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Homepage with submission instructions:
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All published issues: index.html
Volume: 1 Issue: 4 Date: December 2009
Link: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=5402645
(Previous issue:Vol. 1, No. 3, October 2009)
Abstract: The mechanism of infant vowel development is a fundamental issue of human cognitive development that includes perceptual and behavioral development. This paper models the mechanism of imitation underlying caregiver–infant interaction by focusing on potential roles of the caregiver's imitation in guiding infant vowel development. Proposed imitation mechanism is constructed with two kinds of the caregiver's possible biases in mind. The first is what we call "sensorimotor magnets," in which a caregiver perceives and imitates infant vocalizations as more prototypical ones as mother-tongue vowels. The second is based on what we call "automirroring bias," by which the heard vowel is much closer to the expected vowel because of the anticipation being imitated. Computer simulation results of caregiver–infant interaction show the sensorimotor magnets help form small clusters and the automirroring bias shapes these clusters to become clearer vowels in association with the sensorimotor magnets.
Full Text from IEEE:PDF (774 KB) ; Contact the author by email
Abstract: In order to learn and interact with humans, robots need to understand actions and make use of language in social interactions. The use of language for the learning of actions has been emphasized by Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff (MIT Press, 1996), introducing the idea of acoustic packaging . Accordingly, it has been suggested that acoustic information, typically in the form of narration, overlaps with action sequences and provides infants with a bottom-up guide to attend to relevant parts and to find structure within them. In this article, we present a computational model of the multimodal interplay of action and language in tutoring situations. For our purpose, we understand events as temporal intervals, which have to be segmented in both, the visual and the acoustic modality. Our acoustic packaging algorithm merges the segments from both modalities based on temporal overlap. First evaluation results show that acoustic packaging can provide a meaningful segmentation of action demonstration within tutoring behavior. We discuss our findings with regard to a meaningful action segmentation. Based on our future vision of acoustic packaging we point out a roadmap describing the further development of acoustic packaging and interactive scenarios it is employed in.
Full Text from IEEE:PDF (1297 KB) ; Contact the author by email
Abstract: How our brains develop disparity tuned V1 and V2 cells and then integrate binocular disparity into 3-D perception of the visual world is still largely a mystery. Moreover, computational models that take into account the role of the 6-layer architecture of the laminar cortex and temporal aspects of visual stimuli are elusive for stereo. In this paper, we present cortex-inspired computational models that simulate the development of stereo receptive fields, and use developed disparity sensitive neurons to estimate binocular disparity. Not only do the results show that the use of top-down signals in the form of supervision or temporal context greatly improves the performance of the networks, but also results in biologically compatible cortical maps-the representation of disparity selectivity is grouped, and changes gradually along the cortex. To our knowledge, this work is the first neuromorphic, end-to-end model of laminar cortex that integrates temporal context to develop internal representation, and generates accurate motor actions in the challenging problem of detecting disparity in binocular natural images. The networks reach a subpixel average error in regression, and 0.90 success rate in classification, given limited resources.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (2081 KB); Contact the author by email
Abstract: A hierarchical neural network model is used to learn, without supervision, sensory-sensory coordinate transformations like those believed to be encoded in the dorsal pathway of the cerebral cortex. The resulting representations of visual space are invariant to eye orientation, neck orientation, or posture in general. These posture invariant spatial representations are learned using the same mechanisms that have previously been proposed to operate in the cortical ventral pathway to learn object representation that are invariant to translation, scale, orientation, or viewpoint in general. This model thus suggests that the same mechanisms of learning and development operate across multiple cortical hierarchies.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (665 KB); Contact the author by email


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Will White Tea soon become more popular and common than Green Tea????
Now if he could only find a tea that'd help him make shots in the playoffs!
rhpot1991 wrote:The part that gets me is their definition of white tea is that it is made from the youngest tea leaves but they don't mention the real difference between white/green/black tea is the processing (or in this case the lack there of) of the tea after it was picked not the fact that its a younger leaf.
chip wrote:And actually, most bottled tea drinks use tea extract to make their product, and no actual brewed tea....I have not read a Snapple White Tea label yet, but extracts count as "natural flavors," which to me is pretty bogus!!!
Phyll wrote:Funny, I live in the "left" state, but when it comes to teas, I'm on the "right" side. I shudder at the thought of SNAPPLE depicting a tea farm with an old bearded guy picking a real tea bud JUST TO give the appearance of genuineness to sell their mass-produced concoction.
Will it make people appreciate fine teas more? I don't think so.
But!...drink what you like, like what you drink.

subset: commoncrawl


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Fair ~
High: 53°F ~ Low: 32°F
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017
Step BrothersPosted Tuesday, August 5, 2008, at 10:30 PM
Will Ferrell, left, and John C. Reilly in a scene from "Step Brothers."
The idea of two men of around 40 still living with their folks and addicted to nominally juvenile pursuits (toys, pornography, "Star Wars") seems like grist for the comedy mill or a newspaper trend piece. Mostly, though, it sounds like an idea that was hatched (Mr. McKay?) in waggish reaction to yet another movie review carping about how American comedies are stuck in adolescence. They are, and have been. ("Hey Abbott!") What's distinct about the recent cycle of comic juvenilia are its contemporary contours -- male camaraderie and self-actualization combined with raunchy guffaws and a preoccupation with women that doesn't extend to giving them interesting roles -- and the ease with which its prominent practitioners are willing to recycle their own laughs to increasingly diminished ends.
So, once again, there is the spectacle and pathos of the sexually stunted immature male, here times two: Brennan (Mr. Ferrell) and Dale (Mr. Reilly). Richard Jenkins plays Dale's crinkly father, Robert, while Mary Steenburgen, as Brennan's mother, Nancy, takes the fantasy parent role: she's saintly, sexy -- her relaxed, ready smile telegraphs satisfaction -- and endlessly patient. She looks good for a woman who would have had her youngest at about 14. Brennan and his insufferable brother, Derek (Adam Scott), both strong arguments for adolescent birth control, provide some of the crueler sport in "Step Brothers," evincing mutual hostility that spills over into sadism. It's hard to reconcile this nice woman with either Brennan or Derek, with his wolfish grin and winner-takes-everything mania.
That few girls and fewer credible women are allowed in the Apatow boys' club is old news. The only distaff comedy here is provided by the enthusiastic Kathryn Hahn, who as Derek's pitifully desperate wife, Alice, makes dexterous use of a bathroom urinal. Despite this bit of physical comedy, potty humor doesn't play a large role in "Step Brothers," which, like all of Mr. Apatow's films, is firmly, perhaps self-consciously, rooted in what Freudians term the phallic stage of human development, not the anal. The phallic stage is supposed to be the time when little boys realize that little girls are built differently, which leads them to see their fathers as rivals for their mothers and in turn leads to castration anxiety.
Castration anxiety, at least in this movie, may explain the startling sight of Mr. Ferrell placing his scrotum (or a remarkably persuasive prosthetic) on a drum during one of Brennan and Dale's full-rattle battles. The penchant for Apatow men letting it all hang out has become a familiar and much-discussed part of the factory formula. Dudes, I understand: You have penises. You're nice and sort of blobby and you don't look like Tom Cruise, but you're real men. Hot-blooded, anatomically correct men, and no one should ever forget it, least of all the ladies that you can't stop talking dirty about and hope one day to marry because, well, that's the kind of good, hot-blooded, anatomically correct guys you are.
