text:
The problem seems to stem from the fact that our article focuses on the likelihood ratio (known as the Bayes factor) for the evidence we adduce rather than on the prior probability of the resurrection.
First of all, for the record: No, we were not remotely deceptive or misleading about this in the article. We were painfully explicit about it. (The entire preprint text of the article is available on-line here.) Viz.:
Even as we focus on the resurrection of Jesus, our aim is limited. To show that the probability of R given all evidence relevant to it is high would require us to examine other evidence bearing on the existence of God, since such other evidence – both positive and negative – is indirectly relevant to the occurrence of the resurrection. Examining every piece of data relevant to R more directly – including, for example, the many issues in textual scholarship and archeology which we shall discuss only briefly – would require many volumes. Our intent, rather, is to examine a small set of salient public facts that strongly support R. The historical facts in question are, we believe, those most pertinent to the argument. Our aim is to show that this evidence, taken cumulatively, provides a strong argument of the sort Richard Swinburne calls "C-inductive" – that is, whether or not P(R) is greater than some specified value such as 0.5 or 0.9 given all evidence, this evidence itself heavily favors R over ~R.
But our estimated Bayes factors for these pieces of evidence were, respectively, 10^2, 10^39, and 10^3. Sheer multiplication through gives a Bayes factor of 10^44, a weight of evidence that would be sufficient to overcome a prior probability (or rather improbability) of 10^–40 for R and leave us with a posterior probability in excess of 0.9999.
In my interview with Luke M., I said this (transcribed from the podcast, available here, at approximately 16:10 to 19:30):
In Bayesian terms, what we do in the article is that we try to separate what...one might call...the indirect evidence, which would be relevant to that prior probability, from the direct evidence. So the things that would be relevant to the prior probability would be things like evidence for and against theism, for example, evidence for and against the existence specifically of the God of Israel, the God of the Jews, or other evidence prior to Jesus' purported resurrection regarding who Jesus was, and so forth. That would all be relevant to the prior. And what we focus on in the article instead is what we might call the direct evidence, the evidence that supposedly tells you what happened, what you might call reports...You might call it evidence after the fact. So what we focus on are the testimony of the disciples and of certain women that said that they saw and spoke with Jesus, the evidence of the disciples' willingness to die for that testimony, and the evidence of the conversion of the Apostle Paul. And what we try to do is we use a modeling device known as a Bayes factor. Roughly speaking, a Bayes factor tries to model, number one, which way the evidence is pointing and, number two, how strongly the evidence is pointing that way. And what you're trying to do at that point is you're trying to look at explanatory resources of the hypothesis, in this case, the resurrection, and the negation of the hypothesis. How well does each of these explain the evidence, and is there a big difference between how well each of these explains the evidence? I should clarify that when I say a difference, too, it's actually a ratio...it's very important that you measure it by the ratio, not by the difference. But you need to look at those two hypotheses and see which one gives you a better expectation of that evidence and how much better is that expectation. So we estimate Bayes factors for these various separate pieces of evidence, then we argue for the legitimacy of multiplying these Bayes factors, because that gives you a lot of kick, and you have to discuss that issue, and we do, of independence, and whether it's legitimate to multiply them in order to combine those Bayes factors, and that ends up with this very high, high combined Bayes factor in our estimate...And so what we estimate is that you could have this overwhelmingly low prior probability (and I don't actually think that the prior probability is this low. I think it's low, but I don't think it's this low) of 10^-40 and still give a probability to the resurrection in excess of .9999. And we don't get to that by saying in fact the evidence gives us a posterior probability in excess of .9999. We just say, well this is the power of the...combined Bayes factor, and a combined power that great could overcome this great of a prior improbability and would give you this high of a posterior probability. So that's the basic method.
This is all exceedingly clear: We were arguing for a certain magnitude of confirmation of the resurrection by the evidence we adduce.
I understand that the current atheist meme on this, which shows a rather striking lack of understanding of probability, is to say that if one does not argue for a particular prior probability for some proposition, one literally can say nothing meaningful about the confirmation provided by evidence beyond the statement that there is some confirmation or other.
This is flatly false, as both the second of the quotations above from the paper and my rather detailed explanation to Luke M. show.
Let me try to lay this out, step by step, for those who are interested:
The odds form of Bayes's Theorem works like multiplying a fraction by a fraction--a fairly simple mathematical operation we all learned to do in grammar school (hopefully).
The first fraction is the ratio of the prior probabilities. So, let's take an example. Suppose that, to begin with (that is, before you get some specific evidence) some proposition H is ten times less probable than its negation. The odds are ten to one against it. Then the ratio of the prior probabilities is
Now, the second fraction we're going to multiply is the ratio of the likelihoods. So, for our simple example, suppose that the evidence is ten times more probable if H is true than if H is false. The evidence favors H by odds of 10/1. Then the ratio of the likelihoods (which is also called a Bayes factor) is
If you multiply
1/10 x 10/1
you get
The odds form of Bayes's Theorem says that the ratio of the posterior probabilities equals the ratio of the priors times the ratio of the likelihoods. What this means is that in this imaginary case, after taking that evidence into account, the probability that the event happened is equal to the probability that it didn't: what we would call colloquially 50/50. (You'll notice that the ratio 50/50 has the same value as the ratio 10/10. In this case, that's no accident.)
