her rakish masts and the outline of her six small cannon traced with snow. At last we came up. There was no sign of life on board. After an interval our first mate, with a number of the crew, boarded her. The sight that met their gaze was thrilling. Below the wheel lay the skeleton of a man. Treading warily on the rotten decks, which cracked and broke in places as they walked, they encountered three skeletons in the hatchway. In the mess-room were the remains of ten bodies, and six others were found, one alone, possibly the captain, on the bridge. There was an uncanny stillness around, and a dank smell of mould, which made the flesh creep. A few remnants of books were discovered in the captain’s cabin, and a rusty cutlass. Nothing more weird in the history of the sea can ever have been seen. The first mate examined the still faint letters on the bow and after much trouble read ‘Marlborough, Glasgow.’ " A most singular story was told in 1913 by a Seattle pilot, Captain Burley, who, in course of conversation with the skipper of one of the Shaw Savill liners, gave a description of a wreck that bore the name ‘Marlborough’. This pilot said that in his youth he was wrecked off Staten island, and he and the only other survivor set off to look for a whaling station, and while searching they came across, in a cove, a large ship with painted ports. The pilot said he distinctly saw the name ‘Marlborough’ on the wreck. Lying near were the skeletons of twenty men, and heaps of shellfish told how they had tried in vain to fight off the starvation that eventually overtook them. This story only came to light many years after the pilot saw the wreck. Why it was not reported at the time seems strange, nut it is none the less likely to be true. The ship Dunedin, another fine vessel, sailed from Oamaru a few weeks after the Marlborough, and was also posted as missing. Below follow the record of outward passages made by the Marlborough:- * Via Bluff To read about the conditions expected on a trip to New Zealand click here: I do not know anything more of this ship so please do not contact me asking for more information. Everything I know is already here. Send mail to Patricia Taggart with questions or comments about this web site.
Along with her sister, the late Leona Sobel, Ethel Brody generously gave to the Columbia Museum of Art for nearly half a century. The sisters jointly donated more than one hundred and seventy-five works of art to the CMA’s collection. The breadth and quality of these gifts are impressive. But the most important gift Ethel gave was her enthusiasm. She believed in the power of art to expand personal horizons and inspire imaginations. Ethel knew that Columbia was a good place to live but envisioned that it could be better. To blossom, the city needed culture at its core. Music now thrives in Columbia, as does literature, dance, and theater. Visual art thrives, too, due in large part to Ethel Brody who understood that living a full life was one thing, but to live life to the fullest one needs all the arts. Ethel was born and raised in New York City, where she grew up in museums and galleries. From 1947 onward, though, South Carolina was her home. Her love of painting, sculpture and decorative art came with her, and she planted that love here in Columbia. The community’s debt to her can never be measured, though she would have claimed no debt exists with art freely given and received. The value in all things beautiful arises in direct proportion to how much beauty is shared. Ethel shared, with us, all that she had. A great citizen, patron and friend, Ethel Brody will be truly missed.
Using and configuring software can be a complex task. Often instructions or assistance are required in order to know how to achieve what you need to with your computer. Sharing skills and knowledge is central to the Free Software philosophy, and as a result the Free Software support community offers a plethora of resources for meeting user's needs. User manuals and help guides Most Free Software applications are accompanied by manuals on how to use them. Manuals are good for finding out how to use the core features of a particular program. When you expect to be able to perform a task, but can't figure out how to do it, reading the manual is often the best first step. Many software projects take great care to produce accurate and extensive user manuals, and reading them is often the shortest route to a solution. In desktop applications, like Mozilla Firefox or OpenOffice, these can usually be found in the application's 'Help' menu. In text-only terminal applications, these can usually be accessed by typing 'man' (short for manual) followed by the application name. For example, this command would show the manual for the move command: Sometimes manuals are installed separately to the application itself, particularly if the manual is very long. In such cases you either need to install the manual separately on your computer, or alternatively view the manual online. Wikis are websites which allow lots of different people to change the content of their webpages. They provide a platform for groups to work collaboratively on guides and documentation, and update it with their own knowledge and experience. Wikipedia is an example of a wiki which is used for encyclopedic information; wikis about Free Software projects contain only information about the application that they relate to. Wikis are similar to manuals, but are often broader in scope, and sometimes more up-to-date. Some wikis have many contributors and are excellent compendiums of guides and instructions. Others however are not very well maintained, and may contain information which is out-of-date, or inexhaustive. If you need assistance with a Free Software application that has a wiki then checking to see if your problem is documented there may well be worthwhile. Wikis are accessed via a web browser. You often need an account in order to add or edit wiki pages. Some wikis als allow you to discuss page content using the wiki software itself, and see past revisions of wiki pages. Forums are a medium of non-real time communication between a large number of different people. With a forum account, visitors can read messages published (or 'posted') by other visitors, and post messages of their own which are visible to other forum users. They are good for many types of questions and support, especially questions which are specific, or may affect the minority of the application's users. They can be searched for messages relating to the problem that you have, and in cases where this doesn't return a solution, they can be used to post new questions. The accuracy of information found in support forums varies, as does the level of moderation, and the average speed of reply. Most forums have their own set of rules designed to facilitate communication, which users must agree to during registration. Forums are very widely used by Free Software support communities, and can provide an easily accessible database of structured information about other users' experiences, problems and solutions. Forums are accessible via a web browser, and often contain many thousands of messages. Real time chat (IRC) Some Free Software projects, particularly larger ones and GNU/Linux distributions, have chat rooms where users meet to communicate in real time. They use a system called Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and channels (chatrooms) vary greatly in size and nature. Some contain thousands of people at any one time, others contain only a few members, or none at all. Quality and speed of assistance can also be unpredictable as moderation of real time communication is harder than non-real time methods (such as forums), and participants may also be chatting in several other rooms simultaneously, causing their responses to be slow. IRC has a long history, and has developed its own customs and etiquette. When other research has drawn a blank, or you need help with something that's hard to explain and unlikely to be documented anywhere else, support chat rooms can be invaluable. They can be particularly useful for finding different ways of approaching a problem that you're stuck with, and for getting expert technical attention. Chat rooms can be accessed in a variety of ways. You can connect to IRC using a web browser with web pages which have the room embedded in the page, or using a desktop IRC client. Some channels require that you register with the network before connecting. You will need to know the name of the channel that you want to join, such as #fsfe, and join it by issuing a join command like: Alternatively you may be able to choose the channel from a list inside your IRC client. Mailing-lists are a simple system for sending emails to groups of people interested in a particular subject. They are very widely used by Free Software projects to coordinate different tasks, though they have been replaced by newer support systems such as forums by many applications. Mailing-lists offer a good way to ask a question to a project's entire support community. Some lists are more heavily moderated than others, and they vary in how active and supportive they are. Typically mailing-lists allow you to register your email address and then send messages to the list email address, like [email protected]. List members can then reply to your query in the form of another message that will be received as an email by all list members, including you. It's best to observe etiquette and good practice when messaging a list. As a rule, original, well written questions are more likely to get good responses. People who user Free Software live all over the world. Many towns, cities, and counties have established groups of local residents who meet online or in person to discuss one or more Free Software projects. Thousands of GNU/Linux user groups (LUGs) meet each month in different locations, for example. User groups vary as much as the people who run and attend them. Some are very focused on supporting and advocating a particular Free Software application of distribution. Others are largely a social meeting, providing an opportunity for people who work or study with particular software to relax together. Some have an affiliation with a university or college. When seeking support, it is advisable to communicate with a user group before attending an in-person meeting in order to guage how willing and able group members will be to help you with your problem. Most user groups have a mailing-list or chat channel where members can be contacted. User group members may be more willing to help you than people you meet via generic community support systems because of your close proximity to each other. In some cases members may also be willing to provide you with telephone, instant message, or remote access based support. Often it is possible to find the email addresses of Free Software developers and message them directly. Some developers, particularly of smaller projects, welcome this kind of contact. Others prefer not to be contacted in this way, particularly if the message concerns a request for information that can be found elsewhere. Generally you should only email developers if there is no other support system available for the software concerned, of if your question contains information which may be sensitive (relating to security, for example). Remote control (VNC) Virtual network computing (VNC) allows the remote control of one computer's graphical desktop from another over an Internet connection. The host computer is controlled remotely by the client computer, and shows real-time images of the mouse and running applications to the controller on the client computer's screen. VNC can be an efficient way for an expert to fix your computer on your behalf. In such cases you can sit back and watch your computer doing what it was instructed by the person who is remotely controlling it. Due to the degree of control over your machine that VNC entails, it is advisable to only accept support via VNC from somebody who you know well and trust, or from a company from whom you have the protection of a legal contract. Although VNC is a powerful tool for getting technical help, it is not generally unconventional as a community support tool. The ease of establishing a VNC connection depends on the operating system, and in the case of GNU/Linux, the distribution that you are using. Free cross platform VNC software exists for all major operating systems. Most major GNU/Linux distributions have integrated VNC solutions. If you are using VNC for support, the expert to whom you will hand control may be able to assist you in choosing and configuring VNC software.
Ever walked into a house that felt like home? Ever reminisced about the best year of your life, and wondered why everything came together for you? It could be Feng Shui. Simply put, Feng Shui is about creating a harmonious environment. Its the ancient Chinese Science and Art of placement, intended to improve our health, harmony, longevity, career and wealth. Pronounced, Fung Shway, it was a jealously guarded secret for thousands of years. Now, the benefits of Feng Shui can be enjoyed by anyone. In fact, Feng Shui is a part of everyday life for many Australian businesses, home owners, decorators, and architects. June from June Turner Designs and Lifestyles has been an expert Feng Shui practitioner for 13 years. Feng Shui can be simple or involved whatever youre comfortable with. Decorate a room or buy a home that is perfect for your family. The key is energy (or Qi Chee). June offers ten quick tips that can improve the flow, transformation, and containment of Qi in your life: 1) Remove shoes before entering a home. Dont take your problems in with you. 2) Cook at least one meal a day and eat at the table as a family. 3) Never have knives on show even in a block. 4) Always sit or stand facing the door (or its reflection). 5) Keep the toilet lid down and bathroom and laundry doors closed. 6) Don’t sleep under white blankets or doonas. 7) Don’t sleep with your feet facing the bedroom door. 8) Don’t sleep next to the wall that has the metre box on it. 9) If your front door is in line with a tree or the door of the house opposite, place a Ba Gua mirror above the Posted in Feng Shui by nangpooh with . Information architecture is defined as the outline or blueprint that describes how data and information is systematized, ordered, and controlled. Another definition of information architecture says that it is a system of spotting, managing, and controlling patterns in data. This data-handling technology aims to be able to make complex, ambiguous, and fuzzy sets of information, data, and other resources as simple and as understandable as they can be. According to a business-related site, it has been unfortunate in these modern times that most business companies struggle in terms of the use of the technology of information architecture. Actually, some businesses are having difficulties even with the most basic applications of information. A significant quantity of companies still experiences difficulties in getting up-to-date, comprehensive, precise, and accurate views of the results of the projects and actions they have done previously. Companies now just create proposals for new, innovative, predictive, and analytical transformation and differentiation in terms of information handling and architecture in a diminishing effort. The result of this failure of the companies to value the technology being delivered by information architecture leads to the struggles they experience that are stated in this article. e. Companies that are struggling in executing information architecture processes need to adapt a new one that suits their needs the best. In choosing a new style of information architecture, they must bear in mind that in the world of technology, the amount of information and data inputted into the Web is growing in a much rapid way. Also, the speed at which information is received has gone significantly faster than before. Data comes in various types, so an information architecture system must be flexible to such variety of files. Automation is in demand these days. To learn more about IC693DSM302 and IC693DSM314, check Posted in Architecture by nangpooh with . Painting can hugely affect the aesthetics of a home. Just think, when you walk into a home with nothing but white walls, you perceive that home to be kind of boring, bland, blah. However, when you walk into a home that has tastefully used accent colors and variety in each room, you will probable find that the aesthetics of that home are much more impressive and enjoyable than the home with only white walls. You may even find that your appreciation for the rest of the design elements in a painted home are heightened, even if the home with only white walls had the same design attributes. Obviously, painting can play an important role in the way a home looks and the way it is perceived by visitors. If you are looking for a way to enhance your home’s aesthetics, then painting is something you should really consider. But painting on your own can be a very big undertaking, which is why you may want to consider hiring a professional. Boston residential painters provide a high, professional level of painting services in order to help you improve the aesthetics of your home. Improvements Thanks to Paint > There are many different places in your home that can be spruced up with some paint. There are also a lot of different painting techniques that can be used to create different aesthetic affects. You can paint just one wall with a dramatic color for accent, or you can paint all four walls with a more subtle color. You can also paint the wall behind your stove or your sink to create the feeling of a backsplash. You can also use paint after filling in holes in your walls to make your home look clean and new again. Or, if you have a Posted in Home & Estate by nangpooh with . Sustainability means managing the resources well without damaging the environment now or in the future. In other words sustainability also refers to ensure that our decisions today may not harm the future opportunities for future generations. Now, have you ever thought that what a sustainable architect does in terms of product, process or buildingdesign?Sustainable architecture is a term that describes environmental friendly design methods in the field of architecture. A client can believe on sustainability but the proof and evidence can help the client to better understand the concept of sustainability. Architect Brighton offers sustainable modern architecture, design and master planning service in order to meet the needs of their clients. Their goal is to create -green’ architecture which is magnificent in terms of design, keeping in mind the sustainable lifestyle and culture. Sustainable architect is not an individualist approach rather it’s a holistic approach. These architectsare more concerned about the reuseand recycling of the natural resources that are input to a building. A well designed building will have number of issues like water and energy utilization, proper use of materials and much more. Architects can deal with the ecological aspects of constructing these buildings. These aspects are designed to increase the efficiency without being detracting from the function of the building. Sustainable architect focuses on designing a unique set of strategies to construct or develop a building intelligently. The architects minimize the use of nonrenewable resources in the development and function of buildings. These architects must consider the material flow in the building ecosystem. Few of these have been mentioned below: Building materials and used materials Energy usage and combustion by products Water usage and Graywater sewage Consumer goods and recyclable materials Solar radiation and wasted heat Wind and polluted air Rain and groundwater Posted in Architecture by nangpooh with . Among the renewable sources of energy, one of the most exciting sources of power is solar. Previously, solar power generation was only particularly feasible for running hotels and small lodging houses that were up in the hills away from the main grid. Soon, other business establishments in remote areas started to install solar panels and generate solar power needed for running their business. Now solar power generators have reached business units and residential locations in the city. The main equipment used in the generation of solar power is solar power panels. The panels are available in a number of different sizes and specifications. The bigger the solar panel the higher the capacity to absorb the heat of the sun and convert it into electrical power. In addition to being a reliable alternative source of energy, the implementation of solar panels will help in producing more green power and reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The government also encourages individuals to install these solar panels by giving tax breaks to the individual house owners. More so than ever the solar power generation by using solar panels is one of the cheapest sources of power for a residential property. In addition to individual houses installing solar panels, more and more housing complexes across the country have started to go for solar energy. As more and more housing complexes continue to snap up solar panel installations, people prefer to dwell in such complexes rather than in individual houses. By going the solar way, each and every residential apartment in the complex can save up to 30% of their monthly electricity bills. These savings are absolutely vital in times like the current tough one. The family can use the money saved in power consumption for some other essential needs such as groceries Posted in Home & Estate by nangpooh with .