That's fine as far as it goes, but recently it hasn't gone anywhere new. Mr. Ferrell has made a big-screen career riffing on dimwitted innocence, sometimes aided by Mr. McKay's sitcom styling. Some of their movies have been funny, others less so. Yet successful or not, these characters fit right in with Mr. Apatow's band of horny and virginal (in spirit if not in flesh) boys and men. In "Step Brothers," Brennan and Dale almost bring down the house by clinging to a delayed adolescence that makes them seem angry rather than playful and joyous. There's a shadow of darkness to all their thudding blows and sputtering epithets, but is it the characters who are so fearful of growing up or is it their creators?
"Step Brothers" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). R for raunch.
Thanks to The New York Times.
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Awesome movie....one of the funniest I have seen in a long time. Ferrell is funny, Reilly is funnier! I suggest getting a group together for some greasy Mexican food, 4 pitchers of Margoritas (5-6 if you have as many as 10 in your group), and a six pack to sneak into the theatre. You will laugh your A** off, seriously.
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Wed, Aug 6, 2008, at 11:41 AM
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Extended maintenance of Ruby versions 1.8.7 and 1.9.2 ended on July 31, 2014. Read more
ThreadGroup provides a means of keeping track of a number of
threads as a group. A
Thread can belong to only one
ThreadGroup at a time; adding a thread to a new group will
remove it from any previous group.
Newly created threads belong to the same group as the thread from which they were created.
Adds the given thread to this group, removing it from any other group to which it may have previously belonged.
puts "Initial group is #{ThreadGroup::Default.list}" tg = ThreadGroup.new t1 = Thread.new { sleep } t2 = Thread.new { sleep } puts "t1 is #{t1}" puts "t2 is #{t2}" tg.add(t1) puts "Initial group now #{ThreadGroup::Default.list}" puts "tg group now #{tg.list}"
Initial group is #<Thread:0x401bdf4c> t1 is #<Thread:0x401b3c90> t2 is #<Thread:0x401b3c18> Initial group now #<Thread:0x401b3c18>#<Thread:0x401bdf4c> tg group now #<Thread:0x401b3c90>
static VALUE thgroup_add(VALUE group, VALUE thread) { rb_thread_t *th; struct thgroup *data; rb_secure(4); GetThreadPtr(thread, th); if (OBJ_FROZEN(group)) { rb_raise(rb_eThreadError, "can't move to the frozen thread group"); } TypedData_Get_Struct(group, struct thgroup, &thgroup_data_type, data); if (data->enclosed) { rb_raise(rb_eThreadError, "can't move to the enclosed thread group"); } if (!th->thgroup) { return Qnil; } if (OBJ_FROZEN(th->thgroup)) { rb_raise(rb_eThreadError, "can't move from the frozen thread group"); } TypedData_Get_Struct(th->thgroup, struct thgroup, &thgroup_data_type, data); if (data->enclosed) { rb_raise(rb_eThreadError, "can't move from the enclosed thread group"); } th->thgroup = group; return group; }
Prevents threads from being added to or removed from the receiving
ThreadGroup. New threads can still be started in an enclosed
ThreadGroup::Default.enclose #=> #<ThreadGroup:0x4029d914> thr = Thread::new { Thread.stop } #=> #<Thread:0x402a7210 sleep> tg = ThreadGroup::new #=> #<ThreadGroup:0x402752d4> tg.add thr
ThreadError: can't move from the enclosed thread group
static VALUE thgroup_enclose(VALUE group) { struct thgroup *data; TypedData_Get_Struct(group, struct thgroup, &thgroup_data_type, data); data->enclosed = 1; return group; }
true if thgrp is enclosed. See also #enclose.
static VALUE thgroup_enclosed_p(VALUE group) { struct thgroup *data; TypedData_Get_Struct(group, struct thgroup, &thgroup_data_type, data); if (data->enclosed) return Qtrue; return Qfalse; }
Returns an array of all existing
Thread objects that belong to
this group.
ThreadGroup::Default.list #=> [#<Thread:0x401bdf4c run>]
static VALUE thgroup_list(VALUE group) { VALUE ary = rb_ary_new(); struct thgroup_list_params param; param.ary = ary; param.group = group; st_foreach(GET_THREAD()->vm->living_threads, thgroup_list_i, (st_data_t) & param); return ary; }
Commenting is here to help enhance the documentation. For example, code samples, or clarification of the documentation.
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Common Cuckoo
The Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) (formerly European Cuckoo) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.
This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. It is a brood parasite, which means it lays eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of Dunnocks, Meadow Pipits, and Eurasian Reed Warblers.
The Common Cuckoo (formerly European Cuckoo) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.[1] The species' binomial name is derived from the Latin cuculus (the cuckoo) and canorus (melodious; from canere, meaning to sing).[2] The cuckoo family gets its common name and genus name by onomatopoeia for the call of the male Common Cuckoo.[3] The English word "cuckoo" comes from the Old French cucu and it first appears about 1240[4] in the poem Sumer Is Icumen In - "Summer has come in / Loudly sing, Cuckoo!" in modern English.
There are four subspecies worldwide:[5]
- C. c. canorus, the nominate subspecies, was first described by Linnaeus in 1758. It occurs from the British Isles through Scandinavia, north Russia and Siberia to Japan in the east, and from the Pyrenees through Turkey, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, northern China and Korea. It winters in Africa and south Asia.
- C. c. bakeri, first described by Hartert in 1912, breeds in western China to the Himalayan foothills in northern India, Nepal, Myanmar, north-west Thailand and southern China. During winter it is found in Assam, East Bengal and south-east Asia.
- C. c. bangsi was first described by Oberholser in 1919 and breeds in Iberia, the Balearic Islands and north Africa, spending winter in Africa.
- C. c. subtelephonus, first described by Zarudny in 1914, breeds in central Asia from Turkestan to southern Mongolia. It migrates to southern Asia and Africa for winter.
Lifespan and demography
Although the Common Cuckoo's global population appears to be declining, it is classified of being of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is estimated that the species numbers between 25 million and 100 million individuals worldwide, with around 12.6 million to 25.8 million of those birds breeding in Europe.[1] The maximum recorded lifespan of a Common Cuckoo in the United Kingdom is 6 years, 11 months and 2 days.[2]
The Common Cuckoo is 32–34 centimetres (13–13 in) long from bill to tail (with a tail of 13–15 centimetres (5.1–5.9 in) and a wingspan of 55–60 centimetres (22–24 in).[3] The legs are short.[6] It is greyish with a slender body and long tail and can be mistaken for a falcon in flight, where the wingbeats are regular. During the breeding season, Common Cuckoos often settle on an open perch with drooped wings and raised tail.[6] There is a rufous colour morph, which occurs occasionally in adult females but more often in juveniles.[3]
All adult males are slate-grey; the grey throat extends well down the bird's breast with a sharp demarcation to the barred underparts.[7] The iris, orbital ring, the base of the bill and feet are yellow.[6] Grey adult females have a pinkish-buff or buff background to the barring and neck sides, and sometimes small rufous spots on the median and greater coverts and the outer webs of the secondary feathers.[7]
Rufous morph adult females have reddish-brown upperparts with dark grey or black bars. The black upperpart bars are narrower than the rufous bars, as opposed to rufous juvenile birds, where the black bars are broader.[7]
Common Cuckoos in their first autumn have variable plumage. Some are have strongly-barred chestnut-brown upperparts, while others are plain grey. Rufous-brown birds have heavily-barred upperparts with some feathers edged with creamy-white. All have whitish edges to the upper wing-coverts and primaries. The secondaries and greater coverts have chestnut bars or spots. In spring, birds hatched in the previous year may retain some barred secondaries and wing-coverts.[7] The most obvious identification features of juvenile Common Cuckoos are the white nape patch and white feather fringes.[6]
Common Cuckoos moult twice a year: a partial moult in summer and a complete moult in winter.[7] Males weigh around 130 grams (4.6 oz) and females 110 grams (3.9 oz).[2] The Common Cuckoo looks very similar to the Oriental Cuckoo, which is slightly shorter-winged on average.[7]
Common Cuckoo call, Kaluga region, Russia
|Problems listening to this file? See media help.
