text
stringlengths 213
24.6k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 14
499
| file_path
stringlengths 138
138
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.9
1
| token_count
int64 51
4.1k
| score
float64 1.5
5.06
| int_score
int64 2
5
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
COCAINE users who want to kick the habit could one day benefit from the discovery of a molecule that prevents the drug from producing a high.
The euphoria that follows the use of cocaine is thought to come partly from an excess of the chemical dopamine in one particular area of the brain. Normally the level of dopamine is controlled and any surplus is shut away in "storage". Cocaine binds to the protein responsible for moving dopamine into storage, interfering with its function and keeping the chemical in circulation.
Researchers at the US National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore and nearby Johns Hopkins University have now shown that it might be possible to keep the shuttle operation working with the help of a molecule that stops the drug binding to the protein.
In 1991, George Uhl and Shoichi Shimada of Johns Hopkins University isolated and cloned the gene responsible ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content. | <urn:uuid:9aace422-f77c-4546-810f-2bf3f2d88c1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14619711.500-taking-the-kick-out-of-cocaine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923295 | 198 | 3.484375 | 3 |
all. When Waterson sat down, however, the House began to stir, and in
the gallery people leaned forward. This was what they had come for.
Harry Oppenheimer stood up.
started on a calm note, easygoing and personal, like a man who hasn't
thought out beforehand what he is going to say—unlike Waterson, he
didn't use notes—yet it became obvious as he went along that he knew
precisely what he was up to. He criticized a proposed gift tax and a
proposed tax on dividends from outside South Africa. As he got into the
theme his manner grew even more easy: he talked rapidly and clearly,
swaying a little with the rhythm of the words.
. . Now the Minister here is concerned with tackling an evil, a
distinct evil, but a specific evil. He is trying to tackle the position
which arises when a man, in order to avoid tax, transfers dividends
which are earned in the Union to a company outside the Union, say in
Rhodesia or South-West Africa, and gets back these profits as dividends
from the company outside the Union and thus evades paying tax,"
Oppenheimer declared. "The Minister is quite right to stop that, but I
must say that I think that on the face of it, it must be wrong to
tackle a specific evil of that sort by throwing overboard what is a
fundamental concept and has always been a fundamental concept in our
taxation system. Because as long as I can remember (and no doubt
longer) it has been a principle of taxation in South Africa that
taxation should not be paid on income arising outside the country. Now
the measure which the honorable Minister is proposing in the first
place is going to have the effect to give the people a strong
inducement—the people whom the Minister is trying to attack—to keep
their profits outside the country, and to re-invest those profits
outside the coun- | <urn:uuid:0097d803-f9bc-4539-904c-51a86ab206fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.farlang.com/diamonds/hahn-diamond/page_177/print_view | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982422 | 421 | 1.5625 | 2 |
About the Sun
The whole picture
Jezek wants space agencies to pull together to create new satellite images of polar regions
Posted May 23, 2008
A decade after using an Earth-observing satellite to image Antarctica to create the first high-resolution mosaic of the continent, Ken Jezek hopes the world’s space agencies will pull together their spaceborne resources to map the cryosphere in unprecedented detail and breadth.
The International Polar Year (IPY) project will rely on countries from Russia to China to the United Kingdom to use the constellation of Earth-observing satellites to capture data about ice sheets and sea ice in areas undergoing rapid changes. GIIPSY, for Global Inter-agency IPY Polar Snapshot Year, will use a range of satellite frequencies, from microwave to optical, to create a series of different images for a benchmark that scientists can use to track future changes.
“The challenges are formidable,” concedes Jezek, a geophysicist with Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University in Columbus. “We’re trying to get everyone who currently has a satellite operating to coordinate [their efforts], and to coordinate their acquisitions in such a way that the burden of acquisitions doesn’t fall on any single agency, which may not have the mandate or resources to do that job.”
Jezek sees GIIPSY as an ambitious successor to a project that BPRC coordinated with the Canadian Space Agency and NASA beginning in 1997 called RADARSAT Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP).
Launched in November 1995 by NASA from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Canada’s RADARSAT-1 satellite featured a powerful synthetic aperture radar that allowed it to image Earth day or night, in all weather and through cloud cover, smoke and haze.
In less than a month in 1997, RADARSAT-1 had collected the imagery necessary to create the first high-resolution mosaic of the continent. On each 12-minute pass over Antarctica, the radar imaged 100-kilometer-wide swaths up to 2,500 kilometers long. The mosaic combined more than 4,500 overlapping images with a resolution of 25 meters, each pixel about the size of a classroom.
A second mission in 2000 collected additional imagery around Antarctica’s perimeter and its fast-moving glaciers, to capture data about areas most likely to have changed over the last three years.
“Our observations discovered several very large ice streams, one of which extends an equivalent distance along the Mississippi from New Orleans to Cairo, Ill,” Jezek said, about 800 kilometers long. “These are very large features.”
Scientists also used the imagery to acquire velocity measurements. Jezek explained the satellite detected the motion of the ice during the observation period. That helped the team create a velocity mosaic of most of the continent.
The rate and direction of motion reveals important information about the forces acting on ice sheets and glaciers, as well as about the rate at which ice is pouring into the coastal seas, and enables scientists to predict how the ice sheet might respond to changing global climate, according to Jezek.
He said the project, which is wrapping up after more than 10 years, also taught the team how to manage an instrument that required intensive data collection while competing with commercial interests for satellite time, and how to collaborate with international partners.
He hopes those lessons will help GIIPSY realize its potential. “It’s a significant follow-on from RAMP that sort of builds on our experiences in managing resources, doing international collaboration, and trying to do some interesting science,” Jezek said.
Its goals include taking snapshots of rapidly changing ice sheets and glaciers, areas of high-latitude snow cover that serve as major sources of fresh water, and spatial distribution of permafrost. The imagery will help scientists understand everything from ice dynamics to how permafrost responds to climate change.
“If we use everybody’s satellites, we have a chance to go from the pole to the coast,” Jezek also noted.
Routine, good high-resolution imagery of Antarctica doesn’t really exist between about 80 degrees and 90 degrees South latitude because the orbits of previous satellites used for these types of missions didn’t include those areas. Even the most recently created satellite image of the continent, the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA), had to fill in the gap between 82.5 degrees and the pole with lower resolution data.
Jezek said the GIIPSY effort will also provide important data on Arctic sea ice, which many scientists believe will entirely disappear in the summer in the not-to-distant future.
“There hasn’t been a good, internationally coordinated effort to map the dynamics of Arctic sea ice, even though it’s recognized as a major science problem,” he said. | <urn:uuid:a2fc4dc1-7665-48f6-abf2-3ee467f9e9db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/science/contentHandler.cfm?id=1433 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925871 | 1,011 | 3.140625 | 3 |
- ISHN GLOBAL
- EHS RESEARCH
One of the key principles of systems thinking is the idea that the “whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” This concept is referred to as emergence. When the parts of a system come together and interact with each other, something else emerges from this interaction that is not present in any one of the parts themselves.
The classic example used by systems thinkers is the emergent property of an automobile. As a system, an automobile provides transportation (i.e., the emergent property) from one location to another. No single part of an automobile can provide transportation on its own.
Jamshid Gharajedaghi points out, emergent properties are “a product of their interactions, not a sum of the actions of the parts, and therefore they have to be understood on their own terms.”1
Safety goes beyond merely being the “sum” of people’s actions. Safety is the “product” of people’s interactions.
Difficult to measure
Emergent properties do not yield to any of the five senses and cannot be measured directly. If measurement is necessary, then you can measure only their manifestations.2 In the case of safety, we may “feel” safe or even unsafe in an organizational setting; however, our ability to measure this so-called “feeling” is beyond our reach, at least for now.
Instead, we are relegated to measuring lagging and leading metrics (e.g., TRIR, LWC, workers’ compensation claims, near misses, closing of corrective actions, etc.). Unfortunately, management, in particular, has been seduced into believing that tracking these types of metrics provides them with a sense of comfort or discomfort as far as the level of safety in their organization.
As most safety professionals know, tracking safety metrics can become problematic, especially when monetary incentive rewards are attached to results.
Even though most managers are inclined to focus their attention on the actions of their people and units, what they need to focus on are the interactions of people in their organization. So what does managing the interactions mean and how does a safety professional fit into the mix?
There are primarily three types of human interactions managers face in their organizations: 1) the interactions of their units and individuals for whom they are responsible;, 2) the interactions of their units with other units within the organization; and 3) the interactions of their units with relevant entities outside the organization.3 There are also the human interactions people have between the manmade and natural environment in which they work.
Corrective vs. creative management
Focusing on the interactions of units and people requires a slightly different view of managing, which many managers find uncomfortable. Dr. Lesley Kuhn describes two functional styles of management.4 When confronted with a safety problem (e.g., an accident with an injury), managers traditionally rely on the “management by correction” approach. Track down the apparent source, cause or person and institute a solution regardless of its negative or positive effects. Too often this approach involves identifying someone to blame.
Kuhn’s other style is “management through creation.” In this case, the manager brings together all those involved in the safety situation for a discursive exploratory conversation. Doing this allows the dynamics of the safety situation to come forward. An atmosphere of trust is built among participants. Some people have a natural affinity for, or have schooled themselves in, detecting indicators of emergence, the exploratory conversation allows such insights to be shared, debated and further developed.5
Safety professionals need to inject themselves into the on-going operations of the organization where the workers come face-to-face with production. You need to learn how to spot emergent patterns from the interactive behaviors of workers.
Have these emergent patterns been going on so long that they have reached a point of acceptance?
To be a fully participating member of these interactions, you must establish a level of trust not only with the workers, but also with management.
Although “management through creation” might take longer, cost more, and involve more people, it is an effective means to systemically discover the emerging properties of the circumstances at hand. Even though “management by correction” is more economical and quicker, it can lead to unsettling effects, especially if the safety concern is not eliminated or, as systems thinkers say, “dissolved.”
Let’s imagine one unit produces raw materials for a second unit, and both are in a dispute over the interpretation of a new safety requirement handed down from the corporate safety office. One unit believes the new requirement is too onerous and will impact productivity; the other needs the first unit to follow the requirement to meet the needs of their customer. Both units are under extreme pressure to increase productivity.
The two managers could agree to disagree and bump the decision up to their boss and let the chips fall where they may. If the boss is inclined to make the decision, there’s a good chance one or both of the managers will not be pleased.
Here’s a second approach: the two managers consult with their respective safety professionals and operations supervisors to learn why there is a conflict. Assuming the safety professionals have been interacting with operations and have a sense of why there is a conflict, this is an opportunity for them to offer their perspective on the contributing factors and provide several solutions for overcoming the conflict. Of course, each solution may have emergent properties (i.e., intended and unintended consequences), which need to be brought to the managers’ and supervisors’ attention to allow for a more robust understanding of the solutions before they decide on a corrective action.
Units’ entities outside the organization
Entities outside the organization include customers, competitors, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, communities, neighbors and private citizens. As with unit-to-unit interactions, typically attention to these interactions is not given until there is a dispute.
You have the opportunity to take the lead in cultivating positive interactions with these entities. Building trust and goodwill before a dispute surfaces can prove beneficial from a competitive advantage point of view — having understanding neighbors when something goes wrong.
As noted earlier, emergent properties are the product of interactions among numerous phenomena (e.g., people, processes, practices, environment, etc.). As an emergent property, safety is a time-dependent dynamic state that involves interactions, which must be reproduced continuously. Safety is not a one-time proposition. If the interactions that generate safety come to an end, injuries and illnesses will ensue. | <urn:uuid:208aab3a-c375-4622-a067-f2ee5c778388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ishn.com/articles/91770-forget-power-control | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954733 | 1,372 | 2.671875 | 3 |
BrandMAX 2012: 'Big data itself does nothing', says Co-operative's insight chief
Neil Carden, the Co-operative's head of insight and planning, claims that possessing "big data" itself "does nothing", but that its use allows marketers and businesses to create value for customers.
Neil Carden: the Co-operative's head of insight and planning
Carden, at Haymarket's BrandMax conference, said: "What big data does is to allow us to make decisions we haven't been able to make before, think about new methods and then create value for customers that we couldn't create yesterday."
During the panel discussion on 'Taming the data deluge', Jeremy Ellis, marketing director for the Thomson and First Choice brands, TUI, said that the use of data to create personalised experiences has created a "significant" shift in quality satisfaction scores.
Ellis argued that consumers want a personalised experience, "especially when they have spent several thousands of pounds on a holiday," and stated that TUI's product portfolio is changing to become more personalised and that the return on investment is noticable.
However, Will Orr, marketing director at British Gas, said that trying to use social data to deliver a personalised experience is challenging.
He said: "We have been looking at a product that attempts to take all [of our conversations] in social media and understand the macro picture of what is going on.
"If you look at it on a one-comment basis, it is so unstructured that you could jump on one particular thing and go down a blind alley."
Dan Hagan, head of planning at Carat, argued that personalisation means "one to one" conversations with consumers, but that it can also mean "better targeting".
He used an example around the "mood of the nation", suggesting that when the national mood is lower, people eat more comfort foods, which contain ingredients such as butter.
He said: "Do we correlate the advertising of butter to when the nation is feeling less happy because they will want more comfort food? It's not a one-to-one personalisation but it is an interesting leverage of data that is readily available."
This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk
Latest jobs Jobs web feed
- PR Account Director fishtank 40k to 55k per year GBP, Surrey
- Digital Search & Acquisitions Officer Topshop Up to £30,000 per annum + benefits, London
- planner > SHOPPER EVANGELIST > brilliant role for those SUITS looking to move across into PLANNING collectivo £30-40k + bens, London
- Marketing Executive Warner Bros £ Competitive + benefits, Holborn, London
- Senior Digital Planner - Superb Integrated London Agency - FMCG Accounts - Up to £70K Fill Recruitment Ltd Up to £70K, London
- Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Manager Better Placed Recruitment £30,000 TO £40,000, Macclesfield
Big Questions Live - Social Media, User Generated Content and the Power of Customer Insight (Webcast) External website
Brand Republic’s first ever online TV show, Big Questions Live wil...
Integrated digital marketing offers huge opportunities to engage, servic...
The PR industry’s lack of success at the Cannes Lions festival 201...
Confused by hashtags? Tweetchats? Tweet walls? You’re not alone.Wi...
It’s fair to say we are truly in the age of content marketing, the...
As a nation, the UK is media and technology obsessed with over half of t... | <urn:uuid:6a69e09b-7b0c-41b7-8ccc-71252a3fcdad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulletin/brandrepublicnewsbulletin/article/1153455/brandmax-2012-big-data-itself-does-nothing-says-co-operatives-insight-chief/?DCMP=EMC-CONBrandRepublicdailynewsbulletin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921945 | 763 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Barley has more beta glucan fiber than any other grain, and it has repeatedly established positive clinical results with regard to diabetes control. It not only boosts immune function by supporting macrophages and neutrophils, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and helps control obesity, but also attenuates postprandial glucose levels, improves insulin sensitivity, and promotes a feeling of satiety.
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained on or available through this website is for general information purposes only. Opinions expressed here are the opinions of writers, contributors, and commentators, and are not necessarily those of Diabetes Health.
Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on or accessed through this website. | <urn:uuid:a3a7f598-a7f7-450d-9157-e2bc8a37f71a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diabeteshealth.com/archive/complications-and-care/macrophages/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934139 | 243 | 2.09375 | 2 |
occurred on January 20, 1942.
The Holocaust had been going on for at least one year; the camp at Dachau had been in operation for several years. The Final Solution
was already underway. At issue at Wannsee, in the relaxed and distinctively upper middle-class atmosphere
of that SS guest-house for the fifteen highly placed Nazis was the best strategy
Less than one year after the conference a little girl who had been hiding in Holland is sent to the Bergen camp in northern Germany. She spends more than six years looking for four perfect pebbles
posted by Smedleyman
on Jan 18, 2006 -
- This was discussed earlier
this year. I ran across this very well done flash site and was amazed at how presentation can affect one's views on a subject. Although aware of the story, it seems more real
presented this way.
posted by revbrian
on Jun 4, 2001 - | <urn:uuid:862f88a0-4ec3-463b-96fb-be478c74fdaf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metafilter.com/tags/genocide+Holocaust | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976658 | 196 | 3.03125 | 3 |
One of the common misconceptions about summer camp is that it’s a place – that you send your child off to summer camp. Summer camp is a community, built by professional educators together with the children they supervise. Within that community, children learn to make decisions and take healthy risks in a safe environment. Summer camp is not about where a child is; it’s what happens when they’re there that can be so life changing.
Kids learn best through experience, and summer camp is one of the best hands-on learning opportunities available to them: developing social skills, playing both formal and informal games, experiencing a natural setting, navigating group dynamics and learning more about themselves physically and emotionally. At camp, there’s no teaching to a test, and every minute doesn’t have to be scheduled. There’s time for teachable moments and exploration.
Summer camp has never been more necessary. Academic and after-school commitments add so much pressure to a child’s life, and often take choices out of their hands. Time spent at summer camp allows kids to decompress and be themselves.
There’s a common misconception that children are sent away by their rejoicing parents to summer camp, where someone else will do the work of supervising them. That’s simply not the case. Many parents choose to let their children experience summer camp because they know of the value it gives and the genuine joy it can inspire. Camp contributes to the development of a child’s independence, responsibility, and life skills. It supplements a child’s education — and, for many kids who find school difficult, it can offer them a new venue where they might thrive and embrace learning. It allows them to try new things and enjoy favorite activities, all while creating lasting memories and lifetime friendships.
What better gift could you give your children than an experience that offers all that?
The American Camp Association, New England helps families find day and overnight camp options in that are the right fit.
Visit acanewengland.org to use an online camp search tool called Find A Camp, which allows people to explore camp options according to their key search criteria. Search by miles radius around a zip code or location, by specialty interest, by camp type, by session length or by particular dates.
Get a results page that enables families to go straight to camp websites and explore. Families will also find representatives or Find A Camp postcards at the camp fairs happening all over New England this winter; families frequently contact our office for tailored camp search pointers or answers to specific questions.
Our work to support camps and camp professionals focuses on education and best practices in the field. This March in New Hampshire we will host the largest professional conference in New England for those who own, work at or run camp in any capacity — as directors, counselors or staff members or board members. We focus year-round on assisting camps pursue excellence during the camp season. Four hundred-plus day and overnight camps in New England display the ACA Accredited camp logo.
ACA New England’s Camp Champions initiative, which is in its third year, raises and provides funds to make summer camp experiences possible for children from families that are low-income, at-risk or otherwise traditionally excluded.
Bette Bussel is the executive director of the American Camp Association, New England. | <urn:uuid:46e7e077-ddcc-4d61-8af9-c425fb8f859c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sectb.com/creating-lasting-memories-and-having-the-summer-camp-experience/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943147 | 690 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Add your name to the BILLION!!
ONE BILLION RISING IS:
A global strike
An invitation to dance
A call to men and women to refuse to participate in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends
An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in numbers
A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given
A new time and a new way of being
On the 14th of February 2013, Zimbabwe will join the progressive movement in fighting violence against women through the One Billion Rising Campaign. Zimbabwe is rising because:-
ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME.
ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY
ONE BILLION WOMEN dancing IS A REVOLUTION
Considering that rape and violent culture is on the increase in Zimbabwe, it is important that we join the world and place a demand on ending all forms of Violence against women through walking out, dancing and rising to end the culture of VAW.
In the wake of this, Zimbabwe shall rise and dance on 14th of February in Harare to join and support the One Billion rising movement with the rest of the world. The significance of this event is to raise the voice of women of the world in the fight against VAW and to employ a global culture of fighting local injustices with the support of the rest of the global community.
The outcome is being driven by the need to begin a revolutionary yet peaceful culture of fighting against rape, the stripping off of bodily integrity of women, and creating safe spaces for them to survive in.
Can we walk out, rise, dance together; and demand a stop to violence against women.
This article was written by Nyasha Gloria Sengayi, a member of the One Billion Rising Zimbabwe Team | <urn:uuid:8ecd4835-1906-4b70-a0ee-4b9032fdee34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://madubesbrainpot.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/one-billion-rising/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933988 | 389 | 2.28125 | 2 |
It is testament to how much Latin America has changed politically over the past several years that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez not only criticizes U.S. military policy in the region but now actively seeks to form a new defense force designed to counteract the colossus of the north. Recently, Chávez invited Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to join him on his weekly TV show, Aló, Presidente! Turning to his friend and ally, Chávez remarked that Latin American countries which formed part of ALBA (or Bolivarian Alternative for The Americas) “should set up a joint defense strategy, and integrate our armed forces and intelligence services…because the enemy is the same: the United States empire.” Chávez, who is known for his bravado and rhetorical flair, then added, “Whoever takes on one of us will have to take on everyone, because we will respond jointly.”
Chávez Widens His Scope
ALBA is an initiative set up by Chávez to encourage greater solidarity and reciprocity amongst left leaning regimes throughout the region; its members include Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Dominica. In recent years, ALBA has served as a mechanism to enhance barter exchange between nations. For example, Venezuela has shipped oil to Cuba and in return receives thousands of Cuban health professionals who attened to the Venezuelan poor. Originally set up to upstage the Free Trade Area of The Americas sponsored by the Bush White House, ALBA also seeks greater cultural integration amongst Latin American countries (for more on this issue, see my recent piece “Hugo Chávez’s Coca: It’s the Real Thing,” February 7, 2008). Now, Chávez seems intent on expanding ALBA’s scope to the military realm as well.
Chávez’s inflammatory comments come at a particularly sensitive time in U.S.-Venezuelan relations. American officials such as Admiral Michael Glen Mullen, Chief of the U.S. Southern Command, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, say Venezuela is a threat to the region. They claim that Venezuela is encouraging an arms race in South America and has become a drug transshipment point. Meanwhile the U.S. continues to arm the Colombian military and the civil conflict there has spilled over the Venezuelan border. Chávez has accused the Colombian “oligarchy” of collaborating with Washington in an effort to foment an armed conflict with Venezuela. Ratcheting up the rhetoric, Chávez remarked that “The time will come when the Colombian people get red of that oligarchy. We won’t provoke them unless they provoke us.” Chávez claims that Colombia, acting on U.S. instructions, wants to create obstacles for the proposed South American Union of Nations or Unasur.
Chávez and Ortega
In the midst of the Colombian imbroglio and escalating tensions, Chávez would like ALBA nations to demonstrate greater solidarity in an effort to oppose Washington’s military influence. The Venezuelan leader has called on the defense ministers of each ALBA member-nation to begin preparation for a joint Defense Council. While it’s unlikely that such plans will come to fruition, the Bush administration’s policy of seeking to isolate Chávez has produced the exact opposite effect. During his meeting with Chávez, Ortega declared “If they touch Venezuela, it will light up the region. No one is going to stand idly by, because to touch Venezuela is to touch all of Latin America.” The Nicaraguan President added that the United States sought to threaten Venezuela via Colombia. In return for Ortega’s diplomatic support, the grateful Chávez offered to provide technical assistance to maintain Nicaragua’s Russian helicopters.
Ortega has commented that ALBA nations have just as much a right to form a joint military force as European countries and NATO. His pronouncements represent a shift from earlier, more pro-U.S. administrations in Nicaragua. In 2003, in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños sent a team of doctors, nurses, and mine sweepers to the Middle Eastern nation to assist a Spanish brigade.
The Chávez-Morales Axis
Bolivia is the South American nation which shares the most ideological affinity with Chávez at the current time and it’s no surprise that Morales has sought greater military cooperation with Venezuela. Despite U.S. complaints about Chávez’s allegedly expansionist aims in the region, Bolivia’s chief of staff, General Freddy Bersatti, reportedly backs the idea of “merging” the Venezuelan and Bolivian armed forces. Chávez has provided helicopters to Bolivia and says he will send weapons to replace equipment. The Venezuelan President has reportedly pledged to provide up to $22 million to build 20 military bases in Bolivia. In late 2006, Venezuela’s ambassador to Bolivia, Julio Montes, remarked that “if for some reason this pretty Bolivian revolution were threatened, and they asked us for our blood and our lives, we would be here.” Morales faces a particularly active and vigorous political opposition from the right, and Chávez has remarked that he will not sit idly by if the “Bolivian oligarchy” tries to forcibly remove his ally.
Prospects for a Joint Military Force
It’s not the first time that Chávez has proposed forming wider military alliances in the region to put a break on the United States. In 2006, Chávez invited Argentine President Néstor Kirchner and Evo Morales to a military parade in Caracas where he proudly announced “We must form a defensive military pact between the armies of the region with a common doctrine and organization.” In another speech, Chávez added: “We must form the armed forces of Mercosur [a South American trade bloc] merging warfare capabilities of the continent.” During a trip to Bolivia, where he was accompanied by Venezuela’s army chief, Raul Baduel, Chávez declared that there was a need for a Latin American alliance akin to NATO “with our own doctrine, not one that's handed down by the gringos.”
During my two month swing through South America in 2007, I spoke with a number of military experts. Without exception, they all scoffed at Chávez’s proposals to form a joint defense force (I have written an entire chapter about military developments in my upcoming book, Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left, which comes out in April with Palgave-Macmillan). Chávez’s proposals are problematic in a couple of respects. First of all, it would prove logistically challenging, not to mention costly, for Venezuela to maintain its troops if they were sent abroad. The other obstacle for Chávez is political in nature: not all governments in the region share his particular socialist views or vision, nor do they necessarily view the United States as a mortal enemy which must be confronted. Lastly, even if Chávez were successful in creating a military force comprised of Nicaraguan, Bolivian, and Venezuelan forces, it would never be a match for the U.S.
In a region still beset with political and national rivalries, Chávez’s bid for a unified military force faces an uphill battle. It is difficult to imagine, for example, how the Chilean armed forces---which have an enormous amount of institutional pride and which have never lost a war---would ever be willing to enter into a joint military force with Venezuela. Indeed, Chile has rebuffed Chávez’s military proposals. Meanwhile, the largest and most important country in the region, Brazil, is unlikely to become a member of a military force if it is constituted under Venezuelan leadership. In fact, Brazilian army commanders have declined Chávez’s initiatives.
Bolivia and Nicaragua
Even amongst sympathetic ALBA nations, it’s doubtful that Chávez can succeed in creating a united defense force. Despite growing military ties between Venezuela and Bolivia, there is pressure on Morales not to go too far. Conservative media in Bolivia such as the paper La Razón have ridiculed Chávez’s proposed ALBA military alliance. What’s more the Venezuelan leader is reviled by the Bolivian right wing opposition. If Morales were to increase military collaboration with Venezuela it would give rise to calls that Chávez is interfering in Bolivia’s internal affairs.
Meanwhile, in Nicaragua the political opposition has rejected Chávez’s proposals as a “senseless adventure.” Eduardo Montealegre of the Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense party remarked that the idea of an ALBA force was a “smokescreen” designed to obscure real problems facing ALBA nations such as misery, hunger and lack of medicines. Even within his own ruling Sandinista party, Ortega faces opposition to Chávez’s plan. Edwin Castro, the leader of the Sandinista parliamentarian faction, dismissed the idea that the Nicaraguan Army might fight, together with Venezuela, in a likely U.S. attack. “The Sandinista Front wrote in the Constitution (of 1987) that we have a defensive Army. It is prohibited to have an offensive Army,” Castro said.
A New Day for South America’s Militaries
Despite the dim prospects for an ALBA military force, the armed forces in South America (with the exception of Colombia) are tied to new left of center regimes which are less sympathetic to the wider U.S. agenda in the region. Unlike the 1970s, the military establishment is beholden to civilian rule and is unlikely to intervene in the political arena by staging an armed coup.
Take for example the case of Argentina. The Minister of Defense, a woman named Nilda Garré, was a sympathizer with the Montonero guerrillas of the 1970s. A former political prisoner during the military dictatorship, Garré wants to bring rogue military officers to justice for past human rights abuses. Before coming to the Ministry of Defense, Garré was the Argentine ambassador to Venezuela. In Caracas, Garré was a vocal Chávez supporter, and when she got the call from Kirchner offering her the new job the Venezuelan president phoned her in congratulation.
Garré has severed ties to the notorious military School of the Americas (now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or WHINSEC) located in Fort Benning, Georgia. The school made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals from the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. In taking the momentous step to break with the school, Garré followed close on the heels of Chávez, who severed ties in January, 2004.
Over the years, U.S.-Argentine military relations have been quite good, but recently ties have become strained. According to an official who I spoke with at the Ministry of Defense in Buenos Aires, in 2006 there wasn’t a sole bilateral military meeting between the U.S. and Argentina. That is somewhat irregular, as up to that point the two nations had met every year. Initially Argentina could not fix a date but when the government proposed an alternative time to meet, the U.S. responded that “the Pentagon was being restructured” and could not schedule a summit.
Garré’s counterpart in Chile is another woman, Vivianne Blanlot. She has been similarly confrontational towards the military top brass identified with past human rights abuses. Recently there’s been a lot of cooperation between the Chilean and Argentine armed forces. The two countries signed an agreement to form a combined military force for peacekeeping missions which will be ready by the end of 2008.
Chávez’s ALBA military initiative is a non-starter, but in the Southern Cone the armed forces have turned a critical page in their evolution. Though the military establishment is not strictly anti-U.S., it has become less identified with American strategic goals. It’s a historic reversal for Washington, which now faces a much less inviting political environment within the region.
Nikolas Kozloff is the author of Hugo Chávez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006), and Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left (Palgrave-Macmillan, April 2008). | <urn:uuid:34d98f72-d3b3-4c4e-a454-ae6a74172f53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zcommunications.org/s-mi-comandante-ch-vez-and-his-latin-american-army-by-nikolas-kozloff | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951606 | 2,626 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Committee on Recently Extinct Organisms (CREO), American Museum of Natural History
Data Center Description
Published extinction data, by being publicly accessible, can be carefully scrutinized, tested, and reviewed. Moreover, published data have already undergone some degree of professional review and assessment of reliability. Thus, CREO recognizes that published information should be the principal route for disseminating extinction evidence, and references to this evidence should be provided in any analysis of a species' extinction. | <urn:uuid:2adb4bf8-ef2f-4ba9-a553-a75badb1e03d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Supplementals.do?Portal=GCMD&KeywordPath=DataCenters%7CNON-GOVERNMENT%2FNON-PROFIT+ORGANIZATIONS&NumericId=3647&MetadataType=0&lbnode=mdlb6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929864 | 95 | 2.3125 | 2 |
The Complete Straw Bale/ Earthship Workshop - May 26th - 31st, 2013
This basic project incorporates most of the skills and techniques that you will need to tackle much bigger things (like building your own Earthship or building that dream mansion out of straw bales). But the scale of our project is small enough for a beginning “green builder” to learn all the useful techniques for big or small building projects - without being overwhelmed.
It also a great opportunity to see IF you enjoy the process enough to tackle a larger project - and also gives you the unique opportunity to compare Earthship building techniques with straw bale building techniques (there are advantages and disadvantages in both).
This Year's Project:
During this week-long workshop, we will work on several different projects (to ensure we work on every stage of a project, from start to finish). This will allow us to do finish work without having to wait the several weeks it takes for everything to dry. This year we will build a ""Hobbit House" root cellar with a living roof, complete the "Dragon's Lair" sleeping cottage, and construct a beer bottle castle
turret (you will have to see that one to believe it). You will be amazed at how much you'll learn in just 5 days. We will also experiment with cob to create curved walls - giving our new masterpieces a "storybook" look and feel.
As part of this workshop, you will receive detailed construction drawings for the Dragon's Lair - the sleeping cottage design that's easy to build and everyone will love. These little buildings are pretty cool and might make a great garden shed, play house, guest room or hunting cabin as your first solo project. The designs are simple enough so that those with little or no carpentry skills will have little problem putting them together. We also have tried to design them using minimal materials - costing only about $700 if you buy all the materials new (but we encourage you to scrounge what you need, so your costs may be even less if you decide to build this project). (more on this workshop)
Weekend Straw Bale Workshops
These workshops are designed for those folks thinking they might one day, at some time, somewhere - build their little strawbale cabin in the woods. But before you go off, quit your job, buy some land, and grow a beard (figuratively) - best check out if you even like the process or can do the work.
The Very Very Basic Straw Bale Weekend Project Build: June 29 - 30, 2013
The Very Very Basic Straw Bale Weekend Project Build: September 21 - 22, 2013
From start-to-finish we will learn all the skills necessary to build a small garden outbuilding - at the same time utilizing all the skills that you would use to build a much larger project. Sort of a “walk before you run approach.”
Our basic philosophy regarding straw bale construction can be characterized as more "dumpster diving" as opposed to "professional contractor." We like to assume that you have no money, few tools, and little formal training. Just a desire to carve a beautiful, natural little dwelling out of salvaged or sustainable materials. | <urn:uuid:3b2ba095-d405-43e6-9696-9746590eb301> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bluerockstation.com/index.php/workshops/2011-straw-bale-workshops | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943018 | 659 | 1.773438 | 2 |
We send you the press release below (in English) which deals with an extremely important issue for vegetarianism and veganism development in France, and ask you to send it in local, regional and national medias among the contacts you have: we expect that if your medias talk about this issue and so give a bad image of France, it will have more impact on our government than the French opinion itself… (The French government did not give sign that it took into account the French public opinion for these last years.) You can read this press release in French and in Italian too. Best regards, and thank you
In France, eating animals becomes legal obligation Vegetarians* struggle for their freedom of conviction A decree has just been published making compulsory rules for the composition of meals in all public and private school catering. These rules force six millions of children of school age to eat meat, fish, dairy products and eggs. Similar decrees are in preparation for almost all French catering, from nursery schools up to old people’s home, including colleges, hospitals and prisons. And so French law, on behalf of a public health measure, forbids the concrete expression of a conviction. Vegetarian citizens stand up for their food choice rights. A good piece of news?
Not for vegetarians! A decree and bylaw published in the “Journal Officiel” on October 2nd force school canteens to respect a set of standards meant to guarantee the nutritional balance of the meals.
Each meal necessarily has to contain a protein dish where proteins are exclusively animal-based (meat, fish, eggs or cheese), overriding plentiful availability of vegetable proteins.
