text:
Pakistan military air strikes kill hundreds, including civilians, over past six months
A tribesman collects belongings from his house, destroyed by Pakistan military air strikes, May 2014
A wave of air strikes by the Pakistani military in the country's tribal northwest has killed at least 291 people, including a minimum 16 civilians, over the past six months, a Bureau investigation has found.
The Bureau gathered news reports of Pakistani military strikes taking place between December 19 2013 and June 15 2014. Using the same methodology used for our drones research, we found reports of 291 to 540 people killed in 15 strikes by Pakistani military aircraft. The reports suggest at least 16 – and possibly as many as 112 – civilians are among the dead.
All but one of the attacks took place in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, an area populated by civilian communities but also by large numbers of armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Over 400,000 people have fled the targeted areas since the air strikes intensified in May, according to the FATA Disaster Management Authority. While those registered by the authorities are likely to be civilians, AFP reported that members of militant groups have also been making their escape ahead of the long-rumoured military incursion.
On June 15, hours after launching air strikes that reportedly killed at least 105 and up to 150, the Pakistani Army announced the launch of a full military operation in the tribal area of North Waziristan, which has been the focus of the air strikes. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 troops are expected to participate, including tanks, artillery, ground troops and air force, according to AFP.
– Senator Afraisab Khattak
In the first week of the strikes the Pakistan military claims that it has killed 257 alleged militants and no civilians, according to a tally of claims in military press releases by the Long War Journal. Access to the tribal regions is even more restricted than usual, meaning that it is impossible to verify the military's claims.
But the Bureau's data shows that even before the full military operation started, air strikes were killing hundreds of people and – according to some reports – claiming a high civilian toll.
Related story – Get the data: Pakistani military air strikes
The bombing has occurred even though the Pakistani government was attempting to hold peace talks with the TTP. These started in February but were repeatedly disrupted by terrorist attacks across Pakistan and retaliatory air strikes in the tribal belt. A Pakistani think-tank says that nearly 700 people, including many civilians, have been killed in militant suicide bombings and attacks in this time.
The peace talks ended conclusively at the start of the month after the TTP launched an attack on Karachi airport, in collaboration with Uzbek militants, that reportedly killed over 30 people. Militants cited Pakistani military strikes and previous US drone strikes as the reason for the airport attack.
Our analysis suggests that a series of attacks on May 21-22 across North Waziristan killed 30 to 80 people, and including at least four civilians. But local accounts suggest the civilian death toll is much higher.
Faizan Khan, 25, from Peshawar, has family in the North Waziristan capital, Miranshah, who witnessed the attack.
Speaking to the Bureau about the attack, he said: 'Last month I was talking to my uncle, who lives in Miranshah, he told me that 17 people from one family died after they attacked a village square in Mir Ali which contained many businesses.
'Many people have fled the region and many civilians are very scared it will happen again.'
After the May 22 strikes, an unnamed military official was quoted in local Pakistani newspaper Dawn saying that these attacks were 'targeted' at militants and 'aimed to hit those orchestrating the attacks'.
Sources close to the army dispute the number of casualties. Former army commander Ikram Sehgal, who runs one of the largest private defence contracting firms in the country, says reports of civilian casualties have been exaggerated.
He told the Bureau: 'I would say no more than six civilians have died. That information is coming from my own sources which I have cross-referenced.
'That particular strike [May 22]… there could have been some children killed. And I am taking that as an exception. I would say half a dozen child casualties.'
He added: 'This strike was directed against a particular leader. And they try and put a protective shield around them. All the precision airstrikes that took place target military training camps.'
Data collected by the Bureau from credible media reports contradicts this claim, shows that at least 16 civilians – and possibly as many as 112 – have been killed. The large discrepancy between the figures reflects the contradictory reports from eyewitnesses and government casualty estimates.
Amnesty International's lead researcher on Pakistan, Mustafa Qadri, pointed out that almost all data in the media reports has come directly from the military. 'When it comes through the Pakistan military, like all military sources, you need to be careful about the information,' he said. 'Much like the CIA with drones, the Pakistan government tends to publish what it wants the public to hear.
'The journalists often get their reports about how many casualties there have been vetted by the military, of course the Taliban and other groups also pressure journalists to make reports favourable to them. It is difficult to determine the exact figures and circumstances as there is not much reporting on the ground in Waziristan.
'There are many variables to consider when looking at the number of casualties from these strikes, and in fact the figures could be much higher. For instance you need to take into account the number of people that die as a result of their injuries, that is always under-reported.'
Eight of the 14 strikes documented by the Bureau took place between February 19 and 27, causing between 67 and 122 casualties.
The helicopter and jet strikes were targeted at eight separate towns and villages throughout North Waziristan and Khyber Agency. The military offensive followed a bus bomb attack on February 13 in Karachi that killed 13 policemen and wounded 47 others, including civilians.
Government reports suggest that the mastermind behind this attack and a number of his commanders were successfully killed in the February strikes.
Pakistani senator Afraisab Khattak said the strikes have claimed civilian lives. He told the Bureau: 'People of the FATA have been the real victims of the conflict between the military and the terrorists.
'Terrorists have been killing them with impunity and the state has miserably failed to provide security. Every time there is a military action Pashtuns of FATA get caught in the crossfire. Terrorists kill their respectable leaders and the state remains indifferent for all practical purposes.'
The military strikes have coincided with the longest pause in drone strikes of Obama's presidency – with no drone strikes between Christmas Day and June 11. The Pakistani government had requested that the US stop carrying out strikes to allow peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) to take place, sources close to the negotiations told the Bureau in February. Days after the Karachi attack, drone strikes resumed, with two attacks reportedly killing at least 16 people.
Faizan Khan, whose family are based in Miranshah, told the Bureau that the high numbers of civilians killed in the Pakistani air strikes were leading some to suggest that drone strikes might be preferable.
He said: 'The difference between the drone strikes and the military strikes is that drones target specifically who they want to target… the wanted terrorists… people are saying that drone attacks were good compared to the military strikes.
'Personally I agree, because I have seen drones, they are in the air 24 hours and they don't attack as randomly… the place of the attack was always an area where the Taliban or terrorists were living.'
In 2013, the Bureau recorded 27 CIA drone strikes in the region, killing at least 108 people in attacks that appeared to target senior commanders. Claims of civilian casualties been made in three of these strikes, but the Bureau has been unable to corroborate reports that up to four civilians were killed. Reporting on the ground in the tribal areas of Pakistan has become increasingly difficult due to the violence and instability.
But 2013's drone strikes are very different from the campaign's peak, in 2010, when the CIA was attacking a much broader range of targets. The attacks in 2010 are believed to include 'signature' strikes – a controversial tactic where people are selected for targeting based on suspicious patterns of behaviour. In that year, the US carried out a reported 128 strikes, killing at least 751 including a minimum of 84 civilians, according to the Bureau's data.
Jennifer Gibson, who runs research projects on drones for legal charity Reprieve, emphasised that US drone strikes had killed thousands of people in Pakistan, and that the two campaigns should not be compared: 'Weapons, including drones, are only as precise as the intelligence behind them. We know from the CIA's own records that it frequently didn't have any idea who it was killing. If you don't know who you're killing, then there's nothing precise about your targeting.
'Governments should be held accountable for the abuses they commit – whether that's the United States or the Pakistani government. A covert war carried out by a foreign power without any transparency allows for no accountability – and no recourse for the civilians who have lost innocent relatives to strikes.'
Follow Charlie Mole on Twitter.


text:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – SEO Burlingame – Local SEO Packages
Our SEO Burlingame Services
- Initial Site Audit – We begin every engagement with a thorough analysis of your existing site.
- Buyer Personas & Messaging – We work with you to identify target markets and buyer personas for your products or services. Based on these personas, we develop messaging that resonates with your target audience and conveys your value proposition.
- Competitor/Industry Research – Before we can develop your strategy, we need to understand the market. What are your competitors doing? How often are they posting? What keywords are they using? Paid or organic? Which social media channels are they using?
- Keyword Research – The key to every successful SEO campaign – keyword research. We choose keywords that competitive to deliver real results and leads.
- Content Creation – We develop and optimize content that is industry-friendly, first and foremost. Then we optimize it for search. Whitepapers, blogs, product descriptions, social media posts, videos, and podcasts – depending on your audience. All of our content is developed by native speakers in English, Spanish or German. We work with your team to create content that resonates with your prospective clients.
- On-Site Optimization – Using AI and other digital tools, we can optimize your site for the greatest visibility success.
- Link Building – Link building accounts for a significant portion of your search engine visibility. We focus on clean, white-hat link-building strategies for your business.
- Focus Pages – the pages on your site that are essential to rank. Your top 3-5 pages.
- Ongoing Reporting – Peter Drucker said, "If it's important, measure it." Our SEO reports are tailored towards your unique set of key performance indicators (KPIs).
Schedule a FREE, no-obligation call today – [email protected]
SEO Burlingame – Search Engine Optimization for Small Business Success
Our goal is to increase your visibility through organic search. 70-80% of people ignore paid search results, choosing to only click on organic search results. We ensure your site is properly set up, responsive, and mobile-friendly – nearly 60 percent of all Online Searches are now carried out on a mobile device, with some sectors (Food and Beverage) reaching 72 percent. We only use "White-Hat" strategies to ensure that a quick fix doesn't result in a Google penalty down the road.
What is a typical Digital Marketing Budget?
- 40% organic search (SEO) increasing to 60% if the focus is local.
- 20% paid search (Google Ads)
- 30% social media (paid + organic)
- 10% email marketing
For example – $1.0M in annual sales = $50K for Digital Marketing Budget or $4,000 a monthly allocation for digital marketing.
In the end, it all comes down to Return on Investment (ROI). Is the money you are spending creating greater visibility resulting in more leads and, ultimately, paying customers? It is not about being #1 on Google; it's about making your business a success.
The success of Understanding eCommerce is directly connected to the success of our clients.
SEO Burlingame – Local SEO Packages
Local SEO Packages – Search Engine Optimization for Small Business Success