GardenNews.biz - Sep 09,2013 - SAN LUIS OBISPO BOTANICAL GARDEN - Star Gazing Party Saturday, November 9 from 6 PM to 8 PM Star PartyThere is more to the night sky than stars! STAR GAZING and BLACK HOLES! You’re invited to join an intergalactic planetarium-style star show and star gazing evening by the Central Coast Astronomical Society at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens. You’ll discover massive black holes, spinning neutron stars, quasars, blazars, magnetars, supernovae, and afterwards look at the night sky through big telescopes to see nebulae, galaxies, planets and more! This family-friendly activity will enthrall and ignite your imagination (but the event is not suitable for small children). Dress warm and stay tuned to slobg.org/star-party for weather and event updates or sign up for our e-calendar for the latest event updates. Rain or heavy clouds may cancel event. Presentation is $5 for members/$10 non-members. For more information contact our Education Coordinator at [email protected] or 805.541.1400x 304. Established in 1979, the Central Coast Astronomical Society (CCAS) promotes human understanding of the cosmos by providing enjoyable, friendly and rewarding astronomical experience for beginners and experts alike. You can read more about CCAS at www.centralcoastastronomy.org
With two former members of the Federal Trade Commission on payroll, perhaps it's not surprising that Facebook just got let off the hook for mass violations of federal privacy rules. It's pretty depressing, though. The FTC just announced it reached a settlement with the shameless social network for breaking a slew of privacy promises to users, including by forcing private friends lists into public, grossly oversharing data with third party apps, and failing to actually delete deleted content. As punishment - if you can call it that - Facebook agreed to conduct 10 privacy audits over 20 years, to actually delete information when the user deletes it, to stop "making misrepresentations about the privacy or security of consumers' personal information," and to require users to opt-in to any new privacy changes. This settlement makes a mockery of the idea of holding corporations accountable for their actions. It's being grossly oversold in the media. "Privacy Changes Must Be Opt In," said TechCrunch's headline, for example. Facebook "must obtain consumers' approval before it changes the way it shares their data," said the Wall Street Journal. Too late! Facebook profiles are already splayed open for the world to see, just as Facebook intended when it misappropriated user data two years ago. Your date of birth and contact information are still private, largely to shield the company from culpability in identity theft, but that's about it; Facebook wanted users to share everything widely, and that's what we do, unless we fiddle with the settings. So yes, you must "opt in" to any new privacy changes, but by default you're already sharing virtually everything about yourself, so there's probably no need. The FTC could have done much more. Privacy groups are already noting the settlement's shortcomings. EPIC, the group whose complaints formally brought Facebook's violations to the FTC's attention, today wrote that "the settlement does not adopt EPIC's recommendation that Facebook restore users' privacy settings to pre-2009 levels." In other words, the commission could have forced Facebook to undo its misdeeds - misdeeds alleged by the commission itself - but chose not to. And there's little doubt Facebook knew what it was doing was nefarious when it rolled back user privacy in 2009. All the way back in 2007, the FTC issued guidelines instructing companies to obtain "affirmative express consent for material changes to existing privacy promises, and affirmative express consent to (or prohibition against) using sensitive data for behavioral advertising." Now, years later, the FTC has finally made Facebook agree to "obtain consumers' affirmative express consent before enacting changes that override their privacy preferences." What a victory. In the nearly three years since it flouted FTC guidelines, Facebook saw its valuation grow from $15 billion to close to $100 billion. On the negative side of the ledger, Facebook must now undergo 20 years of FTC oversight, consisting mainly of third party privacy audits, and face fines of up to $16,000 for each violation of its FTC deal. It's hard to imagine a company planning to raise $10 billion within the next seven months is particularly worried about some audits and possible future fines. Facebook's collection of ex FTC staffers must also provide the company some comfort when dealing with the government. The social network hired as a lobbyist former FTC chair Timothy Muris. Also in its pocket: Former FTC commissioner Mozelle Thompson, who works as the company's "chief privacy adviser." The prospect of such gainful private employment for commissioners couldn't have hurt this toothless settlement's chances as it hurtled toward a unanimous, 4-0 commission approval. And having some ex regulators in hand surely emboldened Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to herald the settlement in a blog post, and to pepper said blog post with such preposterous statements as, " I think we have a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information." Approximately no one would agree that is Facebook's history. But at least the company has promised to finally begin complying with privacy laws, now that it can more than afford to do so. [Pics: Zuckerberg via Getty Images, top; Revolving door via Knud Nielsen/Shutterstock, bottom.]
Here is what the word "urban" means: "of, pertaining to, or designating a city or town; living in a city; characteristic of or accustomed to cities; citified." Here is what the word "urban" does not, in fact, mean: "black person." Let's all do our part to keep this straight. One reader emailed us today, referring to a photo of murdered black teenager Trayvon Martin. In it, the reader said, Martin sports a gold tooth: "Gold front teeth on someone that young signify an adherence to urban/gangsta lifestyle." Now. Notwithstanding everything else wrong with that sentence, let's isolate this one simple fact: Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida. Have you been to Sanford, Florida? I have. It is not urban. Trayvon Martin was not "urban." Trayvon Martin was black. That is also why he was shot. This is not to imply that only moronic people on the internet use this misnomer."Urban marketing" is synonymous with marketing to black people. "Urban fiction" is black fiction. "Urban" music is common parlance for black music, even if it comes from the country. And the number of pundits who drop the "urban" code word while stumbling in search of something to say other than "black" is impossible to count. Are black people urban? Sure, sometimes. Here are some other things that are urban: multiple Starbucks locations in a two-block radius, The Real Housewives of New York, and power lunches at The Essex House. But you know what the most urban thing is, these days? [Photos via Getty.]
I called for a taxi to pick me up at my hotel this morning at 9 a.m. An hour later, I was still waiting. A full hour! So I called another taxi company. This new cab company not only picked me up within 15 minutes, but sent me text messages to let me know the cab was on the way—a fine example of how social media and smart phones are changing the game in the transportation industry. On the way in, in the back of the cab, I read the New York Times on my web-enabled smart phone. Thank god for cloud computing and the globalization of information technology. My driver, an African fellow, said he "didn't like traffic." I bet there are some great tools on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the iPad for that. When we reached my destination I asked for a receipt. And do you know what was on the back of my receipt? An ad for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. What? That guy's been dead for years. [Photo: Paul Beattie/ Flickr]
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty has added a three-volume work on the history of aviation to it growing list of aviation products. All three are titled “Aviation Century” and the three subtitles are “The Early Years,” “The Golden Years,” and “World War II.” The first volume focuses on the period from 1900 to 1939, covering the Wright Brothers and other pioneers like Charles Lindberg, Santos-Dumont, Farman, Bleriot, Caproni, Curtiss and AV Roe. The story is told in 157 pages, with 130 photographs. In volume two, the focus is on the record-setters who were obsessed with speed during the golden age of air racing, the pilots who sought to be first in crossing oceans, jungles, ice caps and incredible mountain ranges. It also illuminates the attraction of flying circuses, daredevil acts and the air shows that have wowed audiences since the end of World War II with ever more challenging aerobatics. The book is 288 pages with 320 illustrations. Volume three begins with the German blitzkrieg and Battle of Britain and takes the reader through the end, with descriptions of types and models used by each nation involved in the war. It is 352 pages with 400 photographs. All three books are in hardcover and sell for $39.95 each, plus shipping. For more information: 877-4 SPRUCE.
Born in East Orange, New Jersey, Gerald McConnell studied at the Art Students League with Frank Reilly and simultaneously apprenticed under Dean Cornwell. It is not easy to pinpoint an influence on his work, however, since it covers such a range of stylistic approaches Pocket Books in 1953, McConnell concentrated on Western covers for most of the major paperback publishers. When he began making assemblages in 1967, an entirely different (and better paying) group of clients became patrons. And when he won the Society of Illustrators' Hamilton King Award in 1981, it was for his ultra-rendered pencil drawing of Grand Central Terminal. A Gold Clio award was won in collaboration with photographer Cosimo Scianna on a complex construction of a mummy. Other awards include "Best in Show" of the Real Show in 1979 and numerous certificates from Art Directors Clubs. He has also exhibited his work in galleries and museums, including the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, NASA Museum and the National Parks Department in Washington. has long been a backbone of the Society of Illustrators, serving on the Executive Committee for over ten years, as house Chairman, and as Editor of the Annual Books. He is also National Vice President of the Graphic Artist Guild, and has taught at Pratt Institute. Of late, McConnell is concentrating on his publishing ventures, Madison Square Press, and Annuals Publishing Company. The Illustrators in America 1880-1980 by Walt and Roger Reed from the work he has done for most major publishing companies, advertising agencies and corporations, Mr. McConnell has exhibited In one-man and group shows In the following galleries: Greengrass, New York, N.Y. Society Of Illustrators, New York, N.Y. Fairtree, New York, N.Y. Xerox, Rochester, N.Y. General Electric, Fairfield, Ct. U.S. Air Force Museum, Dayton, Oh. Patrick Air Force Museum, Cape Canaveral, Fl. NASA Museum, Cape Canaveral, Fl. National Parks Department, Washington, D.C. Mr. McConnell has served the following: Frank Reilly School Of Art, trustee and on its board of directors Society Of Illustrators, member since 1962, on its board of directors since 1963 and executive committee since 1967. Graphic Artists Guild, founding member in 1969, On its board of directors and executive committees since then. Currently President of the Graphic Artists Guild. During 1977-78, he was a visiting professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and taught a class on art law and business with Tad Crawford at Pratt-Phoenix in 1978-79. McConnell has written and illustrated a book entitled Assemblage", edited by Howard Munce and published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, on three-dimensional picture making. His awards include many Certificates of Merit from The Society of Illustrators, Art Directors Clubs of New York and New Jersey and Andy. He has received The Gold Clio Award for the "Best In Consumer Print Ad" and "Best In Show" from the "Real Show" held at Grand Central Gallery. NASA Art Program background in traditional painting stems from study at the Art Students League under Frank Reilly. His course stressed the fundamentals - drawing and painting. During my last year of study I was on a half day schedule so I was able also to work as quasi-apprentice to Dean Cornwell. Though I had no desire to imitate Mr. Cornwell's style, observing him at work was a most beneficial experience. His approval, when it came, was a great confidence-builder. At the time I started freelancing realistic painting was the usual approach. Fortunately, because of my training, I felt at ease with my earliest assignments. Product rendering has never been my favorite form of expression. However, there is always need for this type of work and it is financially rewarding. The example I've included here was part of a campaign for Grey Advertising, which I worked on in conjunction with another New York illustrator, Howard Koslow, an expert in this area. Howard taught me a great deal about that handy tool, the airbrush. On this assignment I also did the lettering. It took me as long as the rest of the job. As in all product-rendering, the idea was to make the pack and the cigarettes look better than they would have in photography. This can be achieved with modified perspective, elimination of unnecessary detail and adjustment of color values so they will appear cleaner and slicker in reproduction. The dragon with the flower was a cover for Bell Magazine, published by A.T.& T. It was done with Designers colors and dyes. The three elements were selected by the art director to represent Red China. After gathering the reference material I made a detailed drawing of each object, establishing light and shadow patterns. I projected these onto double weight illustration board and painted the background dark, so that I could adjust all my values against it. I then painted both the dragon and the flower with dyes, which gave the brilliance I wanted. I did the final details with opaque colors. The picture containing the F4C fighter plane was done from scrap gathered in England. I was there for the Air Force to visit several British and American air bases, in order to paint the F4C in action. This particular painting was of a small 16th century church situated at the end of one of the runways near Little Stukeley. It was ironic to note that the plane was already being phased out of use while the church would probably, if not destroyed by vibration, remain indefinitely. The 40" high painting was done with opaque The barn door and chain, one of my Sunday attempts at therapy, was a joy to do-no art director, no client just myself to please. This was also painted with Designers colors on board. It's just a bit under life-size. All my paintings in this manner begin with numerous pencil sketches with many design adjustments. When the final solution is reached, I transfer it to illustration board by use of a Balopticon and do a very finished pencil drawing, which is then well fixed. I then cover the entire board with an overall tone which will set the color and mood of the painting. That done, I restate the larger areas with more opaque paint to the exact color and value needed, after which I proceed to the remaining areas, bringing the degree of finish up to my center of interest.
Senegal Parrots are medium sized parrots that can make excellent companion birds. They do talk, but are more adept at mimicking sounds rather than clear speech. There is some contention that Senegals can develop phobias so it is a good idea to expose them to new things so that they are used to change. Senegal Parrots are often referred to as "apartment birds". But, I do not believe that to be true for most that I have had come into our rescue. They can make an extremely loud screech at times, but most do not have a reputation of becoming screamers. They are capable of talking, but most only say a few words and mimic sounds such at the microwave beeps, ringing phones, squeaky doors, etc. A medium sized cage is required for a Senegal Parrot. It should have bar spacing no larger the 5/8" and measure not less than 20" wide x 20" deep and 30" high. It should be big enough to allow lots of room for toys and space enough for the bird to spread its wings. Senegals like to climb and hang upside down while playing. Add lots of perches, boing ropes and a swing to give them places to climb. The Senegal Parrot diet should consist of medium pellets, fresh vegetables, some fruit, whole grains and some seed. Give a varied diet to keep the bird interested and also to avoid food "phobias". The amount of seed offered should only make up about 20% of their diet. It is not a good practice to allow free feed all day. The best solution is a morning and evening feeding per day with plenty of fresh water available at all times. Senegal Parrots, or all parrots for that matter, require between ten and twelve hours of quiet and darkness to provide adequate sleep. A TV in the room, talking on the phone, or having a conversation with somebody does not provide good sleep. Even if they are covered they are still not being given the opportunity for uninterrupted sleep with is vital to behavior. Lack of sleep equals a cranky bird. Senegal Parrots can easily become bonded to one person and tend to become extremely defensive toward anyone else. The best solution is training and socialization in order to control this type of situation. The more interaction with other people, the less likelihood that this behavior will spiral out of control. Senegal Parrots are not generally prone to feather plucking, but if neglected or board they can resort to that behavior. Senegal Parrots thrive on regular human interaction, but also can play independently if offered a variety of toys. Foot toys should also be available because they love to play with things they can hold on to and manipulate with their foot. Be careful when taking your Senegal Parrot outside. Always have it restrained either in a carrier or on a harness. They can fly great distances with just a few flight feathers and can at times spook very easily. Many a Senegal has been lost this way.
If SimCity introduced legions of gamers to the world of urban planning, then IBM's upcoming CityOne game looks to take that education to the next level. With real-time water management, microlending, and smartgrids, will there be any room for fun? We'll get a better idea of that tomorrow, when IBM introduces the game at the collegiate IMPACT conference. The game challenges players to take on many of the problems facing real cities today—overcrowding, inefficient energy infrastructure, stagnant small business economy, etc.—and design smarter cities that can sustain and encourage the growth of a prosperous population in the future. The idea here, presumably, is that it's always a good thing to educate the populace about the these sorts of problems, and, hey, who knows, someone might unwittingly stumble on a solution we can actually use. At the most recent TED conference, Jane McGonigal gave an impassioned talk on games and their potential to solve real world problems, and IBM's CityOne certainly seems to be what she had in mind. [Fast Company]
Your sketches and notes will carry a lot more weight if they're created with this squat mechanical pencil that's made from actual hand-poured concrete. You'll just want to make sure you're not the type who likes chewing on the end. The pencil has an equally thick 5.5mm 2B lead making it slightly more better suited for sketching and drawing than taking notes, but there's nothing stopping you from using it however you like. Whether that's jotting reminders on a post-it note, marking term papers, or smashing windows—it's useful on so many levels. You'll need to be a little careful with it, after all, it's made from concrete, not titanium. An unfortunate drop could result in $50 worth of shattered concrete pieces all over your floor, and you having to resort back to using an uncouth wooden writing instrument. [22 Design Studio via designboom]
We've got some pretty tall mountains here on Earth. Granted, even the best of 'em don't hold a candle to what's waiting on Mars, but they're still impressive. Just look at the views Google got with its Street Mountain View shots. But how tall could a mountain on Earth actually be, under the most perfect conditions? Henry Reich of MinutePhysics and now MinuteEarth digs in, or should we say summits? Suffice it to say the wildest peaks aren't here at home, but until you've climbed Everest, you're in no place to complain. [MinuteEarth]
Why You Need to Write Every Day After all, writers wrote all the time, and I didn’t. I felt like a fake. Maybe you have, too. Then, I learned the secret to prolific writing: Don’t write a lot. Just write often. Spending five hours on a Saturday writing isn’t nearly as valuable as spending 30 minutes a day every day of the week. Especially when you’re just getting started. The idea is repetition — developing a discipline of showing up, making this a priority, and working through The Resistance. If you want to get this writing thing down, you need to start writing every day. No questions asked, no exceptions made. After all, this isn’t a hobby we’re talking about; it’s a discipline. What makes a real habit It should come as no surprise that habits practiced once a week aren’t habits at all. They’re obligations. Or maybe, at best, cute little hobbies. And let’s not kid ourselves here. If you’re doing something once a week, it’s probably only a matter of time before you stop doing it altogether. The only thing you need to know about writing is that you must do it. The rest is just showing up. Jack Cheng says that 30 Minutes a Day is enough to form a new habit. He shares in this post: When mastery is the goal, spending an exorbitant number of hours in one sitting will likely lead to burnout. We don’t go to the gym expecting to put on 20 pounds of muscle in a single, day-long workout. Instead, we do several short workouts a week, spread out over months. Our bodies need time to heal; our muscles time to grow. And the same goes for that muscle inside your skull. When trying to develop a new skill, the important thing isn’t how much you do; it’s how often you do it. Learning to fail If there is a second part of this lesson for writing daily, it’s this: become comfortable with failure. Here are some excerpts: Trial and error is an essential part of any creative’s life. As Ze Frank says, usually when we execute an idea for the first time, it kinda sucks. The important thing is to synthesize the knowledge gained during the process to refine the idea, and create a new-and-improved version… With projects that require a serious infusion of creative juice – developing a new business plan, writing a novel, or just learning a new skill – it’s incredibly important to maintain momentum. Just as when you run everyday, the exercise gets easier and easier, the same thing happens with your brain. Stimulate it regularly each day, and those juices start to flow more freely. Get started now This was the best advice I’ve received all weekend. Of course, blogging here forces me to write nearly every day, but I’m learning that isn’t enough. I’m opening back up a writing project that I put on the shelf a few months ago. It’s time to stop treating it as a hobby and turn it into a habit. What about you? Is there something you’ve been putting off? Time to pick it back up? Share in the comments. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Get started now. Spend 30 minutes today taking it one step further in the development process. So what if it sucks? You need to get those juices flowing. Then, do the same thing tomorrow. And the next day. And the one after that. And so on. Do you write every day? Why/why not?