A dairy product is meant to represent the only way to cover calcium needs, ignoring untold vegetable and mineral alternatives. For meats (beef, veal, lamb, or offal…) and fish, a minimum frequency is specified as mandatory. So it is from now on impossible for school cafeterias regular users to be vegetarian, or impossible for them to maintain their vegetarian diet every day. And it will be impossible to be vegan for even one meal. Vegetarian children who would eventually manage to leave the meat on the edge of their plate would be forced to have unbalanced meals, as no alternative would be available. “Veggie? No meat… No meal! Attack on freedom of conviction
A lot of people in the world hold a deep conviction that the consumption of animals and animal exploitation is an abuse. Vegetarianism and veganism are the main concrete expression of this conviction. The governmental decree is an infringement of fundamental rights by restricting the free practice of personal convictions such as it is proclaimed by United Nations: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, observance, practice, and teaching.”
The treatment of animals is the object of a growing public opinion debate in France, as can be seen by several recent works released questioning, or on the opposite standing for, the legitimacy of meat consumption . French government will to impose, in this context, its own ideological and economical choices is openly admitted: Current French Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Bruno Le Maire, announced the implementation of a national program for the food which also aims at slowing down the impact of some speeches, like the one ex-Beatle Paul McCartney held, who called in December, outside the Copenhagen summit, for a “go meat free once a week” to slow global warming. This call had sparked a general outcry among farmers
But yet I am vegetarian for the animals! But don’t you care about food industries? The pursuit of an institutional nutritional lie For several years, through several releases from the French National Nutrition and Health Program (PNNS) ,and its public website:
public authorities libel Vegetarianism and Veganism. This, when it is clearly admitted nowadays and by numerous medical and sanitary authorities all around the world, that to the contrary, we can live, and be in a very good shape, without consuming any meat and animal products. For example: The position of the American Dietetic Association is that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. The debate on the animal exploitation legitimacy is of philosophical, ethical and political nature and must continue. It is not acceptable that the French State, on behalf of some public health measure based on nutritional lies, wants to forbid this debate by outlawing the concrete expression of a conviction. Vegetarians mobilize Vegetarian collectives and associations get organized everywhere in France to express their indignation in front of this decree, warn public opinion and deny food assertions spread by public authorities. Actions are going to be organized in an imminent way in all France regions.
They call all individuals and organizations willing to struggle for freedom of conviction, whatever are their own positions concerning the animal exploitation, to join their voice to these protests. Citizen Initiative for Vegetarians Rights (ICDV) has already contacted the United Nations in May to indicate concrete episodes of discrimination against vegetarians in France . If the decree is not removed, the ICDV announces a new complaint against France for violation of the freedom of conviction. Agreed by : ACTA (Bordeaux), Aquitaine Décroissance, ALARM (Marseille), Animal Amnistie (Toulouse), Animal Libre (Albi), Animalsace, Animavie, Les Animaux de Maurice, APSARES, Association pour un homme plus humain, Association végétarienne de France, Avis (Toulouse), CABle (Besançon), CLEDA (Paris), CLAM (Montpellier), Collectif Diois pour l’égalité (Die), Convention Vie et Nature, Dignité animale (Lyon), Droits des Animaux, Fondation Brigitte Bardot, ICDV, L214, One Voice, Nea (Rennes), Rêv’Animal, Revégez-vous (Rennes), Société végane, Végétariens Magazine, Veggie Pride, VegFest, VG56 (Finistère), Vivants (Sedan)… Mail : [email protected] David Olivier 00 33 6 42 06 07 47 http://www.icdv.info/ Notes : * Vegetarians includes vegans in this text. Vegetarians eat no red meat, white meat, fish or other aquatic animals (prawns, crabs, lobsters etc) or slaughterhouse by-products such as gelatine, animal fat, lard or rennet. Vegans eat no animal products at all including red and white meat, fish and other water creatures, dairy products (eg cow’s or goat’s milk or derivatives such as yoghurt or cheese) or eggs. A vegan lifestyle also avoids leather, wool, silk and other animal products for clothing or any other purpose. Decree N 2011-1227 of September 30th, 2011 and order of September 30th, 2011. These texts follow upon the law n°2010-874 of July 27th, 2010 called “agriculture and fishing modernization law”, which arranges that: “the public and private school and university catering services administrators, as well as children under 6 years old catering services, health care establishment, social and medical and social establishments and penitentiaries have to stick to those rules, determined by decree, of nutritional quality of the meals which they propose .” Statement on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on November 25th, 1981
the art. 1.1.
In particular Jonathan Safran Foer “Eating animals” (Kinkle editions, January, 2011); Marcela Iacub, “Confessions d’une mangeuse de viande – Pourquoi je ne suis plus carnivore” (Fayard editions, March, 2011); Dominique Lestel, “Apologie du carnivore” (Fayard editions, April, 2011). AFP news of 21/01/2010 (http://tinyurl.com/FlashLeFigaro). Official position of the American Dietetic Association; see
See on the blog of the ICDV, | <urn:uuid:b10dbf2c-bca4-44c5-9f0e-e2232a724962> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spiritandanimal.wordpress.com/tag/vegetarianism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918489 | 1,814 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The dike of a waste-holding pond at a power plant fails, moving houses off their foundation and spreading sludge far and wide. Here is a quote from one report:
The 40-acre pond was used by the Tennessee Valley Authority to hold a slurry of ash generated by the coal-burning Kingston Steam Plant in Harriman, about 50 miles west of Knoxville, said TVA spokesman Gil Francis. The dam gave way just before 1 a.m, burying a road and railroad tracks leading to the plant under several feet of dark gray mud.
Some report have incorrectly reported that this is a “mine disaster.” While this is no doubt a disaster, it is not a mining-related disaster, unless you tenuously link coal mining to coal-powered power plants and their waste impoundments. Yet this incident will be blamed on mines and mining, and we must act to correct this stream of toxic mis-information.
Here is another report on the failure:
This Tennessee TVA spill is over 40 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, if local news accounts are correct. This is a huge environmental disaster of epic proportions, approximately 500 million gallons of nasty black coal ash flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee River – the water supply for Chattanooga TN and millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. We’re “lucky” it was sludgy, or thousands would have died. Click here to see an amazing aerial video of the spill – the big chunks in the river are mounds of coal ash.
The funny and sad thing is the mis-information being put out by the anti-coal-mining groups. One of the more egregious is that the coal flyash is “more radioactive than radioactive waste.” The authority for this statement is a Scientific American article, which does not really support the contention. I quote the key part of the article:
The scientists estimated radiation exposure around the coal plants and compared it with exposure levels around boiling-water reactor and pressurized-water nuclear power plants. The result: estimated radiation doses ingested by people living near the coal plants were equal to or higher than doses for people living around the nuclear facilities. At one extreme, the scientists estimated fly ash radiation in individuals’ bones at around 18 millirems (thousandths of a rem, a unit for measuring doses of ionizing radiation) a year. Doses for the two nuclear plants, by contrast, ranged from between three and six millirems for the same period. And when all food was grown in the area, radiation doses were 50 to 200 percent higher around the coal plants.
McBride and his co-authors estimated that individuals living near coal-fired installations are exposed to a maximum of 1.9 millirems of fly ash radiation yearly. To put these numbers in perspective, the average person encounters 360 millirems of annual “background radiation” from natural and man-made sources, including substances in Earth’s crust, cosmic rays, residue from nuclear tests and smoke detectors.
Dana Christensen, associate lab director for energy and engineering at ORNL, says that health risks from radiation in coal by-products are low. “Other risks like being hit by lightning,” he adds, “are three or four times greater than radiation-induced health effects from coal plants.” And McBride and his co-authors emphasize that other products of coal power, like emissions of acid rain–producing sulfur dioxide and smog-forming nitrous oxide, pose greater health risks than radiation.
So let us keep this dike failure in perspective: it neither exonerates nor inculpates mining, whether it be coal mining or uranium mining. We cannot, and must not, let this undoubted nasty event be used to support nuclear power in preference to coal power—even though my opinion is that nuclear power is far preferable.
This event represent a failure to maintain an old (some reports say 60-years) dike or embankment that was clearly too close to houses and which contained a fluid that easily got away. It will take time to decide if those to blame are consultants, regulators, or the power plant operators. Most likely it is a combination of all of them, grown happy and complacent with age and the festivities of the season. But we repeat: this is no a mining-related incident. Let us protest vigorously if it is used for that purpose—the best defence is a comment calling attention to the truth on the errant blog.
PS: There is precious little intelligent reporting on this incident. Here, for what they are worth, are some “readable” postings:
Scientific American on the story although a pretty miserable report in my opinion. | <urn:uuid:779aceca-4c8b-4dfa-bdc9-ea816aec5b57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ithinkmining.com/2008/12/26/tenessee-radio-active-coal-ash-slurry-pond-failure-not-a-mining-incident/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951156 | 981 | 3.25 | 3 |
Send us news, start your message Messenger News and your send photos and videos to 80360
Peel Energy and the Breathe Clean Air Group get ready for public inquiry into Barton Renewable Energy Plant
10:52am Friday 27th July 2012 in News
A PRESSURE group has submitted its case opposing controversial proposals for a biomass energy plant in Davyhulme, ahead of a public inquiry in November.
The Breathe Clean Air Group (BCAG) is fighting Peel Energy's application to site a biomass energy plant - known as the Barton Renewable Energy Plant (BREP) - on land near Barton Bridge.
Peel is appealing against Trafford planning committee’s unanimous decision last year to refuse the biomass plant. The scheme was given the thumbs down over fears about the effect it would have on public health.
Pressure group the Breathe Clean Air Group says its key points of objection include the location of the incinerator; its impact on air quality and health; the public perception of harm; noise, traffic and disturbance; and the effect of the plant on the area.
The chairman of BCAG, Pete Kilvert, said: “The BCAG team has worked very hard to produce a robust and thoroughly professional statement of case. We feel that we have a very good chance of convincing the inspector and the secretary of state, Eric Pickles, that the incinerator must not be built in Davyhulme.
“The presentation of the case at the inquiry will be done by barristers and air quality experts. This requires funding and we are appealing to the community to support our fighting fund. See www.BreatheCleanAirGroup.co.uk for details on how you can help.”
Peel Energy said it is continuing with its preparations for the public inquiry.
Jon England, Peel Energy project manager, said: “The BREP proposal was turned down by the planning committee last November against the recommendation of the council’s own planning experts.
“There were no objections to the proposal on grounds of air quality or public health from any of the professional bodies who were consulted by Trafford Council. These included Trafford PCT, the Health Protection Agency and Trafford’s own air quality officers.
“Based on those facts, Peel Energy considers that an independent public inquiry is the best forum to examine the issues in an impartial and objective manner.” | <urn:uuid:58ddf6e4-6cbb-4fda-9ef2-80bc4e397797> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.messengernewspapers.co.uk/news/9841798.Sides_prepare_for_biomass_plant_public_inquiry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951588 | 496 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Happy Monday! Did you have a nice weekend? I certainly hope so! Today I have some examples of wall signs for you, which I hope you will enjoy…
Let’s start with the humble street sign, which in Barcelona is very decorative and made of marble. The one above, just around the corner from the Cute Suite, is quite new, or in any case has kept its looks. The ones below, in the Barri Gótic, remind us of a time when the Catalan language was forbidden in Barcelona, and all signs were in Spanish. When Catalan was permitted again in recent democratic times, the newer marble plaque was added underneath, and the old frilly sign was kept.
Above another example of the old frilly marble plaque, where the names of the district, neighborhood and the street were hand painted.
I’ve mentioned the very picturesque way in which one way streets were indicated in the past, here in Barcelona, before. Well here are some examples, in 3 different media: enamel, marble and hand painted.
I’m not sure why the city crest has been added to this street sign (above) but it’s a nice touch, and as you can see, it was painted onto the marble by hand.
Hand painted tiles have also been widely used around Barcelona to indicate the names of streets or squares or buildings, and come in simple versions (like the very old hospital chapel tiles below) moderate ones (such as the Plaça de la Villa de Madrid) and very frilly ones (like the Sant Galdric tiles – gorgeous, aren’t they?). Some are quite old, others are more recent additions.
Buildings are often mentioned in plaques or tiles too, especially when commemorating specific anniversaries. Funnily enough, there does not seem to be a plaque celebrating the Ateneu’s 100th anniversary! I wonder why?
Sometimes the intention of the plaque or carving is purely decorative, such as on a school wall on Plaça de Castella (below).
There are many commemorative plaques, in a variety of styles, dotted around walls in the city to celebrate or remember persons who lived or activities that took place there, and some are veritable works of art. I really like the wool spinner below.
More recently banners are used. Obviously they are less costly, and although they can be quite beautiful, I think it’s a pity that money plays a more important role in modern commemoration, than patronage of the arts and crafts.
Finally, a simple sign, in a cast metal, that refers to the gas connection in a particular building. Do you have those where you live? | <urn:uuid:d0cad1a8-bca2-4158-a5d0-b64537ace55e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cutesuite.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/writing-on-the-wall/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973181 | 560 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Do You Understand Floor Finish?
Floor finish is one of the most important parts of protecting vinyl composite tile (VCT).
Over the years finishes have gotten easier to apply, go down more even, last longer and are repairable. The original purpose of putting a finish or wax on floors was to protect them and make it easier to clean. As these became more advanced, they also made the floor shine.
Here are a few points to be made on floor finishes and protecting VCT.
1 – VCT is very porous. These pores can trap and hold microscopic dirt. The polymer molecules in floor finish settle into these and even out the surface, leaving fewer places for dirt.
2 – Light reflecting from its source, to your eye is what makes any smooth surface shine. If there is no shine, then the surface is not completely smooth. When floor finish is applied to a bare floor, the first few coats are usually dull. This is because the finish is settling into the pores of the floor and has not built up enough polymer (plastic) to fill the pores. Light is still being refracted and not reflected. Once enough finish has been built up, the finish will level on top of the tile and be smooth. Smooth = Shine.
3 – After regular use over a period of time, floor finish will become dull. This is due to the finish being scratched. These scratches are mostly microscopic but still interrupt the reflection of light to your eye. As dirt settles into these microscopic scratches, it grinds away at the plastic finish and makes the scratches bigger. This is why it so important to keep floors as clean as possible. The more dirt you can keep off of the floor, the longer your finish will last.
4 – Repairing the finish is done by buffing or a more modern process and term called burnishing. Buffing is typically done at lower speeds (less than 1000 rpm.) Burnishing is usually done at higher speeds (greater than 1000 rpm.) With the technology of equipment, finishes and chemicals, burnishing allows floors to be repaired much faster. A typical burnisher will spin a floor pad against the floor and do 2 things. The first is it abrades the rough edges of the scratches and “sand” them away. The second is, with enough speed and friction, (the correct pad) burnishing will melt the finish back to smooth. This makes the floor shine and removes areas for dirt to be trapped, making it easier to clean. Note: if the floor has not been cleaned well prior to burnishing, dirt will get melted into the finish. Once this happens, the only way to remove it is to scrub the finish to remove the top layers of finish that have the dirt trapped in them.
With all of the advancements in floor care, keeping finished VCT looking good is much easier than ever. With a little knowledge of what is going on, you can get years of use out of your finish.
Check back next week for more a more in-depth look at how floor finish works.
Questions? Please post them below or email me at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:7ec2b7c3-2637-4eb6-95cc-3c11e7d8e94a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.janitorkatt.com/do-you-understand-floor-finish/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960084 | 644 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Goals: Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment to explore the outer solar system. Voyager 1 targeted Jupiter and Saturn before continuing on to chart the far edges of our solar system.
Accomplishments: During the Jupiter leg of its journey, Voyager 1 was to explore the giant planet, its magnetosphere and moons in greater detail than the Pioneer spacecraft that preceded it. Voyager 1 was not only to study Jupiter, but to use it as a springboard to Saturn, using the gravity-assist technique.
Voyager 1 succeeded on all counts, with the single exception of experiments using its photopolarimeter, which failed to operate. Jupiter's atmosphere was found to be more active than during the visits of Pioneer 10 and 11, sparking a rethinking of the earlier atmospheric models which could not explain the new features. The spacecraft imaged the moons Amalthea, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, showing details of their terrain for the first time.
Possibly the most stunning of Voyager 1's discoveries was that Io has extremely active volcanoes, powered by heat generated by the stretching and relaxing the moon endures every 42 hours as its elliptical orbit brings it closer to and then farther from Jupiter. This finding revolutionized scientists' concept of the moons of the outer planets. The spacecraft also discovered a thin ring around the planet (making it the second planet known to have a ring), and two new moons: Thebe and Metis. | <urn:uuid:c65af110-af4d-46ea-91d6-6a18e39d4ae7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Sort=Alpha&Target=Jupiter&Alias=Voyager%25201&Letter=V | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960299 | 308 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Epsom has always been a boarding and day school whose ethos is based strongly on the house system. Currently there are 7 boys' and 5 girls' single sex houses. Each is fully self-contained with its own common room, games room, library and changing rooms. Each is run by a senior member of staff, the Housemaster or Housemistress, who in turn runs a team of tutors each responsible for a small group of pupils.
There are around 60 pupils in each house and on average a dozen to each year. In each house, pupils in their first year share common areas whether for study or sleeping accommodation, thus accelerating a social mix and promoting community living. Thereafter, small study bedrooms and individual workspaces are provided. All Houses have networked computers and each pupil has a private e-mail address.
Academic life has its focus in the classroom, laboratory and library. College sport, music, drama and activities bring pupils into contact with a wide variety of other boys and girls within the College. Life in the house, however, is designed to bring together the immediate and enduring group of friends who are members of that House. Many of the longest lasting friendships are made this way, whether for boys or girls, day or boarding.
Day pupils go home each evening after 6.00 pm (3.00 pm on Saturday). Weekly Boarders go home after games on a Saturday to return on Sunday evening. Full Boarders generally stay at school throughout the term but may spend time at weekends with the parents of their friends. In all cases there is considerable flexibility to allow for the changing circumstances of families.
Fayrer, Forest, Granville and Holman
Crawfurd and Wilson
Carr, Propert and Robinson
Raven and Rosebery | <urn:uuid:e9e921b8-dabe-424e-8429-9c7f39c36fc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epsomcollege.org.uk/houses | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968779 | 362 | 1.625 | 2 |
“If you follow the newspapers at all, you have a sense of how costly this period has been,” opened Dr. William Poole as he delivered a special lecture on “Improving Financial Stability” on Wednesday, October 8th in the Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom. A sizable audience turned out for the lecture, which was sponsored by Widener Law’s Institute of Delaware Corporate and Business Law
“Our fiscal policy is on an unsustainable course. How did this happen, and what can we do to stop it from happening again?” asked Poole rhetorically. He went on to discuss the roots of the financial crisis and indicated that the Federal government’s unwillingness to let some of the nation’s largest financial institutions fail will only cause those same institutions to try risky strategies again, calling the government bailout, “Insurance without charging an insurance premium.”
Calling the financial collapse “not a failure of regulation, but rather a fundamental failure of economic analysis,” Poole described the origins of the crisis, sighting unchecked lending including subprime mortgages, and the trading of bundles of those mortgages as mortgage-backed securities. He traced the origins of the crisis to the early 1990s, and described the entire system as a house of cards built on the idea that real estate prices would continue to rise. He dryly concluded, “The music stopped and we started to get defaults.”
Moving beyond the origins of the crisis to what he thought should be done, Dr. Poole said, “We can’t have a system where losses are socialized and gains are privatized.” He suggested that creditors should be at risk in order to force them to have control over the situation. At the conclusion of the talk, he took questions from an interested audience.
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Dr. Poole graduated from Swarthmore College, and has both an MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. A former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Dr. Poole was the Albert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University, has served as a member of the Academic Advisory Panels of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston, and has served on the Congressional Budget Office Panel of Economic Advisors. He joined the University of Delaware faculty in fall 2008 as the Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics. | <urn:uuid:eb2e1c1f-5c1b-438f-ba62-ded4372b2b7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.widener.edu/NewsandEvents/Articles/2009/de101609pooleafter.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966018 | 508 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Jacopo de' Barbari
Barbari, Jacopo de' (yäˈkōpō dā bärbäˈrē) [key], c.1440–1516, Germano-Dutch painter and engraver, b. Venice. Barbari was a major link between North European and Italian art; his and Dürer's works reveal a mutual influence. After 1500 he was court painter to rulers in principalities in Germany and the Netherlands, painting portraits, genre scenes, and complex allegorical works. He also showed great skill as an engraver, often treating mythological subjects and the nude. Barbari's still life Dead Bird (1504) is in Munich. His name is also given as Jacob Walch.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: European Art to 1599: Biographies | <urn:uuid:7f60281b-1368-405d-a87c-97553d9dc2b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/barbari-jacopo-de.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940091 | 196 | 2.953125 | 3 |
February 22, 2007
POLITICS/WAR: John Edwards, Iran, Israel and Memory Lane
Well, John Edwards, finding himself in plenty of hot water, is now denying a report by Variety magazine of a remark by Edwards that didn't go over so well even before a Hollywood audience:
John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word - Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.
(H/T Steven Foley). As well Edwards should distance himself from that remark - not just because it's foolish but also because it would be quite a surprise to a certain then-U.S. Senator running for Vice President in 2004. Then, you will recall, Democrats wanted Iran to be dangerous so they could argue that the Iraq War was a distraction from the real security threat; in the service of that election-year talking point, Senator Edwards told the nation as follows in a nationally televised debate with Vice President Cheney:
The vice president just said that we should focus on state sponsors of terrorism. Iran has moved forward with its nuclear weapons program. They're more dangerous today than they were four years ago.
The reality about Iran is that Iran has moved forward with their nuclear weapons program on their watch.
And in response to a question about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
First, the Israeli people not only have the right to defend themselves, they should defend themselves. They have an obligation to defend themselves.
I mean, if I can, just for a moment, tell you a personal story. I was in Jerusalem a couple of years ago, actually three years ago, in August of 2001, staying at the King David Hotel.
We left in the morning, headed to the airport to leave, and later in the day I found out that that same day, not far from where we were staying, the Sbarro Pizzeria was hit by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. Fifteen people were killed. Six children were killed.
What are the Israeli people supposed to do? How can they continue to watch Israeli children killed by suicide bombers, killed by terrorists?
They have not only the right to the obligation to defend themselves.
Now, we know that the prime minister has made a decision, a historic decision, to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza. It's important for America to participate in helping with that process.
Now, if Gaza's being used as a platform for attacking the Israeli people, that has to be stopped. And Israel has a right to defend itself. They don't have a partner for peace right now. They certainly don't have a partner in Arafat, and they need a legitimate partner for peace.
And I might add, it is very important for America to crack down on the Saudis who have not had a public prosecution for financing terrorism since 9/11.
And it's important for America to confront the situation in Iran, because Iran is an enormous threat to Israel and to the Israeli people.
Of course, then, Senator Edwards was a member of, and at least theoretically entitled to attend sessions of, the Senate Intelligence Committee, whereas now, he presumably has access to a really big television. So maybe he's better informed now. Or not; you see, Edwards also spoke at the AIPAC Policy Conference in May 2006:
During this difficult time, all Israelis should know that America stands with them, remaining committed to their security and their efforts to build a better and more peaceful future, and as we all wish the Prime Minister [Ariel Sharon] our love and affection for he and for his family, our thoughts and prayers are with him every day. More than anyone else, Prime Minister Sharon understood that a strong Israel is a safe Israel, and we need to remember, all of us need to remember the example that he set, especially as we consider the extraordinary security threats that Israel faces today.
Let's start with Iran's nuclear ambitions, which I believe is the single greatest security threat, not only to Israel, but to the United States. In fact today is a pivotal day with the IAEA meeting to send the matter to the U.N. Security Council to take action. It's about time, is what I have to say about that. For years I have argued that the United States has not been doing enough to deal with the growing threat in Iran. While we've talked about the dangers of nuclear terrorism, we've largely stood on the sidelines and the problems got worse.
I believe that for far too long we've abdicated our responsibility to deal with the Iranian threat to the Europeans. That is not the way to deal with an unacceptable threat to America, and an unacceptable threat to Israel. Iran's recent actions beginning with the reprocessing of uranium, refusing to cooperate with international inspections, makes clear that it intends to build nuclear weapons.
And the Iranian President's statements such as the despicable description of the Holocaust as a myth or his ugly pledge to wipe Israel off the map, you know, when he says these kind of things, I take him at his word. And we need to treat it as a very serious statement.
You can read more ducking and weaving by Edwards in this interview with Ezra Klein following the AIPAC speech.
Edwards is going through a bit of a rough time isn't he?
I never thought much of him as a candidate. He seems way too superficial. It seems as if they catch the bug though and once that happens there's nothing for it.
I will be flat footed astonished if he's on the ticket even as a VP candidate this year. He can't even be counted on to deliver his own state.
D- he's is the laughingstock of the race. Hillary and Obama love his nonsense. The static let's them find their footing. Between the mansion, the bigots, and the double talk he is a perfect distraction as they find their legs. An added benefit, no real candidate needs the endorsement.
You CAN'T seriously be referring to the two bloggers, Abe. Are you? C'mon. I can't speak for Amanda at Pandagon, but I'm a regular at Shakespeare's Sister and she's never said anything "bigoted."
It's just not true, even though I grant her politics won't make many friends at this site. Don't buy into the hype.
I am. I don't know either, you may be right. But this was beyond the pale: Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit? A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology."
Additionally, her latest rants on the duke laxer's were disgraceful. We all knew folks like this on campus, most let go. Those that did not are Bigots, with the qualifier of the PC target. They show me nothing, have nothing. Of more interest, the left wack job crew trying to silence the people of faith in their own camp. It is inexcusable. And I must make note of this in the face of the popular press: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2889391&page=1 . He is the Tillman of the lax world. A child of privilege that choose to serve. as that piece of trash rants about a case that does not exist I will think of him, and wish for Pat Moynihan to re emerge. she is garbage, gutter trash. That Edwards would affiliate himself says it all.
You're talking about Amanda Marcotte, not Melissa McEwen.
I can't speak to McEwen myself, but calling Marcotte a bigot is entirely fair.
I am, Mike. I know nothing about the other woman. But it speaks to the candidate.
To be clear, I appreciate her right to express freely. She has, and we have the right to judge her on those thoughts. Bill Donahue is a canard, a red herring. There was legit opposition within the base. The attempted smear at O'Dwyer was school yard, at best.
While I, personally, don't think Amanda is a bigot, I can sort of understand the brouhaha surrounding her. I'm not among her fans for many reasons.
But Melissa McEwen (Shakespeare's Sister) is not a bigot, and is a very decent, solid person. Plus she's 100 times the writer that Amanda is. I like her politics; most of those here would not. That's fair.
But it's very unfortunate for her (and for the Edwards campaign) that she got caught up in the mess with Marcotte. And for that I blame Donohoe & all those who believed what he said about Melissa without doing their own due diligence.
She got railroaded, and no one of the left or right should be happy to see that.
I've read nothing of Melissa, beyond her parting with the Edwards campaign. If she was railroaded that is wrong. Everyone should be judged on their merits. That Amanda was hired speaks volumes about about Edwards. The way she left tells a bit more. I don't pretend to know the woman, but based on the writings she is unfit to serve in any national campaign. That the immediate reaction on the left was to attack those that found issue, beyond Donahue, O'Dywer, and a gentleman at my alma mater, is profoundly sad. Decency is lost, not left, right, or center. And we are all worse for the wear.
Mike its not even close with Marcotte. The definition of bigot includes a person who is intolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals; one obstinately and blindly devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion. She qualifies in spades.
Marcotte is a bigot in the literal, accepted sense and definition. I'd quote her to give you a taste but frankly I don't think Crank wants that kind of trash on his website and I don't want to corner him into deleting or editing my comment.
As for McEwen, I don't have any clue about her. Since you read her I'll take your word that she just got caught up in the whirlwind.
Edwards farked this up big time. Its his campaign. He's a big rich white boy, an ex-Senator and a lawyer. He can take care of himself. Let the responsibility rest where it belongs.
Dwilkers, she is gonna be after you: "The definition of bigot includes a person who is intolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals; one obstinately and blindly devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion. She qualifies in spades." HIS? Good weekend to all, i am off. | <urn:uuid:d5ab60ef-bdd8-4a50-83b6-fe8bb11d10d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2007/02/politicswar_joh.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981994 | 2,274 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Maritime records often help in identifying the life events of the ordinary seaman, although such documents are little known, and consequently little used by the average researcher. The maritime records that I have found useful fall into six categories: custom house records, State Department records, Admiralty Court records, whaling records, privateering records, and records dealing with the African Slave Trade.
Custom House Records
The U.S. Custom Service was created in 1789 with the responsibility for collecting duties on imports, registering vessels, and enforcing the law governing seamen and ships’ passengers. The eastern coastline was divided into districts, each jurisdiction keeping its own records. The documents of most interest to the genealogist are:
1. Crew Lists: Made in triplicate, with the original filed with the local custom office, these papers are generally still available in state archives or local maritime museums. Not only do they give the name, age, and place of birth of each crew member but also a description of his physical appearance.
2. Seamen Protection Papers: At the end of the 18th century impressment into the British navy became a problem. so the registration of U.S. seamen was instituted to provide mariners with identification papers. These certificates, issued through each custom house district, are of considerable genealogical value since they include, besides the sailor’s name, his age and place of birth, a description of his physical appearance, and occasionally his father’s name. The National Archives, as well as state archives, have collections of seamen’s protection papers, in varying degrees of completeness depending on the port and the year.
State Department Records
The U.S. State Department records in the National Archives contain several major categories of documents of value to the maritime researcher. These relate either to impressed seamen or to claims made to a foreign government over maritime losses.
1. American State Papers (ASPO2- 196) and ASPO3-212): These contain approximately 3,000 names of impressed American seamen.
2. Registers of applications for release of impressed seamen (1793-1802): An index to these records can be found in the NGS Quarterly, vol. 60 (1972).
3. Unbound letters (1794-1815) relating to American seamen impressed by Great Britain. Alphabetically arranged.
4. French Spoliation Claims: The papers of American mariners seeking recompense for losses sustained during French attacks on U.S. shipping circa 1800. This collection lists hundreds of U.S. seamen.
Admiralty Court Records
The Admiralty Courts were established originally by the British Crown in order to adjudicate disputes arising out of colonial maritime activities. Ordinarily, the business that would come before these courts would include:
1. Equity cases, such as violation of charters, disputes over seamen’s wages, salvage, etc.
2. Administrative cases, such as surveys of vessels damaged by storms at sea, or supervision of the sale of damaged vessels.
3. Adjudication of prizes taken by privateers.
The originals of these court records are usually found in state archives, and selected court cases have been published. In addition, the Genealogical Society of Utah has microfilmed some jurisdictions.
Although there never was any one governmental agency that controlled the whaling industry, a considerable body of literature dealing with this aspect of maritime activity has accumulated. Much of the data is derivative in nature, but the documentation is usually so good that the information can be considered reliable. Some examples:
1. Starbuck, Alexander, History of the American Whale Fishery (1964). A superb account of the vessels and the men who hunted whales from the 1600s through the early 1900s.
2. W.P.A. Writers Program: Whaling Masters -- listing of all ship captains engaged in the whaling industry from 1731 to 1925. [NEHGS Library, call number SH38/F43/1938]
3. Spears, John Randolph, Story of the New England Whalers (1908).
Additional sources of information about the men and vessels of the whaling industry are the shipping reports found in all newspapers in seaports along our Eastern coast, and log books, journals, and individual diaries found in maritime museums and archives.
The privateer was a civilian warship, authorized by our government to capture and destroy enemy shipping. A privateer had to be bonded, and before sharing in any captured booty, the prize had to be condemned by an Admiralty Court (q.v.). All this activity generated several classes of documents:
1. Articles of Agreement: These were contracts made between a ship’s master and the seamen regarding salary and shares of prize money. Of value to the genealogist is the listing of each seaman with his age and place of birth. These articles are usually kept in an official repository, such as the National Archives.
2. Letters of Marque: These documents name the ship’s master, the owner of the vessel, and sometimes its destination. Many such letters are found in state archives.
The “African Trade” Records
Distasteful as we might view the slave trade from the distance of several hundred years, there was a great deal of activity in the “African Trade” by all seaports along the Atlantic seaboard, and some of these records may mention your ancestor. The shipping records dealing with the “slavers” have been extensively researched by historians, such as those mentioned below:
1. Brock, Robert Alonzo, “New England & the Slave Trade” in The William and Mary College Quarterly (1st ser.) 2[1893-94]:176.
2. Donnan, E., Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade in America, 4 vols. (1930-35).
3. Coughtry, J., The Notorious Triangle: Rhode Island and the African Slave Trade, 1700-1807 (1981).
4. Howe, George L., Mount Hope: A New England Chronicle (1959) [NEHGS Library, F89/B8/H84/1959].
For the genealogical researcher, the records described above may be the only written evidence of a forebear’s service on board ship in the early days of this country’s history. Many of these records contain hundreds of names of ship’s masters, seamen, and ship owners. If your forebear was a mariner, searching these collections of maritime records may be well worth the effort.
Editor’s Note: Readers may also want to look for maritime records in local histories of port cities. Another good source is New England and the Sea, by Robert G. Albion, William A. Baker, and Benjamin W. Labaree. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan U. Press, 1972. Also, a trip to Mystic Seaport may be most helpful. | <urn:uuid:94e35c64-e7e2-4ec8-988a-6da3c06be0af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanancestors.org/maritime-records/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942752 | 1,462 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Paul Mason, formerly called “the world’s fattest man,” has shed nearly two-thirds of his body weight after gastric bypass surgery in 2010. At his heaviest, the 52-year-old from Ipswich, England tipped the scales at an astonishing 980 pounds.
Mason used to be so heavy that he was unable to leave his room. When he needed a hernia operation in 2002, the fire department had break down the front wall of his home and load him into an ambulance with a forklift. At that time, he weighed 784 pounds.
That humiliating ordeal was one of many low points for Mason, who became "an object of fascinated horror, a freak show exhibit," reports the New York Times. Now that the 6'4" former postal worker is down to 336 pounds, he’s hoping for a second chance at a normal life.
Mason estimates that he used to eat about 20,000 calories a day, about eight times the recommended amount for an average man. The surgery shrank the size of his stomach to about the size of an egg, leading to rapid weight loss. | <urn:uuid:0343855f-f236-467d-a9f6-0d120bfa4455> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/-World-s-fattest-man-loses-644-pounds/-/1719418/18451830/-/qpx3kkz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981888 | 235 | 1.820313 | 2 |
James Bailey's form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was as bizarre as it was unbearable. He was obsessed by a fear of drugs and their effects, believing himself to be in constant danger of becoming insanely high through people spiking his food, or even by just touching a photograph of a marijuana leaf.
The treatment programme he went through at a specialist American clinic was challenging, to say the least. He was asked to shake hands and mingle with the local junkies, fighting his anxieties and the urge to go and wash for as long as possible in order to 'expose' himself to his fears.