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The letterhead provides 3 names in its business header, one being G. C. Collier. In the first paragraph the writer talks about welcoming the boys home [back from the war] and adds "Geoff has his four brothers home now. One was killed and one sent to Siberia."
The letter gives a fascinating peek into post-war times in the small town. It also provides terrific clues to the families, providing tiny entries such as these:
"My sister Mabel is well and talks of coming out to see me..."
"Aunt Julia in England... is 85 next birthday..."
A genealogist can't let those clues go, can they? You guessed it, I had to investigate to see if I could turn up anything more on the families!
In 1911 the Collier family was living in Medicine Hat, Alberta. They are recorded as:
- Goffrey, 22, harness maker born England
- Violet, 21
- Walter, brother, 20, salesman for stoves, born England
By 1921 the family was living in Bow River Alberta and were listed as:
- Joseph [sic], 33 born England, harness maker, owns his own shop, immigrated 1907
- Violet, 31 born Tasmania, immigrated 1911
- Russell, 9, born Alberta
- Albert, 5, born Alberta
- Ruby, 3, born Alberta
The Lethbridge Herald of
July 04, 1940 - Page 8 reveals that Godfrey's mother was visiting the family. I found evidence that she died in 1943 and is buried in Lethbridge Alberta
Searching in U.K. records found Godfrey as a young man in 1901 with his family in Dorset. His parents were William, born Buckland Newton, Dorset, and Emily Collier born
Piddletrenthide, Dorset. Their children were Charles E. 16, Harry J. 14, Godfrey C. 12, Walter G. 10, Horace A. 7, Sydney L 4 and William W. 2 [Ancestry.com ]
British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 |
25 Mar 1908 on board the Empress of Ireland
Godfrey's brother Horace enlisted in the British Army in WW1 and was killed 13 October 1914. He was a Lance Corporal in the Dorsetshire Regiment.
Further research found Violet and Geoff's graves in Vulcan Cemetery, Vulcan Alberta.
Violet Nora Collier
Godfrey Cyril Collier
Finding Violet's middle name on her grave marker allowed me to find her and her sister Mabel (mentioned in Violet's letter) and their parents. Violet was born in 1890 in Frankford Tasmania to Alfred Boucher Welch and Albertina Bugg. Her sisters Mabel Dora were born in 1884 and Florence Kate in 1886. [http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?detail=1&type=P&id=302555]
Violet's father Alfred Welch was from Surrey England. He and Albertina applied for land in Tasmania in 1882. The record states that Alfred was 21 and Albertina was 25 and they had recently arrived on the SS. Garanne or Garonne [Tasmania, Australia, Land Applications and Warrants, 1868-1887] The Garonne arrived in Sydney from London England on 10 November 1882.
20 year old Violet arrived in British Columbia Canada from Sydney Australia on 21 September 1910 on board the Marama. [Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935]
Read Newly found First World War-era letter from Alberta woman a window through time to early 20th century for the complete story. You can also download the entire letter in .PDF format


text:
Page tools: Print Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Young people in employment
Work and study Changes in the pattern of full-time and part-time employment undertaken by young people are closely related to their increased participation in non-compulsory education and their growing tendency to combine work with study. There are a range of ways in which work and study can be combined, depending on the priorities of the individual. However, the combination of part-time work with part-time study is uncommon among 15-24 year olds, suggesting that one activity, either employment or study, tends to take precedence in their life. In May 1984, 60% of all employed part-time workers aged 15-24 years were participating in study, increasing to 75% in May 2003. Young people who were employed part-time and who were studying, were most likely to study full-time. Of those employed part-time in May 2003, 79% of 15-19 year olds were studying on a full-time basis, while 55% of 20-24 year olds were studying full-time (graph 6.27). Many young people employed full-time in May 2003 were not studying (65% of 15-19 year olds and 82% of 20-24 year olds). By the time people reach their late-20s and early-30s, those working full-time are even less likely to be studying (89% of full-time employed 25-34 year olds in 2003-04 were not studying). Almost all people in these age groups who worked full-time and studied, undertook their study on a part-time basis (graph 6.28). Occupation Reflecting their lower levels of work experience and educational attainment (as most are still gaining their qualifications), the occupations in which young people are employed are generally less skilled. Such occupations characterise teenage (aged 15-19 years) employment in particular. The most common occupations for people aged 15-24 years in 2003-04 were in clerical, sales and service work. Almost half of employed people in this age group (48%) held jobs in either the elementary (27%) or the intermediate (21%) clerical, sales and service workers occupation groups. Teenagers were more likely to be working in occupations which offered part-time jobs and jobs which require lower levels of skill. In 2003-04, 55% of employed part-time workers aged 15-19 years were employed as elementary, clerical, sales and service workers. For 20-24 year olds, 32% of part-time workers were employed as elementary, clerical, sales and service workers and 31% in the more highly skilled intermediate, clerical, sales and service workers occupation group. Those aged 20-24 years were more likely to be employed full-time. Full-time occupations for teenagers are generally ones which lead to a skill or further qualification such as apprenticeships or traineeships. In 2003-04, 35% of employed full-time workers aged 15-19 years were employed as tradespersons and related workers. Full-time occupations for 20-24 year olds are spread across a wider range of occupations as they move out of further education and begin their careers. Young women made up 70% of 15-24 year olds employed in the elementary and the intermediate clerical, sales and service workers occupation groups. Young men, on the other hand, were more likely to be in occupation groups such as tradespersons and related workers (in 2003-04, 89% of all young people in this occupation group were men), intermediate production and transport workers (88%), and labourers and related workers (76%) (table 6.29).
Industry In 2003-04 the five most common industries employing young people aged 15-24 years accounted for 70% (1.2 million people) of all their employment. Young people were most likely to be employed in the retail trade industry, with just over a third (34%) employed in this industry, followed by accommodation, cafes and restaurants (10%), property and business services (10%), manufacturing (9%), and construction (8%) industries. As stated previously, young people tend to work in industries offering part-time jobs, and in jobs which require lower levels of skill. In 2003-04 almost 70% (402,600 persons) of young people employed in the retail trade industry were working part-time. In contrast, young people who worked full-time were employed across a range of industries (table 6.30).
Endnotes 1 Wooden, M & VandenHeuvel, A 1999, 'The labour market for young adults', Australia's Young Adults: The deepening divide, Dusseldorp Skills Forum, Sydney. <Back Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