Okay, now, suppose, on the other hand, that the second fraction, the ratio of the likelihoods, is
1000/1. That is, the evidence is 1000 times more probable if H is true than if H is false. So the evidence favors H by odds of 1000 to 1.
Then, the ratio of the posteriors is
1/10 x 1000/1 = 1000/10 = 100/1,
which means that after taking that evidence into account (evidence that is a thousand times more probable if H is true than if it is false), we should think of the event itself as a hundred times more probable than its negation.
See how this works?
What this amounts to is that if we can argue for a high Bayes factor (that second fraction), even if we don't say what the prior odds are, we can say something very significant--namely, how low of a prior probability this evidence can overcome. That is exactly what we say in the second quotation from our paper that I gave above. It is exactly what I explain to Luke M. We say that we have argued for "a weight of evidence that would be sufficient to overcome a prior probability (or rather improbability) of 10^–40 for R and leave us with a posterior probability in excess of 0.9999."
In our paper, we concentrate on the Bayes factor. The Bayes factor shows the direction of the evidence and measures its force. We argue that it is staggeringly high in favor of R for the evidence we adduce. Naturally, the skeptics will not be likely to agree with us on that. My point here and now, however, is that neither in the paper nor in my interview was there a mistake about probability, any insignificance or triviality in our intended conclusion, nor any deception. We are clear that we are not specifying a prior probability (to do so and to argue for it in any detail would require us to evaluate all the other evidence for and against the existence of God, since that is highly relevant to the prior probability of the resurrection, which obviously would lie beyond the scope of a single paper). Nonetheless, what we do argue is, if we are successful, of great epistemic significance concerning the resurrection, because it means that this evidence is so good that it can overcome even an incredibly low prior probability.
I trust that this is now cleared up.
Update: See also this discussion of Bayesian probability and Richard Carrier at Victor Reppert's blog, here.
Update 2: See the comments thread. Luke and Richard have both apologized for their comments in the interview, and I do accept those apologies.


text:
From the Netherlands comes Mujjo, a brand known for crafting minimalistic yet functional products. In 2012, Mujjo first began developing sleeves for Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air as well as the MacBook Pro. The brand's The Originals collection features a unique combination of wool felt and high quality leather, and they recently added an iPad Mini Sleeve that fits seamlessly into Mujjo's current product lineup. The folks over at Mujjo were kind enough to send us an iPad Mini sleeve for review and we've been quite impressed by its detailing and overall craftsmanship. It's easy to carry and has a little extra space in a separate compartment that can fit your headphones, some folded documents or even a MiFi. The wool felt contrasts really well with the vegetable tanned leather and we can already tell the leather with age to perfection. The felt can be easily cleaned as a special treatment provides excellent anti-peeling properties and makes the sleeve water repellent. Aesthetically, it may be the best looking iPad Mini sleeve on the market and its ability to blend so well with the iPad Mini's slim design is what makes it such a great accessory.
Mujjo's iPad Mini Sleeve is available now in either brown or white leather.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
FREE SHIPPING available from 100 to 500 EUR (depending on the country, Europe only...) Dismiss
Never miss any special promotion or exciting deal. We limit newsletters to 4 per year.
Thank you for signing up.
No products in the cart.
Showing all 4 results
Pilot Supplies
Urinal condom 30mm
Urinal condom 35mm
Urine bag 2000ml
WAVERIDGE Pilot Boots – Gliding Overshoe
Username or email address *
Password *
Remember me
Log in
Lost your password?
Username *
Email address *
Password *
Yes, add me to your mailing list
Your personal data will be used to support your experience throughout this website, to manage access to your account, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.


text:
Message Board
Samantha Dunn Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Dunn has written!
Author Dunn's Book Reviews
Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life
Henry Holt, Mar 2002, 23.00, 256 pp. ISBN: 0805065857 In an isolated part of California, Samantha Dunn was leading her horse Harley across a creek when her steed accidentally stomped on her leg. The injury was severe enough to threaten her life as she suffered splintered bones, ripped muscles and torn veins. Samantha's luck changed when a passerby happened to find her. While physically recuperating and going through various mental st...


text:
Every weekend around the country there's an auction selling a rare automobile or piece of ephemera that is priceless to collectors. But on Oct. 7, RM Auctions will be able to say it truly has something that's one-of-a-kind.
One of the first horseless carriages, the 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout, will be auctioned off in Hershey, Pa. RM expects the car will bring $2 million to $2.5 million.
The 127-year-old Runabout, named La Marquise after de Dion's mother, is certified as the oldest running car in the world.
In December 1881, de Dion was shopping in Paris and stopped at the Giroux toy shop. He was looking for prizes to give away at a ball he was planning. De Dion loved the workmanship of the steam engines he saw and asked who built them.
De Dion was introduced to Georges Bouton and Charles-Armand Trepardoux, who were working at the shop making seven francs a day. He immediately hired them to build a bigger steam engine, one that could power a carriage.
After first adding a steam engine to a tricycle the pair went to work on adapting it to a four-wheeled machine. La Marquise was born.
