{"content":"City Officials To Discuss Storm Preparedness\nFORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Now that the effects of the major ice storm of last week are wearing off, local governments and public works agencies are taking note of what worked, and which area they can improve for response.\nIn Fort Worth, members of the joint emergency operations center will meet in the coming weeks for an after action report.\n“It was a challenge for all of us. We got through it. We’re going to learn and do the best we can next time,” said Eric Carter, an emergency manager for the City of Fort Worth.\nCarters points to three areas the city will be looking to improve upon based on the last storm.\nFirst, they will look at the sheltering of the homeless population. The dangerously cold temperatures led to community shelters quickly filling up. Carter says they’ll look at options for expanding the city facility.\nA second issue Carter points to, was staffing during the ice storm, when many employees who were crucial to the response were trapped at home because of ice, and unable to get to the Emergency Operations Center.\nCobblestone ice also proved to be a unique challenge, one Carter says, he’s never experienced with an ice storm before.\nThe ice build up was blamed for causing accidents and highway backups throughout North Texas.\n“Now [road crews] know how to clear it off. They’ll be quicker about marshaling the resources to do it,” Carter said.\nA spokesperson for TxDOT says their crews who worked 24/7 during the ice storm, will also be going through best practices and what areas need improvement.\nCrews were still busy clearing bridges and overpasses as late as Wednesday.\nThere are other challenges. For example, in Parker County some roads remain icy. Judge Mark Riley says they don’t have the money, or resources to quickly clear 1200 miles of country roadway.\nNorth Texas residents, like Tanner Bridgeman say they’ve never seen anything like it.\nJupiter House Coffee in Denton, was the only business on the square to remain open to customers during the ice storm.\n“I don’t think people were prepared for everything that happened. I don’t think the city was prepared for everything. All though we’re North Texas we don’t really get ice storms that often,” Bridgeman said.\nNot storms like this one.\n(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)\n- Texas Tech Upsets No. 9 Iowa State 78-73\n- Jones Helps Texas A&M Outlast Tennessee 67-61\n- Abbott Donors Have Strong Week; Inaugural Turnout Lags\n- Bomb Threat Against 2 Planes At Atlanta’s Main airport\n- Plano Police Arrest Suspect With Possible Link To Burglaries\n- Cowboys Fan Attacked, Beaten After Thanksgiving Day Game\n- Texas Gov. Perry Signs “Merry Christmas” Bill\n- Icy Weather Cancels Flights At DFW Airport\n- Before Drug Sentencing Former Cowboy Sends Letter To CBS 11\n- 4th Abduction Attempt In Tarrant County\n- PHOTOS: Your Pet Pictures"}
{"content":"DGGS PN 5\nTitle:Mineral occurrences in northwestern Alaska\nPublisher:Alaska Territorial Department of Mines\nOrdering Info:Download below or please see our publication sales page for more information.\nQuadrangle(s):Ambler River, Barrow, Bendeleben, Candle, Howard Pass, Meade River, Nome, Norton Bay, Saint Lawrence, Selawik, Solomon, Teller, Wainwright\nKeyword(s):Amber; Antimony; Asbestos; Beryl; Beryllium; Bismuth; Calcite; Chromium; Chrysotile; Coal; Copper; Crystals; Garnet; Gold; Graphite; Iron; Jade; Kyanite; Lead; Mercury; Meteorites; Mica; Mining; Molybdenum; Nuggets; Oil Seeps; Pegmatite; Petroleum; Platinum; Quartz; Silver; Tellurium; Tin; Topaz; Tourmaline; Tungsten; Zinc\nAnderson, Eskil, 1942, Mineral occurrences in northwestern Alaska: Alaska Territorial Department of Mines Pamphlet 5, 40 p. doi:10.14509/2248\n- pn005.pdf (1.6 M)"}
{"content":"Online charter schools are, with few exceptions a sham. They waste taxpayer dollars and, worse, they waste students’ lives.\nHere is an especially egregious example. Pearson’s Connections Academy graduated a blind student who could neither read or write. they took the state’s money, but the young woman did not get an education nor did she get appropriate accommodations for her disability.\nWhere are the lawyers for students with disabilities?\nWho will stop these zombie schools from gathering up dollars intended to educate the state’s children?"}
{"content":"Pronunciation: (blOO'it), Strict Standards: Non-static method FenSites::linkTo() should not be called statically in /site/html/dictionary/bluet.html on line 73 [key]\n1. Usually, bluets. Also called innocence, Quaker-ladies. any of several North American plants of the genus Houstonia (or Hedyotis), of the madder family, esp. H. caerulea, a low-growing plant having four-petaled blue and white flowers.\n2. any of various other plants having blue flowers.\nRandom House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease."}
{"content":"Pronunciation: (kā'sēn, -sē-in, kā-sēn'), Strict Standards: Non-static method FenSites::linkTo() should not be called statically in /site/html/dictionary/casein.html on line 71 [key]\n1. Biochem.a protein precipitated from milk, as by rennet, and forming the basis of cheese and certain plastics.\n2. Fine Arts.\na. an emulsion made from a solution of this precipitated protein, water, and ammonia carbonate.\nb. a paint in which this emulsion is used as a binder.\nc. a picture produced with this paint and emulsion.\nRandom House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease."}
{"content":"Date: November 19, 2003\nCreator: Tittle, Dennis & Corey, Harold\nDescription: Interview with businessman Harold Corey. The interview includes Corey's personal experiences about the Texas International Pop Festival. Corey talks about his parents' reaction to the social, political, and cultural changes of the Sixties, his early interest in popular music, protests against the Vietnam War, conflicts with the redneck culture, the influence of the Beatles on the music of the Sixties, the influence of the \"British Invasion,\" meeting the Grand Funk Railroad at the festival, Hog Farm, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, the sale and use of drugs, the trip tent, festival security, activities at the campgrounds, comments about Ten Years After, and the lasting effects of the festival on his life. The interview includes an appendix with a campground map and festival advertisement.\nContributing Partner: UNT Oral History Program"}
{"content":"The Washington Supreme Court in In re Grantsought to determine whether life sustaining treatment could be legally withheld from a terminally ill, non-comatose, incompetent individual. In its December 1987 slip opinion, a majority of the court expanded on its previous decisions empowering third parties, including guardians, families, and physicians, to withhold and withdraw life sustaining treatment from incompetent individuals. This was accomplished by characterizing artificial nutrition and hydration as removable, life sustaining medical treatment. The court also gave third parties the power to remove artificial nutrition and hydration before the incompetent individual in question slips into a coma or persistent vegetative state. After numerous, bizarre procedural twists, however, any semblance of a majority opinion disappeared, and the resulting decision serves only to further complicate an already complex and controversial issue.\nStephen P. VanDerhoef, In re Grant: Where Does Washington Stand on Artificial Nutrition and Hydration?, 13 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 197 (1989)."}
{"content":"'Jhead' extracts digital camera settings from Exif format files. It handles the various ways these can be expressed, and displays them as F-stop, shutter speed, etc. It also reduces the size of JPEGs without loss of information by deleting integral thumbnails that cameras put into the Exif header. It extracts an integral low-res Exif thumbnail, shutter speed, F-stop number, Flash used (yes/no), Focus distance (not all digital cameras store this element), focal length (most zoom cameras store their zoomed-to focal length), equivalent 35mm focal length (calculated from focal length, CCD size, and CCD resolution), image resolution, time and date of picture, and camera make and model.\nDocumentationUser guide available in HTML format from http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/usage.html\nreleased on 7 July 2005\n|License||Verified by||Verified on||Notes|\n|PublicDomain||Janet Casey||29 August 2002|\nLeaders and contributors\nResources and communication\nThis entry (in part or in whole) was last reviewed on 7 July 2005."}
{"content":"Church prayerful ahead of family reunions\nThe reunions meant to bring together families and relatives separated by partition will be the first since 2010.\nCatholics are praying for reunion of families divided by the partitioning of the Korean peninsula in 1953, scheduled to take place at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort from February 20-25.\nA day after the Koreas agreed upon the reunions at a meeting held on February 5, North Korea’s top military body said in a statement that it would reconsider the family reunion deal if joint US-South Korea military exercises went ahead. They are due to begin around the same time as the reunions.\nThe reunions meant to bring together families and relatives separated by partition will be the first since 2010. The programme was suspended after the North's shelling of a South Korean border island in November 2010.\n\"We hope that the latest agreement will be smoothly carried out to ease the suffering and pain of separated families,\" the Korean Ministry of Unification stated.\nAn estimated 72,000 South Koreans are on a waiting list for a chance to participate in such family reunions, where only a few hundred are able to take part.\nIn the past, North Korea had cancelled reunions after the South took actions it opposed. It has been accused of using the reunions, which are highly emotional events, as a bargaining chip.\nA South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman confirmed last Thursday that the military drills with US would go ahead.\nNorth Korea views the exercises, held every year around this time, as aggressive. Last year, the exercises led to a prolonged surge in tensions, with North Korea threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes and cutting a military hotline with the South.\nSeveral thousand Koreans were displaced and separated during the 1950-53 Korean War. Normal direct communications across the armistice line are prohibited since the 1953 partition agreement and many separated families have lost contact with each other.\nArchbishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul is known for his dedication to reconciliation between North and South Korea.\nThe South Korean Bishops’ Conference had dedicated June 2013 as a month of prayer for the reconciliation and unity of Koreans. Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon of Uijongbu had led the prayers for reconciliation, aiming to reignite passion for unity.\nA prayer chain ran throughout South Korea, beginning in Seoul and ending in Wonju. The prayer chain sought the intercession of Blessed Virgin Mary for peace between the Koreas.\nSource: Catholic News Agency & BBC"}
{"content":"In her new book Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks, Barbara McCann notes that “the fundamental philosophy behind the complete streets movement can seem painfully obvious: roads should be safe for everyone traveling along them.” But as McCann, who served as the founding executive director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, also tells us, “the history, political standing, habits, and orientation of the transportation industry in the United States have made it extraordinarily difficult for any policy movement to shift the way transportation projects are planned and built.” Her book reflects on how the movement towards safer, more inclusive streets has started a positive movement in communities across America, as there are now more than 500 localities with complete streets policies.\nMcCann describes the complete streets movement as essentially a policy initiative that seeks to change the way all roads are built in the United States. It developed from an effort by advocates who wanted to put a directive in federal law to include bicycle facilities in all road projects. This was challenging because driving and biking were considered separate modes of transportation supported by different systems. What emerged from this effort became a movement to radically reframe transportation infrastructure. The focus turned to broadening transportation safety to include all people traveling along a corridor. It also widened from the individual road corridor to a jurisdiction’s entire network.\nAccording to McCann, the movement’s success to date is not rooted in a simple definition of a new kind of street. There’s no one answer to the problem. She emphasizes that “defining the problem is not a design issue.” Lasting change only comes from addressing the primary problem, which is both political and cultural. The complete streets movement is succeeding not because it lays out a compelling design paradigm, but because it uses three key strategies to help change the way transportation projects are chosen, planned, and built. These three strategies are: shifting the focus from project design to values and policy; building a broad base of support for policy change; and creating a clear path to transform everyday practice.\nMcCann attributes much of the complete streets movement’s success to the ability to “reframe the conversation about transportation in a simple and powerful way.” Complete streets have multiple benefits, such as improving the health, sustainability, and economic vitality of communities. But the movement’s most potent argument is that safety on streets is a problem that effects everyone, both drivers and non-drivers. One third of the population does not drive, including children, older adults, people with disabilities, and those without the financial resources to own a car. These individuals need safe and effective means of transportation via walking, biking, or public transit. Discussing safety is a highly subversive way to introduce new ideas. Introducing it as a topic immediately broadens the conversation around transportation development.\nThe movement has also been able to “build a broad base of political support.” McCann says that all too often elected officials adopt new policies that stall out in implementation. A whole new effort is necessary to bring them into daily practice. Complete streets policy advocates like ASLA make explicit the values surrounding the effort and build strong coalitions to support cultural and institutional change. They focus on building a network of support that includes not only politicians but also practitioners within transportation profession who are already trying to change the system from within. They also work to build support in communities by clarifying policies and helping people to understand, affirm, and support new approaches.\nComplete streets initiatives then “provide a clear path to follow in transitioning to a multi-modal process.” To be actionable, the movement offers participants a map for building multimodal street networks that support driving as well as walking, biking, and public transit. Historically, transportation development since the the Federal Highway Act of 1956 has made a habit of building projects that are specific to a single method of travel. Complete streets initiatives provide a three-phase guide for action to break this habit. This guide provides technical information for building streets. More importantly, it includes information on writing and passing a policy commitment supported by the community, and outlines a process for changing the systems, culture, and practices inside transportation agencies.\nWith this three-part strategy, McCann argues, the complete streets movement offers every community a viable framework for improving their street network. In 2012, a nationwide public opinion poll showed that 63 percent of Americans would like to address traffic congestion by improving public transportation and designing communities for easier walking and bicycling. Cities across America face different challenges to addressing these issues. Older cities generally have a structure more conducive to a transportation refit, whereas newer cities are dealing with hundreds of miles of mostly disconnected street networks. Many of the communities within newer cities are far from reaching a progressive development ideal.\nMcCann’s book demonstrates how, regardless of the obstacles they face, communities of all kinds can begin to make lasting and effective changes using the principles of the complete streets movement.\nThis guest post is by Shannon Leahy, former ASLA summer intern and recent Master’s of Landscape Architecture graduate, University of Pennsylvania.\nImage credit: Island Press"}
{"content":"This is another Jim Dine project I did this year that was a fun one for the kids and with a very successful outcome too! I brought in several different sizes and shapes of paint brushes and had them do a detailed drawing of each. (similar to Dine's print below) I had them spend 10 + minutes on each brush and really notice all the details, especially size and shape in relation to the other brushes. This was a good project to talk a little about proportion and composition.\nThey had a choice to leave with only a sharpie (extra fine line) outline or use watercolor or colored pencils. I did this project in K-6 grades and even the younger kids had good luck with it.\nJim Dine prints"}
{"content":"This manual provides reference information about database initialization parameters, static data dictionary views, dynamic performance views, database limits, and SQL scripts that are part of the Oracle Database.\nOracle Database Reference contains information that describes the features and functionality of the Oracle Database (also known as the standard edition) and the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition products. The Oracle Database and the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition have the same basic features. However, several advanced features are available only with the Enterprise Edition, and some of these are optional. For example, to use application failover, you must have the Enterprise Edition with the Real Application Clusters option.\nSee Also:Oracle Database New Features for information about the differences between the Oracle Database and the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition and the features and options that are available to you.\nThis preface contains these topics:\nOracle Database Reference is intended for database administrators, system administrators, and database application developers.\nTo use this document, you need TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE FOLLOWING:\nOracle database management system (DBMS) concepts\nYour operating system environment\nOur goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible to all users, including users that are disabled. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at\nScreen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.\nThis documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.\nTo reach Oracle Support Services, use a telecommunications relay service (TRS) to call Oracle Support at 1.800.223.1711. An Oracle Support Services engineer will handle technical issues and provide customer support according to the Oracle service request process. Information about TRS is available at\nhttp://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trs.html, and a list of phone numbers is available at\nFor more information, see these Oracle resources:\nOracle Database Concepts for a comprehensive introduction to the concepts and terminology used in this manual\nOracle Database Administrator's Guide for information about administering the Oracle Database\nOracle Database Upgrade Guide for the procedures for upgrading a previous release of Oracle to the new release\nOracle Database SQL Reference for information on Oracle's SQL commands and functions\nOracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals for information about developing database applications within the Oracle Database\nMany of the examples in this book use the sample schemas, which are installed by default when you select the Basic Installation option with an Oracle Database installation. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.\nPrinted documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at\nTo download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at\nIf you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at\nThe following text conventions are used in this document:\n|boldface||Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.|\n|italic||Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.|\n||Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.|"}
{"content":"Siebel Communications Server Administration Guide > Configuring Communications Templates >\nCreating Simple Templates\nThis section describes how to create a simple template. Simple templates are used for the Send Email, Send Fax, or Send Page commands. These commands may be accessed from the File application-level menu, from the communications toolbar, or using keyboard shortcuts. Simple templates also apply to replies in Siebel Email Response.\nFor information about the fields for the Templates list and the Simple tab, see Fields for Templates.\nOutbound communication requests use advanced templates. Template items are supported for advanced templates only. For more information, see Creating Advanced Templates and Specifying Template Items for an Advanced Template.\nTo create a simple template\n- Navigate to Communications > My Templates.\n- In the Templates list:\n- Add a new record. (Alternatively, you can add the record in the Simple form below.)\n- Specify the name of the template for which you added a new record.\n- Specify the channel type, such as Email, Fax, or Pager.\n- Specify the language and locale that is applicable to this template.\n- Optionally, provide a short description for the template.\n- In the Simple form:\n- Specify the name of the template, if you did not already do so in the Templates list.\n- Specify the channel type for the template, if you did not already do so in the Templates list.\n- Specify the template type, such as Greeting, Body, or Closing:\n- When using the Send Email, Send Fax, or Send Page command, users can choose specific templates of type Body to insert into the message.\n- When replying to an inbound email message using Siebel Email Response, users can choose specific templates of each type to insert into the reply.\n- Specify the language and locale for this template, if you did not already do so in the Templates list.\n- For an email or fax template, specify whether this is an HTML template or a plain-text template.\nFor a simple template, this setting determines whether the template is listed in the Body drop-down in usage context. Templates are listed only when they correspond to the user preference setting for Default Message Format. For more information, see Template Visibility and Access.\n- For a template that is intended for public use, check the Public box when the template is ready to be publicly available.\n- Optionally, specify for Pick Available Substitutions the appropriate business object (Object) as the template's recipient group:\n- Specify a subject line for the template, as applicable for the channel type.\nThe subject line is overridden by any subject line specified by the user in the context in which the template is used—for example, in an email message in the Send Email window, or in a reply in Siebel Email Response.\n- Enter the template text. As appropriate, copy and paste fields from the list of available field substitutions. Include the brackets around the field names.\nThe Text field allows you to use editing and formatting controls, as described in Editing and Formatting Controls for Template Text. For an HTML email or fax template, formatting you apply is preserved. For a plain-text template, formatting is stripped when the template is saved.\nThe Substitutions list is populated with field names as described in Fields for Templates (for the Simple tab).\n- Test the template to verify that it functions as required and that field substitution behavior works correctly. Do this before you make a template publicly available.\nTo test a template, send it in the intended context: that is, by using the applicable Send command, or by specifying a test reply for Siebel Email Response."}
{"content":"The topics in this document provides information about the LDAP Binding Component.\nWhat You Need to Know\nThese topics provide information about the functional behavior of LDAP Binding Component.\nLightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), is an Internet protocol used to access information directories. LDAP runs over TCP/IP. A directory service is a distributed database application designed to manage the entries and attributes in a directory.\nLDAP allows clients to access different directory services based on entries. These LDAP entries are available to users and other applications based on access controls.\nThe Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Binding Component (BC) is a comprehensive solution for interacting with a LDAP Directory running on a LDAP server. The design time component of the LDAP Binding Component is a NetBeans module that allows configuration of the Binding Component. The runtime is based on Java EE and JBI. It implements all the necessary interfaces available in the JBI specification.\nAn LDAP directory has entries that contain information pertaining to entities. Each attribute has a name and one or more values. The names of the attributes are mnemonic strings, such as cn for common name, or mail for email address.\nFor example, a company may have an employee directory. Each entry in the employee directory represents an employee. The employee entry contains such information as the name, email address, and phone number, as shown in the following example:\ncn: John Doe\ntelephoneNumber: 471-6000 x.1234\nEach part of the descriptive information, such as an employee's name, is known as an attribute. In the example above, the Common Name (cn) attribute, represents the name of the employee. The other attributes are mail and telephoneNumber.\nEach attribute can have one or more values. For example, an employee entry may contain a mail attribute whose values are email@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.org. In the previous example, the mail attribute contains two mail values.\nThe organization of a directory is a tree structure. The topmost entry in a directory is known as the root entry. This entry normally represents the organization that owns the directory.\nEntries at the higher level of hierarchy, represent larger groupings or organizations. Entries under the larger organizations represent smaller organizations that make up the larger ones. The leaf nodes (or entries) of the tree structure represent the individuals or resources.\nAn entry is made up of a collection of attributes that have a unique identifier called a Distinguished Name (DN). A DN has a unique name that identifies the entry at the respective hierarchy. In the example above, John Doe and Jane Doe are different common names (cn) that identify different entries at that same level.\nA DN is also a fully qualified path of names that trace the entry back to the root of the tree. For example, the distinguished name of the John Doe entry is:\ncn=John Doe, ou=People, dc=sun.com\nA Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) is a component of the distinguished name.\nFor example, cn=John Doe, ou=People is a RDN relative to the root RDN dc=sun.com.\nDNs describe the fully qualified path to an entry\nRDN describe the partial path to the entry relative to another entry in the tree.\nThe figure illustrates an example of an LDAP directory structure with distinguished names and relative distinguished names.\nLDAP Directory Structure\nA Directory Service is a distributed database application designed to manage the entries and attributes in a directory. A directory service also makes the entries and attributes available to users and other applications. OpenLDAP server is an example of a directory service. Other directory services include Sun Active Directory Service (Sun Microsystems) and Microsoft Active Directory.\nA directory client uses the LDAP protocol to access a directory service. A directory client may use one of several client APIs available in order to access the directory service.\nSet of rules that describes the nature of data is stored\nHelps maintain consistency and quality data\nReduces duplication of data\nObject class attribute determines schema rules the entry must follow\nSchema contains the following,\nThe method to compare attributes\nLimit what the attribute can store, that is, restrict to integer\nRestrict what information is stored, that is, stops duplication\nUser id : uid\nCommon Name ; cn\nSurname : sn\nLocation : l\nOrganizational Unit : ou\nOrganization : o\nDomain Component : dc\nState : st\nCountry : c\nStreet address : street\nCriteria for attributes that must satisfy for entry on return\nBase dn = base object entry search relative to\nLDAP String Representation of Search Filters\nLDAPv3 Search Filters\nAND : &\nOR : |\nNOT : !\nApproximately equal : ~=\nGreater than or equal : >=\nLess than or equal : <=\nAny : *\nLDAP (v3) is the Light weight directory Access protocol (RFC 3377). An Internet standard for accessing a directory (such as an address book) over TCP/IP. The Binding Component wraps the JBI interface. Users use this component to access operations that the LDAP provides to the open-esb world.\nLDAP Binding Component provides the services to add, search, update, and delete on LDAP directory. The Binding Component conforms to the JBI specification and enables LDAP server integration in a JBI environment. The LDAP component consists of two modules: run-time JBI module and design-time NetBeans plugin.\nLDAP Binding Component run-time module implements interfaces defined in the JBI framework and interacts with the external LDAP server for managing the directory services. The run-time uses LDAP v3 to interact with LDAP directory server.\nDesign time NetBeans modules provides visual configuration of the binding component. It also defines how other components can integrate within the JBI framework. Users can update properties for the component and incorporate LDAP components with others in deployable service assembly.\nThe LDAP Binding Component helps the JBI components to communicate with the LDAP server. The LDAP Binding Component provides a bunch of features for interacting with the LDAP server. LDAP Binding Component uses the JBI (Java Business Integration JSR 208) specification developed under the JCP (Java Community Process) for implementing Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). open-esb is the Sun's implementation of the JSR 208.\nThe LDAP Binding Component provides a comprehensive solution for configuring and connecting to the LDAP server within a JBI environment. The design-time component is a NetBeans IDE 6.1 module that plugs into the NetBeans Enterprise Pack project system. The runtime component provides the physical connectivity between the Normalized Message Router in the JBI framework and the external LDAP server. This component implements all the required interfaces available in the JBI 1.0 specification. The runtime component can act as a service provider, supporting Outbound services sending requests to the LDAP server from the JBI framework.\nLDAP Binding Component allows anonymous and authenticated connections. Users can perform numerous tasks when connected to an external LDAP system. These tasks include adding an entry, adding an attribute, and adding a value. Similarly, users have the privileges to modify, delete and search for a value, and attribute entry.\nThe following features are supported in the LDAP Binding Component.\nStandard JBI Binding Component\nComponent lifecycle Management: Install, Start, Stop, Shutdown, and Un-install\nService Unit lifecycle Management: Deploy, Start, Stop, Shutdown, and Un-deploy\nService Assembly Generation\nSupport Component Status Monitoring\nInstallation Time Configuration\nService Provisioner and Consumer\nAnonymous Connections are those that are not categorized as authenticated, trusted, suspect, or blocked.\nAdd Entry Node\nUse the AddEntry node to add entries to a directory. There are different options available when adding an entry. Specify the name of the entry to add (RDN relative to the initial context), an entry with its attributes and values for each attribute.\nAdd Attribute Value\nUse the Add Attribute Value to modify the values or attributes.\nUse Add Value to add any value to any attribute of an entry.\nUse the Remove Attribute to remove attributes from an entry.\nUse Remove Value to remove values from any attribute of an entry.\nUse the Replace Value to replace all the existing values of any attribute with any new value for an entry.\nUse Search to perform searches for an entry or multiple entries of the LDAP directory.\nThis feature helps you to search for an attribute among many LDAP servers. Set up the LDAP referral to another LDAP server. This means after the search fails to locate the search string on one server, it automatically searches over the referred server.\nA credential file contains the appropriate referral credentials. Use the RCF command line utility to generate the credential file.\nUse the Ignore attribute to ignore the referral server.\nUser the Follow attribute to connect to the referred system and continue the search operation.\nUse this attribute to generate a referral exception, which the client can catch and initiate any action.\nThe Search corresponds to performing searches for an entry or multiple entries of the LDAP directory.\nThe OBJECT_SCOPE method defines the search method only within the named object that is defined with ContextName. The object scope essentially compares the named object for some particular attribute and/or value.\nThe ONELEVEL_SCOPE method defines the search method for entries that are one level below the named object.\nThe SUBTREE_SCOPE method defines the search method for all entries starting from the named object and all descendants below the named object.\nUse the Search filter to specify the context or the first entry for the search, the scope of the search, or any other search criteria and the boundaries to which the search is limited.\nThe Page control specifies a collection of control that are set.\nUse Sort to request for the search values to be sorted as per the specified attributes. Set the Sort Attributes field with a pipe (|) separated character string consisting of attributes to use sort control.\nExample: Set SortAttributes with the string cn|mail to sort entries by cn and later by mail..\nThe LDAP server stores user names and passwords. Hence all transactions have to be secure. The following are configured with the LDAP Binding Component:\nSecure Socket Layer (SSL)\nSecure Socket Layer (SSL) is a cryptographic protocol that provides privacy and data integrity for communications over TCP/IP networks such as the Internet.\nTransport Layer Security (TLS)\nTransport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol that provides privacy and data integrity for communications over TCP/IP networks such as the Internet.\nTLS on Demand\nSelecting this option allows users to establish an SSL connection on demand.\nUse the startTLS function to initiate a secure SMTP connection between two servers using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) (also known as TLS).\nOnce the connection is established all future communication between the two servers is encrypted.\nUse the stopTLS function to stop an SMTP connection between two servers using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) (also known as TLS).\nKeyStore and TrustStore Management\nThe Keystore is used for key or certificate management when establishing SSL connections.\nThe TrustStore is used for CA certificate management when establishing SSL connections.\nCredential File Management\nThe Credential File Management feature allows users the credentials needed when authenticating log-ins other than anonymous log-in\nWSDL 1.1 Wrapper Support in ME Normalizer and Denormalizer\nWSDL Extensibility Element\nLDAP WSDL Extensibility Element Support\nDesign-time WSDL Validation\nLDAP WSDL Generator/Wizard\nComposite Application Integration\nSystem requirements come in two basic forms: functional and nonfunctional. Functional requirements define what a system does. These include event driven capabilities which provide specific observable functions to users of the system. Nonfunctional requirements on the other hand, use pervasive nonfunctional qualities like reliability, availability, and security, to define a system functionality.\nThis feature is used when the application is deployed and configuration of the WSDL takes place. This can be done through Application Configuration without redeploying the application.\nCustom GUI Configuration\nLogging varies based on the situation:\nAdministrators can use the log to monitor system state, monitor for errors, and troubleshoot errors\nApplication developers can use the log additionally to troubleshoot their own application code\nSupport, sustaining and development can use the log to troubleshoot the product code\nSecurity often plays a role in interacting with various external systems, protocols, and implementations. Security may take the form of authorization, authentication, or encryption. The Password Handling feature also provides a common mechanism for components that need to handle authorization and authentication through the use of user names and passwords.\nCommon Fault, Error Strategy\nEstablish a common fault or error framework. This ensures consistency in fault behavior and content.\nThe user has the provision to monitor the component and the application. After deploying and starting the server, it provides statistics like endpoint statistics, component statistics and performance measurement.\nThe recovery feature helps components to recover from failure gracefully. This includes failure of other components internally and externally. It can also deal with faults or errors in a manner that does not compromise message reliability.\nUse Dynamic addressing to extend the scope of an application dynamically through dynamic addressing or invocation.\nBinding Configuration Panel\nLDAP Search Page Control\nLDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) File Parser\nLDAP Custom Control\nWizard Re-factoring to describe Multiple Operations\nFix Add Operation (wizard and runtime) to Return Results\nMultiple Operation Support\nThe LDIF parser implementation allows creating a WSDL from a LDIF file, The WSDL can be created with all the four operations in the same WSDL.\nThe following operating systems are supported:\nMicrosoft Windows XP Professional SP2 32–bit\nRed Hat Linux AS4 64–bit\nSun Microsystems Solaris 10 SPARC 64–bit\nMicrosoft Windows XP SP3 32–bit\nMicrosoft Windows 2003 R2 SP2 32–bit\nMicrosoft Windows Vista Business SP1 32–bit\nMicrosoft Windows 2000 SP4 32–bit\nSun Microsystems Solaris 10 64–bit (X86)\nSun Microsystems Open Solaris 10 32–bit (X86)\nSun Microsystems Solaris 9 SPARC (64–bit)\nRed Hat Linux AS4 32–bit\nOpen Solaris 2008\nLDAP Binding Component is certified to work with the following servers-\nWindows Server 2003 Active Directory\nSun Java System Directory Server v6.3"}
{"content":"Callback methods are the key elements provided by the API for implementing a resource type. Callback methods enable the RGM to control resources in the cluster in the event of a change in cluster membership, such as a node boot or crash.\nThe callback methods are executed by the RGM with root permissions because the client programs control HA services on the cluster system. Install and administer these methods with restrictive file ownership and permissions. Specifically, give them a privileged owner, such as bin or root, and do not make them writable.\nControl and initialization methods\nAdministrative support methods\nMonitor control methods\nAlthough this section provides brief descriptions of the callback methods, including the point at which the method is invoked and the expected effect on the resource, the rt_callbacks(1HA) man page is the definitive reference for the callback methods.\nThe RGM invokes callback methods as follows:\nmethod -R resource-name -T type-name -G group-name\nThe method is the path name of the program that is registered as the Start, Stop, or other callback. The callback methods of a resource type are declared in its registration file.\nAll callback method arguments are passed as flagged values, with -R indicating the name of the resource instance, -T indicating the type of the resource, and -G indicating the group into which the resource is configured. Use the arguments with access functions to retrieve information about the resource.\nThe Validate method is called with additional arguments (the property values of the resource and resource group on which it is called).\nSee rt_callbacks(1HA) for more information.\nAll callback methods have the same exit codes defined to specify the effect of the method invocation on the resource state. The scha_calls(3HA) man page describes all these exit codes. The exit codes are:\n0 – Method succeeded\nAny nonzero value – Method failed\nThe RGM also handles abnormal failures of callback method execution, such as time outs and core dumps.\nMethod implementations must output failure information using syslog(3) on each node. Output written to stdout or stderr is not guaranteed to be delivered to the user (though it currently is displayed on the console of the local node).\nThis required method is invoked on a cluster node when the resource group containing the resource is brought online on that node. This method activates the resource on that node.\nA Start method should not exit until the resource it activates has been started and is available on the local node. Therefore, before exiting, the Start method should poll the resource to determine that it has started. In addition, you should set a sufficiently long time-out value for this method. For example, certain resources, such as database daemons, take more time to start, and thus require that the method have a longer timeout value.\nThe way in which the RGM responds to failure of the Start method depends on the setting of the Failover_mode property.\nThe START_TIMEOUT property in the resource type registration file sets the time-out value for a resource's Start method.\nThis required method is invoked on a cluster node when the resource group containing the resource is brought offline on that node. This method deactivates the resource if it is active.\nA Stop method should not exit until the resource it controls has completely stopped all its activity on the local node and has closed all file descriptors. Otherwise, because the RGM assumes the resource has stopped, when in fact it is still active, data corruption can result. The safest way to avoid data corruption is to terminate all processes on the local node related to the resource.\nBefore exiting, the Stop method should poll the resource to determine that it has stopped. In addition, you should set a sufficiently long time-out value for this method. For example, certain resources, such as database daemons, take more time to stop, and thus require that the method have a longer time-out value.\nThe way in which the RGM responds to failure of the Stop method depends on the setting of the Failover_mode property (see Table A–2).\nThe STOP_TIMEOUT property in the resource type registration file sets the time-out value for a resource's Stop method.\nThis optional method is invoked to perform a one-time initialization of the resource when the resource becomes managed—either when the resource group it is in is switched from an unmanaged to a managed state, or when the resource is created in a resource group that is already managed. The method is called on nodes determined by the Init_nodes resource property.\nThis optional method is invoked to clean up after the resource when the resource becomes unmanaged—either when the resource group it is in is switched to an unmanaged state or when the resource is deleted from a managed resource group. The method is called on nodes determined by the Init_nodes resource property.\nThis optional method, similar to Init, is invoked to initialize the resource on nodes that join the cluster after the resource group containing the resource has already been put under the management of the RGM. The method is invoked on nodes determined by the Init_nodes resource property. The Boot method is called when the node joins or rejoins the cluster as the result of being booted or rebooted.\nFailure of the Init, Fini, or Boot methods causes the syslog(3) function to generate an error message but does not otherwise affect RGM management of the resource.\nAdministrative actions on resources include setting and changing resource properties. The Validate and Update callback methods enable a resource type implementation to hook into these administrative actions.\nThis optional method is called when a resource is created and when administrative action updates the properties of the resource or its containing resource group. This method is called on the set of cluster nodes indicated by the Init_nodes property of the resource's type. Validate is called before the creation or update is applied, and a failure exit code from the method on any node causes the creation or update to be canceled.\nValidate is called only when resource or resource group properties are changed through administrative action, not when the RGM sets properties, or when a monitor sets the resource properties Status and Status_msg.\nThis optional method is called to notify a running resource that properties have been changed. Update is invoked after an administration action succeeds in setting properties of a resource or its group. This method is called on nodes where the resource is online. The method uses the API access functions to read property values that might affect an active resource and adjust the running resource accordingly.\nFailure of the Update method causes the syslog(3) function to generate an error message but does not otherwise affect RGM management of the resource.\nServices that use network address resources might require that start or stop steps be done in a certain order relative to the network address configuration. The following optional callback methods, Prenet_start and Postnet_stop, enable a resource type implementation to do special startup and shutdown actions before and after a related network address is configured or unconfigured.\nThis optional method is called to do special startup actions before network addresses in the same resource group are configured.\nThis optional method is called to do special shutdown actions after network addresses in the same resource group are configured down.\nA resource type implementation optionally can include a program to monitor the performance of a resource, report on its status, or take action on resource failure. The Monitor_start, Monitor_stop, and Monitor_check methods support the implementation of a resource monitor in a resource type implementation.\nThis optional method is called to start a monitor for the resource after the resource is started.\nThis optional method is called to stop a resource's monitor before the resource is stopped.\nThis optional method is called to assess the reliability of a node before a resource group is relocated to the node. The Monitor_check method must be implemented so that it does not conflict with the concurrent running of another method."}
{"content":"Each eventspace has its own instance of snip-class-list<%>, obtained with (get-the-snip-class-list). New instances cannot be created directly. Each instance keeps a list of snip classes. This list is needed for loading snips from a file. See also Snip Classes.\nAdds a snip class to the list. If a class with the same name already exists in the list, this one will not be added.\nFinds a snip class from the list with the given name, returning #f if none is found.\n→ exact-nonnegative-integer? class : (is-a?/c snip-class%)\nReturns an index into the list for the specified class.\n→ (or/c (is-a?/c snip-class%) #f) n : exact-nonnegative-integer?\nReturns the nth class in the list, or #f if the list has n classes or less.\nReturns the number of snip classes in the list."}
{"content":"PC Matic says that it could potentially save you from having to replace your slow, unreliable computer by cleaning it up like new. There are several different programs out that that make similar claims, but this is one of the most popular. Let’s see if it’s actually working for real users.\nThere are a ton of problems a computer can have, all of which will slow it down and reduce its capacity to provide you with the service you expect from it. Viruses, scumware, scamware, adware, malware, and spyware, just to name a few, can all seriously debilitate your computer. You may also have programs on your computer that are always running, and don’t need to be, and this can slow its performance.\nThey say that you can use the software on up to 100 computers, and that it provides security for your computer without slowing it down. They also claim that it will make your computer more reliable, and that you’ll have faster Internet speeds once it’s done cleaning things up. In the advertisement they run they insinuate that you’ll be able to keep the computer you have rather than having to buy a new one. It’s easy to see that computers can get slogged down over a period of months and years, so the real question is can this get rid of the problem?\nThe hype comes from their national television advertising campaign, as well as a ton of online ads that ask you if your computer is running slow. It also seems like this product is geared towards those that would dub themselves “computer illiterate”, as it performs many tasks that can be done without paying for a software, such as defragmenting your hard drive. Of course it is much easier to let the software do it for you instead of completing each task on your own.\nIt’s free to download PC Matic, and they’ll scan your computer for you for free. If you want to fix the problems it costs $50. It’s unlikely that your computer will be problem-free if you’re looking into getting a product like this, so you should be prepared to get it because it’s likely to find a host of problems and you’re going to want to remove them and not leave them on your system.\nThe entire user interface is easy to navigate, so you don’t really have to spend a lot of time learning how to use it. Downloading the software takes seconds on a high speed connection, and it’s only a few more seconds until you’re running the initial scan. It runs on its own, and once it’s set up you don’t have to keep running it, it runs in the background and keeps your computer running smoothly, rather than letting problems stack up again.\nPC Matic gets great reviews overall, with a few complaints here and there. What we did notice though is that several of the complaints were from older reviews, and have been resolved with current updates. It’s nice to see a software company that is trying to improve upon itself and keep the product updated. A lot of software out there gets out of date, so you always want to make sure that you’re not trusting a beta release, or a piece of software that has never seen a new release.\nThe reason that some people are not happy with the way this functions, saying that it’s slow and causes even more problems, is most likely because their computer has so many problems it’s going to take a while for it to fix them all. Sometimes fixing a virus and removing malware and adware will make your computer function worse, as those programs are equipped to resist being removed. But some people think that it’s just a matter of deleting them and the process should be easy and smooth. Once your computer is returned to its factory state it should run much more easily.\nFinal PC Matic Review\nWe’re giving PC Matic our Thumbs Up review. Cheesy commercials aside it seems to do a decent job of identifying and fixing the problems that are present on most computers. Some of the problems out there are pretty severe, with trojan viruses that attempt to take over your computer. Others are more mild, like spamware or even cookies that don’t really need to be on your computer. Deleting those and keeping them off of your system is easy enough, and it’s nice to have a program that handles it all for you, rather than having to use several different ones in conjunction with one another.\nIf you’re not savvy when it comes to keeping your computer clean, and haven’t cleaned it up since the day you got it, this would be a good software to run to make sure there aren’t a bunch of unnecessary programs slowing you down and keeping you from enjoying your computer like you used to.\nWhat do you think? Does PC Matic work or not?\nIf you liked our review, please 'Like Us' on Facebook & Subscribe to our YouTube Channel"}
