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Most Active Stories
The Conservation Beat
Mon February 6, 2012
Crucial Day in Augustin Plains Water Fight
A hearing on Tuesday in Socorro will determine whether a proposal to pump billions of gallons of water from the San Austin Plains is allowed to move forward.
In 2007 the San Augustin Plains Ranch applied for permission to pump and sell 54-thousand acre-feet of water each year. That’s about half the annual water usage of Albuquerque.
Because the ranch has not identified exactly how and where it intends to use the water, the application is in violation of state law, says Bruce Frederick with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. He says it’s surprising the State Engineer has even allowed the proposal to make it this far.
"Taxpayer money has been spent on processing the application, sending out notices...tens of thousands of dollars," he says, "and it's clearly an invalid applicaton. It's a waste of money. It's a waste of all of our time."
Hundreds of people and organizations have come out in opposition to the application, including several state and federal agencies.
About a hundred people packed into a Socorro courtroom this morning for a hearing on a case that both sides say could affect the future of water law in New Mexico. KUNM’s Conservation Beat reporter Sidsel Overgaard has more.
The courtroom benches featured a potpourri of overalls, business suits, baseball caps and turquoise necklaces all walks of life brought together by a perceived threat to the community’s water supply.
At issue is a proposal by the San Augustin Plains Ranch to pump 54-thousand acre feet of water a year for use in the Rio Grande Basin.
Exactly what that use might be well that’s the big question. And that’s why Bruce Frederick with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center says the application is an obvious case of speculation and therefore illegal.
“What we’re against is anybody, the ranch or anybody else, locking up water as if it were a mineral that belonged to them just because it was below their property. That’s never been allowed in New Mexico and, as I said in the argument, if it were allowed then the first person to come to New Mexico would own all the water and sell it to the rest of us.”
Sherry Tippet, who represents irrigators in the case, says on its face the application is so clearly invalid, she’s surprised the State Engineer accepted it to begin with.
“In my view it never should have gotten this far. Most of the people at this hearing are farmers and ranchers, as are my clients, and it cost them a lot of time, money, enormous amount of stress because it’s a cloud over their title and it doesn’t have to happen.”
The applicant’s attorney, John Draper, sees things differently.
“If you accept the arguments of the protestants who are trying to dismiss this application they’re doing it on the basis that we had to know exactly how this water was going to be used before we filed. Now this is not something that’s required of the government.”
Draper points to the San Juan-Chama project as an example.
“That project was first proposed in the 1930s and it wasn’t until the 60s, the end of the 60s, they were still deciding exactly where some of that water was going to go.”
The question here, of course, is whether individuals should necessarily have the same rights as governments when it comes to a resource as crucial and limited as water.
“Should the government be subjected to a more relaxed standard is what I think you were asking in this context.”
Again, John Draper.
“Well you can do that but it would be a big change in the prior appropriation system in New Mexico which was meant from the beginning to encourage people-and not the government-people to bring the water from where it was to where it was needed.”
Liv Strand is one of the individuals protesting the application. “You know, there’s something called monopoly? When you own it all, when you own the whole resource, there’s no free enterprise.”
While the hearing examiner remains mum on what his recommendation to the State Engineer will be, Strand and most of her fellow protestants seemed to walk away from the hearing feeling optimistic. For Carol Pitman with the San Augustin Water Coalition, there’s just one thing giving her pause.
“I have no idea what the state engineer is like.”
That’s because Scott Verhines is new to the job.
“We have no information about, you know his particular ideas on anything but if good sense and good law prevails, I think we will win this one. I hope so.”
A decision could come in the next few weeks.
find more conservation news on our blog: earth air waves | <urn:uuid:4e19a2ba-c901-4cc8-82b4-aace30f44a33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kunm.org/post/crucial-day-augustin-plains-water-fight | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964517 | 1,063 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
North Korea In Transition
Mon December 19, 2011
North Korea's Likely Leader: Young And Untested
North Korea has yet to formally name its new leader and it may take a while before it does. But there's a clear favorite. Kim Jong Un was anointed back in 2009 to succeed his father Kim Jong Il, the country's longtime leader, whose death was announced on Monday.
If Kim does follow his father and grandfather as ruler of the secretive nation, he will face huge challenges. He's not yet 30 years old and yet would be running a society that inherently favors leaders seen as experienced and wise, rather than young and untested.
Kim has had little time to consolidate power or garner support from the nation's military and political institutions. As he begins to establish his own authority, he may encounter internal resistance.
"He just looks like a kid, and that's what he is," says Patrick Cronin, a senior adviser at the Center for a New American Security. "He's not truly going to be respected as a dear or great leader anytime soon."
Without the traditional linchpin of a strong leader keeping subordinates in place, the behind the scenes dynamics between familial and bureaucratic rivals for power could quickly become "Shakespearean," says Anthony Denmark, a former Defense Department official.
"Under Kim Jong Il, people often noted how unpredictable and destabilizing North Korea was," says Denmark, who is now an adviser for CNA, a military research organization. "Many people are concerned that now North Korea will be even more unpredictable and unstable, because of questions about how decisions will be made and how power works within North Korea."
Little is known about Kim Jong Un. Even his exact age is a matter of some doubt. His birthday is variously given as Jan. 8, 1982 or 1983, making him 28 or 29.
Denmark says that Kim is believed to have spent a good deal of his childhood in Europe. Reports say he was educated in Switzerland under a false name, and learned to ski and to speak English, French and German.
Analysts believe he is Kim Jong Il's son by a dancer named Ko Hyong Hui, who may have been his third wife, or possibly a consort.
Kim's status as the third and youngest son made him an unlikely successor. But Kim Jang Nam, the eldest, lost favor with his father a decade ago when he was caught trying to visit Disneyland in Tokyo on a fake passport. Kim Jong Il apparently held his second son, Kim Jong Chul, in low regard.
In recent years, Kim Jong Il also promoted his brother-in-law and sister to positions of power, possibly with the expectation that they could effectively serve as regents safeguarding the rule of their nephew Kim Jong Un until he became entrenched in the job.
But that also leaves open the possibility that they could challenge Kim Jong Un rather than support him.
"It's very clear that the plan that has been put into place and implemented over the past couple of years is for this third son to take power," says Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"But that was essentially Kim Jong Il's desire," Snyder says. "What we don't yet know is whether that desire will stick in Kim Jong Il's absence."
The younger Kim also needs to establish his credibility with military and political elites far more accustomed to controlling the levers of power than he is. He was made a full general last year, but it's not clear how the military as a whole views him.
"Kim Jong Un has less experience, credibility and authority than his father, and he also has less power," says Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at CNAS. "Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law and sister probably have more political power at this point."
Show Of Force
After Kim Jong Il inherited power following the 1994 death of his father, Kim Il Sung, the new leader remained in virtual hiding for some time, not officially taking the reins of the state for three years.
It's possible that Kim Jong Un will play a similarly low-profile role, letting more experienced players act as spokesmen for the regime as he works to gain firmer footing.
But Denmark, the CNA adviser, says Kim will want to establish his position more forcefully and publicly than his father did at first.
"His biggest enemy right now is the appearance of a vacuum and the appearance of his inability to control things," Denmark says. "He'll have to out front, in public, demonstrating his control."
One early test could come next April, when North Korea is planning a 100th birthday celebration for Kim Il Sung, Kim's grandfather and founder of the regime.
Less Prepared For Power
There was a lot of talk after Kim Il Sung's death that Kim Jong Il would not be able to maintain power for long. His endurance has tempered such predictions this time around.
Still, Kim Jong Il had been groomed for decades to assume control, while Kim Jong Un is a relative novice.
"The issue isn't whether Kim Jong Un will come to power, but who will be controlling Kim Jong Un behind the scenes," says Charles Armstrong, who directs the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University. "Kim Jon Un looks less prepared for leadership than his farther was and the regime seems less ready than it was." | <urn:uuid:0cc333d5-3818-4e8d-98a6-bb7c752dcddb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kunm.org/post/north-koreas-likely-leader-young-and-untested | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983467 | 1,112 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Thu October 25, 2012
A Noted Expert Speaks in Tulsa on "The Eurozone Crisis"
On today's ST, a detailed discussion of the currency problems affecting certain European countries --- namely, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. We welcome to our show Dr. Stanley Black of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He's a highly respected economics professor who's also taught courses at Princeton, Vanderbilt, Yale, the Institute of International Economics in Stockholm, the University of Siena in Italy, the Brookings Institution, the International Monetary Fund, and the Free University in Berlin. He's also held several notable government positions, including stints with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Department of State. Dr. Black gave an address last week (on the 18th) at the Tulsa Committee on Foreign Relations entitled "The Eurozone Crisis," and we recorded a discussion with him on this topic while he was visiting our city. You can learn more about Dr. Black's academic work here, and more about his recent appearance in Tulsa at this link. | <urn:uuid:dc329aa2-7b7d-488f-b210-b98e007c9a66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kwgs.org/post/noted-expert-speaks-tulsa-eurozone-crisis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951997 | 224 | 1.765625 | 2 |
What level of LabVIEW user are you—a developer, engineer, or architect? Is it even important?
Absolutely. These categories make it easy for NI to tailor helpful resources to your individual needs. By visiting the LabVIEW Skills Guide, you can see what defines these levels and which trainings or guides we recommend each use to help them develop successful applications faster.
Here are a few examples of skills you can learn from the latest guide:
For Technicians or Basic Developers
- Troubleshoot and debug LabVIEW code
- Apply key LabVIEW elements for relating data (such as arrays, clusters, and typedefs)
- Apply design patterns and templates
For Software Engineers
- Optimize reuse of existing code for your projects
- Design, implement, document, and test code modules for each task
- Derive a task list and high-level flowchart to guide design and development
For Software Architects
- Analyze, critique, and improve the architecture of a LabVIEW application
- Optimize code and resources to effectively reduce development time and costs
- Design an application using object-oriented design principles
Best of all, many of these resources are free or available at a discounted price for students. Questions? Post your comments below and we’ll follow up on them personally. | <urn:uuid:b0368fa0-d959-46ef-bb6d-cf0b106734d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://labviewni.com/category/cla/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.885043 | 267 | 2.515625 | 3 |
by David Hogue
Interfaces and devices are providing more and more power and functionality to people, and in many cases this additional power is accompanied by increasing complexity. Although people have more experience and are more sophisticated, it still takes time to learn new interfaces, information, and interactions. Although we are able to learn and use these often difficult interfaces, we increasingly seek and appreciate simplicity.
The Complexity Curve describes how a project moves from boundless opportunity and wonderful ideas to requirements checklists and constraints then finally (but only rarely) to simplicity and elegance. Where many projects call themselves complete when the necessary features have been included, few push forward and strive to deliver the pleasing and delightful experiences that arise from simplicity, focus, and purpose.
In this session, David M. Hogue, Ph.D. - VP of Experience Design, applied psychologist, and adjunct faculty member at San Francisco State University - will introduce the Complexity Curve, discuss why our innovative ideas seem to fade over the course of a project, explain why "feature complete" is not the same as "optimal experience", and offer some methods for driving projects toward simplicity and elegance.
9th–13th March 2012 | <urn:uuid:2702375f-772b-4bf3-83f5-c0a1c97ff837> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lanyrd.com/2012/sxsw-interactive/schedule/?coverage=slides&session_type=solo&topics=design,complexity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956672 | 240 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Each website is a product used daily by people to take actions, not just read the content on it. Your product is amorphous, it takes the shape of whatever container it fills: a mobile browser, a touch enabled desktop browser, or a 30″ iMac that is connected to the Internet via tethering. Photoshop is just one of the means to an end in this new age of utilitarian web sites.
The new technologies available in HTML5 already allow you to create prototypes quickly in the browser. Learn how to create a prototype from start to finish using these new technologies while taking advantage of quick prototyping tools.
Sign in to add slides, notes or videos to this session | <urn:uuid:9d97ac33-a097-4169-b754-04553999e98e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lanyrd.com/2012/web-directions-code/swmxg/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878403 | 138 | 1.953125 | 2 |
By José A. Álvarez
Six months ago, Ben Medina had to be rushed to the University of California San Diego trauma center after a major car accident. The center had no more room and Medina, from National City, was originally turned away. After coaxing from paramedics and given the severity of his injuries, Medina was accepted but had to spend the weekend on a gurney because the hospital had no beds available and he could not be admitted.
“The place was so full that I could not get a bed the entire weekend, then moving the hospital from an area where it’s most needed would be a big mistake,” said Medina, adding that the pleading from the paramedics “saved my life.”
The pending closure of UCSD’s hospital in Hillcrest and the possible implications that the moving of other acute care programs to its hospital in La Jolla is what brought Medina to a town hall meeting in Chula Vista, one of several that have taken place throughout San Diego County to determine the future healthcare needs of the region.
Initiated by Supervisors Greg Cox and Ron Roberts, the Healthcare Safety Net Study is expected to determine the resources required to meet the community’s demand for healthcare services.
“The study will take a look at what we can expect five to ten years from now,” Cox told a crown of about 30 people. While the meeting had been organized “specifically to hear the concerns of residents” of the South Bay, most of the forum attendees were healthcare providers and representatives of The Abaris Group, the consulting firm which is conducting the study. “The study will take a look at the challenges that having a healthy community represent…and plan for the services that we will need in the future.”
The six-month, $600,000 projectfunded by the County and the California Endowmentis expected to present an independent and comprehensive assessment of the long-range needs of the healthcare safety net serving of San Diego County residents. The study will encompass all areas of healthcare, including mental health, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS. In addition to the town hall meetings, project coordinators have been interviewing healthcare providers or “stakeholders” and conducting focus groups.
“It’s a large study to predict what’s going to happen,” said Michael Williams, President of The Abaris Group and the leader of a team of 15 peopleresearchers, statisticians, demographers, epidemiologists, etc.who are working on the project. “It’s important for the community to take a look at the current capacity… (and) what is the demand going to be in the future, determine if there are going to be gaps and how do we breach them.”
For José Preciado of the South Bay Forum, the main concern is the amount of resources the county dedicates to healthcare. He urged Cox for additional funding, especially for the South County region.
“We want to advice you that there isn’t enough funds to deal with the issues,” said Preciado. “Every time my neighbor does-n’t get treated, it affects me…It affects all of us whether we’re millionaires or whether we’re poor…These are life issues, we cannot save a buck.”
It is expected that by the year 2030, the County will see its population grow to more than 4 million people and the South County region is anticipated to be a big part of that growth. It is estimated that about 500,000 countywide lack health insurance and thousands more are underinsured.
Cox made no promises for additional funding in the near future and said that “the study will help us see where we have those mind-blowing gaps” and that it will help to “level” the playing field.
“It should make no difference where you live in the county,” Cox responded. “You should have access to affordable healthcare.”
Present at the community forum was Dr. Thomas Mc-Afee, UCSD’s physician in chief. He was there to answer questions about UCSD’s future plans to move its hospital. He explained that their hospital is not county-funded and that their financial situation is similar to that of the other hospitals in the area.
“It’s our response to the business reality that we’re facing. We want to make sure that we stay in business,” said Dr. McAfee, adding that “we welcome the study.”
Preliminary results of the study should be available in June, at which time the findings will be announced to the public and community forums will be taking place. The full study should be completed by September. More information on the study can be found at www.abarisgroup.com under Project Sites. Non-English speakers can get more info at (888) 367-0911. | <urn:uuid:6c9c05b7-ba90-4326-92a3-1679e8523728> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/2006/april21-06/health.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961664 | 1,044 | 1.59375 | 2 |
This “The Best…” list is a companion to The Best Sites To Learn About The U.S. Financial Crisis. Those sites tried to explain how we got into this mess. The resources on this list share what is happening to us as a result. These sites try to give a picture of the recession’s effects throughout the world.
These sites, all relatively accessible to English Language Learners, are divided into three sections. The first are some narrative reports on what is occurring. The second are interactive charts or graphs that show “the numbers.” The third are multimedia presentations giving a human face to the recession (of course, most of my students are experiencing that human face directly in their own lives).
Here are my picks for The Best Sites To Learn About The Recession:
Voice of America’s Special English has a report (with audio support for the text) titled Trying To Live With A Recession In The World’s Largest Economy.
Breaking New English has a lesson (again, with audio support for the text) called Huge U.S. Job Losses Spark Recession Fears.
ESL Podcast Blog has an engaging report on ways a recession affects society
CBBC has a good report on the recession in the United Kingdom.
CHARTS & GRAPHS:
Where Does Your State Rank? is a map from CNN showing the recession’s effect across the United States.
Layoffs Pile-Up is a graph from the Wall Street Journal showing what economic sectors are experiencing the worst job loss.
USA Today has a very complete analysis on jobs loss and growth in the United States.
The National Conference of State Legislatures also has an interactive map on the effects of the recession in all fifty states.
These would require some teacher explanation, but are intriguing nevertheless. They’re are two infographics showing how the proposed economic stimulus would be used — one from the Washington Post and the other from Credit Loan. CNN has a new interactive on the compromise that the Senate and House just agreed to.
The Obamameter is a regularly updated visual representation of different aspects of the U.S. economy. It would be accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners with some explanation.
FinViz shows the stock market in a vivid color-code.
The Economy Tracker from CNN shows the latest economic data on a map, and combines that with personal stories of those affected.
The Geography Of A Recession comes from The New York Times and shows, in detail, unemployment rates throughout the United States.
Maplibs has a color-coded world map that shows international financial centers. The key is the color — if it’s shown in red then it’s down, if it’s shown in green then it’s up.
The Sacramento Bee has a scary map of unemployment in California.
Economic Reality Check is from CNN and provide short facts about different aspects of the recession.
The Sacramento Bee has just published an Income Gap Interactive Graphic. It’s based on Sacramento data, but I suspect the information is similar across the United States. It vividly, and in a way that’s accessible to English Language Learners, shows how long it takes for different people (by occupation, ethnicity, and educational background) to earn $100,000.
MSNBC has developed what they call an Adversity Index. It’s an animated map that “measures the economic health of 381 metro areas and all 50 states.” It’s pretty intriguing, though would probably require some initial explanation before English Language Learners could fully decipher it. Right below the Adversity Map, you can also find a “Map:Recession-resistant areas” that highlights communities in the U.S. that have escaped the recession’s effects.
The San Francisco Chronicle published a simple and very accessible chart today titled Unemployment Characteristics. It “breaks down” unemployment data by race, gender, and education background.
Great Depression Comparison is an excellent interactive comparing the Depression to our present Recession.
Here’s a very accessible infographic that shows the change in unemployment in major US cities over the past year.
The Associated Press has an Economic Stress Index which shows, in an interactive graphic form, what is happening to every county in the United States economically. It measures bankruptcies, home foreclosures, and unemployment, and then interprets it into what they call a “stress index.”
The New York Times has published an interactive graphic titled Broad Unemployment Across the U.S. It shows both the official unemployment rate, and what the rate would be if it included “ipart-time workers who want to work full time, as well some people who want to work but have not looked for a job in the last four weeks.”
Moody’s has put together an impressive and accessible Global Recession Map showing how all the economies in the world are going.
“Food Assistance” is a very simple and visual infographic from GOOD Magazine tracking the rise of food stamps over the past year.
Times Of Crisis is an extraordinary interactive timeline showing the critical events of the economic recession over the past 365 days.
The Geography of Jobs is an excellent animated map demonstrating the loss of jobs in different parts of the United States during the recession.
Flowing Data has some maps that very visually show where unemployment has increased over the past few years.
The Unemployed States of America, a nice infographic (in terms of accessibility, not because it shares good news)
How the Great Recession Reshaped the U.S. Job Market, an informative (and a bit “busy” looking) interactive from The Wall Street Journal.
“America’s 35 Hardest-Hit Cities” is a very accessible infographic showing the communities around the U.S. with the highest unemployment rates. Quite a few of them are located right here in California’s Central Valley.
Comparing This Recession to Previous Ones: Job Changes is a New York Times graphic that very clearly shows we’re not doing so great right now.
“How The Great Recession Has Changed Life In America” is an interactive from The Pew Center.
Who’s Hurting? is a Wall Street Journal interactive showing which economic sector is losing/gaining jobs
How Do Americans Feel About The Recession? is an infographic from MINT.It has some interesting information, and a teacher could ask similar questions of their students.
“Decline and fall of the California job market” is a very good interactive from The Sacramento Bee showing the chronological progress of the monthly unemployment rate for each county in the state over the past three years.
Visual Economics has published two good infographics in one place: “Cities That Have Missed The Recovery” and “Cities That Are Having A Great Recovery.”
“How The Recession Has Changed Us” is what I think is a pretty amazing infographic from The Atlantic.
Where Are The Jobs? is a very good interactive infographic from The Washington Post showing which economic sectors are increasing jobs and which are not doing so well.
GOOD has just published a very good series of infographics explaining the economy.
It’s called All About The Benjamins.
VIDEOS & SLIDESHOWS:
Boomtown To Bust is a New York Times slideshow on the recession’s effect in Florida.
The Sacramento Bee has a series of photos Chronicling The Economic Downturn.
Long Lines Of Job Seekers Continue is a slideshow from The Washington Post.
Downturn Leaves More Families Homeless is another slideshow from The Washington Post.
The Wall Street Journal has excerpts from recent songs that have been written about the recession.
Following A Closing, The Struggle To Find Work is another slideshow from The New York Times.
A Community Facing Hunger is a video from The New York Times.
Out Of Work In China is a video showing the effects of the recession in that country.
A Painful Return is a slideshow discussing the recession’s effects in China.
Tough Times For Summitville Tiles is a Wall Street Journal slideshow about the closing of a factory.
Black Thursday In France is a Wall Street Journal slideshow about protests in that country demanding that the government do more to stop the recession.
Ohio Town Faces Economic Collapse is a slideshow from Pixcetra.
The American Economy: Down and Out is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.
Tough Times In Cleveland is another TIME slideshow.
An audio slideshow from The New York Times called In Economic Vise, Pontiac Struggles.
There Goes Retirement is an online video from The Wall Street Journal.
The progressive magazine The Nation has a useful slideshow called The Great Recession. It’s a bit ideological, but provides a different kind of analysis and response to the recession. It also includes links to articles that would not be accessible to ELL’s. However, the images, teacher modifications of the articles, and lesson ideas provided by them could offer some good opportunities for student discussion and higher order thinking.
The Faces Of The Unemployed is a slideshow from The New York Times.
Searching For A Job is a series of photos from the Sacramento Bee.
Looking For Work is an audio slideshow from Reuters.
Desperately Seeking A Salary is another audio slideshow from Reuters.
Job Seekers Flood Local Job Fair is a slideshow from The Sacramento Bee.
Recession Hits The Saddle is a slideshow from The New York Times.
Auto Town Struggles With Unemployment is a slideshow from The New York Times.
Dark Stores from TIME Magazine.
The New York Times has an audio slideshow about people looking for work in the state of Tennessee.
Inside California’s Tent Cities is the newest addition to this list. It’s a New York Times slideshow on the growing number of homeless encampments around the United States, particularly here in Sacramento (which was recently featured on Oprah Winfrey’s show) and in Fresno.
The Death of the American Mall is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.
Stimulus Watch is a site that doesn’t really fit into any of the categories on this list, but it’s intriguing. It supposedly lists all the projects different governmental projects have proposed to do with stimulus money, and then people can vote which ones they think are best. They’re categorized by community, so they’re very accessible. The only drawback to it is since it’s a wiki, even though all the projects are listed, many don’t have detailed information yet on what the project entails. Nevertheless, its interactivity could offer some good possibilities for student engagement.
How Do You Feel About The Economy? is a great interactive graphic — especially for English Language Learners — from The New York Times. You’re supposed to be able to enter a word that indicates how you’re filling, and you’re given many choices. It’s a good opportunity for vocabulary development.
Picturing The Recession is yet another exceptional interactive from The New York Times. It’s composed of photos contributed by readers, including captions, divided by topic or location.
Adapting To Job Loss is a slideshow from The Washington Post.
Survival Strategies is a new interactive feature from The New York Times. People offer brief ideas on how they’re saving money now in the recession. Readers can vote on which ones they think are best. You have to register in order to vote, offer suggestions, or contribute your own.
Forced From Home is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.
Ghost Factories is a slideshow from The New York Times.
“The Long-Term Unemployed” is a multimedia interactive from The Wall Street Journal.
“America Out Of Work” is ongoing series of video interviews the Los Angeles Times is doing with the unemployed.
America at Work is slideshow from The Atlantic.
As always, feedback is welcome. | <urn:uuid:96f462cf-90d3-4dee-acd5-263d2ee58f50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/02/12/the-best-sites-to-learn-about-the-recession/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917049 | 2,508 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Even though the CNC machines require little human intervention in the development process of the end desired product, human intervention is still needed when it comes to the computer software programming for the CNC machines. A CNC machine programmer must understand the programming, so that they are capable of accurately telling the machine what to do.
CNC machines a programmed through a sentence like structure that is written in a code that it understands. Each axes that the machine uses, requires instructions for the development of the final project. If you forget to program one of the axes, the product will not turn out; in the same terms, if you program wrong, the axes will do what the program tells them and not what you want them to do.
A CNC machine operator helps on the other end. The programmer writes the code for the machine, but the operator is responsible for downloading the program into the machine and getting the machine set up to properly do the job.
The operator may have to set up the tools in the tool holder for the machine, position the material that is needed for the job in the machine, and then start the machine. If the CNC machine operator is experienced, they will begin to learn the different sounds that the machine makes and will be able to tell just by the sound whether there is a problem with the machine. A more experienced CNC machine operator is required to do this type of work.
Once the machine completes the program and the work progress is done, operators may be switched. At this point in time, a less experienced operator can take over from here. Usually CNC machine operators will start out at the lower level and gradually work their way up as they become more experienced in this type of machining.
Experienced CNC machine operators can detect program flaws and can usually make the modifications to the program themselves. If they notice that the end product is not to the specifications needed, they can fix the problem in the program and continue on with the job. They will not have to take the time to contact the programmer and wait for the program to be fixed.
Limited input from the operator is needed to operate a CNC machine. It is because of this reason that one operator may be able to watch multiple machines. The machines do all of the work and only one person is required to do the set up of the machines. This enables companies to employ fewer people and saves them in the payroll department.
CNC machine operators must adhere to safety precautions just like they would in any other machine shop. Even though the CNC machines are usually completely enclosed and can limit the noise, debris and so on, there are still dangers and the operator will need to abide by the safety rules and precautions. Wearing safety goggles/glasses and ear plugs are a good idea and can help to protect the operator. | <urn:uuid:61fae3d9-96ed-4021-b56b-1a1cd193073d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://latestexams.com/pro/business/industrial/cnc-machine-operators/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948758 | 571 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Jerry Brown calls for solar-power 'miracle' at Capitol menorah lighting
Gov. Jerry Brown led the annual ceremonial Capitol menorah lighting Monday, lamenting the use of an electric menorah instead of one with “real fire,” and using his brief remarks to compare the story of Hanukkah to his push for renewable energy.
“What a wonderful time to celebrate Hanukkah, and the festival of the lights and the whole idea that we’re running out of oil so we need a miracle,” Brown said to laughter and applause. “The miracle is to not use more oil but to utilize the sun ... to light up California.”
The ceremony, sponsored by Chabad of Calfornia, also underscored some of the differences between Brown and his predecessor. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to revel in these types of ceremonial functions, staying on to celebrate and dance with the rabbis.
Brown stuck around long enough to hand out a few packets of chocolate-covered coins to members of the Pacific Boychoir, before making a quick return to his office.
When asked why he didn’t stay to dance the hora, Brown said, “Well, I can’t do everything.”
-- Anthony York in Sacramento
Photo Credit: Anthony York / Los Angeles Times | <urn:uuid:6a70fa77-d402-4cc6-bbd2-234c55e5d9ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2011/12/jerry-brown-hanukkah-menorah-chabad-arnold-schwarzenegger.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9314 | 279 | 1.726563 | 2 |
- Managing Me
- Big Ideas
- Managing People
“The object of [the Fair Work] Act is to provide a balanced framework for cooperative and productive workplace relations that promotes national economic prosperity and social inclusion for all Australians …” Fair Work Act, 2009.
Many rail against the strictures of the laws governing the workplace. But what would they do if the Fair Work Act authorised them to craft their own framework, subject to but one key condition: that they must negotiate and agree that outcome with the rest of their workplace stakeholders? Could they rise to the challenge?
There is no general consensus in Australian society on what our model of workplace relations should be. Anyone who doubts this need simply look at the divergent views of employers, unions and others that have been posted recently on the Fair Work Act Review Panel website.
Perhaps the most insistent claim of employers is that the law should allow them to relate to their employees as they see fit and with minimal interference from trade unions. Unions generally want the law to gift them more scope and influence across workplaces.
The key parties do, though, seem to agree on one thing: their interests are substantially at odds with one another. And so they argue the rightness of their competing positions and appeal to the political process to nudge or shove the legislative pendulum in their favoured direction. But this arm wrestle is only about the resting point of a pendulum that describes an inferior arc.
Defying the parties’ analysis, the Fair Work Act asserts that its object is to promote “cooperative and productive workplace relations” – very similar language to its forerunner, Work Choices. However, our current Act, again like its immediate predecessor, has 21st century objects serviced by 20th century machinery.
It does very little to provide structures, processes and remedies to foster collaborative and fruitful workplace engagements. It is designed and operates to set basic terms and conditions of employment and then to institutionalise conflict. Both worthy and necessary goals, but a far cry from the recipe for great workplaces.
The features of the great workplace are well-known: mutual trust and respect, good communications, fairness, the right skills, a strong business plan, and some more. In the Australian and Anglosphere context, the explanation for the failure to go for greatness can be attributed in large measure to the fact that the workplace parties are the captives of their antagonistic histories.
That ingrained antipathy looks increasingly small-minded with each passing decade. Given the character of contemporary Australia, perhaps the most scathing thing that can be said about the state of much of current industrial relations is that it is unnecessary. Australian society, while not without its serious flaws, is broadly consensual, congenial, accommodating and successful.
If its workplace relations reflected the broader societal picture, it would be more Nordic than Anglo-Saxon – better still, Australian – in character. Enabling labour legislation that can help steer the workplace parties in a more constructive direction is what is needed.
It is unlikely that that the current statutory review process will trigger sweeping changes favouring one or other of the major social players. There is, however, an option for reform – a threat-free invitation brimming with possibilities – that should excite everything but consternation.
Open-minded workplace parties should be given this empowering offer: assume mutual responsibility for developing productive workplaces and the statute will support you. An astutely revised Fair Work Act should provide a pliable alternative to its default scheme.
Willing workplace parties should be given the latitude to negotiate comprehensive, customised frameworks for the regulation of their relationships. They would need to demonstrate that their creations promoted the achievement of a cooperative and productive workplace as envisaged by the object of the Act.
A necessary starting point is that employers not only acknowledge but comprehend that employees’ interests are promoted by association, matched by an understanding on the part of employees and their representatives that an abiding commitment to improving organisational performance must be part of the bargain.
Unions have traditionally represented employees, but for non-unionised workplaces a formula is needed for elected representatives whose standing is sourced in a charter that ensures their independence and viability. Thereafter, the scope for bespoke arrangements should be extensive.
The parties should be able to agree to engage with one another on all matters of mutual interest between them, and the forms of engagement should range beyond bargaining to consultation and other varieties of dialogue.
They should commit to capacity building in respect of business education and continuous process improvement and, if indicated, to training in appropriate negotiation, consultation, problem-solving, dispute prevention and dispute resolution skills.
They should be able to draw on independent resources (FWA with an expanded brief or some other agreed and independent agency). They would need to decide how best to conciliate and finally resolve any disputes of right or interest that may arise between them. And their agreed deals should be legally enforceable.
Those open to exploring, developing and settling such flexible alternatives to the otherwise prescribed formula should be assisted with access to federal funding and other capacity-building resources.
Any approved framework could dispense with and indeed displace all the statutory provisions dealing with bargaining representatives, bargaining procedures, good faith bargaining requirements, bargaining scope provisions, individual flexibility agreements, job security provisions, consultation requirements, the better-off-overall test, formal agreement approval requirements and industrial action regulations, amongst others.
Basic statutory rights such as the National Employment Standards would need to be respected. The provisions of modern awards, though, could be substituted.
Self-evidently, employers and employee representatives would only agree to supplant the default system if they shared the belief that their jointly negotiated alternatives served their combined interests better. And they should do better, because the dated design features of the current statute do not of themselves assist with the making of great contemporary workplaces.
Any provisionally agreed framework for the promotion of cooperative and productive workplaces that displaced the default provisions on bargaining, consultation, industrial action and dispute resolution provided for by the statute would need to be submitted to Fair Work Australia for examination and approval.
Before endorsing any such arrangements, FWA would need to be satisfied that they met the prime objects of the statute, were not for any reason contrary to the public interest and that a convincing majority of the affected employees supported them.
It is suggested, though, that Fair Work Australia should show a proper margin of appreciation to the bargaining and consultation outcomes of endorsed engagement frameworks. Explicit provision for that margin would serve as a further incentive for the workplace parties to opt for (more) autonomous and tailored bargaining and consultation arrangements.
No one would be compelled to enter into any such arrangements; they could only be the product of coercion-free, voluntary negotiations. They would be available only to those parties who showed sufficient imagination, collaboration and resolve to get them up.
Were such arrangements to be provided for, a telling boost would be given to prescient parties to cut through all the regulatory requirements of the statute and to arrive at simplified, expeditious and functional engagement frameworks that meet both their particular needs and the needs of a get-ahead 21st century society and economy.
Nor would the negotiated arrangements be uniform or static. It is reasonable to assume that workplace parties operating in different sectors would fashion quite different frameworks to meet their particular needs and circumstances. And that these solutions would evolve continuously, adapting to the dynamics of the domestic and global economy.
The international and local research and experience suggest very strongly that parties who took up the cooperative proposition would gain a significant competitive advantage over those whose apparently implacable differences obliged them to soldier on under the ancient regime. Amongst other things, they could escape many of the constraints of our conflict-premised legislation, with its cramped conversations and prescribed bargaining cycles, opting instead for alternatives such as continuous consultation.
Today only a minority of Australian workplace parties, acting in combination, would have the imagination and then the dexterity to actually negotiate their own futures. Most are still caught up in the zone of industrial indignation and finger-pointing. There is something quite fitting, though, about the fortunes of the quarrelling mass being tied to the vagaries of the political pendulum.
If Australia is serious about innovation, then the law should enable the social parties to innovate. There can be little policy hazard in providing legislative space for cooperative pioneers. Consent is their platform, and they need venture only so far and as fast as their combined intent takes them. And should their ingenuity overshoot the public interest, the independent umpire can rein them in.
Could our legislators contemplate moving from brown to green to rainbow fields?
This article first appeared on The Conversation. | <urn:uuid:b8566e6d-a78d-4f5f-b452-d4aaa4220f9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://leadingcompany.smartcompany.com.au/strategy/enough-rope-liberating-the-fair-work-act/201205241182 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958236 | 1,762 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Free eBooks for Read Across America Day
Sylvan Dell Publishing will be participating in Read Across America Day by offering all of its award-winning eBooks FREE to read at www.sylvandellpublishing.com on March 2. Participants will have access to Sylvan Dell’s full eBook Site License including eBooks with auto-flip, auto-read, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio. This is in addition to the free activities available every day including a “For Creative Minds” educational section, 40-70 pages of free teaching activities, three quizzes, and a related websites page for each title.
Sylvan Dell co-owner and editor Donna German states, “We are proud to offer children a simple way to participate in Read Across America Day. By offering our full eBook Site License we also make it easy not only for children to read and explore our great books, but we make it easy for parents and teachers to use each book as stepping stone to learning with our “For Creative Minds” section and our free teaching activities.”
Sylvan Dell Publishing’s mission is to excite children’s imaginations with artistically spectacular science, math, and nature-themed stories. Founded in November of 2004, Sylvan Dell has grown to include more than 75 authors and illustrators in the United States and Canada, and 70 titles—honored as finalists or winners of over 70 book awards. Sylvan Dell’s Science and Math Through Literature Program integrates science, math, geography, character skills, and language learning through fun, cross-curricular activities.
To participate in Sylvan Dell Publishing’s Read Across America eBook event, simply visit http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ on March 2 and click on the Read Across America icon in the upper right-hand corner of the website. For questions or concerns, call Sylvan Dell Publishing directly at (877) 243-3457 or email [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:7c10be4b-e7a1-46bf-9a13-00b21c47ff42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learningtable.blogspot.com/2012/02/free-ebooks-for-read-across-america-day.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917022 | 430 | 1.53125 | 2 |
I started teaching Python to 8th graders years ago. We were already teaching it to all of our 9th graders, so I talked the 8th grade computer teacher into it (pretty easy since a) she was as very smart woman, and b) I was sort of her boss ) so that we could build a little buzz for programming before kids made it to high school. I started them just with IDLE and some text based programs, followed by some stuff from the LiveWires lessons and it was a modest success.
However… I felt I was spending too much time on the mechanics of using the environment and not enough on the actual prorgramming. This mattered since we could only carve two weeks out of the existing curriculum for the programming unit. I’d also switched to a curriculum completely based on using Python’s built-in turlte module, which became much easier when some us added several tweaks to the library for the 2.5 release, and even easier when Gregor Lingl’s brilliant x-turtle was adopted as the replacement for the turtle library in Python 2.6.
Still, I wanted an even more supportive environment than IDLE. I wanted something that would take care of saving – kids forgetting to save was pain in the rear, and a good way to kill their enthusiasm. I also wanted something that would offer help on the commands as they were starting out. Not code completion, exactly – for novices that can more confusing, but something that would enable them to find the command they wanted easily without leaving the enviroment.
So… I created my own. I used it and thought it worked pretty well, but never really got around to promoting it. Then Simón Ruiz started using it to teach our 9th grade class. Simón polished and refined the interface based on his experience and testing, and the result, if I do say so, is worth a look if you want to teach Python to kids using the turtle. It has the great advantage of being a single file, so installation is easy, and its only dependency is that it requires Tkinter and IDLE.
At the moment Turtlelab isn’t really under active development – I’ve since left teaching and Simón has other assignments, but I believe he’s considering a blog post or two in the near future focussing on it.
Rather than explain it in great detail, I’m sharing the link to the BitBucket repository and you can go play with it yourself. And if you really like it and want to use it, please do. If you like it even more and want to take it over, please let us know – we love to have it in use and under development. | <urn:uuid:64642ea1-8c0b-4982-a0cd-be7a2a1d718f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learnpython.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/turtlelab-a-simple-environment-for-teaching-python/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=5d5a17dad5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983789 | 569 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Beer and loathing in America
The White House happy hour President Obama convened last week to soothe hurt feelings between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley was yet another glimpse at the undeniable reconciliatory power of beer.
Beer has been making jokes funny, furniture comfortable and homely people sexy for at least 10,000 years, and there could be no finer tool to thwart post-racial racism. Any substance that could make golf entertaining ought to be able to put the brakes on a frothing media and convince the parties involved to put the matter behind them. And it seems to have worked: Lubed with beer, the heretofore somber professor Gates said of his arresting officer: “When he’s not arresting you, Sgt. Crowley is a really likable guy.”
There is, of course, much precedent in American presidential history for using psychoactive substances to bring together feuding factions. While the White House has been dismally abstemious for the past eight years (not counting being drunk on imperialism), previous centuries were marked by great moments in insobriety. For example, Jimmy Carter famously brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin together at Camp David to snort an eight ball of pure, Peruvian blow. The result: peace between those nations, Nobel Prizes for Sadat and Begin, and an exhilaration Carter described as “Dang, mah whole head is numb.”
Just a few years earlier, Richard Nixon opened China to the Western World by meeting with Henry Kissinger, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and knocking back a case of Cutty Sark (though Mao complained Nixon bogarted the Scotch). Even during Prohibition, Franklin D. Roosevelt got Wall Street and financial reformers to agree to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission by passing around a pitcher of Old Fashioneds and several “tobacco cigarettes enhanced with cannabis sativa.” Going back further, who can forget Dionysus, who got Euripides and Aeschylus so baked on wine and hellebore that they agreed, “Tori Amos isn’t so bad after all.”
So no one can complain that Obama “acted stupidly” in inviting Crowley and Gates over for beer, even though his choice of beverage was disappointing. According to The New York Times, “Mr. Obama had a Bud Light, Sergeant Crowley had Blue Moon, Professor Gates drank Sam Adams Light and Mr. Biden, who does not drink, had a Buckler nonalcoholic beer.”
Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her taste in beer, and I will leave it to my far-more-qualified colleagues Roger Baylor or Sara Havens to alcho-analyze. But the Bud Light choice seems to say Obama was more interested in shutting down the media shitstorm than achieving reconciliation. If he really wanted progress, he could have chosen a beer with substance, perhaps the Tall Tale Pale Ale from Cambridge Brewing Company — or at least shotgunned the Bud. But that’s a technicality in what was otherwise my favorite White House photo op since Nixon made Elvis an honorary federal narc.
If there’s anyone who’s done as much as Obama to make me feel the world is really going “post-racial,” it is Gates himself. His PBS miniseries “African-American Lives” was an enlightening look at the genealogy of famous African-Americans like Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Don Cheadle, Maya Angelou and Oprah. By telling the family histories of famous people, the stories felt more personal. By using DNA evidence, Gates showed that we all come from a complex admixture of world bloodlines. And there are a lot of people with pretty much the same racial makeup as Obama who look as white as Joe Biden.
Maybe we won’t be post-racial until our lying eyes evolve past the point where they tell our faulty brains that, because somebody’s skin appears a different color than ours, that person is somehow different from us. At any rate, four out of five pundits agree that this national dialogue on race is necessary and cathartic but will be painful. But you know what four of five bartenders agree is good for pain? Beer! The whole Gates-gate episode and most especially Obama’s presidency prove we’ve made strides in the right direction. And I’ll drink to that.