The quadricycle sends power to the rear wheels with connecting rods, similar to a train locomotive. Steering was done through the front wheels, as opposed to the hard-to-control, rear-steer tricycle. Its sophisticated boiler can be steamed in just 45 minutes, a small amount of time for the era.
The carriage is nine feet long and weighs about 2,100 pounds. La Marquise seats four and can be driven by one, just like the modern interpretation.
The only older functioning vehicle is the 1875 Greenville, according to RM, which is basically a power gun carriage. Other older vehicles sit in museums but none are likely to ever run again.
In 1887, Bouton competed in the first motor-car race from Paris to Versailles and back. He won, being the only car that competed, and hit almost 40 mph on the straights, according to an observer who timed him. By that time de Dion was selling copies of the quadricycle for the princely sum of $850.
This remaining example has been in the hands of only four owners since its inception, one of whom had the car for 81 years. It was the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance double award winner in 1997, and it is being offered from the estate of John O'Quinn.
With the vehicle's history, provenance and its working order, La Marquise could be considered one of the most important motor cars in the world. We expect that the next owner will treat it that way.


text:
Senior Organizer Grade: UUR III
Tampa, FL
Purpose of Position:
To represent and assist the International Union in organizing; to take responsibility for major campaigns and to act in a leadership role with respect to program and other staff; to perform advanced training for organizers, staff, and worker leaders of SEIU; and to design and implement organizing goals of SEIU.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Performs a wide range of duties as assigned by the International Union, including but not limited to the following:
Designs and manages large organizing campaigns or multiple smaller campaigns including organizing, comprehensive campaigns, strikes, and political action. Works with field, industry division, and local staff to coordinate all aspects of the campaign including vision, strategy, time-line, communication, community outreach, and politics.
Develops and implements division, regional, or political programs.
Coordinates and directs organizing staff including scheduling, assigning turf, debriefing, and training.
Develops and implements training for staff and worker leaders on the campaign to further develop skills and understanding of the campaign.
Provides feedback to staff on their performance while on the campaign. Provides information on staff performance to the campaign director.
Assists local unions in the development of an organizing program.
Oversees management of the campaign data base, list, and cards.
Develops and monitors the campaign budget for the campaign.
Directs major negotiations tied to organizing campaigns.
Coordinates affiliations and mergers campaigns.
Performs other duties as required to assist the International Union.
Must be available for frequent travel with overnight stays required. Long and irregular hours.
Scope and Nature of Supervision
Must be able to act and organize time with extreme independence.
A high level of judgment, ability to take initiative and work independently; must be able to work with elected leaders, worker leaders, and staff in complex and sometimes political situations.
Must be able to handle multiple "priority" projects simultaneously and meet established deadlines.
Reports to the Region or Division Organizing Coordinator and/or Region or Division Organizing Director.
Educational Background
Bachelor's Degree preferred.
Previous Work Experience
Three to five years of work in external labor union organizing.
Demonstrated experience in developing and leading organizing campaigns.
Previous experience with the labor movement or other advocacy organizations preferred.
Specialized Knowledge and Training
Excellent writing, verbal, and analytical communication skills.
Thorough knowledge of organizing and political campaign strategies.
Ability to develop and train staff and worker leaders in the skills needed for the campaign.
Knowledge of organizing campaign data base management tools such as Organizer Toolbox or other similar applications. Skill in the use of Microsoft Office programs.
Ability to write and proofread campaign communications materials.
Application Requirements:
A resume and cover letter are required for all applications. Your cover letter should explain your reason for wanting to work for SEIU, an example of how you demonstrated success in a similar position and a description of how this position fits into your long-term career plan.
SEIU staff enjoy top notch benefits including comprehensive health benefits, major medical, dental and vision for employee and eligible dependents, domestic partner benefits, competitive salaries, generous holidays and vacation policies, and both a pension plan and a 401(K) Plan.
This position is part of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and as such the incumbent is bound by the language of said agreement and party to all benefits, dues and requirements associated with being a member of a union and the (CBA).
SEIU is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Apply Here: http://www.Click2apply.net/8gm4ky9q6j


text:
Fans of extraterrestrial anomalies will have a field day with the billion-pixel view of the Curiosity rover's surroundings at a place called Rocknest on Mars. The 360-degree clickable panorama lets you zoom in on an eerie Martian "bird," a weird series of holes, or a shiny object sitting on the Red Planet's surface.
Never mind that all these anomalies are perfectly explainable: It's a weird and wonderful way to take in all the sights that the rover has been seeing, from the pebbles in front of its own wheels to the slopes of faraway Mount Sharp.
"It gives a sense of place and really shows off the cameras' capabilities," Bob Deen of the Multi-Mission Image Processing Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a news release about the interactive image. "You can see the context and also zoom in to see very fine details."
Deen assembled the 1.3-billion-pixel zoomable mosaic using 850 frames from the telephoto camera of Curiosity's MastCam instrument, supplemented with 21 frames from MastCam's wider-angle camera and 25 black-and-white frames — mostly of the rover itself — from the NavCam system. The images were taken on several different Mars days between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16, 2012.