A study using stuffed bird models found that small birds are less likely to approach Common Cuckoos that have barred underparts similar to the Eurasian Sparrowhawk, a predatory bird. Eurasian Reed Warblers were found more aggressive to cuckoos that looked less hawk-like, meaning that the resemblance to the hawk helps the cuckoo to access the nests of potential hosts.[8]
Hosts attack cuckoos more when they see neighbors mobbing cuckoos.[9] The existence of the two plumage morphs in females may be due to frequency-dependent selection if this learning applies only to the morph hosts see neighbors mob. In an experiment with dummy cuckoos of each morph and a sparrowhawk, reed warblers were more likely to attack both cuckoo morphs than the sparrowhawk, and even more likely to mob a certain cuckoo morph when they saw neighbors mobbing that morph, decreasing the reproductive success of that morph and selecting for the less common morph.[9]
The male's call, goo-ko, is usually given from an open perch. During the breeding season the male typically gives this call with intervals of 1–1.5 seconds, in groups of 10–20 with a rest of a few seconds between groups. The female has a loud bubbling call.[3] The song starts as a descending minor third early in the year in April, and the interval gets wider, through a major third to a fourth as the season progresses, and in June the cuckoo "forgets its tune" and may make other calls such as ascending intervals. Also the cuckoo seems to have a form of absolute pitch as it tends to sing in the key of C.[10]
Distribution and habitat
Essentially a bird of open land, the Common Cuckoo is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. Birds arrive in Europe in April and leave in September.[6]
The Common Cuckoo has also occurred as a vagrant in countries including Barbados, the United States of America, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Indonesia, Palau, Seychelles, Taiwan and China.[1]
Food and feeding
The Common Cuckoo's diet consists of insects, with hairy caterpillars, which are distasteful to many birds, being a speciality of preference. It also occasionally eats eggs and chicks.
The Common Cuckoo is a brood parasite; it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. At the appropriate moment, the hen cuckoo flies down to the host's nest, pushes one egg out of the nest, lays an egg and flies off. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season. Common Cuckoos first breed at two years old.[2]
More than 100 host species have been recorded: Meadow Pipit, Dunnock and Eurasian Reed Warbler are the most common hosts in northern Europe; Garden Warbler, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and European Robin in central Europe; Brambling and Common Redstart in Finland; and Great Reed Warbler in Hungary.[3]
Female Common Cuckoos are divided into gentes – populations favouring a particular host species' nest and laying eggs that match those of that species in colour and pattern. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that each gene may have multiple independent origins due to parasitism of specific hosts by different ancestors.[11] One hypothesis for the inheritance of egg appearance mimicry is that this trait is inherited from the female only, suggesting that it is carried on the sex-determining W chromosome (females are WZ, males ZZ). A genetic analysis of gentes supports this proposal by finding significant differentiation in mitochondrial DNA, but not in microsatellite DNA.[11] A second proposal for the inheritance of this trait is that the genes controlling egg characteristics are carried on autosomes rather than just the W chromosome. Another genetic analysis of sympatric gentes supports this second proposal by finding significant genetic differentiation in both microsatellite DNA and mitochondrial DNA.[12] Considering the tendency for Common Cuckoo males to mate with multiple females and produce offspring raised by more than one host species, it appears as though males do not contribute to the maintenance of Common Cuckoo gentes. However, it was found that only nine percent of offspring were raised outside of their father's presumed host species.[12] Therefore, both males and females may contribute to the maintenance of Common Cuckoo egg mimicry polymorphism.[11][12] It is notable that most non-parasitic cuckoo species lay white eggs, like most non-passerines other than ground-nesters.
As the Common Cuckoo evolves to lay eggs that better imitate the host's eggs, the host species adapts and is more able to distinguish the cuckoo egg. A study of 248 Common Cuckoo and host eggs demonstrated that female cuckoos that parasitised Common Redstart nests laid eggs that matched better than those that targeted Dunnocks. Spectroscopy was used to model how the host species saw the cuckoo eggs. Cuckoos that target Dunnock nests lay white, brown-speckled eggs, in contrast to the Dunnock's own blue eggs. The theory suggests that Common Redstarts have been parasitised by Common Cuckoos for longer, and so have evolved to be better than the Dunnocks at noticing the cuckoo eggs.[13]
Studies were made of 90 Great Reed Warbler nests in central Hungary. There was an "unusually high" frequency of Common Cuckoo parasitism, with 64% of the nests parasitised. Of the nests targeted by cuckoos, 64% contained one cuckoo egg, 23% had two, 10% had three and 3% had four Common Cuckoo eggs. In total, 58% of the Common Cuckoo eggs were laid in nests that were multiply parasitised. When laying eggs in nests already parasitised, the female cuckoos removed one egg at random, showing no discrimination between the Great Reed Warbler eggs and those of other cuckoos.[14]
It was found that nests close to cuckoo perches were most vulnerable: multiple parasitised nests were closest to the vantage points, and unparasitised nests were farthest away. Nearly all the nests "in close vicinity" to the vantage points were parasitised. More visible nests were more likely to be selected by the Common Cuckoos. Female cuckoos use their vantage points to watch for potential hosts and find it easier to locate the more visible nests while they are egg-laying.[15]
The Great Reed Warblers' responses to the Common Cuckoo eggs varied: 66% accepted the egg(s); 12% ejected them; 20% abandoned the nests entirely; 2% buried the eggs. 28% of the cuckoo eggs were described as "almost perfect" in their mimesis of the host eggs, and the warblers rejected "poorly mimetic" cuckoo eggs more often. The degree of mimicry made it difficult for both the Great Reed Warblers and the observers to tell the eggs apart.[14]
The egg measures 22 by 16 millimetres (0.87 in × 0.63 in) and weighs 3.2 grams (0.11 oz), of which 7% is shell.[2] Research has shown that the female Common Cuckoo is able to keep its egg inside its body for an extra 24 hours before laying it in a host's nest. This means the cuckoo chick can hatch before the host's chicks do, and it can eject the unhatched eggs from the nest. Scientists incubated Common Cuckoo eggs for 24 hours at the bird's body temperature of 40 °C (104 °F), and examined the embryos, which were found "much more advanced" than those of other species studied. The idea of 'internal incubation' was first put forward in 1802 and 18th and 19th Century egg collectors had reported finding that cuckoo embryos were more advanced than those of the host species.[16]
The naked, altricial chick hatches after 11–13 days.[2] It methodically evicts all host progeny from host nests. It is a much larger bird than its hosts, and needs to monopolise the food supplied by the parents. The chick will roll the other eggs out of the nest by pushing them with its back over the edge. If the host's eggs hatch before the cuckoo's, the cuckoo chick will push the other chicks out of the nest in a similar way. At 14 days old, the Common Cuckoo chick is about three times the size of an adult Eurasian Reed Warbler.