Thanks to all of you who’ve sent suggestions for albums for Laura. Polls are still open — if you’d like to join the festivities please visit http://tinyurl.com/LauraRose and drop me a line at [email protected]. I’ll report the results in my next column. | <urn:uuid:0a57156c-0fa1-41f0-8b74-15b9c27043d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://leoweekly.com/summary-my-discontent/beer-and-loathing-america | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956309 | 1,007 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Even the AP is calling Obama on his lies
Surprisingly the AP decided to fact check Obama’s Small Business Tax credit included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Ok, it’s not really that surprising they decided to fact check the tax credit. What is surprising is they were honest with the results. Obama and his half-wit press secretary Robert Gibbs have been claiming this credit will stimulate job creation. Not so shockingly it turns out the credit will actually do the opposite. As the AP reports the credit encourages small businesses to keep their number of employees low, and keep their employees salaries lower:
Zach Hoffman was confident his small business would qualify for a new tax cut in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law.
But when he ran the numbers, Hoffman discovered that his office furniture company wouldn’t get any assistance with the $79,200 it pays annually in premiums for its 24 employees. “It leaves you with this feeling of a bait-and-switch,” he said.
When the administration unveiled the small business tax credit earlier this week, officials touted its “broad eligibility” for companies with fewer than 25 workers and average annual wages under $50,000 that provide health coverage. Hoffman’s workers earn an average of $35,000 a year, which makes it all the more difficult to understand why his company didn’t qualify.
Lost in the fine print: The credit drops off sharply once a company gets above 10 workers and $25,000 average annual wages.
Thanks for the info AP, but you’re a little late to the party. Heck, even I got this one right two weeks ago. | <urn:uuid:7345e6de-b5f0-46d1-848c-afc15340c1e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://libertyandpride.com/ap-fact-checks-obama-tax-credits-things-arent-what-they-seem/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976651 | 348 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Q: I have a poor credit score (614). Is it possible for me to get a home buyers loan?
A: It is technically possible for you to get a mortgage to purchase a home. The FHA program is theoretically open to borrowers with credit scores as low as 580 and a down payment of just 3.5 percent (plus an up-front insurance premium of 1.75 percent of the loan amount).
However, in reality, many lenders won't write FHA mortgages with FICO scores below 620, even if the FHA will accept them. These add-on requirements (over the program minimums)--called "overlays"--are added by lenders who are afraid that low-credit-score loans will fail at a rate high enough as to bring down the wrath of the FHA upon them. A lender whose loans fail at a significant rate can even lose their ability to participate in the FHA program, so it's little wonder they are acting defensively and instituting their own overlays.
Since your 614 score is not too far away from the minimums many lenders will consider, your first move should be to take a look though your three credit reports to see if there are any errors or omissions you can correct which might improve your score. Since you are close, it shouldn't take too much time or effort to get you over the 620 barrier.
Here are a few strategies that can help boost your credit score in just a short period of time:
- Pay down your balances. Paying down debt is by far the simplest way to improve your score. "People with the highest FICO scores carry balances on their credit cards that are less than 20 percent of their total available credit," says Anthony A. Sprauve, director of public relations for MyFICO.com in San Francisco. "Your balances account for 30 percent of your credit score."
- Use that old credit card…once. If you have an older credit card account with no recent activity on it, use the card once then immediately pay off the balance.
- Don’t close your old accounts. While you may think you’re doing the right thing by closing old credit card accounts, the opposite is actually true. Experts say that it’s equally damaging to open new, unnecessary accounts than it is to close accounts. If you have old or unused accounts, continually monitor your credit reports to keep your eye on them, but keep them open.
To learn more, be sure to read “5 quick ways to boost your credit score.
A 25-year expert observer of the mortgage and consumer debt markets, Keith Gumbinger has been cited in thousands of articles covering a wide range of consumer finance and economic topics in outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Bottom Line newsletters. He has been a featured guest on national broadcasts for CNN, CNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC television networks and has been heard on NPR and other national and local radio programs. Keith is the primary researcher and writer for HSH.com's MarketTrends newsletter and has authored or co-authored a number of consumer guides on mortgages, home equity, refinancing and more. | <urn:uuid:e3c50c68-e15b-45f0-bd1b-c7c3add9d881> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.hsh.com/articles/ask-the-expert/my-credit-score-is-614.-can-i-get-a-mortgage.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962103 | 649 | 1.632813 | 2 |
A 64-year-old white female with a long history of poorly treated hypertension was diagnosed by your preceptor with congestive heart failure (CHF) at her last visit when she presented with shortness of breath and lower extremity edema. She was treated with a diuretic and started on an ACE inhibitor and now is clinically well compensated and without edema. Her EKG shows LVH and strain. Her echocardiogram shows an ejection fraction of 35% and left ventricular hypertrophy. The patient is otherwise in good health without any other known chronic conditions. She is a lifelong non-smoker with a cholesterol/HDL ratio of 2.3 (low risk for heart disease). Her only other medication is Prempro (a combination estrogen/progesterone product).
The patient has heard that CHF is a serious disease, and asks what the future is likely to hold for her. Specifically she asks how likely she is to die from this condition in the near future.
| URL: http://library.umassmed.edu/EBM/tutorials/one/index.cfm
Last Updated: October 6, 2010
Send us comments.
Worcester, MA, USA 01655 | <urn:uuid:c087c0a5-1042-4111-bdb3-602590f05750> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.umassmed.edu/EBM/tutorials/one/index.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946224 | 257 | 1.757813 | 2 |
This week’s Newsweek features a piece by David McCullough Jr, a teacher who gave a speech to the 2012 graduating class of Wellesley High School. Visit Wellesley’s website. The school sounds more like a university than a high school. The gist of McCullough’s speech was “You are not special. You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless…We Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement.”
Incendiary words, spoken to children who epitomize the best and the brightest of what this country has to offer. The problem is that the “best” and the “brightest” have ceased to have any real meaning.
We are the educated middle class, the loving parents of these kids. And we have created a protective aura around our children. Just as we remove all manner of objects and food groups that might harm them physically, we remove any sort of failure that might harm their little psyches. Because we believe them to be so special and so perfect, we make sure the world sees them in the same way.
We email or fax reports to school and make no pretense that they are coming from Johnny. We expect A’s, with no concern that A’s have thus become meaningless. We graduate children who can barely read and who cannot think for themselves.
We fight to have Johnny admitted to special ed classes, believing it is better to have the label of special ed than to be “regular.” Regular, average, and normal are no longer acceptable terms for our children.
If Johnny is above average, we demand the designation “gifted.” And we are willing to pay handsomely for it, to bypass the system and get the results we want from those who provide independent educational assessments.
We demand that Johnny makes the most competitive sports team. We don’t care that his making the team might mean that the team will lose or that a worthy child won’t then get a slot that he deserves to get because our child took his place.
We are incensed if a teacher tells us that Johnny isn’t special, or worse, that he is falling behind. We storm into the school and berate the principal for the stupidity of the teacher.
We treat our children’s teachers and coaches like we treat other drivers on the road. They are mere impediments to our getting where we want to be in the most efficient way possible. When we cause an accident, we blame the other driver. When our child fails, we blame the system. We are thus shocked that Perfect Little Johnny turns out to be someone who doesn’t quite come up to the expectations we had for him.
As Newsweek says in a piece titled “Generation ‘Special,’’ “…it seems that affluent parents now have a major beef with how their offspring…correction, the offspring of others…are turning out. Just a bit entitled perhaps? A little unrealistic in expectations? A little complacent?”
There are many caring (and realistic) parents out there, who don’t steamroll over the system. There are many students graduating from high schools who are hardworking and who have never expected anything they didn’t deserve. But there are also many of the others.
These other kids will graduate, some with honors, and go on to colleges they never should have gotten into. They will sit in classes they don’t deserve to be in, and they will struggle to get by or they will simply drop out. But few of them will understand why this has happened to them, and fewer, still, will place any responsibility on themselves.
From Newsweek: “…we’ve given our children everything except for the thing they need most and the thing no one can provide, the ability to find their own core passion without artificial support. And the understanding of how much work, how much sheer effort, it takes to succeed.” | <urn:uuid:0f89c73b-90bd-467f-badd-4243a0dca1d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifeintheboomerlane.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/generation-special/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964479 | 848 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Is there something you’re procrastinating on doing today? Or any day for that matter. One of the things that has been on my “To Do” list for a couple of days is to create an editorial calendar for my blog posts. It’s part of an assignment for the 31 Day Build a Better Blog challenge (sponsored by ProBlogger http://www.problogger.net) that I’m participating in with my blogging buddies — Delicacte Flower http://delicacies.wordpress.com and Digital Citizen http://digitalcitizen.ca . How timely that I should receive an email this morning about procrastination. The catchy title caught my attention. The email was about a book on procrastination titled “Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time,” by Brian Tracy.
There’s an old saying that says…”If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!” Well, I can still think of a few worse things…but you get the point.
Brian Tracy says that your “frog” should be the most difficult item on your things to do list, the one you’re most likely to procrastinate on; because, if you eat that first, it’ll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. But, if you don’t…and let him sit there on the plate and stare at you while you do a hundred unimportant things, it can drain your energy and you won’t even know it. Hmmm, maybe some of us have too many frogs on our plate at one time and that’s why we’re feeling overwhelmed. Check out the cute video and then read the book excerpt below the video:
Here’s an excerpt from “Eat That Frog!” that I received from Simple Truths http://simpletruths.com. It’s a small sampling in Brian’s chapter titled: Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything. Enjoy!
The 80/20 Rule is one of the most helpful of all concepts of time and life management. It is also called the “Pareto Principle” after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first wrote about it in 1895. Pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the “vital few”, the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the “trivial many”, the bottom 80 percent.
He later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this principle as well. For example, this principle says that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth five or ten times or more than the other eight items put together.
Number of Tasks versus Importance of Tasks
Here is an interesting discovery. Each of the ten tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish. But one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value of any of the others. Often, one item on a list of ten tasks that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the frog that you should eat first.
Focus on Activities, Not Accomplishments
The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20 percent left to be done.
Before you begin work, always ask yourself, “Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?” The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you will be naturally motivated to continue. A part of your mind loves to be busy working on significant tasks that can really make a difference. Your job is to feed this part of your mind continually.
Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrastination. Time management is really life management, personal management. It is really taking control of the sequence of events. Time management is having control over what you do next. And you are always free to choose the task that you will do next. Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.
Effective, productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task that is before them. They force themselves to eat that frog, whatever it is. As a result, they accomplish vastly more than the average person and are much happier as a result. This should be your way of working as well.
Other good links for Eat That Frog!:
To see all 21 ways to stop procrastinating here is a good summary:
Eat That Frog! book excerpt from amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Eat-That-Frog-Great-Procrastinating/dp/1576751988#
Brian Tracy website: http://www.briantracy.com/ | <urn:uuid:cb90f89e-b784-409f-a081-a01ca1e7abb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifelessons4u.wordpress.com/tag/business/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936413 | 1,200 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Google: Android isn’t designed for tablets… yet
Google clearly didn’t have tablets in mind when it designed the Android operating system. Way back in 2007, tablets were generally expensive computers running Windows software which often had a full keyboard, a screen on a swivel, and active digitizer and stylus doohickeys for input. Android, on the other hand, was aimed at smartphones.
Flash forward a few years and it seems like every day there’s a story about a new company coming out with an Android tablet. That makes sense, because let’s face it, the iPad is probably the most popular tablet computer ever, and it’s basically running an operating system designed for a smartphone. There’s not much difference between the versions of iOS running on the iPad and the iPhone. Since pretty much anyone can license Android for free and use it how they see fit, it’s not surprising that companies looking to pump out iPad rivals are going with Android.
The problem is that Google hasn’t officially given these devices its blessing yet — and Google mobile director Hugo Barra tells Tech Radar that the company probably won’t until a future version of Android that’s optimized for tablets is available. In other words, that shiny new Android 2.2 Froyo operating system Google launched earlier this year? You know, the one that tablet makers are scrambling to install on their mobile devices? It’s not what Google had in mind for tablets.
While the basic Google Android operating system is open source and free for anyone to use, Google holds tighter reigns on some of the apps that run on top of Android, including its Gmail, Google Calendar, and Android Market apps. So far, Google hasn’t officially given the go ahead for any hardware maker to install the Android Market app on a device that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements — which basically means you need to have a device with an accelerometer, WiFi, and phone capabilities. That’s why the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Dell Streak both have Android Market access and the Archos 101 and Augen GenTouch78 don’t. The former have 3G modems and the ability to make phone calls. The latter don’t.
The good news is that Barra says future versions of Android will support the tablet form factor. But right now, he says that the problem with installing the Android Market is that some of the 80,000 apps available for download simply won’t run properly on tablets.
Honestly, it seems like there should be a relatively easy fix that simply requires an updated Market app rather than a brand new operating system. Just segregate apps based on their hardware requirements. Apple does this by separating out the iPad apps from the iPhone/iPod touch apps in the iTunes App Store.
But Google appears to be taking a different approach.
I get the feeling that Google never really wanted Android tablets to exist in the first place and is just now playing catch up in response to the obvious demand. The company has another mobile operating system in the works called Google Chrome OS, which is basically an OS built around a web browser. Instead of downloaded apps, it will run web apps, although we expect there to be some offline caching capabilities which should let you do things like read eBooks or watch videos even when an internet connection isn’t handy.
Since Google is first and foremost a company that makes its revenue from web-based advertising and web-based software, it’s no surprise that Google’s vision for the future is cloud-based apps instead of downloads. Google doesn’t offer as many desktop apps as it used to, instead focusing on the cloud.
If Chrome OS were ready to go earlier this year, I suspect Google still wouldn’t be thinking about Android for tablets — unless Chrome OS turned out to be a big flop with users clamoring for downloadable apps. Don’t forget, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, it didn’t have native apps either. He insisted that the development platform for the iPhone was the web, and the phone was designed primarily to run web apps. Today, there are over 250,000 native apps available in the App Store because, let’s face it, web apps just aren’t always going to do the job.
Anyway, long story short — I’d be shocked at this point if Google didn’t respond to the huge demand for Android tablets by finally pushing a tablet friendly version of the operating system by the end of the year. But I don’t really think Google is going to be happy about it… and pushing a version of Android that isn’t exclusively for phones could be all it takes for Chrome OS to be dead on arrival. After all, who needs a web-browser based operating system when you’ve already got an always-on, light weight mobile OS that includes its own Webkit-based browser and the ability to run tens of thousands of third party native apps? | <urn:uuid:62ba2e49-2df0-4e72-96bf-bee391d8ce3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://liliputing.com/2010/09/google-android-isnt-designed-for-tablets-yet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941889 | 1,047 | 1.828125 | 2 |
LINGUIST List 19.104|
Thu Jan 10 2008
Support: General Linguistics: Open Student, Eastern Michigan University
Editor for this issue: Bethany Townsend
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General Linguistics: Open Student, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
Message 1: General Linguistics: Open Student, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
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Subject: General Linguistics: Open Student, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
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Date: 28 Jul 2003 14:02:15 -0700
Sorry if I'm disturbing your newgroup with my newbie questions, i hope
Which books would you recommend for someone who is designing an entire
operating system from scratch, without a tutor. I already own Andy's
"design and implementation 2/e", "modern operating systems 1/e" and
milenkovic's "operating systems concepts and design 2/e". I've read
the OS theory and now i'm in the design and development stage of the
project, but i need further information in order to implement what i
I've been looking at amazon.com, and i found some interesting books
*-Operating systems concepts; John Wiley & Sons
*-Understanding linux kernel 2/e; o'reilly
*-Linux device drivers; o'reilly
*-Solaris Internals Core Kernel Architecture; prentice-hall
*-Linux kernel internals; addison-Wesley Pub Co
*-UNIX internals: the new frontiers; prentice-hall
*-Design of an UNIX operating system; prentice-hall
*-Design and implementation of the 4.4 bsd operating system;
addison-Wesley Pub Co
which books would you choose and why, considering my position.
- Re: Database Design & Normalization Question
... understand the logic behind the books, videos, software, ... didn't have to change the database design to store new ...
- Re: MVC design questions
... Instead of a single CRUD GUI program I've got two, the idea being that one can be given to anybody because it can't damage the database (no insert/update/ delete capability at all while the other, which can do these things, is intended only for suitable authorised users: most data is bulk loaded and the update GUI is only there for removing to odd piece of junk and tidying up. ... In fact, i'd create three - a full-access account for the DBA, an account with the ability to edit the data, but not do DDL, for the update app, and a read-only one for the search app. ... I have almost no OO background and have no idea who the currently recognised OO design gurus are. ... That era was dominated by big ideas - big processes, big notations, big books, big words. ...
- Re: Applications "buying" resources
... It all boils down to how you specify a correctly working system. ... want to design a system that will do a particular job most of the time, ... I just find my reasoning for using an operating system in my ... it is true that a real-time system must ...
- Re: Recommended books on Top Down Design
... "Top down design" still happens, but books these days don't promote it. ... The Art of Computer Programming by Knuth ... some dynamic typing abilities. ...
- Re: What books do you read / recommend
... category is the C++ books, not because it's the best, or because ... well-explored that lots of uniquely good design books are also good C++ ... The C++ Programming Language 3rd Edition by Bjarne Stroustrup ... Design Patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented software by Gamma, ... | <urn:uuid:e9083642-05ec-47ec-bae9-73925f465979> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://linux.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.os.linux.development.system/2003-07/0485.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891818 | 696 | 2.09375 | 2 |
ekoyle at gmail.com
Wed Jun 17 07:30:52 CEST 2009
On Jun 11 20:20-0300, Werner Almesberger wrote:
> Even in the hardware area, there's more than just low-risk
> implementation projects. E.g., there should also be activities that
> take on the risky bits and bring them under control. Such "pioneer"
> efforts can then be integrated into the next "safe" design.
I would really like to see this paradigm expanded to other types of
currently-proprietary hardware. You could even rip off large parts of
the current design :).
As an example: An openmoko HAM radio. Commercially-produced amateur
radio equipment is quite proprietary (and expensive, since it's a fairly
small market). Most of them have a very limited feature set, partly
because of software limitations.
Since the nature of amateur radio is to promote experimentation and
emergency communications, a device like the openmoko (replacing the GSM
radio with hardware to handle HAM radio, SDR?; and a larger form factor)
would be highly useful.
To give you an idea on pricing, there is a popular (high-end) $400
handheld right now that can handle 2 receive channels, bluetooth (w/$70
add-on board), gps (w/$70 gps receiver add-on for you to accidentally
break off the top), APRS messaging (easily handled by a PIC
microcontroller... imagine what a real processor could do), and a
1.3"x.8" dot matrix display.
BOFH excuse #185:
system consumed all the paper for paging
More information about the community | <urn:uuid:5412985f-40cb-44ba-91a7-cc21cf20a634> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/community/2009-June/049772.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910766 | 372 | 1.734375 | 2 |
[Accessibility] How to map parts of tactile paving and other feature?
s_higash at mua.biglobe.ne.jp
Sat Jul 31 15:15:42 BST 2010
I think we need to draw all foot-ways for accessibility-mapping,
though it may take long time to complete..
Because it is mainly for walking/wheelchair driving route.
(sorry Japanese article)
As for myself I haven't draw enough ;-)
> Dear all,
> I have been reading up on the archive, but have not come across an
> answer to my question, so I hope you can help me out.
> Mapping for the blind is one of the OSM activities I wish to
> contribute to, because there is not much activity on this topic
> amongst the Dutch mappers, and because I live in an small city with a
> institute for the blind (especially education to blind children).
> Therefore there is a lot of tactile paving and other facilities in my
> town, and also a group of people that can benefit from mapping these
> facilities. But I can not find clear choices on how to map tactile
> paving. I looked at German examples, but most of them are bus-stop
> platforms or additions to traffic-light crossings. I can not find
> examples of tactile paving on foot-ways along roads (only a few where
> the foot-way is completely separated in a park).
> So I am wondering what is the best way to map tactile paving on
> foot-ways along roads (directly next to the road of only separated by
> a small border of cycle-path)?
> Should I only mark the nodes of the crossings? And what if a section
> of the path is mark apart from crossings (example: there is place
> where cars are allowed to park on the foot-way, which is extra width
> at that point. There is tactile paving on the part of this foot-path
> to lead the blind around the parked cars, but there is no crossing at
> the beginning nor at the end of this part)?
> How should I make clear that the tactile paving is only on one side of
> the road, if the foot-ways are on both side?
> Or should I draw all these foot-ways, even if they are directly along
> roads, so I can mark the exact sections with tactile paving? I think
> this last option is the most clean option, but takes a lot of work,
> and this is not how others have done it so far....
> Please give me some advise, as I am keen on starting mapping this
> tactile paving.
> With kind regards,
> Annemieke Vogel
> lat. 51.763047
> lon. 5.728747
> Accessibility mailing list
> Accessibility at openstreetmap.org
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list send an empty email to
> accessibility-unsubscribe at openstreetmap.org
More information about the Accessibility | <urn:uuid:af4af63a-0b6b-4620-9f4d-c5ddec36e36c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/accessibility/2010-July/000133.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904066 | 654 | 2.109375 | 2 |
A nuzzle of the neck, a stroke of the wrist, a brush of the knee—these caresses often signal a loving touch, but can also feel highly aversive, depending on who is delivering the touch, and to whom. Interested in how the brain makes connections between touch and emotion, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have discovered that the association begins in the brain’s primary somatosensory cortex, a region that, until now, was thought only to respond to basic touch, not to its emotional quality.
“We demonstrated for the first time that the primary somatosensory cortex—the brain region encoding basic touch properties such as how rough or smooth an object is—also is sensitive to the social meaning of a touch,” explains Michael Spezio, a visiting associate at Caltech who is also an assistant professor of psychology at Scripps College in Claremont, California. “It was generally thought that there are separate brain pathways for how we process the physical aspects of touch on the skin and for how we interpret that touch emotionally—that is, whether we feel it as pleasant, unpleasant, desired, or repulsive. Our study shows that, to the contrary, emotion is involved at the primary stages of social touch.” | <urn:uuid:61b0ef59-2917-4404-a0f0-f46353e5a062> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://literallybread.tumblr.com/post/24577231064/oneofthepaths-a-nuzzle-of-the-neck-a-stroke-of | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951909 | 267 | 3.40625 | 3 |
WE have in this chapter to consider why the females of many birds have not acquired the same ornaments as the male; and why, on the other hand, both sexes of many other birds are equally, or almost equally, ornamented? In the following chapter we shall consider the few cases in which the female is more conspicuously coloured than the male.
In my Origin of Species* I briefly suggested that the long tail of the peacock would be inconvenient and the conspicuous black colour of the male capercailzie dangerous, to the female during the period of incubation: and consequently that the transmission of these characters from the male to the female offspring had been checked through natural selection. I still think that this may have occurred in some few instances: but after mature reflection on all the facts which I have been able to collect, I am now inclined to believe that when the sexes differ, the successive variations have generally been from the first limited in their transmission to the same sex in which they first arose. Since my remarks appeared, the subject of sexual colouration has been discussed in some very interesting papers by Mr. Wallace,*(2) who believes that in almost all cases the successive variations tended at first to be transmitted equally to both sexes; but that the female was saved, through natural selection, from acquiring the conspicuous colours of the male, owing to the danger which she would thus have incurred during incubation.
* Fourth edition, 1866, p. 241.
*(2) Westminster Review, July, 1867. Journal of Travel, vol. i., 1868, p. 73.
This view necessitates a tedious discussion on a difficult point, namely, whether the transmission of a character, which is at first inherited by both sexes can be subsequently limited in its transmission to one sex alone by means of natural selection. We must bear in mind, as shewn in the preliminary chapter on sexual selection, that characters which are limited in their development to one sex are always latent in the other. An imaginary illustration will best aid us in seeing the difficulty of the case; we may suppose that a fancier wished to make a breed of pigeons, in which the males alone should be coloured of a pale blue, whilst the females retained their former slaty tint. As with pigeons characters of all kinds are usually transmitted to both sexes equally, the fancier would have to try to convert this latter form of inheritance into sexually-limited transmission. All that he could do would be to persevere in selecting every male pigeon which was in the least degree of a paler blue; and the natural result of this process, if steadily carried on for a long time, and if the pale variations were strongly inherited or often recurred, would be to make his whole stock of a lighter blue. But our fancier would be compelled to match, generation after generation, his pale blue males with slaty females, for he wishes to keep the latter of this colour. The result would generally be the production either of a mongrel piebald lot, or more probably the speedy and complete loss of the pale-blue tint; for the primordial slaty colour would be transmitted with prepotent force. Supposing, however, that some pale-blue males and slaty females were produced during each successive generation, and were always crossed together, then the slaty females would have, if I may use the expression, much blue blood in their veins, for their fathers, grandfathers, &c., will all have been blue birds. Under these circumstances it is conceivable (though I know of no distinct facts rendering it probable) that the slaty females might acquire so strong a latent tendency to pale-blueness, that they would not destroy this colour in their male offspring, their female offspring still inheriting the slaty tint. If so, the desired end of making a breed with the two sexes permanently different in colour might be gained.
The extreme importance, or rather necessity in the above case of the desired character, namely, pale-blueness, being present though in a latent state in the female, so that the male offspring should not be deteriorated, will be best appreciated as follows: the male of Soemmerring's pheasant has a tail thirty-seven inches in length, whilst that of the female is only eight inches; the tail of the male common pheasant is about twenty inches, and that of the female twelve inches long. Now if the female Soemmerring pheasant with her short tail were crossed with the male common pheasant, there can be no doubt that the male hybrid offspring would have a much longer tail than that of the pure offspring of the common pheasant. On the other hand, if the female common pheasant, with a tail much longer than that of the female Soemmerring pheasant, were crossed with the male of the latter, the male hybrid offspring would have a much shorter tail than that of the pure offspring of Soemmerring's pheasant.*
* Temminck says that the tail of the female Phasianus Soemmerringii is only six inches long, Planches coloriees, vol. v., 1838, pp. 487 and 488: the measurements above given were made for me by Mr. Sclater. For the common pheasant, see Macgillivray, History of British Birds, vol. i., pp. 118-121.
Our fancier, in order to make his new breed with the males of a pale-blue tint, and the females unchanged, would have to continue selecting the males during many generations; and each stage of paleness would have to be fixed in the males, and rendered latent in the females. The task would be an extremely difficult one, and has never been tried, but might possibly be successfully carried out. The chief obstacle would be the early and complete loss of the pale-blue tint, from the necessity of reiterated crosses with the slaty female, the latter not having at first any latent tendency to produce pale-blue offspring.
On the other hand, if one or two males were to vary ever so slightly in paleness, and the variations were from the first limited in their transmission to the male sex, the task of making a new breed of the desired kind would be easy, for such males would simply have to be selected and matched with ordinary females. An analogous case has actually occurred, for there are breeds of the pigeon in Belgium* in which the males alone are marked with black striae. So again Mr. Tegetmeier has recently shewn*(2) that dragons not rarely produce silver-coloured birds, which are almost always hens; and he himself has bred ten such females. It is on the other hand a very unusual event when a silver male is produced; so that nothing would be easier, if desired, than to make a breed of dragons with blue males and silver females. This tendency is indeed so strong that when Mr. Tegetmeier at last got a silver male and matched him with one of the silver females, he expected to get a breed with both sexes thus coloured; he was however disappointed, for the young male reverted to the blue colour of his grandfather, the young female alone being silver. No doubt with patience this tendency to reversion in the males, reared from an occasional silver male matched with a silver hen, might be eliminated, and then both sexes would be coloured alike; and this very process has been followed with success by Mr. Esquilant in the case of silver turbits.
* Dr. Chapius, Le Pigeon Voyageur Belge, 1865, p. 87.
*(2) The Field, Sept., 1872.
With fowls, variations of colour, limited in their transmission to the male sex, habitually occur. When this form of inheritance prevails, it might well happen that some of the successive variations would be transferred to the female, who would then slightly resemble the male, as actually occurs in some breeds. Or again, the greater number, but not all, of the successive steps might be transferred to both sexes, and the female would then closely resemble the male. There can hardly be a doubt that this is the cause of the male pouter pigeon having a somewhat larger crop, and of the male carrier pigeon having somewhat larger wattles, than their respective females; for fanciers have not selected one sex more than the other, and have had no wish that these characters should be more strongly displayed in the male than in the female, yet this is the case with both breeds.
The same process would have to be followed, and the same difficulties encountered, if it were desired to make a breed with the females alone of some new colour.
Lastly, our fancier might wish to make a breed with the two sexes differing from each other, and both from the parent species. Here the difficulty would be extreme, unless the successive variations were from the first sexually limited on both sides, and then there would be no difficulty. We see this with the fowl; thus the two sexes of the pencilled Hamburghs differ greatly from each other, and from the two sexes of the aboriginal Gallus bankiva; and both are now kept constant to their standard of excellence by continued selection, which would be impossible unless the distinctive characters of both were limited in their transmission.
The Spanish fowl offers a more curious case; the male has an immense comb, but some of the successive variations, by the accumulation of which it was acquired, appear to have been transferred to the female; for she has a comb many times larger than that of the females of the parent species. But the comb of the female differs in one respect from that of the male, for it is apt to lop over; and within a recent period it has been ordered by the fancy that this should always be the case, and success has quickly followed the order. Now the lopping of the comb must be sexually limited in its transmission, otherwise it would prevent the comb of the male from being perfectly upright, which would be abhorrent to every fancier. On the other hand, the uprightness of the comb in the male must likewise be a sexually-limited character, otherwise it would prevent the comb of the female from lopping over.
From the foregoing illustrations, we see that even with almost unlimited time at command, it would be an extremely difficult and complex, perhaps an impossible process, to change one form of transmission into the other through selection. Therefore, without distinct evidence in each case, I am unwilling to admit that this has been effected in natural species. On the other hand, by means of successive variations, which were from the first sexually limited in their transmission, there would not be the least difficulty in rendering a male bird widely different in colour or in any other character from the female; the latter being left unaltered, or slightly altered, or specially modified for the sake of protection.
As bright colours are of service to the males in their rivalry with other males, such colours would be selected whether or not they were transmitted exclusively to the same sex. Consequently the females might be expected often to partake of the brightness of the males to a greater or less degree; and this occurs with a host of species. If all the successive variations were transmitted equally to both sexes, the females would be indistinguishable from the males; and this likewise occurs with many birds. If, however, dull colours were of high importance for the safety of the female during incubation, as with many ground birds, the females which varied in brightness, or which received through inheritance from the males any marked accession of brightness, would sooner or later be destroyed. But the tendency in the males to continue for an indefinite period transmitting to their female offspring their own brightness, would have to be eliminated by a change in the form of inheritance; and this, as shewn by our previous illustration, would be extremely difficult. The more probable result of the long-continued destruction of the more brightly-coloured females, supposing the equal form of transmission to prevail would be the lessening or annihilation of the bright colours of the males, owing to their continual crossing with the duller females. It would be tedious to follow out all the other possible results; but I may remind the reader that if sexually limited variations in brightness occurred in the females, even if they were not in the least injurious to them and consequently were not eliminated, yet they would not be favoured or selected, for the male usually accepts any female, and does not select the more attractive individuals; consequently these variations would be liable to be lost, and would have little influence on the character of the race; and this will aid in accounting for the females being commonly duller-coloured than the males.
In the eighth chapter instances were given, to which many might here be added, of variations occurring at various ages, and inherited at the corresponding age. It was also shewn that variations which occur late in life are commonly transmitted to the same sex in which they first appear; whilst variations occurring early in life are apt to be transmitted to both sexes; not that all the cases of sexually-limited transmission can thus be accounted for. It was further shewn that if a male bird varied by becoming brighter whilst young, such variations would be of no service until the age for reproduction had arrived, and there was competition between rival males. But in the case of birds living on the ground and commonly in need of the protection of dull colours, bright tints would be far more dangerous to the young and inexperienced than to the adult males. Consequently the males which varied in brightness whilst young would suffer much destruction and be eliminated through natural selection; on the other hand, the males which varied in this manner when nearly mature, notwithstanding that they were exposed to some additional danger, might survive, and from being favoured through sexual selection, would procreate their kind. As a relation often exists between the period of variation and the form of transmission, if the bright-coloured young males were destroyed and the mature ones were successful in their courtship, the males alone would acquire brilliant colours and would transmit them exclusively to their male offspring. But I by no means wish to maintain that the influence of age on the form of transmission, is the sole cause of the great difference in brilliancy between the sexes of many birds.
When the sexes of birds differ in colour, it is interesting to determine whether the males alone have been modified by sexual selection, the females having been left unchanged, or only partially and indirectly thus changed; or whether the females have been specially modified through natural selection for the sake of protection. I will therefore discuss this question at some length, even more fully than its intrinsic importance deserves; for various curious collateral points may thus be conveniently considered.
Before we enter on the subject of colour, more especially in reference to Mr. Wallace's conclusions, it may be useful to discuss some other sexual differences under a similar point of view. A breed of fowls formerly existed in Germany* in which the hens were furnished with spurs; they were good layers, but they so greatly disturbed their nests with their spurs that they could not be allowed to sit on their own eggs. Hence at one time it appeared to me probable that with the females of the wild Gallinaceae the development of spurs had been checked through natural selection, from the injury thus caused to their nests. This seemed all the more probable, as wing-spurs, which would not be injurious during incubation, are often as well developed in the female as in the male; though in not a few cases they are rather larger in the male. When the male is furnished with leg-spurs the female almost always exhibits rudiments of them,- the rudiment sometimes consisting of a mere scale, as in Gallus. Hence it might be argued that the females had aboriginally been furnished with well-developed spurs, but that these had subsequently been lost through disuse or natural selection. But if this view be admitted, it would have to be extended to innumerable other cases; and it implies that the female progenitors of the existing spur-bearing species were once encumbered with an injurious appendage.
* Bechstein, Naturgeschichte Deutschlands, 1793, B. iii., 339.
In some few genera and species, as in Galloperdix, Acomus, and the Javan peacock (Pavo muticus), the females, as well as the males, possess well-developed leg-spurs. Are we to infer from this fact that they construct a different sort of nest from that made by their nearest allies, and not liable to be injured by their spurs; so that the spurs have not been removed? Or are we to suppose that the females of these several species especially require spurs for their defence? It is a more probable conclusion that both the presence and absence of spurs in the females result from different laws of inheritance having prevailed, independently of natural selection. With the many females in which spurs appear as rudiments, we may conclude that some few of the successive variations, through which they were developed in the males, occurred very early in life, and were consequently transferred to the females. In the other and much rarer cases, in which the females possess fully developed spurs, we may conclude that all the successive variations were transferred to them; and that they gradually acquired and inherited the habit of not disturbing their nests.
The vocal organs and the feathers variously modified for producing sound, as well as the proper instincts for using them, often differ in the two sexes, but are sometimes the same in both. Can such differences be accounted for by the males having acquired these organs and instincts, whilst the females have been saved from inheriting them, on account of the danger to which they would have been exposed by attracting the attention of birds or beasts of prey? This does not seem to me probable, when we think of the multitude of birds which with impunity gladden the country with their voices during the spring.* It is a safer conclusion that, as vocal and instrumental organs are of special service only to the males during their courtship, these organs were developed through sexual selection and their constant use in that sex alone- the successive variations and the effects of use having been from the first more or less limited in transmission to the male offspring.
* Daines Barrington, however, thought it probable (Philosophical Transactions, 1773, p. 164) that few female birds sing, because the talent would have been dangerous to them during incubation. He adds, that a similar view may possibly account for the inferiority of the female to the male in plumage.
Many analogous cases could be adduced; those for instance of the plumes on the head being generally longer in the male than in the female, sometimes of equal length in both sexes, and occasionally absent in the female,- these several cases occurring in the same group of birds. It would be difficult to account for such a difference between the sexes by the female having been benefited by possessing a slightly shorter crest than the male, and its consequent diminution or complete suppression through natural selection. But I will take a more favourable case, namely the length of the tail. The long train of the peacock would have been not only inconvenient but dangerous to the peahen during the period of incubation and whilst accompanying her young. Hence there is not the least a priori improbability in the development of her tail having been checked through natural selection. But the females of various pheasants, which apparently are exposed on their open nests to as much danger as the peahen, have tails of considerable length. The females as well as the males of the Menura superba have long tails, and they build a domed nest, which is a great anomaly in so large a bird. Naturalists have wondered how the female Menura could manage her tail during incubation; but it is now known* that she "enters the nest head first, and then turns round with her tail sometimes over her back, but more often bent round by her side. Thus in time the tail becomes quite askew, and is a tolerable guide to the length of time the bird has been sitting." Both sexes of an Australian kingfisher (Tanysiptera sylvia) have the middle tail-feathers greatly lengthened, and the female makes her nest in a hole; and as I am informed by Mr. R. B. Sharpe these feathers become much crumpled during incubation.
* Mr. Ramsay, in Proc. Zoolog. Soc., 1868, p. 50.
In these two latter cases the great length of the tail-feathers must be in some degree inconvenient to the female; and as in both species the tail-feathers of the female are somewhat shorter than those of the male, it might be argued that their full development had been prevented through natural selection. But if the development of the tail of the peahen had been checked only when it became inconveniently or dangerously great, she would have retained a much longer tail than she actually possesses; for her tail is not nearly so long, relatively to the size of her body, as that of many female pheasants, nor longer than that of the female turkey. It must also be borne in mind that, in accordance with this view, as soon as the tail of the peahen became dangerously long, and its development was consequently checked, she would have continually reacted on her male progeny, and thus have prevented the peacock from acquiring his present magnificent train. We may therefore infer that the length of the tail in the peacock and its shortness in the peahen are the result of the requisite variations in the male having been from the first transmitted to the male offspring alone.
We are led to a nearly similar conclusion with respect to the length of the tail in the various species of pheasants. In the Eared pheasant (Crossoptilon auritum) the tail is of equal length in both sexes, namely sixteen or seventeen inches; in the common pheasant it is about twenty inches long in the male and twelve in the female; in Soemmerring's pheasant, thirty-seven inches in the male and only eight in the female; and lastly in Reeve's pheasant it is sometimes actually seventy-two inches long in the male and sixteen in the female. Thus in the several species, the tail of the female differs much in length, irrespectively of that of the male; and this can be accounted for, as it seems to me, with much more probability, by the laws of inheritance,- that is by the successive variations having been from the first more or less closely limited in their transmission to the male sex than by the agency of natural selection, resulting from the length of tail being more or less injurious to the females of these several allied species.
We may now consider Mr. Wallace's arguments in regard to the sexual colouration of birds. He believes that the bright tints originally acquired through sexual selection by the males would in all, or almost all cases, have been transmitted to the females, unless the transference had been checked through natural selection. I may here remind the reader that various facts opposed to this view have already been given under reptiles, amphibians, fishes and lepidoptera. Mr. Wallace rests his belief chiefly, but not exclusively, as we shall see in the next chapter, on the following statement,* that when both sexes are coloured in a very conspicuous manner, the nest is of such a nature as to conceal the sitting bird; but when there is a marked contrast of colour between the sexes, the male being gay and the female dull-coloured, the nest is open and exposes the sitting bird to view. This coincidence, as far as it goes, certainly seems to favour the belief that the females which sit on open nests have been specially modified for the sake of protection; but we shall presently see that there is another and more probable explanation, namely, that conspicuous females have acquired the instinct of building domed nests oftener than dull-coloured birds. Mr. Wallace admits that there are, as might have been expected, some exceptions to his two rules, but it is a question whether the exceptions are not so numerous as seriously to invalidate them.
* Journal of Travel, edited by A. Murray, vol. i., 1868, p. 78.
There is in the first place much truth in the Duke of Argyll's remark* that a large domed nest is more conspicuous to an enemy, especially to all tree-haunting carnivorous animals, than a smaller open nest. Nor must we forget that with many birds which build open nests, the male sits on the eggs and aids the female in feeding the young: this is the case, for instance, with Pyranga aestiva,*(2) one of the most splendid birds in the United States, the male being vermilion, and the female light brownish-green. Now if brilliant colours had been extremely dangerous to birds whilst sitting on their open nests, the males in these cases would have suffered greatly. It might, however, be of such paramount importance to the male to be brilliantly coloured, in order to beat his rivals, that this may have more than compensated some additional danger.
* Journal of Travel, edited by A. Murray, vol. i., 1868, p. 281.
*(2) Audubon, Ornithological Biography, vol. i., p. 233.
Mr. Wallace admits that with the king-crows (Dicrurus), orioles, and Pittidae, the females are conspicuously coloured, yet build open nests; but he urges that the birds of the first group are highly pugnacious and could defend themselves; that those of the second group take extreme care in concealing their open nests, but this does not invariably hold good;* and that with the birds of the third group the females are brightly coloured chiefly on the under surface. Besides these cases, pigeons which are sometimes brightly, and almost always conspicuously coloured, and which are notoriously liable to the attacks of birds of prey, offer a serious exception to the rule, for they almost always build open and exposed nests. In another large family, that of the humming-birds, all the species build open nests, yet with some of the most gorgeous species the sexes are alike; and in the majority, the females, though less brilliant than the males, are brightly coloured. Nor can it be maintained that all female humming-birds, which are brightly coloured, escape detection by their tints being green, for some display on their upper surfaces red, blue, and other colours.*(2)
* Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. ii., p. 108. Gould's Handbook of the Birds of Australia, vol. i., p. 463.
*(2) For instance, the female Eupetomena macroura has the head and tail dark blue with reddish loins; the female Lampornis porphyrurus is blackish-green on the upper surface, with the lores and sides of the throat crimson; the female Eulampis jugularis has the top of the head and back green, but the loins and the tail are crimson. Many other instances of highly conspicuous females could be given. See Mr. Gould's magnificent work on this family.
In regard to birds which build in holes or construct domed nests, other advantages, as Mr. Wallace remarks, besides concealment are gained, such as shelter from the rain, greater warmth, and in hot countries protection from the sun;* so that it is no valid objection to his view that many birds having both sexes obscurely coloured build concealed nests.*(2) The female horn-bill (Buceros), for instance, of India and Africa is protected during incubation with extraordinary care, for she plasters up with her own excrement the orifice of the hole in which she sits on her eggs, leaving only a small orifice through which the male feeds her; she is thus kept a close prisoner during the whole period of incubation;*(3) yet female horn-bills are not more conspicuously coloured than many other birds of equal size which build open nests. It is a more serious objection to Mr. Wallace's view, as is admitted by him, that in some few groups the males are brilliantly coloured and the females obscure, and yet the latter hatch their eggs in domed nests. This is the case with the Grallinae of Australia, the superb warblers (Maluridae) of the same country, the sun-birds (Nectariniae), and with several of the Australian honey-suckers or Meliphagidae.*(4)
* Mr. Salvin noticed in Guatemala (Ibis, 1864, p. 375) that humming-birds were much more unwilling to leave their nests during very hot weather, when the sun was shining brightly, as if their eggs would be thus injured, than during cool, cloudy, or rainy weather.