This isn't the first billion-pixel pic from Curiosity: Russian photographer Andrew Bodrov assembled 407 frames from MastCam's cameras to create a 360-degree, 4-billion-pixel Martian panorama, as seen in December and January from a vantage point known as "Grandma's House."
The cool thing about JPL's panorama is that you can click right into some of the main attractions — ranging from a bird-shaped rock, to the holes left behind by Curiosity's laser-blasting ChemCam instrument, to a shiny scrap of material that apparently fell off the spacecraft. Give it a look, either by going to JPL's website or checking out GigaPan's gallery.
More about Mars:
- Martian 'rat' takes Internet by storm
- This is how a lone rock rolls on Mars
- Cosmic Log archive on Mars
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.


text:
August 19, 2012: The Future Artists of America
The Greater Boston area is rich with opportunities for a young artist to explore their talents! CityLine found three amazing organizations that provide youth with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the arts.
Project Hip Hop explores social justice issues with performances rooted in hip hop culture. And, if F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway needed a place to write in modern day Boston, they'd probably choose Grub Street. Their programs cover all genres of writing that might pique your interest.
And ZUMIX is grooming youth with a passion for music into talented musicians and performers. We were lucky enough to have one of them perform in our studio! 11 Year Old Angelina Botticelli wows the studio with two songs!
Take a look at the future artists of America!
Project Hip Hop
Grub Street and YAWP
*We want to acknowledge the error that Angelina Botticelli's name was misspelled and apologize for the mistake.*


text:
Mr. Chatterbox
Editor's Note: This is the time for summer vacations, and-not surprisingly-Mr. Chatterbox got an earlier start on his than most of us. That means we're running one of his classic columns, about an earlier vacation, which originally appeared in November 1993.
With so many Europeans coming over here in droves and getting all those headlines, the inevitable question to me is, of course, what do they want to get away from so bad that they'll spend 10 hours on a plane flying over here and then shell out thousands of dollars a week for a condo with shag carpeting and formica furniture with cigarette burns? If that's their idea of "nice," what must Europe be like?
Well, I decided to find out for myself. Actually, I didn't quite go to Europe. I decided I didn't want to jump in "whole hog," so to speak; I just wanted to get my feet wet. So I went to England. Believe me, there's no better place to get your feet wet than England.
Actually, the weather was pretty good. Except for one day. It poured rain and had gale force winds blowing in off the aptly named North Sea. And you want to know the worst part? The English people were out walking around. They were going about their business like it was just another normal day. Many didn't even carry umbrellas; they just pranced on down to the store (or, more likely, the pub) like nothing the least bit unusual was going on.
Anyway, now there's this barrage of publicity in England, telling people what Florida is like, how to protect themselves, tips on firing and ammunition, etc., so I think it's time we did it the other way around. So here's a list of Things You Should Know before visiting England.
1. People Forced To Ride On Public Transportation. You've never seen so many subways and buses and trains. What at first appears as convenience and efficiency masks a painful truth, however. The fact is they do this because they don't have enough garages. Practically all the buildings are pre-code. They date back to the times when people didn't have horses, much less automobiles, and the net result is public transportation.
2. Death Lurks On Every Tube.
The subway is really very neat and comfortable; it's the security that makes it so nerve-wracking. If you see a "suspicious parcel" you're supposed to report it. Well, after you hear something like that, every parcel becomes suspicious. You can't imagine the amount of time I spent thinking, should I report that parcel?
I had a nervous moment in the British Museum when an alarm went off. Then they told us to hold perfectly still while they closed every door in the museum, shutting us all off into separate rooms. Everybody stood like statues for five minutes, then they told us we could move. I certainly did-right out of there. And at the airport before your flight takes off, you are forced to undergo one-on-one rap sessions with a uniformed person I can only describe as a "security counselor." This person asks you all sorts of highly personal questions about your luggage, things like, Who packed your bags? Who's been carrying your bags? Did anybody give you any presents? Have any foreigners befriended you for no apparent reason? Under normal circumstances I would invent a few friends and presents, just to make me sound more popular; but this time, thank God, I had the sense to keep my big mouth shut.
3. Little In Europe Can't Be Found In Sarasota, Only Bigger And Better.
A perfect example: One day we went to a town called Cambridge, a pleasant little place with a small but well-known liberal arts college, rather like New College. We had some friends there and they gave us the "50-cent tour" during which I was astonished to see cows eating the grass. Right behind the classrooms and dorms they had cows grazing! That's England for you-Land of the Strange Zoning Laws. Anyway, we then went to see an old church-I think it was Episcopalian-that was famous for its-are you sitting down?-Rubens. One Rubens. I didn't have the heart to tell these poor English people that back in Sarasota we had six or seven Rubens, and that we don't go around bragging about them. In fact, we practically ignore them. And frankly, our Rubens are bigger and much, much brighter than theirs. Why, you'd hardly even know they were by the same person.
4. Quaint Village Names Stretch Credulity.
Here's a little test. In the following list of quaint English villages, only one is real. Try and guess which.
a. Whursfore-le-Wear.
b Chipping-On-Toaste.
c. Barff View.
d. Teasford Tew.
e. Fillbin Regis.