Man, Interrupted gives us a glimpse into the tortured world of a man suffering from what is an increasingly common disorder. But far from being a doom-laden account of mental illness, the result is uniquely revealing, hilariously entertaining and wonderfully rewarding.
Recommend this book
Add your recommendation
Only registered users can recommend books. Please use the buttons below to either create a new account, or sign-in to an existing account.
I love James Bailey's book. Right from the first page, I was riveted by his compelling, honest account of that intense part of his life. The book is fraught with wonderfully unique encounters. I recommend it to anyone and everyone -
If you have a functioning heart and like to laugh, take this book home. You are sure to connect -
A vivid memoir - Daily Telegraph
A very funny, profound, soul-searching account of James' emotional journey . . . the story sits somewhere between The Catcher in the Rye and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Bizarre
Amazing! As hilarious as it is gripping. Our generation's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -
I love James's book! It completely captivated with wonderful and funny moments about the life and times of an OCD sufferer. Everyone should read it - Michael Lionello Cowan, film producer
I found it funny with many interesting moments - Barry Levinson, film producer and director
It is no wonder that Mel Brooks is a long-time friend and admirer of Bailey's writing. Maybe there's even a film character in the making - Bath Chronicle
The particular strength of Bailey's book is that he is not afraid to show himself as deeply unpleasant - Mail on Sunday
Bailey's vivid sense of humour means he relates his story with a knowing sense of the absurd . . . illuminating - Daily Mail
A wonderful memoir - Daily Telegraph
About the Author
James Bailey was born in Arkansas City, Kansas. After pursuing an acting career in the early '80s, he discovered that writing was another way to express his pent-up anger and creativity. He was content to leave Hollywood but soon after was struck with a crippling form of OCD. Now recovered, he lives in Louisiana, where he continues to write and act. | <urn:uuid:5ac837ba-a120-4962-b21f-4f6d3200d749> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/9781845962142 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971144 | 592 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By Eswar Prasad and Karim Foda
The global economic recovery remains stuck below takeoff speed, unable to achieve liftoff and facing the risk of stalling. Half-hearted fiscal austerity measures are proving to be a drag on growth and doing little to rebuild investor and consumer confidence.
Monetary policy continues to shoulder the burden of limiting downside risks and has kept financial markets buoyant even in the face of weak growth prospects.
The Brookings-FT Tiger index shows growth momentum remains weak in nearly all major advanced and emerging market economies. The best that can be said about the weak pace of economic activity is that it has bottomed out in some key economies. However, prospects of a strong cyclical pickup in growth are likely to be hampered by continued policy uncertainty and concerns about further financial market turbulence, with the simmering eurozone debt crisis once again coming close to boiling over.
By Lenos Trigeorgis
EU politicians have been locked in myopic and often self-defeating policies regarding bailout of troubled eurozone countries. They have insisted, in principle correctly, that troubled countries bring their finances to a sustainable path. But the austerity measures used are killing the growth prospects of these countries and damaging their ability to repay the lenders. The less able-to-pay the borrowers become, the tougher the repayment terms imposed, leading to a vicious cycle of further deterioration.
An alternative would be to tie the coupon paid on rescue loans to the growth of the country’s economy. When the economy is in recession, the debt interest burden will be lower, helping the country to boost growth; when economic growth picks up, GDP-linked payments will be higher precisely when the country can afford it. Read more
By Michael Pomerleano
Paradigms accepted as self-evident truths occasionally need to be re-examined. Corporate taxation is one of them. While governments are looking more and more for fiscal resources to fill budget gaps under the auspices of “rationalizing” the corporate tax systems, this article argues that a new, minimalistic approach to corporate taxation can yield surprising benefits. Read more
European court ruled that stability mechanism was not contrary to EU law. Image by Getty
By Professor Simon Deakin
Courts don’t often try to decide the direction of economic policy. However, in effect, this is what the European Court has recently done. In its Pringle judgment the court made a number of important decisions on the legality of bail-out policies being pursued by the European Union.
It ruled that the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism – the fund through which financial assistance will in future be channelled to eurozone states facing the possibility of bankruptcy – was not contrary to EU law. By implication, the ruling also supports the recent attempts by the European Central Bank to shore up the euro by buying the government bonds of debtor states on secondary markets (that is, buying them from commercial banks that have first purchased them from governments). Read more
By Kevin P. Gallagher
Negotiators will meet in Singapore this week for yet another round of talks on a Trans-Pacific Partnership – it is the 16th time in just a few years. A TPP would bring together key Pacific-rim countries into a trading bloc that the US hopes would counter China’s growing influence in the region.
Among other sticking points, talks remain stalled because the US insists that its TPP trading partners dismantle regulations for cross-border finance. Many TPP nations will have nothing of it, and for good reason. The US stance stands on the wrong side of country experience, economic theory and guidelines issued by the International Monetary Fund. Read more
By Heleen Mees
With anger directed towards bankers and rating agencies alike, this may be a good time to remember that low interest rates, rather than faulty mortgage products, are the root cause of the financial crisis and ensuing Great Recession.
I once quipped that to understand the origins of the financial crisis and recession, one should not read Michael Lewis’s The Big Short, but economist and Nobel Laureate Arthur Lewis’s Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labor instead.
The Big Short provides an entertaining account of how low-income households in the US were force-fed unaffordable subprime mortgages, for the sole purpose of adding to the fortunes of Wall Street bankers. But if less subprime mortgages had been originated in the 2000s, the bubble (and bust) in the prime US mortgage market would arguably have been more extensive than it was. Read more
By Mthuli Ncube and Michael Fairbanks
Which is more probable: Africa becomes a virtual international province of China, the main source of its sub-soil assets, and the major component of China’s strategy for its own domestic stability; or China becomes a way African nations upgrade their economies and integrate into the global value chain for manufacturing. The answer lies in the demographics of China, and what African nations decide to do next.
The greatest challenges facing China are an ageing population, gender disparity, migration to cities, rural health care and income inequality. Poverty declined from more than 60 per cent to less than 7 per cent since 1978, eradicating more poverty than in the rest of human history. That happened because of China’s “going out” into the world strategy and Africa is, arguably, the most important part of that strategy. Read more
By Catharine B. Hill
The recession continues to create challenges for higher education in the US. Appropriate responses depend on expectations for the economy in the future, and whether the shocks we have experienced are short- or longer-term trends. Moody’s US Higher Education Outlook Negative in 2013 report does little to address these issues.
The optimal response to a cyclical change is to not allow significant changes to the structure of the colleges and universities. But if a change is permanent, adjustments are warranted. Of course, it is difficult to know whether shocks are permanent or temporary – there is a tendency to assume positive shocks are permanent and negative ones temporary, leading to inappropriate policy responses when wrong. This explains some of the problems facing many colleges and universities. Read more
By Dr Miles Livingston
The legendary John Bogle, founder and former chief executive of The Vanguard Group, recently met with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to urge it to propose a rule that would require anyone providing retail investment advice to act as a fiduciary.
Mr Bogle and two other representatives of The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard argued that investment advisers at large mutual fund companies and other financial institutions often operate with conflicts of interest and do what is best for themselves rather than their shareholders. The Investment Company Act of 1940 requires that mutual funds be organised and managed in the interest of shareholders, rather than their managers or directors, but Mr Bogle pointed out that in practice, the spirit of the law is violated. Read more
By Professor Simon Deakin
Under the government’s current proposals for employment law reform, employees will be able to give up rights concerning unfair dismissal, redundancy pay, flexible working and time off for training in return for receiving shares in the company that employs them, gains on which will be exempt from capital gains tax.
It is right for the government to be encouraging worker ownership in companies; there is abundant evidence suggesting this improves labour productivity. What is completely unnecessary and counterproductive is to link this to the loss of employment protection rights. Read more | <urn:uuid:665e3006-203d-4c31-a939-b0780b42b644> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ft.com/economistsforum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950209 | 1,519 | 1.679688 | 2 |
People go to counseling for a variety of reasons and concerns. What everyone needs to realize is that seeking counseling for yourself or a loved-one is a sign of strength. It shows that you have insight and that you're open to improvement. The Student and Community Counseling Center at The University of Colorado Denver provides one of the best values in Denver - free and low-cost professional therapy to university students and community members willing to take the important step. Therapy takes place year-round, not just during the traditional school year.
- Do you have a child who is exhibiting problematic performance in school, either academic or behavioral, or having a hard time with changing schools?
- Is your family dealing with loss, serious illness, separation or divorce?
- Do you want to feel more comfortable expressing who you are?
- Would you like to gain additional skills to deal with family conflict, bullying, substance abuse, or stress?
- Are you dealing with economic challenges?
- Do you feel that you'd like to improve your parenting?
- Are you being treated unjustly by others?
- Have you ever felt like you don't fit in because of your body size, skin color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious/spiritual beliefs, or something else?
If you can relate to any of these concerns, we encourage you to call the Counseling Center at 303-556-4372 to make an appointment.
Staffed by psychologists, professional psychotherapists and advanced graduate-level practicum students, the center assures clients respect and confidentiality. It is located in downtown Denver on the Auraria Campus (across from the Pepsi Center) in the North Classroom Building, Room 4036. | <urn:uuid:ec8d4911-b8d9-4cc1-8537-1fb6e20ab48d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/SchoolOfEducation/Community/Pages/CounselingCenter.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956163 | 349 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Ilya Marritz covers business for WNYC.
Is NYC Better Off Than It Was 4 Years Ago? You Be the Judge
Friday, September 14, 2012
Is New York City better off than it was before President Barack Obama took office? With an election just weeks away, many variants of Ronald Reagan’s famous question to voters from 1980 are in the air.
“In New York City, and that's the only place I am an expert on, things are better than four years ago,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in response to a reporter’s question earlier this month.
But the worst economic crisis in a generation rocked many of the financial institutions that are the backbone of the New York economy, and much has changed in a short time.
Take 70 Pine Street as an example. The landmarked art deco skyscraper is Manhattan’s fifth-tallest building. For 33 years, it was the home of AIG, the world’s largest insurer.
But AIG had to sell 70 Pine Street after the insurer collapsed in September 2008, and accepted a $182 billion pledge of government aid.
The sole remaining occupant is The Ketch, a white-tablecloth fish restaurant on the ground floor.
John Lopez, the owner, estimates AIG employees once made up 40 percent of his clientele. He recalls the autumn of 2008 in the hushed tones other people might use to discuss a sick relation.
“People were scared. Even if people had money, it wasn’t cool to have an event,” Lopez said.
Eighty dollar lunches of miso-glazed salmon and chardonnay were out. But the Ketch toughed it out.
Now, new customers are showing up.
“Facebook had a group of people here,” Lopez said. “I said to my staff when I saw them come in, ‘See those young guys? That’s the future of our clientele.’”
And new potential customers will be moving in soon. After changing hands three times in four years, 70 Pine Street is being converted into a rental apartment building.
After four turbulent years, Lopez says things are improving.
And AIG? In 2009, the company moved to a smaller headquarters down the block. This week, the U.S. government sold most of its remaining stake in the insurer. Commentators marveled that a zombie company has in fact come back to life.
Here are five ways of seeing how New York’s economy has – and has not – improved in four years:
Since August 2008, New York City has regained all the jobs lost in the great recession, and added 70,000 new positions on top of that.
After a dip in 2009, sales tax revenues have surged, fueled by tourist spending in the city center, and newly opened big-box shopping centers in residential areas. In the second quarter of 2012, the city took in $218 million more than in the comparable period four years earlier.
Banks, law firms and ad agencies downsized in 2009 and 2010, sending the vacancy rate to a peak of 11.6 percent. Since then it’s fallen, but is still roughly two points higher than in 2008.
About 30 percent more people are overnighting in city shelters today compared with 2008. The city says cuts in state aid have made it harder to move the homeless into permanent housing.
This chart of year-over-year changes in the housing price index shows the value of apartments and homes in the five boroughs cratered in 2009, and dipped again in 2011. Prices are now recovering, but still stand below early 2008 levels. | <urn:uuid:e05e55bc-0140-4b3c-9c20-856c40b44506> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2012/sep/14/new-york-city-economy-four-years-later-it-gets-better/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959065 | 767 | 1.71875 | 2 |
May 15, 2006
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
Read: Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nn. 406-416
It has become a common belief in Western society that the best democracy is thoroughly secular. Such a democracy would be a blank slate, unencumbered by religion or political ideologies.
What makes a state democratic – goes this theory – is a set of procedures – free elections, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, a free press, equality before the law, and freedom from arbitrary arrest and punishment. Democracy has no necessary link with human flourishing or human dignity. It is a set of rules and individual rights.
No one should deny that these freedoms are necessary to democracy. But the Church maintains that there is more to democracy than individual freedom. Democracy is more than a set of rules.
Society is not just a collection of autonomous individuals with rights. It is an organism that is something other than the sum of its parts. For the organism to be healthy, each of its parts must be healthy. Authentic democracy requires a number of conditions beyond establishing ways for people to participate in society.
Democracy must respect the dignity of every person. It must respect human rights, including rights to life, water, food, health care, education, decent housing and work. It must include a commitment, not just to the rights of individuals, but also to the common good.
There must be structures for both participation and shared responsibility. People must not only learn readin', 'riting and 'rithmetic, they must be formed in true ideals. A democratic society must have a moral structure as well as structures for participation.
Majority rule is not enough to make for democracy. If majority rule goes hand in hand with ethical relativism, then society is prone to tyranny. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church calls ethical relativism "one of the greatest threats to modern-day democracies." If there is no ultimate truth, "then ideas and convictions can be easily manipulated for reasons of power" (n. 407).
These words are crucial for the future of democracy. It is important that there be a division of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. A good balance protects society's members from one branch of government running roughshod. But government must also be restrained by natural law, that is, by moral truth.
Western societies are currently having serious problems with this. Natural law, in the form of traditional marriage and the right to life, has been violated by decisions to allow same-sex marriage and abortion.
The Pennsylvania government once enacted a law requiring women to give informed consent before they could have an abortion. In striking that law down in 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote, "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, of the mystery of human life."
– Design Pics photo
Western societies often believe that democracy means any hint of religiosity must be expunged from public life.
Likely no government body has ever given a balder endorsement of individualism uninhibited by morality. But true liberty is not striking off on one's own. It involves responsibility and solidarity. It involves a recognition that creation was intended for all and that all are entitled to share in its goods.
At the opposite extreme from the U.S. Supreme Court are Islamic nations where the consent of the governed is, if a concern at all, a secondary one. In some of those nations, there is no recognition of religion and the state as being separate realms of authority. Laws of the state are derived directly from the Koran.
This is, no doubt, part of why it is so difficult to import Western democracy into the Islamic world. At the very time when Western democracies are trying to expunge any hint of religiosity from their models of governance, Muslim nations are re-asserting the belief that religion is the only thing that matters in governance.
In this context, Catholic teaching is a middle way. We believe democracy is essential to good government and we assert that democracy must be linked to moral truth. We believe that there is no divide between the moral truths revealed by God and the moral truth discoverable by human reason.
But we also accept that there is, in a certain sense, a division between Church and state. The state has no right to restrict the free exercise of religion. The Church, while it can and should speak in the public square especially when morality is being violated, should not interfere in government's prudential application of moral standards to society.
Such a framework can provide the basis for authentic democracy.
Currently rated by 0 people | <urn:uuid:91ef5e1d-26c8-469c-97e3-63beb2a494c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wcr.ab.ca/cst/tabid/235/entryid/3370/True-democracy-demands-a-moral-structure.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956727 | 967 | 2.984375 | 3 |
This isn't what democracy looks like
Wisconsin Republicans have finally stopped pretending to uphold the sanctity of the political process. Instead of allowing the will of the Wisconsin electorate to determine the fate of six Republican state senators facing recall elections, Republican Party leaders have blatantly decided to buy more time.
How? By running fake Democrats (who are actually known Republicans) as official candidates in a primary against real Democratic candidates challenging the Republican recall incumbents. This scheme is technically legal but clearly unethical. And, thanks to Wisconsin's open primary system, registered Republicans may legally vote for the fake Democrats in Democratic primaries.
This ploy comes as Wisconsin Republicans have made reducing the supposed scourge of "voter fraud" a top priority. In June, Gov. Scott Walker signed a voter ID law that critics say will do more to repress authentic votes than deflect fraudulent ballots. It's inconsistent and even hypocritical for supporters of this kind of measure to advocate party misrepresentation by candidates during primaries.
Voters successfully petitioned for six Republican state senators to be recalled because of their votes supporting Walker's controversial "budget repair" bill, a misnamed piece of legislation that scrapped collective bargaining rights for most public employees. This move was so unpopular that it sparked a firestorm of public opinion against it and prompted 14 Democratic state senators to flee to Illinois to stave off a vote. Now, voters will have an opportunity to either re-elect the Republicans who voted for the bill and had served at least one year -a requirement for recall - or choose Democrats to replace them.
The budget repair bill was passed by a questionable procedural maneuver, in which Walker conveniently changed his mind and defined collective bargaining as a non-fiscal item. The political purpose was to pass the bill with a simple majority (fiscal bills need 60 percent of the Senate present while non-fiscal bills need only 50 percent). All of this was accomplished without any Democrats present.
To their credit, Wisconsin Democratic leaders have opted not to run fake Republican candidates in the Republican primaries. That's in keeping with Wisconsin's long tradition of clean politics. Republicans and Democrats in Madison have frequently compromised and formed consensus, whether Democrat Jim Doyle or Republican Tommy Thompson was in the governor's mansion.
Unfortunately, a new generation of reckless Republicans has taken over the Wisconsin state Senate and many other state legislatures across the nation. For them, compromise is a dirty word. Ideology is in, and ideology does not lend itself to the messy details of governing. It's so much easier to make pronouncements from on high or simply use every procedural tactic possible to achieve political victory.
If Wisconsin GOP operatives aren't careful, they may win the battle but lose the war for the hearts and minds of Wisconsin's voters. In fact, they already have. Gov. Scott Walker's approval ratings are sinking, and he has become an astonishingly polarizing figure. Overall, 43 percent of Wisconsinites approve of his performance. His approval rating from Republicans is 87 percent and just 9 percent from Democrats. At the same time, his intransigence has inadvertently resuscitated a moribund union movement across the country.
To make matters worse, Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican elected to the U.S. Senate last year, is accused of using his own private company to pay himself back $10 million as "deferred compensation" after he spent $9 million of his own money to finance his 2010 election. This "scheme" could turn out to be illegal unless Johnson can prove that his company really did owe him that money.
These cynical partisan strategies are ploys for winning political advantage at all costs. They may cause a backlash. The public can and will vote the Republican Party out of office if it goes too far.
The politics of cynicism will not stand. It's inconsistent with a healthy democracy.
John Franco, an AP Government teacher, resides in Wisconsin. | <urn:uuid:d7a909e4-88c2-4f74-8f25-23b28bdb7184> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunadvocate.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=22321&poll=271&vote=results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964832 | 787 | 1.835938 | 2 |
“Unfortunately, the U.S. economic system now finds itself crippled by a real-life technology-gone-wrong story line. In this case, the culprit is not a Pentagon fighting machine, but rather the computer-based modeling and trading programs developed for Wall Street over the last quarter century.”
With a considerably more nuanced appraisal than implied in that initial quotation, Joseph Fuller thoughtfully explores the role of extremely sophisticated computer trading models and their indispensable yet hazardous integration into the contemporary financial system. He then recommends a variety of measures to ameliorate the potential harms while preserving the benefits of these innovative systems.
See The Terminator Comes to Wall Street in the American Scholar for an interesting perspective on the state of our domestic and global financial systems.
“A modern Wal-Mart would have been a place of incalculable riches to Charlemagne.”
“As befits a scholar of human knowledge, Mokyr’s overarching thesis is about the power of ideas. His grand idea is that the practical, avaricious inventors of the industrial revolution owed much to the academic, but worldly, philosophers of the Enlightenment.”
Writing for the New Republic, Edward Glaser reviews Joel Mokyr’s The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700-1850 in Thinkers and Tinkerers:
“It is easy to envision the massive mills of Manchester and think that the Industrial Revolution was all about scale and machines. But there was more. At its core, this economic and technological revolution was created by connected groups of smart people who stole each others’ ideas and implemented them. I tend to think that the chain of interrelated insights that brought us industrialization could have happened in other countries and at other times, but there is every reason to think that the Enlightenment had readied England’s intellectual soil for industrial innovation. Not least because it persuades readers of the plausibility of such an unlikely and colorful causation, Mokyr’s book is a splendid achievement.” | <urn:uuid:92470e85-e262-4ee3-aa2c-294ea1ad2fb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://haysvillelibrary.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936623 | 422 | 2.125 | 2 |
In an attempt to prove that not all PEWs are bad PEWs, doctors at Tel Aviv University have developed a laser that is capable of sealing wounds safer and more efficiently than traditional stitches.
The laser allows a wound to be welded shut as opposed to sutured, which makes it far more watertight and there's less tearing. It's done by very carefully controlling the temperature of the beam, and Israeli patients treated with the laser have already enjoyed faster healing times and less scarring.
Cool, but can it still blind you if you stare at it too long? And, if not, can you make me one that can? The bully that lives across the street threw a rock at me when we got off the bus yesterday, and I want to burn his eyes out. Also, his older sister is hot. I want to see her naked. PEW PEW?
46-year old Connie Culp was nearly killed when her deranged husband literally blasted her face off with a shotgun in 2004. But now, five years later, she has a new face thanks to a recently deceased organ donor (sign your cards!).
She endured 30 operations to try to fix her... / Continue →
This is a short video of Boeing and the Air Force testing a plane-mounted laser's ability to burn the everliving shit out of a stationary object during a flyby. Mission accomplished!
This video shows the effect of the high-energy laser beam from the Boeing Advanced Tactical... / Continue →
Seen here is Dr. Manhattan's conception a nano-diamond attracting insulin to help a wound heal quicker. Neat, but I'd still douse it with Blue # 1 just to be on the safe side.
Northwestern University scientist Dean Ho and his team discovered that nanodiamonds are very attract... / Continue → | <urn:uuid:b6975aff-e4af-4093-a5c1-32ae0a6f26cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://geekologie.com/2009/02/pfft-stitches-how-about-a-litt.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968638 | 376 | 1.796875 | 2 |
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
*Starred Review* On the night of September 17, 1998, history was made in the bedroom of a modest second-floor apartment just outside Houston when two men, John Lawrence (white) and Tyron Garner (black), were arrested and charged with sodomy, which was then illegal in Texas. Whether the police officers actually witnessed the act is a matter of dispute (the accused denied that they were even having sex). What isn't in dispute is that gay-rights lawyers took the case, Lawrence v. Texas, all the way to the U.S.Supreme Court, which struck down the Texas sodomy law altogether in 2003. In compelling and eminently readable prose as gripping as any detective novel Carpenter reveals the details behind the famous legal battle. He interviewed most of the major participants involved, including the police officers. He examines the historical context for the arrests, meticulously presents the versions offered by the police and the defendants, and explores the aftermath of the arrests as well as the case's ultimate legacy on gay rights. It is a story, according to the author, that involves the misuse of authority, the cowardice of elected state-court judges who rebuffed the defendants' legal claims, and the refusal of legislators to repeal a dubious and odious law. An important book about a landmark case.--Sawyers, June Copyright 2010 Booklist
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
In a presidential election year when the debate over gay marriage rages, Carpenter returns to the landmark 2003 Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas which overturned state laws criminalizing consensual homosexual sex. Carpenter's probing research leads him to question the basic facts of the case: that in Houston in 1998, John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were engaged in anal sex when sheriff's deputies entered Lawrence's apartment, ostensibly looking for an armed man. Carpenter lays out the case's background, including the machismo that dominated the sheriff's office and Texas's history of antigay laws. The story of this case is many-layered, from the stakes for the litigants to the cultural crosscurrents and often shifting societal values; strategic legal gamesmanship; and the prejudices and predilections of Supreme Court justices. Carpenter, professor of civil rights and civil liberty law at the University of Minnesota, integrates all of these parallel parts for a fully rounded account that captures the human and legal dimensions of this groundbreaking case. In his view of the case's significance: "It was a judgment that gay sex, too, might lead... [to] lasting relationships." Carpenter presents an engrossing depiction of a pivotal case in 21st-century American jurisprudence. 8 pages of illus. Agent: . (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
The 2003 landmark Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court case established the right of homosexuals to engage in private sexual conduct. After setting the sociopolitical and legal scene, Carpenter (Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Univ. of Minnesota Law Sch.) describes the 1998 arrest of John Lawrence and Tyron Garner and the ensuing events as gay rights groups in Houston grasped the potential of the case as a national test. Chapters introduce participants, describe the so-called crime, compare differing accounts of the arrest, follow court events, and explain the stakes. Carpenter excels at discussing legal strategies and Supreme Court arguments, and the elite lawyers and strategists of the defense team are shown in stark contrast to the ill-prepared Harris County district attorney. VERDICT Books covering similar ground include Carlos A. Ball's From the Closet to the Courtroom, which describes five major LGBTQ cases, and David A. J. Richards's The Sodomy Cases, which discusses both Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas, but Carpenter's is the most thorough account and analysis of the case available. An interesting and insightful book recommended for lawyers, students, and scholars interested in public policy and LGBTQ studies.-Mary Jane Brustman, SUNY Albany Libs. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. | <urn:uuid:14121289-6bca-4349-b4bb-edaae369cf9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ls2content.tlcdelivers.com/content.html?customerid=735&requesttype=text-review&button=false&isbn=9780393062083&upc= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935229 | 887 | 1.875 | 2 |
Mountain Weather Forecast - Issued 15th March 2012
Posted 15 March 2012 - 11:31
Sunny Spells and Showers - Some Wintry Over Summits
A slack area of low pressure develops over southern Britain this weekend, with fronts bringing showery rain, mainly to southern parts. Some uncertainty as to northern extent of rain affecting southern parts on Saturday and early Sunday.
The Weekend in Detail:
Saturday 17th March - looks like being a mostly dry day across Scotland and northern England with some sunny spells developing, especially in Perthshire and the East Highlands. However a few showers are possible and these likely to be wintry over summits - mainly above 2,500ft but to lower levels in Scotland. Moderate rain, turning showery later, pushing up from the SW to give a fairly wet day across the SW Moors and though starting dry in Wales, becoming wet here in the afternoon with some wintry precipitation over higher summits in Snowdonia. Rain also spreading across to the Peak District. Moderate westerly winds and feeling a little on the cool side though temperatures close to normal for mid March. Showers may continue to affect Snowdonia and spread across parts of northern England through the evening and overnight, but elsewhere dry with a risk of frost.
Sunday 18th March - looks like there could still be some showers - with snow over the highest summits - affecting parts of Snowdonia and northern England through the morning, slowly clearing away eastwards but probably not brightening up over the Peak District until afternoon. Elsewhere a mainly day although the occasional light shower always possible, mainly in the west and once more wintry over summits. Cloud levels lowering in the far NW in the afternoon with a risk here of some patchy rain. Winds more northwesterly and all parts feeling a little colder.
A windy day with further rain sweeping in from the west across most parts in Monday. Therafter, high pressure moves in off the Atlantic over the southern half of Britain bringing dry and settled (although probably cloudy, with some morning fog) conditions back here for the rest of the week, but always the risk of stronger southwesterly winds and rain affecting more northwestern parts, especially the Hebrides and the Highlands from Lochaber northwards.
For the latest daily weather update covering most upland regions of Britain, more please visit The Mountain Weather Information Service website provided by Geoff Monk.
Met Office Mountain Forecasts are also available for the Highlands, Lake District, Peak District and Wales.
Avalanche news for the Highlands is provided by SAIS
Note: this is a personal interpretation of likely weather conditions on the UK hills and is intended for general guidance purposes only. Local conditions may vary and changes may occur suddenly and without warning. Extreme caution should always be exercised when venturing into the hills
TOI 11.30 GMT – 15th March 2012
Forecast by Andy Mayhew for Ukww
Ukww Disclaimer:- The user assumes the entire risk related to its use of this data. UKww (UK Weatherworld) is providing this data "as is" and UKww disclaims any and all warranties, whether express or implied, including (without limitation) any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will UKww be liable to you or to any third party or any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages or lost profit resulting from any use or misuse of this data | <urn:uuid:5cf2dfcf-13c3-4559-af45-66d457524493> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/90144-mountain-weather-forecast-issued-15th-march-2012/page__pid__792856 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93085 | 713 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Late Breaking News
Perennial Issue of Combining Military Medical Services Comes Up Again
Editors Note: Since this story went to press, DoD announced it is recommending a Defense Health Agency be established as part of a new model of governance for the MHS. This option was chosen in favor over a Unified Medical Command and other options considered. For more information please read breaking news item "DoD Plan Calls for Changes to MHS Structure." Please also stay tuned for the April issue that will also include an article on this topic.
By Sandra Basu
WASHINGTON — Combining military medical services, a controversial issue that first came up more than 60 years ago, is being debated again, with a Pentagon task force examining the governance issue, and the topic being discussed at a recent legislative hearing.
Vice Adm. John Mateczun, MD
At the House hearing, military medical officials explained that, while delivery of care to patients may be similar among the services, differing business and accounting practices can make it difficult to work jointly off the battlefield.
“This is a maturation process that we have to identify what are all of those business processes and standards that are different. Delivery of care is not different, but the way that we manage it is different, and we have to find that commonality for sure,” said Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, RN, who testified recently with the surgeons general of the Air Force and Navy before the House Committee on Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
Meanwhile, a report from a recent Pentagon task force examination of the MHS governance issue has yet to be published. Past studies have suggested that military medical services should be combined, and members of a key House subcommittee expressed dismay that administrative issues stand in the way, using Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), Bethesda, MD, as an example.
One lawmaker commented that the issue of how the services were working together to deliver healthcare jointly became “muddier and muddier” as the surgeons general explained some of the administrative challenges in working together.
Much of the discussion at the hearing centered on whether the administrative structure at WRNMMC, a joint medical center considered a test case for combining the services’ medical operations, is falling short of expectations.
WRNMMC’s governance is unique in the MHS. Before the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center combined, the command and control for the facilities rested with their respective services. Now, the new combined medical center’s operational oversight is provided by the Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical (JTF-CapMed). The Task Force was created in 2007 and reports directly to the secretary of defense through the deputy secretary of defense, rather than Army or Navy leadership.
Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-FL), chairman of the subcommittee, wanted to know what qualifications, experience or training of JTF staffers makes them uniquely qualified to perform the oversight responsibilities of the medical center over the “surgeons general who have been running military medicine for years.”
Vice. Adm. John Mateczun, MD, commander of JTF-CapMed, said that JTF staff have “no different knowledge, skills or experience” but a command and control authority that allows them to execute the mission they have been given.
“When you are able to execute across the Army, Navy and the Air Force and do it effectively, you can find efficiencies,” he said. “We don’t have any more knowledge. It’s not a special secret. It’s purely a matter of the authorities and how you exercise them.”
Still, Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Charles B. Green, MD, acknowledged to the subcommittee that there is “friction,” because the JTF would like the services to operate more jointly there, though the lack of joint policies and guidance among the services sometimes makes it difficult.
“From my own personal perspective, because we don’t have joint credentialing guidance and joint nursing policy and joint patient registration, we need to really operate the hospital today by one service’s rules,” Green said. “So, there is friction, because the JTF would like for us to move toward more joint oversight and, because that doesn’t exist yet, trying to move in that direction is difficult.”
Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), pointed out that prior studies have concluded that the military medical services should be combined. WRNMMC is supposed to be the “national example” of how this would be done, he said, but it seems to be “falling short.”
“It is a bit frustrating when we hear reports from folks who allege to know and would have reason to know what they are talking about, and, I put it in quotes, a ‘dysfunctional leadership arrangement,’ at the combined Walter Reed campus,” he said.
Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Matthew L. Nathan, MD, explained that the format is “a new chain of command format that presently has not been precedent in military medicine.” He acknowledged there have been “growing pains” in putting this new chain of command together but also said they were “finding their way through it.”
The Pentagon Task Force report on MHS governance referenced at the congressional hearing was also touched upon at the recent 2012 MHS Conference. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson, MD, told an audience there that, in 2011, a Pentagon task force examined the question of a unified medical command.
The issue of whether a Defense health agency or a unified medical command would lead to more savings has been examined in multiple studies in the past 40 years. A GAO report released last year found that realigning DoD's military medical command structures and consolidating common functions could increase efficiency and result in projected savings ranging from $281 million to $460 million annually.
The idea remains controversial, however. The GAO report last year pointed out that, while most studies that have been done since the 1940s had either favored a unified system or recommended a stronger central authority to improve coordination among the services, “DoD has taken limited actions to date to consolidate common administrative, management and clinical functions within its MHS.”
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), noted at the hearing that “governance and military health is a topic that has been widely studied and discussed, but is difficult to change.” Last year some House members tried to bring change about through a provision in a bill that would have reorganized the MHS under a unified medical command, but the provision was ultimately rejected by the Senate. | <urn:uuid:d56d22dd-0afa-4a2f-9a48-2189c1a62a1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usmedicine.com/articles/perennial-issue-of-combining-military-medical-services-comes-up-again.html?comment_id=392 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969275 | 1,407 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Reflect on Your Practice
As you reflect on these questions, write down your responses or discuss them as a group.
- Describe a recent lesson you taught that demonstrated a clear learning sequence. How might you determine if a step is missing in the sequence?
- How might you use TPR, role-playing, and gestures with students at your grade level?
- When teaching thematically, how do you integrate cultural topics?
- What kinds of formal and informal assessments do you use to check student progress?
Watch Other Videos
Watch other videos in the Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 library for more examples of teaching methodologies like those you've just seen. Note: All videos in this series are subtitled in English.
U.S. and Italian Homes (Italian) shows students using information about their own homes to connect to class discussions, and Routes to Culture (Spanish) demonstrates a rotation technique used for multiple interpersonal exchanges.
Put It Into Practice
Try these ideas in your classroom.
- Use sequential scaffolding to design a lesson. Begin by describing the outcome you want students to achieve, then outline a series of steps that takes them to that point. Select the key vocabulary, grammatical structures, and cultural aspects that you want to address. Keep in mind any new learning you want students to master at each step. Ms. Dyer began by identifying her end goal -- having students state in sequential order the activities that make up their daily routines -- then designed the prerequisite steps for students to reach this goal in one class session. (This end goal was also planned to tie in with her intended outcome for the overall unit.)