{"content":"Domestic pets, in a similar manner to wolves, often try to establish dominance over other members of their household, including humans and other animals. Dogs may be dominant if they try to keep others away from their toys or food, growl or show their teeth, do not follow commands even though they are trained, insistently try to get their owner to pay attention to them and/or act in other dominant ways. It is possible to reduce or eliminate dominance in your dog if you behave in certain ways towards your pet.\nTraining a Dominant DogStep 1\nUse obedience training techniques to teach your dog or puppy manners. Teach your dog basic commands, such as staying, coming when called and sitting. Then move on to more advanced commands, such as rolling over. According to an article by Mary W. Alward on Puppy-training.info, training your dog establishes that you and other members of your household are the leaders, while your dog is the subordinate in the group.\nTalk to an animal behavior specialist, a type of counselor that deals with behavioral problems in pets, if your dog is just starting to display dominant behavior. An animal behavior specialist may be able to give you an idea of why your dog is acting in a dominant manner and give suggestions on how to stop your pet’s aggressive behavior.\nTake your dog to a veterinarian to get examined if she is frequently acting in a dominate manner around you and others. She could have a neurological condition or another health problem, such as rabies, epilepsy or dental disease, which causes her to display aggressive and/or dominant behavior.\nTry to keep your dog out of places and situations that cause him to try to display his dominance, such as public places with children and/or other dogs. Do not hug your dog, groom him, touch his face or other parts of his body, bother him when he is sleeping or act in other ways that trigger his aggressiveness. If you take your dog outside of your home, put a muzzle or harness on him so that you have control over him.\nIf your dog starts to act aggressively, speak to him in a positive voice to get him to calm down. When he tries to be dominant with you, walk away or do not respond to his behavior, and do not reward him for his dominance, according to the Hilltop Animal Hospital.\nItems You Will Need\n- Obedience training\n- Veterinarian and/or animal behavior specialist\n- Pet owner\n- Dominant dog\n- While many dogs respond to positive reinforcement methods, such as giving your dog a treat or an affectionate gesture when he listens to your command, some dogs are more dominant than others. You may need to use a firm voice with an overly dominant dog to get him to respond to your commands.\n- Warning signs that your dog is trying to display her dominance, include growling, snarling, showing her teeth, tensing her body and/or biting.\n- Do not hit your dog when you are trying to train him to be less dominant because you may cause the dog to become more dominant and/or fearful, according to Alward.\n- When you are teaching your dog a command, such as to sit, do not try to force him to follow the command. Instead try to guide him with verbal and nonverbal cues, according to an article by Kathy Diamond Davis for VeterinaryPartner.com.\n- Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images"}
{"content":"Curly tails aren’t a feature reserved for pigs. Multiple breeds of dog sport tightly curled tails. Big dogs and little dogs alike rock curly tails, and although this list is not all-encompassing, it highlights a few of the more popular curly-tailed breeds.\nSmall Curly Tails\nThe pug is one of the most notable of all small, curly-tailed breeds. Their tails curl completely around itself like a corkscrew, staying curled even when the dog is in full wag mode. Pomeranians have long, fluffy tails that curl up over their back, giving them a distinct, plumed appearance.\nMedium Curly Tails\nHailing from the harsh plains of Africa, the Basenji’s tail curls just like a pig’s tail. This distinctive breed is unique in the fact that it yodels rather than barks, like most breeds. The affectionate, aloof Keeshond sports a curly tail as well, although this breed has such a thick coat, the tail seems to disappear in all the fluff.\nLarge Curly Tails\nThe tail of the Karelian bear dog, a hunting breed originating in the Karelia region of Europe, often has a white tip that accentuates it curliness. The Akita is one of the largest of the curly-tailed breeds, often standing more than 24 inches tall at the shoulder. The standard for this independent breed is so strict that dogs with uncurled tails can be disqualified from competition.\n- Photos.com/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images"}
{"content":"Canada drops Iranian group from terror list\nCanada's government said Thursday that it has removed an Iranian opposition group once allied with Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime from its official list of terrorist organizations.\nThe government's move to delist Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, follows similar moves by the United States and the European Union.\nThe MEK, a small, armed exile group, has said it wants to replace Tehran's clerical regime with a secular government through peaceful means.\nThe MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran's clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam's forces in the Iran-Iraq war. But the group says it renounced violence in 2001.\nThe United States noted when delisting the Paris-based group in September that the MEK had not engaged in terrorism for more than a decade.\nAny person or group on Canada's terrorist list may have their assets seized, and there are criminal penalties for assisting organizations that are on the list.\nCritics of the MEK say it has cult-like characteristics and that delisting it would be seen even by moderate Iranians as an endorsement of terrorism."}
{"content":"What if you never had to do a smell test for spoiled milk again? Instead of having to take a whiff of the sour liquid, you could just check the color of a small tag placed on the container.\nThis is exactly what researchers at Peking University in Beijing, China, are working on: color-coded \"smart tags.\"\nThese corn kernel-sized tags can be stuck to containers of food or medicine and have the capabilities of determining whether the food has gone bad or if the medications are still active. What's more, these tags will reportedly cost less than one penny each. … Read more"}
{"content":"gd is a graphics library. It allows your code to quickly draw images complete with lines, arcs, text, multiple colors, cut and paste from other images, and flood fills, and write out the result as a PNG or JPEG file. This is particularly useful in World Wide Web applications, where PNG and JPEG are two of the formats accepted for inline images by most browsers. gd is not a paint program. If you are looking for a paint program, you are looking in the wrong place. If you are not a programmer, you are looking in the wrong place. gd does not provide for every possible desirable graphics operation. It is not necessary or desirable for gd to become a kitchen-sink graphics package, but version 1.7.3 incorporates most of the commonly requested features for an 8-bit 2D package. Support for truecolor images, including truecolor JPEG and PNG, is planned for version 2.0.\nWhat's new in this version:"}
{"content":"Failure to adapt to the digital era costs Zenza Bronica dearly\nRead the press release: Tamron Announces The Discontinuation Of Bronica SLR Cameras\nDpnow sadly marks the news of the ending of the era of Bronica medium format cameras this week with the news that Tamron, who own Bronica, have discontinued the Bronica range, blaming the rise in digital photography.\nZenza Bronica was founded in 1959 by Zenzaburo Yoshino. The 'Bronica' brand, it is speculated, was formed from the words 'Brownie Camera'. Mr. Yoshino had made his money manufacturing cigarette lighters and ladies' powder compacts but he was also a keen photography enthusiast and had even opened a camera store in Tokyo. Despite having no experience in the camera industry, he invested his own fortune in designing what he hoped might become the 'perfect' camera.\nThe first Zenza Bronica, a 2¼ square inch format roll film SLR might be regarded as a Japanese copy of a Hasselblad, but it featured a number of desirable improvements, including an automatic mirror return and aperture reset after each exposure. The mirror mechanism was also novel in its action.\nBronicas quickly became best-sellers in their market sector. The Bronica EC-TL made its mark by being the first 2¼ square format SLR to feature through the lens automatic metering coupled to an aperture priority automatic exposure system.\nOriginally, Bronicas were square format cameras with focal plane shutters, but from 1976 the marque established a strong presence in the more economical 6x4.5cm (645) format camera sector with the ETR, which used interchangeable lenses with integral leaf shutters. Pictured in this article is an example of an ETRSi, first introduced in 1989 and, until this week, remained a current model.\nThe unit pictured belongs to my neighbour, Paul Watkins, who uses it regularly for wedding photography. If you look closely you can see there is a gold badge – this signifies that Paul's camera is a Fox Talbot 150th Anniversary special edition.\nCommercial pressure has been mounting on the medium format world for a long time. Steady improvements in the technical quality of 35mm SLR system cameras and films persuaded many to abandon heavier and slower medium format cameras, like Bronicas. In 1995, lens manufacturer Tamron, acquired the ailing Bronica camera business.\nAlas for Bronica, the digital photography revolution was just around the corner and Bronica cameras did not adapt sufficiently. In the same week that rival Mamiya announced a new 22 megapixel medium format digital camera model, the Bronica brand expired.\nThe words of Takashi Inoue, president of Tamron USA, inc., quoted in this week's press release sum things up all too efficiently: \"Since the advent of digital photography, medium format sales have declined at a rapid pace. Imports today are just a fraction of what they were even two years ago,\" stated Inoue. \"For Bronica, that slip has been faster since our core customer base, portrait and wedding photographers, has adapted well to digital SLR equipment.\"\nFor Tamron, the digital era represents new challenges and new opportunities for its interchangeable lens business, but for its Bronica division, time has run out."}
{"content":"|Mercury Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons)|\nThe Mercury Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons) is a type of dragon in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. It is a metallic dragon. Mercury dragons are a little bit crazy–but there's definitely a method to their madness. A mercury dragon craves variety above all else. If another creature offers a wide array of food to hunt and the opportunity to gather a hoard, a mercury dragon will serve that creature in an arrangement of convenience. Thus, mercury dragons can be found as champions, bodyguards. and assassins in the employ of greater powers.\nLairs and Terrain\nMercury dragons hail from volcanic mountain ranges in tropical climates, and though many of them remain in such locales throughout their lives, the variety has spread far and wide. Many a mercury dragon spends its youth scheming for a way to reach the Elemental Chaos and establish a lair there. For a creature that craves variety, the ever-changing landscape of the Elemental Chaos is the perfect place to construct a lair.\nBut the most common lair for a mercury dragon is one proVided and maintained by someone else. As long as they receive the variety they crave, mercury dragons serve as bodyguards, messengers, or assassins for powerful mages, priests, or rulers–and sometimes more sinister forces. When a mercury dragon works for another creature, the dragon takes part of a larger fortress and makes a section its own, filling it with traps to frighten off any curious lackeys and to keep its personal hoard safe.\nLike any dragon, a mercury dragon hates when interlopers or thieves enter its lair. But that hatred is tempered with curiosity about why \"lesser creatures\" would dare to invade its domain. The traps and guardians on the periphery of a mercury dragon's lair are often nonlethal, intended to capture, wound, or frighten intruders rather than kill them outright. These protections enable the mercury dragon to toy with intruders and extract some sort of unusual experience from the event, instead of just cleaning more corpses out of the bottom of a pit trap.\nIt should surprise no one that mercury dragons aren't good at assembling matched sets or cohesive collections. A mercury dragon's hoard is a hodgepodge of coins, jewelry, and items from scores of lands and dozens of eras. Older mercury dragons might seek out some items they've heard about but never seen, and they're avid treasure traders. If adventurers can acquire some rare item from a far-off land, a mercury dragon is often willing to part with treasures from its hoard in exchange, especially if the dragon is trading away a duplicate.\nA carnivore through and through, a mercury dragon always craves something different from whatever it just ate. This compulsion is more than just instinct; a mercury dragon forced to eat the same food meal after meal quickly becomes listless and difficult to awaken from sleep. Mercury dragons are enthusiastic hunters, cunning enough to plan elaborate traps for their prey. They toy with weaker prey before killing and eating it. From the viewpoint of the prey, this behavior amounts to cruelty. To the mercury dragon, it's another expression of its need to experience something different.\nA mercury dragon has scales of whitish-silver and a sleek and serpentine body. Its frame lacks some of the muscular bulk that other dragons have, and its scales are smaller and more closely set. Mercury dragons are peerless shapechangers, capable of taking both a humanoid form (to blend in among civilized people) and an amorphous, liquid form (for defense and to slither where others cannot go).\nPersonality and Motivations\nA mercury dragon acts differently from time to time, depending on how much variety it has experienced lately.\nIf the dragon feels as though it's in a rut, it might attack an adversary right away, then snarl, \"Tell me why I shouldn't finish you off.\" Because the magic of its breath weapon renders a mercury dragon invisible to its prey, it can boast while hidden. What sounds like garden-variety draconic arrogance is, from the dragon's perspective, legitimate questioning. If its adversaries can engage the dragon's interest, it might regard them as more than just a meal and a momentary diversion.\nIf a mercury dragon thinks its life has been varied enough lately, it talks first and fights later, using its breath weapon, natural maneuverability, and quicksilver form to elude those who challenge it. Even if the challengers are trying to kill it, the dragon talks to them to understand the stakes. After all, it would be a shame to kill someone who's more interesting when alive. And a mercury dragon shows some cunning when placed in the position of prey. It happily engages in a cat-and-mouse game with hostile pursuers, confounding them and getting them to exhaust themselves before turning the tables and attacking with its full might.\nAn adult or older mercury dragon can magically alter its shape to appear as an ordinary humanoid, and these dragons tend to be more circumspect when not in their draconic forms. A mercury dragon might take humanoid form when hunting, serving its master on a specific mission, or when it craves to experience \"life among the lesser races\" for a time. But a mercury dragon lacks the steel dragon's affinity for civilized life, and the nuances of specific cultures are often beyond its understanding. Sometimes, even the basics of humanoid life are foreign to a mercury dragon. For instance, a shapechanged mercury dragon might walk into a butcher shop craving something new to eat, purchase a leg of lamb, and consume it raw on the spot while the butcher looks on in horror.\nRelations with other Creatures\nA mercury dragon will enter into a working arrangement with almost any creature stronger or smarter than itself. Such arrangements tend to be feudal in nature: The mercury agrees to serve as a guardian, messenger, or hired killer in exchange for some combination oflair space, treasure, food, and the promise of varied experience. Such relationships last as long as the master can maintain the mercury dragon's interest–and not one moment longer. Draconic folklore is replete with tales of mercury dragons that eventualIy turned on their masters \"just to see what happens.\"\nMercury dragons have a natural affinity with other creatures that split their time between the natural world and the Elemental Chaos, such as efreets. Mercury dragons often bargain with efreets for passage to the Elemental Chaos (and eventually for a place to start a lair). But efreets don't offer favors lightly, they and tend to be more shrewd negotiators than mercury dragons. Many a mercury dragon seeks vengeance on a particular efreet for a bargain that didn't turn out the way the dragon thought it would.\nJump to another metallic dragon:"}
{"content":"Remove DRM from audio files fast\nDRM or Digital rights management (and also digital restrictions management) is a type of expression which often talks about access command engineering utilised by writers along with various other copyright holders to help control using of online digital video and music.\nRemove DRM to stop troublesome restrictions.\nLots of internet music file merchants employ DRM restrain using of acquired or maybe copied tunes.\nThe best way to convert protected tunes?\nCaused by DRM structure you won't convert DRM records. You'll be able to merely playback these items.\nOn the other hand you'll find wide range of expedient why you should convert protected tunes.\nThe program is known as a alternative meant for converting protected tunes, for those who have bought that tunes. To remove protection away from any songs.\nThe key reason why to take out protection and also convert protected tunes?\nCause you actually are restricted! Another person requires you precisely what you can make utilizing your tunes and what shoudn't.\nIt's legitime to copy your iTunes tunes (which inturn you have recently ordered!) towards your handy device.\nApple inc asserts that that player needs to be Apple ipod. Remove DRM. Why?\nWhat if you love an alternative media player? - You ought to obtain this specific music again in a audio format made for a person's media player. And again - you'll be able to remove protection away from these tunes additionally.\nBeyond doubt you do not want it.\nThis amazing software package does not just remove protection from a music, although can be capable of convert all of them to media format of your media player (MP3 or WMA).\nTypically the application is capable of doing multiple audio data file conversion available for you. According to the speed of your own Laptop or computer this wonderful program may easily encode from three to six audio files synchronously plus with up to 40x more rapidly when compared with playback rate. You'll find lots of ways to remove protection, including music CD burning up and then ripping and many others. Removing protection can be easy and fast having DRM removing application - made especially to remove protection.\nRemove DRM from tunes and video using this cool software package: simply remove protection\nNow have you been recently lured inside file protection entice? You give out your dollars and obtain digital media data files (tunes or maybe video clip) and you really are pretty sure this media data is actually yours (because you have bought it for). Nevertheless DRM tells \"No\" - you'll be able to merely apply it with only one Laptop or computer plus playback it with just a single media player. You happen to be definitely not permitted to backup this music and film for some other unit, you are unable to post online it, there are numerous rules!\nHow to handle it in order to make use of your videos and don't need to become a violator and get tunes and video media totally free?\nThis fascinating application allows you remove protection!\nWith this great application you aren't going to be tied to play protected computer files merely on your laptop. You'll be able to convert video files to almost any media format you may need and even remove protection.\nThe tool works by using exclusive know-how that provides the feature to convert protected songs into standard tunes and video recording file formats which in turn can be played out at a lot of agreeable players and software.\nIt is really definitely legal!\nExactly how is it working?\nLaunch the software tool and choose on the video files you desire to switch by simply clicking on \"Select file\" or maybe just drag and drop the entire group to the application window. One can certainly organize an output file media format in the \"Configuration settings\" menu. And then click on \"Convert\" and your video files will be converted through a batch method and additionally at a quite high speed.\nThe program definitely will remove protection from i-tunes video files, from Kazaa, Audible along with different copyright-protected video files.\nTake note of this application can certainly eliminate protection typically from video files you really are willing to play in Windows Media Player/QuickTime Player/Real Player on your main Laptop or computer.\nSupported Output media files formats are:\nTunes output formats: WAV, MP3, M4A, WMA\nVideo output formats: DivX, AVI, MP4, MPEG 4, WMV\nImmediately after conversion process you actually own non-protected video files and you'll be able to switch them to almost any digital product and then enjoy them not having limits and restrictions!"}
{"content":"A person has metabolic syndrome when they have a combination of three or more certain health risks. These health risks include:\n- high blood pressure\n- high blood sugar levels\n- excess body weight\n- low levels of \"good\" cholesterol (HDL)\n- high levels of triglycerides (a type of fat found in the blood)\nEach of these factors alone can increase a person's risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and stroke. But the risk is much higher when these factors are found in combination.\nApproximately one-quarter of Americans have this condition, although the rate is higher for certain groups of people. For example, people of American Indian and South Asian descent have higher rates of metabolic syndrome than Caucasians.\nOther major risk factors that may lead to the development of metabolic syndrome include:\n- age (the risk of metabolic syndrome increases as you get older)\n- a family history of type 2 diabetes\n- other medical conditions including high blood pressure, heart or blood vessel disease, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (a condition where a woman's body produces too much male hormones)\nMetabolic syndrome is believed to develop due to insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas (an organ located near the stomach). It helps blood sugar enter cells, where it is used for energy. With insulin resistance, the body fails to recognize the insulin that is produced, causing the sugar to accumulate in the blood instead of being absorbed into other cells. Because blood sugar levels remain high, the pancreas keeps producing more and more insulin, leading to high insulin levels. While blood sugar levels are not high enough to be classified as diabetes, they do increase the risk of developing serious health problems.\nScientists are not certain why insulin resistance develops but they believe it may be partly inherited. They do know, however, that being overweight and inactive contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome."}
{"content":"Malaysia is one of three Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia and Brunei that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, though limited economic ties exist between private companies in both countries.\n“Some refuse to recognize the state of Israel,” he said, “but I think our policy should be clear – protect the security [of Israel] but you must be as firm in protecting the legitimate interests of the Palestinians.”\nThe comments triggered a storm of debate and criticism, with members of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and other groups accusing the leader of abandoning the Palestinian cause – an emotive cause long-supported in the majority-Muslim Southeast Asian nation.\nLawmakers called on Mr. Anwar’s opposition coalition to release an official statement on the issue, while president of the right-wing Malay group Perkasa Ibrahim Ali said he would raise the issue in Parliament.\nMr. Anwar responded by saying he supported a “two-state solution” with Palestine, a policy he said was no different from the official stance adopted by the United Nations and Malaysia itself.\n“I am issuing a stern warning to anyone trying to twist my statement just so that they can say that I have betrayed the aspirations of the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement to the press. His party’s stand “is to defend the rights of whoever it is that has been victimised,” the statement said.\nThough an ethnically-diverse nation that practices freedom of religion, Malaysia has\ndeclared Islam as its state religion and tensions over Israel-Palestine issues often boil over. A large percentage of the country’s population supports the Palestinian cause, and jumped to criticize Israel after it launched raids on Gaza in December 2008 and stormed a flotilla in May 2010 that was carrying activists and humanitarian aid to Gaza.\nTensions over the issue are even more on edge now, as Malaysia gears up for its next general election, which must be called by early next year, giving politicians more incentive to argue their views in the press than usual.\n“The issue is tied in with Malaysia being an Islamic country,” and the idea that “therefore it should support Palestine,” said James Chin, a professor at the Malaysian branch of Australia’s Monash University. He added the caveat that support for the Palestinians became a much larger issue in Malaysian politics after the era of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has been accused by world leaders of holding anti-Semitic views, which he disputes.\nIn a statement to the local press, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, a member of the ruling UMNO, disputed Mr. Anwar’s claim that Malaysia’s current policy on Israel is the same as his own. Although Malaysia officially supports a “two-state solution” in settling the Israel-Palestinian conflict, it has also sharply criticized actions taken by Israeli forces in the past, which the foreign minister indicated means Malaysia isn’t supporting “all steps” to protect Israeli security.\n“[Anwar’s comments] show a blanket support for anything Israel does,” said Khairy Jamaluddin, the chief of UMNO’s youth wing, who disputed any suggestion Malaysia’s ruling party was trying to politicize the issue ahead of an election. “The issue of Palestine is a top foreign policy priority for my party, it would be an issue during the election year or otherwise… timing doesn’t matter.”\nIn 2010, Mr. Anwar – who in the past has been described as the face of liberal democracy in Malaysia – found himself on the other side of the argument after he lambasted UMNO for its relationship with a public relations firm called APCO. In Parliament, he said the firm was “controlled by Zionists” and working on behalf of the American government to influence Malaysian government policy – a charge denied by both the government and the public relations firm.\nAt the time, American-Jewish groups such as B’nai B’rith accused the opposition leader of “anti-Jewish” and “anti-Israel” slanders, and called on American officials to suspend their ties with Mr. Anwar.\nStill, many analysts believe the latest kerfuffle is largely electioneering on the part of the ruling coalition, preoccupied with the looming possibility that the next election will be the hardest-fought yet.\n“They’re just using it as a weapon to bring (Mr. Anwar) down,” said Mr. Chin at Monash University.\nArtikel berkaitan di sini, di sini. Kenyataan rasmi Anwar di sini.\nP/s: Jelas? Perlukah TM menterjemahkan artikel di atas?"}
{"content":"President Barack Obama on Wednesday paid tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights activists who marched on Washington 50 years ago in the name of justice as he called for renewed courage to battle today’s challenges on issues like economic inequality.\n“The arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice but it does not bend on its own,” Obama said. “To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency.”\nObama, along with Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, civil rights leaders, Oprah Winfrey and tens of thousands of people descended on the National Mall on Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s revolutionary “I Have a Dream” speech.\n“Their victory was great,” Obama said of leading civil rights leaders, noting that some who lost their lives for the cause “did not die in vain. … But we would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest that the work of this nation is somehow complete.”\n(PHOTOS: 20 March on Washington moments)\nThe presidents spoke in the afternoon from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his famous civil rights address during the 1963 March on Washington.\n“This march and that speech changed America,” Clinton said. “They opened minds, they melted hearts and they moved millions, including a 17-year-old boy watching alone in his home in Arkansas.”\nCelebrities including Winfrey, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker also addressed the crowds.\nRep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who at 23 was the youngest speaker at the 1963 march and is now said to be the only speaker from that event still living, delivered a rousing return speech.\n(PHOTOS: Scenes from the March on Washington)\n“Fifty years later we can ride anywhere we want to ride, stay anywhere we want to stay, those signs that say white and color are gone,” he said. “You won’t see them anymore except in a museum, in a book or in a video.”\nBut, he said “there is still a gulf between us,” blasting New York’s stop-and-frisk policies, incarceration rates and the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, among other issues.\nThe morning kicked off with interfaith services amid a light drizzle. The public ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial followed, beginning at 11 a.m., and was hosted by broadcaster Soledad O’Brien and actor Hill Harper. A bell-ringing ceremony took place in the afternoon to commemorate King’s call to “let freedom ring.”\n“So as the bells toll today let us reflect on the bravery, let us reflect on the sacrifice, [of] those who stood up for freedom, those who stood up for us, whose shoulders we now stand on,” Winfrey said. “Let us ask ourselves, how will that dream live on in me, in you, in all of us?”\n(Also on POLITICO: Oprah: 'Took me 50 years, but I'm here')\nOther bell-ringing events were scheduled around the world, including in London’s Trafalgar Square.\nAll three presidents discussed how the legacy of the civil rights movement should shape today’s debates on income disparities and voting rights.\n“In some ways… the securing of civil rights, voting rights, eradication of legalized discrimination, the very significance of these victories may have obscured a second goal of the march,” Obama said. “For the men and women who gathered 50 years ago were not there in search of some abstract idea. They were there seeking jobs as well as justice. Not just the absence of oppression but the presence of economic opportunity.”\n(PHOTOS: Realize the Dream March and Rally)\nCarter, a Georgian like King, said “we all know how Dr. King would have reacted” to voter ID requirements and stand-your-ground laws, among other policies.\n“Well, there’s a tremendous agenda ahead of us, and I’m thankful to Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dream is still alive,” Carter said.\nClinton also took to task people who dwell gridlock in Washington, instead of focusing on a way forward, like King did.\n“Oh yes, we face terrible political gridlock now,” he said. “Yes, there remain racial inequalities, in employment income, health, wealth, incarceration, in the victims and perpetrators of violent crime. But we don’t face beatings, lynchings and shootings for our political beliefs anymore.\n(Also on POLITICO: Obama, race and class)\n“And I would respectfully suggest that Martin Luther King did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock. It is time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back,” Clinton added.\n“Fifty years ago today, this place was a battlefield,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who attended the first March on Washington, told the crowd. “No shots were fired, no cannons roared, but a battlefield nonetheless. A battlefield of ideas. The ideas that define us as a nation.”\nRep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) offered a pledge to the veterans of civil rights struggles.\n“As somebody of a younger generation of Americans, I want to promise you that all the struggles, all the fights, all the work, all the years you put in to making this country a better place, to helping our leaders understand that freedom and democracy are prerequisites to opportunity — I want you to know that this generation of Americans will not let that dream down,” he said.\nActor Jamie Foxx fired up the crowd by urging a new generation to fight for justice and name-checking a list of African American celebrities such as Will Smith, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, and Kerry Washington.\nMaryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley detailed societal challenges still remaining, calling for gun control, gay marriage and abolishing the death penalty among other liberal priorities.\n“Yes, thanks to Dr. King, America’s best days are still ahead of us,” said O’Malley, who could mount a presidential bid in 2016. Drawing on some language featured in civil rights ballads, he continued, “Love remains the strongest power in our country. Forward, we shall walk hand in hand, and in this great work, we are not afraid.”\nLabor and interfaith figures as well as leaders in the African American community were also featured prominently during the program, with singers and other performers interspersed throughout the day.\n”Dr. King said 1963 was not an end but a new beginning,” said Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Let us make today the start of a new chapter of history in this country. Let us march forward toward justice together.”\nFor Linda Nixon Haughton, whose sister was a civil rights activist with the Freedom Riders, the chance to see Obama speak 50 years after the battles fought by King and other civil rights leaders was especially moving.\nShe said it was gratifying “to be here today to hear a black man, a black president and all the ancestors that went before him.”\nAt the ceremony, some event goers in the diverse crowd sported T-shirts featuring the faces of both Obama and King, along with shirts bearing the Obama campaign slogan, “Forward.”\nWednesday’s events cap days of reflection in the nation’s capital, where remembrances have played out everywhere from cable television specials to high-profile events.\nOn Saturday, several members of Congress and other officials addressed a large rally on the Mall, where the discussion often turned to gay rights and voting rights.\n“I think it’s significant because now we are celebrating the anniversary,” said Clifford Curtis, who attended the march 50 years ago. “But I think we have lost a lot of the gains that have come about. When you look at the gridlock in Congress and a lot of the legislation concerning voting and so forth, limiting the ability to vote for some people, I think that if we are not careful and we are not vigilant, there is a chance we may lose a lot of what we have gained.”\nFlorine Bell, who also was at the 1963 march, said despite feeling poorly, she was back to mark all that had been achieved in 50 years.\n“Today, I’ve been struggling,” said Bell, 82. “I don’t feel well, but I wanted to come back from Powhatan, Va. — that’s where I’m from — to come back to this commemoration. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished, ’cause you know, we have come a long way. But we still have a lot to do.”\nCharles Arterson, who saw King get arrested in Georgia in 1962, said the event highlighted the progress made since then.\n“He was leading a march and got arrested and they took him away, and I have that memory,” Arterson said. “I was a small boy. To live and to see this going forward after 50 years, how many people we’ve lost but how much change. That’s beautiful.”\nThe 50th anniversary events on Wednesday are hosted in part by the nonprofit King Center and a coalition of other social justice organizations.\nThe ceremony also drew some side activity: The anti-war Code Pink protesters were in attendance, objecting to possible military action in Syria, and a cluster of young, racially diverse marchers paraded through the mall bearing signs with messages on education, the DREAM Act, and chanting calls for citizenship."}
{"content":"One of the more unusual repercussions from last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan may be a change in the way office towers are designed to rely less on electric illumination and more on natural light. A new window glass technology developed over several years by MIT and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is now being used in a Tokyo skyscraper to direct daylight as deep as 15 meters into the building’s interior.\nAmid concerns about the ability of Japan’s cities to withstand another major power outage like the one experienced after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, EPFL’s Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID) began working with real estate developer Hulic to retrofit six floors of an existing modern office tower in Tokyo with the new windows. As a result, natural light is being drawn more than twice as far into the building as typical windows, which usually bring light only 6 meters into the interior, thus reducing energy usage.\nThe key to the technology is the enhancement of reflectivity on the top portion of the windows so that light bounces onto the office ceiling rather than into the eyes of the office workers. The glazing method in these window systems incorporates two materials that help channel the light: 1) an array of horizontal aluminum slats that reduce glare and block rays from pointing downward and 2) a clear acrylic cylinder attached to the slats that acts as a prism to diffuse the light laterally into the room. The top and bottom of the windows include two parabolic curves to catch light and point it toward the ceiling, which is also coated with reflective material to help draw the light farther into the interior.\nThis patented window system was developed by LIPID chief Marilyne Andersen, who began work on the technology several years ago with the cooperation of Hulic at MIT. This research was then developed further at EPFL before the windows were installed in September.\nAccording to EPFL, most modern office buildings in Japan that have conventional windows function with their blinds closed to prevent glare and use twice as much artificial lighting as European skyscrapers. The hope, EPFL says, is that these windows will help Japanese developers reduce their reliance on electric lighting systems to meet stricter standards."}
{"content":"“Give me liberty or give me death!” So said Patrick Henry at the Virgina House of Burgess on March 23, 1775. Though an American uttered this statement, Egyptians are now embodying the same ideal. But there is reason to take pause. Though Egyptians have gained their independence, there are some responsibilities associated with this new found freedom.\nAs a proud Ahmadi Muslim American, I was appalled to see Muslims attacking an Alexandrian church a few weeks ago. Now that there is a need for a new government, Egyptians need to ensure religious freedom prevails. While Muslims might be the majority in Egypt, non-Muslims must have the same rights. Freedom should not give way to tyranny.\nSaad Ahmed, Gilbert"}
{"content":"Well, as I said before, the Universe is BIG, I mean really, really BIG. It's bigger than you or I can imagine!\nSo, Deep Space really is a \"catch all\" for anything that is outside of our Solar System. It is synonymous with what we call the known Universe.\nOur Solar System is big enough with all the planets, minor planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and human built spacecraft and debris. To demonstrate the size of our solar system, the National Optical Observatory has what they call, the thousand yard model. It's a bit dated, but in a nutshell, our solar system is about 1 light-year across, or about six million million miles. The nearest star from us is Proxima Centauri, which 4.2 light years from us.\nThe edge of the solar system varies depending on the strength of the Solar Winds which strengthen and abate on the sun's 11 year cycle. If generally accepted the Termination Shock varies from 85 to 105 AU. That is 85 to 105 distances from the Earth to the Sun. This is between 85 and 105 billion miles (give or take). (The discrepancy between the 100 billion just quoted and the 1 light year above is that the solar system is not static, nor particular circular. And the size depends on whom you ask.\nBut our Solar System is part of the Milky Way galaxy. This is a rather large galaxy, and extends about 100,000 light years across. The Milky Way can be considered deep space.'\nBut it's only one of millions of galaxies and other objects that we can see and detect in the known universe. The picture at the top of this window is a galaxy. It’s called the “Sombrero Galaxy\" and the picture is a composite of images from the Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescopes.\nThere are also clusters of stars that are close together that have not formed into galaxies. (Star Clusters).\nThere are also huge pockets of gas that are coalescing to form stars (Planetary Nebulae) and even huger ones that are slowly forming new galaxies (Nebulae).\nStars like everything have life cycles. There are young stars, middle-age stars (our sun is a middle age star), and old ones.\nDepending on the type of star, when they are old, they can collapse or explode. Stars that collapse can become pulsars, and stars that explode can become nova or, if they are really big stars, they can explode and become SuperNova.\nThe problem is that all of the known material in the known universe (everything just mentioned), accounts for a small percentage of matter.\nSo what's left? Well, there is a great question, and to be honest -- while we are theorizing today -- we honestly don't know the full answer.\nThere are theories of dark matter, anti-matter, black holes. This branch of science is called \"Cosmology\". There is another branch of science which ponders the why of the Universe. How did this happen? This branch is called \"Cosmogony\".\nAll of this is \"Deep Space\".\nThe following pages explore some of the elements that make up \"Deep Space\" I hope you enjoy them."}
{"content":"Levine, Ross and Sara Zervos, \"Stock markets, banks, and economic growth\", World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Number 1690, December 1996\nDo well-functioning stock markets and banks promote long-run economic growth? This paper shows that stock market liquidity and banking development both positively, predict growth, capital accumulation, and productivity improvements when entered together in regressions, even after controlling for economic and political factors. The results are consistent with the views that financial markets provide important services for growth, and that stock markets provide different services from banks. The paper also finds that stock market size, volatility, and integration with world markets are not robustly linked with growth, and that none of the financial indicators is closely associated with private saving rates.\nThe data is in Excel and Lotus format and includes the following variables:\n- APT Integration and CAPM Integration: Measure of each stock market's integration with world equity markets based on Arbitrage Pricing Theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model respectively (Sources: Korajczyk, 1996, 1994)\n- Bank Credit Stock of credit by commercial and deposit-taking banks to the private sector divided by GDP (Source: International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) International Financial Statistics)\n- Black Market Premium: Black market exchange rate premium (Sources: Picks Currency Yearbook through 1989 and then World Currency Yearbook )\n- Capital Stock Growth. Growth rate in capital stock per person, available through 1990 (Source: King and Levine, 1994)\n- Capitalization Average value of listed domestic shares on domestic exchanges in a year divided by GDP that year (Source: IFC's Emerging Markets Data Base (electronic version) and the IMF's International Financial Statistics)\n- Government. Government consumption share of GDP (Source: IMF's International Financial Statistics and World Bank's World Development Indicators)\n- Inflation Rate of change in the GDP deflator, if unavailable, consumer price index is used (Source: IMF's International Financial Statistics and World Bank's World Development Indicators)\n- Initial Output Logarithm of real per capita GDP in 1976 (Source: IMF's International Financial Statistics and World Bank's World Development Indicators )\n- Enrollment Logarithm of the secondary school enrollment rate in 1976 (Source: IMF's International Financial Statistics and World Bank's World Development Indicators)\n- Output Growth . Growth of real per capita gross domestic product (Source: IMF's International Financial Statistics)\n- Productivity Growth Output Growth minus 0.3 times Capital Stock Growth, available through 1990 (Source: King and Levine, 1994)\n- Revolutions and Coups Number of revolutions and coups per year, averaged over the 1980s (Source: Arthur S. Banks, 1994)\n- Savings Gross private saving as a percent of GDP, available from 1982 onward for countries classified as \"developing\" by the IMF and for the entire sample period for industrial countries (Source: Masson et al., 1995)\n- Trade Exports plus imports divided by GDP (Source: IMF's International Financial Statistics and World Bank's World Development Indicators)\n- Turnover Value of the trades of domestic shares on domestic exchanges over the year divided by the average value of domestic shares listed on domestic exchanges in that year.\nNote: the file also contains additional tables in a file called ANNEXES.EXE or ANNEXES.ZIP (depending on which file is downloaded below). A description is included in the file.\nAnnexes for “Stock Markets, Banks, and Economic Growth”\nThe following four annexes contain additional sensitivity analyses for the paper “Stock Markets, Banks, and Economic Growth” by Ross Levine and Sara Zervos. Note, some of the variable names differ slight from those in the main text. Specifically, LRGDP=Initial Output; LSEC=Enrollment; REVCOUP=Revolutions and Coups; GOVI=initial value of Government; PII=initial value of Inflation; BMPI=initial value of Black Market Premium; BANKI=initial value of Bank Credit; TORI= initial Turnover; TVTI=initial Value Traded; MCAPI=initial Capitalization; VOLI=initial Volatility; CAPM=CAPM Integration; APM=APT Integration. Also, variables without the subscript “I” indicate that the value is averaged over the sample period, instead of an initial value. Also, in these regressions the CAPM and APT Integration measures have opposites signs to those in the main text.\nAnnex A: Changing the Conditioning Information Set\nThis Annex examines whether the results in the body of the paper are sensitive to changes in the combination of included regressors. As demonstrated in the 24 tables, the results are not sensitive to alternative constructions of the conditioning information set.\nAnnex B: Another Liquidity Measure\nThis Annex examines whether an alternative measure of stock market liquidity yields similar results. Here, we construct the liquidity indicators as the value traded ratio (total value of domestic equity transactions divided by GDP) divided by stock return volatility. This variable is called LIQGLCI. Large values of this liquidity indicator signal substantial trading relative to price changes. More liquid markets should support more trading with less price movement than less liquid markets (holding all else equal). There are many fewer countries with data on stock return volatility data than trading data. Moreover, high volatility may simply reflect the frequent arrival of information irrespective of transaction costs or the volume of trading. Put differently, all else may not be equal. Nonetheless, as shown in the table, this liquidity measures is also robustly linked with future economic growth.\nAnnex C: Contemporaneous Regressions\nThis Annex examines whether the results in the body of the paper are sensitive to the use of initial values. The initial value regressions regress the value of the growth indicators averaged over the 1976-1993 period on the values of the financial indicators measured in the initial year, 1976 (data permitting). With the more traditional contemporaneous regressions, we regress the value of the growth indicators averaged over the 1976-1993 period on the financial indicators also averaged over the 1976-1993 period. As illustrated in the following 5 tables, the contemporaneous regressions yield very similar results.\nAnnex D: Outlier Regressions\nThis Annex investigates whether the results in the body of the paper are sensitive to the removal of “outliers.” We use two procedures of identifying outliers. First, we use the procedure for identifying influential observations suggested by Belsley et al. (1980). This procedure identifies countries that exert a large effect on each equation’s residuals. As summarized in the following tables, removing these countries does not affect our conclusions. Second, we simply plot the two-dimensional relationship between each of the growth indicators and the stock market indicators after controlling for the other regressors. We then subjectively remove countries that seem to dominate the estimation results. Removing influential observations importantly weakens the relationship between the growth indicators and market size. The other results are not affected as illustrated in the following tables.\nAnnex E: More Countries Regressions\nThis Annex shows that, when we substantially enlarge the sample of countries by including countries where we impose zero for stock market liquidity and size, the results in the paper do not change on capital accumulation and productivity growth."}