Answer: If you guessed c (Barff View) you are absolutely correct. We drove through it. But somehow I was not compelled to seek out the view.
5. Land of Famous Firsts.
One thing in England's favor is that it has started many famous fads, some of which have caught on and spread to our own country. Some of these things are good and some are not so good. Probably the best is the couch. Yes, England invented the couch. Typically, they still have the first one and it hasn't been re-covered. I actually saw it. It's in a very old house called Knole that belongs to some lord and it's known, rather euphemistically, as "the Knole settee." It was a thrill to turn a corner, and-there it was! To me, this was history.
Another famous first I stumbled across was the very first "shambles." I have always been curious about the origin of this particular word, as it is so often applied to my own writing. Well, it turns out that in York, an ancient walled city right near the nuclear power plant, they have the original shambles. It turned out to be an old street, an alleyway, really, twisting and turning in torturous ways, with the buildings pressing in and looking like they're about to fall on top of you. Hmmm. Food for thought.
6. Laws Full Of Loopholes-For the Right People.
Do you realize the Queen doesn't have to wear a seatbelt? It musses her clothes, she says. I say, tough luck, Liz. Buckle up. To me this epitomizes everything that's wrong with England. Over here she'd wear it as an example to the masses. Over there they place a higher priority on not having creases in the Queen's clothing. Believe me, people would understand the creases.
And besides, after having driven in England I can state that something really might happen. Like she might get broadsided by an American tourist driving on the wrong side of the road. Just because she's famous doesn't mean she's immune. Remember when President Ford was hit by that guy delivering pizza? Even Queens and Presidents have accidents.
7. Lack of Violent Crimes Ill-Prepares Visitors To Florida.
British crime is so different from ours they're hard to compare, bu I did notice two rather telling things. First, they had had some sort of prison riot while I was there. As prison riots go it sounded pretty low-key; a mattress was burned and a soda pop machine was overturned, but the media gave it a big play. And you know what they discovered in their investigations and reported as news? That there was "bullying" in prison. I just sat there staring at the TV, thinking what planet are these people from?
And then guess what came on? England's Most Wanted. In format it's just like America's Most Wanted, but that's where the similarity ends. You should have seen these crimes. One guy tried to cash a traveler's check he stole. Another guy robbed a jewelry store and badly frightened an 80-year-old woman. And one guy spied on a girl in the ladies room at the health club and then tried to shove her into a hedge. And these are the most wanted. Yes, I think we can truthfully state that crimes in the two places don't really compare.


text:
OLYMPIA - In emotional testimony Monday night, family members of four slain Lakewood police officers asked lawmakers to make changes to a system they say failed their loved ones.
Lakewood police Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards were shot to death in November at a coffee shop before the start of their Sunday morning shift. The man accused of killing them, Maurice Clemmons, was fatally shot by a Seattle police officer two days later.
Article continues below this ad
"Our families should not be going through this tragedy," said Owens' sister, Rhonda LeFrancois, who was wearing a yellow shirt that read "Make a Difference!" - a note from her brother that she said she found after his death.
"I beg of you, make a difference, just as our loved ones made a difference each and every day they were here protecting us," LeFrancois told the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee at a special hearing that was scheduled in the weeks after the shootings.
More For You
Article continues below this ad
LeFrancois and other family members asked committee members to adopt changes recently suggested by law enforcement groups, including constitutional amendments that would give judges more leeway to deny bail. The panel will hold a public hearing on some of those measures Tuesday morning.
The lawmaker holding the hearing, Democratic Rep. Chris Hurst of Enumclaw, says he wants to know why Clemmons was free despite a criminal history in both Washington and Arkansas.
"All killings of law enforcement officers are horrific and terrible to us," said Hurst, a retired police officer. "The reason we're focusing on the Clemmons case is because I'm starting from one single premise, that Maurice Clemmons should not have been out of custody and had an opportunity to do this."
Hurst said he wanted to give lawmakers a chance to hear from prosecutors, law enforcement representatives and others so they'd have a better understanding of the case while considering legislation.
Article continues below this ad
"This is not a time for us to have a knee-jerk response and simply pass a lot of bills if they won't actually help," Hurst said at the beginning of the three-hour hearing. "The intent is to move pieces of legislation that will actually make a difference."
After the shootings, Gregoire called on law-enforcement groups to compile a list of potential changes to state law, policy or the state constitution. Last week, Gregoire and the officer groups released a list of potential changes, including better communication between law enforcement on jail bookings and releases, a review of the bail bonds system and enhanced benefits for survivors of officers who die in the line of duty.
Clemmons' 108-year prison sentence for armed robbery and other offenses was commuted by then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2000. Six days before the shooting, he posted bail on child-rape allegations, a charge that could have put him in prison for life under Washington state's "three-strikes" law.
Under the state constitution, bail can be denied only in aggravated murder cases.
Article continues below this ad
Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said he thought the constitutional amendment was an important step to take, "so that when a judge believes that a defendant is a danger to the community they can say no bail."
Criminal defense attorneys asked the lawmakers to not rush into making that change.