The necessity of eviction behavior is unclear. One hypothesis is that competing with host chicks leads to decreased cuckoo chick weight, which is selective pressure for eviction behavior. An analysis of the amount of food provided to common cuckoo chicks by host parents in the presence and absence of host siblings showed that when competing against host siblings, cuckoo chicks did not receive enough food, showing an inability to compete.[17] Selection pressure for eviction behavior may come from cuckoo chicks lacking the correct visual begging signals, hosts distributing food to all nestlings equally, or host recognition of the parasite.[17][18] Another hypothesis is that decreased cuckoo chick weight is not selective pressure for eviction behavior. An analysis of resources provided to cuckoo chick in the presence and absence of host siblings also showed that the weights of cuckoos raised with host chicks were much smaller upon fledging than cuckoos raised alone, but within 12 days cuckoos raised with siblings grew faster than cuckoos raised alone and made up for developmental differences, showing a flexibility that would not necessarily select for eviction behavior.[19]
Species whose broods are parasitised by the Common Cuckoo have evolved to discriminate against cuckoo eggs but not chicks.[20] Experiments have shown that Common Cuckoo chicks persuade their host parents to feed them by making a rapid begging call that sounds "remarkably like a whole brood of host chicks." The researchers suggested that "the cuckoo needs vocal trickery to stimulate adequate care to compensate for the fact that it presents a visual stimulus of just one gape."[18] However, a cuckoo chick needs the amount of food of a whole brood of host nestlings, and it struggles to elicit that much from the host parents with only the vocal stimulus. This may reflect a tradeoff – the cuckoo chick benefits from eviction by receiving all the food provided, but faces a cost in being the only one influencing feeding rate. For this reason, cuckoo chicks exploit host parental care by remaining with the host parent longer than host chicks do, both before and after fledging.[18]
Common Cuckoo chicks fledge about 17–21 days after hatching,[2] compared to 12–13 days for Eurasian Reed Warblers.[21] If the hen cuckoo is out-of-phase with a clutch of Eurasian Reed Warbler eggs, she will eat them all so that the hosts are forced to start another brood.
The Common Cuckoo's behaviour was firstly observed and described by Aristotle and the combination of behaviour and anatomical adaptation by Edward Jenner, who was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society in 1788 for this work. It was first documented on film in 1922 by Edgar Chance and Oliver G Pike, in their film 'The Cuckoo's Secret'.[22]
A study in Japan found that young Common Cuckoos probably acquire species-specific feather lice from body-to-body contact with other cuckoos between the time of leaving the nest and returning to the breeding area in spring. A total of 21 nestlings were examined shortly before they left their hosts' nests and none carried feather lice. However, young birds returning to Japan for the first time were found just as likely as older individuals to be lousy.[23]
In culture
- In Europe, hearing the call of the Common Cuckoo is regarded as the first harbinger of spring. Many local legends and traditions are based on this. In Scotland, a number of Gowk Stones exist, sometimes associated with the arrival of the first cuckoo of spring. "Gowk" is an old name for the Common Cuckoo in northern England,[4] derived from a harsh repeated "gowk" call the bird makes when excited.[3]
- The well-known cuckoo clock features a mechanical bird and is fitted with bellows and pipes that imitate the call of the Common Cuckoo.
- Common Cuckoos feature in a number of traditional rhymes. For instance,
- '"In April the cuckoo comes, In May she'll stay, In June she changes her tune, In July she prepares to fly, Come August, go she must,"' quoted Peggy. 'But you haven't said it all,' put in Bobby. '"And if the cuckoo stays till September, It's as much as the oldest man can remember."'[24]
- ^ a b c d BirdLife International (2012). "Cuculus canorus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/106001205. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g Robinson, R. A. (2005). "Cuckoo Cuculus canorus". BirdFacts: Profiles of Birds Occurring in Britain & Ireland. British Trust for Ornithology. BTO Research Report 407. http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob7240.htm. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. (1997). The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Abridged ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854099-X.
- ^ a b Lockwood, W. B. (1993). The Oxford Dictionary of British Bird Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866196-2.
- ^ "Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)". Internet Bird Collection. Lynx Edicions. http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/common-cuckoo-cuculus-canorus. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Mullarney, K.; Svensson, L.; Zetterstrom, D.; Grant, P. (1999). Collins Bird Guide. HarperCollins. pp. 204–205. ISBN 0-00-219728-6.
- ^ a b c d e f Baker, K. (1993). Identification Guide to European Non-Passerines. British Trust for Ornithology. pp. 273–275. ISBN 0-903793-18-0. BTO Guide 24.
- ^ Welbergen, J.; Davies, N. B. (2011). "A parasite in wolf's clothing: hawk mimicry reduces mobbing of cuckoos by hosts". Behavioral Ecology 22 (3): 574–579. doi:10.1093/beheco/arr008.
- ^ a b Thorogood, R.; Davies, N. B. (2012). "Cuckoos combat socially transmitted defenses of reed warbler hosts with a plumage polymorphism". Science 337: 578–580. doi:10.1126/science.1220759.
- ^ Barrett, M. (1897). "The Cuckoo's Notes". The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular 38 (656): 697. doi:10.2307/3367962. JSTOR 3367962.
- ^ a b c Gibbs, H. L.; Sorenson, M. D.; Marchetti, K.; Brooke, M. D.; Davies, N. B.; Nakamura, H. (2000). "Genetic evidence for female host-specific races of the common cuckoo". Nature 407: 183–186. doi:10.1038/35025058.
- ^ a b c Fossoy, B. G.; Antonov, A.; Moksnes, A.; Roskfaft, E.; Vikan; Moller, A. P.; Shykoff, J. A.; Stokke (2011). "Genetic differentiation among sympatric cuckoohost races: Males matter". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278: 1639–1645. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2090.
- ^ Brennand, E. (24 March 2011). "Cuckoo in egg pattern 'arms race'". BBC News. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- ^ a b Moskát, C.; Honza, M. (2002). "European Cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism and host's rejection behaviour in a heavily parasitized Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus population". Ibis 144 (4): 614–622. doi:10.1046/j.1474-919X.2002.00085.x.
- ^ Moskát, C.; Honza, M. (2000). "Effect of nest and nest site characteristics on the risk of cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism in the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus". Ecography 23 (3): 335–341. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2000.tb00289.x.
- ^ Moskvitch, K. (24 September 2010). "Extra incubation time lets cuckoo chicks pop out early". BBC News. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- ^ a b Martín-Gálvez, D.; Soler, M.; Soler, J. J.; Martín-Vivaldi, M.; Palomino, J. J. (2005). "Food acquisition by common cuckoo chicks in rufous bush robin nests and the advantage of eviction behaviour". Animal Behavior 70: 1313–1321. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.03.031.