text:
Biological Sciences Division
Research Highlights
February 2008
Proteins Provide Clues to Nanomaterial Toxicity
Adsorbed albumin influences biological activity of two kinds of nanomaterials
Debamitra Dutta
Results: Scientists are looking for ways to predict adverse effects of nanomaterials on human health and the environment. Nano-size particles are characterized by diverse physicochemical properties and may reach sites within cells and tissues not previously or routinely compromised. This challenging combination makes it hard to predict the toxic potential of nanomaterials.
Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of California-Davis and the University of Florida have found that proteins adsorbed onto nanomaterials play an important role in directing nanomaterial disposition and toxicity. This provides important clues about sites of potential toxicological interest. Their research was published in the November 2007 issue of Toxicological Sciences.
Why it matters: Nanomaterials are typically defined as engineered structures with at least one dimension of 100 nm or less. They can have unique properties resulting from the combination of their small size, chemical composition, surface structure, solubility, shape and aggregation.
Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in research at the nanometer scale. New opportunities have become evident in many industries—from consumer products and drug delivery to solar cells and aerospace materials. However, materials that are inert in bulk form may be toxic in nano-sized form, which argues that nanomaterials be systematically evaluated for their toxic potential.
Methods: The researchers investigated the toxicity of two classes of nanomaterials, single-walled carbon nanotubes (or SWCNTs) and spherical structures (10-nm amorphous silica) with and without surfactant coating to prevent protein adsorption. They observed that albumin was the major protein adsorbed to carbon nanotubes and was linked to uptake of nanomaterial by cultured cells. This response was associated with reduced expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an enzyme that can reduce inflammation. Surfactant-coated nanotubes did not exhibit anti-inflammatory properties, and the loss of such properties was correlated to a lack of albumin binding to surfactant-coated nanotubes.
What's next: The data suggest that developing a comprehensive understanding of proteins adsorbed to the surface of nanomaterials could help in understanding how these materials are processed in complex biological systems. This knowledge is expected to improve the understanding of nanomaterial toxicity.
Acknowledgments: This research was funded by PNNL's Environmental Biomarkers Initiative and Summer Research Institute in Interfacial and Condensed Phase Chemical Physics, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Veteran's Affairs. The research team included Debamitra Dutta, SK Sundaram, Justin Teeguarden, Brian Riley, Leo Fifield, Jon Jacobs, Shane Addleman, and Tom Weber, all PNNL; George Kaysen, UC Davis; and Brij Moudgil, University of Florida.
Reference: Dutta D, SK Sundaram, JG Teeguarden, BJ Riley, LS Fifield, JM Jacobs, SR Addleman, GA Kaysen, BM Moudgil, and TJ Weber. 2007. "Adsorbed proteins influence the biological activity and molecular targeting of nanomaterials." Toxicological Sciences 100(1):303-315.


text:
1914 -1919
main aim of my research project, which started in October 1983, is to try to
provide a central source of service and biographical information of all those
who served in the British and Commonwealth Aerial Forces during the First World
War which would be of benefit to Aviation Enthusiasts, Family History
Researchers, Medal Collectors, etc.
I decided to take on this mammoth project because although material was available about early war flying, 'aces' and the types of aircraft flown, there was very little information was available about the men who had actually served. This is true of the ground crew and men in supporting roles, who are generally overlooked |
Royal Flying Corps |
Unidentified R.F.C. Officer |
R.F.C. Other Ranks |
Royal Naval Air Service |
Unidentified R.N.A.S. Officer |
Unidentified R.N.A.S. Other Rank |
Royal Air Force |
Unidentified R.A.F. Officer |
Unidentified R.A.F. Other Rank |
The most
complete records should be those held by the Ministry of Defence, however some
of these were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940, and other files were
accidentally destroyed.
The information
that is available was only released to next of kin after payment of a £25
search fee, though the next of kin requirement has since been waived, searches
will be done for a fee. However during 1997/98 some of the records were
released to the Public
Record Office.
For those records which are not held in the Public Record Office, to trace the 'Record of Service' with the Army and the Royal Flying Corps, including post War Army service you should contact;
of Defence, Army Records Office CS(R)2b,
should be remembered that Army
Officers Records of Service (including the R.F.C.) have been
released to the Public Record Office in 1998, however these files are only 60-70%
complete, and are found under P.R.O. reference WO339.
Service (i.e. Officers) in the Royal Air Force the Ministry
of Defence files were released to the Public Record Office in October 1997
and are held in AIR
76 RAF Officers Records files. However
if the Officer went continued to serve in the Royal Air Force after the war,
the Ministry of Defence have retained the files and the address you would
have to contact is; RAF Disclosures Section NG34 8HB For
further information, please check :http://www.raf.mod.uk/links/contacts.cfm |
The Airmen's Documents for R.A.F.
Enlistment's were released by the National Archives in
September 1998 under reference Air
79 and are arranged in Service Number order, and will cover
numbers up to 329,000. An index
to these R.A.F. service numbers is in AIR 78 and is
held on 190 reels of microfilm. This index was filmed by the R.A.F. in the
early 1980's and covers all enlistment's up to 1975. However the National
Archives admit that 'it is of doubtful
quality in terms of comprehensiveness and legibility of some of the entries.'
R.A.F. 'other ranks' service after April 1918 might be verified, providing you either have the service number of the name can be gound on the index. However, there are some files which are not available, these 'Other Ranks' Records of Service are still held by the R.A.F. contact;
RAF Disclosures
Section, Room 221b, Trenchard Hall,
RAF Cranwell, Sleaford,
for Officers in
the Royal Naval Air Service are held in ADM/273 at the
Public Record Office and 'Other
Ranks' in the Royal Naval Air Service were made available by
the Public Record Office on 1 April 1998. This latter category are in their
original form, covering service numbers F1 - F55000 which are held in 86
volumes in the Alphabetically Prefixed numbers series in ADM 188 class.
These records provide the date and place of birth, physical description, date
of enlistment, rating, descriptions of ships or stations served upon,
assessment of character & conduct and date of discharge
In the
course of my research I learned of the Muster
Rollwhich was compiled to show all the 'Other
Ranks' who were serving in the Royal Air Force on it's formation on 1 April
1918, which was arranged in RAF
Service Number order. This listing includes Service Number, Name &
Initials, Date & Terms of Enlistment, Trade, Rank & Date of Last
Promotion, it does not give Squadrons or Units attached to.
2 102941 - 186817)(200001 - 223200)
3 223201 - 254121)(401001 - 409095)
There are gaps of unallocated numbers in Volumes 2 & 3
I am
in the process of transposing this into an alphabetical card index listing. I
have currently Royal Flying Corps enlistment details up to the end of May 1917.
I am still in the process of compiling a master biographical index of all those
who served, you will appreciate that sometimes the details I can supply may
only be minimal, but they are the starting point for further research.
As any
additional information comes to hand this is added on to the records, there are
several sources of information that can be consulted to expand the details I have,
Voters Lists. An act of Parliament passed on the 6th February 1918 allowed
service men to register in order to obtain a vote in the constituency of their
home address. The first lists were published on the 15 October 1918 from
applications received up to 18 August 1918. The second list was published on
the 15 April 1919. The details that appear were those supplied by the men
themselves, and not by their dependants. Men had to be over 21 years of age to
vote, therefore men under 21 in the armed forces were not included in this
Town /
District / Trade Rolls of Honour and Records of Service,
Registers, Rolls of Honour and Records of Service,
Local Newspapers,
Issues of 'Flight' & 'The Aeroplane',
of Cross & Cockade Society,
from Who's Who, Memoirs etc.
there are missing numbers on the RAF Muster Roll and I have kept a log of
these, some can be for casualties. I have records, extracted from the
Commonwealth War Graves Registers of all RFC, RNAS & RAF Casualties and I
have been through 'Soldiers Died in the Great War' and extracted lists of all
those noted 'formerly RFC'
I have listings of those members of
the ranks from the Royal Flying Corps who were discharged and granted the Silver War Badge 'For
Services Rendered', each badge was stamped with a number on
the reverse, this number did not relate to their service number, but
was based upon batches of badges allocated by the War Office Currently there are no available records of the 13,000 Silver War Badges issued by the Royal Air Force, which have an RAF prefix on the number stamped on the reverse of the badge |
of the gaps in the 'missing' numbers extracted from the R.A.F. Muster Roll have
now been filled in.
I have
yet to find a single source which specifically lists the men who transferred to
or from the Royal Flying Corps. Some of these details can be found from the
individual index cards in the Index
to the Medal Rolls of the British Army Soldiers and RFC/RAF Airmen who received
service medals, this master microfiche index is arranged in
alphabetical order is held at the Public Record Office under their reference
number WO/329.
addition to the files on Other Ranks, I have compiled a good deal of
information on Officers, which, on the whole, are much easier to find, i.e.
Copies of Army,
and Air Force
have Record of
Service Sheets for all Royal Naval Air Service Officers and Officers attached
to the R.N.A.S., I have also completed a biographical card index of Casualties to the Royal Naval Air Service. |
Unidentified R.F.C. Officer
Prisoners attending the Funeral of Captain Albert Ball VC,DSO,MC 56 Squadron,
R.F.C., Laventie, France 9 May 1917 I have compiled comprehensive
listings of all R.F.C.,
R.N.A.S., R.A.F. Prisoners of War and Interned Prisoners,
covering both Officers & Other Ranks. |
I have also extracted names of
members of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force from the official War Office Weekly Casualty listing and the Air Ministry Casualty listings,
starting from 31 July 1917, I have not been able to trace
copies of the earlier daily listings which should run from August 1914 to the
end of July 1917 |
always welcome any information, no matter how trivial it might seem.
information, the loan of documents or photographs etc is also useful and
greatly appreciated. Any material loaned to me would receive great care and
would be returned as soon as details had been included on the Register.
If you
would like me to advise you on avenues of research, to check my records, or
would like to pass information on to me, for inclusion in the register, please
write to;
David J. Barnes, R.F.C., R.N.A.S., R.A.F. Register
Or you
can email me at:
(Remember: Copies of any service records, research
notes or the loan of documents or photographs etc would be greatly appreciated
in order to update the R.F.C., R.N.A.S., R.A.F. Register 1914 - 1919)
shared is never lost"
© 2013 David J. Barnes