*(2) I may specify, as instances of dull-coloured birds building concealed nests, the species belonging to eight Australian genera described in Gould's Handbook of the Birds of Australia, vol. i., pp. 340, 362, 365, 383, 387, 389, 391, 414.
*(3) Mr. C. Horne, Proc. Zoolog. Soc., 1869. p. 243.
*(4) On the nidification and colours of these latter species, see Gould's Handbook of the Birds of Australia, vol. i., pp. 504, 527.
If we look to the birds of England we shall see that there is no close and general relation between the colours of the female and the nature of the nest which is constructed. About forty of our British birds (excluding those of large size which could defend themselves) build in holes in banks, rocks, or trees, or construct domed nests. If we take the colours of the female goldfinch, bullfinch, or black-bird, as a standard of the degree of conspicuousness, which is not highly dangerous to the sitting female, then out of the above forty birds the females of only twelve can be considered as conspicuous to a dangerous degree, the remaining twenty-eight being inconspicuous.* Nor is there any close relation within the same genus between a well-pronounced difference in colour between the sexes, and the nature of the nest constructed. Thus the male house sparrow (Passer domesticus) differs much from the female, the male tree-sparrow (P. montanus) hardly at all, and yet both build well-concealed nests. The two sexes of the common fly-catcher (Muscicapa grisola) can hardly be distinguished, whilst the sexes of the pied fly-catcher (M. luctuosa) differ considerably, and both species build in holes or conceal their nests. The female blackbird (Turdus merula) differs much, the female ring-ouzel (T. torquatus) differs less, and the female common thrush (T. musicus) hardly at all from their respective males; yet all build open nests. On the other hand, the not very distantly-allied water-ouzel (Cinclus aquaticus) builds a domed nest, and the sexes differ about as much as in the ring-ouzel. The black and red grouse (Tetrao tetrix and T. scoticus) build open nests in equally well-concealed spots, but in the one species the sexes differ greatly, and in the other very little.
* I have consulted, on this subject, Macgillivray's British Birds, and though doubts may be entertained in some cases in regard to the degree of concealment of the nest, and to the degree of conspicuousness of the female, yet the following birds, which all lay their eggs in holes or in domed nests, can hardly be considered, by the above standard, as conspicuous: Passer, 2 species; Sturnus, of which the female is considerably less brilliant than the male; Cinclus; Motallica boarula (?); Erithacus (?); Fruticola, 2 sp.; Saxicola; Ruticilla, 2 sp.; Sylvia, 3 sp.; Parus, 3 sp.; Mecistura anorthura; Certhia; Sitta; Yunx; Muscicapa, 2 sp.; Hirundo, 3 sp.; and Cypselus. The females of the following 12 birds may be considered as conspicuous according to the same standard, viz., Pastor, Motacilla alba, Parus major and P. caeruleus, Upupa, Picus, 4 sp., Coracias, Alcedo, and Merops.
Notwithstanding the foregoing objections, I cannot doubt, after reading Mr. Wallace's excellent essay, that looking to the birds of the world, a large majority of the species in which the females are conspicuously coloured (and in this case the males with rare exceptions are equally conspicuous), build concealed nests for the sake of protection. Mr. Wallace enumerates* a long series of groups in which this rule bolds good; but it will suffice here to give, as instances, the more familiar groups of kingfishers, toucans, trogons, puff-birds (Capitonidae), plantain-eaters (Musophagae, woodpeckers, and parrots. Mr. Wallace believes that in these groups, as the males gradually acquired through sexual selection their brilliant colours, these were transferred to the females and were not eliminated by natural selection, owing to the protection which they already enjoyed from their manner of nidification. According to this view, their present manner of nesting was acquired before their present colours. But it seems to me much more probable that in most cases, as the females were gradually rendered more and more brilliant from partaking of the colours of the male, they were gradually led to change their instincts (supposing that they originally built open nests), and to seek protection by building domed or concealed nests. No one who studies, for instance, Audubon's account of the differences in the nests of the same species in the northern and southern United States,*(2) will feel any great difficulty in admitting that birds, either by a change (in the strict sense of the word) of their habits, or through the natural selection of so-called spontaneous variations of instinct, might readily be led to modify their manner of nesting.
* Journal of Travel, edited by A. Murray, vol. i., p. 78.
*(2) See many statements in the Ornithological Biography. See also some curious observations on the nests of Italian birds by Eugenio Bettoni, in the Atti della Societa Italiana, vol. xi., 1869, p. 487.
This way of viewing the relation, as far as it holds good, between the bright colours of female birds and their manner of nesting, receives some support from certain cases occurring in the Sahara Desert. Here, as in most other deserts, various birds, and many other animals, have had their colours adapted in a wonderful manner to the tints of the surrounding surface. Nevertheless there are, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Tristram, some curious exceptions to the rule; thus the male of the Monticola cyanea is conspicuous from his bright blue colour, and the female almost equally conspicuous from her mottled brown and white plumage; both sexes of two species of Dromolaea are of a lustrous black; so that these three species are far from receiving protection from their colours, yet they are able to survive, for they have acquired the habit of taking refuge from danger in holes or crevices in the rocks.
With respect to the above groups in which the females are conspicuously coloured and build concealed nests, it is not necessary to suppose that each separate species had its nidifying instinct specially modified; but only that the early progenitors of each group were gradually led to build domed or concealed nests, and afterwards transmitted this instinct, together with their bright colours, to their modified descendants. As far as it can be trusted, the conclusion is interesting, that sexual selection together with equal or nearly equal inheritance by both sexes, have indirectly determined the manner of nidification of whole groups of birds.
According to Mr. Wallace, even in the groups in which the females, from being protected in domed nests during incubation, have not had their bright colours eliminated through natural selection, the males often differ in a slight, and occasionally in a considerable degree from the females. This is a significant fact, for such differences in colour must be accounted for by some of the variations in the males having been from the first limited in transmission to the same sex; as it can hardly be maintained that these differences, especially when very slight, serve as a protection to the female. Thus all the species in the splendid group of the trogons build in holes; and Mr. Gould gives figures* of both sexes of twenty-five species, in all of which, with one partial exception, the sexes differ sometimes slightly, sometimes conspicuously, in colour,- the males being always finer than the females, though the latter are likewise beautiful. All the species of kingfishers build in holes, and with most of the species the sexes are equally brilliant, and thus far Mr. Wallace's rule holds good; but in some of the Australian species the colours of the females are rather less vivid than those of the male; and in one splendidly-coloured species, the sexes differ so much that they were at first thought to be specifically distinct.*(2) Mr. R. B. Sharpe, who has especially studied this group, has shewn me some American species (Ceryle) in which the breast of the male is belted with black. Again, in Carcineutes, the difference between the sexes is conspicuous: in the male the upper surface is dull-blue banded with black, the lower surface being partly fawn-coloured, and there is much red about the head; in the female the upper surface is reddish-brown banded with black, and the lower surface white with black markings It is an interesting fact, as shewing how the same peculiar style of sexual colouring often characterises allied forms, that in three species of Dacelo the male differs from the female only in the tail being dull-blue banded with black, whilst that of the female is brown with blackish bars; so that here the tail differs in colour in the two sexes in exactly the same manner as the whole upper surface in the two sexes of Carcineutes.
* See his Monograph of the Trogonidae, 1st edition.
*(2) Namely, Cyanalcyon. Gould's Handbook of the Birds of Australia, vol. i., p. 133; see, also, pp. 130, 136.
With parrots, which likewise build in holes, we find analogous cases: in most of the species, both sexes are brilliantly coloured and indistinguishable, but in not a few species the males are coloured rather more vividly than the females, or even very differently from them. Thus, besides other strongly-marked differences, the whole under surface of the male king lory (Aprosmictus scapulatus) is scarlet, whilst the throat and chest of the female is green tinged with red: in the Euphema splendida there is a similar difference, the face and wing coverts moreover of the female being of a paler blue than in the male.* In the family of the tits (Parinae), which build concealed nests, the female of our common blue tomtit (Parus caeruleus), is "much less brightly coloured" than the male: and in the magnificent sultan yellow tit of India the difference is greater.*(2)
* Every gradation of difference between the sexes may be followed in the parrots of Australia. See Gould, op. cit., vol. ii., pp. 14-102.
*(2) Macgillivray's British Birds, vol. ii., p. 433. Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. ii., p. 282.
Again, in the great group of the woodpeckers,* the sexes are generally nearly alike, but in the Megapicus validus all those parts of the head, neck, and breast, which are crimson in the male are pale brown in the female. As in several woodpeckers the head of the male is bright crimson, whilst that of the female is plain, it occurred to me that this colour might possibly make the female dangerously conspicuous, whenever she put her head out of the hole containing her nest, and consequently that this colour, in accordance with Mr. Wallace's belief, had been eliminated. This view is strengthened by what Malherbe states with respect to Indopicus carlotta; namely, that the young females, like the young males, have some crimson about their heads, but that this colour disappears in the adult female, whilst it is intensified in the adult male. Nevertheless the following considerations render this view extremely doubtful: the male takes a fair share in incubation,*(2) and would be thus almost equally exposed to danger; both sexes of many species have their heads of an equally bright crimson; in other species the difference between the sexes in the amount of scarlet is so slight that it can hardly make any appreciable difference in the danger incurred; and lastly, the colouring of the head in the two sexes often differs slightly in other ways.
* All the following facts are taken from M. Malherbe's magnificent Monographie des Picidees, 1861.
*(2) Audubon's Ornithological Biography, vol. ii., p. 75; see also the Ibis, vol. i., p. 268.
The cases, as yet given, of slight and graduated differences in colour between the males and females in the groups, in which as a general rule the sexes resemble each other, all relate to species which build domed or concealed nests. But similar gradations may likewise be observed in groups in which the sexes as a general rule resemble each other, but which build open nests.
As I have before instanced the Australian parrots, so I may here instance, without giving any details, the Australian pigeons.* It deserves especial notice that in all these cases the slight differences in plumage between the sexes are of the same general nature as the occasionally greater differences. A good illustration of this fact has already been afforded by those kingfishers in which either the tail alone or the whole upper surface of the plumage differs in the same manner in the two sexes. Similar cases may be observed with parrots and pigeons. The differences in colour between the sexes of the same species are, also, of the same general nature as the differences in colour between the distinct species of the same group. For when in a group in which the sexes are usually alike, the male differs considerably from the female, he is not coloured in a quite new style. Hence we may infer that within the same group the special colours of both sexes when they are alike, and the colours of the male, when he differs slightly or even considerably from the female, have been in most cases determined by the same general cause; this being sexual selection.
* Gould's Handbook of the Birds of Australia, vol. ii., pp. 109-149.
It is not probable, as has already been remarked, that differences in colour between the sexes, when very slight, can be of service to the female as a protection. Assuming, however, that they are of service, they might be thought to be cases of transition; but we have no reason to believe that many species at any one time are undergoing change. Therefore we can hardly admit that the numerous females which differ very slightly in colour from their males are now all commencing to become obscure for the sake of protection. Even if we consider somewhat more marked sexual differences, is it probable, for instance, that the head of the female chaffinch,- the crimson on the breast of the female bullfinch,- the green of the female greenfinch,- the crest of the female golden-crested wren, have all been rendered less bright by the slow process of selection for the sake of protection? I cannot think so; and still less with the slight differences between the sexes of those birds which build concealed nests. On the other hand, the differences in colour between the sexes, whether great or small, may to a large extent be explained on the principle of the successive variations, acquired by the males through sexual selection, having been from the first more or less limited in their transmission to the females. That the degree of limitation should differ in different species of the same group will not surprise any one who has studied the laws of inheritance, for they are so complex that they appear to us in our ignorance to be capricious in their action.*
* See remarks to this effect in Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. ii., chap. xii.
As far as I can discover there are few large groups of birds in which all the species have both sexes alike and brilliantly coloured, but I hear from Mr. Sclater, that this appears to be the case with the Musophagae or plantain-eaters. Nor do I believe that any large group exists in which the sexes of all the species are widely dissimilar in colour: Mr. Wallace informs me that the chatterers of S. America (Cotingidae) offer one of the best instances; but with some of the species, in which the male has a splendid red breast, the female exhibits some red on her breast; and the females of other species shew traces of the green and other colours of the males. Nevertheless we have a near approach to close sexual similarity or dissimilarity throughout several groups: and this, from what has just been said of the fluctuating nature of inheritance, is a somewhat surprising circumstance. But that the same laws should largely prevail with allied animals is not surprising. The domestic fowl has produced a great number of breeds and sub-breeds, and in these the sexes generally differ in plumage; so that it has been noticed as an unusual circumstance when in certain sub-breeds they resemble each other. On the other hand, the domestic pigeon has likewise produced a vast number of distinct breeds and sub-breeds, and in these, with rare exceptions, the two sexes are identically alike.
Therefore if other species of Gallus and Columba were domesticated and varied, it would not be rash to predict that similar rules of sexual similarity and dissimilarity, depending on the form of transmission, would hold good in both cases. In like manner the same form of transmission has generally prevailed under nature throughout the same groups, although marked exceptions to this rule occur. Thus within the same family or even genus, the sexes may be identically alike, or very different in colour. Instances have already been given in the same genus, as with sparrows, flycatchers, thrushes and grouse. In the family of pheasants the sexes of almost all the species are wonderfully dissimilar, but are quite alike in the eared pheasant or Crossoptilon auritum. In two species of Chloephaga, a genus of geese, the male cannot be distinguished from the females, except by size; whilst in two others, the sexes are so unlike that they might easily be mistaken for distinct species.*
* The Ibis, vol. vi., 1864, p. 122.
The laws of inheritance can alone account for the following cases, in which the female acquires, late in life, certain characters proper to the male, and ultimately comes to resemble him more or less completely. Here protection can hardly have come into play. Mr. Blyth informs me that the females of Oriolus melanocephalus and of some allied species, when sufficiently mature to breed, differ considerably in plumage from the adult males; but after the second or third moults they differ only in their beaks having a slight greenish tinge. In the dwarf bitterns (Ardetta), according to the same authority, "the male acquires his final livery at the first moult, the female not before the third or fourth moult; in the meanwhile she presents an intermediate garb, which is ultimately exchanged for the same livery as that of the male." So again the female Falco peregrinus acquires her blue plumage more slowly than the male. Mr. Swinhoe states that with one of the drongo shrikes (Dicrurus macrocercus) the male, whilst almost a nestling, moults his soft brown plumage and becomes of a uniform glossy greenish-black; but the female retains for a long time the white striae and spots on the axillary feathers; and does not completely assume the uniform black colour of the male for three years. The same excellent observer remarks that in the spring of the second year the female spoon-bill (Platalea) of China resembles the male of the first year, and that apparently it is not until the third spring that she acquires the same adult plumage as that possessed by the male at a much earlier age. The female Bombycilla carolinensis differs very little from the male, but the appendages, which like beads of red sealing-wax ornament the wing-feathers,* are not developed in her so early in life as in the male. In the male of an Indian parrakeet (Paloeornis javanicus) the upper mandible is coral-red from his earliest youth, but in the female, as Mr. Blyth has observed with caged and wild birds, it is at first black and does not become red until the bird is at least a year old, at which age the sexes resemble each other in all respects. Both sexes of the wild turkey are ultimately furnished with a tuft of bristles on the breast, but in two-year-old birds the tuft is about four inches long in the male and hardly apparent in the female; when, however, the latter has reached her fourth year, it is from four to five inches in length.*(2)
* When the male courts the female, these ornaments are vibrated, and "are shewn off to great advantage," on the outstretched wings: A. Leith Adams, Field and Forest Rambles, 1873, p. 153.
*(2) On Ardetta, Translation of Cuvier's Regne Animal, by Mr. Blyth, footnote, p. 159. On the peregrine falcon, Mr. Blyth, in Charlesworth's Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. i., 1837, p. 304. On Dicrurus, Ibis, 1863, p. 44. On the Platalea, Ibis, vol. vi., 1864, p. 366. On the Bombycilla, Audubon's Ornitholog. Biography, vol. i., p. 229. On the Palaeornis, see, also, Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. i., p. 263. On the wild turkey, Audubon, ibid., vol. i., p. 15; but I hear from Judge Caton that in Illinois the female very rarely acquires a tuft. Analogous cases with the females of Petrcocssyphus are given by Mr. R. Sharpe, Proeedings of the Zoological Society, 1872, p. 496.
These cases must not be confounded with those where diseased or old females abnormally assume masculine characters, nor with those where fertile females, whilst young, acquire the characters of the male, through variation or some unknown cause.* But all these cases have so much in common that they depend, according to the hypothesis of pangenesis, on gemmules derived from each part of the male being present, though latent, in the female; their development following on some slight change in the elective affinities of her constituent tissues.
* Of these latter cases Mr. Blyth has recorded (Translation of Cuvier's Regne Animal, p. 158) various instances with Lanius, Ruticilla, Linaria, and Anas. Audubon has also recorded a similar case (Ornitholog. Biography, vol. v., p. 519) with Pyranga aestiva.
A few words must be added on changes of plumage in relation to the season of the year. From reasons formerly assigned there can be little doubt that the elegant plumes, long pendant feathers, crests, &c., of egrets, herons, and many other birds, which are developed and retained only during the summer, serve for ornamental and nuptial purposes, though common to both sexes. The female is thus rendered more conspicuous during the period of incubation than during the winter; but such birds as herons and egrets would be able to defend themselves. As, however, plumes would probably be inconvenient and certainly of no use during the winter, it is possible that the habit of moulting twice in the year may have been gradually acquired through natural selection for the sake of casting off inconvenient ornaments during the winter. But this view cannot be extended to the many waders, whose summer and winter plumages differ very little in colour. With defenceless species, in which both sexes, or the males alone, become extremely conspicuous during the breeding-season,- or when the males acquire at this season such long wing or tail-feathers as to impede their flight, as with Cosmetornis and Vidua,- it certainly at first appears highly probable that the second moult has been gained for the special purpose of throwing off these ornaments. We must, however, remember that many birds, such as some of the birds of paradise, the Argus pheasant and peacock, do not cast their plumes during the winter; and it can hardly be maintained that the constitution of these birds, at least of the Gallinaceae, renders a double moult impossible, for the ptarmigan moults thrice in the year.* Hence it must be considered as doubtful whether the many species which moult their ornamental plumes or lose their bright colours during the winter, have acquired this habit on account of the inconvenience or danger which they would otherwise have suffered.
* See Gould's Birds of Great Britain.
I conclude, therefore, that the habit of moulting twice in the year was in most or all cases first acquired for some distinct purpose, perhaps for gaining a warmer winter covering; and that variations in the plumage occurring during the summer were accumulated through sexual selection, and transmitted to the offspring at the same season of the year; that such variations were inherited either by both sexes or by the males alone, according to the form of inheritance which prevailed. This appears more probable than that the species in all cases originally tended to retain their ornamental plumage during the winter, but were saved from this through natural selection, resulting from the inconvenience or danger thus caused.
I have endeavoured in this chapter to shew that the arguments are not trustworthy in favour of the view that weapons, bright colours, and various ornaments, are now confined to the males owing to the conversion, by natural selection, of the equal transmission of characters to both sexes, into transmission to the male sex alone. It is also doubtful whether the colours of many female birds are due to the preservation, for the sake of protection, of variations which were from the first limited in their transmission to the female sex. But it will be convenient to defer any further discussion on this subject until I treat, in the following chapter, of the differences in plumage between the young and old. | <urn:uuid:429cf924-5712-4f80-a526-9d8fbe64f107> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-descent-of-man/chapter-15.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971138 | 11,677 | 3.265625 | 3 |
In Memoriam: John Bury John Bury, a set, lighting, and costume designer who enjoyed extremely long and fruitful collaborations with UK directors John Littlewood and Sir Peter Hall and who is probably best known in the US for his Tony Award - winning sets and lights for Amadeus in 1981, died Sunday, November 12 in Gloucestershire, England. He was 75. The cause was pneumonia brought on by heart disease.
Born in Aberystwyth, Wales in 1925, Bury started out at Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in Stratford East, London, just after the war in 1947, serving in a number of different roles. "I didn't just design," he said in a Theatre Crafts profile in 1992. "I lit, I stage managed. Lit the boilers. We just couldn't employ designers. Occasionally when we got other people there was always trouble, because they turned out these designs on bits of paper. And it was no use to me, because I had nobody to build it." Bury's early sets were usually made out of found objects combined with scenery discarded from other productions. He worked on over 60 productions at Theatre Workshop, including A Taste of Honey and Oh, What a Lovely War! before leaving in 1963 to join Hall's fledgling Royal Shakespeare Company.
Beginning first as an associate designer and then head of design, Bury and Hall enjoyed a healthy and successful collaboration at the RSC from the first production, a widely praised "Wars of the Roses" cycle featuring an all-metal set, to their final effort, All Over in 1972. "I like to think my aesthetic stayed the same," he told Theatre Crafts of his transition to the RSC. "With the same objectives. Of course, I had many more resources at the RSC and people to do things. I had the advantage of a lot of skilled cutters and tailors." Bury never made sketches, preferring to build as he went along. He considered the early years at RSC as "the apogee of my career, from 62-70. I never actually had the facilities again to work the same way. There were always too many other things getting in the way." His 1965 design for Hamlet, with "a great black and gray marble floor and big arches all around," was among his favorite works from that period.
Bury would occasionally work on other projects outside of the RSC. His 30-year relationship with Hall, Bury once said, was non-exclusive, "but long-term, like a marriage, with flirtations." In the early 70s he designed the sets for such Broadway productions as The Rothschilds, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, and most notoriously, the sci-fi musical Via Galactica. "It was high-tech stuff, pretty advanced for those days," he told Theatre Crafts. "It was pretty stunning, with a floor all made of trampolines, with pink projected flowers. There were space figures with machines on their heads." He also noted that the technical requirements of the show "ran it into the ground."
When Hall moved to the National Theatre in 1973, Bury followed. The pair worked continuously during the ensuing 12 years, both at the National and at the Glyndebourne Opera House. Their most successful project during that period was Amadeus in 1979, which transferred to Broadway and earned Bury Tonys for lighting and set design.
Bury left the National in 1985 and spent much of the rest of his career in opera, working on such projects as Salome for the Royal Opera House in 1988, the Washington Opera in 1990, and the San Francisco Opera in 1993; Carmen for Glyndebourne in 1987; and Orfeo and A Midsummer Night's Dream for Glyndebourne in 1989. He was working on a revival of Midsummer with Sir Peter at the time of his death.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, who served as a collaborator on his designs for many years, and his four children, Christopher, Adam, Abigail, and Matthew.
"I try not to get in the director's way," John Bury once said. "An artist should never be aware of his best qualities. I always strove to serve, not put myself forward. I've been successful in life by being responsible. The job of a designer is much more than being clever." | <urn:uuid:29b7d075-4819-4259-8c2e-90d2f154ded3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://livedesignonline.com/mag/industry-news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987496 | 913 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Continuing our series of art work inspired by subterranean London.
Nadja Ryzhakova, whose work we’ve featured before, fingered out these illustrations of stations on her iPad. The first two images show underground spaces (one surreal, one ‘from life’), while the other two show mainline concourses, the portals into the underground world.
The art work forms part of our ongoing Londonist Underground series, tying in with the Tube’s 150th anniversary. We’re still looking for further entries. All you need to do is imagine something — anything — underneath London and create some kind of image (painting, drawing, collage, sculpture…) to share your idea. The image could be fictional or fact based — from a secret bunker of unicorns beneath Mile End, to a serious painting of your favourite Tube station. So long as it’s underneath London, we want to see it. Send entries to [email protected] as soon as possible (no deadline, but we’re hoping to organise an exhibition soon). | <urn:uuid:b297d506-cca8-4d8d-bd0e-fd0a6992a382> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://londonist.com/2013/01/londonist-underground-ipad-drawings-of-the-tube.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917468 | 224 | 1.695313 | 2 |
[Hagelin.] The Hagelin Cryptographers, an Analysis, CONFIDENTIAL.
New York: Ericsson Telephone, 1942. 28pp Very good condition. Mimeographed sheets, stapled. 11x8, 19pp. Offset, typed document. Stamped "Accessions Division, Nov 11, 1942, Library of Congress". With an accompanying cover letter with the rubberstamp of Ericsson Telephone, Sales Corp, NYC., and dated July 3, 1942. $650
This is a general report on the origin, development and status of the Hagelin "cryptographers"-a word used here to describe the physical machines (rather than the people working on codes).
Sections in the document include:"Models Built at Express Demand of the French Authorities", "Evolution of Hand Cryptographer Type C-362", "Hagelin Cryptographer Models" (BC-38 and C-362), "Methods of Operation", "Superiority of Hagelin Cryptographers over Competing Makes", and others, including a final section "How to Sell Cryptographers".
There is a mention of the "Enigma" machine on page 14, which is limited to mentioning that it is not sold outside of Germany.
From WIki: "Although the Swiss firm founded by Boris Hagelin has manufactured, and continues to manufacture, many kinds of cipher machines, the words "Hagelin machine" will normally inspire thoughts of their unique lug and pin based machines. The basic principle of a Hagelin lug and pin machine is easy enough to describe. In the C-38, used by the U.S. Army as the M-209, six pinwheels, with 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, and 26 positions on them, can be set by the user with an arbitrary series of pins that are active. For every letter enciphered, all the pinwheels rotate one space. The combination of active and inactive pins is presented to a cage with 27 sliding bars. Each bar has two sliding lugs on it, which can be placed either in a position where it is inactive, or in a position corresponding to any of the pinwheels, so that it will slide the bar to the left, if the pin currently presented by that pinwheel is active. The number of lugs sticking out rotates the cipher alphabet against the plaintext alphabet. The two alphabets used are just the regular alphabet, and the alphabet in reverse order, from Z back to A. This meant that encipherment was reciprocal, although the machine still had a switch to select encipherment or decipherment: this determined if the machine printed its output in five letter groups, or if it translated one letter, chosen by the user, to a space. The C-52, a postwar version of the Hagelin lug and pin machine, added an extra five sliding bars to the cage that, instead of moving the cipher alphabet, caused the stepping of the pinwheels to be irregular. The first pinwheel always moved, but the remaining five pinwheels only moved when their corresponding bars were slid to the left. The six pinwheels were labelled A, B, C, D, E, and F from left to right; bar 1 controlled pinwheel B, bar 2 pinwheel C, and so on. Also, on the C-52 the lugs could be moved from bar to bar, and the six pinwheels were chosen from a set with lengths 25, 26, 29, 31, 34, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 46, and 47. Using the pinwheels with lengths 34, 38, 42, 46, 25, and 26 allowed one to achieve compatibility with the C-36: provided one also turned off the irregular pinwheel stepping feature. The alphabet always started from its normal position, instead of the position last used, before being rotated by the projecting slide bars. This was perhaps the machine's main weakness, as it made attacks based on frequency counts of displacements possible, but it was perhaps unavoidable, since there was always a slight possibility of occasional mechanical errors. Particularly as the machines were often used on battlefields." | <urn:uuid:66b49d66-e87a-4b3c-b01c-c28f0a38ba2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://longstreet.typepad.com/books/2012/02/hagelin-the-hagelin-cryptographers-an-analysis-confidential-new-york-ericsson-telephone-1942-28pp-very-good-co.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951586 | 856 | 1.8125 | 2 |
If you are totally new to WordPress, and even newer to the idea of a PHP driven website, we have the information you need to help you learn about how this all works. The more you understand about the basics, the jargon and terminology, the core structure, and the process, the easier it will be for you to get a grip on what it takes to ask questions about WordPress to get the help you you, and what it takes to customize your new WordPress site.
To start, check out First Steps With WordPress. This article literally holds your hand through the process of your first introduction to WordPress. As you read it, imagine a WordPress Support Forum volunteer is sitting beside you, guiding you through the process of looking at all the parts and pieces and then slowly setting up your site.
If you have a brush of familiarity with websites and website design and structure and you are anxious to just jump in, then begin with New to WordPress – Where to Start as it lists the various articles you will need as you go through the process step-by-step.
New to the whole language, jargon, and terminology of WordPress? There is a lot to learn like the difference between posts, Pages, and single and mutli-post views. Simply put:
- A web page is any page generated in your WordPress site.
- A post is a anything that has your blog, article, or general post information entered in the Administration Panels Write Post panel. Posts are listed chronologically by default on the front page, archives, and category views.
- A Page is a psuedo-static web page that usually hosts information like About, Contact, and other information that is not chronlogical. A Page does not have a category, nore is it viewed on mult-post views.
- A single post view is a web page that features only the post within the layout of the website. It may or may not show comments on the same page.
- A multi-post view is a web page that features more than one post on the page such as the front page of the site, archives, and categories.
You can learn more about the terminology and jargon of WordPress in the article on WordPress Semantics.
The transition for many from HTML to XHTML may seem confusing. Basically, HTML is the older brother of the improved XHTML. For a basic overview, see HTML to XHTML for information on what may need to change in your old posts and articles when importing them to WordPress.
One of the most important features of WordPress is the easy ability to enter your blog or article content to your site. You can assign categories to posts, add excerpts, custom fields, and even set your post to be published in the future, so you can work ahead and allow WordPress to automatically release posts so you can get on with the rest of your life and your WordPress website will continue to work for you. You can learn more about writing posts in WordPress at Writing Posts.
And don’t forget, WordPress has a whole group of articles on the WordPress Codex that are the tutorials you need to help you get started. Called WordPress Lessons, they take you step-by-step through setting up your site and customizing each aspect of your new WordPress site including:
- Stepping Into Templates
- Stepping Into Template Tags
- Customizing Your Sidebar
- Styling Lists with CSS
- Designing Headers, Header Art, and Header Text
- Linking to Posts, Pages, and Categories
- WordPress Feeds
- Creating Category Pages
- Customizing the Read More
There is a lot to learn and if you are a beginner and just getting started, these links and articles should help you get a handle on how WordPress works and what it has to offer you and your readers. | <urn:uuid:41fe31b7-c1e6-4140-b593-84894ff2b1b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/08/16/getting-started-with-wordpress/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918132 | 778 | 2.28125 | 2 |
color="#FFFFFF" size="2">Back to Regional News Digest
Saturday, September 19, 1998 Last modified at 3:24 a.m. on Saturday, September 19, 1998
State gets more rain, except in plains
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Slightly higher averages of rain in New Mexico this summer masked big differences in precipitation levels statewide, the National Weather Service said.
The state's June-through-August average was 5 percent wetter than normal. But while summer rains fell on the western and northern parts of the state, the eastern plains were dry, said Charlie Liles, head of the weather service's Albuquerque office.
Liles said you could draw a line south from Clayton and Las Vegas, N.M., through Cloudcroft to see the demarkation: It mostly was dry to the southeast and wet in the northwest. Part of weather systems that steered rain away from Texas did the same to eastern New Mexico.
"The dry east and southeast plains shows the westward expansion of the Texas drought that has taken place the past three to four months," Liles said.ce
Clovisn got 61 percent less rain this summer, he said.
Monsoons caused an unusually wet July across the rest of the state but then stopped in August, said Dave Gutzler, a climate researcher at the University of New Mexico.
Jal, in the southeast, was the driest spot for the three-month period, with just 1.43 inches of rain, 72 percent below normal. The wettest spot was Black Lake near Angel Fire, with 14.53 inches, Liles said.
Albuquerque was two percent below normal with 3.42 inches, while Socorro was nearly 50 percent above normal with 5.6 inches. Santa Fe had 33 percent more rain at 7.15 inches, while Las Cruces was 47 percent below normal at 2.37 inches. | <urn:uuid:0057e9c8-4a05-4d1f-9ef8-63a69171c58d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lubbockonline.com/stories/091998/LG3074.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960949 | 396 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Gaming as a service...
Posted Mar 6, 2008 22:21 UTC (Thu) by man_ls
In reply to: Gaming as a service...
Parent article: Ryzom returns?
I'm confused -- isn't this more or less what we have now?
It is, but only in the client space. And even if you can choose between different free 3D engines, they are not quite state-of-the-art: this field is advancing all the time. I'm not sure a big studio would want to commit itself to any of the free engines.
On the server there seem to be not viable options. So, no massive multiplayer games can be free software.
Granted, there's no "grand unified game engine" but I see that as a strength.
I'm sure that this is a transitional phase. Depicting a more-or-less-physical world is a complex task and we are not getting there yet. It is like color films in the 40s and 50s -- there were many different technologies
(Technicolor, Multicolor...) until the industry settled to a single format (Eastman Color).
If ever there is a standard protocol for player-world interactions free software might even become the most popular choice.
to post comments) | <urn:uuid:0b0ee4d1-c002-406a-80bd-66db9ae7e9a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lwn.net/Articles/272099/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957939 | 268 | 1.539063 | 2 |
President Obama is way down in the polls. The only politicians with lower approval ratings are those in Congress, which may explain why Obama is blaming them for "holding back this country."
President Obama’s sharpening his rhetoric about his GOP congressional opponents. In his weekly Saturday Internet and radio address he said that lawmakers could learn something from the average Americans he’s met during his recent three day listening/political tour through the Midwest.
The nation would be better off if its leaders showed the same discipline, integrity, and responsibility that citizens outside Washington “demonstrate in their lives every single day”, said Obama.
If they did so these unnamed DC reprobates could do things right now to help the economy, such as pass a road construction bill, or extend a reduction in the payroll tax that funds Social Security, or approve trade pacts with other countries, said the president. (He was referring there to proposals he’s been pushing for weeks.)
“These are common-sense ideas, ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans. The one thing holding them back is politics. The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That’s the problem we have right now. That’s what’s holding this country back,” said Obama in his weekly address. | <urn:uuid:586925ee-6c50-44aa-accf-3a2620052f8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0820/Why-Obama-is-pumping-up-his-rhetoric | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973262 | 285 | 1.53125 | 2 |
MiniWeb is a free and open source, small generic web browser. MiniWeb lets you configure the user agent string it sends to websites, so that these sites think you have a browser that you don't.
This is useful when testing websites against various mobile browsers. Or it is useful when you develop phones. MiniWeb comes with a few sample user agents, and you can add your own.
So if you want to see if a particular user agent string works well with websites, you can test it. The window size is adjusted to fit the specifications of the user agent.
MiniWeb is also handy if you want to watch news tickers, sports scores, weather reports and such things on a small window, but not in your main browser. The formatting of some websites for mobile clients (phones) is sometimes more convenient for this purpose.
Finally, if you can't afford one of those fancy new web phones, but you want Google to think you have one, just use MiniWeb and set the user agent to the latest fashonable expensive gadget. You might see ads for the competiting brand, but that's a small price to pay.
Building from source: Unarchive, open a Terminal window, go to the Miniweb directory in the src folder and from there run the following command:
Then double click the generated Xcode project and choose Build from the Build menu in Xcode. This will build Miniweb in the "/build/Debug" folder inside the source directory .
· Qt 4 or later | <urn:uuid:fe72f5e1-b845-40fc-aae8-06bc5155d187> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Internet-Utilities/Miniweb.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894275 | 310 | 2.015625 | 2 |
White House photo
President Obama holds his first cabinet meeting in April 2009.
While we wait for the official announcement from President Obama about Chuck Hagel's nomination, it's worth pausing to note the larger context: as a candidate, Obama promised a bipartisan team, and whether one approves of the goal or not, it's a promise the president has kept.
Traditionally, this hasn't been much of an issue -- presidents were largely expected to create cabinets from their own party -- but Clinton added some Republicans to his team in the 1990s, including naming William Cohen to head the Pentagon, and when George W. Bush ran in 2000, he presented himself as a relative moderate by assuring voters there would be a Democrat in his cabinet, too.
Bush later tapped Norm Mineta to lead the Department of Transportation.
But even before Obama nominates Hagel as Secretary of Defense, as best as I can tell, this president has given more administration positions to Republicans than any modern president has given to members of the other party.
For all the talk on the right about Obama being a bitter partisan, the president made former Republican Rep. John McHugh the Secretary of the Army; he made former Republican Rep. Ray LaHood the Secretary of Transportation; he put former Republican Rep. Jim Leach in charge of the National Endowment for the Humanities; he named former Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman as U.S. Ambassador to China; and he put former Republican Rep. Anne Northup in charge of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Obama also kept Bush's Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, in his post, and for a while, nominated former Republican Sen. Judd Gregg as his Commerce Secretary. Indeed, Hagel has already been on the White House team, serving as a co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.
To be sure, opinions can vary widely as to whether this is a positive development or not.
There's a credible school of thought that suggests if Americans wanted Republicans in key administration posts, they would have elected a Republican president. For that matter, it's not as if Obama's GOP's detractors are giving him credit for crafting such a bipartisan team -- the right still considers the president a radical, left-wing partisan who refuses to reach out to Republicans, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
Still, for good or ill, this is largely what Obama promised the public four years ago, and at least in theory, it's what Americans say they like -- a leader who's not afraid to surround himself with a diverse group of advisors, including folks from the other party. | <urn:uuid:6d1c6a41-fa35-488b-b81b-0c5c4cb6aee6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/07/16396067-keeping-a-bipartisan-promise | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978565 | 533 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Species: Namista's Spider
Birthday: Monday, February 27, 2012
As soon as one of Namista's spiders is born, it begins to grow at an alarming rate. By the time the spider has reached adulthood, the arachnid has become humongous. These creatures are as large as small horses, complete with big moods. Most magi choose not to keep them as companions, as they are one of the more difficult companions to tame. As hatchlings they sleep much of the time, but adults only fall into deep slumber during the day. At night they build huge webs deep in the forest, and feed upon whatever unfortunate animals fall into the traps. These webs are incredibly strong and almost impossible to break out of. Young Namista's spiders are always practicing building these webs, though they are not as strong as the adult's. It is best that a magi teaches their spider companion to create these webs far in the forest, lest the little one still makes them in the castle when older. It is rather annoying to walk into one of these webs during the night: if it were an adult's creation, it would be very difficult to get out of. Something else to be painfully aware of is their poisonous fangs. Even when first born, these sharp fangs are filled with deadly poison, and even a shallow cut from one can be fatal.
Because they were created from dark magic, these giant spiders have the unfortunate tendency to become evil. They must be raised carefully from birth, lest they learn to take pleasure in rending flesh and tormenting all living things. It is fortunate that the magi have taken it upon themselves to make sure that these arachnids no longer cause violent events. So far, the endeavor has been successful – none of these spiders have injured anyone, but there is something different about them... the way they skitter along in the edges of shadows, something about their eyes... No one quite trusts them, and many will have nothing to do with them. Villagers in particular fear them, which is not particularly strange, given their past. Once controlled by an evil magi, Namista's spiders gleefully destroyed villages and carried out their master's orders. It is only recently that these strange creatures have been considered companions; it was not long ago that they were terrors to everyone. It is still not common for magi to choose one of Namista's spiders as a companion. Those who do are usually curious about dark magic, though everyone knows how fatal that can be. Namista's spiders turned on their own creator, as unnatural beings often do. Even though the woman trained them carefully, the spiders have vicious temperaments. These arachnids have such great potential for destruction that none are allowed to exist in the wild. | <urn:uuid:c07e4399-c4c5-4679-9f0a-6747e25b8daf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://magistream.com/creature/4842126 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979895 | 570 | 2.234375 | 2 |
How do we explain clp to newcomers?
mwh at python.net
Tue Oct 1 16:17:07 CEST 2002
claird at lairds.org (Cameron Laird) writes:
> Is there a canonical page, presumably at www.python.org, or, more
> specifically, the Wiki, that answers the question, "What do you
> mean, 'post my question to the Usenet comp.lang.python newsgroup'?"?
> If there isn't one already, I'll make one for the Wiki. I'd like
> to avoid the labor, of course.
Not the most obvious location, to be sure.
Programming languages should be designed not by piling feature on
top of feature, but by removing the weaknesses and restrictions
that make the additional features appear necessary.
-- Revised(5) Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
More information about the Python-list | <urn:uuid:dd1afc61-7151-4a26-add6-5a96596f7bff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2002-October/119052.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.817963 | 198 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Explore Chandler from wherever you are.
About Stellar Airpark (PDF)
Read about Chandler's Stellar Airpark, written by Stellar Airpark.
Stories from the Chandler Airport
The story of how Chandler's airport got where it is today.
World War II Honor Roll
Explore in-depth experiences of Chandler men and women during the Second World War.
Chandler Mayors’ Stories
Former mayors describe what brought them to public service and how Chandler has grown over time. All pictures are courtesy of the City Clerk’s office.
Hispanic Heritage Stories
Photos and family stories capture the resiliency, struggles and pride of Chandler’s early Hispanic community.
When Cotton Was King
In 2002, the City and the Arizona Humanities Council sponsored a photographic exhibit featuring the images and stories of twenty-four African Americans from Chandler.
History in Your Own Backyard
These kiosks tell the stories of the families, businesses and cultures that were established in the area around
each park; long before many newer neighborhoods were created. It's a great way to see how Chandler has
changed over many decades.
*Roots of Ocotillo
This documentary explores the stories of those who grew up in what was once the first town of Goodyear. (Click on link to immediately play.)
*Price House, A Snapshot in Time
Watch and discover what makes this house unique and the stories of those who lived here and who worked in the surrounding fields. (Click on link to immediately play.) | <urn:uuid:8fae5e8c-a40e-4997-9563-013bd10b26dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mailto:[email protected]/default.aspx?pageid=1000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938493 | 313 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Use of Biomedical Engineering and Music for K-12 Math/Science Education
The study proposes the use of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Ph.D. track graduate students to assist middle and high school teachers to teach math/science skills, by providing additional tools and training to optimize their use. The emphasis is on the use of disciplinary knowledge to enhance how people learn with the aid of computer technology; showing the students the importance of this knowledge to solve real world problems.