{"content":"\"But We Must Do the Wrong Thing!\": Understanding the \"Economic\" Arguments Against Dealing with Global Warming: The market-based economics that I was brought upon had four principles:\n- It is important to get the distribution of wealth right, or as right as you can, so that household willingness-to-pay properly represent social marginal values.\n- It is important to get aggregate demand right--for the government to create the right amount of safe and of liquid assets to match shifting private sector demand and so make Say's Law true in practice if not in theory--so that the problems economic policy is dealing with are Harberger Triangles and not Okun Gaps.\n- Then you can let the competitive market rip--as long, that is, as...\n- You have also imposed the right Pigovian taxes and bounties to deal with externalities.\n\"But the Coase Theorem\" you say? The Coase Theorem is three things:\n- An injunction to carve property rights at the joints--to bundle powers, rights, obligations so that you have to impose as little in the way of Pigovian taxes and bodies as possible.\n- A powerful way of thinking about whether the proper Pigovian taxes and bounties are best imposed through Article I processes (legislation) or Article III processes (adjudication).\n- A thought experiment that, as Ronald Coase complained until the day he died, was seized by George Stigler for his own purposes and is much more often misinterpreted than applied.\nThe self-deluded who don't know what they're doing and the vested interests that fear they would be impoverished when we to do the right thing dealing with global warming are still holding on to their first line of defense: that global warming is not happening. They have, however, built a second line of defense: that global warming was happening until 1995, but then something stopped it, and it will not resume. And behind that is the third line of defense that they are now building which we are here to think about today: that we cannot afford to do the right Pigovian tax-and-bounty thing, for dealing with global warming will cost jobs and incomes.\nThis is the fifth policy-relevant case I have seen in recent years of the political right that claims to love the market system denying and abandoning the basic principles that underpin the technocrat judgment that the market system can and often is a wonderful social economic calculation, allocation, and distribution mechanism. It is almost as if their previous advocacy of the technocratic case for the market system was simply a mask for their vested interests. We have seen this in opposition to doing the right thing in financial regulation; in the management of aggregate demand; in the provision of the right level of social insurance in the long run; and in shifting the policy mix to partially offset the medium-run rapid rise in inequality. Milton Friedman and George Stigler always used to say that you were better off relying on market contestability rather than capture of old regulatory bureaucracies like the interstate commerce commission to deal with the market failures created by private monopoly, but the problems like excessive inequality and poverty on the one hand and pollution on the other required government action--a negative income tax in the first case, and a market-based antipollution policy via Pigovian taxes and bounties in the second. That is now, largely, out the window.\nIt is important to recognize what is going on here. ...\nThere's much, much more in the full post."}
{"content":"\"RTI for Tots:\" Blaming the Victim?\nEducation Week just published an article today that I found frightening: “Response to Intervention for Tots.” It’s not simply the content that’s scary – more about that in a moment. It’s the fact that the following highly respected organizations are collaborating on a joint position statement: The National Association for the Education of Young Children, the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division of Early Childhood, and the National Head Start Association. These three prestigious organizations are contemplating bring response to intervention to preschoolers!\n“Response to Intervention.” Talk about “blaming the victim.” If a child doesn’t neatly fit into the cookie-cutter mold, he/she is provided with an “intervention” so the child can perform at the “expected” level – where he/she “should” be.\nHey, here’s a thought. Maybe kids develop at different rates and have different predilections/interests. Maybe there’s something flawed about the whole notion that kids “should” be at a particular place simply because of their grade/age. Maybe the kids don’t need an “intervention.”\nMaybe the system needs an intervention and would be more successful if they implemented differentiated instruction and respected children as individuals rather than “expecting” everyone to perform specific tasks at specific times.\nDoes anyone else find this trend unsettling???"}
{"content":"2nd Grade Teacher Education Requirements and Career Info\nLearn about the education and preparation needed to become a second grade teacher. Get a quick view of the requirements as well as details about training, job duties and licensure requirements to find out if this is the career for you.\nAspiring second grade teachers usually need to earn a bachelor's degree and a teaching license or certificate before becoming full-time teachers. Student teaching experience is often included as a requirement of degree programs. Developing lesson plans and formulating student progress reports are among the major parts of a second grade teacher's job.\n|Other Requirements||Student teaching|\n|Licensure or Certification||Required to teach in public schools|\n|Projected Job Growth (2012 - 2022)*||12%|\n|Mean Salary (2013)*||$56,320 annually|\nSource: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\nCareer Info for Second Grade Teachers\nTeaching at the second grade level means working with children who are in their early formative years and ready to start expanding their academic knowledge. Teachers at the elementary school level are expected to cultivate a fun and upbeat learning environment using things like educational games and vibrant bulletin boards.\nAt the beginning of second grade, many teachers will spend a significant amount of time reviewing first-grade material before jumping into more advanced courses. Second grade curriculum puts a lot of emphasis on reading comprehension. Other subjects taught commonly include addition and subtraction, social studies, art and telling time.\nIn addition to teaching and developing lesson plans for individual subjects, second grade teachers are normally responsible for evaluating pupils' academic and social growth through detailed progress reports. They then communicate the content of these reports regularly with students' parents. Teachers might also be required to select and order books and instructional supplies and maintain inventory on these items.\nIt's common for second grade teachers to hold a bachelor's degree from a program accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (www.ncate.org) and obtain a state-specific teaching license. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that private school teachers don't need a license, but will likely need a bachelor's degree. For public school teachers, the BLS (www.bls.gov) explains that a teaching license is required in all 50 states.\nTypical bachelor's degree programs cover general topics such as math, science, children's literature, art, music and reading, as well as teacher preparation courses. These pedagogy courses cover topics like educational technology, classroom diversity, psychology of learning, student assessment and specific teaching methods. Courses in early childhood education will also be of value to second grade teachers.\nA large part of the traditional second grade teacher education is spending time in actual second grade classrooms, either as an observer or eventually as a supervised student-teacher. These experiences offer prospective teachers the chance to evaluate their abilities at handling crucial situations like how best to balance one-on-one interaction while still giving the overall class attention. Another topic of practice is how to make a smooth, almost imperceptible transition from one activity or subject to another.\nThe BLS reports that job opportunities for elementary school teachers are projected to grow by 12% from 2012-2022, with many job openings in inner-city and rural schools. On average, elementary school teachers earned $56,320 yearly in 2013 (www.bls.gov).\nRelated to 2nd Grade Teacher\n- Recently Updated\nWashington, D.C.'s new teacher evaluation system IMPACT has made its results felt across the district, letting go of hundreds...\nIt's Teacher Appreciation Week! Do you want to show your favorite teacher how grateful you are for him or her? Here are some...\nWhen teachers and other public workers descended upon Wisconsin's Capitol building in Madison last week to protest an...\nResearch the requirements to become a highly qualified teacher. Learn about the job description and duties and read the...\n- What Do You Have to Major in to Become a Teacher?\n- How to Become a Teacher with a Bachelor's Degree\n- America Celebrates National Teacher Appreciation Week\n- Top School in Denver for an Industrial Design Degree\n- Cardiac Anesthesiologist: Salary and Career Information\n- Top School in Minneapolis for Computer Networking\n- Top Ranked Hospitality Management School - Seattle, WA\n- Three in Four Parents Satisfied with Teacher Performance\n- Teacher Training: Experience May Be More Valuable Than An Advanced Degree\n- Behavioral Economics Career Options and Education Requirements\n- Top Criminal Justice & Legal Studies Degree Programs in Atlanta\n- Top Business Degree Programs - Nashville, TN"}
{"content":"14. Calamus acanthospathus Griffith, Calcutta J. Nat. Hist. 5: 39. 1845.\n云南省藤 yun nan sheng teng\nCalamus feanus Beccari; C. feanus var. medogensis S. J. Pei & San Y. Chen; C. montanus T. Anderson; C. yunnanensis Govaerts; C. yunnanensis var. densiflorus S. J. Pei & San Y. Chen; C. yunnanensis var. intermedius S. J. Pei & San Y. Chen; Palmijuncus acanthospathus (Griffith) Kuntze; P. montanus (T. Anderson) Kuntze.\nStems solitary or weakly clustered, climbing, to 30 m, 1.5-5 cm in diam. Leaf sheaths green with brown hairs, with sparsely to densely arranged, sometimes in short rows, brown, flattened spines to 1 cm, these with sinuous margins, densely hairy initially; ocreas present, densely bristly; knees present; flagella present, to 5.6 m; petioles very short or absent; rachis to 1.4 m with 8-15 broadly lanceolate pinnae per side, these regularly arranged, sometimes somewhat irregularly, especially near base of leaf; middle pinnae 18-30 cm, 3.5-7 cm wide at mid-point, adaxial veins and margins bristly; cirri absent. Inflorescences to 3 m, flagellate; inflorescence bracts tubular; rachillae short and strongly recurved. Fruits yellowish brown, ovoid to ellipsoid, to 2.5 × 1.5 cm, scales grooved.\nLowland or montane rain forests; 800-2400 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].\nThis species provides a cane used in basketry and furniture-making."}
{"content":"Discussions about eggcorns and related topics\nYou are not logged in.\nRegistrations are temporarily closed as we're receiving a steady stream of registration spam.\nAnyone who wishes to register, please email me at chris dot waigl at gmail dot com with the desired username and a valid email address, and I will register you manually.\nThanks for your understanding.\nChris -- 2011-03-08\nThe English word “human” comes to us from the Latin “homo” via Norman French. It is, perhaps, a hidden eggcorn: in contrast to what many English speakers assume, there is no “man” in “human” (unlike, say, “woman,” whose formation does depend on the Germanic “man”).\nFor those who see “man” in the word, “human” can become the acorn of an unhidden eggcorn. Certain English speakers think that the first syllable is not “hu’ but “you.” A person is a “you-man.” See the examples at the end of this post.\nThe substitution of “youman” for “human” would be easier for an h-dropper, of course. Which is why I find it odd when I encounter the pronunciation “uman” in Canada, where English speakers never drop their hs. I’ve heard this odd intonation several times from Canadians who speak with an otherwise perfect Canadian English accent. The explanation for this phenomenon resides, I suspect, in the multilingual backgrounds of Canadians. The word “human” in Romance languages has lost its initial fricative-compare “humain” (French), “humano” (Spanish) and “umano” (Italian), all sounded without the “h.” A large number of Canadians have French backgrounds (obviously) and Italian backgrounds (not so obvious, but true-one out of every ten Canadians is of Italian descent). Even those who come up through the Canadian English school system and pick up a faultless accent from their peers can acquire this Romance-language peculiarity. “Human” and “humanity” are words that a cradle-English speaker might be pick up later in life from people in the older generation–teachers, priests, parents–who have learned their English as a second language.\nExamples of “youman:”\nForum post “I think it is a good idea when there is something the lonely people can be part of, where they can phone in and get in contact with some youman being.”\nA 1687 will “Janary the thirtieth daye And Acording to the Computation of the Church of England 1687 I Benjamine Hockin of the parish of Gwithian in the Countie of Cornwall youman being att this time Sick And weake in body yet of perfect memory praised be god for It doe here ordaine my last will & testament”\nStrange blog entry “I want you. I want you. I want a youman being. ”\nMyspace bio “A MAN ONCE SAID TO ME SAM ITS NOT WHAT YOU DO IN LIFE THAT MAKES YOU A YOUMAN ITS WHAT LEAVE BEHIND THAT MAKES YOU ONE”\nPost to a chat forum “Sex equality dear lady – plus youman rights”\nPosted response to a Guardian piece “In fact the security officer can now take his employers to court under the youman rights act”\nLast edited by kem (2009-06-13 23:08:58)"}
{"content":"For those wondering whether the UN is going to continue to serve as a global platform for anti-Semitism—webcast around the world, free for all Internet users, and archived so that it may be accessed for a long, long time—the mystery is over. The UN Human Rights Council today broadcast uninterrupted hate speech—in the name of “human rights.” Palestinian UN representative Muhammad Abu-Koash had this to say on December 12, 2007 in the middle of the Council’s current session:From Eye on the UN:\nJust for some context of who this guy is, a few months ago he said: \"Arafat, Castro, [Che] Guevara stand tall. . . in their worldwide influence, stature, and inspiration.\"\n\"The Israeli creeping geography has been countered...as the victims of Aryan purity have been transformed into the proponents of Jewish purity...\nI will revert to poetry to deliver the message clearly to the Ambassador of Israel\nMr. Jail Man, do you not understand\nScars of concentration camps mark your hand\nNegotiations commence today I understand\nLeave our mountains, valleys,sea, air and land\nDraw your lesson from France and Deutschland\nOur will is strong, cease drawing lines in the sand\nWashington, Mandela and Arafat stand so grand\nThough called terrorists by occupiers in command\nMr. Jail man, you do not want to understand\nYou gave occupation new attire with Semitic brand.\nThose who suffered in Europe, those who came from concentration camps, those who came from the ghettos, they should not act as our masters. They should know the meaning of suffering.\"\n“The one who has monopoly on the violation of human rights is Israel... the darling of the High Commissioner.” — Palestinian Ambassador Mohammad Abu-Koash, Dec. 1, 2006, mocking Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who dared to cite Palestinian obligations to stop terrorism in addition to her regular criticisms of Israel.\nAnd one year ago:\n“The Holocaust is going on, and it is an Israeli holocaust against the Palestinian people.” Palestine Ambassador Mohammad Abu-Koash, Dec. 12, 2006.He also referred to Qassam rockets as \"Christmas firecrackers\" on the very day that they killed an Israeli and injured two more.\nYup, Mr. Abu-Koash is a perfect representative of the Palestinian Arab people. He mocks human rights, loves dictators, pretends that everything wrong on the planet is Israel's fault and exhibits pure hate in the halls of the UN."}
{"content":"The War on Welfare: Family, Poverty and Politics in Modern America\nIn The War on Welfare, Marisa Chappell compiles a comprehensive record of decades of antipoverty and anti-welfare movements and coalitions, the policies and programs they influenced, and the biases that both shaped and undermined their objectives. From the War on Poverty of the 1960s to the eradication of welfare in the 1990s, Chappell follows an ever-changing debate where the arguments first marshaled by one side were later embraced by another and the realities of poverty clashed with the ideals of those who sought to eliminate it.\nSplit into five sections, The War on Welfare moves from sections dealing with three major issues affecting the debate to comprehensive examinations of the Carter and Reagan administrations. The three major issues comprising the first three sections of the book include the racialization of the poverty and welfare debates, the role of the male-breadwinner family ideal in the feminization of poverty, and the majoritarian political strategies of the 1970s that led to both sides (or perhaps many sides) categorizing the poor as either deserving or undeserving. Through extensive sourcing, Chappell demonstrates how attitudes about race, gender and class contributed to the creation of welfare policies that were ineffective at best and disastrously counterproductive at worst, leading to an increase in poverty and precluding escape from poverty for many women and minorities.\nOverall, Chappell does an extraordinary job of marshaling the evidence necessary to demonstrate the shared guilt of various “liberal” and “conservative” organizations and interests in preventing any serious attack on poverty in the United States. However, the presentation of that evidence leaves a bit to be desired.\nFirst, in her valiant attempt to include each and every organization and coalition involved in the debate, Chappell often ends up creating an alphabet soup of acronyms that is difficult to follow. The same can be said for her introduction of so many main and supporting characters that the names tend to blend into one another after a while, leaving it difficult to remember who did what when.\nSecondly, by using the vague labels of \"liberal\" and \"conservative,\" presenting a bipolar politics rather than a political spectrum, and failing to address the ambiguities of political labels, Chappell tends to confuse some of the issues raised by the evidence she presents. For instance, she fails to clearly address how many “liberal” organizations in antipoverty coalitions were economically liberal, but socially conservative (and vice versa), and how many of those organizations are, in fact, more appropriately labeled as moderate or centrist. Finally, by using primarily “on the record” materials such as policy pronouncements and issue papers, Chappell fails to seriously address the backroom deals and covert exchanges that often have a far greater influence on policy than public debates indicate.\nIn the end, The War on Welfare is most useful as a research tool for policy wonks needing an extensive guide to the public positions taken by movements, organizations, political parties, and various important individuals. For the casual reader needing an introduction to the issues, it’s probably a bit too much and too little."}
{"content":"- What Resources Are Available to Help Me Succeed in My Courses?\n- What Steps do I Take to Request Disability Accommodations?\n- What Counseling Services Are Available for Me?\n- What Resources Are Available to Help Me Pay for College?\n- What Technical Support Is Available for Me?\n- What Services Are Available for Military Veterans and Service Members?\n- What are Some Tips for Success\n- Library Services\n- Testing Centers\n- Online Tutoring Services\n- Campus Tutoring Services\n- NOVA Student Services\n- Free Software Downloads\n- Cloud Printing and Storage\nEvery NVCC campus has counselors available to assist students with academic and personal needs including academic advising, career counseling , disability services, and transfer planning. You can find contact information for counselors on campus here. In addition, you can contact the ELI Distance Learning Counseling office by phone at 703.323.2425, by e-mail, or visit our web site at http://eli.nvcc.edu/counselor.htm.\nThere are many resources available to help students pay for college. Learn more by visiting the College financial web site at http://www.nvcc.edu/finance\nThe IT Help Desk provides first-level technical support to students of Northern Virginia Community College. They are dedicated to servicing the computer and telecommunication needs of all students by providing detailed resolutions and general system information for common problems. If you are using dial-up, you may have trouble accessing some course materials and may need to use a public or work computer for some of your course work.\nGeneral information is available from NOVA's Military Services Office. Additional information is available on NOVA's Veterans website, and there is a Veteran’s advisor on each campus--click here for contact information.\nOther resources include:\n- NOVA's Military Services FAQ\n- NOVA's Credit for Prior Learning website\n- ACE's College Credit for Military Service website\n- Military OneSource\n- MyCAA at NOVA\n- Student Veterans of America\nThe following Ten Tips for Success, though certainly not new or revolutionary, were compiled with the help of the textbook for the ELI distance learning version of SDV 100, David B. Ellis' Becoming a Master Student, and the staff at the Extended Learning Institute.\n- Establish a place for studying and begin immediately. Buy your course materials. Read your syllabus and skim your course guide. Create a space (not as comfortable as your bed!) that's only for studying. Begin now. This is not the time to procrastinate!\n- Plan your time wisely. Develop a plan for today. Develop a short-term plan, for the next week. Develop a long-term plan.\n- Plan on spending as much time on your distant learning course as you would if you were taking the course on campus. If you are taking a 3-credit course, plan on studying for at least 6 hours a week. (If you were attending class on campus, you would also be traveling to and from campus and parking your car!)\n- If technology is required, learn how to use it. Try it right away. If you need help, call immediately. Use it often.\n- Use the convenience of voice mail and email.\n- Don't ever hesitate to ask for help Although you are an independent learner, you are not alone. You have an instructor. You have people on staff whose mission is to help you. You have student services on campus to support you: counselors, librarians, writing and computer labs, tutoring services, financial aid, a veteran’s affairs office, and others.\n- Encourage yourself! Be positive! If you feel you are getting bogged down, remind yourself that this is going to help you achieve something you really want.\n- Take advantage of who you are. If you have just finished high school, you already know how to use new technology. If you use computers on the job, you will enjoy computer conferencing and you are accustomed to word processing. If you are older and are returning to school, you have maturity and a sense of purpose that will serve you well.\n- Pay attention to your own preferences. You have chosen distant learning because you need the flexibility and you believe you can succeed on your own, so decide on the best times for you to concentrate, discover 15-minute breaks when you can go over some notes or list the main ideas for your next paper.\n- Plan on times to relax, too, without guilt! Successful students: find enjoyment in learning; reduce anxiety by being well prepared; turn in assignments on time; set realistic goals for themselves; make the commitment to study."}
{"content":"Would Thomas Jefferson have put a “Stop WalMart” bumper sticker on his car? Would Henry David Thoreau give a “thumbs up” to the movie Fight Club? What would Mark Twain and Bob Dylan think about the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? These are some of the questions explored in American Studies, a program that engages students in the study of American culture from the perspective of a variety of academic disciplines, including history and literature, art history, philosophy, and political science.\nWith a foundation in the U. S. History survey, the major is built around two introductory courses, each of which traces a particular theme in American culture from the colonial era to the present: “Perspectives on the American Dream” and “Individualism and Community in American Life.” Electives within the major are selected in consultation with the student’s advisor and are drawn from related departments. The capstone of the major is a seminar taken in the senior year in which students undertake a research project focusing on some aspect of contemporary American culture that reflects the themes of the introductory courses."}
{"content":"- Sir Stirling Moss\n'To me, Lotus means wheels coming off'Sir Stirling Moss January 4, 2010\nIt's been hard to escape the on-going battle over the Lotus name in recent weeks. Like many of you, I've found the whole situation rather tedious, but sadly it's symptomatic of Formula One today.\nA lot has been written about who has the right to use the Lotus name and both sides have fairly convincing cases. The arguments have been trotted out several times before so I won't repeat them here. Instead I thought I'd look at what I remember of the original Team Lotus, both the good bits and the bad.\nSo what does Lotus mean to me? Well to be honest, it means wheels coming off and overly sensitive cars. It's an important name from the past, but for me it really didn't compare with the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes or Alfa Romeo. Certainly as a driver I would have been far more excited about being invited to drive for Alfa or Mercedes than I would for Lotus, a team that had only just started out in Formula One at that time.\nNowadays people think of Lotus and the championships they won, but those of us that knew - when I raced at least - said, \"Christ, they were a bit dodgy\". I raced Rob Walker-prepared Lotuses in the 1960s and unbeknown to me Rob was changing the stub axles after every race because they were so close to the limit. If the machinist at the factory just cut them a fraction to slim then you'd have a weak one and usually a bloody big accident at the next race.\nI think Colin Chapman pushed the limits too far with some of the cars and at times that didn't seem necessary. One had to use one's concentration to keep away from the thought of what might happen, and that was the biggest cross one had to carry when driving a Lotus. Colin was a brilliant engineer but just ran it too close too often in the early days, although the later cars were much safer.\nThe Lotus name is still evocative today because the cars were quick and that attracted the big-name drivers - that was what mattered to Colin. But I think when a wheel came off, the bad news for him was that the car wasn't going to finish not that the driver might be hurt. He was a thick-skinned individual and that is also a trait you saw in Enzo Ferrari. Of course they were both very successful, but personally I didn't think the risk taking was necessary.\nLotus cars were never driver friendly like a Cooper or a Maserati, but they were fast and they won races. You'd never mess around in a Lotus and you had to drive it very precisely. In many respects that's a good thing, but if you're racing for three hours as we did in those days it was nice to drive something that wasn't quite so demanding.\nTherefore the joy of driving a Lotus was not in the racing but in the winning, and that's the one thing Colin's cars were very good at. I look back on my races in a Lotus only with affection for the fact that I won some and I remember the sense of joy when seeing the chequered flag at the end of the race. Of course some of my greatest races were at the wheel of a Lotus, for example I have very fond memories of Monaco in 1961 where I held off the Ferraris for the whole three hours. But that was the good thing about Monaco - one was kept so busy with gear changes, turning the car in and getting on the power that one didn't have time to think about how difficult it was or how dangerous it was.\nI also took Lotus' first victory at Monaco in 1960 driving the Rob Walker car, but to be honest that didn't mean that much to me and I don't think it meant much to Colin either. I'd have rather won it in a Cooper because John Cooper was much easier to get on with.\nHaving said all that, Colin was a truly brilliant engineer and put together winning cars. The Vanwall which won the 1958 constructors' championship was engineered by him and he turned that car into a winner, again not by making it easy to drive but by making it very quick. As Team Lotus they went onto win many championships long after I retired. They bought about many innovations in Formula One, which included the engineering in the race cars they built, the first commercial sponsorship and even the first team motor home known as HMS Hethel.\nUnfortunately the current battle over the Lotus name is symptomatic of modern Formula One, which is now run as a business. In many ways Colin was a businessman and I think if he was alive today and wanted to sell the name, he would just sell it to the highest bidder. Personally I think one of the teams should come up with its own name and be proud of that rather than worrying about how much money can be made out of the old Lotus brand. There's much more of the original spirit of F1 in doing your own thing.\nBut sadly the days when there was a heart in racing are long gone and we can't go back. There's so much money to be made that it's no longer a sport and very few people are still involved for the enjoyment alone. I suppose that was always inevitable when television and advertising became involved.\nAs I've said before, when Lewis Hamilton wins a race he has to thank Vodafone whereas in my day I used to chase the crumpet. I know which era I'd rather race in."}
{"content":"Recording a sound\nSoftware name : Audacity\nSoftware version : 1.2\nRecording sound with Audacity is very straightforward you just need to have a computer that has a sound card with at least a microphone (mic) or line input.\nBefore making a recording you need to make sure that what you want to record from ( the \"sound source\") connected to the audio input of your computer's sound card. Once you have done that you can launch Audacity.\nOS X has a unique way to configure the audio hardware, which is not shared by other operating systems (Windows, and Linux). So if you use OSX you will need to make sure that it is set up appropriately. To do this first open the \"Preferences\" window by clicking on \"Preferences\" under \"Audacity\" in the Menu Bar :\nThe Preferences window open and look something like this:\nClick on \"Audio I/O\". The use of \"I/O\" means \"Input or Output\", so \"Audio I/O\" means \"Audio Input or Output\". The Audio I/O preferences page is where you can choose the sound source (audio input) and how you play back the sounds so you can hear them (the output settings). This can turn into a jungle of terms but essentially these things are the same:\n- sound source\n- audio input\n- input device\n- recording device\nand these are the same :\n- playback device\n- output device\n- sound output\nThe way you configure the input effects how you will record sounds. The configuration of the output effects how you will play back sounds so you can hear them.\nLets start with the output settings, these are refered to within the \"Playback\" section. In the \"Playback\" section use the \"Device:\" dropdown menu to select the audio output you wish to use. Unless you have another sound card installed \"Built-in Audio\" will be the only option available.\nThe input settings are chosen from the \"Recording\" section. In the \"Recording\" section use the \"Device:\" dropdown menu to select the audio input device you wish to use. Unless you have another sound card installed \"Built-in Audio\" will be the only option available.\nIn the \"Recording\" section use the \"Channels\" dropdown menu to select the number of channels you wish to use. A \"Channel\" (also known as a \"track\") refers to the number of audio signals you wish to use to record or playback. A mono recording uses one audio signal (1 channel), and a stereo recording records two audio signals (2 channels).\nAudacity defaults to \"1 (mono)\" so you can leave it at this if you are recording from a mono audio input. Most microphones are only capable of producing a mono signal. Select \"2 (stereo)\" if you are recording from a stereo audio input such as a cassette or mini disc player (or a stereo microphone). It is possible to select up to 16 channels but do not select more than 2 unless you have something other than a 'normal' sound card.\nBelow the \"Playback\" and \"Recording\" sections are three check boxes.\nThe first check box is not important for this exercise because we are only recording one channel. If you want to listen to the sound as you are recording it you will need to have either \"Hardware Playthough\" or \"Software Playthrough\" ticked. \"Hardware Playthrough\" lets you hear the sound directly from the input source while \"Software Playthrough\" lets you hear the sound as it will be when the recording is played back.\nNow click on \"Quality\" to bring up this page of preferences:\nFor this exercise you only need to worry about the first two settings; Default Sample Rate and Default Sample Format. Unless you really know what you are doing, use the dropdown menus to set Default Sample Rate to \"44100 Hz\" and Default Sample Format to \"16-bit\". This will give you CD quality recording.Those are the only preferences you need to adjust before beginning to record so click \"OK\" to save the changes and close the Preferences Window. Audacity remembers these preferences so the next time you go to make a recording you will not have to repeat the steps above unless you wish to make changes.\nWindows and Linux\nWindows and Linux use the same kind of controls. First you need to choose the input device. The Mixer Toolbar has three controls, used to set the volume levels of your audio device and choose the input source.\nThe leftmost slider controls the output volume, the other slider controls the recording volume, and the control on the right lets you choose the input source (such as \"Microphone\", \"Line In\", \"Audio CD\", etc.). You will need to choose \"Mic\" or \"Line In\" as one of the inputs. If you are using a microphone choose \"Mic\". If you are using another audio device (CD Player, Mini disc etc), choose \"Line In\".\nTesting Audio Levels\nNow that you have everything set up and ready to go you can begin the recording process.\nBefore making the recording it is important to preview the loudest section of the source audio so that you do not end up with a distorted recording.\nFirst you need to switch the input meter on. This can be set in the main interface :\nSimply click on the bars above the microphone symbol or click on the arrow next to the microphone symbol and select \"Monitor input\" like so :\nNow play the loudest passage of the audio you are recording and, while doing so, look at the input level meter.\nAt the loudest point the red bars should be at about -12. You can adjust the input level by moving the slider next to the microphone symbol.\nKeep playing back the loudest passage while adjust the input level until it peaks at about -12. Once you have done that click the \"Stop\" button :\nNow you are ready to make your proper recording.\nClick the \"Record\" button,\nthen play the audio you wish to record. Once the sound source has finished click the \"Stop\" button.\nYour recording is now complete so save it immediately by selecting \"Save Project\" from the \"File\" menu.\nThat's it! Your recording is completed and saved. You can play it back by clicking the \"Play\" button.\nTroubleshooting - Linux\nLinux :: Host Error?\nIf you are a Linux user and you see a message similar to this \"Error Initializing Audio: There was an error initializing the audio i/o layer. You will not be able to play or record audio. Error: Host error.\" then you may have to try one of the following :\nIt maybe that the esd sound server is running which is not permitting Audacity to access the sound card. You can try running this in a terminal:\nps ax | grep esd\nIf you see an output similar to this :\n5164 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/bin/esd -terminate -nobeeps -as 1 -spawnfd 18 10352 pts/1 R+ 0:00 grep esd\nThen you can see from the first line that esd is running (\"/usr/bin/esd\"). To kill the esd sound server you need to type this in a terminal (you need to have the permissions to run the sudo command) :\nsudo killall esd\nYou will then be prompted for a password, enter your password notthe superuser password (also known as the \"root\" or \"admin\" password). Then try and start Audacity again, hopefully you won't get this error.\nStart with aRts\nYou could also try running Audacity through the aRts sound server (\"analog Real time synthesizer\"). To do this quit Audacity if you already have it opened and restart it with this command in a terminal:\nLastly, you may wish to try starting Audacity after killing the aRts sound server. You can try this:\nsudo killall artsdThen try starting Audacity again."}
{"content":"|Owner:||United Federation of Planets|\n|Aft view, in tow behind Ru'afo's flagship|\n|The holoship, cloaked|\nIn 2375, the holoship was employed by Admiral Doughtery and Ru'afo to secretly transport the entire 600 Ba'ku inhabitants off the Ba'ku planet without their knowledge in order to obtain the metaphasic radiation inherent in the planet's rings.\nThe ship was cloaked and placed at the bottom of a lake, located near the Ba'ku village. It was later detected by Starfleet personnel, unaware of its presence, due to strong neutrino emissions coming from the lake.\nIt was later brought back into the planet's orbit, by Lieutenant Commander Worf, where it was used to transport the command crew from the bridge of Ru'afo's flagship. This feat allowed Gallatin and Jean-Luc Picard to disable the nearby Son'a collector. (Star Trek: Insurrection)\nBuilt specifically to serve as a transportable holodeck used to create holographic environments to simulate the surroundings familiar to the holoship's passengers. It was also equipped with fourteen long-range transporters and a cloaking device. (Star Trek: Insurrection)\nThe idea of surreptitiously transplanting an indigenous people by use of the holodeck had already been explored in TNG: \"Homeward\" when a group of Boraalans were transplanted in the holodeck of the USS Enterprise-D without their knowledge to their new homeworld as their own world became uninhabitable. The concept of the holoship might have stemmed from this incident.\nThe novel Section 31: Abyss, by David Weddle and Jeffrey Lang, establishes that the holoship was created by Section 31 for the Ba'ku incident, which the organization had engineered and had publicly blamed on Dougherty. The holoship was slated for destruction by Starfleet Command after the incident became public; however, Commander Elias Vaughn and his cabal of Starfleet officers covertly working against Section 31 stole the ship and faked destruction reports, later using it to help undermine various Section 31 operations."}
{"content":"Seemingly following in China's footsteps, Washington held its first US-Africa Leaders Summit from Monday to Wednesday. China is pleased to see US President Barack Obama sitting with the leaders and government representatives of about 50 African countries, and does not feel threatened by the possibility that warming US-African ties will jeopardize China's interests in that continent.\nHowever, Obama's remarks on the Summit showed his pettiness. He stressed that the US would not just cooperate with African countries for resources, which according to many media outlets, was a criticism of China. Last week in an interview with the Economist, he even said to African countries that they should make sure \"the roads [built by Chinese companies] don't just lead from the mine to the port to Shanghai.\"\nThe US is a veteran player in Africa, where its influence remains profound. But China, a new player on this continent, has taken the lead in bilateral cooperation compared with that between the US and Africa. Sino-African trade volume jumped to $200 billion in 2013 from $100 billion in 2009, while US-African trade shrunk from $100 billion in 2008 to only $60 billion in 2013.\nThe surging cooperation between China and Africa has highlighted the energy and future of an equal model of cooperation. It has also manifested the great potential of the Chinese economy. In the meantime, the Western-dominated \"transform Africa\" approach has become much less popular in Africa.\nThe Chinese leadership concentrates on bilateral relationships while meeting with African leaders without attacking any third party, especially the US. But the US government leaders have never stopped targeting China.\nIn fact, the Americans know that China's success in Africa is not pure luck. China's cooperation with Africa is based on a comprehensive and agreeable basis. While the West, especially the US, has clumsily squandered traditional advantages on this land. They speak similar languages and rely on similar political systems, but they don't understand each other in many cases.\nChina has no wild ambitions on the African continent, and Beijing has never had the intention to include it within its \"sphere of influence.\" Africa has a free choice to cooperate with anyone, and the mindset of a zero-sum game doesn't apply any more in Africa. Many Chinese companies are willing to cooperate with their European and US counterparts, as the latter have more business experience in Africa.\nThe whole world has to admit that China has been the biggest boost in shifting global attention back to Africa. Without China's rapidly growing cooperation with Africa, many Western countries would probably still be dismissing Africa's massive potential.\nNow, when it comes to this promising land, China is much more open-minded and cooperative than the US, which shows much anxiety and a lack of confidence. Washington should reflect on this situation. Holding its tongue when it comes to comments on China will help it to be level-headed."}
{"content":"Ttongsul, or “feces wine”, is a Korean drink made by pouring soju, a distilled grain alcohol, into a pit filled with chicken, dog, or human feces, and leaving the mixture in the pit for three to four months until it ferments. It is then extracted from the pit and drank straight, with the belief that it can cure illness and help in the aid of bone fractures.\nIt sounds like the stuff of urban legends, but Ttongsul is indeed a real beverage that, while by no means popular, can still be found if you know where to look.\nHow can we be sure? After nearly six months of extensive research, RocketNews24 was able to track down a private Ttongsul vendor in South Korea and procure a bottle of the elusive feces wine ourselves.\nArriving in Korea, our Japanese correspondents telephoned our contact and were instructed to a specific location where the transaction would be carried out. We’re not sure if current Korean law forbids the open sale of fecal beverages, but the whole process seemed very clandestine; brown market, if you will.\nThe rendezvous point was a restaurant called “Dokdo”—yes, ironically, like the islands—in Jinju, a city in South Gyeongsang Province located about an hour from Busan by car.\nAs it reached the appointed time, a middle-aged man carrying two large bottles in a black plastic bag approached our correspondents. Their conversation follows (see video below):\nCorrespondent A+B: Anyohaseyo!\nMan: I’m doing farmwork and… Ah, these? 2 bottles, 70,000 won (US$65)\nB: He says they’re 70,000 won.\nA: 70,000 won.\n~Exchanges cash for the bag~\nB: I hear there is white Ttongsul as well.\nMan: No, there’s no white. It’s got medicine in it so it doesn’t turn white.\nB: I see.\nMan: It turns this color because there are lots of traditional medicinal herbs in it. This is some really good stuff.\nB: Is it something I could make at home?\nMan: It’d be difficult.\nB: Difficult? Because of the ingredients?\nMan: Yeah, I have to bake my kid’s poop in an electric oven at 250℃ for 30 minutes. If I don’t, the stench is horrible. If you do it at home it stinks up the whole house. Your neighbors would probably get upset if you tried making it at home. Then you have to soak it in alcohol for at least 2 months before you can drink it.\nB: And you put medicinal herbs in it as well?\nMan: Yeah, there’s a lot of medicinal ingredients in there. Ash tree, hanyak, even cat. Putting cat in makes it really good for you.\nB: Huh? Cat? What part of the cat do you use?\nMan: The bones.\nB: What!? The bones….? Has it always been like that?\nMan: Yeah, it’s the time-honored way of making Ttongsul*.\nB: And this something only you can make?\nMan: That’s right. That’s why it’d be difficult for you to make at home.\n*It’s unclear if the man meant that all traditional methods of making Ttongsul use cat bones, or if it’s just his own special mixture.\nAfter exchanging goodbyes, our correspondents examined the bottles to find a brown and surprisingly clear liquid that looked similar to brandy. No bits of excrement floating around, and no visible traces of cat bone either (thank god).\nEven more surprising was that the Ttongsul smelled nothing like feces. In fact, it didn’t smell of anything at all. We imagine the fermentation process has been perfected over the centuries so the wine is odorless and therefore easier to drink. After all, even if it is tradition, poo is still poo.\nWe’re preparing a big Ttongsul drinking party at the RocketNews24 office in Tokyo, so be sure to check back later for our taste report! Check our taste report here!\n▼ Our intrepid reporters arrive in Busan\n▼ Boarding the bus to Jinju\n▼ It’s about 1.5 hours through pleasant country scenery from Busan to Jinju\n▼ Arriving in Jinju, our correspondents make their way to the drop-off point\n▼ Here’s where the deal went down\n▼ Feces wine get!\n▼ It was bottled in reused plastic soju bottles. If you see bottles like this at your local Korean market, don’t worry, it’s probably not Ttongsul.\n▼ Smells like absolutely nothing! As for the taste…we’ll get back to you on that soon!\n[ Read in Japanese ]"}
{"content":"Comets were previously thought of as a “dirty snowball” but due to the fact that a comet’s has more dust than ice, they are now referred to as an “icy dirtball”. The nucleus is mainly made up of H2O (water), with some parts NH3 (ammonia), CH4 (methane), and CO2 (carbon dioxide). When the Big Bang happened over 4.6 billion years ago the hydrogen and helium accreted into the first generation of stars, which quickly became supernovae during which the heavier elements (collectively called metals) were produced and in turn condensed again with hydrogen and helium to form the second generation of stars. Much of the \"metals\" condensed at that time to form the terrestrial planets, but some of that material became small lumps of frozen gas and dust. These lumps are located in the outer region of the solar system, where temperatures are cold enough to produce ice thus keeping the lumps frozen. That region is called the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt.  The Oort Cloud is estimated to contain 1011 (one hundred billion) comets.\nAs the comets orbit our sun, they may be disturbed by close encounters with other objects and some of those move out of the Oort Cloud and toward the sun. As as they approach, their frozen gases become vaporized and dust is ejected and they form streamers called tails. The tails tend to flow behind the nucleus of the comet as the gases and dust are easily influenced by the forces applied to them by the sun's photons of light bouncing off them and by its electromagnetic field that acts on the charged particles. Comets have two tails: the ion tail (blue, composed of gas), and the dust tail (yellow). Meteor showers, like the Perseid or Leonids, occur when the Earth travels through a comet's dust tail.\nOne of the most famous comets is Halley's Comet, which was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705. The comet had last been sighted in 1682; Halley predicted it would return in 1758. Unfortunately, he died in 1742, so he was unable to see his prediction come true. The comet was subsequently named after him.\nHalley's Comet has a period of about 76 years. It came by the Earth last in 1986, and will return in 2061.\nChemical Diversity in Comets\nIt has been postulated that the chemical diversity observed in the population of comets found in the Kuiper Belt (region extended after Neptune orbit) as well as Oort cloud (spherical cloud lie roughly 50,000 AU from the Sun) is primordial.\nThe chemical abundances were observed in both classes of comets: Oort cloud comets and the Jupiter-Family of comets whose population consisting of short-period comets formed in the Kuiper belt Differences were noted between the two groups. This can be attributed to several factors including differences in the chemical and physical environments in comet-forming regions, chemical evolution during their long storage in the Oort cloud and Kuiper belt, and thermal processing by the Sun when entering the inner Solar System. The chemical composition of comets is investigated by remote sensing using spectroscopy. This investigation is indirect, since only the gas and dust of the coma can be observed after the nucleus ices have sublimated from the nucleus.\nObservations were made at millimeter/sub-millimeter wavelengths with the IRAM 30-m, JCMT, CSO and SEST radio telescopes. Six Jupiter-family, three Halley-family, and fifteen long-period comets were observed from 1986 to 2001. The eight molecular species were HCN, HNC, CH3CN, CH3OH, H2CO, CO, CS, and H2S. HCN were detected in all comets, while at least two types of molecules were detected in nineteen comets. It was inferred that the HCN abundance relative to water varies from 0.08% to 0.25% from the sub-sample of comets for which contemporary H2O production rates are available. HCN is the molecule which exhibits the lowest abundance variation from comet to comet with respect to other species and was found in all the 24 Comets. HCN was found only in the four Comets and low CO abundances was measured in Jupiter-family comets, while several Oort cloud comets exhibit high CO abundances . According to the observation 23% of CO molecule with respect to water was observed in 5 comets. While 0.035% of HNC relative to water was observed in 5 comets. Fifteen comets exhibited CH3CN up to maximum 6.2%. And H2CO, H2S and CS was found in 13,11,9 comets respectively. They were found at a concentration maximum up to 1.3%, 1.5% and 0.17% respectively relative to water.\nComet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)\nComet C/2001 Q4 NEAT was discovered in August of 2001 in the course of the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program. The comet was found on Charged Coupled Device (CCD) images and the astronomers were able to confirm the discovery on August 24. The comet was described as a round nebulosity measuring about 8 arc seconds across at the distance of 10.1 AU from the Sun. The total visual magnitude was 20.0. Its perihelion date was 2004 May 26 and perihelion distance was 1.00 AU. It has an unusual, almost perpendicular retrograde orbit which brings it into the inner solar system by a deeply southward path. It initially emerged from its remote home where it spent most of its time near the south celestial pole. The comet brightened slowly during the remainder of 2001 and throughout 2002. It appeared fainter than magnitude 15 at the beginning of the 2003, but it steadily brightened as the year progressed, to magnitude 12 around mid-September. In September amateur astronomers could easily mark the time of comet in the Southern Hemisphere began supplying regular visual observations of this comet, at which time the diameter of the coma was typically measured as 0.6 to 1.2 arc minutes. In CCD images amateurs began observing a short fan-shaped tail pointing northward in July as on its approached to the Sun. In late September, the tail extended about 0.8 arc minutes toward the northwest. As 2003 came to an end, the comet became slightly brighter than magnitude 10, with a coma diameter of about 2 arc minutes. A faint, fan-shaped tail extended about 4 arc minutes toward the east. Finally, Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) entered the inner solar system in 2004, reaching perihelion of 1 AU. It's peak magnitude of 3.3 rendered it clearly visible to the naked eye. C/2001 Q4 is referred to as an Oort cloud comet as it originated from Oort cloud. It is composed of HCN, CO, CH3OH, H2S and other species.\nWe know how a comet is formed because of the recent discoveries made in 2009 by NASA’s Deep Impact which impacted Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 that revealed what exactly a comet’s nucleus is made of and its structure.\n- Biver, N., Bockelee,D., Crovisier,J., 2007 “The chemical diversity of comets dates back to their origin”, Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, and CNRS\n- Biver, N.,March 2002 “Chemical Composition Diversity among 24 Comets Observed at Radio wavelengths”, Earth, Moon and Planets, Volume 90, Pages 323-333\n- Russo, et. al. 2007, “Nature”, Volume 448, page. 172-175\n- Gray,C.L., Cohran,A.L.,2008, “A Chemical Survey of 73 Comets Conducted at McDonald Observatory”,B.A.A.S.,40,16.02"}