text:
Born in the Adelaide Hills to European parents following emigration to Australia after the war, Dzint Jurevicius was influenced in his early years to follow his passion for art and culture.
He studied at the prestigious South Australian School of Art, gaining a High Distinction in Painting. Writing of his inaugural exhibition in Lidums Gallery in The Advertiser in 1971, and later at Thorngate Gallery in 1973, he was identified as an emerging artist with exceptional talent.
After graduating in art and design secondary teaching in 1971, he spent the next decade in rural South Australia, his initial country appointment being in Naracoorte where he assisted in establishing the first regional art gallery later being appointed as the honorary Director. This experience was instrumental in developing appreciation for contemporary artists, which as a keen interest he continued to foster in others throughout his teaching career. One of the key highlights of his time as Director was the organization of a retrospective exhibition of Norman Lindsay's work at the regional gallery.
Having recently retired from teaching secondary students, Dzint is now enjoying sharing his skills and experience through master classes in his studio gallery on Hindmarsh Island on the south coast.
Dzint has appreciated the opportunity his career in teaching in both public and private school systems has provided him in exploring and developing multiple skills in a variety of styles and techniques, such as oils, acrylics, watercolour and guache as well as silk screen, lino print, and scraper board mediums. While Dzint's work tends towards realism, he continues to explore semi abstract and cubist styles along with digital art.
His multi faceted work is well recognized, winning top awards at prestigious Rotary Art shows in both regional and metropolitan exhibitions and painting festivals over many years.


text:
How can we forget amazing impact of the videos which easily motivate all? Doesn't matter at all for what you are using the same, ultimately, one can easily expect to have the best results, for sure. You probably know, for having perfect, trendy and amazing videos for business, for film production, for advertisement or other various things, a pretty good amount of money and best production company is required. Not only this, you will surely be needed to spend a lot of time to verify everything going on in a perfect manner or not.
Well, if you undergo with the same, it can be a torturing situation for you even if you are looking to shoot out 1 min video. What can be best solution then? Well, if you don't want to be in touch with the same situation, better try out readymade videos. Yes, readymade videos can easily be found using the best source, however, it is actually a great idea where we wouldn't need to spend too much time, money, and efforts.
Here, don't be mistaken, as we are not talking about those videos which are available over the net free of cost actually we are talking about royalty free video clips which one can easily get by paying very nominal amount of money. Those free of cost videos can be a subject of risk of the copyright issue, however, better leave them all and pick up the best, fresh and innovative videos easily at B-rollstock. This is the fantastic source for picking up right videos for our business; however, relying on the same means hassle-free experience.
Why people are motivated towards royalty free stock footage because this is the only one which is dealing with all sorts of categories, however, expect to have unlimited number of fresh content daily which helps various businesses, videographers, artists and others to carry on with their creative productions. In order to build up awesome core strength via creative and performance driven workforce, we must take the help of the same source which always brings new ideas and solutions to us.
Following royalty free video is truly very helpful and via the same without putting extra effort, we can easily get extraordinary products. Also, nobody needs to wait for so long to grab these amazing products, however, the best idea to go with. All we just need to be connected with the source, sign up over there and simply browse what you are looking to have. As this source is completely phenomenal, however, we can easily expect to have all sorts videos for accomplishing our needs and requirements.
Those who are looking for saving incredible amount of money as well as always love go with top-class stock video footage, this is an amazing platform which is here to give you success. Not only this, having a perfect consistency of your material and saving your post-production time, using there is NO better option than having royalty free footage. Therefore, if you haven't tried it before, better do it now and enjoy amazing experience using the same.


text:
- Industry
- Real Estate Operations
- Sector
- Real Estate
- Employees
- 2200
- Equity Type
- Address
- Toronto, ON M5E 1G4 Canada
- Phone
- +1-416-6419500
- Fax
- 416-6419501
Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures), cryptocurrencies, and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn't bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data. Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.


text:
This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)
The government is aware of no credible or specific information that points to any terror plot tied to the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, according to a new confidential threat assessment from the FBI and Homeland Security Department obtained by The Associated Press.
According to Fox News the new assessment, dated Thursday, said that intelligence agencies remain concerned that Al Qaeda and its affiliates are committed to carrying out attacks on Western targets. But it said there was no information pointing to any known plot. The bulletin made no mention of Syria, even as President Barack Obama sought congressional approval to use military force against the Syrian government.
Four Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on last year's anniversary. Three others were killed and more than 260 others were injured when two men set off bombs near the finish line of the popular Boston Marathon in April. There was no specific or credible intelligence about those attacks, either.
The terror threat to the U.S. is different than it was 12 years ago. In 2001, there was credible intelligence about a terror plot, but that information wasn't shared with the right people. Today, the threat is more diffuse. Cyberattacks threaten to disrupt major U.S. operations in the government and the private sector. Lone actors represent another threat — one or two people who are not directly affiliated with Al Qaeda but who subscribe to the terror group's ideology and want to strike out because they disagree with U.S. policies.
Today, officials are concerned about retaliatory strikes if Obama moves forward with plans to use military force against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, which the administration condemns for the death of 1,429 in a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 near Damascus. Assad's government blames the episode on rebels who have been seeking to overthrow his government. Iraqi officials and militant groups have said that Iranian-backed Shiite militias are threatening to retaliate against American interests inside Iraq if the U.S. goes ahead with strikes, as Tehran is a close ally of Assad.
iHLS – Israel Homeland Security
The FBI has been reviewing old case files involving Hezbollah and Iran's Quds Force, reaching out to its sources to see whether they know anything new, a law enforcement official said. The official offered few details about the outreach and spoke on condition of anonymity because the official did not want to publicize the bureau's investigative strategies.
In its intelligence bulletin, the FBI and Homeland Security Department reminded law enforcement of activity that could indicate a planning for an attack, such as surveillance and questions about security operations. They also provided tips to avoid Internet denial of service attacks, such as a warning Aug. 27 from a Tunisian hacker group. The group, called "Tunisian_Hackers II" threatened a 10-day denial of service attack against U.S. banks starting Sept. 1. By Sept. 5, law enforcement had seen no evidence that the hacker group carried through with the plan, the bulletin said.
Lee Hamilton, the former Democratic congressman from Indiana who co-chaired the 9/11 Commission report, said Americans should be reassured to know that there is no credible or specific information about a terror attack tied to the 9/11 anniversary next week. But today's threats are so difficult to detect because they're often unknown to law enforcement.
"The threat has become more spread out, more difficult, more means could be used," said Hamilton, who currently co-heads the Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center, which plans to release a report Monday on the terror threats to the U.S. "Identifying particular individuals who might turn violent is very, very hard to do. It's a big country — lots of people out there, and it's a huge challenge to law enforcement."
And it's difficult to get specific intelligence that an attack will happen at a certain date and time, Hamilton said.
"It's one thing to intercept intelligence which enables you to stop a big attack, which we've been successful at doing over the years," he said. "It's quite another to identify every lone wolf, every solitary actor."