Three school districts have committed to participate in a cross-disciplinary education program (Shelby County, Shades Mountain Independent, and the Alabama School of Fine Arts). Students from UAB’s Biomedical Engineering (BME) and the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) departments will develop, implement, and evaluate the four interventions used to enhance math/science skills.
- Music education
- Math/Science kits and six-week projects
- Science Fair project development
- A technology of Fine Arts class
When the cost-effectiveness of each intervention has been determined, decisions whether to expand the intervention, within each school system will be made. Information about successful programs would be made available, on the internet or other media, to interested groups. Trained personnel from this project would serve as facilitators for these groups.
- Investigators: A. Eberhardt, R. Thompson, M. Froning, D. Kilpadi | <urn:uuid:21551b17-525a-4ee3-a648-637e7f0b7928> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://main.uab.edu/soeng/templates/inner.aspx?pid=71768 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914275 | 290 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Figure 27. Belt of elongate granite plutons (red) in west-central part of the Bath map sheet. Names of several plutons are given. Most intrude the Cape Elizabeth Formation (peach) and some intrude the East Harpswell Group (purple). Bodies of quartz diorite (Dqd) and pegmatite (Dp) are indicated.
Last updated on January 25, 2006. | <urn:uuid:c37a8730-bf95-45fb-a3c8-9e9e826890dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/bedrock/b42/images/bath-27.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.852025 | 91 | 1.921875 | 2 |
Cumberland County Beekeepers Association Presents:
Swarm Prevention, Management, and Capture
Wednesday April 25th, 2013
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: Mabel I. Wilson School, North Yarmouth Maine
Presenter: Erin MacGregor-Forbes, Master Beekeeper
This will be a lecture style workshop discussing the causes of, and reasons for, honeybee swarms. How to manage and reduce the swarm impulse in your own colonies, how to make splits (artificial swarms) and how to capture swarms once they have left the colony.
Participants will learn the fundamentals of how to assess their colonies’ swarm preparations, how to make a split, what to have on hand to be ready to capture swarms, and how to make a “Swarm Trap.”
Each registered participant will leave the workshop with one plant pot style swarm trap ready for use in his or her own apiary.
The purpose of this workshop is to begin educating our membership in methods of sustainable apiary management and prevention of nuisance bee issues.
Cost this year is $35 for Cumberland County Beekeepers Association paid members (a savings of $10 from last years cost) and $45 for non CCBA members and it includes the “swarm trap”. Participation is limited to 30 registrations. Please use the form below to register or click the link on the MSBA website and use the pay pal function. April 20th will be the cutoff date for mail in registrations.
Latest posts by Erin MacGregor-Forbes, Master Beekeeper (see all)
- How to Make Summer Nucs – Hands-on Workshop – Saturday, June 16, 2012 - March 29, 2012
- Swarm Workshop Wednesday April 25th, 2012 - March 28, 2012
- 2012 Open Hive Hosts - March 1, 2012 | <urn:uuid:0d24f06c-16b0-41e2-8759-3479112c0fcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mainebeekeepers.org/cumberland-county-beekeepers/uncategorized/swarm-workshop-2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902878 | 387 | 2.015625 | 2 |
MASH UP is "Song made from bits of other songs"
v. To take elements of two or more pre-existing pieces of music and combine them to make a new song.
n. A song comprised of elements of two or more pre-existing pieces of music.
2. I'm in the middle of mashing-up songs by Tom Jones and Michael Jackson. (verb usage)
1. I'll play my mash-up of Tom Jones and Michael Jackson at the club tomorrow night. (noun usage) | <urn:uuid:3bc85866-618f-41bc-bcdb-64828491b287> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mallpolis.com/tag/mash | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938165 | 109 | 2.25 | 2 |
- Special Sections
- Real Estate
A series of three wet, warm storms were set to hit Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra before Monday, dumping several inches of rain on lower elevations and several feet of snow in the mountains.
Meteorologists on Thursday projected winds that could kick up to 60- to 100-miles-an-hour.
Weather watchers also had their eyes on the possibility of localized flooding.
The storms started their run at the region Wednesday morning when a subtropical, “atmospheric river” hit a big low pressure system off the West Coast, then moved inland across the Central Valley and then up along the spine of the Sierra.
Although the storms’ collective bullseye was projected to be north of Mammoth, near Sonora Pass or possibly the Lake Tahoe area, Reno National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Brong said Mammoth was set to get wet.
“Don’t worry, you won’t get left out of this one,” he said. “There is a lot of moisture in this system. It’s one of the biggest we’ve seen this time of year in several years.”
The storms are unusual in that they are arriving with temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s—meaning much of the predicted moisture will likely fall as rain, not snow, due to the much higher snow levels associated with warm storms.
In Mammoth, Public Works Director Ray Jarvis said his crew was ready, more or less, for whatever might happen.
“Basically what we do, prior to winter really setting in, is going out and clearing out all our culverts. Frankly, we didn’t get them all done this year because of lack of manpower and the workload. We hit the ones we know generally get clogged up, so we’re OK with that.
“The other thing we normally do, especially if we’re expecting a hydrologic event when you’re going to get a let of water coming through town, and I’m not sure that’s going to happen, but on Joaquin, we have a diversion structure south of Dorrance and north of Meridian, where we can control the flow of water that comes down through that creek.
“Normally it will go diagonally through the Sierra Valley sites. We’ve closed that because that channel can’t handle a lot of water. So it’ll go into a storm drain on Dorrance and Joaquin, down behind Center Street and then down into the main storm drain, so that’s done.”
Jarvis said residents also could be proactive on their own, with help from the town and its supply of storm materials.
“The other thing we like to make available is our cinder shed. We have sand bags down there. If people feel like they need to grab some sandbags, especially for problem areas, they can do that. It’s at our yard on Commerce Drive [Industrial Park].
“Across from the main building, there’s a shed where we keep all our cinders out of the weather. There are cinders, bags, and shovels. We’d like to do this kind of work ourselves, but we don’t have time to do it.”
Flooding is the biggest threat below 8,000 feet. A more typical pattern for Mammoth in late November/early December is colder storms, where the snow level is lower.
The second storm was forecast to come in Thursday evening and last into Friday (Nov. 30), Brong said, accompanied by high winds and a mix of blowing snow and rain.
The third, likely to be the biggest snow producer for the Mammoth area, is forecast to arrive Saturday evening and last into much of Sunday. Although that storm is the biggest of the three and the coldest, it is also coming at the tail end of the five-day system, making it hard to pinpoint how much snow the area will get, Brong said. Predictions for snow on top of Mammoth Mountain ranged between two to five feet by the end of the five-day system, depending on where the storm comes in and exits.
Three main variables could cause some trouble for communities and travelers, Brong said.
First, the storms were slow moving, meaning they were set up over a region, taking their time before moving out.
The second, the storms were uncharacteristically warm for this time of year, meaning much of the moisture is projected to fall as rain, not snow, except at the higher elevations.
Third, the storms were coming in with very high winds, as much as 100 miles an hour at the top of Mammoth Mountain and as much as 75 miles an hour in canyons and other areas that tend to funnel wind, such as Walker Canyon.
“For anyone travelling U.S. 395, the wind could be a big problem,” said Brong.
Downed trees and tree limbs were another possible effect from the wind, and with it, possible power outages.
“All of my people are on call throughout this week and I have a few from another department that are licensed to drive our big vehicles also on call,” said Jeff Walters, the county’s roads and maintenance supervisor.
Sandbags are ready to go should they be needed, he said.
Landslides are another possible problem in the county, where roads run under steep, boulder-strewn slopes. Areas like the Twin Lakes area west of Bridgeport and Lower Rock Creek Road and parts of Crowley Lake Drive (the portion between Crowley Lake and Aspen Springs) are prone to rock falls and/or landslides.
Walters said his crews would be making runs through those areas every day, removing rocks and debris. | <urn:uuid:e067ba09-7428-4c3e-a0be-703835ee9fc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mammothtimes.com/content/wild-river-storms-flows-eastern-sierra?quicktabs_2=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9693 | 1,289 | 1.757813 | 2 |
It might begin with something as simple as an insult. “You’re fat.”
“You can’t do anything.”
“You are ugly.”
“Nobody likes you.”
The abuse might worsen—getting ganged up on, being hit, being beaten up.
It might get even worse—midnight texts that denigrate, insult, terrify. Emails that do the same. In a world of instant and constant communication, the end of the school day is no relief.
It all might sound like no big deal. After all, “kids will be kids,” right? They will grow out of it, right? They are just words, right?
But the price of bullying is higher than most people can imagine. Every 30 minutes in this country, a child commits suicide because they have been bullied past the point of tolerance—and that doesn’t count the countless numbers who dread going to school each day, or whose performance suffers at school due to the stress of being bullied, according to national mental health sources.
Which is why local teacher and speech therapist Dee DiGioia has been working during recess and her spare time on what she calls her “Peace Project,” an anti-bully program that helps students deal with being bullied and seeks to prevent bullying from happening in the first place. She did a school-wide assembly last year. She calls Peace Project “a recess alternative for kids to participate in activities such as learning sign language and playing games. It’s in a safe environment for those who don’t always have positive experiences on the playground because this is where many of the problems occur.”
DiGioia, a Mono County Office of Education language speech therapist who works in the schools, said she has had many students come to her afraid.
“I had a little girl come to me recently, just absolutely shaking,” she said. “She was truly fearful because the kids had ganged up on her and she didn’t know what to do. No one should feel alone in this.”
DiGioia decided to take it one step further this year. She made a bullying awareness movie called “Which Side Will You Chose.” The movie premiers at the Edison Theatre this Saturday.
Volunteer actors were Melanie Moyer, Kendall Lach, Maya Weber, Jamie Peabody, Cassidy Moyer, Lisbeth Perez, Gregory Young, Blaire Lee, Noelle Deinken, and Grant Bentley.
“Which Side Will You Chose” is aimed at elementary students and features almost a dozen local actors, including several students from both Mammoth Elementary and Mammoth Middle schools who have never acted before.
It is set in an elementary school with one student mercilessly bullying another student, calling her names and pushing her.
DiGioia based the movie on an anti-bullying concept called “bucket dipping” where students can either fill a bucket with good words and actions, or dip into a bucket with their negative words and actions.
The movie is broken down into several sections, which can be used as teaching guides for classrooms, DiGioia said.
DiGioia said the movie project took a lot of work by community members, including Noelle Deinken, president of Sunrise Rotary (who acted in the play and gave a donation to help the project); Mammoth Hospital, which allowed the film to be shot in one of their rooms; and many others, including the parents who got their children to all the rehearsals.
But there’s a problem.
Last week, DiGioia was informed she could no longer do her bullying awareness work at the school during school hours, nor could the movie be shown there.
“I was told this wasn’t part of my job description and that I had to stop doing Peace Project,” she said. “It was one of the saddest days of my life, to go to the students last week and tell them we could no longer meet and do Peace Project. They didn’t understand. They were in tears, I was in tears. I don’t understand either, but I don’t think this is right.”
She noted that a bully awareness program she has been urging the school to adopt, called the Olweus system, will be instituted in the schools—but not until next year.
Connie Moyer, a mother of one of two of the students who are in the movie, was puzzled, too.
“My daughters came home and said, ‘Mom, there’s no place to go now,’” she said. “I called the county office of education and they said since she was not a counselor, they were exposed to liability issues, in case something went wrong. But she wasn’t counseling the kids—they have someone for that—she was doing this on her own time, as a volunteer, after seeing how much the kids were struggling. I don’t understand it.”
DiGioia said the directive came down from her employer, the Mono County Office of Education. Superintendent Stacey Adler was sick Thursday when the Mammoth Times called and referred questions to Jennie Huh.
“The office of education has contracted with Dee DiGioia as a speech therapist,” said Jennie Huh, the director of the county’s special education. “Case loads can be quite demanding, and her primary responsibility is to those students she is contracted to serve. She does have permission to do any activity after her contracted hours are completed, as long as the school gives permission.”
Huh also added that the county’s attorney had concerns that the county could be exposed to liability, given that DiGioia is not trained as a counselor.
Ana Danielson works for the county office of education and is the director for a new, statewide, multi-year initiative to help students combat mental health issues.
Danielson said the office received a grant to do the Olweus system program and it will allow the schools to begin training for the program in April 2013.
“The Olweus program has been shown to be effective and is backed by statistics showing its effectiveness,” Danielson said.
“Bullying has been such a hot topic,” she said. “We really have to understand what it means to make sure that we know the difference between small incidents that are hurtful but might not be bullying. This program gives us that clarity.”
Ann Erikson Gettis was also surprised to learn DiGioia has been prevented from continuing her work with kids during recess hours.
Gettis’ son, Jeremiah, committed suicide six years ago, partly in response to being bullied. She lives in Minnesota and has a nonprofit bully awareness organization. She connected with DiGioia via Facebook and said she believes DiGioia is following well-established principles in her work.
“I have been trained under the Olweus system and her work follows these principles,” she said.
“When they tell her it’s not her job, that puzzles me. It’s one of the first principles of bullying awareness work.
“It’s everyone’s job to prevent bullying.”
IF YOU GO
What: The public is invited to the premiere of "Which Team Will You Choose?” Seating is limited, reservations recommended. Call 760-934-6592.
When: Saturday, Sept. 29. Two show times: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Edison Theatre, 100 College Parkway, Mammoth Lakes.
For more information about the movie, go to [email protected]
Characters and volunteer actors:
Kiara (student target of the bullying): Melanie Moyer
Tina (student who is bullying): Kendall Lach
Jess (student bystander): Maya Weber
LeighAnn (student bystander): Jamie Peabody
Deanna (student bystander): Cassidy Moyer
Judy (student bystander): Lisbeth Perez
Coach: Gregory Young
BF, Bucketfiller team leader: Blaire Lee
Dip, Bucketdipper team leader: Noelle Deinken
Mr. Smith the Music Teacher: Grant Bentley
Director and Executive Producer: Dee DiGioia | <urn:uuid:d0d3fe73-4e85-4735-afea-5ab98c261274> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mammothtimes.com/print/3243 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977272 | 1,809 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Executive Development Social Networks
About the Program
Technology-driven companies are dependent on the contributions of engineers, scientists and others who comprise the all-important intellectual assets of the company. Executives need to be mindful of the leadership of these “gold-collared” workers and their unique motivational and operational needs. This is not an easy task in these challenging times of rapid transformation in corporations and organizations around the world. This course will enable participants to better establish a management style and workplace culture that fosters job satisfaction among gold-collar workers, thereby enabling them to focus on the generation of intellectual assets that will lead the company to future success.
This course is appropriate for any executive or manager who works with or oversees gold-collar workers.
Participants in Managing the Gold-Collar Worker will learn about:
- A new reward structure for gold-collar workers
- How to better retain scientists and engineers
- How to foster a culture that nurtures gold-collar workers
- Management practices for interacting with and motivating gold collar workers
This interactive course will help participants to:
- Understand how gold-collar workers drive intellectual capital companies
- Learn the difference between star and average performers
- Understand what motivates gold-collar workers
- Reflect upon the difference between 'millennials' and previous generations of gold-collar workers
Robert Kelley is an adjunct professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Kelley has been a senior management consultant with the Stanford Research Institute, a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School, worked for the consulting division of Ernst and Young and also ran his own business.
Currently, he splits his time among teaching, writing and consulting. Besides teaching in Tepper’s MBA program, he is also a regular faculty member in executive education programs around the country and a well-regarded consultant to companies such as 3M and Bell Labs as well as several governmental organizations. His educational background includes post-doctoral work at the Harvard Business School, a Ph.D. from Colorado State University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. from Drake University.
He coined the now widely used terms “gold-collar worker” and “followership” in his groundbreaking books “The Gold Collar Worker” and “The Power of Followership.” The New York Post selected his “How to be a Star Performer at Work” as the number one best business book of the entire 1990s. His articles have appeared in The Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal and his work has been featured in international media. | <urn:uuid:81ec9056-1faa-4b17-8c8a-a92bcf409668> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://management.ucsd.edu/exec/learn/gold-collar/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941253 | 543 | 2.125 | 2 |
Provided by: linesrv-mysql_2.1.21-4.2ubuntu1_i386
linesrv.conf - Linesrv configuration file
This linesrv.conf configuration file is read by the Linesrv daemon upon
starting. In this file it is possible to specify all the daemon
properties such as binding address, start and stop command for
connection. This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux
distribution because the original program does not have a manual page.
linesrv is a program that...
The different configuration options are:
bind_to <ip addres>
the IP the server is listening on (currently only one ip).
Used to specify the port used to listen to clients. The port may
be specified as a number.UDP port 16007 is default.
If set to .Iyes only LCP3 (LineControl Protocol 3.x) clients
will have access. You can control user access via the PAM
system. See /etc/pam.d/linecontrol and /etc/pam.d/lcshutdown to
know how limit access
This file contains the linesrver pid. This file is never removed
when shutting down the server, but is always over-written when
the server restart.
Linesrv let you to log connection time on per-user base, per-line base,
and let you to calculate the costs. Furthermore the server logs the
same without IP when the connection gets closed (either by ’server’ or
’manually’) remember that multiple clients can use the connection at
the same time. So the sum of the secs of the clients is not the one of
the ’line ...’ entries! (evidentelly... :) You can access the log by
means of cgi-bin lclog or by inserting logs into a mysql db. You can
find an example dump for the db in /usr/share/linesrv/mysql-
linesrv.dump. To read the db you can use a php tool you can find in
lclog-mysql. These scritps don’t come with this package.
With this option you can specify the file from the logparser
read from. The default is /var/log/linesrv/dialsrv.log With
’logfile’ you can log the ip, from time, to time and the seconds
a client used the connection. You can parse the logfile with
lclog, by pointing your web browser to http://<server-name>/cgi-
Specify host on which the db is located
Mysql connection port. The default il 3306
The username for accessing the database
The passwd for db_user
This is a new feature in version 2.1.0. linesrv has to be able
to write/read to/from that named pipe utility with htmlstatus
which you can find in /usr/lib/cgi-bin/htmlstatus can read from
that pipe. Attention: htmlstatus has to be run with the same
user id set as the linesrv process so it can send a SIGUSR1 to
linesrv. It could be ran as root. htmlstatus will read
/etc/linesrv/linesrv.conf (compiled in for security reasons) and
then look for the two keywords ’pid_file’ and ’html_status’.
Without these it won’t work.
with filters you may decide whether a certain client may use dialsrv or
not. if filter_type is allow, all clients in the list have access to
the server, others don’t. If it’s deny, all but those in the list have
access. Remember that UDP/IP is extremely easy to spoof. Use Clients
without user accounting only on a trusted subnet and block the ’port’
at your firewall.
The only option is allow. For the moment it cannot not be used
filter_mask <ip> <bit-mask>
filter_ip <from> <to>
This options defines a netmask or a range of ip numbers that can
connect to the server. It is possible to use more than once
Linesrv has a nice feature that permits to shutdown remotely the
box running it. It can be made by using the keyword
script_shutdown. This keyword does not support command line, so
you can use a wrapper found in /usr/sbin/halt-wrapper.
limit_shutdown_ip <from> <to>
limit_shutdown_mask <ip> <bit-mask>
LineControl does also support TCP connections. They’re much
harder to spoof... but some bad boy can just take your own IP...
You don’t have to use filter_type or so again. The type of the
shutdown-filter is always ’allow’. Only listed IPs are allowed
to execute the script. The host has to pass the by filter_*
specified list. So this list is additional and doesn’t replace
the other one.
With Linesrv you can configure several modem (or isdn) connection with
several ISP. Every connection is know as "Line". Each Line has his own
Define the start of Line <name>.
specifies the network interface to watch to generate the
How can we determine the status of the connection (only up /
down). working with pppd. The network device (ex. ppp0) tells
us about the connection status. If it’s up, the connection is
considered as up. If not, we believe that the con is closed.
scans /dev/isdninfo for the connection status. You have to
supply some more information about your isdn conf. see below.
file exists the connection is considered as established. Let
your script delete it after it closed the connection. This
should be useful for people with a cablemodem. The problem is
that you will get bad throughput messages if not all of the
traffic goes through the ’interface’ you specified. Probably you
will specify ’eth0’ as a dummy... because you have to specify
These directive shows the scripts that are used to get the
interface up and down.
allow_manually defines whether linesrv should close a connection
that got established without that linesrv called the script_up.
So if you have for example a cron job which checks for a running
linesrv, you can say "allow_manually no". This way linesrv will
close a line that it left open before a crash. So the line gets
closed when linesrv gets restarted. attention: if you have two
lines with the same con_type and the same thing that tells us
whether a line is up or down linesrv will consider one line as
established by the server and the other one established
manually. In this case you HAVE TO SET "allow_manually yes". If
not, linesrv won’t work well (it’s a bug.).
after ’con_timeout’ seconds This script should establish the
basic constellation so we can call script_up again.
If you selected cont_type_file your up/dn scripts will have to
create/remove this file. Change the filename to suit your needs.
It doesn disturb as long as you’re not using ’con_type file’.
set con_timeout to something like 15 if you’re using isdn after
# secs, the connection-establishment gets abortet if the
connection didn’t get established.
DON’T set the following to ’no’! (Your clients won’t run
well...) probably this keyword will disapear in a coming
This manual page was written by Marco Presi <[email protected]>, for
the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).
January 12, 2002 LINESRV.CONF(5) | <urn:uuid:0ef9ddee-e410-4d40-8f10-4ac31e98ea2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man5/linesrv-mysql.conf.5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.829105 | 1,774 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Full disclosure: I’m the current chair of the standards group at the World Wide Web Consortium that created the newest version of RDFa, editor of the HTML5+RDFa 1.1 and RDFa Lite 1.1 specifications, and I’m also a member of the HTML Working Group.
Edit: 2012-12-01 – Updated the article to rephrase some things, and include rationale and counter-arguments at the bottom in preparation for the HTML WG poll on the matter.
The HTML Working Group at the W3C is currently trying to decide if they should transition the Microdata specification to the next stage in the standardization process. There has been a call for consensus to transition the spec to the Candidate Recommendation stage. The problem is that we already have a set of specifications that are official W3C recommendations that do what Microdata does and more. RDFa 1.1 became an official W3C Recommendation last summer. From a standards perspective, this is a mistake and sends a confused signal to Web developers. Officially supporting two specification that do almost exactly the same thing in almost exactly the same way is, ultimately, a failure to standardize.
The fact that RDFa already does what Microdata does has been elaborated upon before:
Here’s the problem in a nutshell: The W3C is thinking of ratifying two completely different specifications that accomplish the same thing in basically the same way. The functionality of RDFa, which is already a W3C Recommendation, overlaps Microdata by a large margin. In fact, RDFa Lite 1.1 was developed as a plug-in replacement for Microdata. The full version of RDFa can also do a number of things that Microdata cannot, such as datatyping, associating more than one type per object, embed-ability in languages other than HTML, ability to easily publish and mix vocabularies, etc.
Microdata would have easily been dead in the water had it not been for two simple facts: 1) The editor of the specification works at Google, and 2) Google pushed Microdata as the markup language for schema.org before also accepting RDFa markup. The first enabled Google and the editor to work on schema.org without signalling to the public that it was creating a competitor to Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol. The second gave Microdata enough of a jump start to establish a foothold for schema.org markup. There have been a number of studies that show that Microdata’s sole use case (99% of Microdata markup) is for the markup of schema.org terms. Microdata is not widely used outside of that context, we now have data to back up what we had predicted would happen when schema.org made their initial announcement for Microdata-only support. Note that schema.org now supports both RDFa and Microdata.
It is typically a bad idea to have two formats published by the same organization that do the same thing. It leads to Web developer confusion surrounding which format to use. One of the goals of Web standards is to reduce, or preferably eliminate, the confusion surrounding the correct technology decision to make. The HTML Working Group and the W3C is failing miserably on this front. There is more confusion today about picking Microdata or RDFa because they accomplish the same thing in effectively the same way. The only reason both exist is due to political reasons.
If we step back and look at the technical arguments, there is no compelling reason that Microdata should be a W3C Recommendation. There is no compelling reason to have two specifications that do the same thing in basically the same way. Therefore, as a member of the HTML Working Group (not as a chair or editor of RDFa) I object to the publication of Microdata as a Candidate Recommendation.
Note that this is not a W3C formal objection. This is an informal objection to publish Microdata along the Recommendation track. This objection will not become an official W3C formal objection if the HTML Working Group holds a poll to gather consensus around whether Microdata should proceed along the Recommendation publication track. I believe the publication of a W3C Note will continue to allow Google to support Microdata in schema.org, but will hopefully correct the confused message that the W3C has been sending to Web developers regarding RDFa and Microdata. We don’t need two specifications that do almost exactly the same thing.
The message sent by the W3C needs to be very clear: There is one recommendation for doing structured data markup in HTML. That recommendation is RDFa. It addresses all of the use cases that have been put forth by the general Web community, and it’s ready for broad adoption and implementation today.
If you agree with this blog post, make sure to let the HTML Working Group know that you do not think that the W3C should ratify two specifications that do almost exactly the same thing in almost exactly the same way. Now is the time to speak up!
Summary of Facts and Arguments
Below is a summary of arguments presented as a basis for publishing Microdata along the W3C Note track:
- RDFa 1.1 is already a ratified Web standard as of June 7th 2012 and absorbed almost every Microdata feature before it became official. If the majority of the differences between RDFa and Microdata boil down to different attribute names (property vs. itemprop), then the two solutions have effectively converged on syntax and W3C should not ratify two solutions that do effectively the same thing in almost exactly the same way.
- RDFa is supported by all of the major search crawlers, including Google (and schema.org), Microsoft, Yahoo!, Yandex, and Facebook. Microdata is not supported by Facebook.
- RDFa Lite 1.1 is feature-equivalent to Microdata. Over 99% of Microdata markup can be expressed easily in RDFa Lite 1.1. Converting from Microdata to RDFa Lite is as simple as a search and replace of the Microdata attributes with RDFa Lite attributes. Conversely, Microdata does not support a number of the more advanced RDFa features, like being able to tell the difference between feet and meters.
- You can mix vocabularies with RDFa Lite 1.1, supporting both schema.org and Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol (OGP) using a single markup language. You don’t have to learn Microdata for schema.org and RDFa for Facebook – just use RDFa for both.
- The creator of the Microdata specification doesn’t like Microdata. When people are not passionate about the solutions that they create, the desire to work on those solutions and continue improve upon them is muted. The RDFa community is passionate about the technology that they have created together and have strived to make it better since the standardization of RDFa 1.0 back in 2008.
- RDFa Lite 1.1 is fully upward-compatible with RDFa 1.1, allowing you to seamlessly migrate to a more feature-rich language as your Linked Data needs grow. Microdata does not support any of the more advanced features provided by RDFa 1.1.
- RDFa deployment is broader than Microdata. RDFa deployment continues to grow at a rapid pace.
- The economic damage generated by publishing both RDFa and Microdata along the Recommendation track should not be underestimated. W3C should try to provide clear direction in an attempt to reduce the economic waste that a “let the market sort it out among two nearly identical solutions” strategy will generate. At some point, the market will figure out that both solutions are nearly identical, but only after publishing and building massive amounts of content and tooling for both.
- The W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG), which is responsible for ensuring that the core architecture of the Web is sound, has raised their concern about the publication of both Microdata and RDFa as recommendations. After the W3C TAG raised their concerns, the RDFa Working Group created RDFa Lite 1.1 to be a near feature-equivalent replacement for Microdata that was also backwards-compatible with RDFa 1.0.
- Publishing a standard that does almost exactly the same thing as an existing standard in almost exactly the same way is a failure to standardize.
Counter-arguments and Rebuttals
No, this is an objection to publishing two specifications that do almost exactly the same thing in almost exactly the same way along the W3C Recommendation publication track. Protectionism would have asked that all work on Microdata be stopped and the work scuttled. The proposed resolution does not block anybody from using Microdata, nor does it try to stop or block the Microdata work from happening in the HTML WG. The objection asks that the W3C decide what the best path forward for Web developers is based on a fairly complicated set of predicted outcomes. This is not an easy decision. The objection is intended to ensure that the HTML Working Group has this discussion before we proceed to Candidate Recommendation with Microdata.
<manu1> I'd like the W3C to work as well, and I think publishing two specs that accomplish basically the same thing in basically the same way shows breakage. <annevk> Bit late for that. XDM vs DOM, XPath vs Selectors, XSL-FO vs CSS, XSLT vs XQuery, XQuery vs XQueryX, RDF/XML vs Turtle, XForms vs Web Forms 2.0, XHTML 1.0 vs HTML 4.01, XML 1.0 4th Edition vs XML 1.0 5th Edition, XML 1.0 vs XML 1.1, etc.
While W3C does have a history of publishing competing specifications, there have been features in each competing specification that were compelling enough to warrant the publication of both standards. For example, XHTML 1.0 provided a standard set of rules for validating documents that was aligned with XML and a decentralized extension mechanism that HTML4.01 did not. Those two major features were viewed as compelling enough to publish both specifications as Recommendations via W3C.
For authors, the differences between RDFa and Microdata are so small that, for 99% of documents in the wild, you can convert a Microdata document to an RDFa Lite 1.1 document with a simple search and replace of attribute names. That demonstrates that the syntaxes for both languages are different only in the names of the HTML attributes, and that does not seem like a very compelling reason to publish both specifications as Recommendations.
Microdata’s processing algorithm is vastly simpler, which makes the data
extracted more reliable and, when something does go wrong, makes it easier for 1) users to debug their own data, and 2) easier for me to debug it if they can’t figure it out on their own.
Microdata’s processing algorithm is simpler for two major reasons:
- Microdata does not support as many features and use cases as RDFa does.
- RDFa 1.1 is backwards-compatible with RDFa 1.0, which complicates the processing rules. The same is true for HTML5.
The complexity of implementing a processor has little bearing on how easy it is for developers to author documents. For example, XHTML 1.0 had a simpler processing model which made the data that was extracted more reliable and when something went wrong, it was easier to debug. However, HTML5 supported more use cases and recovers from errors in cases where it can, which made it more popular with Web developers in the long-run.
For what it is worth, I personally think RDFa is generally a technically better solution. But as Marcos says, “so what”? Our job at W3C is to make standards for the technology the market decides to use.
If we think one of these technologies is a technically better solution than the other one, we should signal that realization at some level. The most basic thing we could do is to make one an official Recommendation, and the other a Note. I also agree that our job at W3C is to make standards that the technology market decides to use, but clearly this particular case isn’t that cut-and-dried. Schema.org’s only option in the beginning was to use Microdata, and since authors didn’t want to risk not showing up in the search engines, they used Microdata. This forced the market to go in one direction.
This discussion would be in a different place had Google kept the playing field level. That is not to say that Google didn’t have good reasons for making the decisions that they did at the time, but those reasons influenced the development of RDFa, and RDFa Lite 1.1 was the result. The differences between Microdata and RDFa have been removed and a new question is in front of us: given two almost identical technologies, should the W3C publish two specifications that do almost exactly the same thing in almost exactly the same way?
… the [HTML] Working Group explicitly decided not to pick a winner between HTML Microdata and HTML+RDFa
The question before the HTML WG at the time was whether or not to split Microdata out of the HTML5 specification. The HTML Working Group did not discuss whether the publishing track for the Microdata document should be the W3C Note track or the W3C Recommendation track. At the time the decision was made, RDFa Lite 1.1 did not exist, RDFa Lite 1.1 was not a W3C Recommendation, nor did the RDFa and Microdata functionality so greatly overlap as they do now. Additionally, the HTML WG decision at that time states the following under the “Revisiting the issue” section:
“If Microdata and RDFa converge in syntax…”
Microdata and RDFa have effectively converged in syntax. Since Microdata can be interpreted as RDFa based on a simple search-and-replace of attributes that the languages have effectively converged on syntax except for the attribute names. The proposal is not to have work on Microdata stopped. Let work on Microdata proceed in this group, but let it proceed on the W3C Note publication track.
I felt uneasy raising this issue because it’s a touchy and painful subject for everyone involved. Even if the discussion is painful, it is a healthy one for a standardization body to have from time to time. What I wanted was for the HTML Working Group to have this discussion. If the upcoming poll finds that the consensus of the HTML Working Group is to continue with the Microdata specification along the Recommendation track, I will not pursue a W3C Formal Objection. I will respect whatever decision the HTML Working Group makes as I trust the Chairs of that group, the process that they’ve put in place, and the aggregate opinion of the members in that group. After all, that is how the standardization process is supposed to work and I’m thankful to be a part of it. | <urn:uuid:e21e60b9-949c-4a79-b436-e038b959c7c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manu.sporny.org/2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941801 | 3,204 | 1.617188 | 2 |
From DBpedia Mappings
This is the definition of an ontology property.
Read more about editing the ontology schema.
You can see the result of your edit on DBpedia Live (this is BETA!).
|Ontology datatype property (help)|
|rdfs:comment@en||The country or other power the person served. Multiple countries may be indicated together with the corresponding dates. This field should not be used to indicate a particular service branch, which is better indicated by the branch field.| | <urn:uuid:92fc1ead-d235-46c1-a6a3-811fa9b62db0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mappings.dbpedia.org/index.php/OntologyProperty:Allegiance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.6963 | 108 | 2.015625 | 2 |
March critique giveaway open through March 28! Scroll down one post.
I usually post about MG books here, or books that ride the line between MG and YA. But that doesn't mean I don't read YA. One of my favorite authors is, in fact, the YA writer John Green. Not because I like all of his books equally well (I don't, actually), but because as far as the sheer intelligence of his writing, and his ability to convey things I thought only I thought, I can't remember when I've encountered his like. I'll at least pick up anything he writes; that is for sure.
I recently read his newest novel, The Fault in Our Stars. And it. Is. Brilliant. This year, his (next) Printz may very well come.
However. The book says something that makes what's left of my mathematical mind (which has languished over three or so decades) shudder: That some infinities are bigger than others. That, for example, there are more numbers (not speaking solely of integers, but of all possible rationals and irrationals) between, say, zero and a million than between zero and one.
No, there aren't.
And here I'd really like to diverge from any direct comment on the novel. This is really no longer about the novel. It's just the compulsion that still arises within me every now and then to speak my mathematical piece.
No, some infinities are not bigger than others. Such a notion doesn't make sense. Between zero and one lies an infinite number of fractions and decimals, almost all of them irrational, or non-repeating decimals. 0.5039285715790432... and on and on; you get the picture. No pattern to them. This means there's always another one. And another one. And one more. And yet one more.
For every such number, for any number at all, that lies between zero and a million, you can find one that lies between zero and one to pair with it in a one-to-one correspondence. You will never run out of numbers between zero and one, any more than you'll run out of numbers between zero and a trillion bazillion.
And this is just one of the things that make math, and creation, amazingly cool. | <urn:uuid:ab75f330-8b24-428f-88b7-4eb556337b2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marciahoehne.blogspot.com/2012/03/sort-of-book-blurb-sort-of-math-weird.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979092 | 488 | 1.625 | 2 |
The list is the origin of culture. It's part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order — not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through catalogs, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries. There is an allure to enumerating how many women Don Giovanni slept with: It was 2,063, at least according to Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. We also have completely practical lists — the shopping list, the will, the menu — that are also cultural achievements in their own right.
…At first, we think that a list is primitive and typical of very early cultures, which had no exact concept of the universe and were therefore limited to listing the characteristics they could name. But, in cultural history, the list has prevailed over and over again. It is by no means merely an expression of primitive cultures. A very clear image of the universe existed in the Middle Ages, and there were lists. A new worldview based on astronomy predominated in the Renaissance and the Baroque era. And there were lists. And the list is certainly prevalent in the postmodern age. It has an irresistible magic.
…We like lists because we don't want to die.
Here is much more. Make sure you read the quotation under the photo; I don't want to reproduce it on a family blog.
I wonder if this interview was translated from some other language, given the difference between "lists" and "enumeration." Here is an important MR post: Jeffrey Lonsdale writes.
I thank Cardiff Garcia for the pointer. | <urn:uuid:677a2991-3cf1-4c15-8111-a72e57592df6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/11/umberto-eco-on-lists.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972037 | 366 | 2.53125 | 3 |
DORS operates two programs:
1. The public vocational rehabilitation program provides direct, personalized services such as career assessment, vocational training, assistive technologies and job placement.
In the Office of Field Services, rehabilitation counselors located in over 20 offices around the state assist eligible individuals with disabilities to identify their career and independent living goals and work with them to reach those goals.
DORS offers specialized programs for people who are blind/visually impaired through the Office for Blindness and Vision Services. DORS also operates the Workforce & Technology Center (WTC), a comprehensive rehabilitation facility.
2. The Maryland Disability Determination Services (DDS) employs disability examiners, staff physicians, psychologists and other support staff who determine the eligibility of Maryland applicants for Social Security Administration's (SSA) two disability programs. | <urn:uuid:e46b35d4-286f-4ed4-af50-a77d4b2dd146> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/rehabsvcs/?WBCMODE=pre%25%3E%25%25%3E%25%3E | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935688 | 164 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The order of the smallest possible non trivial group containing elements $x$ and $y$ such that $x^7 = y^2 = e $ and $ yx = x^4 y$ is
I am stuck on this problem. Can anyone help me please?
|show 5 more comments|
|show 10 more comments|
First solution - $x=y=e$ satisfies the relations. The smallest non-trivial group has order 2, and the relations can be satisfied within that group.
Now suppose we want $x$ and $y$ distinct (not stated in the question).
If $x$ and $y$ are both non-trivial (i.e. $\neq e$) then the first relation shows that the group must contain non-trivial elements of orders 2 and 7, and then Lagrange means that the order of such a group must be divisible by 14. [note we have not used the second relation or shown it is compatible with this conclusion]
So to get a non-trivial group of order less than 14, one of $x$ or $y$ must be the identity. If we set $y=e$ we see that $x^7=x^3=1$ so that $x=e$, which is not what we want. If we set $x=e$ then $y^2=e$ and this can be done in a group of order 2.
Up to isomorphism, there is only one group of order 1, one group of order 2, one group of order 7, and two groups of order 14. Figure out (or look up) what those groups are. Which ones are non-trivial? Look for suitable elements $x$ and $y$ in those groups. You may want to start from the smallest group and work your way up. | <urn:uuid:924c1b49-7912-427d-88df-099bb7cc05c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/269012/the-order-of-the-group?answertab=active | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.893518 | 394 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Math in the News
Mural Project Would Splash Pi on a Brooklyn Side Street
Artist Ellie Balk and students at the Green School in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn hope to raise $4,300 to fund creation of a mural depicting the relationship between the golden ratio and the irrational number pi.
Balk has worked with Green School mathematics teacher Nathan Affield for the last four years to involve high school students in data visualization projects.
The Kickstarter page for the pi project explains how the undertaking will square with the Common Core's emphasis on depth over breadth in the school math curriculum:
By focusing on the single, transcendental concept of pi across courses, the mathematics department plans to not only deepen student understanding of shape and irrational number, but more importantly, connect these concepts with ideas of neighborhood beautification which can in turn improve quality of life.
Read a full description of the project. | <urn:uuid:5c2844c3-d5c8-4b6d-9872-d44330764a0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/?pa=mathNews&sa=view&newsId=1448 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93397 | 179 | 2.265625 | 2 |
See also the
Dr. Math FAQ:
order of operations
Browse High School Basic Algebra
Stars indicate particularly interesting answers or
good places to begin browsing.
Selected answers to common questions:
Solving simple linear equations.
Positive/negative integer rules.
Completing the square.
Direct and indirect variation.
Inequalities and negative numbers.
- Normalization [08/01/2001]
How do I figure out: 90 + 70 + 88 + 94 + x / 5 = 85 ?
- The Nth Root of N [11/28/2000]
Is the nth root of n (a whole number other than 1) ever a rational
- Number of Equations Needed in a Simultaneous Linear System [10/29/2003]
Could you tell me why we need the same number of equations as
variables in order to get a unique solution to a system of
simultaneous linear equations?
- Number * Sum of Remaining Four Numbers [04/03/2003]
Find 5 numbers such that when each number is multiplied by the sum of
the remaining 4 numbers, the following values will result: 152, 245,
297, 320, 360.
- Objects in a Pyramid [7/8/1996]
Objects are stacked in a triangular pyramid... how many objects are in
the nth layer from the top?
- Old Test Questions Answered [1/23/1995]
I am studying for my midterm, and I've come across two questions that I
got wrong and don't understand why....
- One Variable Equations with Decimals [02/11/1997]
How do you solve 8.25x + 3 = 17.5 + x?
- Open Sentence, Statement [09/18/2001]
What is an open sentence?
- Operator Precedence [08/13/2003]
Since the following statement is true: (1+1)**(5-2) is 8, why is the
following statement true and not false: 2**1+1 is 3 and not 4, and
3*1**3 is 3 and not 27...' ?
- Ordering Exponents and Variables [04/08/2000]
Is there a rule for putting terms in descending order if the variables
have the same exponent? What about negative exponents and descending
- Ordering Products, Powers, and Parameters of Trigonometric Functions [10/31/2010]
A student wants to know how to unambiguously interpret strings of trigonometric
functions, multiplication, and exponentiation. Doctor Peterson digs into a history book
-- as well as another math doctor's conversation -- to illuminate the vagaries of the
- Order in Linear Expressions [11/20/2001]
Can you give me a convincing argument as to why, in an equation such as
y=13-7x, where y is a function of x, it should be written as y=-7x+13?
- Order of Operations [05/19/1999]
Given a, b, x, and y, find ax/by.
- Order of Operations with Percentages [04/05/2001]
Why does the order of operations exclude percentage, square roots, etc.?
- Other Ways to Get the Quadratic Formula [02/19/2010]
Doctor Jacques shares two ways to derive [-b +/- SQRT(b^2 - 4ac)]/2a
without explicitly completing the square.
- Pairs of Odd Integers [09/24/1997]
Find all pairs of odd integers a and b that satisfy the equation: a +
128b = 3ab.