- Use visuals to support learning. Visual prompts help students associate language with meaning and keep them focused on productive tasks. Keep in mind that lesson-based visuals are learning tools. Classroom decoration, by contrast, serves a different purpose: to evoke the ambiance of the target culture. Ms. Dyer provided visual support for every activity: realia for her TPR introduction, photo panels for cultural insight, cards and worksheets with drawings for practice exercises, student-created filmstrips to organize students' own information, and drawings of cultural practices for the Venn diagram. Some of the materials were commercially produced, but Ms. Dyer and her students made the majority. Collect realia that can be used for comprehensible input, and find ways to use drawings to assess student comprehension. | <urn:uuid:4a6c1c8e-cecb-4878-9465-cce3591ad2ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.learner.org/libraries/tfl/japanese/dyer/connect.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933789 | 496 | 4.0625 | 4 |
Arbuckles' remarkable bass point to management successes
The Daily Ardmoreite
Posted Feb. 4, 2013 @ 11:00 am
Posted Feb. 4, 2013 @ 11:00 am
» Social News
Recent remarkable catches at Lake of the Arbuckles have made a big splash in the local bass fishing community. On successive weekends in January, the winners of separate bass tournaments managed to haul in five-fish stringers totaling more than 40 pounds each. That means each of the five largemouth bass on these two stringers weighed on average more than 8 pounds apiece. The lunkers validate the fisheries management activities conducted by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation over the previous decade at Lake of the Arbuckles.
"The ingredients that you need to produce trophy bass are present in Arbuckle right now," said Gene Gilliland, assistant chief of fisheries with the Wildlife Department. "I really like seeing how Arbuckle has become quite a success story from a fisheries management perspective."
During the Jan. 19 season-opening tournament held by Backyard Bassin' Tournament Trail, anglers Jeff Reynolds and Johnny Thompson scored a big win with a stringer weighing 42.04 pounds. But they failed to win biggest-bass honors that day; that title went to a fish weighing 10.7 pounds that was brought in by the team of Marc Barber and Gary Rowland.
A week later on Jan. 26, Marco Vaca and Doyle Idleman won Future Bass Team Trail's season opener. Their five-bass limit weighed in at 41.92 pounds. Again, the winning team did not catch the biggest bass of the day. Second-place team Reynolds and Thompson weighed in a 10.65-pound lunker for the prize.
Gilliland said Arbuckles' big bass illustrate how proactive fisheries management can yield great results over time.
"Historically, Arbuckle has not been a great bass fishery. It was dominated by large numbers of small, slow-growing bass," he said. "In the early 1990s, the Wildlife Department backed off on stocking Florida strain largemouth in Arbuckle because there was a period when the Department didn't have enough production from the hatchery to stock Florida bass in very many lakes in the state."
About a decade ago, as the hatcheries' Florida strain largemouth production increased, the Wildlife Department resumed stocking them in Arbuckle and other Oklahoma lakes to enhance the trophy possibilities.
"Those fish have obviously matured," Gilliland said. "The fish that we stocked, or the offspring of those stocked fish, are now turning into these trophy bass that are being caught on a pretty regular basis for about the past three years."
He said Lake of the Arbuckles has grown big bass because of the favorable conditions found there. "You have good genetics from the stocking program, good habitat, and good forage. Arbuckle has a very good survival rate of young bass, and it's also a lake where fish can live deep most of the year, avoiding encounters with anglers and growing older and bigger.
"Catching those bigger fish gets pretty tough later in the year, so the bass have a chance to grow up. I don't think that many people realize how long it takes to produce an 8- to 10-pounder," he said.
Gilliland cited another factor that might be contributing to angler success at Arbuckle.
"The fishing pressure has increased dramatically over the past few years. On an 'angler per acre' level, Arbuckle gets hammered," he said. "There may be just as many big bass in other lakes where we have stocked Florida bass on a regular basis, like Sardis or Broken Bow, but those fisheries are much bigger," which means the fishing pressure is spread across a larger area.
"When you have more anglers on a 2,300-acre fishery that is very accessible, the chances of someone catching a big fish generally go up," Gilliland said. Oklahoma's bass fishing will be in the national spotlight in late February as the world's greatest anglers gather at Grand Lake northeast of Tulsa for the 2013 Bassmaster Classic tournament, widely considered the Super Bowl of professional bass fishing. The event is expected to lure as many as 70,000 people to the region, with a potential boost of about $24 million to the region's economy."
It's easily the biggest fishing event that will ever come to Oklahoma," Gilliland said. | <urn:uuid:cffb2d3b-4a33-44d5-b9c1-ac914d6d0ade> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ardmoreite.com/article/20130204/NEWS/130209913/0/121009707 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969099 | 917 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Volume 2 • Issue 11 • November 2008
Reptiles and Amphibians of Black Mesa
A Herpotological Study in Northwest Oklahoma
Most college students look forward to the summer so that they can take a break from school and have fun at the lakes. But for three summers in a row, while working towards his master’s degree, Tim Periard spent the majority of his time doing a survey of reptiles and amphibians in Oklahoma’s Black Mesa region.
“We really didn’t know what to expect, since no one had done any research like this out there before,” Periard said. “It’s still really wild there and there is not much agricultural going on.”
The survey was done in the Black Mesa region in the extreme northwestern part of Cimarron County. This region is the highest and driest of Oklahoma, and no other place in the state has the same type of habitat that is found there. During the summers of 2005, 2006 and 2007, data from 1,920 specimens were collected on such herps as the Texas horned lizard, prairie rattlesnake, Western coachwhip snake, Western green toad, New Mexico spadefoot toad and many others (35 different species altogether).
Periard’s advisor, Dr. Stanley Fox, regents professor and curator of reptiles and amphibians at Oklahoma State University, “Although we did find some things that were a little on the rare side, there wasn’t anything that hadn’t been found before,” said. Some of the rarer species included the Texas longnose snake, the checkered whiptail lizard, the lesser earless lizard and the red-spotted toad.
Periard used a variety of methods to capture the herps such as drift fences with pitfall and funnel traps, visual searching, cover boards, road cruising and amphibian nocturnal call surveys. Each specimen was measured for weight, length, sex, body temperature and the date, time and place of the sighting. Some environmental factors were also recorded such as air temperature and humidity level at the time of capture.
Periard also was hoping to find the roundtail horned lizard- a very small lizard that that has been sighted only a couple of times before in the Black Mesa region (and nowhere else in the state). They were never able to find this rare species during their time at Black Mesa, but Fox’s theory is that this lizard is found in Oklahoma only during exceptionally good reproductive seasons in New Mexico.
|The Texas longnose snake is a species of special concern in Oklahoma.
Collecting data wasn’t always a simple matter for Periard. He used radio transmitters on the Texas horned lizard to learn more about its habitat use, movements, survival and demography, but there were some unexpected situations that took place during the study.
Periard remembers once when he was trying to track down a horned lizard that had a transmitter. “I was looking around for it and I knew that I was really close,” he said. “All of a sudden I turned to my right and there was a Western coachwhip snake that had just eaten the horned lizard.” Periard wanted the transmitter, so he captured the snake and kept it until it expelled the antenna.
The whole project was funded by the State Wildlife Grants program. Logistical support and some equipment were provided by the Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit as well as the Zoology department of OSU.
According to Fox, as a result of the survey “we now know a lot more about relative abundances and habitat use of the region’s reptiles and amphibians.” This has been helpful in providing insight into making proper wildlife management decisions to ensure that the species found in this fascinating corner of the state continue to thrive.
Written by Ryan Carini. Ryan attends Patrick Henry College and majors in journalism. Ryan interned with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
This project is funded by the State Wildlife Grants Program. The State Wildlife Grants Program provides federal money to every state and territory for cost-effective conservation aimed at preventing wildlife from becoming endangered. This program is administered by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and continues the long history of cooperation between the federal government and the states for managing and conserving wildlife species. For more information, visit www.teaming.com.
The Great Plains Trail
Traveling the High Plains of Oklahoma
A visit to the High Plains Loop on the Great Plains Trail of Oklahoma will expel the perception that the Plains are flat! The vistas and rolling hills in this Loop, uniquely positioned between the Cimarron and Beaver rivers, combines the characteristics of desert streams with those of the humid East. Along the rivers narrow strips of cottonwoods tower over scrubby willows in the understory. Here you will find red-headed woodpeckers, wild turkeys and porcupines.
On the north side of Beaver River bands of sand dunes are covered with a shrub community of sand plum and fragrant sumac (a.k.a. skunkbrush). Combine sand dunes with bluffs topped by shortgrass prairies along with scattered playas (one of the most important wetlands on the great plains) and the traveler can anticipate this diverse topography yielding up diverse wildlife-viewing opportunities: orioles, Bell’s vireo and painted buntings breed in the sand dune shrubbery; prairie dog towns with their dependent wildlife such as burrowing owls, ferruginous hawks, badgers and Texas horned lizards live in the shortgrass prairies; and waterfowl, shorebirds and wading birds enjoy plankton productivity in the playas after a rain.
|Shinnery oak is a habitat type that abounds in northwest Oklahoma. It is characteristic of the High Plains region.
Recommended one day outings include visiting Beaver Dunes State Park, Beaver River Wildlife Management Area and Doby Springs Park, located near the town of Buffalo. Four guest ranches offer spectacular viewing opportunities as well as some Old West hospitality – the Edgecreek Ranch, Hackamore/ Maple YL Ranch, the Lotspeich Ranch and the Tres Venados. The recommended birding route on this loop includes shortgrass prairie, prairie dog town, sand dune topography, spring-fed lake, riparian areas and playas.
Written by Melynda Hickman. Melynda is a wildlife diversity biologist with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
Eagles Soar in Oklahoma
Watch One This Winter
This winter come watch bald eagles soar at an eagle viewing event near you. Each winter, as northern lakes freeze over, thousands of bald eagles migrate to warmer, southern waters. Oklahoma is visited by 750-1,500 eagles annually. According to the National Wildlife Federation, Oklahoma is one of the top ten states in the nation for winter eagle viewing.
Events are hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, state parks, lake management offices and local conservation groups, according to Mark Howery, wildlife diversity biologist for the Wildlife Department.
"There are plenty of opportunities to view bald eagles in the wild,” Howery said. “This winter there are more than 60 viewing events all across the state!”
Most events are free or have a minimal charge and occur on weekends during January. Many begin with informative bald eagle programs led by naturalists and biologists. At all events, people will be on hand to assist visitors with viewing wild eagles.
To view event descriptions, locations, dates and times, click here.
Written by Lesley
B. Carson. Lesley is the wildlife diversity information specialist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The WILDLIFE DIVERSITY PROGRAM monitors and manages the state's wildlife and fish species that are not hunted or fished. | <urn:uuid:b4d29210-a9d7-4b80-a943-f624ea587eb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/wildside/Nov08.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953524 | 1,649 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Jump to:Page Content
CAMBRIDGE, MA. — Tracing the cultural, political and demographic roots of audience disengagement and mistrust of the media, Bob Calo examines the role of journalists in a new paper, “Disengaged: Elite Media in a Vernacular Nation.” Calo researched and wrote the paper while a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.
According to Calo, the decline in the journalism business “started well before technology began to shred the conventions of the media.” He warns fellow journalists: “If we fail to examine our part in the collapse of trust, no amount of digital re-imagining or niche marketing is going to restore our desired place in the public conversation.”
Bob Calo is a Senior Lecturer at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. He co-directs the video storytelling and reporting program there and is currently the executive editor of Richmond Confidential, one of three hyper-local news sites run by the school. In the 20 years before joining the faculty at Berkeley in 2001, Calo was a broadcast producer for NBC News in New York, a producer for the ABC News program “Prime Time Live” and a news and documentary producer at KQED-TV in San Francisco. In 2008, while on leave from Berkeley, he served as national coordinator for News21, the 12-university collaboration for innovative digital journalism sponsored by the Knight Foundation and Carnegie Corporation. He is currently the senior producer for “Sound Tracks,” a PBS series in development about the intersection of music, culture and politics. | <urn:uuid:d23a8f68-f8d3-43a7-bf4a-84bbee229ee3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/press-releases/calo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943786 | 343 | 1.789063 | 2 |
- Προθεσμία: 05/11/2012
Public consultation to collect factual evidence of the direct tax problems that arise when venture capital is invested across borders (amount of money involved, costs to investors etc.)
The European Commission has launched this public consultation in order to collect factual evidence of the direct tax problems that arise when venture capital is invested across borders. In this respect the Commission needs not only to collect factual evidence of the problems, but also to find out why the problems arose, the Member States involved, the amount of money involved and the costs to investors, Member States and the EU's SMEs. Once the Commission has collected this evidence, it will be able to estimate the size of the problem and decide whether there is a need for EU solutions to remedy the problems and what the benefits of any such solutions would be, for Member States and for the VC industry. Finally, the Commission would like to obtain suggestions from the public on feasible solutions to any such problems. | <urn:uuid:d6cb3954-34ac-4168-8117-f54ee3c13437> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=6163&tpa=0&tk=&lang=el | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939562 | 205 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Subscribe to the APA Newsletter
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie's film adapation of his own best-selling novel, isn't as faithful as one would expect, but the shmaltzy romance, simple townsfolk, and awesome vistas should surprise nobody.
Comparing a film adaptation to the original novel is an easy and obvious approach film critics like to employ whenever the cinematic incarnation fails to spark discussion beyond the cliché “the book was better." But Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a special case, not only for the rare fact that the director and the original author are the same person, but because their creator Dai Sijie turns out to be a somewhat more interesting filmmaker than novelist.
For those unfamiliar with the 2001 bestselling novel or the 2002 film (which is finally receiving a limited U.S. release although it’s been available on DVD throughout the world for some time), Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress follows two urban teens sent to the countryside for “re-education” during China’s Cultural Revolution. There, they seduce the town’s inhabitants by acting out films seen abroad and European novels read illegally, while both falling in love with the local tailor’s daughter.
Dai himself was “re-educated” in the '70s, and after moving to France in 1984, became a film director with the award-winning China, My Sorrow in 1989, which also detailed certain tragedies of the Cultural Revolution. Thus Dai is no stranger to the territory covered by Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, although my problem with his novel is that it does little new with the re-education melodrama which, since the '80s, has already undergone countless literary and cinematic manifestations. What the novel had, however, was the extra dimension of being what could be considered “exile fiction.” Written originally in French, the language of the novel’s narration suggests the life of the first-person narrator beyond the '70s and beyond Asia. But unlike Ha Jin, another mainland novelist now based in the West, Dai is far too willing to ignite obvious binaries (for example: sophisticated urbanites versus ignorant hicks) and corner characters in conundrums straight out of second-rate thrillers. Further, Dai lacks the ability to sensitively depict the patient experience of time across epic historical transformation, as in a novel like Ha Jin’s Waiting.
Dai’s film version suffers from all of these shortcomings, and worse yet, until the film’s final moments, doesn’t have an equivalent of the French narration to locate the characters in their historical and geopolitical positions. Instead, the film plays like a standard Chinese film “critical” of the Cultural Revolution period; in other words, it’s the kind of safe, gorgeous, well-acted film that bourgeois audiences in their film festivals and art houses dig up because it’s “dangerous,” as if the Chinese government today really cares that fluffy romances are being made about a period everyone -- Chinese included -- knows was a mistake. Hell, the novel and film are about how Western bourgeois music and literature provide the only glimmer of humanity in an era of Communist oppression. In fact, the two young men are considered clever by the audience because they know how to hide illegal Western music behind such song titles as “Mozart is Thinking of Chairman Mao,” while the little Chinese seamstress is “liberated” from Communism by Balzac’s Cousin Bette and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.
The film’s design reflects the outdatedness of Balzac’s social “critique” as well as its self-Orientalism. Lots of sweeping visuals here: mountain trails for trekking and ponds for skinny-dipping shot by French cinematographer Jean-Marie Dreujou (who did some of Patrice Lecoste’s pictures). The production designer and costume designer are both former collaborators of Zhang Yimou, who used to make these sorts of social critiques back when they still possessed some venom. Like Ann Hu’s recent Beauty Remains, another transnational production by a diasporic mainland filmmaker, Balzac looks and sounds perfect but fits less into the model of China’s early '90s historical melodramas than that genre of foreign films with blunted political bite but crowd-pleasing potential due to its exotic locations and adorably backward characters.
Zhou Xun, who plays the little Chinese seamstress, continues to confirm my suspicion that she, while a fine actress, is becoming typecast as the enigmatic, wide-eyed beauty who male characters voyeuristically pursue (often resulting in love triangles), in pictures made by a young generation of Chinese directors (“sixth generation” or otherwise) who perhaps have seen Jeanne Moreau in Jules et Jim one time too many. Let us count the ways: Lou Ye’s Suzhou River, Wang Xiaoshui’s Beijing Bicycle, Gao Xiaosong’s Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Yim Ho’s A West Lake Moment, Li Shaohong’s Baober in Love, and Dai Sijie’s film. In many ways she’s the hipper Chinese director’s Zhang Ziyi (Zhou can also be seen in Fruit Chan’s Hollywood Hong Kong and Peter Chan’s upcoming Perhaps Love), but it seems to be in roles that force her into clichés of female beauty easily palatable for global art house audiences raised on Jean Seberg, Bibi Andersson, and Anna Karina.
And then there’s the final act of Dai’s Balzac, which for me doesn’t make the film any more affecting, but proves that Dai is in fact a more cerebral filmmaker than he is a novelist. The novel ends with a boy-loses-girl “ah-ha” standard to countless male coming-of-age romances. The film then makes up for the lack of French narration (albeit far too late into the film) by going way beyond the Cultural Revolution, into the '80s when the hero immigrates to France, and then into the late '90s when he nostalgically returns to the village of his “re-education," which will soon be site of a massive dam project (Three Gorges allegory alert!). That Dai is willing to stretch his story to address issues of the present is admirable, but the ending is forced, and worse yet, the dam controversy fails to explore how the injustices of the Cultural Revolution are relapsing today in new projects such as the Three Gorges Dam, beyond the kind of unsubstantial love story Dai staples to the end of his story. However, I will admit that while Dai the filmmaker is definitely boxed in by certain generic conventions, in the case of the film’s ending, he has the guts to stick his head out of that box, and though it stands out as clumsy, it proves he wants to do more than simply film his own novel.
Date Posted: 9/8/2005 | <urn:uuid:f01bd7e7-2821-41f2-b1ce-a58d411afc51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=29389 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957223 | 1,519 | 1.625 | 2 |
NASET LD Report
Welcome to The NASET LD Report, NASET 's e-publication on the latest information on learning disabilities. Individuals with learning disabilities represent approximately 50% of all students receiving special education services. Therefore, it is inevitable that special education professionals will be working with students with LD throughout their entire careers. The NASET LD Report is a monthly education resource that provides NASET members with a comprehensive overview of learning disabilities. The NASET LD Report will cover many areas of study in the field of LD. It will focus on the research, writing, and practical information that we have obtained on causes, characteristics, eligibility, assessment, and teaching strategies.
- Social Skills and Academic Achievement | <urn:uuid:f741a654-9c4e-4e8b-8109-eec409dcac6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naset.org/2521.0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942334 | 142 | 2.421875 | 2 |
(Photos: The Intermediate Jet Trainer (bottom), which has been fitted with the first AL-55I engine developed by Russia; the engine is currently undergoing static and runway taxi tests. Above it are close-ups of the new engine. Incidentally, the IJT in the picture is the same one that veered off the runway in Aero India 2007, when its canopy opened during take off)
Business Standard: 23rd June 08
India’s search for an advanced jet trainer (AJT) took an agonising two decades before the Hawk was finally purchased from UK major, BAE Systems. But the wait for an intermediate jet trainer (IJT) --- which will replace the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) venerable Kiran trainer ---- could be half that time. Designed and built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the Bangalore-headquartered Indian defence PSU, the sleek HJT-36 Sitara has used a combination of indigenous design and international purchases to vault from the drawing board to the runway at a speed unmatched in contemporary aircraft development.
On Saturday, the Sitara IJT passed an important milestone. The newly-developed Russian AL-55I engine --- which was specially designed by Russian engine maker, NPO-Saturn, to power the Sitara --- was successfully tested in a ground run at HAL.
But the jubilation has a bitter edge. Even as the Bangalore complex celebrates, it is dealing with a Russian demand for more money. NPO-Saturn claims that it has spent more time and money on developing the AL-55I engine than it had bargained for, and that manufacturing technology will only be transferred to India if HAL pays NPO-Saturn an extra US $64 million, over and above the contracted amount. The Russian company had beaten out French engine-maker Snecma in 2005, in the US $350 million contract to design the AL-55I engine and transfer technology to build it in India.
Top MoD sources are furious; they allege Russia is repeating what it did with the Gorshkov aircraft carrier. HAL’s design chief is in Moscow trying --- so far unsuccessfully to persuade NPO-Saturn to lower its demands.
Russia’s ambassador to New Delhi, Vyacheslav Trubnikov acknowledges that NPO Saturn has asked for more money, but he told Business Standard that he expects an amicable resolution of this issue. Mr Trubnikov said, “Both sides are engaged in the fixing of the price. I don’t think the question is extraordinary. Discussions are in progress on the question of how many engines India will be allowed to manufacture.”
Sources in HAL, however, point out that all these issues had been settled as a part of the original contract between HAL and NPO-Saturn. Adding to Indian frustration is the role of Russia’s state-owned arms agency, Rosoboronexport, which is telling HAL that it should pay up quietly.
As with the Gorshkov aircraft carrier, for which Russia cited cost overruns to double the contracted price to US $1.2 billion, India has little choice but to pay up. MoD sources point out that, even with the extra US $64 million added on, NPO-Saturn’s price will be less than what Snecma quoted. They also grudgingly accept that Russia is the only major arms manufacturer that actually transfers all the technology to India that is demanded in a contract. But the biggest reason for paying up quietly is that the IJT programme --- which has already waited three years for this engine --- will face a delay of several more years if it launches an international search for another engine.
While waiting for the AL-55I engine to be developed, India has flown the IJT with an interim engine, the French Larzac power plant, which was never powerful enough for the Sitara. The AL-55I generates 20% more power than the Larzac and also consumes appreciably less fuel per flying hour. | <urn:uuid:fee8f1ac-fb02-4f65-8fda-72fcf1f9d9f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2008/06/russia-again-demands-more-money.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965268 | 847 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Reaping hard returns on essential skills investments
This guest blog post is provided by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, which aims to improve the skills Canadians need to adapt and succeed at work.
Are you having problems introducing new equipment into your daily operations? Are your employees displaying signs of low morale? Are there recurring accidents or injuries in your workplace? If these problems seem familiar, your business may have an underlying essential skills issue.
Finding and keeping employees with the knowledge and skills to get the job done is critical for today's small business owners. Without the right skills, your business may suffer.
Developing your employees' essential skills can help boost the productivity, innovation and overall competitiveness of your business by:
Creating a more vibrant and engaged workforce — improving employees' self-esteem, morale, and sense of ownership in their work
Increasing productivity — reducing error rates, waste, and the time required to complete tasks
Improving workplace health and safety — ensuring that employees understand safety instructions
Developing a more highly skilled workforce — increasing employees' capacity to use technologies with confidence
Many Canadian employers are integrating essential skills into their business practices. For example, a family-owned and operated pulp and paper company in Nova Scotia integrated essential skills upgrading into its Workplace Education program — and reaped the returns:
Over the course of one year, efficiencies on the paper machine exceeded 80% every month (average past efficiency rates only reached high 70s).
Absenteeism reached an all-time low at 6.9 days per employee per year.
From one year to the next, time lost due to accidents was decreased from 383.5 days to 62.5 days.
This is just one example of how investing in essential skills could benefit your business. No matter what your future business plans involve, integrating essential skills into your daily operations is critical to realizing your goals.
To watch a video (link no longer valid) on how other small business owners are integrating essential skills into their business practices and to access helpful guides, checklists and worksheets, check out the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills' Web site. | <urn:uuid:989667ec-76e6-4047-8efb-b929f260d2b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/3760/sgc-47/sgc-48/sgc-47/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943729 | 435 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The most popular method of relief for eczema is the application of soothing eczema cream. Eczema creams work by keeping the skin hydrated with a combination of oil and water-based substances. On the other hand, eczema ointments have a petroleum base. Medications work differently in different types of solutions because of the different ways they get delivered to the skin. Some medications need to be absorbed by the skin very quickly, and in that case eczema cream is best. When the medication needs a slow release, petroleum ointments work best. There are hundreds of eczema creams, each suffused with different ingredients that could include steroids or other medications, perfumes and fragrances, or contain all-natural substances. Consultation with a dermatologist is a good idea to find the right type of topical cream for your individual condition.
Eczema Creams to Avoid
In any case, eczema creams containing fragrances, perfumes and a lot of extra ingredients should be avoided as these can make the eczema worse. For example, products containing such common ingredients as glycerin and rose water can actually increase dryness in skin affected by eczema. Again, consultation with a dermatologist to determine ingredients (or lack thereof) that might work best for you is recommended. When you find an eczema cream that is best for you, it will serve to sooth and moisturize the skin by penetrating deep down to stop inflammation and itching.
Stopping itching is actually the focal point of most eczema treatments, with eczema cream at the forefront of all remedies. The cycle of eczema is: itching leads to scratching and scratching leads to rashes.
Scratching must be stopped because the scratching can permanently scar the skin and lead to infections. Sometimes eczema cream containing cortisone can be a good short-term remedy for the scratching, but over time cortisone eczema cream can result in skin thinning, stretch marks and depigmentation.
Additionally, studies show that when cortisone enters the blood after prolonged use, it has a suppressive impact on the adrenals in the bloodstream. These findings are more good reason to consult with a dermatologist regarding eczema cream ingredients that would be best for your skin.
Restoring skin hydration with eczema cream is a vital component of eczema treatment and management. The main purpose of the skin is to prevent loss of water from the body and to be a protective barrier against unwanted toxins, viruses, and bacteria. Where eczema exists and scratching occurs, the scratching breaks open the skin and causes gaps in the usual protective skin barrier. The skin then becomes more prone to infection by unwanted viruses, bacteria and micro-organisms. The breakdown of the skin barrier also results in greater evaporation of skin humidity which results in dryness, itching and inflammation. Eczema cream restores hydration.
It should be noted that above and beyond the physical symptoms relieved by eczema cream, a better quality of life can be restored as well. By reducing the temptation to scratch, eczema cream can be just what's needed to allow the eczema sufferer to sleep through the night. When infants or small children are involved, this is worth its weight in gold. | <urn:uuid:30d37c7a-17eb-423b-8a38-73d02bd615c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ultrabalm.com/Welcome/Ezcema/Eczema-Creams | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926086 | 686 | 1.96875 | 2 |
State lawmakers are pushing legislation that would create a financial literacy curriculum for the state, encouraging schools to teach skills such as investing, balancing a checkbook, and applying for loans.
Supporters of the legislation say students are graduating high school without basic financial skills.
Greenwood Republican Senator Brent Waltz says that’s not a new problem.
The fears of opponents of Indiana’s Right to Work law appear to be bolstered by statistics showing a significant decrease in the state’s union membership since 2011. But leaders on both sides of the debate say Right to Work likely had little effect.
Union membership in Indiana dropped about 20% from 2011 to 2012, just as Indiana’s Right to Work law, which prohibits union contracts that require workers to pay dues for representation, went into effect.
Legislation aimed at helping Indiana gaming facilities compete with other states and bolster struggling attendance cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday.
Legislation unanimously approved by the Senate Public Policy committee adds mobile gaming devices to off-track betting sites and eliminates taxes on free-play coupons. It also allows live-dealer games in racetrack casinos, something the bill’s author, Crawfordsville Republican Senator Phil Boots, says will boost job creation.
Ball State President Jo Ann Gora says the state’s funding formula for higher education unfairly favors some schools over others.
Gora says the state’s performance funding system is a one-size-fits-all structure that favors large and growing campuses. She says schools like Ball State – which Gora believes has focused on quality, rather than quantity – are penalized. | <urn:uuid:6f63a77a-3e78-4251-8a8b-4d25403969d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nipr.fm/term/indiana | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951292 | 335 | 2.03125 | 2 |
The shortage of U.S. graduates in the Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics (STEM) fields is well documented. In April 2009, in a moving speech to the National Academy of Sciences, President Barack Obama gave a rally cry calling for the improvement of scientific standards in the United States. He stressed that the education of the military and citizens of the United States in critical areas of science and technology is paramount for this nation’s defense and security. Since his call to return the United States to a position of dominance in the STEM areas, funding opportunities by both federal and private agencies have been initiated to stimulate interest and promote academic opportunities in the sciences, mathematics and other technology fields. Because the lack of engineering know-how may jeopardize a firm’s ability to innovate, and directly lead to a decrease in job creation in other technology based fields, the need for future scientists and engineers is particularly strong. In fact, recent polls from leading employers demonstrate that engineering positions are some of the hardest to fill. As a result, students graduating with engineering degrees are in high demand and are rewarded with high starting salaries.
There are a variety of career paths for engineers. Some perform pure research and are typically employed by companies with large investments in research and development, such as General Electric, 3M or Dupont. Many engineers work in product development, where they design components, assemblies, electro-mechanical devices, software or whole physical systems. Some perform process engineering functions, where they design the production processes used in manufacturing, such as oil refineries or appliance manufacturers. Some work on the marketing or sales side of an organization, performing tasks such as technical marketing, product training functions and product management. It all depends on the engineer’s career aspirations and areas of interest. Some may enjoy the lab setting, some may want to be in a factory or field setting, and others may want to work closely with customers. Over time some engineers may become project engineers where they manage the development and implementation of large scale projects, some may take on departmental management roles, while others may choose to remain close to their original job responsibilities. Here is a list of the different engineering disciplines and the employment opportunties for each: What can I do with an engineering degree?
The University of Notre Dame has a national employer database, and a strong on campus recruiting program. The Notre Dame Career Center has a variety of resources for career exploration, internship and job searches, and resume writing. There are three career fairs each year, with one devoted strictly to engineering. There are approximately 85 firms that attend the fair each year. The largest single employer of the University of Notre Dame engineering graduates is General Electric. For the eastern Pennsylvania region, Johnson & Johnson is the leading employer. Recent University of Notre Dame computer science graduates have landed jobs with Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Hewlett Packard. The program with Notre Dame allows students to major in one of six engineering disciplines, many of which also have specific areas of concentration, which may enhance a student's ability to secure a job in their area of interest.
The University of Notre Dame also has a strong ROTC program, and there is a strong presence of government and military recruiting on campus. | <urn:uuid:9322be9d-dab2-48ec-ad8b-ab60e00cf73d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kings.edu/academics/undergraduate_majors/engineering/careers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963395 | 655 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Originally I had another post written and in the can, but an article on Forbes today ( which you can read here) prompted me to write something else.The questions posed in this article are ones we ourselves have been asking, and it’s refreshing to see medical professionals prodding for the same answers.
Anyway, the article is a speech given by Harlan Krumholz at a workshop sponsored by the Institute of Medicine. The subject of this particular talk surrounds the need for transparency and openness among the medical community, particularly when it comes to clinical research data. Essentially, Krumholz is talking about how people who make healthcare decisions everyday, on both a macro and micro level, are not getting a fully informed picture when it’s time for them to make a decision. The author mentions several situations (such as concerns over the safety of Vioxx or Avandia) forcing companies and researchers to release information about test pools and other data that greatly impacted the FDA’s decision making.
His question is, why isn’t this data available all of the time? If it’s critical enough that it can sway opinion, do health officials and consumers not have a right to know everything they possibly can about the medication they take? The treatments they sign up for?
Lately, it seems more and more articles are popping up in the medical field discussing the need for greater transparency, and for knowledge to be shared instead of closely guarded. We couldn’t agree more, and we find it interesting ( not to mention hopeful) that people in both camps are beginning to think this way as well. Information relating to people’s healthcare treatment, as well as the non-profits and corporations that control the funding to these projects, should be laid out on the table for everyone to see.
We’ll report on this if any new information develops. I encourage you all to read the article at your leisure.
Until Next Time | <urn:uuid:9b8c7b8a-08da-4905-b143-9f3da0c10021> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jdca2025.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/doctors-orders/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=9916d21231 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953002 | 401 | 2.15625 | 2 |
One morning in early March 1971, US Army
counterintelligence agent Dave Mann was going through the overnight
files when his eyes landed on something unexpected: a report that a
routine, nighttime sweep for bugs along the Pentagon's
power-packed E-Ring had found unexplained -- and unencrypted --
signals emanating from offices in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Someone, it seemed, was eavesdropping on the top brass.
Mann was no stranger to bugs. It was a busy time for
eavesdroppers and bug-finders, starting with the
constant Spy vs. Spy games with Russian spies. But the Nixon
years, he and everyone else would soon discover, had extended such
clandestine ops into new territory: bugging not just the Democrats,
but people within its own ranks. Eventually, most of the
Watergate-era eavesdropping schemes were revealed to the public,
including the bombshell that
Nixon was bugging himself. But the bugs Dave Mann discovered in
the E-Ring in March 1971 -- and another batch like it -- have
remained buried all these years. Until now.
To understand how crazed this era really was, it helps to
remember that the Nixon White House was obsessed with not just
secrecy, but skullduggery. Only months into the new administration,
in 1969, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was so freaked
out by the back-alley dealings of Henry Kissinger that he put a spy
in the White House to steal documents from his briefcase. Kissinger
in turn was bugging his own staff and other officials, including
one in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
All this was two years before the
White House Plumbers, led by ex-CIA agent Howard Hunt, were
busted in the Watergate offices of the Democratic National
Committee, eventually opening a window into the Nixon funhouse.
More than 50 people in the Nixon White House were working on dirty
tricks to discredit political opponents, Bob Woodward's infamous "
Deep Throat," himself a senior FBI official up to his armpits
in illegal bugging operations, would whisper in one of their freaky
late-night garage meetings. "Everyone's life," he warned the
reporter, "is in danger."
But "the White House horrors," as they became known, were still
only wisps of suspicion outside Nixon's circle when Mann made his
The signals were eventually tracked to the offices of
Gen. William Westmoreland, chief of staff of the United States
Army. The guys on the
Technical Surveillance Countermeasures team, or TSCM,
wrote up a report. | <urn:uuid:cffd013f-3dc2-4b66-b3b9-0029939d61bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-07/29/found-last-bugs-of-nixon-white-house?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975106 | 561 | 1.71875 | 2 |
(CNN) -- Japan's prettiest national pastime of hanami, or cherry blossom viewing, has got off to its earliest start ever.
The Japan Meteorological Agency announced the beginning of cherry blossom, or 'sakura,' season over the weekend.