Beyond the Carolinas: EEOC hands down historic win Updated: June 18, 2012 at 10:17 am ENGAGE: Write a letter to the editor \| Comment on this story EEOC hands down historic win WASHINGTON, D.C. — Marking a landmark federal workplace rights victory, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled April 24 in a 5-0 decision that an employer who discriminates against a transgender employee or job applicant because of the person’s gender identity is practicing illegal sex discrimination based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is the first time the EEOC has ruled that anti-transgender discrimination is sex discrimination. The case was brought by the Transgender Law Center on behalf of their client Mia Macy (pictured, with credit to GLAAD) who was denied a job as a ballistics technician at the Walnut Creek, Calif., laboratory of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives due to her transgender status. Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, observed, “This ruling is a major advancement in transgender rights that will provide a significant tool to fight discrimination. It will also help us advocate for still needed protections like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the federal contractors executive order.” — David Stout Obama backs bullying bills WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama has publicly thrown his support behind both the Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Safe Schools Improvement Act. SNDA would prohibit public elementary and secondary schools from discriminating against any student on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. SSIA would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to require schools and districts receiving federal funds to specifically ban bullying and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Discrimination and bullying against students based on sexual orientation and gender identity contributes to high dropout rates, absenteeism, adverse health consequences and academic underachievement. Federal and constitutional protections expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex and disability, but do not expressly address sexual orientation or gender identity. As a result, students and parents have limited legal recourse to fight such bias. — David Stout Prison Bureau affirms LGBT workers WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a groundbreaking move, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has announced that every federal prison in the U.S. will appoint an LGBT representative to their longstanding Affirmative Employment Program. The BOP employs approximately 40,000 nationwide, and until now, the LGBT staff did not have a designated representative in the program. With this change, each of the more than 120 BOP facilities is required to hold at least one event per year to educate and inform the staff about LGBT diversity issues. The directive also requires each facility to designate one person as the LGBT Special Emphasis Program Manager, to ensure that equal opportunity issues and concerns affecting LGBT employees are adequately addressed. The announcement comes just one year after Brian Winfield, managing director of Equality Florida, met with a small team of employees at Florida’s Coleman Federal Correctional Complex to plan the first-ever LGBT staff event within the BOP. With the support of senior officials at the correctional complex, Winfield and the team hosted a Gay Pride Month event last June. — David Stout Radio shows get assistance SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The Prometheus Radio Project is now providing information and support in assisting organizations and community centers in their quest to develop community-based radio stations. Project resources say that this radio platform is transformative. It helps people connect, share local news and events and participate in decisions that impact their lives. Ninety percent of Americans use radio at least once a week, making it the most common point of connection today. Over a thousand new licenses will be made available over the next year and the Project says that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. These targeted signals represent a major opportunity for LGBT organizations to amplify their messages and reach new audiences. LGBTQ centers are ideal locations for these affordable radio stations which will further extend the community’s voice. The Prometheus Radio Project, a non-profit organization, seeks to educate and support groups in applying for licenses and getting on air. They held a webinar on Queering the Airwaves on May 3. For more information, visit prometheusradio.org. — Lainey Millen Gov. fights service members WASHINGTON, D.C. — Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and his Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which is defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act against a federal court challenge, now want to intervene in McLaughlin v. U.S., a federal court case filed in October 2011 by eight married gay and lesbian service members and veterans seeking equal recognition, support and benefits for all military families. In February, Chief Warrant Officer (CW2) Morgan, a member of the New Hampshire National Guard and a plaintiff in McLaughlin v. U.S. who is battling incurable stage IV breast cancer, traveled to Washington, D.C. to share her story on Capitol Hill and ask Boehner not to intervene in the case. “Should I not survive this bout with cancer, my wife Karen will not receive any survivor’s benefits, social security benefits or health insurance coverage. Karen is a stay-at-home mom, taking care of our four-year old daughter while I undergo chemotherapy. Now, after fighting for my country in Iraq and fighting for my life with this illness, I am forced to fight the Speaker of the House in order to make sure that my family is cared for when I am gone. It’s shameful,” Morgan said after learning of the Advisory Group’s decision. — David Stout Global IDAHO observances planned PARIS, France — On May 17, a wide spectrum of actions and events will be held around the world to mark the annual observance of the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia, commonly known as IDAHO. From festivals to flash mobs, from rallies to public forums, organizers assert that “there is no end to the diversity and sheer scope of creative and innovative activities being planned in what is sure to be the biggest and best IDAHO yet!” In the Philippines, Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch is organizing a march to the Commission of Human Rights to present an updated list of murdered Filipino LGBTs. They will also call on the government to fight hate crimes against LGBT people. Moroccan LGBT organization GayMaroc plans to launch its national campaign to repeal Article 489, which criminalizes same-sex relationships. Haiti will see its first IDAHO celebration marked with LGBT movie screenings and a conference on sexual orientation and gender-based discrimination in Port-au-Prince. For a full list of global IDAHO activities and ways that you can participate, go to dayagainsthomophobia.org. — David Stout You can support independent, local LGBT media! 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Testimony Before The U.S. House Judiciary Committee Concerning Computer Encryption September 25, 1996 Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, for providing me with this opportunity to discuss with you the Administration's policy on the important and complex issue of encryption and our position on H.R. 3011. Although the Department of Justice opposes H.R. 3011, we look forward to continuing the productive discussions we have had with Congress on this issue. Since 1992, when AT&T announced its plan to sell a small, portable telephone device that would provide users with low-cost but robust voice encryption, the issue of encryption -- that is, the use of mathematical algorithms to protect the confidentiality of data -- has been vociferously debated in the United States. Some people -- legitimately concerned about privacy, commerce, and computer security -- have advocated the unfettered proliferation of strong encryption products, and disapprove of the Administration's attempt to promote cryptographic methods that allow for law enforcement access to plain text. They have argued that government should simply stay out of the encryption issue entirely. Government controls on the export of strong cryptography have come in for particular criticism. In the din of the debate and in some legislative proposals, however, the significant impact that unbreakable encryption would have on domestic law enforcement and national security has often been ignored or understated. First, let me make clear that we believe that the availability and use of strong cryptography are critical if the "Global Information Infrastructure" (GII) is to fulfill its promise. Communications and data must be protected -- both in transit and in storage -- if the GII is to be used for personal communications, financial transactions, medical care, the development of new intellectual property, and myriad other applications. Indeed, people sometimes lose sight of the fact that law enforcement is responsible, in part, for protecting privacy and promoting commerce over our nation's communications networks. We protect communications privacy, for instance, by prosecuting those who would violate the communications privacy of others, and we help promote commerce by enforcing laws that protect intellectual property rights, by combating computer and communications fraud, and by helping to protect the confidentiality of business data. Our support for robust encryption stems from this commitment to protecting privacy and commerce. At the same time, however, we must be mindful of our other principal responsibilities: protecting public safety and national security against the threats posed by terrorists, organized crime, foreign intelligence agents, and others, and to prosecute serious crime when it does occur. Thus, notwithstanding the significant benefits of encryption, we are gravely concerned that the proliferation and use of unbreakable encryption would seriously undermine our ability to perform these critical missions. Court-authorized wiretaps have proven to be one of the most successful law enforcement tools in preventing and prosecuting serious crimes, including terrorism. In addition, as society becomes more dependent on computers, evidence (and the fruits) of crimes are increasingly found in stored computer data, which can be searched and seized pursuant to court-authorized warrants. But if unbreakable encryption proliferates, these critical law enforcement tools would be nullified. Thus, for example, even if the government satisfies the rigorous legal and procedural requirements for obtaining a wiretap order (which can be obtained only in limited circumstances), the wiretap would essentially be worthless if the intercepted communications of the targeted criminals amount to an unintelligible jumble of noises or symbols. The potential harm to law enforcement -- and to the nation's domestic security -- could be devastating. Our concern is neither theoretical nor overstated. We have already begun to encounter the harmful effects of encryption in recent investigations. - In the Aldrich Ames spy case, Ames was instructed by his Soviet handlers to encrypt computer file information to be passed to them. - Ramzi Yousef, recently convicted of conspiring to blow up 10 U.S.-owned airliners in the Far East, and his co-conspirators apparently stored information about their terrorist plot in an encrypted computer file in Manila. (Yousef is also one of the alleged masterminds of the World Trade Center bombing.) - In a child pornography case, one of the subjects used encryption in transmitting obscene and pornographic images of children over the Internet. - In a major international drug-trafficking case, the subject of a court-ordered wiretap used a telephone encryption device, significantly hindering the surveillance. - Some of the anti-government militia groups are now promoting the use of encryption as a means of thwarting law enforcement investigations. - In several major hacker cases, the subjects have encrypted computer files, thereby concealing evidence of serious crimes. These are just a few examples of recent cases involving encryption. As encryption proliferates and becomes an ordinary component of mass market items, and as the strength of encryption products increases to the point of denying law enforcement access to intercepted communications or stored electronic evidence, the threat to public safety will increase exponentially. Some people argue that individuals should have a right to absolute privacy from governmental intrusion, regardless of the costs to public order and safety, and that any new technology that enhances absolute privacy should go unrestricted. But our society has never recognized an absolute right to privacy. Rather, the Fourth Amendment strikes a careful balance, permitting government invasion of privacy (including searches of someone's personal communications and papers) to prevent, solve, and prosecute crimes, but only when the government demonstrates "probable cause" and, absent exigent circumstances, obtains a warrant from a neutral and detached magistrate. Unbreakable encryption would upset this delicate constitutional balance, which is one of the bedrock principles of our legal system, by effectively nullifying a court's issuance of a search warrant or wiretap order. The notion that advances in technology should dictate public policy is backwards. Technology should serve society, not rule it; technology should promote public safety, not defeat it. Similarly, some industry and privacy advocates claim that strong encryption such as 56-bit DES should be exportable without restriction because, even if this leads to a massive proliferation of DES products both at home and abroad, U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies can be given the resources necessary to decrypt DES-encrypted communications. Essentially, they argue that expensive, fast computers can be used to decipher encrypted communications by "brute force" -- which essentially means trying every possible "key" (a sequence of symbols that determines the transformation from plain text to cipher-text, and vice versa) until the right one is found. For several reasons, this argument -- that "brute force attacks" and additional resources will resolve the encryption debate -- does not withstand scrutiny. First, estimates regarding the amount of time needed to decrypt an encrypted message by brute force are purely theoretical and do not consider the realities associated with brute force attacks. For example, such attacks assume that the nature of the underlying plain text is known in advance (e.g., one knows from the outset that the text consists of words in English). In fact, the "plain text" may be a foreign language, a graphic display, or some other form of data completely unknown to the person trying to decipher it. Moreover, according to the National Security Agency's own estimates, the average time needed to decrypt a single message by means of a brute force cryptoanalytic attack on 56-bit DES would be approximately one year and eighty-seven days using a thirty-million-dollar Cray supercomputer. Of course, law enforcement would not be confronted with only one message to decrypt. During 1995, for example, federal and state courts authorized more than a thousand electronic surveillance court orders, resulting in over two million intercepted communications. Given such numbers, brute force attacks are not a feasible solution. Additionally, law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local level are finding that searches in routine, non-wiretap cases now commonly result in the seizure of electronically stored information. Because storage devices have increased in capacity and decreased in price, the quantity of data seized in "ordinary" cases continues to increase dramatically. If all of these communications and stored files were DES-encrypted, brute force attacks would not provide a meaningful and timely solution, especially since some cases, such as kidnappings, may require immediate decryption to prevent death or serious bodily harm. Thus, even if hundreds of such supercomputers were built (an expensive undertaking, to say the least), the approximately 17,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies could not be given timely access to necessary decryption services. Finally, many proponents of strong encryption advocate its proliferation precisely because it cannot be decrypted by the government. Thus, even if the government could acquire the ability to quickly decrypt DES-encrypted communications and information, many of the brute force advocates would push for even greater key lengths, on the ground that 56-bit DES no longer provided acceptable security. But greater key lengths would, of course, increase the difficulty and cost of decrypting encrypted data even more. Our goal, then, must be to encourage the use of strong encryption to protect privacy and commerce, but in a way that preserves law enforcement's ability to protect public safety and national security against terrorism and other criminal threats. A consensus is now emerging throughout much of the world that the way to achieve this balance is through the use of a "key recovery" or "trusted third party" system. Under this system, a key for a given encryption product would be deposited with a trusted third party or "escrow" agent, which could be a private party or a governmental entity. (Some entities, such as large corporations, might be able to hold their own keys, provided that certain procedural protections were established to preserve the integrity of a law enforcement investigation.) The government would then be able, upon presenting a certification from the relevant law enforcement official, to obtain the keys from the escrow agent in order to decrypt information obtained pursuant to legal authorization. Again, it is critical to keep in mind that, under a key recovery system, the government would not be able to access arbitrarily the encrypted communications of the average law-abiding citizen or business, because access to encrypted data could be obtained only as part of a legally authorized investigation. The same constitutional and statutory protections that preserve every American's privacy interests today would prevent unauthorized intrusions in a key recovery regime. Thus, under a key recovery system, there would be no increase in the government's authority to search or surveill private communications. At the same time, though, individuals and companies would gain the benefit of strong cryptography to protect against non-governmental intrusions into their privacy. Beyond the interest in effective law enforcement, many businesses are beginning to recognize their own need for some method of escrowing keys. A private company, for example, might find that one of its employees had improperly taken and encrypted confidential information in the company's files and then absconded with the company's only copy of the keys. In such a situation, the company's only means of retrieving the information might be to obtain the keys from the escrow agent. And recent hacker cases, such as the one involving an intrusion into Citibank's computers by hackers in St. Petersburg, Russia, have further demonstrated to many businesses the general need for a cop on the "information superhighway." A key recovery system would provide businesses with the encryption they need to protect their own communications and stored data while preserving law enforcement's ability to track down and prosecute criminals who use encryption in an effort to conceal evidence of their illegal activities. Key recovery thus holds great promise for providing the security and confidentiality businesses and individuals want and need, while preserving the government's ability to protect public safety and national security. Because there are no restrictions on the use of encryption domestically, however, there is presently no way to require the manufacture and use of key recovery products. The Administration therefore has been pursuing a policy to promote the voluntary manufacture and use of key recovery products, and the development of a key management infrastructure ("KMI"), in the hope that market forces will make such products a de facto industry standard. We also have been engaged in ongoing discussions on this subject with foreign governments, which are now anxious to join us in developing international standards to address this issue on a global scale. In fact, an experts working group of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is meeting on September 26 and 27 to consider draft principles that would acknowledge the need for encryption products and services that allow for lawful government access to protect public safety and national security. We believe that key recovery encryption will become the worldwide standard for users of the GII if we continue our international leadership in this area. If key recovery encryption does become the worldwide standard, U.S. businesses will be able to compete abroad effectively, retaining and even expanding their market share. At the same time, law enforcement agencies will have a legally authorized means of decrypting encoded data. This approach would therefore effectively serve the interests of all Americans. The argument is sometimes made that key recovery encryption is not the solution, because criminals will simply use non-key recovery encryption to communicate among themselves and to hide evidence of their crimes. But we believe that if strong key recovery encryption products that will not interoperate -- at least in the long term -- with non-key recovery products are made available both overseas and domestically and become part of a global KMI, such products will become the worldwide standard. Under those circumstances, even criminals will be compelled to use key recovery products, because even criminals need to communicate with legitimate organizations such as banks, both nationally and internationally. Let me turn now to H.R. 3011. We believe that the central provision of the bill, Section 3 -- which would effectively eliminate all export controls on strong encryption -- would undermine public safety and national security by encouraging the proliferation of unbreakable encryption. We therefore strongly oppose the bill. We have heard, of course, the oft-repeated argument that the "genie is already out of the bottle" -- that strong cryptography is already widely available overseas and over the Internet and that attempts to limit its spread are futile, and serve only to handicap U.S. manufacturers seeking to sell their encryption products overseas. We disagree. Deputy Director Crowell will address this argument more fully in his testimony, but let me just mention four points briefly. First, although strong encryption products can be found overseas, these products are not ubiquitous, in part because the export of strong cryptography is controlled by both the U.S. and other countries. It is worth noting in this regard that export of encryption over the Internet, like any other means of export, is restricted under U.S. law. Although it is difficult completely to prevent encryption products from being sent abroad over the Internet, we believe that the legal restrictions have significantly limited the use of the Internet as a means of evading export controls. Second, the products that are available overseas are not widely used because there is not yet an infrastructure to support the distribution of keys among users and to provide interoperability among the different products. Third, the quality of encryption products offered abroad varies greatly, with some encryption products not providing the level of protection advertised. Finally, the availability of encryption over the Internet does not undermine the utility of controls on exports of software or hardware products. The simple fact is that the vast majority of businesses and individuals with a serious need for strong encryption do not and will not rely on encryption downloaded from the Internet. For these reasons, export controls therefore continue to serve an important function. A few other factors are important to consider regarding export controls. First, our allies strongly concur that unrestricted export of encryption would severely hamper law enforcement objectives. Indeed, when the U.S. let it be known at a December 1995 meeting of the OECD that it was considering allowing the export of some stronger, non-escrowed encryption, many of our allies expressed dismay at the prospect of such an action. They feared that it would flood the global market with unbreakable cryptography, increasing its use by criminal organizations and terrorists throughout Europe and the world. It follows that the elimination of U.S. export controls, as provided by H.R. 3011, would have an even more devastating impact on international law enforcement. It would be a terrible irony if this government -- which prides itself on its leadership in fighting international crime -- were to enact a law that would jeopardize public safety and weaken law enforcement agencies worldwide. Second, critics of export controls have mistakenly assumed that the lifting of export controls would result in unrestricted access to markets abroad by U.S. companies. But this assumption ignores the likely reaction of foreign governments to the elimination of U.S. export controls. To date, most other countries have not needed to restrict imports or domestic use of encryption, largely because export controls in the U.S. -- the world leader in computer technology -- and other countries have made such restrictions unnecessary. But given other countries' legitimate concerns about the potential worldwide proliferation of unbreakable cryptography, we believe that many of those countries would respond to any lifting of U.S. export controls by imposing import controls, or by restricting use of strong encryption by their citizens. France, Russia and Israel, for example, have already established domestic restrictions on the import, manufacture, sale and use of encryption products. And the European Union is moving towards the adoption of a key-recovery-based key management infrastructure similar to that proposed by the Administration. In the long run, then, U.S. companies might not be any better off if U.S. export controls were lifted, but we would have undermined our leadership role in fighting international crime and damaged our own national security interests in the meantime. Third, it is important to keep in mind that the State Department has shown considerable flexibility in administering export controls. For instance, it has permitted U.S. banks and other entities to export strong encryption products for their own use abroad, and has permitted the export of strong encryption as long as such encryption allows for legitimate government access. Finally, as Vice President Gore announced in July, the Administration is considering various measures to liberalize export controls for certain commercial encryption products, in order to promote the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers during the transition to a global KMI. In addition, the Administration is considering transferring jurisdiction over commercial encryption products from the Department of State to the Department of Commerce, a step which also would ease the burden on industry by providing for faster and more transparent decisions on applications for export licenses. We expect that a final decision will be made on these steps shortly. In light of these factors, we believe it would be profoundly unwise simply to lift export controls on encryption. National security should not be sacrificed for the sake of uncertain commercial benefits, especially when there is the possibility of satisfying both security and commercial needs simultaneously through global adoption of a key recovery system. There is only one responsible course of action that we as government leaders should embark upon: to promote socially-responsible encryption products, which contain robust cryptography but that also provide for timely law enforcement access and decryption. This is the Administration's policy, and we look forward to working with this Committee as we continue to develop and implement our approach. I would now be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Source: This speech is from a webpage that no longer exists.