{"content":"Wikibooks:Fair use policy/Unstable\n|This page documents an unstable draft for proposing changes to Wikibooks:Fair use policy. If the proposed changes gain consensus, the changes may be included in the current policy or guideline. You can edit this draft or discuss it.|\nFair use is a legal categorization for copyrighted material, where that material can be used in certain ways without obtaining prior permission from the copyright holder. Historically, it has been the policy of Wikibooks to allow fair use images and text, so long as good, free alternatives were not available. However, in light of certain legal and licensing issues, Wikibooks no longer allows images, text, or other media that may only have been used under the \"Fair Use\" laws.\nFair use images and text currently on the site are to be phased out, where free alternatives are available, and deleted after a period of time when alternatives are not available. New images, text, or other media uploaded to Wikibooks that are categorized as Fair Use may be speedily deleted as violations of Wikibooks:Copyright.\nWikibooks is not proprietary. If a topic cannot be adequately discussed without the inclusion of illustrations that are not free content, then it is not a suitable topic for a textbook in Wikibooks. Examples of unsuitable books might include a book describing how to use a particular piece of proprietary software, unless the software's author has made screenshots available under a free content license. Specifically, video game strategy guides should go on Strategywiki, not here."}
{"content":"Huygens moon probe to land on Titan\nThursday, January 13, 2005\nTheProbe will enter the atmosphere of 's largest moon, , on January 14 at approximately 9 a.m. .\nThe 318 kg probe will hit the Titan atmosphere at 6 kilometers per second. For the next 2.5 hours, Huygens will slow its descent and begin data transmission from on-board scientific packages to the Cassini Orbiter for relay to Earth. It will touch down on the Titan surface at approximately 11:30 a.m. UTC. The probe will continue data transmission for three to 30 minutes, providing it survives the descent and landing.\nNASA launched Cassini-Huygens, the largest interplanetary space craft ever built, on October 15, 1997. The craft arrived at Saturn orbit in July of 2004. It is the fourth craft to visit Saturn and the first to orbit the planet.\nOn December 25, 2004, the Cassini Orbiter released the Huygens Probe. The probe then began a 20-day trip to Titan.\nExperiments on board the Huygens Probe are designed to examine chemical reactions in the atmosphere, the source of Titan's abundant methane gas, the existence of oceans, and the presence of complex organic compounds.\nThe Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint project of NASA and the(ESA).\nThe probe was named after Dutch astronomer, who discovered Titan in 1655.\nThe Cassini orbiter was named for, who discovered other moons of Saturn and the gap between Saturn's rings known as the .\n- \"Cassini-Huygens mission facts\" — , Dec. 23 2004\n- \"ESA Says Huygens Got a Good Start\" — , January 11, 2005\n- Cassini Mission Homepage by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory\n- ESA Huygens Homepage\n- ESA - Where is Cassini-Huygens now? Interactive Flash-Animation of Cassini orbits through 2008"}
{"content":"The ambiguity effect is a cognitive bias where decision making is affected by a lack of information, or \"ambiguity\". The effect implies that people tend to select options for which the probability of a favorable outcome is known, over an option for which the probability of a favorable outcome is unknown. The effect was first described by Daniel Ellsberg in 1961.\nAs an example, consider a bucket containing 30 balls. The balls are colored red, black and white. Ten of the balls are red, and the remaining 20 are either black or white, with all combinations of black and white being equally likely. In option X, drawing a red ball wins a person $100, and in option Y, drawing a black ball wins them $100. The probability of picking a winning ball is the same for both options X and Y. In option X, the probability of selecting a winning ball is 1 in 3 (10 red balls out of 30 total balls). In option Y, despite the fact that the number of black balls is uncertain, the probability of selecting a winning ball is also 1 in 3. This is because the number of black balls is equally distributed among all possibilities between 0 and 20. The difference between the two options is that in option X, the probability of a favorable outcome is known, but in option Y, the probability of a favorable outcome is unknown (\"ambiguous\").\nIn spite of the equal probability of a favorable outcome, people have a greater tendency to select a ball under option X, where the probability of selecting a winning ball is perceived to be more certain. The uncertainty as to the number of black balls means that option Y tends to be viewed less favorably. Despite the fact that there could possibly be twice as many black balls as red balls, people tend not to want to take the opposing risk that there may be fewer than 10 black balls. The \"ambiguity\" behind option Y means that people tend to favor option X, even when the probability is the same.\nA more realistic example might be the way people invest money. A risk-averse investor might tend to put their money into \"safe\" investments such as government bonds and bank deposits, as opposed to more volatile investments such as stocks and funds. Even though the stock market is likely to provide a significantly higher return over time, the investor might prefer the \"safe\" investment in which the return is known, instead of the less predictable stock market in which the return is not known. The ambiguity effect is a possible explanation why people are reluctant to adopt new practices in the work place.\nOne possible explanation of the effect is that people have a rule of thumb (heuristic) to avoid options where information is missing. This will often lead them to seek out the missing information. In many cases, though, the information cannot be obtained. The effect is often the result of calling some particular missing piece of information to the person's attention.\n- Croskerry, Pat; Cosby, Karen S. (2009). Patient Safety in Emergency Medicine. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-7817-7727-8.\n- Borcherding, Katrin; Laričev, Oleg Ivanovič; Messick, David M. (1990). Contemporary Issues in Decision Making. North-Holland. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-444-88618-7.\n- Ritchie, Stephen D. (2011). Pro .NET Best Practices. Apress. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-4302-4023-5.\n- Frisch, Deborah; Baron, Jonathan (1988). \"Ambiguity and rationality\". Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 1 (3): 149–157. doi:10.1002/bdm.3960010303.\n- Ritov, Ilana; Baron, Jonathan (1990). \"Reluctance to vaccinate: Omission bias and ambiguity\". Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 3 (4): 263–277. doi:10.1002/bdm.3960030404."}
{"content":"In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor with tiles at either end. In professional or organized basketball, especially when played indoors, it is usually made out of a wood, often maple, and highly polished. Outdoor surfaces are generally made from standard paving materials such as concrete or asphalt (i.e. blacktop/tarmac).\nBasketball courts come in different shapes and sizes and colors. In the NBA, the court is 94 feet by 50 ft (28.65m by 15.24m). Under International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules, the court is minutely smaller, measuring exactly 28 m by 15 m (91'10.4\" by 49'2.6\"). A high school court is slightly smaller, at 84' by 50' and some elementary schools have courts measuring 74' x 42'. In amateur basketball, court sizes vary widely. The baskets are always 10' (3.05m) above the floor (except possibly in youth competition). Basketball courts have a three-point arc at both baskets. A basket made from behind this arc is worth three points; a basket made from within this line, or with a player's foot touching the line is worth two points. The free-throw line, where one stands while taking a foul shot, is located within the three-point arc.\nThe height of the underside of the roof structure, or the ceiling if there is one, above the floor is specified by each sport’s governing body, and this is a critical design factor. Badminton, tennis and trampolining require an unrestricted height of 9.1m for international competition, while 7.6m is necessary at C level in all sports except those for which height is not critical. In general a basketball court should have a minimum clearance of 25 feet (7.7m), although a ceiling height of at least 27 feet (8.23m) is recommended.\nDiagram of basketball court and backboard\nA diagram of an FIBA basketball court\n|Area||NBA||FIBA||WNBA||NCAA||U.S. H.S.||U.S. Junior H.S.|\n|Court length||94 ft||28.65 m||91.86 ft||28 m||Same as NBA||84 ft||25.60 m||74 ft||22.56 m|\n|Court width||50 ft||15.24 m||49.21 ft||15 m||Same as NBA||42 ft||12.80 m|\n|Rim height||10 ft||3.05m||Same as NBA|\n|Restricted arc radius||4 ft||1.22 m||4.10 ft||1.25 m||Same as NBA||3 ft||0.91 m||Non-existent|\n|Center circle diameter||12 ft||3.66 m||11.81 ft||3.6 m||Same as NBA|\n|3-point line distance from the basket||23.75 ft\n22 ft in corner*\n6.70 m in corner*\n21.65 ft in corner†\n6.60 m in corner†\n|Same as FIBA||20.75 ft||6.32 m||19.75 ft||6.01 m||Same as high school|\n|Key (shaded lane or\nrestricted area) width\n|16 ft||4.88 m||16.08 ft||4.9 m||Same as NBA||12 ft||3.66 m||Same as NCAA|\n|Free-throw line distance from point on the floor directly below the backboard||15 ft||4.57 m||15.09 ft||4.6 m||Same as NBA|\n* The NBA three-point line is 3 ft (0.91 m) from the sideline in a zone starting at the baseline and ending when it crosses the 23.75 ft (7.24 m) arc. The 22 ft (6.70 m) measurement applies only at a point where a line parallel to the baseline intersects the long axis of the court and the center of the basket.\n† The FIBA three-point line is 2.95 ft (0.90 m) from the sideline in a zone starting at the baseline and ending when it crosses the 22.1 ft (6.75 m) arc. The 21.65 ft (6.60 m) measurement applies only at a point where a line parallel to the baseline intersects the long axis of the court and the center of the basket.\nSections of the basketball court\nThe only two players permitted to enter this area prior to the tipoff are the players contesting the jump ball (usually but not always centers). Both players jump when the referee throws the ball in the air, each attempting to tap the ball into the hands of a player of their own team.\nThe three-point line is the line that separates the two-point area from the three-point area; any shot converted beyond this line counts as three points. If the shooting player steps on the line, it is counted as two points only. Any foul made in the act of shooting beyond the three-point line would give the player three free throws if the shot doesn't go in, and one if it does.\nThe distance to the three-point line from the center of the basket varies depending on the level or league, and has changed several times. These are the current distances, with the league or level using each distance:\n19.75 ft (6.01 m): High School\n20.75 ft (6.32 m): NCAA\n21.65 ft (6.60 m) to 22.15 ft (6.75 m): WNBA and FIBA\n22 ft (6.71 m) to 23.75 ft (7.24 m): NBA\nThe NBA adopted the three-point line at the start of the 1979–80 season. This is of variable distance, ranging from 22 feet (6.7 m) in the corners to 23.75 feet (7.24 m) behind the top of the key. During the 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring by shortening the overall distance of the line to a uniform 22 feet (6.7 m) around the basket. It was moved back to its original distance after the 1996–97 season.\nIn college basketball as well as in most high school associations in the United States, the distance is 19.75 feet. On May 26, 2007, the NCAA playing rules committee agreed to move the three-point line back one foot to 20.75 feet for the men. This rule went into effect for the 2008–2009 season. The three-point line for women (NCAA) moved back one foot to 20.75 feet at the start of the 2011–2012 season.\nThe perimeter is defined as the areas outside the free throw lane and inside the three-point line. Shots converted (successfully made) from this area are called \"perimeter shots\" or \"medium-range shots.\" If a player's foot is on the three-point line, the shot is considered a perimeter shot.\nLow post area\nThe low post is defined as the areas that are closest to the basket but outside of the free throw lane. This area is fundamental to strategy in basketball. Skilled low post players can score many points per game without ever taking a jump shot.\nThe key or shaded lane refers to the usually painted area beneath the basket; for the NBA it is 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, for the NCAA it is 12 feet (3.7 m) wide; for both instances it extends 15 feet (4.6 m) from the backboard. At the top of the rectangle is the free-throw line, behind which players shoot uncontested shots when they're fouled. A circle is drawn around the free-throw line with a 6 feet (1.8 m) radius; this is used for jump ball instances, as is done at the center circle. Two 6-inch hash lines, 3 ft from the free throw lane line and 5 ft 8 in from the free throw line, show the lower defensive box linked to the restricted area.\nFor FIBA tournaments, since October 2010 the key has been a rectangle 4.9 m wide and 5.8 m long. Previously it was a trapezoid 3.7 meters (12 ft) wide at the free-throw line and 6 meters (19 feet and 6.25 inches) at the end line.\nThe key is primarily used to prevent players from staying beneath the basket of the opponents' team for long periods (maximum three seconds).\nRestricted area arc\nThe restricted area arc is a semi-circular arc drawn around the area directly underneath the basket. With some exceptions, members of the defending team cannot draw charging fouls in this area. The restricted arc in NBA and WNBA competition has a radius 4 feet (1.22 m) from below the center of the basket. The restricted arc in NCAA competition (both men's and women's) is of radius 3 feet (0.91 m) from below the center of the basket.\nOn NBA floors, two hash marks are drawn at the end lines near the key to mark the area known as the lower defensive box. A defensive player is allowed to draw a charging foul within the restricted arc if the offensive player receives the ball and/or starts his drive within this area.\nAlso, two lines are drawn on each of the sidelines, 28 feet from each of the endlines, which designates the extent of the coaching box and bench. This line marks the farthest extent a coach (aside from the sidelines) can stand. Directly behind this area is the team bench.\nOn the half-court line of NBA floors two lines extend outside the playing court, designating the place where substitutes wait before they can enter the playing court; directly behind this area are the various off-court officials such as the timekeeper and reserve referee.\nOn April 26, 2008, FIBA announced several major rules changes involving the court markings. These changes took effect for major international competitions on October 1, 2010, after that year's World Championships for men and women, and became mandatory for other competitions on October 1, 2012 (although national federations could adopt the new markings before 2012). The changes were as follows.\n- The shape of the key changed from a trapezoid to a rectangle as it is in the NBA, with NBA dimensions.\n- The three-point line moved back to 6.75 metres (22 ft 1.7 in) from 6.25 metres (20 ft 6.1 in), compared to 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m) for the NBA at the top of the arc.\n- The FIBA adopted the NBA's restricted area arc with a marginally wider radius of 1.25 metres (4 ft 1.2 in).\n- \"Official Basketball Rules 2006\" (pdf). International Basketball Federation. 2006. Archived from the original on 6 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-14.\n- Wissel, Hal (1994). Basketball: steps to success. United States: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. pp. ix. ISBN 0-7360-5500-2.\n- \"NCAA Court and Equipment Rules\" (pdf). 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-17.\n- Basketball Glossary Terms, Definition, Lane violation, Low post\n- \"The FIBA Central Board approves historic rule changes\" (Press release). FIBA. 2008-04-26. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-28.\n|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Basketball courts.|\n- Information on Building, Choosing, Maintaining a Basketball Court\n- Free Basketball Court Layout Template\n- FIBA Central Board (2010-04-17). \"Official Basketball Rules 2010: Basketball Equipment\" (pdf). International Basketball Federation. Retrieved 2010-07-15."}
{"content":"Brian Cleeve in 1962\n|Born||Brian Brendon Talbot Cleeve\n22 November 1921\nSouthend, Essex, England\n|Died||11 March 2003\nShankill, Dublin, Ireland\nBrian Brendon Talbot Cleeve (22 November 1921 – 11 March 2003) was a prolific writer, whose published works include twenty-one novels and over a hundred short stories. He was also an award-winning broadcaster on RTÉ television. Son of an Irish father and English mother, he was born and raised in England. He lived in South Africa during the early years of National Party rule and was expelled from the country because of his opposition to apartheid. In his early thirties he moved to Ireland where he lived for the remainder of his life. In late middle age he underwent a profound spiritual experience, which led him to embrace mysticism. He developed a model for the spiritual life based on the principle of obedience to the will of God.\n- 1 Life and work\n- 2 Bibliography\n- 3 References\n- 4 Additional reading and sources\n- 5 External links\nLife and work\nBrian Cleeve was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, the second of three sons to Charles Edward Cleeve and his wife Josephine (née Talbot). Josephine was a native of Essex, where her family had lived for generations. Charles Cleeve, who was born in Limerick, Ireland, was a scion of a famous and wealthy family that ran several successful Irish enterprises in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Cleeves came from Canada originally and emigrated to Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century. As a result of labour troubles and the effects of the Irish Civil War, the Cleeve business failed and Charles moved with his family to England, where Brian was born in 1921.\nWhen he was two-and-a-half, Brian's mother died and his maternal grandparents, Alfred and Gertrude Talbot, took over responsibility for his upbringing. At age eight, Cleeve was sent as a boarder to Selwyn House in Kent, followed at age 12 by three years at St. Edward's School in Oxford. He was by nature a free-thinker and he rejected the assumptions and prejudices that were then part and parcel of upper-middle class English life. His unwillingness to conform meant that school life was very difficult for him, and, in the late summer of 1938, Cleeve decided not to return to St. Edward's for his final year. Instead, he ran away to sea.\nCleeve led an eventful life during the next fifteen years. He served on the RMS Queen Mary as a commis waiter for several months. At age 17 he joined the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders as a private soldier, and, because of his age, just missed being sent to Europe as part of the BEF when World War II broke out. In 1940, he was selected for officer training, was commissioned into the Somerset Light Infantry, and sent to Kenya as a Second lieutenant in the King's African Rifles. A year later he was court-martialled as a result of his objections to the treatment by colleagues of an African prisoner. Stripped of his commission and sentenced to three years' penal servitude, he was transferred to Wakefield Prison in Yorkshire. There, through the intervention of Sir Alexander Paterson, he was offered parole if he agreed to work for British Intelligence. For the remainder of the war he served as a counter-spy in neutral ports such as Lisbon. As cover, he worked as an ordinary seaman in the Merchant Navy.\nIn 1945, Cleeve took an Irish passport and came to Ireland where, in the space of three weeks, he met and married Veronica McAdie. A year later, they left Ireland with baby daughter Berenice on a protracted odyssey that took them to London, Sweden, the West Indies, and finally South Africa. In 1948, the family settled in Johannesburg where Cleeve and his wife set up their own perfume business. A second daughter, Tanga, was born to the couple there in 1953. As a result of his friendship with Fr. Trevor Huddleston, Cleeve witnessed the conditions in which the black and coloured population had to live in townships such as Sophiatown. Cleeve became an outspoken critic of Apartheid, and, in 1954, he was branded by the authorities as a 'political intractable' and ordered to leave South Africa. He returned to Ireland where he lived for the remainder of his life.\nCleeve started writing poems in his teens, a few of which were published in his school paper, the St. Edward's Chronicle. During the war he continued to produce poems of a spiritual or metaphysical nature, most of which were never published. In 1945, he turned to novel-writing. After his first two attempts were rejected, his third novel, The Far Hills, was published in 1952. It is a roman à clef about the first few months of his married life in Dublin. It is also an unflattering picture of the drabness and mean-spiritedness of lower middle class Irish life in the mid-1940s. Two further novels about South Africa followed and their unvarnished descriptions of the reality of life for the native population probably contributed to Cleeve's eventual expulsion from the country.\nIn the mid-1950s, Cleeve began to concentrate on the short story form. During the next 15 years over 100 of his short stories were published in magazines and periodicals across five continents. He sold nearly 30 to The Saturday Evening Post alone. In 1966, his story Foxer was honoured with a scroll at the annual Edgar Awards.\nDuring the 1960s and 70s, Cleeve returned to writing novels with considerable success. He produced a series of well-received mystery and spy thrillers that did not sacrifice character to plot. One of these, Dark Blood, Dark Terror, was reviewed in the following terms by The Sunday Express: \"Dublin author's exciting novel overshadows a man of genius. I am afraid Graham Greene comes off second best\". (This was a reference to Greene's The Comedians.)\nIn 1971, Cleeve published Cry of Morning, his most controversial and successful novel up to that point. It is a panoramic depiction of the economic and social changes that affected Ireland during the 1960s as seen through the eyes of a disparate collection of well-drawn characters. Cleeve subsequently achieved even greater commercial success, especially in the United States, with a number of historical novels featuring a strong female character as protagonist. The first of these, Sara, is set in England during the Napoleonic era and was published in 1975.\nCleeve also wrote several works of non-fiction, principally the Dictionary of Irish Writers. This was a 20-year project to provide to scholars and the general public alike a comprehensive resource on Irish writers at an affordable price. It was a labour of love that consumed a great deal of his time and was effectively subsidised by his more commercial pursuits. The last edition was published in 1985.\nOn 31 December 1961, Telefís Éireann was launched as the Republic of Ireland's first indigenous television station. Cleeve joined the station as a part-time interviewer on the current affairs programme, Broadsheet. In 1964, a new documentary series, Discovery, began with Cleeve as scriptwriter and presenter. The series covered all aspects of Irish life and Cleeve won a Jacobs' Award for his contribution.\nIn January 1966, Telefís Éireann announced that Cleeve was being dropped as presenter of Discovery because his voice was deemed to be \"too light in tone\". Many suspected that the real reason was political. Cleeve was told by a colleague that his English accent was felt to be similar to that of the \"ascendancy class\". This was a reference to the Protestant Ascendancy elite which had governed Ireland up to 1800. An evening newspaper mounted a campaign on Cleeve's behalf and he was soon reinstated.\nIn September 1966, he joined the new weekly current affairs programme, 7 Days. There, Cleeve and his colleagues set about exposing issues of public interest, much to the dismay of the traditional power structures of big business, the Catholic Church and the political parties. Eventually, external pressure led to the programme coming under tighter editorial control. Cleeve refused to be subject to the new regime and was moved to other less controversial programmes. Telefís Éireann did not renew his contract when it expired in 1973, ironically, just as his last documentary won two awards at the Golden Prague International Television Festival. The documentary, Behind The Closed Eye, focused on the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge who was killed while serving in the British army in Belgium during World War I.\nIn addition to his literary and broadcasting careers, Cleeve had a lively interest in many other areas.\n- While living in South Africa, he took up épée fencing under the Italian master, Ugo Monticelli. Later, in Ireland, he became prominent in the sport's organisation and went on to become Irish champion in 1957 and 1959.\n- Shakespeare's Hamlet fascinated him and his thesis on the origin of the tale of the Danish prince led to him receiving his PhD from University College Dublin.\n- His interest in languages drew him to the study of Shelta, the secret language of the Irish Traveller people.\nRaised as an Anglican, Cleeve converted to Roman Catholicism in 1942. In his thirties he became agnostic but continued to pursue his interest in the spiritual dimension of life. In 1977, he began to experience a deep sense of the presence of God and the effect on his life was profound. He all but abandoned his successful literary career and wrote three mystical works that aroused much debate in Ireland. The first of these, The House on the Rock, contains a series of meditations on a wide variety of topics from the nature of good and evil to more secular matters such as politics and nuclear energy. This was followed by The Seven Mansions, which delves deeper into some of the subjects covered in its predecessor. The third book, The Fourth Mary, was published in 1982 and is an account of a branch of the cult of Dionysus that flourished in first century Jerusalem.\nWhen the clamour caused by his spiritual books died down, Cleeve withdrew from the public gaze. He continued to write for a small audience of those who contacted him following publication of The House on the Rock. In 2001, he published a collection of essays on the Internet summarising his spiritual beliefs. In these, he described the steps he believed were necessary for anyone wishing to pursue a spiritual life. They consist of learning to follow God's guidance as an \"inner voice\" in one's mind, uncovering the past failures that keep one trapped in a negative cycle of self-absorption, and learning the qualities necessary to live as one of God's servants.\nFollowing his wife Veronica's death in 1999, Cleeve moved to the village of Shankill, Dublin. His health deteriorated rapidly following a series of small strokes. In November 2001, he married his second wife, Patricia Ledwidge, and she cared for him during his final months.\nOn 11 March 2003, he died suddenly of a heart attack and his body now lies under a headstone bearing the inscription, 'Servant of God'.\n- The Far Hills (1952)\n- Portrait of My City (1953)\n- Birth of a Dark Soul (1954) (also published as The Night Winds)\n- Assignment to Vengeance (1961)\n- Death of a Painted Lady (1962)\n- Death of a Wicked Servant (1963)\n- Vote X for Treason (1964) (also published as Counterspy)\n- Dark Blood, Dark Terror (1966)\n- The Judas Goat (1966) (also published as Vice Isn't Private)\n- Violent Death of a Bitter Englishman (1967)\n- You Must Never Go Back (1968)\n- Exit from Prague (1970) (also published as Escape from Prague)\n- Cry of Morning (1971) (also published as The Triumph of O'Rourke)\n- Tread Softly in this Place (1972)\n- The Dark Side of the Sun (1973)\n- A Question of Inheritance (1974) (also published as For Love of Crannagh Castle)\n- Sara (1975)\n- Kate (1977)\n- Judith (1978)\n- Hester (1978)\n- A Woman of Fortune (1993)\n- Dictionary of Irish Writers – Volume 1 (1967)\n- Dictionary of Irish Writers – Volume 2 (1970)\n- Dictionary of Irish Writers – Volume 3 (1971)\n- W.B. Yeats and the Designing of Ireland's Coinage (1972)\n- The House on the Rock (1980)\n- The Seven Mansions (1980)\n- 1938: A World Vanishing (1982)\n- The Fourth Mary (1982)\n- A View of the Irish (1983)\n- Biographical Dictionary of Irish Writers (1985) (with Anne Brady)\nRadio/TV Plays and Scripts\n- The Voodoo Dancer (1961)\n- Comeback (1962) (with Veronica Cleeve)\n- The King of Sunday (1962)\n- A Case of Character (1964) (with John Bowen)\n- The Girl from Mayo (1969) (with Carolyn Swift)\n- You Must Never Go Back (1971) (with Peter Hoar)\n- Cry of Morning (1972) (with Peter Hoar)\n- Exit from Prague (1972) (with Peter Hoar)\nShort stories (selected)\n- Alibi (1947)\n- The Eight Kikuyu (1955)\n- Passport to Darkness (1956)\n- The Salmon of Knowledge (1957)\n- The Medal (1961)\n- The Panther (1961)\n- The Sergeant (1963)\n- Foxer (1965)\n- The Horse Thieves of Ballysaggert (1966) (Collection)\n- The Devil & Democracy (1966)\n- First Love (1968)\n- Madonna of Rathmines (1969)\n- An Arab was the First Gardener (1970)\n- Burke, Sir Bernard, Burke's Irish family records, Burke's Peerage, 1976\n- Lee, David and Jacobs, Debbie, Made in Limerick Vol.1, History of industries, trade and commerce, Limerick Civic Trust, 2003\n- Obituary, The Irish Times, 22 March 2003\n- London Gazette, 21 May 1940\n- Cleeve, Veronica, A Woman's Story, Capel, 1982\n- Mystery Writers of America (searchable database)\n- The Irish Times, \"Brian Cleeve's Golden Girl\", 10 May 1976\n- RTV Guide, 4 December 1964\n- Evening Press, 11–13 January 1966\n- Dowling, Jack, Doolan, Lelia, and Bob Quinn, Sit Down and Be Counted: The Cultural Evolution of a Television Station, Wellington Publishers, 1969\n- Graham, Godfrey, Forty Years Behind the Lens at RTÉ, Ashfield Press, 2005 (p.68)\n- Sunday Independent, \"For Brian Cleeve, it's Apocalypse Now\", 30 March 1980\nAdditional reading and sources\n- Bruce, Jim, Faithful Servant: A Memoir of Brian Cleeve (Lulu, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84753-064-6)\n- Cleeve, Veronica, A Woman's Story, (Capel, 1982, ISBN 0905441567)\n- Macdonald, Gina (ed.), Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 276: British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1960 (Thomson Gale, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7876-6020-8)\n- Reilly, John M.(ed.), Twentieth-century crime and mystery writers (Palgrave Macmillan, 1985, ISBN 0-312-82418-1)\n- Vasudevan, Aruna (ed.), Twentieth-century romance and historical writers (St. James Press, 1994, ISBN 1-55862-180-6)\n|Wikiquote has quotations related to: Brian Cleeve|\n- Article on Brian Cleeve at the Author's Calendar\n- An Invitation to Spiritual Life\n- Brian Cleeve Radio Interview 1972"}
{"content":"Charles Webster Hawthorne\n|Charles Webster Hawthorne|\nJanuary 8, 1872|\nLodi, Illinois[disambiguation needed]\n|Died||November 29, 1930(aged 58)|\n|Education||National Academy of Design and the Art Students League|\nHe was born in Lodi, Illinois[disambiguation needed] and his parents returned to Maine, raising him in the state where Charles' father was born. At age 18, he went to New York, working as an office-boy by day in a stained-glass factory and studying at night school and with Henry Siddons Mowbray and William Merritt Chase, and abroad in both the Netherlands and Italy. In 1908 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1911.\n[He studied painting under several notable artists] at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. Among his teachers were Frank Vincent DuMond and George de Forest Brush. But Hawthorne declared that the most dominant influence in his career was William Merritt Chase, with whom he worked as both a pupil and assistant. Both men were naturally talented teachers and figurative painters who were drawn to rich color and the lusciousness of oil paint as a medium. Chase passed on a Munich tradition of tone values and tone painting, and Hawthorne learned all he could.\nWhile studying abroad in the Netherlands as Chase's assistant, Hawthorne was influenced to start his own school of art.\nHis winters were spent in Paris and New York City, his summers at Provincetown, Massachusetts, the site of his school. In addition to founding the Cape Cod School of Art, Hawthorne was also a founding member of the Provincetown Art Association established in 1914. While in Paris Hawthorne became a full member of the French Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1917.\nThe Cape Cod School of Art was the first outdoor summer school for figure painting and grew into one of the nation's leading art schools. Under thirty years of Hawthorne's guidance, the school attracted some of the most talented art instructors and students in the country including John Noble, Richard Miller, and Max Bohm. At his school, Hawthorne gave weekly criticisms and instructive talks, guiding his pupils and setting up ideals but never imposing his own technique or method.\nAnother well known student was Norman Rockwell, who studied with Hawthorne one summer while he was enrolled at the Art Students League. William H. Johnson also studied with Hawthorne and later got a grant from him.\nAmong his works:\n- The Trousseau, Metropolitan Museum of Art\n- Mother and Child, Syracuse Museum\n- Net Mender, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence\n- Venetian Girl, Worcester Art Museum\n- The Family, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy\n- Crew of the Philomena Manta, 1915, Provincetown Art Collection\n- Fish Cleaners, Provincetown Art Collection\n- Untitled (Study of girl in white), 1927, Provincetown Art Collection\n- Girl in Yellow Scarf, 1904, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio\n- The Fisherman's Daughter, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.\nHis class studio in Provincetown on Miller Hill Road (currently known as the Hawthorne School of Art) was added August 21, 1978 to the National Register of Historic Places. His son, Joseph Hawthorne, was a successful orchestral conductor.\n- Webster's Biographical Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam, 1980 , p. 680, ISBN 0-87779-443-X\n- Kathleen Gibbons. \"Charles Webster Hawthorne 1872-1930\". Butler Museum of Art. Retrieved October 19, 2010.\n- Lauren Rogers Museum of Art (1999). \"A Painter's Painter: Charles Webster Hawthorne; The Influence of Provincetown and Henry Hensche on Sammy Britt, Gerald DeLoach, Richard Kelso, and George T. Thurmond\". Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. Retrieved 2007-02-15.\n- \"Art and Life of William H. Johnson: A Guide for Teachers\". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved October 19, 2010.\n- \"A Painter's Painter: Charles Webster Hawthorne; The Influence of Provincetown and Henry Hensche on Sammy Britt, Gerald DeLoach, Richard Kelso, and George T. Thurmond\"\n- Several Hawthorne exhibition catalogs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF)\n- \"Finding Aid for the Charles W. Hawthorne Papers, 1904-1947\", The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.\nThis article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Moore, F., eds. (1905). \"article name needed\". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead."}
{"content":"Duke Huan of Qin\n|Duke Huan of Qin\n|Ruler of Qin|\n|Predecessor||Duke Gong of Qin|\n|Successor||Duke Jing of Qin|\n|House||House of Ying|\n|Father||Duke Gong of Qin|\nDuke Huan of Qin (Chinese: 秦桓公; pinyin: Qín Huán Gōng, died 577 BC) was from 603 to 577 BC the seventeenth ruler of the Zhou Dynasty state of Qin that eventually united China to become the Qin Dynasty. His ancestral name was Ying (嬴), and Duke Huan was his posthumous title. Duke Huan succeeded his father Duke Gong of Qin, who died in 604 BC, as ruler of Qin.\nIn 578 BC, Qin suffered a major defeat at the hand of the State of Jin. Duke Li of Jin accused Qin of treachery and personally led an alliance of eight states (Jin, Qi, Song, Wey, Zheng, Cao, Zhu, and Teng) to attack Qin. The two sides fought at Masui (in present-day Jingyang County, Shaanxi). Qin was resoundingly defeated and two of its generals were captured, although Duke Xuan of Cao, ruler of Jin's ally Cao, was also killed in the battle.\n- Sima Qian. 秦本纪 [Annals of Qin]. Records of the Grand Historian (in Chinese). guoxue.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.\n- Han, Zhaoqi (2010). \"Annals of Qin\". Annotated Shiji (in Chinese). Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 400–403. ISBN 978-7-101-07272-3.\n- Zuo Qiuming (translated by James Legge). \"Book VIII. Duke Cheng\". Zuo Zhuan (in Chinese and English). University of Virginia. Retrieved 23 April 2012. Chapter XIII.\nDuke Huan of QinDied: 577 BC\nDuke Gong of Qin\n|Duke of Qin\nDuke Jing of Qin"}
{"content":"Antony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Noted by Plutarch, and dramatized by Shakespeare, Cleopatra's encounter with Marc Antony at the Nile epitomized tryphé: it upstaged Antony's procession in a greater display of wealth and finery, it provided an exciting spectacle for subjects gathering for the event, and it showcased the kind of gauzy femininity that led many Romans to consider tryphé a sign of effeminacy and weakness when, if anything, it camouflaged unbridled power.\nTryphé (Greek: τρυφἠ) -- variously glossed as \"softness\", \"voluptuousness\", \"magnificence\" and \"extravagance\", none fully adequate—is a concept that drew attention (and severe criticism) in Roman antiquity when it became a significant factor in the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Classical authors such as Aeschines and Plutarch condemned the tryphé of Romans such as Crassus and Lucullus, which included lavish dinner parties and ostentatious buildings. But there was more to Ptolemaic tryphé than dissipative excess, which after all can be pursued in residential or geographical seclusion, and for purely private purposes. It was a component of a calculated political strategy, in that it deployed not just conspicuous consumption but also conspicuous magnificence, beneficence and feminine delicacy, as a self-reinforcing cluster of signal propaganda concepts in the Ptolemaic dynasty."}
{"content":"Ferdinand Büchner began studying the flute at an early age with his father, who played a leading role in the musical life of Bad Pyrmont. He was later taught by the flutist Christian Heinemeyer. He traveled to London, where he had his first public engagement at the age of 13. In 1847 he received an engagement in Berlin, where he remained for three years. In 1850 he traveled to Russia, and was intensely involved in the musical life of St. Petersburg. In 1856 he was appointed principal flute of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. He retained the position until shortly before his death. His excellent reputation as a soloist and teacher brought him an appointment as professor at the Moscow Conservatory of Nikolai Rubinstein.\nBüchner was a virtuoso musician and a composer. He wrote many pieces for the flute, including eight concertos. His finest concerto is considerer to be the one in F minor, Op 38, dedicated to his publisher, Julius Heinrich Zimmermann.\nList of Compositions\n- Flute Concertino, Op.40\n- Flute Concerto No.1, Op.38\n- Flute Concerto No.4, Op.51\n- Flute Concerto No.8, Op.64\n- Biographies for the Collection of Great Portraits: Flute Virtuoso and Composer Delettanten. Berlin, 1906.\n- Ernst Stöhr. Music History of Germans from Russia. Laumann-Verlag, 1993. p. 69\n- Hugo Riemann, music encyclopedia, Berlin, 1929."}
{"content":"||This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (August 2012)|\nThe green-beard effect is a hypothesis used in evolutionary biology to explain selective altruism between designated individuals of a species. It is based on the gene-centered view of evolution, which emphasizes an interpretation of natural selection from the point of view of the gene which acts as an agent that has the metaphorical \"goal\" of maximizing it's own propagation. A gene for (behavioral) selective altruism can be favored by (natural) selection if the altruism is primarily directed at other individuals who share the same allele.\n- a perceptible trait, — the hypothetical \"green beard\"\n- recognition of this trait in others; and\n- preferential treatment to those recognized.\nThe carrier of the allele is essentialy recognizing copies of the same allele in other individuals. Whereas most alleles that are favored by kin selection spread by individuals who show family altruism toward others who share their alleles in a non-specific way, green-beard alleles would rise in frequency by promoting altruism toward individuals who share a specific phenotypic trait (allele). This can have the effect of delineating a subset of organisms within a population that is characterized by members who show greater cooperation toward each other, this forming a \"clique\" that can be advantageous to it's members who are not necessarily kin.\nGreen-beard effect could increase altruism on green-beard phenotypes and therefore its presence in a population even if alleles are assisting other genes that are not exact copies of themselves in a molecular sense; all that is required is that they produce the three phenotypic characteristics described above. Green-beard alleles are vulnerable to mutant genes arising that produce the perceptible trait without the helping behaviour.\nIn the last several years, evolutionary biologists have questioned the potential validity of green-beard alleles, suggesting it would be extraordinarily rare for a single allele to produce three complex phenotypic effects. This criticism has led some to believe that they simply cannot exist or that they only can be present in less complex organisms, such as microorganisms. Several discoveries within the past ten years have illuminated the validity of this critique.\nThe concept remained a merely theoretical possibility under Dawkins' selfish gene model until 1998, when a green-beard allele was first found in nature, in the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta). Polygyne colony queens are heterozygous (Bb) at the Gp-9 gene locus. Their worker offspring can have both heterozygous (Bb) and homozygous (BB) genotypes. The investigators discovered that homozygous dominant (BB) queens, which in the wild form produce monogyne rather than polygyne colonies, are specifically killed when introduced into polygyne colonies, most often by heterozygous (Bb) and not homozygous (BB) workers. They concluded that the allele Gp-9b is linked to a greenbeard allele which induces workers bearing this allele to kill all queens that do not have it. A final conclusion notes that the workers are able to distinguish BB queens from Bb queens based on an odor cue.\nThe gene csA in the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum, discovered in 2003, codes for a cell adhesion protein which binds to gp80 proteins on other cells, allowing multicellular fruiting body formation on soil. Mixtures of csA knockout cells with wild-type cells yield spores, \"born\" from the fruiting bodies, which are 82% wild-type (WT). This is because the wild-type cells are better at adhering and more effectively combine into aggregates; knockout (KO) cells are left behind. On more adhesive but less natural substances, KO cells can adhere; WT cells, still better at adhering, sort preferentially into the stalk.\nIn 2006, green beard-like recognition was seen in the cooperative behavior among color morphs in side-blotched lizards, although the traits appear to be encoded by multiple loci across the genome.\nA more recent example, found in 2008, is a gene that makes brewer's yeast clump together in response to a toxin such as alcohol. By investigating flocculation, a type of self-adherence generally present in asexual aggregations, Smukalla et al. showed that S. cerevisiae is a model for cooperative behavior evolution. When this yeast expresses FLO1 in the laboratory, flocculation is restored. Flocculation is apparently protective for the FLO1+ cells, which are shielded from certain stresses (ethanol, for example). In addition FLO1+ cells preferentially adhere to each other. The authors therefore conclude that flocculation is driven by this greenbeard allele.\nA mammalian example appears to be the reproductive strategy of the wood mouse, which shows cooperation among spermatozoa. Single sperms hook in each other to form sperm-trains, which are able to move faster together than single sperm would do.\n- Maternal effect dominant embryonic arrest (the \"Medea\" gene): an example of intergenerational gene self-selection, whereby a gene present in a mother organism selectively terminates offspring that do not receive that gene.\n- Hamilton WD (July 1964). \"The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I\". J Theor Biol 7 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4. PMID 5875341.\n- Hamilton WD (July 1964). \"The genetical evolution of social behaviour. II\". J Theor Biol 7 (1): 17–52. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90039-6. PMID 5875340.\n- Dawkins, Richard (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-217773-7.\n- Grafen, Alan (6 August 1998). \"Green beard as death warrant\" (PDF). Nature 394 (6693): 521–522. doi:10.1038/28948. Retrieved 29 November 2009.\n- Keller, Laurent; Ross, Kenneth G (6 August 1998). \"Selfish genes: a green beard in the red fire ant\". Nature 394 (6693): 573–575. doi:10.1038/29064. Retrieved 29 November 2009.\n- Queller, David C; Ponte, Eleonora; Bozzaro, Salvatore; Strassmann, Joan E (3 January 2003). \"Single-gene greenbeard effects in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum\" (PDF). Science 299 (5603): 105–106. doi:10.1126/science.1077742. PMID 12511650. Retrieved 29 November 2009.\n- Sinervo B, Chaine A, Clobert J, Calsbeek R, Hazard L, Lancaster L, McAdam AG, Alonzo S, Corrigan G, Hochberg ME (May 2006). \"Self-recognition, color signals, and cycles of greenbeard mutualism and altruism\". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103 (19): 7372–7377. doi:10.1073/pnas.0510260103. PMC 1564281. PMID 16651531.\n- Prakash, Sheila (18 December 2008). \"Yeast Gone Wild\". Seed. Retrieved 29 November 2009.\n- Smukalla, Scott; Caldara, Marina; Pochet, Nathalie; Beauvais, A; Guadagnini, S; Yan, C; Vinces, MD; Jansen, A; Prevost, MC (14 November 2008). \"FLO1 is a variable green beard gene that drives biofilm-like cooperation in budding yeast\". Cell 135 (4): 726–737. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2008.09.037. PMC 2703716. PMID 19013280. Retrieved 29 November 2009.\n- Harry Moore, Katerina Dvoráková, Nicholas Jenkins, William Breed (1 March 2002), \"Exceptional sperm cooperation in the wood mouse\", Nature 418, 174-177, doi:10.1038/nature00832;"}