The declaration came after the agency's designated index tree at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine showed the first flowers in bloom on Saturday, the Daily Yomiuri reported.
That's 10 days earlier than average and 15 days earlier than last year -- and due to unusually warm weather.
Visitors contemplating a quick trip to see the sakura should take note: the best time to see the blooming cherry trees should be next weekend, when the flowers are expected to be at their full glory. | <urn:uuid:e2a9d2c4-81a5-449b-8785-37b1930871b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/18/travel/japan-cherry-blossoms/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fedition_asia+%28RSS%3A+Asia%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915491 | 155 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Kruger blames the MTA for Albany’s mistakeBy
Top: A view of the IRT Flushing Line in Queens around the time service began in the 1920s. Bottom: The same view only 20 years later.
Pop quiz: What mode of transportation moved New York City away from a lower Manhattan tenement-based city into the current sprawling metropolis it is today?
A. Our feet. People just loved to walk and discovered that Flushing isn’t actually that far from Manhattan.
C. Public transportation.
Considering the picture atop this pot, is it really a surprise that the answer is C? Although the automobile played a role in driving people away from the overcrowded conditions of Lower Manhattan, the subway — and the five-cent fare — made a dispersal of people to points north and east possible. Without the subway, New York’s eight million residents wouldn’t be able to live in Canarsie and work near Canal St. They wouldn’t commute from Forest Hills to the Financial District or from Midwood to Midtown.
This reality is lost on many in New York and not least upon our city’s elected representatives and politicians who control the purse strings. As the MTA has come to grips this week with a state calculation error of $200 million that will leave a hole in the MTA’s budget, politicians have tried to avoid taking any responsibility whatsoever for this Albany-inspired problem. Take, for example, Brooklyn’s own Carl Kruger.
His statement, in part blames the MTA for Albany’s inability to calculate revenue streams:
Our ability to budget is only as good as our ability to forecast. We were dependent upon data supplied by the Office of Management and Budget with the understanding that it was verified by the MTA’s own fiscal staff.
Furthermore, our projections were based on the fiscal year rather than the calendar year. This critical point should have been taken into account when the MTA fiscal staff developed its parameters.
It is my shared belief that the payroll tax will ‘kick in’ when the dust settles and smaller employers start making their mandatory contributions. It may not happen in the calendar year, but it will happen in the fiscal year. Since our cuts were calculated on a pro rata basis for the fiscal year and not the calendar year, for the MTA to charge its books with a cut of $143 million in the calendar year obviously has a more severe impact than spreading it out over the fiscal year.
Kruger goes on to warn the MTA against creating “an atmosphere of confusion or a needless sense of unrest over what appears to be self-adjusting bookkeeping issues.” I’m not quite sure with what he can threaten the agency though; Albany can’t take away more money.
Anyway, the idea that this is somehow the MTA’s fault due to a calendar year/fiscal year mix-up is absurd. The state legislature has long been aware that the MTA’s fiscal year is a calendar year, and when they passed the bailout package earlier this year, they do so with an eye toward filling a smaller calendar year gap this year and a larger 12-month gap next year. Kruger’s so-called “share belief” that the money will “kick in” next year is nothing but a pipedream by a politician who isn’t fulfilling his duties as a member of the State Senate. (Or perhaps he just fits it with that august body all too well.)
Kruger’s statement is barely news-worthy anymore. We know Albany doesn’t understand how to govern, and we know politicians don’t understand the importance of mass transit in New York’s economy. When they wake up to that reality, it will be too late. | <urn:uuid:dd5277b8-fdef-4f8e-8862-e6b58d0e4f1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://secondavenuesagas.com/2009/12/10/kruger-blames-the-mta-for-albanys-mistake/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954418 | 797 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Here is a role model for you…
“Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness & perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from it’s direction, careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order & discipline, intimate with the Indian character, customs & principles, habituated to the hunting life, guarded by exact observation of the vegetables & animals of his own country, against losing time in the description of objects already possessed, honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in one body, for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprize to him.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1813,describing Meriwether Lewis.
quoted from the Stephen Ambrose book Undaunted Courage.
I can only dream that one day some one may something like this about me. Talk about Character.
What do people say about you? How do you want to be remembered?
Have a Great Scouting day! | <urn:uuid:5d8d4d0c-8c24-4899-852d-4002ec60b248> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thescoutmasterminute.net/2008/10/01/you-are-what-they-say-about-you/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=134bd2d71b | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957713 | 243 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The government is planning to hike the price of subsidised LPG cylinders — capped at six a year — by Rs.
130 during January-March 2013.
It also plans to hike diesel prices by Rs.
1.5 a litre every month, which will take the
hike to Rs.
4.5 a litre during the period. On kerosene, the proposal is that the prices be either increased by 35 paise a litre per month or Rs.
1 a litre per quarter till March 2015.
The proposal, a copy of which is available with HT, is being considered by the government and may be taken to the cabinet for a final decision by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior UPA ministers.
For subsidised LPG, it is proposed that the three oil marketing companies — IOC, BPCL and HPCL — be authorised to hike the price of each subsidised cylinder by Rs. 130, plus VAT as applicable. Alternatively, the proposal calls for increasing the consumer price of subsidised LPG cylinders immediately by Rs. 65 a cylinder and the balance by another Rs. 65 a cylinder before March 31, 2013.
That’s not all. The proposal further calls for a Rs. 50 per cylinder hike to be passed on to the consumer every quarter starting 2013-14 (or after April 1, 2013) till the under-recovery — or losses to oil companies for selling fuels below cost price — on LPG is reduced to nil.
For diesel, where the oil companies are currently losing around Rs. 9.50 a litre, the proposal calls for an immediate increase in the retail sales prices by Rs. 4.50 (at Rs. 1.50 a month from January 2013 to March 2013) and a Rs. 1 per litre increase every month thereafter till the under-recovery becomes nil on diesel.
Or, it is proposed, the price of diesel be increased by 60 paisa a month till the under-recovery on diesel is eliminated and diesel prices are deregulated.
© Copyright © 2013 HT Media Limited. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:f536cb34-bc5e-4290-8492-92c0bb207467> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/986925.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952803 | 438 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Saturday, April 27, 2013: 8:45 AM-10:00 AM
Convention Center: 217D
|Speakers:||Christopher A. Busch, Tusculum College, Merced, CA; and Darren K. Avrit, University of La Verne, Arroy Grande, CA|
Brain based research and instructional strategies are emerging every day as well as an increased focus on Student Achievement and 21st Century Skills. This session discusses the connection of physiological actions, reactions, cognitive function, and how they connect to movement. There is a correlation between vigorous movement and increased test scores. Attendees of this session will leave with research based instructional strategies connecting increased physical activity and improved instruction for all subject matter and standards. | <urn:uuid:e9729d50-eb02-40f6-841a-8bdfdb98e552> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2013/webprogram/Session56174.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91833 | 149 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Voices of the South has been commissioned to create an original play about the Arctic wilderness. The irony of having a small regional troupe developing a new work about the northernmost part of Alaska isn’t lost on playwright Gloria Baxter. “It could be seen as a kind of hubris,” says the retired U of M theater professor, who has devoted much of her career to turning books, stories, letters, and just about anything that isn’t a play into playable dramatic texts.
Wild Legacy was created for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge. It was primarily inspired by Two in the Far North, a book by naturalist and Arctic explorer Mardy Murie, and it never addresses recent controversies over whether or not to extract oil from the refuge. Baxter, who toured the area in 2001, says she’d rather create a sense of what the region is like and let people decide for themselves.
“Most Americans will never experience the Arctic firsthand,” she says, vividly describing encounters with wolves and migrating caribou herds. “That doesn’t mean it can’t impact the imagination.”
Wild Legacy begins a two-week preview at the Evergreen Theatre on November 12th, prior to its official premiere in Fairbanks, Alaska, on December 6th. After that, it will tour to several U.S. cities. — Chris Davis | <urn:uuid:73037c27-c527-48e6-94eb-593226537e1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/wild-legacy/Event?oid=2410476 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955534 | 304 | 1.875 | 2 |
Who was Lala Hardayal? What was his contrbution of freedom struggle?
At an early age he was influenced by Arya Samaj. He associated with Shyamji Krishnavarma, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Bhikaiji Cama. He also drew inspiration from Giuseppe Mazzini, Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin. He was, according to Emily Brown as quoted by Juergensmeyer, "in sequence an atheist, a revolutionary, a Buddhist, and a pacifist".
He studied at the Cambridge Mission School and received his bachelor's degree in Sanskrit from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, India and his master's degree also in Sanskrit from Punjab University. In 1905, he received scholarships to Oxford University studying Sanskrit. In a letter to The Indian Sociologist, published in 1907, he started to explore anarchist ideas, arguing that "our object is not to reform government, but to reform it away, leaving, if necessary only nominal traces of its exis ...more | <urn:uuid:efcdd77e-3249-4384-a54a-c9535436dd39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://qna.rediff.com/questions-and-answers/who-gave-break-to-lataji-in-hindi-any-detail-information/10443365/answers/14216704 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972999 | 210 | 2.5 | 2 |
The government of Guam's laws and regulations regarding food safety are egregiously outdated and must be updated quickly.
The primary food safety law is almost three decades old, having been adopted in 1984. There has been a lot of change since then in terms of what's required to best ensure the safety of food, from how it's handled to how it's stored and cooked. The longer we wait to update our standards, the greater the chance that people will get ill or even die from food-borne illnesses.
Bill 307, the Guam Food Code, was introduced last September. It's based on the 2005 U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Code and would go a long way toward improving food safety.
But the federal government updates the Food Code every four years, with supplemental updates every two years. So even if Bill 307 passes this year, parts of it will be outdated by seven years.
One of the concerns about the legislation is how much it will cost establishments to conform to the code -- upgrading or replacing equipment and similar changes.
But the bottom line must be the safety of the public. Last year, about 300 students at Southern High School contracted a food-borne illness, and many of them required medical treatment at hospitals.
That should have been a clarion call to the government to aggressively push forward with the adoption of modern standards for food safety. But more than a year later, our island's food establishments still operate under decades-old regulations.
What is it going to take to get modern food safety standards adopted, someone dying from a food-borne illness?
Lawmakers need to not only pass Bill 307, but also include a provision that has Guam adopt the federal Food Code whenever it's updated. This is the best way to ensure the implementation of new standards to best ensure the safety of the public.
And the community also needs to recognize their role in food safety. They must not only press senators to pass an updated food code, but they also should report violations to Public Health, and take the necessary steps to ensure the food they prepare and make in their own homes is safe. | <urn:uuid:f398d85f-d0e7-4a23-96cd-f700fc3c981e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guampdn.com/article/20120930/OPINION01/209300311 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967032 | 429 | 3 | 3 |
< Previous Page
He continued, "All I’ve heard from the autism community since then is criticism of the pilot program."
He added, "And I would hope that if we get some form of mandate passed this session, that’s not the reaction we get from this community. We’re up here, we’re doing the best we can, we’re imperfect. But we did something phenomenal last year and I’m just tired of being criticized for it."
18,532 balls to represent autistic children
A display of 18,532 balls, representing the number of Utah children with autism, will be installed at the Utah Capitol Rotunda Friday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Utah Autism Coalition is creating the ball pit using a giant container built by Home Depot and plastic balls from Toys R Us. The group will also distribute jars with 639 gumballs to each state senator and 247 balls to each representative, representing the average number of autistic children in their districts.
Outside the hearing, House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, said, "We’re pretty committed to seeing [the pilots] go forward ... to seeing how that plays out over two years."
While crediting the Legislature for acting last year, Shiozawa predicted the results of the pilot will show the therapy works.
"All we will have done … is to deny this therapy in this critical time for a very vulnerable portion of our population," he said. "This is the time to act."
Cari Brown said her 3-year-old son, Craig, was accepted into a pilot and has been receiving ABA therapy 24 hours a week. His progress has been "nothing short of phenomenal," she said, but she worries about what will happen when the pilot ends.
"An insurance mandate would eliminate these concerns," she said.
Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:eec873a1-2e5c-4cce-98c8-3e7f90252800> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55787343-78/autism-utah-insurance-mandate.html.csp?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954285 | 416 | 1.664063 | 2 |
A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) service technician starts an appointment with a customer by asking about any problems with the heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning systems in the client's home or business. From there, the technician will carefully examine the equipment in question to diagnose and troubleshoot the problem. Once the issue is determined, the technician provides the customer with a repair quote and, if authorized, begins to repair or replace defective equipment, mechanical components, or wiring in HVAC systems. An HVAC service technician might also be called upon by a customer to carry out preventative maintenance tasks or inspections to ensure that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems continue to run smoothly. A technician should have certification or an associate's degree from a technical or trade school that is accredited by HVAC Excellence, the National Center for Construction Education and Research, or the Partnership for Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Accreditation. Formal training programs can last anywhere from six months up to two years. The job involves working with electrical equipment, so it is very important that a technician know exactly what he or she is doing or the job can get very dangerous very quickly. If an education is not in the picture, it is sometimes possible to go through a formal apprenticeship program which can take three to five years and mixes on-the-job experience and training with classroom instruction. Exams for certifications are offered by a number of associations. A license to work as an HVAC technician is required in several states and can be obtained by passing a written test.
HVAC Service Technician Tasks
- Diagnose and troubleshoot problems with HVAC equipment.
- Repair or replace defective equipment, components, or wiring on HVAC equipments.
- Carry out preventative maintenance tasks and inspections on HVAC equipment. | <urn:uuid:d260c1f1-ab91-4e36-affe-b9a5f28de215> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=HVAC_Service_Technician/Hourly_Rate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953501 | 383 | 2.09375 | 2 |
For some people, going to a dental appointment is a dreadful experience. Sensitive to pain in general, the thought of pain in their mouths is too great for them to bear. The actual level of discomfort caused by some dental practices is magnified in their mind many times over. For these individuals, it is much better to see a Houston sedation dentist than to avoid going altogether, or procrastinating until a minor problem compounds into a major condition.
A Houston sedation dentist can perform all of the general dentistry and cosmetic dentistry procedures necessary to restore a patient to full dental health and a winning smile. He or she can also perform these procedures with the patient in an anesthetized state. While the patient is never completely unconscious, he or she is in such a relaxed state that no pain is felt during dental procedures.
Anxiety-prone who have come to our Houston office for this procedure report that sedation dramatically reduces the usual muscle tension and stress they otherwise always experience when visiting a dentist. This relaxed state of being not only helps the patient feel more comfortable, but it also makes the body much more receptive to the medication used for treatment.
In addition to helping our patients overcome their fears, we are often able turn to multiple appointments into a single visit. We use both oral and intravenous methods of anesthesia delivery, and we can even help Houston patients who normally have difficulty with conventional anesthetic.
For oral sedation, the dentist prescribes oral medication prior to treatment. This produces a very relaxed state of consciousness that produces a sense of comfort and well being. The patient is lucid and able to respond to the dentist, however, and can respond to questions or follow instructions. Throughout the procedure, dental assistants monitor patient vitals.
For intravenous (IV) delivery, a Houston Medical Center, board-certified anesthesiologist comes in to help the sedation dentist performing the procedure. The anesthesiologist reviews patient medical history, consult with their doctor(s) if necessary, and completely manages the anesthesia care while the dental team is working. We feel that brining in an anesthesiologist is the best way to ensure that all everything goes smoothly to the maximum comfort and benefit of our patients.
Houston residents from all walks of life can benefit from sedation dentistry. Many of these people include those who experience the following phobias and conditions that normally make them put off going to the dentist.
Fears about dental appointments in general, usually rooted in traumatic childhood memories
Difficulty achieving numbness from standard Novocain or nitrous oxide
Have a strong gag reflex that makes any work inside the mouth difficult
Have highly sensitive teeth
Have an aversion to the smells and sounds of the dental office.
Do not like needles going into their mouths.
Have a complex dental need that would otherwise involve multiple appointments to address.
Need a full mouth reconstruction
Regardless of the type of procedure performed, our office will also prescribe medicines appropriate to the patient to alleviate any postoperative discomfort. We politely insist to all patients as well that they have someone drive them to and from our office when having any procedure involving anesthesia performed.
Cosmetic Dentistry is a specialized field that requires extensive knowledge and experience to be done correctly. The Medical Center Dental Group in Houston, Texas brings all of that and more to the direct benefit of each and every patient we treat. Although we are located in the world famous Houston Medical Center at Scurlock Towers, we routinely see dental patients who travel from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Beaumont and Midland Texas to see Dr Dale Brant, Dr. Charles Campbell or Dr. Elizabeth OSullivan-Winslow for their cosmetic denistry services.
For any other questions related to cosmetic dentistry, you can Contact Us at 713.795.5905, visit our Dental Blog or Ask the Dentist. Seek professional care on a regular basis as well. Some things, such as teeth cleaning and a full oral examination, can only be done in a dental office. | <urn:uuid:fe34c297-7764-431b-b5c4-665710562989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cosmetic-dentistry-center.com/houston-sedation-dentists-a-351.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942835 | 822 | 1.617188 | 2 |
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Turkey may be frustrated in its bid to become part of the European Union, but by the end of September, it will join Europe’s electric grid.
Most electric systems in continental Europe — including those in countries like Poland and Romania — have synchronized currents, allowing electricity to flow easily from country to country. But other nations, including Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland and until now, Turkey, have remained separate.
Turkey has been trying to connect for 10 years. Like Europe, it uses an alternating current, with the electrons dancing back and forth 50 times a second, but its system has been out of phase with the European grid.
Now, after extensive work by General Electric to enable Turkey’s system to connect, the country will join up for a one-year trial, according to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. >>> Matthew L. Wald | Monday, September 06, 2010 | <urn:uuid:ca2d7e53-b97f-4a82-b9fe-2fe8ce36fe9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shrewdeconomist.blogspot.com/2010/09/turkey-joins-europe-electrically.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955552 | 193 | 2.453125 | 2 |
“Exact rules cannot be given for every emergency in life."
That’s the epigraph to Chapter 34 in Kentucky writer Alison Atlee’s debut novel, “The Typewriter Girl" (Gallery Books, $15) and a lesson the novel’s heroine must learn as she struggles against late 19th-century British social norms to blaze her own trail as an independent woman.
The source of the quote is not a famous author or celebrated philosopher, but advice from Mrs. Arthur J. Barnes, author of the 1890 book “How to Become Expert in Type-writing," which is quoted at the beginning of each of the book’s 40 chapters.
The quotations are sometimes full of surprising wisdom and sometimes reminders of the strict, antiquated skill of using a typewriter.
“If you form a careless habit in the beginning, you will probably always keep it," she wisely writes in one section.
“Pushing the keys blurs the printing," she scolds. “Strike them squarely with a light, springing blow of sufficient force to make a clear impression, and no more."
The novel’s protagonist, Betsey Dobson, is a “typewriter girl" at the beginning of the book, before she takes on another venture as a tour manager in a seaside tourist town. But Atlee says the typewriter is an important thread throughout the book because it represents the way most women began to break into the work force in the late 1800s.
“One historian called the typewriter the Trojan horse of women in offices," Atlee says. “If a typewriter came into the office, a woman came with it.
“As it became more important to doing business, there were more and more women," says Atlee, 43, who lives on a farm near Leitchfield, Ky.
Betsey breaks into the typing world by taking a course, but she must be twice as good as the other women because her name is already synonymous with scandal. She was kicked out of her typewriting course and given no reference after having an affair with one of her instructors.
Betsey’s sense of sexual autonomy is another way she is a social outsider, allowing Atlee to inject a complicated romantic plot line into the novel.
Atlee hopes the restrictive rules of 19th-century society and the determined, independent nature of her heroine make for captivating drama.
“When you’re writing a novel, you want conflict," Atlee says. “The harder things are for my character, the better it makes the story. So in a way, the limitations are helpful because the character has to find ways to get around them."
There have been plenty of novels about a plucky girl bucking tradition, but “The Typewriter Girl" is unique in that Betsey represents the dawn of the modern dilemma of the working woman. She climbs her way out of poverty and ill repute by her daring business sense and, along the way, grapples with romance. | <urn:uuid:57544e4b-5e80-4067-987f-3c7a648ee243> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130224/NEWS0107/302240318/1023 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972294 | 637 | 2.046875 | 2 |
René Waldeck-RousseauArticle Free Pass
René Waldeck-Rousseau, in full Pierre-marie-rené Waldeck-rousseau (born Dec. 2, 1846, Nantes, France—died Aug. 10, 1904, Corbeil), politician who, as premier of France, settled the Dreyfus Affair. He was also responsible for the legalization of trade unions in France (1884).
A rising conservative lawyer, known for his eloquence and mastery of legal detail, Waldeck-Rousseau was elected a deputy in 1879. In 1881 he became minister of the interior in the Cabinet of Léon Gambetta, one of the founders of the Third Republic, and he filled the same post, under Jules Ferry, from 1883 to 1885. In 1884 he sponsored the Loi Waldeck-Rousseau, which made trade unions legal, though with important restrictions. After another term as deputy (1885–89), he retired to make his fortune at the bar. In 1894, however, he became a senator.
In June 1899, when demonstrations and counterdemonstrations over the Dreyfus Affair threatened public order, Waldeck-Rousseau was asked to form a “government of republican defense.” His Cabinet was based on pro-Dreyfus moderates but included members of both the right and the left, such as Alexandre Millerand, the first Socialist to hold Cabinet office. When a military court persisted in finding Alfred Dreyfus guilty of treason (September 1899), though some of the evidence against him was known to be forged, the government persuaded the president to pardon him in the hope of avoiding further controversy.
The most important measure of the later part of Waldeck-Rousseau’s administration was the Associations Act of July 1901, which abolished all restrictions on the right of association for legal purposes. This freedom was withheld from religious associations, however, because they were directed from abroad. Waldeck-Rousseau personally thought the act too severe to the religious congregations. He resigned because of ill health in June 1902 but emerged from retirement to protest against the interpretation of the law by his successor, the militantly anticlerical Émile Combes, who refused to authorize any religious associations and was responsible for the closing of thousands of Roman Catholic schools.
What made you want to look up "Rene Waldeck-Rousseau"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:67fd9b15-0044-4be2-a567-5fdb3136fe58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/634389/Rene-Waldeck-Rousseau | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979648 | 528 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Previously, we discussed how a daughter can be a blessing to her family by being wise with money. Now I'd like to explore a few simple ways to make money from home.
I'd like to stress again that in my opinion, the key to having balanced finances isn't earning more – it's spending less. I was able to put more in savings off the modest sum I make from home, than from the time when I worked many hours outside the home and, apparently, earned much more money. The additional income melted away into expenses such as transportation, work clothes, and "compensatory purchases" – little things I bought because I worked so hard and "deserved it". If you just sit down and calculate how much it costs you if you buy a latte every day, you'll be amazed.
I think that if a young woman must earn a living, the ideal way to do it would be for her to join a family business. However, I know very well that in our day and age, families don't work together very often. Therefore, I'll introduce a few practical ways I've been using to make money from home in the last five years. Of course, I can't cover all the ways you can possibly make money from home – but maybe you'll glean an idea or two.
Working with the little ones – babysitting isn't just a way to earn money – it's also an invaluable opportunity to gain valuable experience with children. By the way, it doesn't have to be done just for money; for example, if you have a relative or neighbor who just had a baby and has several older little ones, she just might need a hand; don't hesitate to ask! The experience will be truly priceless, especially if you, like me, grew up in a small family and never had the chance to help out with little ones in your own home.
Giving lessons – another great way to spend time with children, teach them, learn to understand them; and cultivate the virtue of patience along the way. Throughout the years, I've had the blessed opportunity to tutor many children and teenagers, mainly in math, English and science, and it has been a very enjoyable experience for me. Often, the lessons I learned from the children and their families were more penetrating, and more important, than what they learned from me. Last year I had the privilege to teach a very special and lovely girl from a very poor family. Their joy and kindness to each other, their spirit of cheerfulness even though they had so little, were a precious example of gratitude I will carry with me, I'm certain, throughout the years.
Here, too, I think you can also see opportunities for volunteering. Some years ago, I tutored a sick child for free, during several months when she was at home and until she went back to school. I didn't earn money, but it was a very special and beneficial experience in other ways.
Look what you are good at; maybe it's languages, music, sewing, flower arranging? Whatever it is, there just might be some eager children, or other young ladies near you, who will be glad to pay for you teaching them that skill.
Translating – Along with tutoring, translating is one of my favorite ways to make money from home. The schedule is flexible; you and you alone determine when, how and how much you do every day (as long as the number of offers you take on is also controlled by you). I'm not a professional translator, but since I charge much lower for my services, I've found that many people are more than willing to pay, and as you gain experience, it makes you more and more reliable. This is an option for you, of course, only if you know more than one language.
Typing – even in our digital age, many people – especially older ones – aren't exactly friendly with computers, and will gladly pay you for typing for them. It's a great option for you if you type fast.
There are, of course, a myriad of ways to make money from home, and no one can possibly try them all; therefore, my suggestion to you is – be creative! Explore any skill you are good at and see if it can be made profitable. Are you good at sewing or other crafts? See if you have the time and energy to make items for sale, and how much you would be profited by it; do your cakes and cookies earn compliments whenever they are served? Consider checking where you could sell them, and make a few extra batches. I did that several times at charity events and it was always a smashing success.
This is an area where each one can play to her own strengths. I know young ladies who have developed a skill for photography, flower arranging, making candles and soaps, and even pottery, and successfully earn enough money from home to cover all or almost all of their expenses. Some even took the plunge and started online businesses; even if it's something you don't know much about, it doesn't mean you can't give it a try. Notice that I'm not saying you should jump headfirst into any possibility that looks promising – I am merely encouraging you to think outside the box. | <urn:uuid:612b949d-b62b-41bc-ad4a-456909cb767e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ccostello.blogspot.jp/2007/12/dedicated-daughters-saving-and-making_06.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987618 | 1,073 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Comparing congressional health care proposals
MANAGED CARE April 2007. ©MediMedia USA
A review of health care reform bills proposed by Congress shows that many of them would cover more uninsured Americans than the current administration proposal. The review, conducted by the Lewin Group on behalf of the Commonwealth Fund Commission, determined that in addition to reducing the number of uninsured Americans, the proposals would also decrease overall health care expenditures — including expenditures for insurance administration and prescription drugs.
The analysis looked at 10 health care plans introduced in the 109th and 110th Congresses. In addition to reviewing President Bush's and other sweeping proposals, researchers looked at more modest ideas such as expanding existing public health insurance programs such as Medicare and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The report also suggested that these proposals could serve as a first step toward universal coverage.
Highlights of congressional health care proposals
A simulation model was used to estimate the number of people who would gain coverage under the proposals and what the bills' effects would be on national health care expenditures overall and on federal and state governments, employers, and households. The number of uninsured in the United States is projected to rise in 2007 to 47.8 million, 16.2 percent of the total population.
|President Bush's tax reform plan||Healthy Americans Act||Federal/state partnership||AmeriCare|
|Aims to cover all people||•||•|
|Individual mandate or auto enrollment||•||•||•|
|Employers share responsibility||•||•||•|
|Public program expansion||•||•|
|Subsidies for lower income families||•||•||•|
|Comprehensive benefit package||•||•||•|
|Quality and efficiency measures||•||•||•||•|
|Uninsured covered in 2007 (millions)||9.0||45.3||20.3||47.8|
|Net health system cost in 2007 (billions)||($11.7)||($4.5)||$22.7||($60.7)|
|Net federal budget cost in 2007 (billions)||$70.4||$24.3||$22.0||$154.5|
|Source: The Commonwealth Fund| | <urn:uuid:488cf020-c854-4e1a-bf7b-c449f1f43a8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/0704/0704.news_comparing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915506 | 473 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Crisp’s marriage licence index 1713-1892 has now been made available online.
Ancestry.co.uk has made available online Crisp’s Marriage Licence Index, which contains abstracts of marriage licences and many original licences from major London parishes.
Ancestry says: “Information regarding places of origin and family members may sometimes be found in addition to the marriage date, location, and spouse’s name.
“As a general rule, licenses were reserved for the wealthy or famous, allowing them to circumvent public announcements or banns of their impending marriage (thus avoiding possible objections) and also allowing a quick marriage. Couples were usually married in the bride’s parish and could wed at a very young age until the early 20th century.” | <urn:uuid:718c0c76-8e39-4297-998e-9a303fbbbd86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://growyourownfamilytree.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/new-london-marriage-licence-index/?like=1&_wpnonce=24a0599870 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968767 | 169 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Downhill bikes require a certain amount of specific componentry due to their specialized nature. This SRAM X0 DH 10-Speed Rear Derailleur is just one great example. We sell a short cage X0 rear derailleur, so why this special DH version? This one is designed with a narrower range cassette in mind. On a true downhill bike, you'd want to run a 28t or smaller big cog on your cassette. As such, this derailleur is made to accommodate a max 28t cog.That said, there are geometrical differences between this DH derailleur and the standard short cage X0 unit. The angle of the parallelogram is more closely matched to the conical angle of the cassette. The performance advantage comes because the upper jockey wheel can more closely follow each cog in the cassette from small to large. The result is faster, more precise shifts when you need to be on the gas from one corner to the next. The inner and outer parallelogram linkages are forged from aluminum, polished, and clear anodized to protect the finish. They have wide pivots to ensure linkage stability when the derailleur is under tension in the biggest cogs. It's built specifically to accommodate the narrower 10-speed chain and up to a 36t cog and uses their Exact Actuation Technology to match X0 10-speed shifters. While their 9-speed groups have long relied on a 1:1 pull ratio, designed to be more tolerant of the muck and grit associated with mountain biking, the Exact Actuation in the 10-speed X0 group takes the performance to another level by ensuring a perfect and consistent shift distance between each gear, all the way across the cassette. And like the rest of SRAM rear derailleurs, the X0 model is designed for direct cable routing, eliminating the typical loop of excess housing necessary with other derailleurs.The SRAM X0 DH 10-Speed Rear Derailleur is designed to be used with a single front chainring and 10-speed cassettes with a max 28t big cog.
There have been no reviews posted yet for this product. Be the first by clicking Submit a Review | <urn:uuid:d9a9371a-10e6-4f8b-9093-d8c71b54a633> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mtbr.com/cat/drivetrain/derailleur/sram/x0-dh-rear/prd_501591_116crx.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901534 | 451 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Concord ExpressA Christian Science Study Resource
Systematic teaching and the student’s spiritual growth and experience in practice are requisite for a thorough 462 462:1comprehension of Christian Science. Some individu‐als assimilate truth more readily than others, but any 3Rapidity of assimilationstudent, who adheres to the divine rules of Christian Science and imbibes the spirit of Christ, can demonstrate Christian Science, cast out 6error, heal the sick, and add continually to his store of spiritual understanding, potency, enlightenment, and success.
9 If the student goes away to practise Truth’s teach‐ings only in part, dividing his interests between God and Divided loyaltymammon and substituting his own views for 12Truth, he will inevitably reap the error he sows. Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every state‐15ment, and advance from the rudiments laid down. There is nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the way is pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and 18persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in every department of life.
Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-21knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts to Anatomy defineddiscover their quality, quantity, and origin. Are thoughts divine or human? That is the 24important question. This branch of study is indispen‐sable to the excision of error. The anatomy of Christian Science teaches when and how to probe the self-in‐27flicted wounds of selfishness, malice, envy, and hate. It teaches the control of mad ambition. It unfolds the hallowed influences of unselfishness, philanthropy, spir‐30itual love. It urges the government of the body both in health and in sickness. The Christian Scientist, through understanding mental anatomy, discerns and 463 463:1deals with the real cause of disease. The material physi‐cian gropes among phenomena, which fluctuate every in‐3stant under influences not embraced in his diagnosis, and so he may stumble and fall in the darkness.
Teacher and student should also be familiar with the 6obstetrics taught by this Science. To attend properly Scientific obstetricsthe birth of the new child, or divine idea, you should so detach mortal thought from its 9material conceptions, that the birth will be natural and safe. Though gathering new energy, this idea cannot injure its useful surroundings in the travail of spiritual 12birth. A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive. The new idea, conceived and born of Truth and Love, is 15clad in white garments. Its beginning will be meek, its growth sturdy, and its maturity undecaying. When this new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant 18is born of the Spirit, born of God, and can cause the mother no more suffering. By this we know that Truth is here and has fulfilled its perfect work.
21 To decide quickly as to the proper treatment of error — whether error is manifested in forms of sickness, sin, Unhesitating decisionor death — is the first step towards destroy‐24ing error. Our Master treated error through Mind. He never enjoined obedience to the laws of nature, if by these are meant laws of matter, nor did he use drugs. 27There is a law of God applicable to healing, and it is a spiritual law instead of material. The sick are not healed by inanimate matter or drugs, as they believe that they 30are. Such seeming medical effect or action is that of so-called mortal mind. | <urn:uuid:d0f5a1c3-6f69-4309-b353-8209255b51d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jsh.christianscience.com/concordapi/view?book=tfccs.main.sh&verbatim=1&q=462%3A23-24 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939124 | 772 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Disregarding expensive hi-tech solutions
There are really only three answers, and you've covered them in your question; with some extra choices within each one:
No on-stage tuning; no help
The only way to achieve this is with a separate guitar for each tuning.
No on-stage tuning; a helper
While you're playing, the helper is preparing your guitar for the next song. Obviously this requires at least two guitars.
If the tunings require different strings, you'll want a different guitar for each string set; it does not make sense to have someone re-stringing guitars during your set! Logic says you could do your set in any order if you had two guitars in each string configuration (so you can play one while your tech tunes the other), but if you plan your set around it you could probably get away with fewer.
Simply (!) practice retuning so that you can do it quickly. Avoid guitars that make this difficult, such as those with a floating bridge. For example, anyone with a decent ear should be able to retune from standard tuning to drop-D in a couple of seconds, without a tuner.
As with the off-stage tuning situation, you will need at least one guitar in each string configuration.
Only you know what set of tunings you're using, but you should be able to group them into families according to how much tuning it takes to go from one to another. If you have guitars to spare, take one per "tuning family" so that your set never involves retuning all six strings.
If you're amplified, run your guitar through a chromatic tuner, then to a volume pedal (or just a mute switch), then to the rest of your signal chain. That way you don't make your audience have to listen to you tuning - unless you want to make a feature of it.