PowerPoint lecture slide Size: 369 KB Copy and visit the following link to download - vIncreased breakdown of fetal erythrocytes. This is the result of the shortened lifespan of fetal erythrocytes and the higher erythrocyte mass in neonates. - vHepatic excretory capacity is low both because of low concentrations of the binding protein ligandin in the hepatocytes and because of low activity of glucuronyl transferase, the enzyme responsible for binding bilirubin to glucuronic acid. Certain factors present in the breast milk of somemothers may contribute to increasedenterohepatic circulation of bilirubin (breast milkjaundice). increase bilirubin production through increasedhemolysis. Nonimmune hemolytic disorders (spherocytosis,G-6-PD deficiency) may also cause increased © DENTIST BD BLOG . All rights reserved. WARNING: Any unauthorised use or reproduction of gr.dentistbd.com content for commercial or any purposes is strictly prohibited and constitutes copyright infringement liable to legal action. People show interest in: - pathophysiology of neonatal jaundice - hyperbilirubinemia in newborns ppt - neonatal jaundice ppt 2012 - ppt neonatal jaundice - pathophysiology of neonatal jaundice ppt
Welcome to my class. I look forward to starting this new school year with all of you. Come prepared to participate and learn. In this class you will build intellectual connections that will help you understand and appreciate the world that we inhabit. By understanding where we came from, we can anticipate problems and form better solutions for our future. History is the story of our lives. History is active, relevant and exciting. Your story is a vital part of history!
So I'm thrilled to see the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Steve Jacob present an excellent and informative article yesterday ("Mental health: Class dismissed?," Nov. 25) focusing on the need to improve front-line mental healthcare in schools, raising the profile of an issue that underlies quite a bit of criminal conduct. (I don't know comparable figures on the juvie side, but thirty percent of adult Texas prison inmates are former clients of the state's indigent mental health system.) Here are some of the highlights of Jacob's article, but really you should go read the whole thing: Jacob declares the state is "crippled by a shortage of mental healthcare providers," particular in the Rio Grande Valley and areas outside the I-35 population corridor. A 1995 study called schools the de facto mental health system for children and adolescents. Between 70 and 80 percent of children with mental health problems were seen by school personnel -- usually guidance counselors and school psychologists -- and for most of them, school was the sole source of care. Yet that raises the question of whether school personnel with limited mental health expertise can adequately meet the clinical demands of treating emotionally and mentally disturbed children. And funding? The Texas attitude seems to be: "Don't even try to go there." An estimated 75 percent of children in the Texas juvenile system have behavioral health issues, and 30 percent of those in the juvenile system will end up in the adult system. An increase in the number of U.S. juvenile delinquents has been blamed in part on diagnosed and undiagnosed mental illness. Since 1991, there has been a 33 percent increase of children 7 to 12 years old appearing in juvenile court. The relentless imperatives of the federal 2001 No Child Left Behind Act -- and the associated state standards such as those of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills -- have school administrators focusing on little else. They cannot afford to acknowledge -- let alone address -- the fact that a significant percentage of the nation's schoolchildren have often-undiagnosed mental disorders or are mentally scarred by their inability to deal with life's insults: broken homes, hopeless living conditions, abuse by adults and peer intimidation. A 1999 U.S. surgeon general's report said that the rate of suicide by those 10 to 14 years of age increased 100 percent from 1980 to 1996. During the same period, the rate increased 14 percent for ages 15 to 19. About 20 percent of children have a diagnosable disorder at any given time, and 5 percent have serious, ongoing disorders. School is considered a natural setting for mental health services. School is a familiar setting for students, easing the stigma and intimidation often felt in more traditional mental health settings. Cost of care has been found to be less in schools, compared with private or community-based services. Convenience is also crucially important. Less than one-third of children who need mental health services are receiving them. But researchers discovered that when mental health services were introduced in a school setting, 98 percent of referrals obtained service, compared with 17 percent of students referred to traditional clinic-based programs A 2004 Texas Education Agency survey of school-based mental health and substance abuse programs statewide showed just how outgunned school counselors are in dealing with these problems. The survey of 8,000 public schools showed that elementary school counselors spent about 33 percent of their time on mental health issues, declining to 18 percent in middle school and 12 percent in high school.A 2003 study that found 71 percent of Texas public schools had guidance counselors, but only 28 percent employed licensed mental health professionals. In the story's final paragraph, Jacob puts his finger on the main reason Texas fails to focus resources on this problem: Though he doesn't use the words, basically stupidity and ignorance on the part of the general public: There are myriad reasons for such paltry mental health spending. The chief reason likely lies in a survey that showed 71 percent of Texans believed mental illness was the result of emotional weakness; 43 percent said victims of mental illness bring it on themselves.If we were truly engaged in a "War on Crime," this underlying fallacy would be the equivalent of the period before the Iraq War when the majority of the public believed Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11. It's not just a misguided conception, but a starkly dangerous one. For a "tuff" state whose leaders frequently adopt the mantle of "victims rights," this is an especially disturbing phenomena, since in more than a few cases the system punishes victims after the fact. All evidence shows victims themselves easily become predators when they cannot find justice or relieve their emotional pain, and that's even more true of juveniles. Practically speaking (i.e., setting aside for the moment what "should be" and focusing on what "is"), societal norms cannot reasonably be enforced on people with either an organic mental imbalance (like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) or an extreme situational one (like post-traumatic stress disorder from physical or sexual abuse), at least not without honestly considering the situation as it faces each individual. To adopt such a callous attitude invites increased crime and recidivism. It's not "soft" or "liberal" to think that failure to finance juvenile mental health care contributes to crime. You just have to read past Grits posts on the Texas Youth Commission to see how frequently mental health services, or their lack, crop up in juvenile justice discussions. In many cases, those unmet mental health needs are big contributors to criminal behavior. It's not the only factor, but it's a major one, especially for the most chronic and difficult offenders.
Yet another festival taking over our common land, in the name of ‘cultural experience’ and not capitalistic enterprise as some might say. With the increasing rise of poverty and hunger in this country, to a level not seen since the turn of the last century, ‘On Blackheath’ is a food festival based around farmers markets with a hefty ticket price to mix with the ever expanding aspect of society with their Hunter Wellies, quilted jackets and flat caps. Not the most well thought out event. I’m sure there will be food parcels at the festival, probably filled with quails eggs, truffles and some cheese by Alex James. There is also music by the not so revolutionary Massive Attack and the downright privileged Frank Turner – gag me with a spoon. If poverty is the paper cut of society this surly is the organic lemon juice “In past times it was planted with gibbets, on which the bleaching bones of men who had dared to ask for some extension of liberty, or who doubted the infallibility of kings, were left year after year to dangle in the wind.” Blackheath, not actual common land but manorial waste (land not used by the lord of the manor), owned by the Crown Estate and the Earl of Dartmouth – William Legge, MEP for UKIP, may be have a new uprising written into its history. I am getting sick of all our parks/common land being taken over by promoters for yet another festival – what happened to free concerts – especially one that laughs in the face of our country’s increasing issue. Say NO to ‘On Blackheath’
Background Potential health effects of cell phone use in children have not been adequately examined. As children are using cell phones at earlier ages, research among this group has been identified as the highest priority by both national and international organisations. The authors previously reported results from the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), which looked at prenatal and postnatal exposure to cell phone use and behavioural problems at age 7 years. Exposure to cell phones prenatally, and to a lesser degree postnatally, was associated with more behavioural difficulties. The original analysis included nearly 13 000 children who reached age 7 years by November 2006. Methods To see if a larger, separate group of DNBC children would produce similar results after considering additional confounders, children of mothers who might better represent current users of cell phones were analysed. This ‘new’ dataset consisted of 28 745 children with completed Age-7 Questionnaires to December 2008. Results The highest OR for behavioural problems were for children who had both prenatal and postnatal exposure to cell phones compared with children not exposed during either time period. The adjusted effect estimate was 1.5 (95% CI 1.4 to 1.7). Conclusions The findings of the previous publication were replicated in this separate group of participants demonstrating that cell phone use was associated with behavioural problems at age 7 years in children, and this association was not limited to early users of the technology. Although weaker in the new dataset, even with further control for an extended set of potential confounders, the associations remained. - cellular phone Statistics from Altmetric.com Funding The Age-7 Questionnaire was financially supported by the Lundbeck Foundation (195/04) and the Danish Medical Research Council (SSVF 0646). Support for this work was provided by the UCLA School of Public Health, research innovation seed grant (4565963LK19914) and by an NIH/NIEHS grant (R21ES016831). Competing interests None. Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet) and the UCLA Office for the Protection of Research Subjects. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.
Before the ES5, we use the Math.max.apply() function to find the minimum or maximum value of an array. But since the spread operator is released, we recommend using the Math.max() with spread operator to accomplish this. This is because it will reduce redundancy by simplify your syntax. It may makes your code looks much cleaner and better. const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]; // Not Recommend const min = Math.min.apply(null, numbers); const max = Math.max.apply(null, numbers); // Recommend const min = Math.min(...numbers); const max = Math.max(...numbers);
A follow-up. Last year I told you I was teaching myself InDesign. To reiterate, I am not a designer, but sometimes I want to design things. It can be a frustrating process at times. I am sharing because a lot of my customers are not designers either, but they are required to design things from time to time. I thought I would share what I have learned – through trial and error and from others, and maybe it will make the process easier for someone else. In no particular order, here we go! 1) Save, Save SAVE. Save frequently. I would like to say it only happened to me once, but all it takes is a program to freeze up, a computer to die or any number of events that might cause you to lose your work. I suppose this is true of any file you are working on, but experience tells me, it is extremely painful to work through layout and design only to lose it and have to re-figure out how you did it in the first place! 2) Keep design pieces you see that you like. Utilize the great design of others you see as a template. It doesn’t mean you have to copy a design exactly, just mimic the elements you like. 3) Utilize free online design templates. Start with one of their well-designed “backgrounds” and make it your own. Many online sites let you save the design as a pdf. You can place that pdf in your design program of choice and add text and/or photos over it. Be mindful of the resolution and if you need to size it for bleeds, etc. Or just create the whole piece in the online design site! Look up “free online design programs” and start creating! 4) Naming files. Let’s be honest, I am not one to talk as an authority on this as I still haven’t mastered this very simple skill. Basically, I can say this, BE consistent and don’t ever name a file with FINAL. Why? Because you will end up with a folder full of “FINAL” files. I would recommend naming by date or number (ie.1,2.3). Then you can easily see in your file folder the most recent update. 5) Get a second opinion, but not 3 or 4 or 5 opinions. I have found it is helpful to have another set of eyes to offer a constructive critique, but too many opinions will have you scrambling to make corrections, change colors, design elements and ultimately you will never make everyone happy. And in the end, probably make yourself miserable. 6) Do re-read and re-read again. Or maybe have someone else read. Re-reading catches spelling errors, but it also catches run-on sentences or oddly worded sentences. I write like I talk. Sometimes with too many words and very long sentences. Someone with a different writing style may be able to offer helpful suggestions to improve your message. Take these tips from me, or not! Now go forth and create! **Want to see my first design post? Click here!
We all have moments where we want to point the finger. But deep down we know WE could have done something different, and the outcome would have been transformed into something more healthy. By reacting without processing, evaluating and taking responsibility for our own choices, we create drama and perpetuate conflict in our personal relationships. If we instead can go inward and reflect on why these triggers continue to cause us pain, we will begin the healing journey. Otherwise we will only be driven by our need to have control over others to avoid pain and disappointment in the future, whether we know we are doing this or not. And we only have control over our own actions and thoughts. The beauty in this though, is that we do. If we can sit in our pain and our disillusionment and experience our grief, we can stop pointing the fingers at external sources of frustration and let others be as they need to be. It takes us beyond right and wrong and right back to knowing we can trust ourselves. Learning from our mistakes and being architects of our own lives requires our full attention and honesty. We have the freedom to change. There are relationships that will only continue to cause us pain and stress if we don’t re-define them. Once we take full responsibility for our own happiness, unresolved anger will slowly but surely dissipate and dissolve. For more information about letting go of emotional blockages visit my webpage at karadetracey.com There is a powerful communication tool that goes beyond modelling and education. This is called mirroring and we use it in a variety of ways. Children learn to smile and express joy from a young age when their parents smile at them communicating love and connection. Goodness is expressed and the child integrates this as that is part of themselves. Love radiates. As adults, if we have good communication skills, we connect and show interest in others by listening, asking questions and responding with empathy. But mirroring goes beyond this. Mirroring is reflecting energetically a loving connection. You are connecting with the other’s deepest self. It is challenging to do when the other person is unable to reflect back. Intimacy is created when both people mirror each other. But it can also be used as a therapeutic tool to help others. On the other side of goodness there is the other extreme of people using mirroring to manipulate and control others. The person mirrors and creates a sense of emotional space and interest that makes the other person feel understood and cared about, and they feel special with this person. It meets such an innate need for connection in a world. And it feels loving. And for anyone who has had to survive on less than the necessary amount of love in their family of origin, the pull can be strong. People who have always had healthy relationships will be less likely to fall prey to this kind of deceit. But once someone has hooked into your essential self, they will be able to use mirroring to meet their own needs. This becomes very confusing to the person who has given their trust to the other person because they felt so connected. But a telltale sign of this form of manipulation is the lack of consistency between word and action. Things don’t make sense. Trust yourself first. People with good intentions do not create doubt and confusion. Their actions are consistent with their words. They may not know how to mirror you in a way that makes you feel so unique and special in the world, but they are REAL.