{"content":"|Born||Harald August Bohr\n22 April 1887\n|Died||22 January 1951\n|Parents||Christian and Ellen Bohr|\n|Olympic medal record|\n|Competitor for Denmark|\n|Silver||1908 London||Team Competition|\nHarald August Bohr (22 April 1887 – 22 January 1951) was a Danish mathematician and football player. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of almost periodic functions. His brother was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. He was a member of the Danish national football team for the 1908 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal.\nBohr was born in 1887 to Christian Bohr, a professor of physiology, from a Lutheran background, and Ellen Adler Bohr, a woman from a wealthy Jewish family of local renown. Harald had a close relationship with his elder brother, which The Times likened to that between Captain Cuttle and Captain Bunsby in Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son.\nLike his father and brother before him, in 1904 Bohr enrolled at the University of Copenhagen, where he studied mathematics, obtaining his masters in 1909 and his doctorate a year later. Among his tutors were Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen and Thorvald N. Thiele. Bohr worked in mathematical analysis; much of his early work was devoted to Dirichlet series including his doctorate, which was entitled Bidrag til de Dirichletske Rækkers Theori (Contributions to the Theory of Dirichlet Series). A collaboration with Göttingen-based Edmund Landau resulted in the Bohr–Landau theorem, regarding the distribution of zeroes in zeta functions.\nIn 1915 he became a professor at Polyteknisk Læreanstalt, working there until 1930, when he took a professorship at the University of Copenhagen. He remained in this post for 21 years until his death in 1951. Børge Jessen was one of his students there.\nIn the 1930s Bohr was a leading critic of the anti-Semitic policies taking root in the German mathematical establishment, publishing an article criticising Ludwig Bieberbach's ideas in Berlingske Aften in 1934.\nBohr was also an excellent football player. He had a long playing career with Akademisk Boldklub, making his debut as a 16 year old in 1903. During the 1905 season he played alongside his brother Niels, who was a goalkeeper. Harald was selected to play for the Danish national football team in the 1908 Summer Olympics, where football was an official event for the first time. Though a Danish side had played at the 1906 Intercalated Games, the opening match of the 1908 Olympic tournament was Denmark's first official international football match. Bohr scored two goals as Denmark beat the French \"B\" team 9–0. In the next match, the semi-final, Bohr played in a 17–1 win against France, which remains an Olympic record to this day. Denmark faced hosts Great Britain in the final, but lost 2–0, and Bohr won a silver medal. After the Olympics he made one further appearance for the national team, in a 2–1 victory against an England amateur team in 1910. His popularity as a footballer was such that when he defended his doctoral thesis the audience was reported as having more football fans than mathematicians.\nBohr was known as an extremely capable academic teacher and the annual award for outstanding teaching at the University of Copenhagen is called the Harald, in honour of Harald Bohr. With Johannes Mollerup, Bohr wrote an influential four-volume textbook Lærebog i Matematisk Analyse (Textbook in mathematical analysis).\n- Bohr–Mollerup theorem\n- Bohr compactification\n- Bohr–Favard inequality\n- Danish Mathematical Society\n- List of select Jewish football (association; soccer) players\n- Politiets Registerblade [Register cards of the Police] (in Danish). Copenhagen: Københavns Stadsarkiv. 7 June 1892. Station Dødeblade (indeholder afdøde i perioden). Filmrulle 0002. Registerblad 3341. ID 3308989.\n- J J O'Connor and E F Robertson. \"Harald August Bohr\". Retrieved 2008-08-17.\n- \"Obituary: Prof. Harald Bohr\". The Times (Times Digital Archive 1785-1985) . 6 February 1951. p. 8.\n- Bochner, Salomon (January 1952). \"Harald Bohr\". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 58 (1): 72–75. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1952-09551-3. Retrieved 2008-12-21.\n- H. P Boas (1997). \"The Football Player and the Infinite Series\". arXiv:math.CV/9705204 [math.CV].\n- Institute for Advanced Study: A Community of Scholars\n- Menzler-Trott, Eckart (2008). Logic's Lost Genius: The Life of Gerhard Gentzen. AMS. p. 115. ISBN 0-8218-3550-5.\n- Akademisk Boldklub. \"AB's historie\". Retrieved 2008-08-18.[dead link]\n- \"Harald Bohr\". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2008-08-18.\n- \"Denmark - Internationals 1908-1912\". RSSSF. Retrieved 2008-08-18.\n- \"Mathematical Moments - Harald Bohr\". Plus magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-20.\n- \"Bibliography of Harald Bohr\". University of Copenhagen. Retrieved 2008-08-20.\n- \"KAJ MUNK IN MEMORIAM\". De frie Danske (in Danish). January 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 18 November 2014.\nMeddelelsen om denne nye Voldsdaad i Danmark, Mordet paa en af vore største Digtere og modigste Personligheder, har opfyldt os alle med Afsky og Forfærdelse, og vi forstaar, at Kaj Munks Anseelse og den Beundring man nærede for ham her i Sverige, var saa stor, at vore Følelser deles af det svenske Folk\n- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., \"Harald Bohr\", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.\n- Harald Bohr at the Mathematics Genealogy Project\n- Danish national team profile\n- Some photos of Harald Bohr"}
{"content":"In Fair Palestine: A Story of Romeo and Juliet\nIn Fair Palestine: A story of Romeo and Juliet is a film produced by Palestinian high school students at the Quaker-run Ramallah Friends Schools in the West Bank. A documentary drama, it reprises the story of Romeo and Juliet in the modern-day context of life in a Palestinian city, Ramallah. Work on the project was initiated in January 2006 by Doug Hart, an English teacher of American background . The film premiered on 19 January 2008 at the Ramallah Cultural Palace to an audience of 800 people in the 700 seat cinema. The premiere garnered coverage by mainstream media outlets in the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Syria.\nHart proposed the idea to create the movie and gathered together a group of 10th grade students to work on the project. Students did background research on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. During 11th grade, the writers and the director of the movie worked on the script and, in the summer, begin shooting. Shooting ran from 7 June until 28 September. Editing efforts continued through 12th grade until the film was finalized, a few days before its premier on 19 January 2008.\nTarek Knorn, one of the students involved as a co-writer and as an actor, playing the role of Mercutio, explained why the students chose to do an adaptation of Shakespeare's play:\n\"We thought we would use a play that has values and principles that are shared by people all over the world. Issues that people all over the world have to deal with and learn from such as arranged marriages, love at first sight, teenage life, etcetera. We felt it was a good idea and saw it as our first chance to express ourselves in a manner different from the way the news represents us.\"\nAccording to the students, the film is designed to humanize Palestinians and show the side of Palestine that does not always make its way into film. The film is made in the form of dramatic scenes interspersed with documentary pieces, so as to convey the lives of Palestinian teenagers. Based on the play by William Shakespeare, the movie deals with the lives of two star-crossed Palestinian lovers as they grapple with the realities of their everyday lives.\nIn this adaptation of the famous play, Romeo and Juliet meet at a party celebrating the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. They are wed in secret by a sheikh. The film follows the basic plotline of the original Romeo and Juliet, though in the film, Romeo does not hear of Juliet's faked death because a messenger sent to bring him the news is stopped at an Israeli checkpoint.\n- Mahmoud Amra (Fall 2007). \"Shakespeare in Ramallah, Palestine: A Love Story\". Ramallah Friends Schools. Retrieved 2008-02-03.\n- Yazan Nahhas and Faris Giacaman. \"Romeo and Juliet in Palestine: the History of the Project\". Behind the Wall. Retrieved 2008-02-03.\n- \"Retuers Transcript\". Reuters. 29 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.[dead link]\n- Concord Media DVD copies can be bought from this Quaker charity in Britain.\n- The trailer of the movie on YouTube\n- Reuters transcript of coverage\n- Film coverage by two teachers at the Friends Boys School\n- Pictures from the premier by Westbanktarheel\n- Al-Watan newspaper, Syria\n- Al-Quds newspaper, Palestine\n- Dar Al-Hayat newspaper, Jordan"}
{"content":"Mohammad Khan Qajar\n|This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2013)|\n|Mohammad Khan Qajar|\n|Shahanshah of Persia|\n|Reign||21 March 1794 – 17 June 1797 [3 years 2 months 27 days]|\n|Predecessor||Lotf Ali Khan|\n|Successor||Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar|\n|Father||Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar|\n|Died||Saturday, 17 June 1797 [aged 55]\nShusha, Karabakh Khanate\nAgha Muḥammad Khān Qājār (1742–1797; Persian: آغا محمد خان قاجار) was the chief of the Qajar tribe, succeeding his father Mohammad Hassan Khan, who was killed on the orders of Adil Shah. He became the Emperor/Shah of Persia in 1794 and established the Qajar dynasty. He was succeeded by his nephew, Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar.\nAgha Mohammad Khan was born in around 1742. At the age of six, he was castrated on the orders of Adil Shah, the enemy of his father, to prevent him from becoming a political rival, but this loss did not hinder his career. Despite being a eunuch, he became the chief of his tribe in 1758. In 1762 he was captured by a rival tribe and sent to Shiraz as a prisoner to Karim Khan's court. Agha Muhammad spent the next 16 years as a hostage, until he escaped in 1779. That same year, the death of Shah Karim Khan Zand plunged the country into a series of civil wars and disputes over the succession, with many members of the Zand dynasty acceding to the Sun Throne in the space of only ten years. Agha Muhammad took the opportunity to launch a rebellion which, in 1794, succeeded in capturing Lotf Ali Khan, the last Zand ruler. Two years later he proclaimed himself Shahanshah (King of Kings).\nAgha Muhammad restored Persia to a unity it had not had since Karim Khan. He was, however, a man of extreme violence who killed almost all who could threaten his hold on power. In 1795 he ravaged and reconsidered Georgia, which had been under intermittent Iranian suzerainty since 1555, but had declared itself independent after the disintegrating of the Iranian Afsharid Dynasty. In the same year he also captured Khorasan. Shah Rukh, ruler of Khorasan and grandson of Nadir Shah, was tortured to death because Agha Muhammad thought that he knew of Nadir's legendary treasures.\nIn 1778, Agha Muhammad moved his capital from Sari in his home province of Mazandaran to Tehran. He was the first Persian ruler to make Tehran — the successor to the great city of Rayy — his capital, although both the Safavids and the Zands had expanded the town and built palaces there. He was crowned in 1796 and founded the Qajar dynasty.\nAlthough the Russians briefly took and occupied Derbent and Baku during the Persian Expedition of 1796, he successfully expanded Persian influence into the Caucasus, reasserting Iranian sovereignty over its former dependencies in the region. He was, however, a notoriously cruel ruler, who reduced Tbilisi to ashes and massacred its Christian population, as he had done with his Muslim subjects. He based his strength on tribal manpower of Genghis Khan, Teimur and Nader Shah.\nAgha Muhammad was assassinated in 1797 in the city of Shusha, the capital of Karabakh khanate, less than 3 years in power. According to Hasan-e Fasa'i's' Farsnama-ye Naseri, during Agha Muhammad's stay in Shusha, one night \"a quarrel arose between a Georgian servant named Sadeq and the valet Khodadad-e Esfahani. They raised their voices to such a pitch that the shah became angry and ordered both to be executed. Sadeq Khan-e Shaghaghi, a prominent emir, interceded on their behalf, but was not listened to. The shah, however, ordered their execution to be postponed until Saturday, as this happened to be the evening of Friday (the Islamic holy day), and ordered them back to their duties in the royal pavilion, unfettered and unchained, awaiting their execution the next day. From experience, however, they knew that the King would keep to what he had ordered, and, having no hope, they turned to boldness. When the shah was sleeping, they were joined by the valet Abbas-e Mazandarani, who was in the plot with them, and the three invaded the royal pavilion and with dagger and knife murdered the shah.\"\n- Cyrus Ghani (6 January 2001). Iran and the Rise of the Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power. I.B.Tauris. pp. 9–. ISBN 978-1-86064-629-4. Retrieved 4 November 2012.\nMohammad Khan QajarBorn: 1742 Died: 17 June 1797\nLotf Ali Khan\n|Shah of Persia\nFat′h Ali Shah Qajar"}
{"content":"Naupactus; view from the fortress.\n|Administrative region:||West Greece|\n|Population statistics (as of 2011)|\n|- Area:||159.9 km2 (62 sq mi)|\n|- Density:||124 /km2 (320 /sq mi)|\n|Time zone:||EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)|\n|Elevation (min-max):||0–3 m (0–10 ft)|\n|Postal code:||303 xx|\nNaupactus or Nafpaktos (Greek: Ναύπακτος, formerly Έπαχτος; Latin: Naupactus; Italian: Lepanto; Turkish: İnebahtı), is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality Nafpaktia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is the third largest town of Aetolia-Acarnania, after Agrinio and Missolonghi.\nNaupactus is situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, 3 km (2 mi) west of the mouth of the river Mornos. The harbour is accessible only to the smallest craft. It is 9 km (6 mi) northeast of Antirrio, 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Patras, 35 km (22 mi) east of Missolonghi and 45 km (28 mi) southeast of Agrinio. The Greek National Road 48/E65 (Antirrio - Naupactus - Delphi - Livadeia) passes north of the town.\nThe 1571 Battle of Lepanto, in which the navy of the Ottoman Turks was decisively defeated by a coalition of European Christians, is named for Naupactus under the Italian form of its name.\n- 1 Name\n- 2 History\n- 3 Ecclesiastical history\n- 4 Residents\n- 5 Landmarks\n- 6 Subdivisions\n- 7 Nearest places\n- 8 Historical population\n- 9 Media\n- 10 Notable people\n- 11 Gallery\n- 12 Twin cities\n- 13 Sports teams\n- 14 See also\n- 15 References\n- 16 Sources\n- 17 External links\nThe name Naupaktos means \"boatyard\", from ναύς (ancient Greek naus, meaning \"ship\") and πηγνύειν (Ancient Greek pêgnuein meaning \"to build\"). It was later Latinized as Naupactus. In the Byzantine period, the name used was the slightly altered form Epachtos (Έπαχτος), while the Venetian term was Lepanto and the Ottoman Turkish İnebahtı. The ancient name was revived in the 19th century.\nIn historical times it belonged to the Ozolian Locrians; but about 455 BC, in spite of a partial resettlement with Locrians of Opus, it fell to the Athenians, who peopled it with Messenian refugees and made it their chief naval station in western Greece during the Peloponnesian war. Two major battles were fought here. In 404 it was restored to the Locrians, who subsequently lost it to the Achaeans, but recovered it through Epaminondas.\nThe town and its hinterland were hit by an epidemic coming from Italy in 747/8 and almost deserted.\nFrom the late 9th century, probably the 880s, it was capital of the Byzantine thema of Nicopolis. At the same time, its bishopric was elevated to a metropolis. During the 9th–10th centuries, the town was an important harbour for the Byzantine navy and a strategic point for communication with the Byzantine possessions in southern Italy.\nA rebellion of the local populace, which led to the death of the local strategos George, is recorded during the early reign of Constantine VIII (r. 1025–28). In 1040, the town did not take part in the Uprising of Peter Delyan, and although attacked by the rebel army, alone among the towns of the theme of Nicopolis, it resisted successfully. The history of the town over the next two centuries is obscure; during the visit of Benjamin of Tudela, there was a Jewish community of about 100 in the town.\nFollowing the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade, it became part of the Despotate of Epirus. Under its metropolitan, John Apokaukos, the see of Naupactus gained in importance and headed the local synod for the southern half of the Epirote domains. In 1294, the town was ceded to Philip I, Prince of Taranto as part of the dowry of Thamar Angelina Komnene. The ruler of Thessaly, Constantine Doukas, attacked Epirus in the next year and captured Naupactus, but in 1296 they handed most of their conquests back to the Angevins, and Naupactus became a major Angevin base on the Greek mainland. In 1304 or 1305, the Epirotes recovered Naupactus during a war with the Angevins, but handed it back when peace was concluded in 1306.\nIn 1361 the town was captured by the Catalans of the Duchy of Athens. In 1376 or 1377 it fell to the Albanians under John Bua Spata. Apart from a brief occupation by the Knights Hospitaller in 1378, Naupactus remained in Albanian hands until 1407, when Paul Spata, wedged between the expanding lands of the Count of Cephalonia Carlo I Tocco and the Ottoman possessions, sold the town to the Republic of Venice.\nBy 1449, the Ottomans had completed their conquest of all of Epirus and Aetolia-Acarnania apart from Naupactus, which remained in Venetian hands. The town was important to Venice, as it secured their trade through the Corinthian Gulf, and the Republic took care to erect strong fortifications to secure its possession. In the end, the fortress fell to the Ottomans in 1499, during the Second Ottoman–Venetian War.\nOttoman rule and modern period\nUnder the Ottomans, Naupactus was known as İnebahtı and was the seat of a Turkish province, the Sanjak of İnebahtı. The mouth of the Gulf of Lepanto was the scene of the great sea battle in which the naval power of the Ottoman Empire was nearly completely destroyed by the united Papal, Spanish, Habsburg and Venetian forces (Battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571). In 1687 it was recaptured by the Venetians, but was again restored to the Ottomans in 1699, by the Treaty of Karlowitz. It became part of independent Greece in March 1829.\nNaupactus suffered damage from the 2007 Greek forest fires.\nToday the population is about 19,768 people according to the 2011 census. Residential homes align with the Gulf of Corinth over a length of about 3 km (2 mi) and a width of about 1 km (0.6 mi). The port divides the beachfront in two parts. The Western part is called Psani, while the Eastern part Gribovo. Naupactus sits on a shoulder of a mountain range on the north while farmlands dominate the western part. It used to be on the GR-48/E65 linking Antirrio and Amfissa; now it is bypassed to the north at the elevation of 150 to 200 m (492 to 656 ft) above sea level. The bypass has contributed significantly in lowering the number of heavy trucks passing through the narrow streets of the town.\n- The port and castle provide the main attraction for the town. Shops, cafes and bars dot the immediate area, while a cafe is also located within the castle walls\n- The port also includes monuments commemorating the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and there is also a statue of the Cervantes by the Mallorcan artist Jaume Mir.\n- A small water park is located just past the western portion of the beach near Psani\n- Nafpaktos is also home to a local museum\n- The Fethiye Mosque, the city's largest Ottoman-era mosque\nThe municipal unit Naupactus is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):\n- Afroxylia (Ano Afroxylia, Kato Afroxylia)\n- Dafni (Dafni, Kato Dafni)\n- Mamoulada (Kato Mamoulada, Mamoulada)\n- Neokastro (Neokastro, Paliampela)\n- Palaiochoraki (Palaiochoraki, Mikro Palaiochoraki)\n- Pitsinaiika (Pitsinaiika, Kastraki, Sykia)\n- Riganio (Riganio, Diasello, Poros)\n- Vlachomandra (Vlachomandra, Gefyra Bania, Sfikaaika)\n- Vomvokou (Vomvokou, Agios Vasileios, Lefka Vomvokous, Marmara)\n- Antirrio (west)\n- Katafygio (Katafigio): One of the traditional villages in Orini Nafpaktia (mountainous Nafpaktia).\n- Ano chora (north): One of the traditional villages of Orini Nafpaktia\n- Kentriki (north): One of the traditional villages of Orini Nafpaktia\n- Aspria (north): One of the traditional villages of Orini Nafpaktia\n- Chomori: One of the traditional villages of Orini Nafpaktia\n- Elatovrisi or Elatou: One of the traditional villages of Orini Nafpaktia with famous natural spring water.\n- Skala: Village found in the hills minutes from the town centre; overlooks the town itself\n- Skaloma: beaches\n- Hiliadou: Part of the strip of beachside villages outside of Nafpaktos (Hiliadou-Monastiraki-Skaloma); sandy beach makes it a popular destination for residents of Nafpaktos and tourists\n- Klepa: One of the villages in Orini Nafpaktia\n|Year||Town population||Municipality population|\n- Agelaus (3rd century BC), politician\n- John Apokaukos (died 1233), Metropolitan of Naupactus from 1200 to 1232\n- Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas (1893–1987), lawyer, politician and former Prime Minister of Greece\n- Hierotheos (Vlachos) (born 1945), Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios\n- \"Detailed census results 2011\" (xls 2,7 MB). National Statistical Service of Greece. (Greek)\n- Kallikratis law Greece Ministry of Interior (Greek)\n- Veikou, Myrto (2012). Byzantine Epirus: A Topography of Transformation. Settlements of the Seventh-Twelfth Centuries in Southern Epirus and Aetoloacarnania, Greece. BRILL. pp. 466–468. ISBN 9004221514.\n- Nesbitt, John W.; Oikonomides, Nicolas, eds. (1994). Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. pp. 9–10, 18. ISBN 0-88402-226-9.\n- Gregory, T. E. (1991). \"Naupaktos\". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. pp. 1442–1443. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.\n- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.\n- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.\n- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.\n- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. pp. 239–240. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.\n- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. pp. 352, 356, 401. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.\n- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 544. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.\n- \"Lepanto\". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.\n- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.\n|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nafpaktos.|\n|Antirrio||Gulf of Corinth|"}
{"content":"|Olaus J. Murie|\nMardy Murie and Olaus at their home, Grand Tetons, 1953\n|Born||March 1, 1889\n|Died||21 October 1963\n|Occupation||author, ecologist, forester, wildlife biologist,|\n|Alma mater||University of Michigan|\n|Subject||Ecology, Conservation, Wilderness Preservation|\n|Notable works||Elk of North America|\n|Notable awards||Pugsley Medal, Audubon Medal, Sierra Club John Muir Award|\n|Relatives||see Murie family article|\nOlaus Johan Murie (March 1, 1889 – October 21, 1963), called the \"father of modern elk management\", was a naturalist, author, and wildlife biologist who did groundbreaking field research on a variety of large northern mammals. Rather than conducting empirical experiments, Murie practiced a more observational based science.\nMurie focused his research on the North American continent by conducting vast studies throughout Canada, Alaska and Wyoming. Through these constructive yet sometimes treacherous trips, Murie was able to gain valuable experience observing species and collecting specimens. During his first expedition to Canada, Murie discovered his passion for fieldwork and was able to develop resourceful skills from his Eskimo and Indian guides, which were critical for his survival in such a harsh environment. Murie employed many of these same skills as he travelled to Alaska and finally to Wyoming.\nThese trips served as the foundation for many of his key ideas about wildlife management and conservation. As a scientist of the U.S. Biological Survey, Murie developed key ideas concerning predator prey relationships. Generally unheard of during his time, Murie argued that a healthy predator population was key to ensuring a harmonious balance between predator and prey populations. Murie used these ideas to improve current wildlife management practices.\nThroughout his life Murie advocated on behalf of wildlife conservation and management. With his wife, Mardie Murie, he successfully campaigned to enlarge the boundaries of the Olympic National Park, and to create the Jackson Hole National Monument and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. During his career, Murie held many respected positions within environmental organizations. He served as president of The Wilderness Society, The Wildlife Society, and as director of the Izaak Walton League.\nMurie was born on March 1, 1889, in Moorhead, Minnesota, the child of Norwegian immigrants. Growing up in this less urbanized region helped foster a love for the wilderness from an early age. Murie studied biology at Fargo College, private liberal arts college of the Congregational Church. When his zoology professor moved to Pacific University in Oregon, he offered Murie a scholarship to transfer there, where he completed studies in zoology and wildlife biology and was graduated in 1912. He did graduate work at the University of Michigan and was granted an M.S. in 1927. He began his career as an Oregon State conservation officer and participated in scientific explorations of Hudson Bay and Labrador, financed by the Carnegie Museum. He joined the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey (now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) in 1920 as a wildlife biologist, spending the next 6 years in the field with his brother Adolph Murie, studying Alaskan caribou, mapping migratory routes and estimating numbers. He married Margaret Thomas in 1924 in Anvik, Alaska. They spent their honeymoon tracking caribou through the Koyukuk River region.\nBooks and articles\nIn 1927, the Biological Survey assigned Murie to research the Jackson Hole elk herd, resulting in the classic publication The Elk of North America. He also authored six other major publications, including Alaska-Yukon Caribou (North American Fauna [NAF] No. 54, 1935); Food Habits of the Coyote in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (1935); Field Guide to Animal Tracks (1954); Fauna of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula (NAF No. 61, 1959); and Jackson Hole with a Naturalist (1963). Wapiti Wilderness (with his wife, Mardy Murie) was published posthumously, in 1966.\nResearch, service, and wildlife organizations\nOne of Murie’s first experiences collecting specimen and conducting research was in 1914-1915 and 1917 in Canada. Hired by W. E. Clyde Todd, the curator of birds at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and accompanied by Native American guides Paul Commanda, William Morrison and Jack (Jocko) Couchai, Murie embarked on his apprenticeship to study wildlife in Canada in 1914. While on this trip, Murie had numerous jobs and expectations. Murie was responsible for collecting bird, rodent and larger mammal specimens, as well as sketching and taking photographs of different organisms and environments. To do so, Murie was required to preserve and label not only animal skins but also rolls of film that was to be given to Carnegie Museum. During his time in Canada, Olaus Murie travelled to various locations and became accustomed to the harsh environment of the Arctic. Murie decided to stay an extra winter in Canada to gain more experience, despite the departure of his colleagues. Murie used this additional time to collect more animal samples as well as explore the ecological and cultural similarities and differences of the Hudsonian and Arctic life zones.\nTwo years later, Murie returned to Canada with Clyde Todd, Alfred Marshall, a wealthy businessman, and guides Paul Commanda, Philip St. Onge and Charles Volant. The trip was ambitious, as they proposed to travel 700 miles north across Labrador, an expedition that had never been done before. They began by following the Ste. Marguerite River until they reached the Labrador Plateau, which they were required to trek across to access the Moisie River. Eventually they reached the Hamilton River and finally Ungava Bay and their destination, Fort Chimo. Although the trip was not without its trials, especially when they were unsure of the correct direction of their destination, it was a success overall for amassing specimen. In total 1,862 specimen were collected, which represented 141 species of birds and 30 species of mammals. Murie’s time in Canada provided him with skills needed for a lifetime working in wildlife biology. Because of the pristine and relatively untouched conditions of the arctic due to the lack of humans, Murie was able to establish a more holistic understanding of humans’ impact on an environment, which he would develop more in subsequent trips around North America.\nFollowing his work in Canada, Murie accepted a position working for the U.S. Biological Survey in Alaska in 1920. His main responsibility was to conduct an extensive study of the caribou in Alaska, to determine the location of the largest caribou populations with the intentions of crossbreeding them with reindeer. Additionally, Murie was expected to collect specimens of various animals, and act as a Fur Warden by enforcing laws that protected animals against illegal fur trade practices. Olaus was also encouraged to ensure large caribou populations in the region. To do so one practice employed by the U.S. Biological Survey’s during this time was predator poisoning, which reduced predator populations in order to increase prey species such as elk. For Murie, however, the more he studied caribou populations, the more he opposed the idea.] Although Murie at first was not extremely vocal in his opposition, he still began to express his views. He remarked, “I have a theory that a certain amount of preying on caribou by wolves is beneficial to the herd, that the best animal survive and the vigor of the herd is maintained. Man's killing does not work in this natural way, as the best animals are shot and inferior animals left to breed. I think that good breeding’s as important in game animals as it is in domestic stock. With our game, however we have been accustomed to reverse the process killing off the finest animals and removing the natural enemies which tend to keep down the unfit.” Murie saw that hunting by humans did not abide by trends produced by nature and counteracted Darwin’s survival of the fittest. Despite this, Murie believed the true cause of a reduction in elk populations was due not from wolves but rather human economic drive. Murie believed that the “caribou’s greatest menace is not the wolf nor the hunter but man's economic development, principally the raising of reindeer”. Murie observed that elk, along with other wild species, needed ample land to survive. Thus, to ensure a species’ survival, Murie argued that preservation of its habitat was necessary. While Murie was critical of his own agency’s ways, it was not until later in his life that he became more outspoken about his views. Besides allowing Murie to formulate his own ideas towards conservation, his time in Alaska gave him additional experience working in the field and resulted in more recognition for him in realm of field biology.]\nIn 1927, after his time in Alaska, Murie was hired by the National Elk Commission to determine the cause of the elk winterkill problem in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. As the chief field biologist, Murie concluded that human development was causing overcrowding in the elk’s winter range. Murie was one of the first to discover that these elk historically resided in the mountains and not solely in the plains thus contributing to overcrowding. Although a National Elk Refuge existed in this region consisting of 4,500 acres, this refuge had some unexpected consequences. Due to supplemental feeding and a rougher browse, elk were developing bacterial lesions in their throat and mouth called necrotic stomatitis or calf diphtheria. The squirrel-tail grass seeds found on the refuge contributed to the irritation of these lesions and the close proximity of elk allowed for the bacteria to spread easily. Through these observations, Murie determined that protecting the elk’s habitat initially, would have been more beneficial than attempting to mitigate the problem later.\nService and Wildlife Organizations\nIn 1937, Murie accepted a council seat on the recently created Wilderness Society. In this role, Murie lobbied successfully against the construction of large federal dams within Glacier National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Rampart Dam on Alaska’s Yukon River and the Narrows Dam proposed for the mouth of Snake River Canyon[disambiguation needed].\nMurie helped to enlarge existing national park boundaries and to create additional new units. Testimony on the boundaries of Olympic National Park helped to convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add the temperate rain forest of the Bogachiel River and Hoh Rain Forest in the Hoh River valley. Lobbying for a natural boundary for the elk of the Grand Teton area, Murie helped to create Jackson Hole National Monument in 1943 (it was upgraded to national park status several years later, then incorporated into the Grand Teton National Park). The Jackson Hole National Monument was especially near to his heart because he had studied the elk in this region for a long period of time. Before it was distinguished as a national park, Murie and others encouraged John D. Rockefeller, Jr to purchase the land and donate it to the federal government. During this time Murie was unaware that Rockefeller intended to create \" a wildlife display\" so tourists could easily view wild animals without actually putting in much effort. Murie greatly opposed this measure, believing that it would actually reduce the value and appreciation of nature by making it so available and convenient for people. In his article \"Fenced Wildlife for Jackson Hole\" he stated that \"commercialized recreation has tend more and more to make us crave extra service, easy entertainment, pleasure with the least possible exertion.\" He believed instead that \"national parks were created for preservation in their primitive conditions.\"\nOnce the park was established in 1943, Murie was appointed as the head of the Wildlife Management Division of the National Park Service and was in charge of creating a management plan for the monument. Despite protest from local sportsmen, Murie banned hunting within the national park. Even when the state of Wyoming, in the case State of Wyoming V Franke, claimed that the additional land held no archeological, scientific or scenic interest, Murie stood by the decision to deem it a national park. He maintained that the park had biological significance with countless species of birds and mammals that lived within the park. Although in the end the court announced it could not interfere in the matter, conservationists such as Murie interpreted this as a win for their side.\nWith a new position as Director of the Wilderness Society, Murie would continue to fight for and defend existing national parks. Murie relied on techniques that stressed the economic value of national preservation sites because he knew this was the most effective way to appeal to America’s public. For instance, in the case of Jackson Hole National Monument, he emphasized how new tourism was contributing to Jackson's local economy. Murie would go on to advocate for the preservation of many additional parks from human development. He believed that those who wished to \"seek the solitude of the primitive forest\" should have the ability to do so and that a democratic society should protect this right.\nIn 1956, Murie began a campaign with his wife to protect what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The couple recruited U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to help persuade President Dwight Eisenhower to set aside 8,000,000 acres (32,000 km2) as the Arctic National Wildlife Range.\nIn 1948, Murie became the first American Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand and conducted research in the Fiordland National Park. In 1950, Murie became president of the Wilderness Society. He was also a president of the Wildlife Society and a director of the Izaak Walton League. He received the Aldo Leopold Memorial Award Medal in 1952, the Pugsley Medal in 1953, the Audubon Medal in 1959, and the Sierra Club John Muir Award in 1962.\nOlaus Murie died on October 21, 1963. The Murie Residence in Moose, Wyoming was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, and as part of the Murie Ranch Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. The house and grounds are the headquarters for the Murie Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation work.\n-  U.S. National Park Service website: ParkWise > Teachers > Culture > Living in Kenai Fjords\n-  Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation web site, description of award created in Murie’s honor\n- Kendrick, Gregory, D. (April 1978). \"AN ENVIRONMENTAL SPOKESMAN: OLAUS J. MURIE AND A DEMOCRATIC DEFENSE OF WILDERNESS\". Annals Of Wyoming: The Wyoming History Journal 50 (2).\n-  Pugsley Medal biography of Murie\n- Little, John J. (October 2000). \"A Wilderness Apprenticeship: Olaus Murie in Canada, 1914-15 and 1917\". Environmental History 5 (4).\n- James, Glover, M. (July 1992). \"Sweet days of a naturalist: Olaus Murie in Alaska, 1920-26\". Forest & Conservation History 36 (3).\n- James, Glover, M. (Fall 1989). \"Thinking like a wolverine: the ecological evolution of Olaus Murie\". Environmental Review 13 (3/4).\n- Zontek, Ken (October 1998). \"THE SAVVY OF A SAGE: OLAUS MURIE AND THE HISTORIC RANGE OF WAPITI IN THE WEST\". Annals Of Wyoming: The Wyoming History Journal 70 (4).\n- Becher, Anne; Joseph Richey (2008). \"Murie, Mardy, and Olaus, Murie\". American Environmental Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present. Amenia: Grey House Publishing.\n- Murie, Olaus (1946). \"Fenced Wildlife for Jackson Hole\" 20. pp. 8–11.\n-  Wilderness Society web site\n-  Fulbright New Zealand Quarterly, Volume 10, No. 4, p. 6, November, 2004\n-  The Wildlife Society web site, list of winners\n-  Pugsley Medal Recipients 1928-1964\n-  Murie Center web site\n- Journeys to the Far North ISBN 0-910118-30-2\n- The Elk of North America ISBN 0-933160-02-X\n- Alaska-Yukon Caribou (North American Fauna [NAF] No. 54, 1935) LCCN agr35000394 \n- Food Habits of the Coyote in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (1935)\n- Field Guide to Animal Tracks (1954) ISBN 0-395-91094-3\n- Fauna of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula (NAF No. 61, 1959) LCCN 59062296 \n- Jackson Hole with a Naturalist (1963);\n- Wapiti Wilderness ISBN 0-87081-155-X\n- National Leaders of American Conservation Stroud, Richard H., ed. (1984); Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.\n- The Joys of Solitude and Nature: Naturalist finds fulfillment in Wilderness Life Magazine (1959); 47(26), December 28.\n- Living Wilderness (Summer-Fall, 1963)\n- Little, John J. (October 2000). \"A Wilderness Apprenticeship: Olaus Murie in Canada, 1914-15 and 1917\". Environmental History 5 (4).\n- The Murie Center\n- Pugsley Medal biography\n- Park Service biography\n- Works by or about Olaus Murie in libraries (WorldCat catalog)"}
{"content":"|Stylistic origins||Punk rock, experimental rock, krautrock, art rock, funk, dub, disco, glam rock|\n|Cultural origins||Mid–late 1970s, United Kingdom, United States, Australia|\n|Typical instruments||Guitar, drums, bass guitar, synthesizers, keyboard, drum machine, modified electronics|\n|Derivative forms||Gothic rock, alternative rock, industrial music, dark wave, dance-punk, post-punk revival, synthpop, shoegazing, post-rock, post-hardcore|\n|Netherlands – Germany – France – Perú|\n|No wave – New wave – Dance-rock – Art punk|\nPost-punk is a rock music genre that paralleled and emerged from the initial punk rock explosion of the late 1970s. The genre is a more experimental and arty form of punk. Post-punk laid the groundwork for alternative rock by broadening the range of punk and underground music, incorporating elements of krautrock (particularly the use of synthesizers and extensive repetition), disco, dub music, and studio experimentation into the genre. It was the focus of the 1980s alternative music/independent scene, and led to the development of genres such as gothic rock and industrial music.\nIn November and December 1977, writers for Sounds used the terms \"New Musick\" and \"post punk\" for music acts which Jon Savage described as sounding like \"harsh urban scrapings/controlled white noise/massively accented drumming\". The term came to signify artists such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, whose sounds, lyrics and aesthetics differed significantly from their punk contemporaries, and soon became applied to other British musicians, including Public Image Ltd, Joy Division, The Fall, Wire, Alternative TV, The Cure, Gang of Four, Magazine, This Heat, The Sound and The Pop Group.\nAlthough American bands such as Pere Ubu, Devo, Suicide, Television, The B-52s and Talking Heads had been pioneering a style of music with qualities similar to post-punk since the early 1970s, New York's no wave scene, including Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Mars and James Chance and the Contortions emerged contemporaneously with the British scene. A short-lived New York City scene existed. It focused more on performance art than actual coherent musical structure. The Brian Eno-produced No New York compilation is considered the quintessential testament to the history of no wave.\nDespite existing since the inception of the early punk rock movement, bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, as well as other bands on the experimental rock trajectory such as Chrome, were associated with the post-punk genre. These bands pioneered the emergence of industrial music from the post-punk movement.\nBritish post-punk entered the 1980s with a champion, late-night BBC DJ John Peel, with seminal landmark bands such as Gang of Four, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, The Teardrop Explodes, The Raincoats, The Psychedelic Furs and Killing Joke, and a network of supportive record labels like Rough Trade, Industrial, Fast, Factory, Cherry Red, Mute, Zoo, Postcard, Axis/4AD and Glass.\nIn 1980, critic Greil Marcus characterised \"Britain's postpunk pop avant-garde\" – in a Rolling Stone article (referring to bands including Gang of Four, The Raincoats and Essential Logic) – as \"sparked by a tension, humour and sense of paradox plainly unique in present day pop music.\"\nWhile not labeled post-punk as such in the U.S., prominent U.S. groups adopting similar sounds included The Replacements, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, The Lounge Lizards, DNA, Bush Tetras, Theoretical Girls, Swans and Sonic Youth.\nIn Australia, other influential acts to emerge included Primitive Calculators, Tactics, The Triffids, Laughing Clowns, The Moodists, Severed Heads, Whirlywirld, Kill the King and Crime & the City Solution.\nThe original post-punk movement ended as the bands associated with the movement turned away from its aesthetics, just as post-punk bands had originally left punk rock behind in favor of new sounds. Some shifted to a more commercial new wave sound (such as Gang of Four), while others were fixtures on American college radio and became early examples of alternative rock. In the United States, driven by MTV and modern rock radio stations, a number of post-punk acts had an influence on or became part of the Second British Invasion of \"New Music\" there. Perhaps the most successful band to emerge from post-punk was U2, who combined elements of religious imagery together with political commentary into their often anthemic music.\n|This section requires expansion. (December 2012)|\nPost-punk led to the development of many musical genres, including dance-rock, industrial music, synthpop, post-hardcore, neo-psychedelia and, most prominently, alternative rock.\n|This subsection needs additional citations for verification. (March 2013)|\nThe turn of the 21st century saw a post-punk revival in British and American alternative and indie rock, which soon started appearing in other countries, as well. The earliest sign of a revival was the emergence of various underground bands in the mid-'90s. However, the first commercially successful bands – The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Editors and Neils Children – surfaced in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Additionally, some darker post-punk bands similar in style to Joy Division and The Cure began to appear in the indie music scene in the 2010s, including Cold Cave, She Wants Revenge and Light Asylum, who are also affiliated with the current darkwave revival, as well as A Place to Bury Strangers, who combine early post-punk and shoegaze. These bands tend to draw a fanbase who are a combination of the hipster subculture, older post-punk fans and the current goth subculture.\n- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. \"Post-Punk | Significant Albums, Artists and Songs | AllMusic\". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- Cateforis, Theo (2011). Are We Not New Wave: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s. University of Michigan Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-472-03470-3.\n- Reynolds 2006.\n- Masters, Marc (2008). No Wave. New York City: Black Dog Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 1-906155-02-X.\n- Stubbs, David (2009). Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen. John Hunt Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 1846941792.\n- Kellman, Andy. \"Mix-Up – Cabaret Voltaire | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic\". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- Lapatine, Scott (17 April 2009). \"Throbbing Gristle @ Masonic Temple, Brooklyn 4/16/09 – Stereogum\". Stereogum. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- Ingram, Matt (31 October 2010). \"20 Best: Post-Punk 7\"s Ever Made – Fact Magazine: Music News, New Music.\". Fact. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- Doran, John (8 December 2011). \"The Quietus | Features | Before Cease to Exist: Throbbing Gristle's Reissues Examined\". The Quietus. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- Reynolds 1996, p. 91.\n- Reynolds 2006, p. 109.\n- Middles, Mick (2009). The Rise and Fall of the Stone Roses: Breaking into Heaven. Music Sales Group. p. 40. ISBN 0857120395.\n- Reynolds 2010, p. 150.\n- Marcus, Greil (1 March 1994). Ranters & Crowd Pleasers. Anchor Books. p. 109. ISBN 9780385417211.\n- Allmusic Mission of Burma bio: \"Burma's music is vintage early-'80s post-punk: jittery rhythms, odd shifts in time, declamatory vocals, an aural assault\"\n- Andy Kellman. \"Songs of the Free - Gang of Four : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards\". Allmovie. Retrieved 8 July 2012.\n- Hard Allmusic review\n- Sullivan, Jim (2 March 1984). \"Triumph of the 'New'\". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 8 July 2012.\n- \"Cateforis.doc\". Google Docs. Retrieved 8 July 2012.\n- Hoffman, F. W.; Ferstler, H. (2004). Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Volume 1 (2nd ed.). New York City, New York: CRC Press. p. 1135. ISBN 0-415-93835-X.\n- Campbell, Michael (2008). Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On. Cengage Learning. p. 359. ISBN 0-495-50530-7.\n- Reynolds, Simon (1996). The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll. Harvard University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0674802735.\n- Middles 2009, p. 40.\n- Nicholls 1998, p. 373.\n- \"'We Were Synth Punks' | Inquirer Entertainment\". Inquirer.net. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- \"Post-Hardcore | Significant Albums, Artists and Songs | AllMusic\". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- \"Neo-Psychedelia | Significant Albums, Artists and Songs | AllMusic\". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- \"Goth Rock | Significant Albums, Arists and Songs | AllMusic\". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2014.\n- Reynolds, Simon (2006). Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6.\n- Reynolds, Simon (2010). Totally Wired: Postpunk Interviews and Overviews. Soft Skull Press. ISBN 1593763948.\n- Hebdige, Dick (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-03949-9.\n- Heylin, Clinton (2007). Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge. Viking, Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102431-8.\n- McNeil, Legs; McCain, Gillian (1997). Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-349-10880-3."}
{"content":"Rose Mary Woods\n|Rose Mary Woods|\n|Woods demonstrates the \"Rose Mary Stretch\", a gesticulation that purportedly led to the erasure of five-plus minutes of the Watergate tapes.|\n|Personal Secretary to the President|\nJanuary 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974\n|Appointed by||Richard Nixon|\n|Preceded by||Gerri Whittington|\n|Succeeded by||Dorothy E. Downton|\n|Born||December 26, 1917\n|Died||January 22, 2005\nRose Mary Woods (December 26, 1917 – January 22, 2005) was Richard Nixon's secretary from his days in Congress in 1951, through the end of his political career. Before H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman became the operators of Nixon's presidential campaign, Woods was Nixon's gatekeeper.\nEarly life and connection to Nixon\nRose Mary Woods was born in northeastern Ohio in the small pottery town of Sebring on December 26, 1917. Following graduation from McKinley High School, she went to work for Royal China, Inc., the city's largest employer. Woods had been engaged to marry, but her fiance died during World War II. To escape all the memories of her hometown she moved to Washington, D.C., in 1943, working in a variety of federal offices until she met Nixon while she was a secretary to the Select House Committee on Foreign Aid. Impressed by his neatness and efficiency, she accepted his job offer in 1951.\nSecretary to the President\nWoods was President Nixon's personal secretary, the same position she held from the time he hired her until the end of his lengthy political career.\nFiercely loyal to Nixon, Woods claimed responsibility in a 1974 grand jury testimony for inadvertently erasing up to five minutes of the 181⁄2 minute gap in a June 20, 1972, audio tape. Her demonstration of how this might have occurred – which depended upon her stretching to simultaneously press controls several feet apart (what the press dubbed the \"Rose Mary Stretch\") – was met with skepticism from those who believed the erasures, from whatever source, to be deliberate. The contents of the gap remain a mystery.\n- Wilkinson, Francis (2005-12-25), Nixon's Real Enforcer, New York Times, retrieved 2008-10-08\n- Rose Mary Woods, Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, retrieved 2012-04-26\n- Sullivan, Patricia (2005-01-24), Rose Mary Woods Dies; Loyal Nixon Secretary, Washington Post, retrieved 2008-10-08\n- The Watergate Files - Battle for the Tapes: July 1973 - November 1973, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n- Shenon, Philip (2005-01-24), Rose Mary Woods, 87, Nixon Loyalist for Decades, Dies, New York Times, retrieved 2008-10-08"}