text:
Press release: South Sudan Economic Partners Forum
Following is the text of a communiqué issued by the US Government after hosting a meeting of donor nations and investors in Washington, DC:
The Governments of the United States and the Republic of South Sudan, in coordination with the European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom, met April 16 with more than forty other governments and international organizations at the South Sudan Economic Partners Forum in Washington, DC. The forum marked the start of an enhanced partnership to strengthen governance, political inclusiveness and sustainable development in South Sudan. Hosted by the U.S. Government, the Partners Forum reviewed South Sudan's progress over the challenging past 18 months, welcomed the Government's fiscal and economic strategy, and agreed on the outlines of a compact based on mutual commitments to reform and international engagement.
The Government of South Sudan highlighted the major macro-economic challenges the new nation has faced over the past 18 months and key reform priorities moving forward. The shutdown of oil production in January 2012 sparked a severe fiscal crisis. In response, the Government of South Sudan has undertaken to put in place fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize the macro-economy and is currently negotiating an economic program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The development partners emphasized the importance of a rapid conclusion of this program. Following the recent agreement between South Sudan and Sudan to resume oil production and open borders for trade, the Government of South Sudan has committed to put in place additional policy measures to establish macroeconomic stability, strengthen governance, guarantee political space and fundamental rights, enhance the management of public finances and natural resources, combat corruption, increase capacity for basic social services, and boost broad-based economic growth in order to transform the lives of the South Sudanese people. As a critical first step, the Government of South Sudan emphasized its commitment to strengthen its macro-economic framework with support from the IMF and embark on an economic reform program in cooperation with international financial institutions.
Participants in the forum applauded progress achieved in implementation of the September 27 cooperation agreements between South Sudan and Sudan, which has led, among other benefits, to resumption of oil production in South Sudan with exportation through Sudan. Direct consultations between South Sudanese President Kiir and Sudanese President Bashir, which took place in Juba on April 12, produced further progress toward finding practical solutions for the remaining outstanding issues and establishing mutually beneficial relations between the two peoples and their states. Participants strongly believe it is in the interests of both countries to seek constructive solutions to all their remaining differences, which will lay the foundations for building two peaceful, prosperous and viable states.
Recognizing the fragility of South Sudan's progress, the Government of South Sudan and its international partners will renew and enhance their partnership in the spirit of the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States to enable the transition toward greater economic resilience. Acknowledging the toll of decades of violence and the continuing impact of conflict and insecurity on the people of South Sudan, the government is committed to work to prevent and to reduce hostilities in an integrated, inclusive and non-violent way. This requires a coordinated approach to the use of political, security, humanitarian and development approaches. Now, more than ever, it is important to sustain and accelerate South Sudan's reform momentum. The international community is committed to long-term engagement with South Sudan in order to support inclusive political governance, public accountability, effective social services and a vibrant private sector.
South Sudan, as a leading member of the g7+ group of fragile states, proposed a compact with international partners to engender mutual commitments towards greater reform and aid effectiveness. Over the coming months, a broad range of stakeholders will develop a partnership compact for South Sudan, which will include mutually agreed policy benchmarks for the Government of South Sudan, matched with commitments from partners to build capacity and improve the effectiveness of aid. Once finalized, the compact is intended to provide an umbrella agreement for innovative financing from a range of international partners, including through proposed additional support for education and health sector salaries and the development of a new South Sudan Partnership Fund to support capacity building for good governance, investments in priority sectors and support for basic services. Various international partners indicated during the forum that they foresee adding substantial new support to their contributions – up to $300 million. This year approximately $1.3 billion is provided by donors to South Sudan.
Convinced that a thriving private sector is critical to job creation, improved livelihoods and economic growth, international partners also agreed to support the Government of South Sudan to organize a Private Sector Investment Conference in Juba in late 2013.
Photo above: USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah at the South Sudan Economic Partners Forum yesterday (USAID South Sudan Facebook Page)
Photo below: South Sudan Minister of Commerce Garang Diing Akuong with US Ambassador Susan Page and Executive Vice President of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation Mimi Alemayehou


text: Punched cards generally use one column of holes for each digit or letter. But there was no worldwide standard for the number of columns, the size of the card, or the shape of the hole. In 1928 IBM switched to rectangular holes on 80-column cards. Powers-Samas in the UK continued to use round holes, and over the years had cards with 21, 26, 40, 65, and 80 columns. In the 1970s IBM introduced a 96-column card with very tiny round holes.


text:
Connecting with old friends? There's an app for that. Logging your fitness goals? There's an app for that.
Making your farm more sustainable? There, too, is an app for that.
In our technology-driven world, farmers, scientists and agricultural economists are tapping into Big Data research to stay ahead.
"Information technology has become to agriculture today what internal combustion engines were in the 20s and 30s," says Thomas Rutherford, WID Optimization researcher and agricultural and applied economics professor at UW–Madison. "In those days, the way you made money was to be the first one to know how to use a gasoline engine. The same thing's going on now.
But how do farmers acquire this type of information?
The answer: "Big Data," a phrase that can represent trillions upon trillions of data points.
WID experts characterize Big Data by three components: volume (how big the data is), velocity (how fast the data is being collected) and variety (how diverse the data being collected is).
"With Big Data, we can come up with models that are based on experience," says Rebecca Willett, Discovery Fellow and Optimization researcher. "And that's how our brains work. We look around us. We learn. Every time we experience something, we store that away and refine our model about how the world works. And so the idea of Big Data is to somehow do the same thing. So every time we get more data, we want to refine our view of how the world works and we want to use it to make better predictions."
Rob Nowak, Discovery Fellow, WID Optimization researcher and computer and electrical engineering professor, likens Big Data problems to "needles buried in haystacks kinds of problems."
"You have enormous amounts of data, and you're trying to find patterns in that data that may be very subtle," says Nowak. "You have to use automated computer processing to find these hidden patterns and signals. So we're looking for those needles in these Big Data haystacks."
WID looked at a few ways the Institute's researchers and collaborators are harnessing Big Data to enhance agriculture and sustainability.
The Farmers' App
Many farmers across the Midwest struggle with two common problems: pest control and overall sustainability practices. To address these problems, Paul Mitchell, a UW–Madison associate professor of agricultural and applied economics, is developing two mobile apps that would give individual farmers greater control in helping to solve these problems.
"Every time we experience, we store that away and refine our model about how the world works. And so the idea of Big Data is to somehow do the same thing. So every time we get more data, we want to refine our view of how the world works and we want to use it to make better predictions."
— Rebecca Willett
One app helps farmers determine when to rotate their crops. Mitchell says crop rotation is an important practice in preventing the infestation of the Bt-resistant corn rootworm, a pest that damages genetically modified corn designed to repel it. Using data from satellites and georeference technology, farmers could input the location of their field and, based on a variety of factors, the app would tell the farmer whether or not they should rotate their crops.
The other app will make building more sustainable farms simpler and easier to understand. Mitchell's app metric can teach individual farmers what he or she can do to make farming more sustainable, showing researchers problematic practices trending among farmers in a certain area. The metric would feed from a survey with several hundred questions that farmers could answer based on sustainable farming practices, such as, "Do you sample your tissue [plant] before you apply fertilizer?" or "Do you go out and scout for insects?" Based on his or her answers, each farmer will receive a score.
Each score is farm-specific but gives researchers insight into which sustainability measures the majority of farmers are tracking and what changes can be made to better the system as a whole. The hope is the survey will be distributed every three to five years, so that farmers have the chance to make changes and see improvements.
While these particular apps are still in development, this type of technology is quickly gaining popularity across the agriculture industry.
"You drive by the field and you think, 'Oh, they're just out there farming,'" Rutherford says. "You don't have a clue that they're way beyond that."
A picture worth a thousand data points
For most people, image recognition technology allows them to more easily tag their friends in photos on Facebook. But researchers are looking to further this technology to help farmers target weeds in their fields.
The goal is to create robotic weeders that go into farm fields and use image recognition technology to determine crops from weeds, and then proceed to kill the weed.
Michael Ferris, WID's Optimization theme leader and computer sciences, industrial engineering and mathematics professor, says image recognition is a different type of Big Data collection. The data actually comes from individual pixels within an image, as opposed to large collections of images themselves. Researchers look to find patterns through the gradients of the pixel features, with sharp contrasts marking the boundaries of the object. Taking these data sets and prior information about image structure, they are able to create models that enhance the image and recognize its properties more easily.
Fertilizer finesse
While mobile apps and image recognition technology are seen in our daily lives, Big Data also lends itself to the development of completely new technologies.
Partnering with the USDA and colleagues in biochemistry and SoilNet LLC, Ferris is working to deploy a form of separation technology that looks to create more specialized bio-energy co-products from manure: ethanol, vegetable oil/meals, bio-diesel, and organic soil amendments and fertilizers.
With a continuous cyclical process in the creation of fertilizer, cow manure is used as fertilizer, providing crops with nutrients. Because not all necessary nutrients can be found in manure, however, extra nutrients are added to the fertilizer. Cows then eat the crops grown in the fertilizer, ingesting the extra nutrients. Their manure is again used to create more fertilizer, and the process continues.
This new technology looks to separate raw manure based on a variety of different properties, such as a specific nutrient or protein. Removing excess materials from manure will not only make for cheaper transport, but will allow farmers to purchase new fertilizers rich in a particular nutrient.
Teaching the future
While it is important for farmers to understand technology's environmental implications, WID researchers are looking to teach these practices to an equally important audience: children.
A team led by Ferris has created two video games, Fields for Fuel and Trails Forward, in efforts to not only teach grade school children about the environment in Dane County, but also how their actions affect the environment. Drawing from real environmental data, when players, who play as either farmers, miners or loggers, do something to change the environment in the game, say, cut down a tree or build a mining plant, there is a real-time response that lets them know its effect on the environment and impact on other players.
"The aim of those gaming interfaces is a way to explore data or system interactions to actually see, in a friendly way, what are the consequences of making changes to the operation of that system and how that system changes based upon what you do," Ferris says.
— Bridget Ryan


text:
It was a long time ago,
I was a girl 'bout 12 years old
on my back staring up into the dark summer sky
when I said, "God, tomorrow I can't see
but I'll stick close to you if you'll stick close to me!"
and that night I prayed "Keep me God! Keep me God."
Now, I don't know just where God lives
ain't all that sure just exactly who God is
I don't know if there's a church
that deserves to take God's name
I just know that when I look around here I see
the hand of someone or something
that is bigger than me
and I call that God
and then I pray "Just, keep me God"
I'm in a plane up in the sky
A storm surrounds us as we fly
and below, the big black ocean is all that I can see
When all at once I realize: Don't really matter if I live or even if I die
Just so long as you keep me God
Now, when my days draw to an end
and I've said goodbye to my family and friends
When the tide that turns my life is standing still
as I turn my final bend, I betcha I'm gonna be asking even then
Keep me God, keep me God, keep me God
Keep me God, keep me God, keep me God


text:
Picasso and Monet, Stephen Shore and Richard Avedon all have one thing in common: each one has a distinctive style. But how does a unique style develop, and is there a point where it becomes a constraint?
The portfolio of visual artist and Canon Ambassador Eliška Sky brims with colour and creative concepts. Throughout her 13-year career, she's built up a body of personal and commercial work that is bold and playful and often provides visual commentary on important issues such as climate change and diversity.
Here, she speaks with fellow art photographer and Canon Ambassador Hassan Hajjaj. Hassan has lived and worked between Morocco and London since childhood. Over a 30-year career he has created joyful images that mix documentary photography with portraiture and fashion with set design, as well as featuring self-styled characters from the street. With his work exhibited in the British Museum, London's V&A, Brooklyn Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, he's not only successfully straddled the art and commercial worlds but also become easily identifiable.
The two photographers met virtually to discuss inspiration, developing a style, and striking a balance between commercial and purely artistic work.