While Florida is known to be a surrogacy-friendly state, Florida has been behind the curve when it comes to the issues of same sex marriage and same sex adoption. Fortunately, we have made a lot of progress since 2015. Florida’s gestational surrogacy statute specifically provides that the commissioning couple be a married man and woman. If a married same sex couple wishes to use a surrogate, this statute now would also apply to them, as the statute has just not caught up with the evolution that has occurred since 2015 with regard to marriage equality and the rights of same sex couples and families. Additionally, Florida’s legislature has removed the ban on gay adoption from Florida’s statutes. Same sex couples have been able to adopt and utilize a surrogate in Florida prior to these recent developments, however, these welcome changes will make the process more streamlined. If an unmarried same sex couple wishes to create their family with the assistance of a gestational surrogate, it is important to proceed under Chapter 63 of the Florida Statutes, and draft the agreement as a Preplanned Adoption Agreement. As an adoption lawyer and surrogacy lawyer, Karen Persis understands the nuances in the law that affect same sex couples on their journey to family formation. She knows how to draft these agreements, how to proceed in court, and enjoys helping same sex couples and individuals create families that may not have been easy or even possible not too long ago. Please contact her for a free consult today concerning same sex adoption or surrogacy, so that all of these issues and developments can be discussed in great detail. Same Sex Adoption Attorney Karen Persis represents clients throughout the State of Florida, from the Panhandle to the Florida Keys, including the following cities:
Council Highlights important to Ward 39 Toronto City Council meeting of May 3, 4 and 5, 2016 Recognition of the Greek Pontian Genocide City Council recognized the Pontian Genocide, to honour the memory of the men, women and children who died. The Pontian Genocide, together with the Armenian and Assyrian Genocides, took place between 1913 and 1922. The Pontian Genocide, which took place during and after World War I, was the systematic extermination, by the Ottoman Empire, of its minority Greek subjects. Pontians were sent by death marches to concentration camps in Anatolia, where most were subjected to forced labour. Thousands were subjected to forced labour, deportation and execution. Notice of Motion City Council affirm its recognition of the Pontian Genocide Moved by: Councillor Jim Karygiannis Seconded by: Councillor Maria Fragedakis 2016 marks the 97th commemoration of the Pontian Genocide. The Pontian Genocide, together with the Armenian and Assyrian Genocides, was the 1st genocide of the 20th century. These Genocides took place between 1913 and 1922. The 2016 City of Toronto Budget is comprised of Capital and Operating Budgets and Property Tax Rates and Related Matters. During discussions on Property Tax Rates and Related Matters, I, again, fought for the Sheppard Subway and transit issues, for residents who live north of Hwy 401. I could not support the overall City of Toronto’s 2016 Budget because it did not fully address the needs of Torontonians and residents of his community. Toronto City Council approved a $10.1 billion operating budget for 2016 and 10-year capital budget and plan of $21 billion. The total municipal tax increase is 2.69% or $72.26 per residence. What that means for residents of Ward 39 and other Torontonians causes me concern. Toronto City Council Update – November 2015 At its November 3 and 4, 2015 meeting, City Councillors debated a number of important issues. These items included – Poverty reduction strategy According to Statistics Canada, almost one in five adults, between the ages of 18 and 64, in Toronto and more than one-quarter of the City’s children, under the age of six, are living in low-income households. Council adopted the vision, objectives, recommendations and actions for a poverty reduction strategy called TO Prosperity, with a work plan for 2016, that includes 75 City initiatives, many of them involving partnerships. Cold weather protocol Council authorized funding to provide cold weather drop-in services, 24-hours-a-day, in Toronto, for January and February 2016. In addition, Council directed that the City must be prepared to offer the 24-hour, cold weather drop-in services, if needed, in November and December 2015. The City issues an Extreme Cold Weather Alert, with related services, when Environment Canada forecasts a temperature of -15 degrees C or colder or a wind chill of -20 degrees or colder. Ban on use of hookahs Council approved prohibiting the use of hookahs/waterpipes in City-licensed establishments effective next April. The prohibition follows Toronto Public Health’s confirmation of the need for a legislative approach to address the significant health risks associated with this alternative form of smoking. Council also agreed to ask the Ontario government to enact legislation prohibiting the use of hookahs/waterpipes in restaurants, bars, entertainment establishments and patios. In recognizing that smoking hookahs/waterpipes is an integral part of many cultures in our community and the need for regulations, I proposed that Council approve a Motion – “That City Council direct the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, in consultation with the City Solicitor, to report to the January 22, 2016 meeting of the Licensing and Standards Committee on a by-law which would permit the following: - the establishment of a new “hookah lounge” category in Chapter 545, Licensing of the Toronto Municipal Code and consider including the following regulations: - only non-tobacco products are permitted; - food or liquor not being permitted on the premises; iii. only coffee, tea and juices are permitted on the premises; and - minors (persons under the age of 19) are not permitted on the premises, with signage in a prominent location. - an appropriate business licence fee for such an establishment. - the establishment would be required to provide signage that states the harmful health effects of hookahs (waterpipes).” The Motion did not pass. Replacement of lead water service pipes Council voted to direct Toronto Water to take steps to support the ongoing replacement of residential lead water-service pipes across the city. Among the steps specified, staff were asked to approach local financial institutions about the feasibility of low-interest or easily accessible loans to homeowners for replacing the private-side pipes on their properties. At present, about 1,500 residential property owners a year replace their private-side lead water service pipes with copper piping. The replacements are done in conjunction with the City’s ongoing efforts to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water by replacing corroded lead water pipes. Uber in Toronto Council adopted a Motion calling for the City to provide additional information to the public about the current status of Uber in Toronto, including the risks associated with using the UberX ride service. The City is engaged in ongoing communications with representatives of Uber Canada about the City’s taxicab broker application process and Uber’s continued non-compliance with the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 545, Licensing. Lane Designation – Sheppard Avenue East at Agincourt GO Station Access City Council approved the following item from the Scarborough Community Council – \|“City Council designate the northerly westbound lane on Sheppard Avenue East, between a point 51 metres east of Reidmount Avenue and a point 76 metres further east, for westbound right turns only, buses excepted.” At the November meeting of Toronto City Council, I introduced Motion MM10.4 recommending that: “City Council request the City Manager, after consultation with City staff, the Canada Lands Company (CLC), owner and manager of the CN Tower and officials of the Department of Canadian Heritage, to report to the February 3 and 4, 2016 City Council meeting on the feasibility of the City of Toronto displaying its 2017 New Year’s fireworks from the CN Tower as well as Nathan Phillips Square to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary.” The Motion was referred to the City of Toronto’s Economic Development Committee. Future use of Old City Hall Toronto’s Old City Hall has a rich history and the future of the Toronto landmark is of great concern and debate. Council voted to notify the Province of Ontario that its lease of the Old City Hall building at 60 Queen Street West will not be extended/renewed beyond 2021. Council also requested a feasibility study for museums and complementary public uses of the building, which currently houses provincial and municipal court operations. Staff has identified criteria to be considered in determining the best future use and tenant fit for the historic building. At the July 2015 meeting of Toronto City Council, I introduced Motion MM8.13 which recommended that: “City Council request the City Manager, in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Transit Commission, to report to the September 30 and October 1, 2015 City Council meeting on a complete financial analysis and cost breakdown of the expenditures for the proposed $181 million Toronto Transit Commission McNicoll Bus Garage approved by Toronto City Council.” At the February 12, 2015, meeting of Toronto City Council, I put forward Motion MM3.2 recommending that – “…City Council reconfirm its decision to support building the Scarborough Subway on Sheppard Avenue.” City Council referred Motion MM3.2 to the Executive Committee.
The Power of Predictability As hectic as life is most days, parents are often more concerned with getting everything done instead of strategically planning out their day so that it is predictable for their children. Knowing what activities to expect each day and knowing how parents will respond at the moment is critical in helping children feel safe. The consistency in this will ease children’s moods and minimize the chances of a meltdown. Therefore, parents should establish predictability in their daily routines to ensure children have the best chances of a successful day. When children are unsure of what to expect daily, they often become more anxious and, therefore, demanding their parents’ time. Stress goes up, self-regulation goes down, and meltdowns ensue. This leads to more reactive parenting, which feeds into an already difficult situation in which no one comes out happy. When this is a typical daily pattern, children develop more insecurities as the unknown of what the day will bring or how their parents will react is uncertain. Children’s temperament also contributes to how they handle things, their attachment to their parents, and the parenting style. The combination of these things can either make or break the day. Predictability involves repeating patterns to create a consistent environment that fosters self-regulation and growth. The developing brain thrives on repetition, so when a child experiences a positive and predictable environment, they are less stressed, are better able to regulate their emotions, and are more open to learning. It makes parenting more effortless in the long run but only when parents are consistent in their responses to situations that arise. This ultimately takes away the guessing game for children and leaves them feeling more secure. Therefore, consistency and predictability in place benefit children and parents as well. To begin, parents must implement strategies at home that are predictable. By doing this, children will feel calmer and safer and like they can conquer the outside world with confidence. 1) Morning Routines: Mornings can be one of the most challenging times for families. The rush to get everyone ready for work and school and leave on time is often a challenge. Creating a morning routine that is quiet and consistent provides children with a clear mind, which leads to a better ability to retain new information they learn in school. 2) Midday Routines: After a long day of being away from their parents, children need time to reconnect. Taking just 10 minutes of dedicated time together can relieve any stress from the day and help them prepare for any evening activities. 3) Nighttime Routines: At night, children need time to calm down from the day’s busyness and relax. Having predictable routines in place will help quiet their minds, so they feel secure will fall asleep easier. Again, the key to creating an environment for any of these things is the predictability of it. When children can trust that these things will happen every day, they will feel more secure and self-regulate. However, if there is an expected change to a routine, parents must prepare children ahead of time. This will alleviate any unneeded stress and allow children to prepare. The Kato Karate and SKILLZ Child Development Center created their classroom structure based on predictability. The class layout is the same each day, so children know what to expect. Children also feel secure with the Certified Pediatric Ninja Specialists who run each class because they are consistent in implementing reinforcement and expectations in the classroom setting. The Mankato Parent SKILLZ supplemental curriculum also provides parents with ways to strengthen the parent-child bond through consistency and connection, which is vital in creating a predictable environment. Appreciation for a predictable routine is vital to creating an environment in which children feel safe and secure. By doing this, children’s self-regulation skills increase, and stress is minimized. The calmness that comes with this gives children the best opportunity to more confidently take on life’s challenges. Author: Jennifer Salama of Skillz Worldwide. Jennifer is a 4th-degree black belt and has been training in martial arts since 2001. She has a Masters Degree in Child Psychology and has embraced the SKILLZ curriculum because of its focus on child development and using Martial Arts as a vehicle to develop the child as a whole.
This article is not viewable in your language. Please check back at a future date. Step 1: Collect needed parts You will need the following items to mount the V5 Robot Brain: - A charged V5 Robot Battery - A V5 Robot Brain - A chassis with enough space to mount the V5 Robot Brain - 4 Connector Pins to mount the V5 Robot Brain to the chassis Step 2: Mount the V5 Robot Brain using the Connector Pins - Hold the V5 Robot Brain where you want it to be mounted on your chassis. - Use the Connector Pins to mount the V5 Robot Brain to the chassis using the holes on the sides of the brain. NOTE: The V5 Robot Brain can also be mounted using the included flanges, or threaded holes on the back of the brain. Step 3: Connect the V5 Robot Battery to the V5 Robot Brain - Connect the V5 Robot Battery by plugging it into the battery port. - For more detailed instructions on mounting and wiring the brain, see the V5 Clawbot Build Instructions. Step 4: Connect devices to the V5 Robot Brain - Connect your devices to the proper ports on the V5 Robot Brain. - When building a V5 Clawbot, see the V5 Clawbot Build Instructions for proper port configurations.
3 edition of North Apennines found in the catalog. Dwight D Oland \|Series\|\|The U.S. Army campaigns of World War II, CMH pub -- 72-34\| \|Contributions\|\|Center of Military History\| \|The Physical Object\| \|Pagination\|\|31, p. :\| \|Number of Pages\|\|31\| 35th Quartermaster War Dog Platoon (attached North Apennines) 38th Infantry Scout Dog Platoon (attached Occupation) 72nd Signal Company (Special) (attached Naples-Foggia) 84th Chemical Mortar Battalion (attached North Apennines) th Chemical Mortar . Offered for auction here is the booklet entitled the "North Apennines". Following the Allied invasion of Italy, German forces fought their way north in a strategic retreat. Their defensive positing focused on the "Gothic Line", a rugged area of the Apennine Mountains and German Field Marshal Kesselring's last major defense position in Rating: % positive. "North of the Apennines: Sixteenth-Century Italian Painting in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 60, no. 4 (Spring, ) Bayer, Andrea () This title . North Apennines and Beyond with the 10th Mountain Division: Harris Dusenbery: Books - or: Harris Dusenbery. World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. Highly relevant today, World War II has much to teach us, not only about the profession of arms, but also about military preparedness, global strategy, and combined operations in . This excursion-book includes a short outline of the stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of units cropping out in the Northern Apennines and the description of itineraries and stops. theme of government in Piers Plowman Hearing & hearing prophylaxis Department of Education for Northern Ireland revelation of the risen Lord Data suitability assessment Memories of Ho Chi Minh A comparison of estimates of agricultural land use using satellite imagery and the census of agriculture inventories constellations and how to find them during each month of any year Evaluation of the E.O.F. (Jr. High) Program Nominations of Warren T. Lindquist and Charles L. Dempsey earldoms under Edward I Numbers and numerals North Apennines 10 September April By the end of the first week of August members of the British Eighth Army stood on the Ponte Vecchio, bridging the Arno River in recently liberated Florence, Italy. The Eighth Army had just completed a campaign, in conjunction with the U.S. North Apennines book. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the histor /5. COVID Resources. Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID) is available from the World Health Organization (current situation, international travel).Numerous and frequently-updated resource results are available from this ’s WebJunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. North Apennines: Dwight D. Oland: To download as PDF click here: To view as HTML click here: For availability and more information click here. Some users may encounter difficulties opening these files from the server. If the entire document will not open, select "Save" instead of "Open". Once the file has been saved to your hard drive it should. : North Apennines and Beyond With the 10th Mountain Division (): Dusenbery, Harris, Ware, Wilson P.: Books5/5(1). Get this from a library. North Apennines and beyond: with the 10th Mountain Division. [Harris Dusenbery] -- " a day-to-day account of combat in World War II Italy from the viewpoint of an infantryman. Part II includes the report on the Riva Ridge Operation by Lt. Col. Henry J. Hampton who. North Apennines and Beyond with the 10th Mountain Division book. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. men of the 10th Moun 4/5. North Apennines Paperback – January 1, by Dwight D. Oland (Author) See all 3 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Price New from Used from Paperback "Please retry" $ $ — Paperback $ 1 Author: Dwight D. Oland. North Apennines: Dwight D. Oland: Paperback: Military - World War II book. The North Apennines anomaly (Figure A67) is located below Corsica and Tuscany in the upper mantle. Based on early tomographic models, Spakman et al. () interpreted the North Apennines anomaly as a detached slab, but subsequent models rather suggested that it is still connected to the surface (Piromallo and Morelli, ; ; Bijwaard et al., ; Lucente et al., ; Spakman and Wortel. The Gothic Line (German: Gotenstellung; Italian: Linea Gotica) was a German defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of the Apennine Mountains during the fighting retreat of the German forces in Italy against the Allied Armies in Italy, commanded by General Sir Harold Location: Northern Italy. Buy a cheap copy of Love and War in the Apennines book by Eric Newby. Eric Newby escapes throug a hospital window to become a POW on the run in Italy in With the Nazis moving in from the north and no certain way back to England, Free shipping over $Cited by: 2. The Apennines are among the younger ranges of the Alpine system and, geologically speaking, are related to the coastal range of the Atlas Mountains of North rities have also been observed with the Dinaric Alps, which extend through the Balkan region, including Sardinia and Corsica, on the other hand, are dissimilar to the Apennines, their granitic rock masses being. Several of the hikes in this section use parts of the GEA, while others access mountain peaks that are not on that route. But, the primary focus of the Northern Apennines section of this book is to provide hikers with an opportunity to see what the Apennines have to offer along the. Love and War in the Apennines is a book of romantic escape, overseen by the suffering of war, which shows how it ripples out across society and into fragile human lives. Patrick French is a historian and biographer. This article was originally published in. Any search for books about the Apennines which aren’t travel guides, leads inexorably to one book: Eric Newby’s Love and War in the Apennines. Newby is one of Britain’s best-loved travel writers, and Love and War in the Apennines is regarded by many as his best book. It’s more a biography than a travel book. It covers the time he spent as a prisoner during the Second World War after. Through The Apennines And The Land of the Abruzzi by Canziani, Estella and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at Edition: First Edition. Hailed as Newby's 'masterpiece', 'Love and War in the Apennines' is the gripping real-life story of Newby's imprisonment and escape from an Italian prison camp during World War II. After the Italian Armistice ofEric Newby escaped from the prison camp in which he'd been held for a year. He evaded the German army by hiding in the 5/5(1). North Apennines (10 September –4 April ) The Eighth Army had just completed a campaign, in conjunction with the U.S. Fifth Army, that had kept Axis forces in Italy in full retreat, unable to halt the Allied drive north of Rome that had begun with Operation DIADEM the previous May. North Apennines: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. However, the half century that now separates us from that conflict has exacted its toll on our collective :. in World War II CD 1 (the Gothic Line offensive), North Apennines, Mount Mozano, and into the Po Valley in A monograph is a work of writing or essay or book on a specific subject and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. Files copied from books and the National Archives and are 'as is' and may be incomplete.About this Item: New York: Penguin. Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1st ed. thus. pp. paperback 8vo: Very Good [text is age browned in the usual Penguin manner; couple of small scuffed patches on covers; else a nice clean, complete & crisp copy] An exceptional memoir of British travel writer (then escaped POW) Newby's () experience hiding from the Germans in.Italy - Italy - Land: To the north the Alps separate Italy from France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. Elsewhere Italy is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, in particular by the Adriatic Sea to the northeast, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the southwest, and the Ligurian Sea to the northwest. Areas of plain, which are practically limited to the great northern.