{"content":"List of state capitols in the United States\nThis is a list of U.S. state and territorial capitol buildings in the United States and is not to be confused with a list of state capitals, which are the cities where these buildings are located.\nMost U.S. states (39 of the 50) have facilities named \"State Capitol\". Indiana and Ohio use the term \"Statehouse\" and eight states use \"State House\": Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. Delaware has a \"Legislative Hall\". The State of Alabama has a State Capitol, but the Legislature has since 1985 met in the State House.\nA capitol typically contains the meeting place for its state's legislature and offices for the state's governor, though this is not true for every state. The legislatures of Alabama, Nevada and North Carolina meet in other nearby buildings, but their governor's offices remain in the capitol. The Arizona State Capitol is now strictly a museum, and both the legislature and the governor's office are in nearby buildings. Only Arizona does not have its governor's office in the state capitol, though in Delaware, Ohio, Michigan, Vermont and Virginia, the office there is for ceremonial use only.\nIn 9 states, the state's highest court also routinely meets in the capitol: Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma (both civil and criminal courts), Pennsylvania (one of three sites), South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The other 40 states have separate buildings for their supreme courts, though in Minnesota and Utah the high court also has ceremonial meetings at the capitol.\nEleven of the fifty state capitols do not feature a dome: the Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Virginia state capitols.\nTable of State Capitols\nTable of Territorial Capitols\n|Picture||Capitol name||Location||Years of current capitol construction||Notes|\n|American Samoa Fono Building||Fagatogo, American Samoa\n|John A. Wilson Building\n||1904-1908||National Register of Historic Places, originally called the District Building until renamed in 1994 after district councilor John A. Wilson|\n|Guam Legislature Building||Hagåtña, Guam\n|Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature Building||Capitol Hill, Saipan\n|Capitol of Puerto Rico\nCapitolio de Puerto Rico\n|San Juan, Puerto Rico\n||1921-1929||National Register of Historic Places|\n|Virgin Islands Legislature Building||Charlotte Amalie, USVI\n- \"Virtual Tour of the Virginia State Capitol\". Virginia Capitol.gov. Retrieved May 2011.\n- \"State Capitols and Domes\". NCSL.org (National Conference of State Legislatures). Retrieved October 9, 2013.\n- \"IDOA: The Statehouse Story\". IN.gov. Retrieved 2010-05-19.\n- History of the State House and Its Dome. msa.maryland.gov (Maryland State Archives), 2007. Retrieved on April 5, 2014.\n- Pennsylvania Manual p. xiv\nFind more about\nat Wikipedia's sister projects\n|Definitions from Wiktionary|\n|Media from Commons|\n|News stories from Wikinews|\n|Quotations from Wikiquote|\n|Source texts from Wikisource|\n|Textbooks from Wikibooks|\n|Learning resources from Wikiversity|"}
{"content":"The Thin Red Line (Battle of Balaclava)\n|This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2008)|\n|Thin Red Line|\n|Part of Battle of Balaclava, Crimean War|\nThe Thin Red Line, painted by Robert Gibb\n|Commanders and leaders|\n|550 ||2,500 |\nThe Thin Red Line was a military action by the British Sutherland Highlanders 93rd (Highland) Regiment at the Battle of Balaklava on 25 October 1854, during the Crimean War. In this incident, the 93rd, aided by a small force of Royal Marines and some Turkish infantrymen, led by Sir Colin Campbell, routed a Russian cavalry charge. Previously, Campbell’s Highland Brigade had taken part in actions at the Battle of Alma and the Siege of Sevastopol. There were more Victoria Crosses presented to the Highland soldiers at that time than at any other. The event was galvanized in the British press and became an icon of the qualities of the British soldier in a war that was poorly managed and increasingly unpopular.\nThe Russian cavalry force of 2,500 was on the road to Balaklava. About 400 of them were involved in the incident. It was early morning, and the sole force that lay between the oncoming cavalry and the disorganised and vulnerable British camp was the 93rd Regiment.\nColin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde is said to have told his men, \"There is no retreat from here, men. You must die where you stand.\" Sir Colin's aide John Scott is said to have replied, \"Aye, Sir Colin. If needs be, we'll do that.\" (Campbell's relationship with his men was almost family-like.) Campbell formed the 93rd into a line two deep — the \"thin red line\". Convention dictated that the line should be four deep. However, Campbell, a veteran of 41 years military service, had such a low opinion of the Russian cavalry that he did not bother to form four lines, let alone a square, but met the charge head on with the 2-deep firing line. As the Russian cavalry approached, the 93rd discharged three volleys: at 600, 350 and 150 yards respectively, however they did not get a chance to discharge one at point-blank (as at Minden in 1759) range as in popular belief. This is due to the fact that the Russian commander, seeing such a thin line of infantry, concluded that this was a diversion and that there was a much stronger force behind the 93rd, and ordered the cavalry to withdraw. At that, some of the Highlanders started forward for a counter-charge, but Sir Colin stopped them with a cry of \"93rd, damn all that eagerness!\"\nThe Times correspondent, William H. Russell, wrote  that he could see nothing between the charging Russians and the British regiment's base of operations at Balaklava but the \"thin red streak tipped with a line of steel\" of the 93rd. Popularly condensed into \"the thin red line\", the phrase became a symbol of British composure in battle.\nThe battle is represented in Robert Gibb's 1881 oil painting of the same name, which is displayed in the Scottish National War Museum in Edinburgh Castle. It is also commemorated in the assembly hall of Campbell's former school, High School of Glasgow, where there is a painting of the action hung in the grand position, a tribute to one of the school's two generals, the other being Sir John Moore who was dismembered by a cannonball during the Peninsular War.\nLater uses of the term\nThe Thin Red Line has become an English language figure of speech for any thinly spread military unit holding firm against attack. The phrase has also taken on the metaphorical meaning of the barrier which the relatively limited armed forces of a country present to potential attackers.\nThe term \"the thin red line\" later referred to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and their job to defend the British Empire and the United Kingdom after the incorporation of the Argylls and Sutherlands into a single regiment now known as the Argyll and Sutherland battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.\nThe derived term The Thin Blue Line refers colloquially to the police, which soon gave birth to the equal term of the \"Thin Red Line\" which refers colloquially to the fire brigade.\n- Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem Tommy that has the lines \"Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, 'ow's yer soul? / But it's \"Thin red line of 'eroes' when the drums begin to roll,\" – \"Tommy Atkins\" being slang for a common soldier in the British Army.\n- James Jones wrote a novel about American infantry soldiers fighting in Guadalcanal during World War II and titled it The Thin Red Line. The book was adapted into feature films in 1964 and in 1998.\n- George MacDonald Fraser describes the Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Heavy Brigade, and the Charge of the Light Brigade in his novel Flashman at the Charge.\n- In the film Carry On... Up the Khyber, a soldier draws a thin red line on the ground with paint and brush, arguing that the enemy will not dare to cross it.\n- The action was the origin of the now-traditional Scottish song, A Scottish Soldier (The Green Hills of Tyrol). The Green Hills of Tyrol is one of the best known tunes played by pipe bands today. It was originally from the opera William Tell by Rossini, but was transcribed to the pipes in 1854 by Pipe Major John MacLeod after he heard it played by a Sardinian military band when serving in the Crimean War with his regiment, the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders.\n- Kenneth Alford (also known as Major Fredrick Joseph Ricketts) wrote his march The Thin Red Line in 1908 (published in 1925) to commemorate the \"thin red line\".\n- The battle is referenced by English metal band Saxon in the song \"The Thin Red Line\" on their 1997 album Unleash the Beast, and by the Canadian band Glass Tiger on their 1986 album The Thin Red Line.\n- The band Steeleye Span references the term in their song \"Fighting for Strangers\" from the album Spanning the Years.\n- Van Halen`s \"Unchained\" references the term on their 1981 album Fair Warning.\n- The band Big Audio Dynamite references the term in their song \"Union, Jack\" from the album Megatop Phoenix.\n- Jason Isbell references the term in his song \"Grown\" from the album Sirens of the Ditch.\nReferences and notes\n- \"Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-56\", by Trevor Royle, pages 266 - 267\n- \"Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-56\", by Trevor Royle, pages 268\n- \"Crimea, 1854 The Battle of Balaklava\". British Battles Exhibition. The National Archives. Retrieved 27 October 2013.\n- This original Russian cavalry force divided itself into two smaller groups, and only about 400 of them were involved in the \"Thin Red Line\" incident. These 400 Russians were the Cossacks and Ingermanlandsky hussars of the 6th Hussar Brigade, commanded by General Rijov. The rest of Rijov's force attacked the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Rijov's command was part of General Pavel Liprandi's 23,000 strong army at Balaklava.(\"Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-56\", by Trevor Royle, pages 266 - 268)\n- The 93rd Highlanders involved in the \"Thin Red Line\" incident probably numbered no more than a few hundred infantrymen. This was part of the British, French and Turkish forces at Balaclava which totaled approximately 21,000 strong.\n- The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) - Scottish Regiments, 1st Battalion A&SH, National Service, world war time, peace time and active service with the Ar...\n- B. Perret, \"At All Costs!\"\n- B. Perrett, \"At All Costs!\" Cassel Military Paperback, 1994\n- The war in the Crimea - from our special correspondent - Heights Before Sebastopol, The Times 14 November 1854, p7. Times Archive"}
{"content":"William Stone (Maryland governor)\n|William Stone, Governor of Maryland|\n|3rd Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland|\n|Preceded by||Thomas Greene|\n|Succeeded by||Josias Fendall|\nCharles County, Maryland\nOn 15 Sept 1619 William Stone set sail for Virginia on the Margaret of Bristol, and was one of the people being sent to Berkeley Hundred to work under Captain John Woodlief's supervision. William was supposed to serve the Society of Berkeley Hundred's investors for six years in exchange for 30 acres of land. Sometime prior to 9 February 1629, he received a tobacco bill from Richard Wheeler. By 4 June 1635, William had patented 1,800 acres in Accomack. Local court records reveal that he was the brother to Andrew Stone and Captain John Stone, who had been trading on the Eastern Shore since 1626. By 1634 William Stone had become a commissioner of the county court. Some time prior to February 1636, he married Verlinda, the daughter of Captain Thomas Graves. William went on to become sheriff and vestryman. In 1645 he was residing on the Eastern Shore, in what had become Northampton County. By 1648 he had become the third proprietary governor of Maryland. Stone came to America in 1628 with a group of Puritans who settled in the Eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Their settlement thrived, but eventually came into conflict with Virginia's established Episcopal Church.\nGovernor of the Maryland colony\nOn August 8, 1648, Lord Baltimore named Stone the Governor of his colony. He was the first Protestant Governor. The Assembly sought a confirmation of their religious liberty and in 1649 Governor Stone signed the Religious Toleration Act, which permitted liberty to all Christian denominations.\nIn 1654, after the Third English Civil War (1649–51), Parliamentary forces assumed control of Maryland and Stone went into exile in Virginia. Per orders from Lord Baltimore, Stone returned the following spring at the head of a Cavalier force. But, in what is known as the Battle of the Severn (March 25, 1655), Stone was defeated and taken prisoner.\nStone was replaced as Governor by Josias Fendall (1628–87), and took no further part in public affairs.\nWilliam Stone wrote his will on 3 Dec 1659, and it was proved in Charles Co. Maryland on 21 Dec 1660. Verlinda Graves Stone wrote her will on 3 March 1674-5, and the will was proved on 13 July 1675 in Charles Co., MD.\nRestoration and land grant\nIn 1660, the monarchy in England and the proprietor's government in Maryland were restored. Lord Baltimore granted Stone as much land as he could ride around in a day, as a reward for Stone's faithful service. Stone concentrated on developing his plantation at Poynton Manor in what is now Charles County, Maryland, where he died in about 1660.\nStone's great-grandson, David (born 1709), greatly expanded the value of the estate at Poynton and returned the family to prominence. William Stone's great-great-grandsons made major contributions to the foundation of Maryland as an American state: Thomas Stone signed the Declaration of Independence, Michael Jenifer Stone represented Maryland in the First United States Congress, John Hoskins Stone was Governor of Maryland 1794–97, and William Murray Stone was the Episcopal Bishop of Baltimore. A great-great-great grandson, Barton W. Stone, was a prominent early leader of the Restoration Movement.\n- List of colonial governors of Maryland\n- Proprietary Governor\n- Province of Maryland\n- English Interregnum\n- English Civil War\n- The Protectorate\n- Concise Dictionary of American Biography, p. 1018. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons/London: Oxford University Press, 1964.\n- Martha W. McCartney (2007). Virginia Immigrants & Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore. p. 672.\n- Jane Baldwin (1988). The Maryland Calendar of Wills I. Family LIne Publications, Westminster, MD. pp. 12, 111.\n- David Stone died intestate on March 18, 1773, at the age of 64\n- Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on \"Stone, Barton Warren\""}
{"content":"|Motto: \"Wright Time... Wright Community...Wright Now!\"|\nLocation of Wright, Wyoming\n|• Total||2.85 sq mi (7.38 km2)|\n|• Land||2.85 sq mi (7.38 km2)|\n|• Water||0 sq mi (0 km2)|\n|Elevation||5,121 ft (1,561 m)|\n|• Estimate (2012)||1,856|\n|• Density||634.0/sq mi (244.8/km2)|\n|Time zone||Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)|\n|• Summer (DST)||MDT (UTC-6)|\n|GNIS feature ID||1605008|\n|Website||Town of Wright Wyoming|\nSettlement began in the area near Wright in the 1970s, with the creation of the Black Thunder Coal Mine, the largest mine in the Powder River Basin and most productive mine in the United States. The town itself was incorporated in 1985.\nOriginally known as Reno Junction (descendants of Major Reno from Custer's troop resided in the area), the town was renamed \"Wright\" after the owner of the Long Branch Bar, Dale Wright, who agreed to sell land to Atlantic Richfield Corporation, the developer of the Black Thunder Mine, who planned to build the town to accommodate the work force that would be hired to operate the mine.\nOn August 12, 2005, an F2 rated tornado struck a mobile home park at Wright, destroying 91 homes, damaging others, and killing two people.\nWright is located at (43.754988, -105.490691).\nAs of the census of 2010, there were 1,807 people, 685 households, and 476 families residing in the town. The population density was 634.0 inhabitants per square mile (244.8/km2). There were 813 housing units at an average density of 285.3 per square mile (110.2/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 94.5% White, 0.1% African American, 1.4% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 1.8% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.2% of the population.\nThere were 685 households of which 40.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 30.5% were non-families. 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.16.\nThe median age in the town was 32.8 years. 30.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.7% were from 25 to 44; 30.8% were from 45 to 64; and 2.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 55.0% male and 45.0% female.\nAs of the census of 2000, there were 1,347 people, 475 households, and 388 families residing in the town. The population density was 490.0 people per square mile (189.1/km²). There were 544 housing units at an average density of 197.9 per square mile (76.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.62% White, 0.45% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.82% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.30% of the population.\nThere were 475 households out of which 48.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.6% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.3% were non-families. 15.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.15.\nIn the town the population was spread out with 33.9% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 1.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 112.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.2 males.\nThe median income for a household in the town was $53,125, and the median income for a family was $55,764. Males had a median income of $46,058 versus $22,955 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,126. About 3.9% of families and 6.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 33.3% of those age 65 or over.\nPublic education in the town of Wright is provided by Campbell County School District #1. Zoned campuses include Cottonwood Elementary School (grades K-6) and Wright Junior/Senior High School  (grades 7-12).\nHaving been established as a mining town, the majority of people living in Wright are employed by the various mines surrounding it. The site for the proposed, but stalled, Two Elk Energy Park is several miles from town. The Two Elk power plant is a planned 300 megawatt power plant which would burn \"waste coal\" from mines in the area. Waste coal is low-grade coal unsuitable for shipping and sale which would otherwise be reburied. Recent iterations of the plan include using beetle-killed pine as fuel. Only a shed and a partial foundation are at the site. Over 16 years, a series of permit extensions have been issued by Wyoming. Nearly half a billion dollars are available from tax-exempt bonds, but additional investment is required in order to fund the plant.\n- \"US Gazetteer files 2010\". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-12-14.\n- \"American FactFinder\". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-12-14.\n- \"Population Estimates\". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2013-06-01.\n- \"American FactFinder\". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.\n- \"US Board on Geographic Names\". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.\n- \"Wright, Wyoming\". City-Data.com. Retrieved July 18, 2012.\n- \"US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990\". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.\n- Mead Gruver (March 30, 2013). \"Wyo. power plant stalls 17 years, faces skepticism\". San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. Retrieved March 31, 2013."}
{"content":"- 'Life of Aristotle,' Cambridge, 1839.\n- 'Commemoration Sermon in Trinity College,' 1842.\n- 'Conciones Academicæ,' London, 1843.\n- 'Where does the Evil lie?' (a pamphlet upon private tuition at Cambridge), London, 1845.\n- 'The Way of Peace,' a sermon, 1852.\n- 'Herodotus with a Commentary,' 2 vols., forming part of Macleane's 'Bibliotheca Classica, 1852-54.\n- 'History of Greek and Roman Philosophy and Science,' part of the article in the 'Encyclopædia Metropolitana,' ed. 2, London, 1858.\n- 'Four Months in Algeria, with a Visit to Carthage,' Cambridge, 1859.\n- 'Real Belief and True Belief,' a sermon, 1862.\n- 'A Preelection as Candidate for the Regius Professorship,' on 1 Cor. xi. 17-31 (privately printed).\n[Saturday Review, 25 April 1886; Guardian, 22 April 1885; private information.]\nBLAKEWAY, JOHN BRICKDALE (1765–1826), topographer, was the eldest son of Joshua Blakeway, of Shrewsbury, by Elizabeth, sister of Matthew Brickdale, M.P. in several parliaments for the city of Bristol. He was born at Shrewsbury on 24 June 1765, and educated in the free school there. In 1775 he was removed to Westminster, at which school he remained till 1782, when he proceeded to Oriel College, Oxford (B.A. 1786, M.A. 1795). On leaving the university he entered at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1789. He followed the law more as an amusement than as a necessary means of support, and began to go the Oxford circuit. Suddenly he found his hereditary expectations destroyed, and he was compelled to provide himself with an income by his own exertions. In these circumstances the expensive profession of the law was no longer to be thought of. He resolved to enter the church, and was ordained in 1793.\nIn 1794 he was presented by his uncle, the Rev. Edward Blakeway, to the ministry of the Royal Peculiar of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, and on his uncle's death he became official of the peculiar, and also succeeded him in the vicarage of Neen Savage, Shropshire, and in the rectory of Felton, Somersetshire. In 1800 he was presented to the vicarage of Kinlet. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1807. From 1800 till 1816 he divided his time between Kinlet and Shrewsbury, but, finding it inconvenient to keep up two houses, he gave up Felton and Kinlet in that year, and thenceforward resided exclusively in his native town. He died at the council house, Shrewsbury, on 10 March 1826, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, where a fine Gothic monument, executed by John Carline, was erected to his memory by his parishioners.\nHis works are:\n- 'An Attempt to ascertain the Author of the Letters published under the signature of Junius,' Shrewsbury, 1813, 8vo. He ascribes the authorship of these famous letters to Horne Tooke.\n- 'The Sequel of an Attempt to ascertain the Author of the Letters published under the signature of Junius,' London, 1815, 8vo.\n- 'A History of Shrewsbury,' 2 vols., London, 1825, 4to. Written in collaboration with the Ven. Hugh Owen, F.S.A., archdeacon of Salop.\n- 'The Sheriffs of Shropshire, with their armorial bearings, and notices, biographical and genealogical, of their families,' Shrewsbury, 1831, fol.\n- Single sermons, and a tract on the subject of Regeneration.\n[Salopian Journal. 15, 22, and 29 March 1826; Gent. Mag. xcvi. (i.) 277, 369; Leighton's Guide through the Town of Shrewsbury, 72, 73, 182; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]\nBLAKEY, NICHOLAS (fl. 1753), designer and engraver, was a native of Ireland, but resided chiefly in Paris, and died there. The dates of his birth and death are not recorded. He enjoyed a considerable reputation about the middle of the last century as an illustrator of books, and, amongst other works, designed and engraved the plates to Jonas Hanway's 'Travels in Persia,' 1753, and those to an edition of Pope's works. Blakey was associated with Francis Hayman, R.A., in the production of a set of prints of subjects from English history, of which the following bear his name only as the designer: 'The Landing of Julius Caesar,' 'Vortigem and Rowena,' and 'Alfred in the Island of Athelney receiving News of a Victory over the Danes;' these were engraved respectively by S. F. Ravenet, G. Scotin, and F. Vivares. One of Blakey's most graceful compositions is a vignette in the manner of Boucher, representing nymphs dancing under the influence of Love, engraved by John Ingram.\n[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists (1878); MS. notes in British Museum.]\nBLAKEY, ROBERT (1795–1878), miscellaneous writer and professor of logic and metaphysics at Queen's College, Belfast, was the son of a mechanic, and was born at Morpeth 18 May 1795. Losing his father when only nine months old, he was taken charge of by his grandmother. From his ninth to his thirteenth year he assisted his"}
{"content":"AN ESSAY ON QUANTITY\ntremely unfortunate. For, first, Whereas all proof should be taken from principles that are common to both sides, in order to prove a thing we deny, he assumes a principle which we think further from the truth; namely, that the height to which the body rises is the whole effect of the impulse, and ought to be the whole measure of it. Secondly, His reasoning serves as well against him as for him. For may I not plead with as good reason, at least, thus? The velocity given by an impressed force, is the whole effect of that impressed force; and therefore the force must be as the velocity. Thirdly, Supposing the height to which the body is raised to be the measure of the force, this principle overturns the conclusion he would establish by it, as well as that which he opposes. For, supposing the first velocity of the body to be still the same, the height to which it rises will be increased, if the power of gravity is diminished; and diminished, if the power of gravity is increased. Bodies descend slower at the equator, and faster towards the poles, as is found by experiments made on pendulums. If, then, a body is driven upwards at the equator with a given velocity, and the same body is afterwards driven upwards at Leipsic with the same velocity, the height to which it rises in the former case will be greater than in the latter; and therefore, according to his reasoning, its force was greater in the former case; but the velocity in both was the same; consequently, the force is not as the square of the velocity, any more than as the velocity.\nSec. 8. Reflections on this controversy.\nUpon the whole, I cannot but think the controvertists on both sides have had a very hard task; the one to prove, by mathematical reasoning and experiment, what ought to be taken for granted; the other, by the same means, to prove what might be granted, making some allowance for impropriety of expression, but can never be proved.\nIf some mathematician should take it in his head to affirm, that the velocity of a body is not as the space it passes over in a given time, but as the square of that space, you might bring mathematical arguments and experiments to confute him; but you would never by these force him to yield, if he was ingenuous in his way; because you have no common principles left you to argue from, and you differ from one another, not in a mathematical proposition, but in a mathematical definition.\nSuppose a philosopher has considered only that measure of centripetal force which is proportional to the velocity generated by it in a given time, and from this measure deduces several propositions: another philosopher, in a distant country, who has the same general notion of centripetal force, takes the velocity generated by it, and the quantity of matter together, as the measure of it. From this he deduces several conclusions,"}
{"content":"Norman Roberts, or Doc, is an Army medic assigned to an advisory team in Afghanistan’s Laghman Province in 2007, who has grown steadily disillusioned by the war. Doc is often conflicted by his non-violent humanist upbringing and a deep-seated rage that began when the North Tower fell during the Sept. 11 terror attacks, killing his father.\nIt doesn’t help that he’s an opium addict.\nIn Brandon Caro’s debut novel, “Old Silk Road,” each patrol and mission is haunted by Doc’s fear that some injury or attack — an explosion that leads to multiple casualties, or the agonizing final moments of a dying friend — might threaten his precious store of morphine, his sole escape from a reality he no longer wants any part of. Doc, his team, and the Afghan National Army soldiers they’re tasked with training, set out on a winding, deadly, and perpetually tense journey along Route 1, once called the Silk Road — the ancient thoroughfare for all of Afghanistan’s previous, and long-since dead, conquerors — in Caro’s work, published on Oct. 13.\nAn Afghanistan War veteran and former Navy corpsman, Caro weaves an insightful and surreal story around war, addiction, and loss of self. Through Doc’s manic inner monologue, Caro conveys what it feels like to serve in an asymmetrical war, one where the front lines and the rear are blurred to the point of nonexistence — and where your allies are as likely to kill you as the enemy you were sent to fight.\nCaro captures the sense of futility that comes during those quiet moments after a bad day, in a brutal war, with no end in sight. When Doc wakes up in the back of a Humvee, strung out after shooting up, he looks around at the neat rows of vehicles — many are in varying states of disrepair — and sees the motor pool as a thinly veiled metaphor for the war effort:\nIt was all so structured. So squared away. … The war was often like that, it seemed. Copacetic in appearance, but in a de facto state of disorder. And though clean-shaven, trained, and even battle-tested, our ranks were staffed mostly by dropouts and fuckups — the ones who’d nearly slipped through the cracks — redeemed for our delineation of the straight path of success by our taking up the cause of war. And I was the greatest fuckup of them all.\nFor Doc, Afghanistan was supposed to be “the good war” in contrast to Iraq, but the more he sees, the more that ideal unravels. “Old Silk Road” is as much about a man at war as it is about a man who is unmade by war. Doc is chewed up, not by bullets or explosions, but by his own ideals and his inability to reconcile them with the brutal reality of what he sees and does.\nThe novel, written in the first person and following a non-linear timeline, repurposes tropes and techniques reminiscent of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” and Dante’s epic poem “The Divine Comedy” to great effect. The Silk Road, for which the book is named and where much of it takes place, functions similarly to the river in Conrad’s work, with the main character moving deeper into uncertainty and addiction the more he travels on the dusty Afghan road. Doc takes on a role similar to Dante during hallucinatory encounters with Pat Tillman, who functions like Dante’s guide, Virgil. The novel takes place three years after Tillman, who turned down a professional football career to enlist in the Army, was killed by friendly fire on April 22, 2004.\nTillman goads and encourages Doc to keep moving deeper into the hellish landscape that Afghanistan becomes during the novel’s final chapters. When Doc first asks why or how Tillman is alive, the latter nonchalantly answers: “It’s complicated. … I’m mixed up in some pretty high-level shit right now. Can’t really go into detail…”\nBeyond the plot twists and philosophical dilemmas that underscore this war story, the back-and-forth banter between the characters in “Old Silk Road” provides brief moments of humanity and hilarity.\nWhile manning the Humvee turret during a convoy, Doc and his commanding officer, Captain Harold, strike up a conversation about the American dream and the unconditional love of country that is the birthright and obligation of all red-blooded American patriots.\n“If ‘Murica was a woman, I’d take her out for a steak dinner on a Friday night, hold the door for her, take her coat, and pull the chair out. … Then we’d end the evening in the backseat of my Chevy Malibu, makin’ sweet love under the stars,” says Captain Harold, his rhetoric reinforcing the image of the good old Southern boy he is meant to represent.\nHowever, like all things in this novel, the conversation is not without its pitfalls and moral quandaries delivered with just the right amount of snark.\n“What if America turned out to be a dude?” is Doc’s earnest response, and one that nearly causes Captain Harold to drive off the road. “No really…what if you and America were in the backseat, about to get it on, and you reached up her skirt and came up with a handful of cock’ n’ balls? Then what?”\nIntermingled with the adrenaline rush of combat and the post-high lows and shakes are those moments of banter that are simultaneously childish, vulgar, and irreverent, yet make you wonder whether you’re being let in on some essential truth, or if it really is just a dick joke.\nCaro’s “Old Silk Road” is fast, hard, jarring, and leaves you longing for closure and resolution — two things that war rarely brings — until you finally get it in the novel’s last few chapters and are no longer sure that’s what you wanted.\nAll said, “Old Silk Road” is a compelling account of what war feels like, reading like a dying man’s last dream, with its end bringing both blissful release and genuine remorse.\n“Old Silk Road” (Post Hill Press, 2015) is available for purchase beginning Oct. 13."}
{"content":"From November, Verizon is going to start feeding information from its controversial supercookie identifier, which it uses to monitor mobile internet browsing habits of its customers, to AOL. The media company will then use that data, including users’ gender, age, location and browsing habits, to build an accurate profile of each person and target them with specific ads.\nDo you want to be a cryptocurrency millionaire?\nDon't get your hopes up.\nAOL’s ad network is represented on 40 percent of live websites, so that’s a lot of targeted ads.\nIt’s a questionable move, mainly because of the level of tracking involved and the fact it’s unencrypted. That means it’s potentially open to interception from both hackers and even the government. The NSA is one example of an organization that has been known to use Google’s cookies to identify users.\nThere is an option to opt out of using Verizon’s supercookie, which seems advisable at this point in time, but it is automatically turned on by default on all new Verizon phones."}
{"content":"With Christmas shopping hanging over our heads we can often forget that giving doesn’t have to be limited to gifts under the tree. Why not spend your lunchbreak doing something special for someone in need without even leaving the office.\nPut a smile on the face of a sick child\nPostpals is an amazing company that lets you send an email, letter or card to a child in need. You can read all about their condition and send them something to cheer them up when they need it the most.\nTranslating videos for the deaf and hard of hearing\nAmara is a crowd source subtitling platform that engages volunteers from around the world to translate online videos. The captions that volunteers provide make videos accessible for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing or for people who want to just watch a video in a language they do not speak.\nDescribe pictures to assist the blind\nDescribe Me is a project of the Museum Victoria in Australia who require volunteers to write alternative text (alt-text) for images to make their Collections Online more useful for people who are blind or have low vision. Alt-text is text associated with an image that conveys the same essential information as the image. It is important for people who use screen readers or view websites in text-only format.\nThe way the project works is that you’ll be shown a randomly-selected photo, or you can use tags to find images you’re interested in, after which you’ll be asked to write a few words (usually between 3 to 7) to describe what you see in the image presented in front of you.\nSend an email\nAmnesty International helps causes all around the world. The simple act of sending an email, signing a petition or writing a letter can make a huge difference to someone’s life."}
{"content":"A good school is more akin to a family than a factory\nIf the third in this series of blog posts was about listening then this, the fourth, shifts towards dialogue and the essence of trust, on which dialogue thrives.\nThe Brazilian educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire, said that ‘Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education.’ Founding itself upon love, humility, and faith, dialogue becomes a horizontal relationship of which mutual trust between the dialoguers is a logical sequence. False love, false humility, and feeble faith in others cannot create trust. Trust is contingent on the evidence which one party provides the others of his true concrete intentions; it cannot exist if that party’s words do not coincide with their actions.\nFor Megan Tschannen-Moran (2014), ‘Trust matters because we cannot single-handedly either create or sustain many of the things we care about most’ (p.17). She cites philosopher Annette Baier (1994):\nTrust… is reliance on others’ competence and willingness to look after, rather than harm, things one cares about which are entrusted to their care.\nBaier, 1994, p. 128\nTschannen-Moran considers trust to be a pressing issue for schools, for ‘They foster our ideals of respect, tolerance and democracy, as well as the vision of equity in our society’ (p.17). She warns that despite clear evidence of the dividends of a culture of trust, organisational dynamics often complicate things because the power differences imposed by hierarchical relationships add complexity to interpersonal reactions.\nMy doctoral research (shared throughout this series on communal leadership and social justice in our schools) explores issues around the building of trust and realignment of the power imbalance that favours school. Bryk and Schneider’s (2002) work on trust conceptualises trust in schools as being formed around the specific roles that people play in this setting, with the growth of trust depending on the degree to which people have shared understandings of their role obligations. Warren and Mapp’s (2011) work around community organising in the US offers valuable insight into a collective process that starts with listening and conversation at the ground level; it does not start with a set agenda and it responds to local context: ‘If unilateral power involves power “over”, relational power emphasises power “with” others, or building the power to accomplish common aims’ (p.27). The flexibility in design of my research to date has allowed for concentrated listening and conversation at the ground level, with no set agenda, grounded in the reality and context of the case study school. I seek to explore teacher and parent dialogue, as a necessary pre-cursor to the formulation of a model that recognises and supports the ideal that sees both parental involvement in school and parental engagement in their child’s learning, through effective home-school partnership working, a joint enterprise, underpinned by shared agency.\nAccording to Bryk and Schneider’s conceptualisation of trust, we typically use four key elements to discern the intentions of others in schools: respect, competence, integrity, and personal regard for others. Respect involves a basic regard for the dignity and worth of others. Competence is the ability to carry out the formal responsibilities of the role. Integrity is demonstrated by carrying through with actions that are consistent with stated beliefs. Personal regard involves demonstration of intentions and behaviours that go beyond the formal requirements of the role. All in all, a genuine sense of listening to what each person has to say marks the basis for meaningful social interaction.\nI have been involved in leading on the Achievement for All (AFA) project in an AFA pilot school and latterly as the head teacher of a school that adopted the AFA structured conversation model. We made a promise of two 30 minute conversations a year for the family of every student in school; student led.\nThe structured conversation, introduced and advocated by Achievement for All, incorporates approaches of active listening, solution orientated psychology and problem solving within a clear four stage framework (explore, focus, plan, review), ‘as a means to understand the parents’ hopes and concerns for their child and to engage them in a collaborative relationship that would support their child’s greater progress and achievement’ (Day, 2013, p.36). The success of the mediation process – open dialogue approach, as a means to understand the parents’ hopes and concerns for their child and to engage is clearly evident through national evaluation evidence based findings. Parents reported feeling more included in the process of their children’s education, more empowered, and have sensed a change in the dynamic of their interactions with school staff.\nMy research through focus group and semi-structured interviews in school, found that the structured conversation concept left teachers, following a “longer conversation” with parents, understanding the child better, with the model well received by parents, it being “more relaxed than a snatched ten minutes”. Beyond the child themselves, the structured conversation also opened up a view on the wider family context, “their history and their situations at home”. This, one teacher claimed, leaves parents feeling “more valued”. On the contrary, the traditional 10 minute time slot only really ever allows the teacher time to speak, to report on the child. No sooner have both parties relaxed into it then the ten minutes is up.\nThe value of positive relationship building, through face-to-face communication has been wholeheartedly lauded by teachers. After all, “We are all in it together and going down the same path”. Trust must be built, through open and honest communication, with parents and teachers as “equal partners”.\nI reproduce here comments posted by one teacher and one parent in response to the first blog in this series, both talking on their experience of structured conversations.\nFollowing watching this video [Brené Brown TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability], as a school, we began to use ‘Structured Conversations’ as a way to work alongside parents. We looked at the way we operated ‘parents evenings’ as a whole and changed it around. Instead of feeding back to a parent, we sat with them and discussed how we could work together as a team around the child. The role switched and teachers asked parents what they thought might work.\nAt first, as a teacher, this felt unnatural and I certainly felt vulnerable, I can also openly admit to feeling a little defensive, expecting parents to criticise what I had been doing, as opposed to collaborating on the best way to work as a team for the child. This wasn’t what happened at all. Little things like sitting alongside the parent, offering them a drink, and structuring questions as a more open ended ‘chat’ seemed to relax the parents and allowed for a more natural, equal conversation. I fully believe that parents know their child the best so why aren’t we utilising this knowledge? The result of the conversations was that parents appeared to feel more a ‘part’ of their child’s education and therefore did more at home with their child such as reading and home projects etc. They also began to approach me more, asking what they could do to fill gaps in their child’s learning, therefore driving up that ever important data.\nHi All, I as a parent within the school mentioned above, can second what Sam is saying about structured conversations. I sat in on a structured conversation with my son and his teacher, my son at the time was at the end of year 5, what came out of the conversation was that my son kept repeating ‘but I can’t do maths’. We as parents said ‘you can’t do maths yet! But if you work at anything you can always overcome what you want to’, or something along those lines, and at home tried to encourage him to do his maths homework and even had a go as well. A year later, although no structured conversations were held at the end of the year, my son’s report said that he had progressed in maths and had overcome the difficulties he had had with maths. I can only say I feel that if myself, my son and his teacher hadn’t had that structured conversation then I am sure my son would have kept on struggling with maths. Now he is going into secondary school knowing that actually he can work out most maths equations/questions and that he has a positive attitude to learning maths whereas before he just shut down and said he couldn’t do it.\nI would add to Jackie’s comment one of my golden memories of a structured conversation outcome. During the course of one conversation, Jackie’s son shared his aspiration to become a computer games designer. A couple of weeks later I vacated my office as teacher ushered in Jackie’s son plus two interested friends so that they could hold a Skype conversation arranged by the teacher with a friend he had attended university with. A friend who is now working as a computer games designer!\nBandura (1997) says that ‘Teachers with high self-efficacy and schools with a strong sense of collective efficacy are more likely to extend support to parents and seek them out as partners in a student’s education’. I say that needs to be worked on and given equal status to everything else any one school pursues by way of professional development. We would do well to spend more time in our schools exploring the concepts of trust, vulnerability and power.\nTime to listen, reflect and change?\nTrust is not a medium but a human virtue, cultivated through speech, conversation, commitments, and action.\nSolomon & Flores 2001\nBaier, A. C. (1994) Moral prejudices. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.\nBandura, A. (1997) Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.\nBryk, A. S. and Schneider, B. (2002) Trust in Schools: A core resource for improvement. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.\nDay, S. (2013) “Terms of engagement” not “hard to reach parents”, Educational Psychology in Practice: theory, research and practice in educational psychology, 29 (1): 36-53.\nFreire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin.\nSolomon, R.C., and Flores, F. (2001) Building trust in business, politics, relationships, and life. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.\nTschannen-Moran, M. (2014) Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.\nWarren, M. R. and Mapp, K. L. (2011) A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organising as a Catalyst for School Reform, Oxford: OUP."}
{"content":"Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques)\nComet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) Sky Charts and Coordinates\nThis is a simplified sky chart, showing where Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) is now with respect to the brightest stars and constellations.\nMore advanced sky charts are available on TheSkyLive for this object: 1) the Online Planetarium which is interactive and allows to select dates and additional objects to visualize; and 2) the Live Position and Data Tracker which provides the highest precision position data and features deep sky imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey.\nComet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) Rise and Set Times\nToday's Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]. All times are relative to the local timezone Europe/London.\nComet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) Orbit Diagram\nThis 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!\nComet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) Ephemeris\nThe following table lists the ephemerides of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.\n|2018 Aug 11||07h 17m 52s||+35° 42’ 56”||18.70||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 12||07h 19m 18s||+35° 50’ 08”||18.71||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 13||07h 20m 45s||+35° 57’ 20”||18.72||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 14||07h 22m 12s||+36° 04’ 33”||18.73||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 15||07h 23m 38s||+36° 11’ 45”||18.74||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 16||07h 25m 03s||+36° 18’ 59”||18.75||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 17||07h 26m 27s||+36° 26’ 12”||18.76||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 18||07h 27m 52s||+36° 33’ 26”||18.77||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 19||07h 29m 17s||+36° 40’ 41”||18.78||Auriga|\n|2018 Aug 20||07h 30m 42s||+36° 47’ 57”||18.79||Lynx|\n|2018 Aug 21||07h 32m 06s||+36° 55’ 13”||18.80||Lynx|\n|2018 Aug 22||07h 33m 29s||+37° 02’ 30”||18.81||Lynx|\n|2018 Aug 23||07h 34m 51s||+37° 09’ 47”||18.82||Lynx|\n|2018 Aug 24||07h 36m 15s||+37° 17’ 08”||18.82||Lynx|\nDistance of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) from Earth\nThe following chart shows the distance of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) from Earth as a function of time. Distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with a 2 days interval.\nThe reported distances might be inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of C/2017 K6 (Jacques) is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.\nLight Curve of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques)\nThe following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques), according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.\nComet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) Orbital Elements\nThe following table lists the orbital elements of Comet C/2017 K6 (Jacques) at epoch 19 November 2017 00:00 UTC (JD: 2458077.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database\n|Perihelion distance||q||2.00275796 AU\n|Date of perihelion transit||Tp||2018-Jan-03 03:19:51\n|Next perihelion transit||38914-Sep-09 09:41\n|Argument of perihelion||peri||303.83906951351°|\n|Longitude of the ascending node||node||85.054907609884°|\n|Closest approach to Earth*||2017-Dec-17|\n|Distance of closest approach*||1.82153708 AU\n* NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed for the time interval between 2013-Jan-01 and 2075-Dec-31, with a sampling interval of 1 day."}
{"content":"Community hopes to cut down tree plan (Park La Brea News/Beverly Press)\nA story about Metro’s plans to eventually remove about 135 trees along Wilshire Boulevard as part of the construction of the first phase of the Purple Line Extension. Here’s our post about the plan that includes this key detail: Metro also plans to plant two trees for every one that is removed. Still, some community members in the Miracle Mile aren’t happy, pointing to many years of effort to beautify Wilshire Boulevard and unhappy that adult trees may be replaced with younger, smaller ones.\nThe bridge once carried Pacific Electric streetcars over the intersection of Huntington and Mission. City of Los Angeles officials don’t think the 80-year-old structure is very distinctive architecturally; others think otherwise. My three cents: to my eyes the bridge doesn’t look much different than other highway-type bridges.\nWill women every feel completely safe on transit? (The Atlantic Cities)\nVery interesting post that seems to conclude the answer to the question in the headline is ‘no’ — at least not until society does a better job of decreasing instances of sexism. It’s also worth noting that women tend to ride transit more than men. Excerpt:\nWomen who aren’t bound to the bus by economic necessity cite reliability and convenience as reasons they choose to stick with their cars. That’s more or less what men say. But women, regardless of income, tend to have an additional factor: safety. In a 2007 survey, 63 percent of New York City subway riders said they’d been harassed on a train, and 10 percent reported having been assaulted. It seems safe to assume that most of those riders were women. Among those who merely witnessed harassment or assault on public transit, 93 percent reported that the victim was female.\nIt’s no wonder there’s a gender gap when it comes to transit riders’ concerns. But there’s also a gender-class gap, between the women who can simply refuse to ride because of those concerns and those who have to get on the bus anyway. “Women tend to be more fearful in public environments like the bus stop than when they’re on the bus or on the train,” says Loukaitou-Sideris. This makes sense: on the bus there are often other travelers, but at the bus stop you might be alone. Even then there are exceptions; late at night, a woman might find herself on the train with only one other passenger she doesn’t trust, just the two of them in an enclosed space.\nThe writer lives in our area and says that while she is willing to ride Metro during the day, she’s much less apt to take the agency’s transit at night when there are far fewer riders on many routes and a greater chance of her being isolated with other riders she doesn’t trust. Your thoughts, women riders?\nIn response to recent criticism over its recent claim that transit ridership in the U.S. is at the highest since 1956, the American Public Transportation Assn. has put out a subsequent release. Much of the criticism centered on the fact that a far greater percentage of Americans used transit in 1956 than currently. Excerpt from the release:\nOn March 10, 2014 the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported that public transportation use in the United States in 2013 rose to 10.7 billion trips – the highest number in 57 years. APTA and its predecessor organizations have collected ridership information since 1917. The highest U.S. public transit ridership number in history was 23.5 billion trips in 1946, a decade when many Americans did not own a car. The ownership of cars en masse came later and led to suburbs designed for car use and subsequent sprawl.\nThis ridership increase isn’t a one-year blip on the radar. If you look at the 18 year period from 1995-2013, public transportation ridership grew 37.2 percent, almost double the amount of the population growth at 20.3 percent. This is a long-term trend that shows that more and more Americans are using public transportation. APTA has used the 1995 number because after that year, ridership increased due to the passage of the landmark ISTEA legislation and other surface transportation bills which increased funding for public transportation.\nMore recent shifts in trends point to the growing demand for public transportation. Our analysis shows that the 2005 gas price shock, when prices first went to $3 for a gallon of gasoline, combined with demographic shifts including the Millennials’ desire for travel options and the Baby Boomers’ return to urban areas, have established consistent travel behaviors that led to the highest public transportation ridership since 1956.\nMy three cents: both sides have a point. I’ve never found quite understood the point of comparing contemporary transit ridership to that in the 1950s, when there were far fewer Americans. On the other hand, I do think it’s worth noting that in recent times transit ridership has been healthy in many quarters and worthy of further investment.\nFrom the Department of Reader Complaints….\nI finally, and inevitably, received a complaint about the occasional postings of Bruce Springsteen videos — despite the fact that “Thunder Road” is at its core a song about the importance of mobility in escaping loser towns. In the spirit of diversity, today’s musical interlude is more transit specific….\nCategories: Transportation Headlines"}