- Parabola with Horizontal or Vertical Axis [05/03/2001]
How can I find the focus and directrix of a parabola whose axis is either
horizontal or vertical, like 2x^2 = -y?
- Parabolic Golf Shot Equations [01/24/2002]
Does the ball reach the green?
- Parallel and Perpendicular Lines [01/14/1999]
How do you tell without graphing whether the graphs of these equations
are parallel, perpendicular, or neither?
- Parallel Lines [12/31/1998]
What are some ways of proving lines parallel - geometrically and
- Parametric Form for Equation of a Line [6/30/1996]
How can you convert an equation such as y = -3x/4 + 7/2 to parametric
- Parity [8/2/1996]
How do I determine if the given function is odd, even or neither? What's
the symmetry of the graph?
- Partial Fractions [01/29/1998]
How do I express 3/1-(x^3) in partial fractions?
- Pascal's Triangle Pattern [04/22/1999]
What pattern does multiplying each entry by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... in order,
and adding the products yield?
- Perfect Square: Solving Two Equations [6/14/1996]
x^2 + 5 is a perfect square, and x^2 - 5 is a perfect square.
- Perimeter Equals Area in a Triangle [4/2/1996]
When will the area and perimeter of a right triangle be numerically
- Picture Frame, Triangle Measurements [5/20/1996]
My teacher gave us ten questions to answer and I could do all except two:
1) A framed rectangular picture is 35cm long and 25cm wide... 2) The base
of a triangle is 9cm more than the perpendicular height...
- Plus or Minus Sign [03/08/2002]
What does this equation mean: y = +- k ? The - sign is directly under the
- Point Equidistant from 3 Other Points [04/11/1999]
How do you find a point that is equidistant from three other points?
- Point on a Line [03/23/2001]
Can you please tell me a formula to find if a point exists on a line?
Both are in x,y form.
- Polynomial Brain-Twisters [12/4/1995]
I'm stumped on some similar polynomial problems...
- Polynomial Degrees and Definition of a Field [03/02/1998]
The degree of polynomials added together, and definition of a field.
- Polynomial Factoring Rules [04/02/1997]
How do I apply the polynomial factoring rules to t^21+1 and 25y^2-144 =
- Polynomial Problem [3/11/1995]
A remainder of 9 results when the polynomial p(x) is divided by x-2, a
remainder of -3 when p(x) is divided by x+2, and a remainder of 3 when
divided by x-1. Find the remainder when p(x) is divided by (x-2)(x+2)(x-
- Population and Percentage [03/07/1999]
Given population data, find the number of women in two different years.
- Positive Unit Fractions [10/02/2002]
Find five different positive unit fractions whose sum is 1. (A unit
fraction is a fraction whose numerator is 1. All denominators must
also be natural numbers.)
- Precedence of Unary Operators [09/01/99]
The PEMDAS rule for order of operations ignores unary operators. Can you
explain the proper precedence for them, and give an example showing how
not knowing the rule can cause an incorrect result?
- Preparing for an Algebra Test [11/1/1995]
A 9th grade math student asks for help preparing for final exams. What is
the difference between the terms: solve and simplify? How do you find the
gradient in a graph?
- Prize Money [09/04/1997]
If first prize wins $1,000 out of $6,000 and twentieth prize wins $100,
how much money do second through nineteenth place win? Is this a
- Probability of a Function Having Complex Roots [05/11/2000]
What is the probability that the function f(x) = x^2 + px + q = 0 will
have complex roots when p and q lie between 0 and 1? ...when p and q lie
between 0 and 5? ...when p and q are greater than 0? | <urn:uuid:7308a886-f8d1-4f71-a8ac-74e6e4712804> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/sets/high_algebra.html?start_at=441&num_to_see=40&s_keyid=38309224&f_keyid=38309225 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.813244 | 1,828 | 3.609375 | 4 |
A group of 10 is going to be selected from a pool of 8 men and 8 women...
In how many ways ways can the selection be carried out if:
a) we choose 10 people at random?
b) there must be 5 men and 5 women?
c) there must be more women than men?
Also, if you have time, can you answer:
- How many strings of 6 decimaal digit.s have exactly three digits that are 4's?
I suck at this problems and help would be great! Thank you! | <urn:uuid:f6603605-4b54-440f-9986-a0111517e3e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/discrete-math/138796-counting-permutations-combinations.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944016 | 115 | 2.359375 | 2 |
This should be a trivial question for mathematicians but not for typical physicists.
I know that the spectrum of a linear operator on a Banach space splits into the so-called "point," "continuous" and "residual" parts [I gather that no boundedness assumption is needed but I could be wrong]. I further know that the point spectrum coincides with the set of eigenvalues of the operator. It seems from the terminology that the point spectrum is a discrete set of isolated point and that the eigenvalues cannot form a continuum. But I haven't been able to find a clear statement in a math reference about this.
Actually, I'm mostly interested in self-adjoint operators on a Hilbert space; so a simpler version of my question would be: Can a self-adjoint operator have a continuous set of eigenvalues? And if yes, under what conditions do the eigenvalues have to be discrete?
I appreciate any help. | <urn:uuid:c31c3b71-ce65-4d2f-aca4-8bf108f005db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathoverflow.net/questions/39923/can-a-self-adjoint-operator-have-a-continuous-set-of-eigenvalues/77406 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943143 | 197 | 1.742188 | 2 |
I am curious if the setup for (co)homology theory appears outside the realm of pure mathematics. The idea of a family of groups linked by a series of arrows such that the composition of consecutive arrows is zero seems like a fairly general notion, but I have not come across it in fields like biology, economics, etc. Are there examples of non-trivial (co)homology appearing outside of pure mathematics?
I think Hatcher has a couple illustrations of homology in his textbook involving electric circuits. This is the type of thing I'm looking for, but it still feels like topology since it is about closed loops. Since the relation $d^2=0$ seems so simple to state, I would imagine this setup to be ubiquitous. Is it? And if not, why is it so special to topology and related fields? | <urn:uuid:e67bb4c7-94dd-45ec-bff6-0160114c48b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathoverflow.net/questions/60108/occurrences-of-cohomology-in-other-disciplines-and-or-nature/99381 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974328 | 174 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Click your OpenID account provider:
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After weeks of endless rain the sun is at last coming out and the forecast is for summer to at last arrive.
And tomorrow there will be a Brit standing on the top of the podium in the Champs Elysees.
Britain is slowly waking up to cycling. It has not historically played a large part in our sporting culture, but a combination of British cycling success at the Olympics, the ‘Lance Armstrong effect’, and an increase in people cycling to work in order to beat traffic and high transport costs means that cycling is cool in a way it has never been before. But probably a majority of Brits still do not get the scale of what is going to happen tomorrow.
For Bradley Wiggins to win the Tour (which he will, barring some extraordinary accident) is a much bigger deal than it would have been for Andy Murray to win Wimbledon. It is a bigger deal than it would have been for England to win the Euros. For non-cycling Brits the scale of the Tour simply isn’t understood. A million people will line the Champs Elysees tomorrow, and millions more have stood at the side of Belgian, Swiss and French roads these past three weeks waiting for the blur of colour as the peleton screams past. The Tour is the largest annual sporting event in the world. It is carnival and national icon and physical test sans parallel. And I love it.
The bike is a very simple machine. A small child often gets their first real sense of freedom wobbling along on a bike. A rusty old jalopy can be a helpful way of nipping to the shops. Or thousands of pounds can be spent on a race ready carbon beauty. But it is all basically two wheels suspended from a frame of two triangles. I think it is this very simplicity that makes competitive cycling what it is – that something so basic can create (in David Millar’s words), “beauty, suffering, grandeur and panache.”
When Wiggins wins the Tour it will be a moment of incredible individual achievement. It will also be a result of phenomenal teamwork. This is perhaps the least understood aspect of cycling by non-cyclists – that it is teams that compete in the Tour, and an individual can no more win the race that a lone footballer can win a game. This means that there is a psychological appeal about cycling which other sports often lack – and perhaps that is why the French are so drawn to it, whereas we more black and white Anglo-Saxons prefer more straightforward games. The politics of the peloton, with deals struck, friends and enemies made; the significance of aerodynamics; the different specialisations of domestique and climber and sprinter – all spread out over three weeks of torture and beauty make the Tour uniquely compelling.
It is because of this psychological depth that cycling has generated a rich seem of profound and painful and beautiful writing. The peculiarities of cycling seem to lend themselves to an artistry of description. (Try The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton or The Death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell.)
And then there is France. Probably the most beautiful country in the world – an unfolding tapestry of mountain and coastline and vineyard and sunflowers. It’s the sunflowers of course. That defining image of the Tour de France, as the peleton pours through field after field of sun-turned yellow.
Everything is turning yellow. | <urn:uuid:ed64e092-5ade-4b5b-9b78-b33f5287e356> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://matthewhosier.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951535 | 708 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Megha M. Tollefson, M.D.
Megha Tollefson, M.D., is a pediatric dermatologist with research interests in skin diseases of children, particularly the early growth phase of infantile hemangiomas.
Research reveals that infantile hemangiomas grow more rapidly and earlier than previously understood. Exciting new treatment modalities offer a great chance for making an impact on potentially destructive and complicated infantile hemangiomas before significant damage occurs.
Another active area of Dr. Tollefson's research is pediatric vascular malformations. She has conducted research on pediatric psoriasis and pediatric atopic dermatitis and continues focusing on improved outcomes for children who have these chronic and potentially lifelong conditions.
Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship
Human Biology, Graduated with Honors
© 2013 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:3e3f33ac-b061-410e-978c-3a1035ecd65f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/staff/Tollefson_MM.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894323 | 184 | 1.828125 | 2 |
a Meaningful Life with Simon Jacobson
Radio Show Transcript - April 16, 2000
Rabbi Simon Jacobson: Good evening and welcome back to Toward a Meaningful Life with yours truly,
Simon Jacobson. Its always great to see the dynamic
of an interactive experience, where you dont really
know in which direction its going to head. I often start
with a script or with some ideas that I want to share, but
then the calls take it to another level entirely. I really
want to thank the listeners; its just a demonstration
of what a collaborative communication can truly be like. If
we open up our hearts and speak openly, spiritually, about
things that really matter and are meaningful, all kinds of
surprises can take place.
I invite you to call in at 212-244-1050. But, as emcee, Ill
try to define the context of the show and that is, since its
holiday season, the holiday of freedom, particularly Passover,
a season that is celebrated by many people of different backgrounds
and different religions, I thought it would be appropriate
to take a unique angle on this issue of freedom: what really
makes us free and how does one experience freedom?
first thought of titling the show, Emotions: Are they
our greatest enemy? It reminds me of someone who recently
came to me to consult about certain personal issues and, of
course, whenever were dealing with a personal issue
we get involved in it and it becomes something that were
invested in. Because we have feelings about it, when we get
emotional, our emotions have the ability to entangle us and
we were speaking, I was trying to point out to him that there
are different ways of looking at thisthis may
be your view, there may be another perspectiveand
it became very obvious (there are those moments when things
become very clear, very crystallized) even to him, and he
said, you know, this thing called emotions; I wish we could
get rid of them. It would just make life so much simpler,
so much clearer.
emotions, on one hand, are very much a part of our experience
(not only a part, but an intrinsic element of human experience).
We feel things. We like something, we dont like it.
Love. Pain. We have sensations. If we were just minds, intellects,
computers, we wouldnt be able to experience life.
the other hand, because of the subjective nature of emotions,
they can entrap or blind us. The Bible puts it very clearly.
It says that bias, which is shochad in Hebrew, a bribe, blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts
the tongue of the tzaddik,
the righteous person.
we know the power that the emotions have, in a moment of
obsession where you get totally consumed with something. And
I thought it would be appropriate to discuss this at Passover
time, because its the holiday of freedom and many of
you may be at a Passover seder, which is supposed to be a
I always ask myself the question that I ask people whom I
speak to, which is, do you really feel free during the seder
or free after the holiday? Do you really feel free of your
psychological demons, of scars that you carry? As a matter
of fact, someone just told me that she feels more enslaved
by Passover than any other holiday. The cleaning thats
done before the holiday; following the letter of the law with
such precision can sometimes seem to be an unfreeing type
I thought it would be important to address, on a very personal
level, what is freedom and how can we really use the holiday
as an opportunity to become free.
angle Im taking here is that I believe that freedom
is very much connected to human experience and to human emotions.
The fact that we experience things also means that we become
enslaved to them. We become attached to them, for good or
for bad, in healthy and unhealthy ways; the biases and denial
that it creates.
the first question that I pose to myself and to the listening
audience, and as I like to do is to open this question up
to all of your comments as well as to share my thoughts: What
kind of role do emotions play in human freedom? How would
you define freedom? How do we balance the two? Can we create
a situation where we take advantage of the benefits of an
emotional experience and at the same time minimize the risks
of being blinded to the point of self-destructive behavior
or destructive behavior toward others? And ultimately, how
does one really learn to become free?
course this comes down to the definition of what freedom is.
We live in a country today, a democratic country, where freedom
is considered to be the epitome and highest objectivethe
land of the free and the bravebut are we truly free?
We live in highly prosperous times, with technology, development.
Civilization is getting more cultivated and more evolved and
advanced. Are we freer people because of that? Can we say
that were freer today than we were 100-200 years ago?
And how do emotions play into this, psychologically?
me give you my definition of freedom, and I invite your rebuttals
or opinions on the matter. If you ask most people what the
word free means, their knee-jerk reaction is,
Freedom? I can do what I like. I can go where I like,
I can read what I like, I can meet whom I like. Thats
sound good initially, but if you think about it, thats
really a superficial and meaningless, hollow response because,
as youll† see
in a moment, I know people wholl do anything they feel
they like and theyre more enslaved than anyone Ive
the other hand, there are people who can sit in a disciplined
way and for 3-4 hours concentrating, meditating, studying,
reading, busy at workseemingly, they are completely
controlled by their environment, but its their choice,
and they are there willingly.
I would define freedom, and of course the antithesis being
the opposite of freedom, slavery, as the following: that when
you do something, you do it by no imposition from outside.
No one imposes upon you to do something. Its a true
free expression from within, which basically means, if a five-year-old
child is allowed to do anything he or she desires, like cross
the street, thats not freedom. Because in their ignorance,
they may choose something thats completely not healthy
or self-actualizing. They need to be disciplined; they need
to be instructed, educated.
freedom is learning how to access your own inner self. How
to be able to make a choice that is not affected by, or imposed
upon by society, educators, community, peer pressure. A choice
thats truly yours and yours alone.
is how I would define freedom. So when you look at it that
way, can we really achieve freedom in a world like ours? Remember,
we do live in a very great media age, where were exposed
and inundated by media all the timeimages, identity,
labeling, and all the branding that they try to impose upon
us. So how does one really find and discover him or herself?
this touches very much on the element of emotions, because
when someone comes to you, or theres peer pressure (people
dress a certain way, you want to feel accepted), thats
an emotional reaction to becoming part of a group, which clearly
biases you from being able to stand up and take a position.
sad to say, but when you look at statistics, what people will
do when theres a group pressure, a mass mentality, its
freedom means discovering who you are, which immediately implies
that freedom requires some type of education, knowledge. Knowledge
makes us free; knowledge is power, because it gives you options.
first thing that any Fascist government does when it establishes
power and control, is to control minds. They cannot give people
the ability to have a free-flow of information because information
allows people options; they see there are other ways, alternatives,
and alternatives creates open ideas in their mind, which is
a threat to a Fascist totalitarian regime.
the other hand, in a country that we consider to be free,
as Thomas Jefferson once said, If you had to choose
between a free press and a free government, you would choose
a free press, because without a free press, free expression,
theres no free government, theres no accountability.
freedom is very much connected to what you know, the perspectives
that you have. It reminds me of one of my favorite stories
from the city of Chelm (Ive recently been telling you
some Chelm stories). If you listen to the show weekly, youll
soon be Chelm experts. So Chelm stories have these unique
insights into the human psyche. Theyre somewhat outrageous,
even farcical, but they have quite interesting insights into
was a small town in Poland that they say was inhabited by
very wise people, but the neighbors were resentful so they
created this whole folklore and parables of the foolish people
you hear a lot of stupid jokes about the people from Chelm.
In one, there was a farmer in Chelm who had a small farm,
but this farm was special to the farmer because it was his
baby. He inherited from his parents and grandparents, and
he catered to it, cared for it, knew every grain of soil on
day he gets a letter from his cousin from a big-town farm
in lets say Texas whos coming to visit. Hes
very proud that his cousin is coming to visit him, and the
day his cousin comes, he shows him around, showing him every
part of the farm. They finally sit down to dinner and the
small-town, Chelm farmer says to this big-town cousin: So
what do you think of my farm?
big-town farmer thinks to himself, What should I say?
So he says, Well, its nice and cute, but its
Chelm farmer is taken aback, insulted, and asks, How
big is your farm back in Texas that you call this small?
the Texan farmer is looking for some point of reference and
he tells him, Well, it takes me all day to travel with
my tractor from one end of the farm to the other.
the Chelm farmer, with deep empathy and compassion, says to
his cousin, Ah, cousin, I once had a tractor like that
if you ask this question to yourselfwell do an
on-air surveycheck this box: are you close-minded (narrow-minded)
or open-minded? Are you subjective or objective?
dont know if theres a person out there who would
check off: Im close-minded, narrow-minded, and subjectivethe
reason being that part of being subjective is that it makes
you think youre objective. Thats what subjectivity
means; it doesnt let you see clearly.
this Chelm farmer was also objective. He wasnt malicious.
He just never could envision a farm larger than his own. When
he heard that it took an entire day to travel from one end
to the other, he thought to himself, it must be the vehicle.
He remembers that he once had a jalopy like that too, once
upon a time, that took him all day to crank up to go from
one corner to the next.
that was his subjectivity. He couldnt even see a broader
horizon. This is an example of subjectivity that is not malicious;
however, its clearly subjective and limited based on
we are as objective as our perspectives allow us. And thats
where freedom comes into play. Thats why any true free
state, free government, has to provide equal opportunity in
education, situations where people can access the knowledge
necessary to be able to see broader horizons, or else they
end up with a perspective that this farm is the only farm
in town. And we all have our little farms.
I believe, is what the true celebration of freedom is about.
How do we get beyond that perspective? How can we see broader
horizons? How do we get out of the tentacles, the trap of
our own emotional view on things? Because interestingly, of
all traps, of all enemiespeer pressure, social pressure,
parents, community, media, even real criminals and enemies
outside of usnothing cannot compare to your own enemy
within, the enemy of subjectivity.
I must say, as a disclaimer, subjectivity per se is not an
enemy. Its what protects us. Protects our young. We
protect ourselves because we are subjective. Thats fine.
Self interest per se is not a crime.
it becomes an enemy is when thats all there is. When
youre so invested in being right, in winning, that you
dont care what the truth is: Dont bother
me with the facts, type of thing. Dont distract
me. Where your own subjectivity biases you from being
able to see clearly. Accountability. Many businesses fail
because the owners pride doesnt allow him or her
to live up to the fact that he had a mistake that year, and
maybe wasted some money.
true freedom requires accountability, and accountability requires
one to step back and look at oneself, explore, assess, to
be able to look at ones life and see if theres
another way of looking at it. That requires stepping back,
it requires knowledge, and it requires objectivity, the key
to freedom. Thats why emotions play such an important
today is a special day for me because its the birthday
of the Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel
Schneerson, who besides being my great teacher, was also a
major forming force in my personal life, and as a result inspired
me to write the book Toward
a Meaningful Life which in turn has inspired this show.
Interestingly, the Rebbe is a man dedicated to freedom, to
finding truth, and paying whatever price it takes to become
free. And that, as I said, requires being able to look at
ourselves from the outside and not ever feeding into our own
little comfort zone and insecurities or maintaining our positions
just because theyre our position.
a major lesson that the Rebbe inspired me with, who himself
was a selfless person like that, and inspired so many in that
going back to the topic of emotions, I think the first step
is to be aware of the traps in our lives, and the single greatest
trap is our own narrow view of things, being invested in a
certain way we look at things. If you take any particular
situation, if you get into a fight with your spouse, or youre
having difficulties with your children or you cant get
along with people at work, or just in general, rest assured,
theres always an emotional issue involved. Emotions
are always right there being part of the culprit.
problem is that we dont want to eliminate emotions,
we dont want to eliminate human reactions: emotions
play a critical role in our lives. We dont want to be
machines. Yet, at the same time, we have to be able to look
at ourselves and really be able to assess wheres this
is coming from.
me say this. When we talk about emotional subjectivity, as
I said, being subjective makes you think that you are being
objective, but it requires looking at ourselves, and examining
our motives when it comes to any particular situation.
isnt an easy thing to do because it requires a certain
dedication to truth. Theres a statement made about Abraham;
Maimonides writes something that has always moved me deeply.
When he writes about Abrahams dedication to truth, his
dedication to G-d, to freedom, he writes that Abraham is called
which means Abraham, My beloved. Why is he My
beloved? G-d says, because Abraham was dedicated to
truth because it was true (Avrohom oseh es haemes mipnei shehu emes).
was dedicated to truth because it was true; not because he
gained from it, not because he benefited either spiritually
or materially. It wasnt even an issue of gratification.
It was really an issue of loving truth, being committed to
truth because it is true.
requires deep selflessness, and as Maimonides puts it, this
isnt something we all can achieve quickly. But just
to know that theres a person like that out there, that
there were people in history with such dedication, puts things
in perspective. Many times I see that we sometimes justify
our own subjectivity by saying, Hey, everybodys
subjective and everybodys doing the same thing.
just tends to make us feel less guilty, but to know that there
were people were really committed, who were ready to pay the
price, is very inspiring.
we go to Kathy on the air.
Hi. Its Kathy from Stanford. Its a pleasure listening
to you. The four glasses of wine at the seder. Usually when
youre at a party and they give you a glass, you try
to find a potted plant and dispose of the alcohol.
Thats called cheating!
Well, if youre driving. Would you discuss the wine in
the seder and how much can you sip without going below the
Okay, thank you for the call. Although Kathys question
doesnt seem directly connected to what Im speaking
about, I will connect it. Kathys asking, for those who
may not be familiar with it, on Passover, theres a seder.
A seder means a traditional meal, but its more than
a meal, its an entire experience with a large focus
on children and education, of recreating the Exodus experience,
the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt 3,312 years ago. During
the seder (upcoming Wednesday and Thursday nights this year)
there are many traditions, including eating matzah which is
unleavened bread, like crackers, that are not allowed to rise,
and drinking four cups of wine, which is what Kathy is referring
question is a technical one, which really requires speaking
to a local rabbi, but I will respond. Of course, barring health
considerations and other issues, four cups of wine are required
to be drunk, but if you drink three-quarters, youre
doing pretty well. However, if someone has health issues,
that clearly changes things.
the significance of the wine, in the context of what were
speaking about here, and the matzah (the bread that we eat
throughout the year represents the inflated ego, while matzah
represents humility), is the key element I was addressing
here, I just wasnt using the traditional language, that
the first step to freedom is ceasing to see the farm
in the way that youre so accustomed to, and that requires
humility. It requires searching out people or books that can
teach you that there are broader horizons. It requires getting
out of your own subjectivity. So matzah represents the experience
the other hand, humility on its own, as I mentioned earlier,
is insufficient because you can become so subjugated that
your personality is missing. So the drinking of the wine represents
that. Coupled with humility, wine represents the drink of
the wealthy. Wine is a rich drink, so it represents the idea
that we also taste, and we dont completely annihilate
does not mean self-annihilation, it means focusing your emotions,
recognizing theres subjectivity with humility, and then
channeling them in the right direction. As I stated, emotions
happen to be a necessary driving force in our lives.
that type of passion, commitment, your subjective belief in
something, we would all be blasť and very complacent and indifferent.
So emotional experience is something that is to be encouraged.
What we need to take care of is to make sure that we dont
get trapped by emotions, that we dont allow it to consume
us, that we allow it to be a tool for true freedom. And that
requires the humility of the matzah.
going back to the subject at hand, discovering that type of
opening requires two things, and this is across the board.
If youre having an argument with a friend or a spouse
or a child or someone at work, or youre just stuck in
a particular situationpatterns that you cant get
out ofhow often are we inspired to make a move (Im
not going to make this mistake again), and then we go back
and go back to the same old pattern.
an example of an emotional habit that you just cant
get out of. You get accustomed to the way you deal with things.
People who may have short fuses, get angry quickly, thats
an emotional reaction. These are all examples of emotional
traps that hold us hostage. So how does a person truly free
himself? Thats what I call freedom. I cant tell
you how often I hear people who sit at a seder table with
children and guests and friends and strangers, and they see
that the people who host it are the same obnoxious people
they know all year round. And they dont experience freedom.
They see the same old people doing things by habit, by roteand
my intention here is not to be critical, but to make a point,
that you can do many things traditionally, and not necessarily
be a freer human being.
Passover experience has to be one of freedom. Two things are
required and necessary if one is to achieve a freedom outside
of ones own subjective self. The first thing is knowledge.
Knowledge comes in two forms. It can come in the form of a
book, information; it can come in the form of a teachersomeone
who exposes you to something outside of yourself.
long as its an extension of yourself, its you.
Its like that doctor who once told the patient, Ill
tell you when you need a second opinion. Thats
not a second opinion. When the doctor tells you, Ill
tell you when you need a second opinion, youd better
find yourself another doctor. Because if hell tell you
when you need a second opinion, it means its his opinion.
The whole point is that you want to have another view.
number one is a teacher or a body of knowledge, a book that
opens you up to another perspective. It may be different from
yours, it may enhance yours. But dont be afraid of truth.
Thats what growth is all about.
second thing thats required is being able to examine
your emotional side. Am I subjective in a particular area?
Is there a way that I can get beyond it? And you may need
that body of knowledge or that teacher to help you get to
briefly, those of the two elements, and Ill try to elaborate
more as we go along.
have Mary on the air.
Hi. I wanted to say that I enjoy your program very, very much
and just one little quick point. I so agree with you that
you need your emotions. I agree with you that you need to
have knowledge, you need to learn. But the most important
thing, I think, is to apply that knowledge. So many people
have a lot of information but they dont apply it to
their lives. Its always separate. They have their studies,
they have their knowledge, and then they have how they really
think the most important thing is to incorporate that into
your life. And make it real in a way that makes sense to you.
I completely appreciate that point, Mary, and my question
to you is, how do you go about doing that? As an example,
there are people who are intelligent; they understand a certain
situation very intellectually, but they just cant bring
themselves to do it. How do you get over that hurdle?
Thats the challenge. I was having a conversation with
someone the other day about that and I said, You know,
theres this prayer Love G-d with all thy heart
and all thy soul. Can you imagine how it would
change your life if somebody really lived it for a week? I
dont know a lot but the little bit that I know, I put
into use. In other words, when I have a problem, the challenge
is for me to see how would the information that I have, the
knowledge that Ive studied, how would I then make it
work for me in solving my problem. Its not a separate
thing. If you love G-d with all your heart and soul every
day, youre a different person. So Im saying I
think its so important to just live it. You dont
have to know so much, but whatever you know at every point
make it work for you. Personalize it. People think that ideas
are very lofty and they sound wonderful, but they dont
know how to bring them into their lives.
But Mary, heres the problem. Sometimes a person is invested
in something for healthy or unhealthy reasons. And even if
they understand that theyre doing the wrong things,
theyre just locked. How do they get beyond that emotional
Well, you said it. Its ego. You have to realize that
you have to let go of that inflated ego that made me all puffed
up with my own pride and thinking I was right. You have to
eat matzah, in the sense that you have to reduce yourself
and see what else is available. So you really gave that answer.
Okay, thank you, Mary. We have Bill on the line.
Good afternoon Rabbi. Im reading from a book here and
I have a question that sounds like what youre talking
about. Can I read it?
Whats the name of the book?
Its by Aryeh Kaplan. Meditations
in Kabbalah. You must be alone when you do this. Meditation,
a state of rapture so as to receive the Divine influx which
will bring your mind from potential to action. Isnt
that what youve been trying to say?
Its very appropriate and very well put and I think its
an important element. Actually, its a point I had not
made and Im glad you brought it up, and that is a need
to be able to create a space and just silently look at yourself.
Sometimes when we get so caught up in the merry-go-round of
life, the emotions really take over because were on
the move. When you have to pause and take that step back,
it allows you to really see yourself in a more objective way:
Do I really like what I see? Do I really like how Im
behaving? Is this the best I can be? Is it what makes me proud,
my family proud, my children proud? I think thats a
very important point.
Like refreshing yourself spiritually.
Exactly. And creating that space. Where did you pick up the
book if I may ask?
I picked it up at a New Age store in Nyack, down in Rockland
County. I was very fascinated over the years. Im trying
to find an instructor now.
Do you live in Nyack?
No, I live in Spring Valley.
Well, when you get off the line, if you leave your phone number
with Steve (our engineer), well try to put you in contact
with someone who can help you, if you like. So Bill, thank
you for the call and thank you for bringing that insight into
point is really well taken, and I particularly want to mention
what Mary had said, because it brings to mind the story of
Bertrand Russell, who was once behaving unethically. He was
a professor of ethics at Cambridge, or whatever university
he was at, and someone asked him, How can you behave
in such an unethical way when you teach ethics? And
he answered very simply, I also teach mathematics and
Im not a triangle.
means, essentially, though some academics are very proud of
that statement, you can teach something, be knowledgeable,
be an expert in it, erudite, and yet not be it. You can be
expert, know it, but not be it.
for me, captures the trap of emotions, because you might think
that that sounds like a very objective teacher; hes
knowledgeable but he doesnt act on it because he remains
objective. But no, thats an emotional choice.
have spoken to many people who have difficulty with faith,
with G-d, not for intellectual reasons but for emotional ones.
They may have been hurt by a religious establishment or religious
experiences, or, which is even more common, they are afraid
of personal responsibility.
is not a simple matter. If you accept G-d, it means that you
accept a certain personal responsibility. But no one is ready
to get up there publicly and say, Hey, I dont
want to be responsible!
we have all kinds of reasons. We say, Well, who says
theres a G-d? Maybe its survival of the fittest.
You see the wicked prosper. Theres no justice.
And that basically gives us the license to do what we like.
And I speak to myself as well. If most of us are able to weasel
out of a situation, and you have good excuses, and if youre
intelligent enough you always come up with brilliant excuses,
were invested in that, because basically, you can do
what you like. Youre not accountable, you dont
have to answer to anyone. And that is, in a very interesting
way, perhaps the most powerful statement of subjectivity.
what stops a person from having an attitude like that? Thats
what I was referring to when I asked Mary the question. Why
would someone not have
an attitude like that? Thats a very difficult question.
Ive struggled with it and Ive asked many people.
youre alone in a room, theres no one around, no
one will honor you for your altruism, why would you really
behave in an ethical way or in a truthful way if you can get
away with it and theres no fear of law enforcement,
cops, or shame?
it comes down to internal integrity. Your own inner integrity
and your own being true to yourself. Honesty is something
that cant be taught to someone. Its what I mentioned
earlier with Abraham, when you just have that sense
Abraham was committed to truth because it was true. Why some
people can have that commitment and others are completely
obliviousthey dont really care whats true,
whats rightthey will just forge ahead and step
on anyone they can step on. Thats how powerful subjectivity
controls you to the point that everything else doesnt
matter. Intellectually, you can sit that person down and hell
admit, No, we need to be kind to each other. I
mean, most people believe in some form of justice. But when
it comes to behavior, our own personal choices, we dont
want to be told what to do. We dont want to have that
type of accountability.
that is, as I said, a powerful form of subjectivity, and humility,
and the matzah we described, is the key to being able to get
out of it.
to sum up what I was saying earlier about reviewing our own
emotions requires a teacher, an objective person whom you
trust, that is also sensitive to you, not judgmental, but
sensitive, who can help you look at yourself in a different
way. Its what we do anyway, in business, before you
make a decision: you usually consult with one or two people
if you want to make a correct decision. In business the stakes
our personal life, one of the beautiful key things that the
Torah recommends, is that each of us has someone whom we can
talk to: a mashpia,
a rav (assei lecha rav) someone who you can talk to objectively about
your particularly situation that helps you get beyond your
own way of looking at it; it gets you beyond your own farm,
and we all have our farm.
go to Mimi on the air.
Hi Rabbi. Im not Jewish, but I love your program. Youre
so wise and Im having a tremendous problem with emotions
and with G-d.
Those are the two top issues.
My husband died about three years ago and one of the things
thats making me really crazy lately is older men, especially
one I know, who is very cruel to his wife, and then his wife
died. And I say to G-d, why did You do this? You take my lovely,
lovely husband and leave this man here? This man who is so
wicked! And I get very angry at G-d and that scares me.
Mimi, I share your feeling and sometimes we dont understand
the mysterious ways of G-d. But I dont think anger necessarily
will help. They key is to look at yourself and see whats
productive, what productive results come out of your anger.
I mean, your husband I assume was a very fine man.
He was the love of my life. He was like my twin.
That is beautiful to hear. That itself is worth the call.
I think its important that you focus on how to share
with others the inspiration and the message that your husband,
your twin, experienced, because we need more of that in this
world. You know, the way to combat evil and cruelty, I believe
is always through light.
if you have a direct influence on that gentleman, its
one thing. But to focus your energies, instead of directing
your anger at G-d or to others, how do you bring that message
that your husband was so dedicated to, to other people, whether
its family or friends?
you have children?
So theres the next generation, and Im sure you
have other friends and people you associate with. Thats
the key. Ive always believed that when people are angry
about something, theres always a way to channel angry
energy into something thats positive and constructive.
It may be difficult, because its easier in a way to
say, How could that person be alive when he or she is
so cruel, when my husband isnt, but theres
no benefit in that. And I think you want to do things that
have to think of it this way. How would your husband have
behaved had he seen a person like that? Would he have gotten
He didnt like him either!
Great. Well, thats what twins are like! So I guess your
husband would have liked this radio show. Maybe he hears it
somewhere up there.
Oh I hope so. I kind of believe that and I certainly hope
Well, I thank you for the call and thank you for your kind
words about the show.
Youre welcome. Its lovely. I just love listening
Thats very nice of you; you sound lovely yourself and
I hope this show brings some comfort to you in your situation.
Really, our goal has to be to bring light into the world in
every way possible. So thank you for that, Mimi.
have Matthew on the line.
I saw in a seder book that the Lubavitcher Rebbe seemed to
say that ultimately there was never any kind of exile. That
ultimately freedom is inherent in us in some way, and I wonder
how this plays out in a religious life. I mean, is it like
a secret that you cant tell as youre mourning
Okay, let me explain your question. Matthew is reading in
a Haggadah, which is a commentary on the prayer and the traditional
service said on Passover, from the name of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe whose birthday is today, by the way, that freedom has
become an inherent thing.
the exodus from EgyptIll just elaborate on what
you saidthe Maharal of Prague actually writes (if you
look up the source, the Maharal of Prague, a scholar in the
17th century) that the freedom from Egypt wasnt
just a one-time event, but it actually infused the human race
(the Jewish race) with inherent freedom; that they no longer
would ever be enslaved to another people.
that of course is an inherent quality that needs to be accessed.
We can still choose to be enslaved. I see people who are enslaved
to money, people who are enslaved to employers and people
who are enslaved to other passions and drives and lusts and
what the Maharal of Prague is stating, and what is cited by
the Rebbe, is that there is a power in each of us to truly
be free, and we have to cut away the impediments and allow
that freedom to emerge. Thats part of what were
discussing on this show here, how one gets away from emotional
subjectivity and the things that lock us and allow that freedom
to be accessed.
the message of hope is that everyone has the power to be free.
All men are created equal. All of us have an image or an aspect
of G-d within us. And that allows us to experience complete
Well, I read it as ultimately that there never was any kind
of exile, that ultimately reality is freedom, like this radical
freedom. Is that true?
Well, I would explain it as being that internally we truly
are free people, but the fact is that we celebrate Passover
every year to access that freedom. So even though its
inherent, there are many things that are inherent, Matthew,
in you and me, but we still need to dig for it. We need to
get rid of the impediments. But the word inherent
means that its in there somewhere. Its not something
that we need to acquire. We dont need to go buy freedom.
Its in your power to be free. Its in your power
not to worship any force outside of yourself and G-d.
thank you Matthew for the call.
announcement about the book The
Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer here including
information on how to contact Rabbi Jacobson: [email protected], or his website at www.meaningfullife.com, 1-800-363-2646
(1-800-3-MEANING) or at the Meaningful Life Center, 788 Eastern
Parkway, Suite 303, Brooklyn, NY 11213.)
a follow up to the freedom of Passover, comes 49 days of personal
refinement, which is really the original 49-step program.
Before there were any of our contemporary 12-Step programs,
there is a 49-step system that allows people to take each
day and look at our emotions, something I will address more
at length on next weeks show, and that is, its
one thing to say, Okay, I have emotional subjectivity.
Thats a very general statement. The real question is,
how do we look at our particular emotions, whether its
anger, jealousy, love? How do we balance it in a way that
taps and excavates the powerful, positive forces of the emotion
and eliminates or discards the negative subjectivity that
may bias or blind us.
really requires a more detailed examination of who you are
and what your emotion is in a particular situation.
traditionally, theres a 49-step process that begins
the second night of Passover and concludes, interestingly,
50 days later with the holiday of Shavuot, which is the revelation
at Sinai. And these 49 days are a traditional 49-step program
of looking at different elements of your emotions. The Kabbalah,
which documents the DNA and the framework of the human psyche
and of the cosmos, spells out that a human being has seven
we say were emotional, it can take on many different
forms. Theres the emotion called love, theres
an opposite emotion called fear. Theres an emotion called
compassion, theres an emotion called fortitude, ambition.
Theres humility and theres bonding, and finally
discuss those seven emotions next week in detail, and I welcome
your calls and e-mails regarding that show because in that
show I would like to address, what do you actually do in a
particular emotion situation. You can even call it an anatomy
of our emotional psyche and how we can look at ourselves in
a particular situation, and see which areas are strong, where
we are weak. Some of us love too much. Some of us love too
little. Some of us are too ambitious and we dont know
how to temper that. Emotions can be very positive but if theyre
in excess, they become unbalanced and then they become subjective
and can become destructive.
its a question of really looking at that whole spectrum,
and Ill do that next week in detail.
Passover is right around the corner and its message is a universal
one, to Jews and non-Jews, and that is the ability and the
power for us to be free; how we free ourselves from our emotional
tentacles. Its not just a question of going through
the emotions, its also an issue of introspection. To
use the seder as an opportunity for discussion, where we speak
to each other and discuss this.
you eat the matzah, dont just eat the matzah. Think
about it. Say, this is the food of humility. How can I implement
humility into my life? Where am I subjective? How can I free
myself of subjectivity? How do I free myself of the farm
that we are so often held entrapped by?
are things that each of us can think about, and Passover is
a perfect opportunity to do so what better example
to set for our children, our families and friends, when we
do that. I also would encourage everyone who does not have
a seder to go to a Passover seder, to find a friend, and if
you have a difficulty, please call me. Ill be happy
to help connect you with a seder in the area where you may
well go to Robert on the line.
Hello Rabbi. Im from the Bronx and Im interested
in some guidance. I am a candidate for conversion to Judaism
and I have difficulty with letting go of some of my past,
including friends and many of the things I used to do, which
werent necessarily bad. Where would I find guidance
on that, besides from the Rabbi whos sponsoring me at
If you leave me your number, Ill speak to you afterwards,
because I think it would be wiser to do that, so I can hear
more about your situation. Okay, Robert?
we go to Shani.
Hello. I was wondering how much emotions play a role in relationships
in finding your beshert.
Well, its probably the number one force in our lives.
Is it more important to be rational or is it more important
to be emotional?
Well, Shani, Ill repeat your question for those who
dont know what beshert means. In finding your soulmate, Shani is asking the
question, how important a role do emotions play and how important
is it to be rational?
would say that in the initial stages of dating, being rational
is more important than emotions because sometimes we can get
swept away by externals; we can be desperate or we can feel
nurtured or affirmed. But I think its important to have
a rational, sober view, however, at the same time, to lock
ourselves up and become too rational about things can also stop
you from being spontaneous.
think its really a question of balance. Its a
perfect example of how important it is to use a friend or
a wise person whom you can consult with that helps you see,
Am I being too emotional? Am I being too rational?
hard to answer. I dont think its one or the other.
Its really a combination and finding the right chemistry,
the right balance between the two.
lets go to Ruth.
First of all, happy birthday to the Rabbi.
Yes, Rabbi Schneerson.
I visited his grave and you mentioned it on the radio and
I just turned on the radio
I want to wish you a happy
and kosher Passover.
Thank you Ruth. Youve been listening to Toward
a Meaningful Life with Simon Jacobson. Well be on
next week continuing the discussion on emotions, its trap,
how we look at particular specific emotions and I want to
wish everyone true freedom, internal and external freedom,
this Passover for all of our listeners of all backgrounds
and all faiths. Thank you very much. | <urn:uuid:aee45609-80dd-44b6-a237-305f5fcb8ec1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://meaningfullife.com/personal/emotions/Emotional_SubjectivityCOLON_Enemy_or_AllyQUESTION.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95592 | 9,713 | 1.960938 | 2 |
New Freightliner Cascadia Evolution: Up to 7 percent less fuel consumption
Daimler’s US truck brand Freightliner is leading in terms of Greenhouse Gas 2014 (GHG14) regulations
A glimpse of the future: Cascadia technology platform reaches outstanding fuel consumption of 10.67 miles per gallon (22 l/100 km)
Successful long-distance test run with natural gas truck
Stuttgart / Washington D.C., U.S. – Daimler’s U.S. commercial vehicle subsidiary Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) once again demonstrates its innovative strength in the field of environmentally friendly technologies: In Washington D.C. – in the presence of U.S. government representatives and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood – DTNA CEO Martin Daum presented the new heavy-duty truck Freightliner Cascadia Evolution, which will become available on the U.S. market starting next year. When compared to the current model (EPA 10 Cascadia), the new truck consumes up to 7 percent less fuel.