Disney Announced Joint AR Development At D23 Disney at their D23 Fan Convention in Anaheim on July 15th, 2017 announced an Augmented Reality (AR) Headset jointly developed with Lenovo. Below is a crop and brightness enhanced still frame capture from Disney’s “Teaser” video. Disney/Lenovo also released a video from a interview a the D23 convention which gave further details. As the interview showed (see right), the device is based on using a person’s cell phone as the display (similar to Google cardboard and Samsung’s Gear for VR). Based on analyzing the two videos plus some knowledge of optical systems, it is possible to figure out what they are doing in terms of the optical system. Below is a diagram of what I see them as doing in terms of optics (you may want to open this in a separate widow to view this figure in the discussion below). All the visual evidence indicates that Disney/Lenovo using a classical “birdbath” optical design (discussed in an article on March 03, 2017). The name “birdbath” comes from the used of a spherical semi-mirror with a beam splitter directing light into the mirror. Birdbath optics are used because they are relatively inexpensive, lightweight, support a wide field of view (FOV), and are “on axis” for minimal distortion and focusing issues. The key element of the birdbath is the curve mirror which is (usually) the only “power” (focus changing) element. The beauty of mirror optics is that they have essentially zero chromatic aberrations whereas is is difficult/expensive to reduce chromatic aberrations with lens optics. The big drawbacks of birdbath optics include that they block a lot of light both from the display device and the real world and double images from unwanted reflections of “waste” light. Both these negative effects can be seen in the videos. There would be no practical way (that I know of) to support a see-though display with a cell phone sized display using refractory (lens) optics such as used with Google Cardboard or the Oculus Rift. The only practical ways I know for supporting AR/see-through display using a cell phone size display all use curved combiner/mirrors.. Beam Splitter – The design uses a roughly 50/50 semi-mirror beam splitter which has a coating (typically aluminum alloy although it is often called “silver”) that lets about 50 percent of the light through while acting like a mirror for 50% of the light. Polarizing beam splitters would be problematic with using most phones and are much more expensive. You should note that the beam splitter is arranged to kick the image from the phone toward the curved combiner and away from the person’s eyes; thus light from the display is reflected and then has a transmissive pass. Combiner – The combiner, a spherical semi-mirror is the key to the optics and multiple things. The combiner appears to also be about 50-50 transmissive-mirror. The curved mirror’s first job is to all the user for focus on the phones display which otherwise would be too close to a person’s eyes to support comfortable focusing. The other job of the combiner is to combine the light/image from the “real world” with the display light; it does this with the semi-mirror allowing light from the image to reflect and light from the real world be be directed toward the eye. The curve mirror only has a signification optical power (focus) effect on the reflected display light and very little distortion of the real world. Clear Protective Shield As best I can tell from the two videos, the shield is pretty much clear and serves no function other than to protect the rest of the optics. Light Baffles Between Display Images One thing seen in the picture at top are some back stepped light baffles to keep light cross-talk down between the eye. Light Loss (Follow the Red Path) A huge downside of the birdbath design is the light loss as illustrated in the diagram by the red arrow path where the thickness of the arrows are roughly to scale with the relative amount of light. To keep things simple, I have assumed no other losses (there are typically 2% to 4% per surface). Starting with 100% of the light leaving the phone display, about 50% of goes through the beam splitter and is lost while the other 50% is reflected to the combiner. The combiner is also about 50% mirrored (a rough assumption), and thus 25% (0.5 X 0.5) of the display’s light has its focus changed and reflected back toward the beam splitter. About 25% of the light also goes through the combiner and causes the image you can see in the picture on the left. The beam splitter in turn allows 50% of the 25% or only about 12.5% of the light to pass toward the eye. Allowing for some practical losses, less than 10% of the light from the phone makes it to the eye. Double Images and Contrast Loss (Follow the Green Dash Path) Another major problem with the birdbath optics is that the lost light will bounce around and cause double images and losses in contrast. If you follow the green path, like the red path about 50% of the light will be reflected and 50% will pass through the beamsplitter (not shown on the green path). Unfortunately, a small percentage of the light that is supposed to pass through will be reflected by the glass/plastic to air interface as it tries to exit the beamsplitter as indicated by the green and red dashed lines (part of the red dashed line is obscured). This dashed path will end up causing a faint/ghost image that is offset by thickness of the beamsplitter tilted at 45 degrees. Depending on coatings, this ghost image could be from 1% to 5% of the brightness of the original image. The image on the left is a crop from a still frame from the video Disney showed at the D23 conference with red arrows I added pointing to double/ghost images (click here for the uncropped image). The demo Disney gave was on a light background and these double images would be even more noticeable on a dark background. These same type of vertically offset double image could be seen in the Osterhaut Design Group (ODG) R8 and R9 headsets that also use a birdbath optical path (see figure on the right). A general problem with the birdbath design is that there is so much light that is “rattling around” in an optical wedge formed by the display surface (in this case the phone), beamsplitter, and combiner mirror. Noted in the diagram that about 12.5% of the light returning from the combiner mirror reflected off the beam splitter is heading back toward the phone. This light is eventually going to hit the front glass of the phone and while much of it will be absorbed by the phone, some of it is going to reflect back, hit the beam splitter and eventually make it to the eye. About 80% of the Real World Light Is Blocked In several frames in the D23 interview video it was possible to see through the optics and make measurements as to the relative brightness looking through and around the optics. This measurement is only rough and and it helped to take it in several different images. The result was that about a 4.5 to 5X difference in brightness looking through the optics. Looking back at the blue/center line in the optical diagram, about 50% of the light is blocked by the partial mirror combiner and then 50% of that light is block by the beam splitter for a net of 25%. With other practical losses including the shield, this comes close to the roughly 80% (4/5ths) of the light being block. Is A Cell Phone Bright Enough? For Movies in a dark room ANSI/SMPTE 196M spec for movies recommends about about 55 nits in a dark room. A cell phone typically has from 500 to 800 peak nits (see Displaymate’s Shootouts for objective measurements), but after about a 90% optical loss the image would be down to between about 50 and 80 nits, which is possible just enough if the background/room is dark. could be acceptably bright in a moderately dark room. But if the room light are on, this will be at best marginal even after allowing for the headset blocking about 75 to 80% of the room light between the combiner and the beam splitter. With AR you are not just looking at a blank wall. To make something look “solid” non/transparent the display image needs to “dominate” by being at least 2X brighter than anything behind it. It becomes even more questionable that there is enough brightness unless there is not a lot of ambient light (or everything in the background is dark colored or the room lights are very dim). Note, an LCOS or DLP based see-through AR systems can start with about 10 to 30 times or more the brightness (nits) of a cell phone. They do this so they can work in a variety of light conditions after all the other light losses in a system. Alternative Optical Solution – Meta-2 “Type” Using a large display like a cell phone rather than microdisplay severely limits the optical choices with a see-through display. Refractive (lens) optics, for example, would be huge and expensive or Fresnel optics with their optical issues. The most obvious alternative to the birdbad would be to go with dual large combiners such as the Meta-2 approach (see left). When I first saw the Disney-Lenovo design, I even thought it might be using the Meta-2 approach (disproven on closer inspection). With Meta-2, the beam splitter is eliminated and two much larger semi-circular combiners (givening a “bug-eye” look) have a direct path to the display. Still the bug-eyed combiner is not that much larger than the shield on the Disney-Lenovo system. Immediately, you should notice how the user’s eyes are visible which shows how much more light is getting through.. Because there is no beamsplitter, the Meta-2 design is much more optically efficient. Rough measurements from pictures suggest the Meta-2’s combiners pass 60% and thus reflects about 40%. This means with the same display, it would make the display appear 3 to 4 times brighter while allowing about 2.5X of the real world light through as that of the Disney-Lenovo birdbath design. I have not tested a Meta-2 nor have read any serious technical evaluation (just the usual “ooh-wow” articles), and I have some concerns with the Meta design. The Meta-2 is “off-axis” in that the display is not perfectly perpendicular to the the combiner. One of the virtues of the birdbath is that is it results in a straightforward on-axis design. With the off-axis design, I wonder how well the focus distance is controlled across the FOV. Also, the Meta-2 combiners are so far from the eye, that a persons two eyes would have optical cross-talk (there is nothing to keep the one eye from seeing what the other eye is seeing such as the baffels in the Disney-Lenovo design). I don’t know how this would affect things in stereo use, but I would be concerned. In terms of simple image quality, I would think it would favor the single bug-eye style combiner. There are are no secondary reflections caused by the beamsplitter and both the display and the real world would be significantly brighter. In terms of cost, I see pro’s and con’s relative to each design and overall not a huge difference assuming both designs started with a cell phone displays. In terms of weight, I don’t see much of a difference either. To begin with, I would not expect even good image quality out of a phone-as-a-display AR headset. Even totally purpose built AR display have their problems. Making a device “see-through” generally makes everything more difficult/expensive. The optical design has to be compromised right from the start to support both LCD and OLED phones that could have different sizes. Making matters worse is the birdbath design with its huge light losses. Add to this the inherent reflections in the birdbath design and I don’t have high hopes for the image quality. It seems to me a very heavy “lift” even for the Disney and Star Wars brands. We don’t have any details as to the image tracking and room tracking but I would expect like the optics, it will be done on the cheap. I have no inside knowledge, but it almost looks to me that the solution was designed around supporting the Jedi Light Saber shown in the teaser video (right). They need the see-through aspect so the user can see the light saber. But making the headset see-through is a long way to go to support the saber. BTW, I’m a big Disney fan from way back (have been to the Disney parks around the world multiple times, attended D23 conventions, eaten at Club 33, was a member of the “Advisory Council” in 1999-2000, own over 100 books on Disney, and the one of the largest 1960’s era Disneyland Schuco monorail collections in the world ). I have an understanding and appreciation of Disney fandom, so this is not a knock on Disney in general.
Fernvale, New South Wales facts for kids Quick facts for kidsFernvale New South Wales \|Population\|\|238 (2011 census)\| \|Time zone\|\|AEST (UTC+10)\| \|• Summer (DST)\|\|AEDT (UTC+11)\| Fernvale is a town located in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire. In the 2011 census, Fernvale recorded a population of 238 people, 49.2% female and 50.8% male. The median age of the Fernvale population was 42 years, 5 years above the national median of 37. 81.2% of people living in Fernvale were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 6.3%, India 1.3%, Germany 1.3%, Belgium 1.3%, Japan 1.3%. 87.8% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 1.7% Japanese, 1.3% Russian, 1.3% French, 1.3% Maltese, 1.3% Thai. Fernvale, New South Wales Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.
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We have no doubt that as experienced teachers you have not only seen many multiple choice test questions but that you have created them yourself. And keeping in the kitchen metaphor, there’s no absolutely perfect recipe, there are methods and ingredients that maybe can be improved, ever so slightly. We found a worthy set of suggestions from the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, “Writing Good Multiple Choice Test Questions.” And even better, as it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, we can not only refer you to it, but repurpose parts of it here. Cite this guide: Brame, C., (2013) Writing good multiple choice test questions. Retrieved July 1, 2020 from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/writing-good-multiple-choice-test-questions/. While your H5P cooking will include more question types than multiple choice, keep their suggestions in mind. And also consider that this guide is written more towards assessments, while our work is on practice exercises; what is not included are suggestions for providing feedback (that’s another post). We will maintain the terminology from the Vanderbilt guide for the parts of the multiple choice item: A multiple choice item consists of a problem, known as the stem, and a list of suggested solutions, known as alternatives. The alternatives consist of one correct or best alternative, which is the answer, and incorrect or inferior alternatives, known as distractors. Constructing an Effective Stem A stem should be meaningful on it’s own and present a definite problem focused on a learning outcome. Less meaningful stems lead to students trying to infer a response from question. Here is their examples of a non-meaningful stem(cleverly baked here in the kitchen as H5P!) Compare this to a re-written stem that is more direct and stands on its own as a question: Avoid including extraneous information in a stem; in this example, they are using content better left in the context before the question is used. Avoid negatively framed stems unless it is specifically required by an outcome. These questions are harder to understand, and lead students to look for the “trick” answer. If a negatively worded stem is needed (e.g. to identify a dangerous substance of practice), use italics or capitalization to highlight the negative phrase. Avoid this kind of stem: Instead try writing negative worded stems like this: The last suggestion for stems is that they should be complete sentences, avoid stems that have a fill in the blank in the middle (besides there are different H5P content types for that). A partial sentence forces a learner to keep that in their brains while testing out different answers, an unnecessary increase in cognitive load. First, try this stem that has an interior blank: Compare it to this better version: Constructing Effective Alternatives All alternatives or the answer choices should be plausible responses to the stem. “The function of the incorrect alternatives is to serve as distractors,which should be selected by students who did not achieve the learning outcome but ignored by students who did achieve the learning outcome. Alternatives that are implausible don’t serve as functional distractors and thus should not be used. Common student errors provide the best source of distractors.” This example has several implausible and easily discarded distractors. The Vanderbilt guide also suggests avoiding overly wordy alternatives (long multilined sentences) as they are more an indicator of reading ability than achieving a learning objective. Alternatives should be mutually exclusive; overlapping responses indicate that they are some kind of trick to fool the learner, and thus, becomes more of a total distraction of the goal. Try this example: Also, alternatives should be homogenous (parallel) in content. If not, one answer can stand out as an obvious answer just from noting the pattern of wording. Try this example: As you can see, the structure and patterns of alternatives should give clues to experienced test-takers. They often know that correct answers often have differences in length, grammar, formatting, and language choice than incorrect ones. Alternatives should: - have grammar that is consistent with the stem - be parallel in form - be of similar length - use similar language (all of them like or all of them unlike the language of the textbook). Also, avoid alternatives like “all of the above” and “none of the above”: When “all of the above” is used as an answer, test-takers who can identify more than one alternative as correct can select the correct answer even if unsure about other alternative(s). When “none of the above” is used as an alternative, test-takers who can eliminate a single option can thereby eliminate a second option. In either case, students can use partial knowledge to arrive at a correct answer. In addition, avoid alternatives that feature 3 single options A, B, and C followed by ones such as “A and B”, “B and C”, “A and C” as “a sophisticated test-taker can use partial knowledge to achieve a correct answer.” These types of formats are not needed in H5P when you can use the options to accept multiple answers as correct (checkbox vs radio buttons). Alternatives should be displayed in a logical order (alphabetical or numerical) to downplay bias towards certain positions (note that in H5P alternatives can be set to be displayed in randomized order; know also when to turn that option off). For this problem about a chemical reaction, the answers should follow the logic order of the equation: There is nothing magical about the 4 alternative multiple choice item: The number of alternatives can vary among items as long as all alternatives are plausible. Plausible alternatives serve as functional distractors, which are those chosen by students that have not achieved the objective but ignored by students that have achieved the objective. There is little difference in difficulty, discrimination, and test score reliability among items containing two, three, and four distractors. For more suggestions about complexity of question items and considerations for writing items that test higher-order thinking, see the full article. The authors also provide a condensed version of the tips as a two page handout. See also Constructing Written Test Questions For the Basic and Clinical Sciences (National Board of Medical Examiners).
Klumm Bros. is available to provide erosion control and seeding services post-excavation or demolition. Our goal is to leave you with a site that’s properly prepared for whatever comes next—whether it’s a new development or restoration of foliage. Our capabilities include various types of hydroseeding, erosion control planning, and stormwater pollution prevention. We also use the very best seed and slurry mix materials. This ensures healthy grass and wildflower growth, aided by absorptive materials like cellulose fiber and pulp. The water retention capacity and consistent coverage of our applications makes for lush, verdant tracts of land quicker than conventional seeding methods. - Athletic fields - Temporary lots - Wildflower seeding Erosion Control Services Erosion control in Toledo, OH is important in preserving the integrity of graded land. Without proper erosion control, heavy rains create runoff, which can lead to everything from nutrient depletion to extreme soil saturation. Erosion issues prevent developments from taking form. We mitigate erosion in a variety of ways. Some cases are simply solved through grading. Others take seeding and planting of foliage to create natural erosion barriers. We can even advise on proper erosion barrier installation. We’re committed to helping you protect the integrity of your land. Stormwater Pollution Prevention We’re experienced site prep specialists with the ability to develop and implement stormwater pollution prevention plans for construction sites. Consult with us about how to prevent stormwater from altering soil composition and construction staking while you prepare the land for a long-lasting development. Invest in Site Prep Solutions For more information about how to prepare your land for development, contact Klumm Bros. today at 419-829-3166. We’re ready to advise on hydroseeding, erosion control and stormwater runoff prevention, so you can move forward with plans for your site.
Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) offers the following Knowledge Management education and training Abstract: On June 28th, as part of the 2010 ALA Annual Conference, approximately 45 would-be Knowledge Managers had the opportunity to interact with some of the federal government’s leading Knowledge Management (KM) practitioners in an exciting informational/networking event hosted by Amanda Wilson, Director of the Department of Transportation’s National Transportation Library. Abstract: This paper presents the preliminary results of a study investigating the current state of knowledge organization education in American schools of library and information science. The goal of the study is to assess the status of entry-level knowledge organization education in U.S. library and information schools from three perspectives: course content, students’ perception, Abstract: In this panel we will discuss the importance of knowledge organization and information organization in library and information science curricula and the emerging trends both inside and outside of library and information science which will affect the curriculum in coming years. Panel: Selenay Aytac, Long
I would like personally thank Mr. Benjamin Skaleras and Cycling world for Barje expedition. Even though I have been living in Ljubljana for 40 years professionals at Kolesarski Svet team teach us that the Ljubljana Marshes is a place of great biodiversity. Since 2008, the major part of the Ljubljana Marshes, covering an area of 135 km2 (52 sq mi), has been protected as a landscape park. The most preserved parts had been already before protected as nature reserves and as natural monuments. The Ljubljana Marsh was inhabited in prehistoric times, when it was a shallow lake. Prehistoric pile dwellings and the oldest wooden wheel in the world are among the most notable archeological findings from the marshland. Since 2011, the area of pile dwellings near Ig has been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanks again for great time and best wishes in the future, Miha
“At that time the sun did not burn that topmost Vanara, and the wind helped him, who was working to successfully meet Rama’s interest.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 1.84) tatāpa na hi taṃ sūryaḥ plavantaṃ vānarottamam \| siṣeve ca tadā vāyū rāmakāryādthasiddhaye The managers of the vital external elements in this world are often taken for granted. The controllers of the wind, earth and sun are much more powerful in their abilities than any collection of ordinary individuals, yet their benedictions and dedication to duty seem to get lost in the shuffle of everyday life. An individual may think they are quite capable in a particular area of interest, but when compared to the abilities of the sun and the wind, any boasting of material strength must be laughed at. These two wonderful objects, elevated living entities in large forms, can be very helpful to those whose aim in life is the rekindling of the most intimate of relationships. Though the sun and the wind are equally disposed towards everyone, when the individual takes to its natural engagement, the material elements turn divine and come to help ensure eventual success. What is a divine element? How can the wind and the sun be compared to people? Does this speak to pantheism or some mythological tradition derived by those desperately seeking answers to life’s most mysterious questions? The living entity, the jiva, is a spirit soul at the core. Individuals are described by the term jivatma because they can suffer through the pangs of material existence, whereas the Supreme Soul, Paramatma, cannot. Both entities are atmas, or souls, but one is superior, while the other is inferior. Much more than just a heavenly figure that is feared and bowed down to out of sentimentalist and sectarian traditions, the Supreme Soul has distinct qualitative aspects. The Original Person’s features are strikingly similar to those of the jivas, but the similarities dissipate when the discussion turns to quantitative powers. We have certainly heard the inhabitants of earth described as God’s children, so there already is familiarity with the concept of similarities existing between the Supreme Lord and His countless progeny. Just as a son takes on the features of one or both of his parents, the living entities inherit the characteristics of knowledge, eternality and bliss from the Supreme Father. Just as the Supreme Soul is not limited to one particular form or body type, so the individual souls cannot be accurately identified by their current outward features. Even if a temporary identification is formed off the outer covering of the soul, the body still always goes through changes. When we speak of “that” person, who are we referring to? After all, the form of the individual in question completely changes over the course of their lifetime. This makes identification based solely off outward features silly, for we know that through surgery and other medical practices the skin covering, which affects the outward appearance, can drastically shift. A man can grow a beard or decide to shave every day. Regardless of the path chosen, his individuality remains unchanged. Simply from outward perceptions we can deduce that an individual’s identity comes from the driving force of their activity and not from the appearance of the outer dress that accompanies the performance of work. The autonomous spark that serves as the impetus for action is known as the soul, the existence of which should not be a novel concept to anyone. Regardless of one’s spiritual inclination and religious tradition, the idea of a soul is generally accepted. Those with a limited understanding and narrow vision only perceive the presence of spirit in the human species, but the workings of the eternal fragments emanating from the imperishable land can never be so limited. After all, outer coverings may change even in the human species, so to say that a soul can only reside in a particular body type is silly. Just as the Supreme Lord, who is omnipotent and omnipresent, can live in any place and at any time, the individual soul, which inherits its grandiose qualities from the Supreme Soul, can assume any type of body composed of specific material elements. The nature of these elements, their size, shape and weight, don’t have any bearing on the soul. In fact, since the spiritual spark comes from God, it is always the beacon of light, a torchlight of knowledge and bliss which is self-illuminating. Unlike with Supreme Spirit, the illumination that beams off the individual soul can be covered up. The intrinsic knowledge and potency for action are also limited by the specific dress occupied at any given time. In this vein the species have different capabilities and varying levels of matching intelligence. The Vedas, the system of transcendental knowledge instituted by the Supreme Soul in His original form at the beginning of time, cap the number of specific types of species at 8,400,000. While this is certainly a large number, the count speaks to the seemingly unlimited combinations of matter that can surround an individual spiritual spark in the embodied form. Even the animals, plants, fish and reptiles have spirit souls residing within them. They too are living entities, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Their levels of intelligence are certainly lower than those of human beings, but this does not disqualify them from being related to God. Just as a son may disavow his father, the living entity has a choice as to whether or not to associate with God. Yet, at the same time, the father is still always the parent of the son, irrespective of the outward acknowledgements and regardless of the mood either party is in. The Supreme Soul, as the original father, is always intimately related to the fallen soul, regardless of the individual’s aversion towards acknowledging such a relationship. We may renounce God, but the Lord will never disown us. God’s status as the most benevolent is further solidified through His accompanying descent to the perishable and ever-changing world with the individual soul. When separation is desired, the jiva is placed in a playground of sorts, an area where the surroundings are constantly changing, thus allowing for delusion in terms of consciousness. The resulting mindset is referred to as bewildered or clouded because it is completely devoid of information and acknowledgement of the presence of the Supreme Soul, which resides within the heart of the living entity alongside the atma. Only in the temporary world, where pursuits for sense gratification and material acquisition are given free license, can the individual’s consciousness be contaminated to the point that it completely forgets about the influence of God. “Forgetting Krishna, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy [maya] gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence.” (Lord Chaitanya, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 20.117) Not only is the divine influence ignored, but so is other logical information that is derived from the acknowledgement of God’s tangible presence. For instance, in the conditioned state, where one’s consciousness is focused on sense gratification and the pursuit to surpass the Supreme Being in the areas of creation, maintenance and destruction, information of the quality of the soul and its vitality in every form of life is forgotten. The practice of unnecessary animal killing facilitated through slaughterhouses is only possible through this altered consciousness. To excuse their behavior, deluded individuals have concocted the notion that animals don’t have souls, or that since animals are not intelligent in any way, they can be killed at a whim for food without incurring any sinful reaction. In addition to the recognition of the soul’s presence within all forms of life being absent, the power and potency of the agents who manage the governing elements of the world are also neglected. Gross matter is made up of earth, water, fire, air and ether, with there being a presiding deity for each element. There is a sun-god, an exalted living entity whose soul has been placed into a body of fire. Similarly, there is a wind-god, an individual who is responsible for the workings of air. Those with a poor fund of knowledge or a closed mind will dismiss such information as being mythology or some mentally concocted idea, but as mentioned before, the soul is the driving force behind the activities of the individual body. If even an ant has a controller guiding behavior, why wouldn’t a much larger entity such as the earth or sun have a manager? A car is incapable of moving on its own. It does not take on any value until a spiritual force, a human being, sits behind the wheel and operates the vehicle. In a similar manner, sunrays, wind and earthly elements are dull and lifeless. It is impossible for us to capture sunshine in a container and get it to work on its own. These elements require the injection of spiritual energy in order to function properly. Fortunately for us, the Supreme Soul, our original life-partner in the spiritual world, is not spiteful over our having neglected Him. The path to rekindling our loving relationship with Him is quite simple. Just as the kind-hearted parent will welcome back with open arms the child who has returned after going astray, God will take back the wayward soul at any time. For the reunion to take place and remain permanent, there must be a change in consciousness. No other requirement is there save for this purification of thoughts, words and deeds. Consciousness is not tied simply to an allegiance of faith or the performance of rituals and functions. While these activities certainly can provide a jumpstart towards the ultimate goal, consciousness is a state of mind measured by outward symptoms. The best and most obvious indications of the differences between a purified consciousness and one based on simple professions of commitment can be seen in the arena of romantic love. If a man says that he loves a certain woman but then takes to engaging in extramarital affairs, or if he constantly gawks at other women, the avowed allegiance in emotion essentially becomes meaningless. In many instances, saying, “I love you”, is simply a roadblock, a hurdle that needs to be crossed in order to get what is desired: sexual relations. Worshiping the Lord out of fear of eternal damnation in a lake of fire is not real surrender. Such a practice is employed just to get out of pain, so the devotion is of little to no value. The consciousness of the individual doesn’t change under this model either, for the material thoughts and workings of the mind don’t cease. True surrender can only be had when there are acts of devotion. Just as we take the necessary steps to please our loved ones, be they family members or paramours, similar strides should be taken to please the Supreme Soul. How can a spiritual entity we can’t see be satisfied? What is required to please that one person who is above desire and mundane pleasure? In our present surroundings love is a universal language, something spoken in every part of the world, in every type of community. Similarly, Krishna-prema, transcendental affection, is the only language of the spiritual world. While in the mundane world affection can come and go and be based off tit-for-tat mentalities, spiritual love is of the purest variety. Directing our natural loving propensity towards the transcendent Lord is the only business of the soul in this world, and when such a course is adopted, other powerful entities, who are working at the pleasure of the Supreme Soul, will help the individual along. Such was the case with Shri Hanuman, the eternal servant of Lord Rama. God belongs to everyone. One group may address Him by a particular name and thus refer to Him as “My God”, but that doesn’t mean that the Supreme Lord is the exclusive property of any one set of individuals. Philosophies and ideals formed off of blind sentimentalist and sectarian mindsets go against the basic properties of spirit. The original Divine Being, who is by constitution supremely powerful in quality and quantity, cannot be limited to any corner of the material creation, an area which is temporary and destined for destruction. Therefore God is for everyone; He is the only entity worthy of worship by people of all ages and faiths. The Supreme Soul, who is already manifest within each jiva of this world, kindly makes an outward appearance from time to time. The manifested form, which is completely spiritual, allows the fallen conditioned entities to get a glimpse of what Supreme Spirit is like, what His actions are, and how one can interact with Him. Shri Rama, the handsome and pious prince of Ayodhya, was one such outward manifestation of the original Divine Being in the spiritual world, the same entity who kindly personally expands and resides within the heart of every living being. Seeing God in an outward form is one thing, but harboring an attachment for Him is another. To facilitate the exchange of transcendental love in a mood of pure service, Rama took to many activities which required difficult tasks to be completed and perseverance from others. For God, there is no task too difficult and no work that can’t be performed, but due to His causeless mercy, He allows other eager and willing servants to make their contributions to transcendental lore. Lord Rama’s activities would be talked about until the end of creation, so whoever would help Him would be eternally linked with Him, His family and the ultimate occupation in life, devotional service. Of all of Rama’s well-wishers, none was more eager to serve than Shri Hanuman, a divine living entity in the form of a monkey. It seems odd that Rama would enlist the help of monkeys, but such are the workings of the one person who is impossible to understand fully. A ghoulish king by the name of Ravana had taken away Rama’s wife Sita Devi through a backhanded plot. The jewel of the Raghu dynasty, though of the princely order, was serving out an exile punishment at the time, so the stipulation was that He could not have ties to the royal kingdom. Unable to go back and fetch His army to punish Ravana and rescue Sita, Rama enlisted the help of a band of monkeys living in the Kishkindha forest. Headed by their pious leader Sugriva, these monkeys were eager to serve Rama in any way possible. The first mission was to find Sita, so Sugriva dispatched his army in groups to search the world over for the princess’ whereabouts. The most capable search party consisted of Shri Hanuman, who was also the most eager to serve Rama. These two conditions were not randomly paired, as desire and passion greatly increase the chances for success in any endeavor. Devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, is practiced best when the individual is unmotivated and uninterrupted in their mindset. This was the case with Hanuman, as no obstacle was too great for him to overcome, nor was there any desire for personal honor or glory. He wanted to find Sita just because that would make Sugriva, Rama and Lakshmana, Rama’s younger brother, happy. Hanuman’s services would be required at the most critical of junctures, when the monkeys in his party reached an impasse. They found out where Sita had been taken, the island kingdom of Lanka, but the problem was that the island lay across a massive ocean. No one was capable of bounding over the lengthy body of water besides Hanuman. The divine servant, the most faithful and sincere devotee of Rama, expanded his outward form through the powers given to him as a child. Taking on a massive stature, Hanuman prepared for launching into the sky by ascending a tall mountain peak. Leaping into the air, Hanuman appeared exquisitely beautiful. The accounts of his journey to Lanka are described in the Sundara-kanda of the Ramayana of Valmiki. This section of the poem is aptly named, as the title references the beauty of Hanuman’s figure as he flew across the ocean and also the glorious nature of his selfless and heroic acts performed in Lanka while searching for Sita. In the above referenced passage, we see that as Hanuman was travelling across the ocean, both the sun and the wind helped him. The sun is the very essence of neutrality. It rises and sets at the proper time and dissipates heat and light equally across all spheres. In fact, the sun doesn’t’ even rise or set; these are simply the observations of those on earth who have to deal with the globe’s constant rotation. The wind is equally as unbiased in its approach, as it blows or remains constant at intervals evenly distributed across time and space. If both of these entities are neutral by default, why did they help Hanuman? As children of the Lord, the deities in charge of the wind and the sun are forever linked to Rama in the same way that Hanuman is. Seeing another faithful servant involved in devotional service, these two great beings had no choice but to help Hanuman. The wind-god also happened to be Hanuman’s father, so naturally there would be a bond of affection there, but the real impetus for the aid was the nature of Hanuman’s mission. This incident also reveals a hidden secret to the workings of spiritual life. When the jiva turns its back on material sense gratification and sincerely makes an effort to change their consciousness by engaging in devotional service, other divine elements will surely lend a helping hand. In the beginning stages, there will be allurements from other aspects of nature, including interference from some celestial beings, or demigods, but there is no question that help will eventually arrive. Even Hanuman was thrown some obstacles by other devas, but as we see from the behavior of the sun and the wind, the most pious divine entities, those who are more closely tied to Bhagavan and His interests, will always help the sincere servant of the Lord. Hanuman would come out successful, as he is never tainted by material nature or selfish desires. As a reward for his kind service and the role he played in Sita’s ultimate rescue, Hanuman received from Rama the boon of always being able to remember the Lord and His family. Such a gift is unmatched in its potency, brilliance and ability to please, for it fills Hanuman with transcendental bliss at all times. Always in the mood of pure God consciousness, Hanuman can never be led astray. He is such an exalted figure that other powerful entities such as the sun and the wind serve at his pleasure instead of the other way around. Anyone who makes a sincere effort at altering their consciousness for the better through outward activities of bhakti is guaranteed of success. The individual may not be very powerful, but through the help of other managing entities, no effort goes to waste. The best way to remain fixed up in transcendental love is to always hear about Rama and the glorious activities of His dear servants. When there is no opportunity to hear of the wonderful nectar contained in the classic Vedic texts such as the Ramayana, Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam, there are still other options, with the most powerful one being the regular chanting of the holy names of the Supreme Soul, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. Categories: hanuman crossing the ocean
Background: Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) of the skull base are extremely rare. Here we report the first description of a malignant PEComa mimicking jugular foramen schwannoma and presenting as Collet-Sicard syndrome, and we review the previous literature on PEComas of the head, neck and skull base. Case description: A 29-year-old woman presented with hoarseness, dysphagia, vomiting, and headache. She was first diagnosed with Collet-Sicard syndrome caused by thrombosis of the sigmoid and transverse sinuses. She was treated with anticoagulant therapy, and the hoarseness and paralysis of the accessory nerve improved. Later, at age 31, the hoarseness again worsened. At another hospital, enhanced computed tomography revealed a tumor in the jugular foramen extending to the neck and medially displacing the internal carotid artery. She was referred to our hospital for further examination and was diagnosed with jugular foramen schwannoma causing thrombosis of the sinuses. At the one-year follow-up, the tumor had grown rapidly and had started to surround the internal carotid artery. We therefore performed a tissue biopsy of the tumor in the jugular foramen and neck. Based on pathological analysis, we made a definitive diagnosis of malignant PEComa. Conclusions: It may be extremely challenging to reach an accurate diagnosis of PEComa in the skull-base region, which can cause a delay in treatment initiation. When atypical clinical features for a skull-base tumor are found, we recommend preliminary biopsy to obtain a definitive diagnosis and initiate an appropriate treatment strategy as early as possible. All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
Historical Quick Takes: The POTUS Connection LakewoodNeighbors.org connected with Stan Lipson, president of the Lakewood Historical Society and member of the Lakewood Heritage Commission, to deliver a series of historical snapshots of our hometown connection to towering figures from American history. LN: Which president had the deepest connection to Lakewood? SL: The most important president would be Grover Cleveland — he ended up living in Lakewood. He’s the only president of United States who had two non-consecutive terms. He first served from 1884–88, lost in 1888 to Benjamin Harrison, and served again 1892–1896. LN: How many presidents has Lakewood hosted? SL: I would say about six or so. Every picture you see here came to Lakewood. William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson all visited or stayed in Lakewood. Many campaigned here including Roosevelt in 1912 and more recently President George H.W. Bush. President Grant spent most of his time vacationing in Long Branch, but he did come to Lakewood as well. Add to that list Ulysses S. Grant, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. LN: Do you know the location of the Cleveland home? SL: The Cleveland Cottage was located somewhere up around 12th street and Clifton Avenue, but the structure is no longer there. LN: What was the draw to Lakewood for presidential candidates and vacationing chief executives? SL: Two things: campaigning is number one, and the second reason is that because Cleveland did live here, and Lakewood was an important community in Central Jersey. We are centrally located, 60 miles south of New York, 50 miles east of Philly, and 60 miles north of Atlantic City. Lakewood was also one of the larger and more affluent communities of the early 1900s, and was easily accessible by carriage, train, bus and later airplane. Want to learn more?