{"content":"Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most fascinating (and terrifying) industries to have skyrocketed in recent years – and it is only getting started with its growth. Not only have a ton of new AI-related organizations launched, the entire market for this type of technology is currently valued at $200 billion. That number is estimated to grow to a staggering $3.1 trillion over the next seven years, according to SingularityNET (AGI). They should know, because this company is currently working to bring AI into the blockchain era.\nWhat is SingularityNET (AGI)?\nThese days, it seems like there is a cryptocurrency-based solution for every possible issue you can possibly imagine – from coins inspired by bacon to digital currencies based on Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin. There is even a Whoppercoin from Burger King in Russia.\nSo, of course that means there must be an AI-focused blockchain platform out there – and that’s SingularityNET (AGI). This cryptocurrency is working on a global, decentralized marketplace for AI (but not the scary kind, at least that’s what they say).\nBLOG: How Humanity Can Build Benevolent Artificial Intelligence.\nWe don’t need to follow Hollywood’s depictions of killer robots. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Blockchain #Throwback #Future https://t.co/aZt89rkvGx pic.twitter.com/yqYgaffWBT\n— SingularityNET (@singularity_net) February 24, 2018\nThis cryptocurrency only began trading about a month and a half ago, and it has already managed to put itself in the top 100 most valuable category – currently sitting in 94th place.\nBut it came onto the scene (behind the scenes) recently with a big, robotic media explosion. One of the biggest events in AI was the introduction of a humanoid robot called Sophia – who was famously granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia in October of 2017. It was the first robot to ever be granted citizenship by any country.\nTwo years ago @hansonrobotics unveiled @RealSophiaRobot at #SXSW So much has happened since then… https://t.co/XUVvW0TTXF #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Robotics #Blockchain #Technology #Throwback pic.twitter.com/Y5LAJDDuUX\n— SingularityNET (@singularity_net) February 22, 2018\nWell, Sophia was actually created in part by SingularityNET – alongside Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company) and Hanson Robotics. It flew under the radar, but this company’s participation in such a pivotal AI moment is a huge deal.\nHow does SingularityNET work with artificial intelligence?\nYou see, according to the team behind the AGI coin, there are major problems with the modern AI market: there is no way for AI to communicate with each other to coordinate processing, too much is manually completed, there is no method of finding AI services (or verify the quality of one), an it is way too expensive to use.\nThis makes it too complicated and pricey for regular businesses to take advantage of the technology.\nWhat is SingularityNET’s solution? It’s a protocol that wants to solve all these complications while making AI accessible to the whole planet. It is an AI-as-a-service (have you heard that term before?) on a permissionless platform than any regular person can utilize.\nThis is how they say their platform will fix everything:\nIt’s a very innovative and futuristic project, and it seems to be getting legitimized by the AI sector (for now, at least).\nThis blockchain-based AI project is growing wildly\nNot only was this company involved with Sophia, they have been making other big moves with new partners recently. According to SingularityNET, they have gotten “dozens” of integration opportunities with reputable blockchain organizations, research institutes, multi-national companies and leading AI developers:\n“Our presentation at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos expanded those opportunities to some of the most influential leaders and organizations in the world. So far, we’ve been proud to announce collaborations with many impactful initiatives, including Ocean Protocol, SGInnovate, and NR Capital.”\nThey also just inked a deal with Nexus – the world’s first 3D-Chain.\nLike IOTA (MIOTA), this coin is a long way from being attached to a functioning platform where the service is widely-used. But, we can expect that this project will keep pushing forward – and we will certainly keep our eyes on this coin’s price path.\nDisclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency."}
{"content":"As a relationship coach and being in a relationship myself, I\nrealize that we all speak in different languages as it comes to love. The book Five Love Languages, written by Dr. Gary Chapman addresses these love languages in depth, I have included a very small snippet of what each love language means...\nI believe it is important that we make an effort to speak in a way that our spouse can appreciate that we not only want our needs to be met, but we are making a conscious effort to meet their needs as well.\nThere are five love languages in which book by Dr. Gary Chapman addresses: Words of affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and\nWords of affirmation:\nThis person likes to be praised and encouraged. They like to be told that you love them and that you think that they are beautiful, smart, amazing, “the best lover ever.” J\nThis person just wants to spend time with you. This isn’t just going to the movies, but focused attention with quality conversation, eye contact, and real listening.\nThese people are more focused on the thought behind the gift. These gifts are more visual symbols of love and can be simple, inexpensive, and even handmade.\nActs of Service:\nThese people like to be served. They like to be shown that you love them, so give them a massage, wash\ntheir car, iron their clothes. This will speak volumes to them.\nThese people like to be touched. Hugging, Kissing, and being caressed…\nPeople may have one that is prominent to their love language and some people may have a couple who speak to their love language.\nTo learn more about love languages and to take a test to find out what your love language is on Dr. Gary Chapman's website, go to: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/"}
{"content":"Most travelers have a lot to be concerned about when planning a big trip, from booking flights to finding the right accommodations to even trying to pick up a few words of a new language. One thing all travelers think about prior to traveling is money. Between exchanging currency, wondering how much to bring and trying to keep money secure, there are a few solutions that make the issue of money less of a concern. Visa is there to help.\nMost adults who handle money know the difference between a Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express card. Many people have at least one of these cards in their wallet, if not all four.\nWhile each type of card has its benefits, some are more widely accepted than others. And in the case of a Visa card, travelers will be happy to know that it's one of the most accepted cards at institutions around the world. A Visa debit or credit card can be obtained at many banks, including Chase and Bank of America. In addition to debit and credit cards, Visa also offers gift cards and travel cards, which can be useful when traveling.\nA Visa, or any card for that matter, is important to have while traveling because it's one way to keep your money secure. Traveler's checks aren't often accepted anymore, and carrying a lot of cash can be risky. A Visa can keep your money safe in a secured and monitored account, and if any problems arise while traveling, a call to your bank will take care of the issue.\nThat being said, some Visas are more ideal for travel than others. Travelers should consider all the options before deciding which card is right for them.\nA Visa gift card is a Visa card preloaded with a cash balance. It's typically given as a gift. A Visa gift card works like a debit or credit card, in the sense that it's accepted at most places that take Visa. And there is protection if the card is lost or stolen. These cards cannot be reloaded, but they are good for small amounts of money that you want to keep secure. There is a caveat, though. Most Visa gift cards are not accepted in foreign countries.\nAccording to the USA Visa website, a Visa TravelMoney card acts like a regular Visa but offers users the \"security of travelers checks with the convenience of a Visa card.\" Pick up these cards at participating AAA locations across the country. Visa TravelMoney is accepted worldwide and has all the benefits of a regular card with extra perks for travelers:\nBoth Visa gift cards and Visa TravelMoney cards can be excellent choices for travelers. They are safer than traveling with cash. A Visa gift card might be a good choice for a short domestic trip, perhaps for a young traveler going somewhere for the first time or for a family that wants to stick to a very strict budget, since the card cannot be reloaded once it's filled. But for most other travel, the Visa TravelMoney card is a better choice. It is designed specifically for travel, is accepted abroad and offers additional travel-related benefits.\nLeaf Group is a USA TODAY content partner providing general travel information. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY."}
{"content":"The federal government ratcheted up its risk estimates for Central Arizona Project shortages on Wednesday.\nThe odds of a shortage in water deliveries to Arizona and other Lower Colorado River Basin states in 2016 are now 33 percent, up from 21 percent as predicted in January, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said.\nBy 2017, the odds rise to 75 percent, compared to a January prediction of 54 percent.\nThe bureau raised the odds of shortages three days after Lake Mead on the Colorado River hit another record low level — the third time that’s happened since 2010.\nSnowpack levels in the Colorado River’s Upper Basin are significantly lower now than in January, which reduces runoff into the river and into Lake Powell, which releases water to Lake Mead at the Nevada border. Water for the CAP canal system is stored in Lake Mead.\nIf there is a shortage next year, it would reduce total CAP deliveries 320,000 acre-feet, or 20 percent. Seventeen irrigation districts would get less water. There would be no water delivered to the state to recharge into the ground as a set-aside for future shortages. Cities and Indian tribes probably wouldn’t lose CAP water for at least five years.\nThe bureau will make a decision as to whether to declare a shortage for next year as early as August or as late as December.\nThe prospect of shortages highlights the state’s continuing vulnerability to droughts and overuse of Colorado River water compared to its supply.\n“This isn’t a crisis for Arizona, but it’s really a signal that all users in the basin need to address the long-term imbalance between supply and demand,” said Chuck Cullom, CAP’s Colorado River program manager.\nLess water in the river means less for electric power generation at Hoover Dam, less for the river environment and less for recreation, he noted.\nNevada and Mexico would also absorb cuts in water deliveries from the river if a shortage is declared, but the reductions would be far less than Arizona would suffer. California is exempt from any cuts in Colorado River deliveries unless the CAP loses its entire 1.5 million acre-foot supply, under the 1968 federal law that authorized CAP’s construction.\nCullom also expressed concern that the latest forecasts show increasing odds of more serious shortages in 2018, 2019 and 2020.\nIn 2019, for instance, the odds are 24 percent that the project would lose 400,000 acre-feet, or more than 25 percent of its supply, and 10 percent that the project would lose 480,000 acre feet.\nBy 2020, the odds rise to 14 percent that the project would lose 480,000 acre feet and that Lake Mead would drop below 1,025 feet in elevation. Then, the seven river-basin states would have to decide how the river would be managed when and if the lake dropped to the once-unthinkable level of 1,000 feet.\nThat’s the level at which cuts in CAP deliveries to cities and tribes could occur — cuts once considered unlikely until the 2030s."}
{"content":"British Motor tanker\n|Completed||1940 - Sir James Laing & Sons, Sunderland|\n|Owner||United Molasses Co Ltd, London|\n|Date of attack||25 Aug 1940||Nationality: British|\n|Fate||Sunk by U-48 (Hans Rudolf Rösing)|\n|Position||58° 24'N, 11° 25'W - Grid AM 2583|\n|Complement||36 (30 dead and 6 survivors).|\n|Route||Aruba - Bermuda - Methil - London|\n|Cargo||10,125 tons of diesel oil|\n|History||Completed in April 1940 |\n|Notes on event|\nAt 02.45 hours on 25 Aug 1940, U-48 attacked convoy HX-65A 90 miles east by north of Flannan Isles and hit the Athelcrest in station #13 and the Empire Merlin in station #15 with one torpedo each, claiming two ships totaling 14,000 grt sunk.\nThe Athelcrest (Master Llewellyn V.F. Evans) was struck on the port side between bunker and boiler room by one G7e torpedo and caught fire after an internal explosion with flames enveloping the poop, the main deck and bridge. The ship stopped at once and slowly settled by the stern until only 20 feet of her bow was visible over the water. 29 crew members and one gunner (the ship was armed with one 12pdr and one 4in gun) were lost. The master and five crew members managed to launch two lifeboats in the heavy swell, but suffered from oil and sulphur fumes from Empire Merlin. They were picked up after 4 hours by HMS Godetia (K 72) (LtCdr G.V. Legassick, RNR), which scuttled the wreck of the tanker with gunfire and later landed the survivors at Rosyth.\n|On board||We have details of 31 people who were on board.|\nIf you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us."}
{"content":"eCourses are individual online courses from renowned presenters at our live conferences. Learn via audio or video, receive the supporting materials, and fulfill MCLE requirements at your convenience with the best content available!\nThese courses are CLE accredited in Texas and California, with some accredited in Oklahoma.\nIf you need credit for an eCourse in other states please read through the disclaimerbefore purchasing an eCourse to make sure you will be able to self-report your MCLE credit after completion of the eCourse\nGain tips for dealing with the legal and other challenges associated with disasters like Hurricane Harvey, including employee issues, force majeure, business continuity planning, recovery efforts, and maintaining good customer and public relations. more »\nSession 1: HB 40/245 Between a Gas Rock and a Hard Place - Listen to a discussion about the effect of HB 40 on the enforcement of setbacks, noise, and other gas drilling and fire code regulations as it relates to Chapter 245 and residential subdivision development.\nSession 2: Regulations of Really Nimby (Dangerous) Land Uses - Analyze the recent Texas Supreme Court decision regarding nuisance (Crosstex North Texas Pipeline v. Gardiner) and its effect on prosecuting future nuisance cases.\nSession 3: Fair Housing and Inclusive Communities - Explore controversies, hot topics, and recent developments in Fair Housing litigation, regulation, and initiatives.\nSession 4: Navigating the Muddied Waters of Environmental Investigations in Land Use - Learn tips, tricks, and strategies for identifying and evaluating environmental concerns in property development. more »\nSession 1: Bracing for Impacts: A Practical Guide to Preparing for Disasters - Law firms are not immune to disasters – severe weather, work place violence, medical emergencies. What is a lawyer’s ethical duty to prepare for disasters, and how can they go about it efficiently?\nSession 2: Post-Disaster Regulation - Consider forward-looking planning and regulatory approaches to recovery and new building after a disaster—from the legal, planning, and engineering perspectives—with a particular emphasis on minimizing private and public sector legal challenges.\nSession 3: Ethics and Natural Disaster - A review of ethical issues arising from a natural disaster from an attorney whose been there, done that, and declined the T-shirt. more »\nCorporates and industrials (C&I) are now major purchasers of green energy. According to Bloomberg, C&Is and wind companies signed 20 deals in 2015 with a total of 2.3 GW. By August 2016, 9 deals for 630 MW had been signed—with many more reported to be under negotiation. Explore the future of C&Is as a major class of buyer. Will the trend continue? What could stop it? What’s the prognosis for utility-scale solar C&I deals? What new markets (geographically) are C&Is interested in? What are the key contractual and financial terms that C&Is and developers have to resolve to get to a deal and to get projects financed and built? more »\nSession 1: Wanted: Dead or Alive? An Update on the Status of EPA's Clean Power Plan - The validity and merits of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan have been the focus of contentious debate—with a number of significant governmental and private entities seeking to uphold the Plan and others seeking to kill it. In February 2016, the Supreme Court, surprisingly to many, stayed the implementation of the plan and the DC Circuit Court heard oral arguments this fall. Since then, there’s been an election. What now? This presentation offers a prognosis for the Clean Power Plan.\nSession 2: Siting Insights: Looking Back and Looking Ahead at Key Environmental Developments - 2016 was a remarkable year with many significant developments involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies that directly impact renewable energy development activities. Review these developments and take stock of what they mean for project siting decisions going forward. Hear insights into what those developments tell us about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's approach to its statutory mandates and what we can expect to see in the year to come. more »\nEnergy and water are precious, global resources, and they are interconnected. Gain perspective on the global nexus of energy and water to outline trends while identifying technical and policy options that might mitigate the challenges. more »\nUsing a series of hypotheticals, explore a number of ethical issues that are especially pertinent to water law practitioners—including who is the client, the duty to disclose, and conflicts—with lessons on how clients and their counsel can minimize ethical, as well as legal, risks. more »\nEnvironmental laws and regulations range from the deeply technical to more prosaic record-keeping requirements. Many companies have substantial teams of environmental compliance specialists that combine deep legal and technical understanding without being lawyers. Hear where the General Counsel and outside counsel fit into this compliance and enforcement world. more »\nSession 1: Texas Legislative and Regulatory Update - Listen to highlights of the 85th Legislative Session and recent judicial and administrative decisions affecting the Texas gas and electric industries.\nSession 2: Federal Energy Policy and Regulation Update - Gain insight on how the new FERC chairman and commissioners will redirect the future of electric power and natural gas regulation.\nSession 3: Dodd-Frank: President Trump’s Agenda Changes Everything, Or Does It? - President Trump is using all the tools in his Presidential Toolbox—Presidential Appointments, Executive Orders, CRA Rejection of Obama-Era Final Rules, Federal Budget Approval Process, Tax Proposals, Legislative Agenda, the Bully Pulpit, Foreign Policy Initiatives, Bilateral Trade Treaty Negotiations, and, of course, his Twitter Account!—to alter much of the regulatory landscape established by his predecessor. Early on, there was talk of repealing the Dodd-Frank Act, but where are we now? Listen to a discussion about what is likely to change, what is likely to remain, and how the gas and power industries will be affected. more »\nEnergy projects involve a myriad of complex issues, ranging from state vs. federal regulatory control, to landowner impacts, to broad policy issues (climate change, “leave it in the ground,” etc). The scale of active opposition has been magnified by increased funding from multiple sources, coupled with an unprecedented number of major projects. Consider how to build energy projects in the face of widening political divisions at the federal, state and local levels. more »"}
{"content":"Capacity Scaling and Optimal Operation of Wireless Networks\nMetadataShow full item record\nHow much information can be transferred over a wireless network and what is the optimal strategy for the operation of such network? This thesis tries to answer some of these questions from an information theoretic approach. A model of wireless network is formulated to capture the main features of the wireless medium as well as topology of the network. The performance metrics are throughput and transport capacity. The throughput is the summation of all reliable communication rates for all source-destination pairs in the network. The transport capacity is a sum rate where each rate is weighted by the distance over which it is transported. Based on the network model, we study the scaling laws for the performance measures as the number of users in the network grows. First, we analyze the performance of multihop wireless network under different criteria for successful reception of packets at the receiver. Then, we consider the problem of information transfer without arbitrary assumptions on the operation of the network. We observe that there is a dichotomy between the cases of relatively high signal attenuation and low attenuation. Moreover, a fundamental relationship between the performance metrics and the total transmitted power of users is discovered. As a result, the optimality of multihop is demonstrated for some scenarios in high attenuation regime, and better strategies than multihop are proposed for the operation in the low attenuation regime. Then, we study the performance of a special class of networks, random networks, where the traffic is uniformly distributed inside the networks. For this special class, the upperbounds on the throughput are presented for both low and high attenuation cases. To achieve the presented upperbounds, a hierarchical cooperation scheme is analyzed and optimized by choosing the number of hierarchical stages and the corresponding cluster sizes that maximize the total throughput. In addition, to apply the hierarchical cooperation scheme to random networks, a clustering algorithm is developed, which divides the whole network into quadrilateral clusters, each with exactly the number of nodes required.\nCite this version of the work\nJavad Ghaderi Dehkordi (2008). Capacity Scaling and Optimal Operation of Wireless Networks. UWSpace. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/3825"}
{"content":"The Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, Kansas, is a living memorial to what life was like between 1865 and 1880 off the historic Chisholm Trail. The museum’s permanent collection includes over 10,000 artifacts, textiles, furnishings, art pieces, and tools. In addition, an archival collection of photographs, letters, and documents is used for historical research to ensure the authenticity of the museum’s displays and programs. The museum educates guests on the history of an Old West settlement, which became a cattle town and, subsequently, a city of agriculture and manufacturing.\nThere are 54 buildings in Old Cowtown, 27 of which are historical and have been brought to the property from other locations throughout Kansas to be preserved by the museum. The site is split into a business district, which includes Main Street, and a residential district, which includes several historical residential homes. A 5-acre period farm and outbuildings are also located within the museum’s 23 acres. Live animals on the farm include milk cows, sheep, goats, and chickens.\nThe centerpiece of the farm is the Smith House, an 1884 example of National Folk-style architecture. The Buffalo Hunter and Trader Area includes several historical log cabins and demonstrates the history of hunting and trading, the area’s first economic activities. Among the historical buildings is the City Eagle Print Shop, a wood-frame building with glass display windows and a false front that is representative of the iconic architecture of the late 1800s. Prior to serving as a print shop at the museum, the building was a grocery store, and later a jewelry repair shop. A front-gabled frame building, O’Hara’s Barbershop, was originally built in the 1880s as the home of the Wichita Township Hall. At the museum, it serves as a barbershop and teaches of the history of the small shops where men could get a shave and a haircut, and travelers and cowboys could have a bath.\nThe museum’s jail building is an example of 19th century horizontal plank construction. The small building was purchased by the museum in 1952 for one dollar. The Blood Family Homestead educates guests on the history of Gilman Blood and his descendants, who operated the Blood Orchard in Wichita for over four generations. The “hall and parlor” home is indicative of late 19th century home construction and is filled with artifacts that represent the way it would have looked when Gilman Blood lived there. Costumed interpreters bring the site’s history to life and daily activities take place throughout the museum. Blacksmiths and printers demonstrate their crafts, “gunfights” occur on Main Street in front of the saloon, and wagon rides tour guests aboard horse-drawn carriages.\nThe Chisholm Trail was a post-Civil War cattle-driving route that brought stock from ranches in Texas to the railroads in Kansas. Jesse Chisholm, for whom the trail was named, established a trading post at what would soon become Wichita. The town incorporated as a city in 1870. Eventually, new cattle-trails to the east and new rail lines would render cattle driving along the Chisholm Trail obsolete, but Wichita continued to thrive as settlers moved to the area in search of opportunity. The Old Cowtown Museum has been acquiring the historical artifacts and buildings in its collection for more than 50 years. While some historical structures were donated as far back as 1949, others were acquired in the 2000s. Old Cowtown Museum is supported by Historic Wichita Cowtown, Inc., a non-profit advisory board that works in partnership with the City of Wichita.\nOngoing Programs and Education\nThe museum offers both self-guided and guided tours. Costumed interpreters work throughout the museum to interact with guests and answer questions. The History Immersion Experience is a special guided tour in which guests learn about settler’s life through the eyes of three entrepreneurs from the late 1800s. School groups may join a guided tour or make use of the facility for self-guided activities. For example, teachers may use the one-room schoolhouse to lead a classroom as they would have done in the 1800s, with slates and chalk. Old Sedgewick County Fair Education Day takes place each October and allows students to spend time in areas of the museum that are of the most interest to them. A variety of programming is available for scout groups of all ages to earn history badges. Old West Photography works in partnership with the museum to take portraits of visitors in period costumes.\n1865 W Museum Blvd, Wichita, KS 67203, Phone: 316-350-3323\nMore: Best resorts in Kansas, Places to Visit in Kansas, Things to Do in Kansas, wedding venues in Kansas, Things to Do in Lawrence, Wichita breakfast, Kansas vacation, Best lakes in Kansas, Things to Do in Manhattan KS"}
{"content":"While the Commitment of Traders (COT) Report is not an exact timing indicator, it can aid in forex trading and provide a context for current and future market movements. There are potentially many ways to use the COT Report for analyzing a forex pair. Here is one COT Report forex strategy, along with basics of what the COT report is, and why it is worth paying attention to.\nCOT Report Basics for Forex Trading\nSimply put, large traders and institutions must disclose their futures positions each Tuesday, which is called the “As of “date (currencies, or forex pairs, trade via futures market as well via the forex and cash markets). These positions are then revealed to the public each Friday, at 3:30 PM EST, in the COT report published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).\nHow these large traders and institutions are positioned gives insight into whether a trend is likely to continue or reverse. While the data only shows information on futures contracts, and not the transactions that occur in the forex market, the COT report is still a very good estimate of how other traders are positioned, and thus should be monitored by both currency futures traders and forex traders.\nBefore going into COT Report forex strategies I want to briefly outline a few of the key elements. The COT Report has quite a bit of data, yet there is really only a few pieces of information I care about: the net position of Commercials, the net positions of Large Speculators, and how these positions have changed over time.\nCommercials are hedgers, businesses, producers, etc, who have large positions that are often offsetting another position or transaction. Commercials include importers or exporters who are hedging foreign currency exposure to control costs or normalize income. As a group, these are counter trend traders. They can afford to hold positions against large trends because their transactions are often a hedge, and thus do not expose them to a direct loss. Think of a gold producer. They know they will be producing gold, and will need to sell it. They therefore sell gold futures to lock in a price that they can sell their gold at. If the price of gold goes up, they missed out on making more on their gold, but they still get to sell their gold at the price they locked in. If the price of gold goes down, they still get to sell at the price they locked in. The commercials are largely engaged in this type of trading. They do want to get a good price for whatever it is they are doing, but they are not typically speculating (although some may) on what the price will do, they are simply locking in prices (for commodities or currencies) to run their business.\nLarge Speculators on the other hand are mostly hedge funds. Despite the name “hedge fund” these large speculators are rarely hedged, and therefore cannot sustain large losses or afford to trade against the trend. As a group Large Speculators are trend followers. Speculators are the people on the other side of the Commercial’s transactions.\nSince Large Speculators are trend followers and much more sensitive to price movements (they are speculating and are therefore more likely to experience a direct loss of funds if a trade goes opposite to what they expect) than the Commercials, Large Speculators are the group of prime interest and the group on which our COT Report forex strategies are based.\nCalculating the net position over time “by hand” is possible as the reports are released weekly by the CFTC, but that is ultimately unnecessary. Using a COT Report chart is one of the easiest ways to track the data for trading purposes.\nCOT Report data is chartable on barcharts.com. Select the futures contract you wish to view a chart of. The COT data is shown along the bottom of chart (we only care about the one that includes Large Spec., Small Spec, Comm Spec)\nThe following is an example of a Euro (FX) futures chart showing the COT Report data along the bottom. The frequency of the chart is “weekly continuation” and the period is 5 years.\nIn the chart above we can see the net positions of the Commercials (red) and Large Speculators (green). The chart shows that the speculators usually move with the price, and commercials against the price. When a line is below the “0” mark it means the net position is short, while above the “0” line means the net position is long.\nOne other thing to note is that a currency future is relative to the US dollar. Therefore, the Euro future will move with the EUR/USD. The Canadian dollar future will move with the CAD/USD, which is inverse to the USD/CAD forex pair most forex traders are used to. When the USD is the second currency in the pair, the future and the currency pair will move in unison. In currency pairs where the USD is first, the futures will move opposite the pair, such as the case with the CAD futures. Remember this when analyzing COT data and acting on it in the forex market.\nBy visually seeing the COT data in this way we can extract useful information, which then provides the basis for our COT Report forex strategy.\nCOT Report Forex Trading – Extreme Levels Can Indicate a Reversal\nWhen speculators are accumulating a position it can be a confirmation that there is interest in the trend. If shorts are being accumulated as the price drops, or if long positions are being accumulated as the price rises, this can be a good sign the trend will continue. But speculators have a limit–they can’t purchase or sell indefinitely. They may run out of money, simply wish to take profit (or losses) or may no longer feel as much conviction to keep buying at higher prices or selling at lower prices. When speculators are tapped out, want out or don’t want to invest anymore, there is nowhere left for the price to go, but to reverse.\nTherefore, the COT data can be used as a type of “overbought/oversold” indicator in terms of the health of the traders within the market. Each futures market will be a bit different, but critical COT levels will often repeat and indicate when speculators are overextended.\nThe Euro futures chart above shows that when speculators were 200,000 contracts short, or close to it, this generally resulted in a price reversal to the upside [over time these extreme levels may continue to push outwards. It is not a single level that is important (200,000 contracts, for example) but rather watching for new extremes, and then reversals in price and COT direction after those extremes start to show up].\nThis method is not recommended for a top or bottom picking strategy; it can be used to provide a context for other analysis and be used to confirm reversals in price though. Extreme levels can look easy to isolate in hindsight, but are not ideal timing indicators. That said, it is very useful for alerting traders when a reversal could be nearby. The COT data should not be acted on alone though; wait for price to confirm a potential reversal signal in the COT data (more on this later).\nLet’s look at another example, and see how the COT data could have aided in making a trading decision.\nThe chart below shows Canadian dollar futures (D6), along with COT data. We can see that the Canadian dollar was in a long term decline versus the US dollar (futures contracts are traded against the USD, unless otherwise stated). In 2015, Large Specs had accumulated a short position close to -65,000 contracts. This only resulted in a minor bump up in price. In early 2016, the same short position resulted in a much larger up move. Of note is that this is when oil started to bounce, and the Canadian economy is heavily dependent on the price of oil. The rise in oil combined with an extreme reading on the Large Specs pointed to a move higher in the Canadian dollar.\nUltimately though, we want price action to help confirm our trades. While those COT levels in 2015 and 2016 were more extreme than what we had seen in the past, it would have been relatively hard to make a trade based on them…unless you were also looking at oil and making a determination that it was likely to turn higher, which would bolster the Canadian dollar in early 2016.\nWith a few data points behind us for reference, the next major opportunity to use the COT came in 2017. But first a bit of context. In 2016 the price shot up, and the up move has larger than the last swing to the downside (Sept ’15 to Jan ’16). That is a very positive price action signal. It indicates that the downtrend may be over. But we want more evidence, which is why I usually wait for a pullback before taking trade (with most of my strategies). Throughout out 2016 and into 2017 we have a very lengthy and slow-moving decline. It is a much weaker down move than the prior up move. That’s another positive sign (read Price Action Trading with Velocity and Magnitude).\nBased on the price action, the stage is set. We have two compelling price action reasons to consider a long trade. In May, COT Large Spec short positions increase to well below the -65,000 point of interest. The position ultimately reaches -99,000 in late May. By mid-June that short position has decreased to below 90,000 and the position moves up toward zero every week after, showing that the Large Specs are quickly shifting their bias. Price is also rising during this time.\nIf we zero in on a daily chart we can see some possible trade locations. The first would been at the bottom of this weak descending channel. Remember, based on the price action we were expecting another move higher, and at this point the COT is at an extreme reading, confirming a move to the upside is likely coming.\nThe price consolidates at the bottom of the channel, and then breaks above that consolidation, providing the first possible entry into a long trade (note that at this point, the Large Specs were still increasing their short position). For those who have read my Forex Strategies Guide, this would be a Front-Running trade. The price then rallies to the top of the channel, and consolidates. At this point the Large Specs are starting to buy (short position is moving back toward zero). So price and COT are confirming a move up. The price breaks higher out of the consolidation and the descending channel, signaling another possible trade. Since that time, the Large Specs have become bullish, flipping from short to long. This has helped fuel the rally, which is why we want to anticipate what these guys will do, and we do that by knowing that a big reversal is often coming when these these Large Spec positions are near extremes.\nThe above chart is a futures chart though, not a forex chart. If you are trading the USD/CAD, the same analysis would apply, but it would be flipped upside down. Remember, we were expecting the CAD to increase in 2017, based on price action and COT data. If we expect the CAD to go up, what will the USD/CAD do? It will fall, because if the CAD goes up, the USD goes down. The same trades and setups are present on the USDCAD chart, except we would have been going short the USDCAD (which is equivalent to going long the CADUSD or CAD futures).\nTrading With COT Extremes – Warnings\nHave other pieces of evidence that help confirm a trade. It isn’t wise to just assume the price will reverse because the Large Specs are near a historically extreme level. Over time, these extreme levels tend to expand. In the CAD futures chart above, -99,000 was extreme. That may hold in the future as well, but several years down the road new extremes may be hit at 125,000 or 150,000. Positions can also stay near extreme levels for extended periods of time, without causing a price reversal. That is why we need other pieces of evidence. The extreme COT alerts us to a possible trade (or to avoid a trade) but it doesn’t SIGNAL a trade.\nThis article is focused on COT, and how it can be used as an additional piece of evidence for taking trades. The article did not discuss stop loss levels or profit targets (taking profits). These are elements of a trading strategy, and should be considered on each trade before placing it. COT data is not a strategy in and out of itself, rather it is just a tool that can be combined with a trading strategy and trading plan.\nIF THE COT IS NOT NEAR AN EXTREME, I DO NOT CONSIDER IT IN MY TRADING DECISIONS. I wouldn’t over-use this indicator. If you get a valid trade signal based on your strategies, and the COT data isn’t near an extreme, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take your trade signal. COT data is just an extra piece of data. If I get a valid trade signal, I take it. It’s just that occasionally COT may help in analyzing or confirming (or rejecting) trades. But as we can see from the CAD example, the COT data was only relevant (to how I trade) a few times over the last several years. It is still worth paying attention to, because when price action and extreme COT levels collide, it lets you know the likely direction of a major move.\nWhen looking at COT data, start with at least a 10 year chart for picking out extreme levels. Prior extreme long and short Long Spec positions are areas of interest, but remember these tend to expand outward over time. Make a note of these extreme levels, and then watch for trade signals as the price nears or exceeds these levels. If you only look at extreme levels on a 1 or 2 year chart, you may be missing historically significant information. If we look at a CAD futures chart (with COT data) going back to 2007, we would see that 65,000 to 100,000 contract positions had been significant in the past as well.\nCOT Report Forex Trading – Conclusion\nOne way I like to use COT data on my chart is to look for extremes in Large Spec. positions. While it isn’t an exact timing indicator, if other conditions align and I get a valid trade setup, an extreme level on the COT can often mean a sharp and large price reversal. Since we know that extreme COT levels often cause the price to move in the opposite direction of the recent trend, we gain insight into what direction we want to be trading before the reversal actually occurs. As COT levels reach extremes, it can also warn us to avoid trading in that trend direction, as it may be ripe for a reversal.\nJust because a COT reading is at or near an extreme doesn’t mean the price will have a massive reversal. Sometimes we have positions stay at extreme levels for long periods of time, and the price continues to move in the trend direction without any major price reversals. This is why we don’t use the COT in isolation. We want to combine this approach with other technical or fundamental approaches, and ideally with specific price action strategies (that confirm when the price reversal may be starting).\nFor other forex trading strategies, check out the Forex Trading Strategies Guide for Day and Swing Traders eBook, by Cory Mitchell. At over 300 pages, and including more than 20 strategies, it is more than an eBook…it’s a complete course on forex trading.\nBy Cory Mitchell, CMT\nSome other articles you may enjoy:\nHigh Probability Forex Engulfing Candle Trading Strategy – A trading strategy using engulfing candles as an entry point into a defined trend. Useful for noting the transition from pullback to trend. Provides an alternate entry method compared to the “traditional” approach.\nABC Forex Trading Strategy – (Video) – A simple but powerful price pattern seen in all markets; it gets you in in the direction of strong momentum.\nHow to Identify a Trend Change in Real-Time (video) – A look at how to monitor real-time changes in direction."}
{"content":"It is not an enjoyable experience watching the Republican Party descend into the depths of propaganda and falsehood. Today`s disaffected Republicans once believed the GOP to be the party of principle. Any remaining claim to principle ended with Bush`s invasion of Iraq.\nNo informed person believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or terrorist connections to al-Qaida and involvement in the September 11 attacks.\nIt is not possible that the President and Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the CIA and the National Security Adviser could have believed such rubbish.\nYet each one of them told the American people, the US Congress, the United Nations, and our allies that they did believe it.\nDid US intelligence agencies actually convey totally false information to the highest government officials? If so, these agencies are the greatest threat to innocent people abroad and to the US government`s credibility.\nSuch incompetence is more dangerous than terrorism. The agencies should be immediately abolished.\nContrary to Bush administration propaganda, Saddam Hussein was precisely the type of secular Arab ruler who would feature large on Osama bin Laden`s hit list. Hussein brutally suppressed Islamic leaders, knocking off cleric after cleric, including Moqtada al-Sadr`s father, a grand ayatollah.\nIf Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction to give terrorists, the terrorists would have used them on Israel. The US is a derivative target because of our alliance with Israel against the Palestinians.\nBush and Rumsfeld claim that they believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Yet, it is certain that the Joint Chiefs and commanding generals did not believe the falsehood. No general, no matter how incompetent, would have concentrated his invasion army in a small area adjacent to an enemy armed with WMD, when one weapon could wipe out the entire US invasion force.\nNo one has been held accountable for the unjustified invasion of Iraq that has destroyed America`s standing in the world and has cost tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and thousands of American dead and wounded.\nDon`t expect a demand for accountability from the public. A poll released August 20 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that 54% of Americans continue to believe Iraq had WMD; 35% believe that Iraq was closely linked to al-Qaida, and 15% believe Iraq was involved in the September 11 attack.\nThe answer is that an independent media no longer exists in the US.\nFormerly independent media are now submerged into corporate chains where focus on advertising revenues means zero tolerance for controversy. In the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq, the US media served as a propaganda arm for the Bush administration. The New York Times and Washington Post have since published mild apologies for neglecting their responsibilities, but the US media has been muzzled by the \"you-are-with-us-or-against-us\" mantra.\nAnyone who tells the truth is in the \"against-us\" camp.\nHaving gotten away with one invasion based on deception, the Bush administration is eager to repeat the offense. Last week Undersecretary of State John Bolton used a Hudson Institute forum to repeat before a live C-SPAN TV audience the same lies—only this time it is Iran which has WMD:\n\"Today I`d like to speak about Iran, which has concealed a large-scale, covert nuclear weapons program for over 18 years, and which, therefore, is one of our most fundamental proliferation challenges. All of Iran`s WMD efforts—chemical weapons, biological weapons, nuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles—pose grave threats to international security.\" [Preventing Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons John R. Bolton, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Remarks to the Hudson Institute Washington, DC August 17, 2004]\nThe grave threat to international security is posed by the Bush administration`s relentless war propaganda. Does Bolton really believe that a nuclear weapons program, with all its extraordinary requirements, could be concealed for 18 years?\nThere is total failure of US diplomacy. Is the failure intentional? Does the Bush administration desire more war in the Middle East?\nEvery indicator reads yes. The US has struck an aggressive stance toward Iraq, Syria and Iran—the three Middle Eastern countries that are not ruled by American puppets on the American payroll.\nNow that the Soviet Union is no longer a check on US intrusions in the Middle East, the Bush administration intends to complete the colonization under the cloak of bringing \"democracy\" to Islam.\nThis is the neoconservative agenda. The same neocons who control the Bush administration have put forward this plan in written and spoken form for all to read and hear.\nThey have informed us of their war intentions, and we are paying no attention.\nIf you favor the return of the draft and war without end, vote Republican.\nCOPYRIGHT CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.\nPaul Craig Roberts is the author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice"}
{"content":"Hispanic students continue to fail in California schools, showing that all the money in the world cannot buy what nature has not given.\nSan Jose Mercury News August 9, 2013 by Sharon Noguchi\nCalifornia STAR Tests: Students In Santa Clara, San Mateo And Santa Cruz Counties Drop In Proficiency\nReflecting a statewide trend, students in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties slipped this year in academic performance, while their schools also stalled in campaigns to narrow the gap between high- and low-achieving groups of students, according to standardized test scores released Thursday.\nThe score decline ends eight straight years of gains in achievement in math and English, as measured on California`s Standardized Testing and Reporting assessments, a battery of tests administered each spring.\nBut dissecting that figure reveals that 80 percent of Asian students tested proficient, but only 21 percent of Latino students did, the same as in the two previous years. Still, algebra proficiency among Latinos has increased dramatically over nine years ago, when it was only 8 percent.\nThe gap is nearly as wide in Santa Clara County reveal results for math in grades 2 to 7: Proficiency was 92 percent for Asians, 83 percent for whites, and 53 percent for Latinos. After narrowing last year, the white-Latino gap grew by a point. In 10th grade science, proficiency was 83 percent among Asians and 38 percent among Latinos, according to results culled by the Santa Clara County Office of Education.\nA similar gap exists in San Mateo County.\nLatino math scores are 30.7 percentage points lower than those of whites, compared with a 20 percentage-point gap statewide. And in science, the white-Latino gap is 38.6 percentage points in San Mateo County, versus 28.2 percent in the state.\nWhat it tells us is that the achievement gap is insoluble, and further immigration by low achievers will do nothing for a State collapsing in on itself.\nA further look at the graph for student scores shows a big fat F, achievement plateaued at 56% proficiency."}