These fuel savings were confirmed by an independent agency (Automotive Testing and Development Services) in the course of a one-week drive across the U.S. under real-life conditions. The 2,400-mile (almost 4,000 km) route led from San Diego, California, to Gastonia, North Carolina. During the test, the two heavy-duty semitrailer trucks – weighing approximately 34 tons or 76,000 lbs. each – traveled at an average speed of 62 mph (around 100 km/h).
According to Martin Daum, two key factors led to the positive result of this Evolution of Efficiency Tour: “The tremendous fuel savings of the new Freightliner Cascadia are primarily due to the new Detroit DD15 engine as well as the aerodynamic measures. The fuel efficiency drive was a unique opportunity for us to conduct a test under real-life conditions of our latest technologies and the tremendous fuel saving potential they offer to our customers.”
The DD15 engine of the Detroit brand, which is part of Daimler, is a turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine with 14.6 liters of displacement. As with all Detroit engines, it is equipped with Daimler BlueTec technology, which reduces emissions to near-zero levels and even falls below the EPA 10 emissions standard for the NAFTA region (comparable to Euro VI).
Freightliner trucks comply with Greenhouse Gas 2014 regulations
Already at the beginning of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified the Daimler commercial vehicles subsidiary’s complete portfolio of long-distance trucks, medium-duty trucks, and vocational vehicles of the Freightliner and Western Star brands as fully compliant with the Greenhouse Gas 2014 (GHG14) regulations.
This means that DTNA is leading in the U.S. commercial vehicles industry. The company already meets the standards set by the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which will not go into effect until the beginning of 2014. These regulations aim to permanently reduce the green-house gas emissions of heavy- and medium-duty trucks. The EPA believes that through the new GHG14 regulations, trucks and buses of the model years 2014 through 2018 are projected to reduce oil consumption by 530 million barrels and greenhouse gas emissions by 270 million metric tons.
A glimpse of the future: Freightliner Cascadia technology carrier measured with 10.67 miles per gallon
During a test drive with a technology carrier at the proving grounds in Uvalde, Texas, DTNA demonstrated that the fuel consumption of a heavy-duty semitrailer truck can be reduced even further through ideal airflow and additional technical fine-tuning.
For the test drive, the new Freightliner Cascadia Evolution was equipped with a Detroit DT12 automated transmission, low rolling-resistance wide-base tires, and a trailer specifically designed by DTNA with aerodynamic aspects in mind. This technically and aerodynamically optimized combination of a tractor and a trailer (total weight: approximately 34 tons) traveled exactly 1,000 miles at an average speed of 60 mph (97 km/h). The resulting fuel consumption was 10.67 miles per gallon, or approximately 22 liters per 100 km.
Shaping Future Transportation: 2,700-mile test run with CNG truck
DTNA presented another impressive test result in the area of alternative drive systems. For the first time, a natural gas-fueled Freightliner Cascadia completed a tour from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. (approximately 2,700 miles), interrupted only by refueling stops every 350 to 500 miles. The CNG truck (CNG = compressed natural gas) only used public gas stations to refuel, thus impressively demonstrating that alternative drive technologies represent a real alternative even today. In light of this success, Daum promised that DTNA will keep pushing forward in the field of alternative drive systems and continue to cooperate closely with government agencies and form strategic alliances with other economic sectors. “We want to live up to our leadership position by promoting environmentally friendly, resource-conserving, and sustainable transportation solutions,” he said.
Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses have been pressing ahead with the development of environmentally friendly technologies since 2007. The leading commercial vehicle manufacturer consolidates these activities in its worldwide “Shaping Future Transportation” initiative, which aims to turn the zero-emission commercial vehicle of tomorrow into reality through efficient and clean drive systems and alternative fuels. The initiative involves the sparing use of resources and the reduction of emissions of every kind, while guaranteeing maximum traffic safety.
About Daimler Trucks North America
Daimler Trucks North America LLC, with headquarters in Portland, Oregon, is the leading medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America. Daimler Trucks North America – a Daimler company – produces and markets Class 4 - 8 vehicles under the Freightliner, Western Star, and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. | <urn:uuid:32c42e55-ef02-41b6-8702-45ac7725dc70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://media.daimler.com/dcmedia/0-921-899449-1-1496669-1-0-0-0-0-0-11701-614232-0-1-0-0-0-0-0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91557 | 1,260 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Hydrocele Operation: aka Hydroceles, Hydrocele Sac, Swollen Testicle, Hydrocelectomy
What is it?
Hydrocele operations or hydrocele surgery is to release fluid that forms in a sac within the scrotum. Typically hydroceles develop when the testicle passes into the scrotum but the passage through which this occur fails to close properly. Fluid can accumulate in this passage from the abdomen, and then enters the scrotum causing it to swell.
This can cause one or both sides of the scrotum to swell and the testicle itself to swell or become damage and inflamed. Fluid can also block the tube where sperm typically flow from. Hydroceles are more common in newborn boys but are not exclusive to newborn boys. To diagnose a hydrocele typically a doctor will look for swelling in the scrotum caused primarily by fluid build up or will look for something solid like a fluid-filled sac in the scrotum.
Typically fluid is removed from the hydrocele sac during a procedure called a hydrocelectomy. For the most part this is a straightforward and uncomplicated procedure that may produce a moderate amount of soreness for a few days following the procedure. The long-term benefits far outweigh any short-term soreness.
Many times the patient is a young patient under the age of 10 or in many cases a newborn baby that is born with a hydrocele defect. Usually a surgery takes placed under general anesthesia. A surgeon will make a small incision in the scrotum that will allow fluid to be drained from the scrotum and then seal the passage from the scrotum to the abdomen. Usually the incision is then closed with stitches that will dissolve on their own so they do not have to be removed later.
Alternatives to Surgery
There are no known alternatives to this surgery currently.
Before the Operation
Prior to the operation the doctor will confirm a fluid filled sac exists by placing a light to the scrotum which will light up the testicles, veins in the scrotum and the fluid filled sac which will appear clear to the light.
A doctor will also perform a comprehensive medical history and check any medications the patient is currently taking. Patients are advised not to eat or drink anything up to 12 hours before the procedure because it is performed under general anesthesia.
After the Operation- At Home
Once the operation is complete the patient will recover usually for a few hours in a day bed. The procedure is usually performed on an outpatient basis meaning the patient can usually go home on the same day. Most of the time it is best to wear looser fitting close that will prevent irritation and discomfort on leaving.
There are some risks associated with this procedure as there are with any procedure including a small risk of infection. Other risks including the risk of bleeding during or after the procedure, and a risk of a blood clot forming in the area of the procedure. The doctor may accidentally damage the scrotum or the tissues surrounding this area too.
Anytime a patient undergoes general anesthesia there are risks associated with this too including a risk of pneumonia following surgery. The nurse or doctor will encourage the patient to take deep breaths to clear the lungs following surgery. Many people especially younger children undergoing this operation may report feeling nauseous or dizzy following the procedure, a side effect largely associated with the general anesthesia. These complications are usually temporary however and resolve within a couple of days of treatment.
A hydrocele procedure is generally performed to relieve fluid build up around the testicle or within the scrotum. This procedure is relatively simple with few complications. The primary risks include a risk of infection and risk of rupture or nicks to nearby tissues or structures. If you work with a competent health professional you reduce your odds of complications.
Because these surgeries are often performed on younger individuals it pays to ask someone if they have experience working on youths or pediatric patients. You may need to pay a small amount extra to work with someone that specializes in pediatrics or even geriatrics if you are over 50 or 60 and have a fluid-filled sac in the scrotum that you require surgery for. Regardless of where you go or who you see make sure they practice safe hygiene practices to ensure your safety and wellness.
Estimated Costs for Hydrocele Operation
The cost of surgery varies widely and may depend partly on the patient’s age and overall health and wellness. Patients that do not require extensive health accommodations or hospital stays are likely to have to pay the least in adjunctive healthcare therapy. That said you should always be prepared to foot the bill for extra expenses including any complications that may rise from treatment. Health insurance may offset some of these costs.
Keep in mind there may be separate fees associated with anesthesia. The hospital and anesthesia fees are usually separate from the fees charged for the procedure itself, although some medical tourism companies tend to provide all-inclusive packages for their patients. This may be the best option for individuals that plan to travel abroad already and want to fit in a little health care while traveling for pleasure.
|Country||Costs Hydrocele Operation| | <urn:uuid:57d92190-6ad1-4d8c-aca4-713307cec119> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicaltourismguide.com/procedures/medical/hydrocele-operation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943712 | 1,049 | 2.84375 | 3 |
So many of you out in the emergiblogosphere have prob seen this dandy of an article from CNN.
It documents “Five Surprising Salaries” from surprisingly high to surprisingly low–well only one remarkably low salary: Paramedics
What they do: Paramedics respond to emergency situations and attempt to provide the necessary medical care, whether it involves transporting participants to a hospital or treating them on the scene.
Surprising salary: $27,070. Seeing as paramedics have high stress jobs that require them to be on call and ready to save lives at a moment’s notice, you might expect their mean annual salary to be higher.
Don’t worry though guys… Court Reporters make double what we do and astronomers–they triple our salaries.
Thanks Digg for depressing me yet again… | <urn:uuid:15e931a2-4758-4803-9f46-4844c93d250f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicthree.com/category/digg/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907874 | 172 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The Centre is associated with several major research projects (especially the Dictionary of Old English), six publication series (Toronto Medieval Latin Texts, Toronto Medieval Bibliographies, Toronto Texts and Translations, Toronto Old English Series, Publications of the Dictionary of Old English—in addition to seven publication series and a prestigious journal published by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS), a medieval drama group, and a medieval music group. The result is a large interactive community of professionals working in many areas of medieval studies. Individual research projects have all thrived in this environment.
Dictionary of Old English
The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first centuries (AD 600–1150) of the English language, using today’s most advanced technology. The DOE is based on a computerized Corpus comprising at least one copy of each text surviving in Old English. The total size is about six times the collected works of Shakespeare. The body of surviving Old English texts encompasses a rich diversity of records written on parchment, carved in stone and inscribed in jewellery. | <urn:uuid:45d70863-a448-45d6-8157-916b361cbcd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medieval.utoronto.ca/research/projects/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895145 | 223 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Adult Stem Cell Company Publishes With Canadian Scientists on Finding That Could Lead to Improved Transplantation Results
SAN DIEGO CA–(Marketwire – Oct 20, 2011) – Medistem Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MEDS), a clinical stage adult stem cell company, reported today on a publication of a novel method of preventing transplant-associated ischemic liver injury using a nanotechnology delivery system that selectively targets hepatocytes.
In collaboration with Dr. Wei-Ping Min from the University of Western Ontario, the group demonstrated that nanoparticle administration of targeted short interfering RNA (siRNA) was effective at protecting livers from damage caused by oxygen and nutrient deprivation.
“During transplantation, since organs are transported across great distances, the cells undergo what is called ‘ischemic injury’ as a result of being outside of the body,” said Thomas Ichim, CEO of Medistem. “The company is currently using its Endometrial Regenerative Cell (ERC) universal donor stem cell product to treat ischemia in legs and hearts. Through the collaboration with Dr. Wei-Ping Min’s lab, Medistem is trying to elucidate molecular mechanisms of ischemic injury as well as develop additional pipeline candidates.”
The peer-reviewed paper describing the discovery, titled, “Targeted gene silencing of TLR4 using liposomal nanoparticles for preventing liver ischemia reperfusion injury,” was published in the American Journal of Transplantation (link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21794086). The technology described in the publication can theoretically be applied to ischemic conditions including stroke, heart attack, and bypass-associated kidney failure.
“Medistem is one of the few companies that not only has clinically developed stem cell products, but also has a strong academic interest in understanding the biological mechanisms by which conditions like ischemic injury are manifested,” said Dr. Wei-Ping Min, Senior Author of the publication. “The fact that Medistem received FDA approval to begin clinical trials using their stem cells attests to the fact that the company possesses substantial scientific depth while still pursuing an aggressive commercialization program.” | <urn:uuid:dfeca8f4-0a01-4f6f-9301-e013497b4510> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medisteminc.com/2011/medistem-collaborates-on-nanoparticle-sirna-finding-for-treatment-of-ischemic-conditions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925741 | 471 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Welcome to MedLibrary.org. For best results, we recommend beginning with the navigation links at the top of the page, which can guide you through our collection of over 14,000 medication labels and package inserts. For additional information on other topics which are not covered by our database of medications, just enter your topic in the search box below:
Chromatography [|krəʊmə|tɒgrəfi] (from Greek χρῶμα chroma "color" and γράφειν graphein "to write") is the collective term for a set of laboratory techniques for the separation of mixtures. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid called the mobile phase, which carries it through a structure holding another material called the stationary phase. The various constituents of the mixture travel at different speeds, causing them to separate. The separation is based on differential partitioning between the mobile and stationary phases. Subtle differences in a compound's partition coefficient result in differential retention on the stationary phase and thus changing the separation.
Chromatography may be preparative or analytical. The purpose of preparative chromatography is to separate the components of a mixture for more advanced use (and is thus a form of purification). Analytical chromatography is done normally with smaller amounts of material and is for measuring the relative proportions of analytes in a mixture. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Chromatography, literally "color writing", was first employed by Russian-Italian scientist Mikhail Tsvet in 1900. He continued to work with chromatography in the first decade of the 20th century, primarily for the separation of plant pigments such as chlorophyll, carotenes, and xanthophylls. Since these components have different colors (green, orange, and yellow, respectively) they gave the technique its name. New types of chromatography developed during the 1930s and 1940s made the technique useful for many separation processes.
Chromatography technique developed substantially as a result of the work of Archer John Porter Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge during the 1940s and 1950s. They established the principles and basic techniques of partition chromatography, and their work encouraged the rapid development of several chromatographic methods: paper chromatography, gas chromatography, and what would become known as high performance liquid chromatography. Since then, the technology has advanced rapidly. Researchers found that the main principles of Tsvet's chromatography could be applied in many different ways, resulting in the different varieties of chromatography described below. Advances are continually improving the technical performance of chromatography, allowing the separation of increasingly similar molecules.
Chromatography terms
- The analyte is the substance to be separated during chromatography.
- Analytical chromatography is used to determine the existence and possibly also the concentration of analyte(s) in a sample.
- A bonded phase is a stationary phase that is covalently bonded to the support particles or to the inside wall of the column tubing.
- A chromatogram is the visual output of the chromatograph. In the case of an optimal separation, different peaks or patterns on the chromatogram correspond to different components of the separated mixture.
- Plotted on the x-axis is the retention time and plotted on the y-axis a signal (for example obtained by a spectrophotometer, mass spectrometer or a variety of other detectors) corresponding to the response created by the analytes exiting the system. In the case of an optimal system the signal is proportional to the concentration of the specific analyte separated.
- A chromatograph is equipment that enables a sophisticated separation e.g. gas chromatographic or liquid chromatographic separation.
- Chromatography is a physical method of separation that distributes components to separate between two phases, one stationary (stationary phase), while the other (the mobile phase) moves in a definite direction.
- The eluate is the mobile phase leaving the column.
- The eluent is the solvent that carries the analyte.
- An eluotropic series is a list of solvents ranked according to their eluting power.
- An immobilized phase is a stationary phase that is immobilized on the support particles, or on the inner wall of the column tubing.
- The mobile phase is the phase that moves in a definite direction. It may be a liquid (LC and Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC)), a gas (GC), or a supercritical fluid (supercritical-fluid chromatography, SFC). The mobile phase consists of the sample being separated/analyzed and the solvent that moves the sample through the column. In the case of HPLC the mobile phase consists of a non-polar solvent(s) such as hexane in normal phase or polar solvents in reverse phase chromotagraphy and the sample being separated. The mobile phase moves through the chromatography column (the stationary phase) where the sample interacts with the stationary phase and is separated.
- Preparative chromatography is used to purify sufficient quantities of a substance for further use, rather than analysis.
- The retention time is the characteristic time it takes for a particular analyte to pass through the system (from the column inlet to the detector) under set conditions. See also: Kovats' retention index
- The sample is the matter analyzed in chromatography. It may consist of a single component or it may be a mixture of components. When the sample is treated in the course of an analysis, the phase or the phases containing the analytes of interest is/are referred to as the sample whereas everything out of interest separated from the sample before or in the course of the analysis is referred to as waste.
- The solute refers to the sample components in partition chromatography.
- The solvent refers to any substance capable of solubilizing another substance, and especially the liquid mobile phase in liquid chromatography.
- The stationary phase is the substance fixed in place for the chromatography procedure. Examples include the silica layer in thin layer chromatography
Chromatography is based on the concept of partition coefficient. Any solute partitions between two immiscible solvents. When we make one solvent immobile (by adsorption on a solid support matrix) and another mobile it results in most common applications of chromatography. If matrix support is polar (e.g. paper, silica etc.) it is forward phase chromatography, and if it is non polar (C-18) it is reverse phase.
Techniques by chromatographic bed shape
Column chromatography
Column chromatography is a separation technique in which the stationary bed is within a tube. The particles of the solid stationary phase or the support coated with a liquid stationary phase may fill the whole inside volume of the tube (packed column) or be concentrated on or along the inside tube wall leaving an open, unrestricted path for the mobile phase in the middle part of the tube (open tubular column). Differences in rates of movement through the medium are calculated to different retention times of the sample.
In 1978, W. C. Still introduced a modified version of column chromatography called flash column chromatography (flash). The technique is very similar to the traditional column chromatography, except for that the solvent is driven through the column by applying positive pressure. This allowed most separations to be performed in less than 20 minutes, with improved separations compared to the old method. Modern flash chromatography systems are sold as pre-packed plastic cartridges, and the solvent is pumped through the cartridge. Systems may also be linked with detectors and fraction collectors providing automation. The introduction of gradient pumps resulted in quicker separations and less solvent usage.
In expanded bed adsorption, a fluidized bed is used, rather than a solid phase made by a packed bed. This allows omission of initial clearing steps such as centrifugation and filtration, for culture broths or slurries of broken cells.
Phosphocellulose chromatography utilizes the binding affinity of many DNA-binding proteins for phosphocellulose. The stronger a protein's interaction with DNA, the higher the salt concentration needed to elute that protein.
Planar chromatography
Planar chromatography is a separation technique in which the stationary phase is present as or on a plane. The plane can be a paper, serving as such or impregnated by a substance as the stationary bed (paper chromatography) or a layer of solid particles spread on a support such as a glass plate (thin layer chromatography). Different compounds in the sample mixture travel different distances according to how strongly they interact with the stationary phase as compared to the mobile phase. The specific Retention factor (Rf) of each chemical can be used to aid in the identification of an unknown substance.
Paper chromatography
Paper chromatography is a technique that involves placing a small dot or line of sample solution onto a strip of chromatography paper. The paper is placed in a jar containing a shallow layer of solvent and sealed. As the solvent rises through the paper, it meets the sample mixture, which starts to travel up the paper with the solvent. This paper is made of cellulose, a polar substance, and the compounds within the mixture travel farther if they are non-polar. More polar substances bond with the cellulose paper more quickly, and therefore do not travel as far.
Thin layer chromatography
Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a widely employed laboratory technique and is similar to paper chromatography. However, instead of using a stationary phase of paper, it involves a stationary phase of a thin layer of adsorbent like silica gel, alumina, or cellulose on a flat, inert substrate. Compared to paper, it has the advantage of faster runs, better separations, and the choice between different adsorbents. For even better resolution and to allow for quantification, high-performance TLC can be used.
Displacement chromatography
The basic principle of displacement chromatography is: A molecule with a high affinity for the chromatography matrix (the displacer) competes effectively for binding sites, and thus displace all molecules with lesser affinities. There are distinct differences between displacement and elution chromatography. In elution mode, substances typically emerge from a column in narrow, Gaussian peaks. Wide separation of peaks, preferably to baseline, is desired for maximum purification. The speed at which any component of a mixture travels down the column in elution mode depends on many factors. But for two substances to travel at different speeds, and thereby be resolved, there must be substantial differences in some interaction between the biomolecules and the chromatography matrix. Operating parameters are adjusted to maximize the effect of this difference. In many cases, baseline separation of the peaks can be achieved only with gradient elution and low column loadings. Thus, two drawbacks to elution mode chromatography, especially at the preparative scale, are operational complexity, due to gradient solvent pumping, and low throughput, due to low column loadings. Displacement chromatography has advantages over elution chromatography in that components are resolved into consecutive zones of pure substances rather than “peaks”. Because the process takes advantage of the nonlinearity of the isotherms, a larger column feed can be separated on a given column with the purified components recovered at significantly higher concentrations.
Techniques by physical state of mobile phase
Gas chromatography
Gas chromatography (GC), also sometimes known as gas-liquid chromatography, (GLC), is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is a gas. Gas chromatography is always carried out in a column, which is typically "packed" or "capillary" (see below).
Gas chromatography is based on a partition equilibrium of analyte between a solid stationary phase (often a liquid silicone-based material) and a mobile gas (most often helium). The stationary phase is adhered to the inside of a small-diameter glass tube (a capillary column) or a solid matrix inside a larger metal tube (a packed column). It is widely used in analytical chemistry; though the high temperatures used in GC make it unsuitable for high molecular weight biopolymers or proteins (heat denatures them), frequently encountered in biochemistry, it is well suited for use in the petrochemical, environmental monitoring and remediation, and industrial chemical fields. It is also used extensively in chemistry research.
Liquid chromatography
Liquid chromatography (LC) is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is a liquid. Liquid chromatography can be carried out either in a column or a plane. Present day liquid chromatography that generally utilizes very small packing particles and a relatively high pressure is referred to as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
In HPLC the sample is forced by a liquid at high pressure (the mobile phase) through a column that is packed with a stationary phase composed of irregularly or spherically shaped particles, a porous monolithic layer, or a porous membrane. HPLC is historically divided into two different sub-classes based on the polarity of the mobile and stationary phases. Methods in which the stationary phase is more polar than the mobile phase (e.g., toluene as the mobile phase, silica as the stationary phase) are termed normal phase liquid chromatography (NPLC) and the opposite (e.g., water-methanol mixture as the mobile phase and C18 = octadecylsilyl as the stationary phase) is termed reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). Ironically the "normal phase" has fewer applications and RPLC is therefore used considerably more.
Specific techniques under this broad heading are listed below.
Affinity chromatography
Affinity chromatography is based on selective non-covalent interaction between an analyte and specific molecules. It is very specific, but not very robust. It is often used in biochemistry in the purification of proteins bound to tags. These fusion proteins are labeled with compounds such as His-tags, biotin or antigens, which bind to the stationary phase specifically. After purification, some of these tags are usually removed and the pure protein is obtained.
Affinity chromatography often utilizes a biomolecule's affinity for a metal (Zn, Cu, Fe, etc.). Columns are often manually prepared. Traditional affinity columns are used as a preparative step to flush out unwanted biomolecules.
However, HPLC techniques exist that do utilize affinity chromatogaphy properties. Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) is useful to separate aforementioned molecules based on the relative affinity for the metal (I.e. Dionex IMAC). Often these columns can be loaded with different metals to create a column with a targeted affinity.
Supercritical fluid chromatography
Supercritical fluid chromatography is a separation technique in which the mobile phase is a fluid above and relatively close to its critical temperature and pressure.
Techniques by separation mechanism
Ion exchange chromatography
Ion exchange chromatography (usually referred to as ion chromatography) uses an ion exchange mechanism to separate analytes based on their respective charges. It is usually performed in columns but can also be useful in planar mode. Ion exchange chromatography uses a charged stationary phase to separate charged compounds including anions, cations, amino acids, peptides, and proteins. In conventional methods the stationary phase is an ion exchange resin that carries charged functional groups that interact with oppositely charged groups of the compound to retain. Ion exchange chromatography is commonly used to purify proteins using FPLC.
Size-exclusion chromatography
Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) is also known as gel permeation chromatography (GPC) or gel filtration chromatography and separates molecules according to their size (or more accurately according to their hydrodynamic diameter or hydrodynamic volume). Smaller molecules are able to enter the pores of the media and, therefore, molecules are trapped and removed from the flow of the mobile phase. The average residence time in the pores depends upon the effective size of the analyte molecules. However, molecules that are larger than the average pore size of the packing are excluded and thus suffer essentially no retention; such species are the first to be eluted. It is generally a low-resolution chromatography technique and thus it is often reserved for the final, "polishing" step of a purification. It is also useful for determining the tertiary structure and quaternary structure of purified proteins, especially since it can be carried out under native solution conditions.
Expanded Bed Adsorption (EBA) Chromatographic Separation
Expanded Bed Adsorption (EBA) Chromatographic Separation captures a target protein from a crude feed stream when it passes through a chromatography column system containing adsorbent beads. With this technique the crude feedstock can be treated directly in the chromatographic column, avoiding the traditional clarification and pre-treatment steps. EBA Chromatographic Separation is highly scalable, from laboratory-based 1 cm diameter columns to large production columns up to 2 meter in diameter. These columns can typically handle feed stock throughput of more than 1,000,000 liter per day with a production capacity of 1000 MT protein per year.
Special techniques
Reversed-phase chromatography
Reversed-phase chromatography (RPC) is any liquid chromatography procedure in which the mobile phase is significantly more polar than the stationary phase. It is so named because in normal-phase liquid chromatography, the mobile phase is significantly less polar than the stationary phase. Hydrophobic molecules in the mobile phase tend to adsorb to the relatively hydrophobic stationary phase. Hydrophilic molecules in the mobile phase will tend to elute first.
Two-dimensional chromatography
In some cases, the chemistry within a given column can be insufficient to separate some analytes. It is possible to direct a series of unresolved peaks onto a second column with different physico-chemical (Chemical classification) properties. Since the mechanism of retention on this new solid support is different from the first dimensional separation, it can be possible to separate compounds that are indistinguishable by one-dimensional chromatography. The sample is spotted at one corner of a square plate,developed, air-dried, then rotated by 90° and usually redeveloped in a second solvent system.
Simulated moving-bed chromatography
Pyrolysis gas chromatography
Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry is a method of chemical analysis in which the sample is heated to decomposition to produce smaller molecules that are separated by gas chromatography and detected using mass spectrometry.
Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of materials in an inert atmosphere or a vacuum. The sample is put into direct contact with a platinum wire, or placed in a quartz sample tube, and rapidly heated to 600–1000 °C. Depending on the application even higher temperatures are used. Three different heating techniques are used in actual pyrolyzers: Isothermal furnace, inductive heating (Curie Point filament), and resistive heating using platinum filaments. Large molecules cleave at their weakest points and produce smaller, more volatile fragments. These fragments can be separated by gas chromatography. Pyrolysis GC chromatograms are typically complex because a wide range of different decomposition products is formed. The data can either be used as fingerprint to prove material identity or the GC/MS data is used to identify individual fragments to obtain structural information. To increase the volatility of polar fragments, various methylating reagents can be added to a sample before pyrolysis.
Besides the usage of dedicated pyrolyzers, pyrolysis GC of solid and liquid samples can be performed directly inside Programmable Temperature Vaporizer (PTV) injectors that provide quick heating (up to 30 °C/s) and high maximum temperatures of 600–650 °C. This is sufficient for some pyrolysis applications. The main advantage is that no dedicated instrument has to be purchased and pyrolysis can be performed as part of routine GC analysis. In this case quartz GC inlet liners have to be used. Quantitative data can be acquired, and good results of derivatization inside the PTV injector are published as well.
Fast protein liquid chromatography
Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) is a term applied to several chromatography techniques which are used to purify proteins. Many of these techniques are identical to those carried out under high performance liquid chromatography, however use of FPLC techniques are typically for preparing large scale batches of a purified product.
Countercurrent chromatography
Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a type of liquid-liquid chromatography, where both the stationary and mobile phases are liquids. The operating principle of CCC equipment requires a column consisting of an open tube coiled around a bobbin. The bobbin is rotated in a double-axis gyratory motion (a cardioid), which causes a variable gravity (G) field to act on the column during each rotation. This motion causes the column to see one partitioning step per revolution and components of the sample separate in the column due to their partitioning coefficient between the two immiscible liquid phases used. There are many types of CCC available today. These include HSCCC (High Speed CCC) and HPCCC (High Performance CCC). HPCCC is the latest and best performing version of the instrumentation available currently.
Chiral chromatography
Chiral chromatography involves the separation of stereoisomers. In the case of enantiomers, these have no chemical or physical differences apart from being three-dimensional mirror images. Conventional chromatography or other separation processes are incapable of separating them. To enable chiral separations to take place, either the mobile phase or the stationary phase must themselves be made chiral, giving differing affinities between the analytes. Chiral chromatography HPLC columns (with a chiral stationary phase) in both normal and reversed phase are commercially available.
See also
- IUPAC Nomenclature for Chromatography IUPAC Recommendations 1993, Pure & Appl. Chem., Vol. 65, No. 4, pp.819–872, 1993.
- Still, W. C.; Kahn, M.; Mitra, A. J. Org. Chem. 1978, 43(14), 2923–2925. doi:10.1021/jo00408a041
- Laurence M. Harwood, Christopher J. Moody (13 June 1989). Experimental organic chemistry: Principles and Practice (Illustrated ed.). WileyBlackwell. pp. 180–185. ISBN 978-0-632-02017-1 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- Christian B. Anfinsen, John Tileston Edsall, Frederic Middlebrook Richards Advances in Protein Chemistry. Science 1976, 6-7.
- Displacement Chromatography 101. Sachem, Inc. Austin, TX 78737
- Pascal Bailon, George K. Ehrlich, Wen-Jian Fung and Wolfgang Berthold, An Overview of Affinity Chromatography, Humana Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-89603-694-9 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK], ISBN 978-1-60327-261-2 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
- IUPAC Nomenclature for Chromatography
- Chromedia On line database and community for chromatography practitioners (paid subscription required)
- Library 4 Science: Chrom-Ed Series
- Overlapping Peaks Program – Learning by Simulations
- Chromatography Videos – MIT OCW – Digital Lab Techniques Manual
- Chromatography Equations Calculators – MicroSolv Technology Corporation | <urn:uuid:51ca50ec-be73-4d62-b6f9-64c6eb0ad47f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Chromatography | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91032 | 4,943 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Welcome to MedLibrary.org. For best results, we recommend beginning with the navigation links at the top of the page, which can guide you through our collection of over 14,000 medication labels and package inserts. For additional information on other topics which are not covered by our database of medications, just enter your topic in the search box below:
United States President Barack Obama, a member of the Democratic Party, was endorsed or supported by some members of the Republican Party and by some political figures holding conservative views in the 2008 election. Republican and conservative Obama supporters were often referred to as "Obama Republicans", "Obamacans" or "Obamacons".
Republican and conservative supporters of Obama included elected officials, former elected officials, academics, commentators, and retired military officers. According to exit polls on Election Day, 9% of those who identified themselves as Republicans voted for Barack Obama, up slightly from the 6% of self-identified Republicans who voted for John Kerry in 2004.
Etymology of "Obama Republican"
On February 12, 2008, Barack Obama mentioned Obama Republicans in his Potomac primary victory speech: "We are bringing together Democrats and independents, and yes, some Republicans. I know there's — I meet them when I'm shaking hands afterwards. There's one right there. An Obamacan, that's what we call them." In another speech, he said, "We, as Democrats right now, should tap into the discontent of Republicans. I want some Obama Republicans!" In his call for Republican votes, Obama referred to Ronald Reagan, who he says "was able to tap into the discontent of the American people...to get Democrats to vote Republican— they were called Reagan Democrats."
RepublicansforObama.org was founded in December 2006 by John Martin, a US Navy reservist. The organization grew to include over 2,500 registered members from across the United States, and was featured in USA Today, The New Yorker and other media throughout the 2008 Presidential Campaign.
Commentary and events
Conservative praise for Obama was highlighted in the conservative Insight Magazine in July 2007. Insight's story focused on Obama's character as contrasted with the then Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. In January 2008, Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic also praised Obama's character and personality. In March 2008, Andrew Bacevich, writing in The American Conservative, said that "principled conservatives" should consider voting for Obama since he promised a quick end to the Iraq war; which Bacevich said had contributed to the growth of federal and presidential power. Bruce Bartlett, writing in the New Republic, cited Obama's opposition to the Iraq war as the main issue which appealed to conservatives. Also mentioned were his opposition to some parts of the PATRIOT Act and his possible support for school vouchers.
In June 2008, Republican Douglas Kmiec was denied Roman Catholic communion for his support of Obama, due to an interpretation of church policy and Obama's pro-choice stance. In June 2008, Washington Post commentator Robert Novak blamed the policies of President George W. Bush for Republican defections to the Obama camp and suggested that Republicans Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel might soon declare their support for Obama. In July 2008, African-American libertarian-conservative columnist Thomas Sowell criticized "Obamacons" and advised them to more seriously consider Obama's liberal positions on many issues before supporting him over Republican candidate John McCain—despite Sowell's previous strident criticism of McCain.
On October 19, 2008, Colin Powell, who served as President George W. Bush's first Secretary of State, endorsed Obama in an appearance on Meet the Press. Calling Obama a "transformational figure," Powell cited John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin (who Powell believed is not "ready to be president"), Republican personal attacks on Obama, and Obama's ability to improve strained relations between the U.S. and its allies as reasons for his choice.
The Republican party reported a total of 700 Republican voters in Iowa who voted for Obama during the January 2008 caucuses, and 500 in Colorado during their February 2008 caucuses. Polls in late February 2008, the height of the Democratic primaries and the point at which the Republicans had virtually decided on John McCain, showed that up to 14% of Republicans supported Obama. Some disenchanted or moderate Republican donors who contributed to the George Bush campaign in 2004 have donated to the Obama campaign.
Following General Powell's endorsement, other prominent republicans continued to join the ranks of Republicans who had decided to vote for Senator Obama, including: Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson, former spokesman for President George W. Bush, Scott McClellan, and prominent conservatives Ken Adelman and Charles Fried.
This wave of endorsements led The Economist to publish an in-depth examination of "The Rise of the Obamacons" and their influence:
The biggest brigade in the Obamacon army consists of libertarians, furious with Mr Bush’s big-government conservatism, worried about his commitment to an open-ended “war on terror”, and disgusted by his cavalier way with civil rights. ... For many conservatives, Mr Obama embodies qualities that their party has abandoned: pragmatism, competence and respect for the head rather than the heart. Mr Obama’s calm and collected response to the turmoil on Wall Street contrasted sharply with Mr. McCain’s grandstanding. ... How much do these Obamacons matter? More than Mr McCain would like to think. The Obamacons are manifestations of a deeper turmoil in the Republican rank-and-file, as the old coalition of small-government activists, social conservatives and business Republicans falls apart. They also influence opinion. ... The more tantalising question is whether the rise of the Obamacons signals a lasting political realignment. ... If the Republican Party continues to think that the problem lies with the rats, rather than the seaworthiness of the ship, then the Obamacons are here to stay.
The rush of Republicans and other conservatives openly endorsing Barack Obama was the subject of satire on the television show The Colbert Report on October 29, 2008, which drew record ratings with a self-serving endorsement by the conservative host character played by comedian Stephen Colbert.
The final election Gallup Poll, from October 27 to November 2, indicated 10% of Republicans supported Obama instead of McCain, compared to 7% of "McCain Democrats." Gallup also indicated his support among self-described conservatives, although stronger than John Kerry's, was weaker than what Al Gore received. In August, Andrew Romano of Newsweek stated that the polls he had read indicate the cross-over voters "cancel each other out." However The Economist cited a poll in late October 2008 that indicated Obama was "winning 22% of self-described conservatives, a higher proportion than any Democratic nominee since 1980." February 2012 polls conducted that 20% of Republicans may vote for Obama.
Republican elected officials who endorsed Obama
- Former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson
- Former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Rhode Island as an Independent - Obama's avowed neutrality in the race was viewed by some, including the Democratic nominee, as a tacit endorsement of Chafee.
- Former Minnesota Senator David Durenberger supported John Kerry in the 2004 election, leaving the Republican Party. He now supports Obama.
- Former Oklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards voted for Obama; announced one day after the election.
- Former Kansas Congressman, Nixon Administration Deputy Secretary of Defense and United States Permanent Representative to NATO Robert F. Ellsworth
- Former Maryland Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (who was an outgoing incumbent at the time) told WBAL-TV that he voted for Obama in a January interview.
- Former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton, father-in-law of former Governor Tim Kaine (D-VA)
- Former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach
- Former Maryland Senator Charles Mathias, Jr. Mathias was a liberal Republican who was often at odds with the conservative wing of the party as a senator.
- Former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler
- Former Connecticut Governor and Senator Lowell Weicker. Weicker left the Republican Party in 1988 after a campaign in which prominent Republicans endorsed his opponent, Joe Lieberman. He supported Democrat Bill Bradley in 2000 and Howard Dean in 2004 for the presidency.
- Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld
- Mayor Lou Thieblemont of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Thieblemont switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat so that he could vote for Obama in the Pennsylvania primary.
- Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker endorsed Obama and delivered a speech on the second day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.
Other national Republican figures who endorsed Obama
- Ken Adelman, former diplomat, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board
- Wick Allison, former publisher of National Review,
- Jack Antaramian, Florida real estate developer and Bush fundraiser
- William Donaldson, former Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission under George W. Bush (2003–05)
- Ken Duberstein, former Reagan chief of staff
- Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of former President Richard Nixon, granddaughter-in law of Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower and president of the Eisenhower Institute. After endorsing Obama, Eisenhower announced on August 21, 2008 that she was leaving the Republican Party.
- Charles Fried, former U.S. Solicitor General and former McCain advisor.
- CC Goldwater, granddaughter of former Arizona Senator and Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater (endorsing Barack Obama on behalf of herself, her sibling, and some of her cousins)
- Lilibet Hagel, wife of Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
- Rita E. Hauser, Former White House intelligence advisor for George W. Bush
- Actor and former Bush supporter Dennis Hopper voted for Obama, citing his admiration of the Democratic nominee and particularly his dislike of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
- Larry Hunter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Policy Innovation and Chief Economist for the Free Enterprise Fund, former Reagan policy advisor
- Rear Admiral John Hutson, USN (ret.), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy and the current dean and president of Franklin Pierce Law Center.
- Legal scholar Douglas Kmiec
- Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary under George W. Bush from 2003–2006. Author of controversial book, What Happened.
- Tricia Mosley, former staffer to Senator Strom Thurmond
- Paul O'Neill, United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2001–02 under George W. Bush
- Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
- David Ruder, Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission under President Ronald Reagan
- Radio Host Michael Smerconish Later switched to Independent.
- Tag Tognalli, former Reagan White House Staff, 1981–1989 and Connecticut McCain Delegate to 2000 Republican National Convention.
Support for Obama from conservative writers
- Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University.
- Christopher Buckley, author, son of conservative figure William F. Buckley, Jr.
- Francis Fukuyama, author, key figure in the rise of neoconservatism and loosely affiliated with conservatism. Fukuyama left the neoconservative movement following the Iraq War and supported John Kerry in the 2004 election.
- Jeffrey Hart, senior editor of National Review magazine.
- Dorothy King, archeologist, author, and conservative blogger.
- Scott McConnell, editor of the American Conservative, a magazine associated with Patrick Buchanan. (McConnell had also endorsed John Kerry in 2004.)
- John Patrick Diggins, distinguished professor of history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Writing in the American Conservative, Diggins wrote "I prefer the professor to the warrior."
- Andrew Sullivan, commentator and author of The Conservative Soul, who had also endorsed John Kerry in 2004.
- CNN.com CNN Transcripts, McCain, Obama Sweep Potomac Primaries
- Pew Research Center Publications (Nov. 5, 2008) "Inside Obama's Sweeping Victory"
- CNN Exit Poll - U.S. President, 2004
- Republicans Defect to the Obama Camp The Sunday Times, May 6, 2007. "Disagreements on the war have not stopped John Martin, a Navy reservist and founder of the website Republicans for Obama, from supporting the antiwar senator. He joined the military after the Iraq war and is about to be deployed to Afghanistan."
- About Republicans for Obama "Founded in late 2006 as part of the nationwide effort to encourage Senator Obama to run for the Presidency, our volunteer-run, grassroots group now includes over 2200 registered members from across the nation."
- A New Political Breed: Obamacans USA Today, March 19, 2008. "Founded in 2006, Campbell's organization might well be leading the charge among mutinous Republicans in the online world. He says it has 800 members in 19 states and is growing. On Super Tuesday, Campbell says, the site had 22,000 hits. Now, it gets 1,200 to 1,500 hits a day."
- The Conciliator The New Yorker, May 7, 2007."In his election to the U.S. Senate, Obama won forty per cent of the Republican vote; now there is a group called Republicans for Obama, founded by John Martin, a law student and Navy reservist shortly to be posted to Afghanistan, which has chapters in six states."
- Washington Watch: Obama's fund-raising record reveals weakness of Hillary's campaign Insight, July 7, 2007."Will the Democratic Party soon awaken to the growing American consensus? The nation will not be governed by the white-trash Hill-Billies of yesteryear and much prefers candidates with class and true grace—regardless of their race, religion or even political stripes."
- The Daily Dish The Atlantic January 2008. "Obama's legislative record, speeches, and the way he has run his campaign reveal, I think, a very even temperament, a very sound judgment, and an intelligent pragmatism. Prudence is a word that is not inappropriate to him. "
- Right Choice? The conservative case for Barack Obama Andrew J. Bacevich, The American Conservative, March 24, 2008. "Yet if Obama does become the nation’s 44th president, his election will constitute something approaching a definitive judgment of the Iraq War. As such, his ascent to the presidency will implicitly call into question the habits and expectations that propelled the United States into that war in the first place. Matters hitherto consigned to the political margin will become subject to close examination. Here, rather than in Obama’s age or race, lies the possibility of his being a truly transformative presidency."
- For an 'Obamacon,' Communion Denied Washington Post June 3, 2008.
- The Obamacons Who Worry McCain Washington Post, June 6, 2008.
- Conservatives should rethink their support of Obama Thomas Sowell, Deseret News July 10, 2008. "Back in the 18th century, Helvetius said, "When I speak I put on a mask. When I act, I am forced to take it off." Too many voters still have not learned that lesson. They need to look at the track record of Obama's actions. Back in the days of "The Lone Ranger" program, someone would ask, "Who is that masked man?" People need to start asking that question about Obama."