Mechanical tuners, tuning wrenches etc. are useful when restringing a guitar, because there are so many turns sometimes between fitting the string and it being "almost there". For the few turns you'd be making between useful tunings on a guitar where the strings are already up to tension, I don't see any great advantage to them. | <urn:uuid:c0164ec0-63a7-4476-8a47-c12a9bfc0310> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/4947/dealing-with-different-tunings-on-stage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968585 | 459 | 1.554688 | 2 |
- Content Type
General Information on Studying in UK Whether you are enthusiastic about in studying in UK or are mildly interested, these lessons will be extremely handy! Just go thru' them and discover the fasc...
|Study Abroad Undergraduate/UG program is perfect for you because:|
How exactly does a UG
course abroad add value?
Newsflash: In 2007, 1,60,000 Indian students traveled to the USA, Canada, UK and other countries for education.
|Statistics show that the number of Indian students opting for higher studies abroad has consistently been increasing. In recent times, businesses have increasingly become global and this has in turn made education abroad a more valuable experience. While there are a number of world famous schools in India, they admit a limited number of students. Also, reservations are a reason why many Indian students can’t get admissions despite good grades.|
Superior Facilities and
Educational facilities in the USA, Canada and UK are among the best in the world.
|Universities have long histories,
with many students making a vital contribution to the respective
domain/industry/economy in the course of their careers. In terms of
infrastructure, they have very well equipped labs, libraries,
dormitories, etc, along with recreational and sports facilities,
both of which are par excellence.
Research and development work are given great importance and this in turn leads to excellent opportunities for students to pursue research topics of their liking.
Students have the option of choosing the appropriate pace for their studies. For instance, a number of students have been found to work as “co-op students†in order to gain industry exposure while continuing their studies. This not only gives them financial support, but also helps them stay abreast of the latest developments in industry. Universities allow students to restructure their courses by opting for electives so that they can pursue their interests.
Extensive alumni networking, academia-industry confluences, seminars and numerous other events contribute to healthy placements. Your college experience will put you in touch with a lot of people from around the world. You can expect placement either in the US/Canada/UK or anywhere else in the world, thus giving your career a global platform.
Whether it’s an MS/MTech or a PhD or an MBA that you are looking at, your application will have the added advantage that comes with an international degree. Apart from great training which will equip you suitably for higher studies, you also gain insights into their academic system. This in turn should help you perform better in your academic pursuits.
|Your experience of studying abroad
will add to your sense of responsibility and initiative. You will
see new avenues of fulfilling your ambition. You will also find it
easier to communicate, make friends and work with people from all
over the world.
Thus opting for undergraduate studies abroad can be the best decision of your life! Apart from its impact on your academic training, it has tremendous value as an experience that will broaden your horizons and propel your career to great heights.
Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Join LearnHub's Undergraduate Community to figure out how you can make it to a great university in the US/UK/Canada for your undergraduate studies.
Lessons in the Community
|Lesson: Preparing for your SATs|
|Lesson: A Biased yet Informative Discussion of Ontario Universities|
|Lesson: Getting into College Checklist|
|Lesson: What's a scholarship and how do I get one?|
|Lesson: 10 Reasons to Study in the UK|
|Lesson: The Liberal Arts Degree|
|Lesson: All About Engineering Programs|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Physics|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Biology|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Math|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Chemistry|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Philosophy|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Psychology|
|Lesson: Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Economics|
Tests in the Community
|Lesson: Choose the right Liberal Arts major for you!|
|Lesson: Canadian Universities Quiz|
|Lesson: American Universities Quiz|
|Lesson: British Universities Quiz|
|Lesson: German Universities Quiz|
|Lesson: Singapore Universities Quiz|
The USA and Canada have hundreds of excellent undergraduate schools that are interested in having you study with them.
Join the Undergraduate Community! | <urn:uuid:a74ea4be-8da4-4e45-b2fc-2a31a5b5a8a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://studyusa.learnhub.com/lesson/5763-why-should-indian-students-study-abroad-for-their-ug | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917514 | 962 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Most drugs prescribed for bipolar disorder carry some risk of birth defects, yet women who discontinue medication risk relapsing into a manic or depressive episode; during the postpartum phase the relapse rate is as high as 50% to 70%, by some estimates. Even more alarming, bipolar women are 100 times more likely than other women to experience postpartum psychosis, a severe mood disorder that, at its very worst, can result in infanticide.
Sally, 37, started taking lithium after a severe manic episode seven years ago. She eventually switched to other drugs, but in 2007 she stopped her medication altogether when she learned that she was pregnant.
The pregnancy was uneventful. Her daughter, Stella, did arrive six weeks early, but after 21 days in the hospital Stella was finally at home and thriving.
Though she had restarted her meds the day she gave birth to Stella, after a string of sleepless nights several months later Sally finally realized that lithium was the only thing that would bring her back to her senses. And it did.
Yet Sally continued to have doubts that she was strong enough to be a mother. These are doubts that many women with bipolar disorder share.
Say no to drugs?
Two years ago, Meredith, 26, of Dix Hills, N.Y., was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began taking lithium. Now she is planning her wedding and, each night, takes a cocktail of mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and antipsychotics: lithium, Abilify, propranolol (Inderal), and escitalopram (Lexapro). "I was grateful for the lithium at first," she says. "But then I was like, 'There go all my options for having kids.'"
When it was first approved by the FDA in 1970, lithium was believed to cause heart-valve defects in an extremely high percentage of infants born to mothers who were on the drug (about 1 in 50). Decades later, new research has downgraded the risk, to about 1 in 1,000 to 2,000.
Bipolar medications aren't considered as risky during pregnancy as they once were, but they aren't exactly harmless either. According to the FDA's letter-grade system for drug safety during pregnancy, most psychotropic drugs pose a potential risk to the fetus. Studies have found that the anticonvulsants valproic acid (Depakote) and carbemazepine (Tegretol) can cause birth defects ranging from physical deformities to spina bifida, for instance, while some research suggests that another anticonvulsant, lamotrigine, may carry an increased risk of cleft palate. | <urn:uuid:5bc016b3-620e-4399-992f-0ac70eb10ad4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.health.com/health/condition-article/0,,20274378,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977151 | 553 | 2.484375 | 2 |
It's estimated that the number of families with children diagnosed with autism has increased 78-percent over the last decade. Our Amanda Kelley takes a look at what small steps North Country families are taking to battle back against this disorder.
To view our videos, you need to
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- For Maria Higuera communicating with her six-year old autistic son Marcos used to be a challenge.
Higurea said, "I would take him to a doctor and they would say he's a boy, it's normal, it's typical for them to start speaking when they get older."
But as time went on, she knew something just wasn't right. After numerous doctors appointments and therapy sessions, she found out her son was autistic at age four. "It was hard for him, but within a month, all of the therapy that he got from school he was able to talk, he started saying his numbers, his letters, and as soon as he got the help he was just blossoming," said Higuera.
According to the CDC the number of children battling autism is higher than ever. One out of every 88 US children are battling this condition. Many experts say the key to helping autistic children is early intervention.
Families for the Effective Treatment of Autism of the North Country board member Jaci Barnett said, "There are treatments as long as you start early enough in life. Early intervention is the main key. With speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, working one-on one with the children when they're little really helps to bring their speech abilities to life."
With the number of children diagnosed with autism on the rise, families say awareness walks like this one in Watertown are more important than ever.
Barnett said, "It's a great way to network to the other families that have the same problems. To meet friends, to be able to plan play-dates with their children because it's hard to do that with typical kids and our children because they don't always get along because of their behaviors."
Many families said they find comfort in knowing there's other families right in their community that share the same struggles. But they also are able to share their victories over autism as well.
Higuera said, "Seeing some of the children that have already been with FEAT for two years just seeing them blossom every time I see them they're just getting better with all of the help they're getting. And for me that's very exciting."
For more information on organizations that help support families battling autism you can reach out to Jaci Barnett with FEAT of the North Country at 315-408-9965, visit their Facebook Page, or contact Benchmark Family Services at (315) 786-7285. | <urn:uuid:dc8eef74-1940-4ac6-b689-72ef9cc7f8bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/580628/autism-on-the-rise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980529 | 590 | 2.5 | 2 |
Young soccer players and others who use Bixby Park seem more occupied with their activities than with the view from the park bluff.
However Claudia Schou, board member of Friends of Bixby Park, is fighting to keep the site's panorama unobstructed.
"That's one of the most beautiful bluff areas in Southern California," she said.
The potential obstruction is a planned railing at the top of the bluff, leading to a meandering path and to an adjoining stairway, both of which would connect to Cherry Beach.
The path is designed to make the trip between the park and beach easier for physically challenged visitors.
The project is being paid for with Tidelands funds, which are used in part to improve access to the Coastal area.
The pathway slope will be less than a 5 percent grade, as required by Americans with Disabilities Act, said Eric Lopez, the Tidelands capital projects program manager for Long Beach's Public Works Department.
The bluff plans have been shared so far with two community groups, and the city is aiming to put the project out to bid in February.
"We have one more review of the plans and specifications planned before we request bids," he said.
Schou said she saw the plans and is not happy.
"I don't think they should put up a rail there - it obstructs the view there," she said Thursday. "It's one of the few unobstructed views."
Schou said city resources could be spent
"Most visitors do not use the restroom," she said.
While Schou believes there's "no purpose for the rail," she's more opposed to the stairs.
"It doesn't make any sense at all," she said.
There's a path along Junipero Avenue that leads to the parking area at Cherry Beach, but Lopez said it fails to meet ADA standards.
That doesn't ease Schou's concerns about city resources.
Canal restoration stalled
Efforts to launch a restoration project of the Naples Island canal have been stalled.
More than 250 Naples Island homes are considered vulnerable to flooding if the 107-year-old seawall crumbles during an extreme storm or an earthquake, a city engineering study warns.
The city has $9.5 million to begin the seawall renovation, but the project has been stalled over environmental issues related to reinforcing the wall either on the water side or the land side.
The Coastal Commission has insisted that the land-side renovation be studied, but many residents fear that the land-side work will result in the destruction of historic palm trees where endangered birds nest.
Maureen Poe, chairwoman of the Naples Seawall Committee, on Thursday said it's now time to lobby against the commission's position with a letter campaign. | <urn:uuid:672f6a60-3c89-4b9e-9d6d-809303b2a951> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.presstelegram.com/california/ci_22306316?source=pkg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971695 | 570 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The world is heading towards a greener environment and slowly and steadily finally we have started to recognize the value of eco friendly environment, which will surely take us a long way. Our intelligent designers are working really hard to give us a green environment by crafting such gadgets that are of utmost importance and are eco- friendly too.
Greener Gadget design competition was conducted just to encourage such designers to give the world with some good ideas. It’s the second time that a Design Competition for Greener Gadgets has been held. Many designers participated and thousands of viewers too came as spectators and voted for the best eco friendly gadget. Indeed the designers did some good brainstorming and the aspiring designer presented their best eco friendly ideas.
The winners would be declared sometime early next week for the competition and checking and evaluating the best green gadget is still under process. According to one of the judges, they are having a tough time as many of the entries are too good and selecting one out of them is quite difficult.
These 12 ideas for saving the world and Mother Nature with green gadgets are really interesting and eye catchy, which requires not only your attention but cooperation to get the aspired green world. We found them really amusing and thought of sharing them with you.
- Blink Controller
- Power-Hog Energy Meter
- Inlet-Outlet Wall Plug
- Zeer Cooler
- CompostAll Food Disposal
- Beware Water Meter
- Hard drive USB Storage Device
- Indoor Drying Rack
- PpMm Shreddable Paper
- Takeup Reusable Computer Housing
- Wind-Helmet as Power Generator
It was the Core 77′s second such competition and they have maintained to come again next year. So all those designers could not participate or could not win and want to participate again have a good one long year in front of them to prepare their green ideas.
During one of the press releases by Bose, a detailed information about the company’s next project has been disclosed, which seems to be another great news for all ecologists. So finally even music can be energy efficient which gives you a chance to debut the life of an environmentalist and follow green. Now all the eco friendly cars get an opportunity to get fitted this energy saving Bose music system for extraordinary music experience.
The best part of this new eco friendly Bose music system is that it is smaller in size to 30% and even lighter by 40%. Isn’t it just the perfect thing to happen to your green car? Well, the best part is yet to come. This new Bose music system saves 50% of the energy it used to consume previously. That means to end up saving half of the amount of energy your car music system consumed earlier and too without any type of compromises with the sound quality.
This energy saving Bose system has kept in mind the future eco-friendly car, 2011 Chevy Volt while its design. We can even say energy saving music system of Bose has been designed categorically for the same car only. It seems that a lot of hard work and research has been put by the company to create a smaller and lighter model of eco-friendly Bose sound system to ensure that it fits the most sophisticated and efficient cars. Everything about the conventional sound system has been modified right from ground up in order to individually look after each and every aspect of the new eco friendly Bose sound system.
There is no doubt that the company has come up will a real good idea and will go a long way in helping the environmentalists in keeping an eco friendly nature and our surroundings. Indeed some mature and responsible thinking from the company and surely some mature and environment loving people will only go for the latest energy saving model of Bose only to ensure that they do at least something for the Mother Nature.
Latest in the league of environmentally friendly gadgets is this extra ordinary Mini Hydro Clock that is not only a green gadget but an example of innovation and technology progressing at such a faster pace.
If you are wondering if this is a successor of one of the Ecologically friendly Clocks that was powered by water which we talked about before, then the answer is a yes and a no. Yes because the Mini Hydro Clock also uses liquids to work and “no” because the Mini Hydro Clock doesn’t necessarily have to use water as the liquid.
The Mini Hydro Clock is not a very big gadget. Almost 2.5 cm / 5 cm in dimensions. The Mini Hydro Clock displays the perfect time. Although you can’t set an alarm in the clock and it cant give you calendar or date information either.
It only displays the time and yet what makes it so unique is that it can work with any liquid, not just water. You can use juice, milk, beer, just about any liquid extraordinary time telling gadget.
Imagine a clock working with liquids as batteries! How cool it is. Indeed science and technology achievement for this futuristic clock. If you’d like to experiment with an eco-friendly clock, check out the Mini Hydro Clock, the green environmentally friendly time telling device.
Now is the time to switch over to an eco-friendly futuristic world with the Mini Hydro Clock.
A good question it seems to be because when there are so many poweredby sun and even hand- powered chargers available in the market, its just obvious to wonder what is so special about this Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger that one should actually go for it.
Indeed it may look like any other ecological charger, but it do support a quality that makes it different from the rest and the best in the present market of eco chargers. That quality is that Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger, unlike other ecological chargers does not support any internal battery. Now the question arises then how does this gadget works?
Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger works with the aid of a USB socket that is built in to be employed directly to charge a gadget that have the similar feature of charging, i.e., such gadgets that are charged using a USB cable. Definitely it means that you can not charge the gadgets which do not have a USB cable to charge, but this one short coming can be let go when compared to other plus points.
Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger produces more energy when compare with hand-chargers that are supported by batteries. Do we have here any guesses for how much more energy production? Don’t get amazed when I say 5 times!
Yes, Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger produces as much as 5 times more energy than its counterpart. Definitely Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger answers all the doubts and queries now that we came across initially. In fact its almost next to impossible to produce such huge amount of energy and its this quality of Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger that makes it so special.
So if you own this interesting Benex USB Wind Up Eco Charger, when all other batteries will discharge eventually, your gadget’s battery will last for really a long time. Indeed a special gadget!
Are you eco friendly? Then this garden gadget should find a place for itself in your home. Designed by Tommaso Ceschi and Francesco Castiglione Morelli, the Timeless Garden Clock does not require any batteries to run on. And that doesn’t mean it has electrical cord plugged into the wall for access to electrical power.
This unusual gadget does not require a solar cell, battery or electrical power. It’s an extraordinary example of eco-friendly gadgets that have gained a considerable popularity with people. Definitely its not a new idea to create an eco-friendly Timeless Garden Clock, but this one is indeed unique in the way that it generates electricity to power the digital clock.
The Timeless Garden Clock is based upon the chemical reaction that happens between the organisms present in the soil that consequently produce a small electrical charge. These electric charges help to power the Timeless Garden Clock. As long as there are plants growing in the container’s soil, the device will generate electricity for the clock to operate.
And there’s always the extra benefit of more plants that consume carbon-dioxide and emit oxygen. That’s always good for the environment.
The Timeless Garden Clock can also easily match the decor in the interior of your home. You can always find a nice table book shelf or counter top to place it on. The Timeless Garden Clock is made up from recycled plastic material again helping to reduce the environmental impact.
Crafted as a pot or clock, whatever you want to call it, its not fashioned in the most elaborate way, yet is simple and sweet; just what every one is looking for to keep on one of the living room tabletops.
Look for the Timeless Garden Clock coming to the stores near you soon. | <urn:uuid:1004f9a2-6f28-4d8c-9849-8766e060826f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mintgadgets.com/category/eco-friendly-gadgets/page/7/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943767 | 1,817 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Corn harvest is starting to pick up as the soybean harvest is winding down. According to USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey 86% of soybeans are out of the field, just 3% behind normal. Farmers have only 55% of the corn crop in the bin which is significantly behind the five-year average of 79%. However Rippey says that may be a good thing.
"The corn can stay for a long time without any significant quality degradations," Rippey says. "In fact in this late year with the corn drying down so late it's beneficial to leave it out there a little longer."
Rippey says that it staying out later after the season ending freeze shouldn't be a problem unless there are high winds or excessive wetness. The condition of the crop is good with 64% rated in good to excellent condition.
Winter wheat has had a good start with 90% of the crop seeded, just 2% behind average according to Rippey.
"Emergence with the warm, dry weather week last week is doing very well; 76% emerged by Nov. 2 compared to the five-year average of 78%," Rippey says. "In terms of condition we are looking at a crop that improved to 67% good to excellent; only 4% poor to very poor."
A week ago those numbers were 65% and 5% respectively Rippey says and the crop is looking far better than it did last year when it was 53% good to excellent and 13% poor to very poor. However in Oregon, the outlook is not quite so good with a third of the winter wheat crop in poor to very poor condition due to dry weather. | <urn:uuid:65e35cd7-8a44-47be-bfa1-524499ce9952> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmprogress.com/story-corn-harvest-and-development-lagging-behind-0-20109 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985418 | 345 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Daniel A. Smith, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Daniel A. Smith, Professor of Political Science and Director of UF's graduate Political Campaigning Program, is recognized as one of the country's leading experts on direct democracy and its impact on the political process. Smith addresses many of the important normative questions that lie at the center of representative democracy in ways that have real-world relevance.
One of his recent questions is: Did the mobilization of newly registered black voters, inspired by Barack Obama's bid to win the 2008 presidential election, prove decisive in the passage of Amendment 2, which banned gay marriage in Florida? Drawing on an array of pre-election surveys and county-level data, Smith finds that other factors, besides race, were much more decisive in pushing Amendment 2 over the top. Because of the small sample of African-Americans surveyed in exit polls, the results are unreliable, likely overstating the extent to which black and white voters differed on the issue of same-sex marriage. Instead, Smith finds that party identification, education, and religiosity are much stronger predictors of a respondent's attitude toward gay marriage than is race.
For more than a decade, Smith has been trying to answer the broader question: Who is mobilized by ballot initiatives? He has conducted extensive research using individual- and aggregate-level data on ballot initiatives and voter turnout. Smith has reassessed the conventional wisdom that the 2004 initiatives banning gay marriage increased turnout across the states and more specifically, elevated turnout in Ohio, and has also examined the turnout effects of minimum wage initiatives on statewide ballots. Many ballot initiatives, Smith argues, can create "state-specific issue publics," elevating the importance of issues in the minds of voters. Helping to set the agenda and frame the debate, these ballot issues can then affect candidate choice.
Smith's research on gay marriage measures and turnout stemming from ballot initiatives is just a small part of his larger research agenda on the interplay between ballot initiatives and candidate races, and more theoretically, how political institutions, like the mechanisms of direct democracy, can encourage democratic participation and foster political representation. One of the central themes in this current research examines the "educative effects" of ballot measures, a theme first developed in his path-breaking co-authored book, Educated by Initiative.
Smith's research on direct democracy is normatively infused by the question of whether or not the process enhances the political representation of "the people." He is currently writing a book under contract with Cambridge University Press entitled Dilemmas of Direct Democracy, in which he argues that the process of direct democracy has numerous inherent, and perhaps irrevocable, tensions. "Direct democracy is no panacea," Smith contends, "but neither should it be demonized." | <urn:uuid:e8e8612b-6928-408d-98fa-e541760b6c89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apps.research.ufl.edu/publications/ufrfprofessors/ufrfprofessorview.cfm?unique_id=420 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954854 | 567 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Courtesy of Nanowerk, I found a new introductory video, Introduction to the strange new world of nanoscience, that Stephen Fry (actor) narrates on behalf of Cambridge University. Providing a very engaging and delightful introduction to nanotechnology, it also illustrates something I was discussing in one of my postings yesterday. The notion that the adoption of any science or technology is inevitable and not to be questioned is in full display. Since the video’s purpose is to introduce (“sell’) nanotechnology I have no quibble with the video itself, my doubts centre on the fact that the nanotechnology discussion is couched in terms of pro or con with no questioning of the basic premise, i.e., should we do this just because we can and how do we decide one way or the other?
That’s all there is to technology diffusion, whether GM, nanotech or anything else. It is the ultimate form of democracy, because it is us, the people, who eventually get to choose whether a technology is used or not, not politicians, companies or single issue campaign groups.
Leaving aside the concept of marketplace democracy to shift gears, Harper is making the assumption that nothing catastrophic will occur because according to Harper’s posting on the topic,
After ten years of nanotech scare stories I feel that we have a fairly balanced resreach [sic] agenda, with plenty of good science being backed up by excellent toxicology and risk management studies.
It should be noted that Harper is responding from the perspective of someone located in the UK where there has been far more public discussion and interest in the possible risks associated with nanotechnology than there has been in either Canada or the US.
I have to agree with Harper in some degree with his thesis that the marketplace is where a new technology or innovation fails or succeeds and is where democracy prevails since in the marketplace, the sloganeering and mud-slinging from all sides becomes irrelevant as technology is adopted or it isn’t.
However, it might be time to consider some alternatives to marketplace democracy because, unlike Harper, I’m not quite so confident about the toxicology and risk management studies undertaken so far and the stakes are much higher than they have been in the past. I realize that it’ s impossible to have 100% confidence and I find many of nanotechnology’s possible benefits quite compelling so I’m willing go along with it to a point. I just don’t want to lose sight of the fact that we are juggling many possibilities in a very dynamic environment and using methods and models that worked in times past is rather like showing up to a modern battle zone dressed in medieval armour.
Getting back to the Cambridge University video, do go and watch it on the Nanowerk site. It is fun and very informative and approximately 17 mins. I noticed that they reused part of their Nokia morph animation (last mentioned on this blog here) and offered some thoughts from Professor Mark Welland, the team leader on that project. Interestingly, Welland was talking about yet another possibility. (Sometimes I think nano goes too far!) He was suggesting that we could have chips/devices in our brains that would allow us to think about phoning someone and an immediate connection would be made to that person. Bluntly—no. Just think what would happen if the marketers got access and I don’t even want to think what a person who suffers psychotic breaks (i.e., hearing voices) would do with even more input. Welland starts to talk at the 11 minute mark (I think). For an alternative take on the video and more details, visit Dexter Johnson’s blog, Nanoclast, for this posting. Hint, he likes the idea of a phone in the brain much better than I do. | <urn:uuid:0b85c40f-45d4-4ae8-a5a7-4d1371d62b36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=996 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961979 | 784 | 1.773438 | 2 |
If democracy is to be justified, it will have to be in consequentialist (or, if we prefer, “pragmatist”) terms; and as it seems prima facie implausible to think that all political and social institutions could or should be democratic in a first-order sense, only a second-order version of the consequentialist case for democracy can succeed. Democracy will have to be justified, if at all, as the best second-order decision procedure for allocating competences among first-order institutions, including institutions that are arguably or partially undemocratic when viewed in isolation, such as the administrative state, markets, and constitutional courts. Such is the core of Johnson and Knight’s argument in The Priority of Democracy, and I won’t stop to explain why it seems to me both correct and important.1
Instead let me press on to sketch two political risks that second-order democracy2 will have to face. The materialization of either one would deeply compromise Johnson and Knight’s project. Now these are just contingent risks, which will be more or less grave under varying political and social conditions; I make no pretense of offering conceptual critiques or analytically necessary arguments. But in a pragmatic spirit, a central task of second-order democracy will have to be risk management. Institutional experiments and ongoing adjustments imply that managing the risks of democracy will be inescapable.
The two risks are that second-order democracy will devolve into non-democracy, and that it will devolve into simple first-order democracy. By simple first-order democracy, I mean a state of affairs in which first-order democrats prove unable to sustain or unwilling to tolerate institutional forms that embody non-democratic, countermajoritarian or technocratic decisionmaking. In either case, non-democracy or simple first-order democracy, the risk is that Johnson and Knight’s complex and carefully balanced two-level structure may topple to one side or the other, as second-order democracy proves unstable.
The first risk, that of a collapse into non-democracy, is straightforward. An old problem in democratic theory is the question whether democratic institutions might end up abolishing themselves, perhaps by a procedurally impeccable (super)majority vote among free and equal citizens who happen to believe, after suitable deliberation, that first-order authoritarianism of some sort is best in the circumstances. Perhaps the second-order democracy is embedded in a brutally competitive military and political environment, or faces an internal threat from antidemocratic forces attempting to subvert the regime, and therefore decides that a temporary suspension of first-order democracy is in order. The hope is presumably that some form of commissarial dictatorship will itself be the best way to preserve democracy in the long run.
The second-order democracy may understand full well that there is a countervailing long-run risk that the dictator will refuse to return to his farm when his tasks are done, but the second-order democracy may see that as a risk worth running, in light of the alternatives. We may assume that in the long run, over time, the epistemically best regime will be a second-order democracy, for all the pragmatic reasons Johnson and Knight give. Even so, at some particular time that very regime – precisely because it is epistemically best – may make a reasonable decision, given the information it currently has, that the long-run risk is worth incurring in order to survive the short run. Of course justifiable decisions may turn out to be erroneous, so the second-order democracy needn’t be right about any of this; indeed its decision may well prove to be a catastrophic blunder. Johnson and Knight are the first to admit that the second-order democracy is fallible, and indeed that fallibility is the precondition for pragmatist virtues such as institutional experimentalism.
This risk of democratic self-abolition is familiar, but I believe that Knight and Johnson face a particularly virulent form of the problem. It is not clear even in principle what they could say to an assembly of second-order democrats who decide that, given the short-run risks, a suspension of first-order democracy looks desirable on balance. The priority of second-order democracy, on Johnson and Knight’s account, is fundamentally epistemic. The second-order democracy is thought to do better than experts — including experts on political science and theory — at assessing the pragmatically best allocation of institutional competences over time. That entails, doesn’t it, that the normative analyst herself should recognize the epistemic superiority of the second-order democracy’s decision to incur the long-run risks of a suspension of first-order democracy — at least so long as standard procedural preconditions (free deliberation, equality of opportunity to influence politics, and so forth) are respected in the making of that second-order decision. The analyst who subscribes to Johnson and Knight’s account has cut out from under herself any epistemic standpoint from which she might object to the second-order democracy’s act of (impeccably democratic) self-immolation.
Here I think Johnson and Knight slide into an inconsistency, when they say both that (1) “democratic governments can legitimately resort to repression” so long as they do so “intelligently” and that (2) “the official reaction to antidemocratic forces … must not be based on emergency powers” (p. 284-85). The second clause seems to be an arbitrary add-on, unjustified by the underlying theory that generates the first clause. If the second-order democracy decides, intelligently and quite pragmatically, that an emergency suspension of first-order democracy is the best course of action all things considered, despite the long-run risk to epistemic democracy, Johnson and Knight aren’t entitled to have any objection. But they are clearly reluctant to let first-order democracy be an entirely contingent property of the regime, one that is entirely at the mercy of whatever decision the second-order democracy makes; so they flinch from the full implications of their approach.
Let me now turn to the second risk, a partial or total collapse into simple first-order democracy. Here the risk is that the demos will be unable to tolerate the existence or authority of non-democratic institutions, even if those institutions have been chosen at the second-order level by wise democrats who seek to bind their own hands against myopia, weakness of the will, blinding passion, or other forms of collective improvidence over time.3 The classical example is the episode of the Arginusae generals, hurried to their deaths in 406 BCE by an ad hoc order of the inflamed Athenian assembly. Although extant second-order rules required a jury trial and thus constrained the first-order decisions of the democracy, a critical mass of the assembly shouted that “it is shocking not to let the people do whatever they wish;”4 and what they wished to do, right then anyway, was to order the execution en masse of a set of specialized military commanders whose innovative tactics had in fact won the naval battle at issue, although a storm had prevented them from rescuing a number of stranded Athenian sailors.
What exactly is wrong with the slogan the assembly shouted? I think there are two ways to understand the problem, one conceptual and one motivational. In the conceptual version, it is a fallacy of division to assume that if a given polity is democratic overall, then every institution and lawmaking procedure within the democratic order must itself be run on democratic lines. On the contrary, some set of non-democratic procedures or countermajoritarian institutions, such as constitutional judicial review, an appointed civil service or a specialized military corps, may be a necessary balance-wheel against unconstrained first-order democracy, precisely in order to sustain second-order democracy over time.5 Yet this fallacy of division is commonly observed in constitutional theory, where people go on endlessly about the “countermajoritarian difficulty”6 posed by particular non-democratic institutions at the first order, even when the relevant institution itself has an impeccable second-order democratic pedigree. It may not be too highfaluting to attribute a similar mistake to passionate first-order democrats like the members of the Athenian assembly, who slip too quickly from the premise that the regime should be democratic to the conclusion that every decision within the regime should be made by the assembled demos.
On the motivational interpretation, second-order democracy suffers from a problem of commitment or time-inconsistency: precisely when and because the demos contains too many passionate first-order democrats, second-order democracy will be unable to commit, over time, to a fully intelligent and pragmatic choice among first-order institutional forms and procedures. In particular, pragmatically desirable countermajoritarian institutions, and technologies of collective self-binding, will be incentive-incompatible and thus out of reach.
Of course all this just identifies a risk, not an iron law, but it is a risk that has materialized over and over again in observed democracies; Johnson and Knight seem sanguine about the stability and incentive-compatibility of whatever institutional decisions the second-order democracy happens to make. The Arginusae episode is dramatic, but the same issue constantly arises on a smaller scale in modern polities. Sensible technocratic decisions by risk-regulation experts, for example, are constantly vulnerable to override by inflamed first-order democratic publics,7 even if second-order democrats would prefer that risk-regulation experts enjoy substantial autonomy from irrational first-order public beliefs and emotions.
The two risks I have identified have a common implication. At bottom, the public psychology of a second-order democracy threatens to be intrinsically unstable. It is not clear whether it can remain both second-order and a democracy; one or the other feature may have to go. The Athenians who (may have) shouted that “it is shocking not to let the people do whatever they wish,” in a first-order sense, are the predictable result of a political theory that endorses democracy in a second-order sense. The endorsement tells the people that they are competent to manage complex questions of institutional allocation, and it is not obvious — even when it is true — why that high level of competence does not also entail competence to make first-order decisions. Anticipating this, officials within the regime, especially elected officials, will shy away from expounding upon the limited first-order competence of the people. Let me give Walter Bagehot the last word on the subject:
A people never hears censure of itself. No one will tell it that the educated minority whom it dethroned governed better or more wisely than it governs. A democracy will never, save after an awful catastrophe, return what has once been conceded to it, for to do so would be to admit an inferiority in itself, of which, except by some almost unbearable misfortune, it could never be convinced.8
For the notion of a “second-order assembly of democrats” designing first-order institutions and allocating powers among them, see Adrian Vermeule, MECHANISMS OF DEMOCRACY: INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN WRIT SMALL 246 (2007). ↩
“Second-order democracy” is my term, whereas Johnson and Knight refer more elaborately to the “second-order priority of democracy.” I use the former phrase merely as shorthand, for whatever institutional arrangements they envision as instantiating and enforcing the latter. ↩
For an intrapersonal debate over the feasibility and desirability of collective self-binding, compare Jon Elster, ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS (1984) with Jon Elster, ULYSSES UNBOUND (2000). ↩
At least in Xenophon’s telling. See XENOPHON, HELLENICA I-IV (Trans. Charleton L. Brownson) (Loeb Classical Library 1968) pp. 71-85. For an overview of the episode and the failure of the graphe paronomon procedure that was supposed to enforce the second-order commitment, see Adriaan Lanni & Adrian Vermeule, Precautionary Constitutionalism in Ancient Athens 19-20 (available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2115570 ). For my purposes it isn’t important whether (1) the episode actually occurred as Xenophon claims, or (2) whether the episode was militarily disastrous for Athens, as the conventional wisdom has it. (For the view that the Athenian democracy partially recovered and managed to create new and stable mechanisms of democratic self-constraint in the 4th century BCE, see Josiah Ober, DEMOCRACY AND KNOWLEDGE: INNOVATION AND LEARNING IN CLASSICAL ATHENS (2008)). Whatever the historical truth about those matters, Xenophon’s version provides a usefully vivid thought-experiment to illustrate one type of risk that afflicts second-order democracy. ↩
See Adrian Vermeule, THE SYSTEM OF THE CONSTITUTION 50-56 (2011). ↩
See Alexander Bickel, THE LEAST DANGEROUS BRANCH 16 (1962). ↩
See, e.g, Timur Kuran & Cass R. Sunstein, Availability Cascades and Risk Regulation, 51 STAN. L. REV. 683 (1999). ↩
Walter Bagehot, THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION 36-37 (Oxford World’s Classics ed. 2001). ↩ | <urn:uuid:7ef288ff-5e85-46a4-b245-168c233549c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://crookedtimber.org/2013/02/19/two-risks-for-second-order-democracy/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927423 | 2,842 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment
Pancreatitis demands prompt medical attention. During an acute attack, there is the potential for the pancreas to be destroyed within a matter of hours and complications can be life-threatening.
It usually is not possible to prevent most single incident acute pancreatitis attacks or to detect them early. Recurrent acute pancreatitis may be caused by a combination of genetic risk and modifying factors, such as alcoholism. Attacks associated with alcoholism, typically involving several years of moderate to heavy alcohol consumption, are usually precipitated by an episode of binge drinking. There may or may not have been earlier warning pains that could have been addressed by seeking medical attention. In the case of gallstones or other causes of acute pancreatitis, there usually is no warning before the attack.