Gu Tian White Fungus Also known as: 古田白木耳 Net Weight: 100g/300g Country of Origin: China, Gu Tian Gu Tian white fungus’s texture is stickier than Zhang Zhou white fungus. Direction: Soak in water until it is soft. Used for dessert and soup. White fungus has been prized for its medicinal benefits, namely anti-inflammatory and anti-tumour. In Chinese families, it is commonly used in soups cooked for soothing purposes like nourishing the bodies, healing dry coughs and clearing heat in the lungs.
A water heater is an important appliance in any Hagerstown home. It makes it possible for you to take a hot shower or bath and use your washing machine or dishwasher. However, like any other home appliance, a water heater also starts to develop problems over time. Problems with Older Water Heaters - Reduced Performance due to Hard Water Contaminants Build Up Contaminants from hard water accumulate over time on the bottom of your water heater tank. This affects the performance of the heater and reduces its lifespan. You can avoid this problem by having a professional remove these deposits periodically. - Not Sufficient Water This is one of the common problems in older water heater. If your water heater does not heat enough water, you can contact a professional to check the thermostat and heating element. If they are not working properly, they should be replaced with new ones. - Not Sufficiently Hot Water If your older water heater does not heat the water sufficiently, the problem may be in the thermostats or heating elements. Adjusting the thermostat settings or replacing the thermostat can help you solve this problem. - Dirty or Discolored Water Over time, the tank in the water heater becomes rusty. Dirt accumulates on the tank, causing problems. Draining and flushing the tank on a regular basis can help increase the lifespan of the heater. If the tank is rusty, you need to replace the water heater. - Strange Noises If you hear a strange noise whenever you turn on the water heater, it could mean that the tank has lots of buildup in the bottom. The buildup reduces the ability of the tank to keep the water hot for a long period, and so the burner turns on often to keep the water hot. In such cases, you need to hire an experienced professional to fix the problem. - Pilot Light Problem If the pilot light on the heater does not remain lit, the problem may be in the thermocouple. Replacing it can help you get rid of this problem. If your Hagerstown water heater is nearing the end of its life expectancy period, you can consider replacing it with a new one, so that you can stop wasting money on your energy bill every month. Call Larry & Sons Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning today to learn about our Hagerstown water heater replacement services!
Facts of the case This case consolidates two separate challenges to the constitutionality of two cancellations, made by President William J. Clinton, under the Line Item Veto Act (Act). In the first, the City of New York, two hospital associations, a hospital, and two health care unions, challenged the President’s cancellation of a provision in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 which relinquished the Federal Government’s ability to recoup nearly $2.6 billion in taxes levied against Medicaid providers by the State of New York. In the second, the Snake River farmer’s cooperative and one of its individual members challenged the President’s cancellation of a provision of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The provision permitted some food refiners and processors to defer recognition of their capital gains in exchange for selling their stock to eligible farmers’ cooperatives. After a district court held the Act unconstitutional, the Supreme Court granted certiorari on expedited appeal. Why is the case important? President Clinton’s exercise of power under the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 to make cancellations in a Congressional Act was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States because the President must either veto the entire law or approve the entire law. Whether the provisions in the Line Item Veto Act that allow the President to cancel certain types of provisions of a law are constitutional. No. Judgment affirmed. There is no provision in the Constitution authorizing the President to enact, amend, or repeal statutes, although he may initiate and influence legislative proposals. Cancellations are the functional equivalent of partial repeals of Acts of Congress. The Line Item Veto Act gives the President unilateral power to change the text of enacted statutes. The Act’s cancellation provisions violate Article I Section:7 of the Constitution. On review, the United States Supreme Court affirmed that the cancellation procedures set forth in the Act violated the Presentment Clause of the Constitution, U.S. Const. art. I, § 7, cl. 2. The Court held that constitutional silence on the subject of unilateral Presidential action that either repeals or amends parts of duly enacted statutes is equivalent to an express prohibition. Thus, cancellations pursuant to the Act had no legal force or effect and failed to satisfy the procedures set out in Article I, § 7. - Advocates: Charles J. Cooper Argued the cause for the appellee City of New York Louis R. Cohen Argued the cause for the appellee Snake River Potato Growers Seth P. Waxman Argued the cause for the appellants Louis R. Cohen for Snake River Potato Growers - Appellant: Clinton - Appellee: City of New York - DECIDED BY:Rehnquist Court - Location: The White House \|Citation:\|\|524 US 417 (1998)\| \|Argued:\|\|Apr 27, 1998\| \|Decided:\|\|Jun 25, 1998\|
1. The character of the act of D a)It must be a positive act. b)D must have control over what he is doing. c)There must be force and contact. Collins v Wilcock All ER 374 Wilson v Pringle QB 237. In Re F (Mental Patient: Sterilization) 2 AC 1 2. State of Mind ie. the relationship between trespass and negligence. Letang v Cooper 1 QB 232; 3 WLR 573; 2 All ER 929; 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 339. Note that since Fowler v Lanning 1 QB 426; 2 WLR 241; 1 All ER 290. C must prove that D acted intentionally or negligently. 3. Livingstone v Ministry of Defence (1984) 15 NIJB – transferred malice 4. No consent by C and the burden is on C to prove it. Freeman v Home Office (No 2) QB 524 5. No damage need be proved. Assault 1. This means the act of putting another person in reasonable fear or apprehension of immediate battery. eg. pointing loaded gun shaking one’s fist under C’s nose. But not shaking fist from window of departing train. Thomas v NUM 2 All ER 1, 24 2. Mere words are not assault however menacing: there must be threatening acts Meade’s Case (1823) 1 Lew CC 184. “No words or singing are equivalent to assault”. cf. R v Wilson 1 WLR 493 However a)There is no clear authority on this rule. b)In the nature of things threatening words are usually accompanied by threatening gestures. c)Words accompanying a menacing gesture may negative its being an assault. Turbervell v Savadge (1669) 1 Mod. Rep. 3; 2 Keb 545; NoteStreet says that it is preferable to treat this statement as merely an illustration of the principle that D must have caused C to apprehend an immediate contact rather than to make it a separate rule. A case to be distinguished is where there is a conditional threat: Ansell v Thomas Crim LR 31 See also Read v Coker (1853) 13 C. B. 850 3. Pointing a loaded pistol is obviously an assault. What if it is unloaded but C does not know this? There is one criminal case where it was the ratio that to point an unloaded gun at P is an assault R v St George (1840) 9 C&P 483, 492. 4. If D’s blow is intercepted by a third party this will still be an assault. Stephens v Myers (1830) 4 C&P 349; 34 R. R. 811. 5. The act of D need not produce actual fear just reasonable apprehension. 6. There can be battery without assault. FALSE IMPRISONMENT Definition:The infliction of bodily restraint which is not expressly or impliedly authorised by the law. – Winfield. State of Mind This tort normally involves an intentional act in the sense that D must intend to do act which is at least substantially certain to effect the confinement. It is, however, a tort of strict liability in that there need be no intention to act unlawfully – R v Governors of Brockhill Prison ex parte Evans No. 2 2 A. C. 19 Malice is irrelevant. On principle negligence ought to be enough. “Accordingly, if a person locks a door being negligently unaware of the presence of somebody in the room, this should be false imprisonment. ”: Street “False” – wrongful. “Imprisonment” – “Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or in the stocks, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets” – Blackstone. The character of D’s act 1. There need be no actual incarceration. 2. Physical force is not necessary. Meering v Graham – White Aviation Co 122 LT 44 3. The area of confinement may be very large. 4. Restraint must be complete. Bird v Jones (1845) 7 QB 742; 9 Jur 87; 66 RR 564. 5. If a person has the means of escape, but does not know it, it is submitted by Winfield that his detention is nevertheless false imprisonment unless any reasonable man would have realised that he had an available outlet. 6. Act must be direct. 7. There must normally be a positive act rather than an omission. Herd v Weardale Steel, Coke and Coal Co AC 67; 111 LT 660. Knowledge of C Herring v Boyle (1834) 1 CM&R; 6 Car&P; 4 Tyr 801; 3 LJ Ex 344 cfMeering v Grahame – White Aviation Co (Supra) Murray v Minister of Defence 1 WLR 692 No proof of actual damage is necessary. INTENTIONAL PHYSICAL HARM OTHER THAN TRESPASS TO THE PERSON: The Rule in Wilkinson v Downton An act wilfully done which is calculated to cause, and does cause, physical harm to a person is a tort, although it may not be trespass to the person or other specific tort. This principle was laid down by WRIGHT, J. in Wilkinson v Downton 2 QB 57; 76 LT 493. Upheld by C. A in Janvier v Sweeney 2 KB 316; 121 LT 179. In Wainwright v Home Office 3 WLR all three judges in CA held the view that either actual intention or objective recklessness would suffice. Protection from Harassment Act 1997 But see also Hunter v Canary Wharf AC 655 DEFENCES TO AN ACTION FOR TRESPASS TO THE PERSON Self Defence Main question is whether force used by D was reasonable in the circumstances. Prevention of trespass to land or ejection of trespassers from land Note that unless the trespasser is entering by force, D must ask him to leave before using force against him. Volenti Burden is on C to establish lack of consent. Parental or other authority Inevitable accident Not relevant as a defence. Since Fowler v Lanning (supra) the burden has been on C to prove that D’s act was intentional or negligent. Failure by C to fulfil a reasonable condition This is a defence to false imprisonment. Note:Robinson v Balmain Ferry AC 295 Herd v Weardale (supra) D acting in support of the law Dallison v Caffery 1 QB 348; 3 WLR 385; 2 All E 610 cfHogg v Ward (1858) 27 LJ Ex 443.
It was the third time I'd covered for the AP US history teacher this year (since January). And a couple of those times I was the sub on the second day of her absence. This is unlike her. I hope she gets better soon. This time, the class was supposed to prepare for a test the next day. They were a bit bewildered. They hadn't gotten the official notes on these two chapters. As the absence had been unexpected, papers were strewn about the teacher's desk. A student noticed one of these--the Power Point slides for the current chapters. The chapters on the test. "Can I take my phone out and take pictures of these?" I've gotten such requests before. In most cases, the students should just copy the notes. But this time I had no projector or computer, and I wasn't about to write all those notes on the board (there were a lot). In next to no time, the rest of the class got wind of the found notes. And many wanted pictures. But photo sharing is easy, right? Turns out, the class has a Facebook page. So, the one student shared those photos to the page. Now everyone had access, or at least everyone who had a Facebook. Technology. Ain't it grand? (I also noticed the test on the teacher's desk. That I hid away before anyone got wind that it was there. Pics of notes is one thing. Pics of test--not happening on my watch.)
When we speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), the words we say are important. But Paul also reminds us that the attitude of our heart matters as we speak. He says a heart of love “does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).This is a reminder that when we speak it is possible for us to say the right words but have the wrong attitude in our hearts. Paul warns against delighting in what is evil. Servant leaders do not rejoice in the sin or wrong in another persons’ life. But they rejoice with the truth! Servant leaders rejoice when the truth can be spoken and joyfully anticipate a response to the truth which will bring greater freedom and joy to that person’s soul. Rejoicing as we speak truth delights in the opportunity to speak into the life of another person for their good. It reflects a focus on the other rather than self. It is this focus on the other which reveals a true heart of love and allows the servant leader to speak the truth with rejoicing. Speaking the truth with rejoicing requires balance. Some leaders may find a mistake or wrong in someone’s life and find delight in exposing it, feeling justified that the ‘truth has been revealed.’ There may be secret pride in the leader feeling that in some way he/she is better than the other because a wrong has been revealed. The words spoken may be true, but they are not loving. Other leaders may see the wrong and not be willing to speak the truth because they don’t want to appear to be “delighting in evil.” This leader only wants to focus on the positive in the other and rejoice in what is right. Paul tells us that a balance is needed. Truth should be spoken but with the right attitude. A servant leader carefully guards against delighting in evil but rejoices with the truth. Speaking the truth with rejoicing reveals maturity. Learning to rejoice at the right things reflects our level of maturity. Paul made it clear that as we learn how to speak the truth in love, “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). This growth is a process and takes time to develop. An immature leader may see the need to speak truth but do it out of a sense of duty or obligation, as one of the tasks of leadership. This is especially true when the truth which needs to be spoken may be painful or difficult for the other person to receive. This leader may focus on what it will ‘cost’ to take the time and energy to speak the truth. The focus is on oneself, not the other person. As leaders mature, Christ changes their hearts to be more loving and to focus on the needs of the other instead of self. Even when truth needs to expose something wrong or sinful in another person’s life, the servant leader does not rejoice in what is wrong but finds delight in helping the other person to grow by speaking the truth with love. Speaking the truth with rejoicing reflects Jesus. Jesus never delighted in evil but rejoiced in speaking the truth. After Simon Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). Jesus was able to focus on the blessing for Simon Peter and rejoiced in what God had revealed to him. Jesus was not envious that Peter had received this revelation, He rejoiced! And although Peter’s revelation was all about Jesus’ identity, Jesus does not focus on Himself, but on Peter. He continued to talk about Peter’s destiny to become a significant leader in the church. Servant leaders learn from Jesus to rejoice as they speak the truth in love. Until next time, yours on the journey, For further reflection and discussion: - What is my natural tendency, to “delight in evil” or “rejoice in the truth”? What is the result in my leadership? - When have I spoken truth, but was inwardly proud that I was able to expose the wrong in the other person? What was the result in my own life and in the life of the person with whom I spoke? - Read Matthew 16:13-23 and reflect more on Jesus’ communication with Peter. What can I observe about how Jesus kept the focus on Peter instead of Himself? Am I able to do this when someone gives me a compliment? What can I learn about speaking the truth in love from Jesus’ rebuke of Peter in verse 23? Was this spoken in love? - Can I think of another time when Jesus rejoiced as He spoke truth? What can I learn from His example? Copyright, Global Disciples 2019
Relationship between color and conversion What role does color play in consumer buying? Up to 90% of subconscious judgement is based on color. It is a bold claim but there is a multitude of research that backs it up – for example, analytics company Loyalty Square found 85% of total respondents thought color was more important than many other factor when choosing a product to purchase. Further research by Zero Above, an award-winning marketing agency, found on average people make subconscious judgements about a product within 90 seconds of seeing it, and up to 90% of that judgement is based on the color alone. What’s more, research by QuickSprout showed 85% of shoppers’ state color as the primary reason for making a purchase. Studies showing the impact of color on conversion Hubspot reported Performable changed the color of their main call to action (CTA) button leading to a 21% increase in conversion rates. All other elements of the page remained the same - only the color of the button was changed, and it was the change of button color from green to red that resulted in the impressive increase in conversion. Similarly, VWO reported Ript Apparel changed their CTA button from green to yellow resulting in a 6.3% uplift in sales. Furthermore, the company DMIX tested both red and green CTA buttons on 600 test subjects and found using the red button led to a conversion increase of 34%. An example away from the online world that shows the effect color may have on sales is Heinz. ColorCom reported when Heinz switched the color of their signature ketchup from red to green the sales boomed, selling 10 million bottles within the first seven months, a sales result of $23 million and the largest increase in sales in the company’s history. How color can boost your rates of conversion We are sure the above case studies show color really does make an impact on people’s buying decisions and therefore a websites conversion rate. So, how can you better use color to increase conversion rates your site? 1. Establish who your target demographic/market is Different people are influenced by different colors in different ways. The above case studies illustrate this point; for Performable it was switching their CTA button from green to red that led to an increase in conversion, however for Ript Apparel changing the color from green to yellow led to the uplift. Exploring this idea further, research by Joe Hallock shows men and women possess an affinity for and attraction to different colors. Women strongly react to purple, blue and green, and men react to black, blue and green. It is a subtle but significant difference. The gender differences when it comes to preferences for color is also supported by research from the University of Maryland’s Philip Cohen, who surveyed 2000 men and women, asking their favorite color was. Here are the results: 2. Understand color theory and psychology While there are no set rules and the color scheme that will be most effective in driving conversions for your eCommerce site is going to be largely dependent on what your industry sector and target demographic. However, there is a generally accepted and understood set of colors worth knowing about. Almost all color combinations leading to increased conversion, no matter the target audience or industry, will usually follow some principles of color theory. This theory is based on extensive research and human psychology, so they are worth knowing to better understand why specific colors or color combinations have a positive or negative effect on buying decisions and therefore rates of conversion. There are many online resources for learning color theory. Closely related to color theory is color psychology. Robert Plutchicks Wheel of Emotions illustrates the relationship between different colors and emotions.

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