- Powell endorses Obama for president - Meet the Press- msnbc.com
- Barack + GOP = "Obamacans", Newsweek
- 'Obamacans' and 'McCainacrats' Will Help Decide Presidency, Crosswalk.com
- Former Bush donors now giving to Obama, McClatchy.dc.com
- Susan Davis, Obamacans: Prominent Republicans Line-Up Behind Obama, Wall Street Journal (October 24, 2008), at http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/10/24/obamacans-prominent-republicans-line-up-behind-obama/.
- The Economist: The Rise of the Obamacons
- WSJ: "Powell Endorses Obama, Reflecting Fractures in GOP"
- Election Polls: Group Voting
- Chasing the Mythical 'Obamacan' Masses
- Minneapolis Star-Tribune
- Chafee for Obama
- Condon, Stephanie (October 25, 2010). "Frank Caprio: Obama Can Take His Endorsement and "Shove It"". CBS News.
- Minneapolis Star Tribune, 21 October 2008 (letter)
- Ellsworth, Robert F.; Dimitri K. Simes (October 31, 2008). "TNI Publishers Split on Endorsement". The National Interest. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
- Gilchrest 'Happy' To Retire (WBAL-TV)
- In Virginia, Obama surrogates continue push for win
- Republicans cross over for Obama
- "My Choice: Obama". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- Former GOP senator, vet backs Obama - Alexander Burns - Politico.com
- "Former Gov. William Weld endorses Obama"
- Lifelong Republican Mayor of Camp Hill, PA Switches Parties to Vote Obama
- The New Yorker
- National Review endorses Obama -- NOT Washington Times October 1, 2008. "Today it is conservatives, not liberals, who talk with alarming bellicosity about making the world 'safe for democracy,'" Mr. Allison wrote in the September 27 issue of D Magazine. "It is John McCain who says America's job is to 'defeat evil,' a theological expansion of the nation's mission that would make George Washington cough out his wooden teeth. This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse."
- L.A. Times
- Three former U.S. SEC chairmen endorse Obama
- Former Reagan adviser endorses Obama
- Why I'm Backing Obama Washington Post
- Ike's Granddaughter Calls Obama 'Future of America' The Washington Independent
- Reflections on Leaving the Party. – The National Interest
- Reuters: More GOP Defections
- The Washington Post http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/07/mrs_hagel_to_endorse_obama.html
|url=missing title (help).
- Hunter, Larry (2008-07-16). "I'm a lifelong conservative activist and I'm backing Barack Obama". Race for the White House 2008 (New York Daily News). Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- John DiStaso's Granite Status: VFW backs Shea-Porter
- Dean John Hutson Endorses Obama
- For an 'Obamacon,' Communion Denied "Word spread like wildfire in Catholic circles: Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Republican, firm foe of abortion and veteran of the Reagan Justice Department, had been denied Communion. His sin? Kmiec, a Catholic who can cite papal pronouncements with the facility of a theological scholar, shocked old friends and adversaries alike earlier this year by endorsing Barack Obama for president. For at least one priest, Kmiec's support for a pro-choice politician made him a willing participant in a grave moral evil."
- When Republicans Endorse Obama Newsweek "They include lifelong Republican Tricia Moseley, a former staffer for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, the one-time segregationist from South Carolina. Now a high-school teacher, Moseley says she was attracted to Obama's positions on education and the economy."
- Two former Bush Advisers Now Advising Obama, Will Appear at Economic Meeting Today
- Tapper, Jake (October 17, 2008). "In Philly, Conservative Radio Host Backs Obama". Political Punch (ABC News). Retrieved October 28, 2008.
- Republicans for Obama: From Reagan to Obama
- The Right Choice? The Conservative Case for Barack Obama
- Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama
- Former neocon supports Obama
- Andrew Billen (2004-07-14). "Why I won't vote for George Bush". The Times (London). Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- "The Great Conservative Crackup" by Jacob Heilbrunn
- PhDiva: On Being an Obamacon
- Scott McConnell
- Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters
- "Who's Getting Your Vote?". Reason. 2004-11. Retrieved 2008-10-27. | <urn:uuid:b68d043f-50bf-45cb-8a79-0457feb01965> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Republican_and_conservative_support_for_Barack_Obama_in_2008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942223 | 4,315 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Raymond K. Cross, Jr., M.D.,M.S. is a board certified Gastroenterologist and Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He also serves as Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and is the Chief of the GI section at the Veterans Affairs, Maryland Health Care System Baltimore.
Dr. Cross received his undergraduate degree from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Maryland and Baltimore VA Medical Centers in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was chosen as Chief Resident. He performed his Gastroenterology fellowship also at the University of Maryland and Baltimore VA Medical Centers in Baltimore. In addition, Dr. Cross has obtained a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, in Baltimore.
Dr. Cross has several research interests within the field of inflammatory bowel disease. First, he is testing a home telemanagement system for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Telemanagement is a home telemedicine system that assists providers in implementing practice guidelines and in monitoring their patients. Additionally, telemanagement systems assist patients in following action plans and in delivering patients focused education. Dr. Cross has previously tested the system in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and was able to demonstrate that telemanagement was feasible in this population and that patients accepted the technology. The 12-month study will compare the telemanagement system to best available care in patients with ulcerative colitis. He is planning a separate trial to examine telemanagement in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).
Dr. Cross has evaluated the differences in disparities in outcomes both UC and CD by race at the University of Maryland and VA. He has published his findings in CD in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, treatment disparities in CD and UC in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and in Digestive Diseases and Sciences. A follow up study is being conducted to evaluated disparities in disease activity and quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
Dr. Cross completed a health survey of physician practicing patterns and knowledge of infliximab side effects among gastroenterologists in Maryland and Washington D.C. The results have been published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences. He has completed a follow up national e-mail survey of American Gastroenterological Association members; the findings have been published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
In addition, Dr. Cross recently completed a study of the impact of medication side effects on the quality of life and disease activity in patients with IBD. To evaluate medication side effects, he used a new questionnaire that had been used in patients with asthma and depression. The findings have been published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.
Inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, microscopic colitis) Infectious colitis Chronic diarrhea Short bowel syndrome
Cross, RK, Longhitano, JP, Rapoport, AP, Cadogan, MA, Brown, LA and Mackowiak, PA. A 78-year-old man with pancytopenia and abnormal lymphocytes. The American Journal of Medical Sciences. 2001;322:151-155.
Cross, RK, Longhitano, JP, Oursler, KA, Saladino, AJ, and Mackowiak, PA. A 75-year-old man with right upper quadrant pain and gallstones. The American Journal of Medical Sciences. 2002;323:146-150.
Cross RK, Jr., Howell C. Two cases of spontaneous epidural abscess in patients with cirrhosis. South Med J. 2003;96:291-293.
Gobert, AP, Cheng, Y., Akhtar, M., Mersey, BD, Blumberg, DR, Cross, RK, Chaturvedi, R., Drachenberg, CB, Boucher, JL, Hacker, A., Casero, RA, Jr., Wilson, KT. Protective role of arginase in a mouse model of colitis. J Immunol. 2004;173:2109-17.
Cross RK, Wilson KT, Binion DG. Polypharmacy and Crohn's disease. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2005;21:1211-6
Cross RK, Wilson KT, Binion DG. Narcotic use in patients with Crohn's disease. Am J Gastroenterol 2005;100(10):2225-9.
Cross RK, Binion DG. Narcotic use in patients with Crohn's disease: reply form Drs. Cross and Binion. Am J Gastroenterol 2006;101(6): 1397-8.
Cross RK, Arora M, Finkelstein J. Acceptance of telemanagement is high in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. J Clin Gastroenterol 2006;40(3):200-8.
Cross RK, Jung C, Wasan S, Joshi G, Sawyer R, Roghmann MC. Racial Differences in Disease Phenotypes in Patients With Crohn's Disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2006;12(3):192-198.
Castro, HK, Cross, RK, and Finkelstein, J. Using a Home Automated Telemanagement System (HAT): Experiences and Perceptions in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2006; 872.
Cross, RK, and Finkelstein, J. Feasibility and Acceptance of a Home Telemanagement System in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A 6-Month Pilot Study. Dig Dis Sci 2007;52(2):357-364.
Donovan, M, Lunney, K, Carter-Pokras, O, and Cross, RK. Prescribing Patterns and Awareness of Adverse Effects of Infliximab: A Health Survey of Gastroenterologists. Dig Dis Sci. Aug 2007;52(8):1798-1805.
Dunnigan, M, Yfantis, H, Rapoport, AP, Hosseinzadeh, K, Gocke, CD, and Cross, RK. Large cell lymphoma presenting as a flare of colitis in a patient with common variable immune deficiency. Dig Dis Sci. 2007;52(3):830-4.
Cross, RK, Lapshin, O, and Finkelstein, J. Patient Subjective Assessment of Drug Side Effects in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2008;42(3):244-51
Flasar MH, Johnson T, Roghmann MC, Cross RK. Disparities in the use of immunomodulators and biologics for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: A retrospective cohort study. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2008;14(1):13-9
Flasar, M, Quezada, S, Bijpuria, P, Wu, Roger, and Cross, RK. Racial Differences in Extent, Severity, and Extraintestinal Manifestations in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Dig Dis Sci. Feb 20 2008.
Greenberg, R, Greenwald, B, Ioffe, O, Roth, S, and Cross, RK. Squamous Dysplasia of the Rectum in a Patient with Ulcerative Colitis Treated with 6-Mercaptopurine. Dig Dis Sci. 2008;53(3):760-4.
Flasar, M, Roghmann, MC, and Cross, RK. Disparities in IBD Care: Time to Correct a Problem: reply from Drs. Flasar, Roghmann, and Cross. Gastroenterology. 2008;134(5):1618-1619.
Warren, JW, Howard, FM, Cross, RK, Good, J, Weissman, M, Wesselmann, U, Langenberg, P, Greenberg, P, and Clauw, D. Antecedent non-bladder syndromes in a case control study of interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome. Urology. 2009;73(1):52-7.
Quezada, S, Turner, P, Alexiev, B, Daly, B, and Cross, RK. Severe Refractory Orofacial Crohn's Disease: Report of a Case. Dig Dis Sci. 2008.
Cross RK, Cheevers N, Finkelstein J. Home Telemanagement for Patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC HAT). Dig Dis Sci 2008.
St. Charles, M, Weiss Smith, SR, Beardsley, R, Fedder, DO, Carter-Pokras, O, and Cross, RK. Gastroenterologists Prescribing of Infliximab: A National Survey. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2009.
Links of InterestThe Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD
UMMC Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program | <urn:uuid:04db5da4-a92f-47fb-acb5-e5af668687dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medschool.umaryland.edu/facultyresearchprofile/viewprofile.aspx?id=5389 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.850137 | 1,943 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Other Proposed Treatments
It is one of the cardinal principles of natural medicine that treatment should aim not only to treat illness but also to enhance wellness. According to this ideal, a proper course of treatment should improve your sense of general well-being, enhance your immunity to illness, raise your physical stamina, and increase mental alertness, as well as resolve the specific condition you took it for.
Unfortunately, while there can be little doubt that this is a laudable goal, it is easier to laud it than to achieve it. Conventional medicine tends to focus on treating diseases rather than increasing wellness, not as a matter of philosophical principle, but because it is easier to accomplish.
Probably the strongest force affecting wellness is genetics. Beyond that, common sense steps endorsed by all physicians include increasing exercise, reducing stress, improving diet, getting enough sleep, and living a life of moderation without bad habits, such as smoking or overeating.
Beyond this, however, it is difficult to make strong affirmations, and the optimum forms of diet and exercise and other aspects of lifestyle remain unclear. In fact, they may always remain unclear, as it is impossible to perform double-blind, placebo-controlled studies on most lifestyle habits. (For information on why such studies are irreplaceable see "Why Does This Database Depend on Double-blind Studies?" )
Principal Proposed Natural Treatments
In order to function at our best, we need good nutrition. However, the modern diet often fails to provide people with sufficient amounts of all the necessary nutrients. For this reason, use of a multivitamin/multimineral supplement might be expected to enhance overall health and well-being, and preliminary double-blind trials generally support this view.
For more information, see the article on General Nutritional Support .
The herb Panax ginseng has an ancient reputation as a healthful “tonic.” According to a more modern concept developed in the former USSR, ginseng functions as an “adaptogen.”
This term is defined as follows: An adaptogen helps the body adapt to stresses of various kinds, whether heat, cold, exertion, trauma, sleep deprivation, toxic exposure, radiation, infection, or psychologic stress. In addition, an adaptogen causes no side effects, is effective in treating a wide variety of illnesses, and helps return an organism toward balance no matter what may have gone wrong.
From a modern scientific perspective, it is not truly clear that such things as adaptogens actually exist. However, there is some evidence that ginseng may satisfy some of the definition’s requirements.
In addition, ginseng has also shown some potential for enhancing immunity , mental function , and sports performance , all effects consistent with the adaptogen concept. For more information on these possibilities, as well as dosage and safety issues, see the full Ginseng article .
Other Proposed Natural Treatments
Numerous other alternative therapies are claimed by their proponents to improve overall wellness, including acupuncture , Ayurveda , chiropractic , detoxification , homeopathy , massage , naturopathy , osteopathic manipulation , Reiki , Tai Chi , Therapeutic Touch , traditional Chinese herbal medicine , and yoga . However, there is as yet little meaningful evidence to support these claims.
For a discussion of homeopathic approaches to general wellness, see the Homeopathy database .
- Reviewer: EBSCO CAM Review Board
- Review Date: 07/2012 -
- Update Date: 07/25/2012 - | <urn:uuid:39bb84af-9a63-43d7-b933-3bee4727c361> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://memorialhospitaljax.com/your-health/?/38569/general-well-being | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936688 | 726 | 2.90625 | 3 |
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Source DWD, KMI, KNMI, Met Eireann, MF, Met Office | <urn:uuid:1b7728fd-fd47-4b07-89a3-eec77137cdd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=2012&maand=05&uur=09&minuut=00&dag=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.84878 | 178 | 1.609375 | 2 |
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Mon May 16, 2011
Lansing decides city budget tonight
The Lansing city council is scheduled to vote on next year's city budget this evening. Declining property values and rising health care costs are forcing deep spending cuts.
City leaders hope an estimated 4 million dollars in state revenue sharing will allow a reduction in the number of possible police and fire fighter layoffs.
Jerry Ambrose is Lansing's city finance director. He says the Mayor's office is also seeking 3 million dollars in union contract concessions, mainly in health care coverage.
“Our plan is to not start spending money we don’t have. We will have time to work with our unions to assess before we start spending that money.”
Ambrose says the city has until the end of June to work out the union concessions. He expects the city will send out layoff notices to roughly a hundred Lansing city employees as they wait for the concessions deal.
Lansing is just one of many Michigan cities weighing deep cuts in spending versus deep cuts in services. | <urn:uuid:8375bd48-b819-4013-91a7-bc3ac42bb2b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michiganradio.org/post/lansing-decides-city-budget-tonight | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935774 | 290 | 1.507813 | 2 |
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Thu September 15, 2011
Michigan House votes to ban domestic partner benefits
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Republicans who control the Michigan Legislature have started another attempt to block the offering of taxpayer-paid health insurance to domestic partners living with
The House passed legislation by a 64-44, mostly party line vote Thursday aimed at prohibiting public employers from offering the benefits. The legislation advances to the Senate.
Minority Democrats say the bills are unconstitutional and would be challenged in court.
Republicans supporting the bills say they reflect the will of Michigan voters who decided in 2004 to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
The Michigan Civil Service Commission has voted to allow domestic partner benefits for some state employees starting in October. Republicans tried to overturn the decision but couldn't get the two-thirds majority vote needed in the House. | <urn:uuid:5b1cad4a-0437-4931-8819-918b153914f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michiganradio.org/post/michigan-house-votes-ban-domestic-partner-benefits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941456 | 250 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Edwin Martin seeks a resolution of support from the Organization of American States. Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson lays the matter before the U.N. Security Council. The ships of the naval quarantine fleet move into place around Cuba. Soviet submarines threaten the quarantine by moving into the Caribbean area. Soviet freighters bound for Cuba with military supplies stop dead in the water, but the oil tanker Bucharest continues towards Cuba. In the evening Robert Kennedy meets with Ambassador Dobrynin at the Soviet Embassy.
After the Organization of American States endorsed the quarantine, President Kennedy asks Khrushchev to halt any Russian ships heading toward Cuba. The president's greatest concern is that a US Navy vessel would otherwise be forced to fire upon a Russian vessel, possibly igniting war between the superpowers. | <urn:uuid:3cdc115d-ed7c-46dc-bae1-ab6e1ae42215> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct23/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918228 | 167 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Bill Bunch, Pineville Utility Commission Manager, recently commented on customers who have been stealing their water service.
“We may find three to five infractions per month,” said Bunch.” This is not a new thing. I think this is probably common to every utility company.”
The perpetrators are usually customers who have just had their service cut off. We are not looking at large sums of money being lost, said Bunch. When asked to estimate how much money is being lost due to water theft, Bunch figured it was somewhere around $150 per month.
The cases that happen in Bell County are mostly residential. No known businesses, schools, clinics or larger facilities have committed such violations.
It was someone in the community that alerted Bunch to the most recent case of water theft. Someone actually approached him with the information and it was found to be true.
Bunch appreciates such tips and feels it is the public’s civic duty to speak up if they know of such wrongdoing. The act of tapping into water without paying for it is considered a federal crime.
However, Bunch has never had to push a case that far. Instead, Pineville utilities allows violators to pay a $300 penalty fee, and only then can they have their water service reconnected.
Bunch said so far, the penalty fee has served as a lesson and possible deterrent.
“I feel that water thefts like these are common to every utility company,” said Bunch.
However, James Leonard, Regional Manager for Utilities Inc. in Middlesboro, reported that he can’t remember the last case of water theft in Middlesboro.
“It happens here too, it’s just rare,” said Leonard. “Furthermore, we haven’t had any of those straight pipes like they find over in Pineville. Our violations are customers who’ve had their service turned off and then they try to break our padlock, and turn their meter back on.”
Bunch and Pineville Utilities asks the public to report known violations. Water thefts can even be reported anonymously in our night, drop box, said Bunch. Or, if they prefer, they can call in at (606) 337-6611. | <urn:uuid:2588c351-07ea-4552-867a-3efd760c3e16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://middlesborodailynews.com/pages/home/push?rel=prev&per_page=5&class=&x_page=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980885 | 474 | 1.59375 | 2 |
No sooner had the dust settled following the departure of the Mubarak family from Al-`Uruba palace in Cairo, than rumors began to fly of Suzanne Mubarak's last minute filling of suitcases with valuables before leaving for Sharm al-Shaykh, and of her deposed dictator husband's reportedly blaming her (along with former heir apparent, Gamal) for his regime's undoing. Tunisia's Leila Trabelsi Ben Ali was frequently pilloried for an addictive collection of sports cars, opulent palatial villas, and frequent extravagant designer shopping trips to Dubai, while in Jordan, Queen Rania al-`Abdallah has come under fire for a lavish 40th birthday party in the Wadi Rum desert.
In the Middle East and North Africa, as in other parts of the world, "first ladies," whether wives of presidents or monarchs -- especially those who play an "activist" public role -- are often the subject of direct and brutal criticism from their societies. While there is often ugly truth in these charges, what else might the images of corruption and interference they portray tell us? Is this merely sexism toward women in the public eye, examples of which abound around the world? Is it simply that it is "safer" to criticize the wife rather than the president or monarch himself? Or can something deeper about the society and the regime be read through the jokes, rumors and criticisms these powerful women elicit?
In some of the earliest Kifaya protests in Egypt during the 2000s, Suzanne Mubarak was often invoked as a way of attacking her husband. For example, protesters chanted then, "Ya Suzanne, Ya Suzanne libis Mubarak il-fustan" ("Hey Suzanne, Mubarak Put on a Dress.") At the same time, despite attempting to cultivate the persona of a leading woman interested in Egypt's children and literacy, she instead became a symbol of everything that was wrong with the Mubarak regime, from her public friendship with the controversial Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, to her desire to tear down a hospital near Alexandria's Corniche because she thought it to be an eyesore.
During the 18-day uprising that forced her husband from office, Suzanne was not a target of the protesters, but she was undeniably guilty by association. While we will likely never know with certainty what transpired in the palace before Mubarak's final, failed address to the nation, it is unsurprising that Suzanne is popularly understood to have played a role. This is because Suzanne Mubarak is believed by many Egyptians to have been at the epicenter of Egypt's main political fault-line since 2000. Her purported support for her younger son, Gamal, to become Egypt's next president galvanized the country's citizenry in ways little appreciated by many observers. Egyptians viewed the inheritance of power as embarrassing and Suzanne was seen as the hand behind the succession project.
According to this perception, the now-former president was often portrayed as opposed to the idea. Yet, palace intrigue and rumor always depicted Suzanne as using Hosni as the vassal to execute her dynastic plan. It matters little if this was actually the case or rather Gamal's ambition. "Mama Suzanne" will be remembered in the annals of Egyptian history as the palace's power hungry broker willing to sacrifice the dignity of Egyptians in favor of building a family dynasty. This in many ways is much more damning than had demonstrators vented their anger directly at her during the last protests of the Mubarak presidency.
In the case of Tunisia's Leila Trabelsi, it was perhaps her incarnation of the glaring hypocrisy of the regime -- in which she was a key actor -- in two areas in which it claimed special success: economic development and women's rights. On the first, she used her position to her personal advantage and to that of her tribe for nearly two decades. She, as well as close members of her clan, have been accused of massively exploiting the Tunisian economy via shady or illegal acquisitions of public and private economic resources and assets (hotels chains, airline, radio stations, banks, private businesses, foreign direct investment & franchises, public land, etc.) In a country lauded by international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF as a model of economic reform, the president's wife turned the development formula on its head, extorting billions in order to finance the acquisition of wealth for herself and her clan, to the detriment of the country's economic welfare.
As for women's rights, while aggressively striving to carve out a leading role among Arab first ladies by verbally championing women's causes -- an issue area in which Tunisia had long been a regional leader -- she missed an historic opportunity to play a constructive leadership role for Tunisian women. Worse, although hailing from humble origins herself, she ignored the lonely struggle of the many hard-working women of Tunisia's urban and rural disenfranchised neighborhoods, of the activist women fighting against human rights violations, and of the daring female whistleblowers who elected to expose the regime's excesses and who were faced with intimidation and jail, or forced into exile. Instead she was deeply complicit in a regime characterized by corruption, banditry, and brutal repression of women as well as men.
In the case of Queen Rania of Jordan it is also obvious that there is far more at work than popular resentment of the glamorous, tweeting image that has attracted such acclaim in the West. For several years, some of the chants heard at soccer matches between Jordan's two highest profile teams, al-Faisali (a symbol for Jordanians of East Bank origin) and al-Wihdat (a rallying point for Jordanians of Palestinian origin) have included calls for the king to divorce her: Rania is of Palestinian origin, and hence the slogans clearly indicate that among at least a part of the Jordanian population, the Palestinian roots of the queen are deeply resented. However, in the context of increasing political ferment in Jordan, as revolutions have unfolded in Egypt and Tunisia, the criticism of the queen has reached a new level. In an unprecedented move, in the first week in February, 36 members of Jordanian tribes signed a letter to King Abdallah II in which they directly charged Rania and members of her family with a range of financial misdealings.
While rumors of such corruption involving the queen and her clan are not new, the very public, and hence daring, publishing of them certainly is. It is indicative, not only of socio-economic crisis in Jordan, but also of many Transjordanians' association of (excessive) wealth with the overwhelmingly Palestinian business class. In addition, however, the letter charged that the Queen had been responsible for securing Jordanian passports for 78,000 Palestinians between 2005 and 2010. This claim simply adds fuel to the ongoing controversy regarding the Jordanian policy which, according to Human Rights Watch (Jordan: Stateless Again, 2010), between 2004 and 2008 deprived more than 2,700 Jordanians of Palestinian origin of their Jordanian citizenship. In a political climate in which the long-standing tensions between the kingdom's two communal groups have been increasing, owing in no small measure to the domestic political implications of the continuing failure to reach a Palestinian-Israeli peace, Rania has become a symbol of the threat and a target of the anger felt by those East Bankers who fear they are losing power, economically and demographically, to Jordanians of Palestinian origin.
Outside analysts would do well to watch carefully the content as well as the intensity of critiques aimed at the members of "first families." All three of these women symbolize not just power and extreme privilege, but serious ongoing struggles within their respective societies and even within the regimes themselves. The issues may be specific ones such as succession, the acquisition of the spoils of office or competition among factions in the regime. Or, they may be more general, such as increasing detachment of the authoritarian leadership from popular concerns regarding the economy or political and civil rights. In either case, among the general population these "first ladies" -- especially high-profile ones -- come to incarnate the ills and excesses of the corrupt regimes led by their husbands (regimes in which they, too, are deeply complicit). Far from merely crude sexism, and apart from the truths of excess and corruption they may well include, attacks leveled against them -- whether in chants at rallies or popular rumors -- should be examined as indications of deeper political, economic and social discontent.
Laurie A. Brand is the Robert Grandford Wright Professor and Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. Rym Kaki is a lecturer in international development at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California. Joshua Stacher is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Kent State University.
The Middle East Channel offers unique analysis and insights on this diverse and vital region of more than 400 million. | <urn:uuid:bed3b6f3-1bc1-4a06-98c8-33f2bf66753c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/16/first_ladies_as_focal_points_for_discontent | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967193 | 1,798 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Birthing in South Africa
by Linda B. Jenkins
© 2009 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.
[Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 89, Spring 2009.]
South Africa—a world apart, exotic, exciting and troubled; yet babies are still being born and midwives are an essential part of all that. My worldwide travels take me not only to faraway places but to the familiar area of birthing, as well. South Africa was no exception. There I had the privilege of being shown around two very different socio-economically oriented hospitals. I spoke with those taking me around about their birth practices and about the practices in even more affluent hospitals in South Africa. I looked for the difficulties, what was working and what needed improvement. Administrators in both hospitals recognized that midwives are essential in all hospitals. They are the backbone of the labor and delivery area, as well as being educators.
I found some interesting variations among those hospitals that care for poor people, for the working class and for affluent people. In the 200-bed hospital in the Durban area, in which the very poorest South Africans are treated, one-third of the community is HIV-positive, and tuberculosis (TB) is said to be an even bigger problem. In this hospital, midwives run the unit, with no elective c-sections. Out of an average 500 births a month, 28% of the babies are born surgically.
In contrast, the 147-bed hospital that serves the working class is “doctor driven.” Midwives in this hospital work with women up to, but not including, delivery. At the same time, in this more affluent hospital with an average of 50–65 births a month, the c-section rate is 60%. In the most affluent hospitals, the c-section rate is reportedly even higher, because elective surgery is more the norm.
Only in the hospital serving the poorest of the poor do the midwives do the deliveries. There was an exception to this: If a private midwife is hired by a patient to be with her the entire time, then the midwife does the delivery as well. In the poor hospital, few fathers are present for the birth, whereas in the more affluent hospitals 95% of the fathers are involved.
One of the greatest difficulties in both hospitals I visited is that the patients come in so late in their pregnancies they have had little preparation or prenatal care. Intertwined with this is the high HIV rate.
The philosophy on feeding newborns of HIV-positive mothers varied from hospital to hospital. In one hospital, only nursing—strictly exclusive nursing—was the rule. Conversely, the hospital that works with the working class, as well as the more affluent hospitals, holds to the rule of exclusive bottle-feeding for such infants. Both claimed similar positive outcomes for the babies, with a 95% success rate of babies remaining HIV-negative.
Studies being done in South Africa seem to show that as long as babies do not both nurse and bottle-feed, but just do one or the other, they can remain HIV-negative, despite having a mother who is infected by the virus.
During this trip to South Africa, I was able to visit only these two hospitals and talk with individuals who had experience in other birthing hospitals. I would be most interested in hearing from anyone with questions and/or input on the birthing practices and care of the newborn in South Africa.
Linda B. Jenkins, RN, has taught in a variety of capacities—from ghetto schools to the Spanish-speaking community to physicians. She has researched and filmed births in the US, South and Central America, Europe, Japan and now South Africa. You can learn more about her work at www.birthprep.com.
If you enjoyed this article, you’ll enjoy Midwifery Today magazine! Subscribe now! | <urn:uuid:e63fa8e7-ccaa-484e-a612-09f4b10eb6dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://midwiferytoday.com/articles/intSouthAfrica.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971761 | 810 | 2.0625 | 2 |
BINGE EATING DISORDER
"Signs and Symptoms"
To date, there has been some degree of confusion as to what exactly the term "binge eating" really means. Although the professional community still has yet to define [or quantify] what constitutes a binge-eating episode, it's reasonable to assume the signs and symptoms listed below are a good barometer of what is characteristic binge eating. In many respects, Binge Eating Disorder [BED] is similar to Bulimia without the compensatory behaviors. In addition, the term compulsive overeating may be "interchangeable" with BED - although some compulsive overeaters have a pattern of eating constantly ["grazing"] rather than experiencing episodes of binge eating per se.
Signs and symptoms Binge Eating / Compulsive Overeating [COE]
- Preoccupation with food.
- Rapid consumption of food in significant excess of nutritional need
- Sneaking or hoarding food - even immediately after meals.
- Feeling ashamed or fearful when confronted about the problem.
- Excessive concern about weight and body shape.
- Sense of "losing control" during binge episode.
- Feeling lonely, depressed, worried, self preoccupied
- Spending a great deal of time alone / social isolation
- Alternating between binge eating and "dieting"
Treating BED at Milestones
As with many other eating disorders, the characteristics of a binge eating disorder appear to mimic [inherent among] other dependencies or addictions - whether to a substance or set of behaviors. In fact, the most recent committee of the American Psychiatric Association "officially" included BED as a bona fide disorder [disease]. The link below lists the criteria for "dependency" and requires only three of the several criteria "fit" for a diagnosis of dependency [aka addiction] to be considered.
The program offered at Milestones is comprised of two primary components, making the treatment experience unique in comparison to other programs.
The first is the setting - utilizing apartment-style residences affording residential participants an opportunity to experience treatment in a "real world" environment. Participants grocery shop with our dietitian within the community, learn to prepare their own meals per the prescribed [meal] food / meal plan they have formulated with the dietitian, attend a full schedule of groups and individual therapies at our clinical campus [near the residential complex], attend local community support groups in the evenings, and visit with our physicians and clinical staff regularly throughout their stay. In effect, the experience is one of providing a supportive and structured setting without the restrictive elements of a "hospital" or institutional facility. A key element in providing the support necessary to begin recovery is remaining in the company of other participants during the initial phase of the treatment. This provides both a form of supervision and a deterrent from the behavior often associated with binge eating: namely eating in isolation or alone.
Secondly, Milestones approaches treatment from a more "holistic" perspective. Doing so is best described by the acronym "SERF" - Spirituality, Exercise, Rest, and Food Plan.
Spirituality need not equate with any religious or spiritual beliefs imposed on or by anyone. In fact, Spirituality at Milestones simply is left up to the individual to cultivate with his or her own working definition. For most, it is a belief in a "higher power" and still for others it may be a return to some of their original religious beliefs. For everyone, it is an individual journey.
Exercise is individualized and represents collaboration between the resident and clinical team. It is meant to be in the service of restoring and maintaining a healthy body rather than an "intensive" means of controlling body weight.
Rest is simply about finding the correct balance in recovery between work and play and narrowing the gap between an "all or none", "feast or famine" approach to daily living.
The food plan suggested by Milestones is a blend of structured eating and a combination of healthy, whole foods that are bought and prepared by PARTICIPANTS with the guidance and supervision of our dietitian and ancillary staff. In brief participants select their own preferences within the guidelines of their individual food plans. The guidelines require participants to abstain from "junk foods" and eliminate most highly processed [sugar and flour laden] food products as well as weigh and measure portions per their food plan while in residence.
It is important to mention most participants who seek treatment for most eating disorders may have a tendency to focus on "trading in the binging and/or "purging" to become better at restricting or "losing weight" and as such, it is important to understand the predisposition to replace one form of an eating disorder for another. Acknowledging this is helpful to maintaining the prescribed treatment plan both during and after the residential treatment experience. Body mass and subsequent weight loss will likely change as a result of abstaining from overeating and move in the direction [towards] of a healthy "set point" as an outcome of the recovery process.
Each participant is assigned an individual therapist whom they meet with on a regular basis during their stay as well as attend groups and experiential therapies per the schedule In sum, the physical and emotional aspects of their eating disorder are addressed within these formats. | <urn:uuid:26e14fdc-9941-4f09-a1d7-7e7a78349e4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://milestonesprogram.org/binge-eating-treatment.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958348 | 1,097 | 2.578125 | 3 |
A Reference Resource
Life Before the Presidency
Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874. For the first nine years of his life, he lived in the small town of West Branch, Iowa, the place of his birth. His Quaker father, Jessie Clark Hoover, a blacksmith and farm equipment salesman, suffered a heart attack and died when Herbert was six years old. Three years later, the boy's mother, Huldah Minthorn Hoover, developed pneumonia and also passed away, orphaning Herbert, his older brother Theodore, and little sister Mary. Passed around among relatives for a few years, Hoover ended up with his uncle, Dr. John Minthorn, who lived in Oregon.
The young Hoover was shy, sensitive, introverted, and somewhat suspicious, characteristics that developed, at least in part, in reaction to the loss of his parents at such a young age. He attended Friends Pacific Academy in Newberg, Oregon, earning average to failing grades in all subjects except math. Determined, nevertheless, to go to the newly established Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, Hoover studied hard and barely passed the university's entrance exam. He went on to major in geology and participated in a host of extracurricular activities, serving as class treasurer of the junior and senior student bodies and managing the school baseball and football teams. To pay his tuition, Hoover worked as a clerk in the registration office and showed considerable entrepreneurial skill by starting a student laundry service.
Career and Monetary Success
During the summers, Hoover worked as a student assistant on geological survey teams in Arkansas, California, and Nevada. After his graduation in 1895, he looked hard to find work as a surveyor but ended up laboring seventy hours a week at a gold mine near Nevada City, California, pushing ore carts. Luck came his way with an office job in San Francisco, putting him in touch with a firm in need of an engineer to inspect and evaluate mines for potential purchase. Hoover then moved to Australia in 1897 and China in 1899, where he worked as a mining engineer until 1902. A string of similar jobs took him all over the world and helped Hoover become a giant in his field. He opened his own mining consulting business in 1908; by 1914, Hoover was financially secure, earning his wealth from high-salaried positions, his ownership of profitable Burmese silver mines, and royalties from writing the leading textbook on mining engineering.
His wife, Lou Henry Hoover, traveled with him everywhere he went. Herbert and Lou met in college, where she was the sole female geology major at Stanford. He proposed to her by cable from Australia as he prepared to move to China; she accepted by return wire and they married in 1899. The couple was in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, a time when Lou helped nurse wounded Western diplomats and soldiers while Herbert assisted in the fighting to defend Tianjin, a city near the uprising. By the time the couple returned home to America in 1917, Lou had learned to shoot a gun and had mastered eight languages.
Over the course of his career as a mining engineer and businessman, Hoover's intellect and understanding of the world matured considerably. Hoover was raised a Quaker and although he rarely went to Meeting as an adult, he internalized that faith's belief in the power of the individual, the importance of freedom, and the value of "conscientious work" and charity. Hoover also applied the ethos of engineering to the world in general, believing that scientific expertise, when employed thoughtfully and properly, led to human progress. Hoover worked comfortably in a capitalist economy but believed in labor's right to organize and hoped that cooperation (between labor and management and among competitors) might come to characterize economic relations. During these years, Hoover repeatedly made known to friends his desire for public service.
Politically, Hoover identified with the progressive wing of the Republican Party, supporting Theodore Roosevelt's third-party bid in 1912. World War I brought Hoover to prominence in American politics and thrust him into the international spotlight. In London when the war broke out, he was asked by the U.S. consul to organize the evacuation of 120,000 Americans trapped in Europe. Germany's devastating invasion of Belgium led Hoover to pool his money with several wealthy friends to organize the Committee for the Relief of Belgium. Working without direct government support, Hoover raised millions of dollars for food and medicine to help desperate Belgians.
In 1917, after the United States entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson asked Hoover to run the U.S. Food Administration. Hoover performed quite admirably, guiding the effort to conserve resources and supplies needed for the war and to feed America's European allies. Hoover even became a household name during the war; nearly all Americans knew that the verb "to Hooverize" meant the rationing of household materials. After the armistice treaty was signed in November 1918, officially ending World War I, Wilson appointed Hoover to head the European Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In this capacity, Hoover channeled 34 million tons of American food, clothing, and supplies to war-torn Europe, aiding people in twenty nations.
His service during World War I made Hoover one of the few Republicans trusted by Wilson. Because of Hoover's knowledge of world affairs, Wilson relied him at the Versailles Peace Conference and as director of the President's Supreme Economic Council in 1918. The following year, Hoover founded the Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University as an archive for the records of World War I. This privately endowed organization later became the Hoover Institution, devoted to the study of peace and war. No isolationist, Hoover supported American participation in the League of Nations. He believed, though, that Wilson's stubborn idealism led Congress to reject American participation in the League.
Secretary of Commerce
In 1920, Hoover emerged as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination. His run was blocked, however, by fellow a Californian, Senator Hiram Johnson, who objected to Hoover's support for the League. Republican Warren Harding won the White House in 1920 and appointed Hoover as his secretary of commerce, a position that Hoover retained under Harding's successor, President Calvin Coolidge.
Under Hoover's leadership, the Department of Commerce became as influential and important a government agency as the Departments of State and Treasury. Hoover encouraged research into measures designed to counteract harmful business cycles. He supported government regulation of new industries like aviation and radio. He brought together more than one hundred different industries and convinced them to adopt standardized tools, hardware, building materials, and automobile parts. Finally, he aggressively pursued international trade opportunities for American business. To win these reforms, Hoover strengthened existing agencies in the Commerce Department, like the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, or simply established new ones, like the Bureau of Standards, for the standardization project. He also formed commissions that brought together government officials, experts, and leaders of the relevant economic sectors to work towards reform.
The initiatives Hoover supported as commerce secretary—and the ways in which he pursued them—reveal his thinking about contemporary life in the United States and about the federal government's role in American society. Hoover hoped to create a more organized economy that would regularize the business cycle, eliminating damaging ebbs and flows and generating higher rates of economic growth. He believed that eradicating waste and improving efficiency would achieve some of these results— thus, his support for standardization and for statistical research into the workings of the economy. He also believed that the American economy would be healthier if business leaders worked together, and with government officials and experts from the social sciences, in a form of private-sector economic planning. This stance led him to support trade associations—industry-wide cooperative groups wherein information on prices, markets, and products could be exchanged among competitors—which Hoover saw as a middle way between competition and monopoly. He insisted, though, that participation in these associations remain voluntary and that the government merely promote and encourage, rather than require, their establishment.
Hoover hoped that these innovations would strengthen what he saw as the central component of the American experience: individualism. In 1922, Hoover published a small book, entitled American Individualism, that examined the Western intellectual tradition's major social philosophies, including individualism, socialism, communism, capitalism, and autocracy. Hoover concluded that individualism was the superior principle around which to organize society. He rejected the laissez-faire capitalism of the Right and the socialism and communism of the Left because he believed that these ideologies hindered rather than helped the individual. Instead, Hoover sought a "balance of perspective" between Right and Left that theoretically would create and maintain opportunities for Americans to succeed. Through enterprises like those he championed as commerce secretary, Hoover believed the federal government could facilitate the creation of political, social, and economic conditions in which individual Americans could flourish.
Hoover's positions and thinking placed him solidly in the progressive camp of the Republican Party. As secretary of commerce, Hoover emerged as a potential running-mate for Coolidge in the 1924 presidential election, though that effort fell short. Hoover's reputation with the American people reached its peak in 1927, when he took charge of relief efforts following disastrous floods along the Mississippi River. The episode displayed Hoover at his best: as a humanitarian and leader with the ability to solve problems. When Coolidge announced in 1927 that he would not seek reelection, Hoover became the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. | <urn:uuid:494a31b6-e8c3-42b2-bcba-79889bce2dfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://millercenter.org/president/hoover/essays/biography/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971399 | 1,920 | 3.234375 | 3 |
December 4 is a very special day for the mining industry. This is the feast day of Barbara, Patron Saint for Miners and Blasters, and globally for all the professions that relate to fire (firemen, fireworks specialists, etc.)
From her tragic story, which appeared later to be a legend, "the belief became widespread that Barbara could control lightning and other manifestations of flame and fire. (...) Miners later developed the use of gunpowder for disintegrating rock, involving manifestations similar to thunder claps and lightning flashes. This led to their need for special protection against accidents from the use of explosives (...)" (Source: The Legend of Saint Barbara, Patron Saint of Mines in Infomine.com)
Saint Barbara remains a vivid part of mining traditions and heritage. In Europe, a statue of Saint Barbara always stands at the entrance of a tunnel construction site. A lot of mining countries still honor Saint Barbara, from Latin America to Asia. Many extraction sites have been named after Saint Barbara (Compania Minera Santa Barbara S.A. in Chile, Complejo Minero Santa Bárbara in Mexico, Barbara Experimental Coal Mine in Poland, St Barbara's Southern Cross in Australia, etc.), thereby keeping alive the reputation of Saint Barbara as our patron saint. | <urn:uuid:a000566e-4a70-4760-87f7-1d99f604d6ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mining.about.com/b/2011/12/03/barbara-patron-saint-of-miners.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918301 | 259 | 2.546875 | 3 |
MARQUETTE - Many Marquette Senior High School freshmen, forced to plot out their theoretical financial futures, got a serious dose of reality last week.
More than 200 freshmen spent weeks researching a possible future job and its average salary parameters. Then, during Thursday's Reality Store, the students took the role of adults and planned every aspect of their budget, including insurance, mortgage, vehicle and child care costs.
Garee Zellmer, a Marquette Area Public Schools employee and one of more than a dozen Reality Store volunteers, was overseeing the personal care booth, where students budgeted for make-up and personal hygiene products.