- ^ a b c Davies, N. B.; Kilner, R. M.; Noble, D. G. (1998). "Nestling cuckoos, Cuculus canorus, exploit hosts with begging calls that mimic a brood". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 265 (1397): 673–678. doi:10.1098/rspb.1998.0346. PMC 1689031. //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1689031/.
- ^ Geltsch, N.; Hauber, M. E.; Anderson, M. G.; Ban, M.; Moskát, C. (2012). "Competition with a host nestling for parental provisioning imposes recoverable costs on parasitic cuckoo chick's growth". Behavioural Processes 90: 378–383.
- ^ Davies, N. B.; de L. Brooke, M. (1989). "An experimental study of co-evolution between the Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, and its hosts. II. Host egg markings, chick discrimination and general discussion". Journal of Animal Ecology 58 (1): 225–236. JSTOR 4996.
- ^ Robinson, R. A. (2005). "Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus". BirdFacts: Profiles of Birds Occurring in Britain & Ireland. British Trust for Ornithology. BTO Research Report 407. http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob12510.htm. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ "Oliver Pike". WildFilmHistory. http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/person/184/Oliver+Pike.html. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ de L. Brooke, M.; Nakamura, H. (1998). "The acquisition of host-specific feather lice by common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus)". Journal of Zoology 244 (2): 167–173. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1998.tb00022.x.
- ^ Brazil, Angela (1915). A Terrible Tomboy. Project Gutenberg EBook #38619.


text:
Entrepreneurs to Get Jobless Benefits -- and Two Other Small-Business Stories of the Day
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?
1. Should aspiring entrepreneurs get unemployment benefits? Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills are advocating an initiative to make it easier for laid-off workers to collect unemployment while starting a business. According to Bloomberg Businessweek , the would-be entrepreneurs wouldn't have to hire people to be eligible for the benefits, they would just have to show that they are really spending their time creating the new venture.
While the idea isn't new, only seven states have programs that allow for this; the rest of the states require unemployment recipients to show that they are actively looking for work.
The two agency heads are looking to change this ratio, by offering "model language for legislators to amend existing state unemployment compensation law or draft new authorizing legislation," which includes a sweetener -- states would be able to get federal money to help set up the self-employment assistance programs, the article says.
2. Why your small business should be exporting. U.S. manufacturers are in a favorable position to export goods overseas, particularly with new data that suggests that American-made goods hold high cachet overseas, according to ThomasNet.com.
"Exporting enables companies to expand markets, generate new distribution and revenue streams, and weather changes in the domestic economy," the article explains.
Being able to export goods may not just be a competitive advantage, but a means of survival for businesses. If you're just starting out now, two countries that hold strong potential for receiving American-made goods are Canada and Mexico.
3. Eight things your startup needs to do before the end of the year. The time is now to tie up any loose ends regarding financial or legal aspects of your business and Mashable compiled eight tasks that all small-business owners should take care of before the ball drops, starting with getting a handle on your company's profits and losses.
Take advantage of some last-minute 2012 tax strategies, such as equipment purchases. As of right now, Section 179 deduction limits are set to plummet next year, the article says. It's also a good idea to set up a retirement plan , if you don't already have one.
Make sure you verify your 1099/W2 information with up-to-date records.
Other strategies include formally closing an inactive business that you don't plan to revive by filing "Articles of Dissolution" or "Certificate of Termination" document so you're not on the hook for an annual report, fees, tax returns, etc., with the state.
-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.
To contact Laurie Kulikowski, send an email to: email@example.com.
>To submit a news tip, email: email@example.com.


text:
Caroline Fienga
Media Specialist
440-612-1812 (pager)
Middleburg Heights, OH (Oct. 6, 2011) – This past month, members of the Southwest General Health System Board of Trustees unanimously approved a $128 million capital investment construction project to secure the hospital's place in the future of health care delivery in Northeast Ohio.
Phase One of the project will include the creation of a new, expanded Emergency Department, development of a new critical care unit and construction of a patient parking garage on the north side of the Main Campus. Phase One construction is anticipated to commence in May 2012 and accounts for $66 million of the total cost.
Phase Two will include the creation of a new patient bed tower with 100 private patient rooms, renovation of the current patient rooms into private rooms and creation of a new main entrance for the hospital. Board approval for Phase Two will be sought in the fall of 2012.
Completion of the entire project is slated for late 2015.
About Southwest General
Recognized as one of Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®, Southwest General is a private, not-for-profit, 358-bed acute care facility located in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. Founded in 1920, Southwest General is home to nationally recognized physicians with full access to state-of-the-art technology. Southwest General has a deep commitment to providing personalized care and building a healthy future for the patients, families and communities it serves. For news highlights, events and additional information, visit www.swgeneral.com or www.facebook.com/SWGeneral.


text:
August 3, 2012
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Follow along with step-by-step beading projects and share your designs with beaders around the world—it's quick & easy!
- "Tyrian": on
"These are gorgeous, Lori. Nice combination of colors, shapes, and variety of finishes. What…" read »
- "Nouveau Necklace": on
"Wow, do I ever LOVE this design! I love the pendant and particularly love the…" read »
- "Recycled glass on chain necklace": on
"This looks like it would be so fun to wear. Great colors and design.…" read »
- "Recycled glass on chain necklace": on
"I can hear the gulls cry and feel the sand between my toes! I love the…" read »
- "Finished pendant 1": on
"Very nice!…" read »
- "Recycled glass on chain necklace": on
"I have to ditto MM! This is heavenly!!…" read »
- "Recycled glass on chain necklace": on
"Oooooh, I just love this! The colors, the open chain, the suede, the dangles ... all…" read »
- "Boho bracelets": on
"Like them all, especially the open one.…" read »
- "Blue Skies": on
"Such an unique necklace. So versatile too. Very pretty.…" read »
- "Blue sky danglers": on
"These really go well with the necklace. I like your wirework. Nifty!…" read »
- "Spring Fringe Necklace": on
"Can't find the silver drops to purchase.…" read »
- "Boho bracelets": on
"How cool that you have three to mix, match, and stack with other jewelry!…" read »
- "Red wrap": on
"Love the clasp on this strap leather bracelet. Looks like a fun accessory to wear!…" read »
- "Blue sky danglers": on
"I like the contrast between the beads and the copper flattened wire.…" read »
- "Red wrap": on
"I like this unusual design! I never would have thought to use the clasp you…" read »
- "Blue Skies": on
"What a great neutral colored piece! I'm like Rocky in that I wouldn't have to…" read »
- "Blue Skies": on
"Love this! I'd wear in a heartbeat! Great design!…" read »
- "Red wrap": on
"Really cool idea! Hmm...wire wrapped leather. You've got me thinking.…" read »
- "Boho bracelets": on
"So pretty. The silver and gold look great with the Tibetan beads. Nice mix.…" read »
- "Blue Skies": on
"Nice necklace! The two elements work well together without being forced into being twins. Love it!…" read »
- "Blue sky danglers": on
"I love the hand-made quality of flattened wire, and these earrings really used that well. I…" read »
- "Red wrap": on
"I really like this variation on the leather wrap bracelet theme. The color scheme is appealing.…" read »
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"Great use of the terrific Tibetan beads! Love it!…" read »
- "Boho bracelets": on
"You have done a wonderful job putting the coral, turquoise and Tibetan beads together. Love…" read »
- "Boho bracelets": on
"Nice! I like the Boho vibe as well!…" read »
- "On The Isle of Capri": on
"Beautiful, color combo is perfection!!!!!!!…" read »
- "One for me!": on
"Thanks again everyone! If you think this one is colorfu & playful, just wait till I…" read »
- "A Couple of Gift Orders": on
"Oh sweet Donna. I feel so incredibly sorry you have had such sorrow to endure. You…" read »
- "One Fish, Two Fish ...": on
"Great design!! It gives me many great ideas.Thanks Ali!…" read »
- "Swirling Earrings": on
"Great idea...I believe I 'll get some!…" read »
- "Swirling Earrings": on
"Very nice. …" read »
- "One Fish, Two Fish ...": on
"Very cool design Ali. I love the fish ends. …" read »
- "On The Isle of Capri": on
"Love this necklace - the colour combination is perfect. Wonderful job with the PC focal.…" read »
- "Cruising": on
"Thank you! …" read »
- "Smile at the Birdy :)": on
"Thank you. Moogie - 70's sound pretty amazing right now.…" read »
- "A Couple of Gift Orders": on
"Still have trouble sending a message. Daughter moved home from NC. Husband had pneumonia. Then, I…" read »
- "One for me!": on
"Awesome. Must try.…" read »
- "One Fish, Two Fish ...": on
"I love this! I love the SAki Dragon head clasp, but it doesn't go with everything.…" read »
- "Whirlpool": on
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About this design:
I needed to practice doing bezels so I grabbed apiece of copper, etched it and went to work making the bezel for the Blue Agate stone. It looked so plain that I added some embellishments. Then I decided it really needed earrings.