"Our role here is to provide a check to make sure that the legislative reforms we seek in light of this tragedy don't overreach," said Seattle attorney Amy Muth, co-chair of the Washington Defender Association and Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Muth said she wanted to ensure that the "presumption of innocence is guaranteed" while making sure the community is safe.
Article continues below this ad
"We are all members of the criminal justice system and we all want the same goal to ensure justice is served and carried out," she said.
The Lakewood officers were among six officers killed over two months in Pierce and King Counties.
The rash of shootings began in October, when Seattle Officer Timothy Brenton was killed as he sat in his patrol car Halloween night. Christopher Monfort, 41, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in Brenton's death.
Last month, Deputy Kent Mundell of Puyallup was shot to death while responding to a domestic disturbance call.


text:
0805 SMD UV / Purple - Ultra Bright LED
In stock
- Buy 50 for $0.38 each and save 5%
- Buy 100 for $0.36 each and save 10%
- Buy 250 for $0.34 each and save 15%
- Buy 500 for $0.32 each and save 20%
- Buy 1000 for $0.30 each and save 25%
The 0805 SMD is a very small LED that is used in many types of today's popular electronics. The uv / purple 0805 LED color is bright and unmistakable.
You may upload your own images that portray this specific product being used. We do ask that you do not watermark them in any way and such images will be declined. Images that are accepted may be used as product images, in tutorials, or other related articles. By uploading an image, you accept to these terms. These images may not directly represent the product on this page. The items shown may have been modified/changed and the images are shown for demonstration, ideas, and creativity only. Colors depicted in the photos may also be "skewed" from difficult nature of capturing true light colors with a camera.
The uv / purple color 0805 LED is a vibrant color that you can't go wrong with. 2012 is another name that the SMD is commonly known as. This LED is used in many of today's popular electronics. We have seen them used as direct replacements in electronics to simply change the colors. They are also used for custom projects or in mass production products as well.
We use and have only the highest quality leds out there.
|UV / Purple
|~ 20 mcd
|Forward Voltage
|400-405 nm
|Viewing Angle
|120 Degree
|Mount Style
|SMD (Surface Mount Diode)
|Lens Color
|LED Brightness Class
|Documentation Link
|Documentation: 0805 / 2012 UV / Purple SMD LED Datasheet / Specifications
Write Your Own Review


text:
Search Buddhist Channel
The Buddha boom
by KATE TAYLOR, The Oregonian, June 28, 2005
Tigard, Oregon (USA) -- A lotus grows in the mud, the Eastern spiritual saying goes. But if the proliferation of Buddhist images, icons and language means anything, then it's also thriving in boardrooms, shopping malls and cyberspace.
As an unprecedented number of Americans turn to Buddhism -- there are now an estimated 6 million Buddhists nationwide -- more and more Buddhist ideas and symbols are popping up in bookstores, gift shops and business retreats.
A shopper cruising the Washington Square Mall, for example, can find Buddha T-shirts, Buddha key chains, Buddha photo holders, books that coach readers to become a bodhisattva, music for Buddhist meditation and a Buddha-ball that shoots beams of light.
"This is a really popular item. I think they like this because it's more unique," Sandy Berney of Spencer Gifts said of the Electrostorm Buddha Ball on a recent weekday.
Shoppers will not, however, find in the mall's Victoria's Secret store the notorious Buddha tankini swimsuit with its strategically placed Buddhas. Victoria's Secret and the tankini's manufacturer, the Ondademar swimwear company, yanked it from the market last year after outraged Buddhists launched protests against it.
"It was crass. It was like having the Koran on toilet paper," said Robert Beatty, leader of the Portland Insight Meditation Community. Yet Buddhists like Beatty do see a logic in the way Buddhist images and icons are appearing all over the United States.
"Every time Buddhism enters a culture, it transforms the culture," he said. "What's happening now is there's this deep flowing into our culture of rather significant Buddhist practices, and along with that come the accoutrements."
Some of those accoutrements are sleazy and cheap, said Charles S. Prebish, Pennsylvania State University professor of religion studies and author of scores of books and articles about Buddhism. "But some are making (and writing) good stuff, and are doing it to support Buddhist causes."
Prebish, the oft-cited source of the 6 million U.S. Buddhists figure, says he doesn't see any harm in people dabbling in Buddhism, or becoming what some call "nightstand Buddhists" or "freelance Buddhists," but said they should avoid "a lot of junk out there."
That aside, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism," he said, has nothing on his book, "American Buddhism."
Yes, Buddhist terms tossed around in pop culture often have little or altered meaning. In glossy home decor magazines and facial product lines, words like "Zen" usually mean clear, relaxed or above the fray and hassle of daily life.
For Barbara Brunner, owner of Urbane Zen in Portland and Lake Oswego, "The name indicates peacefulness and an essence of relaxation. It sounds good, but it really isn't more complicated than that."
For those who are religiously unaffiliated but seeking answers to spiritual questions, Buddhist icons draw like a beacon.
The stream of customers wandering through The Mystery Gallery in Milwaukie to buy Buddha statues or Tibetan prayer flags "are often just searching," said co-owner Kathy Casey. "Often, they don't even know that much about Buddhism, but they're just drawn to it, for some kind of peace. They want something that's going to make them feel good or bring them luck."