Treatment usually consists of pain control and fasting to "rest" the pancreas for several days to a few weeks until symptoms subside. People are hospitalized during this time period, and all fluids and nutrition are given intravenously (IV). Complications such as infections are monitored and treated. If the acute pancreatitis is due to gallstones, surgery may be necessary, including removal of the gallbladder.
Chronic pancreatitis is treated by trying to prevent future attacks, minimizing pancreatic damage, and by addressing damage already done. Abstention from alcohol is critical in helping to prevent additional attacks. A low-fat diet may be prescribed to reduce the burden on the pancreas and pancreatic enzymes may be given to alleviate insufficiencies and malabsorption. The affected person also may need to supplement their diet with fat-soluble vitamins and calcium. Glucose (blood sugar) is often monitored, and insulin injections may be given if the person has become diabetic. Oral diabetic medications do not usually work in these cases.
Pain control is an important part of treatment as there may have ongoing moderate to severe pain. Patients may be given narcotics and antidepressants. As time progresses and pancreas function diminishes, the pain level may drop.
Surgery may be necessary in some cases to remove all or part of the pancreas and/or to remove or bypass obstructions. It should be noted that the pancreas is very difficult to operate on.
Those with chronic pancreatitis are at a higher risk for developing pancreatic cancer. As a doctor monitors someone with chronic pancreatitis, he also will be watching for cancer. | <urn:uuid:4ec20b09-3cd8-4412-80c6-fec8c96e16d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://labtestsonline.org/index.php/understanding/conditions/pancreatitis/start/3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954391 | 498 | 3.171875 | 3 |
One of the most difficult things to do when designing a throwback, old school Dungeons and Dragons game is to figure out the house rules for alignment. Alignment is simultaneously of little and huge importance in the game. Most particularly, the little boxes that it puts the PCs in is simultaneously an ingenious way of settling into character and the most limiting, unrealistic part of the game.
This is further confused by alignment restrictions in game — Paladins must be Lawful Good. Druids must be True Neutral. Clerics should mimic their god’s alignment (or not). Rangers must be Good.
What does this all mean? How do we incorporate into our game?
House Rule 1: Steal from 4E
One of the good things about the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons is that it has an alignment choice of “unaligned”. House rule number one is to allow unaligned characters into the game. PCs are permitted to lack a worldview.
PCs can now be good, evil, lawful, chaotic, lawful good, lawful evil, chaotic good or chaotic evil. Or unaligned.
Neutral has also disappeared from our alignment list. We will have to revisit this later, before deciding whether or not neutrality has a place in our game.
Most characters in the game world — and likely most of the PCs — ought to be unaligned. After all, who sits around wondering if their actions are Lawful or Chaotic, Good or Evil?
Theologians and philosophers, that’s who. When was the last time you saw a theologian or philosopher battling a gelatinous cube in a dungeon?
House Rule 2: Define your terms
The Player’s Handbook goes through each alignment and gives it a strict definition.
For instance, Lawful Neutral:
Those of this alignment view regulation as all-important, taking a middle road betwixt evil and good. This is because the ultimate harmony of the world -and the whole of the universe – is considered by lawful neutral creatures to have its sole hope rest upon law and order. Evil or good are immaterial beside the determined purpose of bringing all to
predictability and regulation.
With something similarly heavy for each alignment, it is difficult to see how two PCs of differing alignments could ever coexist throughout an entire adventuring campaign. Additionally, one cannot simply be Lawful. One must also choose “good”, “evil”, or decide that such a choice is “immaterial” and purposely take a “middle road” between them.
The good/evil and law/chaos axes, however, are difficult to define and fraught with philosophical wonderings. This is dangerous stuff for the DM who just wants to get on with it. Yet it must be done.
Law vs Chaos
The first edition of AD&D defines Chaotic Neutral as follows:
Above respect for life and good, or disregard for life and promotion of evil, the chaotic neutral places randomness and disorder. Good and evil are complimentary balance arms. Neither are preferred, nor must either prevail, for ultimate chaos would then suffer.
Lawful seeks out order, regulation and predictability; chaos seeks randomness and disorder. “Randomness” appears repeatedly throughout all the chaotic alignments, which has lead more than one gamer to play chaotic characters as crazy (which is not an alignment at all).
“Law and order”, on the other hand, is the recurring phrase throughout the lawful alignments.
This, as you might have guessed, seems most unsatisfactory. Must a lawful character always obey the law? Clearly the answer is no — a Lawful Good character, for example, would face quite the dilemma with an evil law. But what of a Lawful Neutral character? What of a law that formented disorder? Must all laws be good? What happens when a law of the church conflicts with a law of the state?
So what do Law and Chaos mean?
One of my favourite definitions comes courtesy of Jeff Rients:
Ragnarok just started. Aligned on one side are the Kirby versions of Thor, Odin, etc. On the other side are Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath. Where does your PC stand?
A) I fight alongside Thor!
B) I fight alongside Cthulhu!
C) Where do I stand? Are you crazy? I get the hell out of there and find a place to hide!
If you answered A your character is Lawful. If you answered B then your character is Chaotic. If you chose C then you’re Neutral.
We like this definition.
Lawful characters approve of the system in which things work. They do not necessarily believe in order (as in “law & order”), but they believe in the way things are ordered. Sky above. Earth below. And so on.
Chaotic characters disapprove of the system of things, and seek to usurp it — or would seek to usurp it, if they had an opportunity, and could be bothered.
Essentially, it takes a law-and-order VS anti-establishment point of view, but elevates it to a cosmic level. We love this, at the Big Bad Blog.
For many, their position vis-a-vis the cosmic law/chaos debate will likely also reflect their day-to-day interactions with more earthly authorities, but nothing stops a chaotic character from being an upstanding and involved citizen of the metropolis. A lawful character can be a lone anarchist looking to bring down the government. These situations are unlikely, not impossible.
Good vs Evil
With Law and Chaos sorted, we now enter the even more difficult minefield of “good” and “evil”. From the Player’s Handbook:
Neutral Evil: The neutral evil creature views law and chaos as unnecessary considerations, for pure evil is all-in-all. Either might be used, but both are disdained as foolish clutter useless in eventually bringing maximum
evilness to the world.
Neutral Good: Unlike those directly opposite them (neutral evil) in alignment, creatures of neutral good believe that there must be some regulation in combination with freedoms if the best is to be brought to the world – the most beneficial conditions for living things in general and intelligent creatures in particular.
Completely useless tripe. “Maximum evilness”? “The most beneficial conditions”?
Other good and evil alignments seem to equate good or evil on the value that a person gives to “life”, “beauty” and “freedom”. Presumably the life and freedom of others (not oneself). Beauty … well there’s another philosophical trap there — the DM already has enough of those on his plate, thank you very much.
But this gives us something to work with, and we state our good/evil paradigm as follows:
Good characters are those who fight for others. They hold a respect for the rights of others (what these rights are might be defined by some other ethos), and actively look to fight for these rights. At the extreme end of the spectrum, a good character is willing to make personal sacrifices to fight for the rights of others.
Evil characters could not care the least for others. They are not necessarily completely self-interested — they could be worshippers of a god, or devoted to some philosophy or higher purpose — but the evil character would not hesitate to torture, kill, imprison or otherwise brutalize complete innocents, if they can see that they personally benefit (or their chosen cause benefits) from this activity. At the extreme end of the spectrum, an evil character actually enjoys one (or more) of these activities and would go out of their way to participate in it.
Again, most people would be unaligned on the good/evil scale. Most of us are not active actors for other people’s rights, but we still respect them. This is an imperfect definition, to be sure, but while we are all fairly certain of how a good character should be played, our evil characters tend to be caricatures, if we are just trying to maximize our evilness.
Once again, good characters are capable of killing innocents, so long as doing so is a sacrifice for the greater good. Evil characters do not (necessarily) need to step on everybody they can — but they will do so if it happens to be convenient.
Beyond good and evil
One thing that gets lost in the lawful/chaotic/good/evil discussion is that there exist ethos beyond the alignment system.
Lawful Good, for example, seems to have been co-opted by the Paladin class who must exemplify by-the-book Lawful Goodness. And in doing so, destroy the entire alignment for everybody else.
Of course, nothing stops a character — or a class — from having an ethos beyond that of their alignment. Clerics ought to take their ethos from the god they worship. Paladins have their whole Paladin code, and so on. Druids have their philosophy of balance.
So what happens to neutrality?
True Neutral: The “true” neutral looks upon all other alignments as facets of the system of things. Thus, each aspect – evil and good, chaos and law – of things must be retained in balance to maintain the status quo; for things as they are cannot be improved upon except temporarily, and even then but superficially. Nature will prevail and keep things as they were meant to be, provided the “wheel” surrounding the hub of nature does not become unbalanced due to the work of unnatural forces – such as human and other intelligent creatures interfering with what is meant to be.
True neutrality has always seemed a little out of whack to me. Using the Player’s Handbook‘s own definitions, how is True Neutral seeking …
… balance between Law and Chaos, where Chaos is “randomness” and Law “law and order”? It sounds like the True Neutral — waiting for Nature to prevail, and standing against the interference of intelligent creatures — ought to be (passively) chaotic.
… balance between Good and Evil, where good respects freedom and life, and evil seeks the end to freedom and life? (Presumably the goal of those who are maximizing evilness).
True Neutral sounds a lot like Chaotic Good to us – not the textbook version of it, where each alignment has its own peculiar definition, but taking the concepts of “Chaotic” and “Good” as expressed, and combining them. Experience has taught us that there are two types of True Neutral characters — those that are a pain in the ass, trying to play Switzerland in an individual, and those that are playing what we consider to be a de-facto Chaotic Good.
We do not like True Neutral.
Using our revised definitions, True Neutral would represent a “balance” between trying to uphold the current cosmological order of things, and usurp it. And a balance between fighting for and repressing the freedoms of others.
None of this makes sense. We still dislike True Neutral.
The Druids can have something like True Neutral, as a class ethos, but for your Big Bad Blogger, True Neutral kind of stinks.
House Rule 3: Redefining alignment restrictions
In D&D, Clerics are traditionally unrestricted in terms of alignment. Not so in my games.
A Cleric or Priest character is heavily invested in the current cosmological order. All clerics or priests must therefore be Lawful, Lawful Good, or Lawful Evil. Exceptions can be made for this rule, if the cleric/priest worships the Cthulu in the example above, or a god that otherwise wishes to usurp the order of things. In these cases, the cleric can be Chaotic.
A cleric or priest must be Lawful or Chaotic.
Additionally, a cleric’s alignment may be restricted (on a good/evil basis) based on the god he or she follows. All clerics or priests will be additionally restricted by their god’s ethos.
Druids have no alignment restrictions.
They are, however, restricted by an ethos which resembles “True Neutral” above. They believe that those things that influence human activity, be they greed, compassion, the rule of law, or the directives of the divine, are themselves forces of nature which balance.
Paladins are no longer restricted to being Lawful Good. They must, however, continue to be Lawful.
Additionally, Paladins (as part of religious military orders) face other restrictions in terms of ethos, as per traditional Paladins.
Rangers, Assassins and Monks
The Ranger’s restriction (good alignments only) remains. This is rationalised from the origins of the class in Tolkien’s books.
The Monk’s Lawful restriction also remains — this is in keeping with the notes on Paladins and Clerics above. It is an interesting thought to have Chaotic Monks, but these would have to be NPCs, or to be a well-thought-out part of a game.
The Assassin class has never sat well with us, as it seems more like a thief with a particular profession. However, a free-willed assassin ought to be evil in our books.
Why have alignment at all?
Before calling that a wrap, we feel that we should comment on why we would include alignment at all in our game.
It is certainly a good question — most current systems do not include alignments, and when we played D&D as a youngster, alignment was house-ruled out, or otherwise disregarded.
But in building a game with an “old school” feel, it seems wrong to rob it of one of the key aspects of the game. Spells such as Detect Evil and Protection from Evil do not mean much without the alignment system. It simply comes down to the feeling that a character in a throwback game ought to have an alignment on their character sheet.
Once that decision was made, the trouble of making alignment palatable to your blogger reared its head. The above is the best solution we have at present.
We do wonder how others choose to tackle alignment. Please leave a comment and let us know. | <urn:uuid:97718752-6047-4912-ac9c-49729265d41e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrtopp.com/tag/house-rules/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951716 | 2,997 | 2.421875 | 2 |
health law: an overview
Broadly defined, health law includes the law of public health, health care generally, and medical care specifically. Preserving public health is a primary duty of the state. Health regulations and laws are therefore almost all administered at the state level. Many states delegate authority to subordinate govermental agencies such as boards of health. These boards are created by legislative acts.
Federal health law focuses on the activity of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It administers a wide variety of agencies and programs, like providing financial assistance to needy individuals; conducting medical and scientific research; providing health care and advocacy services; and enforcing laws and regulations related to human services. An important part of the HHS are the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversee the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. Their goal is to ensure that elderly and needy individuals receive proper medical care.
Private health insurance originated with the Blue Cross system in 1929. The underlying principle was to spread the risk of high hospitalization bills between all individuals. Whether sick or healthy, all school teachers and hospital employees in the Dallas area had to join, ensuring that the risk was spread through a large number of individuals. Blue Shield was later developed under the same principle.
Today, many people receive health care through health maintenance organizations (HMO's). Managed care essentially creates a triangle relationship between physician, patient, and payer. Physicians are paid a flat per-member per-month fee for basic health care services, regardless of whether the patient seeks those services. The risk that a patient is going to require significant treatment shifts from the insurance company to the physicians under this model. Because of the importance of the industry, HMO's are heavily regulated. On the federal level the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 governs. | <urn:uuid:9735cfa4-59c9-4bbc-868b-5838b58bb98d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/Health?quicktabs_3=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959781 | 362 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Dear Saxena ji,
Thank you for inquiry.
West facing windows can be a big source of heat, first measure which you...
Why all these are not applicable to Tuticorin port or the one planned in AP or WB ?
What an eye opener! As an environmental engineer,disposal of sanitary napkins has always been a concern during waste...
India has no fool-proof test for biodegradable plastic
Sometimes you might go to a shop and in spite of protests handed a plastic bag. The bag will perish naturally, the shop attendant might tell you. In the past three years, different kinds of plastics claiming to be biodegradable, have entered the Indian market. But most of these brands that sell such bags do not meet Indian standards. The ones that do pass the test, are also being questioned as authorities are not equipped to test for 100 per cent degradability.
In September 2009, the Union environment ministry proposed the Plastic (Manufacture, Usage and Waste Management) Rules. These rules describe biodegradable plastics as “ones that can be composted to leave only organic material”—plastics that degrade through biological processes to yield carbon dioxide, water and biomass, and leave no toxic residue. For testing these plastics, the rules have prescribed the BIS benchmark. For a compostable plastic, the benchmark is that a minimum 60 per cent of the polymer degrades within 45 days. In 2009, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) tested plastics claiming to be biodegradable. Four of the nine samples taken fr om manufacturers, restaurants and hospitals in and around Delhi passed the test, said S P Gautam, chairperson of CPCB.
The CPCB report identifies two kinds of plastics, which claimed to be biodegradable but only partially so— oxo-degradable plastics, which break down when exposed to sunlight or oxygen, and semi-biodegradable plastics blends of plant starch and polyethylene (polymer used for polybags). Oxodegradable plastics only break into smaller bits, which remain in the environment. They leave traces of cobalt, lead or manganese, research by the European Plastics Recyclers Association showed. In semi-biodegradable plastics, only the starch component decomposes.
When “biodegradable” bags were introduced in America in the 1980s, it was found that polyethylene strains remained in the compost, hindering plant growth, said CPCB report. “These plastics remain in a fragmented state for years in the environment, making them as toxic as normal plastic,” said Bharati Chaturvedi, a member of the expert group set up by the ministry to examine the draft plastic rule.
High demand for plastics
As against the consumption of eight million tonnes of plastic in India in 2009, about 300 tonnes of compostable plastic and 5,000 tonnes of oxo-degradable plastics are consumed annually in the country, said Perses Billimoria of Earth Soul Limited, which has got BIS certification. The reason is that oxodegradable plastic sells between Rs 90- 120 per kg while compostable plastics films/bags sell between Rs 400-500 per kg. Earth Soul imports starch from vegetable oil derivatives. “Compostable plastic uses plant starch as raw material that is imported since the Indian market is not big enough to set up a facility to pro cess plant starch,” Billimoria added.
India’s limited composting facility is also a concern, said Shyamala Maini, member of working group on plastic waste. The environment ministry estimates that India has a capacity to process about 6,000 tonnes of mixed waste into compost per day whereas about 10,000 tonnes per day of plastic waste is generated in India.
Chaturvedi questions even starchbased compostable plastic as the mystery remains around the remaining 40 per cent of the plastic, for which degradability test has not yet been conducted by CPCB, she said. | <urn:uuid:9ab60d5a-2a2c-4a48-824f-67ea0a6e3df1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/1920 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941104 | 834 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Thirty-one states — mostly southern states and the east coast — have been hit hard, with widespread activity. Widespread activity is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “outbreaks of influenza or increases in influenza-like illness cases and recent laboratory-confirmed influenza in at least half the regions of the state with recent laboratory evidence of influenza in the state.”
This is the earliest regular flu season the U.S. has experienced in nearly a decade. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a telebriefing last month that the last time it came this early was the 2003-2004 season.
“That was an early and severe flu year, and while flu is always unpredictable, the early nature of the cases as well as the specific strains we're seeing suggest that this could be a bad flu year,” Frieden said.
The strains seen this year are Influenza A, or H3N2; the 2009 Influenza A, or H1N1; and Influenza B. In years where H3N2 strains were dominate, there was a severe flu season. H3N2 first appeared in 1968 and the H1N1 virus showed up in the 2010-2010 season.
Both A and B are significant viral strains. This season, at least 52 percent of confirmed cases have been type A.
All strains of the influenza virus change its antigenic properties, or mutate, regularly, which is why scientists have not been able to eradicate the virus.
But health officials are confident that the strains circulating today “match” this year's vaccine.
Health care providers reiterate that the flu is a serious disease. The CDC estimates that from the 1976-1977 season to the 2006-2007 flu season, flu-related deaths ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.
In addition, the flu can create secondary infections, particularly among people who have a suppressed immune system, or those with heart disease, diabetes and asthma.
Between Oct. 1, and Dec. 29, there were 2,257 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations reported, according to the CDC. That's a rate of 8.1 per 100,000 population. Among all hospitalizations, 85.2 percent were associated with influenza A and 13.8 percent with influenza B.
The flu season began in late September and saw a spike by late November, according to the CDC. Typically, a peak in the season is around January or February.
It's difficult to pinpoint actual numbers locally, because the flu is not a reportable event. However, sentinel providers help to determine the extent of the illness by reporting to local health departments or cooperating with the CDC.
Dr. Jonathan MacClements, Smith County Health Authority and chairman of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler's Department of Family Medicine, said local hospitals have reported high numbers to the Northeast Texas Public Health District and notified medical staff to be aware of the spike.
Antivirals and prevention
“They don't treat influenza,” MacClements said. “They shorten the length of the illness and they reduce the effect of the virus. So you'll still have the flu, you'll just have a shorter, less serious form of it.”
In recent weeks, there has been a demand for the medications, but MacClements said there is no shortage.
“There is no manufacturing shortage of Tamiflu,” he said. “What may have occurred in that incidence is a couple of pharmacies may have been out of stock and have to order for their local supply and they would be in the next day. But at this time, what I can see talking to the pharmacies, there is no shortage of Tamiflu. Within our community at the moment there are some facilities that have back orders on some of their vaccines and they're saving the vaccines for those who are at higher risk, but the vaccine is still available and we still encourage everybody who hasn't had their vaccination that they seek out a place where they can get vaccinated.”
By the beginning of December, there were about 123 million doses of vaccines available nationwide and the CDC estimated that 112 million people had been vaccinated up until then.
In addition to getting the vaccine, MacClements said practicing simple, preventive measures is the best way people can protect themselves from the flu.
“It's a preventable disease,” he said. “The vaccine is effective. You don't get the flu from the vaccine. It helps ensure that you don't get an infection.”
Preventive measures includes proper hand washing or use of a hand sanitizer. To help stifle the spread of the flu, MacClements recommends covering coughs and staying home if feeling ill or running a fever.
Last season, there was a mild flu season that begun relatively late but there are no clear-cut answers as to why the flu season started early this year.
Dr. Dr. Amir Shams, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, believes more vaccinations should have been given three months ago, at the start of the flu season. He also noted that people should also remember to get the shot each year, as virus strains change.
“This is a very important point— that people have lost the sense of priority for vaccination,” he said. “To me, the main part might be that people have not gotten vaccinated early enough or at all. That's why we have very early signs of an endemic of influenza … If you're immune against last year's strain, your body can detect those viruses this year too. The problem is when you have an antigenic shift, a totally different virus is being generated and our immunity cannot conquer it.”
Shams said most flu cases originate in large cities or crowded areas such as places with public transportation systems. Schools and colleges are also hotbeds for flu.
“If I get influenza and get on public transportation I can infect at least 1,000 people with a couple of coughs in the train, in the metro, because it's in a closed area,” Shams said.
He said there is no correlation between the transmission of the flu virus and weather. He did note that as it gets colder, people stay indoors more.
“There's a possibility of sharing all kinds of microbes (indoors), including the influenza virus,” he said.
Shams' team of researchers has been working since 2007 to understand the mechanisms of immunomodulators – chemicals found in the body that regulate the immune system – and how they enhance the body's defense against the flu virus.
He is now waiting for additional grants to continue an expanded project. Shams recently extended his investigation into seeing if boosting the body's innate immunity can also prevent secondary infections such as bacterial pneumonia. | <urn:uuid:18942d4d-a5ea-4b80-8481-7a058dacc416> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20130107/NEWS01/130109855/0/RELIGION10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970963 | 1,449 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Earlier this month, our colleagues on the Wheels blog wrote about a federal database that may help protect consumers from unwittingly buying used cars that suffered water damage from Hurricane Sandy.
Water can damage electrical systems and even cause airbags to malfunction. After big storms, unscrupulous types can help bring such cars to market, often in distant states.
The post noted that you can check information about a vehicle’s history and condition at vehiclehistory.gov, the electronic database overseen by the Department of Justice. (Reports are available for fees ranging from $2.95 to $12.99 each.)
But you should also be aware of what signs to look for when shopping for a used car because there are gaps in the federal database (and in private databases, too). Not all states fully participate in the federal system yet, according to the system’s Web site.
So here are some tips from both consumer advocates and car dealers.
These are suggestions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:
– Check for high-water marks — using a flashlight is best — on the car’s engine, wheel wells, trunk and even the glove compartment.
– Smell the interior. Do the upholstery and carpeting smell mildewed or moldy? Turn on the air-conditioning and see if the airflow smells rank.
– Does the radio work? A non-functional radio can be a sign of water damage.
Meanwhile, suggestions from the National Automobile Dealers Association include these:
– Consider checking the car’s title history by the vehicle identification number through a commercial service, like Experian’s Auto Check (www.autocheck.com). The report ($29.99 for a single vehicle) may state whether a car has sustained flood damage.
– Check for rust on screws in the console or other areas where the water would normally not reach unless the car was submerged.
Edmunds.com, the automotive Web site, also advises that fogging inside headlights may be an indicator of water damage.
Have you encountered a car for sale that you suspect had water damage? What did you do? | <urn:uuid:bd9bb82e-8fbb-4a5a-9c75-9def9250f34d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/how-to-spot-a-water-damaged-car/?ref=hurricanesandtropicalstorms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926348 | 439 | 2.140625 | 2 |
When I first received the Yoshi Blade as a gift, I was very excited to have this new utensil. With its clean-looking “santoku” design blade and slightly heavy soft-grip handle, it was a promising addition to my kitchenware collection. However, I was a bit nervous about the sharpness of the blade, as described by the large warning label affixed to its protective cover.
I used the Yoshi Blade to prepare two or three meals and cut chicken, onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers, parsnips, cucumber and probably more. It worked wonderfully, slicing cleanly and with ease.
Unfortunately, the last time I used it I noticed a chipping sound. In retrospect, I had made the mistake of using it with a glass cutting board, which broke the tip of the knife made of the “second hardest material known to man”—as stated by the makers of the Yoshi Blade—zirconium oxide. Looking closely, I also noticed chipping along the edge of the blade, which made me worry that some of it might have made it in my food.
According to the user manual, which I neglected to read thoroughly, the Yoshi Blade should only be used with wood or plastic cutting boards. Other important notes of use include never using it to cut frozen foods, to carve meat with bones, or slicing hard cheeses. The blade should only be used for slicing, never for chopping, smashing garlic (with the blade on its side), should never be twisted or cleaned with steel wool or other abrasives. The Yoshi Blade is also not dishwasher safe.
The caution printed in bold at the end of the user manual does acknowledge that damage may occur to the tip of the blade, stating that this does not affect the performance of the blade. However, there is no mention of what to expect or do if this material makes it into your food.
There is also no mention of another problem—perhaps not a problem as much as an annoyance—being that the blade will stain after slicing certain colourful vegetables such as carrots. The peeler included in the package, though it works great and has suffered no damage, also got stained after a few uses.
While the Yoshi Blade is a good product for the price (retailing at about $20), users must certainly be aware of its limitations and be sure to follow the warmings printed in the manual. The Yoshi Blade must be used and handled with great care and though its packaging states that it will stay sharper than stainless steel, it by no means can replace steel knives in your kitchen.
-- Nathalie Caron-- | <urn:uuid:8b4ee1b0-8d45-43d2-99e9-8e766f7ff1e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bryehn.net/2010/11/yoshi-blade-review/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97516 | 541 | 1.703125 | 2 |
- California Literary Review - http://calitreview.com -
The Art of Japanese Internment Camps at the Renwick Gallery
Posted By Alix McKenna On March 15, 2010 @ 11:46 pm In After Image,Art | No Comments
The internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II was one of the most egregious civil rights abuses in our nation’s history. While our government has apologized for this unwarranted imprisonment of people, this dark period of U.S. history and its effect on the interned Japanese has yet to be fully integrated into our collective cultural memory. An exhibition at the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC titled The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946 showcases objects made by internees. The museum’s website tells us that the Japanese word ‘gaman’ means “to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.” This moving show explores how creativity served as a necessary way of acquiring needful things that were otherwise unavailable, provided an outlet for frustration, and reinforced bonds in a painful and alienating time.
The exhibition focuses on the individuals behind the crafts as well as the objects on display. Each work is accompanied by a short text about its creator. Perhaps the museum’s humanistic focus is a result of guest curator, Delphine Hirasuan’s personal connection to the topic. Ms. Hirasuan first came up with the idea for the show after discovering a small bird pin that had belonged to her deceased mother. When she asked her father about the piece’s origin, he informed her that it had probably come “from camp.”
Many of the stories in the exhibition are heart wrenching. Several beautiful agate and silver rings were made by Shizuo Sasaki for his family. Before the war, Mr. Sasaki had been a gardener and community organizer in Berkeley. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he was arrested, separated from his family and interned in a camp in North Dakota. Mr. Sasaki was eventually allowed to rejoin his loved ones in a camp in Utah, but soon after, he was classified as a troublemaker and was sent to another facility in Texas. He was not reunited with his family until after the war.
A marble bust of a woman seems out of place amongst the collection of artifacts made from scavenged materials. The artist, Isamu Noguchi was a renowned New York sculptor before the war. Because he was a Nisei, or second generation, the government’s internment order did not apply to Noguchi. Nevertheless, he was tormented by what he saw happening to the members of his community. Noguchi lobbied unsuccessfully in Washington on behalf of his fellow internees. He eventually concluded that he could be more useful to his community volunteering in a camp. Noguchi voluntarily entered the Poston camp in Arizona, where he organized a craft guild. Nonetheless, he soon found life in the camp to be unbearable. Although he had originally been told that he could leave at will, Noguchi found that to the camp’s administrator’s he was indistinguishable from the other internees and his request to leave was denied. His piece in the show is a portrait of the actress, Ginger Rogers, who posed for its creation. Noguchi completed the bust during his internment
Despite its tragic subject matter, this show is careful to highlight the communitarian nature of craft in the camps and how the artists in the show used creativity to transcend their unfortunate circumstances. Art was not simply an individual outlet but a way of bringing together a fractured community. Those in the camps who were particularly skilled in a craft offered classes where they shared their knowledge with other internees. Several small dolls on display, made by made out of old kimono material, thread, toilet paper, pipe cleaners, and scrap wood were crafted by students of Sho Tabata, an instructor interned Topaz, Utah.
Overall The Art of the Gaman is a well-curated, thoroughly moving exhibit. Many of the objects are incredibly beautiful, and even the clumsier ones show an extraordinary attention to detail. The show shines some light on the pain and drudgery of camp life while proving how creativity can provide a silver lining that makes the unbearable seem bearable. The exhibition also allows these objects, some of which had been boxed up for decades, to be displayed. Many of the former internees discarded or put away their camp crafts after their release. These works served as brutal reminders of a terrible time. Tragically, some artists even abandoned their craft all together. Akira Oye, who had been a farmer before the war, taught himself to carve beautiful wooden animals while interned. After his release, he never carved again.
Article printed from California Literary Review: http://calitreview.com
URL to article: http://calitreview.com/7701/the-art-of-japanese-internment-camps-at-the-renwick-gallery/
URLs in this post:
A More Perfect Union: http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/collection/ | <urn:uuid:d9104386-9ed2-46e4-a93f-c20d8fa5c418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://calitreview.com/7701/the-art-of-japanese-internment-camps-at-the-renwick-gallery/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977016 | 1,086 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Arab, Persian and Turkish Sound-Cultures
CAVEAT: not only are Arab, Persian or Iranian and Turkish cultures distinct, their musical cultures are also distinct from each other. However, there are some elements of practice and approach that are shared and the musical examples used in class came from all three cultures.
PRIMARY INTERPRETIVE FOCUS
Music is often considered to be a "good thing" without question; however Arab-Islamic culture is an example in which the sensuality of music, particularly rhythm, is regarded with suspicion. The results of that attitude, combined with the Islamic respect for scientific and rationalistic thinking, produce an inclination toward an elaborate music theory that has had direct influence on the performance and creation of music. The interesting exception: Sufi attitudes about music and spirituality.
Recommended websites: http://www.turath.org/ProfilesMenu.htm, referred to below;
An interesting way of laying out information is in this “knowledge web”: http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M345/knowledge_webs/2Arab_MusicN/C1.htm.
A longer, more conventionally structured and ordered source is on the following pages:
· Arab Music - Part One Ali Jihad Racy and Jack Logan
· Arab Music - Part Two Ali Jihad Racy and Jack Logan
· Arab Music - Part Three Ali Jihad Racy and Jack Logan
· Arab Music - Part Four Ali Jihad Racy and Jack Logan
Some Shared Components of Arab, Persian and Turkish Sound-Cultures
I. Musical Specifics
A. Pitch –
1. scales - a complex system of maqam: a two-octave scale or mode that has intervals of 2, 3, 4, or 5 quarter tones between each pitch. Some 70 are in use. Hear them at this terrific website: Arabic Maqam World.
2. melodic tendencies: highly ornamented, often staying within a narrow ambitus, and gradually moving to other registers. Harmony is generally not a consideration for this primarily melodic music.
B. Rhythm -- a wide range of tempos are used from fast to slow. Meters can be additive (asymmetrical) or feature odd numbers such as five. More importantly, the music is marked by the use of rhythmic modes. These have more detail than the general concept of meter, featuring particular patterns of rhythmic accents played on percussion instruments. A taksim performance would stress the gradual transition back-and-forth between sections with no sense of pulse or meter to one's with a sense of pulse and meter. Adzhan or khandan (Persian), the call-to-prayer and recitation of the Koran, generally avoids any sense of pulse, repetition or meter.
C. Form -- how is the music organized? Repetition large and small? This depends heavily on the genre. A taksim (improvised performance piece) is a very free variation form with very little discernible repetition. Other examples repeat phrases.
D. Texture -- sung recitation of the Koran is usually monophonic, as is a solo performance of a taksim; ensemble performance tends to be a mixture of homorhythmic and heterophonic with fairly uniform or well-coordinated rhythms.
E. Timbre --
1. instrumental preferences: two instruments were discussed, the ud (oud) and the double clarinet that was demonstrated in class.
2. vocal preferences are for an intense, penetrating sound, techniques include florid ornamentation and vocal shakes (wide trills) known as tahrir (Persian).
F. Sound intensity -- as we heard in class, the dynamic range of a taksim performance can range from silence to moderately loud.
II. Social Organization of Music
A. Who can participate (play, listen, make instruments) in this music? Who is excluded?
B. How many musicians are appropriate for an ensemble? Solo music is more prestigious; ensembles may include 5-10 players. Is there a distinction between musician and audience member or is there a continuum of roles? Is there such a thing as a “musician” or an “audience”? There is a rigid distinction between musician and audience.
C. Transmission -- how is the music learned and passed on to others? “In many Arab capitals today, traditional Arab music and Western music are taught in government institutions organized in the Western conservatory tradition.” (from http://www.turath.org/ProfilesMenu.htm). Nettl describes the process of learning hundreds of tunes to form an individual’s personal vocabulary for improvisation.
D. Social status of musicians: the musicologist Bruno Nettl observe that in Iranian culture, the amateur musician has much higher prestige than the paid professional musician, since the paid professional musician is more like a servant and its associated with music as entertainment, not an intellectual exploration of maqam.
III. Ideas about Music
A. Music and the belief system -- music is a sensual distraction from the spiritual. Sung recitation of the Koran is regarded as something other than music. The great exception to this in general attitude about music is Sufi belief, which holds that mystical contact with God is possible, and one of the ways of achieving that contact is through music.
B. Contexts for use of music -- "music" would not be found in religious ceremonies, but certainly sung recitation and the call to prayer is a sound signature of Islam around the world. Taksim performances are definitely for aesthetic enjoyment. (Sufism would be the great exception to this, as music is very much a part of the religious ritual and practice.)
C. History of music -- there
is an acute awareness of history in Arab music, with the names of prominent
musicians and theorists being recorded for well over a thousand years.
This website, http://www.turath.org/ProfilesMenu.htm,
reflects that historical awareness. A major conference on Arab music
theory was held in
D. Composition – There are definitely well-known and set pieces, as heard in the ensemble playing. The awareness of individual composers has increased in recent centuries; improvisation has more prestige.
E. What is the contribution or role of improvisation? This depends on genre. The more improvisation, the greater the prestige of the genre. Taksim performance, 100% improvised; ensemble music, not improvised.
F. Genres – Adzhan (Arabic) or khandan (Persian) recitation of the Koran is distinct from all other types of what we would call music (musiqi). The performance of taksim is distinct from ensemble music.