Components:Copper, silver bezel wire,blue agate stone,copper wire
Read the comments (or add your own)
Very pretty set!
Very nice job!!
Gorgeous set! I love your work~
these are lovely. I LOVE copper, and you set it off so well with the agate
I LOVE your work! I have been beading for 12 yrs and have wanted to get into metal work. I have everything I need to learn to solder but I have been reluctant to get started since I have no classes available where I live. Is copper easier to solder than silver? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Love, love, love these. Are the designs overlaid or embossed?
Oh, guess I should read first! LOL Nice bezel, too.
For expense sake, when you are first learning soldering DON'T use silver. It is very expense now so unless you have an endless pocket, start out using copper or brass. Copper is easy to use and a great medium to work. I suggest you check out some tutorial on YouTube or alot of the jewelry website have tutorials that show you how to get a start. I do not use a soldering iron – I use an oxy/propane torch system. I do have some micro torches that I use for small jobs but they don't get hot enough to do much other than very simple soldering. Your best bet is use the internet resources! I have learned much thru these sites. good luck and let me know how you do. Don't hesitate to ask any questions!
Thanks for the advice and I will let you know.
These are all terrific!
You are having way too much fun with your metal work. LOVE IT ALL!
Beautiful talent and work!!!
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text:
Here's how RW members rated this race in the past (458 votes).
In short: Great race.Date of review: March 29, 2010
Date of review: March 29, 2010
In short: Very enjoyable raceIn full: This is said to be undulating, but I found it no more so than Luton marathon (same area!). The race was extremely well organised and friendly. Traffic was well controlled. Marshalls were very supportive.Date of review: March 29, 2010
In short: Good Marathon Warm UpIn full: Apart from the final half mile which looped around a housing estate thorough alley ways it is a very pleasant course with moderate hills. Perfect pre marathon test. The marshall's were excellent (there were loads)and the free to is one of the best.Date of review: March 29, 2010
In short: Well organised with encouraging marshals around the courseDate of review: March 29, 2010
In short: Great organisation and support.Date of review: March 29, 2010
In short: Scenic challenging pre-marathon runIn full: Other than last mile which seems to go on for ever through housing estate and alleyways, very pleasant undulating scenic course well marshalled with encouraging marshalls and water station helpers. Nice hoody. Would do again - well done Harriers.Date of review: March 29, 2010
In short: Great marathon preparation.In full: Other than a bit of confusion with baggage and toilets (not enough really) at the beginning, the organisation and marshalling was great. Nice countryside - rolling course :-)Date of review: March 28, 2010
In short: Great support and marshals, shame about the parking!In full: Not very beginner friendly, but how many beginners would dive straight into a 20 hilly race? Fantastic crowd support (the woman with the jelly babies at mile 19 was a life saver!) and the marshals seemed genuinely pleased to be involved. Car parking was a complete farce and the finish line felt a bit bolted-on. After running through glorious countryside for 19.5 miles it was a shame the last .5 was through a housing estate - still, a great experience and one I hope to repeat next year. Hopefully there'll be some timing chips by thenDate of review: March 28, 2010
In short: Tough run hard to carryon when 12 milers finishing, Date of review: March 28, 2010
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text: LANSING COMMUNITY COLLEGE CURRICULAR GUIDE Landscape Architecture Associate in Applied Science Degree Curriculum Code: 0203 (Effective Fall 2000 - Summer 2005) Landscape architects, designers, and planners deal with the ecological design and management of the land. Landscape architects and designers coordinate the analysis, planning, layout, design, and management of the exterior and interior landscape. Landscape architects and designers are employed by design and engineering firms, parks and recreation offices, landscape contractors, design and build firms, nurseries and garden centers, arboreta and botanic gardens, and grounds management firms. A supporting background in computer design graphics and G.I.S. is helpful. Not all courses in this program transfer to all colleges. Students planning to transfer should see an academic advisor or counselor before enrolling in any course. PREREQUISITES Students should see the "Course Descriptions" section of this catalog or the Course Schedule for course prerequisite information. Basic skills assessment and advising information may be found on page 8 of this catalog. GENERAL EDUCATION General education is an important part of this program and includes a mathematics competency requirement. To fulfill the mathematics competency requirement, students may need to complete specific course work in mathematics. For information on how to fulfill all general education requirements, see page 23. INFORMATION Contact the Technology Careers Department, Gannon Vocational-Technical Center, Room 136, telephone number (517) 483-1336. REQUIREMENTS TOTAL: 61 CREDITS CODE TITLE CREDIT HOURS LAND 100 Intro to Landscape Drafting (See Note 1) 2 LAND 140 Evergreen and Deciduous Trees 3 LAND 141 Flowering Trees, Shrubs, Vines 3 LAND 150 Principles of Landscape Arch 3 LAND 152 Landscape Graphics Comm-Begin 3 LAND 153 Landscape Graphics Comm-Adv 3 LAND 160 Planting Design I 3 LAND 161 Planting Design II 3 LAND 164 Site Design 3 LAND 170 Site Grading I 3 LAND 171 Site Grading II 3 LAND 172 Site Layout 3 LAND 225 Landscape Cost Estimation 3 LAND 232 Professional Res. Land Design 3 LAND 233 Grounds Management 3 LAND 250 Landscape Construction Methods 3 LAND 252 Landscape Construction Details 3 LAND 276 Landscape Documents and Spec 2 LAND 282 Computer Draft/Dsgn Land Arch 3 LAND 283 Beginning LANDCADD 3 WRIT 124 Technical Writing 3 LIMITED CHOICE REQUIREMENTS TOTAL: 9 CREDITS Complete the indicated number of credits from each CHOICE listed below. CHOICE 1: General Education Core Areas 9 Credits (See the "GENERAL EDUCATION" section above) Writing Core Area (See Note 2) 0 Speech Communication Core Area 3 Science/Technology Core Area 3 Global Perspectives and Diversity Core Area 3 Mathematics Competency (See page 23 for information on how to fulfill this requirement. Course work may be needed.) MINIMUM TOTAL 70 NOTES: 1. If students have prior experience in drafting, they should see an academic advisor in the Technology Careers Department to see if LAND 100 can be waived. 2. Students completing "REQUIREMENTS" have fulfilled the requirements for this Core area. SUGGESTED COURSE SEQUENCE Students should see course descriptions to find out when departments plan to offer courses. Students who for any reason are unable to follow the course sequence suggested below (for example, those who are part-time, have transferred in courses from another school, or have prerequisites to fulfill) should contact an academic advisor or counselor for help with adjustments. I II III IV LAND 100 LAND 141 LAND 161 LAND 171 LAND 140 LAND 153 LAND 170 LAND 172 LAND 150 LAND 160 LAND 232 LAND 225 LAND 152 LAND 164 LAND 250 LAND 233 WRIT 124 LAND 282 LAND 283 LAND 252 Lim.Ch. Lim.Ch. Lim.Ch. LAND 276


text:
Q&A with Spring 2013 Trophy Series Leaders
Leaders range from Zen-loving beer enthusiast to 11-year-old Olympic aspirant
Nicholas Davis (tied for 1st in Ultra Male category) around mile 65 of the Badger Mountain Challenge 100 in Kennewick, Washington. Photo by Rusty Bachman
This year's Trail Runner Trophy Series is off to a roaring start, with 20 races (of 136 total) down so far, and several runners taking early leads in each category. Below, the leaders in each category took a few minutes to chat with us about their experiences so far, what makes them tick and their goals for the rest of the season.