Others snatch up such books as "Your Buddha Nature" or "If the Buddha Dated" -- not because they want to don crimson robes and take on the life of a monk, but because they want to learn how to apply concepts of compassion, detachment and the inner peace to their own lives.
"Pop culture very much embraces it," said James Davis, supervisor of the Bridgeport Village Borders bookstore. "These ideas that were once so alien and uncommon -- maybe we've reached a point in our society where ideas from Buddhism and other Eastern religions can flow freely. Maybe we're seeing a certain truth in them, and that causes us to be more interested in them."
Beth Bingham, national spokeswoman for the Borders Group Inc. said that after the 9-11 terror attacks, the sale of Buddhist or Buddhist-inspired material dropped. Now, she said, it's steadily rising.
Assisting the climb are Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn, who have appeared with the Dalai Lama and raised large amounts of money for Tibetans living in exile.
And those who've read Oprah's interview with the Dalai Lama or listened to Gere read "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" can chat about it with just a few keystrokes -- Internet chat rooms are full of talk about that, of sangha (Buddhist community) and The Noble Eightfold Path (right speech, right intention, right action, etc.).
Other forms of technology also offer to help players enhance their spirituality. The video game "The Journey to Wild Divine" promises players the chance to deepen their meditation skills to the accompaniment of dreamy graphics and New Age music.
Businesspeople who've never even thought of Buddhism also are finding themselves booked for Zen retreats with colleagues. Seminars with titles like Executive Zen, Zen at Work and Zen and Business offer businesses a way to help their employees handle stress and excel.
"When we take a moment out of an overfilled day and incorporate a very basic Zen practice, for instance, the practice of mindfulness, it's amazing how your day can turn around," said Monique Muhlenkamp, publicity manager for California's New World Library. In her work, she promotes such books as Marc Lesser's "Z.B.A.: Zen of Business Administration: How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life" ($14.95 paperback, 256 pages).
Meditation retreats for businesspeople and books about Zen practice and business "are filling an increased need for books and experts that address the delicate balance between living a working life and spiritual practice, especially as employees expect more from the workplace," she said. "For many people, it's no longer just about a job; they want and need more. Applying Zen to the day-to-day helps on many levels."


text:
Oct. 3, 2011 -- Children who are overweight compared to their peers are nearly three times more likely to have high blood pressure, a new study shows.
The study, published in the journal Hypertension, followed 1,111 school-aged children in Indiana for an average of four years.
Twice each year, researchers visited schools to take blood pressure measurements and record the kids' heights and weights.
About 40% of the children in the study were above the 85th percentile on growth charts for their height and weight. When children are above the 85th percentile, doctors consider them to be overweight.
Among the overweight kids, 14% had blood pressure that was higher than normal, while only 5% of normal-weight kids had elevated blood pressure.
The study also found that extra pounds are especially dangerous for kids who are already big.
"For an overweight and obese child, if you increase your BMI [body mass index] percentile a little bit, that would increase your blood pressure strongly,"says researcher Wanzhu Tu, PhD. Tu is a research scientist at Regenstrief Institute and professor of biostatistics at Indiana University School of Medicine, both in Indianapolis.
"In the same way," Tu says, for just a little bit of weight loss "you could benefit greatly in terms of blood pressure."
The risks of overweight were the same, regardless of the child's sex or race. About 42% of the kids in the study were black.
Findings Troubling
Pediatricians say the study is wake-up call.
"We've tended to look at the overweight category as a lower-risk category," says Stephen R. Daniels, MD, PhD, chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. He was not involved in the research.
"This suggests to me that we really need to worry about kids who are in that overweight category," says Daniels, who is also pediatrician-in-chief at Colorado Children's Hospital.
Other experts say the findings are concerning because having high blood pressure has been shown to set kids up for health complications.
Not only are children with high blood pressure much more likely to turn into adults who have high blood pressure, but newer studies have shown that kids can get the same kinds of organ damage -- to the heart, blood vessels, and kidneys -- that doctors once thought was only a problem for adults with the condition.
One study even found that kids with high blood pressure have subtle changes in the brain area that controls attention, problem solving, and working memory.
"For physicians, we have to take much more seriously this concept of the childhood origins of adult diseases and look beyond the weight and beyond the blood pressure level because we're finding more evidence, subtle evidence, of injury," says Bonita Falkner, MD, professor of medicine and pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
"So it's not going to be a risk that's going to be in the future. It's a risk that's now," says Falkner, who wrote an editorial on the study, but was not involved in the research.
"It jacks up the concern about preventing childhood obesity and also not waiting until they are obese," she tells WebMD. "Even overweight can be problematic for children."


text:
Celan, Paul
Celan, Paul pôl sālŏn [key], pseud. of Paul Antschelänt´shschwa;l [key], 1920–70, Romanian-French poet. Although he spent his early years in Romania and his later years in France, Celan wrote in German and is widely considered the greatest postwar poet in Europe. A Jew, who lost both parents in a Nazi camp, he composed works that focus on the moral horror of the Holocaust and the destruction of the world as he knew it, as in his most famous poem,
Deathfugue.Celan was strongly influenced by Friedrich Hölderlin, Rainer Maria Rilke, Georg Trakl, and Osip Mandelstam. Frequently dissonant and freighted with pain, his poems are richly allusive and complicated. Celan was also a masterful translator of such authors as Shakespeare, Valéry, and Dickinson. He lived in Paris from 1948 until his suicide by drowning.