text:
Development Communication Network (DEVCOMS) designed a Media Advocacy Strategy, drawing on information learned from the Media Stakeholders Analysis conducted during the Discovery phase of the project. The assessment identified health reporters and media representatives that the project could work with in each of the four first-phase cities (Abuja, Kaduna, Ibadan, and Ilorin). The assessment also indicated that many media representatives harbored misconceptions and incorrect information about family planning and were reluctant to support family planning through the media due to "sensitivities" expressed by local opinion-leaders.
Following the Media Advocacy Strategy, DEVCOMS trained print and electronic media journalists during 2-day workshops on family planning and its links to health and development. DEVCOMS established a database of trained media representatives in each city who it invites to cover family planning activities, including those organized by NURHI.
DEVCOMS also works with its media contacts to create opportunities for interviews and discussions with ACGs, FP Champions, policy-makers, and NURHI representatives. Members of the DEVCOMS network also cover family planning activities, and write feature articles; they were crucial in popularizing the "Get it Together" campaign.
DEVCOMS and the NURHI field offices track the volume of family planning coverage in the media as a means of monitoring its impact.
© Copyright 2013 - NURHI Nigerian Urban Reproductive
Health Initiative, All Rights Reserved


text:
October 10, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers are working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), University of Cincinnati and Argonne National Laboratory to develop contaminant warning systems that can monitor municipal water systems to determine quickly when and where a contamination occurs.
It's all part of the EPA's Threat Ensemble Vulnerability Assessment (TEVA) program to counter threats against water systems. The program uses a computational framework containing a suite of software tools that can simulate threats and identify vulnerabilities in drinking water systems, measure potential public health impacts, and evaluate mitigation and response strategies.
The EPA became particularly concerned about potential water system contamination after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on Washington, D.C. and New York.
U.S. water systems consist of large networks of storage tanks, valves, and pipes that transport clean water to customers over vast areas. By the very nature of their design, they provide multiple points for potential contamination — either accidental or intentional.
Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.
"Our involvement dates back about three years ago when the EPA became aware of some LDRD [internally-funded Laboratory Directed Research and Development program] research we were doing to model threat assessments to water systems," says Sean McKenna, Sandia project researcher. "We started working with the EPA in March 2003."
During the ensuing three years, the collaborative team created world-class software to address water security issues. The software can aid in the placement of sensors during the design stage of a contaminant warning system. It can also determine when and where a contamination event happens, track changes, and determine when the event is over.
"Through careful adaptation of classical algorithms, we are able to solve sensor placement problems on networks that are 100 times larger than those previously cited in the water security literature," says Jon Berry, who works on sensor placement methods for the project. "Our team recognized and exploited mathematical structure that hadn't been associated with water security before."
Bill Hart, Sandia project lead, says the software "helped the EPA meet several internal milestones over the past year," including developing a contaminant incident timeline for the EPA's WaterSentinel program and working with a large city water utility to determine the best locations for sensor placement. The WaterSentinel Program is being developed in partnership with select cities and laboratories in response to a Homeland Security Presidential Directive that charges the EPA to develop surveillance and monitoring systems to provide early detection of water contamination.
The EPA will test Sandia's event detection methods later this summer at a large water system.
"These tests [that the EPA will conduct] will assess the event detection methods so that we can better understand how to respond more intelligently to contaminations as they occur," Hart says.
Sandia is also leveraging this project with another research project funded by the American Water Works Association Research Foundation to develop a sensor simulator that offers a more complete understanding of how contaminant warning systems may ultimately function when operated in water distribution systems. Sandia researchers are developing a software algorithm that mimics the performance of water quality sensors in common use today.
Sensor characteristics such as noise, drift, and sampling frequency are incorporated into a user-friendly software module that enables system designers to assess on-line data signals for event detection that also take into account imperfect sensors and changing water quality baselines that are encountered during routine system operation.
The event detection methods and its sensor simulator have been specifically tailored for use with a variety of affordable, off-the-shelf sensors commonly used by water utilities to monitor water quality.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
Sandia news media contact: Chris Burroughs, email@example.com, (505) 844-0948