Female Marathon and Longer
1. Megan Hall, 24, Oak Harbor, WA—400 points
2. Melanie Peters, 29, White Lake, MI—304.8 points
3. Jude Ultra, Maple Ridge, BC, Canada—300 points
Male Marathon and Longer
Tied-1. Scot Hartman, 43, Thornton, CO—400 points
Tied-1. Nicholas Davis, 24, Fort Collins, CO—400 points
Tied-2. Ray Churgovich, 47, Broomfield, CO—300 points
Tied-2. Graham Johnson, 32, Anacortes, WA—300 points
Female Non-Marathon
1. Angela Minnefield, 50, Fishers, IN—105.5 points
2. Katy Goggin, 31, Indianapolis, IN—89.6 points
3. Desiree Powell, 52, Enid, OK—75.1 points
Male Non-Marathon
1. Cameron Plate, 11, Tulsa, OK—101.3 points
2. Mark Dolph, 55, Tulsa, OK—98.9 points
3. Rick Motter, 64, Henderson, KY—80.9 points
Photo courtesy of Megan Hall
How did you get into trail running?
I have been running ever since my mom had my siblings and I run-walking telephone poles for exercise (PE) as a homeschooler. Although we did not find it fun at the time, something about it kept me coming back for more. So I joined cross country and track all through middle school and until college.
I had no idea that there were such things as ultra races until I graduated college in 2011. It was like this whole other side of a running gem that I never knew of. And that's where the new passion began ... and how I met my fiancé, Mike Johnston, who ran the Badger Mountain Challenge as well last year.
You improved your time from last year at the Badger Mountain Challenge by quite a bit … what went differently this year?
Last year, it being my first 100, I thought it was an impossible goal that I could die doing, or at least be foaming at the mouth before I could finish. This year I had more confidence.
What's your favorite thing about trail running?
No matter how many bad days I have ... there is always another day, another trail, another sunrise, another fellow runner around the corner that renews my spirit and life perspective.
Running has not just been about me and my goals. It has involved my family as a whole … from the time my mom had us running telephone poles to counting on my dad to be at the start and finish of almost every race from middle school to even now. My parents have been my crew at the three 100s I have done.
Read on for more Q&A's ...


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ninearms wrote:Anyway, I'm off to rally against children.
kallefs wrote:Indigenous people is not something to strive after simply because I don't believe that they has as high efficiency/footprint as you claim. And even if they did, them eating animals was not the cause of it.
JP wrote:i love it when gelert appears out of nowhere and posts some awesome gems
good to see you mate!
muchluv wrote:When I grow up I want to be Gelert.
Konstantin wrote:I don't get the point of the thread Chris. You can interpret veganism as the solution to all problems or a helpful minor personal action, or maybe somewhere inbetween, but surely it still has to be a positive thing because it helps towards a growing vegan movement and reduces demand for animal products.
Loads of other independent choices exist around cars, packaging, consumerism, children etc., hopefully people are thinking about them as well - veganism surely doesn't demand sufficient attention to make the others impossible to consider.
Maybe you felt a bit hassled by previous posts but hopefully you're still going to use the forum and you're just having one of those 'pissed off with it all' times that a lot of us have.
Talyn wrote:Take a look at veganism say, fifty years ago. As a movement it has gone from a few sandal-wearing hippies, into mainstream, there are now vegans from all walks of life and it is getting more acknowledgement (and resistance) as it grows. Even in the six years I've been vegan I have seen a shift in attitudes.
Chris Vaughn wrote:
Taking these into account--especially points 1 and 2--it really seems like my personal choice to not eat animals is akin to spitting into a forest fire.
Chris Vaughn wrote: Do you know what a tree is?
He posted on facebook something along the lines of not being vegan anymore about a week ago. I'm sure now he'll find another topic to post articles about everyday for a couple of months till he changes his mind about that too, and no-one will take him seriously on them either.DB wrote:We seem to have lost Chris somewhere along the way.
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USA Badminton Teams Compete Gamely at 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Wuhan, China
For Immediate Release
May 27, 2012
USA Badminton Teams Compete Gamely at 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Wuhan, China
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The USA Badminton Men's and Women's Teams competed gamely at the 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, May 20-27 in Wuhan, China, but failed to advance past pool play. In the end, the host country won the team competitions keeping both the Thomas and Uber Cups in China. Korea place second in both.
USA Badminton was represented in the 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Wuhan, China by the same athletes that qualified the U.S. for the event. Representing the U.S. were the following:
The USA Badminton Uber Cup Team Roster:
Eva Lee (Orange, Calif.)
Paula Lynn Obanana (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn./Mountain View, Calif.)
Jamie Subandhi (Westminster, Calif.)
Iris Wang (Arcadia, Calif.)
Rena Wang (Arcadia, Calif.)
Head Coach: Zi Min Cai (Orange, Calif.)
The USA Badminton Thomas Cup Team Roster:
Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif./Anaheim, Calif.)
Phillip Chew (Orange, Calif.)
Tony Gunawan (West Covina, Calif.)
Nicholas Jinadasa (Long Beach, Calif.)
Sattawat Pongnairat (Orange, Calif.)
Howard Shu (Anaheim, Calif.)
Coach/Player: Tony Gunawan (West Covina, Calif.)
Team Manager/Player: Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif./Aaheim, Calif.)
For complete tournament results, please visit: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=18EE3904-EED4-4A97-BF4B-69500CD7021D.