See the collection of his critical essays, ed. by A. Fioretos (1993); translations of his work by J. Neugroschel (1971), M. Hamburger (1988), N. Popov and H. McHugh (2000), J. Felstiner (2001), and P. Joris (2001); biography by I. Chalfen (1979; tr. 1991); J. Feltsiner, Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor, Jew (1995).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: German Literature: Biographies


text:
In my last post, I discussed why I wanted to buy ebooks I could truly own, and my subsequent attempts to buy such a copy of John Scalzi's Redshirts from a readers'-rights-friendly retailer. I initially had a hard time finding an ebook store that fulfilled three basic requirements:
- The store must sell a DRM-free copy of the book, in a convenient format. That eliminated specialized ebook stores that didn't carry the title at all. Also, a number of major sites only had DRM-locked versions at first.
- The store must make the format and DRM-free status clear. Most mass-market ebooks are still locked down with DRM, and I don't want to get stuck with that, either for this title or for other titles I might buy. So the store had to make it clear what I was buying, either by a notation on the book's catalog page, or by a general policy stating that books they offered were DRM-free.
- The store must not require me to agree to give up my rights as a reader under copyright law. In particular, I would not consent to any terms of sale that significantly limited my rights of fair use or first sale. Fair use allows me to make copies of copyrighted material under certain conditions, such as quoting and critiquing a small portion in my own work, or making a complete personal copy of a TV show I've received or CD I've bought, for more convenient consumption. First sale lets me decide how to dispose of a book once I've bought it, including giving over the copy of something I've already lawfully acquired to someone else. (First sale rights also let libraries lend out books without having to ask publishers first.) Each of these rights has limits, and there are still disputes over how far these rights can be applied to digital content. But I didn't want to pre-emptively sign away rights that copyright law might give me.
I didn't think it would be that hard to find a retailer to meet these requirements. But here's what I found when I went shopping:
Barnes and Noble: Since we owned a Nook, I first called up the store app on that device. The ebook was simply marked as a "Nook Book", with no clear differentation between a DRM-free and a DRM-locked copy. (The current catalog page for the book now mentions in the overview that it's being sold without DRM, though not very prominently.) I also recalled that to get access to the store in the first place, I had to click through a terms of service agreement. Reviewing that on the web turned up a clause saying I couldn't "copy, transfer, sublicense, assign, rent, lease, lend, resell or in any way transfer any rights to all or any portion of the Digital Content to any third party" except under certain explicit, very limited conditions. In other words, give up first sale rights to anything I bought in the Nook store. Rather than do that, I moved on to another retailer.
Amazon: There was no clear mention of DRM status on the book's catalog page initially (even now, I don't see it there until I click on "show more"). Anazon uses its own Kindle (mobi) format for its books, so I'd need to convert it to a different format (possibly degrading the layout in the process) or get a Kindle reading program or device. The Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use limits how I'm allowed to read books they sell, disallows third party transfers except by explicit permission, and in case I missed the point, explicitly states "Digital Content is licensed, not sold". No sale here, then.
Google: Going over to Google Books, I find this book available through Google Play. The catalog page doesn't tell me what format it's in, or whether it has DRM; it instead just asks me to sign in to buy it. Google then tells me I have to agree to their terms, which again include no third party transfers, before it will give me access to whatever formats it may let me download. If I read the book online within Google Play itself, its privacy policy allows it to look over my shoulder to a limited extent while I'm reading. Google pledges to use this power only for good, but personally I'd prefer to download and keep my reading details to myself in the first place, thanks.
Sony Reader store: Information on format and DRM status is not clear for its books. Based on Sony's past history with DRM, there's no way I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt with the formats they might use.
Independent bookstores: I also looked into whether I could buy an ebook through one of the independent bookstores I've liked shopping in. Unfortunately, they don't seem to offer much. My local indie store doesn't appear to sell ebooks at all, and Powell's doesn't offer seem to offer this title at present. Independents in the IndeBound ebook program appear to just be referral agents for Google Books.
Diesel eBooks: The slogan "More freedom, more ebooks" seemed promising when I found this site. Diesel offers both DRM-locked and DRM-free titles, and their catalog pages make it very clear which is which. Unfortunately, they only offered a DRM-locked version of Redshirts for weeks after it was first released. However, I recently went back to the site and found they'd switched to the DRM-free version. Buying that ebook consisted of registering my name and email address, giving them my credit card information, and downloading an EPub file. No click-through agreements were involved, and when I went over to look at the general terms of use for the site, they basically amounted to "don't abuse the site, or infringe copyright". In short, I gave them money, and they gave me an ebook, and said "Enjoy!", with no further fuss. That's the kind of book shopping I like.
So there's at least one reasonably comprehensive and reader-friendly ebookstore out there. I'd be happy to hear about others as well. And I look forward to buying and owning more books, in both print and electronic formats.