{"content":"Viet Nam News\nSƠN LA — Ethnic minority girls from remote mountainous areas in Sơn La Province are pushing themselves for marriage, despite being underage, in the hope of a better life.\nChildren as young as 13 still believe tying the knot will help them get out of poverty even though getting married so young could lead to a precarious future.\nMany marry when they are between 13 and 16 years old even though the Law on Marriage and Family sets the minimum legal age at 18 for women and 20 for men.\nAs a result, many have ended up carrying the burden of being child brides, including interrupting in schooling, early pregnancy and social isolation. They have found themselves stuck at home, unemployed and poor.\nMarried before adulthood\nHờ Thị Chư is among such cases. The H’Mông girl was married with a boy at the same village in Vân Hồ District’s Lóng Luông Commune when she was 15. At the age of 18, she is now mother of two children, three years old and six-months old.\nLife of post-marriage of the girl is full of difficulties. Chư is living with her parents-in-law in a cottage in the hillside in Co Lóng Village. There is nothing valuable in the cottage. In rainy season, all six members of the family usually stay hungry as there are no jobs available for them at fields.\nChư told a Vietnam News Agency correnpondent that she and her husband were both under the legal age for marriage, so they could not register for marriage certificate.\nThis means both their children don’t have birth certificates or health insurance cards.\n“When they get ill, I take them to a healer in the village to get medicine,” she said.\nGiàng Thị Gánh, another girl in Vân Hồ District’s Vân Hồ Commune is luckier. She dropped out of school to get married when she was 17. Her husband, Sồng A Giống, has graduated from high school and earned a living thanks to the family’s tea garden. Gánh is now staying at home, doing household work and taking care of the children.\nShe said early marriage was a traditional custom of H’Mông people in her village, who believed the ideal ages of a girl to get married were between 13 and 14.\nGánh said she was afraid that the boy would fall in love with another girl if she hesitated to tie the knot with him. Although the school representatives came to persuade her to keep her studying, she insisted on quitting her education to start a family.\nGánh now regrets the decision and says she wanted to go back to school one day.\nAccording to the provincial Department of Population and Family Planning, Sơn La was among the provinces with highest numbers of early marriage in the country. In 2017, as many as 1,500 child marriages took place, accounting for 18.7 per cent of total marriages of the province.\nOf that, Vân Hồ District had the highest rate of child marriage, accounting for 27.3 per cent of total child marriages in the province.\nEfforts achieved little\nThe number of early marriages is showing little signs of slowing down, while functional agencies admit their efforts to protect young girls from being child brides have not been successful.\nHà Thị Liên, official who is in charge of population and family planning issues from Vân Hồ District’s Health Preventive Centre, said early marriage was a traditional practice of ethnic minorities as they believed it would help their children stabilise their life and have more people to work.\nThe number has a tendency to increase due to the shortage of reproductive knowledge of young people, leading to unwanted pregnancy, she said.\nChairman of Vân Hồ Commune’s People’s Committee Ngô Văn Dự said the committee had worked with other neighbouring communes to strengthen education on reproductive healthcare and early marriage to young people in Vân Hồ, Lóng Luông communes in Sơn La Province and Pa Cò and Hang Kia communes in Hòa Bình Province.\nThe four communes had set up a general convention for local H’Mông people, in which they commit not to conduct child marriage for their children.\nHowever, Dự said, the convention brought no effectiveness as many local people are not aware of the consequences.\nHead of the provincial Department of Population and Family Planning Trần Đình Thuận, said early marriage posed a challenge on improving population quality and was a barrier for development in communities.\nThuận said after the project was approved, the province has implemented measures to improve the situation.\nAfter three years of implementation, 12 schools have been built at 35 communes and the model of intervention on early and inter-family marriage has been carried out.\nThe province hopes to reduce the rate of early and inter-family marriage to 18.5 per cent by 2020.\nThuận said education needs to be boosted in the future. Local authorities need to co-operate with heads or elderly persons of each village to put a stop to backward customs in their communities.\nHe also suggested that those who were in charge of managing and curbing early marriages take more responsibility.\nFines for violators needed to be increased, he said, adding that the current fines were not strict enough. — VNS"}
{"content":"As part of the New Zealand curriculum the principle of coherence means that we should be aiming to create opportunities that make links for our students across our learning areas and as teachers work together to plan and implement cross curricula units.\nBy working in an interdisciplinary fashion we can open students eyes to a wider view, to look through many lenses and to foster innovation in our children (Thomas McDonagh Group, 2011). Innovation is important for our growth as a society and working together to find solutions helps to achieve this.\nNext year as a result of our school’s curriculum review an outcome has been the creation of an enrichment program. This is an opportunity for our junior students (year 9 & 10) to choose interdisciplinary subjects that defy our traditional pigeon holes that have been our subject silos (where I have lived comfortably for the last fourteen years).\nWhen I heard they were looking for volunteers to teach one of the courses I jumped from the launching pad of my comfort zone. It was perfect timing, full of fresh perspectives from the Mindlab, I was looking for a space where the true expression of these ideas could be given their wings. Within my subject area I was able to apply some of the teaching from the course; but what could be achieved with a blank slate, unhindered, unfettered and free to explore possibilities? One of the exciting chances offered by this enrichment program is delivering it with two colleagues from different departments, bringing to bear their experiences from Health & P.E, and English to add to my Science background.\nAs we start the planning for the course we bring three opinions, viewpoints and backgrounds together. After reading The logic of interdisciplinary studies (1997) by Mathison and Freeman where interdisciplinary, integrated, and integrative approaches to teaching are compared, I would suggest our approach to the “Drive” topic we are creating is an integrated approach rather than interdisciplinary.\nThough both share higher order thinking skills, motivation and cognition, we are taking a guided approach rather than authoritative, and valuing inquiry rather than content coverage. An aspect of the integrative approach that will be a factor in our course is citizenship where we hope to use opportunities to discuss digital citizenship in terms of online feedback to others.\nMy initial understanding was that all these words meant the same thing and I would have thrown thematic units into the mix as well. However, they are all different and at the core of integrated units are the students, negotiating their learning, with teachers scaffolding and guiding them. By negotiating students gain ownership, are motivated and more enthusiastic about their learning. Some of the challenges highlighted by Fraser, Aitken & Whyte, in their book Connecting Curriculum, Linking Learning (2013) were;\n- the messy process of inquiry.\n- the challenge of trying something new and unknown.\n- a lack of knowledge about integrated learning and how it should be applied.\nPart of the planing for our Drive unit for 2018, focusing on reflection, feedback and self directed inquiry where students choose a new skill and plan their learning, we have used the metaphor of a journey.\nMy knowledge and understanding as well as my confidence that our planning will be more successful have increased as a result of the readings for this blog. It was perfect timing and has helped shape our thinking. Having two of us involved in the Mindlab course working on the development of our “Drive” unit has been beneficial because we are both on the same page. We are excited, problems look like opportunities and each challenge is a chance to try something new.\nWe believe the benefits will outweigh any disadvantages and we look forward to seeing if the positive outcomes of increased motivation, reflection, enhanced collaborative skills and critical thinking (Fraser, Aitken, Whyte, 2013) might be the result of our new course.\nOne of the student templates we are working on for our Drive unit for 2018.\nFraser, D., Aitken, V. and Whyte, B. (2013). Connecting curriculum, linking learning. Wellington: NZCER.\nMathison,S.. & Freeman, M.(1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf:\nNzcurriculum.tki.org.nz. (2017). Coherence / Principles / Kia ora – NZ Curriculum Online. [online] Available at: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Principles/Coherence [Accessed 18 Nov. 2017].\nThomasMcDonaghGroup. ( 2011, May 13). Interdisciplinarity and Innovation Education.. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDdNzftkIpA"}
{"content":"Many commercial buildings have a rubber roof on the tops of the buildings. These are popular choices because these are the slopes that are generally found on most of the housing structures. Most of the roofs used for the commercial structures are flat. The challenge with this choice is how to guard the building against water damage. Unlike sloping surface, a flat roof does not have the support of gravity to direct the water away from the surface. This is the main motivation for choosing rubber as a surface coating. Over the time you will need to do some rubber roof repair to protect and extend the life of the surface. With 20 years of experience, Schrock Commercial Roofing has been conducting Rubber Roof Repair Billings Montana, and other neighborhood regions. For free estimates, you can call us at (406) 961-2990 which is going to be conducted onsite by one of our licensed repair professionals. An expert of our team will examine your roof thoroughly and identify all problem areas. We will then go to work quickly and efficiently to repair the problems and restore your roof to like-new quality!\nThe main cause which can create a lot of rubber roof issues is pounding water. During rainy season water starts to ponder all around the roof. Pondering water can create leaks and give an access to excessive growth of mold and mildews.\nAnother cause is UV rays of the sun which can create cracks in the rubber roof. These UV rays can cause rubber roof to break down much faster.\nMoisture is one of the main factors which can create a lot of issues to your roof. It starts to get entrapped in the rubber roof creating a lot of issues in the future.\nInadequate Roof Drainage:\nHaving a roof which is inadequate when it comes to draining the water which is pondering on the roof can create a lot of issues. Since the water is not able to find a way to flow down the surface, the water starts to pond and leaks start to appear on different parts of your house.\nTo keep your roof healthy, cleaning the dirt under the membrane is a must. If not cleaned or maintained on regular basis, this accumulation will stop the flow of water again creating leaks. This dirt can also create a lot of airborne diseases which can affect the health of your loved ones.\nSome of the benefits of rubber roof repairs offers:\n- Development of a seam-free, waterproof membrane.\n- Reinforcement of your building’s structure.\n- Removal of entry points for dirt and water.\n- Roof coating is capable of stretching and contracting with varying temperatures.\n- Resistant to ruptures and cracks.\n- Provides high-performance weatherproofing.\n- Verified wind, fire and hail resistance.\n- Significantly enhanced durability and tensile strength.\n- Reflect 85 percent of the sun’s rays.\n- ENERGY STAR® certified.\n- Can provide up to 30 percent yearly A/C cost savings.\nWhether your roofing issues are big or small, the Schrock Commercial Roofing team has the skill set and tools to correct them. We have a long line of happy customers, and it’s because we are fully honest and put our customers’ needs at the top of our priority list."}
{"content":"Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says there is no need to change global telecommunications rules to give governments more power to regulate the internet.\nSenator Conroy is in Dubai this week attending the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) world conference to lobby against proposed changes to International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs).\nHe is leading Australia's delegation to the conference where the ITRs, which serve as the binding global treaty that support how telecommunications networks operate between nations, will be reviewed.\nOne of the proposed changes is to extend the coverage of internet governance.\nBut Senator Conroy said there wasn't a case for change.\nHe said private sector US-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), with input from industry stakeholders, governments and the public, had played a significant role in the internet's success.\n\"Australia wants to make sure that any amendments to the ITRs do not undermine this model or fundamentally change the way the internet operates,\" he said in a statement on Monday.\n\"Australia does not believe a case has been made for change.\"\nThe US and the European Union are leading the fight against plans by Russia, along with some African, Asian and Middle Eastern nations, to expand the rules covering the internet.\nSenator Conroy said the ITU should maintain its focus on developing telecommunications standards that deal with the operation of public networks and building capacity, while ICANN should keep oversight of the global domain name system.\n\"There appears to be little value in either organisation seeking to encroach on the responsibilities of the other,\" he said.\nThe minister is in Dubai on Monday and Tuesday and the conference is due to finish on December 14.\n© AAP 2018"}
{"content":"A rare Roman mosaic has been uncovered in during sewerage work on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.\nOnly part of the mosaic, measuring 19 metres long and seven metres wide, has been excavated in the southern coastal city of Larnaca and officials believe that more is still buried.\n\"A preliminary estimation would suggest that scenes of the Labours of Hercules are depicted and that it is dated to the Roman Period,\" the antiquities department said in a statement.\nIt said this is evidence that Ancient Kition - on which modern Larnaca was built -- played an important role in establishing Roman culture in Cyprus.\n\"However, up to this day Roman remains found in the city are very few. Therefore, the mosaic floor that came to light provides important evidence for the development of the city during the Roman Period.\"\nCyprus was under the control of the Roman Empire from 31 BC until the 4th century AD.\nTransport Minister Marios Demetriades, who visited the site in Larnaca, told reporters that the department of antiquities, which falls under his ministry, planned to move the mosaic to a museum.\nDemetriades, who is also minister of works and communications, said the mosaic was important because \"nothing similar has been discovered so far\".\n\"The intention is to transfer it to a museum, to build a specific room (where it will be displayed)... because this is the best way to protect it,\" he said.\nThe eastern Mediterranean island is home to many antiquities and is rife with excavations, involving experts from several countries.\nOn Tuesday the antiquities department said a French-led team had uncovered near the city of Limassol buildings dating back more than 11,000 years in what is thought to be \"the earliest manifestation of an agricultural and village way of life known to date, worldwide.\"\n© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2018"}
{"content":"A five-storey block of flats collapsed into a raging river in China earlier this month as the region was beset by heavy flooding.\nFootage of the July 8 incident in Chamdo Prefecture, in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, shows the rapidly flowing water washing away the building’s foundations.\nResidents were evacuated prior to the building collapse with no casualties reported.\nThe block of flats was not the only victim of the river, with the video also showing an empty lorry falling in as part of the river bank subsided.\nFloods and landslides in China’s central Hunan province have killed scores of people authorities said yesterday, according to Channel News Asia.\nTwo weeks of torrential rains forced 1.6 million people to flee, with at least 63 people killed by landslides, the deputy director of Hunan’s civil affairs department has said in a statement.\nSome 53,000 homes have collapsed while nearly 350,000 others were damaged.\nThe civil affair department has put the damage bill at $5.6 billion.\nIn late June, a massive landslide buried a village in southwest Sichuan province, killing at least 10 and leaving 73 more missing.\nDramatic footage shows a wide-eyed man in mortal danger, trapped by fast-moving and rising floodwaters in a Yangshuo County garage in in the south of China.\nSections of the Heilongjiang River in Mohe County in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province were drilled and lined with explosives to break up the ice.\nThe charges were detonated in a planned effort to break up the ice in the hopes it will prevent a catastrophe in the region.\nThe most recent floods follow on from deadly flooding in mid-June last year which saw an estimated 32 million people across 26 provinces affected and large amounts of cropland destroyed.\n© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2018"}
{"content":"Allergies are complicated by nature. They have much to teach us. In a previous article, I clarified the need to redefine allergies from an energetic standpoint to make them relevant to the work of acupuncturists.By energetic definition, an allergy is anything that disrupts a person's qi in some way. This is purposefully a very broad definition, which allows for more subtlety in detection and treatment. This definition also points to the necessity of using some sort of feedback mechanism (or divination method) to assess a person's allergies.\nFeedback mechanisms are essential to all of the newer methods of allergy treatment I am aware of. One feedback mechanism we all know and practice is the use of the Chinese pulse, but it is difficult to get specific information about allergies this way. Applied kinesiology (muscle testing) is a common method used to gather information about allergies, but I have found it too limiting and not accurate enough for my satisfaction. Another method to consider is the Nogier pulse. There are a number of other methods available, but the important thing is that you use them and that you practice enough to get good at the method you prefer.\nAll of the newer allergy treatment methods, in my opinion, derive from the use of traditional Chinese medicine, utilize acupuncture points, and integrate the best of Western knowledge and experience about allergies, which to some extent is a very Western disorder. Allergies are becoming increasingly more common and severe as a direct result of environmental pollution, Western lifestyle choices, and toxic medical and dental practices. The very nature of allergies is such that each generation is more allergic than the last. It is part of our evolutionary process to become more sensitive beings in general. Allergies are a result of such sensitivities being played out in a toxic world in need of change.\nAllergies (and the people who have them) are a calling to each of us who treat them to refine our methods. There is no need for us to practice Western medicine, but there is much to be gained from integrating the more precise and refined knowledge of anatomy Western science can give us. With a more precise understanding of the energetics of anatomy integrated into the highly effective and natural methods of TCM, we can refine our treatment and get better, quicker results. The key to treating allergies successfully is accuracy.\nI think it is of the utmost importance to retain the energetic understanding of TCM, and to even risk expanding upon it to include a more specific knowledge of anatomy. It is also of utmost importance to remember that we are practicing in a holistic tradition, and not to neglect the spiritual aspects of healing.\nInherent in all spiritual traditions is the access of information through divination, intuition, and even altered states of consciousness in order to best help those we set about to heal. A practitioner who does not utilize feedback mechanisms, divination techniques, intuition, or a refined spiritual nature runs the risk of just acting out of ego. Certainly each of us has a reservoir of education and experience from which we draw in every treatment we do, but success with allergic clients often requires more of us.\nIn treating highly sensitive persons, especially those with severe allergies, an unrefined technique can be disastrous. Treatment can become just another trigger for reaction in this clientele. It is likely we will all be seeing more sensitive clients in the future.\nClick here for previous articles by Heidi Hawkins, MAc, LAc."}
{"content":"Alcohol addiction affects many people all over the world; in the UK, many thousands suffer every day with this illness. The problem with alcohol addiction is that it is something that happens gradually over time, and many of those affected do not even realise they have a problem until someone else points it out.\nSome choose to ignore the issue and think that just because they are drinking more than ever it does not really mean that they have an addiction. Some will only accept they have a problem when faced with an ultimatum from family members or when frightened by the onset of a medical problem.\nCan Alcoholics Drink in Moderation?\nMany alcoholics who have finally accepted that alcohol has become a serious problem in their lives may believe that they can cut down the amount they drink rather than give up totally. They may still be unwilling to kick the habit altogether and believe that they can drink in moderation. This often sounds like the most suitable solution to someone who wants to improve his or her situation but not entirely cut out the booze. However, does it work?\nFor most alcoholics, it is necessary to give up alcohol completely, so moderation will not work. The reason for this is that addiction affects the function of the brain. Those with alcohol addiction cannot control their consumption and, unfortunately, one drink will typically lead to another and then another and so on. Some addicts will find that they can control their drinking for a while, but the trouble is that they are always at risk of relapsing back to addiction if they continue to drink.\nGive Sobriety a Chance\nSobriety is not just about giving up alcohol and being miserable without it. Recovery is about much more than that. The aim of recovery is to improve the lives of addicts by helping them to live without the substance to which they have become addicted. It is about helping them to learn how to live a full life of happiness without the need to drink alcohol whenever things get tough. Sobriety can be a new lease of life for recovering addicts and the only way to achieve real happiness is to make a complete break from alcohol.\nModeration Requires Real Willpower\nAn enormous amount of willpower will be required for an alcoholic to be able to drink in moderation. He or she will need to focus very hard on controlling his or her alcohol consumption, which can be draining. It is much easier to quit entirely so that alcohol becomes part of the past. By filling your life with other meaningful things, you will learn to forget about alcohol and will not need it.\nThere will always be an element of risk with a former alcoholic who tries to drink in moderation. Although some individuals do seem capable of living this way, the likelihood of relapse will always be present, possibly leading to large-scale destruction in your life. If your life has been blighted by alcohol in the past, surely it is better to make a clean break from it rather than leaving yourself open to the risk of such downfall again.\nModeration generally does not work for alcoholics; despite it seeming the best solution, statistics show it rarely works. If you have an addiction to alcohol, you can get help to quit by contacting Addiction Helper. We are here to provide free advice and information to those suffering from the weight of addiction.\nWe can put you in touch with treatment providers across the country and our expert advisors, therapists, and counsellors will provide you with support and addiction advice along the way. Call today for more information on how we can help you."}
{"content":"- Paperback: 224 pages\n- Publisher: Beacon Press (August 1, 2008)\n- Language: English\n- ISBN-10: 0807032875\n- ISBN-13: 978-0807032879\n- Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches\n- Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)\n- Average Customer Review: 7 customer reviews\n- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,502,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)\nEnter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.\nTo get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.\nOther Sellers on Amazon\n+ $3.99 shipping\nIn Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness Paperback – August 1, 2008\nThe Amazon Book Review\nAuthor interviews, book reviews, editors picks, and more. Read it now\nFrequently bought together\nMercogliano is, in effect, a cultural therapist. . . offering fresh new ideas and creative solutions. Ultimately, he is what all good therapists are: a purveyor of hope.—Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia\n\"With deep insight, Mercogliano shows how our society is suppressing children's creative energies. But he also brings a positive message, showing how we can help young people break through conventional restraints and pursue their passions. This is a beautiful, searching, and inspiring book.\"—William Crain, author of Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society\n\"A very strong and attractive book.\"—John Taylor Gatto, author of Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling\n\"Mercogliano's book, full of insight, enthusiasm and hope, is as readable and practical as it is illuminating.\"—Publisher’s Weekly\n\"Recommended for academic libraries and large child development collections in public libraries.\"—Library Journal\nAbout the Author\nTop customer reviews\nThere was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.\nTo be honest the overall point of this book comes across a bit radical at times, but his ideas are sound. I think it's just an odd thought to let kids have more control over their own lives because we're so used to monitoring every aspect of their lives. Which is precisely the point of this book. His approach to education was so unusual it made me shake my head at times. He works at the Albany Free School which is a school that allows children to learn whatever they want, whenever they want....and what that school does is mind boggling if you're used to the structure of an everyday public school. But after reading this book, and doing some research on the school since then I am planning on taking a trip up to New York to check this school out because what they're doing is working, and as radical as it's concept might be, it is turning out some very innovative, creative, and self reliant children into the world. I have to see it for myself.\nWhat is so impressive about this book is it's not necessarily a \"parenting\" book or a research oriented book, but Mercogliano covers his theme using history, biology, psychology, sociology, education theory, philosophy, literature, and personal accounts in addition to basic parenting advice, all of which is based with solid research. He wraps it all together so well, fitting the theories of Jung with Erikson, connecting that to some of the newest brain development research. He shows where childhood has come from, how it has changed, and how our culture of industry straight through to technology has shaped those changes. The whole book is quite impressive, not to mention easy to read and concise.\nI was the most impressed with the chapter on how the media has affected childhood (Ch. 7: Childhood Lost). That has been my major area of study for quite some time so I wasn't expecting to read anything I hadn't read before, but the media chapter in this book might be the best chapter I have ever read on media effects. Not only did he incorporate some well known research, but he used a lot of research I wasn't familiar with. In addition he uses media theory and philosophy to introduce and back up his points starting with Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman (the chapter of this chapter is actually a reference to Postman's book \"The Disappearance of Childhood\" which is also a fantastic book, although much more dense and somewhat difficult to read by comparison to this book).\nThe book did have it's weak points. I felt the chapter on solitude was lacking and almost pointless at times. The point of a child needing solitude to explore his inner thoughts is an important aspect of this book, but he doesn't cover the subject well. He takes a philosophical perspective, which although interesting, could have easily been tied into some research about how important it is for children to feel bored because it encourages them to seek out and explore on their own instead of having an adult cater to their entertainment needs.\nI LOVED this book, and I have read countless books on just about every child development topic possible. It's an easy book to read, it's packed with good ideas, and good advice. Not to mention the author is clearly passionate about his topic, which isn't always as obvious in books so full of information. For under $1 this book is a steal, and shouldn't be missed whether you're a parent, educator, or politician. Heck, even if you have no interest in kids you should pick this book up because surely one day you'll have a child and that child will have a soul and this book will help you nurture any child's soul, their brain... and their \"inner wildness\" which is about the most important thing any book can hope to accomplish. This book is fantastic, don't miss it.\nI agree that we are pushing structured learning environments at kids who are way too young for them.\nThis book is very feel-goody about letting kids be uncivilized as the way for them to develop into healthy grown-ups. I disagree. I think civilizing kids is the job of parents, and I conclude that parents need to rethink their double-career mindset.\nThe better book on this topic is \"The Minds of Boys\" by Michael Gurian (good for advocating free childhoods for boys or girls). There is a greater emphasis for parents to become advocates for protecting their children's free time and for understanding how kids needs are (and are not) being met in early classroom environments. Check it out.\nMy opinion: Now is the perfect time to restructure American family priorities toward having a parent at home. Taxes have become so high on second incomes, it hardly seems worthwhile to work once you add in childcare charges, after school program charges, transportation charges, drycleaning service, housekeeping service, restaurant meals, and the opportunity cost of missing down time with your children.\n***updated*** Anyway, now that we are all to become slaves of the state working to pay off an enormous public debt, you may as well let your kids grow up to become mind-numbed robots. What else will there be for them?"}
{"content":"Last week New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait reminded us that swing voters are going extinct. (“From the 1950s through the 1980s, 10 to 15 percent of voters floated between the two parties in presidential elections. Recently that rate has fallen to about 5 percent.”) Whether a cause or effect of more partisan voting, it’s also true that moderate candidates, and those who challenge their party’s orthodoxy, are becoming scarcer. The phrase “moderate Republican” has become more and more of an oxymoron with each passing year since Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. In 2014, the Democrats, trying to stave off electoral disaster, ran supposedly centrist U.S. Senate candidates in red states like Georgia and Kentucky (where Alison Lundergan Grimes famously refused to say whether she had voted for Barack Obama), but all of them lost, and the party will probably end up with a more orthodox slate in 2016.\nThe narrowing of the political parties has been accompanied by a change in the definition of moderate or centrist political views. So-called social issues, such as abortion and gay rights, hardly matter any more. These days it seems that a “moderate” —Democratic, Republican, or independent—is someone who advocates government austerity, and in particular cutting Social Security benefits. Pro-life Democrats and pro-union Republicans, who once represented swing voters, are almost nowhere to be found.\nWe see this most clearly among the Republican presidential candidates, who debate for the fourth time on Tuesday night. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, who are either blessed or cursed with a reputation for being moderate and responsible, want to raise the Social Security retirement age and cut benefits to higher-income households. John Kasich has been tagged as the truth-teller in the Republican Party, thanks to his skepticism of the power of massive tax cuts for the wealthy. (In the last GOP debate, he asked sarcastically, “Why don’t we just give a chicken in every pot, while we’re, you know, coming up—coming up with these fantasy tax schemes?”) But he is still running as a severe austerity candidate, repeatedly emphasizing in the last debate that “I spent my entire lifetime” balancing budgets, as a congressional leader and as governor of Ohio. He is also a longtime champion of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. This straitjacket on government spending is considered a radically conservative idea among economists; only in the red-versus-blue political arena is it considered a sign of centrism.\nForty years ago, we were beginning the first presidential campaign in which most convention delegates were chosen through competitive primaries, and 1976 featured more policy differences within the parties than has been seen ever since. Democratic candidates included the right-wing populist George Wallace and the emphatic but technocratic Jimmy Carter (who would have fit right into the GOP of that era if he had been born in Maine instead of Georgia), but Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson was the epitome of the moderate-to-conservative wing of the party. Jackson opposed abortion in almost all instances, was against school busing to achieve racial integration, and was one of the most hawkish members of Congress, saying in 1975 that “The basic decision to go into Vietnam was right.” But Sen. Jackson was also a defender of social-welfare programs and a champion of organized labor. “Labor had no stauncher friend,” said Lane Kirkland, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. upon Sen. Jackson’s death. It’s difficult to imagine anyone earning such praise from a major union leader today without being classified as left-wing, and unelectably so, on the editorial pages of the New York Times and Washington Post.\nOn the Republican side in 1976, the moderate wing was represented by president and former House minority leader Gerald Ford, who had an adversarial but not always hostile relationship with labor unions. At time, the party also included senators like Jacob Javits of New York and Ed Brooke of Massachusetts who usually voted with labor unions. They would be called RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) today and would surely not survive party primaries. The best-known RINO of the time, vice-president and former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, also worked with unions and signed the first state minimum-wage law in the country. The fact that he was also a leader in the “tough on crime” movement wouldn’t save him from being purged from the party for union sympathies today; indeed, he would be a better fit for the Bill Clinton administration.\nPresident Clinton, of course, is credited with moving the Democratic Party to the center in the 1990s. But any move to the center on social issues was temporary. The more lasting effects of his administration were welfare reform, banking deregulation, and a more conciliatory tone toward Wall Street. Labor support, once something that almost every Democratic candidate outside the South boasted about, is now almost considered an embarrassment.\nWhen Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination in 1980, he established the party’s current strategy of wooing upper-income voters with tax cuts and working-class voters with “wedge” social issues such as abortion and gun control (as well as jingoist rhetoric in foreign policy). The Democratic Party eventually followed by going after highly educated voters (especially secular ones) on the other side of the same wedge issues, while attracting non-white voters on civil-rights issues rather than economic ones. The question of how to increase wages and reduce unemployment, once at the center of American politics, has been shoved aside. Even the most-publicized attempts to create a third force in American politics—including Ross Perot’s independent presidential campaign in 1992, the Third Way think tank, and the No Labels movement—have emphasized Social Security reforms and other austerity proposals, appealing more to the investor class than to the middle-income voters who once defined the center.\nThis campaign season has shown signs that the working class is tired of being neglected. In the Democratic race Bernie Sanders offers a coherent, if not entirely realistic, agenda for working-class voters. On the Republican side, Donald Trump is getting disproportionate support from those in less secure economic circumstances (especially white men without college degrees). Mr. Trump’s vows not to cut Social Security and Medicare, along with his scapegoating of immigrants and his vague assertions that certain rich people like hedge-fund managers should pay more in taxes, don’t add up to a practical blueprint for addressing the concerns of the working class, but it shouldn’t be surprising that he’s polling better than the candidates who say Too Much Social Security is the country’s biggest problem."}
{"content":"Religious Leaders Assess Causes, Consequences of Christian Exodus\nReligious leaders met in Detroit, Lebanon and Rome in February to address the accelerating emigration of Christians from the Middle East, an exodus that seriously threatens the survival of Christianity in the region. Currently between 12 million and 15 million Christians reside in the Middle East, almost half of them in Egypt, and in most Middle Eastern countries less than 10 percent of the population is Christian. The Christian population in the Middle East has been in steady decline since the Young Turks Revolt in 1908 and the subsequent persecution of Christians. While persecution is still a contributing factor, most participants in the February meetings agreed that the causes of migration today are primarily social and political. Tarek Mitri, Lebanon’s minister of information, said Christians, who are among the better-educated classes, are “victims of their good education” in that they are able to provide a better standard of living for their families by emigrating to where there are better career opportunities. In this way, the increasing rate of migration is in part a consequence of globalization. “If a young Palestinian—Christian or Muslim—can get work in the United States or Dubai, then they will go,” said Bernard Sabella, a Catholic member of the Palestinian parliament and former professor at Bethlehem University.\nCauses. Archbishop Jean Sleiman of Baghdad said that while economic and political problems are the major reasons for leaving in most areas of the Middle East, Christians in countries like Iraq and the Palestinian territories leave out of “fear of Islamic fundamentalism and being legally discriminated against” in an Islamic state. In Iraq the problem is particularly acute: at least half of all Christians in Iraq, an area inhabited by Christians since the first century, have left that country in the last five years. The crisis has become so severe that the bishops of Iraq have called on Pope Benedict to convene an extraordinary regional synod to address the problem.\nConsequences. Another area of agreement that emerged from the meetings is that it is desirable for Christians to remain in the Middle East not simply because of their long history in the area or because they are lawful citizens. Archbishop Sleiman said Christians help preserve peaceful coexistence in religiously and ethnically diverse societies. Christians possess a unique culture that displays “the willingness to mediate,” and therefore they “could do so many things because reconstruction [of a war-torn nation] deals above all with souls, culture, mentalities,” the archbishop said.\nSome participants in the meetings also said a strong Christian presence could help moderate Muslims to counter the rising wave of Islamic extremism sweeping the region. Mohammed Sammak, a political adviser to Lebanon’s grand mufti and a participant in the Rome meeting, said, “The fewer Christians there are, the more [Islamic] fundamentalism rises,” fills the void and gains the upper hand; “that is why as a Muslim, I am opposed” to Christians emigrating. For Christians to disappear from the Middle East would be like “pulling out the threads of a cloth so that the whole social fabric risks unraveling and dying.”\nAnother danger is that if Muslim-majority nations do nothing to protect and encourage their Christian minorities to stay, then Western countries will think that Islam does not accept or respect Christianity, Sammak said. If people living abroad see that Muslims are unable to live with Christians even when they share the same culture, language and citizenship, he said, “then they’ll think, ‘so how can we Europeans live with Muslims?’” Tensions and restrictions against Muslims living in or immigrating to Europe may be exacerbated as a result.\nSyrian Orthodox Metropolitan Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo appealed to Muslim nations and authorities, telling them that their role is “to safeguard Christians. It is up to you. We don’t believe our protection can come from outside.”\nDoctors Defend Regulations Protecting Conscience Rights\nThe Catholic Medical Association has joined forces with the Christian Medical Association and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists to combat what they see as a major threat to the conscience rights of health care professionals. The groups are joining in an effort to intervene legally against lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of eight states, Planned Parenthood of America and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.\nThe suits seek to overturn a Department of Health and Human Services regulation that prohibits discrimination against health professionals who decline to participate in abortions or other medical procedures they believe to be objectionable for moral or religious reasons. Without the regulation, pro-life health professionals would be subject to “the imminent threat of being forced...to perform abortions, assist in abortions, train for abortions and refer individuals for abortions despite their religious, moral and ethical objections to the practice of abortion,” said court papers filed with the U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn.\n“Physicians must defend their right to practice medicine in accordance with their consciences,” said John Brehany, M.D., executive director of the Catholic Medical Association. “It’s a very important principle that every physician should support. Without conscience protections, for example, physicians or other health care professionals could be subject to government conscription to participate in the executions of death-row prisoners if the state could not find volunteers to do so,” Brehany said.\nThe motions to intervene, which were filed by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund and the Center for Law & Religious Freedom on behalf of the three pro-life organizations, also argue that pro-life medical professionals could be “forced to relocate to jurisdictions that respect their rights or to leave the profession altogether” if there were no federal laws protecting their conscience rights. The motions further criticize the “plaintiffs’ baseless allegations that medical professionals exercising their conscience place women at risk of serious injury and even death by failing to render necessary services during medical emergencies.”\n“I’m confident that the court will allow these doctors to intervene be-cause they are the ones who will be forced” to perform or refer or train for abortions, said Matthew S. Bow-man of the Alliance Defense Fund. “It’s a direct attack on the only existing protections” for pro-life health professionals. “When they try to strike down a regulation that implements laws in place for 30 years, it affects every pro-life health professional.”\nMeanwhile, on Feb. 27 the Obama administration announced it was reviewing a proposal to rescind the regulation. After the review by the Office of Management and Budget, the proposal is to be published in the Federal Register, opening a 30-day period for public comment. In response, the Catholic Medical Association is also initiating an education campaign to raise awareness about the issue. People need to know that even if the regulation is overturned, “there are still laws that protect conscience rights,” Brehany said. “We need to continue to defend and respect and explain the reasoning behind them.”\nCoalition Expresses Support for Sebelius\nA group of Catholic leaders, scholars and theologians publicly expressed support on March 1 for the nomination of Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Democrat of Kansas, to be the next secretary of health and human services. In a statement organized by Catholics United, a Washington-based progressive organization, the group said: “In addition to offering our support, we also reject the tactics of those who would use Governor Sebelius’s faith to attack her. As Catholics, we find such partisan use of our religion regrettable and divisive.” The nomination of Governor Sebelius, a Catholic who is pro-choice, has engendered controversy among some conservative groups and with some bishops. The Catholic League has organized against her nomination and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City said, “It is troubling the important influence that she will have on shaping health care policies for our nation.” Catholics in Alliance said in a statement that both the Catholic League and Archbishop Nauman are “doing a disservice to those Americans who will benefit from Governor Sebelius’s leadership as health and human services secretary.”\nSnyder Responds to ‘Hate Mail’\nDespite receiving what he termed “hate mail” that questioned his appointment to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, said he welcomed the opportunity to bring the church’s views on serving the poor and marginalized to the national discussion. The letters raised doubts about his role on the council and “told me that I would probably go to hell for accepting this appointment,” Father Snyder said. The correspondence was apparently prompted by the fact that President Obama is pro-choice. “There can be no doubt that Catholic Charities is a firmly pro-life organization,” Father Snyder said. “Let me assure you the administration is well aware of where we stand on this issue. But I believe God will also not forgive us for missing any opportunity to promote the care of the poor and vulnerable in this country,” he continued. “We will be faced with opportunities to do so with the Obama administration, and Catholic Charities will take them.”\nArchbishop Paulinus Costa, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh, criticized the “barbarous killing and looting” that left more than 140 people dead or missing following the recent mutiny of the Bangladesh military. • Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he hopes Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Israel will be an opportunity for the pope to demonstrate to the world his deep knowledge of and respect for Judaism. • The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X said on Feb. 26 that his order is not ready to accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which the Vatican has set as a condition for full reconciliation of the order with the church. • The latest church statistics show that the number of Catholics remains stable at 1.147 billion people worldwide and that the number of priests and seminarians worldwide has been showing a modest, yet steady increase. • The Vatican has announced that a California woman, Heidi Sierras, will be baptized by Pope Benedict during the Easter Vigil in Rome."}
{"content":"With the necessity of increased processing capacity with less energy consumption; power aware multiprocessor system has gained more attention in the recent future. One of the additional challenges that is to be solved in a multi-processor system when compared to uni-processor system is job allocation. This paper presents a novel task dependent job allocation algorithm: Energy centric- Allocation (Ec-A) and Rate Monotonic (RM) scheduling to minimize energy consumption in a multiprocessor system. A simulation analysis is carried out to verify the performance increase with reduction in energy consumption and required number of processors in the system.\nDr. Anju Pillai S. and T.B., I., “Ec-A: A task allocation algorithm for energy minimization in multiprocessor systems”, International Journal of Computer, Information Science and Engineering, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 8, pp. 254-260, 2014."}
{"content":"Race and faith targeted bullying is bullying that is perceived by the victim or any other person to be racist or bullying that targets a person’s faith.\nThe relationship between racist incidents and racist bullying\nAll incidents of racist bullying in schools constitute a racist incident. However not all racist incidents would constitute racist bullying. To determine if racist incident/s are bullying, it is important to have a shared whole-school understanding of what bullying is. The Anti-Bullying Alliance defines bullying as:\n‘the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online.’\n Based on definition of racism from Stephen Lawrence Inquiry in 1999 by MacPherson"}