text:
Vice President
First Lady
Mrs. Cheney
News & Policies
History & Tours
Your Government
Graphic version
Email Updates | Español | Accessibility | Search | Privacy Policy | Help
Printer-Friendly Version Email this page to a friend |
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 12, 2001
Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. I have two announcements I would like to make. And there's a rather lengthy personnel announcement, so we will be putting that out in writing. I will not go through it.
The Technical Security Division made a determination of how many feet surrounding the vehicle needed to be evacuated. And that area included portions of the West Wing, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the North Lawn, including the press area here. The vehicle was inspected and it was cleared, and all events resumed at normal pace and schedule at the White House shortly before noon. The President and the Vice President were never affected at any time by this incident.
That is my statement on the matter dealing with the Secret Service this morning.
Today's vote is a victory for all Americans who want to see environmentally-responsible energy production to help protect consumers from wild fluctuations in energy prices, and increase America's energy independence on foreign supplies of oil and gas.
This vote shows that bipartisan consensus can be reached on the plan to address America's energy needs. The vote represents yet another example of how President Bush is working, and will keep his word to balance the need to address our energy needs with local concerns. The President worked very hard with officials of all states in the Gulf of Mexico in developing that plan. And the President is pleased that an effort to overturn the compromise that he reached was not agreed to, by a very overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Senate.
MR. FLEISCHER: The automobile in question belonged to a staffer of a member of Congress who was here for a meeting with the President.
Q Who was that?
MR. FLEISCHER: That's a matter for the Secret Service. I'm not going to name whoever it was.
Q Do you know what it was that the dog hit on?
MR. FLEISCHER: It's unclear, Ron. I think the Secret Service might have more specific information on it. Obviously, what the dog hit on did not develop.
Q One more question, and then if I can follow up real quickly. Have you been able to find out if this is the first time that a portion of the West Wing has been evacuated?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm not aware. I had not previously been asked that. I'll be happy to try to find out.
Q The President was in the Oval Office during the time? The entire period?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, the President was on the patio behind the Oval Office, and then he had lunch with the Vice President. They were initially out on the patio, and they had their lunch in the routine office where they always do; the small dining room just off the Oval.
Q But they didn't ask him to leave the Oval Office?
MR. FLEISCHER: No.
Q In addition to your office, there was some suggestion that Condoleezza Rice's office, because of its proximity to the vehicle, was also evacuated. Can you confirm that?
MR. FLEISCHER: As I indicated, the areas that were evacuated included portions of the West Wing. Those would be all the northern portions of the West Wing. In other words, any portion of the West Wing that had glass in the area where the vehicle was found, in the proximity, the closest proximity to where the vehicle was found. The vehicle was very close to the gate, so it was a lengthy distance from the vehicle to the West Wing. Nevertheless, the entire northern portion of the West Wing was evacuated. That would include the Offices of the National Security Advisor.
Also, of course, the North Lawn, where many reporters were. I'd like to thank the reporters for your cooperation with the Secret Service in agreeing to leave as quickly as you did. And the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, as well, the northeastern portions of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building were also evacuated.
Q Where did you go, and where did the National Security Advisor go during this period of evacuation?
MR. FLEISCHER: I went into the Vice President's office and made some phone calls from there, and then I met with the President out on his patio.
Q And do you know where Condi went?
MR. FLEISCHER: I do not.
Q How do they calculate this area that -- you were saying that they've calculated an area. We have these things happen from time to time and --
MR. FLEISCHER: The Secret Service are some of the nation's leading experts in this type of protection for the people who are fortunate enough to work within these gates. And they made the determination about how many feet were necessary to evacuate from within the reach of that vehicle. And that's the reason why they evacuated these portions of the White House Complex.
Q What was different about this incident from other -- we've had other incidents in the driveway where the guy came out in the Michelin tire-looking outfit to check things --
MR. FLEISCHER: It was the reaction to the dogs which are trained in these matters.
Q Ari, that was the follow-up. Was there another dog brought in for, in effect, a second opinion, or is there just this one dog? (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: I think you should double-check with the Secret Service. My understanding, it was a solo canine opinion. (Laughter.)
Q Do you know how experienced this dog was? Had the dog ever had a false alarm?
MR. FLEISCHER: You should ask the Secret Service that.
Q Was the mansion at all affected by the evacuation?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, it was not.
Q Has the car now been returned, or is the Secret Service still going over it?
MR. FLEISCHER: My understanding is, everything was cleared, and the owner took the vehicle back.
Q In general, the cars which have congressional tags, are not checked at the gate; as a courtesy, they're allowed to drive in. And does this incident -- would that spark any reconsideration of that?
MR. FLEISCHER: Terry, I cannot get into the manner in which the Secret Service acts for security purposes at the White House gates. I would simply say, as with all incidents, the Secret Service is always reviewing actions to make certain that the White House, the President, the Vice President and all the guests are safe as always. And so, they always conduct a review, and -- Q Are those cars exempt?
MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, you're asking questions about specific security matters at the White House, and you know those are not topics I can talk about.
Q Ari, because of the scare, is there a thought that there might be a change in how cars, or what cars are allowed in the Northwest Driveway area?
MR. FLEISCHER: As I indicated, the Secret Service always reviews their activities to make certain that they are taking all appropriate steps to protect people within the gates of the White House and that will be something the Secret Service if they decide to look at, will look at.
Q Will this have an effect on the President's decision about reopening Pennsylvania Avenue to traffic?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think it's too soon to say if there will be any effect of this whatsoever. I don't see a connection.
MR. FLEISCHER: Keep reading.
Q Okay, "if people had checked deeper, they would have seen that this did not even reach the senior staff level of the White House, that the words "firm commitment" were obviously a misread of the White House." I know how you're going to parse that sentence, but I would like you to ask me when you -- answer -- when you gave us that sentence if Karl Rove was involved.
MR. FLEISCHER: I'll give you a two-part answer. And it's not parsing. It is literally the meaning of what I said, that the question of whether or not there was a firm commitment from the White House to the Salvation Army was an erroneous statement in that memo from the Salvation Army, and the question of support for the action the Salvation Army sought never rose up to the level of the senior staff following the review.
As for the question of whether or not Karl Rove specifically had any contact with the Office of Management and Budget to pass along the information about the review, I did not know that at the time.
Q And have you been able to answer in the brief time since our briefing in your office what exactly Karl Rove's involvement was beyond the one call to OMB?
MR. FLEISCHER: No changes. As I indicated to you, I took your question and we're going to work to try to get you an answer.
Q You have said that under the civil rights laws that these charities, religious organizations can discriminate on hiring. Am I wrong there?
MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, under the civil rights laws, religious institutions --
Q There's an exemption -- exemption.
MR. FLEISCHER: -- are not made to discriminate on the basis of hiring. In other words, if the Catholic Church decides that priests cannot be married, that is, under our laws of freedom of religion in this nation, that is a right of the Catholic Church to decide who can be a priest. And it is the right, under the Civil Rights Act, as affirmed by a 9-0 Supreme Court decision, to allow hiring decisions by ministries to be made in accordance with civil rights laws.
Q I want to know, can these federally-funded religious charities, which, under the President's proposed program, can they deny assistance to non-believers or atheists --
MR. FLEISCHER: As I told you a half an hour ago, I do not have an answer for that question yet.
Q Well, why don't you have an answer?
MR. FLEISCHER: Because you asked a half an hour ago. I didn't --
Q No, I asked you yesterday.
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, yesterday, you asked -- Helen, as always, I work very diligently to get you those answers. I do not have it today.
Q I think that's a very significant thing, don't you?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'll try to get you that answer.
Q And the question here, that the Salvation Army wanted, was not whether their ministry had to abide by local anti-discrimination laws, but whether their federally-funded social service activities had to abide by local anti-discrimination laws. And the White House was considering some kind of action to allow them to discriminate against gays and lesbians in hiring in these federally-funded social service programs, correct?
MR. FLEISCHER: The White House, as we indicated yesterday, reviewed the request from the Salvation Army.
Q And it -- so the administration was entertaining the possibility of allowing the Salvation Army to discriminate against gays and lesbians, while at the same time, taking federal money.
MR. FLEISCHER: The White House was reviewing the question, whether in this instance a private organization could hire as a matter which it saw fit. In this instance, the White House made a decision, as you know, not to proceed with the Salvation Army request.
Q But in HR-7, the charitable choice provision, in the current bill that's making its way toward the House floor, doesn't it also seek to provide dissimilar shelter from state and local ordinances on this question of religious institutions, and whether or not they are required to adhere to those state and federal -- state and local ordinances on the question of hiring homosexuals?
MR. FLEISCHER: HR-7, passed by the House Judiciary Committee, affirms the nation's civil rights laws and the charitable choice laws which have been signed into law by President Clinton. And that affords religious institutions the opportunity to hire on the basis of who they believe should be hired, in accordance with their faith.
Q In accordance with their religious perspectives?
MR. FLEISCHER: Correct.
Q Which -- and since 1996, since President Clinton signed that, states and localities have stepped in with their own interpretation of what has happened.
MR. FLEISCHER: Correct.
Q HR-7 would shield these religious organizations from these new ordinances and state laws, would it not?
MR. FLEISCHER: That's not clear, Major. I think that's a question that Paula asked yesterday. There are state and local governments that have taken into their own hands their right to pass ordinances that are contrary to the federal measure. And wherever there is a federal statute in conflict with a state conflict -- a state statute, it often ends up in the courts.
Q Whatever happened to local control? Whatever happened to municipalities who believe that people provide social services in their jurisdiction shouldn't discriminate in hiring this way. Why wouldn't the administration, as they do on other issues, say, this is up to localities?
MR. FLEISCHER: Because there's a federal statute. And what the Salvation Army was asking for was for the administration to overrule local control. The administration took no such action. So local control remains in place. There's a federal statute on the books. There are state statutes on the books. And as is typical in our society, sometimes they're in conflict. In certain cities they're in conflict.
Q Ari, the request from the Salvation Army to the Office of Management and Budget was in the pipeline as of mid-April.
MR. FLEISCHER: Correct.
Q The Office of Faith-based Initiatives was aware of it, the White House was aware of it.
MR. FLEISCHER: Correct.
Q What was the purpose for the President's senior political advisor getting involved in this issue a month later, in the middle of May?
MR. FLEISCHER: Because the Salvation Army met with him and asked him to.
Q But if it was already in the pipeline, why would there be cause to contact another White House official, more senior than the first one?
MR. FLEISCHER: It happens all the time. It happens all the time. If you think that organizations that represent causes in America stop with one White House aide, you don't understand -- and I know you do -- how organizations work. They come and they petition their government for a redress as they see fit. Sierra Club does it, the Cancer Society does it, the Salvation Army does it. AARP was here today. Welcome to America. This is the business of the American people contacting the representatives in the White House to state their claims. The White House will always review these requests. Sometimes they'll agree with these groups, sometimes they won't.
Q But it has the appearance of, we're not hearing what we want to hear, let's kick it up the ladder a little bit.
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, groups constantly reach out to talk to as many people in the White House as they can find. For example, today, a representative of CBS News called several officials in the White House to get comments on questions. It's not uncommon for everybody to call multiple people in the White House to try to get action.
Q Are you tracking my phone calls? (Laughter.) But if I could just follow one more time --
MR. FLEISCHER: But that's your job, and that's the right of the American people, including the press, to contact a variety of people in the White House to try to get answers to their questions.
Q You have said repeatedly that there's nothing wrong with listening to people on various issues. And that may be true, as long as there is no conflict of interest or any suggestion of a quid pro quo. Can you say here and now that throughout this entire issue with the Salvation Army there was not even the suggestion by anyone at this White House of a quid pro quo, that we will try to get you this waiver if you support us on faith-based initiatives?
MR. FLEISCHER: Not only can I tell you that there was never a suggestion of a quid pro quo; in this case, the Salvation Army asked for something that they did not get -- and the Salvation Army is supporting the President's faith-based initiative. That's rather proof positive that there couldn't have been a quid pro quo. Otherwise, why is the Salvation Army supporting the President's initiative?
Q Ari, who here in the White House went back to the Salvation Army with the conclusion that there would be no action?
MR. FLEISCHER: It was somebody in the Faith-based Office. I don't know if it was John DiIulio or somebody who works for him.
Q Ari, on the subject of Karl Rove's involvement, one of the things that's attracted attention and criticism is the fact that Karl is the senior political strategist for the President and, yet, he's also deeply involved, and has been deeply involved in some policy issues. Some people say that's inappropriate. This, again, illustrates that nexus of politics and policy in Karl's portfolio. How would you respond to the criticisms that your senior political strategist --
MR. FLEISCHER: I dismiss it as utter nonsense from people who know how good and valued a worker Karl is for the President and for all of us here in the White House. Karl performs his job in a superb fashion, and Karl is in charge of inter-governmental affairs and people should bring business to Karl Rove if they want to have an issue considered, and Karl will exercise his discretion and judgment.
It's the right of the American people to bring their matters to the government, to everybody who works here in the White House, including Karl. Karl does his job.
Q The question is, is it appropriate, or is it, in fact, a conflict of interest to have Karl handling intergovernmental affairs and also serving as the chief political strategist for the President. Is that an inappropriate mixture of --
MR. FLEISCHER: Of course not.
Q Why isn't it?
MR. FLEISCHER: Why is it?
Q Because it's mixing policy and politics.
MR. FLEISCHER: I think all the decisions that the President has made -- the President makes are based on the merits. And those include a variety of considerations.
Q Ari, as the President's spokesperson, would you have liked to have known, should you have known the full involvement of Karl, and any other senior officials, yesterday morning when you were asked these questions?
MR. FLEISCHER: You know, if your question is, is there any White House Press Secretary who is ever able to keep track of every single phone call made by every single White House employee and every meeting that every single White House employee engages in, that's an impossibility. What I said yesterday was in regard to the question of the firm commitment, and properly so.
Q Do you disagree that you left, at the very least, a perception that there was no senior level official involved in this case, at all?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I think it's a reminder -- I think it's a reminder that stories can be wrong and perceptions that stories create can be wrong. And in this case, the suggestion that senior administration official -- when I said, no senior administration officials made any such statement about a firm commitment, it's perfectly clear from what you just read that my statement was in the context of firm commitments. And that's exactly right.
Q Can I try one more on substance? Does the President believe that taxpayer money should go to any organization -- religious or otherwise -- that discriminates on the basis of race?
MR. FLEISCHER: That's against the law.
Q Does the President believe that taxpayer money should go to any organization -- religious or otherwise -- that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation?
MR. FLEISCHER: That is not part of the civil rights laws.
Q What does the President believe on that question?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President has -- consistent with all civil rights laws, the President supports the right of private organizations to hire.
Q So it would be okay?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President made two proposals today pertaining to Medicare. One is to bring the fastest way possible of reducing the prices of prescription drugs to seniors. And given the fact that Congress has not been able to take any action on Medicare in recent years, it's a good thing that the administration can act on behalf of seniors without congressional approval. That way, seniors can get their discount cards. HHS is working on a plan to get them the discount cards next year, and I think seniors are going to be very gratified to receive them.
The President believes that beyond that, it is absolutely essential for Congress to put partisan politics aside and come together. That way, a fundamental reform of Medicare can be made that strengthens the program that includes a prescription drug benefit for all seniors within the Medicare program.
Q Do you have a time frame for this, though? I mean, because --
MR. FLEISCHER: The President would like to see Congress act on this matter in the fall.
Q Will you submit legislation to Congress, or will you simply say these are our guidelines, we'll look for a bill that either comes out of the House or the Senate that meets our guidelines?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President's approach is reflected in the package that he sent to Capitol Hill today. The President thinks it's best to bring people together on this issue. The recent history of Medicare has suggested that people will prefer to fight over it rather than to solve it, and by sending up the principles that the President outlined today, it creates a more inclusive environment so Democrats and Republicans can work together to support substantive reforms to strengthen and protect Medicare.
Q Ari, the President today proposed merging A and B.
MR. FLEISCHER: Correct.
Q As you are aware, the deductibles for A and B differ. One is about $700, one is about $400. If you merge these programs, does that necessarily mean and does the President support a deductible that would be somewhat higher than $400 and somewhat less than $700, and therefore would be somewhere in the middle and because more Medicare beneficiaries use doctor visits as opposed to hospitalization, some might be exposed to higher deductible costs under this reform.
MR. FLEISCHER: No, the President is committed to working with Congress on a structure with the deductibles and the copayments that makes the most sense for seniors. Currently, the current system presents a very big burden for seniors. As you put it, Major, there is a program in place right now where seniors under what's called Part A are their hospital coverage are required to pay $800 every time they go into the hospital. And that's one of the reasons that more than 10 million seniors who are on Medicare have had to reach deep in their own pockets to pay for Medigap insurance is exactly because they are not satisfied with the premiums and the deductibles and the copayments under the current Medicare structure. So they have to pay often more than $1,000 a year for additional coverage that can get them additional benefits and lower copays and deductibles. It's an illustration of the fact that a lot of seniors would like to see a more modernized structure in Medicare.
Q Many others just use -- tend to use Part B more than Part A.
MR. FLEISCHER: Unless, God forbid, they have to go to the hospital.
Q That's right.
MR. FLEISCHER: And no senior knows when they're going to have to go to the hospital.
Q That's right. But those deductibles are lower, and if everyone is exposed to a higher deductible, a good number of Medicare recipients could be --
MR. FLEISCHER: But no one says that everybody will be exposed to a higher deductible.
Q To follow up on the medical, I know a lot of the family doctors and general practitioners are very concerned about the President's support of specialty doctors. Does the President see any merit in referring patients first to the general practitioners or the family doctors who can often do the same job as effectively at a less cost?
MR. FLEISCHER: That is exactly why the President believes that seniors deserves choices in health care plans. There are some seniors that would prefer to go right to their general practitioner. There are others that don't want to be bothered with a general practitioner and they would rather go to see their specialist. They've worked with these specialists for many years. They don't want anybody in between them and their specialist. It should not be the role of the government to dictate what they do. They should have choices, so they can best make their own health care plans, as they see fit.
Q The President does support the choice?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President -- the Medicare proposals the President announced today promote choice in health care for senior citizens.
Q The perception is that the President is really pushing the specialty doctors.
MR. FLEISCHER: The President -- I just don't share that perception. I don't see it.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
MR. FLEISCHER: Thank you.
Printer-Friendly Version
Email this page to a friend