G. Theory –
very important and extensively developed in written texts and actual practice;
a great awareness throughout history of famous theorists; further revival and
intensification of theory in the 20th Century. (For example,
IV. Allied Arts
A. Texts – What is appropriate or the usual subject matter for sung texts? The pain of love (missing one's beloved, feeling separation, etc.) is often emphasized. In Sufi practice, these romantic love songs often are transmuted into songs about God, feeling the pain of separation from God, seeking union with God, etc.
B. Movement – the devotional dance of Sufi dervishes is quite striking; otherwise dance is primarily associated with sensual entertainment.
C. Visual parallels – art, textiles, sculpture, architecture. Not covered. The intricate patterns of Arab art bring to mind the intricate ornamentation heard in melodic presentation.
V. Listening & Personal Response
A. 1st hearing reaction
B. After repeated hearings and discussion?
C. What would the “ideal” trained & sympathetic listener-participant find in this music?
Other recommended websites
The list of world cities by population over time
If you found the brief sample of Uum Kulthum (Wade track 25) of interest, here is more info on her music and its context:
For more on the recitation of the Koran: http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/ayoub.htm
For more on Sufi music and dance in the Turkish context: http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/markoff.htm
Revised Sep, 2006
Email: mecklerd –at sign – smccd.edu | <urn:uuid:0d20ecd6-1ce7-4425-8001-5871b38f9fe1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smccd.net/accounts/mecklerd/MUS250/APT_CSC.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926594 | 1,784 | 3.34375 | 3 |
I have long been drawn to Buddhism and to Nietzsche’s ideas. After much thought, I propose a reconciliation; I propose the creation of a Nietzschean Buddhism. How could this be a possibility? After all, the third noble truth of Buddhism is that there is a way out of suffering, and the fourth noble truth gives us the way out. Suffering is optional, as is staying in samsara, the eternal recurrence of rebirth and a life of suffering. How is that reconcilable with Nietzsche, who writes:
You want, if possible—and there is no more insane “if possible”—to abolish suffering. And we? It really seems that we would rather have it higher and worse than ever. Well-being as you understand it—that is no goal, that seems to us an end, a state that soon makes man ridiculous and contemptible—that makes his destruction desirable (Beyond Good and Evil, 225).
Yet it is exactly along the lines of the value of suffering that a most fruitful reconciliation is possible. I want to sketch out a way in which Buddhism and Nietzsche’s thought can combine along the lines of the value of suffering, the nature of compassion, the importance of psychology, and the role of mindfulness. I will not address all of these issues here. Those that I don’t will be addressed later.
The defining motivation of Buddhism is to bring an end to suffering. Pain and suffering are separable. Pain gives rise to suffering only in combination with craving and attachment. Humans cannot escape the preconditions of suffering, namely, impermanence, old age, sickness, and death. But we can control whether those give rise to suffering. Such control is not easy, but we have a hypothetical imperative to attempt such control. And that hypothetical imperative is grounded in the desire to end suffering for ourselves and others.
Nietzsche writes that man’s problem, “was not suffering itself, but that there was no answer to the crying question, ‘why do I suffer?’…The meaninglessness of suffering, not suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far—” (Genealogy of Morals, III 28). With the death of God, nihilism threatens, since the previous way to deal with the meaning of suffering was to attribute it to the sufferer. From the Christian perspective, the meaning of suffering is rooted in sin; from the Buddhist perspective, the meaning of suffering is rooted in one’s craving and attachment. Nietzsche’s response is to offer up an alternative ideal, the affirmation of life, the heart of which is the eternal recurrence.
Out of that mess of controversy, we can extract the core idea that Nietzsche’s response to suffering and its meaning is to invert the value of suffering. Nihilism only threatens if we operate under the assumption that suffering is evil and undesirable, something that must be headed off and removed. But how can we revalue suffering? In the Affirmation of Life: Nietzsche on Overcoming Nihilism, Bernard Reginster argues that the key is through Nietzsche’s idea of the will to power. According to Reginster, the will to power is constituted by a second-order desire for the overcoming of resistance in the satisfaction of a first-order desire. Importantly the second-order desire is not merely the desire for resistance, but also for that resistance to be overcome. Power is expressed by the overcoming of resistance on the way to achieving another desire. Imagine Goethe writing Faust. Goethe’s greatness, his power, is expressed by his wanting not to merely have written Faust, but to have had it be a great accomplishment involving the overcoming of resistance. Reginster interprets this willing of resistance to a first-order desire’s being satisfied as the willing of suffering. Further, according to Reginster, insofar as the power achieved has value, so too does the suffering, not as a means but as a constituent of the power.
The above is one way that Nietzsche can be viewed as giving reason to value suffering. An important question concerns the extent to which the resistance must be experienced as suffering. I want to leave this question aside for now. Nietzsche also seems to go beyond the valuing of suffering through the valuing of power to a more extreme kind of valuing. He seems to say that the affirmation of life (in his sense) requires that one be capable of desiring to live every moment of one’s life again and again, eternally. And doing that requires valuing the moments of suffering in one’s life, not merely as a means, but for their own sake. One example of this is in the Will to Power, section 1041. One thing we might question is whether affirming life really requires that one affirm every part. Might this not be an instance of the fallacy of division?
More importantly, though, we might wonder whether revaluing suffering so that it is not automatically seen as objectionable implies that no suffering is thereby objectionable. We could, after all, say that suffering has value insofar as power has value and suffering is a necessary constituent of power, without saying that all instances of suffering are constituents of power. And doing so would leave open the value of those “non-power” instances of suffering.
Return to Buddhism for a moment. In Buddhism, it seems that suffering could only have instrumental value, namely, as a means for letting you know you’re still operating with attachment and craving. Certain instances of suffering might be valuable as lessons for ways in which we can improve. But here “improve” means ease the suffering of ourselves and others.
One thing that a skilled Buddhist is good at is recognizing the sources of craving and attachment, the sources of suffering. A skilled Buddhist, in other words, has some degree of control of her suffering. If we combine some aspects of Nietzsche’s revaluation of suffering with this Buddhist control over suffering, then we can be in a position to recognize that there may be times in which suffering is valuable not merely as a means but as a component of something worthwhile, while avoiding those instances of suffering that lack value. That is, combining the two positions gives us a person who is skilled in regard to the value, use, and occurrence of suffering. The goal of life is to live well, but living well does not mean ending suffering and/or removing oneself from samsara. Living well consists, in part, in acts of creation and the achievement of knowledge and wisdom, all of which involve suffering.
Let’s note one complication to this hybrid position before this essay is done. If pain and suffering are separable under Buddhism, then why couldn’t we separate resistance and suffering? That is, resistance would have value because it was a part of power, but that resistance would not amount to suffering because of the Buddhist methodology of removing craving and attachment. Perhaps Nietzsche could respond by saying that in order for true power and creativity to be achieved, a person must engage in the activity of creation to such an extent that they crave the object of creation and are attached to it in such a way that the resistance must amount to suffering. But how true is this? | <urn:uuid:6ba91556-a206-46fc-bfae-5a3b2b73f4f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.georgewrisley.com/blog/?p=234 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961551 | 1,492 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Quick Find! Click on the topic of your choice below:
The 2500 year-old game of polo is one of the fastest, roughest, and most dangerous sports played today. It is gaining increasing popularity as a premier spectator sport and can be an easy game for the first-time spectator to enjoy. Imagine the excitement of seeing players on thoroughbred horses bumping and jostling with each other as hockey on horseback, racing at top speeds down the field while striking a small ball with the precision of an experienced golfer.
Polo is played on a 10 acre grass field, 300 yards in length by 160 yards, which is the approximate area of ten football fields. Goal posts are set eight yards apart on either end of the field. The object of the game is to move the ball down-field, hitting the ball through the goal for a score. The team with the most scores at the end of the match is deemed the winner. Teams then change direction after each goal. Two teams, made up of four players each, are designated by shirt color. The players wear high boots, knee guards, and a helmet of their own selection. By tradition, players wear white pants in tournaments. The mallet made of a bamboo shaft with a hardwood head is the instrument used to hit the polo ball, formerly wood, now plastic, about 3 to 3 ½ inches in diameter and 3 ½ to 4 ½ ounces in weight. In fact, the English word POLO is derived from the Tibetan word, "pulu" meaning ball.
The surface of a polo field requires careful and constant grounds maintenance to keep the surface in good playing condition. During half-time of a match, spectators are invited to go onto the field to participate in a polo tradition called "divot stomping", which has developed to not only help replace the mounds of earth (divots) that are torn up by the horses's hooves, but to afford spectators the opportunity to walk about and socialize.
There are six periods or "chukkers" in a match, each is seven minutes long. Play begins with a throw-in of the ball by the umpire at the opening of each chukker and after each goal; only penalties or injuries may stop play as there are no time-outs or substitutions allowed, except for tack repair.
The four basic shots in polo are distinguished by the side of the pony on which strokes or shots are made. That is "near-side", left side of the mount, and "off-side" right side of the mount. This creates the near-side forward and back shot, and the off-side forward and back shot. Shots can also be made under the pony's neck, across his tail, or the difficult under the belly shot, all variations of the basic shots.
Teams and Players
A team is made up of four players, each wearing a jersey with numbers 1 to 4, which correspond to their assigned position. Number 1 is the most offensive, concentrating on opportunities for scoring. Number 4 is the defensive player, primarily responsible for defending his/her team's goal. Usually, the most experienced and highest-rated players are at positions 2 and 3, with the pivotal player being number 3, who must serve as an effective field captain, or quarter back. The number 3 coordinates the offense, and passing the ball up field to his teammates as they press toward the enemy goal. Each player is also assigned an opponent to cover on defense and must be prepared to shift offensive and defensive modes and to make any play that will benefit his team.
Each player is assigned an individual handicap on the ascending basis of C, B, A (-2 thru 0) and 1 thru 10. This handicap reflects the player's ability and his value to the team - the higher the handicap the better the player which is just the opposite in golf. The team handicap is the combined handicaps of the four players. The team with the lesser handicap is granted the difference in goals (or points) prior to the start of the match. For that reason, a match may well have a "score" before based on team handicaps, prior to the start of the game. Player handicaps are evaluated and revised annually by the United States Polo Association. Handicapping is a subjective evaluation of the individual's horsepower, game sense, hitting ability, and overall value to a team.
The polo ponies are central to the success of any team, primarily thoroughbred, often with race track experience, and considered the most athletic of equine performers because of their requirements to sprint, stop and turn and accelerate to open speed for seven minutes in duration. A player's proficiency is predicated on the agility and athletic ability of his/her horse. Leg wraps protect the lower legs of the horse, which is referred to as a polo "pony". Players must change mounts after each chukker due to the extreme demands placed on the pony. Therefore, a team usually has a minimum of 24 horses available during the match. It is not uncommon that 90% or more of the horses played are mares.
Although there are many rules to the game of polo, the primary concept to which all rules are dedicated is safety, for the player and his mount. The right-of-way is defined in accordance with a player's position relative to the direction of travel of the ball which is a line created in the direction that extends forward on an imaginary line which, if followed, will create traffic patterns which then enable the participants to not only play at top speed but to also avoid dangerous collisions. In general, play will flow backward and forward, parallel to an imaginary line extended ahead of, and behind, the ball. The line of the ball may not be crossed except under special circumstances and only in such a way as to legitimately gain control of the ball. When a player has the line of the ball on his right, he has the right-of-way. This can only be taken away by "riding off" and moving the player off the line of the ball by making shoulder-to-shoulder contact.
Strategy and anticipation are two of the most important elements in polo and usually come with experience. For the spectator, keep an eye on the horses. The speed and athletic abilities of both the horse and rider are spectacular. All of these elements combined, make the fast-paced action of polo one of the most exciting and demanding sports in the world. | <urn:uuid:1ee9e46c-c353-4533-a52d-0e17567d6c6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://virginiabeachpoloclub.com/watch.html?mgiToken=6Q941E91LB8OGE3O8L7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965925 | 1,333 | 2.671875 | 3 |
May 27, 2009 Using a specially adapted tool called P[acman], a collaboration of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine has established a library of clones that cover most of the genome of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and should speed the pace of genetic research.
In a report in the current online issue of the journal Nature Methods, Dr. Hugo Bellen, a professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and his colleagues describe the new libraries.
P[acman]– developed by Dr. Koen Venken in Bellen's laboratory– allows scientists to study large chunks of DNA in living flies. The vector – officially P/phiC31 artificial chromosome for manipulation – combines different technologies: a specially designed bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) that allows maintenance of large pieces of DNA in bacteria, recombineering that allows the manipulation of large pieces of DNA in bacteria, and the ability to insert the genomic DNA into the genome of the fly at a specific site using phiC31-mediated transgenesis.
Venken adapted the P[acman] vector to create genomic libraries, so that a researcher can choose a gene and find the corresponding clones in the library that cover that gene. Their collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Drs. Roger Hoskins and Joseph Carlson, played a key role in the design, construction, and annotation of the libraries.
"You can insert a single copy of a gene and rescue a mutation, or do a structure/function analysis of the gene," Bellen said. "If you don't know where the gene is expressed, you can tag it, put it back and locate where it is expressed."
Others who took part in this work include Karen L. Schulze, Hongling Pan and Yuchun He of BCM, Ken Wan (LBNL), Rebecca Spokony and Kevin P. White of the University of Chicago, and Maxim Koriabine and Pieter J. de Jong of Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute in California.
Funding for this work came from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the BCM Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center.
The library is available at http://pacmanfly.org/.
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:ced3c02e-2efb-4c20-bcaa-3a2ad9275366> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090524170643.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904361 | 515 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Washington ranked 36th highest in state and local taxes relative to income
By REPORTER STAFF
Mercer Island Reporter Staff
January 10, 2013 · 2:13 PM
Washington ranked 36th from the top in state and local taxes paid per $1,000 of personal income in 2010, according to Census Bureau data published by the Washington State Department of Revenue.
Washington ranked 42nd among the states in state and local taxes as a percentage of gross state product. Neighboring states Idaho ranked sixth and Oregon 39th. Gross state product is the value of goods and services produced in a state.
Washingtonians paid $96.08 in taxes for every $1,000 in income, the second lowest rate in 50 years. The lowest rate was recorded in 2009 at $93.24 and the third lowest rate was $98.43 paid in 1960, the earliest year for which reliable records are available.
Even though 2010 taxes were higher than in 2009, the state actually dropped one notch among the states from its 35th ranking in 2009 because taxes in some other states increased more. The national average was $106.54, up $4.44 from 2009.
Residents from 35 other states paid more in 2010, with New York ranking first at $204.12 per $1,000 personal income. Neighboring state Oregon ranked 35th at $96.88, while Idaho ranked 45th at $89.98. South Dakota was ranked 50th at $83.72.
The report also tracks taxes per capita. Washington ranked 21st at $4,016 in taxes per capita in 2010. The national average was $4,147. Taxes per capita tend to be higher in states with higher personal incomes.Contact Mercer Island Reporter Staff Reporter Staff at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:df8d3796-8c83-4b1c-be78-26a44a44641a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mi-reporter.com/news/186372371.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9604 | 368 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The award is given by the CDC's Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity to recognize substantial contributions by a state partner to a state's nutrition and physical activity efforts. The division received the award in recognition of its long-standing partnership with the Department of Health's Healthy South Dakota initiative. Healthy South Dakota aims to reduce obesity and related chronic disease through increased physical activity and improved nutrition.
"Parks and recreation staff like to describe the state parks as largest outdoor wellness centers in South Dakota. That mindset makes it very easy for us to work together to promote physical activity and the state park system at the same time," said Secretary of Health Doneen Hollingsworth. "We're proud of that partnership and couldn't be more pleased that CDC has chosen to honor the Division of Parks and Recreation with this award."
Hollingsworth said the Division of Parks and Recreation has worked closely with Healthy South Dakota on a variety projects such as the popular Walk in the Park programs in state parks, the creation of disc golf courses, recreational equipment for checkout to park users, and a Healthy Hunter program tailored to South Dakota hunters.
Hollingsworth presented the award on behalf of CDC at the Game, Fish and Parks Commission meeting June 8 in Pierre. | <urn:uuid:6875f8fe-ad1b-49ee-a70f-b246ade16741> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://plaintalk.net/2007/06/state-park-system-receives-national-public-health-award/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961546 | 249 | 1.671875 | 2 |
, founded in 1869 (but not given the name Ritsumeikan formally until 1913), is part of a larger "Ritsumeikan Consortium." This consortium includes the Ritsumeikan University campus in Kinagusa
(located in Kyoto
), a second University campus in Biwako-Kusatsu
(the BKC campus, located in Shiga
), the Rits Junior/Senior Highschool, The Rits Uji Junior/Senior Highschool, as well as the Rits Keisho Junior/Senior Highschool. I am told by a graduate student friend of mine that the consortium will be expanding next year to include a Ritsumeikan Shougakkou, or elementary school
. Recently, Ritsumei was ranked among the best private universities in Japan
. Rits has a baseball rival in fellow Kyotoite Doshisha University
Unlike western universities (at least universities in the United States), the semester system in Japan begins with first semester in April, and ends with second semester, which begins in September. Rather than having a large multi-month summer vacation, Japanese university students have a lengthy spring vacation, which lasts from February to April 1st. Universities in Australia
follow a similar semester schedule, so students visiting from down under seem to have an easier time adjusting to the system in Japan than those from the United States.
has a number of relationships with other universities abroad. Each year, a number of students come to live for six months or a year in Kyoto
, to study at Ritsumeikan
on the Ritsumeikan Study in Kyoto Program
(SKP). Beyond that, Rits has both a Dual Undergraduate Degree Program (DU-DP) and a Dual Masters Degree Program (DM-DP) arrangement with American University
, among others. In either the DU-DP or DM-DP program, students from Rits or American can do half of their undergraduate
work at their home institution, then complete the second half at the partner school (i.e, an AU student would then go to Rits after two years, or vice versa on the DU-DP program). After completing their course of study, the student receives a degree from both Ritsumeikan and their home university.
Personal experience attending Ritsumeikan | <urn:uuid:abc4d022-ce5c-4989-897d-2db81a3ff131> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://everything2.com/title/Ritsumeikan+University | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938438 | 472 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Ten Ways to Get Involved
How can you get involved in The Big Read?
- Talk to your local librarians. Have they heard about the program? Would they be interested in submitting an application?
- Encourage teachers, school administrators, and school boards to incorporate The Big Read into their curricula.
- Volunteer. After all, as a reader it's in your nature. To Read or Not To Read found that readers are far more likely to volunteer than non-readers. If there is already a Big Read in your community, how can you help out?
- Go! The simplest way to get involved in a Big Read is to attend events in your community. The Big Read offers a variety of programming nationwide, from family events and discussion groups to theatrical adaptations, movie marathons, and more.
- Become a sponsor. Your corporation or small business can become a sponsor of a local Big Read, or donate goods and services for Big Read events. You can also organize a "workplace read," in which your company partners with Big Read organizers to facilitate reading groups for your business.
- Make connections. If you are involved in organizations or community groups that might be good partners for your local library, consider forming partnerships to expand the reach of The Big Read.
- Invite a friend. The declining trends in reading won't be reversed overnight. Sometimes the biggest difference can be made one person at a time. Invite someone to read the book or attend an event with you.
- Spread the word. Tell everyone you know about your interest in The Big Read. Hand out flyers or post them in shop windows. Get the word out.
- Blog about it. Do you have a blog? Post about your experiences at a Big Read event. Don't forget to link to The Big Read Blog at http://bigreadblog.arts.gov.
- Read, read, read! | <urn:uuid:242a5e9a-43de-4a74-995b-b37637a2caa9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neabigread.org/getinvolved.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95443 | 392 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Page (2 of 5) Quotes: 1 2 3 4 5
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Act.Line)
| Quote #4
CYRANO (To those who are shouting and crowding about him)
Pray you, be gentle with my scabbard here –
She’ll put her tongue out at you presently! –
(The circle enlarges.) (I. 241-242)
In keeping with his sophisticated wordplay, Cyrano threatens the crowd with his sword, but does so in somewhat subdued language. Instead of "drawing his sword," Cyrano says the scabbard will "put her tongue out at you," as if his insult is merely annoying, and not potentially harmful. The crowd, however, gets the message and backs off.
| Quote #5
RAGUENEAU (Raises his head; returns to mere earth.)
Over the coppers of my kitchen flows
The frosted-silver dawn. Silence awhile
The god who sings within thee, Ragueneau!
Lay down the lute – the oven calls for thee!
(Rises; goes to one of the cooks.)
Here’s a hiatus in your sauce; fill up
THE COOK How much?
RAGUENEAU (Measures on his finger.)
RAGUENEAU (Before the fireplace)
Veil, O Muse, thy virgin eyes
From the lewd gleam of these terrestrial fires!
(To First Pastrycook)
Your rolls lack balance. Here’s the proper form –
An equal hemistich on either side,
And the caesura in between.
(To another, pointing out an unfinished pie)
Of crust should have a roof upon it.
(To another, who is seated on the hearth, placing poultry on a spit)
And you –
Along the interminable spit, arrange
The modest pullet and the lordly Turk
Alternately, my son – as great Malherbe
Alternates male and female rimes. Remember,
A couplet, or a roast, should be well turned. (II. 3-19)
The clever and pretentious Ragueneau steeps his discussion with pastry cooks in the language of poetry. He uses terms referring to poetry’s meter to describe aspects of food; for example he uses "hiatus" to mean "not enough" when referring to the sauce, and "dactyl" to measure the amount the cook needs to fill something up. A dactyl is a metrical term, based off the Greek word meaning "finger," referring a metrical foot consisting of one long (or accented) syllable followed by two short (or unaccented) syllables. Other examples include Ragueneau’s use of "hemistich," "caesura," and "male and female rimes." He ends his clever speech with a phrase that could apply to either to roasted fowl or a good poem – "well turned."
| Quote #6
Now tell me things.
CHRISTIAN (After a silence)
I love you.
ROXANE (Closes her eyes.)
Speak to me about love…
I love you.
I love –
I love –
I know; you love me. Adieu.
(She goes to the house.)
But wait – please – let me – I was going to say –
ROXANE (Pushes the door open.)
That you adore me. Yes; I know that too.
(She goes in and shuts the door in his face.)
I…I… (III. 175-194)
Christian is as impeded by his ineloquence as Cyrano is by his nose. | <urn:uuid:a0833d84-633a-46aa-9765-39d4457602e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/cyrano-de-bergerac/cunning-cleverness-quotes-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926333 | 805 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Earlier in the month I wrote a piece entitled: “The Toy Industry; Are We the Military Industrial Complex of Childhood?” In that posting I noted that “when the second and first amendment advocates began pointing fingers at each other after the Newtown tragedy, we in the toy industry were not accused of promoting violence. One side pointed the finger at real guns as the cause and the other said it was due to “first person shooter games” and movies.”
As can be attested to by this headline: “Gun-Control Debate Hits $16 Billion Toy Industry,” I spoke too soon. The author, Beth Snyder Bulik, wrote about a blogger, Meredith Carrol with the Denver Post, who has banned toy guns in her home. She also wants them to be removed from stores.
I was intrigued and located Ms. Carrol’s posting “Playing Around with Violence.” I found her piece to be compassionate and her frustration fully understandable. Many of us felt and feel so frustrated that we feel the need to take action and make a difference.
As you will see, I don't agree with her on banning toy guns but let me allow her to speak for herself (and I encourage you to read her entire posting):
While I was at a supermarket in Aspen just a few days ago, a boy not older than 4 sat in a shopping cart being pushed by his mom while creating a war — complete with imaginary bombs and noisy explosions — between an apple and potato… It's been two weeks since the atrocities at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and the thought of guns still makes me shudder with a profound sadness and dread.
She goes on to write:
If we don't think that violent video games, shoot 'em-up films, toy weapons and imaginary wars being fought by our young boys contribute in some small way to the more than 33,000 annual gun deaths, we need to think again…Little boys playing with little guns grow up to be adolescents and young adults who often feel falsely empowered by the nonsensical skills they think they've developed using a video-game controller or mouse.
She concludes her thought on toy guns by writing: “families who tacitly allow the desensitization of little kids and adolescents to blood and death, and permit violence — real or imaginary — as an activity played during family time and on home turf are fooling themselves if they don't think they're part of a larger cultural epidemic.”
What struck me was that the child in the shopping cart was not playing with a gun. He was acting out violence using, of all things, an apple and a potato. It is the human condition that children, and particularly boys, act out themes of violence in childhood. Some psychologists believe it is how they adjust to the violence and possibly death that awaits them as adults.
I don’t think that a parent has a lot of control over a child’s need to act out violence. Discouraging it may, in fact, have the same impact as depriving kids of sugary treats. They may
Let me be very clear, I have in the past stated on several occasions that I believe that the toys we play with as children have an impact on who we become as adults. It would be disingenuous of me to say, therefore, that toy gun play is an exception.
I believe, however, that if we take toy guns away, children will, as Ms. Carroll noted, use potatoes and tomatoes an in addition a finger or a stick; it is therefore all context.
A healthy child can play with toy guns and grow up to be a healthy adult. Parents have an obligation to their sons and daughters as well as society in general to make sure that their children play appropriately and that violence does not consume them as the overwhelming point of play.
Ms. Carroll is right; it starts in the home. Where I disagree is in the notion that banning toys will solve the problem; you may as well ban vegetables. What is important is for parents to monitor their children and if they don’t like what they see, take action; speak with the child and if that does not work get help.
Toy industry members:
Do you agree with Meredith Carroll’s perspective on banning toy guns?
Do you believe that toys guns have an impact on violence later in life?
Let us know your thoughts. | <urn:uuid:fd1c0b6a-bc1d-4ed8-9dbc-a1d25d753d86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globaltoynews.com/2013/02/gun-debate-now-includes-the-toy-industry-should-toy-guns-be-banned.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9839 | 912 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Have you ever wanted to split a spreadsheet into several spreadsheets according to the contents of a particular field? For example, you might have a music tracks spreadsheet with an 'artist name' field, and you want separate spreadsheets for each artist, with the usual field names along the top of each new spreadsheet.
You can split a spreadsheet by copying and pasting the different sections into new spreadsheets if there aren't many records. If there are lots of records, this manual approach can be pretty tiring. For splitting very large spreadsheets, most users turn to special stand-alone programs (in the Excel world) or fairly complicated macros (Excel, Open/LibreOffice Calc).
I split my spreadsheets using the GNU/Linux command line, as explained in this article. It's another of my trademark ugly hacks, but it works well and the command line steps can be combined into a script which runs fast and reliably. | <urn:uuid:4d9aed0b-e64a-4e41-98a5-17b70ad37735> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/category/hacking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943403 | 191 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Charges may be brought in connection with the Cayce plastics fire that started Friday and was only put out Sunday, a city official said Sunday.
Although at this point, city fire officials dont believe the fire was intentionally set, officials are exploring the possibility that fire-prevention regulations may have been violated, city public safety Lt. Jeff Simmons said.
Simmons declined to comment on what the charges would be or against whom they would be made, but he indicated any action would come soon.
Meanwhile, city officials are looking at unexpected expenses connected to the fire that are expected to poke a hole in the city of Cayces $9 million annual budget.
On Saturday, as the fire continued burning, city officials signed a contract estimated at $500,000 with Hepaco, a national environmental disaster emergency response company. Hepaco, headquartered in Charlotte, has the kind of heavy equipment and experience to fight a fire fueled by large supplies of oil or oil-based substances, officials said.
We certainly werent planning on this, Mayor Elise Partin said Sunday evening. We are hoping the state will help us out because we dont have it. This is not something you budget for.
Partin said she believed the plastics recycling company World Wide Recycling, also called Global Plastics Recycling had no insurance. Company officials could not be reached Sunday night. The plant is at 2350 Foreman St.
The fire, which started Friday morning shortly before 9, was fueled by tons of shredded plastic the plant has on hand to recycle into plastic boards used for decks on houses, Simmons said.
Shredded plastic is made out of petroleum, which burns very fast and very hot and produces a lot of thick, black smoke, Simmons said.
As firefighters battled the blaze Friday and Saturday in 100-degree-plus heat, the roof of the large concrete building the burning plastic was in collapsed, Simmons said.
That meant a large, oil-based fire was raging under a collapsed roof with the buildings four exterior walls still standing, Simmons said. Firefighters found it almost impossible to get water into that encapsulated fire to put it out, he said.
Hepaco had the equipment large cranelike backhoe-type machines to collapse the walls and then start to effectively stir the roof, the walls and the burning plastic in a fiery cauldron into which firefighters could finally pour thousands of gallons of water to extinguish the fire, Simmons said.
It was only with Hepacos help that the fire, with its potentially toxic smoke and pollution, was put out Sunday around 10 a.m., Simmons said.
The fire was one of the two or three largest fires Cayce has had in the past 25 years, Simmons said. He had no estimate on the dollar amount of damage.
Another unexpected cost to Cayce may be the money the city has to pay to three other water providers that are now giving it water.
Thats because as firefighters fought the fire, pollutants from the blaze and the fire-retardant chemicals they used drained into a creek that goes into the Congaree River, just upstream from Cayces drinking water intake pipes.
To prevent contamination of Cayces drinking water and plant equipment, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials ordered the citys water plant closed.
Consequently, to keep water flowing to residents, Cayce officials began using water from West Columbia, Columbia and the Lexington County Joint Municipal Water and Sewer Commission.
Partin did not know Sunday evening how much money her city would have to pay the other water providers.
When you are in an emergency situation like we were in, you just act, and you trust that the other entities will do what they want done to them when they have an emergency, Partin said.
Neither did Partin know when state health officials will OK reopening Cayces water plant. Were waiting on DHEC, she said.
To help Cayces fire department battle the blaze, firefighters came from some 30 departments across South Carolina Friday and Saturday. At times, there were easily more than 100 firefighters on the scene, Simmons said.
Although firefighters use air-conditioning stations to get relief from heat while fighting such blazes, more than 10 firefighters suffered from varying degrees of heat exhaustion. They were either sent to a hospital emergency room or given fluids, he said.
Those were the only injuries associated with the fire, he said. No workers at the plant were hurt, he said.
The plastics plant is in an industrial section of Cayce. The nearest houses are a half-mile or so away. No residences were evacuated, but some businesses nearer to the plant were evacuated, officials said.
Simmons said he can only remember one or two other fires as bad as this one. Cayce is a city of some 12,500 across the Congaree River from Columbia.
Basically, this was a nasty fire that wouldnt go out, and we spent three days on it, and we had to call on outside resources, Simmons said.
Reach Monk at (803) 771-8344. | <urn:uuid:3365e7c0-e247-4596-a8d6-ce3df2ea0852> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thestate.com/2012/07/02/2338836/cayce-fire-may-spark-charges-big.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977599 | 1,048 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Australian Bureau of Statistics
1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2002
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/01/2002
|Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product|
In May 2000, 2.5 million people aged 15-64 years had applied to enrol in a course of study for that year (table 10.35). Of all applicants, 89% gained a place and were studying.
Between 1995 and 2000, the demand for education increased, as did the number of people being accepted into educational institutions. Although there was a rise in the number of enrolment applications across all age groups, there was a slight decrease in the number of people unable to get into courses (graph 10.36).
While participation in education may occur at any age, many young people continue in full-time education immediately after completing compulsory schooling, either in post-compulsory schooling or within other forms of education such as VET. Some young people also return to full-time study after a period of absence some time after completing compulsory schooling. In all, 70% of 15-19 year olds at May 2000 were in full-time education (including 51% still at school). At age 20-24 years, 22% were undertaking full-time study (including less than 1% still at school) and 13% were participating in part-time tertiary study (table 10.37).
Many people aged 25 years and over return to study, to upgrade their skills or to gain new skills, and often in conjunction with employment (see the article Combining work and study). The participation rate at May 2000 for people in this age group was higher for those in part-time study (6%) than for those in full-time study (2%).
Educational attendance and the labour force
Graph 10.38 indicates the labour force status of all students aged 15-64 years at May 2000. Some 59% of school students were not in the labour force, while 34% were employed. In contrast, 25% of other students were not in the labour force and 68% were employed.
Most young people aged 15-19 years attending an educational institution to study for a recognised qualification at May 2000 were either not in the labour force at all (50%) or were employed part-time (35%). Some 36% of students aged 20-24 years were employed part-time, and another 29% were not in the labour force (table 10.39). In both age groups, students who undertook part-time study were more frequently employed full-time than part-time.
The 'full-time participation rate' describes the proportion of the population, at specific ages, in full-time education or training, or in full-time work, or in both part-time education or training and part-time work. The full-time participation rate identifies the proportion of the population which has a low risk of marginal participation or non-participation in the labour market, and consequently determines the proportion that is at risk. At May 2000 the full-time participation rate for people aged 15-19 years was 86%; for 20-24 year olds it was 76%.
This page last updated 20 August 2007
Unless otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence together with any terms, conditions and exclusions as set out in the website Copyright notice. For permission to do anything beyond the scope of this licence and copyright terms contact us. | <urn:uuid:14941062-88c1-4d94-aa6e-a6d9252d939a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Previousproducts/05B3E4151CED0DA6CA256B3500192B2E?opendocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975015 | 719 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Today, we’re going to meet a rock, a talented rock called a zeolite. On Engineering Works!
To most of us, a rock is a rock. But imagine an odd rock with a network of pores so small they can trap molecules, even atoms. Or trap some things and let others through, like a sieve. You could do a lot with a rock like that. It’s a zeolite.
Zeolites turn up in a lot of everyday products – laundry detergent. Zeolites soften the water so the soap works better and your clothes come out bright and clean. Cat litter – they soak up the smell, so you and Tabby can share the same space. Or water filters – zeolites snag impurities so your drinking water tastes better.
Zeolites are also at the heart of oil refining, where they help transform crude oil into gasoline and other products. They’re a multi-billion-dollar industry around the world.
Zeolites were first found in nature, and each one is good for a particular job. Engineers have created more than a hundred for specialized jobs. Making the right zeolite for the right job is still mostly a mystery, but engineers are working on it.
At Texas A&M, for example, chemical engineers are trying to figure out how to turn silicon, aluminum and oxygen – zeolites’ building blocks – into a zeolite with the exact properties you need.
Talking about zeolites is thirsty work. But at least the water tastes good. Ahh! | <urn:uuid:68f9dc70-59c9-48dd-b18e-5be0ece49345> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu/2004/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947773 | 326 | 3.125 | 3 |
Subsets and Splits