Saving money, as depicted by the iconic piggy bank image is among the life skills Marquette Senior High School students learn in an educational program called the Reality Store. (Journal file photo)
"Some of them think they need to have a really nice car," she said. "But when it comes down to brass tacks, you have to have shampoo."
Zellmer has volunteered at the Reality Store before - she returned because she thinks the experience is vital for students.
"I think it's really important," she said. "We send our kids out on their own, sometimes without the skills to help them be adults. We just assume they can do all this."
Each group of students spent roughly an hour visiting each of the 12 booths: housing, utilities, food, child care, transportation, insurance, clothing, medical/dental, personal care, savings/investment, travel/entertainment and reality check.
Sarah Carlson, a Kohl's employee and Reality Store volunteer, helped students determine how much they would spend on clothing each month. She said some of the participants have unrealistic expectations and the exercise gives them a chance to look at their possible future in context.
"I didn't have anything like this and when I got out there, I was terrible at budgets and finances," Carlson said. "Just absolutely horrendous."
In the weeks leading up to the Reality Store, student Danielle DeGarmo decided to become a daycare worker; for the purposes of the exercise, it was determined randomly that she was the single mother of a toddler.
DeGarmo selected budget-conscious options across the board and when money ran short, she picked up the highest-paying second job she could find: She became a farmer.
After hitting every booth but entertainment, she crunched the numbers. DeGarmo - the full-time daycare worker, part-time farmer and single mother - had $55 remaining each month.
If given the opportunity to recreate her fake life, she would do at least one thing differently.
"I would change my career," DeGarmo said. "There is just not enough money to get everything you need and want."
MSHS teacher Lisa Jahnke has been organizing the Reality Store for nearly a decade and said many students reach the same conclusion as DeGarmo.
"That happens more often than not, and that's what we want them to figure out," she said.
The goal of the Reality Store is to inform freshmen and to prepare them for a world in which they will have to budget effectively in order to succeed. As such, the students aren't allowed to role play extremely high-wage earners, like actors or athletes.
"We tell them to hope for the best and plan for the worst," Jahnke said. "You may be a great actor or a great hockey player, but what if you aren't?
"Anybody can live on a million dollars, but if you don't make it, what is your second choice?"
Kyle Whitney can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. | <urn:uuid:36cd3b80-658e-4bfe-bf4f-eb8da993db12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/562694/MSHS-students-learn-life-skills-in-educational-twist.html?nav=5138 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976826 | 773 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Swanson looks into chemicals found in drinking water in the east metro
St. Paul, Minn. — Debate continues over the safety of drinking water in the east metro, after a new kind of chemical known as PFBA, was detected in the city wells of Woodbury, Cottage Grove, Hastings, St. Paul Park, Newport and South St. Paul.
The substance is one of a family of perfluorochemicals once made by 3M at its facilities in the east metro.
Detection of the chemicals in water supplies in the east metro, has sparked legislative hearings.
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is now looking to get more information about the chemicals to determine if any legal action should be taken. She spoke with MPR's Cathy Wurzer.
- Morning Edition, 03/08/2007, 8:33 a.m. | <urn:uuid:71291965-89e2-4b5c-9e1c-18899f247dc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/03/08/swanson | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957758 | 175 | 1.875 | 2 |
If it wasn’t for earthquakes, humans wouldn’t have innovated architecture
They wouldn’t have looked into new ways of building homes, but the problem is that we got good at it – good to the points our homes won’t be destroyed frequently enough aka they won’t evolute frequently.
If you look around you, there is very few free space - and in those spots you find big centers being eradicated everyday – safe and resistant enough – specially to earthquakes – what on earth will take down those inefficient dumb primitive beton monsters and make room for better buildings in the future ?
So the problem behind this is the ever expanding gap between technology and architecture : our homes will always be behind technology/progress – they will be always less optimal.
I can only imagine how better the earth will be if our houses were “smart” or modern enough – it is not science fiction – the way we build stuff is very retarded to say the least when it comes to the material used, energy saving, what a home can “do” and it is just not possible “business wise” to say : ok, let us destroy and rebuild.
Before, nature took care of this, slowly and “less painfully”
As little earthquakes happened, our primitive cities got “devastated”, we rebuilt them in a better way but the costs were small.
We kept gradually improving till our cities became resistant to medium/high earthquakes.
We reached this point of the graph where things slow down, become stable – it is cool not to have the tragedy and misery of earthquakes, but on the other hand there is the hidden and expensive cost of stability and non-progress. It is invisible and super slow but as devastating in its effect as that 2 minutes tragedy called earthquake
Our homes are costing the earth dearly and suffocating it – we need earthquakes to give engineers another better large-scale chance/try.
Before I start sounding too embarrassingly enthusiastic about earthquakes and destruction, here is a link on list of earthquakes – it has
- Main lists of earthquakes
- Historical earthquakes (before 1901)
- List of 20th century earthquakes (1901–2000)
- List of 21st century earthquakes (2001–present)
- Lists of earthquakes by country
- Largest earthquakes by magnitude
- Deadliest earthquakes on record
Enjoy the read !Read More | <urn:uuid:232a566f-fd11-4f6c-a2c2-97a9dce2484f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mireille.it/2010/10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959379 | 499 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Not only is it likely that the FDA will approve of adding aspartame to milk; they’ll say it just grand for it to be done without labeling it or notifying consumers…
Natural News – “You probably already know that the FDA has declared war on raw milk and even helped fund and coordinate armed government raids against raw milk farmers and distributors. Yes, it’s insane. This brand of tyranny is unique to the USA and isn’t even conducted in China, North Korea or Cuba.
Only in the USA are raw milk farmers treated like terrorists.
But now the situation is getting even more insane than you could have imagined: the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition with the FDA asking the FDA to alter the definition of “milk” to secretly include chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.
Importantly, none of these additives need to be listed on the label. They will simply be swept under the definition of “milk,” so that when a company lists “milk” on the label, it automatically includes aspartame or sucralose. And if you’re trying to avoid aspartame, you’ll have no way of doing so because it won’t be listed on the label.
This isn’t only for milk, either: It’s also for yogurt, cream, sour cream, eggnog, whipping cream and a total of 17 products, all of which are listed in the petition at FDA.gov.
As the petition states:
IDFA and NMPF request their proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity to allow optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk (e.g., chocolate flavoring added to milk) to be sweetened with any safe and suitable sweetener — including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame.
This is all being done to “save the children,” we’re told, because the use of aspartame in milk products would reduce calories.
Milk industry specifically asks to HIDE aspartame from consumers
Astonishingly, the dairy industry is engaged in extreme doublespeak logic and actually arguing that aspartame should be hidden from consumers by not listing it on the label. Here’s what the petition says:
IDFA and NMPF argue that nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” are not attractive to children, and maintain that consumers can more easily identify the overall nutritional value of milk products that are flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners if the labels do not include such claims. Further, the petitioners assert that consumers do not recognize milk — including flavored milk — as necessarily containing sugar. Accordingly, the petitioners state that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can “more easily identify its overall nutritional value.”
In other words, hiding aspartame from consumers by not including it on the label actually helps consumers, according to the IDFA and NMPF! | <urn:uuid:360ac494-7a2c-44c3-91e1-48e2ef93580b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://misbehavedwoman.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/groups-pressure-fda-to-allow-aspartame-in-milk-for-the-children/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933727 | 661 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Chemical structure of oxycodone
Oxycodone is a highly addictive drug that Jack is seen abusing in the flash-forwards. Some commonly known commercial formulations include "OxyContin", as well as the acetominophen-oxycodone combination sold as "Percocet".
Around a year after he had been rescued from the island, Jack had apparently become dependent on this drug. As a medical doctor, Jack would have been well aware of the addictive properties of the drug. ("Through the Looking Glass")
Benjamin Linus flushed down Jack's oxycodone stash while staying with him in a hotel room. ("The Beginning of the End")
- Oxycodone is a prescription opiate and has addictive properties similar to heroin which Charlie was addicted to at the time of the crash.
- In the United States, Oxycodone is classified as a "Schedule II Drug" and is highly regulated by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Refills for these drugs are not permitted in any US state, however, Jack apparently had 3 refills, according to the pharmacist in the flash forward. In some states, written prescriptions for Oxycodone and all other Schedule II drugs must be confirmed through the prescribing doctor within 72 hours.
- Jack is seen stealing sample packets of generic oxycodone. Although samples are liberally distributed by pharmaceutical sales representatives, US federal law prohibits samples of Schedule II drugs.
- Also known as "Hillbilly Heroin". Oxycodone was initially marketed as having less risk of dependence or addiction than other prescription painkillers. (Note that heroin was also initially, 100 years ago, marketed as a non-addictive substitute for morphine.)
- In July 2007, a federal judge fined the makers of OxyContin $634.5 million for misleading the public about its risk of addiction (AP) | <urn:uuid:8e5a8922-29b6-4cda-b694-176e4ef666bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://misc.thefullwiki.org/Oxycodone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971115 | 378 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Let Detroit Go Bankrupt is an Op-Ed by Mitt Romney that appeared in The New York Times on 11/18/2008.
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.
First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.
That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.
Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.
The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.”
You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.
The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.
Investments must be made for the future. No more focus on quarterly earnings or the kind of short-term stock appreciation that means quick riches for executives with options. Manage with an eye on cash flow, balance sheets and long-term appreciation. Invest in truly competitive products and innovative technologies — especially fuel-saving designs — that may not arrive for years. Starving research and development is like eating the seed corn.
Just as important to the future of American carmakers is the sales force. When sales are down, you don’t want to lose the only people who can get them to grow. So don’t fire the best dealers, and don’t crush them with new financial or performance demands they can’t meet.
It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.
But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.
The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.
In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was a candidate for this year’s Republican presidential nomination.1 views | <urn:uuid:7c2f10d5-d566-4d3f-a415-94ec347c26e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mittromneycentral.com/op-eds/2008-op-eds/let-detroit-go-bankrupt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963904 | 1,142 | 1.742188 | 2 |
♥ wooden plaque (small 3" to 5" size, any shape, unfinished)
♥ acrylic paint
♥ Iron-on transfer sheet for LIGHT fabrics
♥ small piece of cotton fabric, light color and pattern
♥ Mod Podge
Step One: Prep your wooden plaque. Smooth with fine grain sand paper if desired. You can purchase these small wooden plaques at most craft store for 50 cents each. I purchased mine from my local Hobby Lobby, but they also sell them online here.
Step Two: Paint the plaque. I just used classic black acrylic paint, but feel free to go wild and use any color of your choice. I only painted the sides and the back, leaving the top unfinished, since the top will be covered by the silhouette.
Step Three: Create your digital silhouette. This is the most tedious part of this project, but it's worth it to make digital silhouettes of your children because then you can use them to make a countless different projects. The best way to draw your digital silhouette is by creating a vector image in a program such as Adobe Illustrator. Vector images are created using "paths" such as points and curves that connect. Like this:
This means that your image will retain its same high quality whether you enlarge it to the size of a house or shrink it to the size of a peanut. Very cool indeed. Drawing vector files takes practice, but it's definitely a handy thing to know. I taught myself by watching this excellent tutorial on YouTube. I will not attempt to teach vector drawing in this brief tutorial. If you are familiar with creating vectors, great, but if not then here is an alternative method to creating your silhouette:
- Take a profile picture of your child. Good luck trying to get them to NOT look at the camera. Take at least 10 pictures and use the best one out of the lot.
- Upload the photo onto your computer and print the head/shoulder profile picture as large as possible onto an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. Print as is, in color.
- Lay a plain white sheet of paper on top of your printed picture. Tape at sides to hold sheets together.
- Tape to a window with lots of natural light. Use a pencil to trace the silhouette. Free-form draw the shoulder bust as desired.
- Remove silhouette from window and using a fine-tip permanent black marker, carefully trace the silhouette over the pencil lines. Since you used a permanent marker, you can now go back and erase your pencil lines without the black marker smudging.
- Scan the silhouette image into your computer and use a paint or photo editing program to fill the silhouette in black. Also, clean up your image by tweaking the brightness, contrast levels. Crop and save as a jpeg.
A third alternative is to hire someone to draw your vector image for you (not me). There are a lot of sellers on Etsy that will do this :)
Step Four: Size your silhouette and add text. Determine the size your silhouette should be based on the size and shape wooden plaque you are using. Size silhouette accordingly, add text. Once you are happy with your layout, you will need to REFLECT/MIRROR/HORIZONTALLY FLIP the image so the text is mirrored. Now print a test page and lay it over your plaque to make sure it lines up nicely.
Step Five: Create your iron transfer. It is important that you buy the iron-on transfer sheets for LIGHT fabric (not dark). The iron-on transfers for light fabric are transparent, and will allow your cute fabric to show through, as well as laminate it nicely and prevent fraying. Follow the instructions for printing your silhouette.
Step Six: Apply your transfer. Cut your fabric piece to roughly the size your need to cover your plaque. Your transfer should be laying on the RIGHT side of your fabric. Tip: Before you iron your transfers, run a lint brush over your fabric to remove any unsightly fuzzies that will be come forever trapped beneath the transfer.
Now use your superwoman strength to firmly iron your transfer, using the highest heat setting, and NO STEAM. Iron in circular motion.
Cool completely and peel away paper.
Step Seven: Mount your silhouette. Cut your iron-on transfer to the shape of the wooden plaque. A good way of doing this is making a template first. Lay a sheet of paper over your plaque and use your finger to trace and crease. Cut out paper template, center it over your iron transfer, and cut out your image.
Now go make a bunch... the grandparents are going to love these! | <urn:uuid:3190b085-ad5b-40cb-8db2-539bfc0edf2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://modestmaven.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899472 | 959 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Your favorite Apple, iPhone, iPad, iOS, Jailbreak, and Cydia site.
iPhone Newsforums, a part of the
Some Apps Are Just Meant To Be Private Let's face it, there is a lot of personal information that we cram into our iDevices. Contacts, notes, social networking accounts, email,...
08-10-2010, 05:33 PM #1
Locktopus : Password Protect Your Apps [Review]
Some Apps Are Just Meant To Be Private
Let's face it, there is a lot of personal information that we cram into our iDevices. Contacts, notes, social networking accounts, email, photos, you name it. All of which could potentially be hijacked or viewed from someone who manages to spend a few seconds on your iDevice. It happens; a friend who is perhaps interested in your iPhone asks if he can take a look, but your hesitant to hand it over, at the risk of leaving something available for him/her to accidentally open. But what if you could have the confidence in knowing that what you want to be kept private, will indeed stay private.
Enter Locktopus. The most slick, tightly integrated, App Protection your iDevice has ever seen. Best of all it's compatible with the ALL devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod), and firmware 3.x up to iOS 4.0.1.
What makes Locktopus unique is that unlike other apps which require you to respring for changes, Locktopus will allow you to lock your apps by simply tapping the bottom left corner of the app while it's in "wiggly mode". (That's when you press and hold an app to rearrange them.) You will see a red lock appear indicating the app is now locked. Tap your home button to exit wiggly mode and your ready to go.
Once everything is locked the way you'd like it, your apps will ask for a password before launching. The default password can be changed in the Settings preferences. The default is "password".
Not only is it easy to activate, but it's just as easy to deactivate. Simply tap to turn the lock icon off. You will be prompted for the password again in order to disable a locked app. Forget the hassle of respringing and re-opening apps over and over again.
Use lock toggles in wiggle mode
The default password is: password
Change the password from Settings app
Forget your password? Reinstall this extension with Cydia. If you locked Cydia, you must disable this extension with SBSettings, or by manually renaming or removing it via SSH. Upon the doing so, you can open Cydia and reinstall. Contact the authors if you need further assistance.
Hands down, Locktopus is THE BEST app protection software you can get for your Jailbroken iDevice.
Locktopus is created by John Heaton (@gojohnnyboi) and Coleman Stavish (@c_axis)
08-10-2010, 05:36 PM #2
Good app but 2 dollars. There are apps in Cydia that do this for free.
08-10-2010, 05:39 PM #3
or for protecting your porn
08-10-2010, 05:42 PM #4
08-10-2010, 05:44 PM #5
08-10-2010, 05:45 PM #6
What about Lockdown on cydia
08-10-2010, 05:47 PM #7
Does this work on the iPad or is there something that will do this for the iPad?
08-10-2010, 05:50 PM #8
You said its easy to deactivate just tap to unlock. My question is does it ask for the password when unlocking?
08-10-2010, 05:51 PM #9
08-10-2010, 05:52 PM #10
08-10-2010, 05:53 PM #11
Lockdown is not compatible on iOS 4.0+, nor has the developer confirmed there will be an update for itDon't forget to hit the thanks button if you liked what I said or did
The Following User Says Thank You to zinjen For This Useful Post:
08-10-2010, 05:55 PM #12
You could always say no if someone asks to see your iphone. wtf? there seems to be several things in cydia that don't work with 4.0 or 4.0.1 I am not talking about themes. Themes works.
Last edited by mikerlx; 08-10-2010 at 06:02 PM.
08-10-2010, 05:56 PM #13iPhone Developer
Email: [email protected]
Anthrax ram disk kit developer, hacker.
08-10-2010, 05:56 PM #14
08-10-2010, 05:59 PM #15
iprotect on ios4 is still better IMOiElegance Pro HD, can't wait!!!!!!
08-10-2010, 06:00 PM #16
I really want this, but are there any other options that are similar to this app?
08-10-2010, 06:02 PM #17
iProtect does all this. And doesn't reveal which apps are locked, prompting a suspicious gf/wife to ask,"why does this icon have a lock next to it?"
PS-iProtect is hassle free, no respringing. Only difference is the key entry, iProtect is numerical.
08-10-2010, 06:06 PM #18
08-10-2010, 06:10 PM #19
08-10-2010, 06:14 PM #20
You can still get to Photos if you don't lock the camera app >.< | <urn:uuid:8141cabf-1e21-4ad6-902d-948ab02ca43f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news/723654-locktopus-password-protect-your-apps-review.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906854 | 1,219 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Deep-space communication improved with electromagnetic radiation antenna
- Robert C. Dye
- Technology Transfer
- (505) 667-3404
Electromagnetic radiation antenna has potential for deep-space communication
- Directed Energy
- Long-range communications
- Medicine (Oncology)
- RADAR imaging applications are countermeasure-resistant
- Communications can be spatially-encrypted
- 4-dimensional volumes of energy can be aimed at a single space-time point for directed energy applications
- Nonspherical decay of the cusp enables low-power communications and propagation over great distances
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) researchers have developed the Lightslinger, a completely new type of antenna that produces tightly-focused packets of electromagnetic radiation fundamentally different from the emissions of conventional transmitters. The device has potential applications in RADAR, directed-energy (non-kinetic kill), secure communications, ultra-long-range communications (e.g., deep-space), medicine (oncology) and astrophysics.
The Lightslinger functions by producing a moving polarization pattern in a ring of alumina. By careful timing of voltages applied to electrodes that surround the alumina, the polarization pattern can be made to move superluminally, i.e., faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. Nobel laureate Vitaly Ginzberg showed both that such superluminal polarization patterns do not violate the principles of special relativity and that they emit electromagnetic radiation. Once a source travels faster than the waves that it emits, it can make contributions at multiple retarded times to a signal received instantaneously at a distance. This effect is already well known in acoustics; when a supersonic airplane accelerates through the speed of sound, a violent “sonic boom” is heard many miles away, even if the airplane itself is rather quiet. The Lightslinger enables the same thing to be done with electromagnetic radiation; i.e., a relatively low-power source can make an “electromagnetic boom”, an intense concentration of radiowaves at a great distance.
The “electromagnetic boom” is due to temporal focusing, that is, focusing in the time domain. Because of this effect, part of the emitted radiation possesses an intensity that decays with distance r as 1/r rather than as the conventional inverse square law, 1/r2. These nonspherically-decaying wavepackets represent a game-changing technology in the applications of electromagnetic radiation.
Development stage: Working prototype
Patent status: Patent pending
Licensing status: Available for exclusive or non-exclusive licensing | <urn:uuid:79bc5d65-38cf-489f-b8c5-6800ff88c6f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://[email protected]/collaboration/tech-transfer/tech-transfer-summaries/electromagnetic-radiation-antenna-has-potential-for-deep-space-communication.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.881394 | 545 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Here’s a common struggle between parents and kids – getting them to take their medicine when they are sick. From the little ones that spit it out to the teenager who argues they don’t need it, kids can put up a good fight, but to a sick kid everything feels like an intrusion and a demand. When you’re sick – reason and common sense don’t exist – just give me a pillow and the couch and I’ll be happy – thank you very much! I ended up having to bribe my kids or using reverse psychology like, “This medicine will help you feel better so you can go back to the playground.”
Are you as an adult rejecting to take your proverbial medicine when it comes to getting what you say you want in life?
People tell me all the time that they wished they had a better understanding and relationship with their money. Yet they refuse (choose) to take, accept or acknowledge what they need to do to make changes and heal that connection. Are you frustrated with your circumstances, struggling or have too much pride (or shame and guilt) to admit that you need help?
If so, here are some ‘medicine taking’ tips for ‘adults’, for those of you who want to change your current association and conditions with money.
Make it taste better…have fun – join a group or start a program with a friend who wants to make changes too… it’s easier to be part of group that are all on the same page rather than doing it alone.
Have a regular treatment taking time… in other words – every morning take 15-30 minutes to go over your goals and the action steps that you need to do that day to get you closer to what you say want.
Create choices whenever you can. Believe it or not – not all advice is the same ;) – so get some that works for you – Taking your medicine is non-negotiable, but how you do it is! Simple choices will give you a needed sense of control over the situation. You’ll need to tailor a plan that works for you – you are unique and have to find the right strategy that works for you.
Know the consequences. If you refuse to take the necessary steps and actions then you are choosing to stay in the same situation you are in.
Let another adult try. If Mom was better than Dad, then she was the main caregiver of the medicine. Are you trying to do it yourself – or have you been getting advice and nothing has changed? Maybe it’s time to reach out – get some help so you can get back on track (or even start a track!). It’s actually a sign of strength rather than weakness and believe me, I know from my own experience – it far outweighs staying ‘sick’. | <urn:uuid:c56765a4-9577-4753-b6ea-d8d784b2992e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://molchanfinancial.com/are-you-resisting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954785 | 592 | 1.804688 | 2 |
There have been many critical examinations of New York Times articles on this website, and I’ve had my share of such posts to the point where it has gotten tiresome. But there is literally an endless supply of material. A particularly irksome error appears in today’s paper, in an article by Isabel Kershner on the shocking (!) finding of the Turkel Commission that Israel acted legally in killing nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara. While the Times article is worthy of more in-depth analysis, there is one whopper that stands out above all others:
Israel imposed its maritime blockade on Gaza in January 2009 during its military offensive against Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza. The commission justified the blockade on security grounds, citing a need ‘to prevent weapons, terrorists and money from entering the Gaza Strip, and the need to prevent the departure of terrorists.’
Note how the first sentence is presented as objective fact, that the blockade was imposed in January 2009 during Israel’s attack, thereby supporting the Commission’s claim in the second sentence that the purposes of the blockade were solely military. Anyone paying minimal attention to the Gaza siege knows full well that Israel had been punishing the entire civilian population by severely curtailing the availability of basic goods since at least 2006, including by land or sea. Prior to 2009, there had been several attempts to bring in such civilian goods by sea, with mixed success; some ships were allowed to pass and others were stopped, or even rammed by the Israeli Navy, like the Dignity in late December, 2008.. Where did Kershner get her starting date for the naval blockade? From the Turkel Commission Report itself, which stated in par. 5 of its Summary:
After the Hamas terrorist organization seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the Government adopted various measures. On January 3, 2009, during Operation ‘Cast Lead,’ Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastline of the Gaza Strip. . . the Government of Israel imposed the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip for military-security reasons, which mainly concerned the need to prevent weapons, terrorists, and money from entering the Gaza Strip, and the need to prevent the departure of terrorists and additional threats from the Gaza Strip by sea. The naval blockade was not imposed in order to restrict the transfer of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip or to disrupt the commercial relations of the Gaza Strip. . . .
The naval blockade was imposed on January 3, 2009? What was it called before that date? What transformed an existing “blockade” of land and sea into some other type of “naval blockade” or vice versa? How could Kershner buy the nonsense that the naval blockade was implemented as late as January, 2009, with the goal of keeping weapons out of Gaza? This is not a trivial mistake, but a truly profound one. Israel’s long-standing policy of deliberately restricting a civilian population’s access to food, water, medicines, fuel, books and toys is generally viewed by all but the most cold-hearted as sadistic and cruel, not to mention illegal. There is a vast difference in public perception between keeping out arms and keeping out such basic necessities. In the wake of the Mavi Marmara murders, there was a thoroughly dishonest but reasonably successful campaign to re-cast the blockade as one that was designed to keep out military supplies only. It’s no surprise that the Turkel Commission continued in this effort, but how could Kershner forget what had been a continuing news story for three years before Cast Lead? Of course, if Kershner’s amnesia could have been cured had she glanced at the Ha’aretz article on the Turkel Commission, which accurately records: “The Turkel Commission also determined that Israel's three-and-a-half year blockade of the Gaza Strip does not break international law.”
This is the way lies become history. This is why so many believe that there were thousands of rockets launched from Lebanon against Israel in 1982 and again in 2000-2006, prompting the two “wars”; that Arafat initiated the Second Intifada of terrorism to win with violence what he failed to win through negotiations; that Israel’s siege of Gaza was to keep out weapons. Every time these factoids are repeated in the newspaper of record and similar MSM outlets, they become more ingrained in the collective memory. Even if Kershner did not deliberately lie, she was inexcusably lazy and careless in simply repeating a critical misrepresentation by the Turkel Commission, rather than accurately reporting an undisputed fact. | <urn:uuid:3951d6aa-0709-41d7-81fe-3504315b8305> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/times-kershner-uses-biased-turkel-history-to-report-on-biased-turkel-report.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975013 | 951 | 2.109375 | 2 |
This insightful research by respected Israeli scholar Nurit Peled-Elhanan will confirm what Palestinian researchers have always known: Israel's prevailing culture of racism, fundamentalism, support for war crimes, and apartheid against Palestinians is mainly a product of an educational system that indoctrinates Jewish-Israeli students with militant colonial values and extreme racism that turn them into "monsters" once in uniform.
Guardian: Academic claims Israeli school textbooks contain bias "Nurit Peled-Elhanan of Hebrew University says textbooks depict Palestinians as 'terrorists, refugees and primitive farmers"
"Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has studied the content of Israeli school books for the past five years, and her account, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, is to be published in the UK this month. She describes what she found as racism– but, more than that, a racism that prepares young Israelis for their compulsory military service.
"People don't really know what their children are reading in textbooks," she said. "One question that bothers many people is how do you explain the cruel behaviour of Israeli soldiers towards Palestinians, an indifference to human suffering, the inflicting of suffering. People ask how can these nice Jewish boys and girls become monsters once they put on a uniform. I think the major reason for that is education. So I wanted to see how school books represent Palestinians."
In "hundreds and hundreds" of books, she claims she did not find one photograph that depicted an Arab as a "normal person". The most important finding in the books she studied – all authorised by the ministry of education – concerned the historical narrative of events in 1948, the year in which Israel fought a war to establish itself as an independent state, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the ensuing conflict.
The killing of Palestinians is depicted as something that was necessary for the survival of the nascent Jewish state, she claims."
Those who see this as an aberration of Zionism seem to lack sufficient understanding of what Zionism really is and the central role it plays as a patently racist ideology in justifying ethnic cleansing and racist domination over Palestinians.
One should not wonder then why, at the height of the Israeli massacre in Gaza 2008-09, a Tel Aviv University poll (reported in the Jerusalem Post, Jan. '09) of Jewish-Israeli opinion showed a shocking 94% support for the assault, despite full knowledge of the enormous suffering this Israeli aggression had inflicted upon the 1.5 million Palestinians incarcerated in the Gaza "prison camp" and of the massive destruction of their civilian infrastructure.
As in every other colonial system, only sustained and effective pressure from within as well as from without can put an end to this downward spiral of criminality, impunity and unspoken racism. More BDS is needed to end Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid. Other than the obvious benefits to indigenous Palestinians, suffering more than six decades of this three-tiered system of Israeli oppression, an end to this system of oppression may well transform most Israelis from colonial "monsters" into normal humans.
(ed note: Nurit Peled-Elhanan is author of Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education. International publisher I.B.TAURIS description: "She analyzes the presentation of images, maps, layouts and use of language in History, Geography and Civic Studies textbooks, and reveals how the books might be seen to marginalize Palestinians, legitimize Israeli military action and reinforce Jewish-Israeli territorial identity. This book provides a fresh scholarly contribution to the Israeli-Palestinian debate, and will be relevant to the fields of Middle East Studies and Politics more widely.") | <urn:uuid:678fe9bf-3c2f-442f-8e14-46356c50951b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mondoweiss.net/2011/08/israeli-textbooks-portray-palestinians-as-terrorists-refugees-and-primitive-farmers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948717 | 757 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Basically the rules state that if your property is producing income you can claim expenses (like interest on mortgage, rates, maintenance etc) on it, and you have to pay capital gains if you sell at a higher price than what you paid for it plus buying and selling costs.
If you live in it (and it does not produce any income) you do not pay any capital gains when you sell but also cannot claim expenses on it.
If you live in it as your primary residence, and then rent it out because you have to move else-where due to certain circumstances and the property remains your primary residence (ie you may have had to relocate due to work and are renting in this new location), you have 6 years in which to sell it and not be liable to pay any capital gains.
If you live in it for part of the time and rent it out during other times and you don't qualify for the above rule, then you are liable to pay capital gains based on the periods you have rented out the property. So you would need to estimate the value of the property for each point in time you move in and out to work out how much capital gain you would be liable for (it would be good to get an appraisal or valuation at these points in time).
If you live in the property and have paying house mates or use part of the property to produce income, you will have to work out what portion of the house is income producing and then use this percentage to work out the proportion of expenses you can claim against the income. You would also use this percentage to work out the capital gains tax you have to pay if you sold it.
For example, say you have a 3 bedroom house and rent out 1 bedroom and the normal rent for the whole house was $300 per week and you rented one bedroom for $100 per week, you could estimate that the proportion producing the income is 33.33%. Then you could claim 33.33% of all your property related expenses as a tax deduction. Also, say if you bought the house for $300,000 and sold it for $450,000 about 5 years later, your capital gains liability could be worked out as such (ignoring all buying and selling costs for simplicity):
Profit on sale: $450,000 - $300,000 = $150,000
Profit x Portion of Property Producing Income = $150,000 x 33.33% = $50,000
Capital Gain Liability (including discount for holding asset 12+ months) = $50,000 x 0.5 =$25,000.
You would then multiply your marginal tax rate by the $25,000 to work out how much capital gains tax you would have to pay. | <urn:uuid:1106aa15-92e1-43ef-bcee-61cee99c4344> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.stackexchange.com/questions/13514/residence-vs-investment-property-in-australia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968971 | 560 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Vladimir Petek (Zagreb 1940–2003): is one of the great names of the Croatian experimental cinema. His involvement with photography begins in 1954, with film in 1957. He completed more than 130 films. He had received over 80 prizes and 120 diplomas. He held the degree of the master of film from 1964. His experimental films, made between 1960 and 1962, initiated the debate “Anti–ilm and Us” which eventually led to the launching of the GEFF Festival of the Experimental Film. Petek was member of its organizational committee. He is also the author of the Zag camera group and founder of FAVITA (Film, a/v investigation, TV, 1971). Within the latter project and its collaborators, je produced more than 80 multimedia works, primarily involving multiplied and simultaneous screenings of films or slides. Petek assembled his first film from rejected and recycled materials; onto these he applied the editing touches such as direct intervention of the tape (cutting, coloring) or the synchronizing of synthetic sounds. Film Doe No. 1 (1962) was a painting intervention and drawing animation applied directly to the 16 mm film tape. Meeting (1963) is a visual segment combining several formats and methods of direct application on the tape. Petek’s experiments with the multiplied screen involved the simultaneous, multi–channel screenings rotating around their axis at full 360 degrees.
See also: Croatia#Experimental_film | <urn:uuid:acc30fe2-1a08-4985-8155-b755248dd3dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://monoskop.org/Vladimir_Petek | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954222 | 294 | 1.820313 | 2 |
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Original theme created by Shaun Daubney (Newbury College). | <urn:uuid:a8dbc6b5-ab2b-408a-b61e-6a243c492ec6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moodle.hsd1.org/course/category.php?id=34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.848 | 352 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss...– Walt Whitman (via elige)
For you my beautiful Twenty-Something... →
“…my life is going to work out because I’m starting to put the pieces together in an intentional way.”
The less we have, the more we have.
jinglejangled: Mother nature provides what we desire. Oshen
Poetry holds the knowledge that we are alive and that we know we’re going to...– In honor of National Poetry Month, we’re replaying our interview with poet Marie Howe tomorrow. (via nprfreshair)
We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that...– Marcel Proust (via elige)
“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is...
It seems that these people believe that until the federal Storm Troopers knock...– Chuck Baldwin, The Baltimore Chronicle (via elige)
‘Maybe…you’ll fall in love with me all over again.’ ‘Hell,’ I said, ‘I love you...– Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (via boxofoctaves) | <urn:uuid:62d8eb68-8cb2-4b8c-9536-03047cde2c58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moonlitfirefly.tumblr.com/archive?before_time=1335297474 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.882633 | 276 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Donald R. “Pete” Hart, Jr. ’33, 1918 – 2011, A Mooreland Treasure – The oldest Mooreland Hill School alumnus, Donald R, “Pete” Hart, Jr. ’33, April 17, 2011. One of the first four students in the little school founded by his mother and friends, Pete Hart began a 78-year history with Mooreland Hill School (nee Shuttle Meadow School, from which he graduated in 1933. He prepped at Avon Old Farms School (classmate and dear friend of folksinger Pete Seeger), spent his college days at Amherst College, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, master 13 languages, taught French, German, Spanish and Latin and headed the Language Department at Avon Old Farms.
Pete was truly a man for all seasons. Drafted early in World War II, he was one of a select group of individuals who founded the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) now the C.I.A. During his time of service, he handled French sabotage operations in France, ran a spy transit station and captured Nazi collaborators in Paris after its liberation, all for which he received the prestigious and coveted Legion of Honor medal from the French Government. From 1983 to 1999, he and his wife Vera volunteered fro the disaster program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), working at more than 30 disaster sites.
His Mooreland Hill connections were also legion: student, graduate, alumnus, parent, Board member and volunteer extraordinary. During his Mooreland years he often rode his horse to school “parking” him in the school’s red barn, now the site of the Robert C. Vance Center. For as long as can be remembered he annually attended Mooreland graduations along with his sister Mary Jane Hart Clark ’35 and was often a guest speaker for special campus events. During the school’s 75th anniversary celebration he was unanimously selected for the Volunteer of The Century Award.
A Special note is Pete’s stint as an editor. With the help of Mooreland friend and cousin Norman Eddy ’34, Pete created a neighborhood mimeographed weekly Current Events of the Week, while he was a Mooreland student. The paper was filled with gossip, school news, creative writing and sold for five cents a copy. It was a total moneymaker; all of the proceeds paid for a cruise to Bermuda for the young boys, all by themselves. In the 1980’s Pete resurrected the newspaper as Current Events of the World, compiling news from a cadre of 200 family members and friends for over 20 years.
In addition to his wife Vera and sister Mary Jane, Pete leaves behind a wealth of family and friends including his brother Dr. David L. Hart “33, and his children Peter R. Hart, Christine H. Hart ’68, and Philip D. Hart.
The obituary of Donald R. “Pete” Hart, Jr. closed with” a direct quote from a ‘self obit’ he wrote a few years ago: ‘Now you have read quite enough, and so I bid you all adieu.’” | <urn:uuid:5b73db3d-b9f4-45d0-8862-f8187672e191> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mooreland.org/category/in-memoriam/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978677 | 666 | 1.671875 | 2 |
It’s good to be back in the office again! I’ve just returned from a speaking engagement in Phoenix, Arizona, and a side trip to the Grand Canyon. This is the fourth time I’ve hiked the Canyon, not counting one mule trip. True, I’m ten years older than I was the last time I hiked it, but hey, the Canyon’s ten years older too! (I guess there’s a flaw in that logic somewhere.)
From the South Rim of the Canyon to the Phantom Ranch at the bottom is a vertical descent from about 6,860 feet to about 2,400 feet (the North Rim is about 8,241 feet). Descending on the South Kaibab Trail and returning to the top on the Bright Angel Trail is about a 16.3 mile round trip, strenuous but glorious. The view is incredible, and it changes every few minutes and every few feet.
Listed by some as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon is truly a testimony to the beauty of God’s creation. But some would explain it otherwise. On the South Rim one may travel the Trail of Time (http://trailoftime NULL.org/). Every few yards along this 2.83 mile Trail is a rock, embedded in concrete, with a date and explanation. For example, near the beginning of the Trail of Time is a specimen of Vishnu Schist, from the Vishnu Layer enfolded with the Zoroaster Layer near the bottom of the Canyon. Each exhibit is labeled by age, and as one walks the Trail one observes 1.7-billion-year-old folds, then 1.2-billion-year-old mud cracks, 800-million-year-old algai reefs, and 270-million-year-old fossils. Thus, on a relatively short walk, one will have traversed about one and a half billion years.
These dates reflect the conclusions of eminently-qualified scientists. But they are just that — conclusions. Many disagree with these conclusions, including highly-qualified scientists. A Gallup poll from just last week shows that 46% of the public believes God created man within the last 10,000 years (http://www NULL.gallup NULL.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins NULL.aspx), about 32% believe God guided an evolutionary process over millions of years, and only 15% believe in naturalistic evolution.
Should I object that my tax dollars are being used to proclaim, as dogmatic fact, what is only an opinion that I personally reject? Or should I “lighten up” and not get upset when I see something with which I disagree?
Maybe so. But then, why do American Atheists, Inc., get so upset just because one of their number might happen to drive on a Utah highway and see a cross with the name of a patrolman (http://morallaw NULL.org/news/roy-moore-foundation-defend-utah-highway-crosses-in-supreme-court-brief) who died on that site in the line of duty? Why do civil liberties groups go ballistic when they see the Ten Commandments on public property? Why does the Freedom From Religion Foundation write a threatening letter when they learn of a sign at the entrance to the Town of Sylvania, Alabama (http://morallaw NULL.org/news/judge-roy-moore-foundation-to-defend-alabama-town-signs), saying “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism”?
And why do the courts sometimes agree with these complaints? In several cases, courts have said that these displays appear to constitute state endorsement of religion and communicate a message of exclusion to those who do not share the message conveyed by the display.
For the sake of argument, let’s accept that assertion. But then, why must tolerance be only a one-way street? Should the Trail of Time — erected at the Canyon at my expense — communicate a message of exclusion to me? As a creationist, should I feel that I am not fully part of the community because I do not accept the uniformitarian and evolutionary conclusions written in stone on the Trail of Time and elsewhere throughout the Grand Canyon and practically all national parks? Because I reject the conclusion that the various layers of rock in the Grand Canyon were laid over hundreds of millions of years, should I conclude that I am not really welcome to hike its trails?
As in so many other areas, the courts often treat Establishment Clause cases with a double standard. But I need only gaze upon the magnificence of the Canyon to reassure myself that blind nature could never have formed such a wonder, but only the hand of God Himself.
In one of my many conversations while hiking the Bright Angel Trail, a man asked me, “Does the Bible say anything about the Grand Canyon?” I answered, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and then noted that the Great Flood of Noah’s time explained the formation of the Canyon far better than a uniformitarian process.
Those who want an alternative explanation, presented by qualified scientists, are encouraged to read Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe, ed. Dr. Stephen A. Austin (Institute for Creation Research 1994). | <urn:uuid:0399bfc8-1db9-4091-bd73-7f752e807069> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://morallaw.org/blog/2012/06/grand-canyons-trail-of-time-must-creationists-take-a-hike/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937465 | 1,125 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Did George Washington really chop down his families cherry tree with a hatchet? We may never know, but this website I went to seems pretty accurate on there answers. Heres a link to it. I can not actually tell whether this is a true facto or not, there is no proof i have found, so im just going to stick with my answer no.
In class we are watching a movie called; The Crossing, which in a few short words, its about the Revolutionary war. George Washington is the head of his army and wants to cross the Delaware River and attack the reckless Hessians after having a battle with the redcoats. The Hessian’s were brutal German troops that are working for England. George Washington does not like this whole idea what so ever because the war started mostly because of how many taxes were accumulating. Washington was a great leader, as well as President. He once quoted; “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” He is right, government is so tough that if you try to go against it, you’re going to lose. | <urn:uuid:772f136b-17f8-4102-8409-2ecc622d7ad5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moranmustangs.org/anthonysb/tag/washington/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986455 | 242 | 2.15625 | 2 |
You Can Survive
You Have It Within You
November 6, 2006
When the ocean empties and the land turns blue,
When my path is blocked and I can't make it through,
When the stars fall down one by one and it rains snow,
When my car breaks down and I can't find a tow,
I will still stand on my own feet proud and tall,
I will get back up on my feet after the hardest fall,
I will find my way home through the foggiest dim path,
I will always have the strength for a smile and a good laugh.
We walk each day down a narrow and winding road,
We struggle and always seem to survive each life turn,
No matter how big and heavy we always carry the load,
I may fall and crash but I won't lie there to burn,
Each moment of life contains a lesson to be learnt.
--- Copyright © 2004 Tammy Clancy
Whenever something gets you down and all those bad feelings return you have to remember you're the soldier and this life is your war. Are you going to let life beat you down and keep you there or are you going to fight for your rights? I think I know the answer to that and that is you will fight until your last breathe because that's how you have learned to survive and what grief has taught you.
How strong are the people that suffer with grief? In my case, after 18 years, I feel like I have the strength, courage, faith, wisdom, truth and guts to make it through any problem. I sit here and think about some people's problems and how little they are and how much they worry over such a little thing, then I look at myself. I've learnt to only worry about the things worth worrying about.
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