text:
When talking about open source, many people's first thought is the GNU General Public License (GPL). While the software world has been revolutionised by GPL, the hardware world has seen little change.
In the open hardware world, one means of achieving "openness" involves sharing design specifications under a license such as the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. CC BY-SA lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes. This license is often compared to 'copyleft' free and open source software licenses. All new works based on your work will carry essentially the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. CC BY-SA is the license used by Wikipedia.
It may be hard for hardware makers to believe that a CC BY-SA license actually wouldn't hurt their bottom line. But this is precisely so: while everyone else can make better versions of their products, they too can make better versions of others' products. It's a win-win situation where each iteration improves a little and over time, and because of this, the world will be a better place much faster than it would be otherwise.
One of the most famous open source hardware products is Arduino and its popularity is largely the result of its openness. Although it is open from the PCB (printed circuit board) up, its hardware components, mainly processors, are still proprietary. Imagine if those were also open. We need more projects like Arduino to promote openness, because only if enough open products are being made, discussed, and identified, can we have the chance to persuade hardware makers to follow suit.
The natural habitat to financially support open hardware is crowdfunding because few investors will invest in open hardware until the general mindset has been changed. Open hardware enthusiasts seem to prefer the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, instead of Kickstarter. If you are interested in promoting and support open hardware crowdfunding efforts, be sure to check out Indiegogo and search for open source hardware.


text:
Today, october 2016, the foundation stone were laid by HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit for the new Munch Museum at Bjørvika in Oslo. The new museum will be equipped to house the city's astonishing Munch collection of some 28,000 works of art, a 6th to 7th doubling of the capacity of the old outdated museum.
If everything goes according to plan, the new Munch Museum will open to the public in 2020. Here, travellers from all over the world will enjoy the famous painter's most notable works, such as "The Scream", "Madonna" and "Girls on the Bridge".
Read more ...
https://www.visitnorway.com/media/news- ... ion-stone/
http://norwaytoday.info/culture/new-mun ... ound-oslo/
The Munch Musum's home page: http://munchmuseet.no/en/


text:
User talk:JoshD
Hi Josh, Bill here, the admin. What can I do for you? --Wmat 02:31, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for getting back to me Bill. I have worked in a lot of wiki's before, but as you can see I just joined here. I made the page Raspberry Pi News, but was wondering what category it would currently fit in to? JoshD 07:55, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
Hi Josh, sorry for the extremely late response, but I assume you already figured out to use the RaspberryPi category page. --Wmat 01:17, 1 May 2012 (UTC)
- [View source↑]
- [History↑]
There are no threads on this page yet.