The Thomas and Uber Cup are often referred to as the Men's and Women's World Team Championships respectively. In this event one team (country) competes against another team (country) in three singles matches and two doubles matches to determine the winning team. The Thomas Cup, first staged in 1948-1949, was the Badminton World Federation's first major international tournament and originally took place every three years. In 1982 the tournament changed to a biennial event. The Thomas Cup was named for Sir George Thomas, the President of the World Body governing badminton who first conceived the idea of having a team championship event. Thomas, a legendary player having won 21 All England titles, and administrator of the sport donated the original trophy.
The Uber Cup started in 1956-1957 and, similar to the men's competition, took place every three years. Since 1984 though, the event has been held in conjunction with the Thomas Cup every two years. The Uber Cup is named in honor of Betty Uber, a British badminton star who in 1950 started the campaign for a women's team championship competition. Uber made the draw and competed in the inaugural Uber Cup in 1956-1957 at Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire, England. Like Thomas, Uber donated the original trophy for the event.
For more information, please contact Cecil Bleiker, NGB Media Services Director for USA Badminton at 719-330-2062. This press release is also available on the USOC's media specific website at PRESSBOX.TEAMUSA.ORG.


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'Black Twitter' growing into online force
WASHINGTON — The hashtag gave it away.
When a Florida jury convicted Michael Dunn of attempted murder, but not actual murder, in the shooting death of black teenager Jordan Davis, the hashtag #dangerousblackkids popped up on Twitter. Users posted photos of black babies and toddlers, spoofing the fear that Dunn testified he felt before opening fire on a car full of teens at a convenience store.
That hashtag was the calling card of "Black Twitter," a small corner of the social media giant where an unabashedly black spin on life gets served up in 140-character installments.
Black Twitter holds court on pretty much everything from President Barack Obama to the latest TV reality show antics. But Black Twitter also can turn activist quickly. When it does, things happen — like the cancellation of a book deal for a juror in the George Zimmerman trial, or the demise of Zimmerman's subsequent attempt to star at celebrity boxing.
Catchy hashtags are a hallmark and give clues that the tweeting in question is a Black Twitter thing.
"It's kind of like the black table in the lunchroom, sort of, where people with like interests and experiences, and ways of talking and communication, lump together and talk among themselves," said Tracy Clayton, a blogger and editor at Buzzfeed known on Twitter as @brokeymcpoverty.
Black Twitter is not a special website or a smartphone app. The hashtag #blacktwitter itself won't necessarily lead you to it. It doesn't exactly stick out among the trending topics on Twitter, even though it's been known to cause a topic or two to trend. It is not exclusively black — there are blacks who don't participate in it, and people of other races who do.
"Black Twitter brings the fullness of black humanity into the social network and that is why it has become so fascinating," said Kimberly C. Ellis, who has a doctorate in American and Africana Studies, tweets as @drgoddess and is studying Black Twitter for her upcoming book, "The Bombastic Brilliance of Black Twitter."
According to a Pew Research Center report, while similar numbers of blacks and whites use the Internet — 80 percent and 87 percent, respectively — 22 percent of those blacks who were online used Twitter in 2013, compared with 16 percent of online whites.
Meredith Clark, a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing her dissertation on Black Twitter, likened it to "Freedom's Journal," the first African-American newspaper in the United States. On that publication's first front page in 1827, it declared: "We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us."
Mainstream U.S. media first took serious notice of Black Twitter last year, when it abruptly rose up to scuttle a book deal for a juror in the trial of Zimmerman, who was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin. That was the first time that blacks used Twitter "in a very powerful and political way," said Houston black social media consultant Crystal Washington.
Most recently, Black Twitter reared its head through hashtags like #stopthefight, to protest a proposed celebrity boxing match supposedly between Zimmerman and rapper DMX. The promoter quickly canceled after a flood of Twitter complaints.


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Fredonia: Vision of services, not the future
Though Fredonia Mayor Stephen Keefe believes the purpose of village government is to provide safety and security, there were those in the audience who politely disagreed.
Keefe made his remarks last week during his State of the Village report to the Fredonia Rotary Club at the White Inn, detailing the $9.6 million budget for a village that is closer in population to 7,000 than the 11,000 that gets reported to the U.S. Census thanks to the vibrant state university. But other than telling Rotarians and guests what the village already does, there was a lack of vision in terms of the future.
Keefe's message was very different than the State of the State address when Gov. Andrew Cuomo talked about initiatives – many this corner did not agree with – such as educational proposals, minimum wage hikes and plans for the Adirondacks.
Last week, Keefe offered little if any detail looking toward the future of the village. Instead there was a lot of praise for the current system, which to many often seems lazy and outdated. Some of that defense included the 81 positions that are currently working in village government.
"The personnel that we have is not an excessive number for personnel for the services you're receiving," Keefe told the audience.
Taxpayer-funded services, though, are not the answer in struggling economies. What really matters are private-sector and business investments – those that have been lacking for a number of years in this region.
So as area leaders continue to tout services as a priority, Rotary members sitting at tables remarked about what they would like to see now and in the future: more jobs for this region. Unfortunately, there is no answer for that as long as the scales of our economy continue to tip in favor of public-sector service.


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Today's technology brings us many ways to learn
I can easily get lost looking at goofy GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format), which is basically an animated or moving image that's shared digitally. When tied with a great caption, they can keep me laughing for quite a while. Today I stumbled across a series of educational GIFs here. As a lifelong learner, I thought this was a great concept.
Of the 10 listed, I found the second one about the Scale of the Universe particularly interesting. Our planet itself is really part of something so large and it is amazing how small of a piece our earth is in the whole universe. It is so very vast and complex.
Beyond being fascinated, I got thinking how great a tool like this is in terms of helping us learn smaller bits of information. In the past, we might have had to explain using measurements that I can't truly grasp or picture in my head, such as light years and millions of kilometers.
But show me a photo of the teeny, tiny, barely visible dot that is the solar system in which we live? That is a lot easier for me to comprehend. We have so many wonderful tools we use for fun in today's world. I hope we will continue to find new ways to take these fun tools and make it easier to digest information, even if it's something that we already kind of knew but never really respected. Although I am a writer, sometimes a photo or an animation or a video just helps me to better understand a concept as complex as the scale of the universe.
In conclusion, if you looked at the GIFs, which was your favorite? Do you have any examples of short, quick learning tools like these little animated pieces?


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Gas and Electric Training
Gas & Electric training seminars are held at various locations across the PG&E service area and take place throughout the year
The training will provide Contractors with information on how to detect and know how to react in the event of a natural gas and electric emergency. Information about additional educational resources and where to order educational materials will be provided during the class. Learn more about ordering additional educational resources.
Training Seminar Topics
PG&E Gas & Electric training covers a wide variety of topics and are led by PG&E resources and subject matter experts.
- Identify important components of natural gas and electric utility infrastructure and recognize emergency conditions
- Use best practices to handle utility-specific emergencies and adhere to specific do's and don'ts when on the scene of an emergency
- Identify the dangers of step and touch potential and avoid contact with energized sources
- Respond to natural gas hazards and avoid dangers presented by migrating natural gas and secondary ignition sources
- How to utilize the First Responder website, which provides first responders secure access to free downloadable maps and information about natural gas transmission lines, natural gas storage facilities, and shut-off valves
- Gain knowledge about PG&E's updated natural gas emergency response checklists and response scenarios